Studiocanal has boarded Macbeth, the Shakespeare adaptation for director Justin Kurzel (Snowtown) starring Michael Fassbender as the doomed Scottish king and Natalie Portman as Lady Macbeth. Kurzel's version is described as modern take on the tale of a fearless warrior ultimately destroyed by ambition and desire.
Studiocanal will co-finance the feature which British shingle See-Saw Films is producing. Pre-production is set to start at the end of the year for a planned January 2014 shoot.
Studiocanal will distribute Macbeth in the U.K., Germany and France and will handle international sales duties, shopping the title to buyers in Cannes next week.
Iain Canning and Emile Sherman of See-Saw, whose credits include the Oscar-winning The King's Speech, will produce. See-Saw developed the project together with Film4, who are also a financier on Macbeth.
“We are very pleased to be financing Macbeth which deftly brings contemporary themes to an iconic story," said Olivier Courson, Chairman and CEO of StudioCanal.
Michael Fassbender and Oscar winner Natalie Portman will star in a new film adaptation of Macbeth as the title Scottish king and his wife, according to ScreenDaily.com. Justin Kurzel will direct the movie, which features a screenplay by Todd Louiso and Jacob Koskoff. Shooting is expected to begin later this year.
Fassbender's film credits include Shame, Prometheus, X-Men: First Class, Jane Eyre and Inglorious Bastards. Portman won an Oscar for Black Swan. She appread on Broadway in The Diary of Anne Frank. Her extensive film resume includes Garden State, Thor, Closer, The Professional, Brothers and V for Vendetta.
In this week’s edition of celebrity look-a-likes we look at two stars that have been getting mistaken for each other since they first appeared on the big screen. Take a look at Natalie Portman and Keira Knightley! Well, they’ve been getting mistaken for each other since Keira first appeared on the big screen.
Natalie and Keira look so much like each other that in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Keira was hired to play Natalie’s double. The two looked so much alike in the Queen Amidala make up that their own mothers couldn’t tell them apart. Now that is the very definition of a look-a-like.
Fully immersed in the filming of what's lined up to be quite the intriguing cinematic work, the stars of Terrence Malick's yet-to-be titled movie logged long hours in front of the cameras in Austin, Texas on Friday (October 19).
Among the cast members partaking in the week-ending shoot were Oscar-winning Israeli actress Natalie Portman, who was looking wondrous in white as she shot what appeared to be a wedding scene packed with plenty of lovin' alongside co-star Michael Fassbender.
Michael Fassbender also hung out a lot at the festival, mostly shooting scenes with Natalie Portman. Which is odd since he just recently joined the cast and now it looks like he’s going to be a big part of the film. But that could change since Terrence Malick has a history of deleting entire roles when he gets into the editing room. For now, we know that Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara, Natalie Portman, Michael Fassbender, Haley Bennett and Holly Hunter could all be in the film. Obviously, we still don’t have a title for the film (although it was called “Lawless” for a while) and still no release date. (/Film, Twitter, Twitter)
Of course this is for a movie, people. Natalie Portman and Michael Fassbender are taken! Plus, there are camera men right there, it would be awkward, otherwise.
Anyway, the Oscar winner was seen literally wrapped in the actor's arms as they shared an intimate embrace while shooting for Terrence Malick's latest untitled film in Texas yesterday.
Amid his busy filming schedule for Ridley Scott's "The Counselor", Michael Fassbender is eyeing a new big screen gig. The "Prometheus" actor is negotiating to star in "Jane Got a Gun", which also stars Oscar winner Natalie Portman.
Portman will play the female lead whose outlaw husband returns home riddled with bullet wounds and barely alive. When her husband's gang eventually tracks him down to finish the job, she is forced to reach out to an ex-lover and ask him to help defend her farm.
According to Vulture, Fassbander is expected to tackle the part of Portman's ex-lover. Should he finally seal the deal, the "Shame" star will kick off filming with the "Black Swan" actress in early 2013.
The Black Swan and The Dark Knight aren't getting along.
Natalie Portman is busy shooting "Knight of Cups" with Christian Bale, but according to a source, Bale's behavior has her ready to jump ship on the film altogether.
“Natalie can’t stand him,” says the source. “She thinks he’s tedious, arrogant and a disgrace to the acting profession.”
The root of her frustration appears to be Bale's relentless pursuit of perfection. As a result, about an hour's worth of scenes is taking much longer than expected to shoot. Portman's no slouch, but she doesn't want to go over every little nuance of a scene a hundred times.
"Christian is constantly frustrated by his own work and incredibly intense and highly stressed over each scene,” says the source. “He’ll insist they shoot over and over again because he didn’t like how he punctuated a line or something. Sometimes they wind up spending all night on the set just to satisfy Christian’s obsessive perfectionism.”
Colin Firth, Christian Bale, Natalie Portman and Melissa Leo have all been signed up to present an Academy Award at the Oscars, following their wins at the ceremony last year. British actor Firth scooped the award for best actor last year for his performance as King George VI in The King's Speech.
Welsh-born Christian Bale walked away with best supporting actor for his role in The Fighter, Natalie Portman was crowned best actress for her role in Black Swan, and Melissa Leo won best supporting actress for her part in The Fighter.
Meryl Streep, who is nominated for best actress for her role as Maragaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, Tom Cruise, Penelope Cruz and Michael Douglas will also present at the ceremony on Sunday.Colin Firth and Christian Bale to present Academy Awards at Oscars
BRITISH movies punched well above their weight over the past 12 months, dominating the box office on this side of the Atlantic and reigning supreme at the Academy Awards.
Three markedly different home-grown hits – Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2, The Inbetweeners Movie and The King’s Speech – drew UK audiences to multiplexes in their droves, collectively earning more than £160 million as the top-grossing pictures of the year.
Johnny English Reborn may have stumbled short of expectations but Aardman Animations ended the year on a high with the fabulously festive Arthur Christmas.
BAFTA and Oscar fell head over heels in love with The King’s Speech, bestowing their top prize to Tom Hooper’s majestic comedy drama, plus trophies aplenty to screenwriter David Seidler and lead actor Colin Firth for his mesmerising portrayal of King George VI.
Christian Bale’s mantelpiece shuddered under the weight of plaudits for his incendiary supporting performance in The Fighter and Natalie Portman danced into our affections as an emotionally fragile ballerina in Darren Aronofsky’s deeply divisive psychological thriller Black Swan.
The final chapter of JK Rowling’s boy wizard cast a heady spell, bidding a tearful farewell to the students of Hogwarts as they battled Lord Voldemort and his nefarious acolytes.
Harry, Hermione and Ron edged past Transformers: Dark Of The Moon as the global box office champion of the year, while Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides navigated the shallows of some dreadful reviews to also sail past the one billion dollar landmark in takings – mightily impressive for the fourth film in a franchise.
Fast & Furious 5 surpassed expectations and delivered slam-bang thrills with gusto, much like Tom Cruise’s third outing as Mission: Impossible agent Ethan Hunt.
The Huffington Post UKSarah Dean First Posted: 27/12/11 10:39 GMTUpdated: 27/12/11 10:39 GMT 1. Hogwarts Closes Its Doors
The release of Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 not only marked the end of the most successful film franchise of all time, but the closing of a massive chapter of many a fan's childhood, and Daniel Radcliffe's time as world famous wizard Harry Potter.
In July, Hogwarts closed its doors to the adventures of Harry, Ron and Hermione and pulled in over $1.3 billion at the Box Office in the process. They saved the best till last - the effects had never been better, the sets more beautifully designed nor the explosions bigger. Thousands of fans camped out for days in the London rain to pay tribute and wave goodbye to the stars who bought JK Rowling's phenomenal books to life.
2. British Boys Made Good The Inbetweeners Movie pulled in £45 million at the Box Office, beating top Hollywood fare such as Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (£32.9 million) and Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (£28.1 million). Within a month of release, the feature-length spin-off of a sitcom broadcast on E4 from 2008 to 2010 became the most successful British comedy in cinema history.
The film was essentially 90 minutes of vulgar surprises, including the nasal ingestion of poo, but people are coming back for more with nearly 600,000 copies of its DVD being sold during its first day on sale. The Inbetweeners Movie has sold more than twice the number of copies than The Hangover Part II sold in its first week on release and its success looks set to continue with fans calling for a sequel.
3. Oscar Winner
Colin Firth became the nation's film hero when he scooped the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of stuttering monarch Prince Albert in The King's Speech. Firth, who told the BBC: "I'd never read a royal biography until I did this film," gave the performance of his career. The film not only received 4 Oscars, but seven Baftas, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and one Golden Globe. Not bad for a film void of any special effects or 3D spectacles.
4. The R-Patz Effect
Not only did 2011 see Twilight star Kristen Stewart smile for the first time in public, it also saw Bella and Edward get married in the latest film from the ridiculously popular vampire franchise - Breaking Dawn. Bella's wedding dress went on sale for $799 and teenage girls across the world envied her as she tied down Edward, played by heartthrob and real-life beau Robert Pattinson.
Breaking Dawn has now made more than $500m (£321m) at the worldwide box office. However, on the negative side, the film, which became the number one movie in America, allegedly gave some viewers seizures. ABC reports that the flashing of colours and bright lights in Bella's birth scene have caused multiple viewers to suffer from photosensitive epilepsy.
5. Black Swan
This intoxicating horror won Natalie Portman an Oscar, bagged $329 million worldwide at the Box Office and caused people to run out in to the streets to sign up to ballet class. Well, not quite, but it did spark a revival for dance classes and ballet-style fashion, including legwarmers and leotards.
The deadline for consideration for a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination is October 27. Actors may submit themselves or give permission to producers, studios and agents et al to submit on their behalf. Nominees will be selected by two separate film and television panels, each made up of 2,100 SAG members (randomly selected). Ballots are then mailed on November 23, with voting closing on December 12 and nominees announced on December 14. The SAG Awards take place on January 29.
Last year’s SAG winners included eventual Oscar-winners Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), Natalie Portman (Black Swan), Christian Bale (The Fighter), Melissa Leo (The Fighter) and best picture Oscar-winner The Kings Speech (Outstanding Performance by a Cast).
