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Elston Gunn's WEEKLY RECAP
Well another week has shot by and here's Elston's new WEEKLY RECAP. I don't know but ol' Father Geek here can just never get use to the DISNEY name being tied to projects like BLOODY MARY. I guess I just watched way too many MICKEY MOUSE CLUBS when I was a kid. On another note it looks like everything is set to bring Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One" saga to the big screen... good news for fans of the series.
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
CASTING
* Michael Douglas will star in the psychological action thriller DON'T SAY A
WORD for director Gary Fleder (KISS THE GIRLS) and New Regency/20th Century
Fox. It's based on the Andrew Klavan novel about a psychologist who is
trying to free his kidnapped daughter. Shooting is slated to begin in
November.
* Wayne Knight ("Seinfeld") joins the ensemble pic RAT RACE for director
Jerry Zucker and Paramount. Whoopi Goldberg, John Cleese, Rowan Atkinson,
Jason Alexander, Breckin Meyer, Amy Smart and Seth Green also star. Andy
Breckman scripted.
* Julia Roberts, John Cusack, Billy Crystal and Catherine Zeta-Jones are in
talks to star in the comedy AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS for Revolution Studios.
Studio head Joe Roth may direct. It's about a celebrity couple (Cusack/Zeta
Jones) who have to promote their movie even though their marriage is over.
Crystal would play the film's publicist while Roberts would take the role of
the sister of the female star whom with the male star is in love. Shooting
begins in January.
* Sandra Bullock is in talks to star in MURDER BY NUMBERS, written by Tony
Gayton (upcoming THE SALTON SEA), with Castle Rock producing. It's about
two intelligent high school students who carry out a series of perfect
murders, and then partake in a battle of wits with a female rookie FBI
profiler.
* Ben Affleck and Jason Lee are in talks to take roles in writer/director
Kevin Smith's next comedy, currently referred to as VIEW ASKEW 5, for
Dimension Films. Brian O'Halloran and Jeff Anderson (CLERKS) are both
expected to take roles in the film as well. It is said the film will be the
last of the Jersey pics featuring the characters Jay and Silent Bob, played
by Jason Mewes and Smith. Shooting begins in January.
* Kevin Costner is in talks to star in DRAGONFLY for director Tom Shadyac
and Universal Pictures. The script by Brandon Camp and Mike Thompson, and
rewritten by David Seltzer, is about a grieving doctor who has been
contacted by the spirit of his ex-wife through his patients.
* Rapper Nelly will star in the urban thriller SNIPES for writer/director
Rich Murray who co-wrote the script with Rob Wiser. Nelly will play a hip
hop artist who is kidnapped before his album is released. Shooting begins
Oct. 2 in Philadelphia. Dean Winters ("Oz"), Mpho Koaho (DOWN IN THE DELTA)
and Sam Jones will also star. Fat Joe, Kool Moe Dee and Schooly D will have
cameos.
* Don Cheadle is in talks to join SWORDFISH starring John Travolta, Hugh
Jackman and Halle Berry. Sam Shepard will have a cameo role in the pic.
Dominic Sena will direct the Skip Woods script for Warner Bros.
* Jared Leto joins Nicole Kidman, Forest Whitaker and Dwight Yoakam in THE
PANIC ROOM for director David Fincher and Columbia Pictures. David Koepp
wrote the thriller about a woman and her daughter fighting for their lives
when intruders enter their home.
* Jackie Chan will star in THE HIGHBINDERS, which shoots next September in
Australia.
* Huntley Ritter (BRING IT ON) will join Meatloaf, A.J. Buckley and
Alexandra Holden in WISHCRAFT.
* Rachel Stirling (STILL CRAZY) will join Mira Sorvino in the romantic
comedy THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE, an adaptation of a Pierre Marivaux play about
two young women who pose as men.
* Sandrine Bonnaire (EAST-WEST) will star opposite Jacques Dutronc in LA
MORT INTIME based on the novel by Marie Hennezel about the relationship
between a dying man and a volunteer at a hospice. Shooting begins in
October.
* Graham Greene (DANCES WITH WOLVES) and Adam Beach (SMOKE SIGNALS) are in
talks to star in SKINS for director Chris Eyre (SMOKE SIGNALS) about two
Sioux Indian brothers, one is a tribal cop while the other is dying from
cirrhosis of the liver. The pic is based on the Adrian Louis novel.
* Bruce Willis is mulling over several candidates for his next pic including
a starring role alongside Edward Norton in HART'S WAR for director Gregory
Hoblit (FREQUENCY) for his next pic, taking the lead in UNFAITHFUL for
director Adrian Lyne or toplining the Revolution Studios action pic MAN OF
WAR.
* Joaquin Phoenix will star in the dark comedy BUFFALO SOLDIERS for
FilmFour/Odeon Film and writer/director Gregor Jordan based on the cult
novel by Robert O'Connor's. The pic will center on a soldier named Elwood
who makes deals and manipulates the system to make life easier for him in
the military though Army investigators are on to him.
* Richard Gere will star in MOTHMAN PROPHECIES for Lakeshore Entertainment
and director Mark Pellington (ARLINGTON ROAD). It's based on John Keel's
account of his investigation of UFO reports during the late 1960s around
Point Pleasant, WV. Townspeople claimed to be plagued for weeks by psychic
visions and the appearance of unusual winged cratures. Shooting begins in
January.
* Seann William Scott will join Julianne Moore and Orlando Jones in the
alien sci fi movie EVOLUTION for director Ivan Reitman and DreamWorks.
David Duchovny is still in talks to star in the pic.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Tim McCanlies (THE IRON GIANT) will write IRON MAN based on the Marvel
Comic for New Line Cinema. Marvel Studio's president Avi Arad will produce
with Don Murphy and Angry Films.
* Kurt Voss (WHERE THE DAY TAKES YOU) will direct the indie comedy DOWN AND
OUT WITH THE DOLLS about a Portland all-girl band called the Paper Dolls.
The script is based on a story by Nalini Cheriel. Voss wrote the script.
Zoe Poledouris, Kinnie Starr, Nicole Barrett and Melody Moore will star as
the all-girl band. Coyote Shivers, Lemmy Kilmister, Sierra Feldner, Brenden
O'Hara and Mikael Jehanno will co-star in the pic.
* Industry Entertainment picked up EDGARDO MORTARA by Rob Eshman for
director James Gray (LITTLE ODESSA) to develop. It centers on the
kidnapping of a 6-year old Jewish boy by the papal police in in Bologna,
Italy, in 1858.
* John C. Richards (NURSE BETTY) will write the remake to the 1932 romantic
comedy TROUBLE IN PARADISE for Universal Pictures about a con artist love
triangle.
* Mark Loughlin and Brad Schlei have written CRASH AND BURN, picked up by
Fox Searchlight, about a car race from Florida to California. It's
described as a "college-age CANNONBALL RUN."
* Kopelson Ent. bought Mark Allen Smith's (THE WITCHING HOUR) sci fi time
travel script BUYING TIME.
* Oliver Stone is in talks to direct AMERICAN CEASAR by William Nicholson
(GLADIATOR) for Universal. It's a modern-day Caesar and Brutus story set in
Washington where a president is becoming the Ceasar of his time forcing his
aide to take action.
* Ricky Blitt will write the buddy comedy PLAIN WHITE RAPPER for Revolution
Studios about a black secret service agent and a white rapper.
* United Artists bought the Jill Franklyn (MY FIRST MISTER) comedy spec PINK
COMA TOES while attaching Scott Kalvert (THE BASKETBALL DIARIES) as
director. Production is planned for early next year on the story of a
straitlaced woman who tries to heal her ailing fiance by carrying out his
wild fantasies and in doing so, she discovers a new identity within her.
* John Requa and Glenn Ficarra (FIGHTING LIKE CATS AND DOGS) have sold a
pitch to the Coen Bros.' KL Line production company about a shopping mall
Santa involved in illegal scams.
* Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg will collaborate INTO THE SETTING SUN
a project in which the former will direct while the latter produces.
DreamWorks and Warner Bros. will co-finance the film which will focus on the
creation of the transcontinental railroad. Bill Witliff (LEGENDS OF THE
FALL) will write the script.
* Hype Williams (BELLY) is attached to direct a live-action SPEED RACER for
Warner Bros. and producer Lauren Shuler-Donner.
* Tommy Lee Wallace (HALLOWEEN 3, THE HOWLING 2, IT) will direct a sequel to
JOHN CARPENTER'S VAMPIRES entitled JOHN CARPENTER PRESENTS VAMPIRES: LOS
MUERTOS from his own script.
* Reginald Hudlin (HOUSE PARTY) will direct the Mandalay Pictures comedy
SERVICING SARAH starring Matthew Perry as a process server trying to serve
legal papers on a female who becomes a love interest.
* Regis Wargnier (INDOCHINE) will make his English-language feature debut
with ST. EX for Interlight. The project is an epic biopic of the French
writer/pilot Antoine De Saint-Exupery. Shooting is slated to begin next
summer.
* Mandalay Pictures picked up the comedy script KUNG FU THEATER by Tom
Jankiewicz (GROSSE POINT BLANK). It's about a comic book artist who his
transported into a martial arts flick and embarks on a strange journey.
Production begins in February. Paul Jay Shrater co-wrote the story and will
exec produce.
* Julie Taymor (TITUS') is in talks to direct the biopic FRIDA KAHLO
starring Salma Hayek for Miramax. Antonio Banderas and Ashley Judd will
appear in supporting roles.
* Mike Lobell Prods. has optioned HOLLYWOOD & VINE, the romantic comedy spec
written by Joshua Ravtech about a movie star who must choose between love
and all that Hollywood has to offer.
* Marc Guggenheim ("The Practice" staff writer) has written the romantic
comedy screenplay MUSICAL CHAIRS which follows a group of folks who are at a
wedding in an exotic resort. The Bubble Factory bought the script.
* Jennifer Heath and Michele J. Wolff have written THE ULTIMATE LOW
SELF-ESTEEM MOVIE, which was purchased by Miramax, about a young woman who
thinks she has found the perfect guy after being dumped most of her
life-though her new man is trying to kill her.
* Disney picked up the pitch BLOODY MARY from Clive Barker and writer Silvio
Horta (URBAN LEGEND). It is based on the Miami New Times feature "Myths
Over Miami" by Lynda Edwards on folkloric horror stories told in South
Florida homeless shelters. Their pitch centers on one myth about a figure
called Bloody Mary who lives in the Everglades and steals children during
the night. Horta will script.
* Brian De Palma will direct the modern noir thriller FEMME FATALE from his
own script about a woman who is trying to straighten out her life, but her
past comes back to haunt her.
* Darren Aronofsky (PI, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM) will direct the fifth
installment of the BATMAN franchise for Warner Bros. He will write and
develop the pic with Frank Miller, basing the script on Miller's 1987
graphic novel BATMAN: YEAR ONE.
* Simon Davis Barry will direct STORY OF MY LIFE for Cinetel Films based on
the novel by Jay McInerney.
* Director Anand Tucker, writer Frank Cottrell Boyce and producer Andrew
Patterson (all worked on HILARY AND JACKIE) are in talks to produce an epic
romance based on the life of Cleopatra. The same team is also in talks to
develop a remake of the 1966 film GAMBIT.
* Jason Richman has written the action comedy script BLACK SHEEP for
producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Disney about an African-American who must
fill his late twin's shoes on a CIA assignment which his brother had been
working. Jon Turteltaub may direct the pic which is shooting for a February
start.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Universal Pictures is in talks to pick up the feature rights to the life
story of the late comedian Sam Kinison as well as a biography about Kinison
written by his brother Bill and Steve Delson. Tom Shadyac and David Permut
will produce the pic.
* Paramount picked up the rights to UP COUNTRY, the novel by Nelson DeMille
which is the sequel to THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER. Mace Neufeld to produce with
John Travolta in early talks to star.
* Propaganda Films is working on getting the rights to ELECTRIC GOD, the
upcoming novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde (PAY IT FORWARD). It's about a
troubled man who has to reunite with his estranged wife and his engaged
daughter. The story centers on his efforts to rebuild a life with his
former family. Hyde's novel WALTER'S PURPLE HEART sold to American World
Pictures. That book follows a soldier killed during WWII who comes back in
the body of a young slacker, who sets out to find closure with his best
friend and his ex-fiancee, who are now set to marry.
* Warner Bros. optioned the film rights to THE BLUE NOWHERE, Jeffery
Deaver's upcoming thriller novel for producer Joel Silver. It tells the
story of a cop and a computer hacker who join forces to stop a serial
killer.
* Catch 23 Entertainment purchased the feature film rights to two stories
from THE GIRLS' GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING by Melissa Bank: "The Worst
Thing a Suburban Girl Could Imagine" and "My Old Man." It has not yet been
decided whether or not the stories will be developed into two separate
projects or one.
* Lions Gate Films has picked up all North American distribution rights to
Merchant Ivory Prods.' THE GOLDEN BOWL after Miramax decided not to release
it once the studio and Merchant Ivory could not agree on proposed changes in
the film.
* Metafilmics bought the feature film rights to Richard Bach's 1977
bestseller ILLUSIONS: THE ADVENTURES OF A RELUCTANT MESSIAH. Stephen Simon
and Barnet Bain (WHAT DREAMS MAY COME) will produce the story of a
modern-day messiah.
* Miramax Films bought the feature film rights to THE BROTHERS BIELSKI,
Peter Duffy's book proposal based on an article he had written for the New
York Times. It is a true story of three Jewish brothers in Eastern Europe
during World War II who take refuge in a vast forest where they protect
other Jews and rob gentiles to survive. Approximately 1,200 Jews lived out
the war in the brothers' camp hidden from Nazis.
Seems like a big week for "names." Jackie Chan, Bruce Willis, Joaquin
Phoenix, Richard Gere, Michael Douglas, Kevin Costner and Sandra Bullock all
made news this week with their next projects while the casts for EVOLUTION,
AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS, SWORDFISH, VIEW ASKEW 5 and THE PANIC ROOM are taking
shape with popular movie stars. Directors Hype Williams, Oliver Stone,
Julie Taymor, Brian De Palma, Darren Aronofsky are all keeping busy as well,
and the Scorsese/Spielberg collaboration news was surprising, but welcome.
Chris Eyre is following-up SMOKE SIGNALS with SKINS. Anxious to hear more
about that one.
I'm curious to see what they're going to do with the Sam Kinison
biopic, and I hope THE BROTHERS BIELSKI makes a great film--sounds like an
amazing story. Very cool to have the IRON GIANT writer working on IRON MAN.
And then there's the sequel to VAMPIRES. Thoughts?
Until next week...
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
biopic, and I hope THE BROTHERS BIELSKI makes a great film--sounds like an
amazing story. Very cool to have the IRON GIANT writer working on IRON MAN.
And then there's the sequel to VAMPIRES. Thoughts?
Until next week...
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
elstongunn@hotmail.com
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not content with that sloppy turd 'urban legend', he now recycles one of the crappy "legends" from that script and sells it to disney for major bank? who is this fucker and why has no one cut off his hands so he can't pen any more shithouse movies? 'bloody mary' sounds like a piss-poor rehash of 'candyman' - why is clive barker involved in this? WHY, I ASK YOU? fuck you, hollywood!
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tim mccanlies writes 'iron man'? cool! martin campbell/robert rodriguez/brad silberling directs, nicolas cage stars. (it's real simple: cage is iron man, depp is ghost rider, malkovich is green goblin. oh do keep up.)
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Why bother making another fucking vampires film the first one was bad enough cant they feed some starving children with it's budget? And on a side note I am really looking forward to seeing what Speilbreg and Scoreses can do when they get together as long as Steven can tuck away his commerical aspects for a little while........
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Sep 25, 2000 1:29:54 AM CDT
OOOOOOOOHHHH!!!!!OOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!!!MY LIFE STORY ON FILM!!!!
by twig
My choice for Kinison: Denis Leary!
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could the cast of 'rat race' be any less inspiring?*****as a director, joe roth is a great studio president*****when was the last time you saw a project sandra bullock was attached to and thought "can't WAIT for that one"?*****do you think rapper nelly realises that his name is old-time slang for "somewhat effeminate"?*****skip woods can't write his name with piss in the snow. why is 'swordfish' still going ahead, and why are talented folks like jackman and cheadle getting involved?*****'evolution' isn't really gonna be a comedy, is it?*****oliver stone is the only director psychotic enough to make 'american caesar' enjoyable. in anyone else's hands it will be a turgid, 'respectable' political thriller*****was there ever a time when you saw a project matthew perry was attached to and thought "can't WAIT for that one"? (and i LIKE perry)*****re. aronofsky as 'batman: year one' director: you have chosen... wisely*****who the hell is gonna play sam kinison? after 'man on the moon', do we really want another biopic of an edgy comedian?*****i predict that a few years from now, the term "ooooh, 'the blue nowhere'!" will replace "ooooh, 'navy seals'!" as a term of derision. mark my words.
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Lawsuit Films will produce a film that has nothing to do with Alan Moore & Kevin O'Neill's comic book THE LEAGUE OF EXTRODINARY GENTLEMEN. The film, THE SOCIETY OF EXCEPTIONAL SOCIETY is about how in the 1970s the British government recruited such notorious fictional figures as The Bandit, Regan McNeil, Tony Manero, Jeff Spicoli and Chewbacca to battle the supervillian The Ayatollah Bonaduce. Earlier incarnations of the League ... er, Society rejected were : 1950s -- Jim Stark, Howdy Doody, Sugar Cane, Andy (without Amos) and Dr. Terwilliger vs. Lenny Bruce and Roy Cohn; 1960s -- Joe Friday, Edith Bunker, Billy & Captain America, Norman Bates and Geraldine vs. Hanoi Jane; 1980s --Axel Foley, Rambo, Doc Brown, Ripley, The Dark Knight, Eliot & his sister Gertie vs. The Catcher In the Rye; and 1990s -- Nice Guy Eddie, Brenda Walsh, Butthead (without Beavis), T-Rex, Kramer and Mookie vs. The Misoula Militia and Joel Schumacher's Batman.
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Early numbers have Urban Legends 2 edging out The Exorcist for first place with approximately 500,000 more dollars. Only thing is, The Exorcist was in 1/4 of the theatres!! Ha ha! Next week is going to be a good ol' fashion cornholing! The second highest grossing reissue! Ha ha! Real horror wins! Too bad the new ending was weak. I'll take a hit and miss director's cut over cookie-cutter crap any day. If Remember the Titans doesn't pull in number one next week (black man in a dramatic role? america can't get this figured out; blacks are only good for action and comedy, right?), The Exorcist could be in the rare spot of a re-release being box office champ. Urban Legends sucks cocks in hell!
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I uploaded mpeg's on the webpage www.lukeskyywalker.com of American Beauty's Thora Birch and Mena Suvari's best part's from what else, the movie American Beauty. I also uploaded my entire collection of Angelina Jolie mpegs. You must have a FREE membership from freediskspace.com for which I get NO MONEY FROM and receive NO MONEY FROM. I pass the savings along to you the home viewer. Now I plan to update next with some Laetitcia Casta and Tara Reid. My current webpage is www.lukeskyywalker.com Now I plan to purchase a few domain names shortly so don't get to attached to lukeskyywalker.com, I got it only because Lucas wanted 300 million dollars from 2 Live Crew back in the early 1990's for using LukeSkyywalker, even though 2 Live Crew used it almost 10 years and I wanna be psychotic about it. I merely obtained it because I am shocked it was available! Besides Lucas only paid attention when the Moralist's where coming down hard on 2 Live Crew. I saw Episode1 TWELVE times and got a shit load of episode 1 action figures, 4 Anakin Pod Racers, and 2 Royal StarShips, and I believe I am entitled to have the domain www.lukeskyywalker.com GET-PSYCHOTIC
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The first one sucked shit, and a commerical failure. Why would they make another. Well my son liked it, but he's 12, and thinks Nelly is the 21st centuries Mozart. I hope John Carpenter gets his head out of his ass for Ghost of Mars (or whatever its called).
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I've written my own goddamn script. And it's a whole lot better than that hack fuck can do. CARLITO'S WAY wouldn't have been shit if that pop video director Fincher had got his greedy mits on it. And as for SNAKE EYES, well, hey Fincher, 15 MINUTE TRACKING SHOT YOU FUCK.
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Sep 25, 2000 8:15:42 AM CDT
I'm Beginning To Think Brian De Palma Really Is Brian De Palma.
by buzz maverik
Naw. AICN Brian is too witty. I miss the historical journals, Brian. Those slaughtered me. By the way, this is the scariest Harry animation yet. Film reference? Gotta be the Exorcist.
Oh yeah, Bri, I've been dying to ask, how's your brother Louie? -
That's what the animation is, isn't it. TWILIGHT ZONE the movie. And yo DePalma, Buzz Maverick is right, when we going to see more excerpts from your diary?
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It's about time that we had an interesting film about a piece of little known UFO lore. ANd Richard Gere is interested? Sounds super to me. And also what's this other myth? Bloody Mary? sounds cool. All we need now is the film version of oter little known legends like the Spring Heeled Jack, Mad Gasser, Skunk Ape, and the infamous Jersey Devil...
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