It's a matter of moments before they shut the door on the whole operation.

Variety reports on two new Todd Haynes projects: a Velvet Underground documentary, and an Amazon limited series that will "“re-examine a figure who maybe we forget how radical they were in their thinking because they were so incorporated into our culture and outlook as a modern society."

Haynes doesn't say who the subject of the Amazon series is, but when I saw him at a Q&A for I'm Not There back in 2008, someone asked him what his next film would be about and he said (in an admittedly somewhat joking tone, and I'm paraphrasing here), "Oh, I don't know, something easy like Freud."

In a 2004 article about Elmer Bernstein, published after Bernstein's passing, Todd Haynes mentioned a Freud project:



So a Freud project is definitely something Haynes has been wanting to do for many years, perhaps even going further back than when he and Elmer Bernstein talked about it. My guess is that this is what the Amazon project will be.

Amazon is partnering with Warners to adapt the Goldfinch, with Ralph Fiennes eyed to star

What happened to all of Amazon's films after Wonder Wheel being self-distributed?

(The fact that they might actually not be so forthright and stingy about this new policy is a good thing, clearly, but I'm just surprised to see it change so quickly)

By sheer coincidence I read THE GOLDFINCH last week. I enjoyed it well enough, but I can scarcely imagine it turning into a good film. It's going to be awfully tough to pull a narrative out of that book that's worth making a film out of, especially if it's going to get the Oscar-bait treatment.

Greengrass lending his style to a Breivak-related film sounds pretty repulsive, but I guess it's one less movie I have to see. But then I liked Campos's pointless Christine Chabbuck film from last year, so we'll see!

Margot Robbie as Elizabeth I in Mary Queen of Scots, though I wouldn't unspoiler if I was you...

She looks overly stylized to me, almost how I might view a caricature of someone from the UK. I cannot believe they'll make her look that uncouth in the film.

I wouldn’t base too much on a paparazzi photo taken with a zoom lens with regard to how it is going to look on film, Big Ben. Remember this?

Jim Jarmusch, Forest Whitaker, and RZA are working on a new 'Ghost Dog' project.

It's still in the formative stages but still.

Bryan Singer bowing out of Freddie Mercury/Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody due to "illness".

I'd normally not wish this on any production but I'm a little glad to see this project derailed. Mainly because of Singer's bad rep that no doubt is under some legal microscope now (if not soon), but also because this has felt snake-bitten from the beginning anyway. The internet has continually bemoaned the fact that Sacha Baron Cohen left it, but the real problem was at it's core. Namely that the surviving members (Brian May and Roger Taylor at least, doubt John Deacon has had any major part) have wanted to make it a full on, beginning-to-end story of the band.

I have felt that the real story to tell, that could be more compelling than anything else, is the last few years of Mercury's life. It's assumed that he just withered away and was never heard from again, when in fact he completed 3 albums' worth of material with the band. He threw himself into recording and shooting videos while his body was getting worse. All the while he and the band were being hounded by the British tabloids. I could understand if the surviving members would be iffy about using that period for an entire movie but in the right hands it could be something worth telling.

And they say there are no new ideas!

Not really in production so much as "almost released," but apparently Mel Brooks has sanctioned and is appearing in a CGI animated remake of Blazing Saddles?!?

The only thing I don’t like about the Robert Wise film are its two romantic leads, so that’s one thing the remake can improve on. Spielberg has directed two musical sequences which were fun, so I’ll be intrigued what he‘ll do with this. It’s just that I haven’t really liked a film of his since Catch Me if You Can.

The book was pretty lousy. Here's hoping Perkins can add something interesting to it.