Its the weekend once again and that means its time for ol' Father Geek to post up another fact filled WEEKLY RECAP from that soon to be Groom, Elston Gunn. With just a couple of weeks till the big day Elston's still churning out the Recaps for all of us. Hope he doesn't think we're going to give him his Honeymoon off? HA!!!

First, Father Geek has a couple of news briefs to fill you in on. The BBC has released a NEW episode of "Doctor Who" on the Internet, with Sylvester McCoy recreating his role as the seventh Doctor Who! It's not a fully-realized television episode however, its more like a visual radio drama. Just Click Here Now to enjoy the 30-minute long installment titled "Death Comes To Time" that requires you to have RealPlayer.

Then there's this info which found itself on my terminal this morning from Marshall Stack:

I'm currently working on a 70mm 3D film that is being directed by Joe Dante. It's based on a Haunted Lighthouse story by R.L. Stine (of the "Goosebumps" children's books fame) and a script adaptation by Sam Hamm. Evidently, it will premier at SeaWorld and/or Busch Gardens sometime near Easter 2002. The theaters that it will be shown in will have special effects such as water, odors, vibrating seats (shades of William Castle???) and other things.

Anyway -- we've been shooting on location at the Point Dume beach in Malibu for the past week and will be on a stage at Sony's Culver Studios for the next couple of weeks. The show stars Christopher Lloyd, Michael McKean, Lea Thompson and has cameos by "Weird" Al Yankovic and Rachel Hunter.

COOOOOOOOOOOL!!! Father Geek loves 3-D flicks. Just saw CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON in that format again at an Austin swimming pool a couple of weeks ago, and its rumored that we may be seeing a couple of old 3-D films at the QT 5 fest at the Alamo in August.

Well, that's it from Father Geek... Grab that cup of hot Java and those sweet munchies, sit back and prepare to enjoy another of Elston's wonderful Weekly Recaps of all the Hollywood news of the week...

TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

CASTING

* Bernie Mac, Jennifer Tilly, William Shatner and Carmen Electra will lend their vocal talents to the animated pic LIL' PIMP, based on the original Web series on MediaTrip.com. Lil' Kim is in final talks to join the Revolution Studios project as well. It's about a 9-year-old, his pimp friends Fruitjuice & Nagchampa, and a gerbil with Tourette's Syndrome named Weathers. Creators Mark Brooks and Peter Gilstrap are writing, directing, producing, voicing as well as co-writing songs for the soundtrack with the Dust Brothers.

* Juliet Stevenson and Kevin Bishop will star in FOOD OF LOVE for director Ventura Pons (BELOVED/FRIEND). The pic is based on the David Leavitt novel THE PAGE TURNER, about a famous pianist's fascination with a young music student. Production begins July 30 in Barcelona.

* Catherine Zeta-Jones is in early talks to star in CHICAGO, the adaptation of the Bob Fosse musical Miramax is producing with Rob Marshall at the helm.

* Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz are in talks to lend their voices for the sequel to SHREK for DreamWorks--possibly receiving $5m a piece to return.

* Robert De Niro is in talks to play an agorophobic who is forced to leave home to save a woman's life in the comedy SCARED GUYS for director Dean Parisot (GALAXY QUEST). Jeff Nathanson (RUSH HOUR 2) wrote the script.

* Reese Witherspoon will topline the action comedy HONEY WEST, based on the short-lived TV series of the same name, for Miramax Films. Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith (LEGALLY BLONDE) will write the script for producers Marc Platt, David Siegel and Witherspoon's husband Ryan Phillippe.

* Robert Carlyle will star in BLACK AND WHITE for director Craig Lahiff about a man framed by the police. Production begins in South Australia in November.

* Brad Pitt will star in Joel and Ethan Coen's next pic TO THE WHITE SEA, an adaptation of the 1993 James Dickey novel, for Twentieth Century Fox, who is in final talks to distribute domestically. Shooting starts January 14 during an extended break from the Pitt/Darren Aronofsky sci fi project that begins production in the fall. Once Pitt finishes the Coens' movie, he'll go back to wrap the Aronofsky film. TO THE WHITE SEA is about a B-29 gunner who is shot down during a bombing mission over Tokyo and forced to parachute into enemy territory. When he heads for Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, he embarks on a violent journey that climaxes in the frozen landscape.

DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS

* Polish director Krzysztof Zanussi will shoot SUPPLEMENT, a sequel to his pic LIFE AS A SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE, this summer.

* Bruce McCulloch (DOG PARK, SUPERSTAR) is in talks to direct a remake of the 1941 comedy IT STARTED WITH EVE for Imagine Entertainment. The story follows a young man who asks a woman to pose as his fiancee in order to please his dying father. Things get interesting when the father starts feeling better. Peter Tolan has penned the remake of "Eve."

* Marleen Gorris (ANTONIA'S LINE) will replace Jon Amiel as director for CAROLINA, the Mirmax Films project starring Julia Stiles as a young woman who leaves her Southern family for the West Coast where she must choose between two guys who have fallen for her. Alessandro Nivola will also star.

* Jonny Kurzman sold his action adeventure comedy script LEONARDO SECRET AGENT to producer DNA Films. The screenplay follows 15-century Renaissance man Leonardo da Vinci as a secret agent.

* Artists Production Group and StudioCanal picked up the espionage thriller script THE AMERICAN from writer Aaron Feldman. The story follows a recent college grad who discovers a conspiracy involving the highest levels of the CIA after he begins working on investigations of illegal funding for terrorist groups.

* New Line bought the script DARKSIDERS, by Tom S. Parker and Jim Jennewein, about a group of bloodsuckers turned into a team of FBI operatives.

* Ravel Centeno-Rodriguez (THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR) will write BLOODLUST: LEGEND OF THE CHUPACABRA for Revolution Studios about animals mysteriously dying in Puerto Rico and the fear it's caused about the country's people.

* Elissa Wald will write the adaptation of her own novel HOLDING FIRE for producer Jeff Kleeman and executive producers Pierce Brosnan and Beau St. Clair. The novel is about a traumatized Vietnam hero, who has become a New York City fireman and aspiring writer who also works as a stripper to help make ends meet. The book will be published this fall.

* Philip Kaufman is in talks to direct a remake of the 1941 Hitchcock flick SUSPICION for Dimension Films and RKO Pictures. It's about a woman who marries a man after a short whirlwind romance but begins to suspect that he is trying to murder her for her money. Michael Browning (SIX DAYS SEVEN NIGHTS) is writing the remake.

* Danny Cannon (I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER) will direct the English-language remake of the 1996 French thriller L'APPARTEMENT (THE APARTMENT) for Lakeshore Entertainment.

* Belgian directors Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne (ROSETTA) will shoot LE FILS (THE SON) in September about a carpentry teacher in a rehab center.

* Danny Rubin (GROUNDHOG DAY) sold his comedy Western pitch THE HANGING TALE to Revolution Studios for Lightstorm Entertainment to co-produce. The story centers on a man who is about to be hanged and tells the crowd about his odyssey searching for Spanish treasures.

* Wim Wenders's next documentary, CELOS DE MI, will focus on 72-year-old Cuban jazz musician Rudy Calzado, who has been involved with the New York Latin jazz scene since the mid-50s when he left Cuba. Shooting begins next month.

* Mandalay Pictures will develop TRACKS, an action-thriller script from Willie Dreyfus, about four best friends who hop a freight train for thrills and soon find themselves in a imminent danger.

* Patrick Smith Kelly (A PERFECT MURDER scribe) will write and direct a feature adaptation of the 1997 BBC film TRUTH OR DARE for Regency Enterprises. It's about a young female attorney who is blackmailed and set up to take the rap for a murder by a trio of college friends who are out to score off of her perfect life. Joel Schumacher will produce with writer-producer Will Davies.

* Jim Henson Pictures has purchased Dan Chaimowitz's action/comedy script SQUISHED for Morton/Hymes Films about the mysterious transformation of three young boys and the world of strange creatures into which they are sent. Henson is expected to create CGI creatures for the pic.

* Mike Newell (DONNIE BRASCO) is in talks to direct GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, based on the novel by Tracy Chevalier, for Intermedia Films. Shooting begins this fall in the Netherlands. Olivia Hetreed adapted the book, which is set in the 17th century and takes a fictitious look at Johannes Vermeer's portrait of an anonymous woman wearing a pearl earring. The novel takes centers on a 16-year-old who works for Vermeer as an housemaid to care for his six children, his jealous pregnant wife and a mother-in-law.

MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS

* Aardman Animations has delayed production of the DreamWorks pic TORTOISE VS. HARE due to script problems. The delay is expected to last around six months. Karey Kirkpatrick (CHICKEN RUN) and Mark Burton are working on the screenplay, though additonal writers will come aboard the project.

* Harbor Light Entertainment grabbed the remake rights to Akira Kurosawa's legendary 1950 pic RASHOMON for an English-language project to begin production in 2002. The remake is being developed as a contemporary thriller under the title RASHOMON: WHERE THE TRUTH LIES with Edwin Marshall and Stuart Calcote producing. The original pic centered on a nobleman's bride who is raped by a bandit. The nobleman is murdered, or possibly kills himself. The situation is shown four times from four characters' different points of view.

* Miramax Films is developing an American remake of the new French comedy from writer/director Francis Veber, THE CLOSET. The movie is about an accountant who discovers he's about to lose his job at a condom manufacturing company. He poses as a gay man and superimposes his head on photos taken at gay bars so he can say that they are letting him go due to sexual discrimination. The act lets him keep his job, but changes his life. Miramax also nabbed the remake rights to the Oscar-nominated Belgium pic EVERYBODY'S FAMOUS! about a father who kidnaps a pop singer to help his own daughter's singing career.

* Columbia TriStar and Dan Dare Corp. are developing a feature based on the animated TV series "Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future" which features Robbie Coltrane, Tim Curry and Charles Dance. It's based on the classic British comic-book hero described as the "007 of outer space."

* Gaylord Films has optioned the rights to New Jersey Police Chief Jerry Speziale's untitled manuscript, based on his experience as a New York police officer, for David Permut (DOUBLE TAKE) to produce. The manuscript chronicles Speziale's days as a New York cop who was recruited by the Drug Enforcement Administration and assigned to a drug task force whose goal was to take down the Cali drug cartel. He went against policy and sought the aid of an internationally blacklisted informant, and the relationship turned into the ultimate undercover operative. However, in time, Speziale found that his informant was betraying him all along.

* Twentieth Century Fox is moving the release date for the Martin Lawrence comedy from early 2002 to late November of this year. Gil Junger (10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU) directed.

* The lawsuits between Alec Baldwin and Paul Glasser over the fim THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER have been dropped and compromises were made sending Baldwin back to the cutting room to finish the pic. Both parties agreed that the film was good and there should not be much of a problem finding a distributor.

GUNN SHOTS

(NOT from the trades)

* There is word that Johnny Knoxville and Ice Cube will pair up in the DreamWorks pic THE BIG TICKET, a popcorn flick set in real time that follows an innocent parolee who carjacks a banker in order to save his lover, taking the police and media on a wild chase.

* Nick Palumbo's brutal slasher pic NUTBAG, that follows 10 days in the life of a serial killer, has just been released. For more info, visit Their Site .

* A new installment of THE TRUE STORY INVESTIGATION is up at This Location . Their FIRECRACKER stars Dennis Hopper, Karen Black, Sally Kirkland, Mike Patton, Brooke Balderson, TheEnigma, Selene Luna, Pleasant Gehman, Susan Traylor, James Russo, Joe D'Allesandro, Paul Sizemore and Deborah Harry.

* Chapters of their Ninjai movie NINJAI, THE LITTLE NINJA are being shown by the folks of This Site , a group of martial artists and stuntmen who have created this story in their spare time.

* The Team Effort Films original action adventure series SIRENS is featured at their website Just Click Here . Produced without the help of studios, but made by a "cast and crew of the highest calibre."

Wow. Remakes galore. IT STARTED WITH EVE, SUSPICION, L'APPARTEMENT, RASHOMON, THE CLOSET and EVERYBODY'S FAMOUS all hit the trades this week with their remakes in development at various studios. Amazing, huh? Congrats to all the screenwriters who sold original scripts this week.

Until next week...

Elston Gunn

elstongunn@hotmail.com