Big Screen Little Screen

Written and directed by Sharon Maguire (Bridget Jones). Based on the Chris Cleave novel. Starring Michelle Williams, Ewan McGregor, and Matthew Macfadyen. Williams portrays a young mother who learns that her husband and son were killed in a London soccer stadium bombing while she was involved in an extramarital affair with a local journalist (McGregor). U.K. trailer.  Scheduled U.S. release: TBD.

“A thriller-romance-survivor movie-cum-psychiatric free-for-all, ‘Incendiary’ aspires to so much it ends up being less than the sum of its parts — one of which is a terrific performance by Michelle Williams.” - Variety

(Hat tip to Row Three)

20th Century Fox is hoping that Michael Douglas is ready to sign on for a reemergence of Me Decade icon Gordon Gekko, as they prime a Wall Street sequel to be written by Allan Loeb (21). Part 2 would rejoin Gekko just as he finished up a long prison bid, only to find the torn-up financial landscape of present day. No indication yet on if Oliver Stone will be back to helm the project, thought it appears that Charlie Sheen won’t return to reprise his Bud Fox role. (Variety)

“I’ve always had a bit of a walk—this girl’s got hips—but on the show it’s exaggerated. The first day, I put on those [retro] undergarments, and I was walking around the office like, boom, boom, boom! They called ‘Cut,’ and I turned to [creator] Matt Weiner and said, ‘That was Joan.’ And he said, ‘That was Joan.’ It all just dropped into place.” — Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks (Page Six)

– “Not only do I not know how I’m going to sell this, but I also don’t know if I want to sell it. I don’t want to figure out a way to trick people into seeing this movie. If it’s not your thing, you shouldn’t see it. It’s not going to be for all people—that’s what I’m learning. There are people who are not going to respond to it. And that’s fine. I don’t want to trick them… Synecdoche is not going to give you anything like, ‘Oh, it’s a dream or it’s a portal into John Malkovich or it’s a secret memory-erasing drug or whatever the hell it is.’ It’s not going to happen. This guy’s life is going to play out and you’re going to watch him age and you’re going to watch him not succeed at what he wants to do and have lousy relationships and you’re going to watch him die. — Charlie Kaufman mopes around with Vice (via The Michael Ryan)

– “I didn’t know what Junebug would be like… They were making it for under $1 million—you just don’t know when you’re involved in smaller projects if they’re going to be seen.” — Amy Adams, once one Oscar nominated gig away from leaving the business altogether (Vanity Fair)

– “I don’t mind being nude onscreen. Or anywhere, really. But having someone touch you on camera is really … [long pause] It’s really kind of an awful experience. Because half of your brain is like, ‘Okay, I wanna make this look real, because I want it to feel real for the audience,’but then you’re also fighting to say, ‘But it’s not real.’ But it is actually real, because somebody is actually touching you. That kind of work that you have to do to disassociate from your body is kind of traumatic. I don’t enjoy that at all. It’s … gross. — Mumblecore muse Greta Gerwig on Nights and Weekends (Vulture)

Tonight will make for an interesting, if not mixed bag of television viewing, with the first, election-centric SNL Weekend Update special airing after The Office, and the debuts of three Americanized adaptations - Australian import Kath & Kim (NBC), and two reworked UK series - Life on Mars (ABC) Eleventh Hour (CBS). The New York Times reviews the three, giving the retro-time-traveling-sci-fi slash gritty cop drama Life on Mars the highest marks and chances for survival:

“Set in 1973 [Life on Mars] exhumes a raunchier, dirtier, more dangerous New York City, the one depicted in “Serpico,” “Mean Streets” and, most recently, “American Gangster.” And it’s the show’s back-to-the-future feel, underscored by Harvey Keitel as a tyrannical police lieutenant and Michael Imperioli as a shaggy-haired, smart-mouthed detective, that lifts it above the ordinary and adds Scorsesian pizazz.

And did I mention that Mars cast includes not only Gretchen Mol, but heralds the return of Lisa Bonet? Sold.

Related, from Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle:

- Life on Mars: “surprisingly great, its pilot living up to the lofty expectations of the original… a reason to set your DVR on Thursday nights beyond NBC’s comedy lineup.”
- Kath & Kim: ” For every miraculous victory - say, “The Office” or, to a lesser extent, “Ugly Betty” - there are hordes of failures. This time it’s… a fantastically funny Australian comedy that goes into the record books on these shores as a contender for worst remake ever.”

Giving NBC a shot at that ever so important “balance” and the John McCain campaign a chance to save face, the writers of Saturday Night Live may allow Vice Presidential hopeful Sarah Palin a free shot back at Tina Fey. The Chicago Sun Times is reporting that the McCain camp is in talks with SNL about shooting a spoof of Fey’s American Express commercials with Palin playing her funnier, smarter, cuter doppelganger (that writes her own material, thank you very much). If it happens, the spot may air as soon as this Thursday night (after The Office) on the first of the Weekend Update election season prime time specials, or later after the next new SNL airs on October 18. (via Vulture)

Written by Megan Holley and directed by Christine Jeffs, Sunshine Cleaning stars Amy Adams as a housekeeper that enlists her sister, played by Emily Blunt, to join her in transitioning to a more profitable crime scene cleaning startup. Also stars Alan Arkin and Steve Zahn. Scheduled release: TBA. (via Row Three | Trailer Addict)

Directed by Josh Safdie, The Pleasure of Being Robbed stars Eléonore Hendricks as a fearless New York petty thief with Amelie-like, whimsical curiosity. Hendricks co-wrote the screenplay with Safdie. Open now in NY - more screens to follow, including IFC’s On Demand service.

Trailer

A la American Teen, Caroline Suh’s timely rookie documentary outing follows four student council president candidates at New York’s Stuyvesant High School. Scheduled release: October 15, 2008.

Trailer

Quick - who wants to play canary in a coal mine and watch the pilot for the (unwarranted) television adaptation of the 2004 (undeserved) Best Picture winner, Crash, that Starz has released online, and then get back to the rest of us with a report on how predictably painful or surprisingly tolerable the new series is? 123.. not it! (via Pop Candy)