Hey folks, Harry here... sorry about the delay in putting this week's recap up, but things have been painfully relaxed at Geek Headquarters this weekend. Due to the wonderful updates by Moriarty and Robogeek, I just sat back... relaxed and enjoyed my weekend... Reading, catching some films (SWORDFISH, EVOLUTION, Tsui Hark's TIME AND TIDE) and just being Harry... human being. But enough of that... it's time to strap on the geek armor and return to my post. Thanks for letting me take a breather this weekend... Here's ELSTON!!!!
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Jena Malone, Brad Renfro, Alicia Witt and Clifton Collins Jr. star in the dark comedy AMERICAN GIRL (a.k.a. LIFERS' PICNIC) about a 15-year-old girl who attends a picnic at the prison where her father is incarcerated to get to know him. Jordan Brady (THE THIRD WHEEL) will direct from a script by Scott Sandoe.
* Jackie Chan will star in the drama TUXEDO for producer Steven Spielberg about a cab driver who goes the home of a wealthy man who has slipped into a coma and is sent to the hospital. The cab driver starts gathering personal items for the man and tries on his tuxedo which triggers a staggering chain of events. Production begins Sept. 10.
* Tom Arnold joins the cast of CHILDREN ON THEIR BIRTHDAYS, based on the short story by Truman Capote, for Crusader Entertainment and director Mark Medoff.
* Clayne Crawford will star opposite Jesse Bradford, Erika Christensen and Shiri Appleby in the teen thriller SWIMFAN85 for director John Polson. Dan Hedaya and Kate Burton also star.
* Boyd Kestner will play Sandra Bullock's brother in the Warner Bros. pic DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA YA SISTERHOOD.
* Molly Parker (THE CENTER OF THE WORLD) will star opposite John Cusack in HOFFMAN for writer/director Menno Meyjes (THE COLOR PURPLE). Leelee Sobieski, Noah Taylor, Ulrich Tomsen and Paul Hipp also star. It's set in 1920s Munich and follows gallery owner Hoffman who is befriended by a young Adolf Hitler when he returns from World War I.
* Mark Ruffalo (YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, upcoming THE CASTLE, WINDTALKERS and A VIEW FROM THE TOP) is in talks to join Mel Gibson in M. Night Shyamalan's supernatural thriller SIGNS for Disney.
* Hal Holbrook joins the cast of THE MAJESTIC as T. Johnston Doyle, chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee. Frank Darabont directs.
* Ron Livingston (OFFICE SPACE, upcoming "Band of Brothers") has joined ADAPTATION, starring Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, Jane Adams and Tilda Swinton for director Spike Jonze.
* Heather Paige Kent ("That's Life") joins Rashida Jones ("Boston Public") in writer/director Jeff Anderson's romance pic NOW YOU KNOW about a woman who inexplicably calls off her wedding to her childhood sweetheart.
* David Gail ("Port Charles") will star opposite Piper Perabo in A PIECE OF
MY HEART for director Matt Cooper.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Mostow/Lieberman Prods. has grabbed the comedy pitch MOI by Lon Diamond (LEAVE IT TO BEAVER, "Parker Lewis Can't Lose," "The Tick") about a self-loving, holier-than-thou surgeon who wishes everyone would be more like him. His life turns upside down when his wish comes true.
* James Flamberg (NURSE BETTY) has sold his script IDENTITY to Kinowelt USA for a possible October start date. It's about a psychologist who must clear her name and take back her life after a former patient tears her world apart.
* Christopher Wilkinson and Stephen J. Rivele (NIXON, ALI) will adapt Richard Ben Cramer's nonfiction book JOE DIMAGGIO: A HERO'S LIFE for Universal Pictures and producer Larry Gordon. The writers may focus on DiMaggio's relationship with Marilyn Monroe as well as his baseball career, which brought the New York Yankees nine World Series titles and included his 56-game hitting streak.
* Harley Peyton (upcoming BANDITS, LESS THAN ZERO, "Twin Peaks") will adapt a remake of the French comedy KINGS FOR A DAY for DreamWorks and producer David Permut. It's about two brothers who enjoy 15 minutes of fame when they pose as a director and producer at a European film festival.
* Max Brooks, son of Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks, sold his script MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE to Dimension Films about kids who become their favorite action figures.
* Lee Tamahori (ALONG CAME A SPIDER) is back in talks to direct the military thriller BASIC for Phoenix Pictures. The story follows a DEA agent who investigates the disappearance of a legendary Army ranger drill instructor and several cadets in a training exercise that may have ended in multiple murders.
* Stephen Herek is in talks to direct New Line's dramatic pic HENRY'S LIST OF WRONGS from a script by John Scott Shepart, who adapted his own novel. The story is about a ruthless businessman who seeks the help of a female graduate student to seek forgiveness from the people he wronged on his way to success, including his family.
* New Line grabbed the comedy script THE BALLAD OF PAUL FINLEY ACCOUNTANT by Michael LeSieur, about a mild mannered accountant who falls in love with his pen pal, an outlaw-obsessed teen, while serving time for a botched crime. Life gets more scary than prison for him when she busts him out and takes him on a BONNIE AND CLYDE-esque ride.
* Hossein Amini (FOUR FEATHERS) and Becky Johnson have written drafts of the romance/spy thriller script SHANGHAI, which Miramax has come aboard to finance, produce and distribute for Phoenix Pictures. Based on an idea by Mike Medavoy, the project is a period piece about a spy in Shanghai, China in 1941.
* Lee Davis and Melanie Torres wrote the script ON TWO about a young woman who leads her dad's dance troupe to victory in an international salsa competition. Gregory Nava's El Norte Prods. is in final talks to set up the project at Miramax with Davis possibly directing.
* Steve Carr (NEXT FRIDAY) is in talks to develop and direct the comedy ICEMEN for Warner Bros. and producer Jon Davis. The pic is set in a patent control office and centers on a secret government agency that finds and confiscates dangerous new inventions.
* Dustin Hoffman will make his feature directorial debut on the legal thriller PERSONAL INJURIES for Disney and Hyde Park Entertainment. Based on the novel by Scott Turow, the story follows an attorney who has been winning many cases by bribing judges. He is later persuaded by the FBI to assist them in a sting operation. Hoffman will also star in and produce the project.
* Warner Bros. has hired David Diamond and David Weissman (EVOLUTION) to adapt the Noah Adams (National Public Radio) book PIANO LESSONS about how the author took a year off to learn to play the piano.
* Miramax Films nabbed the pitch, FAST TRACK, from David Guion and Michael Handelman for Good Machine to produce. It's about a 30-year-old underachiever who gets a job he hates when his pregnant wife quits her high-paying gig.
* Rupert Wainwright (STIGMATA) is in talks to develop and direct the feature DIAMOND DOGS for Bel-Air Entertainment. Set in Amsterdam, the action story centers on a reformed jewel thief who is brought back into the game to pull off what could possibly be the biggest transcontinental diamond heist ever.
* Miramax has picked up Daniel Bernstein's (upcoming THE GOOD LIFE) pitch JOHNNY ON THE SPOT, based on the children's book by Edward Sorel, for Jonathan Treisman to produce. It's about a young boy who discovers that his television broadcasts future events, enabling him to appropriate a superhero identity in order to stop crimes before they happen.
* New Line Cinema picked up the action drama script TRACES by Robert Adetuyi (TURN IT UP) that centers on an amnesiac janitor who thinks he's an undercover agent and subconsciously holds a secret that can connect the FBI to an arms scandal. Brett Ratner and Jay Stern will produce.
* Jennifer Heath and Michele Wolff ("Roseanne") have sold their pitch THE
ULTIMATE MOVIE ABOUT PISSING OFF THE WRONG PERSON to Disney about a road
rage incident involving the worst possible person.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Producer Mace Neufeld (THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER, Jack Ryan pics) has optioned the remake rights to the 1950 political thriller STATE SECRET for Columbia Pictures. The original film, an adaptation of the Roy Huggins novel APPOINTMENT WITH FEAR, centered on an American surgeon who travels to an Eastern European country for a medical event and finds the country's leader has been assassinated and replaced by a lookalike. Malcolm Clarke, who directed the Oscar-winning documentaries YOU DON'T HAVE TO DIE and SOLDIERS IN HIDING, will write the script.
* Neil LaBute's Pretty Pictures and Scott Rudin Prods. have optioned the Francine Prose novel BLUE ANGEL, a satire about the academic world, with hopes that LaBute will direct.
* MGM has dropped plans for a BASIC INSTINCT sequel and actress Sharon Stone is suing producers, saying they backed out of a $14 million commitment to her. The pic may have been killed due to last-minute efforts to find an actor to star opposite Stone.
* Universal Pictures is negotiating to grab the feature film rights to the Marvel comic book THE SUB-MARINER, which is considered to be one of the first comic books published and Marvel's first superhero. The story follows the adventures of Prince Namor, a half-man/half-amphibian creature from Atlantis that has helped the human race, yet fought against it when humankind polluted his underwater kingdom with waste.
* Warner Bros. picked up the screen rights to the upcoming John Ridley (UNDERCOVER BROTHER, "Third Watch") novel THOSE WHO WALK IN DARKNESS about a rookie cop who is charged with hunting down mutants. Silver aboard to produce. Ridley will pen the adaptation for producer Joel Silver.
Not a lot of casting news this week as agents and studios are in a mode of low activity due to the threatening upcoming actors strikes. Contract talks will resume next week and a deal could be reached before the June 30 expiration date. Scripts and book rights are still being sold at a normal pace.
Any of the above news sound interesting to you? Talk Back.
Until next week...
Elston Gunn
