Cool News
Elston Gunn's WEEKLY RECAP
Harry here to introduce another of Elston Gunn's fantastic assemblies of knowledge. Take a look and let's start discussing....
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Fran Drescher joins PICKING UP THE PIECES with Woody Allen, Sharon Stone
and David Schwimmer.
* Burt Reynolds and Richard Dreyfuss will star in THE CREW, a mafia comedy
written by Barry Fanaro (KINGPIN). Michael Dinner (HEAVEN HELP US) directs
the pic which starts shooting July in Miami. Barry Sonnenfeld and Barry
Josephson will produce.
* John Turturro will play the lead in TWO THOUSAND AND NONE for director
Arto Paragamian (BECAUSE WHY). He'll play a paleontologist who has six
weeks to live.
* Christine Baranski, Bill Irwin and Mindy Sterling join HOW THE GRINCH
STOLE CHRISTMAS for Universal and director Ron Howard.
* Omar Epps (THE MOD SQUAD) is in talks to star in LOVE AND BASKETBALL for
New Line and director Gina Prince-Bythewood. Shooting begins in June. The
film takes place over the four quarters of a game.
* Adam Goldberg (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN) will play poet Allen Ginsburg in BEAT
for director Gary Walkow.
* Robert De Niro and Cuba Gooding Jr. are in talks to star in Fox 2000's
NAVY DIVERS for director George Tillman (SOUL FOOD) based on the true life
story of Carl Brashear who made U.S. military history by being the 1st
African American deep sea diver for the Navy. He lost his leg in '66 and
was also the first amputee to get a Navy diver certification. Scott Smith
wrote the script.
* Martin Landau will play Gepetto in PINOCCHIO II for New Line and director
Michael Anderson. This time Gepetto is the puppet and Pinocchio, a real
boy.
* Danny DeVito and Bette Midler will star in the comic whodunit DROWNING
MONA for director Nick Gomez ("The Sopranos," "Oz"). Neve Campbell and
Jamie Lee Curtis will also star. DeVito will also direct, produce and star
in SUGAR'S SWEET SCIENCE OF BRUISING for New Line where he'll play an older
boxing trainer and fight fixer.
* Eric McCormack ("Will & Grace") will star in the indie flick OLD HATS for
Mulberry Films. Arnie Olson directs. McCormack will play an administrator
of a retirement home who's been blackmailed into providing a road trip to
two residents played by Ossie Davis and James Whitmore.
* Melina Kanakaredes ("Providence") will play the female lead opposite
Robert De Niro and Ed Burns in New Lines 15 MINUTES directed by John
Herzfield.
* Traylor Howard ("Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place") joins ME, MYSELF AND
IRENE as Jim Carrey's wife who dumps him for a limo driver.
* Faye Dunaway joins William Sanderson, Marla Gibbs, Gabrielle Anwar, Paul
Benjamin and Stephen Tobolowsky in Marc Lazard's STANLEY'S GIG about a white
ukelele player who befriends a jazz great at an old-folks home.
* Michael Caine joins Geoffrey Rush, Joaquin Phoenix and Kate Winslet in
QUILLS for Fox Searchlight about the Marquis de Sade.
* Bruce Willis is in final talks to star in ACE IN THE HOLE, a con-vs. con
caper flick for Disney, where Willis would play an ex-con helping a Vegas
casino evade an FBI investigation.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* New Line picked up the thriller OTHER SIDE OF SIMPLE by Eric Kmetz about
two thieves who return to their Midwestern hometown after a long absence.
* Chris Skinner has written GRAVEDANCERS for Artisan Entertainment about
three friends who open a door to the "other side" at a friend's funeral.
It's described as THE EXORCIST meets THE BIG CHILL.
* Michael Lehmann is attached to direct FORTY DAYS AND FORTY NIGHTS based on
a treatment by Rob Perez about one man's attempt to give up sex for Lent.
* Penny Marshall and Drew Barrymore are in talks to direct and star
respectively in the comic drama RIDING IN CARS WITH BOYS for Columbia
Pictures. The story is based on a booka by Beverly D'Onofrio and follows
the relationship between a mother and son she gave birth to at 15 in 1968.
She dreamed of being a writer and suffered through a marriage with his
drug-addicted father.
* Todd Komarnicki (MY ACHILLES HEART) has written JUDAS about a government
agent who kills 11 members of his own team and triggers a huge manhunt.
HSI/Tomorrow Films picked it up.
* Fox 2000 bought RETURN OF THE SWEET BIRDS, a pitch by Carolyn McDonald and
Sharon Cobb. Edmonds Entertainment and Carrie Prods. will produce the flick
which centers on a reunion tour of a fictional 60s female R&B group, the
Sweet Birds.
* Courtney Solomon will start shooting DUNGEONS & DRAGONS in Prague on May
28. Douglas Milsome (EYES WIDE SHUT, FULL METAL JACKET) will be the
director of photography. George Gibbs (INDIANA JONES trilogy) will handle
special effects.
* Jamie Babbit (upcoming BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER) is set to direct New Line's
CONJUGATING NIKI for Tribeca Prods. about a girl whose family loses its
money and she is forced to baby-sit an 8-year old version of herself.
Claire Danes was attached, but no one has been cast yet.
* Francis Ford Coppola is concentrating on finishing the scripts for THE BIG
KAHOONA, a musical, and the more serious MAGALOPOLOUS. He wants to have the
scripts finished before year's end.
* John Boorman (DELIVERANCE) will direct David Koepp's adaptation of Jack
London's THE SEA WOLF for Columbia Pictures.
* Tony Scott will develop and direct a pic on Hell's Angels motorcycle club
based on an unpublished autobiography of Ralph "Sonny" Barger, who helped
lead the Angels in the 50s and 60s.
* Gary Ross (PLEASANTVILLE) will direct BRUSHBACK starring Will Smith as an
arrogant baseball pitcher who is knocked out by a pitch and transported back
to the Negro National League circa 1940 where he learns a few of life's
lessons.
* Alex Proyas (DARK CITY) will direct an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's THE
MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH about a group of nobles hit by a plague despite
their taking refuge in a palace.
HARRY NOTE: Alright! THis Alex Proyas /Edgar Allan Poe news is the coolest thing I've heard all week. I love Poe, and while I have a fond spot in my heart for the original Vincent Price version... It wasn't one of the best Poe adaptations, and I'd love to see Proyas take Poe's vision on. TOO COOL! Any and every shred of info you may have on this project... LET ME KNOW!
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Sean Furst (BLUE RIDGE FALL) will try to put the novel THE HORSE LATITUDES
by Robert Ferrigno into production. The story is about an ex-drug dealer
whose girlfriend is missing. He becomes the suspect when her boyfriend is
found dead.
* Director Oliver Stone is closing his production company Illusion
Entertainment to concentrate solely on writing/directing films. Projects
ahead that he may direct include VALHALLA about Gen. George Custer at New
Line; THE FOUNTAINHEAD by Ayn Rand which Stone adapted; and a biopic on
Martin Luther King Jr. at Warner Bros.
* Paramount has picked up TOYS OF DESPERATION a novel by Sean Desmond about
a Harvard student haunted by a ghost of a student who was killed 50 years
earlier.
* Rehme Prods. has optioned rights to the play FLYIN' WEST by Pearl Cleage
about a group of black families at the turn of the century who leave
oppressive conditions to establish a town in Kansas.
* Arenafilm will produce THE MONKEY'S MASK based on Dorothy Parker's novel
about a lesbian detective. Samantha Lang (THE WELL) will direct.
* Pixar Animation and Disney will next work on MONSTERS, INC., a comedy when
a monster accidentally lets a human child enter his strange world. The pic
is tentatively scheduled for 2001. Pete Docter (TOY STORY) and David
Silverman ("The Simpsons") will direct.
* Michael Mann is off 20th Century Fox's THE FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX
apparently over money/contract issues.
* Phaedra Cinema picked up the indie flick JEROME executive produced by
David Spade and starring Wendie Malick and Drew Pillsbury about a welder who
wants a better life. Thomas Johnson, David Elton and Eric Tignini wrote,
produced and directed.
* Warner Bros., Time Warner and John Wells Prods. have purchased the film
rights to Janet Ketch's debut novel WHITE OLEANDER.
* The title for Miramax's KILLING MRS. TINGLE is changing to TEACHING MRS.
TINGLE due to the recent Colorado shootings. The movie opens Aug. 20.
HARRY NOTE: Sigh... No Comment...
* Fox 2000 has George Armitage (GROSSE POINT BLANK) and Richard Hatem (UNDER
SIEGE 2) developing an adaptation of Laurel Dowd's 1998 book THIS BODY about
a dead mother whose spirit enters the body of a heroin addict.
Mid-May is almost upon us and summer flicks are getting closer with
work beginning on many films for 2000. What are your 2000 picks? *** Burt
Reynolds and Richard Dreyfuss in a mafia comedy? I'd see it. *** HOW THE
GRINCH... is rounding out its cast quite quickly. *** Glad to see what
Gary Ross is up to. BRUSHBACK should deliver the goods. *** Alex Proyas
doing Poe. Tony Scott doing Hell's Angels. Appropriate and welcome to say
the least. *** How about the cast to QUILLS? Or the premise to FORTY DAYS
AND FORTY NIGHTS? *** STANLEY'S GIG sounds like my kind of "small" film.
I'd love to know more. *** Should be a lot of boxing pics out next year.
Danny DeVito has his lined up. *** Oliver Stone and Francis Ford Coppola
have decided to concentrate more on writing. FINALLY! That's the best news
this week.
If you email me and don't get a response for a little while, Hotmail
has been getting my messages out late. Outta my hands...unless I change
addresses. Anyway, thanks for the emails nonetheless.
Enjoy your new toys.
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
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Do we really need to see this?
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I thought Alex Proyas was working on a remake of Five Million Years To Earth.
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We live in a sick sad world when films like Pinnochio II get greenlighted. I'm trying hard to hold back my gag reflex. But anyway, any news on whats going on with new Scorcese, Tarantino or Coen films? Thanks.
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"Brushback"...Hmmm--spoiled modern stock character is magically transported back in time to learn a few important lessons about life and, no doubt, love. What a great idea!! Maybe Reese Witherspoon can play the promiscous ballgirl who accompanies our hero on his journey and turns dull smalltown America on it's head! Truly cutting-edge stuff.
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This has to be one of the dumbest movie ideas in the history of film. What's next, Pinocchio 3: The Wooden Jimeny Cricket?
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I too don't share the almost reverence a lot of people have for Pleastenville, or for Gary ross for that matter, I liked BIG and loved the performances in DAVE...but there was something about PLEASTENVILLE that didn't sit well with me...maybe it was the fact that it was (mostely)though sexual relazation that the 50's town could escape their mudance life...but I could live with that it was all the barley veiled racial and nazi issues Ross rasied that made me raise a flag to this movie..book burnings near rapes and No Colored's signs...sorry...BUSHBACK however does sound like a Gary Ross movie and I'm sure he'll barely viel his librealism in that one too, it's not that I have anything against libreals belive whatever you want and I don't mind seeing it in movies it just seems to me that Ross is an almost fanatical libreal and his writings reflect that saying almost that if you don't belive what I do you're a nazi and a racist and a cold hearted bastard. That's just my .02 on Gary Ross
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Hmm pretty interesting wrap up this week I could go on forever with Pinocchio 2 and Grinch movie but i think their is a limit on how much i can write in one message. Anyway Drew Barrymore must sign with Penny Marshall this would be a great move for her Penny is one of the best directors going and it would make Drew look like a real serious actress. Also that Killing Mrs Tingle crap is dumb as hell I give the "Has big balls" award to Columbia pictures for Idle Hands being released on time. They just said "This film has nothing to do with the shootings and that is that" I mean what if a film is titled "I really hate my english teacher" and its a kids film with goofy revenge ona teacher are we gonna have to give nc17 rating to it. That and personaly teaching mrs tingle is an extremely fucking stupid title I hate to say it but after this Kevin's career is going down. If we are gonna screw with this one film then we should have to screw with any film that has violence in school. And I know Harry is relieved that faculty hasnt been referenced in the papers as matrix has just because keanu wore a trenchcoat. Gimme a break. Allright that ends my rant wanna talk email me i cant talk to the rest of the sw line people forever.
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May 07, 1999 9:37:46 PM CDT
Gary Ross' major problem is that he is a selective filmmaker
by martin q blank
While I feel that Gary Ross is an incredibly talented filmmaker, one thing stands out to me: He will sometimes leave out important scenes if they are against the grain of the film. For example, in BIG (which he wrote), when Tom Hanks leaves for the city and the film is 'happy' you don't see or hear anything about his family back home. Later, when Hanks starts regretting being big and the film changes it's tone to 'sad', THEN you see Hank's mother's sorrow. This reeks of manipulation. There are many examples of this kind of thing in Pleasantville too. (For instance, what happens now when you watch Pleasantville on TV? Is it in color with enlightened characters?) If he can overcome these problems (and they are script issues) then his films would be nearly perfect.
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Although I hope Kevin 'Stealing Is Good' Williamson doesn't make it too much of a Heathers knock-off. (Scream 1 is good, and I like Dawson's Creek, but sheesh, that show really is like a circle - every week seems just like the last.)
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Oliver Stone directing a Martin Luther King biography? Something must be done to put a stop to this immediately!
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Doesn't LOVE AND BASKETBALL sound a bit like FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME, but in a different sport? And by the way, they both ripped off the whole real-time sports movie idea from my own treatment, LOVE TO STUMBLE, about a single Indian-wrestling match. The only difference is mine is in slow motion.
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I read an early draft of the script to Killing Mrs. Tingle about 7 or 8 monthes ago and while the title Teaching Mrs. Tingle is probably more suitable for the movie, I don't think Williamson or Dimension should change the title because of the recent school shootings. Especially the Colorado shootings. Afterall,the guys were after the STUDENTS that made their lives hell, not teachers. I am aware that one or two of the casualties was a teacher, but that still doesn't change the fact that the "Trenchcoat Mafia" were trying to gun down their peers.
Anyway, I like the title Killing Mrs. Tingle better, but Teaching... is much more true to the script. But if Miramax chickens out and changes the title for the sole purpose of looking good in the wake of the Colorado school shooting, then... well let's just say it won't make me smile.
-Q -
Gary Ross doing a Kinsella-esque baseball picture doesn't worry me. Yet another boxing movie doesn't worry me. More mafia comedies in the wake of Analyze This doesn't worry me. Even Oliver Stone doing MLK doesn't worry me. But Oliver Stone doing Ayn Rand? Oh God no. No no no. No no nonononononononononono. Like he isn't preachy enough with his OWN material. Besides which, nothing can touch the Cooper/Neal version for sheer dialogue lunacy. Proyas doing Poe, though... I think I would have preferred him taking a crack at Usher, but in the immortal words of Cromwell: "That'll do, pig. That'll do."
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Considering Ollie's deficiencies as a filmmaker (aside from SALVADOR, he's quite possibly the most heavy-handed director to ever plague the cinema,) THE FOUNTAINHEAD could be the worst film ever made. I can't wait! As for Gary Ross, I'm a fan of his work, too, but I have to agree with Martin Q. Blank's criticism of his screenplays. He often gets so caught up in the whimsical nature of his stories, that he forgets that there must be consequences (e.g. what will the mother in PLEASANTVILLE do when she discovers that her daughter is..... stuck in an alternate universe?) Still, he's far from a hack.
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May 08, 1999 10:58:48 AM CDT
Was'nt Reynolds and Dreyfuss already in a mob comedy called "Mad
by spike lee
I think it grossed $12.50 at the box office. Pinnochio made the same amount, and its getting a sequel?!?! Love and basketball sounds like the plot of the new Kevin Costner baseball movie coming out this year. The Hollywood suits are hard at work.
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I don't think Gary Ross has earned the right to be in the same talkback as Oliver Stone. The one thing that seemed to almost hold "Pleasantville" together was the awesome score. The movie itself always felt like a first draft.
Oliver Stone should do a film on the United States' "pacification" of the Phillipines.
Fox balking at Michael Mann's demands? Remember how crazy it sounded when they were making "The Last of the Mohicans?" Then it went on to gross a shitload of money for the studio.
"Where is gratitude?"
"I want my end!" -
Thanks for reminding me why it is imperative that I buy a DVD. And for the fellow who mentioned that Gary Ross shouldn't be mentioned in the same talkback with Oliver Stone..... I agree. Ross is far too intelligent a human being to be lumped in the same post with such a hack. Strong words? Sure, but read Jane Hamsher's KILLER INSTINCT to find out just how "creative" Stone is (true, she may be fairly bitter, but she does goes into detail on points that are always brought up when discussing Stone.) And please point out the "revolutionary" use of different film stock..... that's his DP's idea. In fact, it's safe to say that all of the visual flourishes in any Stone film come courtesy of Robert Richardson. He's been working with him since SALVADOR, and is basically the reason people are often misled to believe that Stone is a genius. Rest assured, he's barely in spitting distance of being competent (both mentally and creatively.)
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Ya know, I've lain awake many nights, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Why? Because I've been (to quote Buddy Holly) crying, waiting, and hoping for a sequel to PINOCCHIO. Now my prayers have been answered! I can sleep again!!
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Will Kate Winslett ever make a film set in the current time frame? Hideous Kinky was set in the seventies, and that is the most modern she has got. Make a film that is set now. Can You Diggit?
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Yeah, okay, the whole Pinocchio thing is kinda childish, but this may prove interesting. Michael Anderson is a formidable, if unsung director. He directed "Around the World in 80 Days," the great "Logan's Run" and the recent, very cool TV version of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea." I have it on good authority that the script, by Pinky and the Brain scribe Tom Shepherd is a very twisted, dark and funny take on the Pinocchio tale. Besides, Martin Landau doesn't need to slum for work anymore. If he's involved, there's probably some level of quality to the project. Ditto for Udo Kier, who generally rocks in everything he's in.
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