Father Geek here with another end of the week report from AICN's ace archivist Elston Gunn. Once again Elston has put together a comprehensive rehash of all the confirmed filmic news you may have missed during the past work-week. So grap that mid-morning mug of hot Java, your fave tasty munchie, sit back, and scan through the week that was in this edition of...
The WEEKLY RECAP...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Jeff Daniels joins the cast of BLOODWORK for Warner Bros and director/star Clint Eastwood. It's about one of the most effective FBI serial killer investigators who, after being sidelined by a heart-transplant operation, decides to turn his badge in to spend more time restoring his boat. However, an incident puts back on the job.
* Justin Chambers (THE MUSKETEER) will join Elisabeth Shue and Joseph Fiennes in LEOPOLD BLOOM. He'll play a painter whose affair with an unfaithful young mother takes a dark turn.
* Michael Landes (UPN's "Special Unit") and A.J. Cook (THE VIRGIN SUICIDES) will star in FINAL DESTINATION 2 for New Line and director David R. Ellis.
* Charlie Hunnam is in final talks to star in NICHOLAS NICKELBY, based on the Charles Dickens novel, for writer/director Douglas McGrath and Hart Sharp Entertainment Inc. Jamie Bell, Nathan Lane and Christopher Plummer also will star in the project, which begins production in April in London and Liverpool.
* Martin Sheen and Amy Adams (PUMPKIN) join the cast of CATCH ME IF YOU CAN for DreamWorks and director Steven Spielberg.
* Adam Goldberg will star in the indie comedy THE HEBREW HAMMER about a handsome Orthodox Jew who goes on a mission to save Hanukkah. He joins forces with Esther, the gorgeous and dangerous daughter of the world's top Jewish leader, to topple the evil Santa and save Hanukkah for future generations. Production begins in late April.
* Anthony Anderson and Gabrielle Union join DMX and Jet Li in Warner Bros.' action pic CRADLE TO THE GRAVE for director Andrzej Bartkowiak and producer Joel Silver. Shooting begins March 11.
* Edward Burns is in talks to star in Lions Gate Films' suspense drama CONFIDENCE, written by Doug Jung, for director James Foley. It's about a master con man, who swindles a few thousand dollars from an unsuspecting victim who turns out to be an accountant for a major crime kingpin.
* Ashley Judd is in negotiations to star in BLACKOUT for Paramount Pictures and Intertainment AG. The project, written by Sarah Thorp, is described only as a female-driven gritty thriller.
* Cuba Gooding Jr. will star in the Paramount Pictures/MTV Films' THE FIGHTING TEMPTATIONS about a Los Angeles hip-hop producer who travels to a small Southern town to collect an inheritance. As stipulated in the will, he must create a gospel choir and lead it to success before he can get the dough.
* Meg Ryan is in talks to star in the erotic thriller IN THE CUT, based on the novel by Susanna Moore, for director Jane Campion. It's about a writing teacher who becomes sexually involved with a detective on a serial murder investigation. Production is expected to begin in New York in July.
* Johnny Depp and Robin Williams is in talks with director Terry Gilliam to star in GOOD OMENS, based on the novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. It's about the battle between heaven and hell to find the newborn antichrist after it is misplaced at the hospital. Gilliam will also work on an adaptation of Mitch Cullin's TIDELAND.
* Jim Carrey will star in BRUCE ALMIGHTY, written by Steve Oedekerk, for director Tom Shadyac. The Universal comedy is about a self-proclaimed victim who complains so much that he's empowered by God to run the world he feels is so unfair.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Jon and Erich Hoeber (MONTANA) will write ALICE for Dimension and director Wes Craven. The project is a Gothic horror version of ALICE IN WONDERLAND, taking place after Alice has been put in a mental institution by her wicked aunt. It is based on Electronic Arts' video game "American McGee's Alice."
* Disney grabbed the family action-adventure pitch UNNATURAL HISTORY from Charles Segars and Jeff Phillips about a family who must navigate its way out of the museum after things go haywire when all of the exhibits come to life.
* New Line Cinema has acquired the psychological thriller script THE NUMBER 23, written by Fernley Phillips, about a man who is obsessed with an obscure book titled THE NUMBER 23 and becomes convinced that the book is based on his own life.
* MGM has picked up the script BUDDY LIST from writer Mark Loughlin for Zide/Perry Entertainment on board to produce. The teen comedy is about a group of high school freshmen who use an e-mail account and their Internet savvy to win an invite to the hottest party of the year, where they get to party with the A-listers of their school.
* Disney has purchased a pitch based on the life of the only black ever to win an Olympic medal for fencing. Keith Mitchell and Allie Dvorian will write the UNTITLED PETER WESTBROOK STORY for producer Debra Martin Chase.
* Frank Spotnitz ("The X-Files") will direct and produce INTO THE ETHER for Dimension Films about a medical resident who suspects patients in the hospital where she works are dying through unnatural means. Spotnitz will also rewrite Brian Carr's script.
* 20th Century Fox optioned the script NYPD NANNY from writer Greg Ostrin for Davis Entertainment to produce. The project is described as KINDERGARTEN COP meets MRS. DOUBTFIRE.
* Ryne Douglas Pearson will adapt the Ken Follett novel CODE FOR ZERO for Columbia and Red Wagon. It's a drama set during the 1950s space race, revolving around an American scientist whose memory was erased. He tries to put the pieces back together but discoverss that his life is even more complicated when his memory returns.
* Michael Apted is in talks to direct Columbia Pictures' TELL NO ONE, based on the novel by Harlan Coben, about a man who receives a mysterious e-mail appearing to be from his wife, who was murdered years earlier. As he frantically tries to find out whether she's alive, he finds himself being implicated in her death.
* Disney is in negotiations with Guillermo del Toro to direct the big-screen version of THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS. Based on Kenneth Grahame's 1908 children's tale, the project will be a live-action/CGI version of the classic animal adventure story.
* Writer/director Dan Minahan (SERIES 7: THE CONTENDERS) is in early talks to direct Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon in THE FLYING SMITHS for Working Title. Written by George Wing, the romantic comedy centers on a trapeze artist who loses his eye in a circus accident and subsequently falls in love with the woman whose child swallows his eye.
* Michael and Gerald Cuesta (L.I.E.) will adapt Brady Udall's novel THE MIRACLE LIFE OF EDGAR MINT, with Michael Cuesta attached to direct, for United Artists and Single Cell Pictures. The darkly humorous project tells the story of Edgar Mint, who on the first page of the novel gets run over by the mailman at age 7. The rest of the book follows the half-Apache, half-white narrator as he goes through similarly unfortunate experiences, such as a near-fatal beating and a tumble off a cliff.
* Mark Gibson and Philip Halprin are in talks with Disney to write a sequel to SNOW DOGS. The writing duo has also sold an untitled pitch to Universal in the vein of ERIN BROCKOVICH and DANGEROUS MINDS.
* Director McG (CHARLIE'S ANGELS) will direct the next installment of Warner Bros. Pictures' SUPERMAN franchise, with J.J. Abrams ("Felicity" and "Alias" creator) set to pen the script. Jon Peters will produce.
* Singer Jensen Entertainment has bought the pitch CRIME WAVE, a comic thriller by Pierce Gardner (LOST SOULS) and Kim Zubick. It's about a picture-perfect town turned upside down by its first crime wave. The company also purchased the pitch THE WRONG TARGET from writer/director Matthew Ross, about a single father's attempt to rescue his kidnapped son, who was the wrong target.
* DreamWorks and Montecito partners Ivan Reitman and Tom Pollock have drafted the writing team of Barry Blaustein and David Sheffield will write the comedy THE GRAND TOUR for DreamWorks and Montecito Pictures about the harried process in which parents and kids tour college campuses before choosing the one that gets the checks. Blaustein (BEYOND THE MAT) will direct.
* Tamra Davis (CROSSROADS) will direct KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN, an extreme sports picture to feature an original score by her husband, Beastie Boys rapper Mike D. The project stars daredevil BMX biker Mat Hoffman; motocross racer Travis Pastrana; surfers Sunny Garcia, and Andy and Bruce Irons; snowboarders Marc Frank Montoya and Tina Basich; freestyle skier Mike Basich; and skateboarders Seth Morrison, Eric Koston and Steve Berra.
* Rupert Wainwright (STIGMATA) is in talks to develop and direct BLOOD OF SHERWOOD at Warner Bros. about Jarrow, a young man who was lost as a baby and presumed dead. He learns that he is the son of Robin Hood, now a shell of his former self after falling into a 20-year depression. When Robin must help restore England to its former glory, Jarrow joins his father and breathes life into his newfound dad and the former Merry Men as they battle against the Normans.
* Robert Luketic (LEGALLY BLONDE) will direct the DreamWorks comedy DATE SCHOOL for Red Hour Films and Firm Films. It's about the proprietor of a Learning Annex-type dating school who falls for a skeptical student. Abby Cohn and Mark Silverstein wrote the script.
* DreamWorks has picked up the pitch THE STORM RETURNS from Brian Koppelman and David Levien (KNOCKAROUND GUYS), who will write, direct and produce the project. The story is set in St. Louis in the wake of the Gulf War. It follows a group of recently discharged soldiers who have become warriors without a war and enlist in a battle to clear a vicious drug gang out of a housing project.
* DreamWorks has optioned the action-comedy script AMAZING HEROES from Matt Lopez. It's about two 12-year-old fraternal twins, a boy and a girl, who discover that the girl has superpowers. The boy feels he was shortchanged, and the girl sees it as a curse. Ultimately, the two work out their differences and end up saving the world from an alien supervillain
* Columbia Pictures and Winchester Films have nabbed the pitch LIL' HOMIES from writers Freddie Gutierrez, Wesley Johnson and Scott Taylor. It's about a group of four ethnic kids who find a treasure map leading them to crisscross New York in an attempt to find the treasure.
* New Line Cinema has picked up the young romantic pitch HOW TO DEAL about a teenager who, surrounded by examples of love gone wrong, decides it doesn't exist. Heidi Ferrer wrote the first draft, with a second draft by Neena Beber.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Universal Pictures and Misher Films have grabbed the rights to hip-hop pioneer Russell Simmons' autobiography, LIFE AND DEF: SEX, DRUGS, MONEY AND GOD. The film will chronicle the career of Simmons, a former street hustler and concert promoter who co-founded, among other companies, Def Jam Records, the comedy showcase Def Comedy Jam and the fashion label Phat Farm.
* Paramount Pictures has optioned Glen David Gold's novel CARTER BEATS THE DEVIL for studio-based C/W Prods. and filmmaker Robert Towne. The story is set in 1920s America and follows Charles Carter, aka Carter the Great, a brilliant stage magician known for outrageous stunts carried out on elaborate sets. He runs into major problems when he puts on the most outrageous stunt of all, using President Warren G. Harding.
* Saville Prods. has picked up the rights to the life story of British ski jumper Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards, who became an overnight celebrity at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, for his bumbling performances and last-place finishes. Simon Kelton, who worked as a British ski journalist, is writing the script.
* Warner Bros. has purchased the rights to Philip K. Dick's semi-autobiographical novel, A SCANNER DARKLY, for Section 8 -- the production shingle of Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney -- to produce. The story follows Bob Arctor, a man so in the grip of drug dementia his brain can't even recognize himself. Gripped by delusions, Arctor can't discern between his day job as a narcotics officer and his paranoid alter-ego, Fred, who's submersed in the addict's lifestyle. The project is a possible candidate for either a CGI or traditional animation treatment.
* SHREK producer John H. Williams will develop a computer-animated feature based on the British cartoon "Schnozz." The story centers on a crossbreed mutt and a group of rejected animals he meets as he attempts to follow in the footsteps of his famous police dog father.
* Catch 23 Entertainment has acquired feature film rights to Alex Simmons' graphic novel series BLACKJACK from Platinum Studios. Michael Jai White is in early talks to star in the project, about the exploits of black soldier-of-fortune Arron Day as he roams the globe in search of a life of adventure and danger.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* Watch the animated web cartoon "Enron: Facing the Music" at This Location .
* Toronto based b-movie filmmakers Sick & Twisted Productions is holding a panhandling event to benefit the production of BLOOD ON THE DANCE FLOOR on Sunday, February 24th, 2002 from 10AM to 4PM at the corner of Queen St. & John St. in Toronto, Canada. For more info visit Their Sick Site
* Visit This Site for more info on The Twine Tour, a savage account of a 30 day journey across America in search of the weird attractions in existence. The highlight of the journey is the world's largest balls of Twine.
