News

Wayne Wang’s Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, the filmmaker’s follow-up to his existential noir riff Chan Is Missing, again focuses explicitly on the Chinese American community in San Francisco. But where his debut feature found its protagonists constantly scrambling about the city, Dim Sum is set almost exclusively within, or just outside, the domestic space. Echoes of Ozu Yasujirō, specifically Late Spring, ring throughout Wang’s melodrama, whose tender, empathetic, and often funny examination of a loving, codependent mother-daughter relationship is reminiscent of Ryū Chishū and Haru Setsuko’s characters’ in Ozu’s masterwork.

Dim Sum, too, is a film of extended silences and often mundane conversations, and of emotions coursing beneath placid surfaces across settings where old customs collide with new ones. Wang makes evocative use of Ozu’s signature pillow shots throughout, reflecting elements of a Chinese community through shots of Chinatown and its...

Exclusive: Stana Katic (Castle) and Raza Jaffrey (Homeland) will star in Sundance award-winning director Amin Matalqa’s action adventure The Rendezvous. Inspired by classic romantic capers as North By Northwest and Romancing The Stone, the film is an adaptation of Sarah Isaias’ book A New Song. Set in Jordan, the film recently wrapped principal photography on location there. Terrel Seltzer (One Fine Day) has written the script, which follows an unlikely pair who find…...

In 2008, Courtney Hunt‘s micro-budget debut film, Frozen River released to over $5 million in box office takings and generally favorable reviews, as well as an Oscar nomination for it’s star, Melissa Leo. Given the bleak nature of that film, it may surprise you to learn that Hunt’s followup feature is going to be a comedy starring Reese Witherspoon entitled Rule #1.

However, the intriguing synopsis (courtesy of THR) leads me to believe that this will be more of a black comedy than otherwise:

“Rule #1 tells the story of a 34 -year old woman (Witherspoon) trying to cope with Ocd, who takes in a young woman with Add and her newborn baby in an effort to face her anxieties and ultimately get her estranged husband back. The resulting effort takes the woman’s already chaotic world spinning into the next level.”

Hunt proved she has talent with Frozen River and hopefully with this film,...

When you have obsessive-compulsive disorder and you immerse yourself in whatever triggers your deepest anxieties, it's called "exposure therapy." When you do it in a movie, it's called "Rule #1," and it stars Reese Witherspoon.

Witherspoon is in talks to star as Diana McBride, a woman with Ocd who tries to wrangle her anxiety (and get her husband back) by, uh, letting a young woman with a baby come live with her. We're pretty sure that was never a recommended therapy on "Obsessed," but we're not licensed professionals. How that figures into McBride's Ocd has yet to be seen, but hopefully this won't be played totally for laffs [sic] involving baby poop.

A good indicator of the tone is the other talent attached, and so far it's a mixed bag. "Frozen River" writer-director Courtney Hunt will direct the film; she was nominated for her "Frozen River" screenplay, and her bleak movie about...

Frozen River screenwriter Courtney Hunt has signed on to direct the comedy Rule #1, starring Reese Witherspoon.

Rule #1 tells the story of a 34-year-old woman trying to cope with Ocd, who takes in a young woman with Add and her newborn baby in an effort to face her anxieties and ultimately get her estranged husband back. The resulting effort takes the woman's already chaotic world spinning into the next level.

Terrel Seltzer (One Fine Day) wrote the script for Rule #1, which was initially set up at Fox Searchlight in 2009 before being put into turnaround.

No production date has been set.

Emmett/Furla Films has come aboard to produce and finance the comedy Rule #1, which Reese Witherspoon is producing via her Type A Films. She also is in negotiations to star in the film, which Brad Epstein of Panther Films also will produce. Frozen River helmer Courtney Hunt is directing a script by Terrel Seltzer (One Fine Day). The film centers on a woman (Witherspoon) trying to cope with Ocd who takes in an unpredictable young woman with a newborn baby in an effort to face her anxieties and ultimately get her estranged husband back. In September, Randall Emmett and George Furla’s company announced a $250 million film financing fund with Envision Entertainment. The outfit is in preproduction on Broken City with Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Frozen Ground starring John Cusack, Nicholas Cage and Vanessa Hudgens. It also has several movies in post including Stephen Frears’ Lay The Favorite,...

Seltzer (who hasn't seen a produced screenplay since One Fine Day) sold Rule #1 to Fox Searchlight - the company who is currently seeing red with the horribly conceived Amelia. - Reese Witherspoon, the most commonly used named whenever a film needs to attach a lead actress to a project (Kidman used to own the title) is being linked for her acting abilities and producing capabilities to Terrel Seltzer's original screenplay. If Reese's publicist reads this, please drop me a line and let me know which title on this long grocery list is she no longer "attached" to. Seltzer (who hasn't seen a produced screenplay since One Fine Day) sold Rule #1 to Fox Searchlight - the company who is currently seeing red with the horribly conceived Amelia. Brad Epstein (Dan in Real LIfe) will produce the pic which centers on a New Yorker who befriends a Puerto Rican girl with attention deficit disorder.

Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon boarded a whole series of upcoming projects recently, and the latest she's considering to star in and produce is the Terrel Seltzer-scrioted "Rule #1" for Fox Searchlight.

The Hollywood Reporter says the film follows a New York woman who develops a friendship with a Puerto Rican girl with attention deficit disorder. Seltzer's credits include 1996's comedy "One Fine Day."

Witherspoon was recenlty heard in the mediocre animated flick "Monsters vs. Aliens," and before that she was seen in the disappointing "Four Christmases." She recently wrapped a comedy by James L. Brooks.

Witherspoon totally deserved her Oscar for "Walk the Line," but I feel her projects following that film failed to stick with me. She'll also soon star in a film by Cameron Crowe and in 'Pharm Girl."...

I hope we've all learned by now to be wary of movies in which a white person learns a Very Important Lesson About Life from someone of another race. It was hokey in Driving Miss Daisy, it was unbearable in The Soloist, and I expect it to be pretty silly in that upcoming Sandra Bullock movie about the family that adopts the black football player. Because, come on. Standing back and marveling that "we're all the same on the inside" is the oldest kind of Hollywood pandering to racial equality, and is still de riguer in an industry that rarely gives leading roles to non-white actors and still can't find another decent part for Viola Davis to play. Anyway. I'm obviously not 100% certain that the new Reese Witherspoon project Rule #1, written by Terrel Seltzer, is that kind of movie, but it sure sounds like it-- "a New York woman befriends...

The Hollywood Reporter says that Reese Witherspoon is attached to star in and will produce Terrel Seltzer's original screenplay Rule #1 at Fox Searchlight. Brad Epstein ( About a Boy ) is producing the project, about a New York woman who befriends a Puerto Rican girl with attention deficit disorder. Seltzer wrote the Fox comedy How I Got Into College and co-wrote the George Clooney-Michelle Pfeiffer romantic comedy One Fine Day .

Reese Witherspoon is attached to star in Rule #1, a Terrel Seltzer original screenplay which has been bought by Fox Searchlight.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Witherspoon will also produce the pic, which tells the story of a New York woman who befriends a Puerto Rican girl with attention deficit disorder. Brad Epstein (About A Boy) is also producing the project,

Seltzer wrote the Fox comedy How I Got Into College and co-wrote the George Clooney-Michelle Pfeiffer romantic comedy One Fine Day.

Witherspoon most recently starred in Four Christmases and lent her voice to DreamWorks Animation's Monsters vs. Aliens.

>> Real the whole article | on Screenrush - Friday 30 October 2009...

Reese Witherspoon is attached to star in and produce the upcoming Fox Searchlight comedy Rule #1 about a New York woman who befriends a young Puerto Rican girl with Adhd. Though another Reese Witherspoon film normally doesn't do much to pique my interest, I did catch something in my news that made me cock my head like a dog hearing a whistle. Rule #1 was written by Terrel Seltzer whose first writing credit was the underappreciated 80s comedy How I Got Into College. The film was directed by...

Terrel Seltzer has sold her original screenplay "Rule #1" to Fox Searchlight. Reese Witherspoon is attached to star and produce the story about a New York woman who makes friends with a Peurto Rican girl who has attention deficit disorder. Seltzer wrote "How I Got Into College" and co-wrote the George Clooney-Michelle Pfeiffer romantic comedy "One Fine Day." Witherspoon most recently starred in "Four Christmases" and prodived voice to acting DreamWorks Animation's "Monsters vs. Aliens," which has grossed $374 million worldwide. She can be seen next in the untitled James L. Brooks film which finds theatres in December 2010.

Mini-mogul Reese Witherspoon has signed on to produce and star in Rule #1, a new film from the writer of One Fine Day. She of the pointy chin and perky everything has added this tale of a New York woman who befriends a Puerto Rican girl with attention defecit disorder to her very, very long To Do list.In this case, we don't know if writer Terrel Seltzer's script is a comedy, drama, science-fiction action movie or something in between, just that it's about a woman and a girl with Add. Given Witherspoon's background, comedy's possible, but it seems more likely on the bare bones description that it's a drama more in line with her Just Like Heaven moments than her Legally Blonde ones.There's no word yet on where this will fit in on the Witherspoon To Do list: she's also got an untitled James L. Brooks film out next December,...

Terrel Seltzer has sold her original screenplay "Rule #1" to Fox Searchlight, with Reese Witherspoon attached to star and produce.

Brad Epstein ("About a Boy") is producing the project, about a New York woman who befriends a Puerto Rican girl with attention deficit disorder.

Seltzer, who is repped by Paradigm and Manage-Ment, wrote the Fox comedy "How I Got Into College" and co-wrote the George Clooney-Michelle Pfeiffer romantic comedy "One Fine Day."

Witherspoon, repped by CAA and Management 360, most recently starred in "Four Christmases" and lent her voice to DreamWorks Animation's "Monsters vs. Aliens," which has grossed $374 million worldwide. She will next appear in the untitled James L. Brooks feature hitting theaters in December 2010.

Through her Type A Films, Witherspoon has produced "Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde," "Penelope" and "Four Christmases." She is also developing "Around the World in 80 Dates" and "Bell Witch" at Universal.

In olden days of romantic comedy, couples met cute. In the anything-goes '90s, or at least in this frothy entertainment, they meet hostile. But other than that modern update, there's little difference between 20th Century Fox's "One Fine Day" and some of the finest merriments of the romantic comedy classics.

With appealing star performances from Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney, this charmer should attract very fine days at the boxoffice. It's not hard to conjure up Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant or elements of such classics as "His Girl Friday" or "The Awful Truth" when viewing this smartly pedigreed movie. It's high praise to group Pfeiffer and Clooney in that league, but their crustily silken performances are delightfully enticing.

In this present-day scenario, they're both harried divorcees, single- parent/professionals who are thrust into one not-so-fine day in which both their professional and personal lives are stretched to the limits. She's Melanie, an architect with a career-making presentation; he's Jack, a newspaper columnist whose job hinges on clearing up a controversial column he did linking the mayor with organized crime.

They're thrust together through their kids -- he has a girl, she a boy -- when, owing to the overstretched natures of their modern lives and a string of circumstances, they find themselves not only battling their big-day battles but having to bring their elementary-age kids along with them. For their mutual benefit, they agree on a kid-sharing plan -- she watches them during his critical press conference while he takes them during her architectural presentation.

Unlike the traditional screwball comedy formula where the male was the repressed straight-arrow and the female was the wacky free spirit who loosens him up, the straight man here is Melanie, whose compulsive organizational traits put her at odds with Jack's breezy nonchalance. She thrives on order, he thrives on chaos; and in the baffling chemistry of romance, opposites-attract sparks start to fly.

Perhaps the only flaw in this well-wrought romance is that the sparks start a little prematurely. Although we readily see their differences, scenes of each character grudgingly, or surprisingly, admiring the other are scant and other than the characters' surface physical desirability, their emotional attraction is somewhat underdeveloped and unconvincing.

Still, niggling aside, screenwriters Terrel Seltzer and Ellen Simon have concocted a brainy, madcap amusement with decidedly sympathetic characters. The certain proof -- you root for these two to get together.

The supporting characters are a terrific blend of sweet and sassy types. In particular, both kids, Mae Whitman and Alex D. Linz, are adorable, regular-type tots with no gloss of Hollywood sheen. On the adult side, Charles Durning is perfect as Jack's gruff, big-hearted editor, while sports scribe Pete Hamill is creatively cast as a spacey, perceptive land developer.

With his hand expertly on the narrative accelerator, director Michael Hoffman has fashioned a fast-paced, warm-hearted movie. With a frothy mix of wipes and split screens, as well as a keen eye for visual hilarity, Hoffman has cut a near-perfect crystalline comedy.

ONE FINE DAY

20th Century Fox

Fox 2000 Pictures presents

a Lynda Obst production

in association with Via Rosa Prods.

A Michael Hoffman film

Producer Lynda Obst

Director Michael Hoffman

Screenwriters Terrel Seltzer, Ellen Simon

Executive producers Kate Guinzburg,

Michelle Pfeiffer

Director of photography Oliver Stapleton

Production design David Gropman

Editor Garth Craven

Co-producer Mary McLaglen

Music James Newton Howard

Costume design Susie DeSanto

Casting Lora Kennedy

Special visual effects by VIFX

VIFX visual effects supervisor

Richard Hollander

Sound mixer Petur Hliddal

Color/stereo

Cast:

Melanie Parker Michelle Pfeiffer

Jack Taylor George Clooney

Maggie Taylor Mae Whitman

Sammy Parker Alex D. Linz

Lew Charles Durning

Yates Jr. Jon Roin Baitz

Elaine Lieberman Ellen Greene

Manny Feldstein Joe Frifasi

Frank Burroughs Pete Hamill

Running time -- 108 minutes

MPAA rating: PG...