Director Andrew Jarecki has quite literally taken his film back into his own hands. From The (fledgling) Weinstein Company, that is. Jarecki gained critical acclaim for his piercing documentary Capturing the Friedmans and has been making All Good Things for years upon years, inspired by the true story of Robert Durst, son of a wealthy New York family who was accused of killing his neighbor and suspected of killing his wife.

Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst star as the wealthy couple; the film’s been finished for nearly two years, lingering in distribution hell thanks to TWC’s failing bank statements over the last few years.

Jarecki, the founder of Moviefone, bought back his film from TWC for several million dollars:

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Coming Soon has reported that Ryan Gosling will star alongside Steve Carell in an upcoming Warner Bros comedy, directed by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra, the team behind I Love You Phillip Morris. The script was written by Dan Fogelman, who also penned Cars and Bolt. Carell is set to produce with Denise Di Novi, while Charlie Hartsock and Vance DeGeneres plan to executive produce.

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The young Danish auteur has been on somewhat of a hot streak news-wise lately, seemingly attached to every single interesting film in the studio system at one point or another.

He’s finally dropped off two of these projects: the long-gestating Keanu Reeves-starrer Jekyll, a modern retelling of the Robert Louis Stevenson novella (written by Revolutionary Road scribe Justin Haythe) and the super-intriguing Paul Schrader script The Dying of the Light, which was once set to star Robert De Niro and now has Harrison Ford loosely attached. [/ Film]

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Although it was reported that Danish auteur Nicolas Winding Refn’s next project may be The Dying of the Light with Harrison Ford, it looks like he has found something else. Empire (via The Playlist) spoke with the director today and he said:

Hopefully [my] next is a movie with Ryan Gosling at a studio in America. It’s called ‘Drive,’ and it’s about a stuntman by day, a getaway driver by night.

If this project sounds familiar it is because The Descent director Neil Marshall was signed on to direct Hugh Jackman almost two years ago, but the production never got started. Now that it’s back on track with Nicolas Winding Refn, I couldn’t be more excited. The James Sallis novel of the same name follows “a stuntman who’s already-exciting existence is jolted when he discovers that a contract has been put out on his life.”

Check out the full novel synopsis below via Amazon:

I drive. That’s what I do. All I do.” So declares the enigmatic Driver in this masterfully convoluted neo-noir, which ranges from the dive bars and flyblown motels of Los Angeles to seedy strip malls dotting the Arizona desert. A stunt driver for movies, Driver finds more excitement as a wheelman during robberies, but when a heist goes sour, a contract is put on his head and his survival skills burn up the pavement. Author of the popular six-novel series set in New Orleans featuring detective Lew Griffin (The Long-Legged Fly, etc.) and such stand-alone crime novels as Cypress Grove, Sallis won’t disappoint fans who enjoy his usual quirky literary stylings. Reading a crime paperback, Driver covers “a few more lines till he fetched up on the word desuetude. What the hell kind of word was that?” Lines such as “Time went by, which is what time does, what it is” provide the perfect existential touch. In this short novel, expanded from his story in Dennis McMillan’s monumental anthology Measures of Poison, Sallis gives us his most tightly written mystery to date, worthy of comparison to the compact, exciting oeuvre of French noir giant.

Winding Refn was also attached to the Keanu Reeves-starring Jekyll, a Gore Verbinksi-produced heist film and the neo-Western Only God Forgives, set in Bangkok. The word that he will be directing Drive comes straight from his mouth, so expect it to be his next project. I loved Bronson and need to see Valhalla Rising again to fully appreciate it, but I look forward to anything Refn does.

Do you like Nicolas Winding Refn? Would you like to see him direct Drive?

Thanks to this article from Anne Thompson over at indieWIRE, it appears that The Weinstein Company has just landed a huge buy. The film is called Blue Valentine, and it’s one of the most highly-buzzed films coming out of this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The film is directed by Derek Cianfrance, and although he is certainly a respected name in the industry, my excitement for the film stems mostly from the lead actors. Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) and Michelle Williams (Wendy and Lucy) star in this film as a married couple struggling with their mutual ambition. Based on what I’ve read thus far, it appears that the film cuts between time periods, from when the couple was young, vibrant, and happy, to their current state of misunderstandings and distance.

On top of this, Harvey Weinstein is also going after The Tillman Story, which is one of Sundance’s favorites in the documentary genre. Here is the press release:

The Weinstein Co. nabbed U.S., Canadian and Pan-Asian satellite territory rights to Derek Cianfrance’s romantic drama starring the pair in a low-seven-figure deal.

WME Global chief Graham Taylor was in an anxious huddle at a restaurant off Main Street well after midnight Thursday with “Blue Valentine” producers (and his personal valentine) Lynette Howell, Jamie Patricof and Alex Orlovsky, (the team behind the 2006 Sundance hit “Half Nelson”) as all-night negotiations were going down. IFC Films and Sony Pictures Classics were also said to be in the mix.

After a somewhat rocky 2009, the Weinsteins have to be thrilled with this buy. We all know how bad Nine turned out — both critically and commercially — and although Inglourious Basterds makes up for a lot of the damage, there is still some ground to be made up. I know I couldn’t be more excited for this film, as I think Gosling and Williams are two of the best indie actors working today.

What about you? Do you think this film can help reinvigorate The Weinstein Company, or does it seem like another bust?

In preparation for its Sundance debut, here’s a clip from Derek Cianfrance’s romance Blue Valentine, starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. [MTV]

The logline: The film centers on a contempo married couple, charting their evolution over a span of years by cross-cutting between time periods. [IMDB]

The project’s been a long time coming, and will hopefully live up to the hype of its existence. Getting a small indie romance made these days with two of the most talented (rather than the most bankable) actors around is a miracle in itself.

To have it be a great film would an added gift.

The clip offers hope.

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Just before the release of John Hillcoat’s film The Road in early October 2009, rumors began to fly of the possible story and cast of his next project. The script which was to be titled The Promised Land is an adaptation of Matt Bondurant’s novel The Wettest County in the World. The film was scripted by Nick Cave and set to possibly star Shia LaBeouf, Ryan Gosling, and Amy Adams. In a recent interview published in the UK, Hillcoat states that the film is dead thanks to the “apocalypse” of the film industry. From a diary printed in the UK paper “The Telegraph” he writes: Read the full story

Sundance has announced it’s 112 films that are entering in U.S. and World Cinema Documentary and Dramatic film competitions. The films represent “38 countries by 43 first-time filmmakers, including 24 in competition. These films were selected from 3,724 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,920 U.S. and 1,804 international feature-length films. 79 films at the Festival will be world premieres.” The festival takes place between Jan 21st and 31st at Park City Utah. Some interesting films to note are Mark Ruffalo’s directorial debut, a new documentary by Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, It Might Get Loud) and films starring Jesse Eisenberg, Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Natalie Portman, James Franco, John Hamm, Melissa Leo, Laura Linney, Orlando Bloom, and more.  Check out the full list below. Read the full story

Based on a promo poster on display in the American Film Market, declaring that Nick Cave was writing, John Hillcoat was directing, and Shia LaBeouf, Ryan Gosling and Amy Adams are starring in a film adaptation of the Matt Bondurant novel The Wettest County in the World, entitled The Promised Land [First Showing].

However, it has been noted on the poster the small print “credits not contractual” (courtesy of Slash Film), so the gray area continues with only the black-and-white textual promise of a potentially great film. Here is a summary of the book, courtesy of Simon and Schuster:

“Based on the true story of Matt Bondurant’s grandfather and two granduncles, The Wettest County in the World is a gripping tale of brotherhood, greed, and murder. The Bondurant Boys were a notorious gang of roughnecks and moonshiners who ran liquor through Franklin County, Virginia, during Prohibition and in the years after. Forrest, the eldest brother, is fierce, mythically indestructible, and the consummate businessman; Howard, the middle brother, is an ox of a man besieged by the horrors he witnessed in the Great War; and Jack, the youngest, has a taste for luxury and a dream to get out of Franklin. Driven and haunted, these men forge a business, fall in love, and struggle to stay afloat as they watch their family die, their father’s business fail, and the world they know crumble beneath the Depression and drought.”

It reads like a much darker version of Legends of the Fall with a lot of whiskey, so I’m in. Especially is these credits become contractual. Stay tuned and cross fingers.

Would you like the see The Promised Land with its intended cast?

By Dan Mecca

There may be nothing sadder than the life of the average independent film. Every year thousands are made for pennies when put next to even one summer blockbuster. And every year some of them are good enough to run the film festival circuit. Among that batch, a handful get picked up and distributed by film companies.

…Around, written and directed by David Spaltro, is the embodiment of the independent film, and a very fine example of one at that. Made for around $175,000 dollars, most of it swiped on some 40 of Spaltro’s credit cards, the fact that this “little” film even got made is an accomplishment. The story is told, and lived, by a young man named Doyle, played by Rob Evans, an extremely talented young actor who’s uncanny resemblance to actor Ryan Gosling only helps, as he is in most every frame.

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