It isn’t often that we hear about a sequel and get genuinely excited, but this one has real promise. Or rather, promises.

Vulture hears exclusively that Vincent Cassel is now negotiating to join Viggo Mortensen in a sequel to David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises. We hear the sequel, to be directed by Cronenberg and written by Steven Knight (who also wrote the original), picks up where the 2007 film left off — with the incompetent underboss Kirill (Cassel) thinking that he and his henchman driver Nikolai (Mortensen) really have inherited the throne from his crime-lord father, without knowing that Nikolai is actually a clandestine agent working undercover in Russia’s federal security service.

We’re told Mortensen will first star in Hossein Amini’s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Two Faces of January this fall but will then pivot to the Eastern Promises sequel at the start of next year. News of a possible Promises sequel first surfaced in March of 2010.

- Vulture.com

There’s no word if Naomi Watts would return, but given how extraneous she was to the first film, we imagine it’s a long shot.

- IndieWire.com

Whilst browsing Google Images for various Naomi things, I just came across this previously unseen photo taken on the set of Sunlight Jr. last year. It gives us our first look at Naomi’s characters look in the film, and shows her wearing the uniform for the place she works – Sunlight Jr. I don’t know who the other person in the photo is – probably an extra in the film? I found the photo here.

The film was recently previewed for buyers at the Cannes Film Festival. Below is a synopsis from IMDB, and you can find this first set photo in our Gallery.

Sunlight Jr. is a love story set in the ruins of the American dream. Melissa is a convenience store clerk who lives in a motel with her paraplegic boyfriend, Richie. When they learn they are going to have a baby, they are genuinely excited. But when she loses her job and they are evicted from the motel, they face difficult choices about life and their relationship.

Naomi Watts’s My London

The British-born actress buys toys in Notting Hill, goes vintage in Holland Park and prepares to play Princess Diana

Home is…
New York City.

Where do you stay in London?
The Covent Garden Hotel. I love the location, the cosy bedrooms, the honesty bar and the high tea.

What was the last play you saw?
Jerusalem at the Apollo Theatre. The writing and performances were outstanding.

What advice would you give a tourist?
Enjoy a curry on Brick Lane, and bring your wellies and a fat wallet.

What’s the first thing you do when you arrive?
Catch up with friends and family, run through the beautiful parks and enjoy the homemade tea on the top floor of Dover Street Market.

What’s the best meal you’ve had?
My mum’s cooking; she does the best bouillabaisse and Thai curry.

READ THE FULL INTERVIEW

During her time in Cannes a few weeks ago, Naomi was photographed by Vanity Fair for their series of Cannes portraits. The result is a glossy close-up of Naomi with some sultry looking eyes – see the snap in our Gallery:

• 2012 – Session #001 x1

Since leaving Cannes a couple of weeks ago, Naomi has been doing some more globe-trotting! First stop was London, where she attended the NSPCC Pop Art Ball with friend Stella McCartney, and then a few days later the Glamour Women Of The Year Awards. The NSPCC Ball raised close to $2m for the NSPCC Rebuilding Childhoods Appeal, which aims to fund therapy for abused children. I presume Naomi was wearing a Stella McCartney dress here. At the Glamour Awards Naomi presented Donatella Versace with the Designer Of The Year Award, saying Versace’s clothes makes her feel “like a million bucks”. “You need three people to get in the dress and one patient man to get out of it”, she added. Naomi flashed some side cleveage at this event in a black and beige lace netted Versace dress!

And then a couple of days ago she popped over to Beijing, China to promote the opening of Montblanc’s newest and biggest store, the Montblanc Sanlitun Concept Store. Alongside Jessica Alba, Naomi attended a press conference and then a gala to promote the store, wearing Montblanc Collection Princesse Grace de Monaco Fine Jewelry at both events. A bit about the event and store:

This June, Montblanc is opening a new concept store which will be the world’s largest, in Beijing’s Sanlitun Village. During the world premiere on June 1 with Nicolas Cage, Naomi Watts, Amber Heard, Jessica Alba, Maggie Cheung and Montblanc International CEO Lutz Bethge, tthe whole Princesse Grace de Monaco collection, dedicated to Grace Kelly, will be presented at the 4-floor boutique. Following the opening the Sergio Rossi boutique this spring, Sanlitun Village is quickly becoming one of Beijing’s top shopping areas.

- luxos.com

Lots of HQ photos from all 4 events have now been added to our Gallery for your viewing pleasure:

• The NSPCC Pop Art Ball 2012 x14
• Glamour Women of the Year Awards x48
• Official Opening of Montblanc’s New & Biggest Concept Store – Press Conference x21
• Official Opening of Montblanc’s New & Biggest Concept Store – Gala x37

Sounds like Naomi may no longer be attached to star in Marilyn Monroe biopic Blonde — what do you think about this?

Having a friend in Brad Pitt certainly isn’t a bad thing. The actor has used his superstar clout to get difficult, hard to finance movies made — often choosing to produce them himself via his Plan B shingle — and among his many filmmaker and actor pals, he’s forged a strong relationship with Aussie helmer Andrew Dominik. The pair first teamed up on the existential western “The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford” where the actor used his sway with the studio to keep the lengthy title for the film, and stuck by the director’s side during the fraught editing sessions. And just a couple of weeks ago, they hit the Cannes Film Festival with the searing and brilliant “Killing Them Softly,” another ambitious effort produced by and starring Pitt. And it looks like the bromance will continue.

24 Frames reports that Pitt is now set to back to Dominik’s long brewing Marilyn Monroe biopic “Blonde,” a film the director told us during Cannes that he hoped to make as his next movie. Well, with Pitt now throwing his weight behind the movie as a producer (whether or not he’ll take a role as well hasn’t been decided yet), the wheels are fully turning on “Blonde” and while nothing is locked down just yet, a January or February 2013 shoot for the movie is apparently feasible. But they’ll need to find a new leading lady.

While Naomi Watts became attached to the film in it’s earliest incarnation, the paper says “it’s likely that the filmmakers would go in a different direction.” It’s not clear why she’s no longer involved — she would’ve been great for the part too with the looks and chops to nail it — but it looks like blonde starlets might want to send their headshots to Plan B’s offices.

Continue Reading

After a few years in the wilderness after the masterpiece “The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford” underperformed at the box office, Andrew Dominik’s third film — initially titled “Cogan’s Trade” after the George V. Higgins book on which it’s based, and later retitled “Killing Them Softly” — came together quite quickly. The first hints emerged in September 2010, and within a few months it had a star and producer in Brad Pitt, a distributor courtesy of The Weinstein Company, and rolled in front of cameras in early 2011.

But with the film having premiered at Cannes this week, we began to wonder what happened to “Blonde,” Dominik’s Naomi Watts-starring adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates’ novel about Marilyn Monroe. That film was long-mooted to be his next project after ‘Jesse James,’ and was originally set to get underway in January 2011 before “Killing Them Softly” came along. Was it still a going concern? Or had last year’s “My Week With Marilyn” put paid to Monroe-themed pictures for a while?

Continue Reading

The June 2012 issue of Russian Vogue has a spread on Naomi, and they’ve used some previously unseen photos from last years West East magazine photoshoot in which Naomi was styled as Marilyn Monroe.

Check out the scans from the new Vogue article in the gallery…

• Vogue (Rus) – June 2012 x6

In a move that would amount to the Cannes Film Festival‘s very own clip reel of unfinished upcoming movies, Deadline has heard that a screening of footage from select films will take place in an official venue on Thursday. Details are scarce, but pics that could be in the surprise pack include Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Impossible, the tsunami movie starring Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts, and Wong Kar Wai’s martial arts bio The Grandmasters. Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master might also be included, although the Weinsteins showed footage from those films last night. Other films are expected to be in the mix for what we hear will be an hourlong showing that will be open to all accredited fest attendees. This is a new move for the festival and could drum up some extra heat. The screening, Deadline understands, will take place at the Salle du Soixantième — the same venue where the roof was damaged by heavy winds the other day. Only this time, the festival will look to blow the roof off on purpose.

- Deadline.com

In between all the new Cannes photos this past week, I’ve been working on our content again. All the Naomi section pages have now been re-added and work, although not all are complete yet. Pages that are ‘complete’ and done for now are Contact Naomi, Factfile, Favourites, Name Analysis, Quotes, Rejected Roles, Trivia and TV Listings. The rest are a work in progress and I will continue to work on them and post as and when they are done – they may look a bit messy in the meantime!

While browsing you may notice our STYLE > TOP 10 OUTFITS page … and we need your help with it! Don’t hesitate to get in touch (post a comment, tweet us or email me) if you want to share your favourite Naomi outfits and/or if you have an opinion on which of her outfits should be included. I’d love to hear your opinions, and all will be used on the page.

More content and photo updates coming soon!