Incoming and in the works.

By Alison Willmore on 08/14/2006

Trailers:

Here, for Kelly Reichardt's "Old Joy," a minimalist indie starring Will Oldham that quietly became one of the most critically acclaimed film at Sundance this year.

Here, for "Sleeping Dogs Lie," another Sundance film that was screened as "Stay" and written and directed by, yes, Bobcat Goldthwait. The film was kind of a surprise critical success at the festival; who knew bestiality could be so heartwarming?

Here, for Frank E. Flowers' "Haven," a not particularly good Cayman Islands-set ensemble drama that happens to have an outrageously gifted cast of up-and-comers (it's easy to just overlook Orlando Bloom in one of the biggest roles, but then isn't that always the case?).

Here, for Brian De Palma's "The Black Dahlia." Glossy! Shame about Josh Hartnett. And is that Mia Kirshner as the famous corpse? Yes, yes it is.

And here, for Steven Zaillian's "All the King's Men," based on Robert Penn Warren's novel, which may almost be slightly discernible underneath Sean Penn's furious Acting.

Other news: Via ComingSoon.net, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Michelle Williams will star in "Synecdoche," Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut about "an anguished playwright and several women in his life." "All hands on deck" is synecdoche; "The press is waiting on the courthouse steps" is metonymy, and no, we still don't really get either concept. Via Empire, "Shaun of the Dead"'s Simon Pegg will play Toby Young in an adaptation of Young's memoir "How To Lose Friends And Alienate People," which you call either the anti- or merely the male "The Devil Wears Prada," but is either way more British. And via Reuters, China today announced plans to make a movie about the 1937 Rape of Nanjing, only a day before the Japanese prime minister is expected to visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, which honors war dead:

The movie of the massacres of tens of thousands of Chinese civilians by Japanese troops will be based on Iris Chang's bestseller, "The Rape of Nanking," Xinhua news agency said, adding it would involve a U.S. production company and British investors.

"We hope we can make the film a classic on a massacre in the Second World War, just like 'Schindler's List' about the miserable experience of Jewish people during the war," Xinhua quoted Gerald Green, the American producer of the movie, as saying.

MTV's Larry Carroll looks into Jean-Claude LaMarre's forthcoming black Jesus movie "Color of the Cross":

"Mel Gibson's movie opened up a doorway to suggestion," LaMarre said of Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ," the surprise 2004 blockbuster that inspired the veteran indie filmmaker to go forward with his own vision. "Except in his movie, with Jim Caviezel, he was a little off with the casting. Jesus should have been a little darker. So we felt we should help him in correcting that one minor detail."

Speaking of darling Mel, the Guardian reports that Disney has confirmed it will indeed release "Apocalypto," despite Fox News' Roger Friedman claiming earlier that the film was being "shopped around." Nice job, Mr. Friedman.

Finally, Tom O'Neil at the LA Times' Gold Derby blog notes that Harvey Weinstein has been frantically talking up Emilio Estevez'  "Bobby" as a Best Picture contender. But could any Estevez production live up to 1990's "Men at Work"? "Looks like somebody threw away a perfectly good white boy!" "Bobby" will premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

+ Trailer: Old Joy (Kino)
+ Trailer: Sleeping Dogs Lie (VideoDetective)
+ Trailer: Haven (Yahoo)
+ Trailer: Black Dahlia (Apple)
+ Trailer: All The King's Men (Yahoo)
+ Hoffman & Williams in Kaufman's Synecdoche (ComingSoon.net)
+ Simon Pegg Is Toby Young (Empire)
+ China unveils plans for Japanese war atrocity film (Reuters)
+ Filmmaker Behind 'First Black Jesus Movie' Says Threats Are Part Of The Job (MTV)
+ Disney sticks with Gibson's Apocalypto (Guardian)
+ Is Harvey truly crazy about 'Bobby'? (LA Times)