The hot potato actress role in 'Welcome to the People' goes to Elizabeth Banks

By Sarah Sluis

During The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Watch actress round table, Amy Adams revealed that she had to turn down a role in Welcome to the People, because she felt she couldn't go there emotionally and be there for her new child. Turns out Hilary Swank had wanted the role, but didn't get it. So who's the role going to now? Elizabeth Banks, who will take on the part when the DreamWorks production starts filming in early 2011.

Though Welcome to the People hasn't been hyped in the press, it clearly seems to be a coveted project among those that have read the script. Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci, the dynamo producing team behind Star Trek (I'll ignore their work on the Transformers series), wrote the script along with newbie Jody Lambert, and Kurtzman is making his directing debut with the film.

Chris Pine stars as a man who returns home after his estranged father dies. He discovers he has an alcoholic sister (Banks) with an out-of-control 12-year-old son. According to his father's will, he must deliver her $150,000. He wants to keep the money for himself, but curiosity gets the best of him and he finds his sister and befriends her without letting her know he's her brother. The idea of sibling reconciliation after a parent's death is a familiar plot point (If it were a comedy, it would be another Rain Man--right?), but the quality of the writing and acting can make or break this kind of film. Though it's billed as a drama, certain leaked details--like the fact that the 12-year-old tries to blow up, of all things, his school's swimming pool--sound almost like dark comedy. I hear awards bells ringing for this one. Perhaps it will end up with a "For Your Consideration" in 2012?

Teens shed their avatars and take on adventure in 'The Defenders'

By Sarah Sluis

I instantly took to the premise of The Defenders, because it combines a culturally relevant premise with an optimistic, throwback tone. The idea is, take some hard-core gaming teens, the kind who spend their free time playing massive multi-player online role-playing games (abbreviated to MMPORG) and make them part of a real adventure. The question is, will they be able to replicate the bravery and ingenuity of their avatars in real life? This project will allow filmmakers to comment on that fuzzy line between reality and cyberspace, and man vs. machine (or in this case, avatar), while at the same time give a nod to the "get the kids outside!" movement.

The other thing going for this project is the tone. Masi Oka, a star of "Heroes" who has also worked as an ILM effects artist, pitched the project, and his combination of artistic and technical savvy (he's also an avid gamer) gives the project the advantage of providing audiences an insider perspective on gamer culture. The writer on the project, Gary Whittas (upcoming The Book of Eli) is also a big gamer, which will also add credence. Producers Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci, who recently gave us the accessible sci-fi update of Star Trek, plan to keep the adventure fun and light, along the lines of The Goonies, which Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment produced. I doubt anyone will be confused by an over-reliance on gamer jargon.

The project seems a reverse of the popular young adult book Ender's Game, in which talented children were inserted into video games with real-life consequences. Published in 1977, when computers were still a novelty, it's funny how the opposite premise--forcing people into an adventure in the real world, not online--now seems more compelling. Let's not forget the similarities to The Matrix (1999) or upcoming Surrogates, both of which take place in sci-fi worlds where physical avatars roam the streets. The idea of being shortchanged or threatened by our creations is that great Frankenstein concept that keeps on giving. I love that this film plans to avoid that post-apocalyptic future setting, but instead make it about kids who finally have a chance to live up to their brave avatar personas. It's rewarding and feel-good. D.J. Caruso, whose contributions to PG-13 action film Eagle Eye wowed Orci and Kurtzman, is attached as a director. He also has Jack the Giant Killer, a fairy tale update, in the New Line pipeline, and Orci and Kurtzman have a Star Trek sequel in the works, so there's no telling when this project will make it to the big screen.