Theaters are shut, production postponed, dealmaking stalled and writers are twisting in the wind. Given these conditions, it's perversely appropriate that the hottest new book about the movie business is focused on an angst-ridden writer. The Big Goodbye doesn't try to make the writing trade seem like fun, but the…
No one who was on the set will ever forget the day the Joker freaked out. With his face frozen in grotesque makeup, he suddenly started screaming that his deal was fraudulent, his director was unprepared, his dialogue was stilted and he was quitting the doomed show. He kept shouting expletives for over two hours to…
Today a special all-Joker edition of the Hero NationIndex.
The Joker is wild again in Hollywood. Todd Phillips’ Joker was nothing short of a sensation at the 76th Venice Film Festival where its premiere earned the Golden Lion award, a slew of rave…
EXCLUSIVE: After the out-sized grosses on the Stephen King novel adaptation It, Warner Bros has put it sequel to King’sThe Shining on the fast track. Mike Flanagan has been set to direct Doctor Sleep, an adaptation of the 2013 King novel that picks up the life of the Redrum kid Danny Torrance when he is in his 40s…
Girls cohorts Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner are in early talks to pen Toni Erdmann, Paramount’s English-language remake of the German pic that was Oscar-nominated in the Foreign Language category this year. This is early days, we’re told, but this is the project that Paramount is eyeing Jack Nicholson and Kristen Wiig…
Soft spoken but intensely focused, Brad Grey earned respect early in his career for his ability to close deals and make big ideas happen. In a business of sociopathic loudmouths, Grey shrewdly played the role of the quiet negotiator. While his rivals were manic, Grey was manipulative, fostering TV hits like The Soprano…
An actress known for roles in Click and Soul Surfer, Lorraine Nicholson has quietly been working away as a writer and director of short films, establishing herself as a director to watch. Bringing her tense and engrossing short film Life Boat to Tribeca, the daughter of Jack Nicholson and Rebecca Broussard has…
UPDATED: Variety also is reporting Kristen Wiig attached to play Jack Nicholson’s daughter in Paramount’s English-language remake of Toni Erdmann. The studio has not returned requests for comment on these.
PREVIOUSLY:Â Jack Nicholson, the three-time Oscar winner whose last movie role was in 2010, is attached to star in…
Oscars producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron have completed their roster of presenters for Sunday’s show with a pair of Hollywood heavyweights. Three-time Academy Award winner Jack Nicholson last presented a montage of previous Best Picture winners at the 80th Academy Awards in 2008. He’ll be back on stage this Sunday…
EXCLUSIVE: After a long search, Warren Beatty has chosen Like Crazy star Felicity Jones to play the female lead in the untitled film about reclusive industrialist Howard Hughes. The film is still mobilizing its financing, with New Regency in place as a co-financier after Paramount dropped out. Still, Beatty has begun…
EXCLUSIVE: Twilight Saga star Peter Facinelli is producing an adaptation of Street Soldier: My Life as an Enforcer For Whitey Bulger and the Boston Irish Mob, an adaptation of the Edward MacKenzie and Phyllis Karas book. Facinelli Films is teamed with Brookstreet Pictures on an indie film that will tell the story of…
Deadline told you Monday that Warren Beatty was getting behind the camera for the first time since Bulworth. Paramount and Beatty are keeping details under wraps, but here’s what I’ve heard: He will play Howard Hughes, but it’s not really a biopic; part of the plot involves an affair he had with a young woman in the…
