Going sleepy... here be Elston....
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Dougray Scott is in final talks to star in ENIGMA for director Michael
Apted. Tom Stoppard adapted the Robert Harris thriller about a young man
who tries to crack Nazi U-boat codes during World War II when he discovers
his girlfriend might be a German spy. Mick Jagger and Lorne Michaels are
producing.
* Amber Benson (CAN'T HARDLY WAIT) joins THE PRIME GIG with Ed Harris and
Vince Vaughn.
* Emily Mortimer (NOTTING HILL) and 7 1/2-year old Spencer Breslin join
Bruce Willis in THE KID for director Jon Turteltaub about a man visited by
his younger self. Audrey Wells wrote the comedy-drama.
* Kirsten Dunst and James Caan will star in the indie LUCKYTOWN about a
young woman and a man at a crossroads in their lives: she is looking for
her father, he wants a free-wheeling lifestyle. Paul Nichols will direct.
* Jennifer Love Hewitt may join Sigourney Weaver in David Mirkin's BREAKERS
for MGM about a mother/daughter conwoman team.
* Kevin Costner may reteam with director Kevin Reynolds on OCRA COKE about
Robert Maynard, a disgraced British naval officer who redeemed himself by
capturing Blackbeard in a battle on Ocra Coke, an inlet outside of North
Carolina.
HARRY NOTE: This project is... NOWHERE NEAR BEING MADE YET. My sources around town tell me that Kevin Reynolds has about 3 or 4 other projects on the stove, but that as best as can be determined.. the script for OCRA COKE, which is half owned by both of the Kevins... is soooo strong that it could very well one day reunite these two... on water.
* Mekhi Phifer will star in IMPOSTOR for director Gary Fleder and Dimension
Films. Phifer joins Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stowe, Vincent D'Onofrio and
Tony Shalhoub in the story of an engineer who creates the ultimate weapon in
a battle against aliens. The film started out as a 40 minute short to be
featured as a segment in a three-part Dimension anthology ALIEN LOVE
TRIANGLE.
* Matt Davis will star in TIGERLAND for director Joel Schumacher about war
games in Lousiana as training for soldiers preparing for Vietnam. Colin
Farrell also stars. Davis will also star opposite Jennifer Morrison in
URBAN LEGEND 2.
* Anthony DeSando (KISS ME GUIDO) joins THE WHOLE SHEBANG starring Stanley
Tucci and Bridget Fonda.
* Wendy Crewson will play Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife in THE SIXTH DAY for
director Roger Spottiswoode.
* Terry Kinney (THE FIRM) landed a role in SAVE THE LAST DANCE starring
Julia Stiles.
* Ben Affleck will star opposite Robert De Niro in THE SCORE for director
Frank Oz and Mandalay Pictures. The story follows an older thief who wants
to retire and live off his riches until a young kid blackmails him into
doing one last heist.
* Jeff Goldblum and Nancy Travis replace William H. Macy and Jamie Lee
Curtis (who dropped out during final negotiations) in AUGGIE ROSE for
writer/director Matt Tabak. Anne Heche, Timothy Olyphant and Richard T.
Jones also star in the story of an insurance salesman who embarks on a
double life.
* John Hannah will reprise his role in THE MUMMY II for writer/director
Stephen Sommers. Shooting is expected to begin next year.
* Michael York joins BORSTAL BOY for director Pete Sheridan about the life
of Irish journalist/political activist Brendan Behan.
* Julia Roberts may star in 33 LIBERTY STREET about a man who seduces a
Federal Reserve Bank employee and plots to rob it, but his involvement with
her starts making the heist a little difficult. Director Adrian Lyne is
circling the project.
* Alan Cumming joins the cast of Dimension Films' comedy SPY KIDS for
writer/director Robert Rodriguez. Antonio Banderas is offered a part, but
has yet to commit. Shooting may begin in the spring in Texas and South
America on the story of a pair of kids who must save their word-class secret
agent parents from imminent danger.
HARRY NOTE: Shooting WILL begin in the spring!
* Ashley Judd is in talks to star in THE NOTEBOOK for New Line and director
Jim Sheridan (THE BOXER.) The story follows a retired salesman who visits
an old woman in a nursing home, reading a story from a notebook off a shelf
about two men vying for the same woman in 1940s North Carolina. The
salesman and the old woman are two of the people in the notebook, but which
of the two guys he is remains a secret until the end of the movie. Jeremy
Leven adapted the Nicholas Sparks novel.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Artisan Entertainment picked up Evan Katz's comedy spec AUTEURS for Eric
Fieg to produce. The story follows two "gangsta" wannabes in their 20's who
make an indie film about a robbery in order to camouflage a heist.
* Gore Verbinski (MOUSE HUNT) will direct THE MEXICAN after Brad Pitt
dropped the project. The DreamWorks film is about a mob bagman who goes to
Mexico to retrieve a cursed antique pistol.
* Peter Berg will write and direct two flicks: One is HOSTAGE RESCUE for
Universal and Imagine Entertainment about an elite para-military unit who
combat international terrorism. But first, he'll do TRUCK 44 based on the
lives of five New York City firefighters who try to rob a building by
setting it on fire.
* Oz Scott will direct WALK DON'T WALK about a detective forced to make a
moral decision when a nanny is suspected of a crime she didn't commit. Anna
Wilding will star and produce.
* Dennis Dugan (BIG DADDY) may direct SAVING SILVERMAN about two friends who
try to save their best buddy from marrying the wrong woman.
* Centropolis Entertainment bought CELLULAR, a thriller script by Larry
Cohen about a man who gets a call on his cell phone from a woman who has
been kidnapped and doesn't know her whereabouts, but she is sure she is
going to be killed. He must find her before his phone battery dies.
* New Line may buy Seth Pearlman's spec BILLY TWO SUGARS about a lowly
driver for a powerful Cuban drug lord in Miami who sets out to get money and
respect from his abusive boss by putting together a band of dysfunctional
losers to rip him off. Brett Ratner is attached to direct with Antonio
Banderas attached to star.
* Brad Anderson (NEXT STOP WONDERLAND) will direct the Miramax remake of the
1996 French feature CHACUN CHERCHE SON CHAT (WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY) about a
woman who leaves her cat with a kitty sitter before going on vacation.
* Adrian Lyne is in talks to direct an untitled flick based on the French
classic LA FEMME INFIDELE (THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE) for Fox 2000. the movie is
about a married woman who gets involved in an affair that eventually leads
to murder.
* Gus Van Sant will direct FINDING FORRESTER starring Sean Connery as a
reclusive East Coast writer who befriends a basket-ball playing
underprivileged young black writer.
* Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez (THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT) will co-direct
the comedy HEART OF LOVE described as Monty Python meets AIRPLANE.
* Artisan Ent. has acquired Jon Favreau's script MADE for Favreau and Vince
Vaughn to star and produce. Favreau will make his feature directing debut
on the story of two aspiring boxers and lifelong friends who get involved in
a money-laundering scheme.
* David Spade, Fred Wolf and Matt Piedmont will write THE ADVENTURES OF JOE
DIRT for Sony Pictures (recently rejected by Warner Bros.) Spade will star
as a young man who recounts on a radio show his lifelong search for his
parents--who deliberately abandoned him at the Grand Canyon. Adam Sandler
will get a producer credit.
* Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT, MAN ON THE
MOON) will next write as well as direct a Marx Brothers biopic for
Universal.
HARRY NOTE: Told ya this way back in October.
* Director Charles Shyer (THE PARENT TRAP) is set to direct Bel-Air
Entertainment's THE MAN WHO ATE A 747. Gwyn Lurie wrote the script based on
Ben Sherwood's upcoming book about a man who makes a living measuring world
records. He winds up in a town where a man is eating an airplane for the
love of a woman. The visitor falls in love with her too.
HARRY NOTE: aka 'HARRY KNOWLES: HIS STORY'
* Alfonso Arau (A WALK IN THE CLOUDS) is in talks to direct a feature film
remake of Gaston Leroux's classic 1911 novel THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA for
Universal Pictures. This version will not be a musical but will include pop
music and classical opera.
HARRY NOTE: why do this modern day?
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* The third Pokemon flick is scheduled for release in Japan next summer.
POKEMON: THE LORD OF THE UNKNOWN TOWER will introduce a "mysterious" new
character.
HARRY NOTE: Oh Dear God No
* Steven Spielberg may make up his mind very soon on what his next project
will be: MINORITY REPORT, A.I., or HARRY POTTER.
HARRY NOTE: It won't be A.I.
* Chartoff Prods. and Phoenix Pictures are developing a feature based on
Antjie Krog's COUNTRY OF MY SKULL about an interracial romance set against
the backdrop of the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings in South Africa. Ann
Peacock (A LESSON BEFORE DYING) will script.
* Robert Rehme bought the film rights to Jeff Rovin's upcoming thriller
novel ST. WAR to be developed as a starring vehicle for Dean Cain. The plot
involves a Navy SEAL whose unit is forced to use state-of-the-art weapons
against a group of ultraconservatives who have infiltrated the U.S.
government and military.
* David Fincher and Chris Columbus are the final candidates to direct
SPIDER-MAN at Sony. A decision is expected before Christmas.
HARRY NOTE: Told ya
* Some summer 2000 movie release dates have been set (subject to change, of
course): May 12 - FLINSTONES IN VIVA ROCK VEGAS and BATTLEFIELD EARTH, May
19 - DINOSAUR, May 24 - MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2, June 16 - TITAN A.E., June
23 - ME, MYSELF AND IRENE, July 14 - X-MEN, July 21 POKEMON sequel.
Sp. Spielberg and Spider-Man. What's the former's next project?
Who'll direct the latter? We should have the answers to both questions
within days. Cool. Peter Berg seems busy. HOSTAGE RESCUE and TRUCK 44.
He's got his work cut out for him. Antonio Banderas is busy too... he may
do SPY KIDS or BILLY TWO SUGARS or both. I'd say the second one would come
first since SPY KIDS may not shoot 'til spring.
CELLULAR sounds intense, but familiar. Hmm. Bruce Willis is reteaming
with a kid in THE KID. Anyone read the script? Hope it's good. Adrian
Lyne may do 33 LIBERTY STREET and/or a remake of THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE. Which
would you choose? Another French remake is in the works with Miramax and
WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY. Kevin Costner to play a British officer in OCRA COKE?
The story sounds great, let's hope his accent will too. Ben Affleck will
star opposite De Niro in THE SCORE for Frank Oz. I wonder if that means
he's not doing CINDERELLA MAN.
Can't wait to see Universal's Marx Brothers biopic--especially if
Alexander and Karaszewski are writing it. Anyone read Jon Favreau's MADE?
I'm curious if it's as good as SWINGERS.
Gotta love the title THE MAN WHO ATE A 747. Glad to see it's taking
shape. Have a good one.
Until next week...
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
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