Well, the work-week's over for most of us, so that means its time for another rehash of all the movie news out of Tinseltown for those who for whatever reasons were unable to catch it all the first time 'round. Soooooo, ol' Father Geek is is here once again posting up our Hollywood archivist Elston's report of the week-that-was for your information and enjoyment. Get good and relaxed, fill that extra-large custom AICN mug (available by clicking on those front page T-shirt ads on the left) with your fave form of Java, grab a tasty munchie, and prepare to trip back through the week out in Hollywoodland by way of...

The WEEKLY RECAP

TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

CASTING

* Melanie Griffith joins the cast of the crime thriller SHADE for RKO Pictures/Merv Griffin Entertainment and writer/director Damian Nieman. Sylvester Stallone, Jamie Foxx, Thandie Newton, Stuart Townsend and Gabriel Byrne star.

* Annette Bening will star in the Kevin Costner-directed film OPEN RANGE for Disney before she shoots FREAKY FRIDAY. Production begins next month.

* Chris Tucker is the latest contender to star in MGM's remake of THE PINK PANTHER. The actor reportedly attended a script-reading with director Ivan Reitman and other MGM brass.

* Radha Mitchell (HIGH ART) and Julie Christie join the James M. Barrie ("Peter Pan" author) biopic, NEVERLAND, for Miramax and director Marc Forster (MONSTER'S BALL).

* Stark Sands ("Six Feet Under") is in talks to join Natasha Lyonne, Jason Priestly, Adam Arkin and Charles Bush in the film noir-influenced comedy DIE MOMMIE DIE for director Mark Rucker. Bush penned the script about a singerin 1967 with a troubled past. Shooting begins June 10.

* Ivana Milicevic (HBO's "Mind of a Married Man") and Melissa George ("Thieves") grabbed supporting roles in 20th Century Fox's romantic comedy DOWN WITH LOVE for director Peyton Reed. Ewan McGregor and Renee Zellweger star in an homage to the early 1960s Rock Hudson/Doris Day sex comedies. It's about a bestselling female advice author who has all the answers until a sly journalist playboy starts asking the questions.

* Julie du Page joins the cast of Warner Bros.' CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE for director Andrzej Bartowiak (EXIT WOUNDS), starring Jet Li, DMX, Gabrielle Union, Anthony Anderson and Tom Arnold.

* Angie Harmon ("Law & Order") joins the cast of MGM's teen spy pic AGENT CODY BANKS, starring Frankie Muniz and Hilary Duff. Harald Zwart directs from a script by Jeffrey Jurgensen.

* Charlize Theron is in talks to star opposite Mark Wahlberg in Paramount's remake THE ITALIAN JOB for director F. Gary Gray. Production is expected to begin late July or early August. It's about a head of a robbery crew who stages a traffic jam in order to steal back a safe filled with gold that had been previously stolen by a double-crossing associate.

* Nicole Kidman may play an American abroad in a film adaptation of Robert Hellenga's novel THE SIXTEEN PLEASURES for MDP Worldwide, Neverland Entertainment and Handprint Entertainment. John Collee wrote the script about a book conservator, working to rescue Renaissance treasures from a flood in Florence, Italy, who finds both an ancient volume of erotic poetry and a new lover.

* Alan Cumming has signed on to play Nightcrawler in X-MEN 2 for director Bryan Singer and 20th Century Fox. Meanwhile, Aaron Stanford (TADPOLE) will play Pyro. They join Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, James Marsden, Hugh Jackman, Anna Paquin and Famke Janssen in the pic. Shooting begins in Vancouver on June 17 for a May 2, 2003 release. David Hayter wrote the script

* Naomi Watts and Kate Beckinsale are in talks to star in the dark comedy RAIN FALLS for Fine Line Features and writer/director I. Marlene King. Production begins in July. It's about the emotional fallout when an upper-middle-class suburb indulges in partner-swapping.

* Halle Berry and Marisa Tomei are in talks to star in NEED for director Luis Mandoki and Escape Artists. Shooting begins this fall. It's about a successful New York therapist who discovers that one of her patients -- a neurotic, suicidal woman -- is having an affair with her husband.

DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS

* Alfonso Cuaron (Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, A LITTLE PRINCESS), Callie Khouri (THE DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD) and Kenneth Branagh are reportedly in the running to direct the third installment of the HARRY POTTER movie franchise. Cuaron has received the Steve Kloves script for HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN and is in talks with Warner Bros. about his ideas for the project.

* Jonathan Glazer (SEXY BEAST) will direct a remake of the Japanese film CHAOS as a possible starring vehicle for Benicio Del Toro and Robert De Niro, the latter whom will also produce. The Universal project centers on a grifter hired to stage the kidnapping of a rich businessman's wife. Things take a turn for the worst when the grifter returns from making his ransom demand to discover his captive has been murdered. Andrew Bovell (LANTANA, STRICTLY BALLROOM) will write the script.

* French filmmaker Erick Zonca (THE DREAMLIFE OF ANGELS) will make a feature based on his one-hour French TV special "The Little Thief," a coming-of-age story set among the street gangs of Marseille. Nick St. John will rewrite the story, setting it in New York.

* Eric Mendelsohn (JUDY BERLIN) will write and direct DELIA for Crossroads about a female costume designer's descent into madness. The company also optioned MCGOORTY, by Danny and Robert Byrne, for John McCormick to adapt. It's about a gambler and pool hustler at the beginning of the 20th century.

* Jordan Moffet is in talks to write the screenplay for POOKIE POO, a Universal/Imagine/Urban Entertainment project based on an episode of an animated cartoon series of the same name. The episode centers on a slacker guy who wakes up one day to discover he is the only black person in America.

* John Singleton is in final negotiations to direct the sequel to THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, starring Tyrese and Paul Walker. The sequel will follow cop Brian O'Conner who is stripped of his badge after letting Dominic Torreto get away. He is given a chance to redeem himself by going undercover to infiltrate the street racing circuit in Miami. Shooting starts in October.

* Nora Ephron will direct a feature adaptation of the Larry McMurtry novel THE DESERT ROSE for Columbia Pictures. Ephron and her sister Delia will write the screenplay. The story centers on a single mother who is trying to maintain her position as the lead dancer at a Vegas casino. Meanwhile, her gorgeous daughter is making a name for herself in showgirl circles.

* Aaron Feldman and Oritte Bendory have sold their political thriller pitch HOLIDAY CLUB to Thousand Words. It's about an American diplomat's son who becomes friends with a group of foreign diplomats' children who use and abuse their diplomatic immunity to break the law.

* Cyrus Voris and Ethan Reiff have sold MASTER P: KUNG FU PANDA for DreamWorks Pictures to be developed as a fully animated, computer-generated feature. The story revolves around a gang of snow leopard bandits that come down from the highlands to invade a bamboo jungle. The jungle animals must search for a prophesied warrior to defend them. They find their hero in a lazy, underachieving panda who they must train to become the ultimate kung fu master.

* Stephen Chiau (SHAOLIN SOCCER) will direct an action comedy for the international market. The story is being kept under wraps, but it's set in Honk Kong in the 1940s and 1950s, and Chiau will play one of the roles.

* Massy Tadjedin (LEOPOLD BLOOM) will adapt the 1955 Alain Robbe-Grillet novel LE VOYEUR for Universal Pictures. Kevin Misher and Akiva Goldsman will produce. The story centers on a man's return to a the Caribbean island of his birth, and follows him as he tries to prove he couldn't possibly be the chief suspect in a grisly child murder two days after his arrival.

* Christopher Bertolini (THE GENERAL'S DAUGHTER) will adapt WHITE OUT for Gaylord Films, based on the upcoming novel by former New York Police Officer Jerry Speziale. Antoine Fuqua is attached to direct.

* Frank Darabont (THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles") is near a deal to write the fourth installment of the INDIANA JONES franchise for Paramount. The studio is reportedly hoping for a July 2005 release.

MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS

* Warner Bros. has optioned Elizabeth Gilbert's book THE LAST AMERICAN MAN for Baltimore/Spring Creek Pictures to produce. It's about the true story of Eustace Conway, who moved into the Appalachian Mountains at 17 and has lived off the land for 20 years. He escaped an abusive childhood by taking to the wilderness and developing survival skills unknown to most people. He lived in a teepee full time for 17 years and set a world record when he crossed the continent on horseback in 103 days.

* Kevin Spacey's Trigger Street Prods. is developing an English-language remake of the Norwegian film ELLING about two misfits who become close friends are released into the real world from a state home . It's based on the comic novel by Ingvar Ambjoernsen.

* Fox 2000 has optioned Lauren Weisberger's first novel, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA for producer Wendy Finerman. It's about a small-town girl who takes a job working for the domineering editor of a fictitious New York fashion magazine called Runway.

GUNN SHOT

(NOT from the trades)

* Read the interview with Bloodshot Pictures director Ramzi Abed on his project THE TUNNEL: Its All Right Here, Just Click

Until next week... Happy June.

Elston Gunn

elstongunn@hotmail.com