Before he skulked the streets of Seattle on The Killing and nabbed the role of Alex Murphy in the upcoming RoboCop reboot, Joel Kinnaman made a splash in his home country of Sweden with the crime drama Easy Money (nee Snabba Cash ). The Weinstein Co. snapped up the pic, which also put director Daniel Espinoza ( Safe House ) on Hollywood’s radar, and will debut it stateside this July… with the hefty endorsement of none other than Martin Scorsese. Finally (!) we have the first domestic trailer for Easy Money , in which Kinnaman’s pretty-boy business major, craving the wealthy lifestyle he never had growing up, becomes entangled with warring crime lords in Stockholm and finds himself in way over his head. In Easy Money , which screened to a packed house last weekend at the LA Film Fest , Kinnaman stars as JW, a small-town opportunist who attends business school by day and drives cabs at night. His dorm room walls are covered with fashion inserts from mens’ magazines, the blueprints by which he fakes his way into the upper-class social circle that he longs to be a part of. There’s a rich girl, Sophie, who catches his eye, and privileged bankers’ sons he befriends, but as much as JW is consumed by his need to be accepted by into this world of wealth and class, he’s acutely aware that he’s living a lie. Enter opportunity, in the form of local gangster Abdulkarim (Mahmut Suvakci), who has a task for JW: Pick up prison escapee Jorge (Matias Varela) for a small fortune, no questions asked. JW complies, seeing the chance to finally seize the life he dreams of. But as a rival gang’s operative (Dragomir Mrsic) begins questioning his own priorities — namely, the young daughter he hardly knows — the stakes escalate as all players follow their own agendas in the pursuit of a payday. Presented with English subtitles, Easy Money (based on the novel by Jens Lapidus) will be released on July 27, and as the domestic trailer hints at, Espinoza’s storytelling transcends the language barriers; his weaving of storylines and character motivations becomes impressively engrossing as Easy Money reaches its climax, bolstered by solid performances and a layered editing style. [Trailer debut via Apple ]
Also in Thursday morning’s briefs: Bill Clinton heads to Monaco for celebrity fundraising, Obama is criticized for helping Kathryn Bigelow’s latest film on Osama bin Laden, and a pair of fan-friendly sites team up for ticket initiative. Kanye West Hosts Cannes Party and Premiere The hip-hop artist debuted Cruel Summer at a beachside venue in Cannes Wednesday night. The project, a fusion of short film and art installation, will be available to the public for two days of screenings via www.cruelsummer.com . Rumors flew that he would perform as happened last year at the festival, but West opted out this time around. President Clinton, Prince Albert Raise Cash in Monaco The first annual Nights in Monaco gala raised $750K for the former president’s William J. Clinton Foundation and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation. Princess Caroline, Diane Kruger, Joshua Jackson, Billy Zane and Rose McGowan were among the attendees. The event coincided with the Cannes Film Festival, about a 45-minute drive away. Entertainment One Nabs Freaky Deaky Charlie Matthau’s homage to the ’70s will go to eOne, the company announced from Cannes. Based on Elmore Leonard’s 1988 novel of the same name, the film stars Crispin Glover, Billy Burke, Michael Jai White and Christian Slater in a darkly comic tale of murder, manipulation, money and movies. It premiered last month at the Tribeca Film Festival. Around the ‘net… Obama Admin Under Fire for Hollywood Bin Laden Access The Administration is taking some heat for granting Kathryn Bigelow access to the Navy SEAL team that killed the Al Qaeda leader last year, The Guardian reports . Sony Snaps up Ethan Hawke Time-Travel Thriller The sci-fi action thriller Predestination has been picked up by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions. The story “chronicles the life of a temporal government agent sent on an intricate series of time-travel journeys designed to stop future killers,” and will be directed by Michael and Peter Spierig, who previously directed Hawke in Daybreakers . THR reports . Moviefone and Fandango Team for Tix Sales The two companies are forging a ticketing partnership focusing on mobile phone and tablets, Thompson on Hollywood reports .
This could be fun: “Gary Oldman has inked a deal to star opposite Joel Kinnaman in MGM’s remake of Robocop . Kinnaman ( The Killing ) plays the title character, a cop named Alex Murphy who is brought back from the brink of death and turned into a cyborg police officer. Oldman will play Norton, the scientist who creates Robocop and finds himself torn between the ideals of the machine trying to rediscover its humanity and the callous needs of a corporation.” [ THR ]
These deals-in-the-making stories always carry a grain of salt since nothing in Hollywood is ever so sure just about until the cameras roll, but the trade scoop that The Killing ‘s Joel Kinnaman may be your next RoboCop is just too tantalizing. Joel Kinnaman who , you may ask, and rightly so? The Swedish-American actor’s been in a handful of stateside film projects here and there (including the recent Safe House and, briefly, Fincher’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo ) but the closer I look at his work, the more enticing this casting move becomes. According to a Tweet by Variety’s Jeff Sneider (also confirmed by Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter ), Kinnaman has been offered the lead in Jose Padilha’s reboot of Paul Verhoeven’s 1987 sci-fi pic. “Dealmaking is expected to begin imminently,” writes THR’s Boris Kit, whatever that really means. In any case, it’s the first solid movement on a RoboCop lead since those Michael Fassbender fantasy rumors were waved away by the secretive Padilha. Kinnaman’s not an obvious choice to headline a high profile franchise reboot, but he’s been dancing on the cusp of breakout status for a few years. The 32-year-old Kinnaman got his start in Swedish film, most notably taking the lead in Daniel Espinosa’s crime adaptation Easy Money (AKA Snabba Cash ), based on Jens Lapidus’s novel; the film is being released in the U.S. on July 27 and will be remade in English with Zac Efron , while a Kinnaman-starring sequel, Snabba Cash II , is set for release in Sweden in 2012. According to the Swedish website Ostran.se , Kinnaman was once up for the leads in both Thor and Mad Max 4 (the roles went to Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hardy, respectively), so Hollywood filmmakers have already been looking at him to carry a major studio release. But while he’s obviously pretty easy on the eyes, it’s his screen presence — whether speaking English and Swedish — that’s impressed me the most. Take a look at Kinnaman below and weigh in: Is there cause to be excited if this is indeed your new RoboCop? Snabba Cash trailer: In a scene from Swedish franchise entry Johan Falk: National Target (opposite Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol ‘s Samuli Edelmann): Behind the scenes on AMC’s The Killing (via Slashfilm ): In the trailer for Snabba Cash II (via Playlist ):
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