Hardy Cast As 'Capone' In "Cicero"

Actor Tom Hardy ("Inception") is now attached to play 'Scarface Al Capone', the ruthless, Chicago-based, organized crime racketeer, in the developing Warners feature "Cicero".

The "Cicero" screenplay is by Walon Green, noted for writing director 'Bloody Sam' Peckinpah's classic western "The Wild Bunch".

Actors previously playing Capone in film include Rod Steiger, "Al Capone" (1959), Neville Brand, "The George Raft Story (1961), Jason Robards, "The St. Valentine's Day Massacre" (1967), Buddy Lester, "Poor Devil" (1973), Ben Gazzara, "Capone" (1975), Robert De Niro, "The Untouchables" (1987), Eric Roberts, "The Lost Capone" (1990), Anthony LaPaglia, "Road to Perdition" (2002), Jon Bernthal, "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" (2009) and Stephen Graham,"Boardwalk Empire" (2010).

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Scorsese's "Hugo": Unlock The Secret

Sneak Peek the first trailer supporting director Martin Scorsese's "Hugo".

Based on author Brian Selznick's award winning, 2007 graphic novel "The Invention of Hugo Cabret", the feature is Oscar-winner Scorsese's first film lensed in 3D :

"...'Hugo' is the story of an orphan boy living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station. With the help of an eccentric girl, he searches for the answer to a mystery linking the father he recently lost, an ill-tempered toy shop owner living below him and a heart shaped lock, without a key..."

Actor Johnny Depp has an uncredited cameo in the film as a Paris street, portrait painter.

"Hugo" opens November 23, 2011.

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Warners Unleashing Live-Action "Akira"

According to reports, Warner Bros. Pictures is in talks with Jaume Collet-Serra ("Orphan") to direct a $90 million live-action adaptation of Katsuhito Otomo's graphic novel series "Akira".

The current screenplay is in the hands of Steve Kloves ("Harry Potter"), for producers Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson Killoran and Andrew Lazar. Otomo will executive produce.

The 'cyberpunk' science fiction film will be set in a futuristic, post-war city, circa 2019, focusing on 'Shotaro Kaneda', a gang member, who tries to stop 'Tetsuo Shima' from releasing 'Akira'.

'Akira', as a young boy, developed 'psionic', god-like abilities when serving as a test subject for secret government ESP experiments during the 1980's. When he lost control of this power in 1988, the ensuing blast annihilated Tokyo in a horrifying explosion.

After the apocalyptic event, Akira was subjected to every test known to modern science, then placed within a 'cryonic' chamber underneath the 'Neo-Tokyo Olympic Stadium'.

"Akira" will explore psychological and philosophical themes, including the nature of corruption, the will to power and the growth from childhood to maturity for the human race.

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Mila Kunis in "GQ"

Actress Mila Kunis, poses for the August 2011 issue of GQ Magazine, in support of her new romantic comedy, "Friends With Benefits", co-starring Justin Timberlake.

"Friends with Benefits", directed by Will Gluck also stars Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone and Patricia Clarkson.

"...'Dylan' (Timberlake) and 'Jamie' (Kunis) think it’s going to be easy to add sex to their friendship, despite what Hollywood romantic comedies would have them believe.

"They soon discover, however, that 'getting physical' usually leads to complications..."

"I wanted to do more of an adult movie about sex, and relationships," said director/co-writer Gluck. "I think once you let the audience in on the secret that these characters know they're not the first persons in life going through this, there's a sigh of relief.".

"As a viewer, I don’t want to walk into a movie called 'Friends with Benefits' and see the PG-13 version," added Timberlake. "For me, you can’t have a movie like that without embracing what the title is."

From Castle Rock Entertainment, the film will be distributed by Screen Gems July 22, 2011.

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Sneak Peek "John Carter"

Sneak Peek the new teaser trailer supporting the upcoming Walt Disney Pictures feature "John Carter".

The 3D sci fi adventure, directed by Oscar-winning Andrew Stanton, is based on author Edgar Rice Burrough's "A Princess Of Mars", scheduled for release March 9, 2012.

"John Carter" is currently in CG post-production.

"...Academy Award-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton brings 'John Carter', this captivating hero to the big screen in a stunning adventure epic set on the wounded planet of Mars, a world inhabited by warrior tribes and exotic desert beings.

"Based on the first of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Barsoom Series," the film chronicles the journey of Civil-War veteran John Carter, who finds himself battling a new and mysterious war amidst a host of strange Martian inhabitants..."

"I have been waiting my whole life to see the characters and worlds of 'John Carter of Mars' realized on the big screen," said Stanton.

"It is just a wonderful bonus to have anything to do with it".

The ensemble cast is led by Canadian actor Taylor Kitsch as 'John Carter', Lynn Collins as warrior princess 'Dejah Thoris' and Willem Dafoe as Martian 'Tars Tarkas'.

Cast also includes Thomas Haden Church, Polly Walker, Samantha Morton, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hinds, Dominic West, James Purefoy and Bryan Cranston.

Creative team includes Oscar-nominated production designer Nathan Crowley, costume designer Mayes Rubeo, DP Daniel Mindel and video effects supervisor Peter Chiang.

The character of 'John Carter' debuted in "A Princess of Mars", written in 1911, then serialized as "Under the Moons of Mars", February to July 1912 in the pulp magazine "All-Story", before being published in book form, October 1917.

The character reappeared in subsequent volumes of the series, including "The Gods of Mars (1918), "The Warlord of Mars" (1919), "Swords of Mars" (1936) and "Llana of Gathol (1948).

Carter is also a major secondary character in the fourth volume, "Thuvia, Maid of Mars" (1920), and the ninth, "Synthetic Men of Mars" (1940).

According to Burroughs, Carter served as a captain in the American Civil War on the side of the Confederacy. After the war, he struck it rich finding gold in Arizona.

But while hiding from Apaches in a cave, he seemingly dies, leaving his inanimate body behind, then mysteriously transported by astral projection to the planet Mars.

Re-embodied in a form identical to his earthly one, Carter is much stronger than the natives of Mars, because of the difference in gravity.

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"True Blood" Author Digs "Cemetery Girl"

Charlaine Harris, author of the original 'Sookie Stackhouse' novels that the HBO TV series "True Blood" is based on, has revealed her plans for a three-volume graphic novel series, in collaboration with comic book writer Christopher Golden.

Harris said "Cemetery Girl" will focus on a woman who finds herself living in a graveyard with no memory of her past life, "...only the sense of a mysterious threat hanging over her..."

Golden's previous work includes "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", also collaborating with "Hellboy" creator Mike Mignola on the illustrated novel "Baltimore, or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and Vampire".

"The publishing company that I've been with, Penguin, is going into graphic novels, so it's a great book with a very original concept", said Harris about "Cemetary Girl".

"We're doing it in a three-book arc. It should be out next year."

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