Filming is well under-way on The Da Vinci Code follow-up, Angels & Demons - the movie that will see Tom Hanks make well over $20 million for a few months work in reprising one of his most under realised characters in his filmography.

Hey Tom got a haircut. The mullet piece doesn’t look so bad this time around…

Ron Howard returns to the directing chair, hoping that this follow-up can drum up the same kind of interest that earned Da Vinci over $700 million worldwide.

The first image above shows Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer as Vittoria Vetra, the Italian love interest of the movie. No sign just yet of Ewan McGregor, who plays the powerful Vatican insider who assists Langdon in his struggle against a powerful group who have vowed to blow up the sovereign state.

Personally, I didn’t hate the original. It was exactly like the novel, a bit of light fast food entertainment which you can quickly devour but is never all that satisfying. I’m not quite sure what people were expecting because they got the novel, it wasn’t something radically different on screen. For me, they are just slightly a notch above the National Treasure movies and I know I will have a good time with them.

Look for this one in 2009.

source - coming soon, thebadandugly

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Written & Directed by: Woody Allen

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell, Tom Wilkinson, Hayley Atwell, Ashley Madekwe, Peter-Hugo Daly, John Benfield, Clare Higgins, Philip Davis, Asgley Madekwe, Sally Hawkins

Distributed by Optimum Releasing

Released on May 23rd 2008 in the U.K.

Review by Micheal Edwards

Woody Allen continues his foray into the deep-and-meaningful in this London-based drama about two brothers who dream of better lives, come close to getting there, before falling inexorably into a predestined pit of dramatic despair. Terry (Colin Farrell) is a mechanic with a gambling addiction whose luck rides high only in order to set up the inevitable fall; Ian (Ewan McGregor) has dedicated himself to the family business -a dingy and underperforming restaurant - out of devotion to his father, but when he meets an attractive and exciting actress he yearns for the high life and a way out of his rut. In desperation they both turn to their uncle Howard (Tom Wilkinson), a successful business man and general family prop in times of need. But little do they know that he is the one who requires a favour from them, one that will prove difficult to fulfill and will rend the family asunder irrevocably.

It all sounds very tense, but it really isn’t. The plot ticks along at an even pace, carried by Allen’s log-practised rhythmic dialogue, but never really engages that much, nor does it provide sufficiently surprising or clever twists and turns as the brothers wend their way into deeper and deeper trouble. But of the greatest concern was the inability of Mr Allen and his leading lads to manufacture any sense of being in London. The dialogue frequently rings false and whilst Farrell makes an admirable effort with the accent he never quite gets it right next to those more natural cockneys he is cast against. McGregor fared notably worse and was constantly dischordant, those lines where he wasn’t clearly focussed on getting his accent right (thus detracting from delivery of the content) went completely awry and just sounded odd. Such basic issues really interrupt the flow of a movie made by a man whose major strength lies in cleverly metered scripting.

What’s more, the film couldn’t have made it more obvious that it was a Greek tragedy. Woody Allen illustrates again that he has no faith in his audience by brazenly having character debate their favourite Greek tragedies before the downward spiral really picks up pace, and the constant emotional pointers given by Philip Glass’s score seem more melodramatic than poignant or effective.

I am concerned that Cassandra’s Dream is getting such positive press over in the states. To me it feels like a stale effort that offers little tension or suspense, and provides no compensation through any real insight into ambition, family love or the nature of our dreams and desires. I for one wouldn’t recommend anyone else sit through this laborious and dull exercise in archaic dramatic technique, and would even go as far as to suggest that it may be time for Woody Allen to gracefully depart the stage into a well-earned retirement.

Ewan McGregor is in final talks to join Tom Hanks and yesterday’s casting of Aylet Zurer in Angels & Demons.

McGregor is set to take on the role of a powerful Vatican insider who assists Langdon in his struggle against a powerful group who have vowed to blow up the sovereign city state in the adaptation of the Dan Brown bestseller. It is the role that Orlando Bloom was rumored to be up for last year.

Director Ron Howard has once again gone British for his supporting cast, something he filled Da Vinci Code with. Paul Bettany (who gave a memorable performance as an albino monk), Alfred Molina and Ian McKellen all played their parts pretty well and kept up the interest in the original movie when the writing perhaps wasn’t quite at it’s best.

McGregor will have the same challenge here. His career is quite unlike any other actor out there because he can easily breeze in and out between massive Hollywood productions and small Indie flicks without his Hollywood star diminishing. Filming is set to begin very shortly so we might see more of the supporting cast fall out soon.

source - variety

Judd Apatow’s real life wife and talented comedic actress Leslie Mann has joined the Jim Carrey/Ewan McGregor black comedy I Love You Phillip Morris according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The comedy comes from the writers of Bad Santa who are making their directorial debut…

The story follows a married father (Carrey) who is sent to prison and falls in love with a cellmate named Phillip Morris. His love leads him to make several escape attempts.

Mann will play Carrey’s wife.

This one is next up for Carrey & McGregor as it begins production next month.

Has Carrey done black comedy before? Man on the Moon was a little more on the dramatic side so I’m not sure that counts. The Cable Guy - maybe be the closest.

Fascinating project this one. I did like the concept of Bad Santa and this one sounds as if it will be in the same tone. Hope Carrey’s toned down and McGregor isn’t just a side attraction.

Formerly known as The Tourist, the newly titled Deception is a thriller from the screenwriter of last year’s Die Hard movie and with an all star cast that includes Ewan McGregor, Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams & Maggie Q and for whatever reason it has been very quietly promoted up until this point.

In fact it was January 2007 when we last spoke about the movie when set photos of Jackman and Williams leaked from filming.

In the movie Hugh Jackman plays Wyatt, a powerful lawyer who introduces Jonathan (McGregor) to a mysterious sex club known as the List. Once there Jonathan finds the girl of his dreams but when she goes AWOL he is accused of her suspected murder and theft of $20 million.

Typically for this film, the trailer has received a very quiet release which you can find HERE.

Walking that thin line of being Brian De Palma ridiculous and a sexy Paul Verhoeven thriller, the movie might be watchable simply because of the talent involved. I like how great Hugh Jackman’s villainy character feels in this. I do believe some of the most interesting parts of his career where when he felt downright despicable in parts of The Prestige.

I’m sure to most this will be a “wait for rental affair” and it probably is to me too. Marcel Langenegger directs as his debut movie and I wonder how many of his actors he convinced to go nude, for the “artistic benefit” of the picture.