Creators.com - Hollywood Exclusive
by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

THE BIG-SCREEN SCENE: "Leverage" actor Aldis Hodge took a busman's holiday during his seasonal hiatus, taking on a big-screen role in "The East" with Ellen Page, Brit Marling, Alexander Skarsgard and Patricia Clarkson.

The story, written by Marling and director Zal Batmanglij, has Marling playing an undercover agent working for a firm that contracts to protect big corporations from radical environmentalists and anti-business extremists. However, she finds herself falling for the leader of an eco-anarchist group (played by Skarsgard) known as The East. Page is his jealous ex-lover.

Hodge plays an ex-military man who has been affected by the poisoned water dumped near his town when he was a child, which is "really what brings him into getting involved," Hodge says of his character. "He's very different from my character on the series, but sort of akin to him because they do some of the same things."

Hodge was thrilled with his cast mates. He finds, "Once you're in the company of good actors, there's some feeling of security regardless of what goes wrong — because something always goes wrong." He laughs. "At least you know the performances will be great. And the script was great."

The Fox Searchlight thriller, produced by Ridley and Tony Scott's company, is due out later this year.

Source: www.creators.com

Variety honors Charlize Theron
Indie Impact, 10 Directors to Watch brunch took place Sunday
By Pat Saperstein | Posted: Tue., Jan. 10, 2012, 4:00am PT

Variety's Indie Impact and 10 Directors to Watch 2012 brunch presented by Mercedes-Benz unspooled under vivid blue desert skies Sunday at the Parker Hotel in Palm Springs.

Honoree Charlize Theron said, "I have the career I have today because of independent films," crediting "Monster" helmer Patty Jenkins with seeing her potential. All the directors she's worked with deserve credit, she concluded, "even the bad ones."

Variety's Steven Gaydos introduced the 10 helmers to watch, saying, "What they have in common is a commitment to indie cinema -- even when they make a studio film, it feels independent."

Among the directors at the relaxed event were Mexican helmer Gerardo Naranjo, who said he's almost hoping "Miss Bala" doesn't get Oscar nommed so he can get off the campaign trail and back to work. "Sound of My Voice" helmer Zal Batmanglij said his next film, "The East," will also feature "Voice" star Brit Marling, this time in a story about a woman who infiltrates an anarchist group.

Also brunching on the Parker lawn were Palm Springs Film Fest director Darryl Macdonald, fest chairman Harold Matzner and artistic director Helen du Toit, as well as thesps Shailene Woodley, Robert Forster and Ed Lauter.

Source: www.variety.com

[...]

Pick and choose, Clarkson has and continues to do, but she does it so wisely that she’s one of the busiest and in-demand actresses at the age of 52—a point in her life of which she speaks of proudly and wears tremendously well. Her recent movies include Easy A and Friends with Benefits and she’s just recently finished shooting The East with Alexander Skarsgärd and Ellen Page in Shreveport. “I play a CEO, which is very good for me… a very powerful, very strong woman and I run a company… it’s a very tough character,” said Clarkson. “She’s a woman who pulls no punches and is very glamorous so it was an exciting time.”

[...]

Source: www.livingneworleans.com

Tobey Kebbell Reveals Details on Alexander Skarsgard, Ellen Page-Led 'The East'
By Matt Patches , Hollywood.com Staff | Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Director Zal Batmanglij's Sound of My Voice is only now making its way to theaters (the intimate, cult thriller opens April 27), but the film wowed audiences at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, so much so, that Batmanglij quickly assembled a stellar cast for his next film, and shot it all before his debut even hit theaters. The East stars Alexander Skarsgård, Ellen Page, Julia Ormond, Patricia Clarkson, Toby Kebbell and breakout starlet Brit Marling (who wrote and starred in Sound of My Voice, and while Batmanglij's follow-up sports a high profile line-up, plot details have been kept carefully under wraps.

But with The East in the can, snippets of information are finally starting to be revealed. While walking the red carpet at the Wrath of the Titans premiere, Toby Kebbell (War Horse) spilled some details to me on The East. What's this sizable cast up to in the film?

"We're activists, more so eco-warriors. Whats happened is…I play a doctor, who, when he was an AIDS worker in Africa, he prescribed his sister and himself an anti-malaria drug that we call Denoxin. And Denoxin had a side effect on his sister, a syndrome called prosopagnosia, which is a condition where you forget your own face in the mirror, generally associated with head trauma, or genetic is what they thought. As it turns out, it's actually a side effect of some of these drugs. So my journey is that I'm trying to give the drug company their drug to take, seeing as it's so safe."

WIth such a large cast, one would expect Kebbell to spend a majority of his time with a particular actor, but not so. "It's an ensemble and it's perfect. I share my scenes with everyone." And while he praised the cast, working with two of his co-stars did cause a little pain. "It's like having a very stiff neck. You're staring up at Skarsgård or looking down at Ellen Page, it's very weird."

Kebbell revealed that, in comparison to the nearly one-location Sound of My Voice, The East opens up the scope—but that his character may not see too much of the fight. "There's some action. It's a big world. But my character doesn't have any action, he has snapped tendons in his knees. He can't walk very quickly. But there are some panic moments, some calm moments. It's a beautiful journey."

The East does not have a set release date, but the name cast should help this one land in theaters in the near future.

Source: www.hollywood.com

[Update] Apr 23, 2012 1:08 pm

Sarah (Brit Marling) is an agent for a ruthless security firm who is tasked with infiltrating a mysterious, anti-corporate organization called "The East". She manages to integrate herself into The East, despite the opposition of Izzy (Ellen Page), the most outspoken and unpredictable anarchist in the group. Sarah finds herself torn between two worlds when she becomes drawn to the group's charismatic leader, Benji (Alexander Skarsgard), and finds her life and priorities irrevocably changed.

Bullet Media Interview - Alexander Skarsgård: The Sea Inside
by Idil Tabanca | May 29th, 2012

[...]
According to breakout screenwriter Brit Marling, the actor was constantly cracking jokes on the set of director Zal Batmanglij’s upcoming eco-thriller The East, starring Marling and Ellen Page. Skarsgård can’t hide his fascination with Marling, who recently co-wrote and starred in Another Earth, and has been pumping out some of the most original screenplays in the industry. The East stars Skarsgård as Benji, the strong- headed leader of a radical environmentalist collective that Marling’s character infiltrates. Marling’s search for the key part took an unexpected turn when she saw True Blood. “I remember thinking that the show was so fantastical, and yet he made me believe it,” she says. “He believes, therefore the audience believes—you find yourself willing to accept these completely preposterous things.” She wanted to cast a person who would “make you walk away from your desk job and go into the forest with them to start an insurrection.” Needless to say, it’s a hard role to pull off. “Alex was so ‘it’ from the beginning because he has this gravitas, this deep well of soulfulness and feeling. You would follow him into the woods.” On the second day of shooting, the cast was naked in frigid water, bathing one another for a scene. “When something like that happens on the second day, it cuts through all the insecurities and everyone gets really close, very quickly. The experience was so raw and intense.”
[...]
Source: http://www.bullettmedia.com