There's another Batman leading lady on the horizon and the actress "in talks" is not a surprising one. Considering Christopher Nolan's "Inception" raiding casting strategy, it's not a surprise Batman's love interest will be ... Leonardo DiCaprio.

Well, of course, the woman in talks is DiCpario's love interest/deceased wife from "Inception," Marion Cotillard.

Here's more from The Wrap:

"'The Dark Knight Rises' is beginning to feel more like 'Inception 2.'

"Christopher Nolan is stacking his Batman sequel with many of the same people who made his dream within a dream within a dream thriller a blockbuster hit. Marion Cotillard, who played Leonardo DiCaprio's dead wife in "Inception," is in talks for 'The Dark Knight Rises,' according to French newspaper Le Parisien.

"A representative for Cotillard and a spokesperson for Warner Brothers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

"It's not clear yet what role Cotillard would play, as Anne Hathaway is already confirmed for the role of love interest/villain Catwoman.

"First Tom Hardy, then rumors that Joseph Gordon-Levitt would join the cast, now Cotillard. It's beginning to seem like Nolan has a tiny problem casting outside his comfort zone."

 

Happy Birthday Burt Reynolds. Here he is, in one of my favorites -- "White Lightning." Go Gator!



 

Support Jafar Panahi. Watch Berlin Film Festival jury president Isabella Rossellini read Panahi's open letter at the opening ceremony -- a letter bravely critical of the Iranian regime, bravely delivered to the Festival, and one that could get him in more trouble. To think that any director must endure imprisonment for his creativity is a tragedy, and one who directed (among other pictures) the beautiful, poignant "The White Balloon," is a hero for that alone. Watch below. It's heartbreaking and beautiful and in grand understatement, extremely moving.



 

The trailer for "Arthur" has been released and I'm raising my hand here. Question: Isn't the charming and talented Greta Gerwig in this movie? As Arthur's true love? Where is she?

Is she, perhaps ... trapped between the moon and ... I'm stopping. Bad joke about to begin.

Also, another question: How many cliche preview songs can fit in one trailer? The answer? Three! The let's state what the hero represents tune, "Rebel, Rebel," the high school half time band favorite, "Alright Now" and the always useful when the hero is in a pinch, "Under Pressure."

Anyway, here's the trailer for the re-boot of the popular Dudley Moore comedy, "Arthur," this time around with Russell Brand as the spoiled, yet cuddly, inebriated billionaire. Helen Mirren and quite obviously, Jennifer Garner (as the woman he doesn't love) also star.




 

"They have condemned me to twenty years of silence. Yet in my dreams, I scream for a time when we can tolerate each other, respect each others opinions, and live for each other." -- Jafar Panahi

The opening of the 2011 Berlin International Film Festival was the most moving festival openings I have ever experienced.

Sitting in the audience for the European premiere of Joel and Ethan Coen's "True Grit," I listened to Festival Jury President Isabella Rossellini (with her fellow jurors, Canadian director Guy Maddin, British costume designer Sandy Powell, German actress Nina Hoss and Australian producer Jan Chapman on stage) read a letter from one of the missing jurors, Jafar Panahi an Iranian filmmaker who is facing six years in prison. He was represented by a single chair on stage.

Not only has Panahi (who directed the beautiful, poignant "The White Balloon" and most recently "Offside") been sentenced with six years, he's been slapped by the Iranian regime with a 20-year ban on making films.

The letter was both heart-breaking and hopeful ... not for him, necessarily, though he underscored that the regime could never stop him from dreaming, but for the future of other filmmakers to share their creativity with the world. No filmmaker, actor, artist, writer or human being could possibly be immune to such bravery, sadness and good will towards others -- the standing ovation was real and palpably emotional. Jeff Bridges, not far from me, was immensely moved, and his hands would not stop clapping.

Here's more from Spiegel:

"As a film festival originally set up to be a showcase of the free world in the capitalist island of West Berlin, the Berlinale has always had a strong political streak. During the Cold War era, the choice of films caused disputes with Warsaw Pact countries on more than one occasion. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the festival has regularly featured films by directors working under oppressive regimes and movies with a strong political message.

"But seldom has the Berlinale opened on such a politicized note. On Thursday evening, the Iranian director Jafar Panahi was the focus of the festival's opening gala, traditionally a star-studded spectacle. The festival's organizers appointed Panahi, who was recently sentenced to six years in prison and a 20-year ban on making films after falling foul of the Iranian regime, as a member of this year's jury as a gesture of solidarity, even though he is unable to attend.

"During the opening ceremony, jury president Isabella Rossellini read out an open letter from Panahi which was openly critical of the Iranian regime.

"'The reality is I have been kept from making films for the past five years and am now officially sentenced to be deprived of this right for another 20 years,' Rossellini quoted Panahi as writing. 'But they can not keep me from dreaming that in 20 years inquisition and intimidation will be replaced by freedom and free thinking.'

"Panahi wrote that he had been condemned to 20 years of silence. 'Yet in my dreams, I scream for a time when we can tolerate each other, respect each other's opinions, and live for each other.'

[Watch Rossellini read the letter, and read it for yourself in English and Farsi here.]

"After Rossellini, who was standing beside Panahi's empty jury-member chair, had read out the letter, there was absolute silence in the theater for a moment. Then the gala guests gave Rossellini a long standing ovation."

 

Wait. I don't live far from this neighborhood -- not the Prada one, the Nada one.

O.K., I live in Koreatown but, still. I actually see and interact with Latinos every single day. Yes, it's true non Angelenos -- there are those of us who don't walk around with small dogs and shop on Rodeo Drive.

I realize the source of the humor for this movie, "From Prada to Nada," is that these rich girls will have to learn about real life. Still, I have doubts.

Here's the plot:

"In this dramedy, two sisters from Beverly Hills (Camilla Belle and Alexa Vega) learn how the other side lives after their father dies unexpectedly, and they're taken in by their estranged aunt in East L.A."

Here's the trailer:

OK ... but ... why would the whole "finding home, in the last place, you'd expected" be in East L.A.? Lots of homes and families and nice people live out there. It's not so unexpected.


 

I feel like this project idea has been tossing around for years: "Red Sonja."

I vaguely recall Rose McGowan up for the role (makes sense) and then some other whispers and then ... nothing more.

But she's back, and now it appears, with almost certainty, Amber Heard is the new Red Sonja.

Here's the news via ComingSoon:

"Nu Image and Millennium Films' Red Sonja appears to be back on track with Simon West ('Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,' 'The Mechanic') at the helm and an eye already given to the casting of Amber Heard (who next appears in Drive Angry) in the lead.

"'Amber is the new Red Sonja,' producer Avi Lerner told Empire today, 'but she doesn't know it yet!'

"The catch there is that, while Heard is eyed for the role, negotiations have, apparently, not begun. As such, the role sounds like it is Heard's to lose.

 

This seems surprising. Ryan Gosling? In a remake of "Logan's Run"?

But then the director helmed the great, tough "Bronson" so it might just be something interesting.

Here's more from Empire:

"Aside from 'Remember The Titans' back in the day, and the odd bigger film like The Notebook, Ryan Gosling has been famously leery of signing on to a blockbuster. Superhero pics have tried and failed to win him over, but it looks like things are changing as he’s just locked down a deal to star in Logan’s Run.

"The most recent wrinkle on the long gestating new take on William F Nolan’s 1967 sci-fi novel was that director Carl Rinsch dropped out due to a scheduling clash with 47 Ronin. Before that, Bryan Singer had been attached to it for ages, even to the point of generating pre-production artwork and thinking about locations.

"In a surprising move, though producers Joel Silver and Akiva Goldsman have convinced 'Bronson' director Nicolas Winding Refn to take on the challenge. And since he just worked with Gosling on action drama 'Drive' – with the pair clearly getting on and looking to reunite – it’s a lot less shocking that he finally tempted Gosling to take on a bigger film."