True_Grit bookMatt Damon and Josh Brolin are talking with Joel and Ethan Coen to hitch a ride with Jeff Bridges in True Grit. A remake or redesign or re-imaging of the iconic 1969 Western tale that Paramount Pictures plans to start production next March for late 2010 release. 

Bridges will play U.S. marshal Rooster Cogburn with Damon talking about playing the lawman (played by Glen Campbell in the original) who teams up with Cogburn and a 14-year old girl to track her father’s killer into hostile Indian territory.

Brolin is talking about playing the killer. Jeff Corey played the killer in the original, and Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper also played outlaws.

Coen brothers haven’t cast the young girl yet.

invictusOriginally called The Human Factor, Clint Eastwood’s Invictus movie poster was just released today.  The movie stars Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman.

The movie is about the true story of how Nelson Mandela joined forces with the captain of South Africa’s rugby team, Francois Pienaar, to help unite their country. Newly elected President Mandela knows his nation remains racially and economically divided in the wake of apartheid. Believing he can bring his people together through the universal language of sport, Mandela rallies South Africa’s underdog rugby team as they make an unlikely run to the 1995 World Cup Championship match.

The movie has a limited release date set for December 11, 2009.

damon-eastwood-humanfactor-FL-tsrClint Eastwood and Matt Damon must have enjoyed themselves when they worked together on Invictus, the true story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) joined forces with the captain (Damon) of South Africa’s underdog rugby team to help unite their country.  The reason I mention this is because Damon and Eastwood are set to work on Hereafter for Warner Bros.  Eastwood is directing Damon, again. This time it’s not a true story, a supernatural thriller, leaning toward a plot like The Sixth Sense. Warner Bros. is keeping the storyline under lock and key.

I can tell you that some very talented people are working on this movie behind the scenes such as Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall are on the list of executive producers.

Invictus opens December 2009 and no word yet on the production start date for Hereafter.

Steven Soderbergh created a gem. The Informant is hilarious while Matt Damon leads us through chaos and stupidity as a corny whistle-blower in the agribusiness.  True to life story based on Kurt Eichenwald’s nonfiction bestseller,  Soderbergh made a smart move when he cast Scott Bakula, who plays an FBI agent brilliantly off Damon.  Some may say this is Bakula’s comeback; but the way he looks in this trailer, I’d say he never left.

Movie opens October 9th.

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Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman star in Clint Eastwood’s The Human Factor, about the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Damon plays rugby star Francois Pienaar, as captain of the all-white South African rugby team led them to a victory at the world cup and gave the country’s whites and blacks a common cause to rally around as they healed from years of apartheid.  Morgan Freeman plays Nelson Mandela in the film. Damon looks pretty good as a blond.

First Showing  posted this picture of Damon and Eastwood on location.

damonMatt Damon is finalizing his deal with Universal to star in The Adjustment Bureau, a modern day love story with sci-fi overtones. The movie will be directed by George Nolfi, who also wrote the script. The story is somewhat based on a Philip K. Dick story.

According to Variety, Damon will play a charismatic congressman who seems destined for national political stardom. He meets a beautiful ballet dancer, only to find strange circumstances keeping their sparks from catching fire.

 

Michael Douglas as Liberace is a role I’d love to see Douglas perform; usually, a macho-type, angry guy, now a more well…feminine-type — cool.

Steven Soderbergh is in the early stages of development, which he will direct through Warner Bros.

Matt Damon is in talks to play Scott Thorson, who sued the flamboyant pianist in 1982 for palimony.

Liberace denied that he was gay in his long celebrated career.

Torso Shooting in Cleveland

293.damon.bourne.072607 Paramount Studios wants to shoot Torso starring Matt Damon as Eliot Ness early next year in Cleveland, reports the state’s website.

The movie relates the story of the state’s famous Torso or Kingsbury Run murders where at least 13 people were killed between 1934 and 1938. The killings were never solved, though.

Studio official, however, say they need incentives to shoot in Ohio. In fact, producer Bill Mechanic commented that without tax breaks the studio is likely to shoot interior scenes in Michigan and film streetscapes in Cleveland.

the_good_shepherd-11-robert_de_niro-matt_damon Talking to Variety, Robert de Niro revealed that he would still like to do two sequels to The Good Shepherd despite the film’s failure at the box office.

Niro additionally said that he and Martin Scorsese still hope to produce films about the CIA’s history and the character of Edward Wilson played by Matt Damon.

While the first film ran from the early days of WWII to the Bay of Pigs incident in 1961, the second is expected to run from that point through to the fall of the Soviet Union and the Berlin Wall in 1989. Meanwhile, the third is expected to deal with events from 1990 till the present.

Niro and Scorsese are currently working on a secret project aimed for release sometime next year.

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he project, “The Matarese Circle,” revolves around two secret agents — an American and a Russian — who must work together to fight a mysterious group of killers known as the Matarese. The twist: The agents, Bradley Scofield and Vasili Taleniekov, have been nemeses for years, with each responsible for killing someone close to the other. According to those familiar with the pitch, Denzel Washington would play Scofiel and, from the looks of it, Matt Damon plays Taleniekov.Nearly all the major studios have heard at least a version of the pitch, with several thought to be keenly interested; however, no deal had been struck until now. MGM nabbed the film today.According to the Hollywood Reporter, ‘”Matarese” could be attractive to studios seeking a new franchise. The property is the only other Ludlum invention to feature more than one novel; a second book, “The Matarese Countdown,” was published in 1997. Universal, meanwhile, has announced a fourth “Bourne” movie reteaming Damon and director Paul Greengrass, though Ludlum wrote only three novels. Two recent Bourne books were written by Eric Van Lustbader and published after Ludlum’s death, with a third Van Lustbader title is expected in the summer.
“Matarese” could be attractive to studios seeking a new franchise. The property is the only other Ludlum invention to feature more than one novel; a second book, “The Matarese Countdown,” was published in 1997. Universal, meanwhile, has announced a fourth “Bourne” movie reteaming Damon and director Paul Greengrass, though Ludlum wrote only three novels. Two recent Bourne books were written by Eric Van Lustbader and published after Ludlum’s death, with a third Van Lustbader title is expected in the summer.
Borys Kit in Los Angeles contributed to this report