When Kimberly Peirce gave us Boys Don't Cry, it was a critical explosion. She came, she moved us, and Hilary Swank came out of it with an Oscar. The film raised our expectations, and they rested there as Peirce moved out of the spotlight and worked behind the camera. The wait lasted almost a decade, but after nine years, she was finally back with Stop Loss -- another film in the cinematic, Iraq War whirlwind. While it was destined to fall under the weight of Iraq apathy, it was another example of Peirce's commitment to personal stories.

Stop Loss is the fictional account of a real problem: over a hundred thousand soldiers have been denied release when their time in Iraq is up. Instead of best wishes, they're sent back to Iraq, and life beyond the war's struggles becomes a distant, vague hope, rather than a present reality. Ryan Phillipe stars as Sgt. Brandon King, a man who is headed towards the end of his time in Iraq, or so he thinks. First, his unit is tricked and attacked. He loses some of his men, and struggles with the realities of warfare -- dead friends, and the fact that no matter how hard you try, innocent people will fall in the fight.

MTV Movies Blog has the brand new poster for Stop-Loss, the upcoming film from director Kimberly Peirce. Outside of an episode of The L Word, Peirce hasn't directed anything since her highly acclaimed 1999 feature debut Boys Don't Cry -- the film that won Hilary Swank her first Oscar. The script for Stop-Loss was written by Peirce and Mark Richard (Huff), and the film stars Ryan Phillippe (whom I had never liked until last year's excellent Breach), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (one of the best young actors working -- see Brick, Mysterious Skin, and The Lookout!), and Channing Tatum (I intentionally missed Step Up, but he was great in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints).

Stop-Loss deals with soldiers who are "stop-lossed," meaning they are ordered to return to combat, even though they have completed their enlistment contracts. Phillippe plays a soldier who stands up to the government and refuses to return to battle. It is an MTV Films production, and the poster plays up the cast's beefcake angle, making the film look like Dawson's Creek Goes to Iraq. But I have a feeling it's going to be much better than that. I've been waiting to see another film from Peirce for a long while, and the trailer gives me goose bumps every time I see it. Stop-Loss is set for release on March 28th.

Retro, old-school clips are usually good for a surprise -- seeing that star as a wee, young thing, or just seeing someone we recognize in a different time. But sometimes it's fun to pull something from memory. Back in late '80s, early '90s, I had a thing for ABC soap operas -- Anna and Duke, Eterna, and all the crazy stuff. From 1992-1993, there was a character on One Life to Live called Billy Douglas. He was a young, blonde kid who also happened to be gay. That kid was played by Ryan Phillippe, in his first professional gig.

Again, I'm going to share two clips. Above, Billy comes out to his dad, who doesn't make the whole discussion easy. His dad swears that someone made him think he was gay, and that it's not possible. Yeah, because a few words would make a kid decide to shake up his life that much. Later, in the clip below, there's a nice family dinner with ma, pops, Billy, and his boyfriend Rick. Unfortunately, Dad still isn't comfortable with this whole idea.

With both his gay days with Rick and his married life with Reese behind him, Phillippe will hit the big screen once again this March in Kimberly Peirce's Stop Loss.

Variety reports that Timothy Olyphant has signed for the comedy heist film, High Life. Based on the play by Lee MacDougall, the story centers on four hapless criminals in a heist gone wrong. The play premiered in Toronto in 1996 and went on to win a DORA award. Olyphant will star as their leader who is ultimately brought down by his incompetent partners. In the original play, the four friends were hopeless morphine addicts, but I'm going to take a guess and say that the new script might gloss over that particular element -- but it will all depend on just how dark this comedy wants to get.

Gary Yates has already been signed to direct, and also co-wrote the script with MacDougall. Yates is French-Canadian by birth and most of his credits are in Canadian television -- although he has already written and directed his one heist film titled Seven Ways Lucky, so the experience might come in handy. MacDougall is an actor as well as a playwright, but considering his biggest credit to date is in Cheaper by the Dozen 2, he might be better off sticking to writing.

Joining Olyphant in his band of fun-loving criminals are Joe Anderson (Across the Universe), Stephen Eric McIntyre (The Lookout) and Rossif Sutherland (Poor Boy's Game). With Hitman due for release in the coming weeks, in between re-shoots for the video game adaptation (you can also read Cinematical's interview with Olyphant about some of those Hitman rumors here), Olyphant has already finished work on the Iraq war drama Stop-Loss with Ryan Philippe. Then it's off to do some video game voice-over work for Turok. Plus, High Life has already begun production, so it doesn't look like Olyphant is going to have any down time in the near future.

The upcoming futuristic thriller Franklyn will offer something for the fellas (the gorgeous Eva Green) and something for the ladies (the man-gorgeous Ryan Phillippe). The film will be set simultaneously in both contemporary London and a faith-dominated future metropolis without separation of church and state. According to Variety, the film will tell the story of "four lost souls divided by two parallel worlds on course for an explosive collision when a single bullet will decide all their fates." It's Sliding Doors meets The Matrix! Sounds mighty confusing, but I'm intrigued. The film will co-star Sam Riley, who plays Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis in Control (read James' positive review here).

First-time director Gerald McMorrow wrote the screenplay and will direct the film. According to IMDb, John Hurt is in the Franklyn cast as well, but since that's not part of the Variety announcement, take that with a grain of salt for now. The movie has undergone a lot of casting changes, it seems. Last we heard about the project, Ewan McGregor was attached to star, but it appears that is no longer the case. Paul Bettany was attached to the Riley role at one point. I don't know much about Riley, but I do know getting Phillippe for McGregor is something of a step down. Phillippe is improving, though, I must give him props for holding his own against an incredible Chris Cooper performance in the too little-seen Breach. Green is probably best known as Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, but holds a special place in my pants heart for her almost entirely nude performance in The Dreamers. Dreamy.

Yeah, I was kind of thinking the same thing after reading that headline: "Ryan Phillippe? In a Viking epic?" Is someone playing a cruel joke, or is this thin-as-tissue-paper pretty boy really going to try to pull off playing a tough-as-nails Viking? Well, according to The Hollywood Reporter, it would appear as if the latter is indeed true -- Phillippe, Sean Bean and Abbie Cornish have signed on to star in writer-director Menno Meyjes' Viking tale Last Battle Dreamer. HR describes Phillippe's role as being a "seventh-century Viking warrior named Thorfinn (sorry, I need to pause for a chuckle ... carry on ... ) who, along with his older brother, the battle-scarred Hakon (Bean), invades Britain." Maybe I'm totally mis-judging the guy (and, to be fair, I've sort of warmed up to Phillippe over the past two years), but no part of me sees him playing "a seventh-century Viking warrior."

But I digress. Bean and Cornish, on the other hand, I'm really starting to dig. I can certainly see them starring in a film like this, which Meyjes says is "a love story written in fire and blood." Back when this film was first announced, Variety said Meyjes was looking for an American to star as the Viking and a British woman to co-star as the noblewoman with which our heroic Viking falls for. Monika suggested Brad Pitt for the role. Well, I guess they're both blondes. Phillippe and Cornish will also star alongside one another in the upcoming Stop Loss, while Meyjes (who's completing post production on his matador biopic Manolete) has the John Cusack flick Martian Child (a film in which practically everyone at Cinematical wanted to review for some reason) due out this October, courtesy of New Line.

Timothy Olyphant has been a scene-stealing character actor for years now (go see Go), but he seems poised to take his stardom to the next level. Of course, he's the villain in Live Free or Die Hard, which opens today and which I am still struggling to get excited about. He's got a major role in Kimberly Pierce's long-awaited follow-up to Boys Don't Cry -- Stop Loss, with Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, and Jay Hernandez (Is that a movie or a Tiger Beat shoot?). He'll appear with the unreasonably attractive Jessica Alba in Bill, about a guy who mentors a rebellious teen. He also just signed on to play Agent 47 in Hitman, an adaptation of the much-loved video game (a new trailer for the film will play before LFODH). Even with all that going on, many still know him best from Deadwood, the wonderful HBO western drama that ran for three seasons, and was -- sigh -- taken off the air to make room for -- sigh -- John from Cincinnati. Deadwood's many fans (myself included) didn't take the cancellation well, but at least we've been able to calm ourselves with the news that creator David Milch planned to make Deadwood movies to give the series closure. Well, get ready to flip the freak out, Deadwoodians.

In an interview with comingsoon, Olyphant is asked about the status of the Deadwood films. And his response doesn't exactly inspire confidence: "I have no idea. There's been ongoing talk about those things for a long, long time. I, for better or worse, have the perspective of 'don't hold your breath.' My feeling is that the fact that show existed at all for as long as it did was a miracle of sorts. It was an incredible experience, and I'm very, very thankful, and as a fan of the show like everybody else, it would have been nice to see it end in a different way or have more life to it, but as far as I'm concerned, they don't owe me anything. It was a tremendous experience, I look at it that way. I walk away going, 'I must be a better actor because of that show.' Three years on TV is better than seven years on TV, you know?" So, ah...yeah. Pretty terrible news, huh? I suppose anything can happen, but I think it's becoming more and more likely that we're not going to see those movies. Really, HBO? Really, Milch? You replace my Deadwood with a show about a floating surfer, and now this?

Curious to see if Ryan Phillippe can hold his own against old-school pros like Laura Linney and Chris Cooper? Well, I don't seem to detest Phillippe as much as most movie fans do, and based on the new trailer for an upcoming espionage thriller called Breach, I'm beginning to think that Mr. Reese Witherspoon could soon be coming into his own, respect-wise.

Or maybe he's awful. I've no idea.

I do know that Breach is the first film from Billy Ray since he directed 2003's Shattered Glass, although he did (co-)write the screenplays for Suspect Zero and Flightplan in the interim. Based on true events, Breach tells the story of, no not a Caesarian section, but of the biggest security breach in United States history. Phillippe is the young agent tasked with spying on the treasonous Chris Cooper; Ms. Linney plays a high-level security chief of some sort. Also on board are Gary Cole, Dennis Haysbert, Bruce Davison and Kathleen Quinlan. The cast alone feels worthy of eight bucks.

Universal has Breach scheduled for a February 16 release date.

Odds and ends from Thursday:

• According to the Hollywood Reporter, two more actors will be joining Ryan Phillippe in Kimberly Pierce's (Boys Don't Cry) drama Stop Loss. Pic, which revolves around a solider (Phillippe) who returns home from Iraq, only to be called back through the military's stop-loss program, has enlisted Timothy Olyphant and Joseph Gordon-Levitt to join its cast. Olyphant will play a "no-nonsense military man," while Gordon-Levitt takes on the role of a returning solider whose personal life is falling apart.
• THINKFilms has nabbed all North American distribution rights for 10 Items or Less, directed by Brad Silberling. The character comedy, which stars Morgan Freeman and Paz Vega, revolves around a picky big-time actor whose reluctance to take on certain roles leaves him suffering through a dry-spell. While considering a role as a supermarket manager, he slowly develops a close relationship with the shop's feisty cashier and, based on the description, it appears the two learn some life-lessons along the way.
• Okay, the best line from the new Casino Royale trailer definitely belongs to Eva Green. While sitting across from Bond (Daniel Craig) on a train, talking business, she goes "I will keep my eye on our governments money and off your perfectly-formed ass." Brilliant! Best. Line. Ever. And that's just a tiny bit worth of this fantastic trailer. If you're one of those people who still needs to be convinced of Casino Royale's awesomeness, then you simply must check out the new rock-your-socks-off preview over on Moviefone. Trust me on this ... it's worth it.

Looks like a bunch of folks were able to sit in on an editing session with Christopher Nolan as he was wrapping up The Prestige and, subsequently, brought back some more info regarding that Batman sequel, The Dark Knight.

While Nolan is certainly not spilling the beans as far as plot goes, he did chime in on those rumors that had Ryan Phillippe up for the role of Harvey Dent/Two Face and Philip Seymour Hoffman playing the Penguin. When asked about the actors possible participation in the sequel, Nolan laughed and replied, "No truth, no truth to any of those rumors. All interesting ideas though." So, does that mean we're back to square one as far as Dent and Penguin go? Personally, I'd take Nolan's comments with a grain of salt -- I mean, Hollywood often works in mysterious ways.

Nolan also alluded to the fact that there may be a bit more action in The Dark Knight as the film will begin with Bruce Wayne as Batman, making it easier to jump right into the mayhem, rather than spend a ton of time on backstory. The Dark Knight is tentatively scheduled to hit theaters in June of 2008.

And the Bat-rumors continue to fly folks. Not long after Ryan Phillippe's name was being tossed around for the role of Harvey Dent/Two Face comes word from Batman-On-Film, via an inside spy, that yet another offer has gone out. This time, it's directed toward the Bat-sequel's other villain -- Penguin.

The spy confirms Christopher Nolan's Untitled Batman Begins Sequel will indeed feature two villains: The Joker and The Penguin. While, supposedly, an offer has been made to Heath Ledger for the former, the spy notes that Ledger has not signed yet and is reluctant to do so, for whatever reason.

Also, said spy is positive an offer has been made to Philip Seymour Hoffman for the role of Penguin. Hoffman had been rumored to be a front-runner for the role, but has also indicated he may not get involved. Personally, I think Hoffman would be a wonderful choice for Penguin and, I imagine, would sit much better with Bat-fans who have already been scarred by names like Heath Ledger and Ryan Phillippe.

[via JoBlo]

Now that the role of Joker is unofficially in the hands of Heath Ledger, rumors are heating up regarding the other major baddie in Christopher Nolan's Untitled Batman Begins Sequel. Harvey Dent, Gotham's young assistant D.A. ultimately transforms into one of Batman's greatest villains -- Two Face. Word is Dent will not become Two Face until the third film, making it so whoever signs up for the role must do so for at least two films.

So far, a ton of names have been mentioned: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Josh Lucas and Jake Gyllenhaal, to name a few. Personally, I think it would be hilarious if Gyllenhaal nabbed the role -- Brokeback Batman, anyone? The latest name being circulated around the Bat-cave is that of Crash star and Mr. Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Phillippe. Ugh. Actually, make that a double ugh.

Yes, I'm one of those people who cannot stand Ryan Phillippe. Besides the fact he is as boring as they come, the guy just can't act. Once past those pretty-boy looks, it's all empty space. Ledger I can deal with, however, I draw the line with Phillippe. Please. I beg you. Don't do it.

[via Moviehole]

After what The Hollywood Reporter presents as an epic search, Boys Don't Cry director Kimberly Peirce has finally found the man on whom she will hang her return to directing -- and it's ... Ryan Phillippe. Um, ok. Has he had a massive charisma-cum-talent transplant lately of which we are unaware, or something? Because Phillippe's not the first actor of his age who would come to mind as the answer to any talent-related questions.

Clearly knowing something we do not (or else having been told "no" by everyone she really wanted), Peirce is drafting Phillippe in to star in Stop-Loss, which she co-wrote. Assuming he signs that contract, Phillippe will play "a soldier who returns home ... and is called to duty again in Iraq through the military's 'stop-loss' procedure" but refuses to return to service. Already on board as the female lead is young Abbie Cornish, one of Kim's current favorite actresses; Peirce is hoping to begin shooting in August.