The Venice Film Festival announces its Jury!

The Hollywood Reporter has the announcement:

The Venice Film Festival on Friday announced members of its main competition jury, choosing an eclectic group of industry figures with deep Venice roots to work under previously announced jury head Darren Aronofsky.

The jury will include Todd Haynes, whose latest film to screen on the Venice Lido, I’m Not There took home the jury prize in 2007; French auteur Andre Techine, whose 1969 classic Pauline is Leaving premiered at the fest in 1969; and director Mario Martone and actress Alba Rohrwacher – both Italians – who appeared in Venice as recently as last year’s festival, with We Believed and The Solitude of Prime Numbers, respectively.

Other jury members include musician David Byrne and Finish visual artist Ejia-Liisa Ahtila. Byrne, the former frontman of the 1980s alternative music band Talking Heads, has worked on soundtracks for numerous films, including Bernardo Bertolucci’s nine-time Oscar winner The Last Emperor, while Ahtila has been a regular at the Venice visual arts Biennale, appearing most recently in 2005.

It was already announced that the jury will be headed by Aronofsky, whose last three films all premiered in competition on the Venice Lido, with The Wrestler taking home the festival’s top prize in 2008 and Black Swan given the honor of being the festival’s opening film a year ago before going on to earn five Oscar nominations.

The jury will vote on the festival’s main prizes a year after the previous jury, headed by U.S. director Quentin Tarantino, sparked widespread protests in Italy based on charges that it handed out many of the main prizes to directors with close personal ties to Tarantino. Then-Italian Minister of Culture Sandro Bondi said at the time the Italian government should have a voice in selecting the festival’s jury, but the idea never gained traction and this year’s jury – like those from previous editions – was chosen entirely by the festival.

This year’s edition of the Venice festival, the 68th, will take place Aug. 31-Sept. 10.

-Joey's Two Cents: I'm eager to see the films that end up competing for the Golden Lion...thoughts?

Darren Aronofsky is the next A-list director to go direct a pilot for HBO...

...continuing the trend of HBO slowly becoming the place for talent to flock to. Here's the story from The Hollywood Reporter:

Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky is making his first foray into television, boarding HBO’s high-profile Hobgoblin, a period drama written by Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay) and his wife, Ayelet Waldman.

The project, which is in development, revolves around a group of con men and magicians who, using their deception skills, help defeat Hitler and the Germans during World War II.

Le Grisbi Productions’ John Lesher and Adam Kassan will serve as executive producers, with authors Chabon (Wonder Boys, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union) and Waldman (Bad Mother, Love and Other Impossible Pursuits) set to co-write and executive produce.

Hobgoblin will be Aronofsky’s first filmed project since he left Fox’s Wolverine sequel. That project was to be his follow-up to Black Swan, which grossed $332 million worldwide, but he abruptly exited Wolverine in March.

Aronofsky is repped by CAA.

-Joey's Two Cents: It's definitely becoming the thing to do for big time filmmakers...thoughts?

Darren Aronofsky wants Christian Bale to star in his Noah epic?

So it seems, according to Vulture:

Just how do you float a $130 million movie about the end of the world with no movie stars? If you’re Noah director Darren Aronofsky, you try to attach one, ASAP.
Vulture hears that Aronofsky is in talks with Christian Bale about possibly starring in his take on Noah's Ark, to help secure studio backing for it. Presumably, Aronofsky wants Bale for the lead, even though Noah was 600 years old when the Great Flood hit, and Bale is only 37.

Regardless, locking down Bale early — even before there’s money to make an offer — would have the twofold benefit of both securing a leading man and helping land the rest of the money needed to make such an expensive, effects-driven film. If Bale commits, that would help provide clarity to the trio of studios considering co-financing the movie: While Noah is set up at the Fox-based mini-studio New Regency, its massive budget means that some other studio will need to come in and help with the heavy lifting. For the trio of studios circling the project, which includes Paramount, Summit, and Fox, knowing Bale is in the wings would help them get a forecast on what Noah might make in foreign territories before they commit to making such a pricey picture.

Former Fox production president turned current Regency president Hutch Parker insisted that “there hasn’t been any change [on the project] since it was last reported.”

-Joey's Two Cents: It's a very interesting casting choice, to say the least...thoughts?

Darren Aronofsky's next film might actually be his Noah dream project!

Collider has the story:

One of the reasons Darren Aronofsky reportedly signed on to do The Wolverine is because he wanted a blockbuster hit that he could leverage to make personal projects that required a larger budget than his past work. Then he dropped off that film for personal reasons, but perhaps Black Swan grossing $315 million worldwide off a $13 million budget also had something to do with it. Now that he has that success (along with a Best Director Oscar nomination) to his credit, Aronofsky has more clout and it looks like he’s using it to try and get Noah off the ground.

In February, we reported that Aronofsky was going to tell the story of the Bible’s Noah by creating a graphic novel with artist Nico Henrichon. Now John Logan is re-writing the film’s script and various studios are getting interested in co-financing the ambitious project. Hit the jump for more details.

Deadline reports that New Regency is interested in co-financing the film with Fox, Paramount, and Summit individually considering if they want to take on the other half of the film’s proposed $130 million budget. The project has been described as a “big fantasy epic”, but Aronofsky has personally talked about the darkness in the movie that usually doesn’t lend itself to big-budget flicks. While the timely environmental themes could work (Aronofsky described Noah as “the first environmentalist”), the director also says that Noah has some serious survivor’s guilt and that “He’s a dark, complicated character.”

Aronofsky came close to directing another biblical epic, Exodus (previously titled Moses), about the story of Moses, but he reportedly wants to make Noah, a film he’s been dreaming of since he was thirteen, his next movie. Hopefully his dream comes true and we get to see Aronofsky work on his biggest canvas yet.

-Joey's Two Cents: With the passion Aronofsky has about this, I'd imagine it could be something special...thoughts?

Could Darren Aronofsky be going the Disney route next?

Possibly, according to Collider:

Since dropping out of Fox’s The Wolverine, director Darren Aronofsky has been linked to a number of projects. Everyone wants to know what he’ll choose as his follow up to the smashing success that wasBlack Swan. Earlier this month, it was reported that he was eyeing the sci-fi flick Human Nature with George Clooney attached to star. Now, Badass Digest reports that the director is being courted for two other high-profile projects: Disney wants him to helm Maleficent and Warner Bros. is courting the director for Moses.

Maleficent just recently lost its director, as Tim Burton bowed out a few days ago, but David Yates has been mentioned as a possible replacement. The film is set to start Angelina Jolie as the notorious Sleeping Beauty villain. Moses is one of two dueling projects centered on the biblical figure. Warner Bros’ version focuses on the Exodus, while the Fox version is said to be more in the vein of 300(because violence and sex is exactly what the Old Testament is lacking). While neither of these sounds particularly up Aronofsky’s alley, neither did a sequel to Wolverine. Personally, I’d much rather see him take on that other biblical project: his long-talked-about Noah.

-Joey's Two Cents: Neither of these projects do much for me, but I really just want to see a new Aronofsky film...thoughts?

Darren Aronofsky's next project could be a Sci-Fi film with George Clooney!

Via Vulture:

Two months after Darren Aronofsky announced that he wouldn’t be making The Wolverine, Vulture has learned that the Black Swan director has set his sights on a new film: a fifteen-year-old original sci-fi spec script called Human Nature by a little-known screenwriter named Jeff Welch. We hear that George Clooney is attaching himself to star as a man who is cryogenically frozen and wakes up years later to a world in which humans have become pets of another species. Insiders tell us that Warner Bros.–based producer Akiva Goldsman (I Am Legend) is currently budgeting the movie, but if things go to plan, this would likely be Aronofsky’s next project.

-Joey's Two Cents: It sounds like an interesting concept, and both Aronofsky and Clooney are picky with their projects, so I'm definitely in...thoughts?

Darren Aronofsky will head the jury at the Venice Film Festival!

From The Guardian:

Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky is to head the jury for this year's Venice film festival, organisers have announced. The film-maker will follow in the controversial footsteps of fellow American Quentin Tarantino, who chaired last year's event.

Aronofsky is something of a favourite on the Lido, having received the Golden Lion top prize for The Wrestler in 2008. Black Swan, for which Natalie Portman won the best actress Oscar in March, was the festival opener last year and Aronofsky also entered The Fountain in the 2006 competition. Venice organisers praised the film-maker as "a key figure in contemporary film whose work constantly engages the evolution and mutations of the many languages of art".

Tarantino's tenure last year saw the Golden Lion for best film controversially delivered into the hands of Sofia Coppola for her film Somewhere, a slow-paced peek at Hollywood ennui. Some members of the Italian press accused the US film-maker of unfairly favouring the Lost in Translation director, who is an ex-girlfriend. Tarantino's friend Alex de la Iglesia also won two prizes for his film Balada Triste de Trompeta and one of the director's mentors, Monte Hellman, was handed a lifetime achievement prize created by the jury. The Italian culture minister labelled Tarantino's reign "the expression of an elitist, relativist and snobbish culture" and suggested he pick the jury this year to ensure the part state-funded festival improved its selections.

Aronofsky does not currently have a film shooting, having dropped out of superhero flick The Wolverine as he said he could not commit to being away from his family for the length of time required for production. This year's Venice festival, the 68th iteration, runs from 31 August to 10 September.

-Joey's Two Cents: As someone who loved Somewhere, I saw nothing wrong with that honor, but that's just me. I'll be very interested to see the type of film that Aronofsky favors...thoughts?