Hey Folks... Harry here with Elston Gunn's WEEKLY RECAP... his first of 2000. And... there are actually some quite promising projects and additions below... Pretty cool. Take a look....
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Keanu Reeves will play a vicious, wife-beating murder suspect in THE GIFT
for director Sam Raimi. Billy Bob Thornton co-wrote the sequel with Tom
Epperson. Cate Blanchett, Ron Eldard, Katie Holmes and Giovanni Ribisi also
star in the pic which will start shooting in February.
* Elizabeth Hurley and Frances O'Connor join Brendan Fraser in Fox's remake
of the 1967 flick BEDAZZLED for director Harold Ramis. This version
revolves around a nerdy technical adviser who is helped by a powerful
temptress to win the heart of a female co-worker.
* Kurt Russell is in talks to join Kevin Costner in 3,000 MILES TO GRACELAND
for director Demian Lichtenstein about a Las Vegas heist during Elvis
convention week.
* Rachel Leigh Cook and Claire Forlani join Ryan Phillippe and Tim Robbins
in MGM's ANTI-TRUST. Peter Howitt (SLIDING DOORS) directs the Howard
Franklin (SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME) script.
* Lili Taylor is in final talks to play the title role in JULIE JOHNSON
based on Wendy Hammond's play for director Bob Gosse (NIAGRA, NIAGRA.) The
story centers around a cop's wife who takes a night course about computers
that changes her life in ways she never expected.
* Freddie Prinze Jr. is in talks to play the lead in SUMMER CATCH for Warner
Bros. and director Mike Tollin about a minor league baseball player who
falls in love with a wealthy young woman whose family visits his Cape Cod
hometown in the summer.
* Ashley Judd and Tony Goldwyn are in talks to star and direct,
respectively, in the romantic comedy ANIMAL HUSBANDRY for Fox 2000.
* Helen Hunt is back in talks to join Mel Gibson in WHAT WOMEN WANT for
Paramount. She would go right into the pic after she finishes PAY IT
FORWARD. Both films, however, are due to start filming next month.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Documentary director Joe Berlinger (BROTHER'S KEEPER) will direct BLAIR
WITCH PROJECT 2 with a Feb. start and a slated Halloween release. BLAIR
WITCH 3 will be a prequel and will be made by the original BLAIR WITCH team
of Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick. WITCH 3 will be shot in the fall for
a summer 2001 release.
* Shekar Kapur (ELIZABETH) may direct a remake of THE FOUR FEATHERS for
Paramount and Miramax. Based on the A.E. Mason novel, the plot follows a
British Army officer who resigns his commission just before going to battle
in Sudan. He tries to redeem himself by rescuing his comrades and fiancee
after they accuse him of being a coward. Production should start by late
spring.
HARRY NOTE: Just to go on the record... This is another one of those remakes of a 4 STAR movie... that just... whatever... go ahead...
* John Hoffman is writing a remake of THE LAST OF SHEILA for Warner Bros.
and has written TALK OF THE TOWN about Gotham Cultural Affairs Commissioner
Bess Myerson and her trial. Bill Condon may be interested in directing the
latter project.
* Warren Leight (SIDE MAN playwright) will script a sequel to THE
COMMITMENTS for Miramax. The idea is to bring some old faces back with a
few new ones and put the band back together for a trip to America.
* Burt Reynolds will direct a remake of RKO Pictures' Boris Karloff 1945
vampire classic ISLE OF THE DEAD. There are more RKO remakes up ahead.
* John Madden is in final talks to direct CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN for
Universal and Working Title Films. Roger Michell was to helm the pic, but
since dropped out after suffering heart problems last year.
* Ed Zwick (THE SIEGE) will direct TOYS OF DESPERATION for Paramount based
on the novel by Sean Desmond. The story follows an Ivy League student who
is haunted by a ghost who wants to frame him for a murder not unlike one it
committed 50 years earlier.
* Victor Nunez (ULEE'S GOLD) will direct his script THE PROFESSOR'S WIFE for
The Shooting Gallery about a husband and wife who try to reinvent their
relationships with their adult children who have families of their own.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Richard Brick picked up the screen rights to WHIRLGIG by Paul Fleishman
about a high schooler who engages in a thoughtless act (which ultimately
kills a girl) while trying to be accepted in a new town. The boy then makes
a journey of self-discovery.
* Fine Line grabbed the screen rights to Julian F. Thompson's book THE
GROUNDING OF GROUP 6 about a 17-year old whose brother disappeared from a
mental institution. He searches to find his brother and finds romance along
the way.
* Nickelodeon Movies and producer John Williams are developing ALIEN PET BOY
after it was put into turnaround by Universal. The story, based on an
upcoming children's book by Keith Graves, is about a boy who is mean to his
pets, but learns his lesson after he is abducted by aliens and becomes a pet
on their planet.
* Universal will decide within the next couple of weeks whether or not to go
ahead with HANNIBAL after Jodie Foster reportedly passed on the project
though Anthony Hopkins is still interested. Steve Zaillan (SCHINDLER'S
LIST) rewrote David Mamet's adaptation while Ridley Scott is on board to
direct.
* Daly Harris Prods. may remake CHAMPAGNE FOR CEASAR the 1950 comedy about
the early days of live TV game shows.
* Miramax has landed the screen rights to THE BRIGADE, a fact-based book by
Howard Blum to be published this spring. The story follows a brigade of
Palestinian Jews who spearheaded a campaign to import Jewish refugees to the
Middle East.
* John Travolta, Barry Pepper and screenwriter Cory Mandell are on board for
a sequel to the upcoming BATTLEFIELD EARTH which will cover the second half
of the L. Ron Hubbard book.
Happy New Year, all. Thanks to those who let me know some of the
titles I forgot in the big end-of-the year list of future projects. Some I
don't think were mentioned in the trades, but here they are: ENDER'S GAME,
HIGHLANDER 4, CHICKEN RUN, THE CROW: SALVATION, OCRA COKE, Hiyazaki's new
one, HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, BRUISER, FREDDY VS. JASON, THE TIME
MACHINE, HONG KONG FOOEY, SEED OF CHUCKY, LANCELOT LINK, POKEMON 2, QUILLS,
HUMAN NATURE, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE VENGEANCE OF
DRACULA, DRACULA 2000, STEAM, FORGIVEN, HELLBOY, COLLATERAL DAMAGE, Val
Kilmer/Bruce Willis Western, LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY MEN and the correct
title of MARILYN MANSON'S HOLY WOOD. Thanks again.
As for this week... should Universal go ahead with HANNIBAL? Will
Helen Hunt make up her mind on WHAT WOMEN WANT? Is going ahead with a
BATTLEFIELD EARTH sequel quite a gamble? Does anyone know what the other
two RKO remakes will be? So many questions... almost as many as the number
of remakes out there. Tony Goldwyn has a busy plate, acting and directing.
ANTI-TRUST is starting to round out its cast. Kurt Russell and Kevin
Costner together in a heist pic? What do you think about that project?
And, finally, how about THE GIFT ensemble? I'm very much looking forward to
that one among others. Not a bad way to start off 2000.
Have a good year. Enjoy the twenty hundredseseses.
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
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