andPOP » PAUL GIAMATTI

Robert Pattinson to Star in David Cronenberg’s ‘Cosmopolis’

Lauren Treihaft — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:27:44 +0000

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As reported by TheWrap .com, Twilight heartthrob, Robert Pattinson is set to star in Toronto filmmaker, David Cronenberg’s new film, Cosmopolis.

The film is said to be a study of capitalism in a slightly futuristic metropolis. The film will star Pattinson playing Eric Packer, a young financial genius and risk taker who stakes his entire fortune on a dangerous trading day. The decision turns ugly and he becomes a possible assassination target during a 24-hour adventure through Manhattan. The film will also star Marion Cotillard and Paul Giamatti.

Cronenberg can be seen walking the streets of Toronto. Does this mean that Pattinson may too be walking them soon? Cronenberg has filmed in Toronto for the majority of his movies like Videodrome and Crash. Toronto is often used as a New York City stand in, so perhaps he will stay in Toronto to film Cosmopolis. One can only hope.

However, we may see a certain increase of paparazzi and screaming 13-year-old girls running around Toronto if word does get out that Pattinson is in town.

Dustin Hoffman Joins ‘Barney’s Version’

Eva Lam — Sat, 30 May 2009 16:24:01 +0000

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Dustin Hoffman has joined the cast of “Barney’s Version,” a big-screen adaptation of the critically acclaimed novel by Mordecai Richler.

The two-time Academy Award winner will star alongside Paul Giamatti (“Sideways”), who will portray the cantankerous title character, Barney Panofsky. Hoffman will play Izzy, Barney’s foul-mouthed, retired cop father.

In a statement, the film’s director expressed his excitement for the addition of Hoffman to the Canada-Italy co-production.

“Many of the films that Dustin Hoffman starred in (The Graduate, Straw Dogs, Little Big Man) led me to become a filmmaker in the first place,” said Richard J. Lewis, whose credits include episodes of “CSI” and “North of 60.” “Now I have the opportunity to work with a legend.”

Principal photography is slated to begin Aug. 17 in Rome. Filming also expected to take place in Montreal, the Laurentians and New York.

Montreal author Richler won the Giller Prize for his novel, which was published in 1997.

Sick Scenes Make Giamatti Chuckle

andPOP Staff — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 11:57:22 +0000

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SIDEWAYS star PAUL GIAMATTI struggled to keep a straight face while shooting new action film SHOOT ‘EM UP – because scenes which feature his character molesting a dead woman were ridiculous in the extreme.

The indie film giant couldn’t resist signing up to play the villain in the
new Clive Owen film because he knew the filming would be a laugh-a-minute riot.

He chuckles, “They gave me the script and my agent was like, ‘There’s some thing with a lactating whore and you’re with a dead body in the back of a car. Do you really want to read this?’

“It was just crazy and it just kept getting weirder and weirder: Bullet
shells bouncing off a woman’s pregnant stomach and Clive’s character kills a guy with a carrot right at the beginning. That’s just so ridiculous.

“We were laughing a lot of the time when we were shooting that stuff.
“Then I had to molest this dead woman in the back of a car. I just met the
actress who was playing the dead woman and she was cracking up. I was cracking up too. It was so insane.

“When I got home, I was like, ‘Oh God, what did I just do?’ It’s so gross
that it’s kind of funny.” (KL&RXM/WN/GES)