Father Geek here with another recap of Hollywood news from Elston... Enjoy...
THE WEEKLY RECAP...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Calista Flockhart will star in the indie feature FRAGILE for director Jaume Balaguero, who is helming from a script he wrote with Jordi Galceran. The Filmax project will see her play a nurse who takes a new job at a desolate children's hospital during its closing days. She struggles to keep the kids safe and uncover the mystery behind apparent attacks of an unknown origin that hurt the kids so that they cannot leave the premises. Richard Roxburgh, Yasmin Murphy and Gemma Jones are also on board to star.
* Bruce Campbell, Lynda Carter and David Foley have joined the cast of SKY HIGH as superhero teachers for director Mike Mitchell and producer Andrew Gunn.
* Ethan Suplee has joined the cast of United Artists' ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL, playing an aspiring filmmaker who rooms with an aspiring artist who achieves the fame he's always dreamed of when he's inadvertently arrested for being a murderer. Terry Zwigoff directs.
* James Gandolfini will star as Ernest Hemingway in an untitled film about the tempestuous romance between Hemingway and war correspondent Martha Gellhorn. Robin Wright Penn may play Gellhorn. Barbara Turner (POLLOCK) is writing the script and will produce with Alex Ryan. The Hemingway pic takes place between 1936 and 1945. Gellhorn's competitive nature inspired the novelist to pen FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS.
* Sarah Carter will star with Paris Hilton and Paula Garces in NATIONAL LAMPOON'S PLEDGE THIS. Carter will be playing Kristen, a Brooklyn native all too excited about sorority life at South Beach University.
* Daniel Baldwin, Danny Trejo, Declan Joyce and Dee Wallace-Stone star in THE BLUE ROSE, a thriller about a successful but drug-addicted real estate agent who meets a woman who changes his life. Joe Knight stars and directs from his own script.
* Rachel Blanchard ("7th Heaven") has been added to the cast of Atom Egoyan's WHERE THE TRUTH LIES, based on the novel by Rupert Holmes. Colin Firth, Kevin Bacon and Alison Lohman star. Egoyan also adapted the script for Serendipity Point Films. Book follows the story of a female journalist who tries to uncover the truth behind the breakup, years earlier, of a celebrated comedy team after the duo found a girl dead in their hotel room. Though both had airtight alibis and neither was accused, the incident put an end to their act.
* Malinda Williams (Showtime's "Soul Food") has joined the cast of HBO's Untitled OutKast Musical, starring Andre 3000 and Big Boi. Williams will portray the wife of Big Boi's character, Rooster.
* Matt Davis and Michael Madsen have been cast in BLOODRAYNE, based on the popular video game, joining Ben Kingsley, Kristanna Loken and Michelle Rodriguez. Uwe Boll is directing and producing.
* Donald Faison, Molly Sims, Eddie Kaye Thomas and Eddie Guerra ("CSI: Miami") are set to star in the indie comedy feature VENUS AND VEGAS for director Demian Lichtenstein. Penned by Guerra , the project follows a trio of crooks who must work together to repair their fractured relationship after they botch a holdup job. Jaime Pressly, Abraham Benrubi, Florence Henderson, Jon Polito and Paul Ben-Victor round out the cast.
* Nicholas Turturro ("NYPD Blue") will play a quarterback in THE LONGEST YARD, starring Adam Sandler, Burt Reynolds and Chris Rock.
* Ian McKellen will lend his voice to the magical character Zebedee in Pathe's THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT, the movie version of classic kids TV show. Robbie Williams, Jim Broadbent, Ray Winstone, Kylie Minogue and Bill Nighy are also a part of the voice cast.
* Sharon Stone, Jessica Lange, Tilda Swinton and Chloe Sevigny are joining the cast of director Jim Jarmusch's untitled movie that is to begin shooting next month. Bill Murray also stars.
* Simon Rex joins NATIONAL LAMPOON'S PLEDGE THIS! opposite Paris Hilton. William Heins directs.
* James Marsden will star in the indie pic 10th AND WOLF for director Bobby Moresco based on a story he and Chazz Palminteri came up with. It finds Marsden as Tommy Santaro, a member of the Philadelphia street crew known as "10th and Wolf." He accepts a deal to serve in the military instead of going to jail for getting mixed up in a mob hit only to get back in the wrong crowd in order to save his brother from going to prison.
* Samantha Morton is in talks to play Diane Arbus in a biopic of the seminal American photographer's life to be titled FUR and to be directed by Steven Shainberg. Erin Cressida Wilson is adapting the screenplay from Patricia Bosworth's book DIANE ARBUS: A BIOGRAPHY.
* Dakota Fanning will star opposite Kurt Russell in DreamWorks' DREAMER for director John Gatins and Tollin/Robbins Prods. Shooting is scheduled to start next month, with Fanning heading off for horse training next week in Louisiana. Kris Kristofferson also joins the cast. The project, inspired by a true story, originally centered on a Kentucky horse trainer and his 11-year-old daughter who rescue a horse with a broken leg. The two then help nurse the animal back to health and take it to race in the Breeders' Cup.
* Zhang Ziyi is in final negotiations to play the title character in the film adaptation of MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA. while Ken Watanabe has signed on to play the male lead. Gong Li, Michelle Yeoh, Youki Kudoh and Koji Yakusho also are in final negotiations to join the cast of the Columbia Pictures/DreamWorks/Spyglass Entertainment feature, which Rob Marshall is directing.
* Piper Perabo joins James Marsden in 10th AND WOLF for director Bobby Moresco and the British romantic comedy CLICK opposite Lena Headey. The latter project, which starts in October in London, will be directed by Oliver Parker.
* Christopher Masterson ("Malcolm in the Middle") will star in and produce INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, which is set at the height of the Cold War, centering on a brilliant young inventor who is determined to protect his revolutionary inventions. Masterson also is attached to star in the indie film WATERBORNE, the story of a fictional terrorist strike on the water supply of Los Angeles and how it affects the lives of people in the area. Jake Muxworthy also is attached to star for director Ben Rekhi.
* Jared Leto will star in AWAKE, an independent feature written and directed by Joby Harold. GreeneStreet Films is producing. It's about a scion of a huge family fortune who needs a heart transplant. During the operation, he becomes aware of a conspiracy involving the entire surgical team in order to get his money, and he must outthink and outmaneuver them in order to survive.
* Jeremy Renner will star in 12 AND HOLDING for director Michael Cuesta (L.I.E.) about a former firefighter who moves to a new town for construction work following the loss of a young girl whose death haunts him. Renner then travels to Iceland for A LITTLE TRIP TO HEAVEN, directed by Baltasar Kormakur (101 REYKJAVIK). He will star opposite Julia Stiles and Forest Whitaker as a con man who busts out of prison to search for his former partner in crime and lover, who also happens to be his sister.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Rupert Wainwright is attached to direct MGM's THE OUTER LIMITS, the feature adaptation of the TV show.fast becoming a staple at MGM. He has also signed on to direct the werewolf fllm BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE, also for MGM.
* Sean Hood will write the horror thriller THE BREATHTAKER, based on Alice Blanchard's novel, for John Wells Prods. The story follows a small-town police chief's pursuit of a serial killer who strikes only during tornadoes, brutally killing his victims in the eye of the storm.
* John Woo is developing the Chinese-language film THE WAR OF THE RED CLIFF. Chow Yun-Fat has been offered the starring role. It's based on historical events that took place in China 1,700 years ago and on a chapter in the popular novel ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS. Some 600 years after its publication, the book is still widely read in China.
* DreamWorks has set commercials director Noam Murro to direct ALL FAMILIES ARE PSYCHOTIC. Mark Poirier will adapt the Douglas Coupland novel. The book chronicles the Florida reunion of the ultimate dysfunctional family, who gather to see the clan's sole productive family member, an astronaut, fly into space.
* Eli Roth (CABIN FEVER) is set to direct Warner Bros.' remake of the horror pic THE BAD SEED for Strike Entertainment. The original centered on an 8-year-old girl who seems all sugar and spice until she begins killing people.
* Mark Bomback (upcoming CONSTANTINE) will write RUNAWAY TRAIN, a drama about an out-of-contrail train, for 20th Century Fox, Firm Firm Films and Milbrook Farms. Bomback is also hoping to direct his script DISTURBING THE PEACE with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Debra Messing attached to star in the tragic comedy about an ordinary suburbanite who decides that his life should be extraordinary.
* Universal Pictures has picked up PARTY BOYS, a comedy pitch by Mark Jordan Legan and Mark Wilding, for Double Feature Films. Legan and Wilding will write the script, in which two ex-cons are forced to find employment as children's party performers and discover that the work presents the perfect opportunity to case the homes of the rich and famous.
* Steven De Souza will write and direct THE PRESENCE, a supernatural thriller to be financed by Four Winds Pictures. Drama begins when a mother dies in childbirth. Some 25 years later, her son is getting married and thinks it would be swell to return to his birth home and start a married life there. Trouble is, mom haunts the place.
* Greg Coolidge will rewrite and direct EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH for Lions Gate. It's about a duel between two slackers who become model Costco workers when they hear a new hottie may date the store's employee of the month.
* Ash Brannon and Chris Buck will co-direct SURF'S UP for Sony Pictures Animation. The CGI pic will be a clever riff on the cult-surfing film ENDLESS SUMMER, but starring penguins. Pic will be a mockumentary based on the groundbreaking revelation that surfing was actually invented by penguins.
* Writer/producer Joan Singleton has optioned film rights to two Meg Cabot novels: TEEN IDOL and EVERY BOY'S GOT ONE. Singleton plans to adapt both books for the big screen and produce along with her husband, Ralph Singleton. IDOL centers on high school junior Jenny Greenley, who, as the school newspaper's advice columnist, is good at solving other people's problems. However, a swirl of problems start happening around her when 19-year-old screen sensation Luke Striker comes to Jenny's small town to research a role. EVERY BOY'S centers on cartoonist Jane Harris, whose best friend is eloping to Italy with her longtime boyfriend. Jane is asked to be the bridesmaid and agrees so that she can butt heads with the best man. However, they are forced to put their differences aside when the wedding plans hit a major snag.
* Sommers Co. has acquired the feature film rights to the French-language classic LES VICTIMES by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac. Novel, originally penned in the 1950s, follows the web of deadly intrigue encountered by a book editor when he follows his married lover and her husband out of the country on business. Elisa Bell (SLEEPOVER, LITTLE BLACK BOOK) will adapt the screenplay and give it a modern touch.
* DreamWorks has caught a sports pitch from scribe Lewis Colick (LADDER 49) and set up the project with Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins. The untitled work is a contemporary father-son story in the ultra-competitive world of contemporary club baseball.
* Fox has signed a three-pic deal with the writer/director of the Russian hit NIGHT WATCH (NOCHNOJ DOZOR). Fox Searchlight will distribute Timur Bekmambetov's pic and its sequel, DAY WATCH. Studio will then go into production on a big-budget prequel to both films, DUSK WATCH, which will be released by Fox and it leaves an opportunity for Fox to remake NIGHT WATCH and DAY WATCH as English-language sequels. They are based on books by Sergei Lukyanenko, following what happens after a 1,000 year truce between good and evil is broken on the streets of Moscow. The story follows opposing supernatural forces in search of the One -- a child who can choose to side either with good or evil.
* Gary Fleder is set to direct the thriller SKELETON COAST for Paramount and Icon Prods. Script, written by Christian Gudegast and Paul Scheuring, is set in South Africa and focuses on a man who tries to steal the world's largest diamond.
* Neal Marshall Stevens has been hired to adapt, with an eye toward directing, SUPERSTITION, the supernatural thriller by novelist David Ambrose. Radar Pictures is producing with Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes. Story follows a group of college students whose psychology experiment goes wrong and creates a ghost.
* Twentieth Century Fox has set Dan McDermott to write HONG KONG HEIST, an action film about rival gangs drafted by a triad leader to steal three rare gems.
* Twentieth Century Fox is closing a deal with F. Scott Fitzgerald's estate to remake TENDER IS THE NIGHT, a book it first adapted in 1962. Jesse Wigutow will adapt the novel. It's a jazz-age story about apsychiatrist whose marriage to a wealthy patient ultimately destroys him.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Sam Raimi is in talks with New Line Cinema for a project titled FREDDY VS. JASON VS. ASH. In the proposed sequel, Freddy and Jason would go up against Ash from the EVIL DEAD series. Bruce Campbell played Ash in the trilogy and would play him again if the deal were to close. Although Raimi would not direct, he holds rights to the EVIL DEAD franchise.
* Producers Adrian Askarieh and Chuck Gordon (upcoming SPY HUNTER) have optioned the videogame PSI-OPS to adapt for the bigscreen. It's the story of a government agent with psionic powers whose memory is erased. He slowly recalls his abilities as he is sent to infiltrate a group of rogue agents who were also part of his training program.
* Universal Pictures has made a two-year first-look producing deal with Black and White Prods., a newly formed company that teams Jack Black with writer Mike White (THE SCHOOL OF ROCK).
* HBO Films has optioned THE DEW BREAKER, Haitian writer Edwige Danticat's bestselling collection of interwoven stories, to be developed as a feature-length film. Set between Haiti in the 1960s and present-day New York, the stories piece together the past of a former torturer whose crimes in the country of his birth are masked by his new reality in America as a husband, father and hardworking Brooklyn barber.
* British musician/producer Jeff Wayne announced plans for a musical CGI feature along the lines of his 1978 double album THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, which sold 12 million copies worldwide and spawned a line of computer games. Wayne plans to set the pic in the Victorian era of the H.G. Wells novel, as opposed to the contempo take planned by Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg.
GUNN SHOTS
* NT Limited, a focused animation house based in central NJ, today announced the production of its first animated film, Day of the Pigman. Scheduled for release in the spring of 2005, the hand-drawn film follows the path of the brilliant Dr. Osgood a dangerous scientist whose disturbing research leads to creation of the first Pigman and the eventual destruction of humankind. The only thing that stands in his way is the kind heart of his head of security, The General. Visit http://pigmaniscoming.ne1.net
* The award-winning documentary SPEEDO: A DEMOLITION DERBY LOVE STORY by Jesse Moss will air this week on PBS. For additional information and photos, please visit http://www.pov.org/pressroom.
* CAMP XRAY: GHOSTS OF GUANTANAMO has been officially selected for the BITE THE MANGO FILM FESTIVAL 2004. Go to http://www.campxray.co.uk for more.
* THE LAST STARFIGHTER - THE MUSICAL is casting now. The production will take place at The Storm Theatre in NYC. Music & lyrics by Skip Kennon, book by Fred Landau.
* The Screenplay Festival 2004 deadline is September 1! For more info, visit http://www.screenplayfestival.com
* Writers have until August 31, 2004 to enter the Screenwriting Expo 3 Screenplay Competition and vie for over $50,000 in cash, prizes, feedback and access. For more info, visit http://screenwritingexpo.com/competition.html
