Ahhhhhh, its a brand new week, and ol' Father Geek is here once more along with our West Coast buddy Elston to bring you another timely rehash of all the news that was fit to print from out in sunny Hollywoodland during the last work-week that you may have been too busy to catch the first time around. So I suggest you sit back and get real comfy, refill that uber cool AICN mug with some steaming Java, or warm Cocoa, grap a de-lite-ful little munchie of some sort, and prepare to dig into the very active week that was in Tinseltown with our most current edition of...
THE WEEKLY RECAP...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* John Cusack is final talks to star in THE RUNAWAY JURY, based on the novel by John Grisham, for director Gary Fleder, Regency Enterprises and 20th Century Fox. Naomi Watts (MULHOLLAND DRIVE) may play the female lead. The movie will focus on a high-stakes firearms case in Biloxi, Miss. Brian Koppelman and David Levien wrote the script.
* Brittany Murphy is in talks to star opposite Dakota Fanning (I AM SAM) in MGM/Greene Street Films' MOLLY GUNN for director Boaz Yakin. Production begins June 29 in New York.
* Gael Garcia Bernal (Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN) will star in Matthew Parkhill's emotional thriller DOT THE I for Summit Entertainment and Arcane Pictures. It's about a woman who, on the eve of her wedding, kisses another man. Torn between the safety of her fiance and the excitement of a new love, she learns that things are not quite what they seem to be.
* Marton Csokas (RAIN) joins the cast of TIMELINE for director Richard Donner.
* Maria Bello will star opposite William H. Macy, Alec Baldwin and Shawn Hatosy in THE COOLER. Wayne Kramer directs from his own script for Content Film.
* James Gandolfini is said to be interested in playing Ralph Kramden in THE HONEYMOONERS, based on the classic TV show, for Paramount.
* Beyonce Knowles is in final talks for the female lead opposite Cuba Gooding Jr. in Paramount Pictures/MTV Films' THE FIGHTING TEMPTATIONS for director Jonathan Lynn.
* James Woods will star in the drama NORTH FORK for filmmakers Michael and Mark Polish. Shooting begins this month in Montana. It's about a town that is about to be covered by a manmade lake and the legends of angels that once inhabited the area.
* Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett are in talks to star in an untitled drama about a pair of cops involved in a crime that revolves around the music business. Ron Shelton will direct from a pitch he has written with Robert Souza.
* Adrian Paul will star with Carly Pope ("Popular") and Rena Owen (ONCE WERE WARRIORS) in writer/director Jesse Warn's psychological thriller PAPER, SCISSORS, STONE. It's about a girl whose fascination for riddles becomes a life-threatening exercise.
* Tim Blake Nelson joins the cast of "Holes," which includes Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Patricia Arquette and Allison Smith in HOLES, the adaptation of Louis Sachar's kids book, for director Andrew Davis.
* Jeremy Northam joins Robin Wright Penn, Robert Downey Jr. and Mel Gibson in THE SINGING DETECTIVE for Icon Prods.
* Aaron Eckhart is in negotiations to star in SUSPECT ZERO for Intermedia Films and director E. Elias Merhige (SHADOW OF THE VAMPIRE) about a Dallas-based FBI agent investigating a serial killer whose victims are serial killers. Zak Penn wrote the script with a rewrite by Billy Ray (HART'S WAR).
* Luke Wilson will star opposite Bob Dylan in MASKED & ANONYMOUS for Intermedia Films and writer/director/producer Larry Charles. Production begins in July. Rene Fontaine and Sergy Petrov penned the script based on the unpublished short story "Los Vientos del Destino," written by Enrique Morales. It's about a wandering troubadour brought out of prison by his former manager for one last concert, a charity benefit.
* Amanda Bynes ("All That," "The Amanada Show") is in final talks to star in Warner Bros.' coming-of-age pic AMERICAN GIRL for director Dennie Gordon. Shooting begins in June.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Marc Lawrence is in talks with Castle Rock Entertainment to write a sequel to its action-comedy feature MISS CONGENIALITY with the intent to see Sandra Bullock reprise her role as an undercover FBI agent.
* New Line snapped up THE CROSSING from writers Phil DeBlasi and Byron Willinger for Pink Slip Pictures to produce. The project is described as a female-driven actioner in the vein of BREAKDOWN.
* Iain Softley will direct the spy drama SHANGHAI for Miramax Films and Phoenix Pictures. The story centers on an American intelligence agent in Shanghai during WWII who becomes involved with the wife of a local drug lord only to be discovered by a Japanese military official. Hossein Amini wrote the script with a rewrite by Becky Johnston.
* Phoenix Pictures picked up the psychological horror script BLACK AUTUMN from husband and wife team Adam Marcus and Debra Sullivan for O/Z Films to produce and Marcus (JASON GOES TO HELL) to direct. It's about a young woman who goes to an all-girls boarding school and discovers it's run by a coven of witches.
* Gail Parent will adapt Dyan Sheldon's CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN for New Line Cinema. Hilary Duff is attached to star.
* New Line is in final negotiations to purchase the spec script NO PLACE LIKE HOME by Margaret Heidenry. It's about a cocky New Yorker with the world at his fingertips and a deep repugnance to his parents. But when his life crumbles and he breaks up with his girlfriend, he ends up moving into their house in Long Island.
* Ann Cherkis will write a feature adaptation based on the nonfiction book by Alexa Albert, BROTHEL, MUSTANG RANCH AND ITS WOMEN. The book is a first-person account of the world of legalized prostitution in Nevada. Albert was granted access to the Mustang Ranch near Reno to conduct a public-health study and ended up living there on and off over a six-year period. Cherkis will also write a script based on the 1999 Japanese film HIMITSU (THE SECRET).
* Robert Benton will adapt and direct John O'Hara's classic novel APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA for Universal Pictures. It's set during the 1930s in the fictional, high society world of Gibbsville, Pa., and tells a story of liquor bootlegging, inherited wealth and self-destruction.
* Stephen Herek is in talks to direct the action/drama AIR TIGHT, written by Tony and Joe Gayton, for Castle Rock. It's about a smooth con, a neat freak, a helicopter thief and a black transsexual who manage to pull off a heist worth $3 million.
* Harold Ramis will helm LET'S MAKE FRIENDS for Paramount/De Line about a guy who has everything in life but a best friends, so he looks for one and finds him in a water delivery man. Larry Levin wrote the script.
* Mark S. Waters (THE HOUSE OF YES, VH-1's "Warning: Parental Advisory") is in final talks to direct Disney's FREAKY FRIDAY remake. Heather Hach has written a script.
* Charles Shyer (FATHER OF THE BRIDE) will direct Paramount's remake of the 1966 romantic comedy ALFIE, about a womanizer whose near-death experience causes him to re-evaluate his superficial, empty life. Shyer is penning the screenplay with Elaine Pope ("Seinfeld," "Murphy Brown").
* Ed Decter and John Strauss and Ron Burch and David Kidd have written THE JANE PLAN for Disney and producers Mark Ciardi & Gordon Gray (THE ROOKIE). It's about a devoted assistant of a real estate magnate who would be lost without her. After being taken for granted too long, she quits as he's masterminding his biggest deal. His advisers work on a strategy to get her back at any cost.
* Disney has purchased Douglas Carter Beane's romantic comedy script SKINNER'S EDDY for Adam Shankman (THE WEDDING PLANNER) to direct for Hyde Park. The story centers on a girl who returns home to a small town to take care of her uncle's estate after his death. While living there she meets the perfect man, whose only flaw is that he seems too good to be true.
* Twentieth Century Fox is developing SERIOUSLY DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR? a sequel to last year's low-budget comedy that starred Ashton Kutcher and Seann William Scott. Philip Stark is in final talks to write the script for producers Gil Netter and Wayne Rice.
* George Armitage is in final negotiations to direct the thriller THE BIG BOUNCE, based on the Elmore Leonard novel, for Warner Bros, Shangri-la Entertainment and Material. Production is expected to begin in August. Sebastian Gutierrez (JUDAS KISS) has written an adaptation which centers on a young grifter who meets the glamorous mistress of the wealthiest, most powerful man in town. The two try and steal a fortune out from under her lover's nose.
* David Fincher is in final talks to direct MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3 for Paramount and C/W Prods. Robert Towne is expected to reprise his screenwriting duties.
* Peter Berg (VERY BAD THINGS) is in talks to direct The Rock in HELLDORADO for Universal. It's a modern tale about a bounty hunter who travels to the Amazon jungle to settle a debt. There, he discovers his target isn't the bad guy he thought he was and the two team up to find hidden treasure. R.J. Stewart wrote the original draft, which was rewritten by James Vanderbilt. Berg is no longer attached to direct the thriller NAUTICA.
* Disney Co. has grabbed the action-thriller pitch MIDNIGHT SUN from writer Richard Jefferies, about a remote fishing camp operator who discovers one of his guests is an international fugitive. The locals nab the criminal only to discover his private army is coming to extract their boss.
* Sam Schreiber has sold STICKS & STONES to New Line/ChickFlicks, it's about a former pool prodigy who gets back into the game after finding out that her estranged father has ridden to the top of the professional pool world on the coattails of another prodigal talent.
* Caroline Doyle-Karasyov and Jill Kargman have sold their teen comedy script BITTERSWEET 16 to Paramount. The teen comedy focuses on the competition of the absurdly lavish Manhattan private school sweet-16 party circuit. The duo will also write an original screenplay based on the 1948 Cary Grant picture EVERY GIRL SHOULD BE MARRIED.
* Joe Nussbaum (GEORGE LUCAS IN LOVE) will direct the romantic comedy I WANT KANDEE for MGM about a teen idol who is exhausted of the pop-singer lifestyle. She runs away to stay with a stepsister, changes her look and enrolls in an ordinary high school.
* Video director Dave Meyers will direct TOPSIDERS for DreamWorks, about about kids who try to find a legendary treasure buried underground in Gotham. Justin Merz and Jonathan Rosenbloom wrote the script.
* Dimension Films co-chairman Bob Weinstein has given a three-picture deal to Eduardo Rodriguez, a 28-year-old Florida State University film school student, who impressed Weinstein with DAUGHTER, a 10-minute short. Rodriguez will direct the supernatural thriller SYMBIOSIS that he co-wrote. It's about a couple who drive to Chicago to fix their marriage and start over, only to pull into the wrong town after having car trouble. Shooting is expected to begin next year and Dimension is looking for a writer to help Rodriguez lock in a shooting script.
* Ridley Scott is in talks to direct the Warner Bros. drama MATCHSTICK MEN, based on the upcoming novel by Eric Garcia. Ted Griffin (OCEAN'S ELEVEN) adapted with his brother Nick Griffin and the project is described as a drama in the vein of PAPER MOON.
* Darren Star ("Sex and the City" creator) will adapt and direct Tracy Quan's book DIARY OF A MANHATTAN CALL GIRL: A NANCY CHAN NOVEL for Revolution Studios. It centers on the diary of Chan, a call girl on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The picture will be a comedic look at the behind-the-scenes world of the oldest profession.
* Taylor Hackford is in talks to direct the drama THE RAINDANCE for Paramount. Will Rokos (MONSTER'S BALL) is rewriting Doug Richardson's script. It's about a convicted murderer serving a life sentence. He tries to redeem himself by earning his law degree and tests his courtroom skills when he defends another convict in the same prison.
* Jerry Bruckheimer Films has snapped up an untitled pitch by Katherine Laupot (NOW YOU SEE IT). It's a supernatural femme thriller whose plot is being kept a secret due to the specific nature of the story.
* The director and producer of the 1973 horror pic THE WICKER MAN, Robin Hardy and Peter Snell respectively, are not involved with the remake of that film. Instead, the two are reteaming with Christopher Lee to develop another horror feature, RIDING THE LADDIE, which will star Vanessa Redgrave and Sean Astin. It's about two American evangelists who meet danger when they head to Glasgow to preach door-to-door.
* Jessie Nelson (I AM SAM) will direct, adapt and produce the children's tale THE NIGHT I FOLLOWED THE DOG, based on the 1994 book by Nina Laden, for Columbia Pictures.
* Jon Favreau is in final talks to rewrite and direct the Will Ferrell-starrer ELF for New Line. It's based on a script by David Berenbaum about a guy raised from infancy by elves at the North Pole. After unintentionally but consistently wreaking havoc on the elf community, he is sent back to New York to be reunited with his biological father.
* Shawn Ryan (FX's "The Shield" creator) will adapt the video game MAX PAYNE for Dimension Films. The game features an undercover DEA agent out to avenge the murder of his wife and child, which is no easy feat as he's been set up for the death of a fellow narc in Gotham.
* Producer Steven Jay Rubin has purchased Gary Goldstein's romantic comedy script JAKE AND MONICA'S PANIC ATTACK for Fast Carrier Pictures. The screenplay centers on two neurotic, mismatched therapy patients who spend a chaotic day in Manhattan searching for their missing therapist.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Producer Mace Neufeld has grabbed screen rights to A LIFE IN RAGTIME by Reid Badger, and will develop a film about Lt. James Reese Europe, a musician and WWI soldier who helped spread jazz in its early stages throughout Europe and the U.S. Europe was the son of a former slave and became popular in New York, where his Clef Club was the first black musicians union and its orchestra was the first black band to make recordings and the first black ragtime band to play Carnegie Hall. He joined the Army during WWI and was a machine gunner in an all black unit that fought as part of the French army. His company, which the French called the Harlem Hellfighters, served 191 days in combat, longer than any other U.S. unit. At 39, while touring the U.S. , Europe's knife-wielding drummer murdered him.
* Miramax has picked up the rights to COMEDIAN, a behind-the-scenes documentary about Jerry Seinfeld's national stand-up tour. Christian Charles directed the mini-DV pic which was funded by Seinfeld and features appearances by Colin Quinn, Chris Rock and Garry Shandling.
* Warner Bros. has bought the remakie rights to the Korean romantic drama IL MARE to be produced by Vertigo Entertainment. The original film centers on a woman who moves out of her beach house and leaves a forwarding address, but when a man tries to correspond with her, it soon becomes clear that she lives in the year 2000, while he lives in 1998. And her letters to him might cause his demise.
* Curtis Hanson has purchased the feature rights to a series of novels by cult crime writer Charles Willeford including NEW HOPE FOR THE DEAD, SIDESWIPE, THE WAY WE DIE NOW and THE SHARK INFESTED CUSTARD. Hanson is developing the novels through his Deuce Three Prods. and may also try to get the remake rights to MIAMI BLUES. Meanwhile, filmmaker Mark Bailey has just optioned another Willeford novel, THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY about a psychotic and murderous art critic, who, while trying to make a lasting name for himself, tracks down the greatest painter in the world, now a hermit living in rural Florida.
* Revolution Studios has settled on an official title for director Paul Thomas Anderson's fourth film, calling it PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE. Adam Sandler and Emily Watson star along with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Luis Guzman.
* Warner Bros. is in final talks to option feature rights to David L. Robbins' mystery-thriller SCORCHED EARTH for Overbrook Entertainment to produce with studio-based Material. The book centers on an interracial couple who must deal with the controversy that ensues after their child is buried in an all-white churchyard cemetery.
* Veteran producer Bill Todman and Gotham real estate magnate Edward Milstein have optioned film rights to a trio of bestselling thrillers by Victor O'Reilly. The titles they will develop are GAMES OF THE HANGMAN, RULES OF THE HUNT and THE DEVIL'S FOOTPRINT. The books' hero is ex-Special Forces operative Hugo Fitzduane who travels the world in different adventures. The producers plan to draw from all three books for a movie they hope will turn into a franchise, and the author is working on a fourth installment.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* Discomedia has released its newest cartoon, SUPER CONSOLE WARS: THE GAMEPIRE STRIKES GOLD at This Cool Site .
* The fans of Battlestar Galactica are very upset with the recent news that the Sci Fi channel is doing a re-make. For info on petitions relating to this, go to This Location and then Check out this Spot , and do your part.
* Visit Their Site for more information on the Destiny Productions/Marc Selz film SHORT CUT ROAD.
