Movie Nation

Hollywood isn’t exactly beating down the doors to make movies of August Strindberg plays. But Liv Ullman, muse to the late Ingmar Bergman, wants to direct a film of the Swede’s most famous play, “Miss Julie.” She’s got Colin Farrell as the first “name” to nudge it forward.

And the newly anointed Queen of Quality Screen Time, Jessica Chastain will take the title role, according to The Wrap.

Chastain has gone from strength to strength, since bursting out of Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life.” An Oscar nomination for “The Help,” “The Debt,” “an Oscar nomination for this year’s “Zero Dark Thirty” (a role she landed when Rooney Mara bailed out), even “Mama” didn’t miss a beat. She’s en fuego.

“Miss Julie” has been adapted to the screen before, either directly or metaphorically (I saw a short a few years ago, set in the American South and based on the play). It is the only play of Strindberg’s that even people who see a lot of theater can boast of having seen.

MGM, the studio Louis Mayer led to glory in the 30s, 40s and 50s, has long been Hollywood’s version of Broadway, a “fabulous invalid” always on life support, in and out of comas, selling off its backlot, back catalog, what have you, along the way.

They’ve mined their inventory for some clever remakes — “The Thomas Crown Affair” being the most famous. They have a “Robocop” remake in the works.

But for years, their one saving grace — the thing that kept Leo the Lion on screens — was a property that the merged MGM-UA held, James Bond films.

With Mr. Bond pulling in over $300 million US, and a staggering total overseas, with “Skyfall,” suddenly MGM is worth pouring another $650 million into. Did these financiers miss “Red Dawn”?

Adele is going to sing her James Bond song, “Skyfall.” Norah Jones will sing the title tune from “Ted,” and Barbra Streisand, 70, has agreed to show up to sing a “special” song.

Will it be a Bond tribute, a career retrospective number of her own, what?

The curiosity factor just went up for this year’s telecast — on ABC Feb. 24.

Seth MacFarlane is managing a Conan O’Brien transition the likes of which the movies have never seen. He’s gone from creating cartoons to voicing a potty-mouthed special effects teddy bear to hosting the Oscars to writing, directing and starring in a Western in the “Blazing Saddles” tradition.

THR is reporting that he’s lined up Oscar winner Charlize Theron to co-star with him in “A Million Ways to Die in the West.” Is he the new Mel Brooks, the one guy whose career seemed to prefigure his own journey from behind the scenes to comic brand name and then comic actor?

Sorry to hear that the small-scale global distributor Indomina has given up the ghost, pretty much, in the US. Most everybody laid off, operations winding down.

They released the film I thought was the best documentary of last year — “The Imposter,” and had US rights to “Holy Motors” and bought “LUV,” which rolled out to weak reviews and zero box office a couple of weeks back.

It’s Thursday, time to wake up, collect my thoughts and use my cell because Century Link’s landline has failed — again — to chat with Mike Bianchi and Brian Fritz about Stallone’s latest, the “Zombie Twilight” (“Warm Bodies”) and the two wonderful programs of Oscar nominated shorts playing at Enzian this weekend.

Tune in to 740 AM  at 745, or listen online here at 740 The Game. Somebody is SURE to do a Stallone impression that’ll make you spit up your coffee.