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Post Tagged with: "al-pacino"

Al Pacino’s awkward Vittoria Coffee ad!

It’s normal for Hollywood celebrities to be featured in international advertisements promoting anything from a local satellite/cable provider to Antivirus Software (see Jackie Chan – Kaspersky) to isotonic drinks. One of the most popular international ads has to be the one Nicolas Cage did for Sankyo a few years ago, where the Kick-Ass star blends into the customary Japanese-ad craziness and goes all insane on us.

It seems Al Pacino has decided to do his first ever endorsement of a product on international grounds, and its for Vittoria Coffee, a family-owned drinks company in Australia. I can only imagine the number of zeroes his cheque carried behind the two initial numbers.

The campaign itself is directed by Oscar winner Barry Levinson (Rain Man), who has just worked with the actor on the HBO movie You Don’t Know Jack, about the life and work of doctor-assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian.

I can only classify the Vittoria Coffee ads as “awkward”, maybe because I’ve never seen Al Pacino do something in this light before. Maybe there’s more to come. Ironically, if you watch these ads, Pacino looks like a man in desperate need of coffee, who at the same time expresses his infatuation with the product. Or maybe he’s on an overdose of coffee…I’m not sure, but it’s definitely one of those.

Battle of the Sexes won by SEX AND THE CITY

It was to be the Battle of the Sexes on May 30th, the chick flick SEX AND THE CITY versus the guy’s comedy FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL.

But the battle has been won before the pre-fight press conference. The Judd Apatow produced FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL has been pushed forward six weeks to a April 18th release where it will currently go up against the Al Pacino thriller 88 MINUTES says Variety.

Probably a smart move because I think the female half of a happy relationship would win that weekend and the men would be forced to sit through the fashion porn to keep the Missus happy.

Trailer for FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL movie is below. Will it be this year’s KNOCKED UP?

[youtube D9podUETps8]

De Niro & Pacino on screen together. Oh and 50 Cent!

I’ve heard nothing but terrible things about the script and the whole production of RIGHTEOUS KILL, the movie that will see the legendary pairing of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino on screen together for the whole running time of a movie for the first ever time ever.
Their previous cinematic meetings occurred in THE GODFATHER: PART II (but never in the same scene, which started a long time interest in seeing them square off when both men’s careers took off) and then in one scene in Michael Mann’s HEAT.

But of course there is that elephant in the room. God damn 50 Cent…

50 Cent really is the only elephant though because I’m quite happy to talk about the rest of the cast which have come together pretty strongly. Carla Gugino, Brian Dennehy, Donnie Wahlberg, John Leguizamo and Dan Futterman.

Jon Avnet (88 MINUTES, FRIED GREEN TOMATOES) directed the movie from a script by INSIDE MAN scribe Russell Gerwitz.

The plot (as if it needs one, it’s De Niro and Pacino!) sees the duo as top cops who attempt to take down a vigilante who might be one of their own. The movie opens in April and you can see the previously released trailer HERE.

source – cinematical, collider

Well, you just knew they were going to do it. Coffee scene in RIGHTEOUS KILL!!

Well you just knew they would do it.

12 years after their famous first scene together in Heat that famously took place at a coffee table, and they are at it again.

Here’s an official image from their upcoming cop thriller Righteous Kill…

I’ve certainly argued in the past that Heat might have been a better film if the two actors never met on screen. I know it’s a controversial statement to make, and I absolutely adore that scene in Heat but the whole narrative and pacing of the film really SLOWED down, just so those guys could have their moment.

A little distracting in the film but there’s no doubt it was cool…

I’m hearing the script for Righteous Kill is awful but god damnit, it’s Pacino and De Niro.

Not only that but there’s Donnie Wahlberg, Carla Gugino, Brian Dennehey and John Leguizamo in this too, all of whom I like in this genre.

Jon Avnet (Fried Green Tomatoes) helms the $60 million movie which should be out by April.

This should be fun.

source – cinematical, empire online

Righteous Kill fills out it’s cast

The supporting cast of Righteous Kill would suggest that the cop thriller is not only going to be centered on the pairing of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino but there’s going to be some material for the supporting characters too. We already know that 50 Cent, Donnie Wahlberg and Carla Gugino will be appearing in the film but there’s a few more names released in a press release today that are new to us.

They are… John Leguizamo, Brian Dennehy, Dan Futterman, Trilby Glover and bizarrely professional skateboarder Rob Drydek.

Leguizamo (Moulin Rouge!) plays a cop in the NYPD who butts heads with Pacino and De Niro as they search for a serial killer. Dennehy (Showtime’s “Death of a Salesman,” Assault on Precinct 13) takes on the role of their captain. Futterman (A Mighty Heart) and Glover (The Starter Wife) both play attorneys, and Dyrdek (MTV’s “Rob and Big”) a delinquent, who crosses paths with the detectives during their investigations.

Filming begins tomorrow in New York and Connecticut from director Jon Avnet from a script by Russell Gerwitz.

Here’s hoping the script for this is a good one and has enough range for De Niro and Pacino to show us why they are still two of the best around. They have both done so much crap over the last ten years, I think both guys want to prove something to themselves and show us that they still have it.

I believe in them but again, the script must be there otherwise we won’t care.

source – coming soon

Donnie Wahlberg joins Righteous Kill

Donnie Wahlberg has been cast in the Al Pacino/Robert De Niro thriller Righteous Kill. The actor made the announcement himself whilst touring on his new Spike T.V. series The Kill Point according to the actor’s hometown newspaper The Boston Herald.

Although he wouldn’t disclose his role in the movie, he did sound awfully excited when talking to the paper…

“That’s going to be a real challenge…I get to work with two of the greatest actors and drive to Boston every night. We start shooting in September, so it will be like going to school for me with two fantastic teachers.”

Wahlberg who is sometimes unfairly compared to his A-List brother, has made a nice little career for himself recently and has consistently been working on both television and film for most of this decade. You may remember him for his turns in the last two Saw movies and most recently in the horror flick Dead Silence.

So that’s two legendary actors, one actor who is consistently good and then 50 Cent. 3 out of 4 ain’t bad, especially when two of those are De Niro & Pacino.

source – ign

Righteous Kill poster

Apart from his recent turn at directing, Robert De Niro hasn’t done much in the last ten years of any note. I enjoyed his role in the first Meet the Parents movie and he was O.K. in City by the Sea but apart from that it’s been ten years of nothing from one of the greatest actors that ever lived. Especially recently with roles in Hide and Seek, Shark Tale and Godsend… he is way too good for all that crap.

What about Al Pacino then? Well despite the movie’s he’s starred in not being great, I think his level of performances have remained consistently terrific. It’s been years since I’ve seen him put in a sub-standard performance and actually his role in the awesome Christopher Nolan movie Insomnia is a great highlight in his career.

However, I don’t think it’s a stretch for me to say that neither man has done anything as interesting or as a good a turns as they did in Michael Mann’s Heat in 1995. Both men were on top of their game for the whole film and despite their legendary interaction scene feeling a little ‘forced’, it was still a great moment that none of us will forget.

Nearly 13 years has passed since Heat and it’s once again time to see the two on screen together. This time it’s for Righteous Kill which is currently under pre-production. Jon Avnet directs and 50 Cent also co-stars but those two details aren’t stopping me from getting excited.

Female Scarface movie set in Spain is greenlit

A female version of Scarface is in development over at Warner Independent under the direction of Venezuelan director Jonathan Jakubowicz. The movie titled Queen of the South will be set in Spain and is said to reinvent the gangster genre by unusually having a female protagonist.

The story is based on Arturo Perez-Reverte’s bestselling novel and revolves around a Mexican woman who escapes to Spain after her drug mule boyfriend is killed, then becomes a drug kingpin and seeks revenge for her boyfriend’s murderers. Albert Torres did a rewrite of Hanna Weg’s script.

Now I can dig all that and it sounds pretty cool but then you hear the names that are up for the lead role and you start to get a little worried. Eva Mendes, Penelope Cruz and Jennifer Lopez.

Now can you seriously imagine any of them as a gun wielding gangster?

For a female version of Al Pacino’s Tony Montana character you need someone who is a little less glamorous and someone who is a little more tough and rugged. I mean casting Jennifer Lopez would be the death of this film, which has tons of potential if it can find the right female lead.

source – rope of silicon, variety

50 Cent in talks for De Niro/Pacino thriller

50 Cent is in final talks to join the Robert De Niro and Al Pacino thriller Righteous Kill which has just been picked up by Overture Films with a $60 million budget attached. Jon Avnet is helming the picture in what will be his second team-up with Pacino after 88 Minutes which may have gone straight to dvd?

Does anyone know what happened to that movie?

Inside Man scribe Russell Gerwitz is said to be writing the screenplay for Righteous Kill which will see Al Pacino and Robert De Niro star as two detectives for the whole running time of the film for the first time in their careers. They of course starred together but never in the same scene in The Godfather Part II and they shared one legendary scene together in the 1995 film Heat.

50 Cent got some terrible reviews for his debut film Get Rich or Die Tryin but the word from Dark Horizons is that he has been offered the part of a drug dealer who helps the detectives along with their investigation, so hopefully his part is only small!

Robert De Niro & Al Pacino back together on screen!

You’ve all seen Michael Mann’s classic action movie Heat right? Of course you have, it’s one of the coolest movies of the 90′s but one scene always disappointed me with the flick. That being the famous first screen moment between two of the biggest movies stars of the latter half of 20th century film… the great Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.

The two actors who ruled the screen in The Godfather Part II never shared a second together on film in the 1974 classic and they weren’t ever to be in a film together again until Heat in 1995.

The eventual scene between De Niro and Pacino in Mann’s movie felt extremely forced and contrived to me. I know that probably sounds an obvious statement when the movie’s tagline was blatantly built around the gimmick…

From “The Godfather” to “Scent of a Woman”.From “Raging Bull” to “Goodfellas”.Two of America’s celebrated superstars will finally collide.

but still the narrative purpose of the scene for the film’s plot was so lacking. It’s a cool moment, which works well on it’s own and is superbly acted… but it could have been so much better given a more meaningful reason to exist and personally it slows down what I believe to be a great movie, which would have benefited without it.

The huge news from Variety today, is that they are going to give another go at a movie involving the two acting greats but this time they will share more than a couple of minutes of screentime. They are going to be in the whole god damn thing together as they play a pair of cops hunting down a serial killer!

The $60 million Indie flick Righteous Kill is the movie in question, written by Russell Gerwitz and to be directed by Jon Avnet… who recently helmed Pacino in the action thriller 88 Minutes which I don’t think even received a notable cinema release anywhere.

Come on, Pacino and De Niro as buddy cops on the hunt for a serial killer. If your not excited about this then your status as a film geek must surely be in question!!

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