The lineup for a dramatic reading of "The World of Nick Adams" on Monday night at San Francisco's Davies Symphony Hall already was set when the acting legend died of cancer Sept. 26 at the age of 83.

The event benefited The Painted Turtle, a camp for children with life-threatening illnesses, that was started by Newman in 1999.

"We expected Paul to be with us and so this kind of turned into kind of a tribute," said Danny Glover, who joined Jack Nicholson, Robin Wright Penn, Bruce Willis, Joaquin Phoenix, Julia Roberts, Annette Bening, Billy Cristal, Tom Hanks, Warren Beatty, Sean Penn and other big names in the reading. "This is the first time we are doing this without Paul — there is a void there, without a doubt."

The story follows the intersecting lives of a 50-year-old woman, the daughter she gave up for adoption 35 earlier and a black woman who is looking to adopt a baby.
Production on the $4.5 million film is set to begin late December or early January in Los Angeles.

Directed by Pete Schuermann and produced by Watt Imagination! and Leslie and Michael Lanahan, parents of Gordie Bailey and founders of The Gordie Foundation, "HAZE" sheds light on the severity of college binge drinking and hazing through graphic images filmed at campus parties, during emergency medical calls, and from police files, including details on the circumstances surrounding the death of Gordie Bailey.

The film includes an introduction by Robin Wright Penn, actress and national spokesperson for The Gordie Foundation, as well as interviews with national experts on the subject of alcohol abuse on college campuses.

Last year, Robin Wright Penn joined The Gordie Foundation as their Honorary Chairperson.
Robin stated, “My children are a few years from entering college but my concerns for them are real and justified. Gordie’s story needs to be told and the social influences affecting our young people, their behaviour and safety, need to be understood. “HAZE” was created with the hope that young adults, parents and leaders in this nation will wake up to this crisis. The goal is to save the life of a
fraternity brother or sorority sister, a teammate, a friend, a son or daughter.”

One is “Call It Home,” from executive producer Nancy Olin and producer-directors Bill Chayes and the late Chuck Olin. The documentary is about the endangered Bolinas Lagoon, and how a community’s efforts to save it became a nightmarish dispute that started decades ago and persists to this day.

The film, narrated by Robin Wright Penn, opens with lovely shots of seals, birds and dazzling waters, set to sappy New Age piano music. But “Call it Home” soon proves to be far more than a trippy trifle.

Maintaining its objectivity throughout as it traces the origins of the lagoon’s plight, the documentary broadens into a concise synopsis of the birth and evolution of environmental awareness in Marin County, going back more than 40 years. Included is fascinating vintage footage of the Bolinas area’s hippie influx in the late 1960s and ’70s. “ Call it Home” is interspersed with impassioned sound bites from the area’s impressively well-informed denizens.

Bolinas Lagoon, a 3-mile-long saltwater estuary, has been officially designated a Wetland of International Importance. Estuaries are vital for seals and migratory birds, and 85 percent of the fish off the continental shelf grow up in them. Yet civilization has destroyed 97 percent of all wetlands.

The film is clear and fair, illuminating the intricacies of a thorny issue — whether mankind has the wisdom to tamper with natural processes without incurring unintended consequences.

“Call It Home” plays Friday, Oct. 10, at 7:30 p.m., at the Smith Rafael Film Center, San Rafael.

The movie is "Hounddog" directed by Deborah Kampmeier, produced by Robin Wright Penn and starring Dakota Fanning, Robin Wright Penn, Piper Laurie and David Morse.
“Hounddog” opened past Friday but you can't see it in most cinemas across United States.
"You know I didn't set out to make a controversial film," says Deborah Kampemeier in an interview with CBS.
The drama is about a nine year old girl who is raped and finds a safe haven in the music of Elvis Presley.
The ultra right-wing Christian group “Concerned Women for America” called it child pornography and wanted it pulled.
"It's taboo no one wants to talk about it," says Christine Kobie of Abuse Counseling and Treatment in Fort Myers.
Kobie thinks the movie could help survivors or victims of abuse.
"I think it should be mandatory for specific people and for specific age groups," she says.

Kobie says the energy spent on stopping the film could have been used for a greater cause.
"I think if they were to see it, it might inspire them to do something different with the actual problem going on," she says.
Concerned women for America told WINK news their boycott was the reason AMC pulled the film. AMC says it was pulled as a business decision.
But fortunately not all women’s groups are fighting the film; in fact some support it.

New York City, September 08,Robin Wright attended a screening of 'Invisibles' at the Tribeca Cinemas. “Invisibles” is a series of short films examining the world's overlooked problems and the people who suffer from them produced by Javier Bardem.

This comedy drama is Rebecca Miller's fourth film, produced by long-time collaborator Lemore Syvan and Plan B's Dede Gardner.

“The Private Lives of Pippa Lee” stars Robin Wright Penn in the main role. Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Alan Arkin, Julianne Moore, Monica Belluci, Maria Bello and Blake Lively (as Young Pippa) are also in the cast.

This is the story of Pippa Lee, the devoted wife of a brilliant publisher thirty years her senior, the proud mother of successful twins, and a lovely and adored friend and neighbour. But when her husband spontaneously decides they leave New York for Marigold Village retirement home as a "pre-emptive strike against decrepitude," and then proceeds to have an affair with someone even younger than she is, Pippa finds her carefully constructed persona unravelling in alarming ways. The truth is, the gracious woman of the present day has seen more than her fair share of the wild side: an array of erotic adventures, a diet-pill-addicted mother, a short-lived career in lesbian soft-porn, the glorious suicide of a love rival, until finding love and security in a family of her own. And now that cosy world, too, is in danger. In Pippa Lee we have an unconventional heroine and a fresh and funny portrait of the many lives behind a single name.

Rebecca Miller wrote the book and the screenplay concurrently. The book of the same name has been published in the UK April 2008 through Canongate.

“What really killed me, though, wasn’t the ghost stuff. It’s the way Jim Carrey is playing Scrooge at every stage of his life, from childhood on. There was a scene I saw where Scrooge is eleven years old, and Carrey gave that performance. And it really works. Same thing with [Gary] Oldman. He’s playing Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim. So he gets to do the father and son thing, and credibly play both roles without it being freaky. Tiny Tim really is this little kid, and yet, it’s Oldman’s performance driving it. And same thing with Robin Wright Penn, who plays Belle, Scrooge’s love throughout his life. She gets to play all those various ages as well.”

“A Christmas Carol” is an adaptation of the Charles Dickens tale that Robert Zemeckis wrote and is directing for Walt Disney Pictures.
Zemeckis, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey are producing through ImageMovers Digital.
Zemeckis is shooting the film using “performance capture/Disney digital 3-D” animation, a continuing evolution of techniques he introduced in “Polar Express” and continued with “Beowulf” where Robin Wright Penn played the female lead as Queen Wealthow.
The movie will feature a touch of live action and computer graphics. A Christmas Carol began filming in February 2008 and will be at theatres in November 2009

"We believe that 'Hounddog' will be one of the top, independent films at theaters this summer," said Dean Hamilton-Bornstein, CEO of Empire Film Group. "It is a powerful, coming-of-age drama that deals with serious issues that should resonate with audiences. Dakota Fanning delivers an Oscar-worthy performance and we expect to see a lot of media attention."

"Hounddog" generated tremendous media interest when a promo reel was shown at the Sundance Film Festival last year. The character played by 12-year-old Dakota Fanning is sexually assaulted in a scene that enraged conservative media pundits, even though the attack is implied and not actually shown.

"I think we all wish that no children were ever assaulted," said Deborah Kampmeier, writer and director of the film. "But it's not helpful to the victims for our society to ignore the subject and pretend that it's not real. 'Hounddog' takes this dark moment through an emotional recovery brought about through friends, family and music, to a message of hope."

"Hounddog" features original music tracks and performances by Elvis Presley, including the title song. The film was produced by Scott Franklin, Jen Gatien, Terry Leonard, Lawrence Robbins and Deborah Kampmeier for Motion Picture Group, Deerjen Productions and Full Moon Films. Executive Producers include Stacey Bakula, Rebecca Cleary, Sam Froelich, Heidi M. Kessler and Robin Wright-Penn. Director of Photography was Jim Denault, ASC. The 93 minute film is expected to receive a PG-13 rating. The film's release campaign will be designed and implemented by Eric Parkinson for Empire Film Group, Inc., utilizing Empire's internal distribution and marketing staff as well as key outside service providers.

You can see the trailer of Hounddog HERE

The movie is scheduled to be lensed in and around Danbury while using the former Immanuel Lutheran School on Foster Street as its production headquarters. The property is owned by the city.

Mayor Mark Boughton said that starting today, the production company will use the Foster Street building for offices and storage. Filming is scheduled to start in April, according to The Hollywood Reporter and the Connecticut Film Division's Web site.

"The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" is written and directed by Rebecca Miller, a Roxbury resident and the daughter of the late playwright Arthur Miller. She is married to Academy Award-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis and wrote the novel on which the movie is based. Miller also directed the critically acclaimed "The Ballad of Jack and Rose," which starred her husband.

"The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" is a "dramedy" that "centers on a dutiful 50-year-old wife whose husband falls for a younger woman, freeing her to explore her buried sensuality and leading to a very quiet nervous breakdown

Robin Wright is set to play the leading role: Pippa Lee. Alan Arkin plays the husband who leaves Robin Wright for Winona Ryder. Monica Bellucci will play his first wife.
Keanu Reeves will play Wright Penn’s younger lover, while Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Wright Penn’s diet-pill-addicted mother in flashback sequences. Julianne Moore portrays a supporting role as a lesbian novelist.