Thu Dec 18, 2008

Brian Eno To Score Peter Jackson's Adaptation of The Lovely Bones By Brock Thiessen

Exclaim!
Brian Eno has announced that he’s heading to the movies. According to Paramount, the 60-year-old ambient maestro has signed on to score Peter Jackson’s upcoming film, titled The Lovely Bones, and will get an “Original Music By” credit in The Lord of the Rings director’s latest project. More...

Posted on Dec 18, 08 | 2:57 am | Permalink | The Lovely Bones

Mon Oct 13, 2008

Mark on Lovely Bones

Sci-Fi
"The last minute [thing] was fine," Wahlberg said in a news conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Oct. 12 while promoting his next film, Max Payne. "The only thing, again, I was worried about was dealing with the subject matter and having to go to that place, which is also why Max Payne was such a great release afterwards, because the other side of me would want to go out and wreak havoc on whoever was responsible, and I got to do that through this film."

In Max Payne, Wahlberg plays a renegade cop who seeks revenge against those who killed his wife and child. In a different way, Wahlberg's Salmon in Lovely Bones must deal with the loss of a child and the desire for revenge.

But Wahlberg, who expressed ambitions to direct films, said that he welcomed the opportunity to learn from Jackson. "The experience working with Peter Jackson was like no other," he said. "I've always wanted to direct. I thought after working with many of the great directors that I picked up a lot of things along the way. Like a lot of actors, you get a great script, you hire a great cinematographer and producer, you get great actors, you can make a pretty good movie. But I don't think you can do what Peter Jackson can do, and I would like to be able to at least shoot for that level of ability one day. I don't think I'll ever get there, but it was the most amazing experience of my career."

Wahlberg, who has three children of his own, added that it's difficult to play men who have to deal with such losses. "Definitely," he said. "I'm not one of those Shakespearean actors that thinks about the color blue or goes to that place or thinks about that place when I wanted to hide and be alone as a kid," he said, with tongue in cheek. "I have my past, which has got a lot of stuff to draw from, and I have children, so I think about something horrible happening to my family. That's why I can't wait until the last day of shooting: so I can go home and hug my kids and get those thoughts out of my head." The Lovely Bones opens in 2009. Max Payne opens Oct. 17.

Posted on Oct 13, 08 | 12:01 am | Permalink | The Lovely Bones

Fri Oct 10, 2008

Films up in the air after studios split

Variety
Peter Jackson's 'Lovely Bones' changes hands By ANNE THOMPSON

"Up in the Air" is one of the lucky ones. Nurtured and greenlit by DreamWorks, it will now get made and released as a bonafide Paramount picture.

But at least the people attached to that movie know their fate. Countless others involved with some 200 projects developed by DreamWorks are sitting on tenterhooks as they await news: Will they go with DreamWorks, with Paramount or into turnaround?

One of the most prominent talents caught in the middle of the confusion is Peter Jackson, who pacted to do his $65 million adaptation of Alice Sebold's "The Lovely Bones" for DreamWorks following a heated auction. Now, DreamWorks is leaving his movie behind, one of the many abandoned children in the messy divorce from Paramount. Jackson screened his cut of the movie, which is set for release in late 2009, for Paramount last week. They're in charge of it now. More...

Posted on Oct 10, 08 | 10:22 am | Permalink | The Lovely Bones

Fri May 02, 2008

Lovely Bones Hits A Snag

Flicks (NZ)
Rumour has it there’s trouble in paradise. Our spies have reported that Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones ceased production at one stage due to a rift between the big man and his art director over the best way to depict Heaven. Given that a large portion of film takes place in that very location, with main character Susie Salmon looking down on her family after her murder, this seems a crucial point of difference. The Wellington crew apparently took a break while the creative differences were sorted.

Meanwhile, at the Speed Racer premiere in London, Empire reports that Bones cast member Susan Sarandon has expressed dissatisfaction with her character. “I play the comic relief, an alcoholic grandmother – my first grandma – but she doesn’t really seem like a real grandmother because she has a lot of hair and jewellery and nails and liquor. I don’t think I ever talk without a cigarette and a drink in my hand.”

“Peter Jackson is really a nice guy and very interesting. It was really a very different way of working. We had a good time, I’m really curious to see what it’s like because he kept pushing me to be more and more extreme and sometimes that’s when you make your big mistakes so I’m not sure how it will come off - it will be interesting to see it from the point of view of the audience.”

Time will tell as to whether Bones will overcome its creative troubles, which began when actor Ryan Gosling was replaced with Mark Wahlberg several days before filming began.

Posted on May 02, 08 | 10:13 am | Permalink | The Lovely Bones

Sat Feb 02, 2008

Mark in New Zealand

Stuff (NZ)
After 43 days of hour-long commutes and filming in freezing conditions in the United States, film-maker Peter Jackson is home to film his version of heaven for The Lovely Bones.

Completing the movie in Wellington during an uncharacteristically dry summer felt almost like making two separate movies, Jackson told The Dominion Post yesterday. He was giving an exclusive interview during a photo call with his main stars Mark Wahlberg, 13-year-old Irish actress Saoirse Ronan and 18-year-old Kiwi Rose McIver.


ANDREW GORRIE/The Dominion Post
"It has got a strange feeling about it. I had psychologically got used to the idea that we were done with the movie when we'd shot our chunk in Pennsylvania. But what we are doing here is very different."

The 26-day shoot in Wellington began this week and his main actors are enjoying it. More...

Posted on Feb 02, 08 | 7:39 pm | Permalink | The Lovely Bones

Tue Nov 06, 2007

Lovely Bones shooting in New Zealand in Jan

NZ Herald
Peter Jackson's much talked-about new film The Lovely Bones, starring Rachel Weisz and Mark Wahlberg, will begin a five-week shoot in Wellington from January 28 next year.

No clue if Mark is going or if it's for scenes for the other characters only.

Posted on Nov 06, 07 | 7:55 am | Permalink | The Lovely Bones

Thu Nov 01, 2007

Mark on the radio yesterday

Philly News
"Lovely Bones" star Mark Wahlberg called into Q102's Booker show yesterday morning to say he listens to the show while driving out to the suburban set of the film. While Wahlberg was last in town for "The Happening," Booker tried to get him to call in, but when he finally did, the host was off having sinus surgery, and producer Blaire Galaton interviewed Wahlberg instead. After Booker invited Wahlberg to dinner, the actor promised he'd visit Booker, Blaire and Diego Ramos in-studio before leaving town. We wonder if co-hostess-by-remote, Angi Taylor, will fly in from Chicago for Wahlberg's visit.

Posted on Nov 01, 07 | 8:06 am | Permalink | The Lovely Bones

Sat Oct 27, 2007

Film crew transforms Chesco neighborhood

Philadelphia Inquirer
Ready for its 1970s close-up. By Kathleen Brady Shea

Hollywood has come to a suburban street in Willistown Township and, through its transformative magic, succeeded in making the thoroughfare even more suburban.

The effect, done for the shooting of the movie The Lovely Bones, is to rewind the street back to the 1970s.

Up went the rooftop TV antennas and out went the modern patio furniture. In its place: white wicker with worn fabric cushions and aluminum folding chairs with striped, plastic webbing.

Even the trash got special treatment: dented metal cans replaced today's plastic variety.

After reviewing about 75 sites, DreamWorks Studios selected the street as one of several locales in the Philadelphia area for the film.

The Lovely Bones, to be distributed by Paramount Pictures, was adapted from Alice Sebold's best-seller by Peter Jackson, a multiple Oscar-winner for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. The story revolves around a 14-year-old girl who is raped and killed and who looks down from heaven on what happens to her family afterward. More...

Posted on Oct 27, 07 | 8:29 am | Permalink | The Lovely Bones

Ryan Gosling on Mark replacing him on "The Lovely Bones"

Parade
Gosling did indeed leave the production based on the hugely popular bestselling novel. His role as the father of missing Susie Salmon now goes to Mark Wahlberg. Gossip reports have thrown out an avalanche of rumors about his departure, ranging from he was "too difficult" for Jackson to work with to the twenty pounds he gained for the role made him look too fat.

Ryan wasn’t hiding behind a "no comment" when I asked what really happened. "I think, people are making it a far more interesting story than it actually is," he says. "The age of the character versus my real age was always a concern of mine. Peter and I tried to make it work and ultimately it just didn’t. I think the film is much better off with Mark Walhberg in that role. Peter Jackson is an incredible filmmaker and I’m here to tell you that he has things up his sleeve that are going to blow peoples’ minds. I’m going to be the first person in line to buy tickets."

As for the report that he was difficult to work with, Gosling says, "The media always slant things in a negative direction. If somebody said I was easy to work with, they’d make that sound bad, too."

In the meantime, Ryan is basking in the good buzz surrounding Lars and the Real Girl—no objectivity here—it’s one of my favorite films of the year. Go see it before everyone tells you about it.

Of course, I asked him what's next and got a very sincere "haven’t decided!" — Jeanne Wolf

Posted on Oct 27, 07 | 8:26 am | Permalink | The Lovely Bones

Wed Oct 24, 2007

Gosling drops out of "The Lovely Bones"

LA Times
Peter Jackson was said to be quite surprised that Gosling had showed up to start work on "The Lovely Bones" looking like he'd donned a fat suit. According to sources, the 26-year-old Gosling had apparently told the director he was going to gain weight to age himself up to play the part of a grieving father, but Jackson was still expecting some movie star allure -- not paunch and a beard. By Friday, Gosling had left the high-profile production over those pesky "creative differences," and, by Sunday, he'd been replaced by 36-year-old Mark Wahlberg, who actually could be old enough to father a teenager.

Casting coulda-beensThe film, based on the popular book by Alice Sebold, is about a 14-year-old girl, Susie Salmon, who is murdered by a neighbor and watches how the tragedy affects her family from heaven. The cast includes Rachel Weisz as her mother, and Susan Sarandon as her grandmother.

Gosling's departure comes on the heels of his indie pic "Lars and the Real Girl," which, according to Boxofficemojo.com cost $12 million. So far the film has earned $316,000, and will go wide this weekend. A DreamWorks representative declined to comment, as did Gosling's manager.

Still, "The Lovely Bones," which starts shooting today in Pennsylvania, will continue relatively unhampered.

Posted on Oct 24, 07 | 8:35 am | Permalink | The Lovely Bones

Sun Oct 21, 2007

Wahlberg steps into 'Bones' Actor to replace Gosling in lead role By Michael Fleming, Tatiana Siegel

Variety
One day before shooting began, Mark Wahlberg stepped in to replace Ryan Gosling in "The Lovely Bones," the Peter Jackson-directed adaptation of the Alice Sebold novel for DreamWorks.

Wahlberg has taken the role of Jack Salmon, the grieving father of a young girl. That role was vacated Friday by "Lars and the Real Girl" star Ryan Gosling, who stepped out after gaining 20 pounds and growing a beard for the job. Sources attributed the exit to creative differences.

After reading the script, Wahlberg quickly committed Sunday. He joins Rachel Weisz as a couple whose world is shattered after their daughter is murdered. The girl watches over her family and her killer from heaven. Jackson wrote the script with Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

The film begins shooting today in Pennsylvania, where Wahlberg most recently wrapped the lead in the M. Night Shyamalan-directed "The Happening" for Fox. It is Wahlberg's first time working with Jackson, though the filmmaker did an on-screen stint last season on "Entourage," the HBO comedy series Wahlberg exec produces.

Wahlberg also recently committed to star with Brad Pitt in the Darren Aronofsky-directed "The Fighter" at Paramount. That picture is expected to begin production next fall.

Wahlberg's repped by Leverage and Endeavor.

Posted on Oct 21, 07 | 11:05 pm | Permalink | The Lovely Bones