Father Geek here... at last. Boy am I a happy camper! My system self-destructed late last week rendering my email to the neatherworld and my ability to post on the site impossible... Buuuuut today at 6:35 pm CDT Fedex saved the day by delivering my much needed new equiptment from Amazon... soooooo he I am making up for lost time with some some-what tardy columns...in this case NO fault of Elston Gunn...
THE WEEKLY RECAP... TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Vera Farmiga and Johnny Messner will join Paul Waker in Wayne Kramer's RUNNING SCARED about a married couple who must track down their son and his best friend after the two youngsters get their hands on a gun used in a murder, putting the family in danger.
* Peter Sarsgaard is in talks to star opposite Jodie Foster in Touchstone Pictures/Imagine Entertainment's FLIGHT PLAN for director Robert Schwentke and producer Brian Grazer. Filming is scheduled for September. Described as a Hitchcockian thriller, the story follows the in-air plight of a woman whose daughter mysteriously disappears while on board a passenger jet. The project is based on a pitch from Peter Dowling with Billy Ray penning the current draft.
* Mena Suvari will star opposite Jennifer Aniston in the untitled Ted Griffin project for Warner Bros. Pictures/Village Roadshow Pictures. Shirley MacLaine, Kevin Costner, Mark Ruffalo and Charlie Hunnam also star.
* Eva Marie Saint will co-star in DON'T COME KNOCKING, an indie feature film being directed by Wim Wenders and starring Sam Shepard. The story centers on an aging cowboy star who rides off the set midshoot on a voyage of self-discovery. Shepard wrote the screenplay, which is based on a story by Shepard and Wenders. Production starts this summer.
* Josh Cooke (upcoming NBC comedy "Crazy for You") will star opposite Jay Harrington in the independent feature PARTNERS. In a battle with a female peer to see who will become the next partner in their law firm, a young man finds that a false rumor that he is gay is having the odd effect of advancing his status within the firm, so he opts to continue the masquerade. Dave Diamond will direct from his own script.
* Drew Barrymore is set and Jimmy Fallon is in talks to star in FEVER PITCH, the Fox 2000 project based on Nick Hornby's book. The Farrelly brothers are in talks to direct, who would direct FEVER first and then immediately segue to THE THREE STOOGES for Warner Bros. Hornby's book centers on the British author's obsession with soccer, specifically the team Arsenal. Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel adapted FEVER and Americanized it, with the project now focused on baseball.
* Brendan Fraser is in talks to provide the voice of the title character in feature toon BIG BUG MAN, which has begun production at the new Studio-Free Studios. Pic concerns a hapless guy who works for a crooked candy company and, in a mishap, gains the odd powers of a slew of insects that have bitten him. In his final performance, Marlon Brando recorded a supporting role for the pic. The film is scripted by Bendetson and directed by Bob Bendetson ("The Simpsons") and Peter Shin.
* Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm/the Thing, Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic and Chris EvansChris Evans as Johnny Storm/the Human Torch will make up three quarters of Fox's FANTASTIC FOUR for director Tim Story (BARBERSHOP, TAXI). Jessica Alba, Rachel MacAdams, Elisha Cuthbert and Keri Russell are candidates for the role of Sue Richards/the Invisible Woman. Simon Kinberg wrote the script.
* Alison Lohman (MATCHSTICK MEN) will star opposite Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth in Atom Egoyan's next pic, WHERE THE TRUTH LIES for Serendipity Point Films. The seductive film noir, adapted by Egoyan from Rupert Holmes' novel of the same name, explores the underbelly of fame, fortune and the mores of sexual convention. Shooting begins Aug. 30 on location in Toronto, Los Angeles and London.
* Former NFL players Brian Bosworth, Michael Irvin and Bill Romanowski have signed on for parts in Paramount/Sony's remake of THE LONGEST YARD, starring Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, James Cromwell and Burt Reynolds.
* Tom Hanks and DreamWorks have picked up the rights to the life story of Dean Reed, an American singer, actor and filmmaker whose 15-year career in East Germany was halted by his mysterious death in 1986. Hanks will star as Reed. Sacha Gervasi will write the script.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio (THE SANTA CLAUSE 2) will write 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS for Universal and producer Lauren Shuler Donner.
* Caroline Case's script UNLEASHED will be produced by Jason Hoffs Prods. for DreamWorks. The pic revolves around a show dog who, after losing the preliminaries on the dog show circuit, has a nervous breakdown. She runs away from her high-strung owner and finds herself at the city pound. There, she teams up with a streetwise stray, and together they lead their ragtag kennel mates in an escape effort that takes them all the way to the Westminster Dog Show.
* Jonathan Liebesman will direct the thriller MILE ZERO for Phoenix Pictures. Described as in the same vein as THE THING, the film follows a young woman's efforts to clear her father's name in a series of murders at a remote Alaskan oil rig. She takes a job at the station hoping to prove that the station is haunted. Holly Brix wrote the script.
* Broadway director Michael Mayer (THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE) will direct Annette Bening in UNDER MY SKIN, based on the Nick Hornby novel HOW TO BE GOOD, for United Artists, Jinks/Cohen and Atlantic Streamline.
* Chris Bradley and Kyle LaBrache (JON E. EDWARDS IS IN LOVE) have begun shooting a documentary on Jeff Goldblum and his fiancee, Catherine Wreford. The new production will chronicle their romance and their behind-the-scenes experience on the play THE MUSIC MAN, which co-stars Goldblum's pals Ed Begley Jr. and Illeana Douglas and runs through the middle of the month in Goldblum's hometown of Pittsburgh. Moby, Bob Odenkirk, Douglas, Begley and other guest stars will appear in the film.
* Denzel Washington will direct the life story of entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. for Universal/Imagine. The companies have optioned screen rights to Wil Haygood's book IN BLACK AND WHITE: THE LIFE OF SAMMY DAVIS JR. Haygood will write the first draft of the script based on his sprawling book that traces Davis' career back to age 4, when he began singing and dancing with his father on the vaudeville circuit.
* Mythos Studios and 824 Pictures have begun production on SLAM CHANNEL, its first documentary feature, co-directed by Mike Henry and Kyle Fuller. The pic follows a team of poets from Austin and their New York counterparts preparing for the National Poetry Slam. Doc will follow rival teams during the runup to the so-called Super Bowl of Spoken Word, to take place Aug. 3-8 in St. Louis; 80 teams will compete for the national title. In a bid to heighten awareness of the feature with slam fans, performances featured in the doc will be accessible online during production on a designated Web site while the film is being completed.
* Charlie Matthau has begun directing HER MINOR THING, an indie film featuring Estella Warren, Michael Weatherly, Christian Kane and Rachel Dratch. Pic, shooting in Sacramento, follows the comic misadventures that develop when a reporter reveals that the woman he is dating may still be a virgin at 27. The film was scripted by Jim Meyers, who's producing with Crescent Moon Films.
* Mark Pellington will direct Harrison Ford in THE WRONG ELEMENT, a Joe Forte-scripted drama co-financed by Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures. Ford will play a security chief for a global bank whose family is kidnapped. If he wants to save them, he needs to infiltrate his own foolproof security system and steal $37 million without being nabbed as a bad guy himself.
* Susannah Grant will adapt the Kate Saunders novel BACHELOR BOYS for Firm Films and Fox 2000. Book revolves around a London editor who was saved from her emotionally distant family by the close-knit clan next door. Her surrogate mom is dying and makes the woman promise to marry off her sons.
* Firm Films has scored a Universal deal for an untitled romantic comedy pitch for a script to be written by Ron Bass (MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING).
* Paramount has made a preemptive purchase of THE FIELD, an action-packed sci-fi event pitch for a potential tentpole film to be scripted by Dean Georgaris (PAYCHECK, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE remake) for Penn Station to produce.
* Dan Weiss' action drama script KASHMIR has been set up at Warner Bros. with writer David Benioff (TROY) producing. It centers on three ex-soldiers who get a hot tip and embark on a hunt for the world's most wanted man: a terrorist with a $50 million bounty on his head.
* Clint Eastwood is in talks to direct an adaptation of the book FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, by James Bradley and Ron Powers, for DreamWorks and producer Steven Spielberg. Paul Haggis is writing the script. The book chronicles one man's attempt to piece together his father's role in raising the American flag on Iwo Jima during WWII.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow are teaming up to co-finance the eighth sequel in the POLICE ACADEMY franchise. The project is out to writers.
* Producer Gabriel Grunfeld (THE STEPFORD WIVES) is developing other remakes and projects such as AUNTIE MAME; HEATHCLIFF, a bigscreen adaptation of the comicstrip; a feature adaptation of the Stephen King short stories that were adapted for the 1982 horror anthology pic CREEPSHOW; and a screen adaptation of Stuart Roth's stage musical FOREVER PLAID.
* The Ruddy Morgan Organization has acquired feature rights to Gerald A. Browne's story about improbable hit men, SWISH HITTERS. The novel centers on a pair of East Hamptons antique dealers who turn to working for the Mob.
* Paramount has set up a feature project based on the early days of the Fabulous Palm Springs Follies, the long-running vaudeville review starring showbiz veterans, with producer Nelson Woss through his Endymion Films shingle. Show, created by former TV producer Riff Markowitz, has run for 14 seasons between November and May.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* The San Diego Comic-Con International Film Festival welcomes the indie karate-comedy ALL BABES WANT TO KILL ME. For more info, visit http://www.allbabeswanttokillme.com and http://www.comic-con.org.
* Mark Redfield's DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE comes to DVD Tuesday, August 31st, 2004. For more info about what's coming up, visit http://www.redfieldarts.com today.
* HDFEST's Los Angeles 2004 Event marks the first 2K film festival, HDFEST will be screening all content strictly from a new projector which will offer significantly better image quality than previous high-definition presentations by the festival. Visit http://www.hdfest.com/losangeles_event.htm for more information.
* Thanks to MK who sent in a link to info about Richard Kelly's latest project, news broken at Chuck Palahniuk's official site: http://www.chuckpalahniuk.net/community/showthread.php?threadid=13785
* According to leading Norwegian newspaper VG, Norwegian director Harald Zwart (of the marvelous HAMILTON and ONE NIGHT AT McCOOL'S and the dreadful CODY BANKS) is involved in a new project with screenwriters Jason Richmond (BAD COMPANY) and John Colton Barry - REVOLVER - a sci-fi movie about genetic engineering and cloning, set to the near future. (Thanks to Nick Cave.)
* The 7th Annual TULSA OVERGROUND, August 27, 28, 29, 2004 is a non-competitive film festival showcasing innovative short films and videos from around the world. DEADLINE for entries: Postmarked by JULY 30
For official entry info go to: http://www.tulsaoverground.com
