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Elston Gunn's WEEKLY RECAP
Well, the work-week's over for most of us, so that means its time for another rehash of all the movie news out of Tinseltown for those who for whatever reasons were unable to catch it all the first time 'round. Soooooo, ol' Father Geek is is here once again posting up our Hollywood archivist Elston's report of the week-that-was for your information and enjoyment. Get good and relaxed, fill that extra-large custom AICN mug (available by clicking on those front page T-shirt ads on the left) with your fave form of Java, grab a tasty munchie, and prepare to trip back through the week out in Hollywoodland by way of...
The WEEKLY RECAP
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Melanie Griffith joins the cast of the crime thriller SHADE for RKO
Pictures/Merv Griffin Entertainment and writer/director Damian Nieman.
Sylvester Stallone, Jamie Foxx, Thandie Newton, Stuart Townsend and Gabriel
Byrne star.
* Annette Bening will star in the Kevin Costner-directed film OPEN RANGE for
Disney before she shoots FREAKY FRIDAY. Production begins next month.
* Chris Tucker is the latest contender to star in MGM's remake of THE PINK
PANTHER. The actor reportedly attended a script-reading with director Ivan
Reitman and other MGM brass.
* Radha Mitchell (HIGH ART) and Julie Christie join the James M. Barrie
("Peter Pan" author) biopic, NEVERLAND, for Miramax and director Marc
Forster (MONSTER'S BALL).
* Stark Sands ("Six Feet Under") is in talks to join Natasha Lyonne, Jason
Priestly, Adam Arkin and Charles Bush in the film noir-influenced comedy DIE
MOMMIE DIE for director Mark Rucker. Bush penned the script about a
singerin 1967 with a troubled past. Shooting begins June 10.
* Ivana Milicevic (HBO's "Mind of a Married Man") and Melissa George
("Thieves") grabbed supporting roles in 20th Century Fox's romantic comedy
DOWN WITH LOVE for director Peyton Reed. Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellweger
star in an homage to the early 1960s Rock Hudson/Doris Day sex comedies.
It's about a bestselling female advice author who has all the answers until
a sly journalist playboy starts asking the questions.
* Julie du Page joins the cast of Warner Bros.' CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE for
director Andrzej Bartowiak (EXIT WOUNDS), starring Jet Li, DMX, Gabrielle
Union, Anthony Anderson and Tom Arnold.
* Angie Harmon ("Law & Order") joins the cast of MGM's teen spy pic AGENT
CODY BANKS, starring Frankie Muniz and Hilary Duff. Harald Zwart directs
from a script by Jeffrey Jurgensen.
* Charlize Theron is in talks to star opposite Mark Wahlberg in Paramount's
remake THE ITALIAN JOB for director F. Gary Gray. Production is expected to
begin late July or early August. It's about a head of a robbery crew who
stages a traffic jam in order to steal back a safe filled with gold that had
been previously stolen by a double-crossing associate.
* Nicole Kidman may play an American abroad in a film adaptation of Robert
Hellenga's novel THE SIXTEEN PLEASURES for MDP Worldwide, Neverland
Entertainment and Handprint Entertainment. John Collee wrote the script
about a book conservator, working to rescue Renaissance treasures from a
flood in Florence, Italy, who finds both an ancient volume of erotic poetry
and a new lover.
* Alan Cumming has signed on to play Nightcrawler in X-MEN 2 for director
Bryan Singer and 20th Century Fox. Meanwhile, Aaron Stanford (TADPOLE) will
play Pyro. They join Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, James
Marsden, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin and Famke Janssen in the pic. Shooting
begins in Vancouver on June 17 for a May 2, 2003 release. David Hayter
wrote the script
* Naomi Watts and Kate Beckinsale are in talks to star in the dark comedy
RAIN FALLS for Fine Line Features and writer/director I. Marlene King.
Production begins in July. It's about the emotional fallout when an
upper-middle-class suburb indulges in partner-swapping.
* Halle Berry and Marisa Tomei are in talks to star in NEED for director
Luis Mandoki and Escape Artists. Shooting begins this fall. It's about a
successful New York therapist who discovers that one of her patients -- a
neurotic, suicidal woman -- is having an affair with her husband.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Alfonso Cuaron (Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, A LITTLE PRINCESS), Callie Khouri (THE
DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD) and Kenneth Branagh are reportedly
in the running to direct the third installment of the HARRY POTTER movie
franchise. Cuaron has received the Steve Kloves script for HARRY POTTER AND
THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN and is in talks with Warner Bros. about his ideas
for the project.
* Jonathan Glazer (SEXY BEAST) will direct a remake of the Japanese film
CHAOS as a possible starring vehicle for Benicio Del Toro and Robert De
Niro, the latter whom will also produce. The Universal project centers on a
grifter hired to stage the kidnapping of a rich businessman's wife. Things
take a turn for the worst when the grifter returns from making his ransom
demand to discover his captive has been murdered. Andrew Bovell (LANTANA,
STRICTLY BALLROOM) will write the script.
* French filmmaker Erick Zonca (THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS) will make a feature
based on his one-hour French TV special "The Little Thief," a coming-of-age
story set among the street gangs of Marseille. Nick St. John will rewrite
the story, setting it in New York.
* Eric Mendelsohn (JUDY BERLIN) will write and direct DELIA for Crossroads
about a female costume designer's descent into madness. The company also
optioned MCGOORTY, by Danny and Robert Byrne, for John McCormick to adapt.
It's about a gambler and pool hustler at the beginning of the 20th century.
* Jordan Moffet is in talks to write the screenplay for POOKIE POO, a
Universal/Imagine/Urban Entertainment project based on an episode of an
animated cartoon series of the same name. The episode centers on a slacker
guy who wakes up one day to discover he is the only black person in America.
* John Singleton is in final negotiations to direct the sequel to THE FAST
AND THE FURIOUS, starring Tyrese and Paul Walker. The sequel will follow
cop Brian O'Conner who is stripped of his badge after letting Dominic
Torreto get away. He is given a chance to redeem himself by going
undercover to infiltrate the street racing circuit in Miami. Shooting
starts in October.
* Nora Ephron will direct a feature adaptation of the Larry McMurtry novel
THE DESERT ROSE for Columbia Pictures. Ephron and her sister Delia will
write the screenplay. The story centers on a single mother who is trying to
maintain her position as the lead dancer at a Vegas casino. Meanwhile, her
gorgeous daughter is making a name for herself in showgirl circles.
* Aaron Feldman and Oritte Bendory have sold their political thriller pitch
HOLIDAY CLUB to Thousand Words. It's about an American diplomat's son who
becomes friends with a group of foreign diplomats' children who use and
abuse their diplomatic immunity to break the law.
* Cyrus Voris and Ethan Reiff have sold MASTER P: KUNG FU PANDA for
DreamWorks Pictures to be developed as a fully animated, computer-generated
feature. The story revolves around a gang of snow leopard bandits that come
down from the highlands to invade a bamboo jungle. The jungle animals must
search for a prophesied warrior to defend them. They find their hero in a
lazy, underachieving panda who they must train to become the ultimate kung
fu master.
* Stephen Chiau (SHAOLIN SOCCER) will direct an action comedy for the
international market. The story is being kept under wraps, but it's set in
Honk Kong in the 1940s and 1950s, and Chiau will play one of the roles.
* Massy Tadjedin (LEOPOLD BLOOM) will adapt the 1955 Alain Robbe-Grillet
novel LE VOYEUR for Universal Pictures. Kevin Misher and Akiva Goldsman
will produce. The story centers on a man's return to a the Caribbean island
of his birth, and follows him as he tries to prove he couldn't possibly be
the chief suspect in a grisly child murder two days after his arrival.
* Christopher Bertolini (THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER) will adapt WHITE OUT for
Gaylord Films, based on the upcoming novel by former New York Police Officer
Jerry Speziale. Antoine Fuqua is attached to direct.
* Frank Darabont (THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, "The Young Indiana Jones
Chronicles") is near a deal to write the fourth installment of the INDIANA
JONES franchise for Paramount. The studio is reportedly hoping for a July
2005 release.MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Warner Bros. has optioned Elizabeth Gilbert's book THE LAST AMERICAN MAN
for Baltimore/Spring Creek Pictures to produce. It's about the true story
of Eustace Conway, who moved into the Appalachian Mountains at 17 and has
lived off the land for 20 years. He escaped an abusive childhood by taking
to the wilderness and developing survival skills unknown to most people. He
lived in a teepee full time for 17 years and set a world record when he
crossed the continent on horseback in 103 days.
* Kevin Spacey's Trigger Street Prods. is developing an English-language
remake of the Norwegian film ELLING about two misfits who become close
friends are released into the real world from a state home . It's based on
the comic novel by Ingvar Ambjoernsen.
* Fox 2000 has optioned Lauren Weisberger's first novel, THE DEVIL WEARS
PRADA for producer Wendy Finerman. It's about a small-town girl who takes a
job working for the domineering editor of a fictitious New York fashion
magazine called Runway.
GUNN SHOT
(NOT from the trades)
* Read the interview with Bloodshot Pictures director Ramzi Abed on his
project THE TUNNEL:
Its All Right Here, Just ClickUntil next week... Happy June.
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
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Wow, those are some... um... interesting choices for the next Harry Potter film. I don't know that any of the 3 would be appropriate, especially Branagh.
The movie about the Kung-Fu panda does sound cute though ^_^ -
On the lam for a crime he didn't commit. What's with all of the new directors? Where do they get these people? It seems like you do one Heineken commercial these days, and someone hands you Episode VII.
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Who the hell is he playing, the Benny Hill part? This sounds even worse than the Stallone version of Get Carter.
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Madfigs: Have you ever seen Alfonso Cuaron's A Little Princess. His work on that movie makes me think he's a PERFECT choice to direct a Potter film. That was a wonderful childrens film. It was dramatic and involving and visually beautiful. In short, all I would want from a Harry Potter film.
Branagh I have mixed feelings about. I liked some of his early directorial work a lot (Henry V/Dead Again), but haven't liked a lot of his recent stuff (and HATED his Frankenstein). But I know he can do work, and obviously, having just played a major role in the second Potter film, would have a good feel for the material and rapport with the cast.
The third choice (Forget her name), I can't comment on, cept to say I think that Ya-Ya movie looks horrible. So hoping it AINT her. -
Jun 01, 2002 3:11:01 PM CDT
Actually Charlize Theron thought she was going to be in "The Ita
by regis travolta
It's a common mistake but you can bet your bottom dollar that Vivid Video will come out with a porno version titled "The Italian Blowjob" to coincide with the movie's release. And is "Kung Fu Panda" a real movie or just another Buzz Maverik spoof suggestion? That's why we need to put that damn Maverik on ice before it's too late!
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I am one of the biggest Peter Sellers fans and I am not impressed with this Chris Tucker horse shit. He is a funny guy and all, but not the genious that Sellers was. Sellers had depth and range and could actually ACT not just run around cracking one-liners as loud as he possibly can. Whatever happened to Gary Oldman or Mike Myers looking at this role? They may not be the perfect choice but sure as shit better than Chris Fucking Tucker. What is a Peter Sellers fan to do? I must stop this hideous crime.
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Someone tell me they at least attempted to sign Jodie Foster first.
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TAKEN FROM THE F.B.I.'S NEW AUTHORITY OVER US... Long have we bitched about the lack of originality in Hollywood. "It's all remakes and sequels and adaptations of old T.V. shows and comic books in the movies these days," we bitched. We here at Buzz Maverik's Weekly Recap will now take the time to spotlight some of the original work coming down the Hollywood sewerline in the next year...Director Darwin Kerwin will film Mel Sweeney's screenplay ISLAND OF THE CLONE-O-SAURS about an amusement park with dinosaurs where things go terribly, terribly wrong. Nicolas Cage will play the choreographer of a trained pterodactyl show "Rockin' In The Jurassic" who must save the day...Jim Carrey will take on his first action role in TRAPPED WITH TERRORISTS. He'll play a tough but wise-cracking cop confined in a definite space with a limited number of well armed terrorists on Chrismas Eve...Michael Caine and Helen Hunt will team for THE SERIAL KILLING GENIUS. Hunt will play a rookie F.B.I. agent who must enlist the help of a brilliant but imprisoned serial killer to catch another killer...Jake Lloyd returns to the silver screen to act up a storm opposite Michael Keaton as a dead child psychologist in Tony Scott's I SEE DEAD PEOPLE...Finally, Gary Kurtz productions has announced the first of a trilogy, BAD DIALOGUE IN SPACE...See you at the free clinic.
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Please tell me Master P isn't gonna voice the title character....
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The Kung-Fu Panda film sounds like an animated remake of that Chris Farley movie.eh. And why the hell is anyone seriously proposing a new Pink Panther movie?Take away Peter Sellers (and Herbert Lom) and you've got nothing. Blake Edwards once tried to make a Clousoe film after (or was it before?) A Shot in the Dark with Alan Arkin as the Inspector and it was horrible. All the other attempts to revive the series have been duds. No Peter Sellers , No Pink Panther , it's as simple as that.
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Jun 02, 2002 3:37:47 AM CDT
Great to see John Singleton really fulfilling his early promise.
by cash bailey
First SHAFT, now TFATF 2? Maybe he heard all those stories of the endless line of groupies following the first movie around and decided that's how he wanted to define the middle part of his less-than-stellar career.
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That so called 'original' idea of ISLAND OF THE CLONE-O-SAURS is nothing short of a rip off of the potential 'Great American Novel', BILLY AND THE CLONEASAURUS by Seymour Skinner. Had he not been disuaded by Apu from writing it you may have had a lawsuit on your hands.
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At last a promising sounding project for Robert De Niro. Could be the first decent non-comedy film he's done in five years
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Jun 03, 2002 4:41:38 AM CDT
i am REALLY interested to see who Warner Bros. hands the reins o
by a goonie
cuz that's a pretty strange list of directors there. but then again, i always thought Columbus was a bad choice till i saw the movie. so we'll see...
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Perhaps Mr. Maverick's apparent swipe from an episode of the Simpsons is, in fact, a very clever double layered joke. Initially, one sees the humor (excuse me - humour) in the Jurassic Park riff. "Ha ha!" one says, "That Maverick certainly is quick with a jest! Whilst claiming to have an 'original' idea he has simply copied an existing popular film. A Swiftian bit of satire!" Those familiar with the Simpsons television programme will also note that the satire runs deeper - a satire on reimagining old ideas using a reimagined old idea! Brilliant! Then again, maybe 'ol Buzz was just ripping off the tv show. I'm not one to judge, if that's the case, since I once wrote an entire comedy skit for college TV using jokes stolen from the Simpsons, Monty Python, and old issues of Ambush Bug. sk
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I misspelled my own subject line! It should have been "Buzz and the Clone-o-saurus"! I've gone from smart-ass to dumb-ass! sk
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HOLD ONTO YOUR BUTTS - Samuel L. Jackson is a slacker who wakes up one morning to find himself the only black man in the world. Also starring Eddie Griffin, Chris Tucker, and Chris Rock. YOU'LL LOVE IT! - Lorne Michaels presents Jay Crouqet as his hilarious SNL alter-ego Famished Handyman spouting his wacky catchphrases in his first movie. Jay debuts on SNL this coming season.
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He's Shaft - only white...
Mark mny words - it's coming. -
Perhaps ol' rev's apparent misspelling on his subject is also a Swiftian bit of satire! Ah, the satire runs deeper still!!
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