Hey folks, Harry here. And this Weekly Recap assembled and put together by the amazingly precise and talented Elston Gunn, has a couple of sure gems in it. The SHAFT news and BARBARELLA news are both weird, cool and scary all at once... But hey... it gives us things to talk about! Here is Elston....
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Gerard Depardieu is in talks to join Glenn Close in 102 DALMATIANS for Disney and director Kevin Lima (TARZAN co-director).
* Patty Hearst joins the John Waters flick CECIL B. DEMENTED.
* Rachel Singer (upcoming THE FIGHT CLUB and THE GREEN MILE) joins WHAT LIES BENEATH.
* Jordan Bridges and James King have been cast in New Line's HAPPY CAMPERS for director Daniel Waters (HEATHERS scribe).
* Rosalind Chao (WHAT DREAMS MAY COME) joins the comedy ENEMIES OF LAUGHTER for director Joey Travolta about an unfunny comedy writer.
* Kathleen Robertson joins BEAUTIFUL starring Minnie Driver.
* Tiffani-Amber Thiessen ("Beverly Hills, 90210") will star opposite Tim Meadows in THE LADIES MAN.
* Ben Kingsley will star in N, an indie flick he is producing with David Jones (84 CHARING CROSS ROAD) directing. The story follows Napoleon Bonaparte during his exile on the island of St. Helena and his friendship with a 13-year old girl who must decide whether to help him escape.
* Richard Roundtree will play John Shaft's wise uncle in SHAFT RETURNS for director John Singleton.
(Harry Note: Allllright!!! This is how it is suppose to be! Hehehehehe, I cannot wait to see Richard Roundtree and Samuel L Jackson kicking ass on screen together. ROCKIN!!!)
* Skeet Ulrich will star opposite Gary Oldman in ANASAZI MOON for writer/director David Seltzer about two amateur criminals who stumble upon an orphaned baby.
* Bruce Willis will star in THE KID for director Jon Turteltaub and Disney about a successful 40-year-old jerk who spends time with a boy who is just like him. Audrey Wells (THE TRUTH ABOUT CATS & DOGS) scripted. Willis will also star in M. Night Shyamalan's next pic which is not a sequel to THE SIXTH SENSE.
* Tom Berenger, Stephen Baldwin and Dennis Rodman will star in the indie skydiving thriller CUTAWAY for director Guy Manos, who co-wrote with his brother Greg. An agent goes undercover as a skydiver where drug smugglers use their parachutes to hide their illegal shipments. Shooting begins in Miami in Oct.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Writer/director Adam Glass sold THE BOMB to Warner Bros. about a black music exec at a music label when his romantic target is set to money his gangsta rapper boss.
* David H. Steinberg wrote SLACKERS to Destination Films about three college students who got through school with perfect grades without doing any work.
* Brent Goldberg and David Wagner (SAVING RYAN'S PRIVATES) have written VAN WILDER for Tapestry Films about a young man determined not to graduate from college.
* Rob Morrow is writing and directing TOUCHED starring Laura Linney and Craig Sheffer about a sculptor with Tourette's syndrome who falls in love with the pregnant girlfriend of his best friend.
* Kate Kondell has written NFL: A LOVE STORY about a quarterback who falls in love with his wide receiver. David O. Russell and Bill Gerber (THREE KINGS) will produce the script for Warner Bros.
* Lee Tamahori (ONCE WERE WARRIORS) is in talks to direct ALONG CAME A SPIDER, the prequel to 1997's KISS THE GIRLS. Morgan Freeman will reprise his role as Dr. Alex Cross, a detective who must find two kidnapped girls before a serial killers does them in.
* Andrew Bergman has written OTTOMAN EMPIRE, a political satire about a reformed porn star who discovers he's being blackmailed into servicing the First Lady. Sony bought the script.
* Director Julien Temple will make a film about the turbulent relationship before William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. PANDAEMONIUM will star John Hannah, Linus Roache, Samantha Morton and Emily Woof. Frank Cottrell Boyce (HILARY & JACKIE) wrote the script. Production begins this month.
* Steven Spielberg, Chris Columbus, Jonathan Demme, Rob Reiner and Brad Silberling are wanting to direct the feature adaptation of HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE about a tyke magician. Steve Kloves is adapting the Joanne K. Rowling novel.
* Joel Schumacher is developing BANDITS for Warner Bros. The remake of a German picture follows four female convicts who escape from prison and become famous forming a rock band.
* Paramount and Nickelodeon optioned GATEWAY TO THE GODS written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi about Greek gods who descend upon modern-day New York City.
* Universal picked up Michael Besman's script LIGHTENING about the lives and deaths of dead characters who haunt a small town cemetery and their connection to a man who tends their plots. It's based on Sheri Reynolds' 1997 novel A GRACIOUS PLENTY.
* Centropolis Entertainment has optioned Larry Cohen's CAST OF CHARACTERS. No plot details have been released.
* Larry Gross (TRUE CRIME) will adapt Ibsen's A DOLL'S HOUSE with Janet McTeer starring and Sidney Lumet possibly directing.
* Jill and Karen Sprecher have written THIRTEEN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING for Single Cell Pictures. It's an ensemble piece with five intersecting stories on the subject of karma.
* Vincenzo Natali (CUBE) will write/direct SPLICE for Serendipity Films about two genetic researchers who experiment with crossbreeding between species.
* Thai director Kaos will direct ECKS VS. SEVER written by Alan McElroy (SPAWN) about two Terminator-like agents who think they are competitors but have a common enemy.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Sony bought the theatrical rights to REDNECK RAMPAGE for a possible comedy project for Betty Thomas (PRIVATE PARTS). The movie won't be as violent as the game, but it will still be based on two Arkansas brothers who try to retrieve their prize-winning pig before it's abducted by aliens.
* BBC Films is in talks with Impact Pictures to produce a feature version of "Dr. Who."
* Warner Bros. has acquired the remake rights to the 1968 sci-fi flick BARBARELLA and is in talks with Drew Barrymore to star.
(Harry Note: Drew Barrymore huh? Hmmm... They claim they want to lower the camp and focus more on.... what? I mean, the basics to Barbarella is this. She gets tied up and tortured. She gets saved. She pays man back by making love with him/her. She dresses in outrageously sexy and revealing costumes. Has incompetently useless weapons. A groovy score and she ROCKS! Who on earth is even cool enough to think about directing this film?)
* 20th Century Fox has optioned Jules Bass' comic novel HEADHUNTERS about four New Jersey women who go to Monte Carlo pretending to be the world's richest women and hook up with four men who are posing as well as wealthy folk.
Well, autumn is here and Hollywood ain't slowin' down. There was a lot of casting of supporting roles for films this week, but Bruce Willis deciding his next project would be more family-oriented was news too. I'm interested in seeing Ben Kingsley as Napoleon in N...sounds cool. Lots of script sales this week too. What sounds good to you? I'm curious about OTTOMAN EMPIRE. I find it odd that both SLACKERS and VAN WILDER hit the trades together...as the plots reciprocate each other. Students fly through school doing nothing in one, and the other has a student who never wants to leave. And how about Drew Barrymore doing BARBARELLA? Will it work? If not, will it still be better than 102 DALMATIANS? We'll see.
Until next week...
Elston Gunn
