Johansson, Adams, Winstead or McAdams to go to the zoo?; Leonardo Di Caprio may be a serial-killer; BIFA's nominees and winners predictions;

• Cameron Crowe, the director and screenwriter of highly praised movies like Jerry Maguire or Almost Famous and of some critical flops like Elizabethtown, seems to want some big names for his upcoming project: We Bought a Zoo. Matt Damon seems to be confirmed for the leading male role, alongside Thomas Hayden Church, but there's a list with Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Rachel McAdams to take the leading female role, with Johansson as the "most wanted" actress for the part.
  Here's the synopsis: "Zoo tells the true account of how Mee and his family used their life savings to buy a dilapidated zoo, replete with 200 exotic animals facing destruction, in the English countryside. Mee, along with his children, had to balance caring for his wife, who was dying of brain cancer, with dealing with escaped tigers, raising endangered animals, working with an eclectic skeleton crew and readying the zoo for a reopening."
  Personally (and as I think that everyone who read some of my previous blog entries), I like Scarlett Johansson as an actress and I miss her "indie times", so, if the script is something good, I will be happy to see her again in a small production. But, if her name is just one more rumour or if she denies being part of the project, I would like to see McAdams to take the leading role. But, now, I've a question - which is the leading role? Is it the wife with brain cancer or the leading man's daughter? I think we would be talking about the wife if there wasn't Mary Elizabeth Winstead...
  We Bought a Zoo is set for a December 2011 release and the filming seems to be set for early next year.
  
  
• Leonardo Di Caprio's next role may be as a serial-killer. According to Collider, "He is set to produce and star in an adaptation of the 2003 non-fiction book The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by author Erik Larson. Deadline reports that DiCaprio acquired the rights through his Appian Way production company, in partnership with Double Features.
  The book is based upon serial killer Dr. HH Holmes, who is said to have murdered anywhere between 27-200 people in Chicago during the time of the World’s Fair of 1893. He used the fair to lure people into his World’s Fair Hotel, which was later deemed the “murder castle”, wherein he would murder his victims and disassemble their bodies to sell for scientific study. The hotel included a gas chamber and a crematorium."
  It seems a good role, I mean, I think every audience likes a serial-killer and it's a pleasure to an actor to portray one. The Academy loves "people-who-love-to-kill-other-people" kind of character, so, it may be a good chance to Titanic's star for a win (he's a little bit overdue to take gold home).
  
  
• The nominations for this year’s British Independent Film Awards have been announced. It seems that The King's Speech leads in number of nominations (8), followed by Never Let Me Go, Monsters and The Arbor (all of them with 6). It seems that Another Year was snubed in the major category, but has nods in Best Director and acting categoris. Here's the list of nominees with my winner predictions with an * (I based my predictions in the "Oscar potencial" of some movies):
  
  
  BEST BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM
  •Four Lions
  •Kick-Ass
  •The King’s Speech *
  •Monsters
  •Never Let Me Go
  
  BEST DIRECTOR
  •Mike Leigh – Another Year
  •Matthew Vaughn – Kick-Ass
  •Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech *
  •Gareth Edwards – Monsters
  •Mark Romanek – Never Let Me Go
  
  THE DOUGLAS HICKOX AWARD [BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR]
  •Debs Gardner Paterson – Africa United
  •Clio Barnard – The Arbor
  •Rowan Joffe – Brighton Rock
  •Chris Morris – Four Lions
  •Gareth Edwards – Monsters *
  
  BEST SCREENPLAY
  •Jesse Armstrong, Sam Bain, Simon Blackwell, Christopher Morris – Four Lions
  •Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn – Kick-Ass
  •David Seidler – The King’s Speech *
  •William Ivory – Made In Dagenham
  •Alex Garland – Never Let Me Go
  
  BEST ACTRESS
  •Manjinder Virk – The Arbor
  •Ruth Sheen – Another Year
  •Andrea Riseborough – Brighton Rock
  •Sally Hawkins – Made In Dagenham *
  •Carey Mulligan – Never Let Me Go
  
  BEST ACTOR
  •Jim Broadbent – Another Year
  •Riz Ahmed – Four Lions
  •Colin Firth – The King’s Speech *
  •Scoot McNairy – Monsters
  •Aidan Gillen – Treacle Junior
  
  BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
  •Lesley Manville – Another Year *
  •Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
  •Rosamund Pike – Made In Dagenham
  •Keira Knightley – Never Let Me Go
  •Tamsin Greig – Tamara Drewe
  
  BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
  •Kayvan Novak – Four Lions
  •Guy Pearce – The King’s Speech
  •Geoffrey Rush – The King’s Speech *
  •Bob Hoskins – Made In Dagenham
  •Andrew Garfield – Never Let Me Go
  
  MOST PROMISING NEWCOMER
  •Manjinder Virk – The Arbor
  •Andrea Riseborough – Brighton Rock *
  •Tom Hughes – Cemetery Junction
  •Joanne Froggatt – In Our Name
  •Conor McCarron – Neds
  
  BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION
  •The Arbor
  •In Our Name
  •Monsters *
  •Skeletons
  •Streetdance 3D
  
  RAINDANCE AWARD
  •Brilliant Love
  •Jackboots On Whitehall
  •Legacy
  •Son Of Babylon
  •Treacle Junior
  
  BEST TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
  •The Arbor – Sound – Tim Barker
  •Brighton Rock – Cinematography – John Mathieson
  •The Illusionist – Animation – Sylvain Chomet
  •The King’s Speech – Production Design – Eve Stewart
  •Monsters – Visual Effects – Gareth Edwards
  
  BEST DOCUMENTARY
  •The Arbor *
  •Enemies of the People
  •Exit Through the Gift Shop
  •Fire In Babylon
  •Waste Land
  
  BEST BRITISH SHORT
  •Baby
  •Photograph Of Jesus
  •Sign Language
  •Sis
  •The Road Home
  
  BEST FOREIGN FILM
  •Dogtooth
  •I Am Love
  •A Prophet *
  •The Secret In Their Eyes
  •Winter’s Bone