Friday Updates: Great News about Female Directors, Good and Bad News about Veronica Mars

Movies post by Tammy Oler on December 5, 2008 - 10:39am; tagged amy adams, anna faris, Cadillac Records, Courtney Hunt, Darnell Martin, Frozen River, hilary swank, lexi alexander, Melissa Leo, punisher, punisher:war zone, veronica mars.

Cadillac Records

  • Women are at the helm of two major releases this weekend.  Writer-director Darnell Martin (I Like It Like That) is the creative force behind Cadillac Records. Lexi Alexander (Green Street Hooligans), former World Karate and Kickboxing champion and Oscar nominee for
    live action short film, is behind the lens for Punisher: War Zone. Perhaps Alexander is going to be the new Kathryn Bigelow? I'm wondering if I can fit both films into my weekend.
  • If you live in the New York area, you can also catch the release of the Australian film The Black Balloon, written and directed by Elissa Down.  This film is getting a lot of great critical attention.
  • Even more awesome news... writer-director Courtney Hunt's indie drama Frozen River, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this year, won a lot of high profile attention this week: Frozen River won Best Picture  and Best Actress for Melissa Leo at the Gotham Independent Spirit Awards; the film picked up a bucket full of Independent Spirit Award nominations, including Best Picture, Director, First Screenplay, and Best Female Lead; and yesterday the National Board of Review gave Courtney Hunt the Best Directorial Debut award and Melissa Leo a Spotlight award. With all this critical attention, the extremely talented Leo - too long an underrated indie actress - might actually nab an Oscar Best Actress nomination.

In acting news....

  • Hilary Swank is set to star in The Resident, a thriller about a Brooklyn resident who discovers her landlord is a stalker.  I don't care how scary this dude is, my money's on Swank. [Variety]
  • Comic talent Anna Faris has snapped up a development deal and a starring role in the rom-com 20 Times a Lady.  Unfortunately, both projects don't look that much better than The House Bunny. It sure would be nice to see Faris starring in something worth her time. [Hollywood Reporter]
  •  Amy Adams is slated to star in a film adaptation of Adrena Halpern's novel, The Ten Best Days of My Life. [Variety]

And finally...

I think I might need a snappy title for this regular round of Friday updates.  Got any suggestions?

Have a good weekend!

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Comments

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Lexi Anderson

Posted by brady (not verified) on December 5, 2008 - 3:15pm

I'm glad that you mentioned that Lexi Anderson is directing the new Punisher. I kind of don't feel that a big enough deal is getting made about this. Maybe it's lame that it's a big deal--why should we blink at women making uber-bloody shoot-'em-ups?--but it is anyway.

(Also, not to be, you know, that commenter, but I think her last movie was Green Street Hooligans; Hooligans was something else.)

Gah! You're totally right -

Posted by Tammy Oler on December 5, 2008 - 3:54pm

Gah! You're totally right - I left off 'Green Street.' Updated!

Alexander is also apparently on the short list of potential directors for the proposed Jonah Hex adaptation, too...

Nope.

Posted by brady (not verified) on December 5, 2008 - 4:01pm

Checked imdb. I stand hecka corrected. Last time I ever try to flex knowledge.