Father Geek here, and I've got Elston's latest update of all last week's confirmed movie news for you...
The Weekly Recap...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Sam Rockwell and Amanda Peet are attached to star in the David Gordon
Green-penned SNOW ANGELS for Crossroads Films. Emily Mortimer has an offer
for a role as well. Adapted from the novel by Stewart O'Nan, the story
interweaves the life of a teenager, Arthur, with his one-time baby sitter
Annie, who is struggling with a young daughter and her estranged husband,
Glenn. Jesse Peretz (THE CHATEAU) directs.
* Jessica Biel and Rufus Sewell are joining Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti
in THE ILLUSIONIST for writer/director Neil Burger.
* Rowan Atkinson has teamed up with Simon McBurney (Theatre de Complicite)
to develop BEAN 2, which is likely to shoot later this year.
* Dustin Hoffman is in final talks to play the lead role in New Line comedy
FATHER KNOWS LESS. Pic follows a hugely successful exec already on his
second marriage who finds himself in charge of family affairs he'd
previously delegated to his trophy wife, who's just dumped him. Shawn Levy
(CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN) is in final talks to direct.
* Courtney Love is attached to star as Linda Lovelace in a biopic
tentatively titled LOVELACE for Blumhouse Prods. and Untitled Entertainment.
Merritt Johnson is writing the script. Pic will trace Lovelace's life from
17 until she died in 2002 at 53.
* Robert Redford will star as Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey
in a film about Jackie Robinson, the baseball player who broke the sport's
color barrier in 1947. Redford's Wildwood Enterprises and Baldwin
Entertainment Group have secured the blessing of Major League Baseball,
Robinson's widow and Branch Rickey Jr. for the project. Kirk Ellis will
script. Story will track Robinson's upbringing in Southern California and
center on the relationship between Robinson and Rickey. Robinson started for
the Dodgers in 1947, enduring death threats, beanballs, abuse from fans, a
rebellion by some of his teammates and the threat of a strike by the St.
Louis Cardinals.
* Russell Crowe and Ron Howard are eyeing THE POWER OF DUFF, a Stephen
Belber-scripted drama that Universal and DreamWorks will co-produce.
Negotiations are just getting under way for Crowe to play a TV news anchor
whose grief over his father's death prompts him to pray aloud during
newscasts. When his prayers begin getting answered, the newsman becomes a
most controversial TV figure. Howard is also attached to direct the
historcal drama THE SERPENT AND THE EAGLE as well as a Paul
Attanasio-scripted adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel EAST OF EDEN.
* Laura Dern and Jared Leto have signed on to star alongside James
Gandolfini, John Travolta and Salma Hayek in Millennium Films' LONELY
HEARTS. Pic is based on the true story of a detective who tracked down and
arrested a pair of serial killers who entrapped their victims by answering
lonelyhearts personals.
* Sho Kosugi (ENTER THE NINJA) will reprise his role in THE RETURN OF THE
NINJA, a film being scripted by Steven de Souza (DIE HARD). Kosugi will play
the last ninja master, who travels to the U.S. to find the American heir to
the stealth martial arts legacy.
* Kristen Bell ("Veronica Mars") and newcomer Steve Talley will star in
PULSE for the new company that Harvey and Bob Weinstein plan to set up once
their contract with the Walt Disney Co. and Miramax expires in September.
Jim Sonzero will direct the horror film, which is being produced by Mike
Leahy and Joel Soisson of Neo Art & Logic. It's a remake of the Japanese
movie KAIRO and revolves around a Web site that turns out to be run by a
sinister force. As more people go to the site, the supernatural force begins
to dominate the lives of those that log on. The script was written by Wes
Craven and rewritten by Vince Gilligan.
* Gong Li (FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE, RAISE THE RED LANTERN) has signed on to
Michael Mann's MIAMI VICE, opposite Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, for
Universal Pictures. The actress will play Isabella, the Chinese-Cuban wife
of the leader of a transnational crime syndicate and Sonny Crockett's love
interest. Gong will then play Lady Murasaki, the Japanese woman who teaches
cultural sophistication to a young Hannibal Lecter in BEHIND THE MASK for
director Peter Webber. That project will start production in September in
Prague.
* Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas Howard are in talks to star in M. Night
Shyamalan's LADY IN THE WATER at Warner Bros. Giamatti would play a building
super who finds a sea nymph in his apartment building's pool, while Howard
would play the title character.
* Clare Kramer and Josie Maran are set to star in the Neverland Films
thriller THE GRAVEDANCERS for director Mike Mendez about the plight of a
group of friends who are plagued by a trio of homicidal ghosts after dancing
on their graves during an evening of drunken nostalgia.
* Patrick Fischler has grabbed a role in Brian De Palma's THE BLACK DAHLIA.
Fischler portrays an assistant district attorney, the boss of the two cops
investigating the murder.
* Malcolm McDowell has joined the cast of indie feature TAKING CHARGE,
directed by Gino Cabanas. Project tells the tale of a girl who takes matters
into her own hands when she is cut off from her billionaire father.
* Rusty Schwimmer has joined the casts of THE HAWK IS DYING and BEAUTIFUL
DREAMER. In HAWK, directed by Julian Goldberger, Schwimmer stars opposite
Paul Giamatti as his character's troubled sister. In DREAMER, directed by
Terri Farley-Teruel, she portrays a wry secretary who works with a woman who
is convinced that her missing World War II pilot husband is still alive.
* Savannah Stehlin has been cast in Fox 2000's THE FAMILY STONE for Tom
Bezucha. Stehlin will play the precocious and curious granddaughter of Diane
Keaton and Craig T. Nelson.
* Gary Basaraba has snared a role in Paramount's CHARLOTTE'S WEB for
director Gary Winick.
* Jason Patric is set to star in WALKER, a drama co-written and to be
directed by Matt Williams, for Persistent Entertainment and Wind Dancer
Production Group. The drama, which Williams co-wrote with Alex Paraskevas,
is set in 1957. Patric will play a charming seducer and underachiever in a
small town who is forced to make heartbreaking decisions to save his two
daughters.
* Kurt Fuller (RAY) joins the cast of New Line's MR. WOODCOCK for director
Craig Gillespie. Billy Bob Thornton, Susan Sarandon and Seann William Scott
star in the laffer, about a young man who discovers his mother is dating his
old high school gym teacher.
* Texas Battle (COACH CARTER) has been cast in New Line's FINAL DESTINATION
3. Battle plays one of several high schoolers who cheat Death by surviving
an amusement park accident. James Wong will direct the horror pic, which
begins production Monday in Vancouver.
* Mimi Rogers and Rachel Miner have signed on to star in the indie horror
project PENNY DREADFUL for Ithaka Entertainment and Brandes Films
International. Based on a script by Diane Doniol Valcroze and Arthur Flam,
the film follows a young woman, Penny, who goes on a therapeutic retreat
with her psychologist to overcome her many phobias, including a fear of
cars. She finds herself trapped in a situation where her worst nightmares
come true. Richard Brandes directs.
* Tim McGraw, Alison Lohman and Ryan Kwanten have signed on to star in MY
FRIEND FLICKA for Fox 2000. Based on the novel by Mary O'Hara, the pic is
set against the backdrop of a modern-day ranch in Wyoming. It tells the
story of Katie, a teenager who dreams of running her family's ranch, much to
the dismay of her father; his hopes are pinned on her older brother. In the
tale, Katie finds a wild horse she names Flicka and claims it for her own.
* Wendy Hughes will play the co-lead in CATERPILLAR WISH for writer/director
Sandra Sciberras and producer Kate Whitbread. It's a drama about belonging
and loss viewed through the eyes of a 15-year-old girl. Hughes will play the
main character's mom.
* Chris Pine, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Jane Seymour and newcomer Anjali Jay star
in the comedy BLIND GUY for Theta Films and Catfish Prods. The project is
about a visually impaired but highly confident young man seeking love and a
chance to see. After a series of disastrous dates, he falls for his doctor's
young receptionist, a beautiful emigrant from India, but their love is
thwarted by cultural differences. James Keach is directing, based on an
original screenplay by Christopher Theo.
* Vince Vaughn will star in an untitled comedy that David O. Russell has
written and will direct for Universal and Mandalay Pictures. Vaughn will
play the wiseass host of a radio call-in show whose life gets turned upside
down when he starts becoming his callers. Russell started with a
pre-existing script by David Cohen and Tony Lord but changed it
dramatically. The project is being developed as a commercial laffer.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Tony Scott is in talks to direct the romantic thriller DEJA VU for
producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney. The screenplay by Terry Rossio and
Bill Marsilii centers on an FBI agent who travels back in time to save a
woman from a murder and falls in love with her in the process.
* Zack Snyder has come aboard to develop and direct RAINBOW SIX, based on
the Tom Clancy novel, for Paramount Pictures. The story centers on a CIA
operative who leaves the agency to create a British-based antiterrorism
squad.
* Crossroads Films has optioned the memoir ALL SOULS: A FAMILY STORY FROM
SOUTHIE, Michael McDonald's account of growing up in the Irish projects of
South Boston in the 1970s. The project is being developed in association
with Ron Shelton, who also will direct.
* Skander Halim (PRETTY PERSUASION) will write and direct the horror
thriller THE PERFECT GHOST. Project follows a girl who is terrorized by
ghosts. The film is being produced by Tapestry Films and Gibralter.
* Director Matthew Vaughn has abandoned his plans to remake THE MAN FROM
U.N.C.L.E. but will instead develop it as an original spy project screenplay
with writer John Hodge for Warner Bros.
* Cristi Limm will write an untitled romantic comedy for Disney from her own
pitch about a woman who dreads Valentine's Day. Limm's pitch was based on a
concept by Joe Farrell.
* Joel Bergvall and Simon Sandquist (THE INVISIBLE) are set to direct FEAR
ITSELF for Intermedia. It's a supernatural thriller about a detective who
finds a string of victims murdered under circumstances dictated by their
worst fears. Tony Jaswinski has been tapped to rewrite the script.
* Mark Waters will direct its remake of THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY for
Paramount, Samuel Goldwyn Jr. and John Goldwyn. Richard LaGravanese
scripted.
* Bennett Yellin and James Johnston will write the horror screenplay LET'S
SCARE JESSICA for Paramount and CFP Prods. Story centers on a fearless young
man at a college in Colorado who, while pledging a frat, must prove his
allegiance to the house by scaring his girlfriend into believing the college
is haunted. The prank then takes on a life of its own.
* Mike Mendez (THE CONVENT) is directing the horror/thriller THE
GRAVEDANCERS for Code Entertainment. Pic stars Dominic Purcell, Clare
Kramer, Tcheky Karyo, Marcus Thomas, Josie Maran and Megahn Perry. Brad
Keene and Chris Skinner (PROM NIGHT) penned the script.
* Paramount Pictures picked up Neal Marshall Stevens' horror spec script
SUPERSTITION and set it up with Radar Pictures and Platinum Dunes. Story,
based on the novel by Brit mystery writer David Ambrose, centers on a
scientifically conducted seance that draws a deadly ghost who shifts reality
to account for its existence.
* John Stockwell is set to direct the thriller TURISTAS as his next film for
2929 Entertainment. Josh Duhamel is in talks to play the male lead. Scripted
by Michael Ross, the project follows six college students who, while
backpacking across Brazil, get stranded in the jungles and imprisoned by a
military group with a bloody agenda.
* Alberto Negrin is making PERLASCA, a drama about Giorgio Perlasca who was
an Italian businessman who passed himself off as the Spanish Consul in
Budapest, Hungary, in an effort to save more than 5,000 Jews from Nazi
extermination near the end of World War II. The movie is a co-production
between Rai Fiction, France 2 and Focus Film. Castle Hill will release it in
the U.S.
* Animation vet Kevin Munroe has been tapped to write and direct a new
CGI-animated TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES for Imagi Services. Currently in
pre-production, pic is targeted for release in spring 2007.
* James Wong will write and direct a remake of the 1974 horror thriller
BLACK CHRISTMAS for producer Glen Morgan, Adelstein/Parouse Prods. and
Copperheart Entertainment. and 2929 Entertainment. In the original, a killer
terrorizes a sorority house during Christmas break.
* Wes Ball is attached to direct the coming-of-age adventureTHE TREEHOUSE,
written by Ron Friedman and Steve Bencich, for Warner Bros. and Tapestry
Films. Story follows the adventures of a boy who discovers a magical
treehouse in his backyard. He's propelled into a forest ruled by children,
but woodland creatures invade it and he must fight his way home. It will be
a live-action project with CGI animation and effects.
* Ben Ramsey will pen an adaptation of the James Patterson bestseller ROSES
ARE RED, featuring homicide detective Alex Cross, for Paramount. Plot
centers on Cross hunting the Mastermind, the brains behind a series of bank
robberies in which employees or family members are held hostage.
* Tony Barbieri will direct EM, a love story about the end of a relationship
after a suicide attempt, for Freedom Films and Goldenlight Films.
* Paramount has bought the family adventure spec script TRUDAIN RISING,
written by Scott Sandler, Kane Ng and Dan Hannon, and has set it up with
Lorenzo Di Bonaventura and Happy Madison. Story is about a pair of orphaned
brothers, the younger of whom discovers he's imbued with supernatural powers
from a dwindling race and is besieged by alien assassins.
* Alfonso Cuaron is in advanced talks with Fox 2000 Pictures to direct LIFE
OF PI, based on the novel by Yann Martel.
* Shauna Cross has sold her teen comedy script TAKING 5 to Redbus Pictures.
Story concerns two geeky teens who kidnap the world's most famous rock band
in an attempt to make them play at their high school and thus boost the
girls' popularity. Teek Films will produce.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* The Weinsteins will take Dimension Films, Miramax's genre label, with them
to their new company. However, Disney and the Weinsteins could collaborate
on 25 or more projects including, but not limited to, co-productions of
sequels to such hit film franchises as SCARY MOVIE and SPY KIDS. Robert
Rodriguez will be one of the filmmakers joining the Weinstein Co. Others
expected to follow the Weinsteins include Quentin Tarantino, whose new
four-hour, NC-17 version of the two KILL BILL movies will be wholly owned by
the Weinsteins, along with a planned KILL BILL sequel. Kevin Smith will
deliver the Weinstein Co. his sequel THE PASSION OF THE CLERKS, while
Michael Moore is expected to bring his latest documentary on the health-care
system, SICKO, to the Weinsteins, though the deal has not been made.
* Nickelodeon Movies/Paramount are in negotiations to acquire the rights to
the graphic novel FIRE BREATHER by Phil Hester and Andy Kuhn. Published by
Image Comics, the story centers on a high school teen, Duncan Rosenblatt,
who's half human and half dragon and is constantly at odds with his divorced
parents -- a sweet-natured soccer mom and his father, a 300-foot-tall
monster.
* Lakeshore Entertainment has picked up the movie rights to Michael
Connelly's upcoming crime novel THE LINCOLN LAWYER and will produce with
Stone Village Pictures. The book concerns an attorney with a questionable
set of ethics and an old Lincoln Town Car as his office. He discovers that a
man he put on death row for murder is innocent and the man he currently is
defending is the real killer.
* Scott Rudin has acquired SATURDAY by Ian McEwan (ATONEMENT). Rudin will
produce the feature adaptation about one day in the life of a neurosurgeon.
Though it's his day off, Saturday proves a fateful 24 hours that includes
the return of his daughter from Paris, a huge anti-war rally to protest the
U.S. invasion of Iraq, a traffic accident and a home invasion.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* A sneek-peak trailer for the horror movie CULT is up at
http://homepage.mac.com/msoutherly/iMovieTheater2.html. CULT stars Taryn
Manning, Rachel Miner and Joel Michaely. It was directed by Joe Knee and
written by Ben Oren.
* Check out the new interview at http://www.filmthreat.com April Burril: The
Woman Who Is Chainsaw Sally. CHAINSAW SALLY is a Redfield Arts/Planet X
production, written and directed by JimmyO Burril. Starring April Burril as
Sally, with Mark Redfield (DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE), Alec Joseph, Herschell
Gordon Lewis (2000 MANIACS) and Gunnar Hansen (TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE).
For more, visit http://www.redfieldarts.com today.
* Internet model turn Hollywood-starlet Christina Lucci granted her very
first interview with Off The Lot magazine. Read the exclusive interview at
http://www.pasadenapictures.com/xtina-interview.com. Lucci is repped by
talent manager Zack Urbina.
* Look At My Shorts 2 Film Festival will be held Saturday April 9th, 2005 at
3 pm and yet again it's FREE and open to the public. Studio 35 on Indianola
Ave in Columbus Ohio More info: http://lookatmyshorts.sonnyboo.com and
http://www.studio35.com
* April 14-18, The Malibu Film Festival will screen over 30 films at the
Aero Theater in Santa Monica. The Festival will feature 19 Premieres and 4
Academy Award Nominated shorts (Everything In This Country Must, 7:35 In the
Morning, Gopher Broke, Lorenzo). Also screening: HOOLIGANS, MAD HOT
BALLROOM, APRES VOUS, and THE BIG EMPTY, a bittersweet tale of Alice, her
vagina and the infinite nature of the tundra, starring Selma Blair.
* The trailer for the feature film, AMATEUR PORN STAR KILLER, directed by
multi award-winning short filmmaker/music video director Shane Ryan, is now
online at http://Undergroundfilm.org. For more info on the film visit
http://www.alteregocinema.com
Until next week...
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
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