In today’s first WTF moment, Variety reports that David Fincher (Curious Case of Benjamin Button) is in advanced talks to direct the upcoming Facebook movie The Social Network.
Written by Aaron Sorkin, the film will chronicle the evolution of Facebook from its 2004 conception at Harvard to the juggernaut it has become globally with more than 200 million members.
They hope to start shooting later this year.
The Directors Guild of America picked their five leading awards contenders by nominating Danny Boyle (”Slumdog Millionaire”), David Fincher (”The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”), Ron Howard (”Frost/Nixon”), Christopher Nolan (”The Dark Knight”) and Gus Van Sant (”Milk”).
According to Variety, Boyle is the lone DGA newbie of the group, with the remainder having been nominated for features or, in the case of Fincher, commercials.
Howard has won twice, for “A Beautiful Mind” (2001) and “Apollo 13″ (1995), and was also nominated for “Cocoon” (1985). Nolan and Van Sant each previously scored a single mention, for “Memento” (2001) and “Good Will Hunting” (1997), respectively.
Taylor Hackford announced the winners at guild headquarters Thursday morning, filling in for DGA topper Michael Apted, who was on set. Hackford saluted the diverse films in the group, noting it was a “nice mix of small films and big films.”
The first major award of Oscar season has sent ripples of surprise across Hollywood. The National Board of Review, a collection of cultural elite, acdemics, and wealthy supporters of moving imagery, have announced its yearly award winners. The NBR awards always lean towards the arthouse crowd, and are rarely indicators of the Golden Globes and the Oscars, but last year they were the first to award No Country for Old Men for its brilliance, and we all know how well that film was received.
This year the presence of Danny Boyle’s Indian-based drama Slumdog Millionaire probably surprised many by being named as best film of 2008. The premise (a young Indian boy wins the local version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire) sounds pithy at first, but the consistently glowing reviews suggest this film has more heart than a hundred blockbusters. Could this Slumdog go all the way to the Oscars? We can only wait and see.
Other awards included David Fincher for Best Director, for his fairy-tale The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Clint Eastwood won for best actor in Gran Torino, and Anne Hathaway won Best Actress for Rachel Getting Married. For a complete list, go here.
Following word that David Fincher was teaming up with Keanu Reeves for a new project, Slashfilm is reporting that the feature is Steven Knight’s The Untitled Chef Project.
The script has been written by the aforementioned Knight and was featured on the 2007 Black List and is now set up at Paramount.
It follows a Michelin-level chef trying to make a comeback from major personal issues. He gathers his old friends and forms his ‘dream team’, but ends up falling in love.
Arthur C. Clarke’s works are pretty hard to translate to the big screen. In keeping with that tradition, David Fincher let out word that his Rendezvous With Rama, an adaptation of the noted author’s epic sci-fi novel, looks to be dead.
Speaking to First Showing, Fincher plainly stated that “it looks like it’s not going to happen.”
“There’s no script and as you know, [Morgan Freeman's] not in the best of health right now,” he explained. “We’ve been trying to do it but it’s probably not going to happen.”
The story follows a group of astronauts investigating an alien spaceship that is passing through our solar system. Inside they find a very alien world and something that may still be alive.
David Fincher’s Heavy Metal project has lost its home at Paramount due to the fact that the studio’s production executives don’t have balls. Apparently, the project, which is based on violent and erotic works, was deemed too risque for mainstream audiences, according to EW’s Hollywood Insider.
Tim Miller, whose studio is handling the animation, and Fincher are currently shopping the film to other studios. The animated movie would consist of eight to ten shorts, with Steve Niles, Joe Haldeman and Neal Asher confirmed to direct segments.
In today’s first bit of comic book news, Dark Horse Entertainment, David Fincher and animation house Blur Studios have joined forces to bring cult comic The Goon to the big screen as an animated film. The series, created by Eric Powell in 1999, follows the adventures of a muscle-bound brawler who claims to be the primary enforcer for a feared mobster. The stories were usually paranormal and were pretty funny, thanks to ghosts, zombies, mad scientists and “skunk apes,” among other things.
Powell was the one to break the news on his website. He is currently writing the screenplay for the film, which Fincher will produce. No studio is attached yet, but Dark Horse Entertainment has a first-look deal with Universal, so it will probably go to them.