Father Geek once more, I'll be brief here because Harry and I have to leave to catch the grand State Bar-BQ that Gov. Bush and the Texas Film Commission are throwing at the Gov's Mansion for all the VIPs at the Heart of Texas Screenwriter's Conference being held here in Austin this week. Boy, its a real Texas feed too. Its really odd to see Gov. Bush's front yard covered with so many Liberals at once. The most beards this place has seen since Reconstruction. A couple of years ago Dennis Hopper and Oliver Stone were at this event... THAT was really a strange anomaly! You could have heard a pin drop, the Gov's aides were so uptight. Anyway Father Geek is off to hobnob with the man who would be prez followed by a night of 8 classic Horror motion pictures. See you later...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Bruce Willis and Colin Farrell (TIGERLAND) will star in HART'S WAR for MGM
and director Gregory Hoblit (FREQUENCY). Shooting begins in January in
Prague. Farrell will also star in PHONE BOOTH for director Joel Schumacher.
* Dennis Quaid is in talks to star in THE ROOKIE based on the true story of
a high school baseball coach who gets to play for the majors. John Lee
Hancock is in talks to direct from the Mike Rich script.
* Ed Harris will star opposite Joaquin Phoenix in the dark comedy BUFFALO
SOLDIERS, based on the cult novel by Robert O'Connor, for FilmFour/Odeon
Film. Aussie Gregor will direct the story of U.S. soldiers in West Germany
in 1989--one in particular who uses his wits to manipulate the system.
Shooting begins Nov. 3 in Germany.
* Harvey Keitel and Stellan Skarsgard star in TAKING SIDES for director
Istvan Szabo (MEPHISTO). Ronald Harwood (THE DRESSER) adapted his own play
for the screen. The story follows an American officer in de-Nazification
hearings that involved German conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler in Berlin after
World War II.
* Kate Hudson will star as the female lead in FOUR FEATHERS, based on A.E.W.
Mason's novel, for director Shekar Kapur (ELIZABETH) and Paramount/Miramax.
Shooting begins this week in Morocco. Wes Bentley and Heath Ledger also
star in the pic about a British officer who resigns before his country
invades Sudan in 1898. He is sent four feathers, meaning cowardice, by his
friends and fiancee, but earns their respect when he disguises himself as an
Arab and saves their lives.
* Harrison Ford will topline and Liam Neeson is in talks to join the
submarine drama K-19 for director Kathryn Bigelow and Intermedia. It's
about a Soviet captain who has to save his crew from a possible nuclear
meltdown. Shooting is targeted to begin in February.
* Martin Landau and Allen Garfield have joined the Castle
Rock/Universal/Warner Bros. pic THE BIJOU starring Jim Carrey. Frank
Darabont will direct the pic which is slated to begin shooting Feb. 15 in
L.A. It follows a blacklisted writer who is in a car accident, loses his
memory and winds up in a small town where he is mistaken for a deceased
soldier.
* Brian Cox is in final talks to star opposite Matt Damon in THE BOURNE
IDENTITY, based on the Robert Ludlum novel, for Universal and director Doug
Liman (GO).
* Dean Cain has joined the comedy RAT RACE for director Jerry Zucker. Whoopi
Goldberg, Cuba Gooding Jr., Jason Alexander, Breckin Meyer, Kathy Najimy,
Seth Green, John Cleese and Rowan Atkinson also star in the Paramount
ensemble pic.
* Dominique Swain will join American Zoetrope's PUMPKIN starring Christina
Ricci and Marisa Coughlan.
* Leo Rossi (ANALYZE THIS') joins Lions Gate's thriller ONE EYED KING.
* Flex Alexander (GIRLFRIENDS) and Caroline Dhavernas will join TEN TO ONE
also starring Jason London and AJ Cook for Disney/Spyglass and directors the
Malloy Bros. Shooting begins Nov. 6 in Vancouver.
* Connie Nielsen (GLADIATOR) will join Robin Williams in Fox
Searchlight's/Killer Films' thriller ONE HOUR PHOTO for writer/director Mark
Romanek. Shooting will begin Oct. 30.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Wim Wenders and Sam Shepard will work together again--the two worked on
PARIS, TEXAS--on an untitled film Wenders described as a road movie right
across the United States, a family saga and, at the same time, a story that
takes place in the age of the Internet and global communication. Road
Movies will produce.
* Tony and Joe Gayton will write the action heist script CON GAME for Castle
Rock Entertainment based on their pitch about four convicts who pull of a
big heist with a perfect alibi.
* Mexican director Antonio Serrano (SEX, SHAME AND TEARS) will direct the
thriller LA HIJA DEL CANIBAL (THE CANNIBAL'S DAUGHTER) based on the novel by
Rosa Montero.
* Matt Hoge will adapt Rene Steinke's novel THE FIRES for executive producer
Madoona and Handprint Entertainment. It tells the story of a young woman
who becomes a compulsive arsonist after being disfigured by a fire.
* Jim Herzfeld will write a sequel to MEET THE PARENTS for
Universal/DreamWorks under the supervision of director Jay Roach. No deals
have been made yet for Roach to come back as the director, or for Ben
Stiller or Robert De Niro to return as stars.
* Eileen Walls has sold her script, BOY TO THE WORLD to producer Wendy
Finerman (FORREST GUMP) and Fox 2000. The screenplay is said to be a comedy
in the tone of PARENTHOOD and FERRIS BEULLER'S DAY OFF.
* J.D. Zeik (RONIN) will write ALIEN LEGION for Dimension Films, inspired by
Carl Potts' sci-fi comic book series of the same name. The story centers on
a young man who is disowned by his family, but proves himself by joining the
Alien Legion.
* Alcon Entertainment picked up Chris Johnston's action thriller script HARD
LOOK about an FBI agent who goes up against a bank robber who succeeds at
his heists through blackmail. Alcon Ent. also optioned the film rights to
PATIENT NUMBER ONE, the nonfiction novel by Rick Murdock and David Fisher
about the true story of a biotech company CEO with cancer that can only be
treated with technology from his company, which is in a legal battle with a
medical products giant.
* Ben Elton is penning a film version of his stage play POPCORN with Ridley
Scott in talks to direct. The story is a satirical look at violence in the
media and will be produced by Scott Free Productions.
* Betty Thomas is directing a low-budget untitled film project spoofing
reality TV. Joseph Lawrence (URBAN LEGENDS: FINAL CUT) stars as a TV host
in the Revolution Studios movie. Production began this week with the
project being shot on digital video.
* Penelope Spheeris (WAYNE'S WORLD) is in final talks to direct POSERS for
Miramax from a script by Jaron Joel Curry. It's about three friends who
start a porno Web site to save their dead uncle's adult bookstore.
* Dave Collard has written the cop thriller OUT OF TIME, which MGM has
purchased. It centers on a small town cop who is double-crossed by the
woman he loves.
* Frank Mugavero's script THE WHEELMAN was just picked up by Newmarket
Group. The script follows a legendary getaway driver who gets involved with
a group of rookie thieves whom plan to pull-off an improbably casino heist.
* Director Bertrand Tavernier will helm LAISSEZ PASSER (PASS), a film that
will center on the French film industry during the Nazi occupation.
Shooting begins Nov. 6.
* Robert Greenwald (STEAL THIS MOVIE!) will direct and produce a feature
adaptation of James Ellroy's autobiographical novel MY DARK PLACES: AN L.A.
CRIME MEMOIR for Myriad Pictures. Jan Oxenberg (THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT)
has adapted the novel, which follows Ellroy into crime and drug use as an
adolescent after his mother was murdered when he was 10 years old.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Producer John Williams has purchased the rights to PETRO PIRATES, the book
written by Australian captain Ken Blyth about his experience with modern day
pirates. In 1998, Blyth and his 20-man crew headed for Singapore to drop
off some cargo, when they encountered pirates who held them hostage, planned
to kill them and sell their payload.
* Halcyon Entertainment has acquired four literary properties for
development: DEEPWATER, a novel by Matthew Jones, is about a drifter who
gets a job in an old motel where a secret affair pushes him to murder and
insanity. Tim Metcalfe (KALIFORNIA) is writing the screenplay. Robert
Girardi's romantic period drama, MADELEINE'S GHOST, is being adapted by
Christopher Monger (THE ENGLISHMAN WHO WENT UP A HILL BUT CAME DOWN A
MOUNTAIN). Monger may also direct. Girardi's is adapting his own novel THE
PIRATE'S DAUGHTER for the screen. It tells the story of a man who falls for
a mysterious woman, leaves his life behind and takes a journey with her
before he finds out her true identity. The fourth project, THE SETT, will
have a new rewrite by Danny Taylor (THE SCORE). It's based on the novel by
Ranulphcq Fiennes, and follows a man who struggles to regain his identity
after recovering from a brutal attack that destroyed his memory
* Nash Entertainment purchased the rights to a manuscript by Rodger Garrick
Steele, who claims Sir Arthur Conan Doyle may have murdered Bertram Fletcher
Robinson, the real creator of Sherlock Holmes. Robinson may have created
Holmes and penned THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES, at the same time Steele
believes Doyle was having an affair with Robinson's wife, and the two
plotted and carried out Robinson's murder, covering up evidence of
plagiarism.
* Disney may soon greenlight WINTERDANCE, a story that details the reunion
of a father and son during the Iditarod dog-sled race in Alaska, based on
the book by Gary Paulsen. Production may begin in January with Brian Levant
(JINGLE ALL THE WAY) as a contender to direct.
* Nicole Kidman has temporarily dropped out of shooting on THE OTHERS due to
a recurrence of a knee injury she received while filming MOULIN ROUGE.
Colin Farrell is a busy man. One film (TIGERLAND) has landed him a
role with Bruce Willis in HART'S WAR and the lead in PHONE BOOTH--a role
Will Smith, then Jim Carrey, almost filled. The FOUR FEATHERS cast just got
better with Kate Hudson taking the lead. Anxious to see that one. Ed
Harris & Joaquin Phoenix; Harvey Keitel & Stellan Skarsgard; Martin Landau &
Allen Garfield; and Harrison Ford & Liam Neeson are paired-up actors added
to films this week, making the films something to keep your eye on.
Speaking of pairs, I'm curious about the next Wim Wenders/Sam Shepard
collaboration. PARIS, TEXAS is considered an indie classic.
** FYI, writer/director Kevin Smith is now writing a column for the
comic site Psycomic.com. However, instead of writing about comics, he will
write about movies. More specifically, he'll chronicle his recent L.A.
adventures (and events to come) involving his upcoming production currently
known as VIEW ASKEW 5. Check it out. **
Until next week...
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
| 
