Oliver Stone begins shooting an adaptation of Don Winslow’s novel, Savages (S&S, 2010; Audio, Tantor) next month. Meanwhile, Winslow has been hired to write a prequel, which will be published by Simon and Schuster, and will come out around the time of the movie, in 2012. According to Deadline, Savages screenwriter Shane Salerno came up with the idea. No news about whether it is being planned as a separate film.

The cast for the movie is filled with big names; John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Emile Hirsch, Salma Hayek, Taylor Kitsch, Blake Lively, Aaron Johnson and Benicio Del Toro.

UPDATE: This project has been dropped by Universal, but the producers are still shopping it around.

The first title in the Melissa Marr series, Wicked Lovely (Harper Teen), is being made into a movie at Universal. Vince Vaughn is producing and Mary Harron (American Psycho) has just been hired to direct. She just completed The Moth Diaries, based on the debut vampire novel by Rachel Klein (Counterpoint, 2002). No release date has been set for it.

The series of five books is a modern faerie story which began in 2007 with Wicked Lovely; the final book, Darkest Mercy, came out in February. All five were on the NYT Children’s and YA best seller list. Her adult novel, Graveminder, came out in last month.

Martin Scorsese may do a film about the Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton love story, based on last year’s book, Furious Love by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger (Harper, 6/10), Deadline reports.

Deadline claims that the book “got 100 passes” when it was originally offered for a movie deal, and that Taylor’s death and the resulting media focus on her relationship with Burton changed all that.

Months ago, however, the UK Telegraph reported that Mike Nichols wanted to direct an adaptation of the book, starring Angelina Jolie. There is no news on who Scorsese is considering, but it looks like Jolie is set to play Cleopatra, a role Taylor was famous for, in an adaptation of Stacy Schiff’s biography of the queen directed by David Fincher (The Social Network and the upcoming English-language version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

Scorsese has a few other irons in the fire. He is currently finishing up Hugo Cabret, his first 3D movie, which comes out Nov. 23, He has announced several other possible projects including  Silence, (based on the novel by award-winning Japanese writer, Shusaku Endo), The Irishman, (based on the book I Heard You Paint Houses by Steve Zaillian), and a Frank Sinatra biopic.

The film adaptation of the John Le Carre classic, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, has just  been scheduled for release on November 18 of this year. Directed by Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In, 2008; which based on the vampire novel of the same title by Norwegian author John Ajvide Lindqvist), it stars Gary Oldman and Colin Firth.

The release date pits it against Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 1. Speaking of which, a 15-second teaser for the trailer has appeared online; the full trailer that will appear on the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday night. It’s causing paroxysms of joy among fans, since it shows a bit of the much-anticipated wedding between Bella and Edward (no dress, though. Presumably, that is being held for the Music Awards).

Lionsgate has been spinning marketing gold out of each new casting announcement for the adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games. Yesterday, the studio announced that the role of tyrannical President Snow, the ruler of the dystopian universe Panem, will be played by veteran actor Donald Sutherland.

If you need a quick review, the online version of E! offers a handy scorecard of the cast.

The film is scheduled for release on March 23, 2012. Directed by Gary Ross, it has begun shooting in North Carolina.

Now that The Hunger Games is set, the media is turning their attention to the casting of The Mortal Instruments based on the first three books in the series by Cassandra Clare.

Actress Lily Collins (The Blind Side) won the lead earlier and Jamie Campbell Bower just scored the male lead as Jace. He plays King Arthur in the Starz cable channel series, Camelot.

A trailer for the David-Fincher-directed adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo started making the rounds on Saturday. Some say it’s a camcorded version of the European trailer that was leaked here, but The Hollywood Reporter suggests it’s a clever viral marketing campaign. Adding credence to this theory is the fact that it has not been taken down.

The movie opens this Christmas.

UPDATE: The supposedly leaked trailer has now been removed and the studio has released the official trailer (which leaves out a few seconds of gore), below:

The official titles and release dates of the movies based on J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Hobbit were announced yesterday on the official Hobbit Facebook page. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey will be released on December 14, 2012 and The Hobbit: There and Back Again will be released the following year on December 13, 2013.

The new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands this Friday, features the first photos from the set of Hunger Games and an interview with the movie’s star Jennifer Lawrence; brief excerpts are on EW’s PopWatch blog.

The movie is currently scheduled for release on 3/23/2012.

For the rest of the cast, the National Post offers a handy who’s who, up to the recent casting of Woody Harrelson as Haymitch and Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman.

The teaser trailer for Steven Spielberg’s 3-D performance-capture adaptation of The Adventures of Tintin, has just been released on the Web. Starring Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot, Defiance) as boy reporter Tintin, with Daniel Craig (Quantum of Solace, Defiance) as the pirate, Red Rackham, it is based on the first two books in Belgian artist Georges “Hergé” Remi’s Tintin comic series, Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham’s Treasure. The first in a planned trilogy, the series is a joint project between Spielberg and Peter Jackson, who will direct the second in the series.

Watch it below, or go to Apple’s trailer page to view it in HD.

It’s currently scheduled to be released on Dec. 23, but another major Spielberg project, War Horse, based on the book by Michael Morpurgo, is scheduled for the following week, so that could change.

Official Web site: TinTin.com

Little, Brown plans to publish junior novel and young reader tie-ins, using stills from the movie, rather than Herge’s original art.

In addition, LBYR is releasing new “Young Readers Editions” of the Tintin books, with original story and art, plus background material, beginning with the following this month (full list of titles available here).

We can safely assume that, as part of the series, the filmmakers do not plan to adapt the controversial Tintin in the Congo, widely regarded as not only racist, but condoning animal cruelty. In print, it is only available in the US as part of a $150 “Collectors Edition” complete set.

Tintin Young Readers Edition: The Secret of the Unicorn Herge Retail Price: $8.99 Paperback: 96 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – (2011-05-31) ISBN / EAN: 0316133868 / 9780316133869

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Tintin Young Readers Edition: Red Rackham’s Treasure Herge Retail Price: $8.99 Paperback: 96 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers – (2011-05-31) ISBN / EAN: 0316133841 / 9780316133845

After the initial excitement over Wednesday night’s screening at the Cannes Film Festival of We Need to Talk about Kevin, adapted form the book by Lionel Shriver, talk has begun to turn to the film’s commercial potential. The Hollywood Reporter predicts that it will have a “a distinguished ride along the festival circuit with acquisitions coming in many territories, all of which will be tough sells theatrically,” because, “It’s a film to think about and debate over but not one to embrace.”

Whatever the commercial success of the movie, it’s likely to bring a significant number of readers to the book; we’re already seeing holds developing in libraries. Shriver’s audience has room to grow. Last year, the online book site The Millions declared her America’s Best Writer (although she now lives in London, she grew up in North Carolina), saying, “In many countries, she is now regarded as one of our most important novelists. Americans, however, have been slower to find her.” For those who haven’t discovered her yet, The Millions article is a good place to start.

For more about the movie, The Guardian offers a video review, that incorporates clips from the film as well as reactions from Cannes viewers.

We Need to Talk About Kevin: A Novel (P.S.) Lionel Shriver Retail Price: $13.99 Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Harper Perennial – (2006-07-03) ISBN / EAN: 9780061124297 / 9780061124297

Audio; Recorded Books

News from the second day of the Cannes film festival is that the adaptation of Lionel Shriver’s novel, We Need to Talk about Kevin is earning raves and may be the winner of the Palm d’Or. It is directed by Scottish director Lynne Ramsay (Morvern Callar; she also considered adapting The Lovely Bones, but abandoned that project. Peter Jackson directed an adaptation in 2009) and stars Tilda Swinton.

Shriver’s novel follows a mother as she tries to come to terms with her son, who has committed a mass murder at his school. It was the winner of the 2005 Orange Prize and was published here in hardcover by Counterpoint and in trade paperback by HarperPerennial.

Two harrowing clips, below.
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Director Baz Luhrmann has filled another major role for his 3-D adaptation of The Great Gatsby. According to Deadline, newcomer Elizabeth Debicki will play Jordan Baker. Like Lurhrmann, she is from Australia. She just graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts and is described as having a “striking, athletic appearance” appropriate for the role of a golfer.

Ben Affleck recently bowed out of the role of Tom Buchanan.

The other major roles that have already been cast are:

Nick Carraway — Tobey Maguire

Gatsby — Leonardo DiCaprio

Daisy — Carey Mulligan

The Hollywood news sites are atwitter over a brief clip from a movie coming out in December, The Descendants. The clip is more perplexing than exciting (unless you just love watching George Clooney run). The exciting part is the director; this is the first movie by Alexander Payne since Sideways.

 
The movie is based on the 2007 darkly humorous first novel by Hawaiian author Kaui Hart Hemmings. This line from the NYT BR’s review makes the clip more meaningful,

Matt King, a wealthy Honolulu attorney, has had a grave shock: his wife, Joanie, has been injured in a boat-racing accident and now lies in the hospital in a vegetative state. In the painful depths of this crisis, King tries to repair his relationship with his two daughters, then struggles with the revelation that before her accident his wife had been in love with another man.

Hunger Games isn’t the only Scholastic adaptation that is heating up. Today, Deadline reports that Brett Ratner will direct a movie based on Rick Riordan’s The 39 Clues. Back in 2008, Steven Spielberg picked up the rights, with plans to direct himself. He continues as producer.

Spielberg is currently working on several other book properties. The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn is scheduled to release on Dec. 23, followed the next week by War Horse (based on yet another Scholastic title, written by Michael Morpurgo), featuring Jeremy Irvine and Emily Watson. Separately, a play based on the same book is currently a hit on Broadway.

Spielberg is expected to begin filming Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis and based on Doris Kearns Godwin’s Team of Rival (S&S, 2005) in late 2011/2012. There’s no word yet on what is happening to Robopocalypse, based on the sci fi title coming in June by Daniel Wilson (Doubleday), which was also supposed to begin filming around that time.

The library world knows that The Hunger Games will be a big movie, but so do a few others. Hollywood news sites breathlessly report each new actor joining the cast. The latest is Stanley Tucci in the supporting role of TV announcer, Caesar Flickerman (the National Post offers a handy who’s who). UPDATE: Woody Harrelson has signed on to play Haymitch.

A Web site with a very specific focus, On Location Vacations, reports that Hildebran, NC will be one of the first filming locations, where casting calls for extras have been drawing crowds.

The movie is scheduled to release in March, 2012.

Just a few short years agom Scholastic introduced the book at BEA with the following quote: