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The Weekly Recap
Hey folks, Harry here, with a pretty darn busy and filled to the brim WEEKLY RECAP. Lots of projects moving around. Directors delaying and leaving. X-MEN moving up to summer isn't good news for me, personally, I'd rather see Bryan Singer be given the post-production time to really make sure everything is just perfect... as opposed to working under the gun. But hey... that's just me. Well, here's Elston....
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Jason Isaacs (upcoming THE END OF THE AFFAIR) joins Mel Gibson and Heath
Ledger in Columbia's THE PATRIOT for director Roland Emmerich. Chris Cooper
(OCTOBER SKY) also joins the flick as Mel Gibson's character's brother while
Joely Richardson will play Gibson's love interest.
* Jennifer Esposito (SUMMER OF SAM) joins SHAFT starring Samuel L. Jackson.
* Eric Schaeffer (IF LUCY FELL) joins ONE NIGHT AT MCCOOL'S.
* Bruce Greenwood will play JFK in New Line's THIRTEEN DAYS for director
Roger Donaldson. Kevin Costner stars in the Cuban missile crisis pic.
* Meg Ryan will star in THIS MAN, THIS WOMAN for director Richard Loncraine
(RICHARD III). Frederic Raphael (EYES WIDE SHUT) wrote the script inspired
by Lynn Darling's Esquire articles. The story follows a couple who
rediscover their love after two devastating incidents. Ryan is also
expected to shoot THE SHIPPING NEWS for director Billy Bob Thornton.
* Oliver Platt will play the wrestler who falls from grace in Warner Bros.'
wrestling comedy starring David Arquette and Scott Caan to be directed by
Brian Robbins (VARISTY BLUES).
* Will Smith is in talks to star in THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE for director
Robert Redford. He would play Rannulph Junah, a war hero who competes
against the nation's top golf pros while guided by a black caddie.
* Anna Friel (A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM) will play the lead opposite Freddie
Prinze Jr. in Dimension's BOYS AND GIRLS for director Robert Iscove.
* Jeanne Tripplehorn (MICKEY BLUE EYES) will play the female lead in the
comedy RELATIVE VALUES for director Eric Styles (DREAMING OF JOSEPH LEES)
about an English aristocratic family and their son who comes home with his
fiancee, an American actress.
* Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio (LIMBO) joins THE PERFECT STORM.
* Denzel Washington is in negotiations to play the coach of a newly
integrated football team in 1971 in REMEMBER THE TITANS for director Boaz
Yakin (A PRICE ABOVE RUBIES) and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Shooting
begins in late Sept.
* Busta Rhymes joins SHAFT playing John Shaft's sidekick Rasaan. Richard
Price (CLOCKERS) wrote the latest draft of the script.
* Rade Sherbedgia (EYES WIDE SHUT) joins Clint Eastwood's SPACE COWBOYS.
* Ron Livingston will play Allen Ginsberg in BEAT starring Courtney Love,
Norman Reedus and Kiefer Sutherland.
* Nathan Lane is in talks to play Jackie Gleason in a biopic for producers
David Rubin and Stanley DeSantis. Neil Labute and Jon Robin Baitz are in
talks to direct and script.
* John Turturro and Emily Watson are set to star in THE LUZHIN DEFENSE for
Dutch director Marleen Garris about the relationship between a chess master
and a beautiful young woman in the 1930s. Peter Berry adapted the Vladmir
Nabokov novel.
* Maria Bello ("ER") joins COYOTE UGLY for Touchstone Pictures, producer
Jerry Bruckheimer and director David McNally.
* Tara Reid (AMERICAN PIE) will play Richard Gere's daughter in Robert
Altman's DR. T AND THE WOMEN.
* Helen Hunt is attached to produce and star in the black comedy NICE for
Warner Bros. and producer Denise DiNovi based on the Jen Sacks novel about
an attractive woman who's too nice to break up with her suitors and begins
to think burying them would be easier than leaving them.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Ronny Yu (BRIDE OF CHUCKY) will direct Samuel L. Jackson in the
action-comedy THE 51st STATE written by Stel Paulou about an American
chemist and street entrepreneur who go to England to set up a drug deal, but
things get complicated when an anti-American hitman escorts him around
Liverpool.
* MGM bought the script AIN'T NOBODY LIKE THE ONE I GOT by Freddie
Gutierrez, Wesley Johnson and Scott Taylor about a young man and woman who
don't realize how perfect they are for each other and end up switching
bodies to figure it out.
* James Cameron is reportedly telling friends he'll be directing TRUE LIES 2
as well as the Imax 3-D Mars project both expected to be released in 2001.
* Brian Lynch will direct his comedy script EVERYBODY'S DEAD for Artisan
Entertainment about college students who encounter zombies after a wild frat
party.
* Sally Field will direct Minnie Driver in BEAUTIFUL about a young woman
obsessed with being a beauty queen. Hallie Kate Eisenberg, Joey Lauren
Adams and Leslie Ann Stefanson are in talks to join the Destination Films
project.
* Photographer Pat York will direct her adaptation of Alicia Donati's THE
MARZIPIAN PIGEON about a love affair in the New York art scene. Roger
Corman is helping to fund the project.
* Mike Elliot has written WINNER'S OUT for Eriq La Salle to direct for his
Humble Journey Films. The story follows a black man and a white man who
befriend each other at a free-agent basketball camp. Their friendship is
tested when one becomes successful and the other does not.
* MGM optioned Julian Stone's spec I WANT KANDEE about a 17-year old pop
star who wants a normal teenage life. She runs away, changes her look and
enrolls in a regular school hoping for normal experiences.
* Avi Nescher will write/direct the WWII drama THE SECRET for Open City
Films about the true story of a Jewish man who passed himself off as an SS
officer during the war. Shooting begins next year.
* James Gunn will write SCOOBY-DOO for producer Chuck Roven and Warner Bros.
His version is reported to be a comedy horror a la ABBOTT AND COSTELLO
MEET FRANKENSTEIN and GHOSTBUSTERS. Gunn recently did a rewrite of SPY VS.
SPY for director Jay Roach.
* Mimi Leder is set to direct PAY IT FORWARD for Bel Air Entertainment,
based on the upcoming Catherine Ryan Hyde novel about the relationships
between a dysfunctional single mother, an emotionally scarred teacher and a
boy who comes up with an idea for an assignment on changing the world:
doing a favor for someone in advance whicl will ideally cause that person to
do something for someone else and so on.
* John Woo will direct the thriller DIRTY 30 for New Line about a cop who
leaves the NYPD for two years only to return after his brother is accused of
killing a rookie cop.
* Joe Mantegna will direct a film adaptation of David Mamet's comic play
LAKEBOAT about a grad student who takes a summer job on a Great Lakes
freighter and sees life through the eyes of his low-brow crew members. Tony
Mamet, Charles Durning, Peter Falk, Robert Forster, J.J. Johnston, Denis
Leary, Jack Wallace and George Wendt star.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Tom Green (MTV's "The Tom Green Show") signed a feature film pact with
Touchstone Pictures to write and act in projects for the studio.
* Steven Spielberg is delaying production on MINORITY REPORT to accomodate
actor availability. Shooting is now set for January 2000 (three months
later) which will also affect the start of MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA (though
whether production on GEISHA will be earlier or later remains to be seen due
to contradicting reports).
* Due to "creative differences," Jan De Bont has abandoned directing duties
on THE ADAPTIVE ULTIMATE scripted by Jon Cohen (MINORITY REPORT).
* Doug Liman (GO, SWINGERS) is entering a deal to produce and possibly
direct films based on Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne trilogy THE BOURNE
IDENTITY, THE BOURNE SUPREMACY and THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM. Blake Herron will
adapt the first installment about Bourne, a man with no memory of his past,
trying to figure out if he was good or evil and discovers CIA connections,
conspirators and an assassin who wants him dead.
* Miramax optioned the nonfiction article from its Talk magazine. The
studio will develop Mark Ross' "The Last Safari" into a feature about Hutu
rebels kidnapping a group of tourists in Uganda.
>{?* Akiva Goldsman (BATMAN & ROBIN) will produce and/or write an adaptation of
the 1970s show "Starsky & Hutch" for Warner Bros. as well as FLESH & INK, a
comic book property to be co-produced with Icon Prods.
* Joel Schumacher has dropped out of directing THE APARTMENT. His next
project hasn't been determined yet, but he is apparently choosing between a
top secret project or TIGERLAND about former grunts who train for Vietnam in
1971 in the backwoods of Vietnam and forget their humanity.
* Bruce Willis has dropped out of his next pic ACE IN THE HOLE. It was set
to shoot this fall.
* Scott Rudin and Sydney Pollack have picked up Vikram Seth's novel AN EQUAL
MUSIC for Paramount. Pollack may direct the story of a relationship between
a violinist and a pianist who never got over their love affair they had as
students.
* Though shooting won't begin until Oct., Fox is moving the release date of
X-MEN up to July 2000 as opposed to Christmas of that year.
* Warner Bros. picked up the novel A & R by Bill Flanagan about a young
record exec who learns the harsh realities of the music biz.
* Dimension Films acquired the rights to the comic series TORSO from Todd
McFarlane Entertainment. TORSO creators Brian Bendis and Marc Andreyko will
adapt the screenplay about Eliot Ness' hunt for America's first known serial
killer the "Torso Killer."
Tom Green getting into flicks, James Cameron buzzing about TRUE LIES 2,
lots of PATRIOT casting and more casting for DR. T AND THE WOMEN and ONE
NIGHT AT MCCOOL'S (big cast for LAKEBOAT too), MINORITY REPORT delayed but
X-MEN may be released sooner, lots of literature being optioned...busy week.
Both Jan De Bont and Joel Schumacher dropped out of projects, so it will
be interesting to see what they decide to do next...Bruce Willis too--since
no ACE IN THE HOLE.
Hope you're excited about some of the projects mentioned this week.
I'm interested in EVERYBODY'S DEAD by Brian Lynch. If it's remotely as
funny and well written as his THE NEXT MUPPET MOVIE script, I'm there.
Can't wait to find out more about it. I'm also curious on James Gunn's take
on SCOOBY-DOO and how this BOURNE trilogy is going to work out for Doug
Liman...could be cool.
Until next week...
Elston Gunn
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Wouldn't it just be easier to adapt 'On the Road'? Also, whose playing Kerouac? And why the hell is Courtney Love involved?
Sorry, just had to mention it since i'm sure everyone else will focus on the x-men movie. -
Hey there Harry, where's this stellar update we were promised a couple days ago? =) I thought it was gonna show up yesterday, it still aint here today................ !! Ok well, we're still waiting..
Randy -
I can't say I'm excited about much of this news. It's just too hum-drum. "Everybody's Dead" sounds like horse-shit. I refuse the envy the first in line for that aberation. Alas, I should not judge a book by it's cover, but just the sound of it is quite grim in nature. All I want to know is who's gonna play Cyclops?
Harry, please, I beg of you, what's the word? Moriarty, make yourself useful! -
fanboy stricken, comic sci-fi's with no a-list stars are not big hits around christmas time so fuck Bryan singer. Fox is doing the right thing.
(A) Minority Report and Spielberg will dominate Christmas 2000
(B) X-Men would bomb, crash, and die if it was released anytime around fall-winter. It would be as successful as Starship Troopers or everyone's favorite THE FACULTY... "Let's see X-Men!" "Who's in it?" "dougray scott" "OH YES!!! I AM CREAMING MY PANTS WITH EXCITEMENT ALREADY" Little girls and their families go to their movies on Christmas.
(C) Due to Bryan Singer's insistance on making the cast suck cock(save Ian McKellen) this movie has no hope of being a hit... unless it's released on July 4 which is ALWAYS a winning situation! This way, it will get hyped up, get tons of publicity, and have the magic release date stamped onto its ass. GOOD DECISION FOX! DONT LISTEN TO THESE FROTHING FANBOYS WHO ARE GOING TO TALKBACK AFTER ME!!! -
No, not the rock band, but the ones of the Apocalypse. I've got it figured out: the Apocalypse is going to come via the movies. The first three horsemen walk amongst us: they are Pauly Shore and The Jerky Boys. The fourth is Tom Green.
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The cast for X-Men does suck major cock and though I think the X-Men are cool as hell and I couldn't wait for the film, I think Bryan royally fucked up this one (except, obviously McKellan, Stewart and maybe Berry). Schumacher could've done a better job on this one. Still, Fox has jack shit to worry about cause the movie is protected by its July 4th opening, just like Wild Wild West, which would've bombed even worse if not for its cushy opening date.
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Aug 20, 1999 9:15:11 PM CDT
Michael Mann is the only man that can do the Starsky and Hutch s
by spike lee
Dont forget Michael Mann got his start writing and directing episodes of Starsky and Hutch. It's a great and underated show. I just know we will see Matt Damon as Hutch, Ben Affleck as Starsky, and to top it all off in
Hollywood fashion Chris Tucker as Huggy Bear. -
When is it going to be released? Who are the villains / heroes? Will Obi-Wan fall in love with Amidala and create problems with Anakin? Will Watto blow up Shmi and force him to the dark side for revenge? Who (if anyone) is DARTH RAGE? Will we see Boba Fett? I want more more MORE coverage of Star Wars on this site. Harry your episode I coverage was adequate but you have been asleep at the head of the AICN ship for awhile now. Get off your duff and go find out about Star Wars Episode 2!!! By the way, X-MEN will flop because of bad casting and poor studio decisions. Even though it is realeased on July 4 it will only make maybe $50M. Wild, Wild West did not flop, because of Will Smith it made $110 million. X-Men will not reach this. Sorry. That's all from the Jedi Council for now. One more time, Harry, MORE EPISODE TWO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STAR WARS RULES!!!!!!!!
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Has anyone read the script? I love Redford as a director and eagerly await this film but I'm baffled as to how the lead role could have gone from Redford himself to Brad Pitt to Will Smith. I mean, is the guy young or old? Black or white? And I've also heard that Morgan Freeman and Jim Cavaziel are involved...so who are they playing? And whatever happened to Matt Damon? I thought he was doing this after Pitt passed.
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Lakeboat sounds like Cabin Boy without living iceberg monsters and hallucinogenic talking cupcakes. They should cast CHris Elliot as the fancy lad on his second voyage of "self discovery" and call it Cabin Boy : The lake of no laughs. Or maybe this would be good for Tom Greens first vehicle. Get him to rewrite Mamet and play all of the roles in various "ingenious" disguises. Tom Green was born to play the son of the fancy lad in the Cabin Boy sequel that everybody so desperately craves. Long live Cabin Boy 2: Two Shades of Blue.
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Big T here. Do we really need to act this negative about the X-Men. The movie still has almost a year until release. That and this might be the kind of film Bryan has always wanted to do for all his life. Now i think the least we can do is stop badgering the guy until at least we some early screening reviews. All about the July 4th curse I will admit it is a strong curse hell can anyone remember the last time a july 4th flick did good (I think it was Jurassic Park i am not totally sure) But lets remain optimistic people. If i hadnt been optimistic I would have never seen Election the best comedy so far this year. Mr Singer do the X-Men proud dont fuck it up. Big T out.
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The last time a July 4th flick did good was just last year, with Armageddeon, and the year before that, with Men In Black, and the year before that with Independence Day. Now the last time a movie that opened on that weekend that was actually good, now that's a different story.
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I've posted a review of BRINGING OUT THE DEAD, their latest collaboration, over at my site FlixBurg. Check it out if you're interested!
http://members.xoom.com/FlixBurg/flixburg001.htm -
To answer some of your questions Breedlove:
You can actually buy the book, The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield. Bagger Vance is a mysterious black caddie who helps Junah-a troubled local war hero golfer. Pitt passed on the role of Junah and it would be the role of Bagger Vance for Smith or Freeman. This is set in 1931 Savannah. -
Just as info, as far as I know(and I'm a pretty big comic buff compared to you I think) Storm is and always has been a black woman. She has white hair, but she is from Africa. Just so you don't think the studio is purposely changing minorities of the characters in order to fulfil some equality wish.
~JS -
I know nobody will read this because I am writing in a couple of days late....but for the record--LAKEBOAT sucks. It is Mamet at his worst and if actors were not happilly swinging from his nut sack for all of the words he lets them speak in his work, this would be just another boring piece of shit project. Think about it-- Joe Mantaga directing? Why on earth get excited about that? It is because everybody in town has passed on this project and he is the only person to get to direct it. And that is the truth.
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