Hollywood + Indie Round-up, 5/26

By Jason Apuzzo. • Atlas Shrugged has a shoot date, but no cast.  Ayn Rand suddenly hot in Obama era.  The question is: can a Dagny Taggart franchise compete with The Green Lantern?  Only the free market will tell.

• New rumor has Tarantino interested in Dracula project.  Not enough fake blood in Hollywood for that one.

• Lewinsky scene cut from new movie about Clinton.  That’s what unrated DVD extras are for.

• HuffPo asks why Last Airbender and Prince of Persia have whitewashed, non-ethnic casts.  So nice of them to notice.  I used to worry about this stuff more until James Cameron stopped casting humans, altogether.

• Washington Post columnist compares Tony Stark to Jack Abramoff.  Which is basically why nobody reads The Washington Post.

• Six new superhero flicks to come out over summers 2011-2012: Captain America, Green Lantern, Thor, Spider-Man reboot, Batman 3, The Avengers … have we had enough of this stuff yet?  Instead of a ‘superhero,’ how about just one (1) movie about an average soldier fighting terrorists in Afghanistan.  Just one.

• AND IN MORE SERIOUS NEWS … The SilverDocs fest announced its lineup today.  Among the most interesting entries is the documentary Beyond This Place (see the trailer), which – picking up on the theme mentioned below in Govindini’s piece on Happiness Runs – is another film that takes a harsh look at the legacy of the 60’s-hippie culture.

• More details coming out now in The New York Times about Jafar Panahi’s release.  His bail was apparently (the equivalent of) $200,000.

• There’s a new Indian movie out about the Mumbai terror attacks called 26/11.  We’ll keep an eye out for that one …

And that’s what’s happening today in the wonderful world of Hollywood (and independent cinema) …