Film News: Ryan Gosling and more for Cannes 2014, Marc Webb talks Spiderman 2

RYAN GOSLING, KEN LOACH, MIKE LEIGH & DAVID CRONENBERG IN COMPETITION AT CANNES 2014
The line-up for the 2014 Cannes Film Festival has been unveiled, with highlights including what may well be the final film from veteran British director Ken Loach, who presents his new film Jimmy's Hall, and a new biopic about the painter J. M. W. Turner, starring Timothy Spall, from Loach's contemporary and fellow Palme d'Or-winner Mike Leigh. 

Also appearing as part of Cannes 2014 is Ryan Gosling's directorial debut How To Catch A Monster, nominated in the Un Certain Regard category, and David Cronenberg's new film Map to the Stars, starring Robert Pattinson. Visionary French director Jean-Luc Godard will present a new work, Goodbye to Language. Tommy Lee Jones' second film as director, The Homesman, starring Hilary Swank, will also receive a premiere, as will Capote and Moneyball director Bennett Miller's dark Foxcatcher, starring Steve Carell.

The full selection of films for 2014 also includes work by Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev, and Mauritania's Abderrahmane Sissako. Japan's Naomi Kawase will present Still the Water, while The Miracles, starring Monica Bellucci, sees Alice Rohrwacher representing Italy. British director Andrew Hulme, who was the cinematographer for Control and The American, is also nominated in the Un Certain Regard category for his directorial debut Snow In Paradise. More details about the official selection will be available soon from the Cannes Film Festival site.

MARC WEBB TALKS SPIDER MAN 2 AND FRANCHISE PLANS
In an interview with Den of Geek, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 director Marc Webb has discussed his experiences of working on the first two films in the Andrew Garfield-starring franchise, and his plans for its expansion. Firstly, Webb admits that as opposed to working on an independent movie like his breakthrough, 500 Days of Summer, working on the Spider-franchise is primarily about fan service. "It's not about me," he says. "It's not an auteur kind of experience. It's just not about me, it's the only way I can describe it... it's about protecting and engaging that character, and trying to service that universe. To protect what people love about him. It's a different muscle, and it's about embracing that."



He also talks about how watching his first film in the franchise on an IMAX screen changed his approach to editing part two. After watching The Amazing Spider-Man, he decided that in the sequel he was going to "hang longer on shots. I'm going to try and play the action out in longer, broader strokes. Which I think allows you to have an interrupted, more emotional physiological response. I wanted it to be bigger. I stepped back a little bit and allowed things to happen in a wider frame. It was a very technical thing, but it has a huge impact on people's experience of it."

Asked about what the next step for the franchise would be, Webb replies: "I don't know yet! We've got to figure out the Sinister Six. Drew [Goddard] has some really cool ideas, which I cannot get into! But we're talking about that, and building out the universe in a way that will be interesting. That's the next step, and then in terms of the third Spider-Man film, we'll start soon." Read the full interview here.

TARANTINO'S THE HATEFUL EIGHT SCRIPT READ-THROUGH
Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight looked like it wasn't going to resurface after a high-profile leak of the script, over which Tarantino still plans to sue the gossip website Gawker, to the tune of $1 million. Now, it looks like the project is back on track, following a rehearsed reading of the script at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, according to the BBC. 

The reading, in which potential stars Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Dern, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth and Kurt Russell all took part, saw Tarantino unveil an early draft of the script, with big changes to come before shooting begins: "I'm working on a second draft and I will do a third draft but we're reading from the first draft," said Tarantino, introducing the reading. "The chapter five here will not be the chapter five later so this will be the only time it is seen, ever." 

The script, which sees a band of travellers – including two gunslingers, a renegade Confederate soldier and a female outlaw – holed-up in a haberdashery to avoid a nasty blizzard, takes the form of a classic locked room mystery, with most of the action taking place in one location. "We've been rehearsing this for the last three days and we're not bad," said Tarantino at the reading, before chiding his actors: "Guys, you are starting to drift away from the dialogue on the page. No more co-writing!" We'll bring you more news of this project as it emerges.

JOSS WHEDON'S NEW FILM WILL BE RELEASED DIRECT TO STREAM
Avengers and Serenity director Joss Whedon's new film will be released direct to streaming and download services after it premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival, it was revealed this week by the NZ Herald. The new film, In Your Eyes, was written and directed by Whedon, and stars Zoe Kazan and Michael Stahl-David in what is described as a "supernatural thriller".

In Your Eyes will be the second film from Whedon's micro-studio, Bellwether Productions, following on from last year's adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Following that film's screening at Glasgow Film Festival, we interviewed Whedon – head over to our Film section for more Whedon coverage from The Skinny.

THE RUMOUR MILL: BATMAN VS. SUPERMAN LATEST, MICHAEL BAY TO RE-BOOT FRIDAY THE 13TH, CHANNING TATUM TO PLAY GAMBIT?, JERRY BRUCKHEIMER ON BEVERLY HILLS COP, SAMUEL L. JACKSON FOR DIE HARD 6
The latest from the Snyder camp on Batman Vs. Superman – according to Forbes, even Snyder has been having nerdgasms following a few days on set with Ben Affleck as Bats, Henry Cavill as Supes, and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. "Even just Batman and Superman standing next to each other..." comments a clearly awe-struck Snyder. "It’s kind of epic. You do sort of sense the weight of the pop culture iconography jumping out of its skin when you’re standing there looking at the two of them and Wonder Woman. It’s crazy, but it’s fun. I mean, I have the first photo. I’ve got it in my archive because I was like, 'Okay, I better keep this, it’s gonna be worth something!" As the film doesn't open until 2016, all we can say is... shut up, dude, the suspense is killing us!

Michael Bay doesn't so much make films as just choreograph explosions, but following a departure into comedy with Pain and Gain, and not content with reportedly pissing on the dreams of fanboys with his woeful revisions to the origins of the Ninja Turtles, Bay is now planning another reboot of the Friday the 13th series. It's not even his first attempt – the 2009 version was Bay's, but the franchise has now been targeted for another revamp, presumably for failing to spawn a dozen sequels. According to The Wrap, Bay will produce a new version directed by David Bruckner (one of the filmmakers behind anthology horror V/H/S). 

Channing Tatum news now – the muscle-bound jock is being targeted to play sneak-thief and love rat Gambit of the X-Men, potentially in a new movie spinning off from Bryan Singer's cinematic X-universe. Tatum told MTV that he has already discussed the potential project with Fox, who own the rights to the X-franchise. "I met with [producer] Lauren Shuler Donner," says Tatum. "Gambit’s the only X-Man that I’ve ever loved... being from down south, I just related to him. He’s just kind of a suave; he’s the most un-X-Men X-Man who’s ever been in X-Men, other than maybe Wolverine. He’s kind of like the anti-hero. He’s a thief. He’s not even like a hero, he’s kind of walking the line of grey. He loves women and drinking and smoking... he’s just a cool guy that happens to have a good moral center... If the stars align, I would play it. I’m already working on the accent." 

An update on the long-mooted Beverly Hills Cop 4, which would see the return of Eddie Murphy in his iconic role as Axel Foley under the direction of (rejoice!) X-Men 3: The Last Stand and Rush Hour 2 director Brett Ratner. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed to Bloomberg that the project is in development, saying: "We're in the process of getting the script finished. Paramount is very excited about making it... Brett Ratner's excited about doing it. So I think we're moving forward. Hopefully we'll start the end of summer, beginning of fall, and get rolling on it. We're going to take Eddie back to Detroit... he's really excited about doing it."

And finally – Samuel L. Jackson may reprise his role as Zeus in a sixth planned outing for the Die Hard franchise. According to the (notoriously unreliable) Latino Review, "Fox is meeting writers for takes on next Die Hard. It has to involve John McClane and Samuel Jackson's Zeus Carver character." True or false, there's scarcely a way that a sixth film could be worse than A Good Day to Die Hard.

TRAILERS: THE GREEN INFERNO, THE IMMIGRANT, JERSEY BOYS, GONE GIRL
Four trailers to watch today – first up, Eli Roth's return to the director's chair, with The Green Inferno. Modelled on the cannibal films of directors like Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust) and Umberto Lenzi (Cannibal Ferox), his new film claims to star a South American tribe who have never been filmed before, in an echo of the controversy that surrounded films like Deodato's, which was often mistaken for a 'snuff' film while doing the rounds on VHS and at cult cinemas in the 80s. Both the cinematography, atmosphere and plot seem to suggest a loving homage to Deodata and co. – and no doubt enough violence to re-start the whole 'torture porn' debate.

Next up, The Immigrant, which stars Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix as a Polish immigrant and a shady wheeler-dealer respectively, as Phoenix draws Cotillard into a twilit world of sex and excess in 1920s New York. It's directed by James Gray (We Own the Night, Two Lovers). 

Clint Eastwood returns to directing with Jersey Boys, a new biopic telling the story of the rise to fame of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. It's a rags-to-riches tale, and Eastwood's first (and with a bit of luck, his last) adaptation of a stage musical. 

And finally, the first trailer for the much-anticipated Gone Girl, starring Ben Affleck as a man whose wife goes missing, leading to speculation that he may have been responsible for her disappearance. It's based on the bestselling novel by Gillian Flynn, and is directed by David Fincher, bringing his customary washed-out tones and icy composition to bear.