Sony Pictures Classics has revealed the first trailer for Truth, the directorial debut by noted screenwriter James Vanderbilt (Zodiac, The Amazing Spider-Man) starring Oscar winners Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine, Carol) and Robert Redford (All is Lost, Captain America: The Winter Soldier). Check out the Truth trailer below.

The Weinstein Company has made it official, as if there was really any doubt who is a lead and who is supporting in its November 20 release, and Oscar hopeful, Carol. No sooner had my flight back from the Toronto Film Festival landed at LAX than I received a call from TWC clarifying that it definitely will be campaigning Cate Blanchett for Lead Actress and Rooney Mara for Supporting. Ever since the TIFF debut to rave reviews and strong audience reaction on Saturday night of Blanchett’s other 2015 contender, Truth, there has been speculation that to avoid canceling herself out, the Weinstein Company and Sony Pictures Classics (which is releasing Truth on October 16) might try to avoid a Solomon’s or Sophie’s Choice here and shoehorn one or the other performance from Blanchett into supporting.

It’s certainly been done before, as I pointed out in a Sunday column addressing this very issue. In fact, in order to avoid that kind of situation, TWC campaigned another Kate, as in Winslet, for Supporting Actress for The Reader in 2008, so as not to Truthcollide with her other big role in Paramount’s Revolutionary Road that same year. But as it turns out, it is not wise to tell the Academy performers branch what is a leading role vs. supporting. They don’t always fall in line like lemmings. Winslet, despite that supporting campaign, was nominated for Lead Actress instead for The Reader and eventually won. There was no nomination for Revolutionary Road. And though groups like the Hollywood Foreign Press Association determine which performance goes into lead or support, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences leaves that decision solely to each voting actor. [Source]

The keenly focused intelligence and low-boil intensity that James Vanderbilt demonstrated in his screenplay for “Zodiac” are on impressive display in “Truth,” a portentously titled but duly absorbing, blow-by-blow account of the “Memogate” controversy that shamed CBS News, ended Dan Rather’s career as the network’s anchorman, and became a chastening historical footnote to the re-election of President George W. Bush. As Vanderbilt’s crisp, polished directorial debut takes pains to remind us, it also led to the downfall of “60 Minutes” producer Mary Mapes, cast here as the fierce, embattled heroine of a stomach-knotting newsroom thriller that plays like both a companion piece and a counterpoint to the more edifying “Spotlight”: It’s the feel-bad journalism movie of the year, a despairing last gasp for an era when substance mattered more than scandal. Complex, incisive and high-minded, sometimes to a fault, the Oct. 16 Sony Classics release should spin its juicy subject matter and lead turns by Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford into a solid commercial showing during another noisy election season; still, there remains a somewhat too-tidy fastidiousness to the picture that will keep it securely in the “pretty good” tier of 2015 prestige releases.

Introduced hiring a lawyer who will represent her during an internal investigation that CBS is conducting, Mapes initially comes across as a figure only moderately less wired and desperate than the Xanax-popping socialite Blanchett played in “Blue Jasmine.” It’s a slightly unflattering introduction in a picture that is otherwise fairly transparent about mounting a cinematic vindication of sorts for Mapes, whose 2005 book, “Truth and Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege of Power,” provided the foundation for Vanderbilt’s screenplay. In short order, the film flashes back to April 2004, with the producer in her “60 Minutes” prime — a widely respected and accomplished figure in her field whose long-running collaboration with Rather (Redford) has just enjoyed a career peak with their groundbreaking report on Abu Ghraib. As Mapes herself notes with more objectivity than ego, their work is “the gold standard,” a bastion of investigative rigor in an industry that devotes less and less time and resources to serious news gathering.

Armani have shared with us a video, showing us Cate getting ready, being photographed and having plenty of giggles with her co-star. Looks like a fun day at work…

Armani Si is £44 for 30ml and available from September 1st. [Source]

Carol, Laurel, Jules, Therese, Maud. These are just a few of the lead characters in a fall season that is by all accounts a big one for female-driven movies.

“Freeheld,” based on a documentary, stars Julianne Moore as the terminally ill New Jersey police detective Laurel Hester, who becomes an advocate for gay rights when government officials prevent her from assigning her pension benefits to her domestic partner (played by Ellen Page). Based on a Patricia Highsmith novel, “Carol” is a 1950s melodrama with Cate Blanchett as the married title character and Rooney Mara as her lover, Therese, that has already won accolades at Cannes. “Suffragette” tells the little-known story of the militant women’s emancipation movement in England, directed and written by women, with Carey Mulligan as Maud, a foot soldier in the fight. “The Intern,” directed by Nancy Meyers, follows Jules (Anne Hathaway), an Internet entrepreneur struggling to manage her company’s success with the help of an intern (Robert De Niro) who’s a senior citizen.

And there are more — “Brooklyn,” “Truth” and “Sisters,” to name a few. All are garnering attention, some are even the subject of Oscar talk, and yet their very existence is still a rarity in Hollywood.

Cate Blanchett’s latest film Carol, which got a standing ovation at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, will have its Australian premiere as part of this year’s Adelaide Film Festival.

Directed by Todd Haynes and set in Manhattan in the 1950s, it tells of the relationship of wealthy and married socialite Carol (played by Blanchett) and department store assistant Therese Belivet (played by Rooney Mara).

“I think the studios have a kind of repeated amnesia about the fact that people actually want to see films about women and they can be profitable,” Haynes told 891 ABC Adelaide.

Some critics are talking of Oscar hopes based on Blanchett’s role.

“It’s just an incredible performance from Cate. I was there is Cannes to see the world premiere and I am just so delighted that we can bring it here to Adelaide,” festival director Amanda Duthie said.

“We have 10 Australian premieres, including the completely magnificent Carol starring Cate Blanchett, in our feature competition and a whole range also in the documentary competition.”

More than 180 films will screen during the Adelaide Film Festival from October 15 to 25. [Source]

The awards-season push is in full swing now at the Weinstein Company, which this morning launched a new trailer for Carol, its Cannes competition pic that landed co-star Rooney Mara a best actress prize there. It has been working its way through the fest circuit since May, landing a gala screening at the London Film Festival and then its U.S. premiere over the weekend at Telluride.

Some new stills for ‘Truth’ have been added to the gallery.

Gallery Link:
— Truth (2015) > Movie Stills

Australian actor Cate Blanchett is to be awarded a BFI Fellowship by the UK’s lead film agency, the British Film Institute, at this year’s London film festival.

The BFI Fellowship – not to be confused with a similarly titled honour given by Bafta (the British Academy of Film and Television Arts) – is a lifetime achievement award given by the BFI board of governors and presented for “outstanding achievement in film and television”. There have been some 80 previous recipients, including Al Pacino, Judi Dench, Mike Leigh and, most recently, Mel Brooks.

Blanchett, who was born and brought up in Melbourne, Australia, shot to international fame in 1997 when she starred opposite Ralph Fiennes in the adaptation of Peter Carey’s Booker-prize winning novel Oscar and Lucinda. She went on to win a string of awards, including Oscars for best supporting actress (The Aviator in 2004) and best actress (Blue Jasmine in 2013). She also played the elf queen Galadriel in all six Tolkien films directed by Peter Jackson. Aside from film work, Blanchett has taken on numerous theatre roles, and spent five years as co-CEO and artistic director of Sydney Theatre Company with her husband, playwright Andrew Upton.

Two of Blanchett’s most recent films – Carol, a romance adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price of Salt (which got a five-star review from Peter Bradshaw), and Truth, about American TV journalist Mary Mapes – will screen at the London film festival, where Blanchett is due to receive her award on 17 October.

The 2015 BFI London film festival runs from 7-18 October [Source]

Cate Blanchett is attached to star in an authorized biopic of Hollywood legend Lucille Ball that Aaron Sorkin is set to write for Escape Artists, TheWrap has learned.

The film will chronicle Ball’s 20-year marriage to Desi Arnaz, with whom she starred on the classic TV sitcom “I Love Lucy.” Ball had two children with Arnaz before they divorced in 1960. She married Gary Morton the following year.

Lucie Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr. will produce with Escape Artists, whose executive Jenna Block will oversee development of the project on behalf of the Sony-based company.

A representative for Blanchett declined to comment, while a representative for Sorkin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Blanchett won the first of two Academy Awards for playing another Hollywood icon, Katharine Hepburn, in Martin Scorsese‘s “The Aviator.” She’s gearing up for another Oscar run thanks to her acclaimed performance in Todd Haynes‘ lesbian romance “Carol.” Blanchett also stars opposite Robert Redford in the Toronto-bound drama “Truth” and co-stars in a pair of upcoming Terrence Malick movies.

The Hamptons International Film Festival has tapped James Vanderbilt’s Truth as its opening night film.

The film, which stars Robert Redford, Cate Blanchett, Topher Grace and Elisabeth Moss, will screen Oct. 8 in East Hampton. Based on a true story, Truth centers on news anchor Dan Rather (Redford) during his final days at CBS News when he broadcast a report about how President George W. Bush relied on privilege and family connections to avoid fighting in the Vietnam War.

Sony Pictures Classics will release the film in theaters Oct. 16.

“We had the pleasure of having James Vanderbilt serve as a mentor in our Screenwriters Lab back in 2009, and we’re thrilled to have him back as the director of our Opening Night film,” HIFF artistic director David Nugent said. “He’s made a sharp and insightful film with wonderful performances that makes audiences consider the ever-changing relationship between journalism and politics in today’s media.”

This year’s Narrative Competition feature films include Matt Sobel’s Take Me to the River, Ciro Guerra’s Embrace of the Serpent, Avishai Sivan’s Tikkun, Grimur Hakonarson’s Rams and Diasteme’s French Blood.