Steven Soderbergh has confirmed the rumors he once denied: that he’ll be retiring from directing, the Huffington Post is reporting. While promoting his new virus disaster movie ‘Contagion,’ the Academy Award-winning filmmaker said he’s “interested in exploring another art form while I have the time and ability do do so,” referring to his painting. He added if he doesn’t find success painting, he’ll “be back making another ‘Ocean’s movie.” ‘Contagion’ star Matt Damon, who also worked with Soderbergh’s on the ‘Ocean’s trilogy, first leaked the news that the director was thinking about retiring. “He wants to paint and he says he’s still young enough to have another career,” the actor  [ Read More ]

Happy Sunday, Shockya.com readers! Yes, another weekend has come to an end, but we’ve got quite the list of movie news to send you back to work with. The biggest of the bunch is certainly all of the updates pouring out of Disney’s D23 Expo. The event revealed details on a number of projects including The Muppets, The Avengers, Monsters University and so much more. We’ve also got some extensive casting news from some non-Disney productions like the G.I. Joe sequel as well as Steven Soderbergh’s Magic Mike. There are even some inspirational stories in the mix this week; not only did Tom Hanks step up and make amends for  [ Read More ]

Sure, it’s fun getting early peeks at upcoming productions, but it’s a different story if those first looks are coming from anywhere else, but the studio in charge. Hearing that John Travolta, Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme may be in The Expendables 2 from the Nu Boyana Studios CEO? Good. Seeing official images of Anne Hathaway, Henry Cavill and Rihanna in full costume for The Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel and Battleship respectively? Awesome. A parody video by Miles Fisher starring the entire cast of Final Destination 5? Bloody fantastic! Amateur photos and video of folks hanging around the set of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises? Now  [ Read More ]

David Carradine is much on my mind recently, having just finished up his rather excellent “Kill Bill Diary” — a thorough, intellectually rangy and assuredly entertaining read of his time spent on Quentin Tarantino’s two-part revenge epic. A workaholic without necessarily the most discerning taste, Carradine’s sudden death at the age of 72 (in June, 2009, he was found nude in the closet of a Thai hotel room, the result of accidental autoerotic asphyxiation) nonetheless put the brakes on what just might have been one of the more interesting sunset career reinventions of modern Hollywood. After all, here was a worldly, well-read guy with a reawakened fire in his belly  [ Read More ]

Happy Sunday! Or should I say, happy Harry Potter week? After seven days of madness courtesy of the grand finale of the eight-film franchise, the web world is drenched in Potter news, discussion pieces, lists, photos and more. It’s a wonder there was room for any non-HP news. However, we did get quite a bit of information on some other highly anticipated upcoming projects, particularly in the image department. Not only did we get a look at The Amazing Spider-Man and Underworld: Awakenings, but Total Recall and The Hobbit, too. It was also a busy week for trailers as far too many debuted to even squeeze into this Cheat Sheet.  [ Read More ]

Michael Angarano is not yet 24 years old, but he’s already racked up an impressive list of credits, even if a lot of folks might recognize his face from a more cherubic state. He was the young William in ‘Almost Famous’, and the young Red Pollard in ‘Seabiscuit’. Other audiences might know him best from a stint on ‘Will & Grace’. Crucially, though, Angarano is in the process of showing he has what it takes to navigate the tricky terrain between adolescent performer and young adult actor. A solid turn opposite Uma Thurman in this year’s split-generation romance ‘Ceremony’ affirmed his keen touch with uniquely verbose sensitivity, and he gives  [ Read More ]

As Matt Damon prepares for his role in the upcoming biopic of pianist Wladziu Valentino Liberace, titled ‘Liberace,’ the actor has said he’s both excited and looking forward to kissing Michael Douglas, Foxnews.com is reporting. Douglas will appear in the title role, while Damon will play his younger lover Scott Thorsen in the movie, which will be directed by Steven Soderbergh. Damon has said that the script features more than one kiss. But he’s “really excited about the movie and (Michael) is excited too. They’re two really great roles and we’re really looking forward to it,” he added. He also said that he never thought that he would get to  [ Read More ]

Matt Damon is just one of those actors who rarely ever gives himself a break from work. He’s been appearing in one project after another for years and is just another person who loves the job he has. How could he not? There are many who would be happy to roll out of bed only to be in front of the camera fake-shooting at some actors as part of their character’s supposed duty to themselves or to some other force in the wings. During an interview where Matt Damon was chattering away about how absurd Steven Soderbergh’s soon-to-be early retirement from filmmaking is, he spilled a little about a much-known  [ Read More ]

Screencrave has some pictures of Jude Law during the  San Francisco filming of “Contagion”, a film about an international team of doctors dealing with controlling and defeating a dangerous outbreak of a deadly disease. These pictures show Law in character as Alan Krumwiede. He’s in a fully protective Hazmat-like suit. Quiet Earth (via Just Jared and Laughing Squid) also has set pictures, showing a ravaged cityscape. Having written several articles on the upcoming “Sherlock Holmes” sequel, all this blogger can see is Jude Law as John Watson instead of Jude Law as Alan Krumwiede, especially due to the cropped hairstyle he’s sporting, which is the exact one he has in the “Sherlock  [ Read More ]

Steven Soderbergh is in talks to helm a film adaptation of the mid-1960s television series ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’. The Academy Award-winning director will most likely re-team with screenwriter Scott Z. Burns, who wrote his films ‘The Informant!’ and the currently in-production ‘Contagion.’ There’s no word yet on what tone Soderbergh will take with ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,’ as he’s directed such lighter movies as ‘Ocean’s Eleven,’ and darker projects, including ‘Traffic’ and ‘Solaris.’ But the show, which aired between 1964 and 1968, followed American and Russian spies who worked for the United Network Command for Law Enforcement agency. At first, the film was going to have a comedic tone  [ Read More ]

Channing Tatum and Michael Angarano are in negotiations to join the cast of Steven Soderbergh’s upcoming “Knockout” for Relativity. The script, written by Lem Dobbs, is a revenge/espionage tale about a spy (MMA combatant Gina Carano) who works for a Blackwater-style private security company. She is betrayed by one of her teammates and goes on the warpath for vengeance. Tatum (“GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra”, the upcoming “Dear John”) would play one of the agents in her spy cell, with Angarano (“The Forbidden Kingdom”) plays a teenager who inadvertently ends up partnering with Carano after trying to help her out. Stay tuned to Shockya.com for more on “Knockout”. By  [ Read More ]

Warner Bros. Pictures just released this brand new movie poster from the upcoming film “The Informant!” aka The Infromant by director Steven Soderbergh (The Girlfriend Experience) and starring Matt Damon (The Adjustment Bureau, Ocean’s Thirteen), Melanie Lynskey (Pysch) and Clancy Brown (A Nightmare on Elm Street, Conan: Red Nails). Synopsis: As a result of the hundreds of tapes made by Whitacre, the lysine conspirators, including ADM, ultimately settled federal charges for more than $100 million. ADM also paid hundreds of millions of dollars in class action settlements to customers that it stole from during the price-fixing schemes. Several Asian and European lysine and citric acid producers, whom conspired to fix  [ Read More ]

Magnolia Pictures recently released this new movie poster from the upcoming comedy “The Girlfriend Experience” by director Steven Soderbergh (The Informant, Ocean’s Eleven, Erin Brockovich) and starring porn star Sasha Grey (Smash Cut, Quit and a bunch of adult films I can’t list), Chris Santos and Peter Zizzo. Synopsis: Set in the weeks leading up to the 2008 presidential election, THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE is five days in the life of Chelsea (adult film star Sasha Grey in her mainstream film debut), an ultra high-end Manhattan call girl who offers more than sex to her clients, but companionship and conversation – “the girlfriend experience.” Chelsea thinks she has her life totally  [ Read More ]

Magnolia Pictures just released this new featurette from the upcoming comedy “The Girlfriend Experience” by director Steven Soderbergh (The Informant, Ocean’s Eleven, Erin Brockovich) and starring porn star Sasha Grey (Smash Cut, Quit and a bunch of adult films I can’t list), Chris Santos and Peter Zizzo. “The Girlfriend Experience” is now available on HDNet Ultra VOD and opens in New York and Los Angeles May 22, 2009. Synopsis: Set in the weeks leading up to the 2008 presidential election, THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE is five days in the life of Chelsea (adult film star Sasha Grey in her mainstream film debut), an ultra high-end Manhattan call girl who offers more  [ Read More ]

Magnolia Pictures recently released this new HD movie trailer for the upcoming comedy “The Girlfriend Experience” by director Steven Soderbergh (The Informant, Ocean’s Eleven, Erin Brockovich) and starring porn star Sasha Grey (Smash Cut, Quit and a bunch of adult films I can’t list), Chris Santos and Peter Zizzo. Synopsis: Set in the weeks leading up to the 2008 presidential election, THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE is five days in the life of Chelsea (adult film star Sasha Grey in her mainstream film debut), an ultra high-end Manhattan call girl who offers more than sex to her clients, but companionship and conversation – “the girlfriend experience.” Chelsea thinks she has her life  [ Read More ]