Father Geek here with Elston and his latest report from LaLa Land. Yep, its that time again. Time for AICN's regular weeky update on all the stuff coming out of Tinseltown you just may have missed during the course of your busy work week. So get all comfortable, grab a munchie and your fave relaxing drink and prepare (like a good lil' scout) to dig in to the Hollywood week that was...
THE WEEKLY RECAP...
TAKING FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
TAKING FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Samaire Armstrong ("The O.C.," "Entourage") joins Lindsay Lohan in an untitled project at Regency Enterprises for director Donald Petrie. In the film, Armstrong will play the best friend of Lohan's character, who is the luckiest lady around until she meets the unluckiest man. Armstrong's character is a struggling songwriter whose songwriting comes into play later in the film.
* OutKast's Andre 3000, Tyrese and Garrett Hedlund (FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS) join Mark Wahlberg in Paramount Pictures and Lorenzo Di Bonaventura's untitled drama, formerly known as FOUR BROTHERS, for director John Singleton. David Elliot and Paul Lovett wrote the script about four brothers who seek to avenge their mother's death.
* John Travolta and James Gandolfini will star in LONELY HEARTS, a drama written and to be directed by Todd Robinson for Millennium Films. Production will begin in March in Jacksonville, Fla. It's based on the true story of two homicide detectives who captured and convicted Martha Beck and Raymond Martinez Fernandez, the "Lonely Hearts Killers" of the 1940s who found their victims through the personals.
* Natalie Portman is in final talks to star in V IS FOR VENDETTA, based on the Alan Moore graphic novel, for Warner Bros., the Wachowski brothers, producer Joel Silver and director James McTeigue (Wachowski's longtime first assistant director). The screenplay was adpated by the Wachowski brothers, who'll produce with Silver. The action-heavy story takes place in an alternate future in which Germany wins WWII and Great Britain becomes a fascist state. A terrorist freedom fighter known only as "V" begins a violent guerrilla campaign to destroy those who've succumbed to totalitarianism, and recruits a young woman he's rescued -- or possibly kidnapped -- from the secret police to join him.
* Clifton Collins Jr., Cuba Gooding Jr. and Judy Reyes are getting DIRTY for writer/director Chris Fisher, Deviant Film and Silver Nitrate. Tory Kittles (TIGERLAND), Wyclef Jean and Wood Harris ("The Wire") round out the cast. It's about gangbangers who are now dirty LAPD cops trying to cover their tracks in a precinct scandal. Reyes is an Internal Affairs officer.
* David Morrissey will star opposite Sharon Stone in MGM's BASIC INSTINCT 2: RISK ADDICTION. Production begins in March in London. The sequel follows Catherine Tramell from San Francisco to London, where she again finds herself in trouble with the law. Dr. Andrew Glass, a criminal psychiatrist, is appointed by Scotland Yard to evaluate her.
* Kate Bosworth is in talks to play Lois Land and Kevin Spacey is set to play Lex Luthor in Bryan Singer's SUPERMAN movie for Warner Bros. Pictures. The comic book movie would reunite the two actors, who currently appear in Spacey's BEYOND THE SEA. Brandon Routh plays the title role.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Volker Schlondorff (THE TIN DRUM) will direct WHO IS ANNA WALENTYNOWCZ for FFF Bayern It's the biography of an illiterate woman in postwar Gdansk who helped establish Poland's Solidarity union. Pic stars mother-daughter German thesps Katharina Thalbach and Anna Thalbach.
* David Gordon Green will write a coming-of-age film about motocross racing champion James "Bubba" Stewart for Paramount and director Sam Jones (I AM TRYING TO BREAK YOUR HEART). Michael London will produce with C/W partners Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner. Taught by his father to ride before he could walk, Stewart was winning titles by the time he was 7, and at 16 became the first African-American to win a major motorsports title. He has so dominated the 125cc division that he's been known to lay down his bike during a race to let competitors catch up. The film's core will be the relationship between the phenom and his father, James Stewart Sr., a local racer who molded his son to achieve dreams he was denied. The son's sudden success has strained their relationship.
* Gregor Jordan (BUFFALO SOLDIERS, NED KELLY) will rewrite and direct the adaptation of John Christopher's THE TRIPODS TRILOGY for Walt Disney's Touchstone Pictures. In the books, Tripods have conquered Earth and enslaved the human race by implanting a mind-controlling device in the heads of everyone over 15. The books tell the story of a boy and two of his friends who race to overthrow the Tripods before they must undergo the capping ritual.
* Twentieth Century Fox has optioned ORPHAN'S DAWN, a spec script by Josh Friedman. The futuristic sci-fi film will be produced by Davis Entertainment. Story takes place on a city-sized starship, which has been floating in space for a century, its inhabitants seeking a planet on which to settle after their own world was rendered uninhabitable. Time is running out, and a struggle for control breaks out. Script has been crafted to lead to multiple installments if the first one works.
* Dennis Dugan is in negotiations to direct Rob Schneider and David Spade in the baseball comedy BENCH WARMERS for Happy Madison and Revolution Studios. Story centers on three men who were poor at sports when they were kids but try to make up for it by forming a three-man team that challenges nine-player youth baseball teams. Script, from an idea by Adam Sandler, is by Allen Covert (EIGHT CRAZY NIGHTS) and Nick Swardson (MALIBU'S MOST WANTED). Production is expected to begin in April.
* Revolution has purchased the baseball-themed drama TO WALLY WARD from Nash Entertainment. Angelo Pizzo (RUDY, HOOSIERS) is writing the script from Nash's original story. Story concerns a down-and-out baseball fan who comes across a ball autographed by the 1957 Brooklyn Dodgers and inscribed "To Wally Ward." The fan, determined to return the historic ball to its original owner, goes through a journey of self-discovery on his hunt for the mysterious Ward.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Veteran Italian producer Gianni Nunnari and his Hollywood Gang Prods. have optioned the feature rights to Paulo Coelho's international bestseller ELEVEN MINUTES. It revolves around a young girl from a Brazilian village who comes to the conclusion that it's impossible to own anybody except possibly by touching their soul during a sexual encounter -- the average duration of which is 11 minutes.
