Sorry about the delay on the WEEKLY RECAP getting out there, but between my email problems, and Elston's... Well.. It was a bit like the Three Stooges here at Geek Headquarters this week. Anyway... on to Elston Gunn's world famous WEEKLY RECAP...

TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

CASTING

* Tom Cruise and director Paul Anderson (MORTAL KOMBAT) will work together on a remake of Roger Corman's 1975 cult hit DEATH RACE 2000 entitled DEATH RACE 3000 for Paramount. J.F. Lawton (CHAIN REACTION) will script the story about race car drivers who run over pedestrians for points.

* Sean Astin will play Sam Gamgee in New Line's THE LORD OF THE RINGS for director Peter Jackson. Gamgee is the servant and sidekick to Frodo Baggins to be played by Elijah Wood.

* Martin Landau, Michael Madsen and Cathy Moriarty join Rosanna Arquette and Vinnie Curto in GOOD GRACES for director Charles Kanganis (RACE THE SUN) about a boxer who is in L.A. hiding from the mob.

* Marla Sokoloff ("The Practice") and James Marsden (DISTURBING BEHAVIOR) join Mena Suvari (AMERICAN PIE) and Marley Shelton (PLEASANTVILLE) in New Line's SUGAR AND SPICE. Wendy Finerman (FORREST GUMP) is producing, Francine McDougall is directing the Lona Williams (DROP DEAD GORGEOUS).

* Peggy Lipton, Paulina Porizkova, Kathy Griffin and Joan Rivers join the indie fashion pic L'INTERN starring Dominique Swain as an overworked intern learning the ropes at the fashion mag "Skirt." Shooting begins this week.

* Kiefer Sutherland will play William Burroughs in BEAT for writer/director Gary Walkow (THE TROUBLE WITH DICK).

* Vince Vaughn and Marianne Jean Baptiste will star opposite Jennifer Lopez in New Line's THE CELL for director Tarsem about two scientists who go into the mind of a comatose serial killer to try to find out the whereabouts of the girl he kidnapped.

* Christina Ricci may star in THE MAN WHO CRIED for Working Title Films and writer/director Sally Potter (ORLANDO). Shooting begins in the fall on the WWII pic about a woman who fled Germany to Paris though she secretly wanted to go to America.

* Selma Blair ("Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane," CRUEL INTENTIONS) will play the female lead in New Line's A LEONARD COHEN AFTERWORLD.

* John Malkovich will star in the gangster flick KNOCKAROUND GUYS for New Line and writers/directors David Levien and Brian Koppelman. Shooting begins late September. Four sons of well-known gangsters who pursue a sum cash in a small Montana town.

* Laurie Fortier (TO GILLIAN ON HER 37TH BIRTHDAY) joins Morgan Creek's IN CROWD for director Mary Lambert about a menacing group of rich kids at a country club.

* Albert Brooks and Leelee Sobieski will star in MY FIRST MISTER for director Christine Lahti and Film Roman about a bond between an 18 year old girl and an older man.

* Lauren Bacall, Shirley MacLaine and Debbie Reynolds will star in THOSE OLD BROADS for Disney and written by Carrie Fisher. They hope to be joined by Elizabeth Taylor.

* Jennifer Tilly joins the cast of THE CREW starring Burt Reynolds and Richard Dreyfuss. Shooting begins this month with Michael Dinner.

* Marisa Tomei and Vincent D'Onofrio will star in HAPPY ACCIDENTS for IFC Films and writer/director Brad Anderson (NEXT STOP WONDERLAND) about a directory-assistance operator who thinks she's found the perfect match, but eventually learns he isn't the kind of person she thinks he is.

* Deon Richmond, Patrick Dempsey, Lance Henriksen and Emily Mortimer join SCREAM 3.

* Richard Tyson (THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY) joins BATTLEFIELD EARTH starring John Travolta.

* Kenneth Branagh and Robin Wright Penn will star in HOW TO KILL YOUR NEIGHBOR'S DOG written and to be directed by Michael Kalesniko and exec. produced by Robert Redford and produced by South Fork Picturesa about a distressed playwright who befriends his 8-year old neighbor and things turn around for both of them.

* John C. Reilly (BOOGIE NIGHTS) joins A PERFECT STORM.

* Marilyn Manson will develop with New Line MARILYN MANSON'S HOLLYWOOD which Manson will write with Robert Parigi and is said to be reminiscent of Pink Floyd's THE WALL.

* Regina Hall is in final talks to join Dimension's SCREAM IF YOU KNOW WHAT I DID LAST SUMMER.

* Peter Falk, Kathy Griffin, Daphne Zuniga, Paul Sampson and Shera Danese join the cast of ENEMIES OF LAUGHTER a comedy about an unfunny comedy writer.

* Alec Baldwin, Peter Fonda and Mara Wilson will star in THOMAS AND THE MAGIC RAILROAD based on the children's series. Shooting begins in August.

* Lacey Kohl (upcoming TRICK) joins HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS.

* Brittany Murphy joins Nick Nolte and Emily Watson in TRIXIE.

* Richard T. Jones, Bill Nunn, Rocky Carroll, De'Aundre Bonds, Clifton Powell, Melissa De Sousa and Joe Terry join LOCK DOWN starring Master P and directed by John Luessenhop.

* Piper Perabo will play Violet, the lead role in COYOTE UGLY for director David McNally and producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS

* Robin Greer and Sarah Reinhardt wrote YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS, picked up by MGM, about a homosexual man who falls into a coma and comes out of it with amnesia and no memory of being gay. His parents try to encourage the newfound heterosexuality while his gay lover tries to woo him back.

* Destination Films grabbed MEXICALI written by Christina Gutegast and Paul Scheuring for Bill Paxton to star as a retired stuntman who witnesses a murder and has to get across the border before he is caught.

* Stu Kreiger has written PAMELA WEST for Screenland Pictures about a reversal stab at "The Wizard of Oz" where Dorothy is the shrew, the Wicked Witch of the West is lovable and Toto is a pit bull.

* George Romero will direct BRUISER starring Jason Flemyng (LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS), Peter Stomare (8MM), Leslie Hope (FIRST DEGREE) and Nina Garbiras (MIXING NIA) about a man who discovers his face is gone and sets out for revenge on people close to him while pursuing thw woman he admires.

* Shekar Kapur (ELIZABETH) will direct AIR PIRATES for DreamWorks about airplane salvage expert Gary Larkin and his search for fortune while uncovering the truth behind a woman's husband's disappearance in WWII.

* Nancy Meyers (THE PARENT TRAP) may direct WHAT WOMEN WANT for Paramount Pictures written by Josh Goldsmith and Kathy Yuspah (both of "King of Queens"). Shooting should begin in the spring.

* Reginald Hudlin will direct LADIES' MAN for SNL Studios and Paramount starring Tim Meadows based on the "SNL" skit about a smooth-talking swinger. Shooting begins next month.

* Valerie McCaffrey will direct WISH YOU WERE DEAD for New Line starring Cary Elwes, Elaine Hendrix, Mary Steenburgen, Gene Simmons and Lin Shaye.

* Bel Air Entertainment picked up Robert Franke's spec TWO CLOCKS RUNNING about a snitch for crooked cops who turns against a crime boss and has info that could put the boss away for good.

* Lauren Ambler has written HOLD UP about a newlywed couple honeymooning in the wilds of Alaska.

* Columbia has picked up PRETTY THE BEAST by Diane Ruggerio for Nora Ephron to develop and produce about a female writer suffering from writer's block and a failed romance. She ends her troubles by crafting the perfect suicide note.

* Castle Rock picked up the comedy thriller THE SALTON SEA by Tony Gayton and to be directed by D.J. Caruso. It's about a drug addict turned police informant turned FBI informant but is actually just seeking to avenge the death of his wife.

* Jan De Bont is in talks to direct THE ADAPTIVE ULTIMATE for Fox based on the 1935 Stanley G. Weinbaum short story about a scientist who uses a dying woman to test a process that gives powers of unlimited adaptability. She becomes powerful and dangerous to society. The scientist is torn between his love for the woman and his obligation to civilization.

* New Line picked up MANCHILD by Matt Allen and Caleb Lengsfelder Wilson about a 35-year old midget who poses as a 12-year old boy to gain inheritance from an old man.

* Boaz Yakin (FRESH, A PRICE ABOVE RUBIES) is in talks to direct REMEMBER THE TITANS for Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer about integration of a high school football team.

MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS

* Fox 2000 has optioned George Constable's novel WHERE YOU ARE for Ocean Pictures about an entrepreneurs inheritance of a house and dog. He wants to sell the house, but aren't until the dog is dead, so he tries to come up with plans to get out of it. In the meantime, he falls in love with a real estate agent.

* Paramount may pick up Frank McCourt's "'TIS," the sequel to ANGELA'S ASHES.

* Martin Scorsese met with Disney to discuss the pic GANGS OF NEW YORK to star Leonardo DiCaprio and possibly Robert DeNiro about Irish hoodlums. The film may be Scorsese's and DiCaprio's next pic with a possible November start.

* Warner Bros. picked up James Gunn's (no relation) pitch THE NEWLYWEDS about a woman who accidentally got married during a drunken moment 48 hrs. before her real wedding.

A lot of casts rounding out for pics this week. LOCK DOWN, GOOD GRACES, SCREAM 3, SUGAR AND SPICE and L'INTERN, *** I wonder who they are going to get to direct THOSE OLD BROADS. Big names in there. *** Marilyn Manson is doing his own THE WALL. Will it be good? *** LADIES' MAN gets a director. It's happening after all. *** THE CELL sounds interesting. It's casting pretty quickly. *** Jan De Bont and THE ADAPTIVE ULTIMATE. Comments? *** WHERE YOU ARE and MANCHILD were picked up this week. Both deal with inheritance. *** I can see Keifer Sutherland as William S. Burroughs. *** MEXICALI, PAMELA WEST, BRUISER (Romero's return), AIR PIRATES, TWO CLOCKS RUNNING, HOW TO KILL YOUR NEIGHBOR'S DOG, PRETTY THE BEAST, HAPPY ACCIDENTS and YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS all sound cool. *** Waiting to hear official word on GANGS OF NEW YORK, though it looks like it's happening.

Marvel Comics showed up in the news this week revealing several projects they are developing. There are a lot, so check out Harry's earlier coverage about these flicks. They have at least twelve pics on their plate.

Until next week... Enjoy Kubrick's last hurrah.

Elston Gunn

elstongunn@hotmail.com