James Gandolfini, the gifted and charismatic actor who, with The Sopranos creator and showrunner David Chase, developed the most nuanced, detailed and arguably fascinating television character of all time in the form of mob boss Tony Soprano, has died of a heart attack in Italy.

The actor was reportedly in Sicily to attend the 59th Taormina Film Festival and planned to collaborate with Italian director Gabriele Muccino.

Details of his death are scant at the moment, but a source told the New York Daily News that Gandolfini died following a “massive” heart attack.

While Gandolfini became most famous for his three-time Emmy-winning portrayal of Tony Soprano—a mob boss/ family man with deeply-rooted psychological problems, whose strange journey through middle age and the death of the American Century became a dark and DeLillo-esque metaphor for modern American life—the New Jersey native had starred in several memorable roles throughout his career, frequently portraying emotionally complicated heavies in films like True Romance, Get Shorty, The Mexican, The Man Who Wasn’t There, In the Loop, Killing Them Softly and Not Fade Away.

A press-and spotlight-averse man, Gandolfini quietly amassed an incredible career of roles, with Tony Soprano, for better and worse (it’s hard to see him as anything else), looming as the dark star at the center of his character universe.  His final role will be in the 2014 film, Animal Rescue.

Gandolfini is survived by his second wife, Deborah Lin, and two children.

What is your favorite Gandolfini performance?

Did you ever dreamed that one day, somewhere in the far future, that you would end up in a Star Wars movie? We’re slowly edging towards the start of filming for Star Wars: Episode VII, but we’re completely in the dark as to how the casting process was going until now.

Today the official list of characters, minus names, have been revealed through a leaked casting breakdown for the upcoming sci-fi sequel. While it further fuels the speculation as to whether or not they’ll be including the offspring from some of our favorite characters in the original trilogy, it also gives actors out there a better idea as to what J.J. Abrams and company are looking for in their cast (physically):

• Late-teen female, independent, good sense of humor, fit.
• Young twenty-something male, witty and smart, fit but not traditionally good looking.
• A late twenty-something male, fit, handsome and confident.
• Seventy-something male, with strong opinions and tough demeanor. Also doesn’ t need to be particularly fit.
• A second young female, also late teens, tough, smart and fit.
• Forty something male, fit, military type.
• Thirty-something male, intellectual. Apparently doesn’t need to be fit.

The casting breakdown is definitely relying a lot on a younger group of actors, which doesn’t come off as too surprising since we’re dealing with a brand new trilogy to this franchise. Now one can wonder what kind of A-list youngsters will gravitate to the picture, and who will be given the time of day. To all of those going out there and trying to get themselves into Star Wars: Episode VII, all I can say is may the Force be with you.

Who would you like to see in Star Wars: Episode VII?

Source: Collider

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was already a packed film. It has Electro (Jamie Foxx), The Rhino (Paul Giamatti), Harry Osbourne (Dane DeHaan), Norman Osbourne (Chris Cooper) — with mixed word if the Green Goblin shows up or not — and possibly Black Cat (Felicity Jones) on top of Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Andrew Garfield) and Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone). Something had to give, and it appears that it was the role of Mary Jane Watson, and Shailene Woodley‘s performance.

Director Marc Webb issued a statement saying “I made a creative decision to streamline the story and focus on Peter and Gwen and their relationship. Shailene is an incredibly talented actress and while we only shot a few scenes with Mary Jane, we all love working with her.” The Hollywood Reporter suggests that she won’t be in the third film and that the role will be recast.

To put this in a better context, Woodley had only shot for three days, and her role was more of a set up for the sequels… yes, sequels as they’ve recently announced two more Spider-Man films. If the film follows the comic-book arc of “The Death of Gwen Stacy” (which it seems is what they’re planning on doing), there’s enough here to guarantee that she won’t be missed.

But some have also guessed that Woodley is currently working on Divergent, and that film has plans to be the next The Hunger Games. Woodley is a wanted actress, so this may have been done for the benefit of everyone involved. And as a decision made almost a year in advance of the release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, it’s not like this is a last minute decision, or something foisted on the filmmakers because of test screenings. But we’ll know for sure when Spider-Man 2 swings into theaters May 2.

Hey Tiger, who would you like to see playing Mary Jane Watson?

We tend to hate on Hollywood studios because of the movie projects they choose to fund (Transformers 4, anyone?). So much of typical Hollywood product tends to be huge, expensive spectacles with little-to-no story, heavy special effects and poor acting. So, we at ScreenCrave have decided to help jump behind the indie film. Every week we’ve been bringing you an Indie Fundraiser Roundup, which features projects seen on sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Now we’re adding on to it by including some of the Best Indie Film Trailers Of The Week. Check out this week’s picks below.

• IN A WORLD…: Lake Bell tries to break barriers in her upcoming comedy In A World, which follows the daughter of the king of movie-trailer voice-overs as she tries to fulfill her own dream of becoming a voice-over star in this male-dominated field. The indie film, which was also written and directed by Bell, premiered at Sundance earlier this year, and won the Waldo Salt Screening Award. Bell’s co-stars include Demetri Martin, Michaela Watkins, Ken Marino and Rob Corddry, Nick Offerman and Geena Davis. In A World will officially open in theaters on August 9. through Roadside Attractions.
  

• TOUCHY FEELY: Another film that debuted at Sundance earlier this year is Lynn Shelton‘s (Your Sister’s Sister) Touchy Feely, which stars Rosemarie DeWitt, Ellen Page, Allison Janney, Scoot McNairy and Josh Pais. The film tells the story of a message therapist who suddenly develops an aversion to human touch, and a dentist whose struggling practice takes a sudden turn when he develops healing powers. During its Sundance run, our own Christie Ko reviewed the film and though she had some issues with the film overall, she praised the performances of the actors. Magnolia will distribute Touchy Feely on September 6.
  

• SALINGER: Like many of us, filmmaker Shane Salerno (scribe of Savages) is fascinated by J.D. Salinger. The man who wrote The Catcher In The Rye has always been a great mystery, especially since he hated being in the public eye and tried to avoid it as much as he could. Salerno’s documentary, conveniently titled Salinger, takes a look inside the private world of the esteemed author. The film also features interviews with famous actors like Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Cusack, who basically just share their own memories of reading Catcher In The Rye. Salinger open September 6 via the Weinstein Company.
  

[via /Film]

Indie Fundraiser Pick of the Week:

• RAISING MS. PRESIDENT: While the number of women involved in politics is growing, the field is still heavily dominated by old white men who basically die in office. Kiley Lane Parker‘s Raising Ms. President hopes to raise awareness on how we can prepare the next generation of female political leaders. The film also tackles some other questions, including why women still don’t feel at home in politics, and what’s being done to encourage young women to give politics a chance. Raising is in the final stages (there’s even a trailer which you can see below), but the filmmakers need your help. If you would like to contribute to this film, head over to Kickstarer.
  

Those are the projects we have for you this week. Be sure to check back every week for our Best Indie Film Trailers of the Week–helping you stay informed about indie cinema.

Which of these projects interests you? Which are you looking forward to? Got one we missed?

It’s been a relatively eventful 24 hours for Dumb and Dumber To, the sequel to 1994’s classic smart dumb movie (or is a dumb smart movie?), Dumb and Dumber.  After reports that Warner Bros. had dropped the film, news broke yesterday that the film had found another studio to produce, and now, we also have plot and character details for the film.

First off, the studio issue: According to a recent podcast with the Farrelly brothers, the film was not “dropped” by Warner Bros.; rather, it’s simply been a complicated issue of who owns the rights to the film, and who should produce it:

“There’s been a lot of press about how Warner Bros doesn’t want to make it, and it has nothing to do with that. In fact, it was originally released by New Line, and New Line now is owned by Warner Bros — so it never really was a Warner Bros thing. And we want …. long story short, we’re going to another studio and there have been negotiations and thats whats held this thing up, we’ve been negotiating with two different studios, Warner Bros and New Line, about how to get it out of there.”

Further, the Farrelly brothers delved into the plot of the film, and how it exceeds and enhances the first film:

“I sent you the script. I was hoping you’d read it so I wouldn’t have to sit here and tell you how good it is. But I’m telling you it’s a little masterpiece. It’s so good, I think it makes the first one better.” .. “We took two years to work on this script. We didn’t want to do it unless it was as good as the first one. We just didn’t want to tarnish the first one, and you know, we didn’t do Dumb and Dumberer — that was done by — which is one reason they [WB?] didn’t want to do this because they did that and it didn’t work.”

And while the next part is a little vague, some rough plot description even comes up, with reference to Harry’s need to avenge personal wrongs and slights:

“We start in Rhode Island and we pick up today and explain what they’ve been doing the last 18 years. And there is something that happens and we get off to the races quickly.” … ”When you see Dumb and Dumber To, Dumb and Dumber 1 is better because you learn things in Dumb and Dumber To that you knew in Dumb and Dumber 1 but hadn’t put together.  For instance, not giving away too much, Harry always gets revenge. ” … “And when you see the second one, it has a thing that you won’t see coming , and at the end of it, you’ll be like “oh my god, I just fell for the exact same thing.”

Dumb and Dumber To is set to star a returning Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, with a projected release date of summer 2014.

What do you think of the Dumb and Dumber To news?

Source:  /Film

Now that Hollywood has officially decided to make entire films based around preexisting toys and board games like Transformers and Battleship, it was inevitable that we’d eventually get an animated Lego film.  And get it we have, with the aptly (if not entirely creatively) titled The Lego Movie.  And now we have the first trailer.

Despite some cynicism and apprehension we might have towards such a project, the trailer for The Lego Movie is an amusing bit of fluff, with some cute jokes and a dizzying array of pop cultural cameos (Lego Superman and Lego Batman are both characters in the film, to name just two).  While the plot seems to be fairly by-the-numbers animated film fluff (a totally ordinary guy is accidentally swept up into an extraordinary adventure, wherein he discovers, hey, he’s pretty extraordinary after all—who woulda guessed it?), the trailer’s not terrible:

The Lego Movie stars Chris Pratt as the Lego everyman Emmet, Will Ferrell as the villainous President Business, Liam Neeson as head henchman Bad Cop, Morgan Freeman as Virtuvirus, and Will Arnett as Batman, with Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, and Elizabeth Banks also popping up along the way.

Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, The Lego Movie is set for a February 7, 2014 release date.

What do you think of the trailer?

It’s finally here, kids: the long-awaited trailer for Anchorman: The Legend Continues.   After years of waiting (nine years, to be exact, since Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy was first released in the halcyon days of 2004), you can finally see what became of  Ron Burgandy (Will Ferrell), Brick Tamland (Steve Carell), Champ Kind (David Koechner), Brian Fontana (Paul Rudd), and Veronica Corningstone (Christina Applegate).

And if you want us to spoil it for you, we will: the 1980s is what happened to them.  Though the first trailer is a scant minute and a half of more jokes that plot, it looks like the legendary San Diego news team has been split up by circumstance.  However, they reunite to face their biggest challenge yet: the 24 hour news cycle that began in the 1980s.

Most the of the trailer is what you’d expect: Brick Tamland is still creepy and vacuous, Ron Burgandy still shoves both feet into his mouth, and Paul Rudd is still bizarrely ageless.  Check it out:

Directed Adam McKay, Anchorman: The Legend Continues is set for a December 20, 2013 released date.   Think you can wait that much longer?

What do you think of the new trailer?

Billy Crystal mentioned that John Lasseter walked up to him and said “we’re doing another one.”  When did you two become involved?

Kori Rae: A little before that, about four or five years ago.

Dan Scanlon: We got together to see if there was an idea worth doing, something that we were excited about, because we had started thinking about those characters again. And John and Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton, a big group of us just brainstormed, and knew we wanted to do something with Mike and Sulley’s relationship a little bit more in this one, and that’s when we decided to go back and see the relationship form and that’s where the prequel idea came from. And then John came up to Billy at a birthday party. Or something.

When did you feel that you cracked it, when did you feel like “Yes, we can do this.”

Dan Scanlon: In the earliest form it was that we liked going back, we liked the entertainment of the college, but the real hook was when we started thinking about Mike’s story, the potential to tell a story about a character who doesn’t get everything they want in the end. It felt like something we hadn’t seen before but it also felt like something universal that everyone had dealt with, to have a dream change. And that was the part where thought “this seems different, this seems like a good emotional idea.”

And then after years and years of story misery, we had our ups and downs with, because with prequels you know the ending, but telling this particular story was good because knowing the ending at the beginning was helpful. We’re learning how much this dream means to this kid, but we know it’s not going to work out. So we felt like we cracked it near the end (laughs). We work on the story for so long, there’s never a moment like “we cracked it!” We always noodle over details.

Kori Rae: I think there was an internal screening probably about two and a half years in to the story process where we felt like “okay, at least we have a foothold.” We still had to work on some act two stuff, and more stuff, but we were like “okay, we know this is going to work.”

You have a hook, were you working backwards from that?

Dan Scanlon: Yeah. That’s what’s tricky about a prequel, is that’s how you have to structure your story, and wrap your brain around “how do we tell this.”

Not to speak ill of certain prequels that may have disappointed an entire nation of fanboys, but did you watch one of those movies to know what not to do? Did you try and avoid “Destiny?”

Dan Scanlon: We watched a lot of movies – and we do this a lot at Pixar – we watch movies that are in the genre, movies with similar themes, movies that inspire us, I think we probably watched some prequels, but there aren’t that many of them. It does get tough to find the classic prequel, because there hasn’t been a lot yet.

Well, it’s The Godfather Part II.

Dan Scanlon: Except that it isn’t. (laughs) Those are flashbacks. I thought that too and then I watched it again. They have characters that could die at the end, we don’t. I wish we had characters that could die at the end. Adding a character everyone would love and then kill them, just to say “you didn’t see that coming.”

And then he comes back as a robot or something.

Kori Rae: Exactly.

So you screened stuff in genre, it must have amusing when you’re watching college comedies, and see John Goodman in Revenge of the Nerds.

Dan Scanlon: I know, right?

I brought it up to him, and he said he was “A little loose” while making that movie.

Dan Scanlon: I don’t know what that means, but I think I know what that means.

The college comedy genre is clearly defined by National Lampoon’s Animal House – you pay a little homage to that with the broken guitar — but after that, other than Revenge of the Nerds, it’s a pretty terrible genre.

Dan Scanlon: It’s funny, the one thing we noticed is that they’re usually just fun movies, and the goals of the characters are to party as much as they possibly can, and there aren’t a lot with a lot of heart in them. And so that’s something we also felt like we had to create. “What is the heart of these films?” And I don’t know why because college is such a time of coming of age, and self-discovery, so I felt like there was stuff there, just not in those movies.

But slobs vs. snobs is always entertaining. With that central message, and I think it’s brilliant to put in a kids movie… “Hey you can know all you want about the Cleveland Browns, that doesn’t mean you can play for them.” Was there ever a problem with that?

Dan Scanlon: Surprisingly, not really. We knew doing that it could be a little controversial, people could misunderstand it and see it as a negative message for kids, but I’ve been happy that we haven’t run into that. People understand what we’re trying to say. It’s not a movie that says give up on your dreams, it’s a movie that says be open to other possibilities. Know that when things don’t work out, it’s not the end of the world. And it’s very common and can lead to better things.

For both of you, this is your first big assignment within Pixar, I watched the trailer for Dan’s film Tracy before coming here. Is that available anywhere?

Dan Scanlon: You can borrow a video cassette from me. It’s online.

What was the process of getting this project?

Kori Rae: I think Dan, having been at the heart of story on Cars and Toy Story 3, and then had gone out and made Tracy on the weekends while he was working in a key story role on both those films, so he worked closely with John and other directors, so they had confidence in his story chops, and any time someone’s making a movie on the weekends and finishes it over the course of five or six years, that’s someone who’s going to direct movies no matter what. That’s someone who’s driven to do it, so that’s important. You want someone like that who’s going to do it, not because they want the title, but because they have to. I think that’s what people saw, and I think Tracy was an important part of that.

Billy Crystal described you as a hipster.

Dan Scanlon: Yes, I don’t know why he says that. Maybe to Billy Crystal I am a hipster.

Well, he did make Parental Guidance, so perhaps he’s at that point now.

Dan Scanlon: That’s his thing, that’s become his nickname for me. I need to make up a nickname for him. (laughs)

When did you guys start on this project. It seems like at Pixar, you’re working on a lot of different things at once. When did this become priority one?

Kori Rae: The end of 2008, when we were really in development on story, early 2009, about four and a half years ago.

When do the actors start coming in? And how many times do you bring them back?

Kori Rae: We really don’t start casting until about two years into the project, because we’re writing the characters, we’re designing the characters and we do all of that – besides John and Billy and Randall (Steve Buscemi) – but everyone else didn’t come until later because they had to be developed and designed, and then we set about casting and find the right actors for the right part. John and Billy we certainly recorded over almost three years because they are the main characters and we started with them. We recorded with them, probably close to a dozen times.

Little revisions, here and there?

Kori Rae: Yeah, it keeps changing, and in a whole scene a line will change, and we have to get the whole thing again. It is painstaking.

Billy Crystal mentioned there was a different opening, did you have any other scrapped sequences?

Dan Scanlon: We had whole different versions of the movies, which is common at Pixar. We had probably whole other movies there somewhere.

Kori Rae: We had versions where Sulley was the main character. But Mike kept coming back.

What then was Sulley’s arc?

Dan Scanlon: He didn’t have one, that was the problem. Mike’s story was always there, he was the heart of the movie, and that’s when we realized it’s his movie. He’s clearly the person this movie’s about most.

Did you have any favorite gets in terms of the supporting cast?

Dan Scanlon: We have a great cast, they’re all great. I’m a huge Kids in the Hall fan, so to work with Dave Foley was a dream come true, Helen Mirren is just phenomenal, and working with her was so fun.

Kori Rae: Charlie Day’s Art, he’s just such a great comedic actor.

Dan Scanlon: A lot of the cast were fans of the first movie so they were in to being here and recording. And I think it shows in the movie that people are excited to be there.

Do you find that people with children are often more enthusiastic?

Dan Scanlon:  That’s a good question. Not necessarily. Bobby Moynihan was very enthusiastic.

So what’s next for you guys?

Dan Scanlon: We don’t know.

Kori Rae: A vacation. We’ve had our hands full.

Monsters University opens June 21. Check it out.

While comedian/ professional oddball/ star of middling to bad films Russell Brand is likely not the first example of professional decorum to come to mind, the star of such films as Get Him to the Greek and the remake of Arthur recently schooled a few professional morning news show hosts when he felt they were treating him disrespectfully.

While appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to promote his new world comedy tour on Monday, Brand seemed taken aback when hosts Mika Brzezinski, Katty Kay, and Brian Shactman (seriously, we are not making these names up) began to mock him by refusing to shut up about his clothing, continually state his accent was unintelligible (guys, it’s just British), and continually referred to Brand as “him” and “he” when speaking to each other about him—while Brand was still sitting there at the table, waiting to be interviewed.

It’s a very uncomfortable interview, led off with one host stating she is unaware who Brand is as she  is “not very pop-cultured.”  From there, it gets worse, with Brand finally tearing into the hosts around the five-minute mark for their apparent total disdain for him.

In the end, Brand comes out ahead, looking like an intelligent and funny guy, while the hosts, well…watch the video.

What do you think of the video?

Source: Gawker

If you thought that The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was suffering from a small amount of villainous bloat already from the Vulture rumor, well…you ain’t heard nothing yet. Even though the Vulture rumor has yet to be confirmed or denied, we may have caught wind about whether or not actress Felicity Jones will be playing the Black Cat after all. 

The rumors that we would catch at least a glimpse of Felicia Hardy, better known as the Black Cat, have been floating around on the internet since the start of the year. Nobody has been able to get a definite answer out of Felicity Jones about the topic until recently. This is what she said on the project:

Um, well, uh, possibly. I don’t know. Yeah, I kind of—it’s um. Yeah, if that happens, that would be wonderful.

Okay, that may not be an exact yes or no answer to the question the interviewer presented, but it’s better than nothing. From the way that she got immediately tongue-tied on the subject, that could hint at her involvement. At the same time we could be reading into it just a little too much.

Do we really need Black Cat in The Amazing Spider-Man 2? If it were up to me, I’d keep her out of the mix. Right now Peter Parker has enough to worry about. We’ve got Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson both in his life. There’s too many women in his life. I think we can wait for one of them to drop off before we introduce Black Cat into the complicated relationship mix.

Do you want to see the Black Cat in The Amazing Spider-Man 2?

Source: Slashfilm / Bleeding Cool

Initially, Universal had set Jurassic Park 4 with a release date in 2014, which — considering there was no cast or crew set — seemed like a form of optimism verging on insanity. Once Colin Trevorrow came on board, there was word that the studio had set aside some studio space for filming this summer, but it looks like cooler heads have prevailed, and the film will see the light of say in 2015.

Coming Soon was at the licensing expo, and found a banner that announced JP4 as a 2015 release. There’s also word (unconfirmed) that the film will be in 3D. Though 2015 was once considered a crowded year of mega-blockbusters, what with The Avengers 2, Justice League and Star Wars Episode 7 all announced for 2015′s summer, Justice League is decidedly not happening, and Star Wars would likely be a May release — as have been all the other films in the franchise — if it hits theaters in 2015, which is still not confirmed.

That means the summer of 2015  is fairly wide open, though Pirates of the Caribbean 5 has already called the Fourth of July weekend. As has been the case lately, with studios slot-calling their release dates for films that haven’t even started production, it’s likely that Universal will pick a date for their Dinosaur picture shortly. And once that’s settled, they can start working on casting, and pre-production, and all the more important things.

Are you ready to go back to Jurassic Park?

This winter we’ll get another heroine-focused Disney flick with Frozen, which is loosely based on the fairy tale The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen. While the first looks at the animated film looked like this one was going to turn out rather dark, the first teaser trailer gives us something very fun and silly.

Frozen is a story of two sisters torn apart by a big family secret. Idina Menzel voices Queen Elsa, the elder sister who cursed her kingdom to suffer an endless winter; and Kristen Bell is Anna, the younger princess who tries to find Elsa to end the curse.

Though the plot sounds a bit wicked and tragic, the first teaser trailer is anything but. The clip doesn’t give us anything from the plot story, instead is shows a rather light confrontation between a very large reindeer (who looks more like a moose to be honest) and a creative snowman, who battle it out for a carrot. The end isn’t gruesome or anything of that sort (don’t expect a melted snowman). Overall, the teaser comes off as sweet and clever, something we weren’t really expecting from this animated feature. Here’s the teaser:

Frozen is directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, with original songs and music by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. The movie hits theaters on November 27, 2013.

What do you think of the trailer? Is this what you were expecting?

[via /Film]