For some odd reason (and this has everything to do with my own weird idiosyncrasies), I could never tell the difference between the stage plays Proof and Doubt. Both of them were on stage in New York City at the same time and, even though they're two completely different animals, I would always confuse them. Oh, and it doesn't help that Miramax is involved with the big screen adaptations of both Proof and Doubt.

However, when Proof finally came out in theaters (after getting somewhat lost in the post-Weinstein fall out with Miramax), it was one of the last Miramax films to have Bob and Harvey listed as executive producers. Now, the new Miramax has teamed up with producer Scott Rudin to bring John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Doubt to the big screen. The play is set in 1964, and revolves around a nun who confronts a priest she suspects is abusing a black student. While the play doesn't even feature said black student, the film will apparently include the character, as well as other students, and utilize several locations throughout Bronx, New York -- not just the school. Currently, there's no word on casting -- in the play, Cherry Jones played the nun and Brian O'Byrne played the priest. Miramax and Rudin also teamed up on The Queen which, as you're already aware, is nominated for everything this year.

I'm curious, is there some sort of unspoken Hollywood rule that if Scott Rudin doesn't have at least one film nominated for Best Picture every year, the entire world will somehow collapse? (Oh, and ladies -- I specifically chose the above picture of Rudin just for you. Enjoy the weekend!)

It's difficult to pull off May-December romances in movies, mainly because they're so creepy. As often as not, the movie doesn't even acknowledge the age difference, casting men in their fifties opposite girls in their twenties, with nothing in mind but the potential box office returns. If the movie does acknowledge the gap, it's usually to make some kind of wry statement, most famously in Nabokov's Lolita, adapted for the screen twice, by Stanley Kubrick in 1962 and Adrian Lyne in 1997.

The new movie Venus miraculously manages a deft balance of all this, and on top of it, the age difference is a staggering fifty years, between19 year-old Jessie (Jodie Whittaker) and 70-something Maurice (Peter O'Toole). Of course, this is no traditional romance, but more of an odd, tender friendship, not unlike that of Lost in Translation (2003).

A working London actor busy with plays and television, Maurice loves to spend time with his old colleague Ian (Leslie Phillips). Their dryly hilarious bickering sets the tone for the rest of the film. Ian anticipates a visit from his grand-niece, and expects that she will begin caring for his worldly needs, such as cooking and cleaning. Of course, the girl that actually arrives is more of a modern teenager, Jessie (Jodie Whittaker), with modern teenage ennui, cynicism and selfishness. While these qualities drive Ian into a fit of pique, they actually intrigue the more playful Maurice. He slowly engages her in conversation, and his way of bluntly telling the truth (there's no point in lying at his age) does not repulse her. Later, he impulsively offers to buy her a drink, and she discovers that, as an actor, he's "a little bit" famous.

So much has been written and filmed about the atrocities of The Holocaust, and one of the most complex stories in that history is in trying to understand how otherwise good people stood by and did nothing -- in some cases they even participated. This is one of the themes of the best-selling novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, currently being made into a feature film by Miramax.

Production weekly announced that Mark Herman, director of Brassed Off and Little Voice has been signed to direct. Set in Berlin and Poland during WWII, the story focuses on Bruno; a young boy from a prominent family whose father has been assigned to work in the Kraków concentration camp. Bruno meets and befriends another young boy being held in the camp, and their relationship is the focus of the book. The story uses the innocence of the boy of his surroundings to discuss the bigger idea of how everyday people were able to ignore what was happening around them during Hitler's Final Solution.

Herman also adapted the script and is currently scouting locations in Eastern Europe. No casting announcements have been made yet, but the studio is looking to start production this April, so I doubt they are going to waste much time getting started.

Producer Saul Zaentz no sooner finishes one court case before he's back at it again. This time Zaentz has launched a $20 million lawsuit against Walt Disney Company, including the Miramax Films unit, over profits from the 1996 drama The English Patient.

Reuters reports that the famed producer of Lord of The Rings (1978), Amadeus, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest filed suit last Thursday at the Los Angeles Superior Court. Zaentz's suit accuses Disney and Miramax of failing to share the profits for the Oscar-winning drama. According to Zaentz's suit, "Like Enron, Tyco and WorldCom, Miramax has used fraudulent and unfair accounting and business practices to deprive (Saul Zaentz Co.) of its profit participation,". Miramax has claimed that they have yet to make back what it cost them to acquire, distribute and market the film, so according to them there are no profits.

Well, Zaentz must think 20 is his lucky number, as he sued and won for that exact same amount ($20 million, that is) in a 2005 lawsuit against New Line Cinema over profits from the Lord of the Rings films. Hopefully Zaentz has better luck with his lawsuit than he had keeping Peter Jackson on The Hobbit. Plus, something tells me Disney isn't going to like that Enron crack.

When it comes to fashion, women in their 70s aren't the first that come to mind as being trendsetters, even if they are royalty. Regardless, a new clothing craze has been influenced by something worn by Queen Elizabeth II, or at least something worn by Helen Mirren in her portrayal of Her Majesty in the recent film The Queen. The main article being sought is a Barbour wax jacket called the Beaufort, though other featured garments such as a quilted Liddesdale jacket are also in demand by fans of the film.

I'll be honest that after enjoying The Queen, the only product left in my mind was possibly Range Rover, and not because I wanted to go out and buy one (Elizabeth's gets stuck in a stream), but thanks to this story, I've realized that even my noticing of brands onscreen is indicative of how influential film's may be with product placement, whether blatant or casual. I don't know if I've ever wanted to run out and get something featured in a movie (not counting things that don't exist, of course), so I can't offer any personal examples, but I'm curious to know if any of you readers have purchased something you saw onscreen. Perhaps someone has been inspired by the menswear listed by GQ Magazine in their list of 25 greatest male movie fashions? Even as a halloween costume idea?

Anyway, as long as she's already a great model for their clothes, maybe Mirren could wear something sporty from Barbour (unfortunately they don't make gowns) at the Oscars? I hear she's definitely going to be getting an invite.

Related Queen:

Kim's review of The Queen
Erik's review of The Queen
The Queen press conference at the NYFF
Helen Mirren Oscar front-runner for Queen?

As our friend The Reeler reported earlier today, Eamonn Bowles, president of Magnolia Pictures, who own the rights to the Japanese version of Pulse okayed the use of a shot from the original in Dimension's remake. "Is it scandalous? No," Bowles said. "Is it weird? Yes. You don't usually see the same shot used in a different film, but that was something [Dimension] had come to us about. And we said yes. There isn't anything scandalous about it at all." Though this left some doubt in my mind whether the new film was shot-for-shot mimicking Kiyoshi Kurosawa's, or if, as Magnolia-employed PR agency Special Ops breathlessly alleged yesterday, if new director Jim Sonzero had essentially disembowled the original film and used it for found-footage scraps.

Apparently, it was the latter. A seperate source at Magnolia told me this afternoon that the shot was actually lifted wholesale from the original – the actress was not "replaced", as some of us had suspected; the image was left alone. Why would the distributor do such a thing? There a few factors going on here. Miramax was originally slated to release Kurosawa's film in the U.S.; they left it on the shelf for years, and Magnolia picked it up from them in a divorce sale. They opened it super-small a couple of weeks ago (hence our review), but not much happened with it. A "controversy" such as this (whether Bowles wants to call it that or not) could very well be a semi-savvy last-ditch effort to ignite interest in the original before it goes to DVD. What say you?

Claudia Eller wrote a great piece in yesterday's LA Times on the nine-year struggle to bring Rent to the big screen. Most of the problems had something to do with Harvey Weinstein, who won a bidding war for the rights to Jonathan Larson's musical in 1996. Weinstein asked Robert DeNiro's Tribeca Films to produce, but then thwarted Tribeca's attempts to get a project off the ground. At one point, Spike Lee actually cast the film, but Weinstein refused to unlock the budget. Weinstein today insists that the script wasn't ready ("Whatever Spike said about our differences, it was about the script and the script only.") but Lee was so offended by the experience that he vowed never to work with Weinstein again. In fact, Lee said, "I would rather sell tube socks, three for $5." Chris Columbus eventually wrangled the project out of Harvey's grubby hands, and brought it over to Sony, where he produced the film with Revolution's Joe Roth.

I saw the film yesterday, and whilst I don't want to spoil my review, I will say that Harvey and Spike are probably better off uninvolved. I'll also suggest that you pay attention to those pull-quote heavy TV ads – if look carefully, you'll see that all those blurbs come from just 2 critics.

The day after Thanksgiving, the still-newish Weinstein Company will unveil its second release ... sort of. The Libertine, directed by Laurence Dunmore and starring Johnny Depp as the legendary poet/drunk the 2nd Earl of Rochester, will open up on a handful of screens in New York and LA, without a rating. And a week later, it'll be gone – at least, if all goes according to plan. Weinstein originally planned to release the film as part of its early-fall Miramax shelf dump – remember, the one that worked so well for Proof and all those other long-delayed Oscar hopefuls? – but they've now decided instead to release the picture for a one week awards qualifying run, and then regroup and reevaluate after nominations season.

I saw the picture this morning, and I think they're doing the right thing; Johnny Depp notwithstanding, this thing is going to be nearly impossible to market. The Weinstein Company are not yet affiliated with the MPAA; as such, when the ratings board offered them an NC-17 on the film, they politely declined. Depp is fabulous as the incorrigible Earl, and overall, the film is definitely worth seeing. But it's literally bursting with filth, to the point where it's almost like The Aristocrats remade as a narrative period piece. To say it won't play in Peoria is an understatement – the only way it'll play anywhere is if it's got a legitimate awards push behind it.

We posted way back in March about Scary Movie 4, and haven't heard anything since. Perhaps Bob Weinstein was waiting for the dust to settle on the big divorce before moving forward, but no matter – fans of shoddily-produced, over-the-top parody can now rejoice. Dimension has announced that the cast for the fourth installment of the Wayan's-bred franchise will include Simon Rex (of MTV/WB/porn/Scary Movie 3 fame), Leslie Nielsen (who, lucky for us, apparently can't bear to join the Zucker Brothers in semi-retirement) and Mrs. Dave Navarro herself, Carmen Electra. If you're a fan of the series (which - surprise! - I'm not), you might remember that Electra's character was killed off the last time around; the producers are saying she'll be resurrected in a scene spoofing The Village. Bringing bimbos back from the dead, eh? They've still got it!

Over at The Envelope, James Gates is predicting that Harvey Weinstein is going to largely stay out of this year's Oscar race. It's not that the films he and brother Bob have been involved with over the past twelve months aren't good enough to promote – although, in some cases, that's exactly it – it's that he's got one very good reason not to. "Having spent the last nine months (at least on paper) in the Disney fold," Gates writes, "Pretty much any awards glory would feel like it was being shared with a company he loathed being owned by." Gates predicts that Weinstein will launch a small handful of campaigns for actors and actresses that he'd like to cement working relationships with; Johnny Depp is the obvious example, and it does seem improbable that the Weinstein boys would let his performance in The Libertine slip by fellated.

I think Gates is exactly right - in fact, I think he maybe even underestimates the lengths to which Harvey's already gone to fill the four acting slots with his guys. Depp is surely a lock for Best Actor, and his co-star in The Libertine, Samantha Morton, has a chance in the Best Supporting Actress field as well. Transamerica should definitely reel in a Best Actress nod for Felicity Huffman, and even if Kevin Zeggers can't slide into the Supporting Actor category, Bob Hoskins, co-star of Mrs. Henderson Presents, can probably pick up the slack. Finally, that film's star is Judi Dench – a lady who, when it comes to Oscars, can never be completely counted out.

 

Derailed hinges on a familiar pitch, a theme that’s endured because it works, from here back to Hitchcock back to Shakespeare and all down the years to the beginning of human storytelling: You’re doing something that you know is wrong … and you stumble into something worse. Charles Schine (Clive Owen) has a big house, a loving-but-sick daughter and a relationship that feels more like a business partnership than a marriage with his wife Deanna (Melissa George). One day on the train, Charles meets Lucinda (Jennifer Aniston), who is funny and breezy and pretty ... and married. Charles knows he shouldn’t, but he seeks her out over the next few days, and their casual chats turn into lunches which turn into drinks and before you know it, Charles and Lucinda are in a cheap hotel room about to sleep together. Which is when the door bursts open and they’re interrupted by a ski-mask wearing tough. Threatened. Robbed. Charles is beaten; Lucinda is raped. Charles wants to call the authorities; Lucinda, fearful, is hesitant. “The police are going to want to know what we were doing here!” They go their separate ways. And Charles gets a call from their assailant, Mr. Laroche (Vincent Cassel), asking for money to go away, to not tell Charles’s wife about Lucinda. … And things get worse from there.

Based on a novel by James Siegel, Derailed marks the North American debut of director Mikael Hafstrom, working from a script by Collateral scribe Stuart Beattie. Siegel’s book was a well-received page-turner; I read it when it came out, and I suppose that it tells you a certain something about the novel that I recall its premise and pitch far better than I recall its finale and execution. Yes, the theme of Derailed is one that’s endured because it when it’s done well it’s incredibly effective, but the ugly fact is that Derailed isn’t done well, with mis-casting, awkward direction and a slightly clumsy adaptation all disturbing the forward motion of Derailed’s plot. Derailed is never an actual train wreck, but there are much better story vehicles to take if you’re looking to disembark from the theater with goose bumps and a sense of satisfaction.

Madonna recently told the New York Daily News that though she tried to find a distributor at last year's Cannes Film Festival for her recent documentary, I'm Going to Tell You a Secret, "unless you're Steven Spielberg, distributors take all your DVD rights." In order to learn her lesson, Madonna apparently had to get burned. "When I sold Truth or Dare to Miramax," she says, "I got very little out of it. Just to use a clip of it in my new movie, I had to pay them like $7,000." Mrs. Ritchie maintains that she was "thinking outside the box" when she eschewed a theatrical release to have the film shown exclusively on television. All this, despite the fact that she doesn't let her own kids watch TV? "Just because I'm a mother doesn't mean I'm not still a rebel and that I don't want to go in the face of convention and challenge the system," she says. "It's actually very punk-rock to not watch TV." So, to recap: Madonna's kids are punk rock, and anyone who subjected themselves to the two hours of Kabbalah-infused hell that his her new documentary is, apparently, not. And with that, I renounce my studded belt and Stranglers records to Rocco Ritchie, the future of the revolution.

I read Edward Jay Epstein's latest Slate piece, about Harvey Weinstein's creative accounting practices whilst at Miramax, when I was in Chicago covering the Festival. The night before, I sat through a screening of The Matador, the Pierce Brosnan/Greg Kinnear buddy comedy that Harvey picked up at Sundance and has plans to release through his new company this fall. On the surface, The Matador seems like an odd acquisition for Weinstein; an indie film in name only, no major studio would have trouble marketing its broad comedy and multiple-quadrant-skewing premise. On the surface, it lacks a certain essence that used to mark a typical pre-divorce Weinstein Sundance pick-up – where's the challenge?

Without touching directly on that acquisition, Epstein puts it in a kind of perspective. Harvey's business at Miramax was apparently based on delaying the release of films that he knew were going to be unprofitable so that those losses wouldn't affect his own bonuses. We've talked much about the Miramax late-summer shelf dump; Epstein says, films like The Brothers Grimm and An Unfinished Life, because they won't be balanced out by Oscar season hits, are such disasters that they're going to eat away five years worth of profits. That model, of releasing prestige and auteur projects at strategic points along the fiscal calendar so that the gems balance out the turkeys, is obviously risky as hell. Maybe The Matador is part of the new Weinstein Company's new strategy: a bad film dressed up as a good one, it seems like a key piece in the Weinstein's transition from a business based on imaginary profits, to one based on films that actually make money, regardless of prestige.

• Miramax has acquired rights to The Queen, a Stephen Frears pic about the death of Princess Diana and the British royals. Variety says the move "reflects Miramax's aim of building an eclectic, wide-ranging slate of specialty projects"; all I know is, this sounds a lot better than what the Weinstein Brothers have on their slate. I think anyone unlucky enough to have already seen The Matador will agree.
• Universal is so on Steve Carell's jock, it's not even funny. First, they're letting him write his own, unspecified script as a comic vehicle for himself; then, they bought a pitch called Juvenile, in which he'll star as "the most Caucasian man in America" who gets sent to juvenile prison and suddenly "is surrounded by 11-year-old bad-asses". All this, plus the Bruce Almighty spinoff. Get ready for the backlash...
• Sorry, slump spooksters – all evidence points to this being a pretty good fall for Hollywood. Even with underperformers like Serenity, each weekend has brought on a new crop of modest successes. But can Elizabethtown and/or The Fog continue the trend?
• Andy Garcia will join Ben Affleck, Jeremy Piven (who, incidentally, is my back-up Celebrity Boyfriend, in the off chance that something were to happen to Clive), Ryan Reynolds and Alicia Keys in Smokin' Aces. Joe Carnahan will direct the mob-based action-comedy.

Harvey Weinstein announced today that he and his brother Bob have raised $230.5 million in equity in their new venture, The Weinstein Company. That's not too bad, considering TWC (as far as I know, no one else is jumping to that abbreviation except for lazy lil' me) has been open for business for about four days. HW also hinted that more investors are standing in line; the studio bankroll might total up to $420 million by next week. Bob and Harvey are mainly collecting money right now based on their track record at Miramax/Dimension, and on the strength of their upcoming slate. They'll release their first film as a non-Disney entity on November 11: Derailed, starring Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen. I was planning on challenging Martha to a series of escalating mental and physical challenges in order to win the right to review the film, but then I remembered that I had promised it to Ryan a long time ago. Probably a good thing, too – we should probably wait for a big dip in the numbers before launching into an inter-blog catfight.