Father Geek here with Elston and the return of our weekly column devoted to updating you on all the bits of movie news you may have missed during the busy work-week. He was experiencing some combuter connection problems, glad to see them get all ironed out in time for this week's edition of...
The Weekly Recap...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Richard Gere will star in EMPEROR ZEHNDER for director Gregory Hoblit (PRIMAL FEAR), Hyde Park Entertainment and National Geographic. It's based on the true story of Bruno P. Zehnder, who dedicated his life to photographing Emperor penguins in the Antarctic, and his love affair with a New York-based doctor who accompanied him on one of his trips. Ned Zeman and Daniel Bernstein wrote the script. Shooting will take place partly in the Antarctic.
* Matthew McConaughey is in final talks to play Dirk Pitt in SAHARA, based on the novel by Clive Cussler, for director Breck Eisner and Paramount. The story centers on the explorer who travels to the Sahara looking for a toxin that's killing marine life.
* Audrey Tatou (AMELIE) will star in an adaptation of Sebastien Japrisot's novel A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT for director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. It's about a young woman who searches for answers about her soldier fiance's disappearance at the end of World War I.
* Barry Pepper and Tom Wilkinson are in talks to star in an indie pic based on Patricia Highsmith's novel RIPLEY UNDER GROUND for director Roger Spottiswoode. Shooting begins June 2 in England. Pepper also joins AVIATOR for Initial Entertainment Group, while Wilkinson is negotiations to star in COMPLEAT FEMALE STAGE BEAUTY.
* Javier Bardem is in talks to play the ancient Greek hero Odysseus in Neil Jordan's THE RETURN for Qwerty Films and 20th Century Fox. Edward Bond's script deals with the homecoming of Odysseus to his island kingdom of Ithaca, 20 years after he left to fight in the Trojan War. He finds his wife, Penelope, besieged by suitors who believe he is dead.
* Kate Bosworth is in final talks to play Sandra Dee opposite Kevin Spacey in the Bobby Darin biopic BEYOND THE SEA for MDP Worldwide and Trigger Street Prods. Shooting begins late summer.
* Neal McDonough has joined Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in MGM's new WALKING TALL for director Kevin Bray and Hyde Park Entertainment. Shooting is scheduled to start in July.
* Kim Basinger, Mimi Rogers and Bijou Phillips join Jeff Bridges in THE DOOR IN THE FLOOR, based on John Irving's A WIDOW FOR ONE YEAR, for writer/director Tod Williams.
* Billy Bob Thornton and Lisa Blount will star in the indie feature CHRYSTAL for writer/director Ray McKinnon (THE ACCOUNTANT short). Shooting begins May 28 in Arkansas. It's about a rural woman whose convict husband returns home from prison only to see that the vacancy in her life left by the death of her child years earlier becomes even more acute. Walton Goggins ("The Shield") also stars.
* Charles S. Dutton joins Halle Berry and Penelope Cruz in GOTHIKA for director Mathieu Kassovitz.
* Val Kilmer, Eric Idle and Michael Clarke Duncan will lend their vocal talents to Fathom Studios' indie computer animated film DELGO about a troubled youth and some unlikely friends who must save the world from itself.
* Leslie Nielsen and Camryn Manheim join SCARY MOVIE 3 for director David Zucker and Dimension Films. Meanwhile, Dimension has already greenlighted SCARY MOVIE 4 with Zucker back onboard as director. Production will begin in June with the same writing/directing team and most of the cast returning.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Phil Wen sold his comedy script THE VON DOOZERS to Dimension with Todd Phillips attached to direct. It's described as as a cross between "The Partridge Family" and NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VACATION.
* David Elliott and Paul Lovett will write KNIGHT RIDER, based on the 1980's television series, for Revolution Studios and executive producer David Hasselhoff.
* Dennie Gordon (WHAT A GIRL WANTS) will direct the Olsen Twins (Mary-Kate and Ashley) in NEW YORK MINUTE for Warner Bros. Emily Fox wrote the action/adventure script.
* Warner Bros. picked up the script DREAM GIRL, written by Greg Glienna and Pete Schwaba, with Jamie Kennedy attached to star. It's about a night manager who is stalked by a huge movie star that he hooks up with for one night while she passes through town.
* Chris Wilkinson and Steve Rivele will adapt the Karen Essex book KLEOPATRA for Warner Bros. The project will focus on her relationships as a girl, woman, wife, mother, queen and later, reincarnated goddess.
* Sydney Pollack is in talks to direct the thriller THE INTERPRETER for Universal, Working Title Films and Misher Prods. Charles Randolph wrote the script which is descriped as NO WAY OUT set in the United Nations.
* Disney picked up the comedy pitch HOW TO BECOME FAMOUS IN 12 DAYS OR LESS from Steven Gary Banks and Claudia Grazioso for Evolution Entertainment to produce. Based on a Marie Claire article, it's described as a female TRADING PLACES.
* Disney is developing an untitled teen musical to be directed by theater helmer Kristen Hanggi ("bare") about a cynical teenage girl who finds hope and possibility after a misguided community service project results in her first foray into the world of Manhattan's privileged elite. Damon Intrabartolo and singer-songwriter Jason Whitton are writing the musical numbers while Amy Veltman is writing the script.
* Dario Piana will direct SNAKESKIN for Emmett/Furla and Avi Lerner's Millennium Films. It's about a man who specializes in acquiring rare and unique antiquities for the highest bidder. He then gets a job hunting down a genetically enhanced ex-partner who has a stolen package that could forever change the balance of good and evil in the world. Paul Sloan wrote the script and will take a part in the pic.
* Oliver Hirschbiegel (DAS EXPERIMENT) will direct DER UTERGANG -- HITLER UND DAS ENDE DES 3. REICHS (THE DOWNFALL -- HITLER AND THE END OF THE THIRD REICH) for Constantin Film. The project was adapted by Bernd Eichinger from Joachim Fest's book of the same name, as well as from material written by Hitler's personal secretary, Traudl Junge. Production begins in August in Germany and in other European locations.
* Jesper W. Nielsen (OKAY) will direct DON'T YOU KNOW JOHN LENNON, penned by Kim Fupz Aakeson, for Angel Films. Thomas Bo Larsen and Lene Maria Christensen will star in the pic about a criminal who has spent his time in jail writing songs for his old rock group.
* Writer/director Andy Humphries will later this month shoot the sex comedy SEX LIVES OF THE POTATO MEN for Entertainment Film Distributors and the Film Council. Johnny Vegas and Mackenzie Crook will star as two guys who spend their time either chasing women for sex, or being chased by them for revenge. Lucy Davies and Mark Gatiss also star.
* Caroline Thompson (EDWARD SCISSORHANDS) will adapt Louisa Young's novel LIONBOY for DreamWorks and producers Team Todd. Set in London in the near future, the story follows a boy named Charlie Ashanti who was scratched by a leopard when he was a baby and thus can communicate with cats. As a child, he teams up with a band of circus lions to track down his parents, who have been kidnapped.
* Charles Randolph will adapt the Tom Edison novel ST. AGNES' STAND for DreamWorks Pictures with Martin Scorsese attached to direct. The story is set in the 1860s-set story and centers on Nat Swanson, who is on the run from a mob of Texas cowboys after having killed one of their own. While on the run, he helps save a nun and a group of seven orphans from being attacked by Apache Indians.
* Disney grabbed the teen comedy pitch PRINCESS BOOT CAMP from writer Caryn Lucas and producer Rachel Pfeffer. It's a comedy about a group of spoiled teenage girls whose parents can't take their indulgent behavior anymore and send them to away to boot camp, where they become unspoiled.
* Katherine Fugate has sold an untitled dark comedy pitch to New Line Cinema for Jennifer Aniston to star and produce. It's about a wife of a wealthy politician who is confronted with her past when the 10-year-old son she gave up for adoption resurfaces in her life.
* Argentine writer/director Santiago Carlos Oves is shooting CONVERSACIONES CON MAMA (COVERSATIONS WITH MOTHER), starring Concepcion "China" Zorrilla de San Martin and Eduardo Blanco. It's about a man who is forced to sell his mother's home after he loses his job. But his mother, 82, and her boyfriend won't move out.
* Montecito Picture Co. has picked up Sheldon Turner's adaptation of Walter Kirn's novel UP IN THE AIR for Ivan Reitman to direct. It's a comedy about a man who fires people professionally. Spending most of his time flying around from city to city for his job, he is six days short of accumulating $1 million in frequent-flier miles. The man sets out on one final trip to achieve his goal but gets much more than he bargained for in the process. .
* Antwone Fisher will write an untitled comedy for New Line set in the world of foster care, revolving around the comedic dynamic between a foster child and his unqualified caretaker.
* Disney purchased an untitled romantic thriller pitch from producer Jane Startz and writer Katherine Reback about a pampered New York socialite whose husband mysteriously disappears. The socialite must learn to survive on her own, and when her life and the life of her daughter are threatened, she is forced to rely on her wits and dormant strengths to solve the mystery and save their lives.
* Chris Nolan will direct THE PRESTIGE, an adaptation of the Christopher Priest novel, about a seance in 1878 hatching a bitter rivalry between two young stage magicians.
* J.D. Zeik (RONIN) sold his script AFTERMATH to Millenium Films for Alexander Witt to direct. It's a futuristic piece about a soldier who returns from a war, only to find another battle waiting for him as he tries to settle back into a peaceful life.
* Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner will write the Fox/New Regency DAREDEVIL spinoff ELEKTRA, relying heavily on Frank Miller's THE ELEKTRA SAGA. The film picks up as Elektra recovers from her near-death experience in DAREDEVIL and battles the Hand, the organization of killers that trained her and then turned against her.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Stan Winston has optioned the feature rights to THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE, based on the 3DO video game.
* The horror label of Little Bird Films, The Ministry of Fear, has greenlit its first movie: TRAUMA, the Marc Evans project starring Colin Firth and Mena Suvari, about a man who wakes from a coma after a car accident to discover his wife may or may not have died in the same crash. The company is also readying YOU CAN'T COME IN, a script by Muriel Gray about a woman who sells her soul to a demon in order to save her dying child; as well as Kim Newman's AN ENGLISH GHOST STORY, a haunted-house tale set in the English countryside.
* Columbia Pictures snapped up the remake rights to the Swedish comedy KOPPS for Happy Madison to produce. The story centers on a small-town police force that is on the verge of being shut down because of a lack of crime in the area. In order to save their jobs, the cops take matters into their own hands by going on a crime spree.
* Bruce Willis has dropped out of the thriller ME AGAIN due to "creative differences." Diane Lane remains the female lead for director Dean Parisot.
* Scott Steindorff's Stone Village Prods. has picked up the bigscreen rights to THE PUPPET MASTER: THE SECRET LIFE OF J. EDGAR HOOVER by Richard Hack.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* The third edition of the NotodoFilmFest.com has just begun. To find out more about the Independent International Film Festival on the internet, visit Notodofilmfest.com
* The Telluride Indie Fest's "call for entries" ends on April 30. For more info, go to http://tellurideindiefest.com
* "The 3rd Tower," a new website for like-minded fanatics of the LORD OF THE RINGS books and movies, has launched in conjunction with 3TDigital (www.3tdigital.com). Visit them at http://www.the3rdtower.com
* Reality dating show DATE OR DISASTER has premiered on iFILM Visit http://www.ifilm.com/ifilm/product/film_info/0,3699,2460728,00.html or http://www.dateordisaster.com.
* HENRY'S GARDEN, an award-winning animated short film about a monster who loves flowers, is now available on IFILM: http://www.ifilm.com/filmdetail?ifilmid=2459519&cch=20 Theatrical screening dates, image galleries, and detailed information on the making of HENRY'S GARDEN are available at: http://www.simplisticpictures.com
* THE WRITER AT WORK has hit a milestone and this is the last week of its "2-Fer Comic Print Sale." http://www.thewriteratwork.com/site/index.asp
* Modern VideoFilm has partnered with James Cameron to help bring his labor of love, GHOSTS OF THE ABYSS, to IMAX screens everywhere April 11, coinciding with the anniversary of the date the Titanic set sail. Sony and Cameron developed a lightweight digital 3-D camera used for the project. The 22-pound Reality Camera System brackets two Sony high-def cameras (with slightly smaller lenses) set the same distance apart as human eyes. To watch an in-depth making of this film, visit Cameron's EarthShipTV (http://www.earthsip.tv) For more about Modern VideoFilm, visit http://www.mvfinc.com
