News for
American Gangster (2007)

photos

board

trailer

details

16 articles from 2008

17 July 2008 9:30 AM, PDT | From firstshowing.net | See recent FirstShowing.net news

The first international trailer for Ridley Scott's next feature film, Body of Lies, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe, has just debuted. Body of Lies is yet another Middle Eastern drama, this time about a former journalist who is hired by the CIA to track down an Al Qaeda leader in Jordan. Thanks in part to the brilliant mind of Ridley Scott, this looks like a step above all the typical Middle Eastern movies we're seeing nowadays. The one thing I noticed the most - Scott has done a great job of making both DiCaprio and Crowe look like I've never seen them before! Scott's Black Hawk Down was a fantastic modern war movie and now I'm wondering whether his follow-up to American Gangster will be any good or if he's still stuck in a mediocre slump. Thoughts on Body of Lies? Watch the first trailer for Body of Lies: [flv:http://bitcast-a.

Alex Billington

14 July 2008 3:36 PM, PDT | From screeninglog.com | See recent screeninglog news

Brian Grazer has teamed up with Universal to produce Richard Regen’s script “Tehran,” according to Variety.

The film centers on an American professor who is hired by the government to examine tensions in pre-coup Tehran in 1977. He later falls for an Iranian girl whose brother is with the secret police.

Regen also created TV’s “Secret Agent Man” and recently penned “Panic,” a thriller for the Weinstein Co.

Brian Grazer’s producing credits include “A Beautiful Mind,” “Cinderella Man” and “American Gangster.”  

Franck Tabouring

5 May 2008 9:03 PM, PDT | From avclub.com | See recent The AV Club news

London-born stage actor Chiwetel Ejiofor first entered cinema with 1997's Amistad, but his breakthrough came five years later, with his memorably adept, sensitive starring role in Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things. That film put him on the map, and roles followed fast and thick, in Spike Lee's She Hate Me and Inside Man, Woody Allen's Melinda And Melinda, John Singleton's Four Brothers, Ridley Scott's American Gangster, and Kasi Lemmons' Talk To Me. Most memorably, he played the chilly antagonist known as The Operative in Joss Whedon's Firefly spin-off Serenity, the more hot-blooded antagonist Luke in Children Of Men, and the flamboyant transvestite Lola in Kinky Boots. Ejiofor's latest starring role, in David Mamet's Redbelt, has him playing a passionately principled jujitsu instructor trying to navigate moral challenges in a typically complicated Mamet web. The A.V. Club recently sat down with Ejiofor

Tasha Robinson

9 March 2008 4:01 PM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Atonement emerged victorious at London's Empire Awards on Sunday, taking home three prizes including Best British Film.

The drama also netted its stars James McAvoy and Keira Knightley the trophies for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively at U.K. movie magazine Empire's annual awards ceremony.

Elsewhere, Best Film went to Matt Damon sequel The Bourne Ultimatum, while David Yates took home Best Director for Harry Potter + The Order Of The Phoenix.

Hot Fuzz was named Best Comedy and American Gangster claimed the Best Thriller prize.

Control, a biopic of late Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, won two awards - Best Newcomer for star Sam Riley and Best Soundtrack.

Scottish actor Ewan McGregor was honoured with the Empire Icon Award.

The full list of winners is:

Best Comedy - Hot Fuzz

Best Actor - James McAvoy, Atonement

Best Thriller - American Gangster

Empire Icon Award - Ewan McGregor

Best British Film - Atonement

Best Newcomer - Sam Riley, Control

Best Horror - 28 Weeks Later

Empire Inspiration Award - Guillermo Del Toro

Best Actress - Keira Knightley, Atonement

Sony Ericsson Soundtrack Award - Control

Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy - Stardust

Best Director - David Yates, Harry Potter + The Order Of The Phoenix

Outstanding Contribution To British Film - Shane Meadows

Best Film - The Bourne Ultimatum.

Permalink | Report a problem

9 March 2008 5:31 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Atonement emerged victorious at London's Empire Awards on Sunday, taking home three prizes including Best British Film.

The drama also netted its stars James McAvoy and Keira Knightley the trophies for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively at U.K. movie magazine Empire's annual awards ceremony.

Elsewhere, Best Film went to Matt Damon sequel The Bourne Ultimatum, while David Yates took home Best Director for Harry Potter + The Order Of The Phoenix.

Hot Fuzz was named Best Comedy and American Gangster claimed the Best Thriller prize.

Control, a biopic of late Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, won two awards - Best Newcomer for star Sam Reilly and Best Soundtrack.

Scottish actor Ewan McGregor was honoured with the Empire Icon Award.

The full list of winners is:

Best Comedy - Hot Fuzz

Best Actor - James McAvoy, Atonement

Best Thriller - American Gangster

Empire Icon Award - Ewan McGregor

Best British Film - Atonement

Best Newcomer - Sam Reilly, Control

Best Horror - 28 Weeks Later

Empire Inspiration Award - Guillermo Del Toro

Best Actress - Keira Knightley, Atonement

Sony Ericsson Soundtrack Award - Control

Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy - Stardust

Best Director - David Yates, Harry Potter + The Order Of The Phoenix

Outstanding Contribution To British Film - Shane Meadows

Best Film - The Bourne Ultimatum.

Permalink | Report a problem

6 March 2008 10:27 AM, PST | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Paramount Home Entertainment's Beowulf took over the lead on both the DVD sales charts and rental charts last week, dropping last week's winner, Universal's American Gangster, to second place on each of the charts. The film earned $10.9 million in rentals, according to Home Media magazine. Several of last year's animated films returned to the sales charts, including Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille, which came in at No. 3; DreamWorks Animation's Shrek the Third at No. 7; and Fox's The Simpsons Movie, at No. 8. Home Media attributed the surge in sales for the animated fare to the "looming Easter gift-giving season."

Permalink | Report a problem

6 March 2008 5:56 AM, PST | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Beyonce Knowles is set to return to the big screen as one of the stars of a new stalker thriller.

The pop superstar, who won acclaim for roles in Dreamgirls and Austin Powers In Goldmember, will play the wife of a successful businessman, who becomes the target of a stalker - played by Heroes stunner Ali Larter - in Obsessed.

American Gangster star Idris Elba will play Knowles' husband in the film, which will start shooting this summer.

The singer will executive produce the thriller along with her father/manager Mathew Knowles, according to Daily Variety.

Knowles is also producing and co-starring as Etta James in upcoming biopic Cadillac Records.

Permalink | Report a problem

28 February 2008 10:30 AM, PST | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

American Gangster shot its way to the top of the DVD sales and rental charts last week, selling some 4 million copies and taking in $9.7 million in rentals, according to data compiled by Nielsen VideoScan First Alert and Home Media magazine. Coming in second with about 1.2 million copies sold was Michael Clayton, the Oscar nominee for best picture. It took in $8.2 million in rentals.

Permalink | Report a problem

23 January 2008 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Police in Melbourne, Australia today (Wednesday) staged the country's biggest raid on DVD pirates, seizing more than 400,000 bootleg DVDs and confiscating 170 DVD recorders. Among the seized DVDs, were copies of three films currently playing in Australian theaters, American Gangster, I Am Legend, and Alvin and the Chipmunks. According to Australian news reports, the raids came about following complaints from neighbors of the homes where the DVDs were being manufactured.

Permalink | Report a problem

23 January 2008 | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Ruby Dee, Hal Holbrook and Ellen Page will set new age records if they win gold at the Oscars next month. All three have been nominated for best acting and supporting roles. If Dee or Holbrook, who are both 83, win Best Supporting honors for their roles in American Gangster and Into The Wild respectively they will become the oldest stars to win acting accolades at the Academy Awards. Juno's Page, who turns 21 on February 21, will be the youngest Best Actress winner if she takes home the statuette on February 24. That record is currently held by Marlee Matlin, who was 21 years and seven months when she claimed her Oscar for Children Of A Lesser God in 1986.

Permalink | Report a problem

21 January 2008 | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Denzel Washington has topped the list of America's favorite movie stars for the second consecutive year. The American Gangster star beat Tom Hanks to the number one spot in the annual Harris Poll, and Johnny Depp jumped up four positions from last year's survey to steal the number three position. Julia Roberts was the highest ranking female at four, while late film legend John Wayne - the only actor to rank in the poll's top 10 every year since its inception in 1994 - was placed at number six. The top 10 is as follows: 1. Denzel Washington; 2. Tom Hanks; 3. Johnny Depp; 4. Julia Roberts; 5. Will Smith 6. John Wayne; 7. Matt Damon; 7. Sean Connery; 9. Sandra Bullock; 10. Bruce Willis.

Permalink | Report a problem

18 January 2008 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Revelations that most of the screenplay of American Gangster is based on rumors and speculation and contains untrue accounts of what actually occurred could crush the film's Oscar chances, the Associated Press observed Thursday in a feature story that contradicted many of the allegations in the movie. The wire service noted, for example, that Frank Lucas, the '70s' drug lord depicted in the movie by Denzel Washington, never employed caskets of Vietnam casualties to smuggle heroin and never provided information that led to the arrests of narcotics officers. A.P. quoted Judge Sterling Johnson Jr., a special narcotics prosecutor in Lucas's case, as saying, "The picture is 1 percent reality and 99 percent Hollywood." Former DEA agent Jack Toal told A.P.: "[Lucas] was my informant for years. ... He never mentioned any crooked DEA agent or cop." Lucas himself was quoted as saying, "I never testified on nobody." He also dismissed the suggestion that New Jersey police detective Richard Roberts, played by Russell Crowe, was the person who brought him down. "They wanted a white boy," Lucas said of the character.

Permalink | Report a problem

17 January 2008 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Claiming that Universal Pictures falsely claimed in the text appearing at the end of American Gangster that the events depicted in the movie "led to the convictions of three-quarters of New York City's Drug Enforcement Agency," three DEA agents filed a $55 million lawsuit against the studio Wednesday. "With this utterly false and defamatory statement, the defendant has ruined and impugned the reputations of these honest and courageous public servants in the eyes of millions of people," the lawsuit said. The agents are seeking class-action status with the suit and claim that no law enforcement officer was convicted of any crime related to the events depicted in the movie. They also say the film falsely depicted New Jersey detective Richard Roberts portrayed by Russell Crowe in the movie. Universal denied the accusations, pointing out that the movie does not defame any federal agents and that the text specifically mentions only the New York City agency.

Permalink | Report a problem

16 January 2008 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

The British film Atonement, which received the Golden Globe award for best film Sunday, received a whopping 14 nominations for the BAFTAs, presented by the British Academy of Film and Television. The movie received nominations for best film, best British film, best actress (Keira Knightley), best actor (James McAvoy), best director (Joe Wright) and best supporting actress (Saoirse Ronan). Two films received nine nominations, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. All three films were nominated for best film, along with The Lives of Others and American Gangster.Several British critics expressed surprise at the poor showing for Sweeney Todd, which received nominations only for make-up, hair and costume design. Winners are due to be announced on February 10.

Permalink | Report a problem

10 January 2008 | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Denzel Washington's new movie The Great Debaters is leading the nominations for the NAACP Image Awards after landing nods including Best Picture. The film, about a Texas professor who takes his African-American students to debate the great minds at Harvard University in the 1930s, is also up for Best Actor (Washington), Best Director (Washington), Best Actress (Jurnee Smollett) and Best Writing (Robert Eisele). Denzel Whitaker, Forest Whitaker and Nate Parker are all nominated for Best Supporting Actor for their roles in the movie. Elsewhere, in the Best Actor category Washington is up against Don Cheadle (Talk To Me), Terrence Howard (Pride), Will Smith (I Am Legend) and Columbus Short (Stomp The Yard). Best Actress is between Smollett, Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart), Halle Berry (Things We Lost In The Fire), Jill Scott (Why Did I Get Married?) and Taraji P. Henson (Talk To Me). Competing against The Great Debaters in the Best Picture field are American Gangster, I Am Legend, Why Did I Get Married? and Talk To Me. The National Association For The Advancement Of Colored People's 39th annual Image Awards takes place February 14 in Los Angeles.

Permalink | Report a problem

4 January 2008 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Johnny Depp, who was once relegated to relatively low budget films because producers thought him too outré to attract sizable audiences, was named Top Money Making Star for the second year in a row in the 76th annual Quickley Publishing Co. poll. Depp starred in 2007 in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The poll. which surveys motion picture exhibitors, put Will Smith (I Am Legend) in second place. Other top finishers: 3: George Clooney (Ocean's Thirteen, Michael Clayton); 4. Matt Damon (Ocean's Thirteen, The Bourne Ultimatum); 5. Denzel Washington (American Gangster, The Great Debaters).

Permalink | Report a problem

16 articles from 2008