Perdita
19-12-2009, 07:21
It seems like only yesterday that 2009 kicked off with an Oscar-winning bang in the form of Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, but 2010 is fast approaching so now's as good a time as any to look forward to some of the cinematic treats in store for next year. Over the next month, DS will preview some of the films we're most looking forward to in 2010 and hear from the stars and filmmakers involved.
January
Kicking off the year is low-budget Brit flick Exam, best described as Sir Alan gone bad. "Exam is a psychological thriller all set in one room," director Stuart Hazeldine tells DS. "It's a dark spin of the Apprentice scenario of going for a big, important job." George Clooney's Up In The Air sees Hollywood's silver fox play a jaded corporate downsizer who's obsessed with collecting frequent flyer miles. The movie is being tipped for Oscar success, as is Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones, an adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestselling novel about a family coming to terms with the death of their teenage daughter. "I think Peter's interpretation was absolutely wonderful and I think people will be able to connect with that," star Carolyn Dando tells us.
February
Morgan Freeman will fulfil a long-standing ambition to play Nelson Mandela when he appears in Clint Eastwood's sports drama Invictus in February. The movie, which follows Mandela's efforts to use the 1995 Rugby World Cup to unite post-apartheid South Africa, will be Eastwood's annual stab at Oscar glory. Tom Ford's A Single Man sees Colin Firth play a gay English professor who struggles to come to terms with his partner's death. "It's one day in the life of a man who, in a very quiet way, goes through every emotion I can think of," Firth says of the film. Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio team up for the fourth time in delayed thriller Shutter Island, which finds a US Marshal investigating a woman's disappearance from a hospital for the criminally insane.
March
Tim Burton brings his distinct style to Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland in March, and has assembled an impressive cast of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Michael Sheen and Stephen Fry to support newcomer Mia Wasikowska in the eponymous role. It's followed by the more gritty Green Zone, which sees Matt Damon and his departed Bourne director Paul Greengrass together for an action-thriller set in Iraq. Star Jason Isaacs tells us of the facial hair he sports in the film: "I have a big handlebar moustache. It looks extremely butch in army fatigues!" Clash Of The Titans gets a 21st century facelift on March 26, swapping Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation for cutting-edge CGI. Man of the moment Sam Worthington leads the cast of the mythological epic.
April
"It's about an American who dresses up as a superhero and doesn't get very far. It's a dark comedy, there's an 11-year-old girl who goes around chopping heads off!" says Aaron Johnson when trying to sum up his upcoming ultra-violent comic book movie Kick-Ass. The Matthew Vaughn-directed film looks sure to provide an antidote to the established superhero tale. The month also finds Robert Downey Jr strapping on his Iron Man battle suit for the second time. For those looking for something a little more grounded, there's Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's first movie together Cemetery Junction. The comedy-drama is set in Reading in the '70s and follows a group of 20-somethings who find themselves stuck in a town that the sexual revolution has passed by.
May
Russell Crowe follows in the footsteps of Errol Flynn, Sean Connery and Kevin Costner by playing Nottingham's infamous outlaw in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood. The month quickly switches from the medieval to the modern when StreetDance arrives on May 21. The 3D dance movie features the bodypoppin' talents of Britain's Got Talent's Diversity and George Sampson. "This is glossy and high-end and very aspirational, which is kind of unusual for a British film. This'll be fun, there's a lot of great dancing," says director Max Giwa. Jake Gyllenhaal attempts to break Hollywood's video game curse when he takes the lead in Prince Of Persia. The game adaptation has heavyweight producer Jerry Bruckheimer in its corner, so an entertaining swashbuckler of a blockbuster looks likely.
June
Remember Russell Brand's shambolic lothario rocker Aldous Snow in Forgetting Sarah Marshall? Well, he's back for his own movie Get Him To The Greek, accompanied by Jonah Hill's beleaguered record company intern. Hijinks and close-to-the-bone comedy will surely ensue. It's an '80s nostalgia trip for the rest of the month, with modern updates of Footloose and The Karate Kid. The former sees Gossip Girl's Chace Crawford stepping into Kevin Bacon's shoes as he travels to a curios town where dancing is outlawed, while Will Smith's son Jaden learns about waxing on and off from Jackie Chan's martial arts mentor in the latter.
July
The box office tills will start ringing in July when the new Twilight film Eclipse lands. Where will the Bella/Edward/Jacob love triangle head next? You can find out on July 9. It's been more than a decade since Toy Story pioneered CG animation, so excitement is building for the release of the third (dimensional) instalment. "I guarantee you're going to be surprised at all the turns in it. It's just wonderful. What two did to one, three will do to one and two," the voice of Buzz Lightyear Tim Allen informs us rather bafflingly. After years of rumours and talk of Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames as stars, Fox's A-Team plans finally come together on July 30. Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton Jackson and Sharlto Copley play the eponymous team.
August
So secretive is Christopher Nolan about his Batman follow-up Inception, he's keeping his cast from telling anyone (including us) about it. "As an audience, I love to see movies when I don't know anything about it. I kind of like the fact that we're not allowed to talk about it," star Marion Cotillard told DS. What is known is that Leonardo DiCaprio is playing a CEO who somehow gets involved in a blackmail plot, and Cotillard, Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are co-starring. Adrenalinised action movies will be aplenty in August - firstly from Sylvester Stallone's all-star soldier of fortune romp The Expendables and then with Angelina Jolie's Salt, about a CIA operative who must prove to her superiors that she isn't a Russian sleeper agent.
January
Kicking off the year is low-budget Brit flick Exam, best described as Sir Alan gone bad. "Exam is a psychological thriller all set in one room," director Stuart Hazeldine tells DS. "It's a dark spin of the Apprentice scenario of going for a big, important job." George Clooney's Up In The Air sees Hollywood's silver fox play a jaded corporate downsizer who's obsessed with collecting frequent flyer miles. The movie is being tipped for Oscar success, as is Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones, an adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestselling novel about a family coming to terms with the death of their teenage daughter. "I think Peter's interpretation was absolutely wonderful and I think people will be able to connect with that," star Carolyn Dando tells us.
February
Morgan Freeman will fulfil a long-standing ambition to play Nelson Mandela when he appears in Clint Eastwood's sports drama Invictus in February. The movie, which follows Mandela's efforts to use the 1995 Rugby World Cup to unite post-apartheid South Africa, will be Eastwood's annual stab at Oscar glory. Tom Ford's A Single Man sees Colin Firth play a gay English professor who struggles to come to terms with his partner's death. "It's one day in the life of a man who, in a very quiet way, goes through every emotion I can think of," Firth says of the film. Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio team up for the fourth time in delayed thriller Shutter Island, which finds a US Marshal investigating a woman's disappearance from a hospital for the criminally insane.
March
Tim Burton brings his distinct style to Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland in March, and has assembled an impressive cast of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Michael Sheen and Stephen Fry to support newcomer Mia Wasikowska in the eponymous role. It's followed by the more gritty Green Zone, which sees Matt Damon and his departed Bourne director Paul Greengrass together for an action-thriller set in Iraq. Star Jason Isaacs tells us of the facial hair he sports in the film: "I have a big handlebar moustache. It looks extremely butch in army fatigues!" Clash Of The Titans gets a 21st century facelift on March 26, swapping Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation for cutting-edge CGI. Man of the moment Sam Worthington leads the cast of the mythological epic.
April
"It's about an American who dresses up as a superhero and doesn't get very far. It's a dark comedy, there's an 11-year-old girl who goes around chopping heads off!" says Aaron Johnson when trying to sum up his upcoming ultra-violent comic book movie Kick-Ass. The Matthew Vaughn-directed film looks sure to provide an antidote to the established superhero tale. The month also finds Robert Downey Jr strapping on his Iron Man battle suit for the second time. For those looking for something a little more grounded, there's Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's first movie together Cemetery Junction. The comedy-drama is set in Reading in the '70s and follows a group of 20-somethings who find themselves stuck in a town that the sexual revolution has passed by.
May
Russell Crowe follows in the footsteps of Errol Flynn, Sean Connery and Kevin Costner by playing Nottingham's infamous outlaw in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood. The month quickly switches from the medieval to the modern when StreetDance arrives on May 21. The 3D dance movie features the bodypoppin' talents of Britain's Got Talent's Diversity and George Sampson. "This is glossy and high-end and very aspirational, which is kind of unusual for a British film. This'll be fun, there's a lot of great dancing," says director Max Giwa. Jake Gyllenhaal attempts to break Hollywood's video game curse when he takes the lead in Prince Of Persia. The game adaptation has heavyweight producer Jerry Bruckheimer in its corner, so an entertaining swashbuckler of a blockbuster looks likely.
June
Remember Russell Brand's shambolic lothario rocker Aldous Snow in Forgetting Sarah Marshall? Well, he's back for his own movie Get Him To The Greek, accompanied by Jonah Hill's beleaguered record company intern. Hijinks and close-to-the-bone comedy will surely ensue. It's an '80s nostalgia trip for the rest of the month, with modern updates of Footloose and The Karate Kid. The former sees Gossip Girl's Chace Crawford stepping into Kevin Bacon's shoes as he travels to a curios town where dancing is outlawed, while Will Smith's son Jaden learns about waxing on and off from Jackie Chan's martial arts mentor in the latter.
July
The box office tills will start ringing in July when the new Twilight film Eclipse lands. Where will the Bella/Edward/Jacob love triangle head next? You can find out on July 9. It's been more than a decade since Toy Story pioneered CG animation, so excitement is building for the release of the third (dimensional) instalment. "I guarantee you're going to be surprised at all the turns in it. It's just wonderful. What two did to one, three will do to one and two," the voice of Buzz Lightyear Tim Allen informs us rather bafflingly. After years of rumours and talk of Bruce Willis and Ving Rhames as stars, Fox's A-Team plans finally come together on July 30. Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton Jackson and Sharlto Copley play the eponymous team.
August
So secretive is Christopher Nolan about his Batman follow-up Inception, he's keeping his cast from telling anyone (including us) about it. "As an audience, I love to see movies when I don't know anything about it. I kind of like the fact that we're not allowed to talk about it," star Marion Cotillard told DS. What is known is that Leonardo DiCaprio is playing a CEO who somehow gets involved in a blackmail plot, and Cotillard, Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are co-starring. Adrenalinised action movies will be aplenty in August - firstly from Sylvester Stallone's all-star soldier of fortune romp The Expendables and then with Angelina Jolie's Salt, about a CIA operative who must prove to her superiors that she isn't a Russian sleeper agent.