Father Geek back here in ol' Austin, Texas after a few days exploring Seattle annnnd the jammed packed halls of SCARECROW VIDEO (left with 30 DVDs)... sorry this is a couple of days late this week but I didn't have easy excess access to a computer while I was on the trip, time was just too tight, did discover some great eats while there like Rocky Mountain Chocolate's great candied apples (my fave was the German Chocolate), and the incredibile "Creative" Italian of DeNunzio's outstanding basement grotto below Cherry off Pioneer Square... This is a MUST for fans of Italian Cooking when you find yourself in the Northwest. Of course I was at the screenings of HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS, and SPLIT SECOND at the SEATTLE ART MUSEUM, that's why Harry and I were up there... they were great events with live music, tasty finger food from India, sculpture and art glass all around you to look at(I picked my 80 year old mother up a couple of bits of coolness for Christmas there), and naturally, endless conversation about Yimou Zhang, Jan Sterling, and esoteric Film Noir flicks. We were put up at Seattle's "art" hotel THE ALEXIS in a huge suite, our beds had 9 feather pillows each. How's that for extravegance? To say Seattle pampered us is a gross understatement, hell, some Apple techs even defragged Harry's laptop and added more ram and memory gratis just for coming to their wonderful city. By the way while walking the shoreline Father Geek stumbled into Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, a delightful bit of weirdness and macabre a few hundred yards south of Pirate's Plunder where I picked up a dozen items for my Grandson Kublakhan's Christmas stockings... Now on to last week's news review...

CASTING
* Rob Stefaniuk will star in BART FARGO, an homage to LA PETOMANE, for director Don Shebib. The film follows the fall and subsequent rise to stardom of a young musician. After he is kicked out of the orchestra and hits rock bottom, a Tokyo-based talent agent steps in, and together they get into all sorts of adventures.
* Rosario Dawson and Adam Pascal will star in RENT, Revolution's adaptation of Jonathan Larson's Tony-winning play that Chris Columbus is directing. Taye Diggs, Jesse L. Martin, Anthony Rapp and Idina Menzel are in discussions to reprise their roles in the film. Production is due to start in the spring. Tracie Thoms also has joined the cast.
* Anna Faris is in talks to join JUST FRIENDS for New Line and director Roger Kumble. The romantic comedy stars Ryan Reynolds as a music executive who became a womanizer because his high school crush told him she wanted to be "just friends." Years later he unexpectedly finds himself reconnecting with the woman, and this time he's determined to win her heart.
* Michelle Rodriguez will star in NIGHT BRINGS THE FURY a punk-themed thriller for writer/director Christopher Peroni and Taang! Films.
* Jessica Alba will star in and produce the Regency Enterprises futuristic drama SONIC, written by Kirsten Elms. It's set in the not-too-distant future and follows a young waitress who dies suddenly, but is brought back to life by her lover.
* David Beckham and fellow international soccer superstars Zinedine Zidane and Raul have signed on to play themselves in three installments of GOAL!, the soccer trilogy being directed by Danny Cannon.
* Christopher Lambert, Josh Askland, James Faulkner, Blanca Marsillach and Eszter Onodi will star in DAY OF WRATH. The Spanish period thriller concerns the sheriff of a 16th century city who discovers a series of brutal murders of high-ranking nobles and must choose between his own sense of good and a need to protect his own children when he becomes tied to the events.
* Tom Sizemore and Thomas Jane will star in THEIVES for director John Swanbeck (THE BIG KAHUNA) a team of career criminals finds unlikely heist targets such as collectible baseball cards and lunchboxes. Aaron Sizemore, Tom's younger brother, wrote the script.
* Fernando Eiras, Mariana Ximenes, Caio Blat, Carolina Sa, Caco Ciocler, Claudia Abreu, Marilia Pera, Pedro Paulo Rangel and Paulo Cesar Pereio will star in NOT BY CHANCE for director Philippe Barcinski and Buena Onda. It's the story of three control-obsessed characters -- a traffic supervisor, a snooker player and a bingo house employee -- who lose people they love.
* Jon Tenney (YOU CAN COUNT ON ME) has been cast as one of the two male leads opposite Albert Brooks in his as-yet-untitled film for Shangri-La Entertainment. The comedy, which was written and will be directed by Brooks, will start shooting in India later this month. Tenney plays an ambitious government employee who is a player and ladies' man.
* Queen Latifah will team with Darryl Taja to produce a sequel to the 1996 pic SET IT OFF for New Line Cinema.
* Jon Heder (NAPOLEON DYNAMITE) joins Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo in IF ONLY IT WERE TRUE for director Marc Waters about a man who falls in love with the spirit of a woman whose apartment he comes to inhabit.
* David Alan Basche (FULL FRONTAL) joins Steven Spielberg's bigscreen adaptation of H.G. Wells' THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, joining Tom Cruise, Justin Chatwin, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins and Miranda Otto.
* Monet Mazur (TORQUE) will star alongside Leo Gregory, Paddy Considine, David Morrissey and Ben Whishaw in THE WYLD AND WYCKED WORLD OF BRIAN JONES.
* Richard Portnow ("The Sopranos") joins the cast of Sidney Lumet's FIND ME GUILTY, starring Vin Diesel, Peter Dinklage and Annabella Sciorra.
* Elizabeth Perkins is replacing Kyra Sedgwick in MUST LOVE DOGS for Warner Bros. Pictures. Gary David Goldberg is directing the Diane Lane romantic comedy from his own script and is producing with Team Todd.
* Reese Witherspoon's Type A Films is developing Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum mystery novel ONE FOR THE MONEY as a possible starring vehicle for Witherspoon at Columbia. Story concerns a down-on-her-luck native of Trenton, N.J., who convinces her bail bondsman cousin to give her a shot as a bounty hunter. Her first assignment is to track down a former cop on the run for murder -- the same man who broke her heart years before.
* Kathy Griffin joins the cast of VEGAS BABY, starring Vincent Pastore, Kal Penn and Jonathan Bennett, for Insomnia Entertainment. She will be playing the role of She-Elvis for writer/director Eric Bernt.
* Shawn Ashmore will star in the indie feature 3 NEEDLES for Canadian writer/director Thom Fitzgerald. Ashmore replaces Scott Speedman. The film is a triptych about the AIDS pandemic that plays out in South Africa, China and North America. In the North American segment, Ashmore will play a second-rate pornography actor who passes his monthly blood test by stealing samples from his geriatric father. Lucy Liu, Sandra Oh, Sarah Polley and Olympia Dukakis also star.
* Pierce Brosnan will star in THE TOPKAPI AFFAIR MGM's sequel to THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR. The new film will draw on material from 1964's MGM pic TOPKAPI. The new film, to be written by Harley Peyton, will not follow that movie's storyline exactly but draw on elements from the pic. Brosnan will also produce with his Irish DreamTime producing partner Beau St. Clair.
* Tobey Maguire will produce with an eye to star in BLACKBIRD, a thriller that David Auburn will write for Columbia Pictures. It's loosely based on a book proposal by Eric Olson titled THROUGH THE GLASS DARKLY, which has been set up at Regan Books. Olson's father worked for the CIA when the agency performed LSD experiments in the 1960s and later died under mysterious circumstances. For 20 years, Olson's family believed he committed suicide. When Olson found out that his father was given LSD by his employers a week before his death, he was compelled to investigate what happened.
* Patrick Bauchau has signed on to star in filmmaker Q. Allan Brocka's second feature, BOY CULTURE, described as a contemporary gay date movie based on the book by Matthew Rettenmund. It tells the story of a successful male escort's tangled romantic relationships with his two roommates and an older, enigmatic male client. The story deals with such issues as monogamy, fidelity and the nature of love between interracial and multigenerational gay couples. Brocka adapted the book with Philip Pierce. The film also stars Derek Magyar, Darryl Stephens and Jonathon Trent.
* Patricia Rae, Craig Wasson, John Heard, Gary Perez, Francisco Gattorno and newcomer Jeremiah Sayys will star in ABSOLUTE TANGERINE, a thriller written and directed by Tomax Aponte. The movie will follow a distraught mother who escapes a crime-in-progress and searches for her missing son, all the while eluding a group of ruthless killers who are attempting to silence her for witnessing the crime.
* Catherine Keener will star opposite Steve Carell in Universal Pictures' 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN. Judd Apatow is making his directorial debut on the feature and is producing through his Apatow Prods. banner. In the middle-age coming-of-age comedy, Keener will play Carell's love interest.
* Craig Kilborn is in final negotiations and Danny Glover is set to join the cast of Walt Disney Pictures' remake of THE SHAGGY DOG, starring Tim Allen and Kristin Davis. Brian Robbins is directing.
* Corbin Bernsen ("L.A. Law") is set to star in and make his directorial debut with corporate comedy CARPOOL GUY for his indie shingle, Public Media Works. The film will feature an array of soap stars including Bernsen's mother, Jeanne Cooper, of "The Young and the Restless"; Rick Hearst, Tony Geary and Lesli Kay, "General Hospital"; Sean Kanan, "The Bold and the Beautiful"; Lauralee Bell and Kristoff St. John, also on "The Young and the Restless"; and Patrika Darbo, "Days of Our Lives."
* Revolution Studios is negotiating with Paramount to acquire FREEDOMLAND, based on Richard Price's bestselling novel, for Joe Roth to direct. Julianne Moore and Samuel L. Jackson are in talks to star. The gritty story deals with the aftermath of a carjacking that becomes a racially charged media sensation. Price has adapted his book into a screenplay.
* Nicolas Cage will star and Lee Tamahori will direct the action thriller NEXT for Revolution Studios. Cage will also produce the pic, based on THE GOLDEN MAN, a story by sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick. Gary Goldman (TOTAL RECALL) penned the script. Cage will play a man who can see the future and change events before they happen. Eventually, he is forced to choose between saving the world and saving himself.

DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* George Clooney will direct and star in a new Section Eight and 2929 Entertainment production, GOODNIGHT AND GOOD LUCK, about the renowned CBS News anchor Edward R. Murrow's legendary on-air confrontations with Sen. Joseph McCarthy that helped bring down the infamous politician in the mid-1950s. David Strathairn and Patricia Clarkson also star.
* Lions Gate picked up the horror spec DAYBREAKERS, written and to be directed by Australian filmmaking twins Peter and Michael Spierig (UNDEAD). The story explores a near-future world conquered by vampires, where a small band of humans are fighting to bring back humankind.
* New Line has acquired the screen rights to the Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA and set Ron Harwood (THE PIANIST) to adapt it.
* David Hubbard has sold his untitled comedy pitch to 20th Century Fox about a guy who -- after 15 years of marriage -- is beginning to wonder what his life would have been like had he remained single. When he comes face-to-face with himself in a "magical" elevator, he manages to switch places with his single self.
* Fred Schepisi is attached to direct LAST MAN, based on the true story of a five-man Australian special forces squad inserted behind enemy lines in the jungle in the dying days of the war. Script, based on the book UNCERTAIN FATE, by Vietnam vet Graham Brammer, later looks at the same men as they gather for a reunion at their sergeant's funeral 10 years later.
* Gregg Araki will direct his script CREEEEPS! for Renaissance Films about spoiled teens in a Malibu beach house who must cope with unexpected alien visitors. Shooting begins in the spring.
* Micky Dolenz will direct G'DAY L.A. about two brothers living in the outback who dream of going to California and meeting their pin-up gal. They get the chance when the sperm from their champion camel is inadvertently sold to the owner of a stud horse in California. Russell Cunningham and Rick Shaw wrote the script.
* Jeremy Leven (THE NOTEBOOK) will write the robot boxing project REAL STEEL for DreamWorks. Jonathan Mostow is in talks to direct. Project takes place in a future in which 2,000-pound robots resembling humans battle in a boxing ring. Story revolves around a promoter who takes his fighter to the championships.
* Jonathan King has written and will direct the over-the-top campy horror pic BLACK SHEEP, which expands on the simple premise that there are 40 million sheep in New Zealand and only 4 million inhabitants -- an accurate statistic. After a genetic experiment goes wrong, New Zealand's sheep start turning nasty, and it's the humans who begin bleating.
* James White (RAY) will write a drama starring Usher Raymond for Dimension Films. Usher will star in the coming-of-age pic about a kid from the streets who finds salvation through music.
* Argentinian helmer Alejandro Agresti (VALENTIN) will direct romantic drama IL MARE at Warner Bros. Pic is an English-language remake of the Korean pic of the same name written by Ji-na Yeo and adapted by Mi-Young Kim. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Auburn (PROOF) is penning the adaptation, which Vertigo is producing. Love story centers on a woman doctor and an architecture school dropout who live in the same house two years apart and fall in love via letters they exchange through a mailbox that mysteriously bridges time. Agresti is also directing ONE THING ALWAYS, which Warner Independent Pictures is lining up to finance. Matthew Specktor adapted Shirley Hazzard's novel THE TRANSIT OF VENUS.
* Brian Levant is set to direct Cedric the Entertainer in MR. LUCKY for Blue Star Pictures and Revolution Studios. Cedric will play Malcolm Crowley, a former Vegas high roller now broke and living contentedly at a spiritual retreat in the Tibetan Himalayas. He's mistaken for a multimillionaire, whisked away to the brand new Everest Casino in Las Vegas and given a $2 million credit line. Before the hotel realizes its mistake, he's won $15 million. Herbert Ratner III wrote the script from his own pitch and rewritten by Steve Pink.
* William Schifrin (QUEST FOR CAMELOT) is writing NOAH'S ARK for Walden Media and Creative Battery. The film, a quirky retelling of the traditional Noah's Ark story, focuses on a hapless camel who must save the animals aboard the ark.
* Gabriele Salvatores is directing QUO VADIS, BABY?, a pulpy psychological film noir about a private detective investigating her sister's suicide.
* Martin Campbell is negotiations to direct the 21st installment in MGM's James Bond series.
* New Line has tapped comedy writing team Alan Cohen and Alan Freedland to pen corporate comedy THE RETREAT for Guy Walks Into a Bar partners Jon Berg and Todd Komarnicki. Directed by James Dodson, story centers on a thirtysomething hot dog vendor at Chicago's Wrigley Field who lands a job at a corporation. He climbs the management ladder thanks to impressing the go-getter CEO with the simple wisdom he's picked up selling hot dogs. Protag discovers at a company retreat in Hawaii that he's the target of sabotage by a disgruntled employee.
* Paramount is in talks to hire the screenwriting team of Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais to adapt CONFESSIONS OF A MASTER JEWEL THIEF for CFP Prods. Project's based on the memoirs of Bill Mason, who co-wrote with Lee Gruenfeld. Mason stole over $35 million in jewels from the inner circles of high society over the course of three decades while maintaining an outwardly conventional life. Among those victimized were Bob Hope, Phyllis Diller, Robert Goulet, Truman Capote, Armand Hammer and Johnny Weismuller.
* Sara Sugarman (CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN) will direct and co-write an untitlted feature for producer John H. Williams about a true life rock 'n' roll ruse in which veteran punk band The Alarm proved it could compete with the youngsters by billing themselves as the Poppyfields, releasing the single, "45 RPM," and tapping the Wayriders to lip-synch the song in a video. It debuted No. 28, becoming the Alarm's first top 30 hit since 1989. The Alarm's prank was quickly exposed after the song charted and media attention came in from around the globe, spurring further interest in the act.
* Pierce Gardner and Tim Davis are writing the romantic comedy WHY DON'T YOU TRY ME? at Columbia. Out of the Blue shingleshingle is producing. Story concerns a woman who finds out with absolute certainty the name of her soulmate and then discovers he's far from the man of her dreams.
* David Posamentier and Geoff Moore will adapt the best-selling thriller THE RULE OF FOUR for Warner Bros. The book, by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason, details the story of four Princeton students who are on the verge of cracking the secrets behind the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, a 15th century Renaissance text that points the way to a fabled Roman treasure. When they get too close, people start dying.
* Nellie Bellflower has optioned the Philip Appleman novel APES AND ANGELS, about young love in 1941 small-town America, and has tapped David Magee (FINDING NEVERLAND) to adapt the screenplay. It is Magee's third screenplay assignment for Bellflower. They are also working together on an adaptation of author Winifred Watson's novel MISS PETTIGREW LIVES FOR A DAY for Focus Features.
* Michael Moore is making plans to start working on FAHRENHEIT 9/11½ for Miramax. More will also continue preparing his other film, SICKO, on the national health care industry.

MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Columbia has acquired the rights to Nick Flynn's novel ANOTHER BULLSHIT NIGHT IN SUCK CITY for producer Michael Costigan. It's based on Flynn's darkly comic memoir about an uncoventional relationship between a father and son. Story unfolds while the 27-year-old Flynn is working as a caseworker at a homeless shelter in Boston.
* DreamWorks has landed rights to make BAYWATCH, a feature film version of the global TV phenomenon about a group of lifeguards who patrol a California beach. The deal calls for show creators Michael Berk, Doug Schwartz and Greg Bonann to produce the pic, while Michelle Berk will be exec producer and Eli Roth will co-produce.
* Disney has paid for the rights to Ayelet Waldman's upcoming novel, tentatively titled CROSSING THE PARK. Marc Platt will produce for Touchstone Pictures label with his producing partner Abby Wolf-Weiss. It's a drama centering around a woman, Emilia, who has been emotionally shattered by the death of her baby and is consumed with hostility for her young stepson. However, she soon discovers that to repair her marriage and herself she must earn the love of the boy.
* Jon M. Chu is no longer directing BYE BYE BIRDIE for Sony. The young helmer was taken off the project due to the pic's escalating budget and risky nature.
* Cruise/Wagner grabbed the screen rights to Christopher Reich's thriller THE DEVIL'S BANKER about a female British spy, who's an ace undercover operative, and a U.S. agent/forensic accountant who got into counterterrorism via a business career. The duo join forces to try to stop a terrorist attack aimed at the United States by tracking a mastermind who's auditing their every move while transferring vast sums of money from country to country and bank to bank.
* MTV Films has optioned film rights to Jake Coburn's PREP, a dark tale of New York City's prep schools for MTV and Benderspink to produce for Paramount Pictures. It's aimed at providing a glimpse into the life of a prep schoolkid seduced by what is portrayed as Gotham's uninhibited party lifestyle. As he tries to leave that life behind, the protagonist finds himself thrust back into that world to save the brother of the woman he loves.
* Graham King's Initial Entertainment Group has pulled out of financing THE GOOD SHEPHERD, a pic set to star Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro under De Niro's direction. It's a history of the CIA, as seen through the eyes of career agent James Wilson. Eric Roth wrote the script. Universal says it remains committed to the project, but production won't go forward unless another financier can be found.

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