News

Cary Elwes (Mission: Impossible 7), Corey Stoll (Billions), Michiel Huisman (The Flight Attendant) and Alfonso Herrera (Ozark) have joined the cast of Zack Snyder’s Netflix film Rebel Moon, Deadline can confirm. The quartet will star alongside Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam, Djimon Hounsou, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Rupert Friend and Stuart Martin.

The sci-fi pic is set in a peaceful colony on the edge of the galaxy that finds itself threatened by the armies of the tyrannical Regent Balisarius. They dispatch a young woman (Boutella) with a mysterious past to seek out warriors from neighboring planets to help them make a stand.

Snyder is directing from the script he wrote with Shay Hatten (Army of the Dead) and Kurt Johnstad (300), which was based on his and Johnstad’s story. Snyder is also producing alongside Deborah Snyder and Wesley Coller for The Stone Quarry, with Eric Newman of Grand Electric. Bergen Swanson...

Tim Robbins has signed onto the series adaptation of Hugh Howey’s “Wool” at Apple, Variety has learned.

Robbins will star alongside previously announced cast member Rebecca Ferguson. “Wool” is a set in a ruined and toxic future where a community exists in a giant silo underground, hundreds of stories deep. There, men and women live in a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them.

Robbins will play Bernard, the head of It for the Silo. “Wool” represents one of several regular television roles that Robbins has had in the past few years. Most recently, he appeared in Season 2 of the Stephen King Hulu series “Castle Rock.” He also recently starred in the HBO shows “Here and Now” and “The Brink.”

Robbins is best known for his feature work, having won the Academy Award for best supporting actor for “Mystic River” in 2004. He was previously nominated...

Oscar-winner Tim Robbins has been tapped to star opposite Rebecca Ferguson in Apple’s upcoming drama Wool, based on Hugh Howey’s trilogy of dystopian novels. The series hails from writer Graham Yost, director Morten Tyldum and is produced by AMC Studios.

Wool is a set in a ruined and toxic future where a community exists in a giant silo underground, hundreds of stories deep. There, men and women live in a society full of regulations they believe are meant to protect them.

Robbins will star as Bernard, the head of It for the Silo. He joins Ferguson’s Juliette, who is an an independent and hardworking engineer.

Wool is executive produced by Ferguson, Yost and Tyldum, alongside author Hugh Howey. Remi Aubuchon, Nina Jack and Ingrid Escajeda will also serve as executive producers on the drama.

Robbins won the Best Actor in a Supporting Role Academy Award and the...

Cherry Jones has joined the cast of the upcoming Apple drama series “Five Days at Memorial,” Variety has learned.

The series is based on the Sheri Fink novel of the same name. It chronicles the first five days in a New Orleans, LA, hospital after Hurricane Katrina made landfall. When the floodwaters rose, the power failed, and the heat climbed, exhausted caregivers were forced to make life-and-death decisions that haunted them for years to come.

Jones will play Susan Mulderick, a hospital nursing director and head of the emergency preparedness committee, who becomes the designated incident commander for Hurricane Katrina. Jones joins previously announced cast members Vera Farmiga, Adepero Oduye, Julie Ann Emery, and Cornelius Smith Jr.

Jones is a three-time Emmy Award winner — the first for the Fox series “24,” the second for Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and most recently for HBO’s “Succession.” She also recently appeared...

David Schramm, a veteran character best known for his work on the ’90s NBC sitcom “Wings,” has died at age 73.

His death was announced Sunday by Margot Harley, co-founder of the New York-based theater troupe the Acting Company, of which Schramm was a founding member. The exact date and cause of death were not disclosed.

Schramm, a native of Louisville, Kentucky, came to New York City as a member of the first graduating class of Juilliard School. He appeared in dozens of theater productions on and off Broadway, including a 2009-10 Broadway revival of the musical “Finian’s Rainbow.” [

But he is best known for his supporting role on all eight seasons of “Wings,” as Roy Biggins, the owner of a rival Nantucket-based airline competing with an outfit run by brothers played by Tim Daly and Steven Weber. He appeared in all 172 episodes between...

Did starring in “The Shawshank Redemption” (and then directing “Dead Man Walking” the following year) leave Tim Robbins with a profound compassion for the members of America’s prison system, or was that profound compassion what compelled him to pursue those jobs in the first place? Either way, it seems the famous actor and sometime filmmaker still fervently believes in the words of Sister Helen Prejean, who Susan Sarandon played in “Dead Man Walking”: “Everyone is worth more than their worst act.”

Robbins’ first directorial effort since 1999’s “Cradle Will Rock” finds him going back to jail in order to help extend that ethos into the real world. , “45 Seconds of Laughter” takes us inside the maximum-security fortress of Calipatria State Prison, where a few special members of Robbins’ theater company (The Actors’ Gang) lead a troupe of violent criminals in a commedia dell’arte workshop that’s meant to...

“Everyone is worth more than their worst act,” said Roman Catholic sister and anti-death penalty advocate Helen Prejean, and it’s with these words that “45 Seconds of Laughter” closes. It’s an apt sentiment on which to leave Tim Robbins’ sincerely felt documentary study of the therapeutic acting workshops run by his own theater company in a California prison — not least because the film is itself at pains to identify its human subjects only by their present, not their past. But if it’s also an obvious callback to Robbins’ penitentiary-set 1995 drama “Dead Man Walking,” which won Susan Sarandon an Oscar for playing Prejean, the self-reference doesn’t exactly flatter the new film: Occasionally heart-stirring but also rather slight, Robbins’ mellow first foray into docmaking is far removed from his pre-millennial era of artistic and political urgency.

“45 Seconds of Laughter” is, in fact, Robbins’ first big-screen directorial outing since 1999’s “Cradle Will Rock,...

Strange Angel has found its Aleister Crowley. Turn alum Angus Macfadyen has been tapped to play the founder of Thelema opposite Jack Reynor in the second season of the CBS All Access series.

Created by Mark Heyman and based on George Pendle’s book of the same name, Strange Angel explores the bizarre true story of Jack Parsons, a man who straddled the worlds of science and the occult, pioneering America’s rocketry program while simultaneously practicing sex magick rituals and living by the creed “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”

At the conclusion of Season 1, Jack and his team from Caltech make a scientific breakthrough that secures the military’s interest as the country nears the brink of war. In season two, the U.S. is fully engaged in World War II, transforming Jack’s rocketry work into a lucrative business and further entrenching him in the military-industrial complex.

Writer-director Tim Robbins goes all out to recreate a politically potent chapter of Broadway legend, the true story of the rebel Wpa production The Cradle Will Rock — with a dynamic sidebar about Diego Rivera’s provocative mural for the Rockefeller Center. An enormous cast works up the excitement of Depression-era revolutionary theater.

Cradle Will Rock

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1999 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 134 min. / Street Date August 7, 2018 / available through Kino Lorber / 19.95

Starring: Hank Azaria, Rubén Blades, Joan Cusack, John Cusack, Cary Elwes, Philip Baker Hall, Cherry Jones, Angus Macfadyen, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon, Jamey Sheridan, John Turturro, Emily Watson, Bob Balaban, Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Paul Giamatti, Barnard Hughes, Barbara Sukowa, Gretchen Mol, Harris Yulin, Daniel Jenkins, Steven Skybell, Susan Heimbeinder, Audra McDonald, Leonardo Cimino.

Cinematography: Jean-Yves Escoffier

Film Editor: Geraldine Peroni

Costumes: Ruth Myers

Original Music: David Robbins

Produced by Lydia Dean Pilcher, Jon Kilik, Tim Robbins

Written...

Speaking at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival Saturday, Tim Robbins expressed outrage and shame at U.S. immigration policies and the Supreme Court’s new ruling allowing President Trump’s travel ban on some predominantly Muslim countries to stand. “That Supreme Court decision will be remembered as a disgrace,” he told journalists, building on comments at the fest opening that had galvanized the black tie audience.

Robbins recently staged with The Actors’ Gang theater ensemble in L.A. a play called “The New Colossus,” inspired by hundreds of immigrants’ stories and by the plaque at the base of the Statue of Liberty professing to welcome the world’s teeming masses.

At Karlovy Vary he is screening a film he wrote and directed that celebrates working-class artists, “Cradle Will Rock,” and another that sends up dishonest, populist political candidates, “Bob Roberts.” He admitted he is still surprised at how accurate the...

Academy Award winner Tim Robbins will be honored by the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Central and Eastern Europe’s top annual film event.

The multi-hyphenate star will take the Crystal Globe Award for his “contributions to world cinema,” festival organizers announced on Tuesday.

Robbins won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 2003 for “Mystic River,” among other trophies that year, opposite Sean Penn. The prolific performer’s greatest hits include “Bull Durham,” “The Shawshank Redemption” and Robert Altman’s “The Player.”

Also Read: Karlovy Vary Film Festival Delivers Cinema and Glamour, With a Side of Goulash

His directorial efforts include the Oscar-winning “Dead Man Walking,” “Cradle Will Rock” and “Bob Roberts.” Robbins is also a principal in the experimental theater group The Actor’s Gang, and a musician.

Robbins will claim the prize in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic at the festival which runs from June 29 – July 7. His band will also...

The festival has also unveiled its international juries.

Tim Robbins will receive the Crystal Globe for outstanding contribution to world cinema at the 53rd edition of Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

The actor, director, producer and screenwriter will also present two of his films at the festival – Bob Roberts (1992) and Cradle Will Rock (1999), both of which take in the crossover of politics and music in the United States.

Robbins will also give a concert at the festival, as part of his group Tim Robbins and The Rogues Gallery Band.

Kviff has also announced the international juries for this year’s event.

The Karlovy Vary Film Festival, the leading movie event in Central and Eastern Europe, will honor Tim Robbins with its award for outstanding contribution to world cinema, the fest announced Tuesday, and the actor will screen two pics he directed and wrote, the acerbic polemic “Bob Roberts” and the tribute to pre-wwii music and politics “Cradle Will Rock.”

Robbins, who also wrote music for several of his films, including “Bob Roberts” with brother David, will perform with The Rogues Gallery Band. Terry Gilliam will also roll into the Czech Republic spa town for the fest, running June 29 to July 7, to screen “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” his disaster-prone take on the Cervantes classic that took 18 years to complete and premiered in Cannes.

Anna Paquin will also be feted, screening the family grief road movie “The Parting Glass” along with the film’s director, her husband Stephen Moyer, screenwriter and...

My guest for this month is Herb van der Poll, and he’s joined me to discuss the film he chose for me, the 1992 American-British satirical mockumentary film Bob Roberts. You can follow the show on Twitter @cinemagadfly.

Show notes:

The cast is seriously insane, with Tim Robbins, Giancarlo Esposito, Ray Wise, Gore Vidal, John Cusack, Peter Gallagher, Alan Rickman, and Susan Sarandon Oh and also James Spader, Helen Hunt, Jack Black, Jeremy Piven and his sister Shira, and Bob Balaban Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you already know we have an election happening The film shows some strong parallels to the presidency of George W. Bush Ray Wise, of course, was famously Laura Palmer’s dad on one of my all time favorite shows, Twin Peaks In this film, he and Alan Rickman play Dick Cheney and Karl Rove type figures Folk music is often in the service of liberal causes,...

My guest for this month is West Anthony, and he’s joined me to discuss the film he chose for me, the 1976 comedy-drama film The Front. You can follow the show on Twitter @cinemagadfly.

Show notes:

Not sure what happened to the audio in the introduction, apologies! The Hollywood blacklist is a term for the treatment of people in the entertainment industry who refused to name names to the House Un-American Activities Committee from 1947 to 1960 For a more in depth take on the blacklist, check out the latest season of the phenomenal You Must Remember This podcast WonderCon is a comic book convention that was held annually in Sf until it was cruelly moved to the La area in 2012. Yes I’m still bitter about it. West also recommends the Gabrielle de Cuir directed Thirty Years of Treason by Eric Bentley Among the people famously blacklisted were Lillian Hellman, Lionel Stander,...

Today in 1938, The Cradle Will Rock opened at the Windsor Theatre. Originally a part of the Federal Theatre Project, it was directed by Orson Welles, and produced by John Houseman. The show was recorded and released on seven 78-rpm discs in 1938, making it the first cast album recording. Following the impromptu opening and a brief run at the Venice Theatre later renamed the New Century Theatre in July 1937, the production reopened on January 3, 1938, at the Windsor Theatre under the auspices of the new Mercury Theatre Company. It played a total of 108 performances.

Let's get one thing straight before we begin. Bill Murray is the King. There are better actors. There are people who have better filmographies. There are even funnier people, although not many. But Bill Murray is, all things, considered, the King. I've dedicated much of the last 45 years working this out scientifically, and I am prepared to finally share the findings with you, free of charge, right here at HitFix. Ostensibly, we're doing this because of this weekend's release of "Rock The Kasbah," but that's just an excuse. The truth is that it's important that we rank all 55 of Bill Murray's film performances, with a special focus on the top 25. We are not including his television work here. There are films on this list we have not seen, but not many. We decided to leave those films unranked, so here is that list: Unranked "The Hat Act" "Pass The Buck: Expo '74...

Today in 1938, The Cradle Will Rock opened at the Windsor Theatre. Originally a part of the Federal Theatre Project, it was directed by Orson Welles, and produced by John Houseman. The show was recorded and released on seven 78-rpm discs in 1938, making it the first cast album recording. Following the impromptu opening and a brief run at the Venice Theatre later renamed the New Century Theatre in July 1937, the production reopened on January 3, 1938, at the Windsor Theatre under the auspices of the new Mercury Theatre Company. It played a total of 108 performances.

We were all shocked when Chris Colfer tweeted his dismissal from Glee, and then (some of us) were relieved when it turned out to be a Twitter hacker hoax.

But with Glee ending next season, it’s not too early to start thinking about Chris’ future on TV, and because Glee creator Ryan Murphy like to keep it in the family, we have a few ideas for how Chris can continue to be a part of the Murphy stable.

These four spinoffs of famous Ryan Murphy shows don’t exist … yet … but he should feel free to start developing them now, and they’re offered free of charge. Because we’d love to keep seeing Chris on primetime TV.

Cherry On Top

In the long-awaited spinoff to Ryan’s tragically short-lived cult series Popular, breakout star Mary Cherry finally sets off in pursuit of her dream, and heads to Los Angeles,...

Just last night, Patti LuPone stepped back into the role that led to her Olivier Award, and being cast as the original Fantine in Les Miserables, in The Cradle Will Rock at 7pm at Broadway's Bernard Jacobs Theatre, 242 West 45th Street. The one-night concert of Marc Blitzstein's iconic work benefits The Acting Company, which LuPone founded alongside Kevin Kline, John Houseman and Margot Harley. Lonny Price served as musical director. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you photos from the special curtain call...

Patti LuPone steps back into the role that led to her 1985 Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical as Moll in The Cradle Will Rock on Monday, May 19, 7pm at Broadway's Bernard Jacobs Theatre, 242 West 45th Street. The concert staging of Marc Blitzstein's iconic work will benefit The Acting Company, co-founded by John Houseman, Cradle's original producer in 1937, who directed Ms. LuPone and a cast of Acting Company Alumni in a revival almost 50 years later. Lonny Price Lincoln Center's Sweeney Todd and Company will direct Michael Barrett Caramoor, NY Festival of Song will again serve as musical director and play the score as he did in the 1980's production. Tickets will go on sale next month information on benefit tickets including dinner with Ms. LuPone and the cast is available from 212-258-3111.

Having commissioned the pilot episode of The Brink – a half-hour dark political comedy – last year, HBO has now ordered the show to series, with Tim Robbins and Jack Black heading the cast.

The show centres around the main players caught in a geo-political crisis. Tim Robbins plays the Us Secretary of State, Walter Hollander, who has little patience for war-mongers, while Jack Black plays Alex Coppins – a Foreign Service Officer dealing with the crisis in the field. A third main role – that of a Navy fighter pilot – has yet to be cast, although the wider cast list includes Aasif Mandvi and Meera Syal. The pilot was written by brothers Roberto and Kim Benabib – Roberto having previously worked on Ally McBeal and Weeds. Both will also serve as executive producers, alongside stars Black and Robbins, Jerry Weintraub (Behind The Candelabra) and Jay Roach (The Austin Powers franchise, The Campaign), who also directed the pilot.

Today in 1938, The Cradle Will Rock opened at the Windsor Theatre. Originally a part of the Federal Theatre Project, it was directed by Orson Welles, and produced by John Houseman. The show was recorded and released on seven 78-rpm discs in 1938, making it the first cast album recording. Following the impromptu opening and a brief run at the Venice Theatre later renamed the New Century Theatre in July 1937, the production reopened on January 3, 1938, at the Windsor Theatre under the auspices of the new Mercury Theatre Company. It played a total of 108 performances.

Michelle Rodriguez has been outside the hotel for only 90 seconds when she gets stopped on the street. “Uh, excuse me? Hi, I swear I’m not a crazy stalker,” says a tall and impressively muscled black man on the crowded New York City sidewalk. “But I am your biggest fan.” He holds up his phone for a picture. Rodriguez lifts her chin up. “Oh, hell yeah,” she says, smiling. “C’mon, let’s do it.” She squeezes one of his massive biceps: “Yo, man, where’d you get these?” The fan’s giddy grin stretches even wider, and his very patient girlfriend takes the picture.

Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural show of New York City Center's new Encores Off-Center series will play for five performances through July 13 at City Center. The production stars Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Raul Esparza, Peter Friedman, Aidan Gemme, Judy Kuhn, David Margulies, Martin Moran, Michael Park, Robert Petkoff, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose, Matthew Saldivar and Henry Stram. Opening was last night and you can check out photos from the celebration below...

Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural show of New York City Center's new Encores Off-Center series will play for five performances, beginning tonight at City Center, and running through July 13. The production stars Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Raul Esparza, Peter Friedman, Aidan Gemme, Judy Kuhn, David Margulies, Martin Moran, Michael Park, Robert Petkoff, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose, Matthew Saldivar and Henry Stram. Check out a first look at the production below...

Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural show of New York City Center's new Encores Off-Center series will play for five performances, July 10 - 13 at City Center. The production stars Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Raul Esparza, Peter Friedman, Aidan Gemme, Judy Kuhn, David Margulies, Martin Moran, Michael Park, Robert Petkoff, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose, Matthew Saldivar and Henry Stram. BroadwayWorld brings you just-released highlights below...

Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural show of New York City Center's new Encores Off-Center series will play for five performances, July 10 - 13 at City Center. The production stars Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Raul Esparza, Peter Friedman, Aidan Gemme, Judy Kuhn, David Margulies, Martin Moran, Michael Park, Robert Petkoff, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose, Matthew Saldivar and Henry Stram. Check out a first look at the cast photos below...

Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural show of New York City Center's new Encores Off-Center series, will play for five performances, July 10-13 at City Center- starring Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Ral Esparza, Peter Friedman, Aidan Gemme, Judy Kuhn, David Margulies, Martin Moran, Michael Park, Robert Petkoff, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose, Matthew Saldivar and Henry Stram. The cast and creative team met the press earlier today and BroadwayWorld's Richie Ridge was there to chat with the whole gang. Check out what they had to say and catch a special performance preview below...

Casting is complete for Marc Blitzsteins The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural show of New York City Centers new Encores Off-Center series, playing for five performances, July 10 13 at City Center. The cast includes Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Raul Esparza, Peter Friedman, Aidan Gemme, Judy Kuhn, David Margulies, Martin Moran, Michael Park, Robert Petkoff, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose, Matthew Saldivar and Henry Stram.

Danny Burstein, Eisa Davis, Raul Esparza, Peter Friedman, Judy Kuhn, Martin Moran, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Anika Noni Rose and Henry Stram will star in Marc Blitzstein's The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural show of New York City Center's new Encores Off-Center series, playing for five performances, July 10 - 13 at City Center. The show will be directed bySam Gold and choreographed by Chase Brock Jeanine Tesori is the Encores Off Center artistic director. Chris Fenwick is the music director. In keeping with City Center's founding mission to make the arts accessible to all and to younger audiences, the majority of tickets are 25.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone's hit musical is a savage, brilliant satire, and is making millions. So why do musicals thrive in a recession?

This week, the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon opened in London. Even before a single review had appeared, tickets were being resold at up to £350. The show has already earned millions for its creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who also gifted the world with South Park. It's enough to make you ask: "Crisis? What crisis?"

There's no mystery about the show's recession-busting success, in the Us and – one feels safe in predicting – here. It's simply a work of genius, so brilliantly conceived and executed that it makes astonishingly savage and sophisticated satire into joyous, hilarious, literally all-singing, all-dancing fun and glamour.

Remarkably, despite the fact that there's barely a moment's respite from robust engagement with issues generally guaranteed to provoke hysterical controversy, The...

Exclusive: ICM Partners has just signed Tim Robbins, the actor-director who’ll next star with Mark Ruffalo, Gwyneth Paltrow, Joely Richardson and Josh Gad in Thanks For Sharing (which Roadside Attractions releases September 20) as well as the untitled film based on the Elmore Leonard novel The Switch. He’s also set to return behind the camera directing Man Under. Robbins continues to be managed by Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas. Robbins had been repped by UTA and this marks a return to ICM for him. The agency — which brokered his deals for such movies as Mystic River, Dead Man Walking and Cradle Will Rock – will not only handle him for acting and directing but also touring for his music.

In 2003, William James Murray (better known to those who haven't spent hours reading his Wikipedia page as Bill Murray) starred in Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation," a poignant, somber romantic comedy that spotlighted the budding relationship between an aging film star (Murray) and the lonely wife of a photographer (Scarlett Johansson) in Tokyo. Murray was nominated for an Oscar for said performance, but he ultimately lost to Sean Penn's turn in "Mystic River."

At one point, he also did the Garfield movies.

But herein lies the massive injustice. Bill Murray should have been nominated for an Academy Award for every other movie he's done. There. We said it. The following is a comprehensive list of Murray movies where the Academy unconscionably overlooked his performance, starting from the very beginning of his illustrious career.

'Meatballs' (1979)

Role: Tripper Harrison

Analysis: We're willing to forgive this one, as the...

This week, news broke that Tim Robbins would be returning to the director's chair for "Man Under," a dysfunctional family comedy that will mark his first theatrical feature as a director since "Cradle Will Rock" in 1999. Along with Michelle Pfeiffer and Chloe Moretz, Robbins also will be starring in the film -- a welcome return for the actor, who has been relatively quiet the last few years. A decades-long career has enabled Robbins to play plenty of eccentric and curious characters, in both studio and independent productions. Here's a look at five of his most distinctive indie-film performances. "Human Nature" Sandwiched between the critical and cult successes of "Being John Malkovich" (1999) and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004) is "Human Nature," screenwriter Charlie Kaufman's underrated first collaboration with director Michel Gondry from 2001. Robbins stars as Dr....

Chloe Moretz and Michelle Pfeiffer are no doubt hoping that their latest project together will be somewhat more entertaining than the abject “Dark Shadows” which they collaborated on earlier this year. And so they’ve joined the cast of “Man Under,” a production which has also added an Academy Award winning actor and Academy Award nominated director in one fell swoop, as Tim Robbins will helm the dysfunctional family comedy while also starring alongside Pfeiffer and Moretz. Ann Cherkis (who previously penned “The Secret” which starred David Duchovny and Olivia Thirlby) has written the script, which follows a family whose lives are transformed after they are exhibited in a series of photographs at the Museum of Modern Art. The film will be Robbins’ first theatrically released feature since 1999’s “Cradle Will Rock,” with his work behind the camera since being restricted to videos, TV movies, and most...

Tim Robbins is attached to direct Chloe Moretz and Michelle Pfeiffer in the dysfunctional family comedy, Man Under, a new indie drama being described as American Beauty meets The Royal Tennenbaums.

Robbins will also act in the movie that follows a Yonkers family whose lives are changed forever when a photo of them ends up in the Museum of Modern Art.

Based on a screenplay by Ann Cherkis (The Secret), pic was first set up with producer Scott Rudin at Miramax Films in 2008, but neither Rudin nor Miramax is involved any longer.

Robbins who last helmed 1999s Cradle Will Rock was nominated for Best Director for 1995 Dead Man Walking, while his recent big-screen acting credits include Green Lantern, Thanks for Sharing and the upcoming Back to 1942.

Pfeiffer, who recently starred with Moretz in Dark Shadows, also starred in Alex Kurtzman’s People Like Us and will next be seen in Malavita,...

• Tim Robbins will star in and direct the dramedy Man Under, with Michelle Pfeiffer and Chloe Moretz on board to play members of a family who deal with the repercussions of a photograph of them getting displayed at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Though he recently directed a couple episodes of HBO’s Treme, this will be Robbins’ first time helming a feature film since 1999′s Cradle Will Rock. Ann Cherkis penned the script. [Variety]

• Gemma Arterton (Clash of the Titans) has joined, and Benedict Cumberbatch (i.e. Benny Batch) is in talks to join, Absolutely Anything,...

Tim Robbins (The Shawshank Redemption), Michelle Pfeiffer (Scarface) and Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass) are attached to star in the dysfunctional family comedy, Man Under.  From screenwriter Ann Cherkis (The Secret), Man Under centers on a Yonkers-based family whose lives turn upside-down when New York City's Museum of Modern Art displays photographs of them and turns them into overnight celebrities.  Robbins, himself an Oscar-nominated director, will helm the pic.  Hit the jump to get caught up with the talent. Deadline reports that Robbins will direct and star in Man Under, along with co-stars Pfeiffer and Moretz.  Robbins last directed 1999's Cradle Will Rock and was nominated for Best Director for the 1995 effort, Dead Man Walking.  He more recently directed a couple of episodes for Treme.  His recent feature acting credits include Green Lantern, Thanks for Sharing and the upcoming Back to 1942. Pfeiffer, who recently starred with Moretz in Dark Shadows, also...

Unless you saw him in Green Lantern last year, it's probably been a while since most people have seen Tim Robbins in a movie. And as infrequently as he's been in front of the camera lately, it's been even longer since the actor has helmed a feature film, the last one being Cradle Will Rock in 1999. That's about to change, though, as Robbins has signed on to helm City of Lies, a thriller about two spies who meet and fall in love during separate missions in Prague during the Cold War. The story has been featured previously on This American Life and producers Ira Glass and Alissa Shipp will work on the film as well. The screenplay comes courtesy of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the duo behind Captain America: The First Avenger and Michael Bay's upcoming Pain & Gain. This should come as good news for fans of Robbins,...

He might not be Mr. Susan Sarandon anymore and his last film might have been less than exciting, but Tim Robbins is still a pretty good director. At least, we hope he still is, since we haven’t seen much from him since the late 90s. Good or bad though, he’s now at the helm of new spy thriller titled City of Lies, according to First Showing.

Plotwise, City of Lies will follow a CIA officer and lovely young Czech spy during the Cold War. It’s based on the short story ‘Wencelas Square’ by Arthur Phillips. If that doesn’t do much for you, try this: Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely of Captain America are behind the script. All good news for the developing thriller and Mr. Robbins, who might be a little bit shaky behind the camera after nearly 15 years away.

Robbins previous directorial outings have been outstanding,...

Tim Robbins will probably always be more famous as an actor than as a director, but he's had a pretty good run behind the camera as well, directing the 90s classic Dead Man Walking along with the TV movie Possible Side Effects and even two episodes of the HBO series Treme. Maybe it's that HBO work that's inspiring him to get his first film into theaters since 1999's Cradle Will Rock-- Robbins has signed a deal to direct an adaptation of the short story Wenceslas Square, which will become a feature film called City of Lies. You may recognize the story from the NPR show This American Life, of all places, where it was read on an episode in 2007. This American Life producers Alissa Shipp and Ira Glass will be involved with the film adaptation, according to THR, and the screenwriting duties will go to Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely,...

The Oscar-winning Mystic River star, Tim Robbins will get his fourth feature down with Endgame Entertainment adaptation of the Arthur Phillips-penned Cold War short story, Wenceslas Square.

The story has been scripted by Captain America’s writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Philip Noyce was reportedly attached to the director’s chair. The production will move forward under the title City of Lies.

Phillips’ tale is set in Czechoslovakia at the end of the Cold War and involves a love story of a younger member of the CIA who finds himself romantically entangled with a Czech agent while participating in separate missions in Prague.

The short aired on the radio during an episode of ‘This American Life’ last summer.

Robbins received an Oscar nomination for best director for 1995s Dead Man Walking and he was also nominated for the Palme d’Or at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival for his...

Last year Tim Robbins returned to the big screen for the first time in three years, but his talent was wasted in DC Comics' adaptation of Green Lantern. Fortunately, his next venture sounds more promising as he stars with Mark Ruffalo and Gwyneth Paltrow in a sex addiction comedy called Thanks for Sharing, which marks the directorial debut of The Kids Are All Right writer Stuart Blumberg. Now Robbins is gearing up for a different feature film return as THR reports the actor is getting back in the director's chair for City of Lies, the gestating adaptation of Arthur Phillips' short story Wenceslas Square. The film is a spy thriller about a young CIA officer and a beautiful Czech spy who meet in Prague during the Cold War era. Read on! Robbins hasn't directed a film since 1999's Cradle Will Rock and the powerful drama Dead Man Walking...

It's true! After a long hiatus, Tim Robbins has elected to direct a feature film again after several small TV gigs iincluding a two-episode stint on HBO's "Treme." Last seen in the feature film director's chair back in the 90s (Bob Roberts, Dead Man Walking, and Cradle Will Rock), Robbins replaces Phillip Noyce (Salt) on the spy story City Of Lies.  An adaptation of Arthur Phillips' short story Wenceslas Square by Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (Captain...

Tim Robbins has been attached to City of Lies. The 53-year-old star is in line to direct the spy romance film, The Hollywood Reporter claims. City of Lies follows two spies who fall in love while on separate missions in Prague. Robbins will be directing from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely's adaptation of Arthur Phillips' short story Wenceslas Square. During the '90s, Robbins directed features Cradle Will Rock, Dead Man Walking (more)...

Tim Robbins' directing credits have been sparse in recent years, but he's about to step behind the camera again for City Of Lies. The spy drama is based on the short story Wenceslas Square by Arthur Phillips. The narrative takes place in Czechoslovakia at the end of the Cold War, and revolves around two spies on different missions, who find time to fall in love when their paths cross. Shouldn't they have been more focused on photographing the secret papers (or whatever)? Can't get the staff these days.The film was originally earmarked for Phillip Noyce (Salt), but Robbins has picked it up after Noyce's departure. Robbins has recently directed a couple of episodes of HBO's Treme, but this will be his first really major behind-the-camera project since the triple-whammy of Bob Roberts, Dead Man Walking and Cradle Will Rock in the 1990s.Screenwriting team Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely...

Tim Robbins began a second career as a director in the 1990s with Bob Roberts (1992), Dead Man Walking (1995), and Cradle Will Rock (1999).  He took a break from features after that, though he directed a few television projects in the years since, including two episodes of Treme.  Robbins is ready to return to the big screen, as THR announces that the actor/director has signed a deal with Endgame Entertainment to helm City of Lies.  Captain America screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely will adapt the Arthur Phillips short story Wenceslas Square, which follows two spies who fall in love while on separate missions in Prague.  Phillips read an abridged version of the story on This American Life. Tal's Ira Glass and Alissa Shipp will produce along with Douglas E. Hansen (An Education) and Endgame's James D. Stern (The Raven).  Philip Noyce was previously attached to direct before Robbins came on board.

Tim Robbins, eternally affable in the face of the fact that he will always be Andy Dufresne, is heading behind the camera for the first time since 1999's Cradle Will Rock. He'll direct City of Lies, an adaptation of an Arthur Phillips short story. Though Robbins has stayed away from feature directing since his trio of films in the nineties, he did direct a season-two episode of Treme and has another coming in season three.

Today in 1938, The Cradle Will Rock opened at the Windsor Theatre. Originally a part of the Federal Theatre Project, it was directed by Orson Welles, and produced by John Houseman. The show was recorded and released on seven 78-rpm discs in 1938, making it the first cast album recording. Following the impromptu opening and a brief run at the Venice Theatre later renamed the New Century Theatre in July 1937, the production reopened on January 3, 1938, at the Windsor Theatre under the auspices of the new Mercury Theatre Company. It played a total of 108 performances.