Pages tagged “natalie portman”

Natalie Portman has signed on to play the lead in cinema's latest stab at Emily Bronte's classic (and classically heart-wrenching) novel Wuthering Heights.

The most famous film version of the novel released in 1939 starred Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon, and was nominated for eight Academy Awards. A second attempt at the film was the 1989 Ralph Fiennes/Juliette Binoche interpretation that only grossed $624,643, according to Variety.com.

The movie will be made under the able guidance of Ecosee Films, the U.K. production company who recently gave us Becoming Jane and Mrs. Brown, and will feature the scriptwriting abilities of Olivia Hetreed, most famously of Girl With a Pearl Earring.

Portman makes her directorial debut with a short in the forthcoming New York, I Love You, and will act in another of the film's shorts. Notably, she appeared in 2006's Paris, je t'aime, as well as in the Hotel Chevalier, the companion to Wes Anderson's 2007 release, The Darjeeling Limited. Other recent Portman projects include this year's The Other Boleyn Girl, and last year's Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium. She also recently starred in Devendra Banhart's new video for "Carmensita."

Meanwhile, forthcoming from Portman this December is Brothers, a remake based on Susanne Bier's film that also boasts Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal in its cast.

Whatever its reception, rest assured this new version of Wuthering Heights has got to be better than this other one:

Related links:
News: Natalie Portman curates indie-flavored charity comp
News: Natalie Portman is Devendra's "Carmensita"
IMDb.com: Natalie Portman

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Following in the heart-shaped footsteps of producer Emmanuel Benbihy’s quietly successful Paris, je t’aime, New York, I Love You is midway through its 10-week production time. The 100-minute film will be comprised of 12 five minute shorts, “illustrating the universal theme of encountering love within the five boroughs of New York City,” according to Benbihy. Here's hoping those extra 40 minutes will be all about mimes in love.

Not to be (at all) confused with the VH1 reality series, I Love New York, the film is shaping up to be quite the star-studded ensemble. Both Scarlett Johansson (hint hint, look forward to a certain magazine’s June issue!) and Natalie Portman are making their directorial debuts in the film, and Portman will also be starring in another short, as a Hasidic woman preparing for her wedding.

New York, I Love You really is one big namedrop fest, so real quicklike, all in one breath: Zach Braff , Orlando Bloom, Kevin Bacon, Robin Wright-Penn, Rachel Bilson, Julie Christie, Saul Williams, Brett Ratner and Elijah Wood, who was also in Paris, je t’aime. Phew! Those Woody Allen rumors that were making the rounds when this movie was first talked about have been laid to rest, once and for all.

Since Benbihy had originally planned the lovefest to be a global series, and said that he was showing some love to New Yorkers, “before heading to China,” you can expect Shanghai next, and quite possibly Africa after that.

Related links:
New York, I Love You on IMDB
Natalie Portman’s ‘husband’ forced to quit film

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"Hear Natalie Portman's 'new favorite band'" reads the title of the Entertainment Weekly web page. And whose picture should we see but that of Beirut's Zach Condon, standing nonchalantly with an umbrella in hand?

A high-brow music blog sensation splashed across the website of a mainstream publication? Only the Power of Portman could make something like this happen. With her high-voltage smile, cheery demeanor and quiet wit, Portman could probably break Sunn O))) to the masses with one wiggle of her adorable nose.

Still, with her new charity compilation Big Change: Songs for FINCA, Portman assembles a slightly more palatable crowd of artists. In addition to the aforementioned Beirut, Portman's playlist includes Tokyo Police Club, Norah Jones, M. Ward, Antony & the Johnsons, and... oh yeah... The Shins. Do we really have to dredge up the specter of Garden State again?

"The Shins are the ones who created their own success," Portman told EW.com when prodded on the subject. "No one is gonna think a sound is great just because I say so. They hear the songs, and that's what decides it for them."

Good to know that we non-celebrities still have some free will in determining our own musical fates. Still, putting Ms. Portman's taste in tunes aside for a moment, what exactly is FINCA? Here's a quick primer from the organization:

"FINCA International provides financial services to the world's lowest-income entrepreneurs so they can create jobs, build assets and improve their standard of living."

Wow... so it's not so much alms for the poor as it is helping the underprivileged to start up their own businesses? Maybe even the celebrity vultures at Fox News could get behind this one.

Big Change is set to hit iTunes on Oct. 30, retailing at $7.99. Pitchfork has the complete track list (which includes several exclusive songs), and EW.com provides a stream of the exclusive Beirut track, "My Night With the Prostitute From Marseille."

Related links:
The Playlist: Wow, Actors Like Music Too!...
VillageBanking.org
Paste: Beirut - Man of the World
YouTube: That one scene from Garden State

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