Dustin Lance Black, the screenwriter who won an Oscar for penning Milk, is tied to write and direct the upcoming graphic novel adaptation 3 Story, THR is reporting. Warner Brothers recently acquired the rights from Dark Horse Comics and have announced Black’s involvement. Read the full story

Acclaimed filmmaker Darren Aronofsky introduced his talent to the world largely through his feature debut Pi (1998), a film that starred Sean Gullette as the genius mathematician Maximillian Cohen (Gullette also worked on the story with Aronofsky). Though Aronofsky has gone on to great heights, Gullette, other than a sinister cameo in Aronofsky‘s astounding Requiem for a Dream, has fallen off of the map. Read the full story

The Oscar winning writer for Milk, Dustin Lance Black is set to write a a biopic based on the life of J. Edgar Hoover, the first director of the FBI. Pajiba has reported that the biopic is being developed by Universal Pictures and Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment. No director has been attached as yet but with Black on board it should not take long for this film to begin production.

Black’s appointment as writer for this Hoover biopic is not unsurprising. As /Film has noted, Black is very interested in a positive representation of gay culture through which young gay men and women can exist in an environment that allows them to come out safely. Hoover was reportedly a cross-dresser and according to some also a homosexual. With such material at hand, Black’s representation of this within the biopic could possibly another remarkably enlightening film.

Hoover has already been portrayed by Billy Crudup in Public Enemies. Although the film was not a financial success, this biopic may prove otherwise with its story covering a greater extent of the FBI Director’s career, beginning from the founding of his organization in 1935. He made the FBI an efficient crime-fighting organization through the now famous method of harassing dissenters and building secret files on politicians. He is most often associated with his role in fighting the gangster wars in the 1930′s and, later, the Mafia.

At the moment Black is currently in post-production on What’s Wrong with Virginia, a drama he wrote and directed starring Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris.

Do you think Dustin Lance Black is the best choice to write a Hoover Biopic?

Mexican actor Diego Luna will be making his feature directorial debut this month, with his film Abel set to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

After his mother brings little Abel home from the psychiatric ward, his family worries about how he will handle his father’s absence and whether or not he will suffer an emotion breakdown. He surprises them by deciding that he will become the father of the house, taking over the responsibilities of a family man. All is going well until a stranger shows up claiming to be his father. The film is told from the young boy’s perspective, as he blurs reality and fantasy. Read the full story

It’s a question with no precise answer and no particular set of rules attached to it. Loosely, a biopic tells the story of life, usually one of both triumph and failure and, of course, accomplishment.

Think Chaplin or Ray, standard bio-films that follow the life of their “great” subjects from childhood to death, going over all of the big moments while sure to add a couple “poignant” small moments many viewers didn’t already know about. Sometimes these films bookend their subjects’ lives with elderly collections of the past or last will and testaments (remember Milk, if you can).

Others work are framed in a similar fashion, only under a thinner scope, i.e. the significant event/achievement said subject lead/started/was part of. Think Patton, which begins with his victory in North Africa than Sicily than Normandy, charting his WWII command as a filter through which to study his life. In a (slightly) similar way does Lawrence of Arabia unfold, quickly checking off the historical moves in which he becomes a British military officer so as to concentrate on his brilliant tactical leadership of the Arab Revolt of 1916 and its aftermath. Sticking with the war hook, another easy example (from a much more complicated angle) is Schindler’s List.

All this to reiterate the titular question: what is the art of telling the story of a true life? How can one capture the awe of something, and someone, that really happened?

Read the full story

Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life has been kept very under wraps so far and there hasn’t been a release date announced yet, but it may  be coming to theaters in 2009. Screen Daily (via Hollywood Elsewhere) is reporting that the film has picked up distribution at Cannes and that it may be released this year. The film wrapped over a year ago and Malick is still apparently cutting the film. The film stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn as brothers.

Read the rest of this entry >>

Comedian Will Arnett (Arrested Development) and recent Oscar Nominee Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) have just officially joined Warner Brother’s upcoming 2010 summer tent-pole Jonah Hex. Arnett will be playing a union soldier who enlists Jonah Hex and is blindsided by the dirty fighting style of his enemies. Michael Shannon is set to play Doc Cross Williams, the bizarre ringleader of a brutal gladiator circus event. That character also may be featured in future installments. The cast already includes Josh Brolin (Milk), Megan Fox (Transformers), and John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich). Jonah Hex is set for August 6th, 2010.

Will Arnett seems like an odd casting choice, but then again it’s Will Arnett so it would be a sin to call this bad news. Michael Shannon is of course great news. While it sounds like more of a cameo, Shanon will still most likely be great as he usually is. 

What do you think of this cast? Are you excited for Jonah Hex?

- Jack Giroux

Last night Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire cleaned up (as predicted) with 8 Oscars. I gathered as many acceptance videos I could find. Check them out below, kicking off with one of the best Oscar introductions to date and ending withe Judd Apatow’s hilarious comedy montage.

Hugh Jackman Opening Performance

Best Picture

Slumdog Millionaire, Christian Colson (producer)

Best Actor

Check out the rest of the winners and acceptance speeches >>

The Academy Awards start tonight at 8pm EST. Here are our predictions. Check out the full list of nominees here.

Best Picture

Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire

Should Win: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor

Will Win: Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Should Win: Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Best Actress

Will Win: Kate Winslet in The Reader

Should Win: Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married

Check out the rest of the predictions >>

BY DAN MECCA

Film critic David Denby, who’s always been hit-or-miss in my book but never short of defending his opinions with excellent conviction, wrote this nice little ditty exposing 4 out of the 5 Best Pic noms (he liked Milk) as studio-backed and fairy-tale frauds. I especially enjoy the bit about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Check out the piece here. I caught this thing on In Contention and am happy to see people giving Denby some much needed respect. Whether I wholly agree with this column or not (I really enjoyed Slumdog, Benjamin Button and Frost/Nixon but didn’t like The Reader) the guy’s a great writer and should have as big an audience as possible  now-a-days, as film critics drop faster and farther daily than the stock market.

So give it a read and write your thoughts at the bottom.

Do you agree with Denby? Did you like Rachel Getting Married or Happy-Go-Lucky that much?