Father Geek here on this great college football game day with Elston's very cool Weekly Recap for your weekend reading pleasure. Look, if you're a regular reader of this column, if you enjoy having all the "Trades" headlines presented to you in one convenent location, if you've grown to DEPEND on this weekend update, then write our editor Elston Gunn and tell him how much you look forward to the column.
Now, fill that giant AICN mug, or our new "stein" with your favorite drink sit back and join ol' Father Geek root'n for your fave team... and during those annoying commercial breaks turn to The Weekly Recap and see what you may have missed during the week that was... out in Tinseltown.
Soooooo enough of me, here's Elston with the week's movie news...
Hello all. Hope all is well. Another recap for you here. Ever get
feedback on 'em? Just curious. I wonder if people like it. Anyway, some
good stuff in this one. Love the news about Soderbergh, Jonze, etc.
starting a company. Here ya go...
WEEKLY RECAP
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
Soooooo enough of me, here's Elston with the week's movie news...
Hello all. Hope all is well. Another recap for you here. Ever get
feedback on 'em? Just curious. I wonder if people like it. Anyway, some
good stuff in this one. Love the news about Soderbergh, Jonze, etc.
starting a company. Here ya go...
WEEKLY RECAP
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
WEEKLY RECAP
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
CASTING
* Heath Ledger will star in the romantic supernatural thriller SIN EATER for writer/director Brian Helgeland (A KNIGHT'S TALE) and 20th Century Fox. It's about a young priest who teams up with a female detective to investigate a case involving a corpse covered with religious symbols. Shooting is expected to begin in early 2002.
* Aaron Eckhart will star in the science fiction pic THE CORE for director Jon Amiel (ENTRAPMENT) and Paramount. He'll play the leader of an expedition to the Earth's center, where a team of terranauts need to place and detonate a nuclear charge to fix a magnetic field in the earth that will cause the planet to explode.
* Richard Gere is near a deal to play Billy Flynn opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones (Velma) and Renee Zellweger (Roxie) in the bigscreen musical version of CHICAGO for director Rob Marshall. Gere would play the sleazy lawyer who makes celebs out of two accused female killers in Chicago during the Roaring '20s.
* Kim Basinger is in talks to play Eminem's mother in THE UNTITLED DETROIT PROJECT for director Curtis Hanson and Universal/Imagine. Production begins Oct. 18 in Detroit.
* Heather Graham, Colin Firth and Mary Steenburgen are ready to star in the romantic comedy NEW CARDIFF for Mark Herman (LITTLE VOICE), who will direct from his adaptation of the Charles Webb (THE GRADUATE) novel. It's about a British artist who was just dumped by his fiancee. He stays in a motel where he is introduced to a local girl with whom a romance may begin, at least until his finacee comes looking for him. Helena Bonham Carter is in early talks to join the cast.
* Kate Winslet is in early talks to play the female lead in the death row drama THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE opposite Kevin Spacey and Laura Linney. Alan Parker directs.
* John Cusack will next month star in MAX, playing a German art gallery owner who mentors a young Adolf Hitler. Noah Taylor, Leelee Sobieski and Molly Parker will also star. Shooting begins Nov. 5 in Hungary. Menno Meyjes (THE COLOR PURPLE screenwriter) will direct for Lions Gate.
* Patrick Dempsey and Josh Lucas will join Reese Witherspoon in Touchstone's romantic comedy SWEET HOME ALABAMA for director Andy Tennant. Glenn Close may also star. It's about a country girl who heads to New York where she establishes herself on the socialite scene. She heads back home to file for divorce, but discovers her past is hard to abandon.
* Paul Bettany, Helena Bonham Carter and Olivia Williams will star in the indie U.K. pic HEART OF ME, based on Rosamond Lehman's 1980 novel ECHOING GROVE, for helmer Thad-deus O'Sul-l-ivan (ORDINARY DECENT CRIMINAL). Shooting begins at the end of the month on the story of a married in which the husband has an affair with his wife's sister.
* Alfred Molina, Chris Walken and Brenda Blethyn are set to star in the indie comedy PLOTS WITH A VIEW for director Nick Hurran (GIRL'S NIGHT). Frederick Ponzlov wrote the script about a traditional funeral director in a small town who is in love with a local woman, even while he's losing business to an American rival. Molina is also in talks to star in LAUGHTER IN THE DARK for director Gregory Mosher about a guy entangled in his obsession with a woman, getting caught up in a triangle between her and her beau.
* French actress Anne Parillaud (LA FEMME NIKITA) will star in Catherine Breillat's SCENES INTIMES. She'll play a film director shooting an erotic movie. Production begins next month.
* Ben Affleck is in talks to star in DAREDEVIL, based on the Marvel Comic, for writer/director Mark Steven Johnson (SIMON BIRCH) and 20th Century Fox/New Regency. Affleck is poised to play blind attorney Matt Murdock who becomes a costumed vigilante using his advanced remaining senses to fight crime.
* Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid and Dennis Haysbert will star in FAR FROM HEAVEN for writer/director Todd Haynes (SAFE) and Killer Films. The pic is set in a suburban American community in 1957 and focuses on a family whose lives are filled with etiquette, social events and an expectancy to keep up with the Joneses. When the wife catches her husband in bed with another man, their world is forever changed. As he sees a psychologist, she keeps company with--and soon falls for--her black gardener.
* Julianna Margulies, Aidan Quinn and Stephen Rea will join Pierce Brosnan in EVELYN to be directed by Bruce Beresford. It's based on the true story of Desmond Doyle, who lost his job and his family, but straightens out his life and engages in an unlikely custody battle.
* Selma Blair is in talks to join Julia Stiles and Jason Lee in MGM's A GUY THING for director Chris Koch (SNOW DAY).
* Brad Rowe joins the cast of Steven Soderbergh's HOW TO SURVIVE A HOTEL ROOM FIRE with Julia Roberts and Catherine Keener.
* Actor/comic Dane Cook will join Michelle Yeoh and Ben Chaplin in THE TOUCH.
* Michael Caine is in advanced talks to star in AUSTIN POWERS 3: GOLDMEMBER for New Line and director Jay Roach. Shooting starts next month for a July 26 release date. Caine will play Capt. Hendricks, a security specialist of the Royal Navy.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Alfonso Arau (LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE) will direct the epic ALEXANDER, based on the exploits (and sexploits) of conqueror Alexander the Great. Norman Toy Jr. wrote the screenplay.
* William Condon (GODS AND MONSTERS) is prepping KINSEY, the biopic of sex expert Alfred Kinsey, which he will helm from his own script.
* Wayne Wang is in final talks to direct Revolution's THE CHAMBERMAID, written by John Hughes and starring Jennifer Lopez. The Chicago-set Cinderella tale centers on a woman who takes a job as a chambermaid in a luxury hotel. She falls for a British gentleman, and he becomes determined to find her when she suddently quits her job.
* Phoenix Pictures has formed a new unnamed horror genre division and has grabbed the horror pitch POTTER'S FIELD from Dan Clark and Bo Zenga as the first project under the banner. The pitch is about a group of kids entered into a "scared straight" program and forced to spend the night doing burial duty alongside prisoners from Riker's Island on the country's largest potter's field -- a poor man's cemetery that dates back to the time of Christ.
* Lawrence O'Neil (BREAST MEN) is attached to adapt and direct a feature for Sobini Films based on the Graham Joyce novel DARK SISTER. It's about a disillusioned stay-at-home mom who discovers a book of ancient remedies and manages to awake dark forces through her new powers.
* Dimension Films and Angry Films have tapped Hans Rodionoff (MAN-THING) will write a screenplay based on the video game ALONE IN THE DARK, which features a couple of ghost investigators stranded on a remote island crawling with ghoulish creatures.
* USA Films has tapped Rob Pearlstein to write a script that takes place in the world of high school wrestling. Inspired by journalist Stephen Rodrick's article "Grappling With Redemption" in the August issue of GQ magazine, the pitch chronicles an eventful season that will determine the futures of members of a high school wrestling team.
* Todd Phillips (ROAD TRIP) will develop and direct STARSKY AND HUTCH for Warner Bros. Ben Stiller is attached to star and produce through his and Stuart Cornfeld's Red Hour Films along with Akiva Goldsman's Weed Road Pictures.
* British filmmaker Ash (PUPS) will write and direct SURFING for Gilla Co. The drama is about an American couple who explore the world of surfing on the Chinese island of Hainan. The director is also attached to helm EYES, based on his own script.
* Jack Angelo and Sam Brown's THE CENTAUR has been picked up by New Line for Benderspink to produce. It's about a woman who falls for a seemingly perfect man, only to find out that he is a centaur (half-man/half-horse) brought to mortal life via a magical potion.
* Mike Maples is adapting THE UGLY LITTLE BOY for Moving Pictures and Di Novi Pictures, who will produce the pic for Warner Bros. The feature, based on the 1958 Issac Asimov short story, follows a Neanderthal child transported 40,000 years into the future. He is taken under the wing of a nurse who tries to protect him from a group of scientists.
* Alfonso Cuaron will rewrite and direct CHILDREN OF MEN, based on the P.D. James novel, for Beacon Pictures. The story takes place at a time in the future when the human race has lost the ability to reproduce. England faces extinction and has descended into chaos, until an iron-handed warden is brought in to institute martial law. The warden's role is threatened when a woman discovers that she is pregnant with what would be the first child to be born in 27 years.
* Disney has grabbed the comedy pitch STUNTMAN from writers Sal Stabile and Andrew Wasser. The story centers on a lovable loser who becomes a death-defying stuntman in an attempt to win back the girl of his dreams. Dave Sheridan is attached to star.
* Ric Roman Waugh and Tag Mendillo's action-comedy script HAMMER DOWN was picked up by DreamWorks for 3 Arts Entertainment and Barry Josephson to produce. It's about a career getaway driver who gets involved with a heist crew led by a notorious rap producer.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* DreamWorks has grabbed two articles from the nonfiction book FIRE, a collection of articles by Sebastian Junger (THE PERFECT STORM), for Scott Steindorff to develop as a feature. The material centers on the firefighters who contained raging forest fires in the Western U.S.
* Mel Gibson has dropped out of IN HARM'S WAY, the Barry Levinson-directed USS Indianapolis shark epic.
* Ecosse Films (MRS. BROWN) has optioned Sebastian Faulks' Cold War novel ON GREEN DOLPHIN STREET, the follow-up to CHARLOTTE GRAY. The adaptation of the latter pic is set to open in December. The company hopes to reunite the same team, including director Gillian Armstrong, to work from a script by Kevin Hood ("In the Land of Plenty").
* Steven Soderbergh, Spike Jonze, David Fincher and Alexander Payne are forming a film company, which will most likely be linked to USA Films. Sam Mendes has been invited to join, but whether or not he will participate is yet to be determined. The directors will helm pics armed with complete creative control, along with the opportunity to own the titles in five to seven years. USA would contribute financing and marketing, as well as assume domestic distribution rights. Each partner has committed to direct three movies over the first five years, and the venture will only exist for the production and distribution of their films.
* Japanese gamemaker Square Co. has announced that it will quit film production, due to the disappointing box office receipts for FINAL FANTASY: THE SPIRITS WITHIN. The film cost $137 million to produce and has only grossed $30 million in North America. The company will instead concentrate on video games.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* See PEP SQUAD, a homicidal comedy by Steve Balderson, at a Special Event Midnight Screening on Friday November 2, 2001 at Laemmle's Sunset 5 in West Hollywood. It features Brooke Balderson and the debut film score by Concrete Blonde's Johnette Napolitano. For more info visit www.dikenga.com
* The Austin Film Festival Presents THE LAST HOPE, a document of the six-week wait for STAR WARS EPISODE I by Christopher Hrasky and Kurt Volk, on Wed. October 17, 2001 at the Driskill Hotel Ballroom in Austin, Texas. For more details visit www.austinfilmfestival.com or http://lasthope.net for more details.
* SANTA'S LETTERS will debut at the Burbank International Children's Film Festival at the end of October in Burbank, California. Visit www.santas-letters-movie.com or www.burbankfilm.org for more information.
