Hey folks, Harry here with a fantastic WEEKLY RECAP. This past week in the trades and official world of Hollywood things were cooking up a storm. Audrey Tautou will have her English language debut, progress on Ron Howards long cooking ALAMO project, New helmer for CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and tons more... Check it all out folks, great stuff!!!
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Australian actor Eric Bana (CHOPPER) will play Bruce Banner in THE INCREDIBLE HULK for Universal and director Ang Lee. Production is slated to begin in March.
* Ving Rhames, Gary Oldman and Alicia Coppola will star in the thriller SIN for director Michael Stevens from a script by Tim Willocks. It's about a retired cop who becomes the target of a vengeful crime boss after the cop's sister is missing.
* Audrey Tautou (AMELIE) will star in the romantic thriller DIRTY PRETTY THINGS for director Stephen Frears. It's about a Nigerian night porter, a Turkish chambermaid, a Chinese busker and a prostitute who team up to solve a strange murder. Steve Knight wrote the script.
* Gabriel Mann (HIGH ART) joins Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet and Laura Linney in THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE. Alan Parker directs.
* Ewan McGregor and Heath Ledger are in talks to star in NAUTICA for director Ted Demme and Escape Artists. Scripted by Richard McBrien, the pic takes place on a yacht in the Caribbean, where a murder occurs and then is later retold through the eyes of three people
* Ja Rule will join Steven Seagal and Morris Chestnut in the heist thriller HALF PAST DEAD about a criminal who masterminds a plan to break in a prison in an attempt to persuade a death row inmate to help him find millions of dollars worth of gold from an old heist.
* Renee Zellweger is attached to the romantic comedy DOWN WITH LOVE about a feminist writer who finds herself involved with a womanizing journalist. Peyton Reed will direct.
* Candice Bergen will play the mayor of New York in SWEET HOME ALABAMA, starring Reese Witherspoon, for director Andy Tennant (EVER AFTER).
* Clifton Collins Jr. (THE LAST CASTLE) is in talks to join LL Cool J in MINDHUNTERS, Renny Harlin's action pic about an FBI psychological profiling division and its new recruiting class. Production begins next month.
* Russell Crowe has been offered the lead role in THE CINDERELLA MAN, a biopic of 1930s heavyweight boxing champ Jim Braddock. Lasse Hallstrom will direct for Universal/Miramax.
* Rob Schneider will star in Disney's comedy THE HOT CHICK about a popular yet mean-spirited teenage girl who wakes up one day to find that she looks like a 30-year-old man.
* Drew Barrymore will play the female lead in CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND opposite Sam Rockwell and George Clooney, who also directs.
* Wesley Snipes will star in the action thriller WHEN THE RIDE IS RUFF about a man who is blamed for the murder of the leader of a rival motorcycle club. Shooting begins in February.
* Robert De Niro has dropped out of SCARED GUYS and will instead star in ANALYZE THAT, a sequel to 1999's ANALYZE THIS. Production begins in February from a script by Peter Steinfeld.
* Michael Jackson has quietly joined the cast of MEN IN BLACK 2.
* Luke Wilson is in final talks to star in OLD SCHOOL for director Todd Phillips (ROAD TRIP). The pic is about three guys who are dissatisfied with life and try to recapture their college days.
* Salma Hayek is in final talks to star in the THE GROUND BENEATH HER FEET, based on the book by Salman Rushdie, for director Raoul Ruiz. Naveen Andrews will also star in the story of a love affair between two Indian rock stars that covers several continents and decades. Shooting starts in the spring.
* Ben Stiller has set up Patton Oswalt's script PUBERTY at New Line through
his Red Hour Films. It's about a thirtysomething male who never suffered
the effects of puberty until he becomes involved in the biggest business
deal of his adult life.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Vincenzo Natali (CUBE) will helm the surreal comedy NOTHING about two young men who enter a Dali-esque kind of world of their own creation. It's based on a script by Andrew Miller and Andrew Lowery.
* Mike Newell (PUSHING TIN) is attached to direct THE SEVEN FIRES OF MADEMOISELLE, based on the novel by Esther Vilar about a woman in Washington, D.C. who goes to incredible lenghts to seduce the man of her dreams.
* Iain Softley (K-PAX) will direct and produce VURT, adapted by Jeff Noon from his sci-fi thriller about a guy whose lover has been transported to another world by a mind-altering drug.
* Matt Gerald will write B-BOYING for Lynda Obst Prods. about a breakdancer from Philadelphia, trying to find his identity in a suburban magnet school.
* Warner Bros./Gaylord Films has grabbed the comedy BROCK DANGER, written by Greg Erb and Jason Oremland, about a man who, despite his low intelligence, travels the globe righting wrongs and picking up relics.
* Rob Minkoff (STUART LITTLE) will direct Warner Bros.' big-budget adaptation of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. Scott Frank wrote the script.
* Greg Harrison (GROOVE) is in talks to direct the political satire RETURN TO MORALITY for Lions Gate Films. Jeffrey Lieber (TUCK EVERLASTING) and Jamie Pachino wrote the script about a college professor who makes a Faustian deal with a publisher when he writes a book poking fun at the right wing. When he realizes he has been placed on a pedestal by the same group he satirized, the man pretends to endorse the novel's philosophy to keep up the facade.
* John Dahl is in talks to direct THE GREAT RAID, written by Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro, for Miramax. The pic is set during World War II and follows a group of U.S. soldiers who are sent to liberate American prisoners of war from a Japanese camp in the Philippines.
* MGM grabbed GENGHIS, an action-adventure pitch from writer Craig Titley, based on the real-life expedition organized by Chicago commodities trader and lawyer Maury Kravitz to find the lost tomb of Genghis Khan.
* Antoine Fuqua (TRAINING DAY) will direct an untitled Myriad Pictures spy thriller about two CIA agents -- either of whom might work for the Russians -- in a world of espionage. Fuqua will focus on this project after he works on an untitled Bruce Willis thriller slated to begin shooting in February.
* Casey Silver Prods. has purchased Jeff Rothberg's comedy pitch PARTY ANIMALS about the journey of an endangered lizard that becomes prey to a pair of pet dealers. He teams up with a group of eccentric reptiles that perform for children's birthday parties.
* Intermedia has acquired the romantic comedy spec HAPPILY EVER AFTER, from Kristen Buckley and Brian Regan (102 DALMATIANS), about a character from a romantic comedy who is suddenly transported into the ``real'' world.
* Christian Gudegast and Paul Scheuring are writing a new SPEED RACER script for Warner Bros. Hype Williams is attached to direct.
* Michael Radford (IL POSTINO) will direct SOUTH OF THE BORDER, WEST OF THE SUN, based on the book by Haruki Murakami, for Pandora Films. A seemingly happily married father hits a midlife crisis when the first woman he loved enters back into his life. Radford will work on this project after he directs Phoenix Pictures' CRIME OF HONOR.
* Peter Berg (VERY BAD THINGS) will direct the thriller CALIFORNIA FIRE AND LIFE for Working Title/Universal about an arson adjuster who investigates the suspicious death of a wealthy young mother.
* Propaganda Films has picked up HEART OF THE ATOM, scripted by Jan Eliasberg, for Luis Mandoki to direct. The romantic espionage thriller is set during the race to build the atomic bomb. It specifically follows Jack Verity, a top interrogator in the U.S. Army who is sent to Los Alamos, N.M., to find a spy believed to be sending secrets to the head of the Nazi nuclear bomb program. His mission hits a snag when he begins to fall for a female scientist, who is also the Army's primary suspect.
* Producer Arthur Sarkissian and New Legend Media Inc. are developing the crime thriller THE BROTHERHOOD, written by Talun Hsu and Stephen Lister. The epic story is set in the modern-day Asian-American crime world and centers on a poor Asian immigrant who rises from a little village outside of Bejing to the top of a Chinese crime family in New York.
* Scott Johnson sold his script, BOOK OF KINGS, to Davis Entertainment. The story follows two friends and their pursuit of love, truth and greatness.
* DreamWorks has grabbed the sexy thriller script PROVOCATIVE from writer Steve Barancik (THE LAST SEDUCTION). It's about a good cop who falls for a sexy lawyer after being betrayed by his fellow officers, only to be seduced by her and persuaded to go against everything he believes in to bring the bad guys down. He ultimately realizes that she is the one who needs brought down and he must figure out how to do so.
* Ridley Scott will develop and possibly direct PERFUME: THE STORY OF A MURDERER, based on a 20-year old German novel about an 18th century Parisian driven by olfactory obsession to become a serial killer.
* Regency Enterprises grabbed the supernatural thriller STAY from writer David Benioff. It's about a psychologist at an Ivy League university and his attempt to prevent one of his students from committing suicide.
* Working Title is in talks to buy the script FLYING SMITHS, written by George Wing, about an ambitious trapeze artist whose dreams are shattered when one of his eyes is scratched out by a tiger. He travels to Italy to procure a glass eye, which is swallowed by the child of a local woman with whom he falls in love. Reese Witherspoon and husband Ryan Phillippe are being eyed for the leads.
* Cyrus Vorris and Ethan Reiff will adapt the Harlan Ellison story ALONG THE SCENIC ROUTE into the action pic DRIVE with Alex Proyas attached to direct for Paramount. It's set 20 years in the future, when American highways are left unpatrolled and auto "dueling" is legalized.
* Dakota Pictures has grabbed the script SWINGING ON A STAR by Kathy Gori and Alan Berger, about a family of California highway patrolmen and two cousins who find themselves wife-swapping.
* John Sayles is in final talks to write Disney's THE ALAMO for Imagine Entertainment as a possible Ron Howard directorial vehicle.
* USA Films has picked up the female buddy comedy THE MULES from Hope
Royaltey and Katie Ford. It's about a single woman from and her best
friend, a bored housewife, whose lives are forever changed when an
acquaintance introduces them to an easy-money art-smuggling scheme that
includes a free trip to Italy. The two best friends go for it, and once in
Italy, they get entangled with both the Mafia and the FBI.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Danny DeVito and his Jersey Films banner have dropped out of HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS. It‚s about a womanizer who bets his pals that he can stay in a single relationship for more than 10 days. DeVito was attached to direct the comedy at Paramount. Kate Hudson will star.
* Music label Cash Money Records has established a film division, Cash Money Pictures. The company plans to release three to five pics a year, beginning with an adaptation of Teri Wood‚s novel TRUE TO THE GAME. Tyger Williams (MENACE II SOCIETY) has written the script.
* Francis Ford Coppola's futuristic epic MEGALOPOLIS ``Megalopolis,'' which centers on the rebuilding of New York after a disastrous incident, is postponing production so Coppola can work on a rewrite of the script. The director has 30 hours of second-unit footage around New York and plans to start shooting prinicpal photography next fall. It's about a mayor who is dedicated to preserving the city's heritage, while an architect thinks futuristically.
* Fox 2000 has optioned AQUAMARINE, a young adult novel by author Alice Hoffman (PRACTICAL MAGIC). The story centers on two girls who discover a mermaid in the pool of their neighborhood beach club. When the mermaid falls for a boy who works at the club, the girls have to plot to return her to the sea to save her life.
* Universal Studios has picked up the rights to the kids TV series "Butt-Ugly Martians." Set in the year 2053, the story centers on three Martian heroes sent to Earth on a missionm, where they get to experience fast food, video games and TV.
Any interesting projects, developing news, talent attachments this week? No? Talk Back.
Until next week...
Elston Gunn
