Alex Kurtzman is best known as one half of the blockbuster-scripting duo with Roberto Orci ("Transformers," "Star Trek"), but last year, he ventured out solo making his directorial debut with a family dramedy known as "Welcome To People." Starring Chris Pine, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Wilde and Michelle Pfeiffer, the project is one we're keen to check out, but we'll now have to look for a different title on box office screens with the DreamWorks pic now going by "People Like Us."
Co-scripted with Orci and Jody Lambert, the story centers on a twenty-something fast-talking business man (Pine) who, after the death of his father, must deliver $150,000 in cash to the alcoholic sister (Banks) he didn’t know he had, and her son, a 12-year-old with major anger management issues. The film will bow in theaters on June 29th and hopefully lives up to its promise — we had touted it as a potential award season dark horse last year. Jon Favreau, Mark Duplass and Philip Baker Hall also co-star with A.R. Rahman on board for scoring duties.
"People Like Us" isn't the only Olivia Wilde-starrer that has undergone a title change. Formerly known as "Blackbird" or "Kin," Stefan Ruzowitzky's latest English-language effort is now known as "Deadfall." The film has been described as a "modern interpretations of the American north" and stars Wilde and Eric Bana as a brother and sister team of thieves on the run after killing a state trooper, who collide with an ex-boxer, played by Charlie Hunnam.
Kris Kristofferson, Treat Williams, Sissy Spacek and Kate Mara co-star in Ruzowitzky's follow up to 2008 Foreign Lauguage Oscar nominee "The Counterfeiters." No release date has been set as of yet. [Deadline/Variety]