Cool News
Elston Gunn's WEEKLY RECAP
Father Geek here with Elston once again to post our weekend rehash of Hollywood trade stories for all of you who may have missed some of the news last week.
I just found out today that Robert Rodriguez has been breaking all his personal speed records at the end of his first week's shooting on ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO down in the beautiful Central Highlands of Mexico's Colonial Heartland. My source said: "This movie has been going at the speed of light." Also Enrique Iglesias is definitely IN the movie as a pistolero friend of El Mariachi, but they (Robert and Elizabeth) are trying to keep him hidden away out of sight right now. They are having crowd problems as it is just with Antonio. If the local fans start spotting Enrique in addition, it could be a riot. My source, which is very involved in the production, told ol' Father Geek here that all the star names AICN has reported are sure bets with "Dafoe already on the scene along with Antonio," and that as for all the regulars in Robert's other movies- "anything goes concerning them and this project."
Now on to Elston and THE WEEKLY RECAP...
Just saw MOULIN ROUGE myself this evening. Unbelievable. Can't wait to
Baz's next whatever that may be. Hope Paul Thomas Anderson directs a
musical one day, but I digress. Recap here....
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
Now on to Elston and THE WEEKLY RECAP...
Just saw MOULIN ROUGE myself this evening. Unbelievable. Can't wait to
Baz's next whatever that may be. Hope Paul Thomas Anderson directs a
musical one day, but I digress. Recap here....
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
Baz's next whatever that may be. Hope Paul Thomas Anderson directs a
musical one day, but I digress. Recap here....
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Jackie Chan will star in two big-budget projects for Hong Kong's Golden
Harvest: the first, OPERATION CONDOR 3, will go into production next year
in India; the other, SUN TZU'S ART OF WAR, will be filmed in Mandarin and is
expected to be the most expensive Hong Kong movie to date.
* Bo Derek joins Faye Dunaway, Brad Dourif and Nils Allen Stewart in THE
CALLING for Rico Films and writer/director Damian Chapa.
* Rahul Khanna (EARTH) joins Kevin Kline, Steven Culp, Patrick Dempsey,
Embeth Davidtz, Rob Morrow, Harris Yulin and Emile Hirsch in THE PALACE
THIEF. Michael Hoffman directs.
* Lisa Brenner (THE PATRIOT) has nabbed a role in Lawrence Gray's THE
GROOMSMEN, currently lensing in South Africa.
* Johnny Depp, Willem Dafoe, Enrique Iglesias and Eva Mendes join Antonio
Banderas, Salma Hayek, Quentin Tarantino and Mickey Rourke in ONCE UPON A
TIME IN MEXICO for Robert Rodriguez and Columbia Pictures/Dimension Films.
Shooting begins this week in Mexico.
* Fred Willard, Henry Gibson, Meredith Monroe, Martin Mull and Sean Nelson
star in THE YEAR THAT TREMBLED, based on the 1998 novel by Scott Lax, for
writer/director Jay Craven. It's a coming of age story set at Kent State
circa 1970 and centers around a group of youngsters facing the Vietnam draft
lottery.
* Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson will star in SHANGHAI KNIGHTS, a sequel to
their 2000 hit SHANGHAI NOON. In the new pic, the pair will travel to
London to uncover a conspiracy to overthrow the Chinese and British empires.
Shooting begins in February.
* DJ Qualls, Danny Masterson, Cary Elwes, Donal Logue, Michael Rapaport,
Natasha Lyonne and Monet Mazur are starring in the dark comedy pic COMIC
BOOK VILLAIN for Lions Gate Films and writer/director Doug Robinson. It's
about two rival comic shop owners: one does it for the love of comics while
the other cares only about profit. When someone discovers info that leads
to the discovery of classic comics in perfect, untouched condition, he tells
the owners of both stores and mayhem ensues.
* Judith Godreche (THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK) is in final talks to take a
role in SOUTH KENSINGTON for Medusa Films.
* Aisha Tyler ("Talk Soup") will play Eddie Murphy's love interest in
SHOWTIME for Warner Bros. Robert De Niro also stars.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Digital Domain Films has optioned Shawn Lawrence Otto's script SHINING
WHITE about a guy who becomes addicted to gambling and alcohol due to his
pursuit of materialistic dreams. He loses his job and family, but
rediscovers life and spirituality on an Indian reservation through a
relationship with a Native American boy and his horse.
* Andrew Fleming (THE CRAFT, DICK) will direct AMERICAN PRINCESS for New
Line Cinema and Team Todd, based on a script by Dennis Bartok and Tom
Abrams. Production will begin in the fall. It's about an English peasant
girl who fantasizes about becoming a princess, but is sent to America as an
indentured servant after she is caught wearing some of the queen's clothes.
While in America, she inadvertently gets entangled in the movement against
the crown and falls for the head of the resistance.
* Dennis Hopper is attached to direct and star in the drama THE NIGHT JOB,
written by James O'Hanlon, about an ex-con pulled back to the underworld by
a crooked cop trying to nail a mobster's global art smuggling ring. Hopper
will play the cop while Val Kilmer is in talks to play the mobster.
* Luke Greenfield (THE ANIMAL) is developing THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, which he is
rewriting with Chris McKenna, for Fox's Regency Enterprises. It's about a
careful high school senior who falls for a girl who moves in next door.
When the town finds out she's an ex-porn star, he is forced to risk
everything, including his future.
* Miramax Films has optioned the feature rights to MAL CHANCE, the Platinum
Studios Spanish comic book by Martin Pardo and David Morancho. Scott Murphy
("Angel") has written a screenplay adaptation. The script follows Lola, a
female Chinese assassin for a powerful gangster in Chinatown, who is marked
for death by her own employer. She teams up with an American FBI agent, who
is unaware of her true identity, to bring the criminal organization down.
* Curtis Hanson will direct Eminem in a Universal Pictures feature project
about a young rapper from a script by Scott Silver (THE MOD SQUAD).
* Karey Kirkpatrick (JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, CHICKEN RUN screenwriter)
will direct the live-action pic SUPERKID about a junior high kid who becomes
a superhero. Kirkpatrick is also working on TORTOISE VS. HARE for
DreamWorks/Aardman and PLANET FRED, a DreamWorks/Imagine pic about
microscopic alins who land on the head of Fred.
* Lem Dobbs (THE LIMEY) is writing SCOTTSBORO for producer Donald De Line,
based on Barak Goodman's documentary SCOTTSBORO: AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY, about
the true story of nine black youngsters.
* Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio will return as writers for the sequel to
SHREK for DreamWorks Pictures.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* MGM is developing a film based on the sci fi anthology TV series "The
Outer Limits" for Mark Victor and Michael Grais to produce along with
Trilogy Entertainment.
* MGM is in discussions to take over NOSEBLEED, the Jackie Chan recently
shelved by New Line Cinema. The project follows a window washer at the
World Trade Center who takes a falls for a waitress who works at the
restaurant on top of the building. The two become dangerously involved in a
plot to bomb the twin towers. Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner wrote the
screenplay.
* Dimension Films is developing the live-action pic CLOAK AND DAGGER, based
on the Marvel comic book about two runaways, a rich white girl and a
street-smart black male, who protect the streets with their powers: she can
project a terrifying darkness while he is able to produce a blinding bright
light. Producer Rick Alexander and writer David Tischman are wroking on the
project with Marvel's Avi Arad overseeing the production. Dimension is also
working on GHOST RIDER with director Stephen Norrington as well as Marvel's
WEREWOLF BY NIGHT.
* MGM and Jersey Films are getting closer toward a pic based on Elmore
Leonard's BE COOL, a sequel to GET SHORTY. The studio is working on getting
John Travolta to return as Chili Palmer. Brett Ratner may be a directorial
candidate for the film.
* Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney are working on a pic for Warner Bros.
based on the life story of Garland Bunting, a moonshine revenue agent who
became the scourge of bootleggers in North Carolina during the late 1950s.
Duncan Brantley will write the script.
* Miramax purchased THE NANNY DIARIES, an unpublished manuscript by Nicola
Kraus and Emma McLaughlin that Richard Gladstein will produce. It centers
on a 21-year-old NYU student who becomes a nanny to a family from hell on
the Upper East Side.
* Producer Lawrence Bender and performing artist Peter Gabriel are
developing a feature film for Miramax based on the true story of 22-year-old
pop singer Barry Cox, a Liverpool, England, local who has become a pop
sensation on Liverpool's Cantonese karaoke circuit and is trying to become a
Chinese pop star.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* Visit This Site to
see the short film "Making of the SAG Picket Line" from ShortSpot Prods.
* The Lake Placid Film Forum 2001 will take place in the Adirondack resort
village of Lake Placid, New York. For more info, visit Their Cool Site
* Notodofilmfest.com has launched the First International Compressed Film
Festival. To find out more, visit Right Here.
ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO is sporting quite a cast; Jackie Chan is all over
the recap; Curtis Hanson directing Eminem; Dennis Hopper directing again;
Soderbergh/Clooney are doing a bootlegbuster pic; COMIC BOOK VILLAIN sounds
ripe for geeks as does SUPERKID; BE COOL up ahead. Discuss.
Until next week... have a good June.
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
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Harry and Father Geek posted the wrap-up at the same time, but Harry's was deleted. Now we'll never know his thoughts on the Emimen/Hanson and Cloony/Sodergergh connections.
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jackie chan is the man
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Greetings my fellow Talkbackians and their brethren. It is I, Seattle Slew, back from the fabulous Cannes, NM film festival and eager to anoint thy masses with all things slew. Due to the constant inundation of questions from fans, detractors and the occasional stalker, I have come up with a special Seattle Slew FAQ list. By the time you have finished reading this, Tiger Beat be damned, you
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Uh, you got the powers backward on Cloak and Dagger. Hes the one with the darkness, shes the one with the light. Unless its a new politically correct version. Wouldnt want Jesse Jackoff protesting the stereotype of the dark black man. Anyway, I only read a couple of their comics, so I'm not as bad as the Comic Guy yet. Now on to Shanghai Knights. I loved the first one, but are they out of Old West ideas already? Off to London, wtf. Probably be a spooky old castle and some pretend ghosts with a scheme to get the nice old couple to leave so they can get the hidden treasure, ick. I predict the next one will be Shanghai Igloos, where Jackie and Owen fight fur traders near the arctic circle. So much for that franchise. Officer 412-L out.
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At the beginning there, I meant to say "Can't wait until Baz's next--whatever that may be." He's directing something on Broadway, I think. And yes, I do hope Paul Thomas Anderson directs a musical one day. After "Wise Up" in MAGNOLIA and that extravagant Fiona Apple video, it'd be interesting to see him have a go at it. Makes sense to me.
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TAKEN FROM YOU...And now, an editorial reply by Pops "Old Fart" Hendrix. "Thank you, Buzz, ya goddam punk. In the last two Buzz Mavdick's Weakneed Recraps, Mr. Smartass has been makin' MK-ULTRA jokes. MK-ULTRA my withered ass! MK-ULTRA is for pussies! I was in Project Bluebird, which despite the name was not for little girls livin' in towns without Girl Scout Troops. I was also in Project Artichoke, but nobody sauteed me in butter, let me tell you. We had hookers putting L.S.D. in our drinks before you hippies turned acid into your own private playground and ruined it for the rest of us. Hell, I remember Leary hisself coming into that bordello room with Hunt and Liddy just before I ran screaming into the foggy night. Now a sick fuck like Jizz Maverik here might do a couple of blotters for kicks, but it was serious stuff to us. In short, just let me say that Bus Makesick and all of you are what's wrong with America. Thank you..." That was Pops "Old Fart" Hendrix. His views do not necessarily reflect our view here at Buzz Maverik's Weekly Recap. Now, onto movie news... Joe Dante is helming PRODUCER PARK starring Claire Danes, Jason Biggs, John Cusack, Steven Segal and Lee Majors. Based on the Michael Crichton novel of another name, the story is set on an island where a billionaire has cloned Hollywood producers. When his investors won't allow him to open because of the danger, he invites experts Jane Hamsher (Danes), her ex-partner Don Murphy (Biggs) and their arch enemy Lawrence Bender (Cusack) down to check the place out. When a computer expert (Harry Knowles) knocks out the power, things go terribly wrong. Look for a segment where little children are stalked by Simpson and Bruckheimer...and another where Joel Silver eats a man hiding in an outhouse...or when the Knowles character gets his cumuppance when Lauren Schuler-Donner flashes her multi-colored hood, spits goop in his face and rends him limb from limb...See you at the library.
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there's nothing hotter than a tall, gorgeous, ebony coated, Ivy League educated woman...
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for someone as hot as her, she's funny enough for the show (especially since most woman who look as good as her can't tell a joke to save their life). and you obviously haven't seen her stand-up, either, she's funnier than most ugly female comedians -- even the fat ones.
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Howdy all. First up. Not much going on. I do have to say though what is up with Ratner? That guy is like a virus. Thank god they got him out of Oceans 11. I heard Del Toro may do Palmer in Be Cool. Thats kinda cool. Maybe they can get a cool director(Ratner=not cool) and make a sweet new Leonard. Seattle...good to have ya back, dude and dont pick Justin Timberlake, he's everyone's favorite. And Buzz, I don't know how long you can ride this producer movie thing, but so far you are racking them up. And Aisha is a hotty and I dont care who knows it. That's all...
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But I think Producer Park sounds a lot more promising than Jurassic Park 3.
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Hey Ya'll. Flo is back from hell for a short vacation before I return to finish my ping pong game with Ghandi. Quickly, Buzz you are the best, keep me laughing. Seattle, why don't you post more? I think everyone will agree that you are missed. My thoughts on Alisha? I want Henson back, Baaaaad! Keep up the good work Gunn and to Harry, You complete me!
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Hey Ya'll. Flo is back from hell for a short vacation before I return to finish my ping pong game with Ghandi. Quickly, Buzz you are the best, keep me laughing. Seattle, why don't you post more? I think everyone will agree that you are missed. My thoughts on Alisha? I want Henson back, Baaaaad! Keep up the good work Gunn and to Harry, You complete me!
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Ahhh Buzz and Seattle together again! And all of a sudden, the sun shines brighter, and everything seems okay in this world. Producer Park, I'm sitting out for tickets right now, I'm beaming this message in on my palm pilot. Welcome back Seattle, good to have you, you nihilist. Now we just need a little Battleposter and some User Id Indeed, and I think this talkback will be one for the books. Old Fart Hendrix's part started Jefferson Airplane's WHITE RABBIT going in my head..."feed your head FEED YOUR HEAD!!!!"
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