Father Geek here bringing you another edition of our weekly recap column by Mssr. Gunn with all the confirmed news out of Filmland, soooo sit back and relax, and prepare to scroll thru the week that was out in studio city. Its all below in...
THE WEEKLY RECAP...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Karl Yune (ANACONDAS: THE HUNT FOR THE BLOOD ORCHID) is joining the cast of MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, also starring Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, Gong Li and Ken Watanabe. Yune will play Koichi, the love interest to Geisha Hatsumomo, Gong's character. Rob Marshall is directing from a screenplay by Ron Bass, Akiva Goldsman and Robin Swicord.
* Paul Sorvino is set to star in and direct the indie drama RITES OF WINTER about the relationship between two Greek immigrant brothers living in Florida and the emotional impact of the 1974 Turkish invasion of the Greek island of Cyprus on their lives.
* George Lopez, Cayden Boyd (DODGEBALL, MYSTIC RIVER), Taylor Dooley and Taylor Lautner will star in Robert Rodriguez's upcoming Miramax/Dimension action pic THE ADVENTURES OF SHARK BOY & LAVA GIRL. It's about a boy whose imaginary superhero friends come to life and join him on adventures. The project is scheduled for release in June 2005.
* Robert Redford is attached to star in and potentially direct THE BRUTUS COMPLEX, a political thriller by Ari Rubin, for Radar Pictures.
* Sean Penn is starring in and producing IN SEARCH OF CAPTAIN ZERO, an adaptation by Michael Bacall of Allan C. Weisbecker's surf memoir, for director Stacy Peralta, Quiksilver and Radar.
* Nicole Kidman is interested in playing a woman emotionally torn between her husband and her lover in DIRT MUSIC, based on the Tim Winton novel, for director Phillip Noyce.
* Eric Bana will star in LUCKY YOU to be directed by Curtis Hanson for Warner Bros. Pictures. Production is expected to begin in Las Vegas early next year on the drama, which is set in the world of high-stakes professional poker. Pic is based on an original screenplay by Eric Roth, with additional writing by Hanson.
* Rosamund Pike will star in Universal Pictures' upcoming video game adaptation DOOM. Pike will play Samantha, a scientist, opposite Karl Urban, who will play John Grimm, the leader of a special ops team at the center of the action-adventure pic. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is also set to take a leading role. Andrzej Bartkowiak will direct from a script by Dave Callaham.
* Jeremy Renner is in negotiations to star in Niki Caro's CLASS ACTION opposite Charlize Theron.
* Olympia Dukakis, Lainie Kazan and Mary Stuart Masterson will star in INTERVENTION for Pompeian Pictures. Masterson's mother, Carlin Gylnn, will star, while her father, Peter Masterson, directs. Her brother, Peter Masterson Jr., is director of photography. Dukakis' daughter, Christina Zorich, is also in the cast. Based on a true story, the pic centers on a group of eight friends in the New York theater community who confront a well-known avant-garde playwright about his excessive drinking. Gotham playwright Jo Ann Tedesco wrote the script. Mario Macaluso, David Margulies, Hazelle Goodman, Robert Walden and Gary Swanson will also star.
* Adrien Brody will star in TRUTH, JUSTICE AND THE AMERICAN WAY for Focus Features and director Allen Coulter. Written by Paul Bernbaum, it's a story about the man who portrayed TV's Superman, George Reeves. Bernbaum's script details the investigation into Reeves' mysterious 1959 death in Hollywood, as well as the actor's complex relationship with the iconic role that propelled him to stardom. Brody will play the lead detective on the case.
* Milla Jovovich will star opposite Billy Bob Thornton in FADE OUT for writer/director Michael Cristofer. Shooting starts May 15 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It follows the story of a screenwriter with a history of mental illness who suspects his wife of infidelity only to find her missing. When he begins to write a script about his suspicions of her whereabouts, he loses the ability to tell the difference between reality and the plot of the project he's working on.
* Nick Lachey is joining the cast of THE HARD EASY for director Ari Ryan. Henry Thomas, David Boreanaz, Vera Farmiga, Bruce Dern and Peter Weller also star. The story follows two groups of thieves who, unbeknownst to each other, attempt to rob the same jewelry store.
* Usher will star in an untitled drama being scripted by Jonathan Prince ("American Dreams") for Dimension Films. Though it doesn't yet have a title, the film sounds has been described as an R&B version of 8 MILE. Usher will play a kid from the streets who finds himself through his music.
* Simon Baker, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Asia Argento and Robert Joy will star in THE LAND OF THE DEAD for writer/director George A. Romero. The story takes place in a world overrun by zombies where the survivors live in a walled city. While the zombies are evolving, certain factions seek to overthrow the city.
* Laura Linney and Tom Wilkinson are set to star in THE EXORCISM OF ANNELIESE MICHEL, a drama inspired by true events that will be directed by Scott Derrickson for Screen Gems. Derrickson wrote the script with Paul Boardman. It's about an attorney who defends a Catholic priest who has been charged with the negligent homicide of a 19-year-old girl whose exorcism he presided over. The case reawakens faith in the lawyer. Shooting begins in November in Vancouver.
* Ann-Margret will join Dennis Hopper in MEM-O-RE for 3210 Films and director Bennett Davlin. It's a psychological thriller that involves a medical researcher who taps into the genetically stored memories of a killer.
* Sophie Traub has nabbed a lead role in Miramax and L. Driver Prods.' DALTRY CALHOUN, starring Johnny Knoxville, Juliette Lewis, Elizabeth Banks, David Koechner and Kick Gurry. Project marks the feature directorial debut of Katrina Holden Bronson, who also penned the script.
* Jerry Ferrara (HBO's "Entourage") joins the cast of NAILED RIGHT IN, starring Freddie Prinze Jr., Alec Baldwin and Scott Caan. Michael Corrente (OUTSIDE PROVIDENCE) is directing from a script by Terrence Winter ("The Sopranos").
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* DreamWorks has picked up the comedy spec POWER TRIP from writer Adam Sztykiel. Michael Gruber is producing. The story revolves around an executive who travels with his tyrannical boss on a one-day business trip that turns into a three-day transportation nightmare.
* Pete Hewitt (GARFIELD) will direct Tim Allen in ZOOM'S ACADEMY, a Revolution Studios comedy about an out-of-shape former superhero called back into action to save the world. Scripted by Adam Rifkin and rewritten by Jordan Roberts, film is based on the Jason Lethcoe graphic novel ZOOM'S ACADEMY FOR THE SUPER GIFTED.
* Ali Russell will write THE 10TH MUSE, based on the female superhero character created by Darren Davis about a modern-day daughter of the Greek God Zeus. Russell will write and produce along with Weaver and Davis' manager Daniel Alter.
* David Zucker, Craig Mazin and Robert Weiss (SCARY MOVIE 3) will work on SUPERHERO!, a lampoon of superhero films, for Dimension Films. Mazin will script, Zucker will direct and Weiss is producing. All three brainstorm the jokes that go into the films.
* Stephen J. Rivele and Wesley Wittkamper are adapting the book THE PLUMBER by Rivele and Joe Salerno about the true story of a blue-collar plumber who risks his life and loved ones to take down the Philadelphia mob.
* Radar Pictures is planning a remake of the 1967 Audrey Hepburn classic WAIT UNTIL DARK to be written by Attica Locke at Warner Bros.
* Jim Rygiel will direct the upcoming indie feature BUNYAN AND BABE for Exodus Film Group. Based on the legendary figure of Paul Bunyan, the project is a live-action family adventure following Bunyan's attempts -- with the help of a couple of kids -- to rescue his ox from the evil clutches of a demented circus owner. The film will feature the voice of Eddie Griffin as the CGI-animated Babe the Blue Ox.
* Michael Moore is gearing up for his next documentary SICKO, which Miramax is preparing to finance and distribute. The documentary targets the American healthcare system.
* Vinton Studios has acquired the film rights to Neil Gaiman's CORALINE for Henry Selick to adapt and direct into an animated film. Pandemonium Films will co-produce with Vinton Studios. It's the story of a young girl who discovers an alternate version of her life after walking through a secret door in her new home. When her counterfeit parents try to keep her forever, Coraline reveals her heroic qualities.
* Gavin O'Connor will direct Jude Law in DEXTERITY for Paramount Pictures. Law also is producing the film with his production partner Tom Sternberg and Greg O'Connor of Solaris. The project is adapted from the book by Douglas Bauer and revolves around two employees from a factory town in New York. Karen Croner adapted the book.
* Alan Ball has optioned TOWELHEAD, a provocative debut novel by Alicia Erian to be published in April. Ball will write the script and hopes to make his feature directing debut on the film. Set during the Gulf War, the book is a coming-of-age story of a 13-year-old Arab-American girl who must navigate a sexual obsession with a bigoted Army reservist under the oppressive eye of her Lebanese father.
* Columbia Pictures is in negotiations to option the upcoming novel LAST ONE IN, by journalist Nicholas Kulish, for Michael De Luca. Stephen J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson will adapt the book for the bigscreen. It's the story of a mediocre male gossip columnist who is mistakenly sent to Iraq to cover the war as an embedded reporter. At first he tries to get himself sent home, but after he bonds with the soldiers and shares their experiences, he emerges as a heroic war correspondent.
* Media 8 Entertainment is co-producing, financing and distributing the feature film REAPER, which Circle of Confusion will co-produce. Production is slated to begin in February. It's the story of Virgil, a private investigator recruited to work for the beautiful and mysterious Delia. Virgil gradually finds himself immersed in a surreal underworld where the boundaries of life and death as well as right and wrong are blurred. Pic was developed and written by Gary Whitta, a comicbook writer, novelist and videogame writer.
* Scott Frank is set to make his directorial debut on DreamWorks' THE LOOKOUT from his own script about a former high school hockey star, disabled in a car accident, who outwits a group of criminals who plan to rob the small-town bank where he works as a janitor.
* MGM is picking up the comedy spec THE HIGH ROLLERS from scribe Billiam Coronel for Chip Diggins to produce. The laffer revolves around the adventures of two guys visiting Las Vegas who are mistaken for high rollers.
* John Brancato and Michael Ferriss have completed a draft of a TERMINATOR 4
script that was developed under the supervision of T3 director Jonathan
Mostow. Shooting is expected to begin in 2005. It is unclear whether or not
Arnold Schwarzenegger will be involved.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Samuel Goldwyn Films has set up an English-language remake of the French thriller HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME NOT at 20th Century Fox. Audrey Tautou and Samuel Le Bihan starred in the original.
* Rhino Films has teamed with Mother Jones magazine and Alligator Planet to create Rhino Animated Features, which is designed to produce a series of "agit-docs" for theatrical release. The first film will be MOTHER SEES RED, which will examine America's current culture wars.
* Warner Bros. has moved the release of Oliver Stone's ALEXANDER from Nov. 5 to Nov. 24. Columbia has moved next year's release date of DEUCE BIGALOW: EUROPEAN GIGOLO from April 8 to Aug. 12. Fox has moved helmer FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX to Dec. 22 and Universal moved CINDERELLA MAN from March 18 to June 3.
* Paramount Pictures, on behalf of Christine Peters' CFP Prods., has optioned worldwide film rights to Midway Games' new property FEAR & RESPECT, which John Singleton is developing as a video game. The urban-action adventure game is set in South Central Los Angeles and will be available late 2005 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* IN THE FACE OF EVIL: REAGAN'S WAR IN WORD AND DEED, an intriguing look at Reagan's victory over Communism within the context of mankind's continual fight against evil, including the current war against Islamic Fascism. The film is based on Peter Schweizer's acclaimed best-seller REAGAN'S WAR: THE EPIC STORY OF HIS FORTY YEAR STRUGGLE AND FINAL TRIUMPH OVER COMMUNISM. The feature-length independent film will be opening in theaters in selected markets October 1, 2004. Visit the official film website at http://www.inthefaceofevil.com for more information about the movie and to view the trailer, plus downloadable banners and posters.
* Travesty Productions is pleased to announce the World Television Premiere of the epic documentary SEKKING SALVATION tonight at 10 pm on Vision TV. Seeking Salvation ON DVD VHS DOWNLOAD AT WWW.SEEKINGSALVATION.CA Experience the history, music and pasision of the Black SChurch!
* CAMP XRAY: GHOSTS OF GUANTANAMO has it's World Premiere on Saturday, September 25, 2004. Check out: http://www.campxray.co.uk
* An encore screening Steve Balderson's FIRECRACKER, starring Karen Black, Mike Patton, Susan Traylor will take place Friday, Oct. 8, 10pm. Go to http://www.dikenga.com for more info.
* Palm Pictures' music themed film DIG! opens October 1 at LA Nuart and NY Sunshine Theatres - One Week Only.
