Father Geek here... Just saw the new "House of Wax"... kinda fun, cool ending, lots of faux jump-scares with a few real ones thrown in for good measure... its got absolutely nothing (zero) to do with the Vincent Price 3-D classic though (except for the name steal), its much closer to the sub-genre that gave rise to TWO THOUSAND MANIACS, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, WRONG TURN, or Zombie's HOUSE OF A THOUSAND CORPSES, even aspects of DELIVERENCE; you know group of young friends (with a couple of babes) take a road trip, end up brokedown or out of gas in the boonies and then get picked off one at a time in various horrific ways. Soooo even though there IS a house of wax and a fire its not really from the wax museum genre... Its no TERROR OF THE WAX MUSEUM, HORROR OF THE WAX MUSEUM, WAXWORKS, or HOUSE OF WAX. Here's Elston and the latest...

WEEKLY RECAP...

TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

CASTING

* Jennifer Connelly and Patrick Wilson ("Angels in America") are in talks to join Kate Winslet in LITTLE CHILDREN, an adaptation of the Tom Perrotta novel, for New Line Cinema and director Todd Field is set to direct the adaptation of the Tom Perrotta novel. Story revolves around a group of weird, suburban characters and their relationships with children. There's a bisexual feminist addicted to Internet porn, a stay-at-home dad who resists his wife's ambitious plans for him, an uptight supermom who schedules sex with her husband and a pedophile fresh out of prison.

* Denzel Washington is in final talks to reunite with director Tony Scott and producer Jerry Bruckheimer for Touchstone's romantic thriller DEJA VU. Washington will play an FBI agent with the ability to travel back in time. He falls in love with a woman as her murder approaches.

* Scarlett Johansson has been cast as the female lead in Woody Allen's next film, which begins shooting June 28 in London. Title and plot are being kept under wraps, but the project is written and will be directed by Allen. Johansson also stars in Allen's upcoming MATCH POINT.

* Marsha Thomason ("Las Vegas") has been cast in the indie CAFFEINE, playing a London cafe manager in the pic, which helmer John Cosgrove is producing in Los Angeles through his Cosgrove/Meurer Prods. Mena Suvari, Callum Blue, Mark Pelligrino and Breckin Meyer also star.

* Rachel Bilson ("The OC") has been cast in DreamWorks/Lakeshore Entertainment's THE LAST KISS opposite Zach Braff, Jacinda Barrett and Rachel McAdams in the Tony Goldwyn-directed romantic comedy, a remake of the Italian film L'ULTIMO BACIO.

* Jesse Metcalfe ("Desperate Housewives") is set to make his feature film debut in the title role of 20th Century Fox's JOHN TUCKER. Metcalfe will play a heartthrob whose serial cheating leads three ex-girlfriends to seek revenge by setting him up to fall for the new girl in town, just so that she can dump him and break his heart. Betty Thomas is set to direct from a script by Jeff Lowell.

* Anjelica Huston, Brent Spiner and Lukas Haas have joined the cast of MATERIAL GIRLS, starring Hilary and Haylie Duff. Martha Coolidge is directing the comedy, which follows a pair of cosmetics heiress sisters who lose their fortune in a questionable scandal, Huston will portray the owner of a rival cosmetics firm trying to wrest control of the girls' company. Spiner will portray the CEO of the besieged company, and Haas is the head of a free legal clinic to whom the girls go to for help.

* David Duchovny will star in THE SECRET, a supernatural drama being directed by Vincent Perez. Lili Taylor and newcomer Olivia Thirlby also are cast. It's based on the 1999 Japanese film HIMITSU and is set against an emotional triangle among a 16-year-old girl, her mother and her father. After the mother is killed in an accident, her spirit inhabits the daughter's body. Ann Cherkis wrote the screenplay.

* Antonio Banderas is set to join Jennifer Lopez in the indie thriller BORDERTOWN, which is set on the U.S.-Mexico border and centers on a journalist who investigates a series of murders that take place in the vicinity of some U.S.-owned factories in the region. Gregory Nava directs.

* Teri Polo joins Ryan Pinkston in New Line Cinema's NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH. The film, to be directed by Christian Charles, centers on Sam, a 17-year-old with average looks and a corny family who, desperately trying to fit in at his new school, begins to tell outrageous lies that suddenly become true. Polo will play Mrs. Moran, a teacher at the school who is the object of affection for all male students, including Sam. Things take an unexpected turn when he lies to his best friend that Mrs. Moran has the hots for him.

* Sean Bean, Laurie Holden, Deborah Kara Unger, Kim Coates and Tanya Allen have joined the cast of Christophe Gans' horror pic SILENT HILL, which started shooting in Toronto on Monday with Radha Mitchell in the lead role. Mitchell stars as Rose, a woman searching for her lost daughter, played by "Tideland" child thesp Jodelle Ferland. Bean plays her husband in the chiller, scripted by Roger Avary. Holden is a police officer.

* Courteney Cox has been cast as the female lead opposite Tim Allen in Revolution's ZOOM for director Pete Hewitt. Project is based on Jason Lethcoe's graphic novel ZOOM'S ACADEMY FOR THE SUPER GIFTED. Allen plays Jack, formerly Captain Zoom, an out-of-shape former superhero who has lost his powers and is reluctantly called back into action to turn a ragtag group of kids into a new generation of superheroes in order to save the world from destruction. Cox will play Marsha, a scientist with the secret agency that runs the superhero program. Adam Rifkin, David Berenbaum, Tim Allen and Matt Carroll wrote the script.

* Double Feature Films is developing a contempo musical to be toplined by Outkast rapper Andre Benjamin (BE COOL) and penned by Tony-winning AVENUE Q scribe Jeff Whitty. Benjamin will play someone with magical powers who comes into the lives of a family. He'll also serve as a co-producer on the pic and create original music.

* Arielle Kebbel (BE COOL, upcoming AMERICAN PIE: BAND CAMP) joins Sara Paxton in Fox 2000's AQUAMARINE. In the adaptation of Alice Hoffman's book, Kebbel will play a gorgeous, attention-seeking girl who competes with the title character for the attention of a handsome lifeguard.

* John Benjamin Hickey will star in EVERY WORD IS TRUE for writer/director Doug McGrath. In the story of Truman Capote during the writing of his famous IN COLD BLOOD, Hickey plays Jack Dunphy, Capote's lover.

* Kevin Anderson joins the cast of Paramount's CHARLOTTE'S WEB for director Gary Winick. In the adaptation of the children's classic starring Dakota Fanning, Anderson will play Fanning's father.

* Vanessa Branch has been cast in Disney's PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN franchise. She will reprise her role as one of the pirate island wenches who is always left in the lurch by Capt. Jack Sparrow. Branch is best known as the "Orbit Gum Girl" in Wrigley's popular print and TV ad campaign.

* Christa Campbell and Jason Gray-Stanford have joined THE LONELY HEART KILLERS for director Todd Robinson. The film stars John Travolta and Salma Hayek and centers on the infamous "Lonely Hearts Killers" of the 1940s who found their victims through personal ads. Campbell plays a daughter of one of the victims, while Gray-Stanford portrays a police officer.

* Jennifer Aspen (ABC's "Rodney") has joined the cast of New Line's MR. WOODCOCK for director Craig Gillespie. She will appear as a sexy Southern ladyfriend of the title character, a high school gym teacher.

* Ryan Carnes ("Desperate Housewives") will star in the indie SURF SCHOOL from writer/director Joel Silverman. The story follows a group of eccentric high school boys with no surfing experience who must rely on the guidance of a drunken former surfing champion to defeat the local BMOC and surfing champ.

* Jerry O'Connell has been cast opposite Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo in YOURS, MINE AND OURS an MGM and Paramount Pictures co-production. The film is a remake of the 1968 Henry Fonda-Lucille Ball comedy in which a widower with 10 children marries a widow with eight children. O'Connell plays a sales agent working for Russo's character. Raja Gosnell is directing.

* Jerry Seinfeld, Renee Zellweger, Uma Thurman, Kathy Bates, Alan Arkin, Robert Duvall, William H. Macy, Tim Blake Nelson, Patrick Warburton and Oprah Winfrey will voice BEE MOVIE for DreamWorks Animation. The movie is scheduled to be released Nov. 2, 2007. Seinfeld co-wrote the pic and is producing the comedic tale of Barry B. Benson, a graduate bee fresh out of college who is disillusioned at having only one career choice: honey. On a rare trip outside the hive, Barry's life is saved by Vanessa, a florist in New York City. As their relationship blossoms, he discovers humans are mass consumers of honey and decides to sue the human race for stealing bees' honey. Steve Hickner (THE PRINCE OF EGYPT) is directing with Simon J. Smith (SHREK 4-D). Collaborating with Seinfeld on the script are Barry Marder, Spike Feresten and Andy Robin.

* Sophie Okonedo joins New Line's THE MARTIAN CHILD along with Oliver Platt and Bobby Coleman. Okonedo will play a social worker who persuades a widowed writer, played by John Cusack, to adopt a young boy who believes he is a Martian. Platt will play Cusack's agent. Menno Meyjes is directing from a script by Jonathan Tollins and Seth Bass, based on a short story by sci-fi writer David Gerrold.

* Clive Owen is set to star in Universal's CHILDREN OF MEN for director Alfonso Cuaron and Strike Entertainment. It's based on P.D. James' novel of the same title and is set in a dystopic society, radically transformed by humans' inability to reproduce and sent into chaos by the news of the death of the earth's youngest person, age 18. When the first woman becomes pregnant in more than 20 years, and thus becomes the most sought-after person in the world, Owen's character is enlisted to protect her.

* Will Arnett ("Arrested Development") will star and Joe and Anthony Russo will direct DAD CAN'T LOSE for Paramount and Principato-Young Entertainment. Jay Martel and Ian Roberts penned the script. Details of the story, which involves a lifelong competition within a family, are being kept under wraps.

* Mos Def has been cast opposite Bruce Willis in the upcoming 16 BLOCKS directed by Richard Donner for Millennium Films and Cheyenne Prods. Richard Wenk script follows an aging cop assigned the mundane task of escorting a fast-talking young witness from police custody to a Gotham courthouse. But forces are at work to stop the pair from making it.

* Mary McCormack and Rory Cochrane will star in FOREARM SHIVER for writer/director Chris Gorak. The thriller looks at a marriage in crisis against the backdrop of a toxic bomb explosion.

* Jenna Dewan (Fox's "Quintuplets") has joined the cast of New Line's TAKE THE LEAD she plays a high school student opposite Antonio Banderas as a ballroom dance teacher. Liz Friedlander is directing the pic.

* Edward Furlong will star in KISS OF THE SUN for Green Valley Entertainment. He will play a vampire hunter opposite Michelle Borth as a vampire who falls in love with him. Jon Hill directs the virtual-reality thriller, which begins shooting next month.

* Naomie Harris (AFTER THE SUNSET) has signed on to Universal's MIAMI VICE, which Michael Mann is writing, directing and producing. Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell star. Harris will play Gina Calabrese, Tubbs' love interest.

DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS

* Touchstone Pictures has purchased the script OFF THE CHAIN by writers Dax Shelby and Robert Stevens for Gunnfilms to produce. The comedy follows two prison-bound women from opposing walks of life -- a framed, clueless housewife and a career street criminal. Through a glitch in the system, the two accidentally swap prisons, with the housewife being sent to a maximum-security penitentiary and the criminal going to a country-club setting.

* Gold Circle Films has paired with Wes Craven's Craven/Maddalena Films to produce THE WAITING, an indie horror pic penned by Juliet Snowden and Stiles White (BOOGEYMAN). The story follows a woman who believes she is being haunted by the ghost of her deceased child.

* Eduardo Sanchez (THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT) will direct ALTERED for Rogue Pictures and Haxan Films. Pic, which follows a group of men living a night of terror after their lives were changed 15 years earlier by a strange occurrence, begins lensing next month in Florida. Adam Kaufman, Catherine Mangan, Brad William Henke, Mike Williams, Paul McCarthy Boyington and James Gammon will star. Jamie Nash penned the script from a story he created with Sanchez.

* Sony Pictures Animation picked up an untitled pitch by writers Ron Mita and Jim McClain. Inspired by a true story, pic is about a group of animals trying to find their rightful place in the world.

* Wych Kaosayananda (BALLISTIC: ECKS VS. SEVER) will direct ROUND FIVE for Mullis Capital and producer Barrie M. Osborne about a former Thai monk who leaves the temple and becomes a tuk-tuk (motor tricycle) driver in order to fund hospital fees for his ailing Thai mother. In the process, he falls in love with a foreign woman who was his passenger.

* Peter Chelsom is in talks to direct THE FOOD OF LOVE, based on the novel by Tony Strong whose pen name is Anthony Capella, for Warner Bros. Pictures. and producer Denise Di Novi. Set in Rome, the romantic comedy involves an art-history student seduced by the supposed culinary skills of a waiter masquerading as a chef, who turns out to be a Cyrano de Bergerac type named Bruno. Valerie Breiman adapted the book.

* Columbia Pictures is in final talks to buy the high-concept action pitch TWITCH, set in the world of gaming, from scribes Brendan Cowles and Shane Kuhn for Original Film to produce.

* Sobini Films has acquired the script PREY, a psychological thriller from Jerrold E. Brown. It follows a man who sets out on a solo hunting expedition in the middle of winter and severely injures his leg. He is rescued by a mysterious trapper whose intentions are more sinister than he leads the hunter to believe.

* Joshua Oppenheimer and Tom Donnelly (SAHARA) will write its upcoming comic book adaptation, DEAD OF NIGHT, for Platinum Studios. It's based on the Italian comic series DYLAN DOG and inspired by events in two DOG graphic novels.

* Touchstone Pictures has picked up movie rights to CABIN PRESSURE, a nonfiction book proposal by Entertainment Weekly reporter Josh Wolk. The story centers on a 34-year-old writer on the brink of getting married who decides to return to his beloved summer camp where he was a camper and a counselor in a desperate attempt to hold onto his youth for one more summer.

* Infinity Media has picked up David Bourla's script PUSH, a sci-fi thriller involves a group of young American expats with telekinetic and clairvoyant abilities who are hiding from a U.S. government agency in Beijing. They must use their different talents and band together for a final job enabling them to escape the agency forever.

* Universal/Imagine will turn the life of an iconic hip-hop tattoo artist called Mister Cartoon into a feature film to be directed by Estevan Oriol, who directed a documentary of the same name on the artist's life. Drama will be based on the story of an East L.A. graffiti artist who got a job as an illustrator for Hustler magazine and a designer of low-rider cars. He eventually stretched his talents to tattooing and has etched his artwork into the skin of such hip-hop stars as Eminem, Red Man, 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Method Man and Xzibit. He also has done cartoon cover art for many album covers.

* Oliver Stone is in talks to direct THE NIGHT WATCHMAN, an adaptation of James Ellroy's script about a disgraced police officer who sets out to rid the police force of corruption. Keanu Reeves is attached to star and John Ridley is writing the screenplay.

* Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired the comedy spec NO PAIN NO GAIN from writer Steve Pepoon. John Jacobs will produce the pic, in which a SWAT team's top cop -- who is incapable of feeling emotional or physical pain and is thereby revered for his fearlessness -- undergoes surgery that will allow him to feel everything he's missed in life.

* Pedro Almodovar's next film will be VOLVER (RETURN), starring Penelope Cruz and Carmen Maura, for El Deseo. The generational comedy concerns three women who travel to Madrid seeking a better life.

* Mike Clattenburg will direct THE TRAILER PARK BOYS, a feature version of the Canadian TV mockumentary hit. The film will feature the show's stars Mike Smith, Robb Wells and John Paul Tremblay.

MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS

* Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes is in negotiations to produce a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's THE BIRDS with Mandalay Pictures for Universal. banner. The new version would be based on the short story by Daphne Du Maurier, to which Universal owns the rights and which inspired Hitchcock's movie.

* Director/producer Bob Clark and producer Victor Solnicki have pacted to produce a slate of films including a remake of CHILDREN SHOULDN'T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS, the 1973 Canadian zombie horror pic that was Clark's debut as a writer/director; FROM HERE TO INFIRMITY, a comedy penned by Jeff Schechter and set to shoot in 2006.

* The filming of the remake of the 1943 classic MY FRIEND FLICKA has resulted in fatal injuries to two horses.

* Peter Berg is signing a first-look production pact at Universal for his recently formed Film 44 shingle. Producers John Cameron and Sarah Aubrey are partnering with Berg in the venture. Film 44's first project is KINGDOM, a thriller about a team of U.S. agents investigating a terrorist bombing in a hostile Middle East country. Berg will direct and produce, along with Michael Mann.

* GigaPix Studios is in development on four feature projects: JUNK BOTS, an adventure comedy; TWILIGHT, about a young bunny entering eternal twilight; ALIEN SAR, a science fiction thriller; and HYPNOPIG, a superhero spoof.

* Paramount has signed a lucrative, exclusive distribution deal with Marvel for films based on the comicbook publisher's remaining characters. Among the first of its superheroes headed for the silver screen: Captain America and Nick Fury, an American version of James Bond.

* 2929 Entertainment's HDNet company has signed a six-picture deal with maverick director Steven Soderbergh, which will see the director's films released simultaneously across theatrical, TV and home video platforms. Soderbergh will have creative control over all the films' content, with each produced in 1080i high-definition format. The first project, BUBBLE, just wrapped principal photography.

* New Line and Marvel Studios announced last November that they had signed Nick Cassavetes to direct IRON MAN, but it turns out there was never a done deal. He is, however, working on a rewrite of the script by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, and David Hayter. Cassavetes is still in the running to direct, however, and New Line remains committed to making the film. But with no director on board and casting yet to begin, New Line has delayed the pic's planned release from 2006 to 2007. Marvel's Avi Arad is producing the pic with Angry Films' Don Murphy.

GUNN SHOTS

(NOT from the trades)

* Jonathan King's first feature BLACK SHEEP has brought a rush of early sales after plans for the film were revealed. Icon has acquired rights to the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. Jiants has acquired rights to Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. Check out some concept art at Weta's website: http://www.wetaworkshop.co.nz/projects/filmography/film/black_sheep

* Check out the spot that was banned from TheForce.net after only 2 days. Go to http://www.bradleyking.com View clip: "Revenge"

* Country music singer and actress Stella Parton (www.imdb.com/name/nm0664018/) is in early talks to star in the short film A CIGAR AT THE BEACH. Cigar is being directed by writer Stephen Keep Mills (www.imdb.com/name/nm0444791) and produced by Pasadena Pictures production manager Zack Urbina (www.imdb.com/name/nm1413904/). More information can be obtained at http://www.triskelionent.com/cigar

* Derek Barbanti and Bobby Shortle will premiere their independent feature ONCE UPON A TIME IN A GARAGE at Southampton College's Avram Theater on May 6th at 8pm. Admission is free and there will be a reception afterwards. Email at johnshortle@hotmail.com for directions or any other information.

* Anticipating successful DVD pre-sales of STUDIO 666 (Razor Digital Entertainment), TC Entertainment has just reportedly hired screenwriter Adam Hackbarth (screenwriterforhire.com) to pen their next feature -- an untitled fantasy/horror flick. Hackbarth will also serve as associate producer.

Until next week... Happy Cinco de Mayo. (This year it's 05/05/05)

Elston Gunn

elstongunn@hotmail.com