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Here's the thing about remakes: even the bad ones can't taint our fond memories of the original. Which is why I'm choosing not to feel any way at all about today's news that Ld Entertainment's Jacob's Ladder "reimagining" will be directed by David M. Rosenthal, who helmed last year's critically-reviled thriller The Perfect Guy (which nevertheless made $60 million at the box office). Before that: A Single Shot starring Sam Rockwell (49% Rotten Tomatoes score) and Janie Jones starring Abigail Breslin (52%). Am I sensing a downward trend here? Joining Rosenthal for the destined-to-be-mediocre effort is his Perfect Guy star Michael Ealy, who is talented and attractive and will likely be wasted in the lead role. All due respect to Rosenthal, but his resume makes it pretty clear what kind of "remake" they're going for here. The original Jacob's Ladder may not be a masterpiece, but it is still a bracing, personal and...

Fox is assembling a remarkably high-profile cast for its upcoming Ryan Murphy anthology series Scream Queens. In addition to previously-cast series leads Emma Roberts and Jamie Lee Curtis, the comedy-horror series will star Lea Michele (Fox’s Glee), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine, Zombieland), Keke Palmer (Akeelah and the Bee) and Joe Manganiello (HBO’s True Blood). Meanwhile, Victorious co-star and breakout chanteuse Ariana Grande has landed a recurring role.

Whether all those actors will be singing as well as acting is unclear, but it’s a sure thing that Michele, Palmer and Grande will belt out at least a few numbers. Breslin is a likely candidate for a singing role, too, seeing as she showcased her vocal abilities in the little-seen drama Janie Jones back in 2010 and has also been an occasional member of dream-pop band Stargroves.

The stacked cast is less surprising when you consider the show’s pedigree.

Principal photography has started today on Screen Gems. new thriller The Perfect Guy, starring Sanaa Lathan (The Best Man Holiday), Michael Ealy (Think Like A Man,About Last Night) and Morris Chestnut (Think Like A Man, The Best Man Holiday). The film, directed by David M. Rosenthal (A Single Shot, Janie Jones) also stars Charles S. Dutton (.Longmire.), Rutina Wesley (.True Blood.) and Kathryn Morris (.Cold Case.).

A dark, tightly wound backwoods thriller with a twist, "A Single Shot" premiered earlier this year at the Berlinale, and hits theaters September 20. Well-designed and executed by director David M. Rosenthal ("Janie Jones") from Matthew F. Jones’s script and novel of the same name, the film features uniformly fine performances by a cast including Sam Rockwell as an unlucky ex-farmer and hunter, Kelly Reilly as his estranged wife, an unrecognizable Jeffrey Wright as his alcoholic friend, William H. Macy as a gimpy small-town lawyer, and Joe Anderson and Jason Isaacs as seriously creepy denizens of the deep, wet forestlands. Atli Örvarsson’s eery score and Edward Grau’s claustrophobic cinematography further the finger-clenching suspense. A review roundup is below: Guardian:As befits the blood-and-mud spattered backdrop, there's much gruesome razor-slicing and corpse-lugging on display: a forceful reminder, you would suppose, of the elemental natural forces at work. Only...

A hunting accident that leaves a young woman dead and the discovery of a box of cash. What could possibly go wrong? As you might expect, a lot, if that simple premise sets off a chain of events in the upcoming thriller "A Single Shot." A pretty solid ensemble is lined up for this one with Sam Rockwell, Jeffrey Wright, Jason Isaacs, William H. Macy, Melissa Leo, Kelly Reilly and Ophelia Lovibond all starring in the tale of a hunter who accidentally shoots a teenage girl and then discovers a small fortune while trying to dispose of her body. But when killers come looking for the cash, he's forced to defend his life and family.  The film is an adaptation of the book by Matthew F. Jones and is directed by David M. Rosenthal ("Janie Jones"), and while the concept sounds pretty nifty, we weren't all that impressed when we saw the movie in Berlin,...

As its title indicates, a single shot sets off a string of chaotic events in the new movie starring Sam Rockwell and William H. Macy.

"A Single Shot" depicts a deer hunter (Rockwell) who accidentally shoots and kills a woman, then discovering she was carrying a suitcase full of money. He grabs the cash and runs, attempting to cover up the murder, only to find out the money belongs to a group of criminals.

David M. Rosenthal ("See This Movie," "Janie Jones") directs the thriller, with Macy starring as the lawyer the hunter hires for representation during his divorce suit with his wife (Kelly Reilly). The film also features Jeffrey Wright, Jason Isaacs, Ted Levine and Melissa Leo.

"Shot" saw its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival and made its way stateside at the Tribeca Film Festival. It will be released Aug. 20 on video-on-demand and Sept. 20 in theaters.

Tribeca Film and Well Go USA Entertainment announced today they have co-acquired U.S. rights to "A Single Shot," directed by David M. Rosenthal ("Janie Jones") and written by Matthew Jones. The film had its North American Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. The ensemble includes Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy, Jeffrey Wright, Jason Isaacs and Kelly Reilly.  Rockwell plays a West Virginia hunter who accidentally shoots and kills a woman in the woods. When he finds a box of money near her body, he takes it to fight his wife's divorce suit. But he soon realizes he's handling dirty money, the criminals who lay claim to it are willing to hunt him to get it back. "David M. Rosenthal fashions a backwoods thriller with intense performances by a stellar cast of indie stalwarts and eerily beautiful cinematography," said Geoffrey Gilmore, Chief Creative Officer Tribeca Enterprises. "Festival audiences were riveted by this dark,...

David M. Rosenthal’s anticipated A Single Shot premiered out in Berlin earlier in the year, and the early reviews have been very promising.

Descriptions of ‘noir’ and ‘haunting’ qualities abounded from the Berlinale back in February, and it’s a film I’ve been looking forward to even more since its debut.

Sam Rockwell takes the lead of a brilliant cast. And whilst we’re still not yet sure about when we can expect it to arrive in theatres, the first teaser trailer has debuted online, and it’s as powerful as you’d expect it to be.

A Single Shot revolves around a simple man, John Moon, a tragic accident, his despair and the need for immediate redemption. Moon, while stalking a deer out of season, accidentally shoots and kills a teenage girl. When trying to dispose of her body in a cave, he stumbles upon a hefty sum of money.

In 2011, writer-director David M. Rosenthal won notice at the Tribeca Film Festival with his music-fueled feature Janie Jones, which starred Abigail Breslin and Alessandro Nivola in an unconventional family drama. This year he's returning to the fast-approaching fest with A Single Shot. Matthew F. Jones adapts his own crime novel into a seemingly chilling thriller that stars Sam Rockwell as a desperate man. Last spring when Rockwell signed on to play John Moon, a role Michael Fassbender was formerly slated to play. Moon is an impoverished poacher whose hunting skills keep him in trouble but free from starvation. However, hunting off-season can be dangerous for reasons beyond crossing paths with forest rangers. With the titular single shot, Moon kicks off a chain of events that bring more heat on his tail than he'd ever imagined. A Single Shot boasts an incredible supporting cast that includes Jeffrey Wright, Jason Isaacs, Academy...

Film Festival Videos has the first trailer for A Single Shot, which is set to premiere later this month at the Tribeca film festival (April 17-28)

This movie looks chilling, especially the shot of river. Sam Rockwell’s cold performance is a complete transformation from his energetic persona in the movie Seven Psychopaths (2012). See some additional stills attached at the end (from the official Facebook page).

Synopsis:

The tragic death of a beautiful young girl starts a tense and atmospheric game of cat and mouse between hunter John Moon and the hardened backwater criminals out for his blood.

The film is directed by David M. Rosenthal (See This Movie, Janie Jones) and stars Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy, Jeffrey Wright, Kelly Reilly and Jason Isaacs.

Trailer for A Single Shot (2013)

Jeffrey Wright looking creepy…

William H. Macy getting punked.

Sam Rockwell brandishing a fire arm.

A Single Shot will premiere...

Though the development process wound up stretching across a couple of years, with a few actors coming and going along the way, it's hard to argue with the impressive lineup David M. Rosenthal ("Janie Jones") assembled for "A Single Shot":  Sam Rockwell, Jeffrey Wright, Jason Isaacs, William H. Macy, Melissa Leo, Kelly Reilly ("Flight," "Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows") and Ophelia Lovibond ("No Strings Attached," "London Boulevard"). Not too shabby at all. And while it was one of our most anticipated movies of the Berin International Film Festival, the end result didn't exactly win us over, but you'll soon be able to judge for yourself. The first trailer for the movie has dropped, and it certainly highlights mood over plot or anything else. Based on the book by Matthew F. Jones, the story follows Rockwell's John Moon, a hunter who accidentally shoots a teenage girl and then discovers...

Later this year, audiences will get a chance to see Sam Rockwell have some fun as he helps Liam James work through some social anxiety over a tumultuous summer turned life-changing experience in The Way, Way Back (read my Sundance review here). But before that, he's getting gritty and serious in A Single Shot, which is playing at the Tribeca Film Festival later this month after premiering in Berlin earlier this year. In the film Rockwell plays John Moon, who gets involved in an accidental crime, all while trying to get his family back together. It looks pretty tense and seems to showcase the raw talent of Rockwell yet again. Here's the Tribeca trailer for David M. Rosenthal's A Single Shot, found via The Film Stage: A Single Shot is directed by David M. Rosenthal (Janie Jones) and written by Matthew F. Jones, who adapted his own 1996 novel of the same name.

ABC's The Returned written by Aaron Zelman has cast Frances Fisher. The story has Arcadia residents seeing their dead loved ones return, and comes from Brad Pitt's Plan B, ABC Studios and Brillstein Entertainment, reports Deadline. Charles McDougall, who helmed the pilot of The Chicago Code, numerous Sex and the City eposodes, The Office, Big Love and More, directs the pilot of The Returned. Veteran actress Fisher played Detective Saxon in TV's The Edge of Night series from the late 70s to early 80s, and has had constant work since then, with credits including Laws of Attraction, The Shield, Eureka, Janie Jones, The Lincoln Lawyer, and the recent Retribution thriller. Fisher's up next in the adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's The Host helmed by In Time's Andrew Niccol...

ABC's The Returned written by Aaron Zelman has cast Frances Fisher. The story has Arcadia residents seeing their dead loved ones return, and comes from Brad Pitt's Plan B, ABC Studios and Brillstein Entertainment, reports Deadline. Charles McDougall, who helmed the pilot of The Chicago Code, numerous Sex and the City eposodes, The Office, Big Love and More, directs the pilot of The Returned. Veteran actress Fisher played Detective Saxon in TV's The Edge of Night series from the late 70s to early 80s, and has had constant work since then, with credits including Laws of Attraction, The Shield, Eureka, Janie Jones, The Lincoln Lawyer, and the recent Retribution thriller. Fisher's up next in the adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's The Host helmed by In Time's Andrew Niccol...

Last time we reported on A Single Shot, it was 2009 and an up-and-coming young star called Michael Fassbender was attached to take the lead. Fast-forward to now and the film is complete, but stars a ruggedly hirsute Sam Rockwell instead. Heralding its premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, a handful of new stills has arrived.The film started shooting last April, and has managed to stay more-or-less under the movie news radar, despite a powerhouse cast sees Rockwell supported by Willam H. Macy, Jeffrey Wright, Jason Isaacs, Melissa Leo and Kelly Reilly. It's directed by cinematographer and former documentarian David M. Rosenthal (Janie Jones, Falling Up), and written by Matthew F. Jones, who adapted his own novel.The story involves a hunter, John Moon (Rockwell) who's down on his luck after the loss of his family farm but is able still to put food on the table as a master poacher.

Gone are the days of a mangled production history – A Single Shot must have started and stopped a couple of times, switched casts before helmer David M. Rosenthal (Janie Jones) along with thesps Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy, Melissa Leo, Jeffrey Wright, Jason Isaacs, Kelly Reilly, Joe Anderson and Ophelia Lovibond were lassoed in March of this year. The book to film adaptation of Matthew F. Jones’s novel – a crime thriller filmed in Vancouver comes equipped with Cinematographer Eduard Grau (A Single Man), Composer Atli Örvarsson (The Burning Plain) , Production Designer David Brisbin (In the Cut), and Editor Dan Robinson (Daniel Mulloy’s short film filmography).

Gist: The tragic death of a beautiful young girl starts a tense and atmospheric game of cat and mouse between hunter John Moon and the hardened backwater criminals out for his blood.

Production Co./Producers: Unanimous Pictures’ Chris Coen, Aaron L. Gilbert, Unified Pictures’ Keith Kjarval,...

Fans of writer Matthew F. Jones have a lot to celebrate. His novel “A Single Shot” is about to be turned into a big screen thriller, and the names attached are enough to make even the most hardened film cynic squeal with glee. Deadline Charlottesville reports that production has now begun on the adaptation, which is under the direction of David M. Rosenthal (Janie Jones) and stars a cast that includes names like Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy, Jeffrey Wright, Joe Anderson, Jason Isaacs, Kelly Riley, Ophelia Lovibond, and Melissa Leo. Jeez, Mr. Rosenthal, you had me at Sam Rockwell. But for those not sold just at the sight of all those talented names listed together, take a look at the Amazon plot synopsis of Jones’s novel: “John Moon lives alone in a trailer on the land that was his family’s farm until the bank foreclosed on it years ago (for reasons he has never...

Losing Forest Whitaker can’t be very much fun, but A Single Shot just grabbed a replacement that, for myself, might actually be an improvement. According to Variety, Jeffrey Wright has taken Whitaker’s place in the upcoming thriller, thus putting him in the company of a remarkably solid cast — Sam Rockwell is leading, while William H. Macy, and Jason Isaacs are among the primary supporting players.

Written by Matthew F. Jones (who’s adapting his own novel) and directed by David M. Rosenthal (Janie Jones), A Single Shot revolves around John Moon (Rockwell), a hunter who unintentionally kills and then tries to dispose of a teenage girl. But, during this heinous act, Moon uncovers a small fortune that only adds another layer to the brewing face-off between himself and those seeking vengeance.

A Single Shot began shooting last week, thus making it a likely 2013 releases.

With this cast and premise,...

Jeffery Wright ("Casino Royale") will replace Forest Whitaker in the thriller "A Single Shot" at Unified Pictures and Bron Films says Variety.

Sam Rockwell plays a hunter who accidentally shoots a teenage girl while illegally poaching deer. Trying to dispose of her body, he stumbles on a small fortune and is forced into an atmospheric game of cat and mouse between himself and some backwater criminals.

Jason Isaacs and William H. Macy have also joined the cast. David M. Rosenthal ("Janie Jones") directs from a screenplay by Matthew F. Jones and shooting kicked off in Vancouver last week.

Abigail Breslin is growing up.

Yes, the 15-year old already has an Oscar nomination, but that came for playing a very sweet and innocent child. Now, she's doing things like romancing boys on film -- which, in the new flick "New Year's Eve," led to her very first on-screen kiss.

In the film, she plays a girl heavy after Disney Channel vet Jake T. Austin. How her kiss went down, well, you'll have to watch the video below, from The Hollywood Reporter, to find out. But note that no matter how well this smooch went, Breslin is probably a bit disappointed that it didn't happen with another one of her co-stars: Zac Efron.

Breslin also just starred in "Janie Jones," another more mature role that saw her playing the deserted daughter of a drug addict who gets stuck with her fledgling rock star dad.

Watch:...

If you're still upset that Michelle Williams' Oscar nominations for "Brokeback Mountain" and "Blue Valentine" didn't translate into gold statues, you may be finding solace with her performance in "My Week with Marilyn." In portraying 1950's bombshell Marilyn Monroe, the actress has found herself at the center of Academy Awards talk yet again.

The film centers around Monroe's first and only trip to England while shooting "The Prince and the Showgirl," and her unexpected week-long whirlwind romance with a young assistant director named Colin Clark (played by Eddie Redmayne), from whose memoirs the movie is based. With a cast that includes Emma Watson (in her first post-"Potter" role), Kenneth Branagh, Toby Jones, Dominic Cooper and Judi Dench, "My Week with Marilyn" is generating considerable buzz as an intriguing look at celebrity culture in an age before TMZ.

To get a firsthand account of the movie, we turned to...

With a stunning, uncompromised performance from Michael Fassbender, "Shame" is easily one of the most powerful films of the year. Fassbender plays a deeply conflicted sex addict hopelessly seeking anything to fill his needs.

The endlessly talented Carey Mulligan plays his quirky and also troubled sister, and their broken relationship is an acute link throughout the movie. The film generated headlines after it was dealt an Nc-17 rating, but everyone involved has now embraced it as a badge of honor. And unlike the last major motion picture to get that grade, the ill-fated "Showgirls," the Nc-17 delivers an unflinching and breathtaking experience.

Steering this ship is Steve McQueen, the award-winning director of "Hunger" who helmed and co-wrote "Shame." To delve into his buzzed-about pic, McQueen was kind enough to participate in our "Call-In Commentary" series, where filmmakers provide audio commentary to their trailers. "Shame" opens in limited release on December...

In a sea of upcoming remakes, sequels and prequels, "American Reunion" has broken through them all. Sure it's technically a sequel to "American Pie," but it's more than that. It's a meta experiment about reuniting the entire original cast of a groundbreaking blockbuster for an in-movie high school reunion. The passage of years from the 1999 premiere is counted in real-time, with the characters having now entered their thirties. They have beards and kids and breast implants. But some things never change, and the film is based on the collision of those two identities.

For a breakdown of what's in store, we turned to Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg, who along with creating "Harold & Kumar," are now the writers and directors of "American Reunion." Both of them participated in our "Call-In Commentary" series, where filmmakers provide narration to their movie trailers and so in the video below, hear their approach to the whole project,...

Janie Jones

Directed by: David M. Rosenthal

Starring: Abigail Breslin, Alessandro Nivola, Elisabeth Shue

Rating: Unrated

Release Date: unknown

Trailer Score: 5/10

Thoughts by Tsr: This is not a Junie B. Jones movie (a children’s book character who I thought this would be about). Nor is this film Somewhere, Sophia Coppola’s most recent film which covered another rockstar/estranged daughter situation. It’s another story of a rockstar (Nivola) who is thrown together with the daughter he didn’t know he had (of course) but learns to love her because she writes music. I got that from the trailer, which seemed to tell the whole story of the film. Shue plays another Leaving Las Vegas-type put upon female who leaves her daughter with her shiftless father because she’s having some sort of break down. Breslin seems very self-possessed, but the rest of the film looks like a...

We've all been guilty of telling a white lie to get out of something, but what if you accidentally made up a story that completely upended your life? That's the situation facing Lonnie in the new film "The Lie," who, in the spur of the moment to ditch work, tells his insufferable boss that his young daughter has died. As you can imagine, things begin to snowball quickly.

The director, co-writer and star of the film is Joshua Leonard, who you may know as one of the three students from "The Blair Witch Project." Since then Leonard has transitioned into filmmaking, with "The Lie" being his feature-length directorial debut. To get his personal take on his cinematic baby, we enlisted Leonard for our "Call-In Commentary" series where directors provide narration for their movie trailer. You can watch the results of that below. "The Lie" premieres in New York City on...

HollywoodLife.com spoke to the actress at the premiere of her new flick 'Janie Jones' and she says singing may be her next big thing! Abigail Breslin has won over the hearts of many in her roles as the adorable little girl in movies such as Little Miss Sunshine and Signs. But the actress who is used to being in the spotlight tells us that there's a chance she might make a career switch from the silver screen to the radio waves! Abigail admits: "I always liked singing and I’d took a few voice lessons for fun before I started filming [Janie Jones] and I heard about the movie so I took a few more. After the movie I loved doing it and it kind of inspired me to start my own band. I’m into the band right now so we’re working on an album. As for...

When writer-director David M. Rosenthal put pen to paper to write Janie Jones, a story loosely based on his own life, it was cathartic and challenging. Capturing a powerful personal moment is not easy, and that is exactly what he set out to do with his film. Rosenthal tells us about that effort, and its difficulty, and gives us insight into how a man turns finding out he has a child almost two decades after its birth and translates it into a powerful and moving piece of cinema with Janie Jones.

Janie Jones Exclusive: Writer-Director David M. Rosenthal Interview

Don’t miss our exclusive interview with the Janie Jones' stars Abigail Breslin and Alessandro Nivola, and tell us it’s not astounding in our interview above: The pride Rosenthal has for his 15-year-old lead in Breslin who blows doors with her performance.

In the new film "Janie Jones," opening this week, Abigail Breslin plays a girl whose mother leaves her with her rock star father, played by Alessandro Nivola. The music and emotional heart of the inspirational story is brought to life by the two actors. Having completed "Coco Before Chanel" in France, Nivola joined the project a week before shooting began. After listening to the music demo and talking to director David M. Rosenthal about his personal inspiration for the story, Nivola jumped on a plane to Des Moines to record 13 songs in about 24 hours. Breslin was shooting "Zombieland" when she got the script and was excited by the opportunity to play a completely different kind of character. Breslin and Nivola sat down to talk with Back Stage about their experiences playing the father-daughter musical duo.Back Stage: Alessandro, what role did music play in attracting you to "Janie Jones"?Alessandro.

It's not an easy thing, playing a father-daughter rock-duo, and making it seem authentic. For "Janie Jones" stars Abigail Breslin and Alessandro Nivola had to fit the bill, but it was easier for one than the other.

Breslin may be known for her dance moves from her breakout role in "Little Miss Sunshine," but when it came to singing, she was a novice before getting the role. "For me, I never really sung before. I started taking a few voice lessons just for fun, and then it was kind of coincidence that this script came about," said Breslin, who plays the titular role of Janie Jones, a young sing-songwriter abandoned by her mom and left to live with her dead-beat rocker dad, played by Nivola.

The role presented Breslin with an opportunity that she found both rewarding and stressful. "It was incredibly nerve-racking especially to go in with somebody who was so experienced,...

If you're one of those people with an elevator phobia, and your co-workers always laugh at you when you walk ten flights of stairs to get to a meeting, and your friends always groan when you spit out the statistic that there are twenty to thirty elevator-related fatalities per year, then you'll have the last Mf laugh after reading this: Thursday night, after the premiere of Tribeca Films' critically acclaimed Janie Jones at the Gramercy Park Hotel, the director and stars of the films — including actors Josh Charles (pictured above) and Alessandro Nivola, director David Rosenthal and comedian Seth Herzog — fell eight stories from the rooftop bar before the emergency brake finally went off. The fourteen terrified passengers were stuck for more than half an hour before they all climbed out on their own, minutes before the Fdny arrived to help them evacuate. The next morning, Gramercy [...]...

Stars including The Good Wife's Josh Charles, actor Alessandro Nivola and director David M. Rosenthal were left fearing for their lives at a movie party in New York as their hotel elevator plummeted from the 16th floor.

The group, which also included British actor Guy Burnet, actress Rosie Fellner and comedian Seth Herzog, was leaving the afterparty for new movie Janie Jones at the Gramercy Park Hotel in Manhattan on Thursday night.

They got into an elevator and headed down from the rooftop terrace, but when another couple got in on the 16th floor, the compartment dropped and plummeted eight floors before stopping.

Janie Jones director Rosenthal tells Nymag.com, "We've all had a couple of drinks... and we're just piling into the elevator... Everyone is yelling and hooting... (The couple) decide to jump in, and as soon as they jump in, the thing starts plummeting down. His girlfriend is lucky she didn't get killed because her foot was barely inside the door when the elevator dropped. I think we fell eight stories before the emergency brake went off. We initially thought we'd gone all the way to the basement and bounced on the springs."

Emergency services were called to the scene, but the frustrated group decided not to wait, and took action themselves, climbing out of a gap in the doors onto a floor.

Rosenthal adds, "(One guy) decided he just wanted out of there, so he dropped his glass, which broke on the floor, and climbed through the gap... He turned around and stuck out his hand and was like, 'Okay, who's next?'"

Gramercy manager Elizabeth Mao confirmed the incident in a statement, insisting the elevator will now undergo thorough testing: "There was an elevator malfunction... Our security team responded to the incident immediately... All guests were safely evacuated... We are ensuring the elevator car in question undergoes a thorough inspection..."...

After the New York premiere party of "Janie Jones," director David Rosenthal and actors Josh Charles (Four Brothers, Swat) and Alessandro Nivola (Jurassic Park 3, Face/Off) all stepped into an elevator on the sixteenth floor of the Gramercy Park Hotel. There were a total of twelve people inside the elevator, which stopped a few flights down to pick up more passengers. When the two additional people jumped in, the elevator started to plummet down. The door was still open and they could see the floors rushing by. "I think we fell eight stories before the emergency brake went off," said Rosenthal. "[The last passenger's] is lucky she didn't get killed because her foot was barely inside the door when the elevator dropped." The crowd of fourteen was stuck below the second floor. At first everyone was happy to be alive, but then started to panic as time passed. Eventually Alessandro's brother alerted...

HollywoodNews.com: Today you’ll read some glowing reviews for actors Alessandro Nivola and Abigail Breslin in a terrific indie film called “Janie Jones.” But Hollywood isn’t always glamorous. Late last night, firetrucks were suddenly called to the posh GramercyHotel, where the “Janie Jones” cast was partying after its premiere. Nivola, director David Rosenthal, the film’s producers, actor Josh Charles, and producer Celine Rattray got stuck in the elevator. This was not the usual glitch. The gang was stuck for almost 3o minutes until the Nyfd gallantly saved them.

Earlier at the party, both Nivola and Breslin performed for the partygoers, including actors Parker Posey, Celia Weston, Mitchell Lichtenstein, Nev Schulman, and journalist Annette Tapert, each showing off their musicianship.

Nivola, who is non pro but plays an errant rock star in the film, turns out to play a mean slide guitar. Breslin, who’s 15 and an Oscar nominee from “Little Miss Sunshine,...

Hanging out post-jam session at the New York premiere of "Janie Jones" in New York Thursday night. Director David M. Rosenthal (middle) with Oscar-nominated actress Abigail Breslin and actor Alessandro Nivola at the Gramercy Terrace at the Gramercy Hotel in New York's Gramercy (Ggg). Both Breslin and Nivola separately took to the stage and did performances for the crowd playing guitar and singing (check out a video we took of ...

Filed under: Movie News

Things got pretty scary following the New York premiere party of 'Janie Jones,' a Tribeca Film release starring Abigail Breslin, Alessandro Nivola and Elisabeth Shue. 14 people -- including Nivola, 'The Good Wife' star Josh Charles, and 'Janie Jones' director David M. Rosenthal -- were trapped in a falling elevator at the Gramercy Park Hotel in Manhattan. Said Rosenthal to Vulture: "We initially thought we'd gone all the way to the basement and bounced on the springs."

Continue Reading...

Oscar-nominated actress Abigail Breslin ("Little Miss Sunshine") took to the stage Thursday night at the Gramercy Terrace at the Gramercy Hotel for an impromptu-ish performance at the NYC premiere of "Janie Jones," directed by David M. Rosenthal. In the film, also starring Alessandro Nivola, Elisabeth Shue, Brittany Snow and Joel David Moore, she plays the daughter of a rocker (Nivola) who unexpectedly is left with her as he embarks on ...

In Janie Jones, Abigail Breslin and Alessandro Nivola play father and daughter who only moments into the film discover they are even related. Breslin and Nivola recently sat down with Movie Fanatic for an exclusive interview taking us inside how this onscreen dad and daughter managed to sing to beautifully, literally and figuratively through their acting.

Abigail Breslin and Alessandro Nivalo Janie Jones Interview

Nivola and Breslin also extol the visionary virtues of the writer-director of Janie Jones, David M. Rosenthal, and how the world of Nivola’s character -- a rock star whose band’s level of esteem is on its way down -- truly spoke to both of them in the context of a touching family story.

Sit back, relax and enjoy the Movie Fanatic exclusive video interview of an onscreen father and daughter that showcases how the father and daughter type bond did not stop once the film wrapped.

Janie Jones writer/director David M. Rosenthal

In David M. Rosenthal’s latest feature, Janie Jones, we meet Ethan Brand (Alessandro Nivola), a petulant beer-guzzling indie rocker on the verge of being washed-up who is suddenly confronted with a reality beyond sound checks and publishing issues: he is abruptly introduced to the daughter he birthed 13 years prior, Janie Jones (Oscar nominee Abigail Breslin). The introduction is accompanied by abandonment by Janie’s mother (fellow Oscar nominee Elisabeth Shue), a once groupie who is still hooked on that lifestyle’s accessories: mainly drugs and a bad choice in men. What follows is more than a look into the budding relationship between a father and daughter, we see Ethan recognizing his place in the world a little more clearly and a young girl discovering her talent has great value to many people.

Mr. Rosenthal wrote and directed this film which came out...

As noted in our Fall Preview Guide, earlier this year I fell in love with "Janie Jones." The film follows a young teen (Abigail Breslin, in another memorizing performance) who is abandoned by her junkie mother (Elisabeth Shue) and left to fend with her hard-partying rock star father Ethan Brand (Alessandro Nivola) whom she's never met before. Ill-suited to care for a daughter he didn't even know existed, Ethan reluctantly takes her on tour as his world begins to collapse around him.

"Janie Jones" brings an incredible amount of heart to what's essentially a road trip movie between two unlikely companions, coupled with a slate of original songs performed by both Nivola and Breslin, who learned to sing and play guitar for the role. To get further insight into this gem of a film, we asked director David M. Rosenthal to participate in our Call-In Commentary series, where filmmakers provide...

Below director/writer David M. Rosenthal ("See This Movie") shares a scene from his personally inspired father-daughter rock film "Janie Jones," starring Abigail Breslin, Alessandro Nivola and Elisabeth Shue. The Tribeca Film release opens in limited release October 28. A faded rock star is forced to take responsibility for the daughter he never knew he had in Janie Jones, a funny and touching road trip through the world of rock 'n' ...

Below director/writer David M. Rosenthal ("See This Movie") shares a scene from his personally inspired father-daughter rock film "Janie Jones," starring Abigail Breslin, Alessandro Nivola and Elisabeth Shue. The Tribeca Film release opens in limited release October 28. A faded rock star is forced to take responsibility for the daughter he never knew he had in Janie Jones, a funny and touching road trip through the world of rock 'n' ...

Title: Janie Jones Director: David M. Rosenthal Starring: Abigail Breslin, Alessandro Nivola, Elisabeth Shue, Peter Stormare, Joel David Moore, Frances Fisher, Brittany Snow, Frank Whaley If Abigail Breslin stars in a film these days, it’s more than likely that she is going to be playing someone that acts considerably older than her age. Since her breakout Oscar-nominated turn in Little Miss Sunshine, Breslin has made precociousness her specialty, presenting herself as equal in maturity to the adults in films as diverse in tone and genre as Definitely, Maybe and Zombieland. Breslin herself is only fifteen, and that fact only makes it slightly easier to remember that her characters are supposed...

For those who found Sofia Copolla’s Somewhere too arty and Crazy Heart too hicky, writer-director David M. Rosenthal’s Janie Jones offers an alternative. Alessandro Nivola plays an alcoholic rock star who’s on a downward career trajectory when he meets Abigail Breslin, the teenage daughter he didn’t know he had, from a one-night stand that he doesn’t remember. The other half of that one-nighter, Elizabeth Shue, dumps Breslin on Nivola then disappears into rehab, right as Nivola’s band, tour, and label deal all fall apart. Fortunately for Nivola, Breslin has plenty of experience with taking ...

This month On Demand via Tribeca Film: Janie Jones, The Last Rites of Joe May, Romantics Anonymous, and The Man on the Train. Tribeca Film, in partnership with American Express, brings you the best of independent film wherever you are. Now available in over 40 million homes. Four new films will become available On Demand starting October 28... Janie Jones Dir. David M. Rosenthal Rocker Ethan Brand (Alessandro Nivola) and his band are on the comeback trail when a former flame (Academy Award® nominee Elisabeth Shue) drops a bomb in his lap: their 13-year-old daughter, Janie Jones (Academy Award® nominee Abigail Breslin). Nivola and Breslin naturally embrace their musical characters - both actually sing and perform in the film - while developing Ethan and Janie's relationship in a refined way to delicately express the emotional needs of the characters. Writer/director David M. Rosenthal, who was inspired by his own experiences, blends...

After premiering at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival to warm reviews, the music-tinged father daughter drama Janie Jones is coming to theaters on October 28. It's the story of what happens when a fading rock star (played by Alessandro Nivola) gets left behind by his band and, at the same time, is forced to start taking care of his young daughter Janie (Abigail Breslin), who has some serious music talent of her own. We're premiering an exclusive clip from the film below, in which you can see both the budding relationship between father and daughter and the musical chops they both have. Here's the full synopsis for the film which you can find both theatrically and on-demand starting October 28, via Tribeca Film. A faded rock star is forced to take responsibility for the daughter he never knew he had in JanieJones, a funny and touching road trip through the world of...

Little Miss Sunshine star Abigail Breslin has credited her musical role in new movie Janie Jones with inspiring her to form a band with her best friend.

The 15-year-old actress plays a teenager who uses music to escape her unhappy relationship with her parents and she learned to play guitar and even wrote a song for the soundtrack.

Breslin subsequently formed a band, called Cabb, and she admits the film role has changed her life.

She tells the New York Post, "I got inspired to write music, play guitar, even do a record. I started a pop-rockish band with my best friend, Cassidy, and three musicians. It's called Cabb. They call me Abb. We've recorded a few songs, and hopefully people will soon hear us.

"We even recorded a song for Gary Marshall's New Year's Eve film and sang it for him as a gift... I just got a new guitar. A black Takamine. Bon Jovi has the same one. I play with a pick. You can put together chords. I can string together four chords. And I just learned a new strumming rhythm. I work with other musicians, which makes me humble because they're so much better."...

Fifteen-year-old Abigail Breslin, America's erstwhile Little Miss Sunshine, is growing up -- not too fast, like some of her Hollywood peers and predecessors seem to be, but in her own time. Still: In the upcoming New Year's Eve, she'll share her first movie kiss; next year, she takes on the role of a real life teen killer. To kick off this new phase in her career, Breslin plays her first official teenage role in this week's music-themed Janie Jones, starring (and performing her own vocals) as a capable young girl forced on a road trip with the rock star father she never knew.

Title: Janie Jones Directed By: David M. Rosenthal Written By: David M. Rosenthal Cast: Abigail Breslin, Alessandro Nivola, Elisabeth Shue Screened at: Broadway, NYC, 10/13/11 Opens: October 28, 2011 At first glance, “Janie Jones” looks like the perfect picture for the Lifetime series, all about sweetness and light with little cynicism. However, stay with it and you’ll discover that the movie deserves far more credit than you’d think given two superb performances. This is not say that there’s anything in “Janie Jones” that’s unpredictable or that takes us away from the typical trajectory of good news, bad news, good news. Besides, there’s an array of fourteen original songs which are...

Who says you have to wait until Friday to make a trip to the movies? Why not spice up your workweek with a Free exclusive screening of a new film that hasn't even hit theaters or VOD? This Tuesday, October 11 at 7pm, Tribeca Film and the Time Out New York Film Club will be presenting David M. Rosenthal's new film, Janie Jones, staring Academy Award® nominee Abigail Breslin, Alessandro Nivola, and Academy Award® nominee Elisabeth Shue. The film follows rocker Ethan Brand (Nivola) on the road with his indie band for a comeback tour when a former flame (Shue) drops a bomb in his lap: their 13-year-old daughter, Janie Jones (Breslin). Rosenthal's sharp film showcases the musical nature of the story as well as the talents of his lead actors: both Nivola and Breslin sing and perform in the film. You're sure to be mesmerized by this father-daughter tale,...

'Let's take this show on the road!' That's what American Express® said to Tribeca Film, and over the next six weeks, that's just what we're going to do. Won't you join us? American Express invites Cardmembers to experience Tribeca Film Festival On the Road in Houston: October 14-15; Westfield, NJ: October 21-23; San Francisco: October 28-30; and Chicago: November 11-13. In each city, Cardmembers will enjoy exclusive screenings of some of the year's best independent films, followed by Q and A sessions with the filmmakers after each showing. Ticket proceeds will benefit the Tribeca Film Institute. In Houston, the two-day festival will kick off Friday night at the Alamo Drafthouse (in the West Oaks Mall) with a 7:30 pm screening of Janie Jones on Friday, October 14. The rock ‘n' roll drama, which premiered at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, stars Abigail Breslin and Alessandro Nivola as a musical daughter and...