Movie Minesweeper - The Hidden Messages Edition

Hidden messages? What? Here's your Minesweeper for the evening.

- Nathalie Press - you know her, she's the one who isn't not Emily Blunt and whose career isn't Emily Blunt's career - is to star in Knife's Edge for director Anthony Hickox. On the plus side, hugh Bonneville and Joan plowright will be in the film too. In all sincerity, I'd like this to be good.

- Soderbergh is to shoot his Che Guevera films, The Argentine and Guerilla, using the Red One 4K camera - last discussed here in connection with Peter Jackson's short war film Crossing the Line.

- The money for How to Lose Friends and Alienate People has come together. I can't wait to see Jeff Bridges as Graydon Carter.

- Willa Holland, Anton Yelchin and Justin Chatwin have joined Susan Sarandon and her daughter Eva Amurri in John Stockwell's Middle of Nowhere.

- The Rocker writer Ryan Jaffe now has Don't Lean on Me set to go too. Meanwhile, Shelter scribe Karl Mueller has sold a pitch to Arnold and Anne Kopelson.

- Had Drive not been murdered by Fox, it would have become even more interesting.

- Sergio Machado is adapting the novel A Morte e a Morter de Quincas Berro D'Agua for the big ol' silvery screen.

- Kenny Ortega is directing remake of Footloose with Zac Efron? The original seemed to have some kind of influence on Death Proof (honestly) so I wonder what the legacy of this rehash might prove to be?

- Alan Parker is adapting Jamila Gavin's Coram Boy. Any Parker fans out there?

- IGN are disbelieving J J Abrams' recent comments and have decided that the Ethan Haas sites are related to Cloverfield/1-18-08. They don't know who first linked the film and sites... but I do...

- Darren Grant is to direct the burlesque movie Make it Happen. Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Tessa Thompson are to star - which should get it some attention, in certain quarters at least.

- The fifth Looney Tunes Golden Collection has been announced and this time it will include the Chuck Jones documentary Extremes and In-Betweens.

- John Moore has optioned the book The Book of Lost Things - not to be confused with Lost Book Found, a film I really regret not including on my top 100 list. Sigh. This one is a WW2-era fantasy that many have compared to Pan's Labyrinth. Or vice versa.

- The clash and fray between the MPAA and Courtney Solomon over Capitivity continues. This time, the articles of contention are 'offensive images' hanging outside of the premiere party.

-I was sent the spec of the R2 UK Sunshine DVD today, and so, it would seem, were DVD Times. I'll save the space and send you over there. Interesting to note that the alternative ending is less than a minute long - how much of the film is that going to replace?

- Sebastian Faulks is writing the next Bond novel, Devil May Care. A future film? Very possibly.

- Some more Doomsday pics have rolled out.

- William Gibson is spending some time in Second Life to plug his new book, Spook Country. There will even be a screening of his film No Maps for These Territories.

- American Gangster must be locked now because the BBFC have certificated it. Good stuff - almost 157 minutes of good stuff.

- The direct to DVD Bill and Ted is back in the news again.

- Don Cheadle vs. Guy Pearce - one out of two 'aint bad - are the stars of Traitor, an espionage yarn from Jeffrey Nachmanoff.

- Room 401 sounds like the Derren Brown zombie videogame stunt crossed with his latest show Trick or Treat. Well. A bit, anyway.

- The Cylons may not be what they appear to be.

- Some Dallas rags have gone under the hammer. Nothing to compete with the Ruby slippers, I'm sure.

- Martha Washington Dies is almost upon us. Rich Johnston has a point - why haven't some studio or another optioned this for a film?

- Claire Danes is playing Eliza Doolittle in David Grindley's new staging of Pygmalion.

- An age old fake Iron Man poster has started doing the rounds again.

- Sean Penn and Iggy Pop will be providing voices for the US version of Persepolis. At least the version for citizens of the US that can't/won't read.

- Alec Baldwin is disowning Shortcut to Happiness and has advised 'his fans' to not go see it.

I hope you enjoyed your hidde... er... Movie Minesweeper.

Movie Minesweeper - The Fingers On The Button Round Edition

I'm in a real hurry. This will have to be quick

- Pics from I Sell the Dead are up at Aint it Cool.

- Cartoon Brew have some details of, and a clip from, Pingwings - the holy grail of British kids' TV. There's a must-buy DVD if ever there was one.

- Collider think an I am Legend trailer is to roll out with Ocean's 13.

- That thing about Shia LaBeouf and Neil Gaiman's Death really wasn't news, you know. We've known since September 2005 that Shia was eyeing the role, I was just reminding you all. He's mentioned it several times in the meantime. The new news was the bit about shooting taking place later this year, and in the UK. And it would be really big news if I could tell you will be playing Didi/Death. But I can't.

- Dennis Iliadis is to direct the remake of Last House on the Left. That probably doesn't tell us anything.

- Some Iron Man on-set footage aired on ET and found its way online.

- Thomas Schlamme is to direct the American Life on Mars remake.

- Iranian officials have declared the jury prize for Persepolis 'Islamophobic'.

- A stage version of All About My Mother is to premiere at The Old Vic later this year. The theatre is also planning a Stephen Fry-penned version of Cinderella for Christmas.

Cannes Competition Films

Here's the list of films in the official competition selection at Cannes this year:

My Blueberry Nights - opening night film.
Auf der Anderen Seite
Un Vielle Maitresse
No Country for Old Men
Zodiac
We Own the Night
Le Chansons D'Amour
Magori no Mori
Breath
Promise Me This
Secret Sunshine
4 Luni, 3 Saptamini si 2 Zille
Tehilim
Stellet Licht
Persepolis
Le Scaphandre et le Papillon
Import Export
The Man from London
Paranoid Park
Izgnanie

This is the full list of films in competition. My early pick for the Palm? Bela Tarr's The Man from London. More Cannes to follow...

[EDIT: You can see the page from the press release below for more info. Click it to make it big enough to read]

Dreamachine

Hanway Films - financiers of the best film of 2006, Terry Gilliam's Tideland - and Celluloid Dreams - financiers of the best film of 2007 so far, Garth Jennings' Son of Rambow - have merged.

Variety announce that the new company will be called Dreamachine and have a library of 500 films. It will be run by Hengameh Panahi and Jeremy Thomas. Thomas will continue to produce films independently through The Recorded Picture Company, but these will then be handle by Dreamachine.

Upcoming films from the new super sales entity include Tom Kalin's Savage Grace, Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark and Johnnie To's Triangle, Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis and Todd Haynes' I'm Not There. Hopefully there'll be even more of this calibre to come now they've pooled dollars.

Looks like Cannes this year is going to be dominated by this wonderful new beast.

Persepolis, NY

The New York Times yesterday carried a nice piece on Persepolis, the animated movie adaptation of Marjane Satrapi's comic strip. The film is directed by Satrapi and Vincent Parronaud and, in the original French, features vocal turns from Catherine Deneuve, Danielle Darieux and Chiara Mastroianni.

Of her collaboration with Parronaud, Satrapi says "“We’re like the Coen brothers. We’re very complementary. I would have made much more of a Bergman movie. But I don’t want something that a couple of intellectuals in Paris and New York will watch and nobody else.”