Zaire. 1974. The Rumble in the Jungle. James Brown. “Soul Power.” Opens next month.
Despite word this week that Senator Distribution will be folding, the company will still release a few of its remaining projects, including “Mesrine: A Film in Two Parts,” starring Vincent Cassel in a César-winning performance as a notorious French mobster. Jason Solomons of The Guardian chatted to France’s Most Wanted earlier this year.
With “The Boat That Rocked,” writer-director Richard Curtis boards a pirate radio ship frolicking in international waters under government threat. Coming in August, the film set in 1966 features an ensemble cast including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Bill Nighy, Kenneth Branagh, Nick Frost, “Mad Men”’s January Jones and “The IT Crowd”’s Chris O’Dowd.
After popping up at Sundance, “Cold Souls” has been travelling the festival circuit before an anticipated August release date in the United States. The debut film from Sophie Barthes finds Paul Giamatti becoming a patient of Dr. Flinstein, a soul extractionist, played by David Strathairn (a graduate of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus Clown College). Barthes chatted with Coming Soon about the film which is being widely compared to the works of Charlie Kaufman.
One Film Wonder: Jaye Davidson reportedly left the film industry long ago. He appeared in a mere three movies, with his last appearance in 1994’s “Stargate.” But before he returned to the fashion world, Davidson mesmerized audiences in his 1992 debut with a seductively sweet Oscar-nominated turn as Dil in Neil Jordan’s “The Crying Game.” It’s a performance which incidentally includes one of the most gasp-inducing and talked-about surprises in movie history.
