Ol' Father Geek here with Elston and another huge entry in AICN's string of regular weekly reports on what's happening out in Horrorwood, Karloffornia. This is a long column this week soooooo, sit on a soft pillow and get some comfort food handy, and get prepared to spend some time in the world of tinsel and...
THE WEEKLY RECAP...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Hayden Christensen has signed on to play the male lead in THE DECAMERON,
Dino De Laurentiis' upcoming adaptation of the 14th century Italian classic
by Giovanni Boccaccio. Christensen will play the role of Lorenzo, starring
opposite Mischa Barton. The project is being directed and adapted by David
Leland.
* Kristin Kreuk ("Smallville") is set to co-star with Jimi Mistry in
PARTITION, an epic romance set in India during the last days of the British
Empire. Kreuk will play a 17-year-old who is traumatized by the events that
separate her from her family as India is divided into two countries. Myriad
Pictures, which is co-producing the film with Canada's Sepia Films.
* Ryan Pinkston has signed to star in NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH for producer
Mark Canton, Relativity Media and New Line. Originally penned by Yoni
Berkovits and Tony Dreannan, and later worked on by several scribes, it's
being shot with a new draft written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. In the
pic, Pinkston plays a teen forced to live out a series of elaborate lies he
told to impress popular kids. Christian Charles (COMEDIAN) will direct.
* Meg Ryan will star in THE ROLE OF A LIFETIME, a romantic comedy about a
movie star and a British director whose paths cross on Broadway.
* Bruno Ganz, Rupert Everett and Catherine O'Hara are in final talk to star
in THE GREAT FARRELL, a period piece based on the novel BURIED ALIVE by
British Victorian writer Arnold Bennett, for director Martin Waltz.
* Ed Harris will portray Ludwig van Beethoven in COPYING BEETHOVEN for
director Agnieszka Holland and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment. Diane Kruger
(NATIONAL TREASURE) will star opposite Harris in the romantic period drama,
which centers on the obsession Beethoven developed for his assistant while
composing his Ninth Symphony. Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson
wrote the script.
* Tom Hardy (LAYER CAKE) and Rutger Hauer join Tony Todd in Jonathan
English's MINOTAUR, the horror-fantasy retelling of the ancient Greek myth
of Theseus and the Minotaur.
* Bill Cobbs ("The West Wing") will replace Ossie Davis in Corner Stone
Pictures' RETIREMENT. Ensemble laffer also stars Peter Falk, Rip Torn and
George Segal and is directed by Charles Picerni.
* Marty Papazian ("JAG") joins Jamie Foxx, Jake Gyllenhaal and Peter
Sarsgaard in the adaptation of Anthony Swofford's Gulf War memoir, directed
by Sam Mendes.
* Tovah Feldshuh (KISSING JESSICA STEIN) has been cast in 20th Century Fox's
LADY LUCK opposite Lindsay Lohan for director Donald Petrie. Pic is shooting
in New Orleans.
* Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks join Steve Carell and Catherine Keener in
Universal's THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN for producer/director Judd Apatow, who
co-wrote the script with Carell.
* Brad Pitt is attached to star in Columbia Pictures' CHAD SCHMIDT, a script
by Steve Conrad about a talented young actor who moves to Los Angeles in the
1980s to pursue his dream of movie stardom. The twist is that he bears a
peculiarly strong resemblance to another up-and-coming actor named Brad
Pitt. As the real Pitt achieves a dazzling level of fame, the fictional
Schmidt, for all of his talent, becomes a comic uncastable joke. Ultimately,
Schmidt must struggle to overcome the blow of abandoning his dreams and must
make peace with the hard realities of life. Escape Artists will produce.
* Missy Peregrym and Vanessa Lengies are set to star in STICK IT, Touchstone
Pictures' sports comedy to be directed by Jessica Bendinger. The story
concerns a rebellious girl who, after being on the wrong side of the law
once too often, is forced into the regimented world of gymnastics to clean
up her act.
* Jimi Mistry and Kristin Kreuk will star in the Inda-set epic romance
PARTITION for director Vic Sarin, Myriad Pictures and Sepa Films. The title
refers to the tumultuous period when Pakistan was created from India at the
end of the British Raj in 1947. A Sikh man who quits the British Indian Army
for a quieter life finds his world turned upside down after he becomes
responsible for a traumatized 17-year-old Muslim girl. Story is inspired by
the experiences of Kashmir-born Sarin's family. He penned the script with
Patricia Finn.
* Terrence Dashon Howard and Taraji P. Henson (HUSTLE & FLOW) and Sofia
Vergara have joined the cast of Pararmount's FOUR BROTHERS for director John
Singleton. Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin and Garrett Hedlund
star.
* Brian Presley has been cast in END GAME for Millennium Films. He'll play a
Secret Service agent in the Andy Cheng-directed political thriller, which
also stars Cuba Gooding Jr., James Woods, Angie Harmon and Burt Reynolds.
* Tommy Curtis (RED DRAGON) and Amber Heard (FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS) join CLASS
ACTION for director Niki Caro.
* Daniel Bruehl (GOOD BYE, LENIN!) will star in SALVADOR, the biopic of
anarchist, womanizer and small-time bank robber Salvador Puig Antich, the
last Spaniard to be garroted under the dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
Manuel Huerga (ANTARTIDA) directs for Meidapro.
* Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz (both in SAHARA) will reteam in THE
LOOP, a love story scripted and to be directed by S.R. Bindler. It's an
adaptation of a novel by Joe Coomer about a highway patrolman and loner who,
after meeting a sexy librarian, is inspired to search for his long-lost
parents.
* Will Smith is attached to star in TONIGHT, HE COMES, by Vince Gilligan,
for Columbia Pictures and director Jonathan Mostow. It's about a superhero
who crash-lands in Sheepshead Bay, N.Y., and causes chaos as he romances a
local housewife in an attempt to revitalize himself. Michael Mann will
produce the film with Akiva Goldsman. Gilligan has already done a rewrite
and will script another draft under Mostow's supervision.
* Robin Williams and Toni Collette will star in the adaptation of Armistead
Maupin's novel THE NIGHT LISTENER for director Patrick Stettner (THE
BUSINESS OF STRANGERS) and Hart Sharp Entertainment. Sandra Oh, Rory Culkin
and Joe Morton are also in talks to join the cast. It's the story of a
popular radio show host who, while trying to cope with a splintering
romance, strikes up a telephone relationship with his biggest fan. When
disturbing questions arise regarding the boy's identity, his life spins out
of control.
* Peter Fonda is in talks and Donal Logue has joined the cast of the Nicolas
Cage starrer GHOST RIDER for Columbia Pictures. Based on a Marvel Comics
property, story centers on Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcyclist who saves the
world from evil spirits that cross over from beyond. Fonda would play the
role of Mephistopheles, and Logue will play Mack, Johnny's chief mechanic
and best friend who soups up Johnny's motorcycles for his stunts. Mark
Steven Johnson directs.
* James Purefoy (VANITY FAIR) has signed on to star opposite Natalie Portman
in V FOR VENDETTA, an adaptation of a 1980s Alan Moore comic book that Joel
Silver and the Wachowski brothers are producing for Warner Bros. Pictures.
* Paramount Pictures has acquired poet Marisa de los Santos' first novel,
LOVE WALKED IN, with Sarah Jessica Parker attached to star. It's the story
of a sophisticated thirtysomething woman who thinks she has found the man of
her dreams, but he has an 11-year-old daughter he left when the girl was 2.
When the child shows up one day, a relationship develops between the child
and the woman.
* Universal has optioned screen rights to LONDON IS THE BEST CITY IN
AMERICA, a novel by Laura Dave that will be developed as a star vehicle for
Reese Witherspoon. Type A will produce the film with Mandalay Pictures. Gwyn
Lurie will write the script. Protagonist is a young woman stuck in neutral
after dumping her fiance. She works in a fishing-tackle shop while cobbling
together a documentary about the wives of fisherman and is called home for
the wedding of her brother.
* Viggo Mortensen will star in ALATRISTE (CAPTAIN ALATRISTE), the most
expensive Spanish-language film ever made, for writer/director Agustin Diaz
Yanes (NO NEWS FROM GOD). Shooting begins March 7 in Madrid, Cuenca and
Andalusia. Mortensen plays Diego Alatriste, a Spanish soldier-cum-mercenary
embroiled in the country's 16th-century imperial wars. Javier Camara (TALK
TO HER), Elena Anaya (VAN HELSING), Unax Ugalde, Ariadna Gil, Antonio
Resines and Blanca Portillo also star in the project based on the novels by
Arturo Perez-Reverte.
* Tom Welling and Maggie Grace will star in the remake of John Carpenter's
classic horror thriller THE FOG for Revolution Studios and director Rupert
Wainwright. Cooper Layne is penning from the screenplay written by Hill and
Carpenter for the original 1980 film. The pic is set in a Northern
California town where, about 100 years ago, a ship sank under mysterious
circumstances in a thick, eerie fog. The ghosts of the deceased mariners
return from their watery graves to seek their revenge.
* Susan Sarandon is joining the cast of New Line Cinema's MR. WOODCOCK for
director Craig Gillespie and Landscape Pictures. Seann William Scott plays a
young man who returns to his hometown to stop his mother from marrying his
old high school gym teacher, played by Billy Bob Thornton, who made life a
living hell for him and many of his classmates.
* Joy Bryant will star opposite rapper 50 Cent in the untitled
action-adventure pic formerly dubbed LOCKED AND LOADED for Paramount/MTV
Films and director Jim Sheridan. Terence Winter ("The Sopranos") wrote the
script about a drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion,
rap music.
* Ben Affleck will play George Reeves and Diane Lane will also star in Focus
Features' TRUTH, JUSTICE AND THE AMERICAN WAY, the story of a Los Angeles
gumshoe trying to solve Reeves' mysterious death. Adrien Brody stars as the
detective investigating Reeves' death. Lane will play Toni Mannix, the
Hollywood wife of a studio exec who may have been linked romantically to
Reeves. Script also centers on Reeves' complex relationship with the iconic
role that propelled him to stardom. Allen Coulter directs from a script by
Paul Bernbaum, with a final draft by Howard Korder.
* Ice Cube will star in the remake of the Cary Grant pic MR. BLANDINGS
BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE for Revolution Studios. Steve Carr will direct.
* Christian Bale, Freddy Rodriguez and Tammy Trull have joined the cast of
indie HARSH TIMES for writer/director David Ayer.
* Kristin Chenoweth ("The West Wing") has snagged roles in Marc Forster's
STRANGER THAN FICTION, starring Will Ferrell, Emma Thompson and Maggie
Gyllenhaal, as well as RUNNING WITH SCISSORS, starring Annette Bening, Brian
Cox and Gwyneth Paltrow.
* Christopher Plummer has joined the cast of Warner Bros. Pictures' IL MARE,
starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock for Argentinian director Alejandro
Agresti. Plummer will play the father of Reeves' character. The project is a
remake of a Korean film, SIWORAE, which also was released under the title IL
MARE.
* Edie Falco is joining Julianne Moore and Samuel L. Jackson in FREEDOMLAND,
the adaptation of Richard Price's bestselling novel that Joe Roth is
directing for Revolution. Ron Eldard, William Forsythe, Anthony Mackie and
Aunjanue Ellis also star. The gritty story concerns the aftermath of a
carjacking that becomes a racially charged media sensation. Price has
adapted his book into a screenplay.
* Scottish actor Peter Mullan, German star Daniel Bruehl and Spanish thesp
Luis Tosar have signed for the lead roles in CARGO, a Euro thriller that
starts shooting next week in Barcelona, for director Clive Gordon. Paul
Laverty wrote the script. Story concerns a young backpacker traveling around
Africa who gets into trouble with the police and stows away on a cargo ship
to escape to Europe. The ship, which is smuggling illegal goods, is crewed
by a bizarre bunch of no-hopers led by a captain played by Mullan.
* John Travolta is in early talks to star as Edna Turnblad in the movie
version of the Broadway adaptation of HAIRSPRAY.
* Christopher Walken will star opposite Adam Sandler in the upcoming comedy
CLICK for Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios, directed by Juan Jose
Campanella. The script, by Steve Koren and Mark O'Keefe, centers on a
workaholic architect who finds a universal remote that allows him to
fast-forward and rewind to different parts of his life. Complications arise
when the remote starts to overrule his choices.
* Jude Law will star in Anthony Minghella's BREAKING AND ENTERING for
Miramax Films. Law is in advanced talks to play Will, a London architect in
personal and professional crisis whose life collides with that of a young
immigrant.
* Debra Messing will play Drew Barrymore's sister in LUCKY YOU, which Curtis
Hanson is directing for Warner Bros. Eric Bana also stars. Set in the world
of high-stakes professional poker, the dramedy-love story is based on an
original screenplay by Eric Roth, with additional writing by Hanson, who
also will produce with Carol Fenelon and Denise Di Novi.
* Jason Biggs, Bruce Greenwood (I, ROBOT) and Moon Bloodgood join Paul
Walker in ANTARTICA for Disney, Mandeville Films and director Frank
Marshall. Story, based on a National Geographic article, starts with two
explorers who set out across Antarctica but are forced to abandon their sled
dogs in bitter weather and turn back. Walker plays the leader of an effort
to rescue the dogs.
* Missy Peregrym ("Dark Angel") will star in Disney's STICK IT. She'll play
a gymnast who inspires her fellow athletes to rebellion in the sports
comedy, directed by Jessica Bendinger.
* Freddy Rodriguez ("Six Feet Under") will star in laffer ONE LONG NIGHT for
Mazedo Films and Via Hollywood Prods. He'll play a young Orange County
businessman experiencing culture shock in Mexico. Pic will be produced and
directed by David Siqueiros from his original script.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Brad Isaacs has written and will direct A WEST TEXAS CHILDREN'S STORY for
Burnt Orange Productions. The film chronicles the journey of two runaway
12-year-olds.
* Andy Cull will write REASON, one of the first movies to be shot in 25
years under the Hammer Films banner. The company's other new projects
include SUPERNATURAL, by Chris Fitchett, and JEB by Nick Ward. REASON is
about a couple looking after a paranoid friend, whose demons turn out to be
real; JEB is about a family haunted and torn apart by a creature living in
the walls of their house, who knows their deepest desires; SUPERNATURAL
centers on a failed heist, a gang of criminals flees to the Outback to
escape the law, only to find something far worse waiting for them.
* Sydney Pollack has just wrapped his first doc feature, SKETCHES OF FRANK
GEHRY, after four years on the film. Pollack and the architect have been
pals for over 25 years and the project covers Gehry's rise and creative
process.
* Regis Wargnier will direct Gaumont's French-language bigscreen adaptation
of Fred Vargas's the bestselling Gallic crime novel HAVE MERCY ON US ALL,
co-produced with Gallic indie LMG. Story centers on a modern-day town crier
paid to announce local news to people in a Paris neighborhood. Gradually, it
becomes apparent that someone is using him to issue cryptic warnings of a
plague outbreak in the city.
* Keith English will direct HELLION for Sandstorm Films and Studio Hamburg
Intl. Prod. (SHIP) about a writer living in New York who returns to the
small town where he grew up in southern England. He's forced to confront his
family's wicked past and the town's ancient evil after ridiculing the
region's Celtic lore in his bestselling novel. SHIP also is co-producing
Danish director Lone Scherfig's GOOD, a bigscreen adaptation of C.P.
Taylor's play about an otherwise moral professor who unwittingly becomes the
author of the Third Reich's Final Solution.
* Twentieth Century Fox is picking up two comedies for State Street
Pictures: CHAMPIONS, written by Norman Vance, is a family comedy in the vein
of PARENTHOOD that deals with a middle-class black family as it tries to
resolve issues brewing over three generations. Malcolm Lee is in
negotiations to direct the picture, which would fall under the Fox 2000
banner; the second project is an untitled high school comedy by Adam
Sztykiel.
* Paul W.S. Anderson (RESIDENT EVIL) will direct MAN WITH THE FOOTBALL for
producer Neal Moritz and Columbia Pictures. It's about a group of terrorists
who steal the U.S. president's "football" -- the briefcase containing
computer and telecommunications equipment that can launch a nuclear strike.
John Pogue wrote the script.
* Wayne Kramer has written and will direct THE SLEEPING DETECTIVE, which New
Line is in talks to distribute. Bruce Willis is attached to play a
narcoleptic private eye hired to track down the California governor's
daughter, whose disappearance is linked to a long-ago murder. New Line will
distribute Kramer's RUNNING SCARED, starring Paul Walker as a low-level
mobster who, in order to save his family, must recover a gun used in a mob
hit before it's found by his bosses or the cops.
* Victor Garcia will direct the horror pic SMOKE for Gold Circle Films about
a young woman who, while on the run from an abusive husband, is haunted by
premonitions as she hides in a motel. Ronnie Christensen wrote the script.
* Universal has acquired the rights to Terry Brooks' MAGIC KINGDOM series of
books for Stephen Sommers to direct with Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel
adapting the first book, MAGIC KINGDOM FOR SALE. Story revolves around a
recently widowed attorney who, still grieving for his wife, leaves his old
life behind when he responds to a mysterious ad and spends his fortune to
purchase a magical kingdom. With his reluctant teenage children, he must
unite the kingdom's denizens and creatures to stop an evil demon bent on
destroying the realm.
* James Frey will script the adaptation of PREP, MTV's production of Jake
Coburn's dark tale of New York City's prep schools, for Paramount. The
project, set in the world of elite Manhattan prep schools, centers on a
young man who's seduced by what's portrayed as Gotham's uninhibited party
lifestyle. Over the course of a weekend, he reconciles with a girlfriend
while trying to save her younger brother, who has been targeted by a local
gang.
* Paramount picked up the comedy pitch NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH from writers David
Guion and Michael Handelman for Scott Rudin Prods. The project revolves
around three men who form a neighborhood watch.
* Warner Bros. has bought screen rights to Judy Bachrach's article "U Want
Me 2 Kill Him?" which appeared in the February edition of Vanity Fair for
Bryan Singer to develop and direct. Tale chronicled a bizarre Internet
relationship between a 14-year-old loner with a vivid imagination and the
16-year-old with whom he corresponded. The younger boy wound up being
stabbed twice and nearly killed by the older boy. The twisted saga left one
charged as the co-conspirator in a murder attempt -- his own.
* Ashvin Kumar will direct THE FOREST from his own script for Arclight Films
and Dreyfuss/James Prods.. Hindi-language thriller concerns a young married
couple who go on vacation in hopes of forestalling divorce but are so
preoccupied by their anger that they ignore signs of a man-eating leopard.
Indian star Irfan Khan has been set for the lead.
* Barry Levinson is attached to direct Anthony LaPaglia, Scarlett Johansson
and Frances McDormand in a bigscreen adaptation of A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE.
LaPaglia, who won a Tony for his run in a Broadway revival of the play, will
reprise his role as Brooklyn longshoreman Eddie, whose infatuation with his
niece strains his relationship with his wife and ultimately creates a
scandal when the teenager falls for a cousin from Sicily. Andrew Bovell
adapted.
* Warner Bros. has acquired screen rights to MIDNIGHT FOR CHARLIE BONE and
the four books that follow in the bestselling fantasy series by Welsh author
Jenny Nimmo. Neil Alsip will write the script. Series concerns a youth who
has the ability to look at photographs and hear conversations that took
place when the pictures were shot. The Bone clan descends from the magical
Red King, and each family member possesses a different power. Charlie uses
his gift to try to unravel the mystery of a missing girl, and he has to deal
with all kinds of ghastly relatives and other nasty characters who use their
powers to hamper his investigation.
* Gold Circle has bought a pitch on war and terrorism with from Tucker
Tooley, Christian Gudegast and Rolling Stone reporter Evan Wright. Pic will
be produced by Tooley and Gudegast. Wright will write the script. He
uncovered a story about an informant who infiltrated a bar in the Southwest
and gathered intelligence about terrorists who hung out there, a group that
included a couple of 9/11 hijackers. Unfortunately, the impact wasn't fully
realized until after the World Trade Center attack.
* New Line and Walden Media have snapped up HOOT, Carl Hiaasen's
award-winning children's novel for Frank Marshall to produce. Hiaasen pal
Jimmy Buffett will write original music for the pic and is serving as a
producer. Wil Shriner will direct. Script was written by Shriner and Rob
Lieber and centers on the story of a boy in Florida who encounters a series
of mysteries while trying to save a group of endangered owls. Production is
set to start in June.
* Alex Proyas (I, ROBOT) is directing the supernatural thriller KNOWING for
Escape Artists. Story concerns a man who opens a time capsule that contains
some terrifying predictions -- some have already happened and some are about
to. Original draft was penned by novelist Ryne Pearson, but Stiles White and
Juliet Snowden (THE BOOGEYMAN) have rewritten the script.
* Beacon Pictures and director Ed Zwick have joined forces to make a
politically charged drama based on the book WHO KILLED DANIEL PEARL? by
French author-philosopher Bernard-Henry Levy. Levy, a foreign correspondent,
journeyed to Pakistan to try and unravel the forces behind the kidnapping
and murder of the Wall Street Journal correspondent.
* Universal has acquired rights to Ken Kalfus' short story NIGHT AND DAY YOU
ARE THE ONE and has set Jon Bokenkamp (TAKING LIVES) to adapt for
Bobker/Kruger Films. It's a Manhattan-set thriller following a man who can't
tell the difference between his dreams and reality. After witnessing a
murder, he has to figure out what's real and what's not.
* David Goyer has partnered with Bently Tittle and Pascale Faubert to option
THE FALL, a graphic novel by Ed Brubaker and Jason Lutes about a luckless
clerk who gets caught up in an unsolved murder case when he finds a mislaid
credit card. Brubaker will write the pic.
* New Line picked up Michael Markowitz's script HORRIBLE BOSSES for Rat
Entertainment to produce. The dark comedy script is about three
long-suffering friends who team up to murder their overbearing bosses with
disastrous results, for Rat Entertainment to produce.
* Brothers Kevin and Dan Hageman have been hired to adapt Julie Kenner's
upcoming novel CARPE DEMON: ADVENTURES OF A DEMON-HUNTING SOCCER MOM for
Warner Bros. and 1492 Pictures. The book is an action-adventure tale about a
stay-at-home mother with a demon-hunting past who is called back into action
to rid her small California town of monsters.
* Ray Lawrence (LANTANA) is directing JINDABYNE, starring Gabriel Byrne,
Laura Linney, Deborra-Lee Furness, John Howard, Leah Purcell, Max Cullen,
Chris Haywood and Bud Tingwell. It's based on a short story by Raymond
Carver and is described as an "adult ghost story."
* The Jim Henson Co. has gone on a book-buying binge, optioning a handful of
titles for development including: Sean Stewart's PERFECT CIRCLE, the darkly
comic novel about a 32-year-old Texan who's still in love with his ex-wife,
just lost his job at Petco and is being visited by ghosts; and the
children's book WESLANDIA, by Paul Fleishman, about an imaginative boy who
feels like he doesn't fit into the world, so he creates his own world with
its own language and clothing. Andrew Chapman (POCAHONTAS) is attached as a
writer.
* Mount Film Co. will remake the 1992 miniseries SON OF THE MORNING STAR,
based on the life of Gen. George Custer, as a feature to be written by Mark
Wheaton. The miniseries was originally adapted from the book by Evan
Connell.
* Ned Zeman and Daniel Barnz have written UNDER AND ALONE for Mel Gibson and
Warner Bros., and Gibson has also set them to write Paramount's SAM AND
GEORGE. The latter story is about what happens when two lifelong friends
renew their connection after one of them spends 20 years in prison for a
crime he didn't commit. UNDER AND ALONE is based on the true story of how
ATF agent William Queen infiltrated a notoriously violent motorcycle gang.
* Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes will produce MOLLY'S WORLD, written by Neil
Marshall Stevens, for New Line Cinema. The psychological thriller concerns a
psychiatrist who gets drawn into the world of a patient who killed her
family in an effort to protect them from a supernatural element.
* Universal has bought an untitled romantic comedy pitch by Gina Wendkos for
Imagine and Media Talent Group to produce. Jim Carrey and Angelina Jolie may
star as the impetus for the pitch was a mutual desire by the two actors to
make a movie together.
* Sarah Townsend is directing and producing an as-yet-untitled documentary
by and about comedian Eddie Izzard, for ThinkFilm. The film, which has been
in production for about three years, will combine performance footage,
interviews with friends, family and fans, and extensive material documenting
the life, both onstage and off, of the comedian.
* Barry Sonnenfeld will direct Robin Williams in RV for Red Wagon and
Columbia Pictures. The family roadtrip comedy follows Bob McNeive and his
family, who rent an RV and head for the Colorado Rockies. But McNeive's
family is a dysfunctional lot, and the clan has to contend with the
campground community. Original script was written by Geoff Rodkey, with
Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel recently turning in a rewrite.
* Chris Grismer will direct THE CHEESE MONKEYS, the debut novel from
book-cover designer Chip Kidd, for 3Geez Prods. The book follows a group of
students through their first two semesters majoring in art.
* Michael Ferris and John Brancato are set to adapt Universal Pictures' THE
SIGMA PROTOCOL, one of the last books written by author Robert Ludlum, for
producer Paul Sandberg. The story centers on an American economist who
becomes the target of professional assassins. When a U. S. intelligence
agent investigating his case finds herself discredited, the two end up on
the run and uncover a vast multinational conspiracy manipulating the global
economy and world events.
* Paramount/MTV Films have hired Alex Winter to pen NAPSTER: THE SHAWN
FANNING BIO PROJECT.
* John Wells Prods. has optioned Edward P. Jones' Pulitzer Prize-winning
novel THE KNOWN WORLD and has tapped Anna Deavere Smith to pen the
adaptation. Published in 2004 by HarperCollins, the historical novel is
based on the little-known story of free black Americans who owned slaves.
* New Line Cinema has hired Elizabeth Kruger and Craig Shapiro to adapt
FORGET ABOUT IT, an unpublished manuscript by Caprice Crane, with Scarlett
Johansson attached to star. Romantic comedy concerns a woman who fakes
amnesia in order to dodge her life's responsibilities and discovers it's the
most empowering thing she's ever done.
* Christian Duguay (THE ART OF WAR) will direct VILLENEUVE, a biopic about
Canuck Formula One racer Gilles Villeneuve, for Capri Films. Malcolm Clarke
will write the script, based in part on the bestselling bio VILLENEUVE, THE
LIFE OF A LEGENDARY DRIVER. Gilles Villeneuve died in a car crash in 1982
during the Formula One qualifying season. The film will begin 15 years later
when son Jacques is preparing to race in Jerez, Portugal, the day he won the
Formula One championship.
* Geoff Burton ("Sirens""Sirens") will direct MR. MIDNIGHT THE MOVIE: MY
HAUNTED HOLIDAY, based on the series of bestselling kids' books, to the
bigscreen. Jim Atchison, the books' author, wrote the screenplay.
* David H. Steinberg (AMERICAN PIE 2) will write the animated pic PUSS IN
BOOTS for DreamWorks, based on the character voiced by Antonio Banderas in
SHREK 2. Banderas will return to voice the pic, which is part of DreamWorks'
slate for 2008. It's unclear at this point whether the title will receive a
theatrical or, like many animated sequels, go directly to DVD.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Animation X has begun its first feature, an adaptation of Tomi Ungerer's
children's book THE THREE ROBBERS. The company also is planning a
live-action adaptation of Walter Moers' series of children books that will
be a combination of live action and CGI in the vein of DARK CRYSTAL.
* Universal Pictures is planning a Dec. 23 launch for Steven Spielberg's
film about the 1972 Munich Olympics. Tony Kushner (ANGELS IN AMERICA) did a
rewrite on the project, on which writers Eric Roth and Charles Randolph also
had worked. Spielberg now plans to begin filming the Munich project in the
summer.
* IFP/New York will help fund documentaries through its Anthony Radziwill
Documentary Fund including: HOW SWEET THE SOUND: THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA,
directed by Leslie McCleave; MANHATTAN KANSAS, directed by Tara Wray;
SUICIDE, directed by Jay Rosenblatt; THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, directed by Sam
Green; and WHEN THE TIDE COMES IN, directed by Lourdes Portillo.
* Intermedia has paired with Kadakowa USA to produce and finance an
English-language remake of the Japanese horror hit ONE MISSED CALL. The plot
centers on a college student fails to answer a cell phone call because she
doesn't recognize the caller's ringtone. Later, when she plays the message,
the time stamp is three days in the future and she hears her own voice as
she's being killed.
* Columbia Pictures has grabbed the film rights to Avery Corman's (KRAMER
VS. KRAMER) latest novel, A PERFECT DIVORCE, for Irwin Winkler to produce.
The book explores the hidden, corrosive effects of a seemingly amicable
divorce on the son of well-meaning parents.
* Roland Emmerich has introduced his new production/financing company Reel
Machine to make "more difficult, socially relevant" films. The company's
first feature will be THE GIRLS NEXT DOOR, a drama about the child sex trade
based on a New York Times article. Jose Rivera (THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES) will
write the script and Marco Kreuzpaintner is set to direct. Emmerich's first
feature under the Reel Machine label will be SOUL OF THE AGE, a political
thriller set in Elizabethan England that explores the controversial theory
that William Shakespeare was not the author of his famous plays. John Orloff
("Band of Brothers") scripted. Other projects in the pipeline include the
political drama NIGERIA and the more mainstream 10 THOUSAND B.C., about a
mammoth hunter who goes on a quest to save his tribe.
* Lawrence Guterman (SON OF THE MASK) has started Orange Grove Entertainment
to develop material, mostly with a fantasy bent, as possible directing
vehicles for Guterman. Projects include CREATURE CORPS, about a group of
kids, who through supernatural events on Halloween night transform into
their costumes; an untitled Harlem Hellfighters project about Harlem's first
high school-level football team in 62 years; DEATH JR., based on a comic
written by Gary Whitta; EYES OF AMBER, based on a 1970 novella by Joan D.
Vinge, the story centers on a space probe that lands on an alien planet,
where a tribe, led by a princess-assassin, finds it, believing it to be a
god; MONSTERS STOMPERS, also based on a comic book, set in a world where
monsters are an everyday, pesky occurrence, and everyone has monster
insurance. The Stompers are a group of misfits put together to handle and
corral the monsters. Nick Marine (SICK DAY) is attached to write.
* Disney animation has optioned bestselling children's book PETER AND THE
STARCATCHERS, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. Story will be developed as a
3-D CGI feature. In the loose prequel to PETER PAN, modern 8-year-old Peter
leads a group of orphaned boys on the ship Never Land. Peter and shipmate
Molly lead an effort to recover a trunk of magical starstuff, before it can
fall into the hands of the pirate Black Stache.
* Platinum Studios has acquired rights to the next four graphic novels by
horror writer Wil Radcliffe to develop as live-action features. The four
properties are BONE HILL, a thriller about a psychiatrist trying to save a
young female patient whose psychoses might hold the key to ending an ancient
evil; THE WHISPER KING, about a man who must protect a group of kids from
the monsters who abducted him as a child; MACABRE, a teen supernatural
horror story about a young man possessed by a vengeful spirit; and PLAY
DEAD, in which a family is haunted by the malevolent spirit of their beloved
household pet.
* Paramount and MGM have set the release date for the family film YOURS,
MINE AND OURS, starring Dennis Quaid and Renee Russo, for Nov. 23.
Production begins in April. Raja Gosnell (SCOOBY-DOO) directs. The project
is also the last MGM film to be greenlit before it becomes part of Sony
around April 1; for Paramount, it's likely the final greenlightgreenlight
from studio chief Sherry Lansing before Brad Grey takes over March 1.
* Steven Seagal is turning his hand to producing Asian pictures, kicking off
with DRAGON SQUAD, a martial arts actioner that's due to roll March 15 in
Hong Kong.
* The New South Wales government has made an aggressive bid to persuade
Warner Bros. to shoot the SUPERMAN sequel, RED SUN, in this state -- even
before the pic has been greenlit. Warner reps have made scouting trips to
NSW country locations for the sequel including the New England area as a
possible site for Clark Kent's childhood home. Bryan Singer's SUPERMAN
starts production March 7 at the Fox Studios in Sydney.
* Financing, production and management shingle Neverland Films has changed
its name to Code Entertainment and made a deal to co-finance EDMOND, an
adaptation of the David Mamet play that stars William H. Macy and Julia
Stiles. The company will also produce and fully finance HOLY WATER, an urban
comedy written by Paul Mooney and Gil Williams.
* Producer Bruce Gilbert has optioned film rights to James A. Mangum's first
novel, DEAD AND DYING ANGELS. The story centers on a former customs agent
who has lost his wife and two daughters and is living in a tiny Texas
village. When he and a friend are implicated in a brutal rape and murder, he
turns all his attention to clearing their names and tracking down the real
murderers.
* Fox 2000 Pictures has acquired the rights to AMERICAN SHAOLIN, Ivy League
undergrad Matthew Polly's autobiographical account of how he left midway
through his studies to learn martial arts in mainland China with the famed
Shaolin fighting monks.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* NFL kicker Tyler Frederickson has made the documentary on his old college
team, the Cal Golden Bears. It's been seen on ESPN and Fox Sports Net. For
more, visit http://california.scout.com/2/275286.html
* Johnny Depp's Infinitum Nihil and producer Graham King (Aviator) have
hired Joseph Gangemi to adapt his novel "Inamorata" (Viking, 2004).
Inspired by true events, story is about Scientific American magazine's 1922
contest which offered $5,000 to the first spirit-medium who could prove
herself genuine. Hero is a 23 year old assistant to the magazine's
investigating committee who finds himself falling in love with a
Philadelphia "society psychic" he's supposed to be debunking.
* Minority Films announced this week the official website of the
controversial documentary This Divided State. The website is found at
http://www.thisdividedstate.com. Also available on the website is a three
minute preview of the film.
* Patrick McGoohan of THE PRISONER fame is going to make a return to the big
screen after a lengthy absence since the likes of BRAVEHEART and A TIME TO
KILL. The project in question is called ILLUMINATION to be directed and
co-written by Phil Leirness ('Spectres'). The other writer on the movie is
Dean Haglund, better known as an actor in 'The X-Files' and 'The Lone
Gunmen'. The story revolves around a medical student's attempts to track
down the infamous Dr. Royal Raymond Rife (McGoohan), who claimed to have
invented a machine that could cure cancer back in the 1930s.
* Check out reports from the set of THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA at
http://www.TheOneLion.net
* Read LOVE, LUDLOW creator David Paterson's Sundance blog at
http://chatter.4imprint.com/loveludlow/
* See Alex Ferrari's trailer to his action/thriller film BROKEN at
http://www.whatisbroken.com/BROKEN_TRAILER.mov
* See Dikenga Films' new FIRECRACKER trailer at
http://www.dikenga.com/films/firecracker/
* Travesty Productions is celebrating Black History Month 2005 with
SALVATION. For more info, visit http://www.seekingsalvation.ca
* See the award-winning SILENT CRY UK Premiere on Channel 5 on Friday, March
11 at 9pm.
* Internet model-turned Hollywood starlet Christina Lucci
(www.onemodelplace.com/model_list.cfm?ID=140319) is in talks with Burman
Films president Sanjay Burman (www.imdb.com/name/nm1178276) to star in an as
yet-to-be-named feature film role. Sanjay Burman produced the 2002 thriller
Spider and is producing the upcoming Johnny Depp film Milo. Lucci is repped
by manager Zack Urbina (www.imdb.com/name/nm1413904).
* Fran Casanova (http://www.francasanova.com) is a director from Spain has
three shorts about Indiana Jones at http://www.theraider.net
* See spoiler pics of the Nicholas Brendon/Adrienne Barbeau pic UNHOLY at
http://pirate.shu.edu/~rondinth/Unholy%20Production%20photos.htm
* WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE has opened in NY. The film stars Adam Arkin,
David Straithairn, Jon Tenney, Beverly D'Angelo, Elle MacPherson, Amy
Madigan, Laura San Giacomo, Lauren Tom and a special appearance by Bill
Murray.
* SCRATCH: ALL THE WAY LIVE DVD is set for release April 19 featuring
performances by Mix Master Mike, Z-Trip, the X-ecutioners and the Original
DJ Jazzy Jay. Visit http://www.scratchworldwidemedia.com for more.
* Daniel Myrick's (BLAIR WITCH PROJECT) THE STRAND
(http://www.strandvenice.com) is an uncensored look at the lives of several
off-beat characters that inhabit the unique world of Venice Beach,
California, and how they are all connected. It's the first live-action,
independently produced; narrative episodic intended specifically for the web
* Wanna help make a movie and get an executive producer credit? Visit
http://www.moviesforthemasses.org.
* Based on the Ridley Scott directed Apple 1984 ad, known as the world most
famous commercial, a new short has hit the net. Check it out at
http://www.theroyalwe.org/royal_we_1984.mov
If you have a movie to promote, a screening to push, movie gossip missed by
the trades, fire a **one-paragraph, 50 words-or-less** GUNN SHOT to
elstongunn@hotmail.com. If it's not **one paragraph, 50 words-or-less,**
it'll be tossed. Sorry.
Until next week... congrats to all the Oscar winners!
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
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