Father Geek here, fresh from the opening of the 1st day of the SXSW Music Festival. Harry and I will be continuing with our film watching this afternoon and evening as the Film Festival part of this annual "orgy of pop culture" (South By Southwest Film & Music Festival) continues into its 6th day. I saw PHONE BOOTH last night and it is an outstanding flick, tense as hell, a must see on the big screen with big sound. Wonderful performances by all involved, taut direction, and fantastic scripting. Don't READ ANYTHING ELSE about it... that's ALL you need to know!

Now here's Elston with...

THE WEEKLY RECAP...

TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

CASTING

* Bonnie Hunt will star opposite Steve Martin in 20th Century Fox's remake of CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN for director Shawn Levy. Sam Harper scripted the new adaptation of the Frank B. Gilbreth book.

* Garrett Hedlund joins the cast of TROY for Warner Bros. Pictures/Village Roadshow Pictures and director Wolfgang Petersen. Production begins April 22.

* Steve Coogan (24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE) and Jim Broadbent join Jackie Chan in AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS. Frank Coraci (THE WEDDING SINGER) directs. Shooting starts March 15.

* Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany will star in the romantic comedy WIMBLEDON for Working Title and director Richard Loncraine.

* Julianne Moore will star in and Joseph Ruben (RETURN TO PARADISE) will direct Revolution Studios' supernatural thriller THE FORGOTTEN. Gerald DiPego wrote the script about a grieving mother struggling to cope with the loss of her 8-year-old son. She is stunned when her psychiatrist tells her she has created eight years of memories of a son she never had. She makes it her mission to prove her son's existence as well as her sanity.

* Ashley Judd is in talks to join Kevin Kline in the Cole Porter biopic DE-LOVELY for director Irwin Winkler. Jay Cocks scripted. Judd will play socialite Linda Lee Porter who married Porter even though he was gay and was a source of inspiration for musical compositions "Anything Goes" and "Kiss Me Kate." After she died, he never wrote another song.

* Eddie Griffin, Jeremy Piven, Simon Rex and Anthony Anderson join SCARY MOVIE 3 for Dimension and director David Zucker. Charlie Sheen, Denise Richards, Anna Faris and Regina Hall also star.

* Rob Schneider joins Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore in Columbia Pictures' 50 FIRST KISSES for director Peter Segal.

* Clive Owen will play the title role in KING ARTHUR while Stephen Dillane is in talks to play Merlin. Antoine Fuqua will direct the Disney project.

* Brittany Murphy will star in Revolution Studios' romantic comedy LITTLE BLACK BOOK about an associate producer for a daytime talk show who opens up a Pandora's box when she goes into her boyfriend's Palm Pilot to learn more about his ex-girlfriends.

* Derek Luke and William H. Macy will join Val Kilmer in Franchise Pictures' political thriller SPARTAN for writer/director David Mamet and producer Art Linson. Production begins April 15 in Los Angeles. It's about a man who is asked to investigate the kidnapping of the president's daughter.

* Mark Wahlberg, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Jason Schwartzman, Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin and Catherine Deneuve are in talks to star in David O. Russell's ensemble comedy on marriage and existentialism currently titled I LOVE HUCKABEE'S. David O. Russell scripted with Jeff Baena. Miramax and Warner Bros. will co-produce.

* Alan Bates, John Neville, Charlotte Rampling, Matt Craven and Noami Jenkins have joined the cast of political thriller THE STATEMENT for diector Norman Jewison. Michael Caine, Jeremy Northam and Tilda Swinton also star.

* Peter Sarsgaard is in talks to join Natalie Portman and Ian Holm in LARGE'S ARK for writer/director/star Zach Braff ("Scrubs"). It revolves around a young man who returns home for his mom's funeral after being estranged from his family for a decade.

* Catherine Keener will star opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in IFC Films' ROSE AND THE SNAK for writer/director Rebecca Miller. Shooting starts this summer.

* John Cusack is in talks to star opposite his sister Joan Cusack and Nicole Kidman in Paramount's THE STEPFORD WIVES for director Frank Oz and producer Scott Rudin.

* Alan Tudyk (A KNIGHT'S TALE) has been cast as the animation reference for the CGI character Sonny opposite Will Smith in the sci-fi action pic I, ROBOT for 20th Century Fox and director Alex Proyas. Shooting begins in May.

DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS

* Callie Khouri will rewrite Warner Bros. Pictures' A SEASON IN CENTRAL PARK for director Mike Newell and Outlaw Prods. It's about a wealthy man in a relationship with a woman, but unbeknownst to him, his best friend wants to be with her as well. The best friend teams with a working-class girl in an attempt to drive a wedge between the couple and make way for each to be with their object of desire.

* Erik Anderson sold his action-thriller script RIPPIN' to Franchise with Adam Barker attached to direct. Set amid the worlds of professional motocross and extreme freestyle dirt-biking, it tells the story of an ex-motocross champion's reluctant foray into the racing in order to find his brother's murderers.

* Wes Clark has sold an untitled thriller pitch to Warner Bros. Pictures to be produced by 3 Arts Entertainment's Irwin Stoff and writer David Ayer. It centers on an ex-con who, confronted with his past, must decide if he's a criminal or a changed man. Additionally, Radiant Prods. has optioned Clark's character-based action thriller COLD SHELTER about a patriotic American special operative who is sent to 1983 Cold War Germany to infiltrate a terrorist ring, later questioning the values he's fought to uphold.

* David Riker will direct a remake of SALT OF THE EARTH using the children and grandchildren of the miners who portrayed themselves in the first version of the film 50 years ago.

* MGM snapped up the horror script HELL WEEK, written by Michael and Ted Peterson, for Zide/Perry Entertainment to produce. It follows six boys who hope to pledge a fraternity but are harassed, humiliated and terrorized by the frat brothers. One pledge finally snaps and, disguising himself as a ghost, begins brutally killing off his tormentors.

* Arthur Harris' script AMERICAN BOOTY will be produced by MTV Films for Paramount Pictures. It's described as an African-American AMERICAN PIE, centering on two college friends who decide to have casual sex and end up falling in love.

* Nicholas Kazan (ENOUGH) sold his sci-fi thriller script US to MGM for Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen (AMERICAN BEAUTY) to produce. It's about a woman and her brother who, while clearing out their grandmother's deserted Nevada farmhouse, discover diaries of events that lead them to conclude that aliens are taking over the world. The two are part-alien themselves.

* First-time writers Kevin and Dan Hageman will pen the drama CHARLIE DILLS, a project that Steven Spielberg may direct at DreamWorks. It's about the life of a 13-year-old prodigy.

* Working Title Films grabbed THE ANSWER from writers Kevin J. Walsh and Todd Pollack. The story charts the progress of three contestants who enter a unique holiday lottery in the big city. Goal is to win $80 million, but the desire of wealth leads to corruption and deception.

* Peter Kosminsky (WHITE OLEANDER) will direct the Holocaust drama GIANTS about a German soldier who tries to save a group of Jewish children from execution by leading them across the Alps with the SS hot on their trail. Shooting begins in the fall. Dan Gordon (THE HURRICANE) scripted.

* Maurice Chauvet (OWNING MAHONY) and Christopher Vail will write the script for a computer-animated version of MIGHTY MOUSE for Nickelodeon Films and Paramount.

* Andrew Cosby (UPN's "Haunted") will write the adaptation of Troy Nixey's graphic novel TROUT for Phoenix Pictures. The story centers on a young boy whose nightmare escapes from his dream. The kid must join forces with a nightmare hunter to catch the monster before it brings everyone's worst nightmares to life.

* New Line Cinema picked up the comedy pitch THE WINGMAN from writers Jonathan Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg for Paul Schiff (MONA LISA SMILE) to produce. It's about a guy, who's particularly gifted at helping his friends pick up women, falling in love.

* Amy Rardin and Jessica O'Toole will write MODERN BRIDE for Mostow/Lieberman Prods. and Disney about the ultimate frat guy who lands the perfect job at a Maxim-type magazine but finds his ego takes a hit when he is reassigned to work on a bridal magazine.

* Writer/director Damian Nieman (upcoming SHADE) has set up his next pic A COLD READ at Pariah. It's about a confidence man who poses as a psychic but slowly begins to believe he may actually have the gift of conversing with the dead.

* Joe Roth is considering directing Revolution's drama WILLIE, starring Ice Cube. It's about a junior high school custodian whose life changes when he is given the chance to coach the school's basketball team. But the school district threatens to take away the job when they find out that he lacks the required teaching accreditation and high school diploma.

* Maverick Films grabbed the action-thriller spec TOP TEN WITH A BULLET from writers Lea McCormick and Tamara Adams. It's about a man and his three childhood friends who quit their dead-end jobs to hunt the serial killer responsible for the death of his sister in order to get revenge and earn a $5 million reward.

* New Line Cinema picked up the action-adventure pitch HOLMES AND WATSON from producers William Sherak and Jason Shuman with James Robinson set to script. The new project will revolve around the descendants of the legendary sleuth and his sidekick Dr. Watson and will be set in modern-day London. The heir to the Holmes legacy will be portrayed as a twentysomething playboy who uses his talents mainly to pick up girls until he is drawn back into the family detective business by a young, sexy Dr. Jane Watson.

* Commercials wizard Zack Snyder will direct the remake of George Romero's horror classic DAWN OF THE DEAD for Universal and Strike Entertainment from a reinvented script by James Gunn (SCOOBY-DOO).

* Rand Ravich (THE ASTRONAUT'S WIFE) will direct his psychological thriller script POSITION for New Regency about two 25-year-old men and a female companion on a road trip. They find themselves being taken in some scary places and are not sure how they're getting there.

* William and Scott Bindley sold their comedy script THE GREATEST ESCAPE to MGM for the AGENT CODY BANKS producers to develop. The story concerns a group of kids who think they're going to summer camp but instead they end up in a juvenile detention facility where they must escape the facility's maniacal proprietor.

* New Line picked up SLAY THE BULLY with Catch 23's Alter Ego set to produce. It's about a kid who transfers to a junior high that is terrorized by a bully and accidentally causes the downfall of the pint-sized oppressor. The script was written by Roy Frumkes and Rocco Simonelli (THE SUBSTITUTE 2) with Rob Lieber (ZITS) on board for a rewrite.

* Lamar Damon will adapt the novel CONFESSIONS OF A BACK-UP DANCER for Beacon Pictures. It's about a 17-year-old girl who has her dream fulfilled by landing a summer job as a backup dancer for a Britney Spears-like teen pop sensation.

* Kiran Ramchandran will write and direct KID BANG for Fox Searchlight Pictures about the world of underground dance competitions.

MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS

* Columbia Pictures and Senator International will partner on the thriller 30 DAYS OF NIGHT, based on the comic book series, to be produced by Ghost House Pictures. It will be set in Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost town in the U.S., where, in the middle of winter, the sun sets and does not rise again for more than 30 consecutive days and nights. From the darkness, across the frozen wasteland, comes an evil force that strikes terror into the residents of Barrow.

* Director Wim Wenders (BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB) will executive produce SONS OF BUENA VISTA, to be directed by German Kral. The docu-fiction follows BUENA VISTA band leader Pio Levya on a quest to find young recruits for a new Latin jazz group.

* Killer Films and theater company the Araca Group are parterning on a bigscreen version of the Tony-winning Broadway musical URINETOWN. Composer-lyricist Mark Hollman and book writer-lyricist Greg Kotis will write a screenplay draft. It's a darkly comic spoof of oppressed masses rising up against the capitalist ruling class after the world's population must pay to urinate in a post-apocalyptic world.

Until next week.

Elston Gunn

elstongunn@hotmail.com