Is the Arnold still a movie star?

Back in the day, many male and even some female actors and actresses were able to command $20 million +, and no one batted an eyelash. Some even got some major back-end percentages added on to their deals. For the most part, though those days are over.

Some stars, like Johnny Depp, who got a reported $35 million upfront for starring in the latest in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, according to Vanity Fair, might still be able to command that. Even Tom Cruise, once the biggest and most reliable star in the world, only got $12.5 million for writing, producing AND starring in Mission Impossible 4 (boy have things changed).

So when Deadline reported yesterday that Arnold Scharzenegger was negotiating for a new film role, I had no idea what kind of deal it would be. Turns out, it's not bad for an actor who hasn't

starred in a film since 2003, especially that disappointed both critically and financially.

According to Nikki Finke, Schwarzenegger will be getting $10 million upfront, plus 25% first dollar gross on the back end, which is quite paltry compared to the $25M/25% he used to get

in his heyday, but still an amazing deal for actors in this market.

In the film, titled Cry Macho, "the story revolves around a horse breeder (Schwarzenegger) who won the Kentucky Derby but whose wife and child get killed. He sinks into an alcoholic depression and winds up working for a hedge fund jerk who offers him a choice of getting fired or bringing back the rich guy's son living with the ex-wife in Mexico."

Sounds very similar to another film he starred in back in 2002, Collateral Damage, but I would like to think that Arnold wouldn't pick his first starring vehicle since leaving the Governor's mansion to be eerily similar to one he has done in the past.

It will be interesting to see how audiences will respond. I can assure that international box-office will be robust, as his films tend to do better worldwide than they do domestically. But, if given the right role in a film to which audiences will respond well, it could end up being a huge payday for the Arnold.

I will always have a special place in my heart for Arnold, who starred in one of my favorite childhood films, Kindergarden Cop. Now that's a film that can be on television whenever, wherever, and I will be forced to watch it. Like a fine wine, it only gets better with age.

Turns out, he was right along, just as he said he would. He's back.

First look at Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin

She may not have been everyone’s first choice to play Sarah Palin, but Julianne Moore
sure seems to have the look down pat.

In the first photo release from the set of HBO’s telefilm Game Change, Moore is seen sporting Palin’s trademark red suit, patriotic pin, and updo hair style. Gone also is Moore’s trademark red hair, instead opting for Palin’s brown, and it looks like she even has Palin’s mannerisms down to her trademark smile.And how does Palin feel about the film?

“I think I’ll just grit my teeth and bear whatever comes my way with that movie,” Palin told Fox News late last month, instead ridiculously suggesting that whoever “capitalizes on pretending to be” her should chip in for her children’s braces.

The film, which began production today (Wedneday), is based on Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s 2010 book about the 2008 presidential election. The story follows Senator John McCain’s presidential campaign, beginning with his selection of then Alaska governor Sarah Palin to his defeat at the hands of Barack Obama in November of that year.

Along with Moore, the already stellar cast includes Ed Harris as John McCain, Woody Harrelson as Steven Schmidt, McCain’s senior advisor, and the recently announced Ron Livingston as senior campaign adviser Mark Wallace, who had the daunting task of prepping Palin for her now famous debate with then Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden.

Director Jay Roach, best known for his work on comedies such as Meet the Parents and the Austin Powers franchise, will be helming the film. He will be reuniting with writer Danny Strong, whom he worked with on another HBO political film, 2008’s Recount.

If released before the Emmy deadline, everyone will be wondering whether Moore can actually challenge HBO’s recent Mildred Pierce-star Kate Winslet for the Best Actress statue. From what we can tell from this photo, as well as Moore past excellence in almost every role she plays, it could end up being quite a race.

The real questions remains: who will be remembered as making for a better Sarah Palin, Tina Fey or Julianne Moore? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Vera Farmiga's career "up in the air?" Not anymore

A few years ago you might not have recognized her name. She starred alongside heavyweights Matt Damon and Jack Nicholson in Martin Scorcese's The Departed, and got major buzz for her award-winning turn as a drug-addicted mother and wife in Down to the Bone, directed by Winter's Bone scribe Debra Granik.

But it now seems that Vera Farmiga is a name you won't ever forget. As Deadline first reported, the Oscar-nominated actress has just joined the Universal Pictures’ thriller Safe House.

Farmiga will be joining Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds in the Daniel Espinosa-directed drama. In the film, Reynolds plays young CIA operative assigned to escorting a dangerous criminal (Washington) to safety after their safe house is attacked. Farmiga “will play a CIA operative supervising Reynolds' character.” The film, which is already in production, is set to be released on February 10, 2012.

I have always been extremely interested in Farmiga's film choices, and this upcoming role in Safe House seems like a nice transition for her. Every actress has to have that somewhat thankless role as the beaut in an action film at some point in her career. See Sandra Bullock, Natalie Portman, Penelope Cruz, Charlize Theron, Anne Hathaway, and the list goes on.

I thought Farmiga was great in Departed, if not spectacular, and it definitely brought her career to the next level. Personally though, I will always remember Farmiga for her turn in 15 Minutes, a 2001 thriller starring Ed Burns and Robert DeNiro, in which is witness to an arson attack they are investigating. I recognized her beauty right from the get-go, and hoped she would have a bright future in the business.

Though it was really her Oscar-nominated role as a sexy business executive in Up in the Air, opposite George Clooney, that brought her to the level she is at now. She was able to play beautiful and damged so seemlessly well, that in the end you felt for a character that we weren't supposed to feel for.

And now Farmiga is currently co-starring in the extremely-well reviewed “Source Code, opposite Jake Gylenhaall, and had her directorial debut, Higher Ground, debut at Sundance earlier in the year.

With the news of her role in Safe House, plus a reported role in an adaptation of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge, I'm excited for what she has coming up in the future. Plus, I will always have a "guilty pleasure" spot in my "film loving heart" for Orphan, whose ending I don't think anyone saw coming.