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.

Abel is a Mexican production, and was filmed in Aguascalientes and Mexico City’s Churubusco Studios, with a reported budget of $2.73 million (or 35 million pesos).

At a press conference held in Aguascalientes this past summer, Luna described that the film, “deals with a universal relationship, that of a father’s and his son. One of the most important things this film will question is why do adults tend to pressure kids into growing up well before their time.”

Abel stars Mexican thesp Jose Maria Yazpik, who had appeared alongside Luna in the crime drama Just Walking, which premiered in 2008.

Luna is best known for his roles in Y tu mamá también and Milk. He also starred in last year’s Rudo y Cursi with his Y tu mamá también co-star Gael García Bernal.

Abel was produced by Canana Films, a company Luna and Bernal started with producer Pablo Cruz. Canana Films also produced Bernal’s directorial debut Déficit (2007), as well as Luna’s documentary directorial debut J.C. Chávez (2007).

Abel is part of the festival’s non-competition line-up, and will be screening in both Park City and Salt Lake City venues. The 2010 Sundance Film Festival takes place January 21-31.

Check out a video with Luna discussing his film below:

How do you think Luna will do in this transition from actor/producer to director?

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?

Not surprisingly, many biopics play like visual audio books (see the aforementioned Chaplin and Milk), full of information and intended emotion that fade out as they fade in, as facts and chronicles of something greater than the images portray. In layman’s terms, much more boring (and dry) than the life it’s based on.

To combat this, many biopics go the creative route, never once touching on the real events but rather the “real emotions.” Examples of this includes Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There (which examines Bob Dylan’s life through five separate versions of the artist) and the avant-garde heavy 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould (which does include, in fact, 32 short films), both masterpieces in their own right. But not necessarily true to the life being portrayed, at least in any historical sense. These two films merely use their subjects as a catalyst through which to make their own art. And while it’s commendable, doesn’t it discount said film as a biopic?

This writer would argue yes – and also argue it’s for the better. Biopics, as a genre, fail far more than they succeed for all of the aforementioned reasons. While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it’s certainly not the sincerest (or most original) form of art.

Some, however, break the mold whilst staying honest to the subject’s biography. The most perfect examples of this include The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Malcolm X, Shattered Glass, Raging Bull and Goodfellas. All of these filmmakers take a life (Jean-Dominique Bauby, Malcolm X, Stephen Glass, Jake LaMotta, Henry Hill respectively) and add their own lives (and ideas) into them.

Julian Schnabel, director of Diving Bell, quite literally gets inside the head of Bauby, using the camera as a filter through the protagonist lives his life, paralyzed and half-blind, alone in his thoughts and regrets. Lee’s Malcolm X relies on Alex Haley’s recorded autobiography, shooting his film with an epic scope, employing countless wide lens and extreme close-ups to intensify each scene. There’s no middle ground in Lee’s film and that’s the lynchpin. On the flip side, Shattered Glass is a small film with a small focus and a humble, middlebrow view of its subject and situation, namely plagiarism and the desire for success. Both Bull and Goodfellas, both directed by Martin Scorcese, depend largely on the other people in the subject’s life as a means to define the subject fully, a la the Joe Pesci brother character in Bull and the Lorraine Bracco wife character in Goodfellas. Scorcese’s films are less biopics then multiple character studies centered around semi-real events.

In the end, the focus cannot be the real-life person, but rather who/what the real-life person was to those who knew him and those who were affected by him. At the finale of Shattered Glass (SPOILERS), once it’s revealed Stephen Glass has been fabricating his incredible stories, the viewer is shown how his co-workers react/lives are changed by his lies, from his new editor and one-time friend (Peter Saarsgard) to his only remaining supportive co-worker (Chloe Sevigny). Also consider The Aviator (not Scorcese’s best biopic but a classic in its own right): the film’s focus is on Howard Hughes (played by a fantastic, and a fantastically devoted, Leonardo DiCaprio) but not on all of his life or even most of his life, but rather the most productive years, in which he both took on the world and began to lose his mind. Scorcese, ever the Hughes buff, chose to remember the eccentric dreamer that way and, in turn, chose to have his audience remember his subject the same way.

Simply running through the life of a great figure is lazy and without ambition. Ray Charles was, after all, bigger than his songs and his affairs and his blindness. When one looks back at Lawrence of Arabia, a similar in set-up to The Aviator, it’s easy to point out the filmmaker’s own, personal obsession with both the subject and the aesthetic surrounding said subject’s story. David Lean’s Arabia is sandy and endless, his cuts the same. Viewers are offered long tracking shots a la Great Expectations and sweeping moral conflicts a la The Bridge Over the River Kwai. This is a Lean film that happens to be about T.E. Lawrence rather than a movie about T.E. Lawrence’s life organized by David Lean.

A biopic honors a life, but in order to fully do the life justice, it must also honor itself, which is a silly way to say a biopic should not, can not, be an imitation but rather an extention. People go to the movies not primarily to learn, but to feel. We must feel these people’s lives rather than hear about them. That, of course, will always be a great challenge and biopics that succeed deserve all the accolades available.

What do you think of biopics?

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.

I am sure Tree of Life has Oscar potential just like all the other Terrence Malick’s films, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if this gets released during the Oscar season this year.

Are you excited for Tree of Life?

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

Sean Penn, Milk

Best Actress

Kate Winslet, The Reader

Best Director

Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Best Foreign Language Film

Departures (Japan) (couldn’t find acceptance speech, so here are thank you’s)

Best Supporting Actress

Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Supporting Actor

Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Best Documentary

Man On Wire, James Marsh and Simon Chinn

Best Original Screenplay

Dustin Lance Black, Milk

Best Adapted Screenplay

Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire

Best Animated Feature

Wall-E, Andrew Stanton

Best Animated Short

La Maison En Petits Cubes, Kunio Kato

Art Direction

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Donald Graham Burt (art direction) and Victor J. Zolfo (set decoration)

Costume Design

The Duchess, Michael O’Connor

Make-up

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Greg Cannom

Cinematography

Slumdog Millionaire, Anthony Dod Mantle

Best Live Action Short

Spielzeugland (Toyland), Jochen Alexander Freydank

Best Documentary Short Subject

Smile Pinki, Megan Mylan

Visual Effects

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton and Craig Barron

Sound Editing

The Dark Knight, Richard King

Sound Mixing

Slumdog Millionaire, Ian Tapp, Richard Pryke and Resul Pookutty (couldn’t find acceptance speech, so here are thank you’s)

Film Editing

Slumdog Millionaire, Chris Dickens

Original Score

Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman

Original Song

Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire, music by A.R. Rahman and lyrics by Gulzar

Judd Apatow’s Comedy Montage

Do you agree with the winners? What was your favorite speech?

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

Best Supporting Actor

Will Win: Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

Should Win: Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

Best Supporting Actress

Will Win: Viola Davis in Doubt

Should Win: Marrisa Tomei in The Wrestler

note: wouldn’t  be surprised if Penelope Cruz takes it for Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Best Director

Will Win: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

Should Win: Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Original Screenplay

Will Win: Dustin Lance Black for Milk

Should Win: Martin McDonagh for In Bruges

note: wouldn’t  be surprised if Andrew Stanton deservedly takes it for Wall-E

Best Adapted Screenplay

Will Win: Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire

Should Win: Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Animated Feature Film

Will Win: Wall-E

Should Win: Wall-E

Best Art Direction

Will Win: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Should Win: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Cinematography

Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire

Should Win: The Dark Knight

Best Costumes

Will Win: The Duchess

Should Win: The Duchess

Best Documentary Feature

Will Win: Man on Wire

Should Win: Encounters at the End of the World

Best Documentary Short Subject

Haven’t seen any of these but I picked The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306 to win.

Best Animated Short Film

Only seen Presto and Oktapodi and I believe Presto will win.

Best Live Action Short Film

Haven’t seen any of these but I picked Auf der Strecke (On the Line) to win.

Best Film Editing

Will win: Slumdog Millionaire

Should win: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Foreign Film

Will Win: Waltz with Bashir

Should Win: The Class

Best Makeup

Will Win: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Should Win: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Best Original Score

Will Win: Slumdog Millionaire

Should Win: Slumdog Millionaire

Best Original Song

Will Win: Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire

Should Win: O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire

Best Sound Editing

Will Win: Wall-E

Should Win: The Dark Knight

note: Wouldn’t be surprised if it went to Slumdog Millionaire

Best Sound Mixing

Will Win: Wall-E

Should Win: The Dark Knight

note: Wouldn’t be surprised if it went to Slumdog Millionaire

Best Visual Effects

Will Win: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Should Win: The Dark Knight

What are your nominations? Agree with ours?

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?

Thanks to Awards Daily here are the winners of tonight’s Screen Actor’s Guild awards:

Film
Ensemble Cast: Slumdog Millionaire
Lead Actress: Meryl Streep, Doubt
Lead Actor: Sean Penn, Milk
Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet, The Reader
Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

Lifetime Achievement Award: James Earl Jones

Television
Lead Actress, Comedy Series: Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Lead Actor, Comedy Series: Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Ensemble Cast, Comedy Series: 30 Rock
Lead Acress, Drama Series: Sally Field, Brothers & Sisters
Lead Actor, Drama Series: Hugh Laurie, House
Ensemble Cast, Drama Series: Mad Men
Lead Actress, Miniseries: Laura Linney, John Adams
Lead Actor, Miniseries: Paul Giamatti, John Adams

Here are the results of the Producer Guild Award yesterday:

Film – Slumdog Millionaire
Animated – Wall-E
Documentary – Man on Wire
TV miniseries – John Adams
TV comedy – 30 Rock
TV Drama – Mad Men

Go Slumdog! I wonder if Penn will upset Rourke at the Oscars as well. What do you think of the winner?

Here are the 81st Academy Award Nominations:

Best Picture

The Reader

Slumdog Millionaire

Frost/Nixon

Benjamin Button

Milk

Best Actor

Richard Jenkins in The Visitor

Frank Langella in Frost/Nixon

Sean Penn in Milk

Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

Best Actress

Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married

Angelina Jollie in Changeling

Melissa Leo in Frozen River

Meryl Streep in Doubt

Kate Winslet in The Reader

Best Supporting Actor

Robert Downey Jr in Tropic Thunder

Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt

Michael Shannon in Revolutionary Road

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight

Josh Brolin in Milk

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams in Doubt

Penelope Cruz in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Viola Davis in Doubt

Taraji P. Henson in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Marrisa Tomei in The Wrestler

Best Director

Gus Van Sant for Milk

Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire

David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Howard for Frost/Nixon

Stephen Daldry for The Reader

Best Original Screenplay

Courtney Hunt for Frozen River

Mike Leigh for Happy-Go-Lucky

Martin McDonagh for In Bruges

Andrew Stanton for Wall-E

Dustin Lance Black for Milk

Best Adapted Screenplay

Eric Roth and Robin Swicord for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

John Patrick Shanley for Doubt

Peter Morgan for Frost/Nixon

David Hare for The Reader

Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire

Best Animated Feature Film

Bolt

Wall-E

Kung Fu Panda

Best Art Direction

Changeling

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

The Duchess

Revolutionary Road

Best Cinematography

Changeling

Slumdog Millionaire

The Reader

Benjamin Button

The Dark Knight

Best Costumes

Australia

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Milk

The Duchess

Revolutionary Road

Best Documentary Feature

Encounters at the End of the World

Man on Wire

The Betrayal

The Garden

Trouble the Water

Best Documentary Short Subject

The Conscience of Nhem En

The Final Inch

Smile Pinki

The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306

Best Animated Short Film

La Maison en Petits Cubes

Lavatory – Lovestory

Oktapodi

Presto

This Way Up

Best Live Action Short Film

Auf der Strecke (On the Line)

Manon on the Asphalt

New Boy

The Pig

Spielzeugland (Toyland)

Best Film Editing

The Dark Knight

Slumdog Millionaire

Frost/Nixon

Benjamin Button

Milk

Best Foreign Film

The Baader Meinhof Complex

The Class

Departures

Revanche

Waltz with Bashir

Best Makeup

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Dark Knight

Hellboy II

Best Original Score

Wall-E

Slumdog Millionaire

Defiance

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Milk

Best Original Song

Down to Earth from Wall-E

O Saya from Slumdog Millionaire

Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire

Best Sound Editing

The Dark Knight

Wanted

Iron Man

Wall-E

Slumdog Millionaire

Best Sound Mixing

The Dark Knight

Wanted

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Wall-E

Slumdog Millionaire

Best Visual Effects

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Dark Knight

Wall-E

The Oscars are hosted by Hugh Jackman will take place on February 22nd.

Do you agree with the nominations?