Father Geek here, I've got my extra large mug of hot Java and a warm tasty Bear Claw ready to go as I post Elston's regular rehash of the week's Hollywood news for all of you that may have not been able to keep up with all the breaking stories during the work week. Sooooooo, join me in a cool cafe toast to good viewing times ahead as you scroll down the news from the past week. Here's Elston...
THE WEEKLY RECAP
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Nicolas Cage is attached to star in and produce New Line's THE VOLUNTEER, a sci-fi thriller about an Iowa state trooper who, in an effort to avenge the death of his daughter, gets caught between two alien races. Sam Egan ("The Outer Limits" writer) has written the script.
* Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis will join Jesse Spencer, David Hoflin and Tim Draxl in SWIMMING UPSTREAM for director Russell Mulcahy (HIGHLANDER) and Crusader Entertainment. Set in 1950s Brisbane, Australia, the feature is based on Anthony Fingleton's book of the same name. It tells the autobiographical story of the author's struggle to become an Olympic swimmer despite an overbearing alcoholic father and his long-suffering wife.
* Chris Klein will join Ryan Gosling (REMEMBER THE TITANS) in the indie pic THE UNITED STATE OF LELAND about the exploration of morality and the search for hope under difficult circumstances. Kevin Spacey serves as a producer.
* Leelee Sobieski will star with John Cusack in MAX (aka HOFFMAN) about the relationship between an art teacher and a student named Adolf Hitler. Menno Meyjes (EMPIRE OF THE SUN, THE COLOR PURPLE) will direct from his own script.
* Joseph Fiennes and Elisabeth Shue are in final talks to star in the drama LEOPOLD BLOOM for director Mehdi Norowzian (KILLING JOE). Sam Shepard is eyeing a role in the pic written by Massy and Amir Tadjedin. The film tells two separate stories that ultimately connect. The first follows an unfaithful mother who believes her husband is cheating on her and a s a result, denies her son warmth and love. The second part centers on a brilliant writer who is released after 15 years in prison.
* Teri Polo (MEET THE PARENTS), Linus Roache (THE WINGS OF THE DOVE) and Noah Emmerich (THE TRUMAN SHOW) will join Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen in BEYOND BORDERS for director Martin Campbell and Mandalay Entertainment.
* Matthew Davis (LEGALLY BLONDE) and Michelle Rodriguez (GIRLFIGHT) are in talks to join Kate Bosworth in Universal/Imagine's surf-girls project for writer/director John Stockwell. Shooting begins Dec. 13 in Hawaii. Lizzy Weiss wrote the script about a young surfer and her best pal, who happens to be the top surfer in town. The two deal with life, love and friendship as they get ready for a surfing competition.
* Christian Slater will star in the action thriller BOUNTY KILLER for Jonathan Hensleigh (JUMANJI, DIE HARD: WITH A VENGEANCE), who is making his directing debut from his own script. The story centers on a bounty hunter recruited by a young woman to save a community. Production begins in February.
* Paul Walker is in talks to star in the thriller WICKER PARK (THE APARTMENT) for MGM/Lakeshore Entertainment and director Danny Cannon. Brandon Boyce (APT PUPIL) wrote the script for the project, an English-language remake of the 1996 French film L'APPARTEMENT.
* Nicole Kidman is in talks to star in the thriller THE FORGOTTEN, written for Gerald Di Pego (ANGEL EYES) for Revolution Studios. It's about a man and woman who join forces to find answers to the unsolved abductions of their children.
* Naomi Watts (MULLHOLLAND DRIVE) will star in THE RING, a remake of the 1998 Japanese horror pic RINGU, for director Gore Verbinski and DreamWorks. The original was based on a series of novels by Suzuki Koji about a journalist who is investigating an urban legend about a cursed videotape said to kill anyone who views it.
* Mark Wahlberg and Hugh Jackman may star in the drama PRIDE AND GLORY about a three-generation family of cops who find themselves tested when one of the sons investigates a case that uncovers a corruption scandal involving his brother. Gavin O'Connor (TUMBLEWEEDS) will direct from a script he co-wrote with Joe Carnahan.
* Jay Mohr is attached to play the title role in BAD BOY: THE LIFE AND POLITICS OF LEE ATWATER for Barry Katz Prods. and Ritz/Wilson Prods.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Sabrina Dhawan (MONSOON WEDDING) will write and Siraj Jhaveri is attached to direct DEATH OF VISHNU for Arena Pictures. The project is an adaptation of Manil Suri's novel which intertwines tales of spiritual questing as seen through life in a block of Bombay apartments.
* Miramax Films is in talks to pick up Alan Trezza's comedy spec BASELINE for Tapestry Films to produce. The story centers on a tennis player on the junior women's circuit who teams up with an ex-coach to beat her rival and earn a possible slot in the U.S. Open.
* Writer/director Robert Benton is attached to adapt and direct Richard Russo's latest novel, EMPIRE FALLS, for Stone Village Prods. At the same time, the company has also acquired rights to Russo's best-selling novel STRAIGHT MAN.
* Caroline Thompson (EDWARD SCISSORHANDS) has signed to write JOHNNY ECK, based on the star of the 1932 Tod Browning film FREAKS, as a Leonardo DiCaprio-starrer for Fox Searchlight and Pelagius Entertainment. It'll tell the story of Robert and Johnny Eckhardt, who were identical twins except that Johnny was born without the lower half of his body and learned to walk on his hands. Johnny became a world famous sideshow performer called "the half-boy" and Robert became his manager. Thompson is also adapting PERFUME for director Ridley Scott and will write a remake of CASQUE D'OR for Stephen Frears. The latter project is a tragic romance, set in the Paris slums in 1898, about an Apache who finds love but is executed for murder.
* Ronald Lang (ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS) is shopping the script THE TWELFTH COUNCIL about Harlem drug kingpin Nicky Barnes.
* A Happy Place has picked up the romantic comedy script MAMA'S BOY, written by Mark Hatmaker, about a young business executive who still lives at home with his mother. Though she treats her son like a child, she one day decides to go to wacky lengths to find her son a mate.
* Eve Ahlert and Dennis Drake (upcoming DOWN WITH LOVE) will write LEGALLY BLONDE 2 for MGM as well as the romantic comedy LONDON CALLING for Universal.
* Roger Donaldson (THIRTEEN DAYS) has signed to replace James Foley as director of THE FARM, starring Al Pacino, Colin Farrell and female lead Bridget Moynahan. The thriller centers on a trainee who thinks his CIA instructor is a double agent. Shooting begins Dec. 3 in Toronto and Washington D.C.
* Chris Carter is in talks with 20th Century Fox to develop a second feature based on his "X-Files" series. The project would reunite Carter with Frank Spotnitz in writing and producing duties. The plot of the pic will likely not be steeped in the elaborate "X"' mythology but instead serve as a stand-alone movie.
* Kathy Gori and Alan Berger have sold their pitch COHEN GETS NOTHING to Disney/Touchstone as well as SWINGING ON A STAR to Dakota Pictures. The first pic is about a spoiled rich guy who loses everything and becomes the servant of the rich rapper who buys his Hamptons house in a bankruptcy sale. The second project is a dark comedy, based on the true story of a family of California highway patrolmen, about two cousins who wife-swap.
* Outlaw Prods. has picked up Christina Welsh's romantic comedy IF ONLY, with Jennifer Love Hewitt attached to star and produce via her Love Spell Entertainment.
* Brian Carr will adapt Frank Baldwin's upcoming novel JAKE & MIMI for Hyde Park Entertainment, with John Herzfeld attached to direct and produce. The psychosexual follows Jake, a man who finds the pleasures and limits of sex through an astronomical string of women. When he meets Mimi, Jake begins to rethink his ways, but trouble begins when the women he has slept with begin to be murdered, and all evidence points to him.
* Terry Hayes will rewrite the science fiction-themed TRIPOD, based on the young adult books by John Christopher, for the Walt Disney Co. It's about a boy in a post-apocalyptic world who dodges aliens' attempts to brainwash him.
* New Line Cinema and producer John Davis will produce the urban comedy GHETTO, INC., written by Sheck Bugge, about three best friends who decide to form a rap label as their ticket out of the 'hood.
* Disney picked up SUGAR RUM CHERRY, a pitch from writer Quinton Peeples, about a girl who goes on a magical Christmas Eve journey while taking music lessons from a jazz musician.
* Jay Roach will direct Fox's baseball comedy BARBARIANS AT THE PLATE about a father who decides to run the local baseball league in an attempt to improve his relationship with his son. Writer/producer Alan Zweibel (THE STORY OF US) is adapting the script from an article he penned for Los Angeles magazine about his experience running his son's baseball league.
* Writer/director Tod "Kip" Williams (THE ADVENTURES OF SEBASTIAN COLE) will adapt and direct the thriller CRY OF THE OWL for BBC Films and Lawrence Bender Prods. The project, based on the 1989 novel by Patricia Highsmith, centers on a man with a mundane office job who finds peace in observing a young woman who spends her day out in the country fixing up her home. When she realizes someone is watching her, the woman becomes dangerously obsessed with the man and begins to stalk him.
* Jonathan Bernstein, Mark Blackwell and Jim Grier (MAX KEEBLE'S BIG MOVE) will rewrite the teen comedy OLD for Disney. It's about two young brothers who are insensitive when it comes to elderly people. They have a curse thrust upon them and become old. Through this experience, they develop a newfound respect for their elders.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Warner Bros. Pictures is optioning C.J. Box's mystery novel OPEN SEASON for Arnold Rifkin and Bruce Willis' Cheyenne Enterprises to produce. The story follows a dedicated but decidedly imperfect Wyoming game warden who finds the body of a well-known poacher in his own backyard. His life and career are seriously in danger when he begins finding more bodies.
* Fox is now opening its war pic BEHIND ENEMY LINES on Nov. 30 instead of Jan. 18.
* Catch 23 Entertainment has snapped up the worldwide feature film rights to the comic book series JUST A PILGRIM, created by Garth Ennis. The comic focuses on a deeply religious former Green Beret called Pilgrim who quotes scripture while punishing the unholy as he leads a ragtag group of refugees to sanctuary.
* Miramax will develop a feature project with Warner Bros. based on Donna Tartt's bestselling thriller THE SECRET HISTORY. Gwyneth Paltrow will produce and her brother Jake is attached to direct. The book is a story of classics students at a Vermont college who murder a classmate in a Dionysian ritual.
* Director Walter Salles (CENTRAL STATION) has dropped out of directing THE ASSUMPTION for DreamWorks/Intermedia. Sydney Pollack, one of the film's producers, may direct it himself. Production is scheduled to begin in February with Benicio Del Toro, Juliette Binoche and Ian McKellen starring.
* DreamWorks has made a three-year first-look deal with Ben Stiller and his Red Hour Films banner, and the studio has paid Warner Bros. for Stiller's dream project, an adaptation of Budd Schulberg's classic Hollywood novel WHAT MAKES SAMMY RUN. Stiller will direct, from a script he co-wrote with Jerry Stahl, and star as soulless talentless Hollywood hustler Sammy Glick who, takes credit for the hard work of others and on his way to the top.
* Trillion Entertainment has optioned the feature rights to Scarlett Thomas' novel BRIGHT YOUNG THINGS about a group of young geniuses who are united by a mysterious advertisement, then suspiciously abandoned on an island. The company is also working on an adaptation of THE NAZI OFFICER'S WIFE, the nonfiction book by Edith Hahn Beer and Susan Dworkin, with Francois Velle attached to direct
* Michael Bay is teaming with Radar Pictures to start Platinum Dunes, a film company that will produce low-budget films.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* TromaDance is looking for entries of all genres and lengths for the TromaDance 2002 Film Festival January 11-19 in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah. No entry or admission fees. Send Entries To: TromaDance Selection Committee 733 Ninth Avenue New York NY 10019 Due to the mass numbers of videotapes they receive, films cannot be returned. All submissions must be on VHS 1\2" Cassette.
* Confused about all the holiday re-shufflin' of films and you don't know what opens when? Visit www.upcomingmovies.com to get straightened out. I love that site.
