N
THANDIE NEWTON
 W.:
Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, Ioan Gruffudd,
Thandie Newton, Richard Dreyfuss, Scott Glenn, Jeffrey Wright, Ellen
Burstyn, James Cromwell, Rob Corddry, Toby Jones, Michael Gaston
(Directed by Oliver Stone; Written by Stanley Weiser; Lionsgate)
In case you’re having
trouble sorting through the merits and flaws of the Junior Bush
administration, Oliver Stone will lend you a hand with “W.,”
which is scheduled to open just before the 2008 presidential election.
This inevitably absurdist extravaganza stars Josh Brolin, shown
above, as George II--from hell-raising, booze-guzzling rogue to
chatting-with-Jesus commander in chief. Richard Dreyfuss plays gun-toting,
bunker-hugging VP Dick Cheney and Thandie Newton has been cast as
the scholarly, vigorously inattentive Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice; Scott Glenn is the you-fight-with-the-army-you’ve-got
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; Elizabeth Banks is stand-by-your-cowboy
Laura; and the senior Bushes are played by James Cromwell and Ellen
Burstyn. Can we count on Stone, the man who zeroed in on “JFK,”
“Nixon” and “Natural Born Killers,” to capture
these history-making characters, warts and all? For
a clue, click here and read Slate’s
preview of “W.,” based on Juliet Lapidos’ perusal
of the screenplay. For details on more new biopics, click
here. Opens
10/17/08
JACK NICHOLSON
 THE
BUCKET LIST: Jack Nicholson,
Morgan Freeman, Serena Reeder, Jonathan Mangum, Beverly Todd, Sean
Hayes (Directed by Rob Reiner; Written by Justin Zackham) Yes, that’s
“bucket,” as in kick the bucket. In what is evidently
intended as a three-hanky comedy, Nicholson and Freeman play a pair
of terminally ill patients who are not too ill to make a swift escape
from their hospital ward. Once they’re on the road, they draw
up a list of things they are determined to do before death comes
calling. Topping the list are such musts as booze, caviar, poker
and maybe an occasional broad. Now Playing
FOR GUY FLATLEY'S 1974
INTERVIEW WITH JACK NICHOLSON, click
here.
NICK NOLTE
 THE
RUM DIARY: Johnny
Depp, Josh Hartnett, Benicio del Toro, Nick Nolte (Written and directed
by Bruce Robinson; FilmEngine) It’s been nearly 10 years since
Johnny Depp played Raoul Duke, a hell-raising journalist, in the
film version of Hunter S. Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing
in Las Vegas.” Nobody, including the author, believed that
Duke was anyone other than Thompson himself. Now Depp is playing
Paul Kemp, an eccentric reporter in “The Rum Diary,”
the autobiographical novel the late Hunter published when he was
22. Set in San Juan, Puerto Rico, during the fifties, “Diary”
depicts the chaotic, booze-and-drugs fueled adventures of a brawling
Hunteresque freelancer from New York who tries to twist himself
into a latter-day Hemingway. Playing his unruly expatriate pals:
Nick Nolte, Benicio del Toro and Josh Hartnett. Sounds like a high
time will be had by all. Opening date to be
announced
FOR GUY FLATLEY'S 1979
INTERVIEW WITH NICK NOLTE, click
here.
EDWARD NORTON
 PRIDE
AND GLORY: Edward Norton, Colin
Farrell, Noah Emmerich, Jennifer Ehle, Jon Voight, Lake Bell (Directed
by Gavin O’Connor; Written by Joe Carnahan and Gavin O’Connor;
New Line Cinema) Sometimes a New York cop gives in to temptation
and does something truly sinful. And that’s precisely what
happens in this three-generational tale of a badge-wearing Irish-American
family. Jon Voight is the proud--well, mostly proud--dad of Edward
Norton and Noah Emmerich. And though Colin Farrell is also an Irish-American
officer of the law, he is not a blood brother to Norton and Emmerich.
Gavin O’Connor is the director who turned out “Tumbleweeds,”
the terrific 1999 sleeper starring Janet McTeer as the fun-loving,
over-the-top mom of a stressed-out teen-age girl. Opening
date to be announced
FOR A COMPLETE ALPHABETICAL LISTING OF STAR
TURNS, CLICK
HERE.
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