Well folks, Elston Gunn is still chiming away with his WEEKLY RECAP, and there's some cool ass casting news below so check it out. Now! Here ya go....
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER VIA REUTERS
CASTING
(signed)
* Summer Phoenix (THE FACULTY, CAN'T HARDLY WAIT) will star as the title role in ESTHER KAHN about a Hasidic Jewish girl in London in the 1700s who wants to become a stage actress.
* Ian Holm and Stanley Tucci (both from BIG NIGHT) will star in JOE GOULD'S SECRET. Tucci will direct the film based on the book of the same name by Joseph Mitchell. Howard Rodman adapted the script with Tucci.
* Neve Campbell will star in the FAME/FLASHDANCE-esque dance film MOVE for Warner Bros. She will play a ballet dancer who comes to New York and is torn between two mentors. Eric Guggenheim is writing the script with the intention of having it done in April when "Party of Five" completes its season.
* Lynn Redgrave (GODS AND MONSTERS) will play the title role in BOBBIE'S GIRL about an Englishwoman who's life is changed drastically when she becomes responsible for raising her brother's child.
* Michelle Williams (H20, "Dawson's Creek") and Eddie Cibrian (LIVING OUT LOUD) join BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER.
* Bill Paxton, David Keith and Jake Weber join U-571 with Matthew McConaughey and Harvey Keitel.
* Robert Carlysle joins the Bond flick THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH as the villanous Renard. Shooting begins Monday.
* Nicky Katt, Ron Rifkin, Taylor Nichols, Scott Caan and Jamie Kennedy join THE BOILER ROOM.
* Tom Berenger and Polly Walker (the latter from PATRIOT GAMES) join Sly Stallone in DETOX.
(in talks)
* Robert Downey Jr. is in final talks to join Michael Douglas in WONDER BOYS for Paramount directed by Curtis Hanson (LA CONFIDENTIAL) and adapted from the Michael Chabon novel. Downey is also in talks to join Courtney Love in the New Line flick UNLESS THAT SOMEONE IS YOU for director Nick Cassavetes.
* Jon Bon Jovi is in final talks to join U-571.
* Tom Everett Scott (THAT THING YOU DO!) is in talks to join THE BOILER ROOM.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Independent Pictures has optioned LIBERACE about the pianist and showman from writers Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer (SPY HARD and upcoming SCREAM IF YOU KNOW WHAT I DID LAST HALLOWEEN).
* Paramount has picked up the romantic drama pitch THE GIFT by Marlene King (NOW AND THEN) about a man whose life is severely changed by a near-death experience.
* Gore Verbinsky (MOUSE HUNT) is attached to direct a feature adaptation of the kids book HOW GEORGIE REDBOURN SAVED BASEBALL about a boy living in a world where it has been winter ever since baseball was outlawed. The boy must take on a tyrant who has converted old baseball stadiums into factories.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Disney and Warner Bros. will join forces for the first time on THE BIG MOCAMBO, a live-action comedy which may have Barry Sonnenfeld directing. The film will be about a protagonist who's life is complicated by animated and live-action characters made famous by movies.
* Sony Pictures is near a deal to join Beacon Communications for the Kevin Costner/Cuban missile crisis pic 13 DAYS. Shooting will begin in March with all the principals sitll attached. Phil Alden Robinson (FIELD OF DREAMS) will direct. The film may be ready for the holidays or may be held for President's Day 2000.
* George Lucas says he will not do another trilogy to take place after RETURN OF THE JEDI. [ELSTON NOTE: See Harry's earlier coverage.]
* Ed Asner, Joni Mitchell and Kenny Loggins are lending their talents to THE LAST STAND: THE STRUGGLE FOR BALLONA WETLANDS, a documentary against the development of Playa Vista, future home for DreamWorks.
* The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld an injunction preventing Sony Pictures from making any James Bond films.
* Universal has put CURIOUS GEORGE in "turnaround." Imagine Entertainment is shopping it around to various studios.
HARRY NOTE: I'm writing an article on UNIVERSAL's complete lack of executive decision making as a castrated studio.
* Luc Besson, who's Joan of Arc is scheduled for release in Nov., ha signed a deal to move his production company from Sony to Fox.
HARRY NOTE: Thus begins SONY's fall. This is the sort of thing that happens when you have executive shake ups. I hope, this won't be a sign of worse things to com.
RE-RELEASE NEWS: Rialto Pictures will re-release the 1960 controversial thriller PEEPING TOM and will be distributed under the "Martin Scorcese Presents" banner.
Good bit of casting this week. I'm sure we'll see even more as the month moves along. *** Let's see...Sony loses Luc Besson and James Bond but gains 13 DAYS. James Bond gains Robert Carlysle. Disney and WB join forces for the first time, Fox won't see another Lucas trilogy and New Line is off doing its own thing and making money. Universal continues with DETOX and dumps CURIOUS GEORGE while DreamWorks faces a protest documentary on Playa Vista. This is the kind of soap opera I dig, folks.
...And so ends the first recap of 1999 as well as its six month anniversary. Yep, a whole half a year (is that an oxymoron?) gone by. At this point some of the movies that were mentioned in the first recaps are coming out pretty soon. (For example: SHE'S ALL THAT, DAIRY QUEENS, CARRIE 2)
If you haven't checked out Harry's comprehensive list on 1999 movies, do so. It gets the old adrenalin pumping. You never know, it could the best movie year in sixty years. It'll at least be one hell of a summer.
Happy New Year.
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
