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The Weekly Recap: Covering that which happened in Hollywood this week! Including a ASIMOV/Ridley Scott Movie!
Alrighty folks, here's Elston Gunn with his latest WEEKLY RECAP filled to the brim with news from around Hollywood. So take a gander and TALK BACK about what excites and disappoints... The ball is in your court now...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Woody Allen and Michael Rapaport (MIGHTY APHRODITE) will star in
Allen's untitled comedy which shoots this fall.
* Thomas Jane (upcoming THE DEEP BLUE SEA) will join Morgan Freeman
and Gene Hackman in UNDER SUSPICION directed by Stephen Hopkins.
Shooting begins in May in Puerto Rico.
* Oliver Hudson (THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS) accompanies MARY JANE'S LAST
DANCE. Shooting commences in North Carolina at the end of the month.
* Matt Ross (upcoming PUSHING TIN) joins THE VISITORS with Christina
Applegate and Jean Reno.
* Blair Underwood will star in RULES OF ENGAGEMENT along with Tommy
Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson. He'll play a Marine captain who is
court-marshaled for giving an order that results in the deaths of
innocent bystanders. Kim Delaney ("NYPD Blue") stars as well.
* Josh Brolin (MOD SQUAD) is in final talks to join THE HOLLOW MAN
opposite Kevin Bacon and Elisabeth Shue.
* Campbell Scott, Laura Linney, Jared Harris and Laurel Holloman will
star in the black comedy LUSH written/directed by Mark Gibson about a
pro golfer who loses his place on the pro tour and heads to New
Orleans due to excessive drinking.
* Sammo Hung ("Martial Law") is in talks to join Jackie Chan and Owen
Wilson in SHANGHAI NOON.
* Bridget Fonda is in talks and Chris Kattan is set to join MONKEY
BONE with Brendan Fraser and Whoopi Goldberg. Henry Selick directs
Sam Hamm's script.
* Barry Pepper is in final talks to play the hero Jonnie opposite
John Travolta's villain in BATTLEFIELD EARTH to be directed by Roger
Christian.
* Fisher Stevens, Annabella Sciorra, Maria Bello, Rob Morrow, Ron
Rifkin, Luis Guzman, John Slattery and Saverio Guerra are all working
for next to nothing on SAM THE MAN, a shoestring-budgeted comic-drama
by director Gary Winick (SWEET NOTHING). The picture, shooting on
digital camera, follows a writer who tries to make up with his
girlfriend over his skirt-chasing ways.
* John Cusack and Steve Zahn will star in Columbia's LIFE OF THE
PARTY for writer/director Greg Mottola (DAYTRIPPERS) about a group of
friends who go to France for an intervention on their alcoholic buddy.
* Jennifer Jason Leigh will star in BEAUTIFUL VIEW for her mother,
writer/director of the pic Barbara Turner (GEORGIA). The story
centers on a chambermaid in a posh California hotel who finds trouble
when she becomes obsessed with a guest.
* Malcolm McDowell also joins THE VISITORS as a wizard as well as
British indie flick GANGSTER NO. 1.
* Luke Wilson will star in HITCHED opposite Kyra Sedgwick and Paul
Rudd as well as the indie flick PRESTON TYLK.
* Denzel Washington may star in REMEMBER THE TITANS for Jerry
Bruckheimer and possible director Andy Davis (THE FUGITIVE). Gregory
Howard wrote the script about the true story of an integrated
Virginian football team.
* Wesley Snipes may star and produce films under his Amen Ra films
banner: one is an animated flick about New York dogs bound for
Africa, the other is an action thriller set at South Africa's Sun
City resort.
* Molly Ringwald and Jessica Napier star with Kylie Minogue in the
Australian horror flick CUT.
* Dan Aykroyd and Frank Langella will play the leads in 15 MOMENTS
for director Denys Arcand.
* Clifton Gonzalez (THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS) joins New Line's boxing
pic PRICE OF GLORY with Jimmy Smits and Jon Seda.
* Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck may play the leads in BOUNCE for
director Don Roos (THE OPPOSITE OF SEX). He'll play a guilty guy who
gave up a seat on a crashing plane. She'll play a widow after losing
her husband who was on the plane.
* Freddie Prinze, Jr. joins Claire Danes in HEAD OVER HEELS.
* Nicolas Cage and Will Smith may star in I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU JOE AND
BENNY about two heterosexual firefighters who marry for insurance
benefits. Barry Fanaro (KINGPIN) wrote the script while Tom Shadyac
(PATCH ADAMS) may direct.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* David Koepp (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE) is writing a SPIDER MAN script
loosely based on James Cameron's treatment, though Cameron is no
longer involved with the project.
* Tim Ware and Sean Cullen have written GRILLHOUSE WALL to be
directed by Greg Sheppard about a short-order chef who gets to play
hockey for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
* Producer Robert Schwartz has picked up 47 DEAD BODIES written by
John Requa and Glen Ficarra about a forgotten anniversary which leads
to the accidental death of 47 people.
* John Dahl (THE LAST SEDUCTION, ROUNDERS) will direct SQUELCH, a
thriller written by Clay Tarver and J.J. Abrams.
* Micky Birnbaum has written USED GUYS, picked up by Betty Thomas and
Jenna Topping's Tall Trees Prods, about a futuristic world where
women shop for men like used cars. The story centers on two guys
escape their lot after being traded in.
* Director George Romero is in final talks to collaborate with the
Wachowski brothers, Larry and Andy, on their script CARNIVORE, a
gothic fairy tale set in a boarding house where rich people
mysteriously disappear. The Wachowski brothers would executive
produce.
* Howard Deutch (PRETTY IN PINK) will direct Keanu Reeves in THE
REPLACEMENTS a Warner Bros. pic based on the true story of the events
surrounding the 1987 NFL players' strike.
* Kenneth Lonergan (ANALYZE THIS) will write/direct YOU CAN COUNT ON
ME about a young mother who struggles to raise her son while dealing
with an overbearing boss and a redneck younger brother. Matthew
Broderick will play the boss.
* Gigi Gaston (THE CREAM WILL RISE) will direct the female heist
flick BEYOND THE CITY LIMITS. Shooting begins June 15.
* Stephen Leeds will make his debut directing HONKY about two black
producers who try to sink their dance show by hiring a white host.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* The release date for Universal's NOTTING HILL with Julia Roberts
and Hugh Grant is being moved to May 28.
* Francis Ford Coppola has decided not to do 13 DAYS.
* Miramax is developing the Joanna Harris book CHOCOLAT about a woman
who opens a patissarie in a little village and comes head to head
with a priest who believes chocolate is a sin.
ELSTON NOTE: Miramax heads Bob and Harvey Weinstein are buying Kevin
Smith's DOGMA from Disney with their own money are shopping it around
to studios (most likely Universal or Paramount) to help with domestic
distribution. Read Harry's earlier coverage on the story.
* Leonardo DiCaprio has optioned the Kevin Baker novel DREAMLAND
which sports are large cast of characters, mostly immigrants in New
York set at the turn of the century.
* Paramount has picked up THE END OF ETERNITY, based on Isaac
Asimov's book, as a directing vehicle for Ridley Scott.
FROM TV TO FILM NEWS OF THE WEEK: Producer George Litto and Rose
Freeman have won separated rights to "Hawaii Five-O" from CBS and
plan on moving ahead with a feature. Two major studios are
reportedly interested.
REMAKE NEWS OF THE WEEK: Miramax grabbed the screen rights to the
remake of the 1950 Jimmy Stewart classic HARVEY. Don Gregory will
produce. Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey and Tom Hanks are among the names
envisioned for the Stewart role.
Busy week. Here are some trivial observations: Coppola off 13
DAYS, Cameron off SPIDER MAN; LUSH and LIFE OF THE PARTY both deal
with alcoholics; L. Ron Hubbard's BATTLEFIELD EARTH is being directed
by a man whose last name is Christian. Interesting. I'm confident
the DOGMA situation will pan out. I'll admit that unlike Harry I did
read the script (though it was a different draft) and I throroughly
enjoyed it. As Smith put it (somewhat minor spoiler): "C'mon. How
offended should we be about a movie that has a poop monster." True.
However, to be both funny and poignant in a flick is a hard trick to
pull off anymore, but Smith does it...adding a bit of action as well.
Woody Allen is shooting a movie this fall? Fresh. ***
GRILLHOUSE WALL, 47 BODIES and SAM THE MAN sound cool. Need more
info. *** Lotsa casting for flicks. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT, UNDER
SUSPICION, HEAD OVER HEELS, THE HOLLOW MAN...I like it. *** Sammo
Hung and Jackie Chan in a Tom Dey movie called SHANGHAI NOON. Sounds
fun. *** I NOW PRONOUNCE... sounds pretty funny. Any more info?
*** Paltrow and Affleck in BOUNCE. Good premise, great leads. ***
Dan Aykroyd in 15 MOMENTS? Is it a drama? *** HARVEY? No. HAWAII
FIVE-O? Hmm.... CARNIVORE? Can't wait.
And how about CARNIVORE? Romero and the Wachowski
brothers...cool combo. I saw THE MATRIX last weekend and kept
thinking these are the effects we need to see in SPIDER MAN. Leaping
from buildings, swinging in the air, anti-gravity stuff...it's a
must. And the guy who played the evil Agent. I do believe he could
be our Wolverine. He has the face, the voice and the potential
hair. Add a little more muscle and hunch him over a tad bit.
Uncanny.
Until next week... Keep the emails a-comin'.
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
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+ Expand All
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Looking forward to Cronenberg's "eXistenZ." The draft one of my friends slipped me was quite thin, but I think Cronenberg can always deliver the goods. I only worry that after "The Matrix" people will be really uninterested in anything involving multiple realities. I wonder where that leaves "The 13th Floor?" Probably the basement where it belongs. Anyway Jennifer Jason Leigh can do no wrong. She's so intense in her acting that she could probably stand toe to toe with DeNiro. Anyone see last month's Movieline? WOW!
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As far as I know, John Cusack will be playing the drunk in "Life of the Party," not Steve Zahn. I sure hope Moriarty can get his hands on this script because "The Daytrippers" was one hell of a funny movie that sort of slipped through the cracks when it was released. I saw it. I loved it. And I haven't looked at Stanley Tucci the same way since. Except his appearances on Miami Vice reruns, of course.
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It's funny I read this today. On Thursday I was down in Greenwich Village (NYC) near Christopher St. I was going to the ATM there, and I saw a couple better-than-average looking people with a guy holding a handheld camera. I got my money and as I was leaving I saw that Fisher Stevens had joined them. Now, I have seen Fisher walking around town countless times, so I didn't look twice. But I saw that they were all dressed nicely (he was in a suit), and they were standing around probably waiting for someone else to join them. So I guess they were getting ready to film some of this "shoestring" budget film. Cool.
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I come here every week to find out who will be in "Scream 3" and there is never any news. Why is it taking so long?!?
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To Mr Pointy, up above.
According to the latest issue of "Starburst", two days ago, Campbell, Cox, Arquette, Craven and Williamson have all agreed to return for the third movie.
Filming is due to start in Mat for a December release.
According to the IMDb, the third is rumoured to be revolving around a film set, where they're filming a film about the second Scream film.........if you catch my drift.
Hope this helps. -
The Brothers W handing a fresh horror script to George Romero, how cool is that! I kept hearing that Romero was going to do Resident Evil (based on a video game), and Twilight of the Dead (the 4th installment of the dead series) Lets just hope that Good Old George can go all out on the effects. WELCOME BACK GEORGE! P.S.FOR ANYONE WHO HAS NOT SEEN NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD AND DAWN OF THE DEAD, GET THEE TO BLOCKBUSTER!
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You can't blame George, really. Which would you rather have for your comeback vehicle: a movie based on a video game (please see: Double Dragon, Super Mario Bros. and the rarely seen Q-bert flick for where this can lead) or a movie written and produced by the duo that just made Keanu Reeves bankable again and ripped Ron Howard a new orifice at the box office (and Goddess bless 'em for it?) A fairly simple decision, and one which is making me drool like a small child (or Lucasaholic) in anticipation.
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...in a movie called HEAD OVER HEELS? Could it be me, or does this have GIANT PIECE OF SHIT written all over it?
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John Cusack will be playing the drunk. I should've just included that earlier.
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Are we ever going to see Ellison's "I Robot" script produced? And speaking of Ellison, whatever happened to the "Mephisto in Onyx" project?
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I read through the article and didn't see it.
What gives? -
Santa and ToastyKen must be blind - the Asimov/Scott bit is between the Dreamland and Hawaii Five-0 tidbits. This project has great potential ... either to be really great or really bad. End of Eternity is one of Asimov's best works, but could prove difficult to translate to the screen, and even more difficult to make it comprehensible to the masses. If you haven't read it, do so. It it one of the earliest, and one of the best, "mutable timeline" stories.
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It's "eXistenZ." Is it just me, or does it look like Dimension is just gonna dump this in a few theatres at the end of this month. Then it'll be gone by the second Friday in May? Let's all rush out and see it to support Cronenberg. Love those t-shirts on their website.
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Was it The Bicentennial Man? I have read something about it, but I am eager to know more... and you didn't tell me anything!
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Finally another person who's even heard of Harlan Ellison. All his projects seem to be languishing in limbo (including his books). Part of this is due to health problems, and part of this is due to his procrastinating nature. But, according to Ellison Webderland (http://harlanellison.com/ellihome.htm), Ellison is quoted as saying: "I'm now at work on the screenplay of my book MEFISTO IN ONYX for Samuel L. Jackson and Mirimax"...this is from about 9 months ago, so we don't know if it's ever going to see the light. If you get any news on this Harry, please let us know. -Loki
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You blind morons...the Ridley Scott/Asimov piece was right in front of your face! Okay, actually, it wasn't...there was only a three line blurb on it, but look through it carefully before you post complaining how it's not there. If nothing else, go to Edit/find in page, and then type Asimov...and you'll find it. For those of you too lazy to try that, here it is for you. "Paramount has picked up THE END OF ETERNITY, based on Isaac Asimov's book, as a directing vehicle for Ridley Scott." It's not Bicentenial Man...though they're working on that as well. There, ya happy? -Loki
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I suppose that it's a bad idea, but one can't forget ****** a) if it sucks then it will dissapear ******** b) it could be AWESOME ************* c) That story snippet Lane was talking about sounds nifty. *********** And just to be sure, is it possible that people are confusing Grosse Pointe Blank 2 with High Fidelity, which was adapted for the screen by largely the same guys who wrote GPB and stars Cusack?
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Sorry, having just read the Cinescape article the thing seems to be genuine, especially considering Cusack himself was interviewed. My only concern (and sorry John) is that there is no proof that John Cusack has any talent as a writer of original material. From the interview it sounds as if he alone is writing it (at least for now), but with the original GPB he was the last of a great many re-writers. Oh well, best of luck to him!
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Apr 10, 1999 8:55:21 PM CDT
Some more info on that new Wachowski brothers/Romero horror proj
by martin q blank
In the Brisbane (Australia) Courier Mail dated April 8th they had an interview with the Wachowski brothers. Apparently the two very much dislike publicity, and hope to in the future write it into their contracts that they won't have to. Anyhoo, they mentioned that the first script they ever wrote was a horror film. Apparently the reason it never happened was that it was too creepy/intense/violent to be made. I guess not anymore. After that they begun The Matrix, but realising that they would not be able to get the budget as first timers they went off and did Bound. So now you know.
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Given his newfound martial arts chops/renewed action star status in MATRIX, it makes him a prime candidate for this role. Not only that, but he is a TRUE X-Men afficianado, having grown up with the comic....He has also very adamantly stated that he WANTS this role. Fox will likely cast him. For proof, visit www.hollywood.com and select the option, "Movietalk" to listen to him campaign for the role. Also check out his 4/9 interview on the Cinescape home page. Reminds me of Sam Jackson's passionate campaign to be in Episode 1. Time is running out for the popular fave Russell Crowe. Fox will want to start to see if his summer action pic, GLADIATOR, performs well at the B.O. The problem is, they can't wait until summer. Since the X-Men shoot starts on 7/31, Fox needs to begin casting soon. Keanu is a prime candidate, and his passion will find a way to make it work, even though he'd be simultaneously shooting THE REPLACEMENTS. Clooney did the same thing for E/R and BATMAN AND ROBIN. Movies shoot out of sequence all the time. There's no reason he can't shoot 2 movies at once. It's not like he's shooting one of them in Thailand. I really don't care if Keanu can't act. The prime consideration for casting the Wolverine character should be an actor who knows how to kick ass. And Keanu has proven he can do that. He'll also have good chemistry with Patrick Stewart and Angela Bassett, should that casting happen as well.
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You should check in the news archives...there's an article from three or four days ago completely debunking the Keanu as Wolvie thing. -Loki
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Ha, that's a funny image.
Can't believe that anyone would
hire Applegate after her embarassment of a TV show. Can
ANYONE watch more than 3 minutes
without squirming in pain? The
funniest thing about "Jessie" is
how uncomfortable all of the actors look during their scenes.
George Romero!?! I didn't even
know he was still alive! :^)
Last I heard we were supposed to
be getting a new DEAD movie, which
would be much cooler than the
'gothic' fantasy sounding project
mentioned above. Why do these
guys (King, Romero, even Cronenberg) get so much more mellow with age? -
for more about existneZ go to (www. cinematter.com/movie.php3?/existenz) . there's a trailer and
everything. release date april 23rd.
have fun.
and yeah, jennifer jason leigh does seem to have a real annoying type-cast by this point (i.e. a real irritating bitch complex).
giant -
I'm interested in knowing why James Cameron decided to leave Spiderman behind. Why? Was it because the litigation took so long.....I mean, it's finally open for progress(is it?) and now he wants no part of it. Why??? I thought a Cameron-made Spiderman would be incredible...
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By now the hopes that James Cameron will direct Spiderman are dismall and frankly if he does finally direct it might be a half assed effort after all the b.s to acquire the rights. Perhaps not, who knows. I think he should concentrate strongly on other directing projects, T3, TL2, Avatar etc. If the rights to Spiderman do become available I feel strongly that Steve "Spaz" Willams should be its director. For those of you who might not be familiar with him he's the visual effets wizard who breathed life into the Psuedopod in the "Abyss" brought to life the T-1000 in Terminator 2 (Both of these by J.C need I remind you)and resurected the T-Rex in Jurassic Park. Along with these breakthroughs he also turned Jim Carrey into a real life Tex Avary cartoon in The Mask, made Jabba the Hut barter with Han Solo in SW TSE and co-produced and supervised the effects on SPAWN. Why do I feel he would be a good dircetor. Well for starters the effects would be unbelievable perhaps even groundbreaking. Someone who is responsible for the goundbreaking effects mentioned in the above films should be the only one to supervise the effects for Spiderman. With regards to the script, he should go with Camerons screenplay. Stan Lee liked it so it should be great. Next, him and Cameron are good friends and are comic book aficionados, just imagine the conversations and ideas. Also like Cameron he is an incredible artist obbesesd with detail and is electronicly and mechanicly inclined. There was a documentary about him produced by a Toronto T.V station that showed him repairing his motorcycle and vintage Caddy, shooting guns at gun ranges and animating on his computer. These qualities can bring an element to the film that few other filmmakers can. As far as his experience directing. Well along with co-producing SPAWN he also did some second unit directing and his experiece composing CG shots only adds to his knowledge. Also like Cameron, Williams is a "Canadian" maverick (Born in T.O, loves the Leafs and Don Cherry is his hero)and would take no shit from studio pukes. Listen to his audio commentary on the SPAWN DVD to find out why he was "Banned from the Ranch". Expect for Cameron, he is the only one who would realize Spiderman to the max and make it a truly unforgetable movie experience. I know he sounds like a Cameron clone but Wierd magazine recently compared him to Cameron in a "Who to watch for" article about future directors.
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time travelling via kettles!
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I saw this on the site - "Molly Ringwald and Jessica Napier star with Kylie Minogue in the Australian horror flick CUT.". Is there any more information on this movie with Kylie Minogue? I would greatly appreciate the info. Email it to me at - mikey@falconstudios.com
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