Lee's "Oldboy" gets release date; Fincher wants Pitt for "Leagues"

Spike Lee and Min-sik Choi in Park Chan-Wook's Oldboy. Photo: Collider

Spike Lee’s Oldboy releases a year from now
FilmDistrict will bring Spike Lee’s remake of Oldboy to theaters October 11, 2013, according to Indiewire. Based on Park Chan-Wook’s acclaimed 2003 film, a revenge story about a man released from prison after 15 years, Lee’s Oldboy will star Samuel L. Jackson, Elizabeth Olsen and Josh Brolin.

Lee’s documentary Bad 25 about Michael Jackson and his seminal album Bad opened Friday, October 19. The director also released Red Hook Summer earlier this year.

Richard Fleischer’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Fincher picks Pitt for Verne epic
Verne’s beloved Ned Land may very well be played by Brad Pitt in David Fincher’s 3D adaptation of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, according to Empire. Although Pitt has not confirmed the role, Variety reported Fincher wants him to play the sailor aboard Captain Nemo’s Nautilis. Fincher began work on 20,000 Leagues in 2010 with Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven) writing the screenplay.

Land has been played by Kirk Douglas in Richard Fleischer’s 1954 adaptation and Paul Gross in Michael Anderson’s 1997 adaptation. Pitt and Fincher have worked together on Seven, The Mysterious Case of Benjamin Button and Fight Club.

Chasing Ice

Indiewire on Chasing Ice politics
Jeff Orlowski’s debut documentary Chasing Ice had its New York premiere on October 17, just days before screening in our Mountainfilm in New York festival. The film follows photographer James Balog as he photographs ice, attempting to concretely capture climate change. His work led to the Extreme Ice Survey and the incontrovertible evidence that the glaciers are melting. Balog used two dozen cameras in Iceland, Greenland, Alaska, and Montana to take photos every hour for years, capturing evidence of receding glaciers. Chasing Ice is Orlowski’s account of Balog’s brilliant obsession with the environment. Indiewire covered the doc's first New York screening and has some fascinating things to say about the politics behind this Oscar contender.