Penguin to release last Green Gables book in its entirety
Penguin Canada says it will publish the final volume of the Anne of Green Gables series in its entirety for the first time ever.
The Blythes Are Quoted was slated to be the ninth title in Lucy Maud Montgomery's popular series about head-strong orphan Anne Shirley, but it was never published during the author's lifetime.
A shortened version of the book — which left out about 100 pages of poems, short stories and vignettes — was published in 1974.
Now, Penguin says it will release the entire book this October, which will feature 15 short stories about Anne, as well as poems that Montgomery concocted "by" the heroine and her son Walter, who dies during the First World War.
Penguin said the book, set before and after the war, has Montgomery "experimenting with storytelling methods in ways she had never attempted before."
Montgomery, who died in 1942, blends dialogue, prose and poetry in the book.
According to the announcement, The Blythes Are Quoted could surprise a few Anne fans with its dark themes of "adultery, illegitimacy, misogyny, revenge, murder, despair, bitterness, hatred, and death — usually not the first terms associated with L.M. Montgomery."
The Anne of Green Gables series of books hit its 100-year anniversary in 2008. The original book, first published in June 1908, has since been translated into 33 languages.
A prequel — Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson — was published last year with the consent of Montgomery's heirs.
There have been two movies for the big screen, six for television and three TV series. The Charlottetown Festival's stage version of the story is the longest-running musical in Canadian history.
Spinal Tap visits Stonehenge
Fans of metal mockers Spinal Tap will be thrilled to hear the band members visited the ancient site of Stonehenge recently after performing at Britain's Glastonbury music festival.
News of the surreal visit comes courtesy of Canadian band Metric. Singer Emily Haines posted news and photos of the art-meets-life-meets-art happening on Metric's blog.
In the 1984 mockumentary, This is Spinal Tap, band members — played by actors Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean — create a bizarre tribute to Stonehenge in their act, complete with a tiny reproduction of the prehistoric site along with dancing dwarves.
The film has since become global cult hit and resulted in a reunification of the mock band for a real tour this year.
Haines says she and her band wanted to see the monument but were disappointed when they discovered the entrance was closed.
"We were staring at the stones through the fence and halfheartedly watching various generic families wander toward their cars when [drummer Joules Scott-Key] said the words we will remember forever: 'Um, guys, that's … Spinal Tap!" wrote the singer.
"We descended upon them immediately."
Band members only managed to catch up with Shearer, who obliged for a photo op.
"The best part is, it was Spinal Tap's first trip to Stonehenge as well," Haines notes.
"According to Shearer, they were just making their way back to London when they spotted the source of their most memorable joke in in the distance and decided, 'This would be the time to see the full-scale version."
Mel Gibson To Star In Jodie Foster’s ‘Beaver’
Fifteen years ago Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster starred together in Maverick. Now the pair are set to reunite in The Beaver.
It is believed that Foster will also direct the quirky drama that is expected to shoot this Fall in New York.
According to Variety:
“Gibson will play a depressed man who finds solace in wearing a beaver hand-puppet. On top of helming, Foster will play the role of the man’s wife.
The budget for the film is $18-19 million, which is pretty economical when you consider that Gibson and Foster could conceivably each ask for that kind of salary when making a studio blockbuster. Financing for the film isn’t in place yet; it could be made independently or shopped to a studio now that the two A-listers are attached.
The much-lauded script by Kyle Killen has been included on “the black list” (a list of Hollywood’s best unproduced screenplays) and has made rounds around town with Steve Carrell and Jim Carrey both circling the project at various stages.
The Beaver sounds like an odd film (the script has been compared to Charlie Kaufman’s work), but Gibson has enough screen presence and quirky personality to make the role work, while Foster should have the required directing chops for it, having directed Little Man Tate and Home for the Holidays.
Gibson will next be seen in Edge of Darkness, his first film as an actor since 2002’s Signs.
The Beaver is tenatively slated for release in 2011.
Ryan Reynolds cast as "Green Lantern"
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – After an intense months-long search, Warner Bros. has chosen Ryan Reynolds to play the title character in "Green Lantern," the studio's live-action movie based on the DC Comics hero.
Reynolds and his representatives entered negotiations for the part Friday, after the studio held two rounds of screen tests for the actor, Bradley Cooper and Jared Leto. Justin Timberlake also did a screen test.
The film is being directed by Martin Campbell and produced by Donald De Line and Greg Berlanti.
One reason for the lengthy search process was that De Line, Campbell and the studio each had a different favorite among the finalists, making it difficult to come to a consensus.
If the deal is completed, it would make Reynolds the only actor to have played heroes for both Marvel and DC. He recently starred in a comic-book movie, 20th Century Fox's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," in which he played Deadpool, also known as the Merc with a Mouth. The character is being developed for a spin-off in which Reynolds will star. He also played Marvel's vampire hunter Hannibal King in "Blade: Trinity."
"Lantern" is Reynolds second stab at a DC Comics hero. A few years ago, he was attached to play the comic company's speedster "The Flash."
'Bruno' sashays to box-office fame with $30.4M
LOS ANGELES – Gay Austrian fashion devotee Bruno has landed the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office, though it's uncertain how much staying power he has.
Sacha Baron Cohen's "Bruno" started big on opening day Friday but had a huge drop the rest of the weekend, with the Universal Pictures mock documentary finishing with $30.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The movie took in nearly half of its weekend total — $14.4 million — on Friday, then tumbled with just $8.8 million Saturday and an estimated $7.2 million Sunday.
Revenues for hit movies typically go up on Saturday, so the nosedive for "Bruno" could be a sign that it lacks the shelf life that made Baron Cohen's "Borat" a $100 million smash.
"It is unusual for a film to drop on Saturday. Normally, you expect the film at least to be even on Saturday or above compared to Friday, because Saturday is the biggest moviegoing day of the weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "It's going to be interesting to see how it does over the long run."
"Bruno," which features Baron Cohen as a wannabe going to extremes to achieve celebrity, finished ahead of 20th Century Fox's "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," which took second with $28.5 million. The "Ice Age" sequel raised its domestic total to $120.6 million.
Finishing third after two weekends in the No. 1 spot was Paramount's sci-fi blockbuster "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" with $24.2 million, raising its domestic haul to $339.2 million. The sequel passed the $319 million total of 2007's "Transformers."
The weekend's other new wide release, 20th Century Fox's romantic comedy "I Love You, Beth Cooper" opened weakly with $5 million, finishing at No. 7. The movie centers on a high school valedictorian who uses his graduation speech to declare his love for a bombshell classmate (Hayden Panettiere).
"Bruno" outpaced the $26.5 million opening weekend for Baron Cohen's surprise 2006 hit "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan." "Borat" started with $9.2 million on opening day Friday then climbed to $10.1 million Saturday, a sign that fans were talking it up to friends.
That good word-of-mouth propelled "Borat" to a long run at theaters, the movie climbing to a $128.5 million domestic total.
"Borat" also scored its big opening weekend in far fewer theaters. "Bruno debuted in 2,756 cinemas, more than three times the number for "Borat."
Nikki Rocco, head of distribution at Universal, said comedies such as "Bruno" typically drop off over opening weekend this time of year, while "Borat" opened in November, when audiences are less fickle than summer crowds.
The studio will have to wait until next weekend for a sense of how well "Bruno" can hold up for the long haul.
"I don't know. That crystal ball just isn't on my desk this morning," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal. "Zany comedies tend to be like that, so I'm hoping that in the scheme of things, it just plays out the way zany comedies will play out."
Reviews on "Bruno" were not as strong as those for "Borat," which critics generally liked. There also had been questions about whether Baron Cohen's flamboyantly gay persona might prove off-putting to audiences.
"Bruno" did most of its business in cities on the East and West coasts, while revenues were "softer, much softer in middle America," Rocco said.
Even if revenues continue to plunge, "Bruno" is well on its way to turning a profit for Universal, which paid $42.5 million for rights to distribute it domestically and in eight other territories. "Bruno" took in $25 million in overseas markets so far, including $20 million in those Universal acquired, among them Great Britain, Australia and Germany.
Modi Wiczyk — co-chief executive officer of Media Rights Capital, which financed "Bruno" — said the movie exceeded the company's expectations. Wiczyk said he had anticipated "Bruno" would finish in the range of $25 million domestically for the weekend.
"We don't have talking robots or karate in our film," Wiczyk said. "For that increasingly small subset of films that don't have robots, we did terrific."
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Bruno," $30.4 million.
2. "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," $28.5 million.
3. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," $24.2 million.
4. "Public Enemies," $14.1 million.
5. "The Proposal," $10.5 million.
6. "The Hangover," $9.9 million.
7. "I Love You, Beth Cooper," $5 million.
8. "Up," $4.7 million.
9. "My Sister's Keeper," $4.2 million.
10. "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," $1.6 million.