Father Geek here posting Elston's recap for this week... just in case you missed some of the Hollywood news during your busy work-week...
THE WEEKLY RECAP...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Arnold Schwarzenegger is attached to star in New Line's family road comedy BIG SIR about a soon-to-be stepdad who is forced to travel cross-country with his future stepkids in tow, all the while being pursued by unsavory characters from his past. Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle ("Buzz Lightyear of Star Command") have written the most recent draft of the script.
* Cameron Diaz will star alongside Jim Carrey in Columbia's remake of the 1977 comedy FUN WITH DICK AND JANE for director Barry Sonnenfeld. Joel and Ethan Coen will work on a rewrite of the script.
* Gavin Rossdale of the rock group Bush joins Crusader Entertainment's soccer pic THE GAME OF THEIR LIVES, based on the book by Geoffrey Douglas for director David Anspaugh. Adapted by Angelo Pizzo, it's the story of the American soccer team that, in a stunning upset, defeated England in the 1950 World Cup. Wes Bentley, Gerald Butler, Richard Jenik, Louis Mandylor and Jay Rodan star.
* Adrien Brody is in talks and Sigourney Weaver has been cast alongside Joaquin Phoenix, Bryce Dallas Howard and William Hurt in Disney's thriller THE WOODS for director M. Night Shyamalan.
* Matthew Lillard, Seth Green and Dax Shepard are in talks to star in Paramount's WITHOUT A PADDLE for director Steven Brill. Production is slated to begin in late September. It's about three lifelong friends who find themselves on a canoe trip in search of a $200,000 treasure. They are unaware of the obstacles in front of them, including a dangerous river and crazy mountain men.
* Willem Dafoe and Matt Dillon will star in CONTROL for director Tim Hunter about a sociopath taken into an experimental medical program. The doctor in charge must then take drastic measures when his patient's violent past comes back to haunt them both. Shooting begins Aug. 10 in Bulgaria from a script by Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer.
* Jamie Foxx will join Tom Cruise in COLLATERAL, written by Stuart Beattie, for director Michael Mann and DreamWorks. Production will begin in October. Foxx will play Max, a failed comedy writer whose mundane existence as an L.A. cab driver takes a dramatic turn when he picks up a contract killer and is forcibly pressed into service as his chauffeur on a series of hits.
* Johnny Messner ("Tarzan and Jane") is in talks to join Morris Chestnut, Nicholas Gonzalez, Eugene Byrd (8 MILE), Salli Richardson (ANTWONE FISHER), Kadee Strickland (GIRL, INTERRUPTED) and Carl Yune in ANACONDAS for Screen Gems and director Dwight Little (DEEP BLUE).
* Joshua Jackson, Dennis Hopper and Leonor Varela star in the indie film AMERICANO, currently in production in Pamplona, Spain, for writer/director Kevin Noland. Set against the backdrop of the Fiesta de San Fermin, better known as the running of the bulls at Pamplona, the film centers on a recent college graduate backpacking through Europe who savors his last three days of freedom before boarding the career fast track back in the United States. In Pamplona with two friends, he meets characters all of whom encourage him to rethink his life. He then struggles with following the beaten path or risking it all on the road less traveled.
* Ryan Gosling is in talks to star in STAY for Regency Enterprises and director Marc Forster. Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts also star in the project, which is scheduled to start shooting in September. David Benioff wrote the script about a psychologist at an Ivy League university who tries to prevent one of his students from committing suicide.
* Hill Harper and Natasha Lyonne will star alongside Ryan Kwanten and Elodie Bouchez in the indie pic AMERICA BROWN for director Paul Black. It's a coming-of-age drama centering on a young West Texas quarterback and his relationship with a priest in New York.
* Lucy Lawless stars in BOOGEYMAN for Ghost House Pictures and Screen Gems. Tory Mussett (THE MATRIX RELOADED) and Skye McCole Bartusiak (AGAINST THE ROPES) also have been added to the cast. Stephen Kay directs.
* Mekhi Phifer, Jolene Blalock, Taye Diggs, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Guy Torry and Bruce McGill will star in GreeneStreet Films' SLOW BURN, joining Ray Liotta and LL Cool J in the sexy thriller, which started shooting July 5 in Montreal for writer/director Wayne Beach. The pic centers on an ambitious district attorney who's drawn into a 24-hour showdown with a powerful gang leader while he's being manipulated by his beautiful assistant DA and an enigmatic stranger.
* Asanee Suwon, wrestling champ Kyoko Inoue and former Miss Thailand-turned-thesp Orn-a-nong Panyawong have come on board the biopic BEAUTIFUL BOXER. It's about a real-life transvestite kickboxer Parinya Charoenphol (aka Nong Toom). Suwon is a former kickboxer from Toom's home town. Panyawong will play Toom's mother, while Inoue will appear as herself. Ekachai Uekrongtham will direct the film for GMM Pictures.
* Stanley Tucci joins Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Chi McBride in Steven Spielberg's TERMINAL for DreamWorks Pictures. It's about a Balkan immigrant who makes an airport transit lounge his home after he learns that the borders of his war-torn nation have been blurred, voiding his passport and leaving him without a country.
* Gil Bellows and Jennifer Westfeldt will star in writer/director Stu Pollard's indie dramedy KEEP YOUR DISTANCE. Christian Kane, Kim Raver, Elizabeth Pena, Stacy Keach, Jamie Harrold, Rick Overton and Cynthia Martells round out the cast. Shooting is under way in Kentucky. It centers on a radio talk-show host and what happens when he meets a pharmaceutical sales rep from out of town. They accidentally form a bond based on something lacking in all of their other relationships: trust.
* Sharon Stone and Rupert Everett star in A DIFFERENT LOYALTY about the life of Eleanor Philby, the wife of British spy Kim Philby. It's currently shooting in Moscow and will be released by Lions Gate Films. Marek Kanievska is directing for Samy Boy Pictures and Persistent Entertainment.
* Oded Fehr and Sienna Guillory have joined the cast of Screen Gems and Constantin Films' RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE for director Alexander Witt. Paul W.S. Anderson scripted the project which begins shooting Aug. 11 in Toronto.
* Jimmy Fallon will star alongside Queen Latifah in TAXI for 20th Century Fox and director Tim Story about a speedy cab driver who teams with an eager young cop to solve a series of bank robberies. Jim Kouf wrote the original draft, with Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant turning in a rewrite.
* Vincent Laresca, Chris Ufland, Justin Shilton and Brent Spiner join Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic THE AVIATOR.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Hyde Park Entertainment has optioned Jo Lichtman's manuscript WHERE OR WHEN with Jack Robinson writing the adaptation. A romantic para-psychological thriller, the story revolves around a young woman who believes a ghost she resembles has summoned her. She enters the past to correct a century-old crime of passion.
* Andrzej Wajda is preparing to film the third part of his MAN OF... trilogy. The two previous parts were MAN OF MARBLE and MAN OR IRON. The pic will center on the divorced Tomczyk couple of the previous films driving through Poland and reflecting on freedom. Krystyna Janda and Jerzy Radziwilowicz will return as the leads. Production will begin in March.
* Oren Moverman (JESUS'S SON scribe) will direct the dark comedy CORDLESS for Nerve.com and 33 Prods. Described as a twisted tale of spiritual rebirth in contemporary New York, the film was scripted from an original idea by Moverman and follows the trials and tribulations of a Manhattan couple trying to conceive.
* Working Title Films is developing a remake of the 1949 classic KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS about the black sheep of a noble family who sets about murdering the 10 relatives standing between him and a dukedom. The new version, scripted by William Morrissey, will update the story to the present day. It will retain the essential concept of an outcast killing his way to a family fortune, but with wholly new characters and situations. The head of the family is now a multimillionaire publisher, and his dreadful relatives will be satirical archetypes of contemporary life.
* Simon Nye ("Men Behaving Badly") will write the ST. TRINIAN'S movie in development at Ealing Studios. Rupert Everett wants to reprise Alastair Sim's double role as the headmistress and her roguish brother from the 1954 pic THE BELLES OF ST. TRINIANS. The project will be more a modern reworking of the concept, inspired as much by the original Ronald Searle cartoons as by the black-and-white movies that followed.
* Universal, Spyglass and Kennedy-Marshall have optioned THE PERFECT MILE, a book proposal by author Neal Bascomb about the race among the world's three premiere runners to be first to complete the mile in under four minutes. Frank Marshall will direct the film from a script by Bruce McKenna ("Band of Brothers").
* Twentieth Century Fox has picked up Marc Wolff's script MY VELOURIA about two FBI agents investigating the death of an adult film star. Along the way, the pair discovers the murder is far from conventional, as it is the handiwork of a sect of 2,000-year-old vampires.
* Cheryl Heuton and Nick Falacci sold their script OUTFOXED to New Line for BBC Films to produce. It's a live-action/CGI pic set in the world of English fox hunting and centering on the adventures of a fox wrongly accused of killing the pet of a wealthy matron. To catch the cunning and elusive fox, the local hunt club enlists the skills of a tenacious and determined American foxhound.
* New Line Cinema and producer Sara Risher have purchased the screwball comedy spec BAD HAIR DAY from writer Jill Pierce. The story follows a young woman on a crucial day of meetings, events and dates who experiences one hair emergency after another. Depending on the kindness of strangers, creditors and astrologers, she manages to get a job and maintain a shred of dignity despite the destructive forces let loose on her hair.
* Betty Thomas (I SPY) will direct THE SMOKER, which is being developed at Paramount as a potential starring vehicle for Natalie Portman. It's about an English teacher at a prestigious all-girls school who is invited to dinner at the home of one of his students. A beautiful senior in his class has decided that he would be the perfect husband for her only because she thinks they would be a good match. The idea is supported by her eccentric parents, who encourage them to get married. It is based on a short story by David Schickler.
* Overbrook Entertainment and Escape Artists have tapped Steve Conrad to write a screenplay based on the true story of Christopher Gardner, a once-homeless single parent who became a millionaire stockbrocker. The story was featured in a "20/20" segment.
* Carl Franklin is in talks to direct Warner Bros. Pictures' legal thriller EMPEROR OF OCEAN PARK, based on Stephen Carter's novel about a black law professor who gets caught up in a deadly game while investigating the mysterious death of his father, a legendary conservative judge. John Wells Prods. and Gaylord Films are producing. Stephen Schiff (TRUE CRIME) adapted.
* DreamWorks Pictures has hired Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett (upcoming WIMBLEDON) to script the love story ENLISTED about a forbidden romance in the Navy between a female officer and a non-commissioned seaman. In the Navy, the worlds of officer and enlisted man aren't just culturally distinct, fraternization and romance are strictly forbidden. Pic is being produced by Team Todd.
* Abandon Pictures is planning HAGAR THE HORRIBLE, a live-action movie based on the Viking-themed comic strip.
* Frank Darabont's Darkwoods Productions has optioned comic book character CAPT. STERNN, an interstellar con man who appeared in the pages of Heavy Metal magazine. Darkwoods will develop the property as the basis for a CG animated feature, animated TV series, comic books and video games in association with Himani Original Productions.
* Terrence Malick is attached to direct Benicio Del Toro in CHE, an epic about the life and death of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara that Laura Bickford is producing. Steven Soderbergh was originally considering directing the pic but now is likely to be involved in a producing capacity.
* Universal Pictures has picked up an untitled pitch to be written by screenwriter Paul Attanasio. Di Bonaventura Pictures and Section Eight are producing. The project, which features the theme of man vs. nature, is about a wilderness experience and how it transforms a group of people.
* Disney snapped up the pitch PRINCE AND THE PIG from writer/director Rian Johnson, based on his own epic poem, to develop into an animated feature film. It's a fairy tale centering on the grand adventure of a boy and his pig as they set off against all odds to try to steal the moon.
* Jordan Katz will write the live-action comedy GERONIMO JONES for Vanguard Films about a down-on-his-luck hustler who discovers that he is the last of a near-extinct tribe and heir to a wildly lucrative Indian casino.
* Sam Mendes is in early talks to direct the Stephen Sondheim musical SWEENEY TODD for DreamWorks.
* Dean Georgaris (TOMB RAIDER: THE CRADLE OF LIFE) will write will write SAM AND GEORGE, a pic fashioned for a reteam of Mel Gibson and Richard Donner. Gibson would star as an innocent man freed by an ambulance chasing lawyer after a 25-year sentence.
* Richard Linklater will direct Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy in a sequel to BEFORE SUNRISE for Castle Rock Entertainment. The project will shoot this fall in Paris. In the sequel, it's nine years later and Jesse is on the French leg of the book tour for his novel when he finds Celine once more.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Producer Graham Henderson purchased the feature rights to Martha Randolph Carr's mystery thriller WIRED about a series of random murders of women in a Virginia town and the lead character's attempt to solve the crimes based on a hazy childhood memory and the urge to rub her wrist.
* Action Concept is bringing its German action TV show "The Clown" to the bigscreen. It follows the adventures of a former secret government agent who's had his cover blown but continues to fight international crime as a clown-masked vigilante with the help of his helicopter-flying sidekick and a friendly female journalist.
* After hitting a financial bump in recently, Roger Michell's ENDURING LOVE is set to start shooting Sept. 15 in London. The project is a psychological drama to star Daniel Craig, Rhys Ifans and Samantha Morton, and will, be bankrolled by Pathe Pictures and FilmFour, with equity fund Inside Track coming aboard as co-financier.
* The Walt Disney Co. is already talking of a sequel to PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN with sequel arrangements made with such key cast members as Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, as well as with the behind-the-scenes duo of producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski. The studio has also begun talks with writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio about writing the script.
* Miramax now plans to release Quentin Tarantino's KILL BILL in two parts, with the first to unspool on Oct. 10. No release date has been set for the conclusion.
* Earvin "Magic" Johnson has partnered with producer Paul Hall in Magic Hallway Pictures, a venture that will make youth-themed urban films designed for mainstream audiences. The company recently bought the screen rights to the Jill Nelson novel SEXUAL HEALING. "Sexual Healing," for a film that aspires to be "Sex and the City" with black protagonists.
* Disney is moving the release date BROTHER BEAR to Saturday, Nov. 1.
* Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones have scrapped plans to star in MONKEYFACE for Franchise Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures. It was to be directed by Stephen Frears.
* Warner Bros. Studios is planning to produce a feature based on the toon show "Mucha Lucha." Series bowed in 2002 and follows a trio of Mexican masked wrestlers.
