Spacey, Fincher Team For "House of Cards"

Although I think he got totally robbed for Best Director for "The Social Network," David Fincher hasn't let the loss slow him down. He's hard at work on his adaptation of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and he also is directing the pilot of the series "House of Cards," which just received a new starring cast member.

According to Deadline Kevin Spacey has signed on to take the lead role in the Fincher-directed pilot of "House of Cards" for Media Rights Capital. The two have previously worked together on the 1995 film "Se7en."

The one-hour drama is based on Michael Dobbs' original novel and the famed Emmy-winning 1990 UK mini-series, which starred Ian Richardson. The premise fuses black political comedy with elements from "Macbeth" and "Richard III," and like the original series, it will follow political story lines.

In the original series, the story was set at the end of Margaret Thatcher's tenure as prime minister and follows scheming British politician Francis Urquhart who has his eye on the top job and manipulates agendas to get his way. Fincher's adaptation will change the setting to the U.S. but maintain focus on political ambition and blackmail.

Fincher doesn’t do TV all that often, so you know he must really dig the premise, which should fit very well in a US location. For as much political drama as there is in England, the United States has just as much to work with, and arguably even more so that it's Atlantic Ocean counterpart.

The teaming up of Fincher and Spacey again is sort of too good to be true, as is Finer working on a pilot at all. Spacey is one of this generations best actors and he has showed of his political drama chops numerous times through his career including in HBO's "Recount" and more recently in "Casino Jack."

Beau Willimon ("The Ides of March") adapted the script and the pilot is currently being shopped to the networks.

'The Social Network' Wins Three Online Film Critics Society Awards

As we move into the New Year and more and more awards are given out, the Oscar race should begin to get clearer. And while many categories are up for grabs, one film seems to have taken the lead when it comes to Best Picture, adding another win to its impressive resume.

"The Social Network" took home the Best Picture award from the 14th annual Online Film Critics Society Awards, beating out films like "Inception", "Toy Story 3", "True Grit" and "Winter's Bone". The film also won some other major awards, including best director (David Fincher) and best adapted screenplay (Aaron Sorkin).

The awards for acting went to Colin Firth in "The King’s Speech" for best actor, Natalie Portman in "Black Swan" for best actress, Christian Bale in "The Fighter" for best supporting actor and Hailee Steinfield in "True Grit" for best supporting actress. One of my favorite films of the year, "Inception", won two awards, including Christopher Nolan for best original screenplay, and one for its editing work, which was phenomenal.

While winning this particular award won't emphatically prove that "The Social Network" will win the Oscar for Best Picture, based on how many awards its been winning the past couple months, that's starting to look like a real possibility.

I've seen the movie twice already, and I think it's a genius piece of filmmaking. For anyone who thinks the movie is just about Facebook, that's like saying "The Sopranos" was only about the mafia. The acting is completely superb, especially Andrew Garfield and Jesse Eisenberg, and David Fincher's direction is just perfect in all the right ways.

It remains to be seen how many awards "The Social Network" will win following this batch, but it's clear that we have the Oscar front runner on our hands here.

Nominations for the Academy Awards will be given out bright and early on January 25, 2011.

"Social Network" Dominates NBR Awards

Back when I first heard about "The Social Network" I admit I was fairly skeptical with the idea of a film about Facebook.

But then David Fincher joined on as director and Aaron Sorkin as the writer, and I began to get extremely intrigued about what it could be. After the cast came together with one of my favorite actors (Jesse Eisenberg) as the lead, I truly thought the film would be something special.

After seeing it in theaters it did not disappoint me one bit, and the National Board of Review seems to agree. Yes folks, it's true, awards season is upon us. The critics award race got started off last week as "The Social Network" pretty much dominated The Nation Board of Review awards, taking in four of the main categories.

"The Social Network" won awards for Best Film, Director (David Fincher), Actor (Jesse Eisenberg) and Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin). While there were a number of excellent nominees this year, including films like "The Town" and "Inception", I can't disagree with any of the awards the film won.

I honestly felt like it was a "Best Picture" worthy movie when I saw it, mainly due to the fantastic script and excellent direction by Fincher. On top of that the entire cast was excellent alongside Eisenberg, including Andre Garfield and Justin Timberlake.

Eisenberg plays Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg in the film, which has won critical praise and earned more than $180 million worldwide at the box office. I'm really glad he picked up the award, because although I think he is worthy for an Academy Award nomination later on, I think Colin Firth will take that home for "The Kings Speech", so its good to see the young actor take home some hardware that is truly deserving.

The National Board of Review has had a decent track record the past few years in predicting the Oscar outcome. In the past three years, the National Board of Review winner has twice gone on to win best picture at the Oscars: "No Country for Old Men" in 2007 and "Slumdog Millionaire" in 2008. Last year's winner was "Up in the Air."

The awards will keep coming as the year draws to a close, but it's clear that we'll be hearing a lot more about "The Social Network" in the coming months.

Leonardo DiCaprio Kills For "Devil in the White City"

With both "Shutter Island" and "Inception" hitting theaters in 2010, this was yet another big year for one of America's favorite leading men, Leonardo DiCaprio. The next year looks to be just as big.

With his feet already dipped into the film "Prisoners" (in development) and Clint Eastwood's Hoover biopic on the horizon, DiCaprio has added another very interesting option to the mix.

Through his production company Appian Way, the actor is set to star and produce the film adaptation of Erik Larson's bestselling book, "The Devil in the White City," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The nonfiction book, which spent three years on the New York Times bestseller list and has sold 2.3 million copies in 17 languages, is set against the backdrop of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and tells the interweaving stories of two men--fair architect Daniel H. Burnham and serial killer H.H. Holmes.
In a short amount of time, Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, was forced to overcome immense obstacles to construct the famous "White City" around which the fair was built.

The other man, Holmes, was a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor who is believed to be responsible for scores of murders around the time of the fair. Holmes devised and erected the World's Fair Hotel near the fairgrounds and used the event as well as his own charismatic personality to lure victims to their death.

Armed with a gas chamber and a crematorium, Holmes would murder his victims and strip them to their skeletons to sell for medical and scientific study. Holmes killed at least 27 people, though some say the number was closer to 200.

Aside from the fact that the story is amazingly interesting, DiCaprio is to play the "villain" of the film--the murder-minded Holmes rather than Burnham the architect.

The project has bounced around Hollywood since the book was released, with Tom Cruise's production company having picked up the rights to the book in 2003 (but let the option lapse), and once having Kathryn Bigelow attached to direct and produce.

DiCaprio's Appian Way, along with Double Features, acquired the screen rights to the book, and should soon be hiring a writer and director before making a deal with a larger studio.

It was rumored that David Fincher was interested in directing, but with him now on the adaptation of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," scheduling may not allow it. While a Finer-DiCaprio pairing would be almost too-good-to-be-true, I think any competent director could craft this story into an interesting film. DiCaprio has played such a wide variety of roles throughout his career that I have confidence in him taking on anything.

Not much is known to the public about Holmes, and I think it shows great range by DiCaprio to take on a character who is intelligent and charming--and also a mass murderer.

Depending on who they get to helm the film, this one could start moving quickly.