News Morsels
Jake Kasdan has signed on to direct 2008 Blacklist screenplay Bad Teacher, about a cuss-heavy teacher and her rivalry with her sugar-sweet colleague. /Film is suggesting Rashida Jones may be up for the lead, but I’ve got to disagree with any suggestion Scarlett Johannson could to this kind of comedy as her rival.
Prison Break’s Wentworth Miller may be joining the cast of Bioshock.
Tom Cruise has signed on alongside Cameron Diaz for Wichita, an action comedy being directed by James Mangold.
Jonah Hill says the remake of 21 Jump Street will be ‘Bad Boys meets John Hughes’.
Fox may be planning to reboot Alien.
Seann William Scott and Adam Brody have joined the cast of Kevin Smith’s A Couple of Dicks.
Here’s a guide to when to go to the toilet during a movie.
Clifton Collins Jr, from Star Trek and previously great in Capote, is in talks to join the cast of Thor.
Some viral marketing here for Funny People.
Cinematical has an interview with Sam Raimi ahead of the full release for Drag Me to Hell.
The first collaborative horror novel from Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan is on the way.
Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman says Paramount will benefit from its franchise properties and greater control of its release slate.
The board of Time Warner has formally announced plans to spin-off its AOL business.
Please check out the trailer below, for the truly insane looking Werner Herzog reimagining of Bad Lieutenant.
Round Up
George Clooney has signed on to star in A Very Private Gentleman, the adaptation of the Martin Booth novel being helmed by Anton Corbijn, the famed photographer and director of the excellent Joy Division biopic Control.
Sean Penn is to star in the English language debut of Paolo Sorrentino, the director of Il Divo, called This Must Be the Place. Penn will play an aging rock star who becomes bored in retirement and makes a decision to track down the killer of his father.
Lynne Ramsey, the prodigiously talented director of Ratcatcher and Morvern Callar, is bringing Lionel Shriver’s We Need to Talk About Kevin to the big screen.
The trailer has shown up for Sherlock Holmes, the Guy Ritchie-directed take on the character, and features another comic tour-de-force from Robert Downey Jr.
Ben Stiller has been talking up Zoolander 2 in an interview with the UK’s own Screenrush.
Akira Kurosawa’s Kagemusha is to be released in a brand-spanking-new Blu-ray edition through Criterion.
Chris Hemsworth, who made a genuine impression in his ten minutes in Star Trek, is to play Thor.
Dustin Lance Black, the writer of Milk, has lined up Liam Neeson and Jennifer Connelly for his directorial debut, What’s Wrong with Virginia?
John Goodman has apparently joined the cast of The Cross, the new sci-fi from Andrew Niccol starring Orlando Bloom, Vincent Cassel and Olga Kurylenko.
Millar Talks Superman
Mark Millar has been speaking out on his Superman movie plans, saying through a post on his message board that the planned reboot of the Superman franchise at Warner Brothers is currently in ‘stasis’.
Millar though, ever the optimist, said that he wasn’t too bothered by such problems as: ”Kick-Ass’ taught me that creating your own stuff can be at least as much fun and you don’t have to answer to anyone.’ Apparently, this is the ‘future’.
A Superman reboot I’m sure will come one day but I would guess you won’t hear much until the Marvel train has started to subside somewhat, possibly not until the Thor, Spiderman, Captain America and Avengers run closes out in 2012. After that, maybe they will feel comfortable dragging out a DC hero other than Batman.
Round Up
Natalie Portman could end up playing the female lead role in Thor, possibly alongside Alexander Skarsgard…
Sunshine Cleaning enjoyed a startlingly successful per-theater average on its opening weekend, defying all expectations to be easily the year’s most successful on that measurement.
Garret Dillahunt. Somedays there are times when Devin doesn’t need to play advocate to speak the truth.
Brad Pitt’s Plan B company is to produce an adaptation of John Le Carre’s The Night Manager for Paramount.
Sony has picked up the US rights for Coco Before Chanel, the biopic of the fashion industry icon starring Audrey Tautou.
Movie News Round-Up
Much rumour rising about Marvel adaptation Thor with Alexander Skarsgard being touted for the lead role. He brilliantly played Brad Colbert in David Simon and Ed Burns’ Generation Kill and is currently in Tru Blood. Separately to that, the film joined Captain America and The Avengers in being pushed back in the release schedules with 2011 now housing Thor, Captain America and Spiderman 4 within three months. In further Marvel news, Mickey Rourke has signed up for Iron Man 2 along with Scarlett Johansson, the latter replacing Emily Blunt as the Black Widow. As if not to be outdone, this week also saw rumours sparked of a possible reboot for the Fantastic Four series.
Juan Antonio Bayona, the director of the excellent The Orphanage, has reportedly been signed up to direct the third Twilight movie. This comes hot on the heels of previous rumours that Drew Barrymore was a candidate to helm the movie. I don’t care a huge amount, but if we are going to have to live with these movies for the coming two-and-a-half years, it would be nice to have some real talent behind the camera. Other reports though suggest that it will be directed by the other Weitz.
Sam Raimi’s return to the horror genre with Drag Me to Hell has a trailer; Axel Foley could die in Beverley Hills Cop 4; Nick Nolte and Tom Hardy will star in a mixed martial arts movie. Oh yeah!; Bryce Dallas Howard has expressed an interest in bringing the Luna Brothers’ The Sword to the screen; Heathers has been jumped into gear in musical form; Robin Hood has found his merry men.
Movie News Round-Up
Michel Gondry has been signed up to direct The Green Hornet, the crime-fighting comic book adaptation starring Seth Rogen and Stephen Chow. Chow had been signed up to direct but later dropped out over what were described as ‘creative differences’. Gondry’s presence makes this easily the most interesting comic movie on its way at present. I may not have fully loved Be Kind Rewind, but Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of the best films of the past ten years while Science of Sleep is an endless well of whimsy and imagination. Notably, the news was first reported on the Twitter feed of Production Weekly. Also, the trailer for Rogen’s new movie, Observe and Report, has emerged and looks like something of a departure for him into a slightly darker area.
Entertainment Weekly is reporting that Drew Barrymore, she of the adorable poppet-ness, is among the candidates being considered for Eclipse, the third movie in the Twilight series which will follow up the next instalment, New Moon, in 2010. Barrymore has recently signed off on her debut in the chair, Whip It, starring Ellen Page.
Eddie Murphy has apparently signed on to play Richard Pryor in ‘Richard Pryor: Was It Something I Said’ for director Bill Condon. It will reunite the pair who worked together previously on Dreamgirls, the film which garnered so much buzz for Murphy and won him an Academy Award nomination. Seems like a strong part for him given the placement of Murphy as the next in line in succession in the evolution of black comedians after Pryor and preceding Chris Rock.
Cate Blanchett has signed on the dotted line to play Maid Marian in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood. This news follows that from last week that Scott has changed the name and vision behind the project to a more straight-forward retelling.
Samuel L Jackson is to play Nick Fury in Iron Man 2, Captain America, Thor, The Avengers and, possibly, in a Nick Fury movie should Marvel decide to do this too. There had been issues over Jackson joining in the past but now it seems such things have been pushed aside for the sake of continuity.
Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg are to team for The B Team, a comedy from Adam McKay which will follow the misadventures of two mismatched cops. Sounds like it be in a similar vein to all other Ferrell/McKay projects and have around four very funny Ferrell moments, almost no story and an effort to make up for any shortcomings through shouting.
Sean Penn and Naomi Watts are involved in talks for Fair Game, not a remake of the Cindy Crawford-starrer from the mid90s, but a drama about the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. It would reunite Penn and Watts from when they starred together in the Innaritu/Arriaga piece 21 Grams, a role which won Watts a Best Actress nod at the Oscars. Fair Game will be directed by Doug Liman.
Joss Whedon has spoken out during an interview with Maxim on why many DC comics adaptations are having difficulty in getting to the big screen, including Wonder Woman, which he was often linked with in the past. Whedon said the difference in the era in which the DC comics were made meant that the heroes were not being created as people, but as gods. ‘DC’s characters, like Wonder Woman and Superman and Green Lantern, were all very much removed from humanity. Batman was the only character they had who was so rooted in pain, that had that same gift that the Marvel characters had, which was that gift of humanity that we can relate to.’ Whedon has long been working on getting Wonder Woman off the ground with Eliza Dushku in the lead. Personally, I’m not a big fan of Dushku’s acting so I’d put forward Morena Baccarin of Firefly and Serenity fame instead. Probably wouldn’t get made either way though.
Francis Ford Coppola has given out some new information on Tetro, his new film following the life, loves and troubles of an Italian family of artists. It stars Vincent Gallo and is, according to Coppola, his first ‘original screenplay’ since his The Conversation. A film from Coppola about an Italian family of artists, autobiography much?
Also in the news: Emily Blunt will definitely not be in Iron Man 2, instead she’ll have to star alongside Jack Black in Gulliver’s Travels; Mel Gibson’s The Colonel has a trailer; Jim Carrey and Jake Gyllenhaal are to star in a remake of Damn Yankees; Naomi Watts and Freida Pinto have joined Woody Allen’s next movie; Warner Bros has picked up the rights to adapt comic series Suicide Squad; The Coens have directed a 30-second commercial mocking the claim of clean coal; Gore Verbinski is to bring Clue/Cluedo to screens; Seth Green will star in animated caper Mars Needs Moms!; Ed Helms is to write and star in a Civil War-themed comedy; Danny Boyle and Dev Patel may take part in the real-life Who Wants to be a Millionaire; Peter Baynham, a collaborator of Sasha Baron Cohen on Borat, will write the Arthur remake for Russell Brand;
Movie News Round-Up
Entertainment Weekly has posted a list of the top twenty-five greatest active directors. The list is as debatable as the day is long so argue away at some of the inclusions (Jon Favreau?).
Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln biopic, a long-time passion project, is struggling to find financing amid the current recession environment. Even the biggest names are starting to be hit by the problems facing the wider industry. When even the marquee names are finding it difficult, it is worrying. But perhaps this will foster a necessity to make movies cheaper and maybe we will see some really vital, interesting filmmaking be born from the downturn.
High School Musical alum Vanessa Hudgens has been strongly linked to the part of Nara Kilday in an adaptation of Josh Howard’s Dead@17 comic series, being written by Mike Dougherty. The story follows Nara, a girl who is killed and reborn to fight demons. Howard made the announcement during an interview on the Comics on Comics podcast (highly recommended). Could prove an interesting career move for Hudgens as she seems to be looking to eschew Zac Efron’s move into teen movies by taking what Cinematical calls the ‘Megan Fox route’.
Robert Rodriguez has signed up to write and direct Nerverackers, a futuristic thriller following an elite unit in 2085 dispatched to deal with a crime wave in a purportedly perfect society. Demolition Man, anyone?
Ridley Scott has swerved directions a bit on his Robin Hood revisionist take, essentially deleting the ‘revisionist’ portion of the description to adopt a more traditional style of telling the story. Instead, according to an interview given to MTV, Scott will have the story follow the ‘evolution of a character called Robin Hood, who will come out of a point in the Crusades which is the end‘. It does mean that the previously mentioned choice of having Russell Crowe play both Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham has been either abandoned or was never really a set option. Scott said to MTV: ‘[Crowe as both Robin and the Sheriff of Nottingham] was an idea so far back, way back when at the time I had this proposed to me, and I read it and thought, ‘I don’t really know what it does for it, but it’s alright’.’ Make of that what you will, but it seems that this will end up just another very well made if somewhat uninteresting picture from Scott, maybe barring Monopoly.
Corona Coming Attractions has posted a casting call for Thor, the Marvel adaptation upcoming from the directorial hand of Kenneth Branagh. Check out the posting and consider whether you could pull off such a role: ‘Physically powerful, very handsome, occasionally egotistical, petulant, and wild. A natural warrior with a quick charming wit who must be genuinely and severely humbled before becoming the compassionate, mature hero of our film.’
Geoff Gilmore, the long-standing director of the Sundance Film Festival, is to leave his post to become the chief creative officer of Tribeca Enterprises. He is also joining the board of the company and will take responsibility for ‘global content strategy and lead creative development initiatives and expansion of the brand’, according to a statement published by indieWIRE. Karina Longworth on Spout points out the move in in line with wider announced strategy for Tribeca which is aiming to bring itself closer in line with Sundance as prestige indie festival.
Ang Lee is in talks to direct an adaptation of Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, the Booker Prize-winning novel about a young man who survives an accident at sea and ends up sharing a boat with a hyena, zebra, orangutan and a Bengal tiger. The project had been considered by a pre-Happening Shyamalan (who was reportedly replaced by Alfonso Cuaron) and most recently was under the eye of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, the director of Delicatessan and Amelie.
Also in the news, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is keeping up the comic love to star in The Losers; Pride and Prejudice is set to meet the zombie world in an offbeat adaptation produced by Elton John; the Donnie Darko sequel is going straight to DVD; Linda Hamilton is in talks to take a role in Terminator Salvation; Mickey Rourke will not star in Iron Man 2; Breckin Meyer is penning Superguys, to be helmed by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, described as ‘‘Ocean’s 11′ with idiots set at Comic-Con.’.
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