Ridley Scott Gets Drunk

Hey guys, it's Donnie...I love Matchstick Men. I think it's clever, well-paced, well shot and full of outstanding performances, particularly Allison Lohman. Perhaps my favorite thing about it is the fact that it's directed by Ridley Scott. Yes, the man behind Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Black Hawk Down, Blade Runner and Alien made this charming little character study marked by a distinctive lack of explosions. What happened to that guy?

He may be returning soon to a theater near you. Scott's next project for 2006 is called A Good Year. It's the story of an English banker who inherits a vineyard in France and moves there to run the show and...ya know...drink. While there, he meets an American woman who claims that the vineyard is rightfully hers and I'm sure they get all lovey-dovey and...well you get the picture.

This project was announced a few weeks ago and I didn't really pay it much mind, however, since then we've gotten word on the three main roles being cast and it's now shaping up to be quite the picture. Russell Crowe will play the English banker, Albert Finney will play Crowe's uncle, (which means I'm pretty sure he'll be French and mostly deceased) and Marion Cotillard will play the American woman looking for her cut, thus leaving each actor playing a character from a different country than their own.

Finney and Cotillard worked together previously in Tim Burton's Big Fish, and it was really Cotillard's casting that got me excited enough to write this article in the first place. Aside from being drop-dead gorgeous, she's also insanely talented. She's radiant as Billy Crudup's wife in Big Fish and her work in Love Me If You Dare is absolutely out of this world. You can't help but totally fall in love with this girl. I'm looking forward to more fantastic work from her in the future, and if Ridley Scott can channel his work from Matchstick Men and avoid getting hit in the face with a telephone, this could be a movie to watch for.