MOVIES | IN THEATERS NOW

ON SLATE IN 2008

(BY ALI NADERZAD) As the end of the year looms large, SCREEN COMMENT looks at some of what’s on slate for next year, in no particular order: Josh Brolin thrilled with two well-executed roles in American Gangster and No Country for Old Men. Patricia Clarkson is currently shooting Married Life, a romantic drama set in 1940s, with Pierce Brosnan and Chris Cooper. Her tongue-in-cheek performance in Lars and the Real Girl was so Patricia-Clarkson. La Mome’s Marion Cotillard will soon begin production on Rob Marshall’s Nine, co-starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem. Chris Evans is currently filming Push, opposite Djimon Hounsou. Vera Farmiga just recently wrapped production on The Boy in Striped Pajamas, set for release in February 2008. The new Michel Gondry will finally be released in January 2008 according to publicist ID Public Relations. I visited the set in Passaic, New Jersey earlier this year and Gondry was all-work and the cast loud and professional. Jack Black and Mos Def are two video-store clerks who accidentally erase all the store’s videos and set out to direct and shoot all the movies! The results could be hilarious so keep an eye out for this. As the new year dawns, Jake Gyllenhaal should be in the deep stages of filming Brothers, opposite Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman. Woody Harrelson has been enjoying another fine comeback, with a supporting role in No Country for Old Men and in the starring role in Paul Schrader’s The Walker. Remember watching those couple of wacky teenaged girls in Thirteen one late night on IFC? Well, director Catherine Hardwicke isn’t one to rest on her laurels: she’s currently in pre-prod on The Monkey Wrench Game and has signed on to direct the vampire young adult film “Twilight.” Catherine Keener has avoided the pitfalls of success (one paycheck performance after another, fame choking your braincells–see Robin Williams) and keeps on signing for the intelligent projects; she will next star in Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are and is currently filming the new Charlie Kaufman drama, Synecdoche, New York, opposite Phillip Seymour Hoffman. There’s also a Barry Levinson comedy in the works, called What Just Happened. Finally, Anna Paquin is to star in Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret, opposite Matt Damon and Mark Ruffalo. That’s all for now! More slate news soon (pictured: on set with Be Kind Rewind, Passaic, N.J.)