Invictus star Matt Damon is reportedly in negotiations to play American politician Robert F. Kennedy in an adaptation of Evan Thomas' respected biography Robert Kennedy: His Life.
Like the book, the film is expected to follow the civil rights activist, who was the younger brother of President John F. Kennedy, from his early life through the 1960 and '68 presidential campaigns until his assassination.
Movie website Deadline Hollywood reports: "The film will trace RFK's transformation from the younger brother in the shadow of President John F. Kennedy to a strong national leader in his own right before he was gunned down in 1968."
Steven Knight is believed to be writing the script for the movie, which will be directed by Gary Ross. No further casting information has been revealed.
Michael Douglas has heaped praise on Matt Damon for agreeing to play his gay lover in a new biopic about flamboyant pianist Liberace.
Douglas will play the Polish-Italian musician in Steven Soderbergh's as-yet-untitled film, while Damon has been drafted in to play his boyfriend Scott Thorson.
And he commends Damon for balancing out his blockbuster films, including the Bourne trilogy, with more unusual projects like their upcoming collaboration.
He says, "I'm just going to get really comfortable so (my portrayal of Liberace) is not a caricature. Matt Damon's going to be my young lover. God bless Matt. He's right to take chances. It's smart to mix it up a bit and maintain the franchise and still get to do a picture that turns you on."
Liberace - real name Wladziu Valentino Liberace - was a huge star in the 1950s and 60s, famous for his showmanship and glittery suits.
He repeatedly refused to acknowledge his homosexuality, right up until his death from AIDS in 1987, at the age of 67 - even successfully suing a British tabloid for suggesting he was gay.
George Clooney wants to "train" Matt Damon in a bid to gain him a second Sexiest Man Alive title, after branding the actor's first win a "fluke."
Clooney is one of only four Hollywood hunks to be twice-crowned People magazine's most handsome man in the publication's annual sexy list, alongside Brad Pitt, Richard Gere and Johnny Depp.
And the star wants to get his Ocean's 11 co-star Damon, who took the title in 2007, back into shape so he can have another shot at the prestigious honour - insisting his pal doesn't stand a chance since he gained 30 pounds for his movie The Informant! last year.
He jokes to Britain's Zoo magazine, "Here's the thing. Matt Damon is very competitive with both Brad Pitt and myself. Brad and me are both two time Sexiest Men Alive. Matt's only won it one time and I sort of consider it a bit of fluke.
"Having seen him recently putting on all that weight for The Informant!, well, he's got a lot of work to do if he wants to get back. I'm going to train him and work with him because he's going to need to run a strong campaign this year."
His commitment to his acting roles even extends to changing his body time and time again.
In The Talented Mr. Ripley, he took off all kinds of weight to appear quite thin (remember the speedo scene) as he wormed his way into the life of Jude Law. Earlier in his career, People Magazine’s 2007 Sexiest Man Alive got positively gaunt for his role in Courage Under Fire.
Then in the recent The Informant, he put on 30 extra pounds to play a mustachioed corporate vice president who becomes a government informant.
In his latest body transormation, Matt has buffed up for Clint Eastwood’s Invictus, which tells the story of how Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) and the captain of South Africa’s rugby team Francois Pienaar (Damon) became allies to help unite the nation in the run-up to the 1995 World Cup.
Michael Douglas is taking a sharp turn from his usual roles to tackle the lead in a film biography of the campy musical performer Liberace, and Matt Damon is playing his longtime lover, director Steven Soderbergh confirmed.
"We've already done some costume and wardrobe tests on Michael, and they're very, very, very good." Soderbergh told a French newspaper at the Deauville Film Festival. "I swear to you, Michael amazed me. He crushed it."
Born Wladziu Valentino, the flamboyant, piano-playing Liberace, nicknamed "Mr. Showmanship" and "Glitter Man," was a staple of early 1950s television, and was an institution in Las Vegas until his death from AIDS in 1987. At his height, he made more money than Elvis and The Beatles.
Damon, Soderbergh said, has agreed to portray Scott Thorsen, the assistant/boyfriend whose 1982 palimony suit for $110 million publically outed the entertainer.
"Matt accepted the challenge," Soderbergh said. "But I have to say I'd already convinced him to gain 30 pounds for The Informant."
Liberace will be filmed off a script by writer/director Richard Lagravense, who was responsible for The Bridges of Madison County. Soderbergh said the budget will allow filmmakers to re-stage segments of Liberace's spectacular stage act, which often involved elaborate stunts such as flying or driving to his piano bench in a Rolls-Royce.
George Clooney has sworn revenge against pal Matt Damon - after his Ocean's Eleven co-star joked to a foreign reporter the ageing hunk was set to marry his gay partner.
The Bourne Identity actor recently admitted he fuelled gossip Clooney was secretly in love with another man and that the couple planned to marry.
He told reporters at a press conference for the Venice Film Festival earlier this week, "Brad Pitt was there (Venice) doing interviews for Inglorious Basterds and I guess people had been asking him, 'When are you and Angelina Jolie going to get married?' and he finally just said, 'Me and Angelina will marry when George Clooney marries his boyfriend!'
"The thing is, you do that in America and they just laugh; you do that overseas and I guess something gets lost in translation, so at eight in the morning, I'm doing interviews and this Italian journalist comes to me and says, 'Matt, is it true what Brad say (sic)?' I had no idea what he was talking about so I just said, 'Of course, yeah.'
"And he says, 'Do you mean George Clooney has a boyfriend?' I'm trying to keep a straight face so I go, 'Yeah, of course he's got a boyfriend,' and he goes, 'You mean, he wants to marry him? You know this man?' And we've been doing this for years so I go, 'Yeah, I know this man, he's great, that's why we want them to get married!'"
But Clooney is not going to let the joke go unpunished - especially after a reporter stripped off and professed his love for the Hollywood star after he had been 'outed'.
The actor reveals, "I'm going to do something. I've got something big planned."
Matt Damon and wife Luciana (in custom Burberry) are the picture of old Hollywood glamour Monday while walking the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival premiere of Damon's latest movie, The Informant! While he looked svelte, the actor told reporters he needed to pack on 30 lbs. for the role.
Looking tanned and trim, Matt Damon declared his latest film challenge as "probably the funnest time I've had working."
He also enjoyed making the movie The Informant!
What People's former Sexiest Man Alive was describing was adding 30 lbs. – not to mention the cheesy moustache, hairpiece and glasses – to become nearly unrecognizable for his role as Mark Whitacre, an agricultural company's vice president-turned-FBI informant.
"It was very, very easy to gain the weight," Damon told reporters at the Venice Film Festival on Monday. "It was very, very fun, probably the funnest time I had working because I didn't have to go to the gym after work and I just ate everything I could see."
Based on a true story, the comedy – which costars Two and A Half Men's Melanie Lynskey and Scott Bakula – is Damon's latest collaboration with Oceans director Steven Soderbergh.
In Venice with wife Luciana, Damon heads off to Toronto tomorrow for the film's North American debut just as pal George Clooney is expected to arrive in the Italian city for the red carpet turn of his film, Men Who Stare At Goats.
The political season is over, but Matt Damon is still on the campaign trail, pushing for People's reigning Sexiest Man Alive Hugh Jackman to take the honor again this year.
"Maybe he can be the first to do it back-to-back," says Damon, 38, who gave up the title to the X-Men star last year. "I'll start campaigning for that."
Damon also has ideas on who should not be up for consideration: His Oceans 11 cast-mates George Clooney and Brad Pitt, both of whom have been Sexiest Man Alive twice.
"It would be absolutely intolerable, so, no, I don't want either of those guys to three-peat," he joked while attending the Ante Up For Africa poker fundraiser Thursday in Las Vegas's Rio Hotel.
Aloha! Matt Damon goes for a dip off the shores of Hawaii on Monday while on vacation with his wife Luciana and daughters Isabella and Gia Zavala (not pictured).
Matt Damon doesn’t want to boldly go where no man has gone before.
J.J. Abrams, the director behind "Lost" and this summer's highly anticipated "Star Trek" prequel told Life Magazine he originally wanted Matt Damon for the role originated by William Shatner.
Abrams shared, "I actually approached Matt and we had some discussions, but everything happens for a reason. On the one hand, it would have been great to work with Matt -- but at the end of the day, it was such a better move to cast the movie with unknowns."
The ‘unknowns’ Abrams is referring to are led by Chris Pine as the Starship Captain John Kirk.
Abrams hopes the cast will add to the depiction of beloved franchise characters.
"It is fun to discover the stars of tomorrow, but even more so, just like with the first Star Wars, you didn't know who those people were when you saw the movie,' Abrams explains. "You believed that guy was Luke Skywalker. You didn't recognize him from six other movies. You bought into who this guy was. It is a slippery slope when you cast any actor that is somewhat known. We weren't beholden to any fame meter."
Star Trek will be released next month and costars John Cho, Simon Pegg and Winona Ryder.
Below is the most recent movie trailer, which includes an appearance by the original Dr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy.
They were close childhood friends, collaborated on the script for 1997's Good Will Hunting and then won Oscars for it. And even after Hollywood success and "ballooning" families, Ben Affleck says his friendship with Damon" has not only gotten stronger, with shared vacations, but they're planning another movie together.
"It's cool," Affleck, 36, told People of his and Damon's enduring bond, which includes mixing and mingling with their wives and kids. Affleck has two daughters with wife Jennifer Garner, while Damon, also 36, has two daughters with wife Luciana Barroso.
"We went on vacation last summer," says Affleck, who plays a congressman opposite Russell Crowe in the new thriller State of Play. "It's nice. It always has been. He's got his family ballooning, and we're doing okay – it's nice."
With the two having never veered from their shared Boston upbringing, Affleck observes, "I think it would be the same for anybody. You're friends when you are young, you have a certain life. Then in your 20s you have a different life. In your 30s you get married and have families."
Satisfying Friendships Given such a perspective, Affleck adds, "It's a different kind of satisfaction being around your friends, the friends you grew up with. They have kids, have barbecues and that kind of deal. That is really satisfying, too. It's one of the nice things about having friends for a long time."
Equally nice is that, with recent arrival Seraphina Rose joining daughter Violet, 3, at home, Affleck says, "I am very lucky. I feel blessed to look around and see that I've got a healthy family and a job. Especially nowadays, you really feel very good."
When it comes to being a dad, he's mastered many of the duties – including how to mash bananas properly – that his wife was once worried would require supervision.
"I'm in a pretty good zone right now," says People's 2002 Sexiest Man Alive. "I say that, and I'll go home to find everything exploded, [but] so far, so good."
All in all, he says, "I really am happy with what I'm doing now. In fact, I've never been at a place where I've felt better about going to work every day. I'm more engaged and very, very happy … I've really gotten comfortable with the things that are important to me."
Time to Re-Team In terms of professional projects, though they've costarred and shared cameos in various films and collaborated as producers on different projects, Affleck and Damon haven't been paired together on screen for five years. Affleck says the timing now feels right to re-team once again.
"Supposedly we're doing this thing next year" once their busy schedules dovetail, Affleck said. For his part, Damon has to complete three films – including a fourth turn as Jason Bourne – while Affleck, who received warm reviews for his 2007 directorial effort Gone Baby Gone, will be directing and starring in The Town, which Variety reports is an adaptation of the Chuck Hogan novel The Prince of Thieves.
"Matt is always pretty busy but claiming that he's going to try and slow it down a little bit," says his buddy. "He doesn't mind taking a year to wait. I would love to, it's great, and we're both busy. Matt lives in Miami, so it's hard to get a chance to see him. If we work together it's an excuse to hang out."
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Invictus star Matt Damon is reportedly in negotiations to play American politician Robert F. Kennedy in an adaptation of Evan Thomas' respected biography Robert Kennedy: His Life.
