AWARDS HEADLINES
‘Cartel Land’ Filmmaker Matthew Heineman Wins George Polk Award for Documentary Film
Long Island U.’s 67th Annual George Polk Awards in Journalism honor “reporters who advanced vital national conversations on race and gender relations with their masterful investigative reporting in 2015.” The annual awards were established in 1949 by LIU to commemorate George Polk, a CBS correspondent who was murdered in 1948 while covering the Greek civil war. Cartel Land won for its fearless investigation of the drug war in Mexico. (HRA)
OTHER HEADLINES
Keira Knightley’s Feeling Royal, Circles Barbra Streisand’s Catherine the Great Pic
Oscar-nominated actress is in talks to star as the Russian monarch in a Streisand-directed biopic, whose script was written by Kristina Lauren Anderson and topped the 2014 Black List for best unproduced screenplays. Knightley met for the project last year and, since then, talks have been progressing slowly. (THR)
Robert Downey Jr.’s ‘Pinocchio’ Finds a New Director, By the Name Of Ron Howard
The In the Heart of the Sea director has joined RDJ’s film, replacing Paul Thomas Anderson, who departed the film in the fall. Anderson joined the film as writer and director in July. He took the scriptwriting reins from The Giver scribe Michael Mitnick, who penned earlier drafts of the film. Downey will play Geppetto, the creator of a wooden puppet who comes to life after he wishes for a son. (TB)
Julianne Moore Is Getting Her Supervillain On In the ‘Kingsman’ Sequel
Matthew Vaughn is once again directing the film, which will follow the further adventures of Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (Taron Egerton), the most unlikely recruit for gentlemanly boutique secret agency the Kingsmen, yet who turned out to be one of their greatest assets … With a little help from Colin Firth’s Harry Hart, who isn’t returning for the sequel. The movie already has a June 16th, 2017 release date pencilled in. (EMP)
New Line Fires Up a Live Action ‘Astro Boy’, Hires ‘San Andreas’ Writers To Make It Happen
The Warner Bros. division is in negotiations to pick up the rights to the iconic manga and anime character. At the same time, the company has tapped Andre Fabrizio and Jeremy Passmore to pen the script. Animal Logic Entertainment, Ranger 7 Films and Japanese firm Tezuka Productions will produce the feature, which is intended to shed some of its child-skewing trappings and become a live-action, four-quadrant adventure movie. (HV)
Paramount Does Some Release Date Roulette, Moves ‘Rings’ Back, Moves New Linklater Film Up
Studio has moved the opening of Richard Linklater’s dramedy Everybody Wants Some forward two weeks to April 1st in limited release. The studio will expand the film over the following two weekends. It also moved back its horror thriller Rings off April 1st to the pre-Halloween weekend of Oct. 28th. (VAR)
Shawn Levy To Helm Biopic Of Iconic Rock Promoter Bill Graham For Fox, 21 Laps
The director and the studio will turn the life of the legendary music promoter into a feature film. The studio has acquired Bill Graham: My Life Inside Rock and Out, the autobiography he wrote with Robert Greenfield. Levy will produce through his 21 Laps banner. David Graham, Alex Graham and Robert Greenfield will be the executive producers. (DH)
Season Two Of ‘Wayward Pines’ Adds a Former Two-Time Oscar Nominee
Djimon Hounsou has been cast as a series regular on Season 2 of Fox’s M. Night Shyamalan series, and will play an “original resident of Wayward Pines and a historian for the town with extensive knowledge of its complex origins.” It was announced last week that Jason Patric will star in the new season, which was led by Matt Dillon in its first season. (SF)
Trailer Buzz: ‘Colonia’
Screen Media has released a new look at its upcoming Cold War drama, set in 1973 Chile. Starring Emma Watson, Daniel Brühl and Michael Nyqvist, and directed by Florian Gallenberger, the movie hits theaters and VOD on April 15th. (COL)
Screenwriters: Lessons in Acting and Writing – From Working with Real People and No Script
Can you always spot the difference between someone who is acting and real life? Or between scripted dialogue, improvisation and genuine conversation? If you took away the camera operators, the crew and equipment and watched two actors play the climax of a movie – would you believe it was a real conversation? What we can we learn about writing screenplays by placing fiction side by side with fact? (SM)