Man,these regular columns sure mark the passage of time for ol' Father Geek, the weeks just race by. It sure as hell doesn't seem like its been 6 or 7 days since I last posted one of Elston's reports, but it has. Its been another week of Hollywood news, and Father Geek here has seen another 8 motion pictures in various theaters as well as viewing several DVDs in our home theatre here at Geek Headquarters and I've attended some parties/dinners with members of the legit press and film scholars. I tell you an AICN editor/reporter's work is never done, or it sure seems that way. Any how, once again here's Father Geek presenting Elston Gunn and this week's WEEKLY RECAP...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
CASTING
* Brendan Fraser may star in a sequel to GEORGE IN THE JUNGLE, written by Jordan Moffet. Disney plans to send Fraser the script and offer him a big payday to do the pic. Fraser didn't sign to do a sequel when he starred in the original.
* Gwyneth Paltrow is attached to star in and co-produce a romantic/comedic adaptation of Alex Witchel's forthcoming novel ME TIMES THREE for Miramax Films. It's about an assistant editor at a woman's magazine who finds out her Wall Street tycoon fiance is engaged to at least two other women.
* Lena Olin will join the cast of the horror pic DARKNESS for director Jaume Balaguero. Anna Paquin, Giancarlo Giannini, Iain Glen, and Fele Martinez also star in the feature about a family vs. the evil the find in their new home.
* Christine Baranski joins Marisa Tomei, Heather Graham and Jimi Mistry in THE GURU for Universal/Working Title and director Daisy Scherler Mayer.
* Thomas Haden Church has been cast in BEHIND THE SUN, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Sela Ward and Patricia Arquette. Robby Henson directs.
* Angela Bettis, Josh Lucas, Scott Wilson and William Forsythe join Josh Brolin and Timothy Olyphant in COASTLINES for writer/director Victor Nunez.
* Jack Noseworthy nabbed a role in UNDERCOVER BROTHER for Universal/Imagine and director Malcolm Lee. The pic also stars Chris Kattan, Eddie Griffin, Denise Richards and Dave Chappelle.
* Kiera Chaplin, granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, will star in THE YEAR THAT TREMBLED, based on the novel by Scott Lax that is set against the backdrop of the Kent State shootings. Jay Craven will direct from his own adaptation.
* Mira Sorvino, Mariah Carey and Melora Walters (MAGNOLIA) are in talks to star in the indie drama WISE GIRLS for director David Anspaugh. It's about three waitresses who work in a restaurant owned by the mob and find themselves involved in the business. John Meadows scripted.
* Christopher McDonald is in talks to star in CHILDREN ON THEIR BIRTHDAYS, based on the short story by Truman Capote, for Crusader Entertainment and writer/director Mark Medoff. It's set in the 1940s and centers on an 11-year-old girl who moves to Alabama.
* Cameron Richardson joins the cast of FRANK MCKLUSKY, C.I. for Disney and director Arlene Sanford. Dave Sheridan, Dolly Parton and Randy Quaid star.
* Scott Wolf will costar in the dramatic indie feature EMMETT'S MARK with Tim Roth, Gabriel Byrne, and Khandi Alexander. Keith Snyder directs from his own script the pic about a detective who is searching for a serial killer. He finds out he is dying and hires an assassin to put him out of his misery while he hopes to catch his suspect. He later learns he is going to live and tries to call off the hit.
* Michelle Johnson (BLAME IT ON RIO) will star opposite Harry Connick Jr. in MICKEY for director Hugh Wilson. John Grisham wrote the script.
* Stanley DeSantis joins Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer in the New Line pic I AM SAM. DeSantis is also collaborating with Nathan Lane on THE GREAT ONE, a Jackie Gleason bipic.
* Gary Busey and Sally Kirkland will join Christian Campbell and Nicole Eggert in THANK YOU, GOOD NIGHT for director Chuck Griffith. It's set in 1994, weeks after Kurt Cobain's suicide, and centers on a grunge band trying to make it.
* Al Sapienza ("The Sopranos") will star in A MONTH OF SUNDAYS with Rod Steiger.
* Russell Richardson (TIGERLAND) joins Dennis Quaid, Rachel Griffiths, Brian Cox and Jay Hernandez in THE ROOKIE for director John Lee Hancock.
* Rob Schneider will co-write with Tom Brady and star in an untitled comedy for Disney. Brady will also direct.
* Jeremy Irons will star in the romantic thriller AND NOW LADIES AND GENTLEMAN about a gentleman thief who falls for a singer. Claude Lelouch directs.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Pacifica Film Development has picked up the feature rights to Michael Blake's upcoming novel THE HOLY ROAD, a sequel to his DANCES WITH WOLVES, which he will adapt into a screenplay by the end of the summer. The new book picks up 10 years after the first one left off and finds Lt. John Dunbar's on a mission to rescue his wife and youngest child after they are abducted by white men who are invading the Plains Indians. Blake won an Oscar for his adaptation of WOLVES.
* Allen Coulter ("The Sopranos") will direct the romantic comedy pic IN A HEARTBEAT about a gorgeous rich girl and a petty criminal who fall for each other in the tunnel between life and death after they both suffer near-death experiences. When the man comes to, he goes on a search for the girl, whom he thinks is his soulmate.
* Mike Rich (FINDING FORRESTER) will write SOMEONE TO LEAN ON for Tollin Robbins Prods., Warner Bros. and Gaylord Films based on the Sports Illustrated story by Gary Smith about a mentally challenged boy who receives help from a high school football coach that takes him from being the object of ridicule to a well-respected person in town.
* Warner Bros. bought the romantic caper script FOOL'S GOD by John Claflin and Dan Zelman about a man and woman whose discover a treasure that makes them famous. Years later, they are searching for another treasure while their marriage is on the rocks and their finances are in shambles. The two then try to bilk a wealthy investor with the promise of a big score.
* Jonathan Hensleigh (ARMAGEDDON, DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE) will rewrite the project GEMINI MAN for Disney. It's about an older man who is by his younger self. Hensleigh will set the story in modern times as opposed to 20 years in the future as it had been set in previous drafts.
* Writer/actor Levy Lee Simon has sold a feature screenplay based on his play THE BOW WOW CLUB to Fox Searchlight/Spirit Dance Entertainment. It's about the reunion of a group of men who were friends as inner-city teens but who have drifted apart over the years.
* Sheldon Turner will adapt the Eugene Izzi novel THE BOOSTER for Mark Johnson Prods. It's a contemporary crime drama about a thief who comes out of retirement to partake in the biggest, most dangerous heist of his life.
* MINUTE MEN for Disney based on the original script by David Diamond and David Weissman about three teens who invent a time machine which can take them back only 48-hours.
* Jason Reitman will adapt Christopher Buckley's 1994 novel THANK YOU FOR SMOKING for Icon Prods. Reitman will also direct. The story revolves around a tobacco lobbyist who is responsible for marketing smoking to the public. After he finds himself kidnapped and covered with nicotine patches, he becomes an avid fighter against smoking, becoming an instant hero, in the process.
* Melissa Carter's romantic comedy spec LITTLE BLACK BOOK was picked up by Revolution Studios for Shoelace Prods. to develop. It centers on a woman who interviews her love interest's ex-girlfriends to find out why the relationships didn't work out.
* Adam Kulakow will adapt/update ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN for Disney.
* Wind Dancer Films grabbed the romantic comedy pitch FOREVER AND A DAY by Robert Zappia about a couple who appreciate their life together after they have a chance to live out their greatest fantasy.
* Disney has purchased SIGNS, the new supernatural thriller script from M. Night Shyamalan, who will also direct. It is set in Pennsylvania where there is a sudden appearance of a 500-foot array of circles and lines found carved into a farm family's crops. Shooting begins in the fall.
* Peyton Reed will develop and direct FANTASTIC FOUR, based on the popular Marvel comic book series, for 20th Century Fox. A new writer is being sought to pen the script centerin on four astronauts who develop superhuman powers after their spaceship is exposed to cosmic rays. They become Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and the Thing, the superhero group the Fantastic Four, where they join together to fight the evil Doctor Doom.
* David Reynolds will pen, for Playtone Prods., the adaptation of Maurice Sendak's children's short story WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE about a boy who uses his imagination to take him to a land of giant monsters where he is eventually made the king.
* Miramax Films has acquired Daniel M. Salzman and John M. Kasselakis' action-thriller script INFIDEL in which Antonio Banderas is attached to star and produce. The story centers on Bobby De Leon, an anti-Castro CIA analyst who is sent to Cuba to prevent Castro from being assassinated, though he discovers he's the pawn of a bigger game.
* Craig Rosenberg will write/direct the thriller NEVERMORE: THE NIGHTMARES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE, where Poe plays a role in a murder mystery.
* Ryan Rowe is writing the romantic adventure IL PALIO for Imagemovers about an American rodeo rider who visits Italy to inherit a house and ultimately compete in the legendary horse race, the Palio.
* Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio (upcoming BUBBLE BOY) will write the sequel to THE SANTA CLAUSE for Disney and director Michael Lembeck. The story will center on Santa leaving the North Pole to go on a quest. Tim Allen is attached to play dual roles.
* Adam "Tex" Davis is in talks with Good Machine to develop his script THE GARDENER OF EDEN for MTV Films. It's a dark comedy about a fat guy who becomes a local vigilante.
* Luke Greenfield will develp and direct the pics PLAIN WHITE RAPPER and ANGER MANAGEMENT for Revolution Studios.
* Fox 2000 has optioned SOME KIND OF BLUE, which Aaliyah is attached to star, for writer/director Alison Swan to develop. The project is about a guy who falls for his jazz idol's daughter during the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival.
* Bill Mechanic's Pandemonium grabbed the comedy pitch MOUNTAIN MEN from Bradley Allenstein, Robert Henny and Ralph Green, with Paul Hunter attached to direct. The story follows three brothers from Harlem who find a treasure map in their grandmother's attic and must find the treasure before her home is taken over by the IRS.
* Gone Fishin' Prods. picked up the comedy pitch FAT CHANCE by Jim Thompson about a bitchy female publisher of a woman's magazine who wakes up obese and tries to find a man who loves her for who she is.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Due to health and scheduling issues, Marlon Brando has dropped out of the Dimension Films spoof SCARY MOVIE 2. The part he was to play will now be recast.
* Lars von Trier's new film DOGVILLE has delayed production until after the possible U.S. writers and actors strikes while pic's star Nicole Kidman is in the middle of shooting THE HOUR.
* Bill Mechanic's Pandemonium is in final talks to pick up the film rights to Sebastain Junger's (THE PERFECT STORM) upcoming book FIRE, a fictionalized tale of a raging wilderness fire in a small Northeastern town and the fire-fighters who battle it.
GUNN SHOTS
(Not from the trades)
* Visit here to find out about a BRIDGET JONES DIARY contest where fans can take part in "finding themselves in Bridget Jones." Check it out.
* Heath McKnight is currently looking for a female lead for his next film UNTITLED. Find out more at his website.
* Like the sci-fi? See Daniel Poster's film SAVE at i-film.
