COLIN FIRTH SATURDAY: TRAILER FOR HIS "GAMBIT" WITH CAMERON DIAZ! COLIN IN "ARTHUR NEWMAN" WITH EMILY BLUNT, "SKINNY AND THE CAT" WITH CATE BLANCHETT, "THE RAILWAY MAN" WITH NICOLE KIDMAN, "BRIDGET JONES' BABY" WITH RENE ZELLWEGER

In the honour of the trailer release for his new film GAMBIT which you can see below, we shall dedicate today's post to British Oscar winner Colin Firth and his future projects. First he has ARTHUR NEWMAN film which was shown in Toronto Film Festival and in which he and Emily Blunt  play two people who, trying to escape their past, move into an abandoned house together and take on the identities of the absent owners: elderly newlyweds, a high-roller and his Russian lady, among others, but in the end discover that they love each other's true identities best. Colin's main project for 2013 will be a sweeping period drama THE RAILWAY MAN about a 

soldier’s battle to overcome his torture while he was a Japanese prisoner of war and how his wife helped him in the battle by setting up a mission back to the Bridge on the River Kwai, where her husband confronted the interpreter at his interrogations. Nicole Kidman plays his wife and Jeremy Irvine plays young version of Firth's character alongside Stellan Skarsgard and Sam Reid. Another charming duo will be Colin Firth and Cate Blanchett in SKINNY AND CAT, which depicts American photographer Margaret Bourke-White's marriage to novelist Erskine Caldwell in the late 1930s.The 2014 film will be directed by Barbra Streisand! Somewhere along the way, Firth should also join Rene Zellweger and Hugh Grant in BRIDGET JONES' BABY recounting Bridget's life in her 40s!

GAMBIT TRAILER

The video I have for you today is the first trailer for action comedy GAMBIT which features a rather strange combination of Colin Firth

and Cameron Diaz in the cast, alongside British actor Alan Rickman and Stanley Tucci. Opening in Britain later this November, the story follows a private art curator Harry Deane (Colin Firth) who devises a finely crafted scheme to con England's richest man and avid art collector, Lionel Shabandar, (Alan Rickman) into purchasing a fake Monet painting. In order to bait his buyer, he recruits a Texas rodeo queen (Cameron Diaz) to cross the pond and pose as a woman whose grandfather liberated the painting at the end of WWII. The film is directed by Michael Hoffman who helmed Leo

Tolstoi film THE LAST STATION with Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer and James McAvoy. And as you will see everybody is naked in the trailer - Rickman is full nude, Firth is pantless and Cameron is in her lingerie :)

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"BEAUTIFUL CREATURES" TRAILER WITH EMMA THOMPSON, JEREMY IRONS, VIOLA DAVIS! GONG LI IS "THE LAST EMPRESS" OF CHINA! PIC OF EVIL SMURFETTE VEXY FROM "SMURFS 2"! CASEY AFFLECK IN "RACE TO THE SOUTH POLE"

According to "The Hollywood Reporter" Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are looking to produce a historical film RACE TO THE SOUTH POLE which will tell the tale of explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen as they aim to reach the South Pole during the so called 'heroic age' of Antarctic exploration in the early 20th century. Casey Affleck will play Scott. The same site also reports on Gong Li taking the role of the empress Cixi in THE LAST EMPRESS, a sweeping Chinese American drama recounting Express Cixi's life and her complex relationship with Emperor Guang Xu and Imperial Advisor American Costa, both of whom wanted to modernise China. However, due to misunderstandings, Guang Xu's 100-day reform was ended by bloodshed and led to a period of violent revolutions. As HOLLYWOOD SPY reported before, Gong Li will also play a Mongolian Empress in Tarsem Singh's epic adventure MARCO POLO which will follow the 13th century Venetian explorer on his adventures in China.

HOLLYWOOD SPY HEADLINES

Entertainment Weekly has revealed first picture from THE SMURFS 2 showing new characters The Naughties - the evil Smurfette Vexy voiced by Christina Ricci and Hackus voiced by comedian

 J.B. Smoove. They were created by Gargamel in order to bring havoc to the Smurf's shroom village. The sequel to the film, which earned almost $600 million around the world, is scheduled for summer next year.

BEAUTIFUL CREATURES

The trailer I have for you today is the first one for next year's fantasy film BEAUTIFUL CREATURES the movie adaptation of the best

 selling novel by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl directed by Richard LaGravenese. Young Alice Englert plays Lena, a young girl whose mysterious family is the subject of gossip in her small Southern town. When she falls for Ethan (played Alden Ehrenreich), he comes to learn the truth, that she is actually a "caster" who must choose between the dark and light sides of her magical world. Scheduled to premiere in February 2013, the film has a rather strong cast: Oscar winners Viola Davis, Emma Thompson and Jeremy Irons and Emmy Rossum.

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"THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY" SECOND TRAILER IS HERE! PLUS A HUGE SPOTLIGHT ON THE WHOLE SAGA WITH EXCLUSIVE NEW PICTURES FEATURING CATE BLANCHETT, RICHARD ARMITAGE, IAN MCKELLAN, AIDAN TURNER, HUGO WEAVING

After almost nine months of waiting after the release of the first one, the second trailer for this year's biggest epic adventure THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY is finally here announcing the long awaited film which is to open in cinemas December 14th this year as the first part of the trilogy which will also include THE HOBBIT: THE

DESOLATION OF SMAUG (premiers December 2013) and THE HOBBIT: THERE AND BACK AGAIN (hitting cinemas July 2014 and will be made from the footage already made for the first two films which were shot back to back, but there will be some additional shootings as well for the final part of the saga). Differently from the first

trailer which served more as an introduction into the whole marketing campaign, the second trailer is much more action packed featuring lots of scenes of epic adventures, the epic journey, lots of fantastic creatures and cute animals, crazy dwarves and their leader Thorin, some sword

 fighting between Gollum and Bilbo, and above all some magnificent and truly spectacular shots of delightful Cate Blanchett as elven queen Galadriel.

THE HOBBIT STORY

"The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" follows title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey,

Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers. Although

their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain, first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever... Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo

Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum's precious ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities... A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know!

THE HOBBIT CAST 

As you remember from HOLLYWOOD SPY's extensive spotlight on THE HOBBIT characters,the magnificent cast includes Cate Blanchett as the Elven queen Galadriel, Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins,

Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Luke Evans as Bard the leader of Men, Benedict Cumberbatch who will lend his voice to the dragon Smaug, Hugo Weaving as Elven king Elrond, Lee Pace as Elven king

Thranduil, Stephen Fry as Master of Laketown, Evangeline Lilly as Elven girl Tauriel, but the first part of the film will mostly focus on the dwarves: Balin (Ken Stott), Bifur (William Kircher), Bofur (James Nesbitt), Bombur (Stephen Hunter), Dori (Mark Hadlow), Dwalin (Graham McTavish), Fili (Dean O'Gorman), Gloin

(Peter Hambleton), Kili (Aidan Turner), Nori (Jed Brophy), Oin (John Callen), Ori (Adam Brown), and their leader Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage).

THE HOBBIT TIDBITS 

Overly dark and morbid Guillermo del Toro was supposed to helm the film, but fortunately, Peter Jackson took it over during the pre-production limbo. Actors James McAvoy, Matthew Goode and David Tennant were in the option to play Bilbo. MGM's bankruptcy, Peter Jackson's ulcer surgery and New Zealand union strikes are just some of the troubles THE HOBBIT went through. Barry Humphries, also known as famous Dame Edna (US audience remembers her/him from ALLY MCBEAL) will play a CGI

Goblin King, the ruler of the underground caverns in the Misty Mountains. Howard Shore who wrote the music for LORD OF THE RINGS will compose for THE HOBBIT saga as well.

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TOBY STEPHENS IN EPIC SHOW "BLACK SAILS"! CLIP FOR WW2 EPIC "EMPEROR" WITH TOMMY LEE JONES & MATTHEW FOX! JENNA DEWAN & JULIA ORMOND ARE "WITCHES OF EAST END"! NEW BBC SWEEPING EPIC SERIES "THE VILLAGE"

Last week your trusted HOLLYWOOD SPY informed you that Michael Bay's new epic show BLACK SAILS (which set 20 years before the events in Robert Louis Stevenson’s "Treasure Island", chronicles the adventures of fabled buccaneer Captain Flint and his men aboard the Walrus) got its first cast member in MERLIN's hunk Tom Hopper who will play Billy Bones, the first mate of The Walrus who is caught in the middle of the power struggle between Flint and his main dissenter Singleton, and now the show has its lead star as well: according to "Digital Spy" British star Toby Stephens (also known as Maggie Smith's son) will play Captain Flint in this eight episode pirate series which is currently preparing for production in South Africa and will air in 2014 at Starz.You've seen Toby in ROBIN HOOD series and in DIE ANOTHER DAY.

  TELEVISION HEADLINES

In other TV news today, BBC is preparing another epic saga titled THE VILLAGE. The sweeping saga will follow the residents of one English village across the

  20th century and their turbulent lives. "Digital Spy" reports that newcomer Bill Jones will play Bert Middleton, the youngest child of a poor family whose parents John (John Simm) and Grace (Maxine Peake) struggle to provide for him. "Upstairs Downstairs" actor Nico Mirallegro will play their second son Joe, who works at the Big House and comes into contact with the troubled Caro (Emily Beecham). Charlie Murphy ("Misfits") will play village newcomer Martha Lane, who has a big impact on Bert's life, while Anthony Flanagan ("Being Human"), Annabelle Apsion ("Shameless"), Joe Armstrong ("Robin Hood"), Matt Stokoe ("Misfits") will also star. The six part series will air in 2013. Over in USA, Lifetime is planning WITCHES OF EAST END series, in which 

Jenna Dewan Tatum will play one of lead star Julia Ormond's daughters, struggling to keep her supernatural powers a secret. Dewan will play Freya Beauchamp, a free spirit who settles down with her millionaire fiancé in the secluded Long Island town of North Hampton. A series of events forces Ormond's character to reveal to her two adult daughters that they are in fact powerful, immortal witches.

  EMPEROR CLIP

Today I also have the first clip from historical epic by Peter Webber EMPEROR, a gripping tale of love and honor forged between fierce enemies of war inspired by true events, of the bold and secret moves

 that won the peace in the shadows of post-war Japan. The film describes the American occupation of Japan in the perilous and unpredictable days just after Emperor Hirohito's World War II surrender. As General Douglas MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones) suddenly finds himself the de facto ruler of a foreign nation, he assigns an expert in Japanese culture - General Bonner Fellers (Matthew Fox), to covertly investigate the looming question hanging over the country: should the Japanese Emperor, worshiped by his people but accused of war crimes, be punished or

 saved? Caught between the high-wire political intrigue of his urgent mission and his own impassioned search for the mysterious school teacher (Eriko Hatsune) who first drew him to Japan, Fellers can be certain only that the tricky subterfuge about to play out will forever change the history of two nations and his heart.

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EXCLUSIVE HOLLYWOOD SPY SPOTLIGHT ON BBC'S NEW PERIOD SET DELIGHTFUL TV SERIES "THE PARADISE" ABOUT THE FIRST 19TH CENTURY DEPARTMENT STORE

You have probably noticed that beside successful epic shows, another popular television trend have become period set dramas with up to ten episodes. We've all seen the huge success of ITV's DOWNTON ABBEY which is about to start its third season and has won Emmy awards

 (don't really know why, I find the show terribly empty and monotonous and lacking in wit and charm) and BBC America is breaking records with their brand new show COPPER. So I'm guessing you might have an appetite for BBC ONE's new period set show THE PARADISE

THE PARADISE STORY

The new show THE PARADISE tells the story of a love affair set against the backdrop of the opening of the first English department store in 1875. Smart, ambitious and big hearted Denise Lovett played by Joanna Vanderham arrives in the city to seek work in her Uncle Edmund’s shop. When he’s unable to help her, she turns to THE PARADISE and her eyes are opened to a whole new world of

 possibilities. This impossibly glamorous store provides the catalyst for her rags-to-riches story as she falls in love with the exhilarating and dangerous charms of the modern world. Entwined in this intoxication is The Paradise’s dashing and reckless owner, John Moray, played by Emun Elliott a buccaneering capitalist, self-made and utterly modern man who inspires in Denise a passion & creativity she didn’t know she had.

THE PARADISE TIDBITS

Ready to premiere with its first episode of the first season Tuesday September 26th (it was actually scheduled for next year, but BBC wanted to beat the very similar project MR. SELFRIDGE over at rival ITV, since ITV managed to crash BBC's UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS project with their DOWNTON ABBEY in the recent past.

The story of the new THE PARADISE series will be set in the 19th century and will revolve around the staff in a Victorian department store and its charismatic owner. The series, which hasn't even been finished yet only a few weeks before the premiere, is based on a novel by famous French author Emile Zola, with the book’s Paris store being relocated

 to North-East England for the TV adaptation.The producers have described the series as "Sex And The City" in the 19th century since the period set series has a very fancy setting and actually a lot of the dynamics that the characters face are really modern. Beside Emun Elliott (GAME OF THRONES) as John Moray and Joanna Vanderham as Denise Lovett, the cast also includes Elaine Cassidy, Peter Wight, Patrick Malahide who plays Lord Glendenning, David Hayman, Sarah Lancashire and others.

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FIRST LOOK OF JOEL KINNAMAN IN STUNNING COSTUME FROM "ROBOCOP" REMAKE! KEVIN COSTNER TO PRODUCE LAVISH EPIC FANTASY ADVENTURE SAGA "THE EXPLORERS GUILD" INTO MOVIES AND TV SERIES

As you know HOLLYWOOD SPY is web's biggest central for all things epic and history related, so here's an interesting project in that genre: Kevin Costner will direct and produce the project based on Jon S. Baird's upcoming fantasy saga THE EXPLORER'S GUILD, in which the first book A PASSAGE TO SHAMBALA is to be released in 2014. The project will first include a series of books, then an animated series for TV and then a whole film franchise. Behind the staid rooms of an old world gentlemen's club operates a mysterious organization: THE EXPLORERS GUILD, a clandestine group of adventurers who seek out the places where light gives way to shadow and reason is usurped by myth. The secrets of this unknown world are hidden in mountain ranges and lost in deserts, sunk to the ocean floor and lodged deep beneath polar ice. Their aim is to discover the mysteries that lie beyond the boundaries of the known world. Set against the backdrop of World War I, with Western Civilization spiraling into chaos, the first installment in THE EXPLORERS GUILD series A PASSAGE TO

SHAMBALA, concerns the Guild's quest to find Shambhala, the golden city of Buddhist myth. Each member is driven toward the City for a different reason: one believes that finding it will save his brother's life; another hopes that it will reveal a path to spiritual enlightenment. Some believe the power of the city can be used to restore peace, while others are certain that Shambhala is responsible for bringing mankind to the brink of apocalypse. The search will take us from the Polar North to the Mongolian deserts, through the underground canals of Asia to deep into the Himalayas, before the City finally divulges its secrets and the globe-spanning journey plays out to its startling conclusion.

ROBOCOP COSTUME

And a special cinematic treat given to us this weekend comes from the set of the remake of sf classic ROBOCOP: the first pictures of Joel

Kinnaman in the rather stunning and mindblowing costume of the title character. I must admit I love the costume. Planned to come out to cinemas August 2013, the film is set in the year 2028 with multinational conglomerate OmniCorp at the centre of robot technology. Their drones are winning American bloody wars around the globe and now they want to bring this technology to the home front. Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) is a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit. After he is critically injured in the line of duty, OmniCorp utilizes their remarkable science of robotics to save Alex's life. He returns to the streets of his beloved city

  with amazing new abilities, but with issues a regular man has never had to face before. The cast also includes Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson, Abbie Cornish and Jackie Earle Halley.

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HOLLYWOOD SPY SPOTLIGHT ON ANIMATED FANTASY ADVENTURE "EPIC" FROM "ICE AGE"S CHRIS WEDGE WITH BEYONCE, COLIN FARRELL, JOSH HUTCHERSON, AMANDA SEYFRIED, STEVEN TYLER

As you have noticed during last few weekends, HOLLYWOOD SPY has been spotlighting some of the most delightful of the animated movies coming to cinemas next year JUSTIN AND THE KNIGHTS OF VALOUR and THE CROODS being just some of them. Today we're spotlighting something that promises to be the biggest animated film next year - fantasy adventure EPIC from ICE AGE creator Chris Wedge.

EPIC STORY AND CAST

The new animated movie EPIC coming from 20th Century Fox studios and describing a battle set deep in the forest between the forces of good and evil comes to cinemas May 2013. This 3D CGI adventure

will actually tell the story of a teenage girl who finds herself magically transported into a secret world, where she must band together with a rag-tag team of whimsical characters to save their world - and to also

save the real world. Coming from Chris Wedge the amazing author of ICE AGE and RIO, the film will feature rather stunning voice cast which

will be filled with music stars including Beyoncé Knowles as Queen Tara, Colin Farrell as Ronin, Josh Hutcherson as Nod, Amanda 

Seyfried as Mary Katherine,  Johnny Knoxville as Mandrake, Aziz Ansari as Mub, rap star Pitbull as Bufo, Jason Sudeikis as Bomba and Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler as Nim Galuu.

EPIC TIDBITS

According to "Wikipedia" Chris Wedge was supposed to direct for Fox Animation an animated feature film based on the William Joyce's book, "The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs" back in 2006. Joyce,

who had already collaborated with Wedge as a designer and producer on the 2005 film "Robots", was set to produce the film. At one point, Wedge got permission to find a new home for the film and turned

 to Pixar, led by John Lasseter, whom Wedge knew from working on "Tron". But when they tried to close the rights for the film, Fox changed their mind. The film was officially greenlit in 2009, under the title "Leaf

Men" (which was reported back then by your trusted HOLLYWOOD SPY). In May 2012, Fox announced new title for the film – EPIC, its first cast and a plot.

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