Father Geek here with Elston's regular weekly report on all the confirmed news out of Tinseltown for the past week, just in case you were too busy to catch it all as it rolled off the presses each day...
THE WEEKLY RECAP
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Ellen DeGeneres is set to star in a remake of the 1977 comedy OH, GOD! for producer Jerry Weintraub and Warner Bros. DeGeneres will play the title character.
* Jimmi Simpson ("24") and Scoot McNairy (SLEEPOVER) have nabbed a role in Disney's HERBIE: FULLY LOADED. Matt Dillon, Michael Keaton and Lindsay Lohan star in the pic, penned by Tom Lennon and Robert Ben Garant, which puts the famous Disney VW in the world of NASCAR racing. Angela Robinson directs.
* Marieh Delfino (JEEPERS CREEPERS 2) has been added to the cast of DON'T COME KNOCKING for director Wim Wenders. Sam Shepard, Jessica Lange and Eva Marie Saint also star. The story centers on an aging cowboy star who rides off the set midshoot on a journey of self-discovery. Shepard wrote the screenplay, which is based on a story by Shepard and Wenders. Production is under way in Moab, Utah.
* Ashton Holmes ("One Life to Live") will star opposite Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello in New Line's A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE for director David Cronenberg.
* Marton Csokas, Jonny Lee Miller, Sophie Okonedo, Amelia Warner and Caroline Chikezie have joined the cast of Paramount/Lakeshore's AEON FLUX, starring Charlize Theron and Frances McDormand. Karyn Kusama directs from a screenplay by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi based upon characters created by Peter Chung.
* D.L. Hughley will star in an untitled drama directed and produced by Charles Winkler and Rob Cowan, respectively. Pic, currently lensing in Los Angeles, concerns a high school teacher who is hired to teach at a provisional school for troubled inmates at Rikers Island. Donald Martin wrote the screenplay and Michael Williams will executive produce.
* Josh Hartnett and Lucy Liu are set to star in Paul McGuigan's LUCKY NUMBER SEVEN, a noir gangster film scripted by Jason SmilovicJason Smilovic. Shooting will start in November. The drama is set in a world where African-American and Jewish gangsters collide. Hartnett plays a man who has to kill the son of a rival crime boss.
* Samantha Morton and Chris Cooper are in negotiations to star in an untitled Truman Capote feature, which United Artists is coming on board to co-finance and distribute. Philip Seymour Hoffman is set to play Capote in the feature based on the book CAPOTE: A BIOGRAPHY by Gerald Clarke. The film concentrates on the period when Capote was writing IN COLD BLOOD. In related Capote news, Mark Wahlberg has dropped out of EVERY WORD IS TRUE, a rival Capote project about the same period that is set up at Warner Independent Pictures. Wahlberg was to play Perry Smith, one of the killers whose story is recounted in IN COLD BLOOD.
* Leelee Sobieski, Timothy Hutton and David Strathairn are set to star in HEAVENS FALL, an indie drama based on the trial of the Scottsboro Boys. Terry Green wrote the script and will direct. Sobieski plays one of two women who accuse nine black youths of rape, making for one of the most volatile trials to take place in the segregated South. Azura Skye plays the second accuser, who recants and sparks a second trial that might clear the defendants, most of whom received the death penalty. Hutton plays Sam Leibowitz, a renowned Gotham defense attorney who has never lost a capital case. Bill Sage, Anthony Mackie and James Tolkan round out the cast.
* Anna Faris heads the cast of writer/director team Paul Myers and Brennan Shroff's comedy SOUTHERN BELLES, an independent feature that began shooting this week in Wilmington, N.C. Also starring is stage thesp Laura Breckenridge and Justin Chambers, with Fred Weller and Judah Friedlander in supporting roles. Story follows two rural Southern girls taken in different directions as they hit the road to escape loser boyfriends and manipulative bosses.
* Nick Movies has tapped Courteney Cox, Danny Glover, Sam Elliott and Wanda Sykes for the voice cast of its CGI-animated comedy THE BARNYARD, joining Kevin James. The CGI film, to be distributed by Paramount, is written, produced and directed by Steve Oedekerk and centers on a barnyard when the farmer's away and the animals walk, talk, sing, dance and party.
* Lauren Holly, Angus MacFadyen, Lacey Chabert, Rachel Dratch, Angelo Spizzirri, Jill Bennett, Jason Mewes and Meat Loaf are set to star in indie feature THE PLEASURE DRIVERS. Helmer Andrzej Sekula is directing the project in Los Angeles. Penned by Adam Haynes, the project is a crime thriller with separate yet interconnected stories involving characters including a psychology professor who has lost touch with reality; a young sociopathic call girl; a vicious lesbian hit woman; a recovering crack addict and kidnapper; a junkyard drunk; a brain-damaged former cult guru; and dueling gas station attendants.
* Dakota Fanning is near a deal to star in her own potential franchise in adaptations of Lewis Carroll's ALICE IN WONDERLAND and THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS, adapted by Les Bohem for DreamWorks. Bohem came up with the idea to adapt Carroll's classic novels and immediately pitched it to Steven Spielberg with Fanning in mind to play Alice.
* Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis and Hugh Jackman will lend their voices to FLUSHED AWAY, the next comedy from stop-motion animation powerhouse Aardman Animation and DreamWorks Animation. The animated feature centers on a pampered British rat who accidentally gets flushed from his posh penthouse flat into the slimy London sewers.
* Tim Blake Nelson (O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?) joins the cast of Syriana for writer/director Stephen Gaghan and Warner Bros.
* Scarlett Johansson is in final talks to star opposite Ewan McGregor in THE ISLAND for director Michael Bay and DreamWorks. A Oct. 25 start is being planned on the Caspian Tredwell-Owen script. It centers on a "harvested being" who suddenly becomes self-aware and tries to escape the utopian facility where he and others are being kept. Johansson will play a woman who is the only one that McGregor's character can trust. She also is pregnant with her "sponsor's" child. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci also turned in a draft.
* Uma Thurman may replace Sandra Bullock -- who left due to script differences -- in Ben Younger's PRIME, which is set to begin filming Sept. 7. It's about a thirtysomething woman who falls for the son of her therapist.
* Elisha Cuthbert has committed to star in and co-produce the indie dramatic thriller DOT for helmer Jamie Babbit. Shooting starts in mid-September. It's about a popular and beautiful girl in a typical middle-class family. She seems to have it all until a supposedly deaf orphan teenager comes to live with her family, sparking events that reveal her family is not at all what it seems to be.
* Amelia Warner is starring in the Trudie Styler-produced ALPHA MALE for director Dan Wilde opposite Danny Huston, Jennifer Ehle and Styler. She'll follow that up with a role as the sister of Charlize Theron's character in Paramount Pictures' AEON FLUX for helmer Karyn Kusama and producer Gale Ann Hurd.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Terence Winter ("The Sopranos") will write the remake of THE WARRIORS for director Tony Scott and MTV Films.
* John Whitesell will direct Martin Lawrence in BIG MOMMA HOUSE 2 for Regency Enterprises/20th Century Fox. Don Rhymer, who co-wrote the original, is writing.
* Bruce Beresford will direct DRYLANDS, based on the novel by Thea Astley, for producer Tony Buckley. The author died Aug. 17, age 78, after a heart attack. It's a contempo drama set in a North Queensland town being crippled by drought: a microcosm of dozens if not hundreds of such places in Oz. Peter Yeldham will adapt the script.
* Director Andres Veiel (BLACK BOX GERMANY) will direct an adaptation of Gerd Koenen's book VESPER, ENSSLIN, BAADER. Pic will detail the background of Gudrun Ensslin, who left her fiance, Bernward Vesper, and child to join wily anarchist Andreas Baader in forming the RAF in 1968 and launching a violent campaign against the system. Zero Film is producing the pic. Josef Rusnak is exploring similar terrain with THE FOURTH GENERATION, about a young German who discovers the father he never knew was a terrorist. Klaus Maria Brandauer is set to star in the film, which is being produced by Munich-based Screencraft Entertainment.
* Keenen Ivory, Marlon and Shawn Wayans will write THE MUNSTERS for Universal based on the 1960s television show about a family of friendly monsters who never quite get why people react in terror to them and give it a 21st century makeover.
* Sam Weisman will direct the family comedy WIDOW'S BROOM for Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. Chris Van Allsburg is adapting the feature from his book of the same name. The story revolves around a New England family suffering the loss of their father. When the family stumbles upon a witch's broom, it springs to life, sweeping away the neighbors, teaching the kids magic and helping to heal the family.
* Comedy writing duo Bob Hilgenberg and Rob Muir have sold the pitch INFANTILE to MGM. The pitch, to be produced by Catherine Paura, Joe Farrell and Josie Rosen, is described as a high-concept comedy for a male actor. Laffer revolves around an uptight management consultant who never had or desired a real childhood until he takes his 5-year-old nephew to kindergarten one day, turning his adult life upside down.
* Irwin Winkler, Charles Winkler and Rob Cowan will produce David Eyre and David Burton Morris' DIRT, a script that traces the history of NASCAR back to moonshine manufacturers who used their fast cars to outrun the law.
* Don D. Scott (BARBERSHOP) will write BIG NASTY, a CGI musical set in outer space, for Sony Pictures Animation.
* Menno Meyjes (MAX) will direct New Line Cinema's THE MARTIAN CHILD, in which Cusack is set to star. It's about a sci-fi writer who, wanting to be a dad, adopts a 7-year-old boy who may be an alien. It is based on a short story by David Gerrold.
* David Self will rewrite the feature version of the Marvel Comics property DEATHLOK for Paramount and Marvel Studios. Stu Zicherman and Raven Metzner wrote the first draft of the script, which follows a suburban family man who becomes the test subject for a technology research lab that transforms him into a living computer.
* Paramount has tapped scribes David Levien and Brian Koppelman to pen THE UNTOUCHABLES: CAPONE RISING, a prequel to the 1987 pic. Antoine Fuqua will direct. The prequel will concern Capone and the early version of Irish cop Jimmy Malone, who is as crooked as every other Chicago cop until Capone becomes king of the underworld.
* DOONESBURY comicstrip creator Garry Trudeau has inked a deal with Phoenix Pictures and Walden Media to script an original pic about a teen who becomes mayor of a small city in America. Pic is planned as a bipartisan film. It's loosely based on the stories of two kid mayors -- one a conservative Republican, the other a liberal Democrat. Seriocomic script would take a look at the process of running municipal services and dealing with unions while simultaneously balancing such high- school concerns as keeping a girlfriend and prepping for the prom.
* Scott Free Entertainment and 20th Century Fox are remaking the road-trip pic VANISHING POINT, with video/commercials director Samuel Bayer directing and Paul Bernbaum writing the script. The 1971 original revolved around a maverick's bet that he could drive from Denver to San Francisco in just 15 hours in a supercharged 1970 Dodge Challenger.
* New Line Cinema has picked up the comedy pitch MAN CRUSH. Based on an idea by Greg Coolidge, it will be written and directed by Rob McKittrick.
* Paramount has tapped the writing team of Alyssa Embree, Stacey Harman and Jessica Koosed to pen teen comedy BEST FRIENDS FOREVER for producerLynda Obst. Project centers on a pair of girlfriends known for their constant high school hijinks who turn a parent's house into a casino for a night.
* Fortress Entertainment will partner with Thunder Road Prods. to produce BULL, based on the true story of three celebrated bull riders, with David Chisolm set to write the script. Fortress optioned the life stories of Bobby Delvecchio, an Italian from the Bronx; Charles Sampson, an African American from Watts; and Donnie Gay, an eight-time world champ from Texas. The men are credited with revolutionizing the way professional rodeos attract sponsors.
* Tina Fey will write CURLY OXIDE AND VIC THRILL for Paramount and producers Lorne Michaels and John Goldwyn. Fey will draw a comedy out of the true story of a Hasidic Jew and a grizzled rock musician who form a band. Curly Oxide is the stage name of the young Hasidic Jew who wandered into a Brooklyn bar where Vic Thrill drunkenly played his raucous music. Thrill struck up a conversation and a mutual interest in music led Thrill to invite his new friend to visit his nearby recording studio. The duo began writing and performing music together, mingling their cultures in the playful lyrics.
* David Schwimmer has been tapped to direct RUN, FAT BOY, RUN for Gold Circle Films. Penned by actor/writer Michael Ian Black, the project centers on a charming but oblivious overweight guy who leaves his fiancee on their wedding day only to discover years later that he really loves her. To win her back, he must finish the New York marathon while making her realize that her new handsome, wealthy fiance is the wrong guy for her.
* Joe and Anthony Russo ("Arrested Development") will direct BARRY AND STAN GONE WILD for New Line. The story centers on an uptight and neurotic dermatologist and his wild divorced brother, who travel to Daytona to bail the doctor's son out of jail after the teen is arrested for a drunken prank during spring break. In the midst of spring break, the doctor bonds with his son while learning to loosen up, and the partying brother finds true love.
* David Ellis is in talks to direct the action/thriller SHAKERS for Whitelight Entertainment. Penned by Perry Barndt and Jason Rodriguez, the project centers on a small town cop who, while investigating a series of bank robberies, gets thrown into the fast-paced world of drag racing.
* Brett Ratner is coming on board to direct the MGM gambling caper BREAKING VEGAS with Kevin Spacey producing. Project is based on Ben Mezrich's nonfiction bestseller BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE, about six M.I.T. students who were trained to become experts in card counting and subsequently took Vegas casinos for millions in winnings. Peter Steinfeld (BE COOL) penned the adaptation, which could start lensing in early 2005.
* Lions Gate Entertainment snapped up IVY LEAGUE, a comedy to be written by Josh Bycel and Jonathan Fener, for GMG's Gary Goodman to produce. It revolves around rowdy kids who mistakenly get accepted into a prestigious academic institution and turn it upside down.
* Jeremy Leven (THE NOTEBOOK) is in talks to write a remake of the 1973 pic BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY for producer Gary Goodman. The producer also is shopping PRISONER IN PARADISE, the story of Dan Hanks, who was convicted of wiretapping in the 1980s. Hanks reported to federal prison, where he found himself the lone male among 800 female prisoners, the guinea pig in a coed prison experiment.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Mark Pellington has exited the director's chair for WB's upcoming Harrison Ford THE WRONG ELEMENT due to the death of his wife.
* Bill Gerber, who has acquired film rights to Neal Pollack's satirical tale NEVER MIND THE POLLACKS: A ROCK AND ROLL NOVEL. The story of a self-destructive rock critic named Neal Pollack is told through a series of interviews by rival critic Paul St. Pierre following Pollack's death. The story follows the renegade journalist, who manages to be in the right place at the right time throughout the key points of rock history, starting in Memphis, when Elvis Presley kills Pollack's father by accidentally backing a truck over him. Pollack subsequently steals away Joan Baez from Bob Dylan, moves to Liverpool to become a critic and appears at the start of every iconic rock scene through the '80s punk era in Los Angeles and the '90s grunge rock movement in Seattle.
* Universal and Double Features have made a rights deal to use Friendster as the centerpiece for a comedy that will follow relationships formed by fictitious users of the web site.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* Screenwriting Expo 3 is back at the Los Angeles Convention Center, November 5-7, with 100 more events and speakers than last year (over 350 events total). Visit http://www.screenwritingexpo.com for more.
* CAMP XRAY: GHOSTS OF GUANTANAMO has been officially selected for the Bite The Mango Film Festival. This festival along with the London Film Festival and Raindance Film festival is one of the biggest Film Festivals in Britain. For more info, log on to http://www.campxray.co.uk and http://www.bitethemango.org.uk/2004/whatson_previews.asp
* You cast the Transformers movie. Listed are some main characters for the upcoming TF movie and three selections for voice actors for each character, and users can vote. Votes get automatically tallied, so you can see the updated results, all in good fun. http://www.monkeycube.com/transformers/
* "DEAR PILLOW" Opens At the Alamo Drafthouse, Sep 1st! Wed & Thurs - 9/1 & 9/2 - 7:00pm Tickets Available Online: http://www.drafthouse.com/downtown/frames.asp
* See some new BRIDGET JONES 2 pics at http://www.dvdrama.com/news.php?9068&detailsvotes=
