Father Geek here with the newest edition of Elston's regular weekly column that fills you in on all the previous week's confirmed movie news. Its a great report that brings you up-to-date on any of the breaking stories that you may have missed during the busy work-week, and they're all here in one easy to find place...
The WEEKLY RECAP...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Regina Hall will return to the cast of Dimension Films' SCARY MOVIE 3,
opposite Charlie Sheen. Hall will also produce and possibly star in a
high-concept pitch for Dimension Films. Hall is penning the treatment.
* Cedric the Entertainer has reupped to star in the sequel to MGM's
BARBERSHOP for director Tim Story. Don D. Scott is writing the script. The
studio is still in talks with Ice Cube to join the follow-up.
* James Franco is in talks to star in the 20th Century Fox/Franchise
Pictures period romance TRISTAN & ISOLDE for director Kevin Reynolds and
Scott Free. Set in medieval Britain and Ireland, the project is an
adaptation of the romantic myth in which doomed young lovers must rail
against the forces of royal politics. It follows an English knight who
attempts to unite England by winning the hand of the Irish king's daughter.
Dean Georgaris wrote the script.
* Evan Rachel Wood (THIRTEEN) is in final talks to star in New Line's teen
music drama HEART OF SUMMER for director James Hayman. Sam Shriver wrote the
script based on an idea by Mitch Rotter. The story follows a small-town
teenage girl to New York, where she spends the summer at a performing arts
school.
* Matt Damon, Heath Ledger, Robin Williams and Jonathan Pryce are in talks
to star in BROTHERS GRIMM for director Terry Gilliam and MGM. Production
begins in June in Prague. It's a fictional action-adventure tale about
folklore collectors Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. In Gilliam's version, the
brothers are two young con men who travel the countryside pulling off
exorcisms but soon come upon a real fairy tale curse requiring genuine
courage.
* Alfred Molina will play the evil Doc Ock in Columbia Pictures' sequel to
SPIDER-MAN for director Sam Raimi. Shooting in April for a 2004 release.
Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco are returning as their
original roles.
* Brian Cox and Sean Bean join Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom and Rose
Byrne in TROY for director Wolfgang Petersen and Warner Bros.
Pictures/Village Roadshow Pictures. Shooting begins April 22.
* Hugo Weaving (MATRIX, LORD OF THE RINGS) will star opposite Jacqueline
Mackenzie in the new Australian film PEACHES for director Craig Monaghan.
Shooting begins in South Australia in the coming weeks. It's a romantic
drama set against the backdrop of a peach cannery.
* Robert Patrick joins John Travolta and Joaquin Phoenix LADDER 49 for
director Jay Russell.
* Robert De Niro, Kathy Bates, Gabriel Byrne, Harvey Keitel, F. Murray
Abraham, Geraldine Chaplin, Pilar Lopez de Ayala and Mark and Michael Polish
will star in THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY, an 18th century ensemble drama for
Senator International and writer/director Mary McGuckian (THIS IS THE SEA).
It's an adaptation of Thornton Wilder's 1927 Pulitzer-prize winning novel
set against the background of an Inquisition trial in 1740s Peru. The film
turns on the lives of five people who plunged to their deaths when the San
Luis Rey bridge collapsed. It also explores the lives of people who knew
them. Production begins in April in Spain.
* Sarah Michelle Gellar is in talks to star in MGM's ROMANTIC COMEDY for
director Joel Gallen. Production is slated to begin in August. It's about a
young man named Max tries to win the affections of the girl he loves by
copying romantic movie moments. Khazei, Jeff Lowell, Barra Garant and Bob
Harting wrote the script.
* Daryl Hannah will star in WHORE, the third feature from Spanish
director-actress Luna, aka Maria Lidon and Dolores Pictures. It's based on
the best-selling novel by Isabel Pisano and delves into the world of
prostitution and the human cost of the world's oldest profession.
* Bruce Dern and Pruitt Taylor Vince join Charlize Theron and Christina
Ricci in MDP Worldwide's MONSTER for writer/director Patty Jenkins.
* Michelle Trachtenberg, Travis Wester and Jacob Pitts will star in the
untitled Montecito project formerly known as UGLY AMERICANS for DreamWorks
and Montecito Picture Co. The project is scripted and will be directed by
Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and David Mandel. Production begins in April and
centers on the misadventures of five friends who go on a trip criss-crossing
Europe following their high school graduation.
* Charlize Theron will star opposite Penelope Cruz, Stuart Townsend and
Thomas Kretschmann in the upcoming historical drama HEAD IN THE CLOUDS for
director John Duigan (LAWN DOGS). The story is set in 1930s England, the
Spanish Civil War and the last days of the occupation of Paris, centering on
the adventures of a young Cambridge student whose world is changed forever
by a passionate affair with a hedonistic photographer.
* Kenneth Branagh will star in SCHNEIDER'S 2ND STAGE, a feature version of
the 16-minute short thriller, for writer/director Phil Stoole and Random
Harvest. It's about an idyllic community torn apart by the disappearance of
a young girl.
* Michael Caton (THE CASTLE) "The Castle") will star in STRANGE BEDFELLOWS,
about two straight guys in a country town who pretend to be gay to fool tax
collectors. Dean Murphy directs from a script by Murphy and Stewart
Faichney.
* Anthony Edwards joins THUNDERBIRDS, the live-action film version of the
1960s cult U.K. TV puppet show for Working Title Films and Universal
Pictures. Bill Paxton and Ben Kingsley also star.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* David Gordon Green (GEORGE WASHINGTON, ALL THE REAL GIRLS) will direct
UNDERTOW starring Josh Lucas, Dermot Mulroney and Jamie Bell for
ContentFilm. The project, co-written by Green and Joe Conway, was originally
developed at Sunflower Prods. and is slated to go into production in and
around Savannah, Ga., in April.
* Laurence Fishburne will write, direct and star in THE ALCHEMIST, an
adaptation of the Paulo Coehlo novel, for Warner Bros. It's about the
journey of self-discovery undertaken by a traveler who ventures beyond his
borders in Spain during the Inquisition, trying to understand man's purpose
on the planet.
* Barry Levinson will develop with an eye to direct Paramount's THE
SENTINEL. Michael Douglas is attached to star in the pic, which he also is
producing. It's based on Gerald Petievich's novel of the same name centering
on a U.S. Secret Service agent who has an affair with the first lady and
finds himself the suspect in a plot to assassinate the president. George
Nolfi adapted.
* Marvel legend Stan Lee's POW! Films will produce FOREVER MAN, based on his
own idea, along with Idiom Films. Luke McMullen will write the script. has
been drafted to pen the screenplay. Th plot's being kept under wraps, but
will center on superheroes in a "different type of situation" -- crime and
punishment in the not-too-distant future.
* Paul Greengrass (BLOODY SUNDAY) will direct CROSS TOWN TRAFFIC, about the
last days of Hendrix in London before his death in 1970. Oliver Parker (IT
WAS AN ACCIDENT) is writing the script.
* Director Marc Evans is developing HUNKY DORY with producer John Finn and
Working Title, about a music teacher in Swansea in 1976 trying to get bored
kids involved in a futuristic rock extravaganza.
* John McKay and producer Lee Thomas (CRUSH) will develop GHOSTHUNTERS,
about a parapsychologist who finds a way of talking to ghosts.
* Blake Edwards will direct 10 AGAIN, a remake of his 1979 hit 10, for MDP
Worldwide. Shooting is expected to begin in August in Britain and at various
tropical island locations. The original film centered on a middle-aged
songwriter risking his relationship with his lover to chase after a
mysterious younger woman.
* Brad Silberling (CASPER, MOONLIGHT MILE) will direct LEMONY SNICKET'S A
SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, the adaptation of the books that will star Jim
Carrey as the evil Count Olaf, for Paramount and DreamWorks. Shooting begins
in October for a Christmas 2004 release.
* Warner Bros. and producer David Heyman have optioned the John Freyer book
ALL MY LIFE FOR SALE and the British children's novel DIAL A GHOST. LIFE is
about a man who sells his possessions on eBay, then tracks down the buyers
and visits them. Iona Brindle has been set to adapt GHOST, by Eva Ibbotson,
about a boy who discovers that his boring dad is actually part of a secret
organization responsible for keeping a balance between ghosts and humans.
* Kevin Spacey will direct, star in, sing in and produce BEYOND THE SEA, a
movie about the life of singer Bobby Darin, set to begin shooting in June.
The film covers his life from the 1940s through the 1970s.
* Robert Benton will direct Paramount Pictures' DELMORE CAN'T DANCE,
scripted by Anne Meredith, for producer Scott Rudin. The project is a
heartbreaking comedy centering on Delmore, a nondescript, scrappy, bumbling
man who thinks the world revolves around him. When he drinks, he has a
tendency to get into fights, and he lands in jail after one such incident.
After he gets out, he decides he wants to see the girl with whom he had been
having recreational sex. When he arrives at her doorstep, he sees that she
is living with another woman and is actually gay. He freaks out as his world
begins to crumble around him. As the film unfolds, he unwittingly gets
enlightened.
* Goldie Hawn and Jeremy Pisker (BULWORTH) have written the screenplay ASHES
about the spiritual odyssey of a woman confronting her own mortality. Hawn
will produced under her production banner, Cosmic Entertainment/Clear Light.
* ContentFilm has purchased the script THE KING by Milo Addica (MONSTER'S
BALL) with Gael Garcia Bernal in talks to star for director James Marsh.
It's an explosive family drama about a young man fresh out of the Navy,
whose unwelcome return into the life of his Baptist preacher father sparks
violence and tragedy.
* Mick Garris ("The Stand") adapted and will also direct Stephen King's
RIDING THE BULLET for Motion Picture Corp. of and ApolloMedia. It tells the
story of a suicidal college kid trying to hitchhike across Maine to see his
ailing mother. A series of bizarre rides and misfortunes culminates in the
teen being picked up by a menacing stranger.
* Odd Lot Entertainment has picked up the female-driven psychological
thriller TRAP FOR CINDERELLA with Iain Softley attached to direct and
produce. The project is based on a 1964 French novel penned by Jean-Baptiste
Rossi under the pseudonym Sebastien Japrisot. It follows the story of two
female friends, one rich and one poor, who share a beach house at a French
resort. When the house is destroyed by a suspicious fire, only one of the
women survives, but she is burned beyond recognition and suffers from
amnesia. Her face is reconstructed through surgery, but she can't recall her
identity or if she is the killer or the intended victim.
* Michael Davis will direct the road-trip thriller MONSTERMAN from his own
script for Lions Gate and Dream Entertainment. It's about two college
buddies on a road trip who realize they are being pursued by a terrifying
monster truck. Eric Jungmann (NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE) will star.
* Ghost House Pictures has struck a deal with producer Taka Ichise for the
English-language remake rights to the Japanese horror franchise JU-ON (THE
GRUDGE) with original writer/director Takashi Shimizu set to direct the
redo.
* Roger Corman's Concorde-New Horizons is producing DINOCROC, starring
Costas Mandylor, Bruce Weitz and Charles Napier. Damian Akavi is directing
from a Francis Dole script about a town terrorized by a large and fierce
crocodile after the beast is resurrected from the age of the dinosaurs.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Dimension Films has optioned the upcoming survival-horror video game
BACKWATER from creators Flint Dille and John Zuur Platten of Bureau of Film
and Games. In the proposed game, a player is would-be victim on the run from
a killer named Mr. Jangle, who lives deep in a swamp.
* Miramax Films has picked up remake rights to the Korean jailbreak comedy
JAIL BREAKERS with Method Man and Redman attached to the project.
* Francesca Barra, Selwyn Roberts and Charles Sturridge (SHACKLETON) are
developing a remake of the British horror classic THE WITCHFINDER GENERAL.
* Producer Leslee Udwin (EAST IS EAST) is developing MRS. RADCLIFFE'S
REVOLUTION, a romantic comedy set against the backdrop of the Cold War in
1965.
* Paramount Pictures has picked up the film rights to the upcoming novel
SLEEPING WITH SCHUBERT for Lorenzo di Bonaventura to produce. The book
centers on an unemotional young attorney in New York who suddenly becomes a
piano virtuoso and believes she's inhabited by the spirit of famed Austrian
composer Franz Schubert.
* Disney grabbed CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN, based on the Dyan
Sheldon novel, in turnaround from New Line Cinema. Gail Parent adapted the
story of a teen who thinks her home city revolves around her until her
family packs up and moves to the suburbs. Sara Sugarman will direct.
* Ralph Bakshi (FRITZ THE CAT) and John Kricfalusi ("Ren & Stimpy") are
shopping around their R-rated teen exploitation script BOBBY'S GIRL to make
as an animated feature. The two are teaming to create down and dirty
animated features that will cost under $10 million.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* CORRECTION: Opening Night of the 2003 Florida Film Festival is March 7th
NOT June 7th.
* Ron Hall has written/directed VAMPIRE ASSASSIN, an action horror film
featuring martial arts. It tells the story of Derek Washington, a cop who
is afraid of blood, pursuing a very
powerful vampire hunter who has now become a vampire. Mel Novak and Rudy
Ray Moore star.
* Cinemarati: The Web Alliance for Film Commentary today chose THE LORD OF
THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS as the Best Film of 2002 in the third annual
Cinemarati Awards. Winners in 26 additional categories, recognizing the best
cinematic efforts of last year, were also named. For more info, visit
http://www.cinemarati.org
* THE ART OF PLOTTING gives you the tools to weave the tapestry of action
and emotion, the elements of plot and character, to tell page-turning
stories and make scripts live. MARCH 8TH -- REGISTER NOW
http://www.PlotsInc.com Los Angeles Film School Theater, Hollywood
* With the third movie in a series of short films, Sonnyboo Productions use
Super 8 film to make comedies for the Internet. Featuring actors George
Caleodis, Quinn Patterson, from the main stage cast of the Second City, and
Second City instructor Joe Teeters, the short film BANK ROBBERY brings the
Super 8 film format back from the dead. http://www.sonnyboo.com
Until next week.
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
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