Where Are the Missing Pictures?

Focus Features and Working Title are banking on “Theory of Everything” for 2014, putting off until next year usual suspect Stephen Daldry’s much-anticipated thriller “Trash,” starring Rooney Mara, which filmed with hand-held cameras on garbage dumps in Brazil. The film plays Brazil and Rome fests in October but has yet to book stateside festival slots. Cinephiles are eager to see the film after a well-received early teaser (below).

When will ex-Focus exec Andrew Karpen’s new distribution company Bleecker Street release Toronto pick-up Edward Zwick’s acclaimed chess biopic “Pawn Sacrifice,” for example? Some critics think Tobey Maguire has the right Oscar stuff. Broad Green Pictures’ “99 Homes,” another TIFF pickup directed by Ramin Bahrani and starring Michael Sheen and Andrew Garfield, is slated for 2015. 

The Weinstein Company has a bunch of postponed projects. Never expect Harvey Weinstein to hang onto his schedule of Oscar hopefuls, now led by November release and Best Picture frontrunner “The Imitation Game.” While he seems to be dumping well-reviewed “Tracks” with an early release (which opened soft) and favoring supporting player Adam Driver over star and would-be Best Actress contender Mia Wasikowska in print ads, he has plenty of other would-be contenders waiting for prime-time play.

Right now 2015 includes Olivier Dahan’s Cannes opener “Grace of Monaco,” starring Nicole Kidman as the Hollywood princess. Right before Cannes Harvey Weinstein closed a deal to release the movie at a reduced fee. He and Dahan are working together on a new cut–a release date is not yet set. One objective of the North American edit would be to placate Monaco’s royal family the Grimaldis, who were not pleased with the Cannes version.

Notably missing from the 2014 slate is Justin Kurzel’s moody Shakespeare drama “Macbeth” starring Michael Fassbender in the title role as the future King of Scotland. Marion Cotillard plays Lady Macbeth. The film is currently set for 2015, along with other high-profile films that are still in production–or in the editing room. 

Simon Curtis’s true story “Woman in Gold,” about Jewish WWII survivor Maria Altmann’s rescue of a Gustav Klimt painting stolen during the war, starring Helen Mirren as Altmann, Ryan Reynolds as a Jewish restitution lawyer, and Daniel Bruhl as his opponent, reportedly test-screened in New York this week. Still in the cutting phase is Antoine Fuqua’s promising fighter flick “Southpaw” starring Jake Gyllenhaal in awesome physical condition–presumably steering clear of Open Road’s “Nightcrawler”–and World War II heart-tugger “Suite Francaise,” based on the novel by Irène Némirovsky, starring Weinstein regular Michelle Williams, Kristin Scott-Thomas and Sam Riley.

TWC is also holding onto Todd Haynes’ next film, “Carol,” starring Mara and Cate Blanchett, which is still finishing up in the editing room, according to producer Christine Vachon. It wasn’t included in Cannes dog-and-pony show in May because it just wrapped shooting that month. Sundance or Cannes 2015 may be in its future. 

Harvey Weinstein could always stick in a new 2014 release if something Oscar-worthy materializes at the last minute.