Father Geek here with Elston Gunn and another fact filled review of the-week-that-was out in Hollywoodland. Like always this regular weekly report is full of all that cool, but often overlooked information that may have skirted right past you during your busy work-week, soooooo catch-up and bring yourself up to date with all the facts contained in this week's edition of...
THE WEEKLY RECAP...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Paul Walker will star in MGM's action/thriller INTO THE BLUE for director
John Stockwell (BLUE CRUSH). Shooting begins in October with Mandalay
Pictures producing. Matt Johnson wrote the script about a group of scuba
divers who uncover the sunken wreckage of a plane that contains missing
cocaine. The divers then find themselves involved with a dangerous drug
lord.
* Steven Seagal and Matt Schulze will star in Franchise Films' OUT OF REACH
with Po-Chih Leong directing. Production has begun in Poland. Trevor Miller
penned the tale of Lancing, a government agent-turned-survivalist from
Northern Alaska who works on a wildlife refuge and sponsors a young girl
named Irina in the international foster program run by Faisal. Lancing
uncovers that the foster program is really a human trafficking operation,
disguised as Irina's orphanage, financed by honest and good-intentioned
Samaritans.
* Toby Stephens (DIE ANOTHER DAY) will star alongside Aamir Khan in THE
RISING for director Ketan Mehta. The project follows the life of Mangal
Pandey, India's first known revolutionary freedom fighter, who was hanged by
the British in 1857 for revolting against their rule. Khan will play Pandey
in the film while Stephens will play Pandey's British friend and commanding
officer William Gordon. Bollywood actresses Aishwarya Rai and Rani Mukherjee
will co-star.
* Martin Lawrence is attached to star in a sequel to BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE to be
written by Don Rhymer (SANTA CLAUSE 2, JUMANJI 2, AGENT CODY BANKS 2).
* Ryan Reynolds, Estella Warren and Michael Rapaport will star in the drama
STANDING STILL for director Matthew Cole Weiss. James Van Der Beek is also
eyeing a starring role in the movie. It's about a group of friends who
reconnect at a wedding several years after graduating from college. Shooting
begins in November.
* Cameron Diaz is in talks to sar in the Fox 2000/Scott Free Prods. project
IN HER SHOES, with Curtis Hanson eyeing to direct. Based on Jennifer
Weiner's comic novel and adapted by Susannah Grant (ERIN BROCKOVICH), the
story centers on the sibling rivalry between an irresponsible and
sometimes-employed party girl and her older sister, an ambitious attorney.
The two move in together and ultimately find a connection they never thought
was there.
* Evan Rachel Wood (THIRTEEN) and Keri Russell will star opposite Joan Allen
and Kevin Costner in the MDP Worldwide feature THE UPSIDE OF ANGER for
director Mike Binder. Erika Christensen and Alicia Witt also star. Binder
wrote and will direct the project, a family drama about a mother and her
four strong-willed daughters who must suddenly deal with life without a
husband and father. Costner plays a former baseball player who is a friend
of the family.
* Chloe Sevigny is in talks to join Radha Mitchell and Robert Downey Jr. in
Woody Allen's new untitled pic at Fox Searchlight.
* Andrea Martin, Darrell Hammond, Jack Osbourne and "Loveline's" Dr. Drew
Pinsky have been added to the cast of Warner Bros. Pictures' action comedy
NEW YORK MINUTE, starring Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen.
* Bradley Whitford, Samantha Mathis, Kathy Baker, Clea DuVall, Ron Eldard,
Gale Harold, John Mahoney, Vinessa Shaw and Barbara Barrie will star in the
indie pic FATHERS AND SONS. The project is broken up into three stories,
each written and directed by a different helmer: Rodrigo Garcia, Rob Spera
and Jared Rappaport.
* Chris Kattan is attached to star in EL ROMANTICO, written by Matt
Piedmont, for Fox Searchlight, Firm Films and 3 Arts Entertainment. It's
about a young man neglected by his parents. Through the teachings of his
Mexican nanny -- who is obsessed with soap operas and swashbucklers -- he
comes to believe that he is the modern-day Don Juan searching for his one
and only true love.
* Jim Caviezel will play golf legend Bobby Jones in STROKE OF GENIUS for
director Rowdy Herrington.
* Jewel will star in WAVE, an indie film written by David Rothmiller, about
a mother reconnecting with her adult son after spending time in jail for a
crime of passion committed when he was a child.
* Alexa Vega (SPY KIDS movies) will star in MGM's SLEEPOVER for director Joe
Nussbaum and Dimension Films. Production begins Sept. 29.
* Amitabh Bachchan will star in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's BLACK about a
teacher and his pupil. Rani Mukherjee will also star. Shooting begins in
December.
* Cate Blanchett, John Cusack and Kevin Spacey are in talks to star in a new
feature adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's A DOLL'S HOUSE for director Liv Ulmann.
Production will begin in 2005. She has written a script based on the 1879
play about a woman who leaves her husband and children to seek a new life.
The movie will be released in 2006, the 100th anniversary of the
playwright's death. Before then, Ullmann will direct THE JOURNEY HOME from
her own script based on the book by Icelandic author Olaf Olafsson.
* Zoe Saldana (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN) and Diego Luna (OPEN RANGE) join
Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones in Steven Spielberg's TERMINAL.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Barry Levinson is in talks to direct the drama THE CRASH DETECTIVES for
Stratus Films and Angry Films. The project is based on a New Yorker magazine
article by Jonathan Harr about National Transportation Safety Board
investigators who determine the cause and liability of plane crashes. When a
jet crashes into the Atlantic with no survivors, one investigator -- fueled
by frustration over a crash he failed to solve years earlier -- is
determined to successfully unravel the case as all parties have their own
agenda to avoid blame.
* David Fincher is in talks with DreamWorks to direct the thriller THE
LOOKOUT. Scott Frank wrote the script about a young man who is rendered
quasi-disabled by short-term memory loss in the wake of a car accident. He
is then befriended by a local gangster who wants assistance in robbing a
bank. Meanwhile, Fincher has turned his attention away from LORDS OF DOGTOWN
at Columbia Pictures. The studio is now looking to such contenders as Doug
Liman, Jonas Akerlund and Catherine Hardwicke.
* Heather Hach (FREAKY FRIDAY) will rewrite Fox 2000's ME AND MY BOY for
producer Lynda Obst. It's a romantic comedy about a girl looking for love
with the help of her dog.
* Mike Newell will direct HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE for Warner
Bros. Production is is due to begin in April in England with a late 2005
release date pegged.
* Christian Charles (COMEDIAN) is in talks to direct New Line's NOTHING BUT
THE TRUTH about a chronic fibber who finds himself forced to live out all
his outrageous lies -- from running a major corporation to being a
homosexual. Mark Perez (THE COUNTRY BEARS) wrote the script with a rewrite
by Tom Gammill and Max Pross.
* Heather Hach (FREAKY FRIDAY) will rewrite the romantic comedy ME AND MY
BOY for Fox 2000. It's about a girl looking for love with the help of her
dog.
* Columbia/Red Wagon Prods. have tapped writer/producer Stuart Blumberg to
script the remake of BYE BYE BIRDIE for newcomer Jon Chu to direct. The new
treatment for the pic uses a contemporary setting with an urban, hip-hop
feel. Chu has also sold his original musical pitch MOXIE to DreamWorks for
Jinks/Cohen Co. to produce. It's described as an urban love story in the
vein of ROMEO AND JULIET set in modern day San Francisco.
* Focus Features has hired Doug Delaney to write a screenplay about a group
of middle-aged beach bum Lotharios who refuse to admit that their youth has
passed.
* Kamran Pasha will adapt Deepak Chopra's novel SOULMATE for Anant Singh's
Distant Horizon. The book follows the life of a doctor who loses his
soulmate, leading to other crises in his life.
* Dimension Films purchased the rights to the Stephen Laws horror novel
DARKFALL for Willie Hagan to adapt. The story takes place in a high-rise
office building on a stormy Christmas Eve. When all the workers disappear,
police sent in to investigate realize the missing have been absorbed by the
walls and then released in a horrifically mutated form.
* Nobel Prize winner Derek Walcott is teaming with Kaufman Films to write,
produce and direct his musical play, TI JEAN AND HIS BROTHERS. Set in
Walcott's native St. Lucia, story is about a trio of brothers who must
outsmart the devil - in the guise of a plantation owner - to save their
family. Production is set to begin in early 2004.
* South African comedian Leon Schuster (MR. BONES) will next shoot OH
SHUCKS, I'M GATVOL for Ster-Kinekor. Schuster wrote the screenplay with Gus
Silber, and will also star in the film. Andre Scholtz, who has worked on
nine previous Schuster films, is producing.
* John Collee (MASTER AND COMMANDER) will script a new adaptation of C.S.
Forester's SINK THE BISMARCK for Fox/DreamWorks. The pic is a remake of the
1960 Fox movie which starred Kenneth More in the true-life WWII story of how
the Royal Navy hunted down the German super-battleship Bismarck.
* Scott Rosenberg will direct AND SO IT GOES from his own script how the
appearance of a couple of children causes an underachiever to revisit his
relationship with his best friend -- the kids' father -- who has since
passed away.
* Eric Bross (ON THE LINE) will direct Miramax's family action/comedy
PROJECT BIGFOOT. It's a wish-fulfillment adventure set in the world of
monster trucks. The pic is described as being in the vein of SPY KIDS meets
HERBIE, THE LOVE BUG as the truck -- though it is nonspeaking -- has its own
distinct personality.
* Nickelodeon Movies is developing an untitled animated feature film version
of the animated series "The Fairly OddParents" with the show's creator Butch
Hartman and producer/story editor Steve Marmel. Hartman will direct the
feature film and co-write the script with Marmel, who will produce.
* Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow (TPY STORY) are writing the script for DADDY
DAY CAMP, a sequel to DADDY DAY CARE, for Revolution Studios.
* Tristan Patterson will write and make his directing debut on a project
based on Timothy Ford's Gear magazine article "The Yankee Bandit" for Di
Bonaventura Pictures and Killer Films. The project recounts the life of
charismatic charmer Eddie Dodson. His art deco furniture store on Melrose
Avenue attracted Hollywood hipsters, but friends were shocked when he was
identified as "The Yankee Bandit" in 1984, responsible for robbing 64 banks
over nine months. On one afternoon, he robbed six banks in a matter of
hours.
* Kevin Smith will direct FLETCH WON, based on the Gregory McDonald novel,
for Miramax and the sci-fi adventure RANGER DANGER AND THE DANGER RANGERS
for Dimension as part of a renewed first-look deal with the studio. Shooting
on FLETCH will begin in January, while production on RANGER DANGER is
expected to begin fall 2004. Meanwhile, Smith's JERSEY GIRL has been moved
to a March 19 release. Additionally, Smith and producer Scott Mosier are
also exec producing REEL PARADISE, a docu about indie distribution vet John
Pierson and the year he spent owning and operating the world's most remote
movie theater, in the Fiji bush.
* Steven Seagal and Joe Halpin have written the action pic INTO THE SUN,
purchased by Franchise Pictures, as a star vehicle for Seagal. It's about a
retired special agent who is drawn into the treacherous world of the yakuza
in order to protect his family.
* Rick Famuyiwa (THE WOOD, BROWN SUGAR) is attached to direct Blair
Underwood, who is also producing, Fox Searchlight's adaptation of the
Tananarive Due novel MY SOUL TO KEEP. The story is about a man who came from
an ancient village in Ethiopia and has lived for five centuries. He wants to
make his wife and child immortal, but there are 50 other immortals who
oppose it.
* Peter Steinfeld and DeShawn Schneider have sold their high-concept comedy
pitch THE BIG SHOT at Warner Bros. Entertainment. It's about a guy who
figures out how to reverse the aging process with a shot.
* David Nutter will direct the New Line vampire thriller DARKSIDERS about a
band of bloodsuckers who are turned into special operatives for the FBI.
Given the bloodlust they show for their work, the vampires are closely
monitored by the government agency.
* Spike Lee will next direct the comedy SHE HATE ME, starring Anthony
Mackie, Nia Long, Whoopi Goldberg and Jim Brown. Lee is also talking to
Rosario Dawson and Woody Harrelson to take part. It's about a
Harvard-educated biotech exec who gets fired when he blows the whistle on
his bosses. He supports himself by impregnating high-powered lesbians. One
of those is an ex-girlfriend.
* Screenwriter Leslie Dixon and director Todd Phillips will team on a
project based on "O Sister Where Art Thou," based on a Texas Monthly article
about eight female prison inmates who formed a singing act in the 1940s. The
article revealed the whereabouts of the Texas-based Goree All Girl String
Band, which became a sensation as the ladies serenaded national radio
audiences. The women, some of whom had been sent up the river for robbery
and murder, formed the band, hoping to shorten their sentences. The shame of
being incarcerated caused them to spurn the fame that awaited them.
* Craig Borten and Melissa Wallack will write a script inspired by a June
"60 Minutes" segment on industrial animal farming for Intermedia Films and
Spitfire Pictures. The project will examine the deleterious effects of
industrial farming on livestock, consumers and the environment. Multiple
perspectives will be used in exploring the situation, from the migrant
workers who raise the pigs to the industrialists who own them, to the
organic farmers who are threatened by enormous companies.
* Mark Haskell Smith will script the English-language remake of MARRYING THE
MAFIA for Warner Bros. Pictures and Vertigo Entertainment. It's a romantic
comedy about a lawyer who gets into hot water after waking up from a
one-night stand with a woman he discovers is the daughter of a mob kingpin.
When the couple tries to break their subsequent forced engagement, they find
themselves falling in love.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Revolution Studios has enlisted Storyline Entertainment to produce ICE
BREAKERS and the Tim Allen starrer IN THE PINK. The first pic, written by
Billy Devlin, is about a washed-up hockey player who enlists teammates for
an Ice Capades show in New York. IN THE PINK is about a guy who conspires
with a group of women to sell cosmetics door-to-door. Barry Fanaro is
rewriting.
* DreamWorks and Wonderland Films have secured the feature rights to Khaled
Hosseini's novel THE KITE RUNNER, which tells the story of the bond that
develops in Afghanistan between a privileged youth and the son of his
father's servant, around a love of kite flying. The relationship fractures
when one boy is set upon by toughs during a kite-flying tournament and the
other boy does nothing to help him. Years later, a reunion amidst the
wreckage of the Taliban regime reconnects the youths.
* MDP Worldwide has withdrawn from Kevin Spacey's Bobby Darin biopic BEYOND
THE SEA due to Spacey's need to complete the film with the availability of
the cast and production personnel by the end of 2003. This conflicted with
MDP's current production schedule. The film is due to start shooting Oct. 6
with new partner VisionView and domestic distribution by Lions Gate Films.
* Miramax has acquired the English-language book and film rights to BLING,
by first-time novelist Erica Kennedy, about a larger-than-life hip-hop mogul
who sets out to turn a small-town singer into a crossover megastar.
* Emmett/Furla Films has acquired Beverly Brandt's novel ROOM SERVICE and
will partner with Valhalla Motion Pictures to produce the feature. The
romantic comedy concerns a spoiled young heiress who is forced to abandon
her socialite lifestyle and take a job in the hotel where she once lived a
lavish life.
* MGM has made a deal with the Agatha Christie estate to remake the classic
mystery WITNESS FOR THE PROTECTION to be produced by Dan Rissner and Marion
Rosenberg and exec produced by Daniel Melnick.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* Sign up and win a free copy of the SKYE FALLING DVD by sending an email to
info@mpsdigital.com. The movie is about a girl named Skye who falls in love
with a guy named Carson, who is in a relationship that is slowly killing
him. For more, visit our site: www.mpsdigital.com
* Visit http://www.primermovie.com to view Shane Carruth's PRIMER, an indie
pic shot on 16mm in Dallas.
* Sonnyboo Productions have now surpassed expectations with over 150,000
combined downloads of the individual shorts from several short film sites,
such as Kevin Spacey's TriggerStreet.com, Brownfish.com, Shooting 8mm,
College-film.com, Story.com, and many more sites. For more info, visit
http://sonnyboo.com/sketch.htm
Until next week...
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
| 
