Up-n-coming, 6/26.

Via Thomas Groh, Christoph Hochhäusler has the latest on Christian Petzold's Jericho, a "variation" on James M Cain's The Postman Always Rings Twice, previously adapted by Luchino Visconti, Tay Garnett and Bob Rafelson. Nina Hoss, who won a Berlinale Silver Bear for her performance in Petzold's Yella, gets to be the femme fatale; Benno Fürmann's the drifter. Bettina Böhler is currently overseeing the editing.

Margarethe von Trotta will finally begin shooting Hildegard von Bingen in the fall, with Barbara Sukowa playing the 12th century composer. The Berliner Morgenpost reports.

Johnnie To is planning to make his English-language debut with a remake of Le Cercle Rouge. At Twitch, Todd Brown has casting news.

"Roman Polanski has set Nicolas Cage, Tilda Swinton and Pierce Brosnan for his next film, The Ghost, an adaptation of the Robert Harris political thriller," reports Michael Fleming for Variety.

"The Oscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins is to play King Lear in a new film version of the Shakespeare tragedy," reports the Guardian. "The film will feature Gwyneth Paltrow, Naomi Watts and Keira Knightley as Lear's three daughters, with more big names to be revealed soon, according to the director, Joshua Michael Stern."

Michael Guillén talks with Elvis Mitchell about: TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell: Under the Influence: "In each half-hour episode of this series, Mitchell invites special celebrity guests to sit down and talk about how classic film has influenced their lives." Starts July 7.

"MSNBC has picked up Dear Zachary," announces Monika Bartyzel at Cinematical. "The company is launching a documentary division called MSNBC Films, which will support docs through their theatrical release before screening them on television, and the company is starting with Kurt Kuenne's triumph."

Posted by dwhudson at June 26, 2008 12:35 PM