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Samuel L. Jackson and Daveed Diggs are to star in a new hitman thriller from director Ernest Dickerson.The 76-year-old actor and the ‘Nickel Boys’ star, 43, have been cast in the upcoming movie, which is being penned by ‘Gringo’ writer Matthew Stone and produced by Vincent Newman. Jackson’s part - which was written specifically for him by Stone - will be that of a recently retired and very outspoken hitman who worked for the mob boss known as Easy-a, while Diggs will play the character’s nephew.The synopsis reads: “When his nephew Leslie (Diggs), is implicated in the theft of the mob’s earnings, Morris (Jackson) gets a call from his old boss that forces him off the golf course and back into action to negotiate one last job: he’s got the weekend to help the kid recover the stolen money or put a bullet in him.

Exclusive: Samuel L. Jackson (The Piano Lesson)and Daveed Diggs (Nickel Boys) are set to star in a new hitman thriller from filmmaker Ernest Dickerson (Juice) and Gringo scribe Matthew Stone.

Vincent Newman (Maggie Moore(s)) is producing the currently untitled project, which Contentious Media will finance.

WME Independent is handling international sales. Fifth Season, CAA Media Finance and Contentious Media will handle North America.

In a part written specifically for him by Stone, screen icon Jackson plays Morris Stokes, a recently retired and very opinionated hitman for mob boss Easy-a. The synopsis reads: “When his nephew Leslie (Diggs), is implicated in the theft of the mob’s earnings, Morris gets a call from his old boss that forces him off the golf course and back into action to negotiate one last job: he’s got the weekend to to help the kid recover the stolen money or put a bullet in him.

Amazon Studios and Stx Films have announced Gringo is the official title for the Untitled Nash Edgerton Project.

Gringo will get a domestic release in theaters March 9, 2018.

Combining dark comedy with dramatic intrigue, Gringo joyrides across the border into Mexico, where all is not as it seems for mild-mannered American businessman Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo). Crossing the line from citizen to criminal, Harold tangles with duplicitous business partners, Mexican drug lords, international mercenaries, and the DEA. As he attempts to survive in one of the most dangerous places on earth, the question lingers: is this ordinary man in way over his head, or is he two steps ahead?

Directed by Nash Edgerton, who made his feature length directorial debut with the acclaimed Australian thriller The Square, Gringo also stars Joel Edgerton, Amanda Seyfried, Charlize Theron, Yul Vazquez, Thandie Newton, and Sharlto Copley.

Financed by Amazon Studios, the film is written...

Gringo is the official title of the Untitled Nash Edgerton Project!  Directed by Nash Edgerton with a screenplay by Anthony Tambakis and Matthew Stone, Gringo is a dark comedy with dramatic intrigue that features a joyride into Mexico, where all is not as it seems for mild-mannered American businessman Harold Soyinka (David Oyelowo). Crossing the line from citizen to criminal, Harold... Read More...

Following his acclaimed 2008 thriller "The Square," stuntman turned actor and filmmaker Nash Edgerton has begun shooting his currently untitled second feature (previously called "American Express") for Amazon Studios.

Edgerton has enlisted an impressive cast including Charlize Theron, David Oyelowo, Amanda Seyfried, Thandie Newton and his brother Joel Edgerton for the dark kidnap comedy-drama which is filming in Chicago and Mexico City.

The dark kidnap comedy-drama is co-written by Matthew Stone ("Intolerable Cruelty") and Anthony Tambakis ("Warrior"), but plot details are currently under wraps.

Source: The Australian...

There were many conversations surrounding Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, most of them bad, and among the more interesting concerned its star, Ellar Coltrane — one of the “what now?” variety. (This interested me so much, in fact, that I asked him about it during an interview in the summer of 2014.) It didn’t take long to get an answer: in September of last year, he signed for James Ponsoldt’s The Circle, putting him in a co-starring position with Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, and John Boyega. And now there’s an update from Variety: the actor’s joined Barry, an Obama biopic-of-sorts concerning the future President’s time at Columbia University in 1981.

They share no details about who Coltrane’s playing, though it’s at least known that Devon Terrell (of Steve McQueen’s unsuccessful HBO pilot Codes of Conduct) will step into the main role; Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, M. Night Shyamalan...

Amazon Studios has come on to finance, produce and distribute Nash Edgerton‘s “American Express,” an indie movie starring Charlize Theron that currently has David Oyelowo, Amanda Seyfried and Joel Edgerton circling the ensemble, multiple individuals familiar with the project have told TheWrap. Theron will produce through her Denver & Delilah banner along with Rebecca Yeldham, who recently produced Joel Edgerton‘s directorial debut “The Gift.” Nash Edgerton will also produce under his Blue-Tongue Films banner. Matthew Stone and Anthony Tambakis (“Warrior”) wrote the script. While Seyfried is firmly attached and Joel Edgerton has also committed to the project, given that his brother.

Outside of Martin Scorsese, there are very few clean slates in Hollywood – and even He has Bringing Out The Dead blotting his copybook (discuss…). The Coen brothers though, have created an unbroken conga-line of stunningly original movies, mixing and mastering genres, and even creating new ones.

If there was a bump in the road in 1994 time, it seems, has since been kind to The Hudsucker Proxy. A bigger budget (courtesy of ’80s alpha-producer Joel Silver) and an initially unresponsive family audience had it labelled as the Coen’s first flop, but watched now its pleasures are myriad and unmistakably Coenesque (including a great, late-vintage performance from Paul Newman).

The Coens announced themselves to the world in 1984 with the instant neo-noir classic, Blood Simple. Now, just mull the following subsequent film titles over in your mind like a mouthful of Chateau Petrus. Raising Arizona, Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, The Hudsucker Proxy,...

From the very start of their career, there haven't been very many cases where The Coen Brothers didn't both write and direct their own movies. There is the early Sam Raimi collaboration Crimewave, which they wrote but did not direct, and there is the somewhat middling George Clooney / Catherine Zeta-Jones comedy Intolerable Cruelty, for which they shared screenwriting credit with Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone. Now we are about to see what another Coen Brothers script looks like in the hands of a different filmmaker with the upcoming caper flick Gambit. Gambit is a remake of the 1966 film of the same name that starred Michael Caine and Shirley MacLaine. Colin Firth plays an art curator who wants to get revenge on his boss (Alan Rickman) by conning him with the help of a rodeo queen (Cameron Diaz). The story seems pretty different from the original and the dialogue definitely has that unmistakable Coen Brothers wit.

American Film Co., which is behind Robert Redford's new historical drama The Conspirator, will bring Paul Revere's legendary ride to the silver screen with a new project entitled Midnight Riders.

The studio has acquired the book Paul Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fisher, which will be adapted by screenwriters Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone (Intolerable Cruelty). It is said American Film Co. is close to deciding on a director as well. Midnight Riders will be more of an action-heavy project compared to The Conspirator, according to American Film Co.'s Brian Peter Falk.

"This is a historically accurate swashbuckler about the spark of the American Revolution, with horses, gunfights, swords and a little bawdiness."

However, Midnight Riders will share a common theme with The Conspirator, in that it tells a story many thought they knew, but really don't. Here's what Matthew Stone had to say about the story behind Midnight Riders.

When one considers the success of HBO’s recent John Adams mini-series, it kind of feel obvious. The American Film Company (they’ve got Robert Redford‘s historical courtroom drama The Conspirator in theaters next week) have bought the rights to David Hackett Fischer‘s book Paul Revere’s Ride and hired screenwriting duo Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone (Intolerable Cruelty, Soul Men) to pen the script, which is be titled Midnight Riders. [L.A. Times]

The “ride” in question is that of Revere and William Dawes (not to mention the many others), who rode across the Massachusetts countryside to Lexington, Concord and many others locations to warn people like Samuel Adams and John Hancock that the British were, uh, coming. Revere has always garnered the most fame from the event, thanks to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, Paul Revere’s Ride. You’ll remember, Revere is the same man who engraved the Boston Massacre into infamy,...

American Film Co. have bought the film rights to Pulitzer Prize winner David Hackett Fischer's “Paul Revere’s Ride" and have hired "Intolerable Cruelty" screenwriters Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone to adapt it reports The Los Angeles Times.

Entitled "Midnight Riders", the story is being described as a "historically accurate swashbuckler... with horses, gunfights, swords and a little bawdiness" and will cover the famous ride that Revere and William Dawes took before the battles of Lexington and Concord.

'Ride' will concentrate on the espionage elements of the event that weren't really touched upon in the well-known Longfellow poem. A director is close to being locked for the film as well.

American Film Co. is the group behind Robert Redford’s “The Conspirator" opening this weekend about the trial of accused John Wilkes Booth conspirator Mary Surratt.

The American Film Co. have hired Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone (Intolerable Cruelty) to write the script for Midnight Riders based on the famous ride of Paul Revere and the less famous ride of his compatriot William Dawes.  24 Frames reports that the mission of the American Film Co. is to make movie about U.S. history, but in this case, also an action-espionage thriller.  Says American's Brian Falk, "This is a historically accurate swashbuckler about the spark of the American Revolution, with horses, gunfights, swords and a little bawdiness."  Fellow executive Rob Stone adds, "For people who grew up mainly with the [Longfellow] poem, it's a far more interesting story." I'm a history nut and I look forward to seeing how much artistic license will be taken for this story.  However, I don't demand that non-fiction films be "historically accurate". I demand that history books be historically accurate.  Films should be thought-provoking and entertaining,...

Soul Men

Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Bernie Mac, Sharon Leal, Isaac Hayes | Written by Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone | Directed by Malcolm D. Lee

Samuel L Jackson and Bernie Mac star in this road movie/rockumentary/buddy comedy. Louis and Floyd were backing singers in a legendary 70s soul group, The Real Deal, but fell on hard times after lead singer Marcus Hooks (played by John Legend) went solo. Thirty years later, Floyd is stuck in a retirement home and Louis is living in poverty after a spell in jail. When news of Hooks’ death reaches the pair, they are cajoled into travelling across America to perform at their former band mate’s memorial concert. Things, however, do not go smoothly, as estranged daughters, aging groupies and their own acrimonious relationship threaten to derail the whole venture.

It is unfortunate that the film is overshadowed by the deaths of Bernie Mac...

While having South Park co-creator Matt Stone would make this romantic comedy more interesting, this Matt Stone is a little less thrilling, credited for Intolerable Cruelty and Soul Men. But it doesn't sound all bad as Variety reports Fox 2000 has picked up the spec script The Romance Writer, which tells the story of a man who secretly enjoys a successful career as a romance novelist writing with a female pseudonym. But then he falls for a woman who turns out to work for his new publisher - uh oh! At least it has some original elements to it, though I'm sure there's plenty of the usual romantic comedy formula to go around. While plenty of romantic comedies try plenty of different, even silly twists on the romance, many of them turn out to be duds because of a lack of genuine comedy to accompany the romance. Case in point, When...

Seen on: November 8, 2008

The players: Director: Malcolm D. Lee, Writers: Matthew Stone, Robert Ramsey, Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Bernie Mac, Sharon Leal, Affion Crockett, P.J. Byrne, Sharon Leal, Isaac Hayes

Facts of interest: This is not Mac's final movie. His last one is "Old Dogs," due in theaters 2009.

The plot: Two soul legends try to settle their differences and reunite for a tribute to their recently deceased front man.

Our thoughts: “Soul Men” is Bernie Mac’s first movie to open since his death back in August, so it’s obviously quite an emotional experience to see this great comedian doing what he does best on the big screen. The film itself is certainly not one of this year’s funniest, but Mac and co-actor Samuel L. Jackson bring along enough energy to make this ride a decent one.

Release Date: Nov. 7

Director: Malcolm D. Lee

Writer: Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone

Cinematographer: Matthew F. Leonetti

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Bernie Mac, Isaac Hayes

Studio/Run Time: Dimension Films/MGM, 103 mins.

Despite final performance from Hayes, not enough soul in this buddy film

Call it the Dark Knight effect, wherein the specter of death draws an audience to view its late stars one last time. Alas, the posthumous appearances of Black Moses and an Original King of Comedy (whose last film, Old Dogs, is slated for a 2009 release)—Samuel L. Jackson, still living, hasn’t yet attained royal status—are the lone highlights of this buddy pic. After the lead singer (John Legend) of a successful soul trio expires, back-up singers Jackson and Mac begrudgingly bury the hatchet so as to have one last performance at the Apollo Theatre. It’s a good enough excuse to dust off an Eldorado...

NEW YORK - Jennifer Coolidge, Sean Hayes and (no relation) Isaac Hayes are joining Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac in Malcolm Lee's comedy Soul Men for Dimension Films.

Musician John Legend, Affion Crockett, Adam Herschman, Fatso Fasano and Jackie Long are also joining the feature about two former bandmates (Jackson and Mac) forced to reunite when a third member (Legend) passes away. The pair fight with each other all the way across the country when they're forced to take a road trip together for a reunion concert.

Soul marks a return to the big screen for former South Park voice star Hayes, who plays himself. The veteran soul singer suffered a stroke in 2006.

Longtime Christopher Guest ensemble member Coolidge (For Your Consideration) plays Mac's love interest. Former Will & Grace star Hayes plays the band's obnoxious manager.

The film, written by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone, is now shooting in Shreveport, Memphis and Los Angeles. Producers David T. Friendly, Charles Castaldi and Steve Greener are aiming for an October theatrical release through MGM.

Screened

Venice International Film Festival

VENICE, Italy -- The Coen brothers had a golden opportunity to make a darkly humorous, deliciously clever battle of the sexes, and they let it slip through their fingers. Instead, the duo behind such irreverent and perverse comedies as "Fargo" and "Raising Arizona" settled for a broad farce that is long on manic, cartoonish behavior and short on intelligence and wit. Given the palpable chemistry that exists between stars George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones, this proves doubly disappointing.

A public accustomed to broad, undemanding Hollywood comedies filled with sitcom characters and buffoonish situations may react more kindly. Considering the star wattage here and the fact that audiences are starved for a good romantic comedy, Universal can expect a modest hit.

Clooney plays ace divorce attorney Miles Massey, whose killer charm and underhanded tactics have won more cases for more clients than any matrimonial lawyer in all of Los Angeles, Beverly Hills included. But after years of nothing but success, Massey has gotten bored. Something is missing from his life. At the very least, he needs a new challenge.

Enter Marylin Rexroth (the devastatingly gorgeous Zeta-Jones), about-to-be ex-wife of Massey's client Rex Rexroth (Edward Herrmann). Thanks to caught-in-the-act photographs by private eye Gus Petch (Cedric the Entertainer), Marylin has an ironclad case. Or so she thinks. Massey uncovers some dirt on her, and she ends up with zip.

Surprisingly, Marylin doesn't seem to hold a grudge against Massey. She even goes to him to write a prenup for her next, very hasty marriage to oil billionaire Howard Doyle Billy Bob Thornton). Massey, who was smitten with the elegant, unflappable Marylin the moment he laid eyes on her -- an attraction cemented when they trade Shakespearean barbs over dinner (the film's only example of witty repartee) -- tries to dissuade her from the marriage, which she clearly means to abandon at the earliest, legally permissible moment.

He fails, but when the inevitable happens and she leaves Doyle, Miles is waiting, and the two run off to get married. It turns out that the clever Marylin has a few tricks up her tastefully tailored sleeve, however, and Massey, truly and hopelessly in love for the first time in his life, is hung out to dry. He vows his own revenge, and soon the two are engaged in their own rehash of "Prizzi's Honor".

Clooney has the potential to be another Cary Grant, and perhaps, given the right script and direction, he could succeed -- think of Grant and Irene Dunne in one of the great romantic comedies of all time, "The Awful Truth" -- but here he becomes increasingly bug-eyed and goofy as the movie wears on, as if he is playing Miles as another version of his character in the Coens' "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" The script doesn't help. Aside from a couple of very funny lines, the dialogue is undistinguished, lacking the zing and wit that made the likes of Preston Sturges and Noel Coward such a delight.

Known for much blacker and more perverse humor than that exhibited here, director Joel Coen and producer Ethan Coen (who share screenwriting credit with Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone) can be forgiven for trying a more conventional type of film, but it's disappointing to think they meant it to be quite this broad and generic. The stereotypical slapstick of the opening scene, in which a TV hack played by Geoffrey Rush catches his wife with the brawny but brainless pool guy, is lazy and witless. Hermann as Marylin's ex and Paul Adelstein as Massey's worshipful associate are an embarrassment.

Amazingly, the audience at the Venice International Film Festival laughed through much of the movie. Maybe viewers no longer require a sharp script or incisive humor. George Cukor, Howard Hawks and Billy Wilder must be turning over in their graves.

INTOLERABLE CRUELTY

Universal Pictures

A Brian Grazer production in association with Alphaville

Credits:

Director: Joel Coen

Screenwriters: Robert Ramsey, Matthew Stone, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen

Producers: Ethan Coen, Brain Grazer

Exec producer: James Jacks, Sean Daniel

Director of photography: Roger Deakins

Production designer: Leslie McDonald

Music: Carter Burwell

Co-producer: John Cameron, James Whitaker

Costume designer: Mary Zophres

Editor: Roderick Jaynes. Cast:

Miles Massey: George Clooney

Marylin: Catherine Zeta-Jones

Donovan Donaly: Geoffrey Rush

Gus Petch: Cedric the Entertainer

Rex Rexroth: Edward Herrmann

Freddy Bender: Richard Jenkins

Howard Doyle: Billy Bob Thornton

Wrigley: Paul Adelstein

Running time -- 98 minutes

MPAA rating: PG-13...