Movie Make-out

I’m a nut for book-to-movie adaptations, and already I’ve given my tentative stamp of approval to Easy A as it’s written by playwright Bert V. Royal and directed by Will Gluck.

Now comes the news from Variety that newcomer Emma Stone (Superbad, The House Bunny) will take the leading role. As far as leading ladies are concerned, Stone isn’t a half-bad choice as she’s already got cred for being able to play younger and knows her way around comedy. She’ll next be seen in the Jennifer Garner/Matthew McConaughey romcom twist on A Christmas Carol, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, and Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch.

Easy A is set to start production “soon” in Ojai, Calif., so let’s see which other actors they cast against her.

Related Posts: Producer, creator Will Gluck earns a directorial Easy A

The Hollywood Reporter is calling the newest script buy from newbie screenwriter Chris McCoy a “novel twist” on the romantic comedy genre and I’d have to say I most definitely agree.

McCoy’s script Good Looking, which is his second sale to Dreamworks within one month, takes the concept of Internet matchmaking one step further by positing that in the near-future, a service arises where not only do you get that “soulmate compatability” that a site like eHarmony predicts through questionnaires and personal essays, but you can also know exactly what the person is doing at any hour of the day thanks to the integration of surveillance camera technology. The other “novel twist” of course comes when a man using the service rejects the person the service claims is perfect for him.

But let’s hear from the man himself:

“If someone could organize that information and know what everyone in London was doing and eating and who they’re dating and who they’re going home with [via the city's existing surveillance camera technology], then that’s an incredibly powerful tool,” McCoy said. “I think I have an oddball brain or something, but then I started thinking about how all that stuff could be applied to matchmaking. It would totally subvert Match.com and eHarmony, (where) I think people lie about who they are or they say what they think people will want them to be. But Good Looking, my service, knows who they are and can put them together.”

The other script that was purchased is an untitled college comedy, and if the premise for that one is as inventive as this one, I’m definitely willing to find out more.

Well, okay, they’re not actually attempting to conjure up the Great Old One, but considering that Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment have just acquired the film rights to the Image Comics graphic novel titled The Strange Adventures of H.P. Lovecraft created by Jeff Blitz and Mac Carter, it is always a distinct possibility.

According to the Variety article, Universal tweaked to the GN because they thought it had a similar kind of sensibility to what they’re currently doing in reviving the classic Universal monster movies and re-introducing them to today’s audiences.

Strange Adventures takes the meta approach to storytelling, wherein the main character is Lovecraft himself whose encounter with a cursed book allows his feverish and horrific nightmare creatures across the dimensions from their world to ours.

The script adaptation will be done by Carter himself, who is apparently a commercial director. The other cool thing is that apparently Blitz and Carter are a film-making team who won a Bronze Lion at the Cannes advertising awards, but this info is only on Carter and Blitz’ website and has yet to be independently confirmed. They will also get executive producer credits, and Imagine’s Brian Grazer and Ron Howard with be producers.

Ang Lee’s latest is the based-on-a-true-story tale of the family that hosted the original and only true Woodstock Music Festival. Due in theaters on August 14th, the comedy-drama was written by long-time Lee collaborator James Schamus and stars Demetri Martin, Emile Hirsch, Imelda Staunton, Henry Goodman, Jonathan Groff, Mamie Gummer, Eugene Levy, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Liev Schreiber (the one with the gun under his skirt).

Check out the trailer below, following an intro from star Demetri Martin:

The Ampersand oversells this a bit by calling Notte Sento “the finest stop-motion Italian romantic short film you’ve ever seen” (even if it’s true — because it’s the only stop-motion Italian romantic short film I’ve ever even heard of), but it’s a very sweet, light short that’s definitely worth spending 6:30 with if you’re a romantic at heart (i.e. you love Amélie).

Director Daniele Napolitano put the film together from over 4500 still photos taken with a Canon EOS 30D.

Notte Sento (English subtitles) from napdan on Vimeo.

You can find out a little bit more on the film overe at the cut website.