Father Geek here with this week's edition of Elston's regular weekly column devoted to keeping those of you often too busy during the work week to surf around all the many various sites trying to catch all the latest confirmed news out of Tinseltown and the world's other film centers informed of Who's doing What, Where, When, and Why. Yeah, our Mr. Gunn's goal is just that. To give you a single location where you can catch up on all the straight poop from the previous week in just a few moments. A film-fact filled spot on AICN he calls simply...
THE WEEKLY RECAP...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Matt Damon and Amanda Peet will star alongside George Clooney in SYRIANA for writer/director Stephen Gaghan (TRAFFIC), Warner Bros. Pictures and Section Eight. The project is a timely geopolitical thriller tackling oil, international politics and the CIA. The feature is inspired by real-life CIA agent Robert Baer's memoirs, SEE NO EVIL: THE TRUE STORY OF A FOOT SOLDIER IN THE CIA'S WAR ON TERRORISM.
* Ginnifer Goodwin ("Ed," MONA LISA SMILE) will play Johnny Cash's first wife, Vivianne, in Fox 2000's WALK THE LINE, opposite Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix, for director James Mangold.
* Brendan Gleeson will play "Mad Eye" Moody in Warner Bros.' "HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE. Additionally, Frances de la Tour has been tapped to portray Madame Maxime.
* Michael Weaver will play the role of John J. McDermott, the defending champion in the 1913 U.S. Open in THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED for writer/director Mark Frost and Disney. Shia LaBeouf will play Francis Ouimet.
* Jason Scott Lee and Tamlyn Tomita star in ONLY THE BRAVE, a WWII drama directed by Lane Nishikawa, who also scripted. It's based on a true story of a Japanese-American regiment that fought its way through German lines in France, saving 211 trapped soldiers of the Texas 141st.
* Benicio Del Toro is set to star alongside Denzel Washington in the Antoine Fuqua-directed TRU BLU for Imagine Entertainment and Universal. Steve Zaillian's script is a fact-based drama about how a lawman brought down the biggest drug kingpin in Harlem in the 1970s. Shooting begins early fall, and U has set a release date of June 3, 2005.
* Harrison Ford will star in the outer space thriller GODSPEED for James Cameron's Lightstorm Entertainment. Scripted by Ryne Douglas Pearson, the story takes place on an international space station, where a life-threatening situation develops that could kill all the inhabitants on the station.
* Michael Angarano will star in SKY HIGH for Disney and director Mike Mitchell about a high school for superpowered teens in a world where superheroes are an everyday occurrence. The story follows Jeremy, the son of superheroes Commander Stronghold and Jetstream, and his trials and tribulations of being a regular teenager and a possible future hero.
* Jimmy Bennett, 8, has nabbed a leading role in MGM/Dimension Films' remake of THE AMITYVILLE HORROR playing Chris Lutz, the trouble-making middle child in the "Amityville" family.
* Amanda Bynes is set to topline the romantic comedy LOVEWRECKED for director Randal Kleiser, Media 8 Entertainment and Bacon & Eggs. Stephen Langford wrote the script about an 18-year-old girl who is ecstatic when she finds that her favorite rock star is a guest at the tropical resort where she is working for the summer. When they are both thrown overboard during a cruise, she finds herself stranded alone with him on what they think is a remote beach.
* Gary Oldman is in talks to join Adam Sandler, Chris Rock and Burt Reynolds in the remake of THE LONGEST YARD for Paramount and director Peter Segal. Oldman would play the warden.
* Tony nominee Tovah Feldshuh will star in writer/director Lewis Helfer's dark comedy LIFE ON THE LEDGE about a guy who wants to die until he finds out that he's actually dying.
* Zoe Saldana (DRUMLINE) will join Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac in Columbia's THE DINNER PARTY for director Kevin Sullivan.
* Joan Plowright has been offered the role of Aunt Clara in Columbia Pictures' BEWITCHED, starring Nicole Kidman and Will Ferrell.
* Alanna Ubach (WAITING, LEGALLY BLONDE) has nabbed a role in Universal's MEET THE FOCKERS, directed by Jay Roach.
* Monet Mazur (JUST MARRIED) joins the cast of MONSTER-IN-LAW, starring Jennifer Lopez, Jane Fonda and Michael Vartan. Robert Luketic directs.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* 3 Wolves Prods. has purchased the warrior tale NOMADS from actor/screenwriter George Tasudis. The action-adventure epic revolves around Suvar, the leader of a fierce barbarian tribe of robbers, who faces a series of obstacles and challenges that make a hero out of him. Tasudis also will appear in the film.
* Dave Meyers is in talks to direct the heist pic BREAKING THE BOX for 20th Century Fox. Based on a screenplay by Dan Cutler, the plot revolves around four female flight attendants who moonlight as high-stakes jewel thieves until they are blackmailed into pulling off the biggest heist of their lives.
* Chris Weitz is in early talks to adapt and direct the first installment of Philip Pullman's kids fantasy book trilogy HIS DARK MATERIALS for New Line Cinema. The story revolves around two children who live in parallel worlds surrounded by a cast of shape-shifting creatures.
* The South African DV8 digital film production project has announced that its third film will be THE FLYER, written and directed by Revel Fox. The project tells the story of Kier, a mixed race streetchild from Cape Town who robs Anders, a wise old master ex-trapeze flyer. Anders catches him and makes him repay his debt.
* Screenwriter Paul Hirsch's hip-hop story KOOL HERC BREAKBEAT will be produced by Maxmedia and Palm Pictures. Hirsch's script concerns a quest by music historian and DJ Max Welder to find the Holy Grail of hip-hop in the form of a rare record featuring the first breakbeat and ensure that it finds its way to a museum. The journey covers the popular music genre's evolution from its Jamaican roots to the streets of New York.
* Paramount picked up Kara Holden's comedy pitch INNER BITCH, a broad female-driven comedy along the lines of LIAR, LIAR.
* Harley Peyton (BANDITS) is writing an English-language remake of Patrice Leconte's MAN ON THE TRAIN for Landscape Entertainment.
* 2929 Prods. grabbed Clayton Surratt's script 342. It's a spy thriller that centers on a young FBI agent leading the charge to restore the 18½-minute gap on Nixon Tape 342. When he gains control of the tape, he comes under the scrutiny of a veteran "spy catcher" within the FBI.
* Zak Penn (X2) is in negotiations to write SPY HUNTER for Universal Pictures and director John Woo. The film will star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in the adaptation of Midway's long-running vidgame franchise.
* Fernley Phillips is set to write a remake of ALTERED STATES, the 1980 Ken Russell-directed, Paddy Chayefsky-scripted psychedelic sci-fi thriller for Warner Bros.
* Michel Gondry is directing an adaptation of the sci-fi thriller MASTER OF SPACE AND TIME by Rudy Rucker. Jack Black is attached to star in the project for DreamWorks. It's about two mad scientists who figure out how to control reality.
* Walter Hill has signed on to direct the cop thriller LITTLE SISTER for Millennium Films. Hill will direct from a script he co-wrote with David Giler. The story centers on a female cop who teams up with a Mafia-type thug seeking retribution for his little sister's death.
* David Mackenzie (YOUNG ADAM) will next direct the biopic NICO for Vagabond Films. The film will center on the life of Nico, a model-singer-actress who was part of the Andy Warhol scene in the 1960s. She appeared in Federico Fellini's 1960 film LA DOLCE VITA and was chosen by Warhol to sing with the Velvet Underground.
* Hyde Park Entertainment has set up the romantic comedy THE OTHER END OF THE LINE at MGM. Based on an original screenplay by Tracey Jackson, the film centers on a beautiful credit card phone operator who lives in India but pretends to be American to her callers. The girl travels to the United States without telling her family in order to meet a New York man that she's met over the phone. Problems arise when they meet in San Francisco, and she decides not to reveal her true identity.
* New Line Cinema has picked up HUMBUGGIN', written by Luke Ryan, for Sandbox Entertainment to produce. The urban comedy is set on Christmas Eve, when a greedy, cruel and selfish rap mogul is visited by a trio of ghosts who force him to re-examine his life in the tradition of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.
* Montecito Picture Co. grabbed Jeff Schaffer and Ted Humphrey's action pitch AZTEC. Set in 1519 at the height of the Aztec civilization, project revolves around a slave named Tez who plays a brutal ball game called Ullamalitzli, in which the loser is sacrificed.
* Paramount has tapped April Blair to write RHINESTONE ALIBI, based on the true tale of a college-based alibi service that started at the U. of Arizona.
* Damon Wayans will direct BEHIND THE SMILE, a dark indie drama set in the world of standup comedy, based on his original screenplay. Marlon Wayans will star as a young comic who leaves Cleveland for Hollywood to pursue his dream of stardom and becomes entangled in the city's seductive lifestyle. James Belushi and Shakara Ledard have supporting roles. Shooting begins in July.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Heeltap Entertainment is developing a feature film about the life of Ernest Hemingway. The company claims it's the first time a Hemingway family member has collaborated creatively on a film about the author's life. The basis for the feature is a story written by John Mulholland with Patrick Hemingway's cooperation. Patrick also has been involved in Mulholland's upcoming documentary COOPER AND HEMINGWAY: THE TRUE GEN, about the 20-year friendship between Gary Cooper and Ernest Hemingway.
* New Line Cinema has pacted with Contrafilm on CONRAIL, the story of a real-life teenage Robin Hood. The high-speed thriller and coming-of-age pitch is based on the true story of Eddie Mongon, who spent a decade as the ringleader of a gang that robbed trains and shared the proceeds with the working-class poor of his hometown of Hoboken, N.J.
* Kim Cattrall has dropped out of a SEX AND THE CITY movie, causing HBO to pull the plug on the project, which was to be written and directed by Michael Patrick King.
* DreamWorks Animation will move ahead, one at a time, with plans for a third and fourth installment of SHREK.
* Paramount Pictures has optioned the rights to the book HOW TO TELL HE'S NOT THE ONE IN 10 DAYS, Michele Alexander and Jeannie Long's follow-up to their hit HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS.
* City Lights Pictures has acquired feature rights to Byron Harmon's debut novel ALL THE WOMEN I'VE LOVED, a semi-autobiographical romantic comedy about LeBaron Brown, a black man living in Washington, D.C., who seeks therapy after his girlfriend ends their three-year relationship.
* DreamWorks has optioned Maria Riva's memoir MARLENE DIETRICH to develop as a star vehicle for Gwyneth Paltrow. Jess Money will write the script and produce with Paltrow and David Nicksay.
* Fortress Entertainment is partnering with David Permut for an adaptation of Elizabeth Swados' novel DREAMTECTIVE, the story of Cobra Kyte, a girl who discovers she can visit people's dreams and learn their innermost thoughts.
* Hatchery has picked up film and TV rights to Wendelin Van Draanen's bestselling book series about teen detective Sammy Keyes.
* HDNet Films has greenlit a drama, a comedy and a documentary for production this year. QUID PRO QUO is a dark comedy written and to be directed by Carlos Brooks and produced by Midge Sanford and Sarah Pillsbury, while OVER THE MOUNTAINS is a political drama written by Joseph Castelo, Ayad Stehle-Akhtar and Tom Glynn. Castelo will direct with Tom Glynn, Kliot and Vicente producing. Stehle-Akhtar will star. BLACK MAGIC is a documentary to be written and directed by Alex Gibney based on nonfiction book THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM, Bethany McLean and Peter Elkin's chronicle of the Enron scandal.
