Ladies with Secrets

They’re finally coming up next.

I’m talking about Academy Award winners Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman and Golden Globe nominee Shailene Woodley, the three actresses HBO trusted to tell Big Little Lies for them.

The seven-episode project, of course...as you probably already know...is an adaptation of the Liane Moriarty comic novel that David E. Kelley worked on for Jean-Marc Vallée (Wild) to direct. It’s a limited – duh – series that also counts Alexander Skarsgård, Laura Dern, Adam Scott, and Zoë Kravitz among its leading ladies’ co-stars (Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman also produced the project), and here is first look at the gorgeously shot proposition:



Big Little Lies is scheduled to premiere next year. A set date is TBC.

What Will Happen to Tris Prior?

Now that Oliver Stone’s Snowden is finally all set to open tomorrow, let’s talk about what’s next for leading lady Shailene Woodley’s Divergent Series.

For weeks now, the talk in Hollywood – and beyond – has been that the powers that be were thinking of forgoing a theatrical release for The Divergent Series: Ascendant, the fourth movie in the franchise based on the Veronica Roth YA novels that was set to open next summer, in favor of instead delivering a TV movie that would set up a TV spin-off series. This created some on-the-record confusion among the cast – I hear ya, Miles Teller – and even for its star who, as early as Monday wasn’t sure what was going to happen.

And it sounds like Woodley’s still not entirely clear on what is going to happen.

“[I’m on board], I mean, if it’s a movie,” the actress said on the Today show earlier this week, noting that she did not sign up to do a TV movie in the nicest, clearest way possible. “They haven’t finalized any decisions, so it’s actually a moot point to talk about it now, out of respect to [the studio] and everyone involved.

“I’m not exactly sure where they stand.... I signed up to tell the whole story of Tris [Prior, the franchise’s heroine], and I would love to be able to do that. Nothing would make me happier.”

Totally get what Woodley means.

Like, if they want to take this story into televised territory, they should script a clever way to have a theatrical Divergent Series: Ascendant end in a manner that lends itself to a TV spin-off. Cheapening things because The Divergent Series: Allegiant didn’t exactly hit at the box office earlier this year is kinda insulting to the cast and crew that have worked so hard on these movies and with a specific goal on view. Not to mention the audience, who has invested into these offerings in a certain way.

Alas, this is not up to us or up to Woodley & Co.

That’ll teach dem execs, though: At last, we saw right through their silly modern-day four-part trilogies, and we/I think their new plan sucks. So they best remember they have to do right by the public, not just by the bottom line. 

Photo: VanityFair.com.

Ready to Blow That Whistle

Here we go.

Perennially controversy-courting director Oliver Stone’s Snowden is finally ready to be seen, after it saw its release date delayed last fall and again this spring.

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the bane of the NSA, whistleblower Edward Snowden, the analyst who three years ago leaked the infamous documents that made it clear America was/is – question mark! – spying on its citizens, the film is due out on Sept. 16, and here is your first trailer.

Please, tell me this isn’t the first you’re hearing about this....

Anyway. Snowden co-stars Shailene Woodley as the whistleblower’s girlfriend, Nicolas Cage, Rhys Ifans, Tom Wilkinson, Melissa Leo (as Laura Poitras, the director of Citizenfour, the Oscar-winning documentary about Snowden), Timothy Olyphant, and Zachary Quinto.

Will this be the movie the government will not want ya seeing?

Probably.

But that won’t stop ya, right. Right?

Photo: ScreenRant.com.

The Younger Big Little Liar

I still wish it had been Michelle Pfeiffer, but Shailene Woodley will do just fine.

The Divergent Series star is circling Big Little Lies, the David E. Kelley TV adaptation of the Liane Moriarty comic novel that Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon are set to co-headline for HBO.

Woodley would play the third suburban mom whose picture-perfect life tailspins into murder.

Oh dear.

Photo: Twitter.com.

Still More Than the Eye Meets

Tris Prior is in a bad way at the beginning of The Divergent Series: Insurgent, the sorry-it’s-just-OK sequel to last spring’s Divergent.

For one, she has a mean case of like, PTSD or som’in’; after all, both her parents bit it at the end of the first movie and she was forced to kill a close friend, in self-defense, if you’ll remember (his mind was under the control of Kate Winslet’s Jeanine, the tyrannical leader of Erudite).

Do not make me explain factions – that you should be/likely are familiar with already if you’re watching Shailene Woodley do her thing as Tris in the post-war Chicago of this future dystopia.

On the lam with her trainer-cum-lover-and-ally, Four (Theo James), her good-for-little older brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort), and a duplicitous fellow Dauntless (Miles Teller), Tris has found temporary refuge within Amity (Octavia Spencer plays their leader), chopped off her hair, and come to realize – thanks, guilt! – that those who get close to her end up getting hurt. More importantly, she has decided that she needs to put a stop to Jeanine by any means necessary.

See, Jeanine has become obsessed with this box that was in the possession of the late papa and mama Prior (Tony Goldwyn and Ashley Judd). The contents of said box are unknown, but what Jeanine does know for sure is that whatever it is, the Priors felt it was worth dying for – so it must be important. She also knows that the only way to open the mysterious thing is by having a Divergent do the honors.

And whaddya know, Tris will be the only one strong enough for the task.

What ensues is a tug and pull of wills between the two women. Tris surrenders to Jeanine after the latter launches an assault on Divergents that affects her friends and the new alliances she’s begun forging (including Evelyn, the leader of the Factionless and, btw, also Four’s long-lost mother, portrayed by Naomi Watts).

Ultimately, The Divergent Series: Insurgent fails at maintaining the excitement of its predecessor. Because Tris and Four are separated from their faction, and the thrill of her discoveries is gone, this one feels a bit tired, which is not what you want the second installment of the modern-day four-part trilogy to feel like, no, no. Taking over for Neil Burger, Robert Schwentke (RED) acquits himself nicely with the follow-up (the effects are on fleek, as is his still-game cast), but the writing...the story, it all ends up coming across lazily put together.

By the time a character’s hidden agenda comes to light (about 10 seconds before the movie is over), The Divergent Series: Insurgent feels dangerously close to irrelevant, which is not a good thing for next year’s The Divergent Series: Allegiant – Part 1.

My Rating **1/2

Photo: EW.com.

She Holds the Key

No more teasing: The Divergent Series: Insurgent is officially coming in just a little more than three months.

And Tris (Shailene Woodley) is not going to let anyone else die because of her in this follow-up to last spring’s Divergent.

She and Four (Theo James) are going to be running from that witch with a B Jeanine (Kate Winslet), looking for answers as to why her folks sacrificed themselves in the first movie (what were they protecting?), and figuratively getting into bed with the leader of the Factionless (Naomi Watts).

Check out the first full-length trailer for The Divergent Series: Insurgent, which is due out on March 20.

Photo: Deadline.com.

The Leaker’s Gf

Sooo...Oliver Stone’s untitled Edward Snowden project may be getting Woodleyd.

Meaning Shailene Woodley may be a part of it.

Indeed, the Hollywood Film Award winner is in talks with Stone & Co. about joining Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the director’s film about the NSA leaker, as Snowden’s girlfriend, Lindsay Mills.

Up next for the White Bird In a Blizzard star, though, is The Divergent Series: Insurgent.

Photo: Express.co.uk.

Rage Against the Change

I was wondering just when we were gonna get a first look at Insurgent The Divergent Series: Insurgent.

The eagerly awaited follow-up to Divergent – last spring’s hit starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James, and Kate Winslet – is coming out in March, after all.

Well, the wait is over.

And here is the first teaser for the movie, which will have Tris (Woodley) and Four (James) & Co. still in Chicago but on the lam, since Winslet’s control-hungry Erudite leader Jeanine is hunting ’em, and looking for answers to the questions raised by the sacrifices made by Tris’ parents in the first installment of the franchise.

Check it out:

The Divergent Series: Insurgent – featuring newcomers Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, and Suki Waterhouse – is due out on March 20.

What Ever Happened to Mom?

Coming up next month, Shailene Woodley and Eva Green will finally share the screen.

No joke, this is like, the pairing that you didn’t even know you wanted.

And in what can you see these two, you ask?

My, in indie director Gregg Araki’s White Bird In a Blizzard, an adaptation of Laura Kasischke’s recent novel.

A dramatic thriller, the film focuses on what happens after 16-year-old Kat Connors’ (Woodley) mom (that’d be Green) disappears one winter’s day.

Pretty sure the story also will take a look at what led to Mrs. Connors going MIA (including some possibly creeptastic business with her husband, played by Christopher Meloni). It definitely will busy itself with Kat’s sexual awakening, which is aided, in no small measure, by the character that Shiloh Fernandez (Red Riding Hood, The East) portrays.

Check out the trailer, and mark your calendars for this Sundance-approved title’ Sept. 25 release date.

Photo: FilmGuide.Sundance.org.

More Than the Eye Meets

Alright, so...what do you do when you find out that you are a divergent, a person who – as the well-oiled publicity machine for the young-adult-novel adaptation Divergent has drilled into our skulls for months now – does not fit in just one of the five accepted societal factions in a future dystopia?

My, if you are It Girl Shailene Woodley’s Beatrice Prior, the luminous-haired daughter of Tony Goldwyn (TV’s Scandal) and Ashley Judd, you realize you represent a problem, as well as a solution.

You realize that change will start with you.

Directed by Neil Burger (Limitless), Divergent is an light-ish action thriller based on the first of three popular books by one Veronica Roth and like, the new Hunger Games. It is an engaging movie, for, like the Jennifer Lawrence-led franchise, it features a PYT playing a heroine we can get behind in the face of these unfathomable stakes.

Tris is a young woman in post-war Chicago who, like many young’uns before her, must choose at 16 years old whether she will remain with the faction into which she was born – Abnegation (the selfless folk, so not into the self they even shun looking at themselves in the mirror; they also are in power at the beginning of this saga) – or renounce it to join different one. Prior to the Choosing Ceremony, each teen takes a test that should guide them to this decision.

When Beatrice – who’s a weakness-shunning, strong-willed kinda girl – takes the test, it comes back inconclusive: she could stay in Abnegation or she could leave and join Erudite (the smart people) or Dauntless (the fearless, courageous ones). The problem is her test was inconclusive. Which makes her a divergent. Which makes her a target for the cold, control-hungry Erudite leader Jeanine (Kate Winslet).

Anyway, Beatrice ends up choosing Dauntless and re-inventing herself as Tris and catching the eye of her trainer, the mysterious Tobias “Four” Eaton (Theo James), and uncovering a conspiracy to not only eliminate all divergents but also overthrow the government.

Divergent is a serviceable introduction to a new world populated by intriguing peeps played by the likes of Miles Teller, Ansel Elgort, Jai Courtney, Zoë Kravitz, Mehki Phifer, and Maggie Q, so certain sections are especially taut while others are not.

Meanwhile Woodley and James make for an engrossing couple with a story worth your box office money; she because she kinda rocks, quite effortlessly so, and he in spite of his never taking his shirt off (that dude is H-O-T...so it’s nice to see he brought it without having to bring it).

Can’t wait to see what happens next.

My Rating ***

Photo: Summit Entertainment.

Keeping Love Real

How sweet!

And real.

I so cannot wait to see The Fault In Our Stars starring Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort now.

This is, of course, the eagerly anticipated adaptation of the John Green novel about a girl and a boy that meet in a cancer support group and fall in love.

Here’s the first trailer for the June 6 offering.

Photo: Hypable.com.

The Fault in the Poster

The eagerly awaited film adaptation of John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars is off…to a rocky star.

Starring It Girl Shailene Woodley and hot up-and-comer Ansel Elgort (Carrie), the upcoming summer release will revolve around the love story between two teenagers who meet in a cancer support group.

The movie’s first one-sheet was released earlier this week, and it immediately invited some controversy over its “One Sick Love Story” tagline.

Mmm…know what? I don’t know. Cancer is involved. These kids are in love. It is quite a literal thing to say, but....

Green, for one, is kosher with the line and the poster.

“I did not write the tagline,” Green said in a Tumblr post about the one-sheet. “These things are not my decision. It’s not my movie, or my poster.

“That said, I like the tagline. Found it dark and angry in the same way that Hazel [Woodley’s character] is (at least at times) dark and angry in her humor.”

Well, if he’s cool with it, we can all be cool with it.

Photo: EW.com.

Enter the World of Divergent

The MTV VMAs earlier tonight were a mixed bag until Justin Timberlake decided to own the show.

The pre-show performers were a joke an affront to my generation (I felt old, yo – WTF is an Austin Mahone?).

Awards were presented before the show, sans proper acceptances.

Lady GaGa opened the show with an unfortunate extreme close-up.

I could go on and on (I liked the Miley Cyrus-Robin Thicke performance – I dig what those two do; I loved that Macklemore & Ryan Lewis won an award for “Same Love” and that they invited Jennifer Hudson to perform the song with them; and hearted the amazing backdrop that Katy Perry got her “Roar” to...’cause New York does it better).

There was something for movie fans, too: The first trailer for Divergent, starring Shailene Woodley, Theo James, and Kate Winslet made its debut during the show.

And I ate it up, hook, line, and sinker. Check it:

Get More: 

Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

Divergent will arrive in theaters on March 21. Just in time to then win plenty of MTV Movie Awards.

What’s the Matter with Mary Jane?

Whoa – did not see that one coming: It Girl Shailene Woodley has been cut from The Amazing Spider-Man 2!

Again: Whoa.

Variety is reporting that the actress’ Mary Jane Watson will now make her grand entrance into the story in the threequel rather than next year’s sequel so that we can keep focusing on the relationship between Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield) and Emma Stone’s Gwen Stacy.

Btw, Sony Pictures, the studio behind the franchise, recently announced that parts 3 and 4 of their reboot will arrive in theaters in 2016 and 2018.

Photo: BeautifulBallad.org.

Update 1: Speaking of Woodley – who is on the cover of Entertainment Weekly this week, previewing her upcoming Divergent – click here to watch the trailer for her buzzed-about The Spectacular Now, which is coming out in August.

Update 2: Curious as to how Woodley feels about the switcheroo? Well then, click here – but know she is cool.

Why Shailene Woodley Is It

Shailene Woodley is the new Jennifer Lawrence. I have thought so for more than a week now. And here’s why.

No. 1, she’s sweet-looking, and 2...she’s talented as she can be.

That’s quite the combo.

Woodley, like Lawrence, first got noticed thanks to an indie (The Descendants for the former, Winter’s Bone for the latter). Both went on to star in adaptations of popular book properties (The Hunger Games for J. Law, the forthcoming Divergent for the Secret Life of the America Teenager star...as well as, maybe, The Fault In Our Stars).

And although they’re both quite young, the sheer mention of their presence on a project both demands and gives respectability to it. Great buzz surrounds them both.

Lawrence already won an Oscar, and she is sticking close to David O. Russell, her Silver Linings Playbook director for it. A case will be made for Woodley this year, for her turn in The Spectacular Now was the talk of Sundance. Do keep that one in mind as 2013 rolls on.

All this to say that I bet girlfriend will have, at the very least, a nomination within five years.

If she doesn’t, I promise not to eat cake for a whole week starting the day after the 2019 Oscar noms are announced (I did the math right, right?).

Photo: DailyNewsTalk.org.

Here Comes Mary Jane

You are not going to be happy if you loved how wonderfully Gwen Stacy went with Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man.

That’s because the powers that be are bringing on Mary Jane Watson for the sequel to the Marc Webb-directed, Andrew Garfield-and-Emma Stone-starring reboot, and they have offered the part to Shailene Woodley.

Uh oh?

Producers also are looking for an actor to play Peter Parker’s BFF Harry Osborn in the sequel, which is going into production early next year with Webb, Garfield, and Stone all set to return for more.

Photo: RockefellerNews.com.