Movie news recap: Anthony Hopkins is Garcia’s Hemingway

The daily movie news recap for November 5 has Anthony Hopkins as Ernest Hemingway in Andy Garcia's upcoming movie Hemingway and Fuentes. Also, The Sundance Film Festival introduces local screenings of selected movies for the first time.

Hopkins as Hemingway in Andy Garcia film
Andy Garcia's long-term project, Hemingway & Fuentes, about Ernest Hemingway's years in Cuba, will set sail now that Anthony Hopkins and Annette Bening are set to star. With these actors aboard, the film seeks a distributor at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, California,

The story chronicles ‘Papa' Hemingway's 20-year love affair with Cuba and his friendship with his friend, Gregorio Fuentes, a fisherman, who inspired the classic 1952 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Old Man and the Sea.

Hopkins will star as Hemingway, after completing Thor for Marvel Entertainment. Bening plays his third wife, Mary Welsh. Garcia, who will portray Fuentes, co-wrote the script with Hilary Hemingway, granddaughter of the author, and will direct and produce the film, set for production the summer 2010 in the Caribbean. Garcia has directed and produced other films about his native Cuba including The Lost City, and starred in Oceans Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen. RC

Sundance festival plans local screenings
The Sundance Institute has announced a new initiative for the 2010 festival, where the ten-day festival will now hold screenings in theaters across eight cities in the US.
"The concept behind Sundance Film Festival U.S.A. is to ignite dialogue as people across the country engage in a collective film experience," said Robert Redford, Sundance Institute president and founder of the Sundance Film Festival.

On January 28, 2010, the one-night only program will feature eight filmmakers and their films, all of which will be selected from the official Sundance Film Festival Program.

The 2010 Sundance Film festival will take place from January 21 - 31 at Park City, Utah, US.

Wednesday's news
Gerard Butler signed up for Coriolanus
Ralph Fiennes' directorial debut Coriolanus will now feature Gerard Butler as Tullus Aufidius in the modern version of Shakespeare's play. Also in the cast are William Hurt, Eddie Marsan, Jessica Chastain and Vanessa Redgrave. The movie is readying to start production in March 2010 in Serbia. Coriolanus is a political drama set in ancient Rome.

Tuesday's News
Helen Mirren joins the cast of Red
Summit Entertainment's spy thriller Red, based on the Wildstorm/DC comic will now have Helen Mirren in the cast along with Morgan Freeman and Bruce Willis.
Originally written by Warren Ellis, the comic is a three-book series about a retired CIA agent who is living the quiet life until an assassin threatens his peaceful life. January 2010 will kick off the production and shooting of the film with a limited launch scheduled for November 2010.

Monday's News
Sony cancels This is It pre-Christmas DVD release
Sony Pictures has cancelled the DVD release of Michael Jackson's This is It scheduled for a pre-Christmas launch, owing to theater owners and executives at Sony pointing out that this would keep fans away from the cinemas. The launch has now been moved to the new year and the film has an extended four-week run in theaters.

The movie of footage of Jackson during rehearsals for his last concert has gathered more than a $100 million worldwide, reported movie entertainment website Hollywood.com.