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Fri/Sat/Sun October 20~22, 2017

DIRECTOR Roman Polanski has returned to Poland for the fi rst time since the country’s top court rejected a U.S. extra-dition request last year to shoot a documentary about his life in wartime Krakow.

Polanski, 84, who had long been sought by U.S. authori-ties after fl eeing the country in the 1970s following a con-viction for unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl, was again in the head-lines earlier this month when a former German actress, Renate Langer, claimed the Oscar-winning director raped her in 1972.

Following last December’s decision by Poland’s Supreme Court to reject the U.S. extradi-tion request, Polanski, who has dual French-Polish citizenship,

is free to travel to Poland.Polanski is making docu-

mentary — working title “Polansk, Horowitz” — about his childhood and youth in the southern Polish city with his longtime friend, the photogra-pher Ryszard Horowitz.

Polanski was 9 years old when he met Horowitz, then aged 3, in a Jewish ghetto in the city. Horowitz, now 78, is one of the youngest survivors of the Holocaust, and his story

was told by Steven Spielberg in the Oscar-winning movie “Schindler’s List.”

Polanski and Horowitz are visiting places neither has seen since the war, including the small village near Krakow where Polanski went into hiding after escaping the ghetto and the apartment where Horow-itz developed his fi rst photos. Horowitz has lived for more than 60 years in New York; after fl eeing U.S. police in 1978, Polanski has lived in France.

“For us, this fi lm is a great responsibility,” said producer Anna Kokoszka-Romer. “Our main characters entrusted us with their incredibly personal memories. They have so many stories to tell, sometimes it’s really hard for us to keep up.”

(SD-Agencies)

Polanski to shoot fi lm about his childhood

‘The Croods 2’ fi nds its directorJOEL CRAWFORD, who most recently served as head of story on “Trolls,” will make his feature directorial debut on DreamWorks Animation’s “The Croods 2,” which is set for release Sept. 18, 2020. Additionally, Mark Swift, who most recently produced DWA’s “Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie,” is lined up to produce.

Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone and Ryan Reynolds lead the returning voice cast, as the Croods face their biggest threat since leaving the cave: another family. Additional cast mem-bers include Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman and Clark

Duke, as well as Leslie Mann, who is joining the cast.

“The Croods 2,” which was recently revived as an active project at DWA, is the follow-up to the studio’s 2013 Academy Award-nominated caveman comedy, which was helmed by Chris Sandlers and Kirk De Micco and garnered US$587.2 million at the global box offi ce.

Crawford has been a story artist on such DWA titles as the “Kung Fu Panda” franchise, “Rise of the Guardians” and “Bee Movie.” This fall, he will make his television directorial debut with “DreamWorks Trolls Holi-day,” which is set to air Nov. 24 on NBC. (SD-Agencies)

ACTOR Morgan Freeman is taking on the role of former U.S. secretary of state Colin Powell in “Powell,” a biopic from Ashok Amritraj’s Hyde Park Entertain-ment.

Reginald Hudlin, who is coming off the Thurgood Mar-shall biopic “Marshall,” will direct the drama, which will be produced by Amritraj and Lori McCreary, Freeman’s partner at Revelations Entertainment.

Ed Whitworth wrote the script that was on the 2011 Black List and is set during Powell’s tenure as secretary of state in the George W. Bush White House.

Powell, who went from respected army general to the fi rst African-American secretary of state, initially opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq, not believing Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

But he capitulated to hawkish voices in the White House and made a now-infamous case for war to the United Nations Secu-rity Council. The evidence he pre-sented was later discredited, and Powell has described the event as a low point in his career.

The script tells of the lead-up

to his UN presentation.Hyde Park Entertainment is

in postproduction on “Prey,” a thriller which is a co-production with Blumhouse, and is develop-ing an adaptation of Chekhov’s “The Seagull,” which will star Saoirse Ronan and Annette Bening.

Hudlin’s “Marshall” stars Chadwick Boseman and Josh

Gad in the story of a career-defi ning case for the man who would one day become the fi rst African-American Supreme Court justice.

Freeman and McCreary’s Revelation Entertainment has produced such fi lms as “Invic-tus,” in which Freeman portrayed another prominent black fi gure, Nelson Mandela, and is behind

such shows as CBS’ “Madam Sec-retary,” which is now in its fourth season, and NatGeo’s “The Story of Us With Morgan Freeman.”

Freeman last appeared on the big screen in the crime caper comedy “Going in Style” and will appear in Disney’s upcom-ing fantasy “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.”

(SD-Agencies)

Freeman to Play Colin Powell

VANESSA HUDGENS will join Jennifer Lopez in her romantic comedy “Second Act.”

The STXfi lms feature fol-lows a big-box store employee (Lopez) who, after reinventing herself, gets the chance to prove to Madison Avenue that street smarts are as valuable as a college degree. Hudgens will play Zoe, a young executive at a consumer goods company.

Lean Remini will also star in the feature, which will be directed by Peter Segal (“50 First Dates”). The script was written by Justin Zackham (“The Bucket List”) and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, and the project was developed spe-cifi cally for Lopez.

Goldsmith-Thomas, Zack-ham and Lopez will produce.

(SD-Agencies)

Hudgens joins in ‘Second Act’

ACTRESS Hilary Swank has signed on to star in “I Am Mother,” the Australian sci-fi thriller from director Grant Sputore. The fi lm is Sputore’s feature fi lm debut.

Swank joins an ensemble cast that includes Clara Rugaard, Luke Hawker and Tahlia Sturzaker. The indie for Southern Lights Films and Pen-guin Empire is based on a script by Michael Lloyd Green.

“I Am Mother” portrays a teenage girl raised underground by a robot mother designed to repopulate the earth follow-ing an extinction event. Their

unique bond is threatened when a blood-drenched stranger, played by Swank, is taken in by the teen, only to fi nd herself at odds with her gear-and-piston

parent. Overnight, the stranger casts doubt on Mother’s claims about the outside world and begins to unravel the fabric of their insular family. Unsure whom to trust, the girl begins to probe into Mother’s dubious nature

and uncovers the truth of her greater mission.

Swank’s recent work includes “55 Steps” and Steven Soder-bergh’s “Logan Lucky.”

(SD-Agencies)

Swank boards ‘I Am Mother’

Roman PolanskiRoman Polanski

Morgan Freeman Colin Powell Reginald HudlinMorgan Freeman Colin Powell Reginald Hudlin

Vanessa HudgensVanessa Hudgens

Hilary SwankHilary Swank