Father Geek and Elston Gunn back again with another pulse pounding issue of...
THE WEEKLY RECAP...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Winona Ryder will join Ray Romano, Debra Winger, Hank Azaria, Monica Potter and Rip Torn in the dark comedy EULOGY about three generations of a dysfunctional family that come together for the funeral of the family patriarch. A litany of family secrets and hidden relationships becomes evident during the gathering. Michael Clancy will direct from his own script for Artisan. Production begins Feb. 21.
* Eva Mendes is in final talks to join Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear in 20th Century Fox's STUCK ON YOU for Bobby and Peter Farrelly. The project begins shooting next month in Miami. It's about conjoined twins, with the latter harboring ambitions to act. Mendes is also in talks to star in the indie pic SHADOWBOXER for director Barbet Schroeder. That project starts production in May.
* Kirk Douglas will star in THE ILLUSION, based on Corneille's 17th century play L'ILLUSION COMIQUE, for director Michael Goorjian and production outfit entitled entertainment. It's about a young man's lifelong pursuit of one woman and a dying father's estrangement from his only son. Goorjian adapted the project with Ron Marasco.
* Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is in negotiations to star in MGM's remake of WALKING TALL, written by David Klass. Production will most likely begin this summer. The original centered on a Southern sheriff's mission to remove corruption from his county - often using the assistance of a well-swung two-by-four.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Millard Kaufman will adapt Joe Landsdale's novella THE BIG BLOW for Scott Free Prods. and director Jake Scott (PLUNKETT & MACLEANE). Set during the turn of the 20th century in Texas, the story centers on a boxing match between a young Jack Johnson -- who would later become the first black heavyweight champion -- and Jack McBryde, a ringer from Chicago brought in by the Galveston Sports Club to bring a white champion back to Texas. The charged atmosphere of the fight is then interrupted by a hurricane that went down in the books as the worst natural disaster in the U.S.
* Malcolm Lee (THE BEST MAN, UNDERCOVER BROTHER) will rewrite and direct the sports drama feature THE RUCKER for Universal and producer Kevin Misher. It's about two basketball teammates/friends in Harlem, one black and one white, who find themselves competing in an all-important tournament as well as against each other for the league's most valuable player award and the attention of the NBA. Danielle Gardner wrote the first draft of the script with a rewrite by Mike Elliott.
* Wayne Kramer (THE COOLER) will direct his mob script RUNNING SCARED. Set in New Jersey, it's a father-son story that takes place during one night, as a chain reaction of events occurs after two 10-year-old boys come across a dirty mob gun only to be chased by a low-level mob man who is trying to get it.
* Pixar Animation Studios has hired writers Emily Cook and Kathy Greenberg to script an untitled project for release in 2006 that revolves around the adventures of a rodent in an upscale restaurant.
* Robert Altman will direct the thriller ULTRAVIOLET, based on his own idea for Focus Features. Jeffrey Lewis ("Hill Street Blues") wrote the script set in the competitive and back-stabbing art world of New York.
* Jenny McCarthy and husband John Asher's Smash Prods. has snapped up the Ron Zimmerman (THE BEST MAN) drama script STANDING DOWN. It's an urban drama and love story set in South Central Los Angeles. Smash Prods. is also developing the McCarthy-penned DIRTY LOVE and Jeff Peters' action thriller CHASE.
* The Spice Factory has optioned the David Ondaatje script THE FORGOTTEN GAMES, the true story of the British ice hockey team's controversial participation in the 1936 Winter Olympics, hosted by Nazi Germany. Ondaatje will also direct the project.
* Jay Roach will direct a remake of the 1968 Peter Sellers comedy THE PARTY for MGM and DreamWorks. Jim Herzfeld (MEET THE PARENTS) will write the script. The original starred Peter Sellers as an accident-prone Indian actor who is mistakenly invited to an A-list Hollywood party. He becomes a true party crasher, clumsily leading to the destruction of everything in sight.
* David Fincher will direct the skateboarding feature LORDS OF DOGTOWN for Columbia Pictures from a script by Stacy Peralta (DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS). Shooting begins later this year. The project follows a group of young California surfers who take their style to the streets as skateboarders, thereby launching a whole new sport that defined a generation and pop culture.
* Tim Story (BARBERSHOP) is in talks to direct DATE SCHOOL for DreamWorks and Red Hour Films. Production begins in the spring. The story centers on the proprietor of a Learning Annex-type dating school who falls for a skeptical student. Abby Cohn and Mark Silverstein wrote screenplay to the project.
* Jill Cargerman will write DOMESTIC AFFAIRS, a romantic omedy for Warner Bros. based on an idea by producer Dylan Sellers.
* Brad Silberling is attached to direct ASHLAND for Firm Films and Touchstone Pictures. It's loosely described as a faith-based supernatural thriller with police procedural elements.
* Disney has grabbed the Piers Anthony fantasy novel ON A PALE HORSE with Jamie Foxx attached to star. Paul Guay (LIAR LIAR) will adapt the novel about an insurance agent so distraught with his life that he plans a suicide. When the Grim Reaper makes a premature appearance to claim his body, the man gets spooked and fatally shoots the angel of death. He is then drafted into becoming his replacement.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Tom Cruise's production company, C/W Productions, is expected to shoot MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3 with David Fincher directing from a Robert Towne script. Other C/W projects in development include: THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE CHUNNEL, about Middle Eastern immigrants trying to sneak into England; a remake of WAR OF THE WORLDS; an adaptation of CARTER BEATS THE DEVIL; BONDSWOMAN'S NARRATIVE, based on the first known novel written by a female fugitive slave; and the mystery 17 STONE ANGELS.
* Zide/Perry Entertainment has picked up the feature rights to video game franchise Metroid. The company is currently going out to writers and directors to adapt the property.
* Paramount Pictures and studio-based Jordan Kerner have teamed to develop a feature film based on the classic 1970s television series "The Streets of San Francisco" with Robert Eisele set to write the script. The film version, which will differ in substance and style than the television show, is described as being a high-stakes international thriller and an investigative, character-driven tale. It will focus on the contemporary problem of Russian organized crime in the onion domes of San Francisco's Clement District.
* Producer John H. Williams (SHREK) has optioned the rights to the children's book TED by Tony DiTerlizzi to be developed as a live-action project starring a CG-animated character.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* Reports in the UK press have indicated a relaunching of a once dead 1996 Gilliam project. FUNGAS THE BOGEYMAN, by children's author Raymond Briggs, will be brought to the big screen. Written by Briggs and Python star Terry Jones with John Goodman as a potential lead.
* Death Puppets is the creation of Kieran Howarth, an independent cartoonist and illustrator based out of the United States. With several small press comic publications to his name, Kieran once again tugs his dark cartoon creation into the skin capital of the earth...the internet. Check it out at http://www.akiran.com
* WOOF! Entertainment, a newly formed children's entertainment company, has launched its development slate by optioning the rights to Blue Jean Teddy, a popular children's brand. The company plans to produce a series of animated Blue Jean Teddy DTVs, and is also developing an animated Blue Jean Teddy TV show. All stories will center around the adventures of Blue Jean Teddy and his friends in the town of Bramblewood.
* There are DVD campaigns for three different movies: THE RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, PART 2 (http://members.tripod.com/~evilbaby/ROTLD2.html), THE RESURRECTED (http://members.tripod.com/~evilbaby/resurrected.html) and MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN (http://members.tripod.com/~evilbaby/InvisibleMan.html).
