1. Kenneth Branagh will make his New York stage debut in his celebrated new production of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” set to run next summer at the Park Avenue Armory. Directed by Branagh and Rob Ashford, the show opened at the Manchester International Festival, where it was staged “in a deconsecrated church with the audience seated in long pews.” Alex Kingston, who played Lady Macbeth in the original production, will reprise her role in New York. Branagh, who has recently taken to directing superhero movies like “Thor,” made his name on the British stage and has famously brought five of the bard’s works — “Henry V,” “Much Ado About Nothing,” “Hamlet,” “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” and “As You Like It” — to film. The new production of “Macbeth” is set to open in June 2014. [Artsbeat]
2. Woody Allen has been on a world tour in the past few years, making movies in Rome, Barcelona, and London. Recently, he told a reporter that he had been offered financing to make a film in Stockholm, but was waiting till he had the right idea for the location. Now, another city is working hard to have the New York-based comedian highlight their streets. Eduardo Paes, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro, told a local paper “that his administration would pay anything, including 100 percent of production costs, if the filmmaker should decide to shoot a film in the city.” For any filmmaker, that’s hard to turn down. Reportedly, the mayor has reached out to Allen’s sister, and even sent him a plane ticket. So basically, he’s begging. Paes also said that, if he paid Allen to come shoot in Brazil, local artists would most likely attack him. So maybe Woody’s doing the right thing. [Hollywood Reporter]
3. Legendary comedic actor Dick Van Dyke escaped a flaming car yesterday on an L.A. highway, and is reported to have no injuries. The pictures are scary. “The California Highway Patrol went into action at about 2 p.m. after receiving a report of a burning vehicle on the 101’s eastbound right shoulder,” it’s being reported, and a “pair of off-duty nurses assisted the driver, and two eastbound lanes were closed for a short time.” Van Dyke, 87, was fine, tweeting pictures of the wrecked car with jokes about how he was willing to sell it for real cheap. [CNN]
4. Timur Bekmambetov, the man who directed “Wanted,” a dreck of a movie starring Angelina Jolie, is in negotiations with MGM to direct a remake of “Ben Hur.” Why would MGM want to remake this film? Well, the book is in the public domain, which means they don’t have to pay any licensing fees, and they already bought an adaptation on spec, from writer Keith Clarke (“The Way Back”). “This film will tell the formative story of the characters as they grew up best friends before the Roman Empire took control of Jerusalem,” it’s being reported, and will be more faithful to the original book. Seriously, who wants to see this? Who at MGM really thinks this will do well? I want names, and I want to know their reasons. [Deadline]
5. Los Angeles-based duo No Age have a new album out, “An Object,” which is an unusual piece of work. The band took control outside of the record studio and decided, for a (not so) limited run of 6000, to do all the packaging themselves. Yes, that means they actually folded the liner notes, put the packaging together, and shipped them out, old-school punk style. Fugazi would be proud. You can watch the video for “An Impression,” which has the same homemade quality as the album, below. And then go buy the album. Independent artists who are doing interesting work need all the support they can get. [Stereogum]
—Craig Hubert
Previously: Bradley Cooper, Samuel Beckett, Box Office, “Breaking Bad,” Parquet Courts
Image: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images
