Birth nameJohn Peter Sarsgaard Birth information7 March 1971, Belleville, Illinois, USA BioComing on the scene fairly recently, Illinois-born actor Peter Sarsgaard has already demonstrated an amazing flair for harsh, disturbing, dark-edged characters despite his boyish countenance. A graduate of St. Louis' Washington University where he majored in history and literature, he was a co-founder of the comedy improvisational group Mama's Pot Roast and trained initially with the Actors' Studio in New York. Such off-Broadway productions included Horton Foote's "Laura Dennis" and John Cameron Mitchell's "Kingdom of Earth."He made his screen debut in Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking (1995) and was given more sizable roles in Desert Blue (1998) and The Man in the Iron Mask (1998/I), as the ill-fated son of the Musketeer Athos, played by John Malkovich. Peter then started gracing the art-house circuit, making a violent, searing impression as a homophobic killer in Boys Don't Cry (1999) starring two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank as a trans-gendered teen.Other impressionable offbeat roles for Peter that have thrilled critics from coast to coast include Shattered Glass (2003), which earned him a slew of awards including the prestigious National Society of Film Critics Award. Prior to that, he showed off his versatility with portrayals ranging from a Russian nuclear reactor officer in K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) to a drug addict in The Salton Sea (2002). Other heralded performances in Garden State (2004) and Kinsey (2004) only prove that, at this rate, it is only a matter of time before the Oscar comes rapping on this man's door.

Earlier this month we learned that Leonard DiCaprio’s Apian Way was developing a gothic reimagining of the classic story Little Red Riding Hood. It has now been announced that Twilight helmer Catherine Hardwicke has signed on to direct. The film, titled The Girl With the Red Riding Hood, is being written by David Leslie Johnson and will feature a Werewolf and have a teenage love triangle at its center. The best-known version of the story — in which a wolf disguises himself to fool a girl delivering food to her sick grandmother in the forest — was published in the 19th century by the Brothers Grimm. Earlier oral versions of the tale, which date back to the Middle Ages, are far darker and sometimes involve a werewolf rather than a wolf; the first published version, by Charles Perrault, concludes with Red Riding Hood eaten by the wolf, with no happy ending. »
- James Cook

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Orphan
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
Cast: Vera Famiga, Peter Sarsgaard, Aryana Engineer, Isabelle Fuhrman
Running Time: 2 hrs 5 mins
Rating: R
Release Date: July 24, 2009
Plot: A married couple (Famiga and Sarsgaard) adopt a child (Fuhrman) and slowly find out that the newest addition to their family isn’t who she appears to be.
Who’s It For? Anyone who wants to feel a decent summer thrill, but horror fans especially will be patient with the film. All will be rewarded with a good twist that is quite difficult to foresee.
Expectations: An evil-child movie that is coming out mid-summer? Expectations were low for a horror flick that appeared to have high predictability.
Scorecard (0-10)
Actors:
Vera Famiga as Kate Coleman: This loving head of the house runs through a whole list of emotions, as she begins trying to nurture the new Esther and in turn becomes the mother who cried wolf. »
- Nick Allen

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We know it's shaping up to be quite a disappointing week for DVD, but we promise at least a little light at the end of the tunnel. If fantasy is your thing, you've got the latest family flick from the artist formerly known as The Rock (Race to Witch Mountain), an otherworldly animated flop (Delgo), and Thomas Jane's strange sci-fi actioner based on a role-playing game (Mutant Chronicles). Joe Wright delivers an Oscar would-be (The Soloist, starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr.) while the likes of Sienna Miller, Peter Sarsgaard, Forest Whitaker, Dakota Fanning and others languish in poorly-reviewed...

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