The Last Station Trailer

What a treat to have all these great actors in the same film. Can't wait.

6 Clips from The Last Station

ScreenDaily reports that Helen Mirren won best actress for The Last Station at the Rome Film Festival:

Helen Mirren won Rome’s Silver Marc’Aurelio award for best actress for her performance as Leo Tolstoy’s devoted wife in Michael Hoffman’s The Last Station. Gabriele Muccino presented the honour to Mirren, who brought the house down with an acceptance speech in Italian in which she cited the inspiration of Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura and that of the iconic actresses Monica Vitti, Claudia Cardinale, Stefania Sandrelli, Gina Lollobrigida and Sophia Loren.

Then there's this gorgeous new still of James McAvoy's character in bed with Masha, played by Kerry Condon


5 more clips from The Last Station have surfaced and you can view them after the jump.

9 Teaser Trailer

This looks really interesting. 9 was a 2005 Oscar nominated short by director Shane Acker, who was part of the Lord of the Rings special effects team. Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (director of Wanted) have teamed up to produce a full length film also named 9, directed by Shane Acker. The animated film has the voice talents of Elijah Wood, Jennifer Connelly, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau, Christopher Plummer, and John C. Reilly.

The film takes place in a world parallel to our own, in which the very legacy of humanity is threatened. A community of fully mobile rag dolls living a post-apocalyptic existence find one of their own, 9 (Wood), displaying leadership qualities that may help them to survive. The conflicted but resilient community includes 1 (Plummer), a domineering war veteran; 2 (Landau), an aged inventor; 5 (Reilly), a stalwart mechanic; 6 (Glover), a visionary and artist; and 7 (Connelly), a brave warrior.

Looks amazing and I am very intrigued after watching the original short film. 9 will be out on 9-9-09!

The author of The Last Station interviewed

The Scotsman has an interview with Jay Parini, author of the novel The Last Station which is being made into a movie starring James McAvoy, Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren.

It's the first time McAvoy, who plays Tolstoy's shy, virginal amenuensis, Valentin Bulgakov, has starred opposite his wife, the actress Anne-Marie Duff, since they met on the TV series Shameless.

The movie is due out later this year. "They have to gear these things to the timing of the Oscar nominations, apparently," says Parini, who is tipping The Last Station for at least seven nominations. "If we don't get them, I'll eat my hat," he says.

It's McAvoy's movie. "As Tolstoy's young secretary, he's in every scene and he's brilliant as the ingenue. He was born to play this part. He's one of Scotland's treasures."

Filming began this spring at a small railway station near Wittenberg, south of Berlin. The "station" was dressed to resemble Astapovo junction in Russia, where Tolstoy died in 1910, in the stationmaster's house, after fleeing his family and disciples.

The Last Station Press Conference

For James McAvoy lovers . . . Two photocall and press conference videos in Germany for The Last Station:

Leo Tolstoy Biopic lines up amazing cast

Talk about an ensemble replacement. In an attempt to replace Anthony Hopkins and Meryl Streep in The Last Station, Warner Bros. has found Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren.

Director Michael Hoffman's (A Midsummer Night's Dream, One Fine Day, Soapdish) Leo Tolstoy biopic The Last Station began shooting April 7 in Germany with several more high-quality players on board. Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer join Paul Giamatti, James McAvoy, and McAvoy's wife Anne-Marie Duff in the film, which is based on Jay Parini's 1990 novel.

According to Variety, the movie follows "the turbulent final year in the life of the Russian writer and philosopher and his troubled marriage." Plummer will play Tolstoy and Mirren will step into the role of Tolstoy's wife Sofia. Giamatti plays Tolstoy's trusted follower Chertkov, a supporter of the writer's nonviolent socialist Christian movement who becomes Sofia's cunning adversary, while McAvoy plays a naive private secretary sent by Chertkov to work for Tolstoy. British actress Anne-Marie Duff stars as Tolstoy's daughter Sasha.