Father Geek here, we're undergoing a "physical" office expansion (carpenters, painters, electricans, laborers, etc...) here at Geek World Headquarters in Austin, so bare with ol' Father Geek thru the next couple of weeks, reports may be getting posted a little late, but they WILL get up... SORRY... progress does claim it's victims.
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Rupert Everett is in final talks to star in the Italian-language comedy
SOUTH KENSINGTON for director Carlo Vanzina, about a British aristocrat in
need of some money who rents rooms in his enormous home to two Italians.
* Thomas Ian Nicolas (AMERICAN PIE) is in final talks to join Dimension's
HALLOWEEN 8 about six college students who enter the childhood home of
Michael Myers during a live Webcast. Shooting begins this month in
Vancouver.
* Ever Carradine ("Once and Again") joins Tara Reid and Ashton Kutcher in
the Dimension comedy THE GUEST. David Zucker directs.
* Jean-Claude Van Damme will star in the indie kung-fu action pic THE MONK
for director Ringo Lam (CITY ON FIRE). Production begins in November. It's
about a Shaolin monk who goes to America to find his father, but he gets
entangled with an evil crime lord.
* Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg will star as car wash employees and mismatched
roommates in Lions Gate's THE WASH for Lions Gate and writer/director D.J.
Pooh (3 STRIKES). Shooting begins Monday.
* Gabriel Byrne and Joanne Whalley star in the family pic VIRGINIA'S RUN
about a girl who learns some life lessons when she and her horse enter the
Memorial Day Endurance Race.
* Jennifer Lopez is in talks to star in TICK-TOCK about an amnesiac who
wakes up the suspect of a series of LA bombings.
* Woody Harrelson, Alicia Silverstone and Rachael Leigh Cook are in talks to
star in SCORCED for director Gavin Grazer and Neverland Films. It's about
three bank employees who separately devise schemes to rob the bank during
the same weekend.
* Heath Ledger is in final talks to replace Wes Bentley in Marc Forster's
MONSTER'S BALL, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Halley Berry and Mos Def.
* Busta Rhymes, Tyra Banks and Sean Patrick Thomas will star in HALLOWEEN 8
for Dimension Films and director Rick Rosenthal (HALLOWEEN II). Shooting
begins May 9.
* Faye Dunaway will join Brad Dourif and Nils Allen Stewart in THE CALLING
for writer/director Damian Chapa. The pic centers around Rev. Leroy
Jenkins, who, in the 1970s, stormed the country with his healing crusades.
* Cole Hauser (TIGERLAND) joins WHITE OLEANDER for Warner Bros.
* James Woods is replacing Marlon Brando in SCARY MOVIE 2, currently
shooting. The pic is scheduled for release on July 4.
* Aidan Quinn, Kevin Pollak and Brian Dennehy will have roles in STOLEN
SUMMER for writer/director Pete Jones, as part of Project Greenlight for
Miramax and LivePlanet.com. It's about a blue-collar worker in 1976 Chicago
who struggles with his beliefs as his child befriends a Jewish kid.
* Sophia Loren, Mira Sorvino, Deborah Kara Unger and Gerard Depardieu will
star BETWEEN STRANGERS for writer/director Edoardo Ponti, about three women
from three different generations whose lives dramatically change when they
try to confront their past.
* Billy Baldwin, Nastassja Kinski and Hart Bochner will star in SAY NOTHING
for director Allan Moyle. The pic will revolve around a married couple who
seem to have it all until a stranger's obsession for the wife puts their
marriage and lives in danger.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Debra Hill will direct the supernatural love story TALES NOT TOLD for New
Line about a young woman who falls for a man who is cursed.
* Thomas Wright will direct Dennis Hopper, Dina Meyer and Lance Henriksen in
the indie pic UNSPEAKABLE about a female psychologist who confronts a serial
killer who somehow managed to escape the electric chair.
* Arnold Rifkin will adapt for MGM the upcoming Robert Crais novel HOSTAGE.
It's about a former hostage negotiator who is called back on the job when
three crooks take a mob accountant hostage. Bruce Willis may star.
* Wallis Nicita will direct FIJI, AMONG THE CANNIBALS about a sea captain
who brings his wife on a trading voyage to Fiji. When she is left there,
however, she finds herself adapting to the island's culture.
* Doug Richardson will adapt his novel TRUE BELIEVERS for the bigscreen for
Cheyenne Pictures/MGM. It centers on a senator who wants to be President,
his wife who wants to be a mother and a prisoner on death row who wants to
be the messiah.
* Joe Batteer and John Rice will adapt the Bartle Bull novel A CAFE ON THE
NILE for Pacifica Film Development. It follows two lovers in Africa during
the Italian invasion of 1935.
* Seth Pearlman is writing a contemporary remake of Louis Malle's 1957 pic
ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS for Phoenix Pictures.
* Andrew Gurland (upcoming CHEATERS) sold his comedy pitch BLACK AND BLUE to
Scott Rudin Prods. It's about an African American basketball coach who
takes over a Jewish high school team.
* Robert Kuhn (MICKEY BLUE EYES) will write a JERRY MAGUIRE-esque script for
Image Movers to produce and Luke Greenfield (THE ANIMAL) to direct.
* Andrew Niccol will direct TERMINAL for DreamWorks based on a script by
Sacha Gervasi. It's about a Balkan immigrant who visits the U.S. and is
forced to live at an airport international transit lounge, where he falls
for a Latin flight attendant.
* Jeff King will write a script based on the 1981 French spy film LE
PRFESSIONNEL for Artists Production Group and StudioCanal.
* Ramaa Mosley will direct the Oculus Pictures/Palomar Pictures adaptation
of Anita Diamant's novel THE RED TENT about a woman's relationships with her
dad's four wives, her love for a prince and her violent, yet inspiring life.
* New Regency picked up the comedy pitch SEX TALK, to be written by Tempest
Farley and Analisa LaBianco for Team Todd. It's about a sports reporter who
applies sports phrases and strategies to help people out with their sex
lives.
* Bennie Richburg and Jeff Dyson are writing a comedy to star Bernie Mac for
Disney. It tells the story of two criminals who hide at a reform school and
pretend to be the principal and vice principal.
* Danny Boyle will direct 28 DAYS LATER, a sci fi pic about a group of
people in London who survive a virus that destroys the rest of the
population. Alex Garland wrote the script.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* DreamWorks grabbed the feature rights to TRUCKERS, DIGGERS and WINGS, the
series of fantasy novels (the Bromeliad Trilogy) by Terry Pratchett. Andrew
Adamson and Joe Stillman (SHREK) are developing the CGI project
* Dino De Laurentiis has optioned the rights to the Alexander the Great
trilogy of novels by Valerio Manfredi, who is working with the producer on
an outline for a film.
* Phoenix Pictures picked up the screen rights to the novel BAD NEWS by
Donald Westlake for Milos Forman to direct. It's about a band of petty
criminals who join an American Indian woman to scam an Indian casino.
* Miracle Entertainment is purchasing the feature rights to Mark Bowden's
KILLING PABLO: THE HUNT FOR THE WORLD'S GREATEST OUTLAW, about the hunt for
drug lord Pablo Escobar. Gregory Nava is attached to direct and produce
with Antonio Banderas.
Until next week... let the summer movie season commence.
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
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