René Carson

BBC goes interactive with new TV series that includes online gameplay

BBC Switch has commissioned digital production company Conker Media, to create and produce an interactive, digital drama thriller for its teen audience. The new show, to be titled The Well, will air this fall in the Switch zone on BBC Two in the U.K. (Saturdays 12noon-2.00pm) and will contain extended material online at bbc.co.uk/switch, where ….

Straw Dogs remake gets cast

Kate Bosworth and Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood) are set to star opposite James Marsden in Screen Gems reimagining of Straw Dogs, based on the cult classic 1971 Sam Peckinpah thriller, according to Variety. Rod Lurie (Resurrecting the Champ, Nothing But the Truth) wrote the screenplay and will direct the new film. Shooting is scheduled to ….

Taken director now in ‘Pursuit’ of conflict photographer action biopic

Universal has attached Pierre Morel, who directed Liam Neeson’s surprise action hit Taken, to helm the film Pursuit, based on the early career of conflict photographer Jason Howe, according to Variety. While Howe’s recent work has been in Iraq, a large part of his early career was spent in South American countries, including Chile, Nicaragua, ….

Locarno Film Festival 2009

Throughout its 62 year history, the Locarno International Film Festival has occupied a unique position in the landscape of the major film festivals. Every August, approximately 180,000 cinephiles, 1,100 journalists and 3,400 professionals converge on the small Swiss-Italian town of Locarno, right in the heart of Europe, which becomes the world capital of auteur cinema ….

Echelon Conspiracy Blu-ray review

Echelon Conspiracy’s premise is a rather interesting one, surrounding a cell phone that bestows upon its owner, sets of instructions for getting the most money possible in virtually any situation. Unfortunately, that’s about where the interest ends. After computer expert Max Peterson (Shane West) mysteriously receives a parcel containing the mystical phone, the plot takes ….

Emily Blunt boards adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s sci-fi thriller Adjustment Bureau

Emily Blunt, who recently completed work on The Wolf Man and will play Princess of Lilliputia in the upcoming Gulliver’s Travels, is attached to play the female lead in the George Nolfi-directed adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s short story Adjustment Bureau, opposite Matt Damon, Variety reports. Damon will play a smooth-talking congressman whose political future ….

Pierce Brosnan to star in Stanley Tucci-directed comedy The Hunter

Pierce Brosnan, Patricia Clarkson and Julianne Moore will top-line indie comedic drama The Hunter, which Stanley Tucci will helm from his own screenplay, according to Variety. Pre-production is scheduled to begin in September, with Steve Buscemi among the executive producers on the project. The Hunter is set against a background of aristocracy in New York’s ….

Directors tapped for live-action horror Hack/Slash and animated fantasy Septimus Heap

Noted commercial director Fredrik Bond is attached to direct Rogue’s adaptation of cult horror comic Hack/Slash, based on a script by Justin Marks, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film is expected to start shooting this winter. Created by Tim Seeley and Stefano Caselli, Hack/Slash follows the exploits of Cassie Hack, daughter of the notorious ….