Bill Murray is the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Roger Michell’s Hyde Park on Hudson. The film chronicles a weekend in 1939, when Europe was already at war, when King George VI (played here by Samuel West and not Colin Firth) became the first British Monarch to formally visit the U.S.  The main plot, however, revolves around FDR’s relationship with his cousin Margaret, called Daisy (Laura Linney). Focus Features has finally given us the first trailer. If you’re a fan of softly humorous period drama, I think you’ll like it:

Roger Michell directed one of my very favorite movies, Persuasion with Ciaran Hinds, as well as the very popular (but pedestrian) Notting Hill and the underrated Changing Lanes with Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson and the equally underestimated Morning Glory with Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford. The rest of the cast here includes Olivia Williams as Eleanor Roosevelt, Elizabeth Wilson as Sara Delano Roosevelt and Olivia Coleman (Bafta Winner for Tyrannosaur) as Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mum). Hyde Park on Hudson is (appropriately) scheduled for a December 7 release in the US, but some festival appearances will probably come first. I’m really looking forward to this. You can find more of our coverage here.

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For anyone excited about Wes Anderson’s latest, Moonrise Kingdom, as I am,  this post is like winning the lottery. (Well, okay so maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but it’s still pretty damn good.)

We’ve got fifteen brand new images plus seven great new character posters. The pics certainly give us a better look at a lot of the characters, our young hero and heroine, Sam and Suzy ( Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) specifically. One of the posters gives us a first look at Tilda Swinton as the Social Services matron (who looks like she might be related to Nurse Ratched)

Jason Schwartzman, with porn stache and scout uniform, just screams “major felony in progress” to me.

The movie was filmed in and around Providence, Rhode Island, including Prudence Island. From what I can tell it definitely has that 'New England summer vacation community in the 60's' thing going on. 

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, MOONRISE KINGDOM tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore — and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle.

Moonrise Kingdom stars Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, Jason Schwartzman and Bob Balaban. It will open the Cannes Film Festival (we have to wait until tomorrow for the full Cannes schedule) on May 16 before it opens for us regular folks in the US and the UK on May 25. Check out the official website for a lot of great info.

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Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, which we first told you about  when we debuted the trailer in January, will have its World Premiere as the opening night film of the 65th Cannes Film Festival on May 16. (Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris had that spot last year and that worked out very well.)  To celebrate, there’s also a beautiful new poster for the film.(Actually the poster came prior to the announcement, but I'm just now getting to it.)

Moonrise Kingdom is the iconoclastic Mr. Anderson’s first film since 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, (the first live-action since ‘07’s The Darjeeling Limited with Adrien Brody and Owen Wilson-which I loved. Actually I loved The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Rushmore as well.).

“Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, MOONRISE KINGDOM tells the story of two twelve-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore — and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents. The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, and Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward as the boy and girl.”

From the press release on the festival’s official website:

“Moonrise Kingdom, the new film by American Wes Anderson, will open the 65th Festival de Cannes on Wednesday, 16 May in the Grand théâtre Lumière of the Palais des Festivals, with the Jury presided over by Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti in attendance.

…

Thierry Frémaux, the Festival’s General Delegate, commented: “Wes Anderson is one of the rising powers of American cinema, to which he brings a highly personal touch, particularly in Moonrise Kingdom, which once again is a testimony to the creative freedom in which he continues to evolve. Sensitive and independent, this admirer of Fellini and Renoir is also in his own right a brilliant and inventive filmmaker.”

Gilles Jacob, President of the Festival, is glad to proclaim: “With Wes Anderson opening the 65th Festival de Cannes, young American cinema will be celebrated on the Croisette.”

The film will be released on May 25 in the US, The UK and Canada

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source

It’s been since November 4 that we had anything on Roger Michell’s Hyde Park on Hudson with Bill Murray as the 32^nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Michell’s film chronicles a weekend in 1939 when King George VI  became the first British Monarch to formally visit the U.S.  {King George VI was featured last year in The King's Speech, but here he's played not by Colin Firth, but by Samuel West (Howard’s End, Persuasion, Van Helsing)}, when Europe was already at war.  The main plot, however, revolves around FDR’s relationship with his cousin Margaret, called Daisy. Today we have some fantastic new images from Focus Features showcasing most of the important players.

Synopsis:

The story of the love affair between FDR and his distant cousin Margaret Stuckley (Laura Linney), centered around the weekend in 1939 when the King and Queen of the United Kingdom visited upstate New York.

Roger Michell directed one of my very favorite movies, Persuasion with Ciaran Hinds, so I’m always curious about his films. He directed the very popular (but pedestrian) Notting Hill  as well as the underrated Changing Lanes with Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson and the equally underestimated Morning Glory with Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford.  The rest of the cast here includes Olivia Williams as Eleanor Roosevelt, Elizabeth Wilson as Sara Delano Roosevelt and Olivia Coleman (Hot Fuzz, Tyrannosaur) as Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mum). Hyde Park on Hudson is scheduled for a December 7 release although as the Playlist points out, a prestigious release date such as that usually signals awards consideration, so some festival appearances will probably come first. I’m really looking forward to this.

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New Year, new movie: Focus Features has given us the first trailer for Wes Anderson’s eagerly anticipated Moonrise Kingdom.

Right off the bat, I have to say that if you’re a fan of Anderson’s previous fun, lyrical, non-linear films, including Rushmore, The Royal Tennenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Darjeeling Limited and the Fantastic Mr. Fox, then I think you’re going to like this trailer, and ultimately, the movie as well. (If you need a crash course, this AMEX ad will pretty much tell you everything you need to know.)

The official synopsis:

Set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, MOONRISE KINGDOM tells the story of two twelve-year-olds(Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward)  who fall in love, make a secret pact, and run away together into the wilderness. As various authorities try to hunt them down, a violent storm is brewing off-shore — and the peaceful island community is turned upside down in more ways than anyone can handle. Bruce Willis plays the local sheriff. Edward Norton is a Khaki Scout troop leader. Bill Murray and Frances McDormand portray the young girl’s parents. 

The only way to align that simple paragraph with what we see in the trailer is to filter it through Wes Anderson’s skewed, quirky, Crayola-colored vision of the world.

The cast also includes Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel and Jason Schwartzman.

Murray and Schwartzman are two of the usual players from Anderson’s repertory company. They’ve been with him since Rushmore. I love that Frances McDormand is finally in something else with Edward Norton (after Primal Fear, his first film) and I’ll see this just to find out if they have a meaty scene together. By the way, Bruce Willis has SEVEN films set for release in 2012. (I couldn’t believe it either.) As for Swinton, I can’t believe it took Anderson this long to cast her. They seem made for each other. The only thing that could make this cast better would be the inclusion of Adrien Brody, but you can’t have everything.

Moonrise Kingdom, written by Anderson and Roman Coppola (co-writer, with Anderson and Schwartzman, of Darjeeling Limited), gets a limited May 25 release. I can't wait for more! Enjoy the trailer!

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Here’s the first official image of Bill Murray as the 32nd President of the United States . Murray appears as President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Roger Michell’s Hyde Park on Hudson, which  chronicles a weekend in 1939 when King George VI  became the first British Monarch to formally visit the U.S.  (King George VI was featured last year in The King's Speech, but here he's played not by Colin Firth, but by Samuel West (Howard’s End, Persuasion, Van Helsing).  The main plot, however, revolves around FDR’s relationship with his cousin.

Synopsis: The story of the love affair between FDR and his distant cousin Margaret Stuckley (Laura Linney), centered around the weekend in 1939 when the King and Queen of the United Kingdom visited upstate New York.

Roger Michell directed one of my very favorite movies, Persuasion with Ciaran Hinds, so I’m always curious about his films. He directed the very popular (but pedestrian) Notting Hill  as well as the underrated Changing Lanes with Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson and the equally underestimated Morning Glory with Rachel McAdams, Diane Keaton and Harrison Ford.  The rest of the cast here includes Olivia Williams as Eleanor Roosevelt, and Olivia Coleman (Hot Fuzz, Tyrannosaur) as Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mum). Hyde Park on Hudson is scheduled for a 2012 UK release. More on that later.

Yeah!  Talk about not holding back!  It’s big news courtesy of PopEater!  Bill Murray has finally hopped back on board as Dr. Peter Venkman for the next two installments of the Ghostbuster franchise.

Director Ivan Reitman will be manning the ship as Murray teams up with Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson and Harold Ramis.  They are talking about 2012 and 2013 Christmas releases.

“Bill loves these characters as much as we all do, and it was simply a matter of nailing the timing,” Reitman explained.

Well, it’s been too long.  But we will take it.  Yes, it’s a ways off.  But these new movies will definitely be something to look forward to.

Are you pumped?  Who ya gonna call?

The truly gorgeous Megan Fox brought along husband Brian Austin Green to the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival to premiere her movie Passion Play that also stars Mickey Rourke, Bill Murray and Kelly Lynch who also attended the premiere.  Rhys Ifans is also in this thriller but was not at the TIFF.

It’s nice to see Mickey Rourke looking like himself again. He came solo to the event. I wonder if he is still with his girlfriend or not.  I’m surprised he didn’t bring one of his adorable dogs as a date.

IMDB describes Passion Play as:

An angel under the thumb of a ruthless gangster is saved by a trumpet player down on his luck.

Here’s a clip that ET had on their site [via:  Worst Previews]:

Is this a movie you would go see?

Pictures after the break

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