Sony just jumbled up their calendar a bit. The biggest change is moving Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood back two weeks. The movie was originally set to open on August 9, 2019, which would have marked the 50th anniversary of the Manson murders, which is part of the plot of Tarantino’s upcoming film. Since that’s kind of gross and tasteless, Sony has wisely decided to sidestep the controversy by opening the movie two weeks earlier on July 26, 2019.

The movie doesn’t currently have any direct competition on that date, but it’s looking at an incredibly competitive July that will include Spider-Man: Far From Home (although that’s just Sony competing with itself), Top Gun: Maverick, and the live-action remake of The Lion King. That being said, it’s not like Tarantino’s movie will lack for star power. The film’s cast includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Timothy Olyphant, Luke Perry, Damian Lewis, Dakota Fanning, Al Pacino, Emile Hirsch, Clifton Collins Jr., Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Keith Jefferson, and Nicholas Hammond.

Another big announcement for Sony was slating Zombieland 2 for October 11, 2019. While we previously reported that the film would open in October 2019, we didn’t know exactly when. Zombieland 2, which will reunite stars Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson, and Abigail Breslin, has some stiff competition on the 11th going up against the animated The Addams Family, the adaptation of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, the drama The Goldfinch, and Disney’s Jungle Cruise. It’s likely that at least one of these movies will blink and move to a less crowded weekend.

The recently announced Little Women remake is looking to get into the heart of the 2019 awards season by claiming December 25, 2019. That’s a fairly solid spot for a prestige drama, which will likely receive a lot of attention since it’s Greta Gerwig’s follow up to Lady Bird and it stars Saoirse Ronan, Timothee Chalamet, Emma Stone, Florence Pugh, and Meryl Streep.

Sony is also looking ahead to 2020 and has scheduled the action film Bloodshot for February 21, 2020. The film stars Vin Diesel as a former mob killer who becomes part of a secret experiment to create the ultimate killing machine.

Finally, Sony has moved a couple of its upcoming projects around the schedule. The horror film Slender Man, which has already been punted around the schedule a bit, now moves up two weeks to August 10th. Meanwhile, the cyber-thriller Searching starring John Cho now falls back to August 24th.

Source: Collider

Quentin Tarantino’s high-profile Charles Manson movie, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, has moved its release date up by two weeks to July 26, 2019.

Sony originally slated the film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt, to open Aug. 9, 2019, which will mark the 50th anniversary of the murders of Sharon Tate and her friends by Manson followers.

Studio insiders say the date wasn’t changed because of the anniversary; rather, they say going out in late July gives the film more summer playtime. Nevertheless, shifting the date avoids having to contend with the actual anniversary.

Tarantino wrote the script, and is directing and producing the film. He describes the project as “a story that takes place in Los Angeles in 1969, at the height of hippy Hollywood.”

The two lead characters are Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), a former star of a TV Western, and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt). Both are struggling to make it in a Hollywood they don’t recognize anymore. Meanwhile, Rick’s very famous next-door neighbor is Tate.

Dakota Fanning, Luke Perry and Damian Lewis round out the film’s ensemble cast, which also includes Emile Hirsch, Clifton Collins Jr., Keith Jefferson, Nicholas Hammond, Margot Robbie, Burt Reynolds, Timothy Olyphant, Kurt Russell, Michael Madsen and Tim Roth.

Sony also made a slew of other changes to its upcoming release calendar, including announcing that Little Women will hit theaters on Christmas Day in 2019. It also announced release dates for Zombieland (Oct. 11, 2019) and Bloodshot (Feb. 21, 2020).

The studio also tweaked release plans for several other films, including Slender Man, which moves up from Aug. 24 of this year to Aug. 10, and Studio 8’s White Boy Rick, which will now open Sept. 14 nationwide instead of first going out in select theaters.

This article originally appeared on The Hollywood Reporter.

Source: Billboard

“Brokeback Mountain” won three Oscars in 2006, was robbed of the award for best picture (by “Crash”) and earned nominations for its young stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.

But before Ang Lee took over as director of the film, Gus Van Sant had the job as he toiled unsuccessfully, trying to pull “Brokeback Mountain” together.

Van Sant told IndieWire his project stalled because he couldn’t get major, A-list actors like Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon to star as gay lovers in the drama.

“Nobody wanted to do it,” Van Sant told IndieWire. “I was working on it, and I felt like we needed a really strong cast, like a famous cast. That wasn’t working out. I asked the usual suspects: Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Ryan Phillippe. They all said no.”

“Brokeback Mountain” producer and screenwriter Diana Ossana confirmed Van Sant’s comments to IndieWire.

“Yes, all those young gentlemen (at the time) turned down the project, for various reasons,” Ossana said.

Van Sant, who cast River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves in the unrequited love story “My Own Private Idaho” (1991), said the inability to cast the major stars in “Brokeback Mountain” dampened his enthusiasm.

“What I could have done, and what I probably should have done, was cast more unknowns, not worried about who were the lead actors,” he said. “I was not ready. I’m not sure why. There was just sort of a hiccup on my part. There was something off with myself, I guess, whatever was going on.”

The movie later went to Lee, who cast Ledger and Gyllenhaal in the groundbreaking roles. Van Sant has directed a new film ‘He Won’t Get Far on Foot.’

Source: USAtoday

Leonardo DiCaprio just gave fans a very small sneak peek of their roles in Quentin Tarantino’s forthcoming film,Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

DiCaprio posted a photo of himself and co-star Brad Pitt looking every bit like part of the “hippy Hollywood” where the film is set.

While details of the film are still sparse, per Deadline, DiCaprio is playing Rick Dalton, the former star of a Western TV series, and his longtime stunt double Cliff Booth (Pitt). “Both are struggling to make it in a Hollywood they don’t recognize anymore. But Rick has a very famous next-door neighbor…Sharon Tate.” Tate, who will be played in the film by Margot Robbie, was tragically murdered by members of Charles Manson’s cult, the film doesn’t appear to be exclusively about the cult leader, instead weaving together stories like in Tarantino’s 1994 breakthrough film, Pulp Fiction. That may be intentional, as Tarantino promised that the film is “probably the closest to Pulp Fiction” that he has done.

First look. #OnceUponATimeInHollywood

A post shared by Leonardo DiCaprio (@leonardodicaprio) on Jun 27, 2018 at 6:00am PDT

The film isn’t only a reunion for DiCaprio and Robbie who starred in The Wolf of Wall Street together in 2013. It also reunites Pitt and DiCaprio with Tarantino—Pitt starred in Inglourious Basterds and DiCaprio took a dark turn in Django Unchained. For his part, Tarantino is thrilled to be reunited with the stars, who he has called “the most exciting star dynamic since Paul Newman and Robert Redford,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Once Upon A Time in Hollywood is even more packed with stars than Pulp Fiction, with a cast that includes Damian Lewis as Steve McQueen, Al Pacino as Dalton’s agent Marvin Shwarz, Dakota Fanning as Manson follower Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, Emile Hirsch as Tate’s friend Jay Sebring, and the list goes on and on, including The Hateful Eight co-stars Tim Roth, Kurt Russell, and Michael Madsen. The world will have to wait to see the cast in action, though, as the film isn’t expected to hit theaters until August 2019.

EXCLUSIVE: Steven Spielberg and Leonardo DiCaprio are in early discussions to re-team on an epic biopic of Ulysses S. Grant that DiCaprio and Appian Way partner Jeniffer Davisson are producing at Lionsgate. I’m told that Spielberg wants to direct DiCaprio in that role in their first collaboration since the 2002 drama Catch Me If You Can.

Lionstate and Appian Way last November acquired movie rights to Grant, the bestselling Ron Chernow biography that is being adapted by David James Kelly. The writer just worked for Appian Way and Lionsgate on Robin Hood, the Otto Bathurst-directed that stars Taron Egerton in the starring role.

Pinning down a time when these two titans will work together is always a challenge. As Deadline revealed last January, Spielberg set Indiana Jones and West Side Story to be his next two films as his followup to The Post and Ready Player One. DiCaprio, who took time off after the arduous shoot that won him the Best Actor Oscar in The Revenant, next stars in the Quentin Tarantino-directed Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. DiCaprio and Davisson are developing several big star vehicles including the Leonardo Da Vinci project based on the Walter Isaacson book which Paramount set in a seven figure deal as Appian Way moved its deal to the studio. Appian Way and Paramount also have a Teddy Roosevelt film that Scott Bloom is scripting for Martin Scorsese to direct. Separately, there is also a possible collaboration with Scorsese on the David Grann book Killers of the Flower Moon which has a script by Eric Roth for Imperative Entertainment.

Despite this, sources labeled the Grant project a priority. The Penguin Press book has a high pedigree. Chernow is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Washington: A Life, whose Alexander Hamilton was the inspiration for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony winning musical Hamilton. Chernow is exec producer of Grant.

It provides Spielberg with another interesting way to explore the Civil War, ground he covered in Lincoln. Grant was one of the most complicated military leaders-turned politicians in American history. Down on his luck with failing businesses and a resignation from the army amid accusations of drunkenness, Grant enjoyed a rousing second act as Abraham Lincoln’s most trusted general. He won the battle of Shiloh and the Vicksburg campaign, and defeated the legendary Southern Confederate general Robert E. Lee. His military genius propelled him to two terms in the White House. He was a champion for black Americans and worked to crush the Ku Klux Klan, even as there were scandals involving administration’s leaders. Grant had EKG-like highs and lows even after his presidency, seeing his fortune swindled on Wall Street but resuscitating himself working with Mark Twain on his critically acclaimed memoirs.

Source: Deadline

Leonardo DiCaprio has been the biggest advocate for the ‘dad-bod’ this century, almost making it his signature. The formerly ripped star of Titanic has definitely been living the good life, with a healthy indulgence in the finer things in life. In fact, a large part of DiCaprio’s appeal is his unforgiving ownership and self-confidence whilst bucking the Hollywood 6-pack stereotype.

However it seems that DiCaprio is finally ready to shed a few kilos as he gears up to star alongside Brad Pitt in the new Tarantino epic, Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. According to Radar Online, DiCaprio is starving himself to get ready for his big-screen comeback.

“He hates that he’s had to give up the pastas and desserts, and even his trusty vaporizer,” an unnamed source told the publication. “If he was left to his own devices, he’d be happily hitting the drive-thru at McDonald’s!”

In terms of training, The Departed star is apparently cranking out hundreds of push ups per day, in a military-inspired workout. The transformation and lifestyle overhaul is reportedly due to a shirtless scene required for the new film.

While the training methods is still under wraps, with a combination of body weight exercise and military style sessions, it sounds like DiCaprio could be taking a leaf out of CrossFit’s book, and hitting some intense workouts, like the notorious Murph. Make like Leo, and shred up quickly with some high-intensity, muscular endurance exercise.

MURPH
Complete the below workout in order. Do not move onto the next exercise until all reps have been completed.

1-mile run (1.6 kilometres)
100 pullups
200 pushups
300 air squats
1-mile run
*To scale the workout, cut the reps in half for your first attempt
**To scale UP the workout, try completing Murph with a 10kg weight vest.

Record your time, and set this as a benchmark to retest after a few months of solid training.

Source: Men’s Health Aus

Grace Jones, Jason Derulo and Ellie Goulding will perform at Thursday’s amfAR Cannes gala. They join Sting and Shaggy as part of the black-tie evening’s star attractions.

The non-profit organization has raised more than $210 million from the party to support AIDS research, but despite its charitable contributions, amfAR has been battling a wave of negative publicity. Much of that stems from the event’s long-association with disgraced indie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexually harassing or assaulting dozens of women. In the past, Weinstein helped wrangle top talent to perform at the event and persuaded deep-pocketed supporters to bid on auction items.

AmfAR, with its mission to end AIDS, isn’t just a noble cause. It’s also the glitziest event at the Cannes Film Festival, serving as sort of a bejeweled cap to the two-week festival. The outdoor, all-night dinner and party in a tent at the Hotel du Cap in nearby Cap d’Antibes fetches bigger stars than many festival gatherings. Leonardo DiCaprio usually shows up, and recent editions offered sightings of Sharon Stone, David Beckham, Orlando Bloom and Paris Hilton. Music icons including Diana Ross and Nicki Minaj have performed on the stage, as the group auctions off extravagant art and trips for millions of euros.

Timothy Olyphant is in negotiations to star in Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” a drama set against the backdrop of the Manson Family murders.

The mystery-shrouded project has not yet gone into production. At Sony Pictures’ CinemaCon presentation on April 23, Tarantino said leading actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt will be “the most exciting dynamic star duo since Paul Newman and Robert Redford.”

The director also said the film will be the most similar in style and plotting to his 1994 “Pulp Fiction,” for which he and Roger Avary won the Academy Award for original screenplay.

“It takes place at the height of the counterculture explosion,” said Tarantino. “It takes place at the time of the hippie revolution, and it takes place at the height of new Hollywood.”

“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” hits theaters on Aug. 9, 2019 — the 50th anniversary of the murders of actress Sharon Tate and four others at the hands of Manson’s followers.

DiCaprio will play Rick Dalton, former star of a western TV series, while Pitt will play his longtime stunt double, Cliff Booth. Margot Robbie is in talks to play Tate and Burt Reynolds is in negotiations to play George Spahn, who rented his house out to Manson and his followers in the months leading up to the murders.

It is unknown what role Olyphant would play. Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, and Kurt Russell have also been reported as being in talks.

Olyphant is best known for starring in FX’s “Justified” and currently stars in Netflix’s “The Santa Clarita Diet.” He’s repped by UTA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners. The news about Olyphant was first reported by Deadline.