Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Oh, yeah. Now I remember why Father Geek edits Elston's report each week. This sucker is HUGE. Nice work, as always, Elston. The Knowles Boys should be back in Austin tonight, but I didn't want to let this sit in the meantime.
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Bruce Springsteen will make a rare movie cameo in an untitled romantic drama, starring Julia Stiles, set to start shooting this summer in New Jersey. The story is about a young man and woman who meet just before they are about to commit suicide. They fall in love but must turn their lives around and deal with the young woman's ex-boyfriend if they can have a life together. Springsteen would play a radio DJ who has conversations with the woman. Tom Sierchio (UNTAMED HEART) wrote the screenplay and direct.
* Tom Cruise may star in THE LAST SAMURAI, a 19th Century epic about the extinction of the samurai in Japan, for director Ed Zwick (GLORY) and Warner Bros. Cruise would play a colonial who arrives in Japan to train the troops of the Japanese emperor, a new situation given that feudal lords hired samurai warriors to protect their land. As the country dishonors and then wipes out the samurai, the protagonist sees close-up the honor and contradictions of the warriors.
* Robert Wisdom (STORYTELLING) also joins the cast as a no-nonsense cop who repeatedly answers the victim's 911 calls.
* Patricia Clarkson (HIGH ART) will star in PIECES OF APRIL as well as Lars von Trier's DOGVILLE. The Peter Hedges-directed drama takes place over the course of Thanksgiving Day. Clarkson will play a terminally ill woman who travels with her family to spend the holiday with her ne'er-do-well daughter.
* Anjelica Huston will star opposite Clint Eastwood, Jeff Daniels and Wanda De Jesus in BLOOD WORK, directed by Eastwood.
* Macaulay Culkin and Seth Green will star in PARTY MONSTER, a recounting of the true story of 1990s party promoter and convicted murderer Michael Alig. Production begins in mid-April. Alig, a party promoter, rose to prominence in the early 1990s. He had his own record label and magazine, did a lot of drugs and, as his addictions got worse, his party themes became darker and more twisted. He murdered his drug dealer by injecting him with Drano and threw him in the East River. Feeling untouchable, he bragged about the murder. The press thought it was a publicity stunt until the body washed ashore. Filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, who also made a documentary about Alig, will direct the project based on the book DISCO BLOOD BATH, written by James St. James.
* Katie Holmes and Oliver Platt will join Patricia Clarkson in PIECES OF APRIL for writer/director Peter Hedges (WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRABE writer). Shooting begins in April.
* Robert Downey Jr. will star in THE SINGING DETECTIVE, a feature remake of the Dennis Potter-scripted BBC series, for director Keith Gordon and Icon Prods. Production begins April 23.
* Isabelle Adjani is replacing pregnant actress Sophie Marceau in the French comedy BON VOYAGE. The feature will begin production in France in mid-June. Rupert Everett, Virginie Ledoyen, Vincent Lindon, Yvan Attal and Gregoire Derangere also star. Jean-Paul Rappeneau (THE HORSEMAN ON THE ROOF).
* Rebecca De Mornay joins John Cusack , Amanda Peet, Ray Liotta, Clea DuVall, Jake Busey and William Lee Scott in the whodunit pic I.D. for helmer James Mangold and Columbia Pictures.
* Andrew Keegan ("7th Heaven") and Matthew Lawrence ("Boy Meets World") join Rob Schneider and Anna Faris in Disney's HOT CHICK for director Tom Brady.
* Matthew McConaughey is in talks to star opposite Kate Hudson in Paramount's HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS for director Danny DeVito. Shooting begins in mid-June. It's about a womanizer who bets his friends that he can stay in a relationship for more than 10 days, but ultimately gets more than he bargained for when the chosen woman tries to get rid of him.
* James Remar ("Sex in the City") joins Drew Barrymore and Ben Stiller in DUPLEX for Miramax and director Danny DeVito. Remar will begin shooting "Duplex" this month before segueing into the other two projects next month. It's about a young couple offered a dream apartment in Manhattan that they can have when the current inhabitant, a cute old lady, leaves. The couple believes murder is the only solution. Remar will play Chick, a hit man who fronts as a pornographer.
* Bob Dylan is in negotiations to star in the tentatively titled pic MASKED AND ANONYMOUS for director Larry Charles ("Mad About You," "Seinfeld") and Intermedia Films. The project, based on Enrique Morales's unpublished short story "Los Vientos del Destino," is a drama about Jack Fate, a wandering troubadour is released from prison for one last concert. Production is expected to begin in June for a premiere at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. Rene Fontaine and Sergy Petrov penned the script. The film will incorporate Dylan music but it is unclear whether Dylan will pen any new songs for the project.
* Father-and-son rappers Master P and Lil' Romeo will star in SHORTY for Universal Pictures and producer Marc Platt. Dallas Jackson wrote the script about a midget alien stranded in a Los Angeles 'hood. He becomes a rapping, hip-hopping partner with a 12-year-old who wants to win an MTV talent contest.
* Alec Baldwin will join William H. Macy in THE COOLER for ContentFilm. It's about a sleazy director of operations at a Las Vegas casino who tries to keep a man with very bad luck at the gaming table around in order to maintain the casino's profitability.
* Alfred Molina joins the cast of I.D. for director James Mangold. Production begins March 4 in L.A. John Cusack and Ray Liotta also star.
* Reese Witherspoon is attached to star in the action/comedy ORIGINAL GANGSTA BITCHES for Universal Pictures/Jersey Films. The project is a female heist picture about a mild-mannered white woman teaming up with a street-smart black woman who teaches her how to use her God-given talents to get what she wants. Lisa Schrager scripted.
* Ralph Fiennes will co-star with Jennifer Lopez in the romantic comedy THE CHAMBERMAID for Revolution Studios and director Wayne Wang. It's about a chambermaid working at a five-star New York City hotel who becomes romantically involved with an eligible politician. Shooting begins in New York in April.
* Frances O'Connor (A.I.) will play the female lead, opposite Paul Walker and Gerard Butler, in TIMELINE for Paramount and director Richard Donner. Production begins in April. She'll play one of the archaeology grad students who get stuck in 14th-century France when they travel there to bring back their professor.
* David Paymer (QUIZ SHOW) and Seymour Cassel (THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS) are attached to star in the thriller THE BURIAL SOCIETY for writer/director Nicholas Racz. It's set against the backdrop of the Orthodox Jewish chevrah kadisha, or burial society.
* Jennifer Garner ("Alias") joins Leonardo DiCaprio in DreamWorks' CATCH ME IF YOU CAN for Steven Spielberg.
* Tony Shalhoub and Tim Daly join Meg Ryan in Paramount Pictures/Franchise Films' AGAINST THE ROPES, a biopic on the life of female boxing manager Jackie Kallen, for director Charles S. Dutton.
* Denzel Washington will star in the thriller OUT OF TIME for MGM and director Carl Franklin. It's about a small Florida town's police chief who does the wrong thing for the right reason and then tries to get out of a complex situation, complicated by two women. Production begins in May.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* FilmEngine has optioned Hunter S. Thompson's novel THE RUM DIARY as a starring vehicle for Johnny Depp, Nick Nolte and Benicio Del Toro, with Josh Hartnett also circling the project. Michael Thomas (BACKBEAT) will pen the screenplay. The fictional tome is based on Thompson's early journalistic foray at a newspaper in San Juan in the late 1950s. Plans are to shoot next winter.
* Billy Ray (HART'S WAR) will adapt THE NAPOLEON OF CRIME as a star vehicle for Robert Redford to play 19th century thief Adam Worth who, after robbing every worthwhile bank vault and train, moved on to London with his partner, Piano Charley Bullard. Ray is also adapting the GQ article "Metamorphisis" for C-W Prods., rewriting the serial killer/FBI pic SUSPECT ZERO for Intermedia and rewriting AFFIRMATIVE ACTION for producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
* John Boorman will direct and produce KNIGHT'S CASTLE, based on the children's book by Edward Eager, about a young boy who travels through time to a world of knights, magicians and Robin Hood and begins an journey to claim the sword Excalibur. Tony Grisoni wrote the script.
* D.J. Caruso (upcoming THE SALTON SEA) will direct the Warner Bros. pic THE EXPENDABLES about an actual program at California's Chino prison in which convicts are taught diving skills and have lucrative salvage and ship repair careers awaiting them after parole.
* Steve Miner will direct Walden Media's feature adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic TREASURE ISLAND. Gary Goldman is writing the script, a modern retelling of the book following young Jim Hawkins, who comes across an antique map leading him on a treasure-hunting journey.
* Frank Oz is in talks to direct THE ULTIMATE LOW SELF-ESTEEM MOVIE for Miramax Films. The story centers on a woman who has bad luck with men. She thinks she finds what appears to be the perfect guy, but he happens to be a homicidal maniac. Jennifer Heath and Michele J. Wolff wrote the script.
* Greg Widen (HIGHLANDER scribe) is attached to direct the thriller INTERSTATE, written by Anthony Jaswinski, for Gold Circle Films.
* Boaz Yakin (REMEMBER THE TITANS) will direct MOLLY GUNN for MGM and GreeneStreet Films. Shooting begins next May in New York. It's about a twentysomething socialite who, after suddenly losing all her money, gets a job as the nanny of a precocious, troubled 9-year-old Upper East Side girl. Based on an original idea by Allison Jacobs, the script was written by Julia Dahl ("The West Wing") and Lisa Davidowitz.
* Duane Adler (SAVE THE LAST DANCE) has sold his romantic/dramatic pitch TAKE ME HOME to Revolution Studios. It's about an East Coast fashion designer's psychological meltdown and return to the small Wyoming town where she was born, where her life is changed by an unlikely romantic relationship with a country music-loving cowpoke.
* ChickFlicks has acquired the rights to the 1958 Elaine Dundy novel THE DUD AVOCADO and is in talks with Aleksandra Crapanzano to pen the adaptation. The book is set in the postbeatnik, prehippie era of the late 1950s and tells the story of an American girl's rite of passage while living in Paris.
* Ron Bass will write CONFIDENCE for New Line Cinema based on a 1996 pitch that Toby Emmerich and Adam Gibgot sold to the studio. The pitch centered on a pair of con men coerced into working for the CIA.
* Columbia Pictures has grabbed Richard Nathanson's action-adventure comedy script TROUBLE IN TOYLAND for Ricochet Entertainment to produce. It's about five 12-year-old kids who are accidentally locked in a toy store overnight. When a group of thieves infiltrates the store as part of a larger crime scheme, the kids use gadgets and toys to thwart the criminals.
* Ken Kwapis is in talks to direct Cuba Gooding Jr. in Paramount Pictures/MTV Films' THE FIGHTING TEMPTATIONS. David Rayner wrote the script about a hip-hop producer who travels to a small Southern town to collect an inheritance. However, the will stipulates that he must create a gospel choir and lead it to success before he can cash in.
* Warner Bros. is developing a new adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel STRANGERS ON A TRAIN with David Seltzer (DRAGONFLY) writing the script. The first feature based on the book was Alfred Hitchcock's 1951 thriller starring Farley Granger and Robert Walker.
* Gwyn Lurie (upcoming THE MAN WHO ATE A 747, BFG) will write an adaptation of Roald Dahl's CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY for Warner Bros. Lurie will start from scratch on her adaptation of the 1964 novel and will work from the book as opposed to the movie.
* Ryne Douglas Pearson has sold GODSPEED, an action/adventure pitch set in outer space, to James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment. Cameron will produce with Rae Sanchini and Jon Landeau.
* Columbia Pictures picked up the undersea horror thriller pitch DEEP CORE from writer John Sweet (THE AFFAIR OF THE NECKLACE). It's set on a research submarine beneath the polar ice cap, where scientists encounter a deadly predator never before seen by man.
* Director Antoine Fuqua (TRAINING DAY) will develop Robert Ludlum's final book, THE SIGMA PROTOCOL, as a feature for Universal Pictures. The book centers on a man who, while trying to avenge his brother's murder, uncovers a lethal international conspiracy. He is hunted by a female undercover agent who eventually joins in his crusade and falls in love with him.
* Danny McBride and Len Wiseman have sold BLACK CHAPTER to Touchstone Pictures. It's a modern thriller described as a very visual intense supernatural story. The duo also set up UNDERWORLD, described as "Romeo and Juliet" in the world of vampires and werewolves, at Lakeshore Entertainment.
* Radar Pictures and producer David Permut have purchased Patrick Lee's action thriller script ALLEGIANCE about a spy leading a double life. It's based on a story by Lee and Bill Petrowich.
* Rob Cohen will direct THE NATURE OF EVIL, an action-adventure horror film for Universal Pictures. It's described as THE OMEN meets INDIANA JONES. The project is based on an idea that was owned by Montecito Pictures and had a script from Richard B. Matheson. They combined it with a script called THE DECEIVER, which was originated by Keith Davidson and rewritten by Cohen and Gemil Everett.
* Writer/director Joe Carnahan (NARC) has set up SMOKING ACES at Universal and Working Title Films. It's an ensemble action comedy dealing with the disappearance of a semi-famous Las Vegas magician.
* J.F. Lawton ("V.I.P.") is making a movie about a day in the life of two homeless men after they find a $20 bill. The film features numerous actors playing homeless people, who occasionally burst into opera.
* F. Gary Gray will direct the action feature V-8 for Artists Production Group. The extreme motor sports film is set in an apocalyptic future in which a muscle car-bound messenger discovers that the package he is delivering can save the world. Dario Scardpane wrote the script.
* Stephen Sommers (THE MUMMY) will write and direct VAN HELSING Shooting is anitcipated to begin early fall. Filming is expected to start in early fall. The script is set in the late 19th century and finds Bram Stoker's fabled monster hunter Van Helsing summoned to a distant Eastern European land to fight evil. The story will feature Universal's greatest classic monster characters, including Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolf Man.
* Darren Stein (JAWBREAKER) will write and direct the sexy comedy LIKE A VIRGIN for Maverick Films, Splendid Pictures and Untitled Entertainment. The project is about a girl who launches a back-to-virginity movement in her high school, which eventually makes her a national media figure.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* First Look Media has signed Travolta Family Films to a six-picture deal. Travolta Family Films was founded by the Travolta family, consisting of siblings Joey, John, Sam, Ellen, Margaret and Ann, and is set to produce family fare. The first project to come out of the deal will be the campy kid film CAMP COSTRA NOSTRA, which Joey Travolta optioned. Shooting may begin this summer on the William Stroum-penned project, about a group of old mobsters who set up a Mafia summer camp for orphaned kids in order to bring new blood into the family.
* Myriad Pictures is financing a five-picture slate to be produced by American Zoetrope and distributed domestically by MGM specialty arm United Artists. Three of the titles are: ON THE ROAD, to be directed by Joel Schumacher from a script by novelist Russell Banks; KINSEY, a biopic about America's first sexologist, Alfred Kinsey, to be directed by Bill Condon (GODS AND MONSTERS); and MY DARK PLACES, to be directed by Robert Greenwald from a script by Jan Oxenberg based on novelist James Ellroy's autobiographical investigation into his mother's 1950 murder.
* The Tom Green/Jason Lee comedy that has been known as PROMISES, PROMISES, PROMISES, THE PROMISE, STEALING U, UNCLE, SAY UNCLE and STEALING STANFORD has finally gained a final title: STEALING HARVARD. The project is about the ludicrous extremes a guy goes through to see that his niece will attend an expensive reputable college. It's set for release on Oct. 11.
* Michael Jackson's Neverland Entertainment now has a majority stake in MDP Worldwide Entertainment after a multi-million dollar investment in the company by the star. Neverland Pictures will become the production arm of MDP, with all features produced at the company now carrying the Neverland Pictures banner. The first picture to go out under the banner will be THE UNITED STATES OF LELAND, currently in production. Other titles include the sports action film THE EXTREMISTS, directed by Christian Duguay, and the cyber-horror thriller FEAR.COM, directed by William Malone.
* Producer Scott Rudin will help turn Daniel Handler's A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS into a feature for Nickelodeon Movies. The books focus on the misadventures of the Baudelaire orphans and the evil Count Olaf, who has designs on their inheritance.
* Valhalla Motion Pictures has optioned the Chaos! comic JADE about a vampire who's also a member of a Shanghai crime family.
* A Chinese studio is making BANDUNG SONATA, a feature on former longtime Communist premier Zhou Enlai's role in an international 1950s conference that eventually evolved into the Non-Aligned Movement. The film will be made in China and Indonesia for a release later this year.
* Francis Ford Coppola is in Thailand to help re-edit SURIYOTHAI, an epic film on a 16th century Thai queen, for international audiences. Coppola will be working at the production house of the film's director, Prince Chatri Chalerm Yukol.
* Miramax Films and MGM will co-produce a modern retelling of Akira Kurosawa's classic film THE SEVEN SAMURAI. The orginal movie is about a village who hires seven samurai warriors to defend them from bandits. The companies haven't yet determined where the remake will be set.
* Fox 2000 has acquired all rights to Gettosake Entertainment's animated Web series VENUS KINCAID to develop into a live-action pic. Created by Jeremy, Robert and Maurice Love, the webisodes focus on a No. 1 government agent who gets turned into the 12-year-old physical version of herself while maintaining her mental and physical state during battle with her archnemesis. After the incident, Kincaid goes undercover as a junior high student at the Albert Einstein School for gifted kids. The series can be found at www.gettosake.com.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* Check out the short film BONE JOBS at http://www.iFilm.com. It's a comedy about two losers trying to get money, respect, and a flattering bathing suit while blackmailing celebrities with poorly doctored photos.
* For information on the Durango Film Festival held March 1-10, 2002 in Durango, Colorado. Visit http://www.durangofilmfestival.com.
* Jurassic Punk got their hands on some exclusive clips and pictures from WE WERE SOLDIERS. See them now at http://www.JurassicPunk.com.
* Visit http://www.getsomefilm.com for information on the short film A.A. which the filmmaker believes may have been ripped off by "The Man Show." It's currently available as a part of the "Get Some Film Volume One" short film compilation, currently available at www.BuyIndies.com.
* Brandon Howe's film DOGS BARK, directed by Rebecca Fulton, is having a free premiere Monday March 11, 2002 outside at Jo's Coffee (1300 South Congress, Austin, TX).
* This year's SXSW film festival will host a series of conversations with filmmakers including Troma's Lloyd Kaufman, John Sayles, Albert Maysles and Peter Bogdonovich. Visit the festival's site at http://www.sxsw.com/film/
* Independent Filmmakers and Screenwriters, save $10.00 on all entry fees by entering Telluride IndieFest *before* March 1. Check out http://tellurideindiefest.com for more info.
* Go to http://www.swervepictures.com for screening dates of OUT OF BOUNDS at the SXSW Festival.
* The Bare Bones Film Festival will be the next appearance of Emmett Loverde's SANTA'S LETTERS, a "hilarious new take on the legend of St. Nick." The Bare Bones International Film Festival (http://www.BareBones2002.sites.cc) runs from April 17 through 21 in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
Until next week... Happy March.
Hope the Dylan flick will be good.
