Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Today's Film News: End of the Line at New Line


By Katey Rich

They must have known it was coming, but it was still probably a rough day at New Line yesterday. Nearly the entire staff, 450 employees in total, were given pink slips on Monday, as the former indie's merge into parent company Warner Bros. becomes complete. Variety says that about 40 New Liners are being offered jobs at Warner Bros., and are probably suffering death glares from their former colleagues.



Demi_moore1_300_400Demi Moore has been flying under the radar ever since her tabloid-fodder wedding to Ashton Kutcher back in 2005, but she seems to be quietly making her way back on to the screen. She starred in last month's little-seen Flawless, and now she's signed on for roles in two new indie comedies. The Hollywood Reporter writes that she and Parker Posey will team up for Happy Tears, from Teeth director Mitchell Lichtenstein; the two will play a Savages-like pair of siblings dealing with a father who has developed dementia. She'll also co-star with Woody Harrelson and Josh Hartnett in the revenge actioner Bunraku, from writer-director Guy Moshe (Holly).



The crusading idealist Robert Redford is working on another movie about big issues. He'll act in and produce a biopic about Jackie Robinson, playing the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers who wanted to make a statement by hiring the first black professional baseball player. The Reporter writes that the sports network ESPN will team up with Redford to produce the film.



Ghost_in_the_shell_fAnd finally, the 3D revolution keeps rolling along, and now it's eyeing a form of animation usually exclusively 2D-- anime. DreamWorks will produce an adaptation of Ghost in the Shell, a popular Japanese manga that was adapted for TV anime as well as feature films and video games. Variety writes that Steven Spielberg took a personal interest in the story about a special-ops unit fighting technology-related crime. Hey, how about the technology-related crimes of 3D movies that aren't even worth watching in two dimensions?



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