Tag Archives: Ivan Reitman

By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: Canadian native Jason Reitman has become a staple of the Toronto International Film Festival, premiering his award-winning “Juno” and “Up In the Air” at the annual fest. Reitman’s returning for the 2012 festival, but he isn’t bringing a film. Well … he isn’t exactly bringing a film.
Reitman revealed on Sunday that he’ll accompany an all-star cast at the famed Ryerson for a live table read of Alan Ball’s “American Beauty” screenplay. With no rehearsal, the actors will come together for a one-take read-through and will revisit this Academy Award-winning script, with Reitman narrating stage direction.
Reitman announced on Twitter that he’d start revealing the names of his cast members on Monday.
“This is one surprise we couldn’t wait to share with Toronto,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO, TIFF. “Jason Reitman is like family to us and the Ryerson Theatre is his Festival home.”
“We’re excited to offer Festival audiences the opportunity to watch the creative process unfold in front of their eyes,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival. “With actors of this calibre being guided by Jason Reitman through Alan Ball’s Oscar-winning screenplay, this will be a unique experience to remember.”
The table read will be held at the Ryerson Theatre on Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. Tickets went on sale on Sunday, and cost $19.69 for adults and $15.04 for age 25 and under.
Purchase Festival tickets online at tiff.net/festival, by phone at 416.599.TIFF or 1.888.599.8433, and in person at the Festival Box Office located at 225 King St West. TIFF prefers Visa. The 37th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 6 to 16, 2012.
Jason Reitman created the “Live Read” in October 2011, in collaboration with Elvis Mitchell for the film society of Los Angeles County Museum of Arts (LACMA). The six month hit series featured “Breakfast Club” (Jennifer Garner and Aaron Paul), “The Apartment” (Steve Carell and Natalie Portman), “The Princess Bride” (Paul Rudd), “Shampoo” (Bradley Cooper and Kate Hudson), “The Big Lebowski” (Seth Rogen), and “Reservoir Dogs,” featuring an all-African American cast with Laurence Fishburne and Terrence Howard.
The LACMA series will begin again this October 2012, with all movie titles and cast as a last-second surprise.
Hollywood News on Twitter for up-to-date news information.
Hollywood News, Hollywood Awards, Awards, Movies, News, Award News, Breaking News, Entertainment News, Movie News, Music News

HollywoodNews.com: The Toronto International Film Festival® opens September 6 with the world premiere Gala Presentation of Looper – filmmaker Rian Johnson’s time-bending and mind-bending action thriller. “Rian Johnson is a film auteur known for combining different genres to give his projects an original spin,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO of TIFF. “We’re thrilled to have Looper open the Festival.” “I saw Rian’s debut feature Brick at the Sundance festival and was impressed by his ability to engage both the mind and the heart,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director, Toronto International Film Festival. “We were fortunate enough to premiere his follow-up film The Brothers Bloom. Now, with Looper, Rian has taken his filmmaking to a new level, and we can’t wait to present it to the Toronto audience in the most prestigious platform we can offer. This is a new kind of Opening Night: an exciting, thinking-person’s action film from a director who really understands genre.”
In TriStar Pictures, FilmDistrict, and Endgame Entertainment’s Looper, time travel will be invented – but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a “looper” – a hired gun, like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) – is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good… until the day the mob decides to “close the loop,” sending back Joe’s future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination. The film is written and directed by Rian Johnson and also stars Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, Noah Segan, Piper Perabo, and Jeff Daniels. Ram Bergman and James D. Stern produce. The executive producers are Douglas E. Hansen, Julie Goldstein, Peter Schlessel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Dan Mintz. The film will be distributed in Canada by Alliance Films.
About TIFF TIFF is a charitable cultural organization whose mission is to transform the way people see the world through film. An international leader in film culture, TIFF projects include the annual Toronto International Film Festival in September; TIFF Bell Lightbox, which features five cinemas, major exhibitions, and learning and entertainment facilities; and innovative national distribution program Film Circuit. The organization generates an annual economic impact of $170 million CAD. TIFF Bell Lightbox is generously supported by contributors including Founding Sponsor Bell, the Province of Ontario, the Government of Canada, the City of Toronto, the Reitman family (Ivan Reitman, Agi Mandel [...]

By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: I’m still surprised — make that shocked — that Jason Reitman’s “Young Adult,” with a script by “Juno” collaborator (and Oscar winner) Diablo Cody, is skipping the fall film festival circuit. Even if Reitman had decided to hold his film out of Telluride and Venice, a world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival – practically the filmmaker’s backyard – seemed like a no-brainer.
But Paramount is keeping “Adult” under wraps until we get closer to its Dec. 9 opening. We’re hearing all sorts of explanations why, most centering around the fact that Cody’s story isn’t afraid to get very dark. Reitman’s film centers on a thirtysomething adolescent (Charlize Theron) sent into an tailspin when she returns home and fails to win back her ex-boyfriend (Patrick Wilson). Emotionally battered, Theron’s character strikes up an unlikely friendship with Patton Oswalt, playing another ex-classmate who also has refused to let the high-school glory days fade.
The decision to bypass the fall festivals set off internal alarms. If “Young Adult” was as good as we’d hoped, Paramount would bring it to TIFF, where Reitman would be guaranteed solid reviews. Right?
Lest we think the studio’s not prepared to make an awards push, however, Paramount strategically released a one sheet exclusively to THR, helping to put the film on readers’ (and writers’) radars right as we head into the awards-season push. We have it below.

The poster’s clever. It looks like the cover of a young adult novel, which Theron’s character reportedly pens in the movie. But the photo also captures Theron’s arrested development.
I still can’t figure out why Paramount skipped Toronto, where Reitman collected accolades for all three of his films, including eventual Oscar nominees “Up In the Air” and “Juno.” TIFF seems like a slam dunk for a movie like this that needs to build buzz. But Paramount has a plan. Let’s see how it unfolds.
Follow Hollywood News on Twitter for up-to-date news information.

hollywoodnews.com: As unexpected as the combination of Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman may be, their new film “No Strings Attached” offers a fun, breezy balance between Kutcher’s mainstream sensibilities and Portman’s actorly integrity: the two play lifelong acquaintances who fall into a “friends with benefits” situation that tests their mutual resistance to something a little deeper. Ivan Reitman directed the film from a script from newcomer Liz Meriwether; Hollywood News spoke to Meriwether, Reitman, Portman and Kutcher at the recent Los Angeles press day for “No Strings Attached,” where the foursome offered some insights into how the cast and filmmakers came together to create this irreverent and funny new romantic comedy.
Hollywood News: Natalie, you had over a year of intense physical prep for ‘Black Swan’. Did that preparation affect you at all on this movie?

Natalie Portman: You’re like, ‘How did you get fat so quickly?’ It was pretty great. It was like a palate cleanser after all of that really discipline and focus, a very serious kind of set to a really playful, fun – obviously everyone is still very professional on this movie, but there’s an improvisational feel all the time and everyone is there to play. It was a really great atmosphere and I didn’t have to workout because I was like, ‘She’s a doctor. They don’t have time.’
Hollywood News: Ashton, what’s the most romantic thing you’ve ever done for someone?

Ashton Kutcher: Oh, man. Why do I always get these? It’s really hard to say. The most romantic thing for someone. I think that romance sort of coincides with effort. So you can fall flat on your face, but as long as you’re making a great effort I think it comes off as romantic. So it can be something as simple as, like, if you’re someone who doesn’t cook you can make a meal. It’s anything that has a little bit of vulnerability in it and requires great effort. So I think for me I’m a little bit of a workaholic and I was in another country and I had one day off. I flew from that different country just to see someone for an hour and turned around and went back. So it was probably that.
Hollywood News: Natalie, you were also an executive producer on this film. How do you balance that with being in the movie?

Portman: Well, it was a really exciting process [...]

By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: Judd Apatow and Kevin Smith may be carrying the baton for coarse, observational, sex-soaked comedy these days, but it was passed to them by Ivan Reitman.
And he wants it back.
Seriously, go back and watch Reitman’s early work, from “Cannibal Girls,” “Stripes” and “Meatballs,” and you’ll see the blueprint that Seth Rogen, Adam Sandler, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill and many more follow to this day. From there, Reitman moved on (and moved up) to “Ghostbusters,” “Legal Eagles,” “Kindergarten Cop” and “Dave.” A generation of classic comedies were born.
Now Reitman’s tackling a new generation, one that’s more frank with their sex talk (and more plugged in to the virtual community, where so much of that sex talk takes place).
“I don’t know if it’s kind of an evolving cynicism, that seems to be part of the world in general, or if it’s just the fact that so much of contemporary courtship takes place on small, electronic instruments,” Reitman told me when we sat down to discuss “No Strings Attached,” his new comedy starring Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman as friends with benefits.
“What once was a full commentary is now abbreviated. It tends to make everything a little quick and casual and non-intimate,” Reitman continued. “Texting and e-mailing … so much of what we do is writing short messages instead of talking.”
Reitman has watched the comedic audience evolve, as well, over the years, and he thinks honest and open sex talk is the norm, where years ago that might not have been the case.
“With each passing generation, I think … you know, parts of our vocabulary have become very broad. Let’s put it that way. And I think if you are going to do an honest contemporary movie without the language that is part of this film, I don’t think it would be honest or accurate,” Reitman said.
Or funny. And to ensure that “Strings” gets the laughs, Reitman surrounds his already amusing leads with hilarious support. Lake Bell plays a producer on the “Glee” rip off Kutcher writes for. Mindy Kalling of “The Office” steals scenes as Portman’s roommate. And in a particularly inspired bit of casting, Kevin Kline plays Kutcher’s father, a vainglorious, sex-crazed former TV star still living off his fame … and making his son’s life a living hell.
“I hadn’t worked with him since ‘Dave’ and I loved that experience. I think he [...]

By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: Can lifelong friends engage in a purely physical relationship without allowing emotions to gum up the works?
To reveal the answer would be to spoil the plot of Ivan Reitman’s latest comedy “No Strings Attached,” which stars Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher as attractive friends who share a mutual attraction but want only sex – and not love – out of their relationship.
The calling card of “No Strings” is its cavalier attitude toward casual sex, and how members of the opposite sex have precious few boundaries talking about or engaging in the practice of making love. This isn’t “The Philadelphia Story,” where subtle references to sex were lightly bandied about by the likes of Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn. Instead, screenwriter Elizabeth Meriweather talks frankly about physicality in the 21st century. But that doesn’t necessarily mean chivalry is dead.
“I think holding the door for the girl that you are having casual sex with is very romantic,” Kutcher told me during a recent one-on-one interview we had in Los Angeles.
“My youngest daughter just went on a date with a kid,” Kutcher continued. “I made him come in. He said hello. He walked her to the door at the end of the night and did all the right things. So that gives me hope.
“I think this movie does point out, though, that we have to stop acting like casual sex isn’t happening, and start to be realistic about what a modern courting relationship is like,” Kutcher went on to say.
Not only is Meriweather’s script realistic, it’s instantly quotable.
“I think my favorite line has to be the one where I say to Natalie that she looks like a female Rick Moranis,” Kutcher said with a laugh. “There was another one that was something to the effect of, ‘You’re so short, when people see me standing next to you, they think you are my child.’ But I don’t think that it made it in. There was also this whole riff about having sex with Shelly Long. But again, I think that all got left out.”
To see what made it in to the final cut, check out Reitman’s “No Strings Attached,” which opens in theaters on Friday, Jan. 21, and check back on the site during the week for continued coverage of the film.

Follow Hollywood News on Twitter for up-to-date news information.
Hollywood News, Hollywood Awards, Awards, Movies, News, Award [...]

hollywoodnews.com: “No Strings Attached” is the story of a guy and girl trying to keep their relationship strictly physical, but it’s not long before they learn that they want something more.
“No Strings Attached” was directed by Ivan Reitman

Photo Courtesy Paramount and (Alex J. Berliner/abimages

Follow Hollywood News on Twitter for up-to-date news information.
Hollywood News, Hollywood Awards, Awards, Movies, News, Award News, Breaking News, Entertainment News, Movie News, Music News

By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: Though it’s only four days old, we’re going ahead and declaring 2011 “The Year of Natalie Portman.”
The actress has four films reaching theaters this year, including the anticipated stoner comedy “Your Highness” and the summer blockbuster “Thor.” Off screen, she announced that she’s engaged to be married … and expecting her first child. Oh yeah, and she’s more than likely about to nominated for an Oscar thanks to her mesmerizing performance in Darren Aronofsky’s “Black Swan.”
Something tells me we’ll be writing a lot about Portman as the year progresses, starting today. We’re getting a good look at Portman’s next film, “No Strings Attached,” a romantic comedy co-starring Ashton Kutcher that hits theaters on Jan. 21. Initially, I feared that a sappy rom-com released right before the Academy cast its votes could hurt Portman’s chances (the way “Norbit” allegedly hurt Eddie Murphy’s Oscar prospects for “Dreamgirls”).
But a new restricted trailer over on WorstPreviews suggests something else: a bawdy, edgy comedy that shows different sides of Portman’s humor that we knew were there (thanks to films like “Garden State” and “Closer”) but often are kept in check.
The new clip, which features plenty of vulgar sex humor, also shows Ivan Reitman’s influence. Of course, the “No Strings” director helmed such comedy classics as “Ghostbusters,” “Meatballs,” “Stripes” and “Twins.” Then again, he also directed “Junior” and “Six Days, Seven Nights.”
This could be either. But the new, rowdy “No Strings” trailer at least gives me hope that this won’t be another run-of-the-mill romantic comedy that panders to date-night couples.
Follow Hollywood News on Twitter for up-to-date news information.
Hollywood News, Hollywood Awards, Awards, Movies, News, Award News, Breaking News, Entertainment News, Movie News, Music News

By Sean O’Connell
Hollywoodnews.com: Who you gonna call? Well, you might be able to dial up the Ghostbusters next summer.
File this under “rumor” until it can be confirmed, but the normally reliable Production Weekly tweeted last night that they are “hearing” Sony plans to put the oft-discussed “Ghostbusters 3” into production in May 2011.
Of course, we’ve heard this story before over the years, with one or two original Ghostbusters (like Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis) telling us a sequel was imminent while another (Bill Murray) declared it dead in the water.
If this Tweet is true, though, then “Ghostbusters 3” likely will be directed by Ivan Reitman from a screenplay by “The Office” and “Year One” scribes Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. We’ve heard Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis would return, and we’ve also heard that the baton would be passed to a younger generation of Ghostbusters.
Stay tuned for confirmation, but it sounds like “Ghostbusters 3” might actually be moving forward.
Follow Hollywood News on Twitter for up-to-date news information.
Hollywood News, Hollywood Awards, Awards, Movies, News, Award News, Breaking News, Entertainment News, Movie News, Music News

By Scott Mendelson
HollywoodNews.com: I’ve been down this road before, but now that it’s official, it’s worth repeating. After years of speculation and attempted pawn-offs, Peter Jackson is in fact directing “The Hobbit.” As of yesterday, MGM and Warner Bros. have reached a deal to fund two films based on “The Hobbit” at an absurd cost of $500 million. First of all, at $250 million apiece, each film will basically have to perform like “The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring” just to break even. Each film will basically cost what the first two “Lord of the Rings” films cost combined, and the whole two-film project will cost around $100 million more than the original three films cost back in 2001-2003. I suppose this is exciting news for the hardcore fans of the original series, as well as JRR Tolkien fans in general. While I firmly believe that the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy is the most impressive film achievement of the just-finished decade, I can’t help feeling a little depressed at the news. This isn’t a case of Peter Jackson returning in glory to a franchise that made him a legend. This truly feels like a case of Peter Jackson, unfairly marginalized because of one wrongly-lambasted box office smash (“King Kong”) and one genuine misfire (“The Lovely Bones”), begrudgingly returning to Middle Earth because he had no where left to go.
Even as a prequel defender, there is no doubt that the Star Wars prequel trilogy would have been better had George Lucas actually had any successes post-Return of the Jedi outside of the Indiana Jones series. Had Howard the Duck, Willow, The Radioland Murders, etc actually been critical and commercial successes, Lucas’s plunging back into the “Star Wars” universe would have been a triumphant return rather than a resigned escape. Does anyone think that Ghostbusters III isn’t going to be a depressing grasp for former glory from Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Ivan Reitman, and whomever else is coerced into coming back? Despite occasional threats of a return, does anyone truly think that Bruce Campbell and Sam Raimi can recapture the seat-of-their-pants dazzle of the first two Evil Dead pictures with a fourth film nearly twenty years after Army of Darkness? And does anyone really believe that Ridley Scott would be helming an Alien prequel if Kingdom of Heaven, Body of Lies, Robin Hood, Matchstick Men, and/or A Good [...]