Filed under: Comedy, Music & Musicals, Casting, The Weinstein Co.

OK, so a musical comedy starring Bernie Mac and Samuel L. Jackson has got to be a step up from a Tyler Perry movie, right? For Sharon Leal’s sake, I certainly hope so. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Leal has joined the cast of Malcolm Lee’s comedy musical Soul Men. The film centers on, “…bickering backup soul singers who haven’t spoken in 20 years but reluctantly travel cross country together for a tribute concert to honor their famous former band leader.” Leal will play Jackson’s daughter Cleo, and thankfully will not serve as a love interest for either of the men. Leal starred in 2005’s Dreamgirls as Michelle Morris, Effie White’s replacement in the girl-group. Jackson and Mac will do all of their own singing and dancing for Soul Men, so I can only assume that since Leal has musical experience, she will be doing the same.

Christopher had first brought us news of the film last November. At that time, the only cast that had been announced was King of Comedy, Mac and Jackson. Surprisingly the project managed to escape being hit by the writer’s strike that has been delaying productions left and right, and is set to start filming on January 21st (I guess Leal was hired just in time). The script was written by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone, whose other credits included the Coen’s Intolerable Cruelty and Man of the House — neither of which is probably the best calling card for a screenwriter. Soul Men is scheduled for release on October 10th, 2008.

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Filed under: Drama, Casting, RumorMonger, Steven Spielberg

While Steven Spielberg’s name gets tossed around with regards to several different projects (most recently Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), it appears the director is moving full steam ahead on The Trial of the Chicago 7. CHUD tells us that, according to their inside scoopers, both Colin Hanks and Jeff Daniels are now being considered for roles. If brought on, Daniels would play “Dave Dellinger, one of the oldest defendants in the case.” Hanks “would be Rennie Davis, an SDS activist who was interested in political change rather than wholesale social change.” Another interesting tidbit is that Sacha Baron Cohen (who we thought had accepted the role of Abbie Hoffman) has not officially joined this cast yet. CHUD doesn’t know why the actor is not on board (they speculate that it might have to do with scheduling or money issues), but they do know that his is not a done deal.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 will be based on the very real trial of seven defendants who were charged with conspiracy and inciting to riot during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Lots of names have been floating around this project as of late; not long ago Vanity Fair interviewed Spielberg and noticed several headshots on his desk of actors they’re considering for Chicago 7. Among them were Phillip Seymour Hoffman (for William Kunstler, the attorney who defended the 7), as well as Will Smith, Taye Diggs, Adam Arkin and Kevin Spacey. Aaron Sorkin wrote the script, which may or may not be somewhat based on the recent documentary, Chicago 10, and most expect this to be Spielberg’s next film after Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

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Filed under: Awards, Fandom, Newsstand, Monday Morning Poll

Don’t even get me started on last night’s crapfest. I tuned in to NBC thinking they were going to air this so-called press conference, only to get an abbreviated Access Hollywood special that left out certain awards like best foreign language, best score and best song. And because I was still high on my Giants beating the Cowboys, I didn’t realize NBC was on a delay, or that other channels had the press conference, etc … It was awful. The entire thing was horrific. And then, to boot, the Hollywood Foreign Press clearly screwed over American filmmakers (moreso this year than in year’s past), opting to shovel out several awards to individuals and films that were simply not the best of the year. Atonement wins over No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood? Julian Schnabel wins best director over the Coen Brothers and P.T. Anderson? Cate Blanchett wins best supporting actress over Amy Ryan?

It’s still too early to tell whether this whole debacle will hurt the Globes moving forward. And we still don’t know whether something similar will happen with the Oscars (though I imagine the writers will have a much harder time f**king with Hollywood’s grandest circle-jerk). The good news is that it’s finally over. No more Golden Globe nonsense to deal with. But assuming you actually care about who wins and who doesn’t, what was the biggest surprise/mistake of the evening in your mind?

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Filed under: Awards, Fandom, Newsstand

Here we are, folks. No televised ceremony. No red carpet. No Ryan Seacrest (Thank God!). Because of the writer’s strike, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association has decided to announce this year’s Golden Globe Award winners via a press conference. We’ll be posting the film-related winners below in real time, so keep refreshing the page …

Best Actor (Musical or Comedy)

Johnny Depp — Sweeney Todd — WINNER

Ryan Gosling — Lars and the Real Girl

Tom Hanks — Charlie Wilson’s War

Philip Seymour Hoffman — The Savages

John C. Reilly — Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

9:42pm: This is a joke. Not the Coen Brothers?

Best Director

Tim Burton - Sweeney Todd

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men

Julian Schnabel — The Diving Bell and the Butterfly — WINNER

Ridley Scott — American Gangster

Joe Wright - Atonement

9:37PM: We get a comment that says Atonement already won best picture (drama). Are they not pausing for any sort of break overseas? Is this true? I watched Atonement over the weekend. Good film. Great shot. Everything else? Eh.

9:33PM: Go Extras! Love that show. But back to the film awards … if they ever announce them.

9:32PM: From my friend on the couch: “This is the worst awards show in history. Easily. Easily.”

9:28PM: Man, folks are really piling into Access Hollywood’s “Interview Corner.” They should make the dude from EW change outfits during commerical break just for the hell of it.

9:23PM: Bardem wins. Right f**king on! Bush: “For a Coen Brothers film, people are actually going to see it.” We should have the option to meet Bush afterwards and throw things at him. And did one of the girls there actually say, “This is fun!” Fun how? What’s fun about this?

Best Supporting Actor

Casey Affleck — The Assassination of Jesse James

Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men — WINNER

Philip Seymour Hoffman — Charlie Wilson’s War

John Travolta - Hairspray

Tom Wikinson — Michael Clayton

9:17PM: Call it the “We feel bad Persepolis got the Oscar shortlist nod, so here’s us making up for it” award. However, for those who did not see La vie en Rose, Cotillard was pretty magnificent. Hollywood Foreign Press. Remember that.

Best Actress (Musical or Comedy)

Amy Adams - Enchanted

Nikki Blonski - Hairspray

Helena Bonham Carter - Sweeney Todd

Marion Cotillard — La vie en Rose — WINNER

Ellen Page — Juno

9:15PM: Ugh. Billy Bush. Just shut him up, please. And did Blonsky go nuts, or what. Calm down there girl. It’s a Golden Globe, not a touchdown. Speaking of … Go Giants!

Continue reading Golden Globe Winners!

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Filed under: Awards, Fandom, Oscar Watch

For those of you who don’t feel like watching some boring press conference on TV, you might as well keep it tuned in to Cinematical, as we’ll be live-blogging whatever the Hollywood Foreign Press gives us in just about one hour from now. In the meantime, feel free to scroll through our Golden Globe prediction post, where a bunch of our staff members got together and voted on who we think will win in all 14 of the film-related categories. Alternatively, you can check out our sister site TV Squad’s predictions for the TV-related categories. And if you’re still looking to kill some time before this epic press conference, head on over to Moviefone and check out their official Golden Globes hub. There’s lots of content for you to sift through, but make sure you return to this page at 9PM EST to see the winners. (Unfortunately, we will not be live-blogging the episode of American Gladiators which is set to follow the Globe announcements on NBC. Sorry Mayhem. Maybe next year.)

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Filed under: Drama, Foreign Language, Deals, War

Almost a year ago, I alerted you to a foreign project in the works — one that would tell the little-known story of Benito Mussolini’s secret child. It’s a pretty sad and unfortunate story. Basically, before the man rose to power in Italy, he had married a beautician named Ida Dalser. All was not romantic and ever-lasting for the couple. In fact, it was the complete opposite. She had a child named Benito Albino Mussolini, but then her relationship with the soon-to-be infamous dictator hit the rocks and Fascists tried to wipe the pair off the record as the elder Benito gained power. Both mother and son were sent to asylums and ultimately, and unsurprisingly, died — before Mussolini himself was executed.

Now Variety reports that the French sales company Celluloid Dreams has picked up the international sales rights for the upcoming drama, which is now called Vincere — which means “to win,” and was a popular song of that era. It is a pretty creepy name for the chilling story. The script is completed and the film should gear up for production this April in Northern Italy in cities such as Venice. Unfortunately, casting is still being figured out for the film, so there’s no word on who will play Benito Sr. and the rest of the roles. I’m pretty interested in seeing who they get to play father Benito — he definitely had a memorable and unique visage.

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