Father Geek here with Elston and the latest confirmed news from Tinseltown. Of course the really big news story was the sad news that actor Christopher Reeve died, a real bummer for all of us here at AICN World Headquarters in Austin, however if you wish to do something to honor him, or leave a donation in his name to his charity, then just click on the hotlink at the end of this column and find out what you can do...
Now here's Elston, some better news, and this week's regular edition of...
THE WEEKLY RECAP...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Edward Furlong is starring in the indie film JIMMY & JUDY for
writer/directors Jon Schroder and Randall Rubin, who are making their
feature film debut. The story revolves around two misfit youths who want to
escape the boredom of middle-class suburbia and end up on a violent road
trip where they document everything with a small digital camera. Rachael
Bella (THE RING) co-stars. Production is underway in Kentucky.
* Tim Robbins, Miranda Otto and newcomer Justin Chatwin are in talks to join
Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning in Paramount/DreamWorks' WAR OF THE WORLDS for
Steven Spielberg. Production is to start shooting in November for a June 29
release.
* Ben Kingsley will join Josh Hartnett and Lucy Liu in LUCKY NUMBER SLEVEN,
written by Jason Smilovic, for director Paul McGuigan. Kingsley will play
Shlomo (aka the Rabbi), the head of the biggest crime syndicate in New York.
Hartnett's character is caught in a case of mistaken identity and used by
the mob boss as a patsy in a murder conspiracy.
* Laurie Holden (THE MAJESTIC) has been cast in FANTASTIC FOUR as the love
interest of The Thing. Production is now ongoing in Vancouver.
* Jessica Lange and William Hurt are set to co-star in NEVERWAS for
writer/director Joshua Michael Stern. Also joining the cast are Vera
Farmiga, Bill Bellamy and Michael Moriarty. Brittany Murphy, Ian McKellen,
Aaron Eckhart, Nick Nolte and Alan Cumming also star in the story concerns a
psychiatrist who takes a position at the institution where his father a
famous children's author, was committed years earlier. There he encounters a
patient who may hold the answers to a mystery surrounding his father's
books.
* Gina Gershon, Amber Valletta and Kal Penn are hitching on to Media 8
Entertainment's MAN ABOUT TOWN opposite Ben Affleck and Rebecca Romijn for
helmer Mike Binder. The project starts shooting Oct. 12 with Binder
directing from his own script. It's the story of a top Hollywood talent
agent who seems to have it all -- success, money and a beautiful wife. But
it all starts to unravel when he finds out she is cheating on him and his
journal has been stolen by a journalist who could expose him.
* Alec Baldwin, Freddie Prinze Jr., Mena Suvari, Scott Caan and Jerry
Ferrara ("Entourage") have been cast in NAILED RIGHT IN for director Michael
Corrente. Terence Winter ("The Sopranos") wrote the script. It's the story
of three boyhood friends who come of age in Brooklyn during John Gotti's
rise. When one becomes enamored of the Mafia lifestyle, it frays the
friendships and puts all the pals in grave danger. Baldwin plays a mobster,
Prinze, Caan and Ferrara the friends.
* Christopher Walken, Lucy Liu, Mickey Rourke, Macy Gray, Jacqueline Bisset,
Edgar Ramirez, Mo'Nique and Shondrella Avery join Kiera Knightley and Mena
Suvari in DOMINO for director Tony Scott. The rest of the cast is expected
to be firmed up shortly, with offers out to Dabney Coleman and Delroy Lindo.
* Luke Wilson, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jeff Goldblum and Joel McHale will join
Alec Baldwin and Nikki Reed in the Bold Films/Trigger Street pic MINI'S
FIRST TIME for director Nick Guthe. The dark comedy centers on a rebellious,
unwanted child who joins an escort service where her stepfather is a client.
* Tiffany Dupont (CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN) will star opposite Omar Sharif in
the feature ONE NIGHT WITH THE KING, based on the novel HADASSAH: ONE NIGHT
WITH THE KING by Tommy Tenney, for director Michael Sijbel and Gener8Xion
Entertainment. Jonathan Rhys-Davies and Luke Goss also star.
* Peter Dinklage (THE STATION AGENT) will star opposite Vin Diesel in Sidney
Lumet's upcoming courtroom drama FIND ME GUILTY for Stratus Films Co. It's
based on the real-life trial of New Jersey's Lucchesi crime family, the
longest Mafia trial in U.S. history. Dinklage will play defense attorney Ben
Klandis, a sharp lawyer who befriends mobster Jack DiNorscio.
* Laurence Fishburne and Ryan Phillippe will star in FIVE FINGERS for Cinema
Gypsy Prods. and Element Films. Pic centers on an idealistic Dutchman who
travels to Morocco to start a food charity. Upon arrival, he's kidnapped by
a terrorist. Laurence Malkin (SOUL ASSASSINS) will direct the pic, which he
wrote with Chad Thumann.
* John Cusack, Dermot Mulroney, Christopher Plummer and Stockard Channing
will star opposite Diane Lane in Warner Bros. Pictures' romantic comedy MUST
LOVE DOGS. Gary David Goldberg wrote and is directing the film. It's the
story of a divorcee who, after choosing another Mr. Wrong, swears off
dating. Her close-knit Irish-American family enrolls her in a number of
online dating programs. Kyra Sedgwick and Alli Hillis have signed on to play
her sisters.
* Johnny Depp will star in and produce a feature adaptation of the Gregory
David Roberts novel SHANTARAM for Warner Bros., Brad Grey and Initial
Entertainment. Roberts will adapt the book, which is set in the 1980s, and
is about an Australian heroin addict convicted of robbery. He escapes from a
maximum-security prison and flees to India and reinvents himself as a doctor
in the slums of Bombay. He gets involved in counterfeiting, smuggling and
gunrunning, which leads him to Afghanistan, where he and a mob boss battle
the Russians.
* Julie Delpy is in final talks to star in Moody Street Pictures'
psychological thriller THE LEGEND OF LUCY KEYES for writer/director John
Stimpson. Delpy has also signed on to star opposite Sharon Stone, Chloe
Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray and Jessica Lange in Jim Jarmusch's new
untitled project. KEYES chronicles the chilling experiences of the Cooley
family, who flee the city for a quieter life in rural New England. They move
into a home where, 250 years earlier, the Keyes family experienced the
tragic loss of their daughter, who went missing in the nearby woods.
* Comedian Michael "Bully" Herbig will star in an adaptation of Eberhard
Alexander Burgh's German children's book HUI BUH -- DAS SCHLOSSGESPENST (HUI
BUH -- THE CASTLE GHOST) for Constantin Film subsidiary Rat Pack.
* Agnes Bruckner, Method Man, Bijou Phillips, D.J. Cotrona and Jonathan
Jackson are set to star in Dimension Films' BACKWATER, a voodoo horror tale
in which teens run for their lives through the swamps of Louisiana. Jim
Gillespie (I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER) is directing the pic, which
Kevin Williamson is producing along with Jennifer Breslow.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Alphaville is in final talks with the Ripley Entertainment Inc. to produce
a series of adventure movies based on the popular 1930s explorer who spawned
the Ripley's Believe It or Not! comic strips, chain of museums and
television shows. Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander are on board to
wrote BELIEVE IT OR NOT!
* Jim Fall will direct the English-language remake of Thai comedy-thriller
6IXTYNIN9 to be produced by Bohemian Films and Shadowcatcher Entertainment.
John Patrick Nelson adapted the project from the original screenplay by Thai
helmer Pen-ek Ratanaruang.
* Disney has acquired the pitch BILLION TO ONE from scribes Jonathan Aibel
and Glenn Berger for Licht Entertainment to produce. The comedy is about an
unlucky man whose luck finally turns when he wins a billion-to-one lottery
jackpot.
* Baldwin Entertainment Group has optioned film rights to Julia Butterfly
Hill's THE LEGACY OF LUNA: THE STORY OF A TREE, A WOMAN AND THE STRUGGLE TO
SAVE THE REDWOODS and set David S. Ward (THE STING, SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE) to
write the script. The story recounts Hill's two years of living in a
1,000-year-old California redwood, dubbed Luna, as a way of bringing
attention to the cutting of ancient redwoods and the damage from
deforestation. She climbed up the 200-foot tree in December 1997 and didn't
come down until 738 days later after reaching an agreement with the
landowners to protect the tree and the surrounding area.
* Fox 2000 has tapped John Woo to direct and produce HE-MAN, a live-action
pic based on the characters in Mattel's MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE line of
action figures. Adam Rifkin will adapt the screenplay.
* Barbara Kopple is attached to direct a film for producer Steve Jones' Bee
Holder Prods. about Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the advocate of doctor-assisted
suicide who is serving a 10- to 25-year prison term. Jones has secured story
rights to an unpublished biography on which Kevorkian is cooperating with
Neal Nicol, his assistant of 25 years, and Harry Wylie, a longtime friend.
* Nick Pustay has been hired to adapt Elizabeth Swados' novel DREAMTECTIVE
for Fortress Entertainment and producer David Permut. It's a teen fantasy
about a teenager who discovers she can enter other people's dreams.
* Mama Keita will direct an English-language version of his film LE FLEUVE
(THE RIVER), with a script penned by Kim Watson. It's about a young street
hustler who commits a brutal murder and flees Brooklyn for Jamaica. There, a
young prostitute thrusts him into an unfamiliar world where he finds love
but can't escape his violent past.
* Michael Corrente will direct Robert Duvall and Dustin Hoffman in THE
BERKELEY CONNECTION for Iridium Entertainment. Marshall Brickman wrote the
script for the buddy comedy. Jennifer Connelly will also star. Corrente is
also developing an adaptation of the Mike Stanton investigative book THE
PRINCE OF PROVIDENCE, which is being scripted by David Mamet. Book is the
story of Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci, who was brought down in a corruption
scandal and sent to jail. Corrente will tackle both projects after he
finishes directing NAILED RIGHT IN.
* David Benioff (TROY) will write WOLVERINE, a spinoff focusing on the
signature character from the X-MEN series, for Twentieth Century Fox.
Benioff will write with the expectation that a deal will be made for Hugh
Jackman to reprise his role as the title character. Twentieth Century Fox
will develop WOLVERINE while simultaneously prepping its third installment
of X-MEN.
* Stephen Susco (THE GRUDGE) is writing PROM NIGHT for Original Film and
Newmarker Films. Pic takes as its jumping-off point the 1980 pic of the same
name starring Jamie Lee Curtis.
* Sam Kieth will direct FOUR WOMEN, based on his own DC Comics graphic
novel, for City Lights Pictures and Intrinsic Value. Pic tells the story of
four women who go on a road trip through the desert and get stranded when
their car breaks down. Terror ensues after they are picked up by two men in
a truck.
* Erik de Castro (HIT THEM HARD) is directing the Brazilian crime thriller
FEDERAL for EuropaCopr, BSB Cinema, Lumiere and Riofilme. The story centers
on police chasing a drug lord based in Brazil's capital. Selton Mello,
Carlos Alberto Riccelli and Eduardo Dussek will star.
* Richard Loncraine (WIMBLEDON) will direct Harrison Ford and Paul Bettany
in THE WRONG ELEMENT for Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures. The
action thriller, penned by Joe Forte, is about a security chief for a global
bank whose family is kidnapped.
* James Vanderbilt will adapt former counter-terrorism chief Richard A.
Clarke's book AGAINST ALL ENEMIES for producer John Calley and Columbia
Pictures.
* Colin Goldman has written SCHOOLED from a story by himself and Jeff
Ahlholm to be produced by Wolfgang Petersen and Deep River Prods. The
project centers on a lifelong underachiever who is forced into the role of
truant officer at a troubled junior high school and rises to the challenge
of saving both school and students.
* Tom Tykwer is in talks to direct THE INTERNATIONAL for Columbia Pictures.
The screenplay by Eric Singer revolves around an obsessive Interpol
investigator pursuing a powerful international banker involved in money
laundering, weapons, drugs and terrorism.
* Director Paul W.S. Anderson, producer Jeremy Bolt and their Impact Films
are developing the video game adaptations D.O.A. and DRIVER, as well as a
low-budget supernatural thriller titled THE DARK. Additionally, Screen Gems,
Impact's partner on the RESIDENT EVIL films, is working with Anderson and
Bolt on developing a third film for the franchise.
* Paramount picked up the comedy spec DEAL BREAKER, by Samantha Goodman and
Andrew Stern, for Peter Segal (THE LONGEST YARD) to direct and to produce
with partner Michael Ewing, along with Peter Principato and Paul Young.
High-concept story centers on a troubled PR exec who's failed to keep his
promises and is given a final shot at redemption with the condition that
he'll have to relive his broken promises if he doesn't make good on them.
* Universal has optioned the Michelle McGrath script CHIP ON THE OLD BLOCK
for Shady Acres to produce. The comedy concerns an embittered man who
returns to his hometown and teaches the younger generation the "real man's"
way of life.
* Nia Vardalos, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman have optioned Laura Zigman's
tentatively titled new novel A WILDERNESS OF MONKEYS for Vardalos to star in
and adapt. Vardalos will play a hotshot publicist who quits and becomes a
stay-at-home mom. Three years later, her husband loses his job and she must
undertake the unenviable task of helping a screen legend recapture career
momentum.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Universal Pictures has cancelled the project AMERICAN GANGSTER after
director Antoine Fuqua abruptly exited the project citing "creative
differences" as the reason. Scripted by Steve Zaillian, the film was to star
Denzel Washington and Benicio Del Toro and produced by Brian Grazer.
* Dimension Films has acquired the remake rights to the Korean horror film
RYEONG (THE GHOST) from Showbox. Vertigo Entertainment will produce. The
project revolves around a teenage girl suffering from amnesia who discovers
that she is somehow connected to a group of people who are being killed off
one by one by a vengeful ghost.
* Nick Films and Tollin/Robbins Prods. will go to NERD CAMP, optioning film
rights to Burkhard Bilger's New Yorker article about summer programs for
gifted children. Project is envisioned as a tale of a group of children who
spend the summer taking college level courses at a "Nerd Camp" and redefine
what it means to be cool. Bilger's article, which ran in July, focused on
the summer residential academic camps run by Johns Hopkins' Center for
Talented Youth.
* Mandalay Entertainment has inked a multi-year first-look production deal
with producer Michael Besman (ABOUT SCHMIDT). First project is BEARD, a
romantic comedy set in London that's set up at Universal. Besman will
produce along with Maverick Films Entertainment and Julie Plec. Gren Wells
wrote the script.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* The West Virginia International Film Festival celebrates 20 years in 10
days with 36 films starting Nov. 5 at the WVSU Capitol Center Theatre in
Charleston. Filmmaker John Sayles, who made MATEWAN in WV, will be a
featured guest, presenting SILVER CITY and taking part in a Q & A. The
festival will also include several short films in its lineup. Please visit
the WVIFF's official website at http://www.wviff.org/ for more information.
* This year's Boston Fantastic Film Festival will run from October 14 - 18
at the historic Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA. A new
addition in 2004 will be the "Genre Filmmaking Today" panel on Sunday
afternoon. For more info visit http://www.brattlefilm.org/bfff/
* Ramzi Abed's Super 16mm short film, THE TUNNEL will be screening at
Tromadance New Mexico, which will take place towards the end of October. If
you're in New Mexico, check it out. More info on the festival is at
http://www.burningparadise.net/ Also, Abed's teaser and trailers for BLACK
DAHLIA will be screening at Creepfest, a Halloween film festival in Los
Angeles at the historic Hollywood bar, Boardner's. Info on that festival is
at http://www.creepfest.com
Until next week... So long, Supes... and thanks.
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