Jenkins is Wonder Woman director, Gosling in Blade Runner and Cannes lineup revealed: Woody Allen! Pixar! Mad Max?

Warner Bros suffered a major setback on their highly anticipated fantasy reboot of the DC hero Winder Woman. Director Michelle MacLaren, behind some of the best episodes of Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, pulled out of the film leaving a gap to fill but the replacement has been announced as Patty Jenkins (Monster) is hired. Jenkins was in fact connected to Marvel’s superhero sequel Thor: The Dark World, long before the Edgar Wright/Ant–Man split, and left based on creative differences. Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious) is the Israeli star who’ll bring the new Wonder Woman to the screen.

Gladiator’s Ridley Scott sadly passed on the new Blade Runner sequel but BAFTA nominated director Denis Villeneuve (Enemy, Incendies, Prisoners) is taking his place. Harrison Ford (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, The Fugitive) is confirmed to be reprising his role as the futuristic detective Rick Deckard but some new castings are now poised to be made. The latest report shows that Ryan Gosling (Drive, The Ides of March, Crazy Stupid Love, Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines) is in talks for a a so far unspecified role but you can’t deny some likeness to the original’s Rutger Hauer.

Festivals like Cannes are now major platforms for indie films to get the platform they need to campaign their way to the Oscars and the following list might show some early awards favourites, considering last year the films included Foxcatcher, Mr Turner, Two Days One Night, Maps to the Stars, Leviathan, The Homesman, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Force Majeure but also included the massive flop Grace of Monaco. Here’s this years selection, which’ll each be scrutinised by the jury (led by Fargo and No Country For Old Men directors Joel and Ethan Cohen) for the prestigious prize of Palme D’Or.

Film: Dheepan
Director: Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust and Bone)
Starring: Vincent Rottiers, Marc Zinga
Premise: The story of a Sri Lankan Tamil warrior who flees to France and ends up working as a caretaker outside Paris.
Nation: France

Film: Marguerite et Julien
Director: Valerie Donzelli (Declaration of War)
Starring: Anais Demoustier, Frederic Pierrot
Nation: France

Film: The Tale of Tales
Director: Matteo Garrone (Gamorra)
Starring: Salma Hayek (Frida), Vincent Cassel (Black Swan), John C Reilly (The Aviator), Toby Jones (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
Nation: Italy

Film: Carol
Director: Todd Haynes (Far From Heaven, I’m Not There)
Starring: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Rooney Mara (The Social Network), Kyle Chandler (Super 8), Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story), Cory Michael Smith (Gotham)
Premise: Set in 1950s New York, a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life falls for an older, married woman.
Nation: United States

Film: Nie yin niang (The Assassin)
Director: Hsiao Hsien Hou (Three Times)
Starring: Qi Shu, Chen Chang, Satoshi Tsumbuki
Nation: Taiwan

Film: Shan He Gu Ren (Mountains May Depart
Director: Zhangke Jia (Still Life, A Touch of Sin)
Starring: Tao Zhao
Nation: China

Film: Out Little Sister
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda (Nobody Knows, Still Walking)
Starring: Haruka Ayase, Masami Nagasawa
Nation: Japan

Film: Macbeth
Director: Justin Kurzel (Snowtown)
Starring: Michael Fassbender (12 Years A Slave), Marion Cotillard (Inception), David Thewlis (The Theory of Everything), Elizabeth Debicki (The Great Gatsby), Sean Harris (Prometheus), Jack Reynor (What Richard Did), Paddy Considine (The World’s End)
Premise: Macbeth, a duke of Scotland, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
Nation: United Kingdom, France, United States

Film: The Lobster
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos (Dogtooth)
Starring: Colin Farrell (Minority Report), Lea Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Colour), Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener), Ben Whishaw (Cloud Atlas), John C Reilly (The Aviator), Olivia Colman (Tyranasour)
Premise: In a dystopian near future, single people are obliged to find a matching mate in 45 days or are transformed into animals and released into the woods.
Nation: Greece

Film: Mon Roi
Director: Maiwenn (Polisse)
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Louis Garrel
Nation: France

Film: Mia Madre
Director: Nanni Moretti (The Son’s Room)
Starring: Margherita Buy (The Caiman), John Turturro (Barton Fink)
Nation: Italy

Film: La giovinezza (The Early Years)
Director: Paolo Sorrentino (This Must Be the Place)
Starring: Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener), Michael Caine (Batman Begins), Jane Fonda (Coming Home), Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood), Harvey Keitel (Reservoir Dogs)
Premise: Fred and Mick, two old friends, are on vacation in an elegant hotel at the foot of the Alps.
Nation: Italy

Film: Louder Than Bombs
Director: Joaquim Trier (Oslo August 31st)
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), Amy Ryan (Birdman), Rachel Brosnahan (House of Cards), David Strathairn (Good Night and Good Luck)
Nation: Norway, France, Denmark, United States

Film: The Sea of Trees
Director: Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting)
Starring: Matthew MacConaughey (Interstellar), Naomi Watts (King Kong), Ken Watanabe (Letters Form Iwo Jima)
Premise: A suicidal American befriends a Japanese man lost in a forest near Mt. Fuji and the two search for a way out.
Nation: United States

Film: Sicario
Director: Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Incendies)
Starring: Emily Blunt (Looper), Josh Brolin (No Country For Old Men), Jon Beranthal (Fury), Benicio Del Toro (Traffic)
Premise: A young female FBI agent joins a secret CIA operation to take down a Mexican cartel boss, a job that ends up pushing her ethical and moral values to the limit.
Nation: United States

Films not competing:

Film: Mad Max: Fury Road
Director: George Miller (The Road Warrior)
Starring: Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises), Charlize Theron (Prometheus), Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class)
Premise: In a post-apocalyptic world, in which people fight to the death, Max teams up with a mysterious woman, Furiousa, to try and survive.
Nation: Australian, United States

Film: Irrational Man
Director: Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Midnight in Paris, Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Starring: Emma Stone (The Help), Joaquin Phoenix (Her)
Premise: On a small town college campus, a philosophy professor in existential crisis gives his life new purpose when he enters into a relationship with his student.
Nation: United States

Film: The Little Prince
Director: Mark Osborne (Kung Fu Panda)
Starring: Rachel McAdams (Sherlock Holmes), Mackenzie Foy (Interstellar), Paul Giamatti (Saving Mr Banks), James Franco (127 Hours), Marion Cotillard (Inception), Jeff Bridges (True Grit), Benicio Del Toro (Traffic), Albert Brooks (Finding Nemo), Ricky Gervais (The Office)
Premise: A pilot crashes in the desert and meets a little boy from a distant planet.
Nation: France

Channing Tatum planning new GhostBusters plus Bruce Willis and Jesse Eisenberg joins Allen’s latest

The Sautrday Night Live alumni of Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Lesley Jones and Kate McKinnon, under Bridesmaids director Paul Feig, are all set as the lead stars of the female-lead reboot of the classic fantasy comedy Ghostbusters. Despite this, in a strange announcement, Sony has been revealed to be developing their own male-lead remake. With an impressive team at the helm, it appears to be shaping up as a potential prequel, creating a shared universe for the franchise. The aforementioned team are Iron Man 3 writer Drew Pearce, Captain America: The Winter Soldier directors Anthony and Joe Russo and Foxcatcher/21 Jump Street star Channing Tatum. Meanwhile, Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) is also rumoured for a role.

While Magic in the Moonlight was a let down for many, legendary Oscar winning writer/director Woody Allen (Annie Hall, Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters, Midnight in Paris, Blue Jasmine). His next film, a college romance entitled Irrational Man, has added its cast list. Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, Zombieland), Kristen Stewart (Twilight, Still Alice) and Bruce Willis (The Sixth Sense, Die Hard, The Fifth Element, Twelve Monkeys, Moonrise Kingdom, Looper) are all set to join the cast already including Emma Stone (Birdman, The Amazing Spider-Man) and Joaquin Phoenix (Her, Gladiator).

Irrational Man – July 24th in US, later in the year in UK

Untitled Ghostbusters Project – 2018?

2015 Academy Awards Nominations! – Birdman leads

We favoured Interstellar, Godzilla, The Lego Movie, The Imitation Game and Guardians of the Galaxy as our best picks of 2014 (Birdman, Selma, American Sniper and The Theory of Everything counting as 2015) but the Oscars are assumed as the definitive representation of the finest films. The esteemed guests of actor Chris Pine (Star Trek Into Darkness), director/writer JJ Abrams (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens) and last year’s Best Director winner Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity, Children of Men) were the ones to reveal the following announcements.

Best Picture:

American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

Best Director:

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Bennett Miller – Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Morten Tyldum – The Imitation Game

Best Actor:

Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

Best Actress:

Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild

Best Supporting Actress:

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Laura Dern – Wild
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Emma Stone – Birdman
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods

Best Supporting Actor:

Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
JK Simmons – Whiplash

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Jason Hall – American Sniper
Graham Moore – The Imitation Game
Paul Thomas Anderson – Inherent Vice
Anthony McCarten – The Theory of Everything
Damien Chazelle – Whiplash

Best Original Screenplay:

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
E Max Frye, Dan Futterman – Foxcatcher
Wes Anderson, Hugo Guinness – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Gilroy – Nightcrawler

Best Animated Feature Film:

Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya

Best Cinematography:

Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman
Robert Yeoman – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Lukasz Zal, Ryszard Lenczewski – Ida
Dick Pope – Mr Turner
Roger Deakins – Unbroken

Best Editing:

American Sniper
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash

Best Costume Design:

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Into the Woods
Maleficent
Mr Turner

Best Foreign Language Film:

Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines
Timbuktu
Wild Tales

Best Makeup and Hair:

Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy

Best Production Design:

The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Mr Turner

Best Sound Editing:

American Sniper
Birdman
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Unbroken

Best Sound Mixing:

American Sniper
Birdman
Interstellar
Unbroken
Whiplash

Best Visual Effects:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past

Best Music – Original Score:

Alexandre Desplat – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alexandre Desplat – The Imitation Game
Hans Zimmer – Interstellar
Gary Yershon – Mr Turner
Johann Johannsson – The Theory of Everything

Best Music – Original Song:

Everything is Awesome – Shawn Patterson – The Lego Movie
Glory – John Stephens, Lonnie Lynn – Selma
Grateful – Diane Warren – Beyond the Lights
I’m Not Going to Miss You – Glen Campbell, Julian Raymond – Glen Campbell…I’ll be Me
Lost Stars – Gregg Alexander, Danielle Brisebois – Begin Again

Best Documentary Feature:

CitizenFour
Finding Vivian Maier
Last Days in Vietnam
The Salt of the Earth
Virunga

Best Documentary Short:

Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
Joanna
Our Curse
The Reaper
White Earth

Best Short – Live Action:

Aya
Boogaloo and Graham
Butter Lamp
Parvaneh
The Phone Call

Best Short – Animation:

The Bigger Picture
The Dam Keeper
Feast
Me and My Moulton
A Single Life

Overall, this wasn’t entirely different to any of the major awards dispensers to go before but there’s still the odd surprise in store. Bradley Cooper, Laura Dern, Marion Cotillard and Robert Duvall’s acting nods weren’t expected. The strange number of eight Best PIcture nominees left out other favourites such as Foxcatcher, Unbroken, Interstellar, Into the Woods and Nightcrawler. Big Eyes, Cake and A Most Violent Year are mentionless.

The Lego Movie got a disappointing turnout but Selma, while it picked up a Best Picture nomination, got snubbed in Best Director (Ava DuVernay) and Best Actor (David Oyelowo). David Fincher/Ben Affleck’s Gone Girl too will be sourly disappointed, only receiving Leading Actress  Shamefully, every acting competitor is white and there are no female entries in Directing or Writing, proving the bias of the predominantly white male academy.

The award of Best Editing tends to be a powerful prompter for the Best Picture frontrunners so I’d say American Sniper, The Imitation Game, Whiplash and Birdman will be the closest contenders to the main winner Boyhood. The Grand Budapest Hotel may suffer the American Hustle problem of a great amount of nominations but none to few wins. Here’s the current leaderboard.

Birdman – 9
The Grand Budapest Hotel – 9
The Imitation Game – 8
Boyhood – 6
American Sniper – 6
Interstellar – 5
Foxcatcher – 5
Whiplash – 5
The Theory of Everything – 4
Mr Turner – 4
Into the Woods – 3
Unbroken – 3
Ida – 2
Wild – 2
Selma – 2
Guardians of the Galaxy – 2
Inherent Vice – 2

Richard Linklater, Michael Keaton, Julianne Moore, JK Simmons and Patricia Arquette seem set to win and here’s my own top ten most likely predictions for Best Picture.

1. Boyhood
2. Birdman
3. American Sniper
4. Whiplash
5. The Theory of Everything
6. The Imitation Game
7. Selma
8. The Grand Budapest Hotel

Gone Girl and How I Met Your Mother star Neil Patrick Harris will host the Academy Awards on February 22nd.

Boyhood, Still Alice and Birdman triumph at 2015 Golden Globes

The first of the three major awards ceremonies dished out its accolades at last nights Golden Globes. So far Boyhood, Birdman, The Imitation Game, Gone Girl and The Grand Budapest Hotel seemed to be leading the way but this’ll set the town for the rest of the awards season to come.

Best Motion Picture – Drama:

Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical:

The Grand Budapest Hotel
Birdman
Pride
St Vincent
Into the Woods

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama:

Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
David Oyelowo – Selma

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama:

Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Jennifer Aniston – Cake
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild

Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy:

Michael Keaton – Birdman
Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Bill Murray – St Vincent
Joaquin Phoenix – Inherent Vice
Christoph Waltz – Big Eyes

Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy:

Amy Adams – Big Eyes
Emily Blunt – Into the Woods
Helen Mirren – The Hundred-Foot Journey
Julianne Moore – Maps to the Stars
Quvenzhane Wallis – Annie

Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture:

JK Simmons – Whiplash
Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher

Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture:

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods
Emma Stone – Birdman

Best Director – Motion Picture:

Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ava DuVernay – Selma
David Fincher – Gone Girl
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – Birdman

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture:

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaries, Armando Bo – Birdman
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gillian Flynn – Gone Girl
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Graham Moore – The Imitation Game

Best Original Score – Motion Picture:

Johann Johannsson – The Theory of Everything
Alexandre Desplat – The Imitation Game
Trent Reznor – Gone Girl
Antonio Sanchez – Birdman
Hans Zimmer – Interstellar

Best Original Song – Motion Picture:

John Legend/Common, “Glory” – Selma
Lana Del Rey, “Big Eyes” – Big Eyes
Patti Smith/Leonard Kaye, “Mercy Is” – Noah
Greg Kurstin/Sia Furler/Will Gluck, “Oppurtunity” – Annie
Lorde, “Yellow Flicker Beat” – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1

Best Animated Feature Film:

How to Train Your Dragon 2
Big Hero 6
The Book of Life
The Lego Movie
The Boxtrolls

Best Foreign Language Film:

Leviathan
Force Majeure
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
Ida
Tangerines

Boyhood’s victory, as well as Linklater, Keaton, Adams, Simmons and Arquette’s wins, was easily predictable but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t any surprises. Three of the four leading categories were wide open an last night put Eddie Redmayne, Julianne Moore and Amy Adams into the lead. Wes Anderson’s whimsical caper The Grand Budapest Hotel toppled dark comedy Birdman in the Comedy/Musical category but Inarritu’s film bounced back for Screenplay. The night’s biggest loser is The Imitation Game, hotly tipped with five noms but not a single win.

Here’s the winner’s list in full:

Boyhood – 3
Birdman, The Theory of Everything – 2
Big Eyes, The Grand Budapest Hotel, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Leviathan, Selma, Still Alice, Whiplash – 1

In TV, the likes of Game of Thrones, Downton Abbey, True Detective and The Missing lost out to Fargo, Transparent, The Honourable Woman, House of Cards and The Affair.

You can find our official Oscar predictions (first nominees, then winners) here very soon.

Review of the year – The Five Biggest News Stories of 2014, including Spectre, Doctor Strange, The Interview and more

5) The Force awakens for Star Wars

It was mysterious and secretive right up until it didn’t want to be and JJ Abrams’ (Super 8, Lost, Star Trek) new Star Wars sequel has become the year’s biggest hype monster. We new nothing until the entire cast were announced in one swoop. Newcomers to the series Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis), John Boyega (Attack the Block), Domhnall Gleeson (About Time), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave), Adam Driver (Tracks), Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones), Max Von Sydow (Minority Report) and Andy Serkis (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Lord of the Rings) will rub shoulders with the original crew of Mark Hamill (The Big Red One), Carrie Fisher (The Blues Brothers), Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Warwick Davis (Willow) and Harrison Ford (Blade Runner, The Witness, Raiders of Lost Ark).

The Force Awakens was revealed as the title and this phenomenon of a trailer was released.

4) The Interview – when Hollywood enters world politics

We continue proceedings with the most recent and easily the most controversial scoop of the year. The Interview began harmlessly as a Sony comedy project poised to be the directorial follow up for This Is the End Team Evan Goldberg (Superbad) and Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, 50/50) with regular collaborator James Franco (Spider-Man, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, 127 Hours). Lizzy Caplan (Cloverfield, Masters of Sex) was recruited to star but things kicked off when the film’s full extent was revealed.

The Interview would see extravagant broadcaster Dave Skylark (Franco) and producer Aaron Rapaport (Rogen) are enlisted by the FBI to infiltrate North Korea, via an interview with their real-life leader Kim Jung-Un (here played by Randall Park), and assassinate him. Production went swimmingly but the release is where trouble was aroused. To provide some political context, Kim Jung-Un is the successor of Kim Jung-Il. This dynasty, responsible for the atrocities or just the face of the oppression, are allegedly conducting massacres of their own people but the (and I know this is a woeful understatement) tightly regulated press cannot confirm any story of the like.

North Korea’s potential response was always dreaded but it was only in the past month that events spiralled. The country seemed placid enough until declaring it an act of war. The first aggressive move was made when Sony were mysteriously hacked and numerous stories (a clean slate for Spider-Man?) and entire films, including The Interview, were leaked online. North Korea denied responsibility for the hack but the methods bared great similarity to another attack on the South Korean government. The nation then made the grave threats of 9\11 style attacks on all cinemas showing the film – not even Team America prompted this sort of retaliation.

And so Sony had to pull the release. It’s still unclear if they plan to postpone or entirely cancel the film, if the latter Sony will have suffered losses of $40 million on budget, $30 million on marketing as well as whatever money they claimed from the box office. You can see why Sony would be keen to negotiate some form of release. If so cult stardom awaits.

Not only this film was pulled (Oscar hopeful Foxcatcher, starring Steve Carell, Mark Ruffalo and Channing Tatum, has suffered delays) due to the attack and this isn’t the only film of this year to have caused major political impact; action sci-fi sequel The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 was forced to scrap its Taiwan release, worried that the rebellious themes would stir public unrest.

Many of Hollywood’s elite, including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty star Ben Stiller, criticized Sony’s response for caving in and not exercising freedom of speech. US President Barack Obama himself condemned Sony but I doubt he’d have been so critical if a matter so trivial as a farcical comedy film were to bring harm to others.

3) Marvel’s Third Phase – difficulty casting Strange and creative power struggle for Ant-Man

Four films based upon Marvel comics dominated the financial skyline of this year: Sony’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2 ($708 million – 6th highest grossing film of the year), Fox’s X-Men: Days of Future Past ($746 million – 4th) and the official Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($714 million – 5th) and Guardians of the Galaxy ($772 million – 2nd). After next year’s Avengers sequel Age of Ultron, the MCU are advancing with its third phase. It was confirmed all in one massive, mid-week presentation.

Captain America (starring Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr) and Thor (starring Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston) are receiving their third films (Civil War and Ragnarok respectively; Guardians of the Galaxy is getting the sequel treatment; the Avengers will return in a two part event titled Infinity War and the new properties of Black Panther (starring Chadwick Boseman), Captain Marvel and Inhumans will be put into production.

One of Marvel’s most promising projects was Ant-Man, a sci-fi that Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Scott Pilgrim VS The World) had been developing for years. The casting of Paul Rudd (Anchorman), Corey Stoll (House of Cards), Evangeline Lilly (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), Michael Pena (American Hustle) and Michael Douglas (The Game) went swimmingly but Wright’s departure sent the film spiralling. There was a scramble for a replacement saw comedy veterans Rawson Marshall Thurber (We’re the Millers) and Adam McKay (Anchorman) in consideration but Peyton Reed, still best known for Yes Man, got the job. Annoyingly the decision has all the signs of a last minute filler job.

Doctor Strange had an easier time picking its helmer in the form of Sinister’s Scott Derickson. Casting was far trickier. Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) and Benedict Cumberbatch were the first to be rumoured for the role in a long chain of names featuring Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club), Jack Huston (Broadwalk Empire), Edgar Ramirez (Deliver Us From Evil) and Andy Serkis (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) with the persisting, if far fetched, claims of Adrien Brody (The Pianist) and Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Caribbean). In the summer Joaquin Phoenix (Her, Walk the Line, Inherent Vice) was revealed to be in talks but didn’t immediately sign on and he seemed reluctant to be joining.

Indeed he was and his departure left the casting process at square one. After this a host of actors were mentioned in connection: Matthew MacConaughey (Interstellar), Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis), Ethan Hawke (Before Sunrise), Ewan MacGregor (Transpotting), Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler) and Ryan Gosling (The Ides of March). Eventually Marvel circled back to Golden Globe nominee Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, 12 Years a Slave, The Imitation Game). Despite these delays the franchise is interlocking into place.

2) Homegrown talent triumphs at Oscars

Besides Spike Jonze’s awful robo-romance Her, 2014’s Academy Awards Best Picture selection was phenomenal. The strong contenders were American Hustle (’70s set hustler drama starring Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner and Jennifer Lawrence), Captain Phillips (hijacking thriller with Tom Hanks), Gravity (spaceship disaster action with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney), Philomena (Steve Coogan written comedy/drama starring Coogan and Judi Dench) and Scorcese’s modern crime flick The Wolf of Wall Street.

Unsurprisingly it was the thoroughly acclaimed period drama 12 Years a Slave that triumphed. While it is a largely American production, the film, depicted a harrowing account of slavery through the story of Solomon Northup, but has an immense amount of British. The film’s grand ensemble (including Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Sarah Paulson, Scoot McNairy, Quvenzhane Wallis, Paul Giamatti and Brad Pitt) picked up three acting nominations: Brit Chiwetel Ejiofor for Best Leading Actors; Irish-Germanic star Michael Fassbender for Best Supporting Actor; Mexican-born unknown Lupita Nyong’o won for Best Supporting Actress.

The ceremony’s most important victor was Steve McQueen. Although the Brit lost out on Best Director to Gravity’s Alfonso Cuaron his work became the first Best Picture winner to have been directed and produced by a black filmmaker. This year, 12 Years a Slave made film history.

1) Spectre-falls

Spectre triumphs as our most exciting news story of 2014. The mega-announcement revealed the title of the twenty fourth Bond instalment as well as the cast and some plot details. Sam Mendes’ (Road to Perdition, Revolutionary Road, American Beauty) follow up to the billion dollar success of Skyfall sees James Bond tracking down a mysterious signal that leads him to uncovering a hidden organisation. The cast includes Daniel Craig (Munich), Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained), Lea Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Colour), Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Andrew Scott (Sherlock), Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy), Naomie Harris (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom), Jesper Christiansen (Melancholia), Rory Kinnear (The Imitation Game) and Ben Whishaw (Cloud Atlas).

Selma, Pride and Grand Budapest Hotel surprise at Golden Globe nominations

The first of the three truly major awards ceremonies, the other two being the BAFTAs and the Oscars, has at last pushed its cards from its chest. Unsurprisingly, the likes of Boyhood, Birdman, Foxcatcher, The Theory of Everything, The Imitation Game and The Grand Budapest Hotel feature prolifically but there’s a few unexpected mentions for the films Selma, Pride, Annie, St Vincent, Nightcrawler and Into the Woods and the stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Bill Murray, Naomi Watts, Jennifer Aniston and Meryl Streep. A phenomenal nine Brits have cropped up in the acting nominations (Benedict Cumberbatch, David Oyelowo, Eddie Redmayne, Ralph Fiennes, Felicity Jones, Rosamund Pike, Emily Blunt, Keira Knightley and Helen Mirren). Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will host the ceremony next Spring.

Best Picture – Drama:

Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything

Best Picture – Musical or Comedy:

Birdman
Into the Woods
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Pride
St Vincent

Best Director:

Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ava DuVernay – Selma
David Fincher – Gone Girl
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood

Best Actor – Drama:

Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
David Oyelowo – Selma
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

Best Actress – Drama:

Jennifer Aniston – Cake
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild

Best Actor – Musical or Comedy:

Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Bill Murray – St Vincent
Joaquin Phoenix – Inherent Vice
Christoph Waltz – Big Eyes

Best Actress: Musical or Comedy:

Amy Adams – Big Eyes
Emily Blunt – Into the Woods
Helen Mirren – The Hundred-Foot Journey
Julianne Moore – Maps to the Stars
Quvenzhane Wallis – Annie

Best Supporting Actor:

Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
JK Simmons – Whiplash

Best Supporting Actress:

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Emma Stone – Birdman
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods

Best Screenplay:

Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gillian Flynn – Gone Girl
Alejendro Gonzalez Inarritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Graham Moore – The Imitation Game

Best Original Score:

Alexandre Desplat – The Imitation Game
Johann Johannsson – The Theory of Everything
Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross – Gone Girl
Antonio Sanchez – Birdman
Hans Zimmer – Interstellar

Best Original Song:

Big Eyes – Big Eyes – Lana Del Rey
Glory – Selma – John Legend, Common
Mercy Is – Noah – Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye
Opportunity – Annie – Greg Kurstin, Sia Furler, Will Gluck
Yellow Flicker Beat – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 – Lorde

Best Foreign Language Film:

Force Majeure
Gett: The Trial of Vivianne Amsalem
Ida
Leviathan
Tangerines

Best Animated Feature:

Big Hero 6
The Book of Life
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Lego Movie

Here’s the list of the biggest nomination holders:

Birdman – 7
Boyhood – 5
The Imitation Game – 5
Gone Girl – 4
The Grand Budapest Hotel – 4
Selma – 4
The Theory of Everything – 4
Big Eyes – 3
Into the Woods – 3
St Vincent – 3
Foxcatcher – 3

Birdman tops Indie Spirit nominations and Andy Serkis discusses Age of Ultron

Andy Serkis is one of Britain’s great innovative actors of the century, providing the iconic roles of The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit’s Gollum, Rise/Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ Caesar and King Kong. While also starring in the flesh in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige, he’s still by far best known for his legendary motion capture work but its unclear which format he shall take for his upcoming works, an unspecified role in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, directing and starring as Baloo in Jungle Book: Origins and a mystery shrouded appearance in Marvel’s blockbuster sequel.

In The Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer Serkis’ part was teased in a single shot in which, bearded, he turns toward the camera. He bares a great resemblance to the Marvel villain Ulysses Klaw, which’d make him the lead antagonist in 2017’s Black Panther alongside hero Chadwick Boseman. As well as this he’s assisting with the film’s mo-cap work with the characters Hulk and Ultron. He’s shed some light on that process.

“We did some work on Ultron,” Serkis reveals to Empire on their visit to his Imaginarium Studio. “On the development of Ultron before James Spader came on board. In terms of movement styles: was he gonna be human-like? Was he going to be robot-like? So we worked with a bunch of different people, from body-popping experts to dancers, to this guy called Neil who’s nearly eight feet tall.”

“We gave Mark weights, we had voice projections so he could do his Hulk roar. On screen we could have a virtual representation of the low-resolution avatar of The Hulk, so he could come out and feel that sense of scale.”

Written and directed by Joss Whedon (Serenity, Buffy and the Vampire Slayer, Toy Story), the sequel stars Robert Downey Jr (The Judge, Sherlock Holmes) as Tony Stark, James Spader (Stargate, Lincoln) as Ultron, Chris Hemsworth (Rush, The Cabin in the Woods) as Thor, Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker, The Town) as Clint Barton, Chris Evans (Snowpiercer, The Iceman) as Steve Rogers, Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Lucy) as Natasha Romanoff, Mark Ruffalo (Shutter Island, Foxcather) as Bruce Banner, Elizabeth Olsen (Godzilla, Liberal Arts) as Wanda Maximoff, Aaron Taylor Johnson (Kick-Ass, Anne Karenina) Pietro Maximoff, Paul Bettany (A Beautiful Mind, Margin Call) The Vision, Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother) as Maria Hill, Don Cheadle (Crash, Flight) as James Rhodes, Thomas Kretschmann (The Pianist, King Kong) as Wolfgang von Strucker, Stellan Skarsgard (Good Will Hunting, Melancholia) as Erik Selvig and Samuel L Jackson (Pulp Fiction, Jurassic Park, The Incredibles, Django Unchained) as Nick Fury.

Followed by Martin Luther King biopic Selma and drumming drama Whiplash, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Birdman, a dark comedy centred on a former but now fledging and arrogant superhero star played by Beetlejuice’s Michael Keaton, is leading the pack in The Independent Spirit Awards with six nominations. The lack of a mention for acclaimed British wartime drama The Imitation Game has caused some controversy (a calculated conspiracy to snub the Brits?). Take a look at the full list.

Best Feature:

Birdman
Boyhood
Love is Strange
Selma
Whiplash

Best Director:

Damien Chazelle – Whiplash
Ava DuVemay – Selma
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu – Birdman
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
David Zellner Kumiko – The Treasure Hunter

Best Screenplay:

Big Eyes
A Most Violent Year
Nightcrawler
Only Lovers Left Alive
Love is Strange

Best Female Lead:

Marion Cotillad – The Immigrant
Rinko Kikuchi – The Treasure Hunter
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Jenny Slate – Obvious Child
Tilda Swinton – Only Lovers Left Alive

Best Male Lead:

Andre Benjamin – Jimi: All is By My Side
Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton – Birdman
John Lithgow – Love is Strange
David Oyelowo – Selma

Best Supporting Female:

Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year
Carmen Ejogo – Selma
Andrea Suarez Paz – Stand Clear of Closing Doors
Emma Stone – Birdman

Best Supporting Male:

Riz Ahmed – Nightcrawler
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Alfred Molina – Love is Strange
Edward Norton – Birdman
JK Simmons – Whiplash

Best Cinematography:

The Immigrant
Birdman
It Felt Like Love
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Selma

Best Editing:

Boyhood
Whiplash
Nightcrawler
A Most Violent Year
The Guest

Best International Film:

Force Majeure
Ida
Leviathan
Mommy
Norte, The End of History
Under the Skin

Robert Altman Award:

Inherent Vice; Director: Paul Thomas Anderson; Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Jena Malone, Benicio Del Toro, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon

Special Distinction Award:

Foxcatcher; Director: Bennett Miller; Starring: Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, Sienna Miller, Vanessa Redgrave

The Avengers: Age of Ultron – May 1st 2015

Benedict Cumberbatch confirmed as Doctor Strange

The casting of Doctor Stephen Strange has been one of the most brutal and exciting film stories of the year. Marvel’s supernatural thriller was greenlighted and gained a director, Sinister’s Scott Derickson, earlier this year. Early speculation prompted talk about Adrien Brody and Jon Hamm joining while Andy Serkis’ (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes) unspecified role in Avengers: Age of Ultron could have been as the surgeon. The initial casting rumour was that Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) and Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises) were on Marvel’s shortlist. When casting Ant-Man a similar two nominations, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Paul Rudd, came forward and one (Rudd) was confirmed but there was a different story here.

Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) also entered the running before, in the summer, Joaquin Phoenix (Her) was confirmed to be in negotiations. When he didn’t immediately sign on rumours surfaced that the Oscar winner was reluctant to join and they were revealed to be true when he left production. Much more recently many names were thrown into the mix: Ewan MacGregor (Big Fish), Jake Gyllenhaal (Source Code), Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis) and Matthew MacConaughey (Interstellar) were among them. A year of chasing has only brought the casting full circle as Benedict Cumberbatch was cast.

The reports, frustratingly, are varied; some claim that he is only in talks – others that this is the official casting. The build up of the Brit’s career began with supporting roles in Starter for 10 and Atonement before he really blew up in the BBC smash hit Sherlock in 2010. The next year there was further supporting roles in acclaimed thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and the Spielberg’s war drama War Horse. In 2013 he played the principal villains in blockbuster sequels Star Trek Into Darkness and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug as well as cropping up as Ford in Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave. He’s now getting plenty of Oscar buzz for code cracking biopic The Imitation Game.

Cumberbatch is certainly aesthetically right for the role and I’m certain he can provide an identifiable amount of menace to the hero. Whether there are enough Brits in the MCU (see Paul Bettany, Idris Elba, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hiddleston, Hayley Atwell, Toby Jones, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Ben Kingsley) is another discussion.

Doctor Strange – July 8th 2016

McGregor, Gyllenhaal and MacConaughey in Doctor Strange rumour and DC announce new releases

The elusive casting of Marvel’s Doctor Strange still rages. Scott Derickson (Sinister) was hired shortly after the film’s confirmation but the crucial position of the lead role in the superhero fantasy has passed through many hands. So far Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club, Panic Room), Benedict Cumberbatch (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Star Trek Into Darkness) and Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises, Mad Max: Fury Road) have been named in connection until this summer when Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line, Her) began negotiations. Months later, Phoenix dropped out and the chase began once more.

Names such as Adrien Brody (The Pianist) and Jon Hamm (Mad Men) have been thrown up in speculation. Hardy and Cumberbatch seem unlikely but Leto is still a viable option. More recently there were rumours of Keanu Reeves (The Matrix) and Ethan Hawke (Before Sunset) being involved but a new report claims a host of actors are on a shortlist. Matthew MacConaughey (Interstellar, Mud, Dallas Buyers Club), Oscar Isaac (The Two Faces of January, Inside Llewyn Davis, Star Wars: Episode VII) and Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler, Source Code, Brokeback Mountain).

Most interestingly Ewan McGregor was also named. The Scot found fame in a Danny Boyle double bill of Shallow Grave and Trainspotting but seems to have been shying away from blockbuster roles since the subduing experience of the Star Wars prequel trilogy. He’s since taken roles in The Impossible, Black Hawk Down, Moulin Rouge and Tim Burton’s truly loveable Big Fish. McGregor would be an excellent choice.

Warner Bros are following Marvel’s suit with a cinematic universe based upon the DC comic books. Following last year’s Man of Steel, the layout of their new set of films is at last being unveiled. As expected, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice rolls in March 25th 2016. Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) gets a spin off in 2017 accompanied by Dwayne Johnson’s Shazam and the very first Justice League picture. Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wall-Flower, We Need to Talk About Kevin) plays The Flash and Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) is Aquaman, both arriving in 2018. David Ayer (Fury, End of Watch) also helms The Suicide Squad, now confirmed as part of the line up. Ben Affleck’s The Batman and more Henry Cavill antics in Man of Steel will follow.

Doctor Strange – July 8th 2016

Joaquin Phoenix drops out of Marvel’s Doctor Strange

Guardians of the Galaxy, starring Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Lee Pace, Karen Gillan, Michael Rooker and Vin Diesel, may be one of ten Marvel Cinematic Universe releases but it is the most important yet. Its greatly extended the franchise’s future by both being renewed for a whole trilogy but also proving that Marvel can outlive its original Avengers characters, played by Robert Downey Jr, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Jeremy Renner and Samuel L Jackson. The wave of new heroes including Ant-Man (Paul Rudd), Vision (Paul Bettany), War Machine (Don Cheadle), Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), Falcon (Anthony Mackie) Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor Johnson) is on the way but the casting for Doctor Strange has proved elusive.

Jared Leto (Requiem For a Dream, Dallas Buyers Club), Tom Hardy (Locke, The Dark Knight Rises), Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Star Trek Into Darkness) and Ethan Hawke (Before Sunrise, Training Day) have all been seriously named in connection but this summer Joaquin Phoenix (Her, Gladiator, The Master) was confirmed to be in negotiations for the role. These discussions seemed to have been taking far too long and it was suspected that Phoenix, in the peak of his dramatic career, was reluctant to sign on for a comic book role. Our worries have been confirmed as Phoenix has officially dropped out for that reason. This seems a little unjustified; Jeff Bridges, Anthony Hopkins, Hugo Weaving, Tommy Lee Jones, Ben Kingsley, Robert Redford, Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, John C Reilly, Glenn Close and Michael Douglas have already played roles in the series. At the moment, I’d top Ethan Hawke in favour of the role. Scott Derickson (Sinister) directs.

Doctor Strange – July 8th 2016