On to the recap...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER VIA REUTERS
CASTING
* Penelope Cruz will star in WOMAN ON TOP for Fox Searchlight with Fina Torres (ORIANA) directing. The story is about a Brazilian woman who goes to San Francisco to become a chef.
* Randy Quaid will play Cappy won Trappment, an FBI director, in ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE. Janeane Garofalo will have a cameo.
* Christina Applegate and Tara Reid are in final talks to star in the remake of LES VISITEURS (THE VISITORS). Original actors Jean Reno and Christian Clavier will again play an 11th Century nobleman and squire, respectively, who wind up in contemporary times.
* Sam Neill joins Robin Williams in BICENTENNIAL MAN. He'll play the patriarch of a futuristic family who hires android Williams.
* Sean Patrick Flanery joins DETOX.
* Rachel Stirling (STILL CRAZY) joins Jonny Lee Miller (TRAINSPOTTING) in the indie thriller COMPLICITY based on the Iain Banks novel.
* Nicole Ari Parker (200 CIGARETTES) will play opposite Martin Lawrence in BLUE STREAK.
* Marlo Thomas created and will star in THE ASSISTANTS for Universal about a group of assistants who devise a scheme overthrowing the lives of their bosses. Dick Clement and Ian La Frenois (STILL CRAZY) are writing the script.
* Al Pacino and director Michael Canton-Jones (THE JACKAL) are in final talks to work together on the polie drama CITY BY THE SEA for Warner Bros. Ken Hixon (INVENTING THE ABBOTTS) is writing the screenplay based on the Esquire article by Mike McAlary. Pacino will play a police officer whose father was sentenced to death and son is suspected of murder.
* Tim Curry is in talks to star in indie flick FOUR DAYS AND A BONE written and directed by Paul Rachman about a heist gone wrong. Mark Salinger produces.
* Jenna Elfman ("Dharma & Greg") is in talks to play the female lead in KEEPING THE FAITH for actor/now director Edward Norton. She may also be up for the female lead in Spielberg's MINORITY REPORT.
* Ben Affleck and Matt Damon will star in the comedy-romance THE THIRD WHEEL for their Pearl Street Prods. It's about two friends, one helps the other set up a date with the girl of his dreams. Through a series of mishaps, the girl ends up on a date with a con artist played by the writer of the movie Jay Lacopo. Jordan Brady will direct.
* Kate Hudson (200 CIGARETTES) will star in the Irish comedy ALL ABOUT ADAM for Miramax.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Phil Alden Robinson (FIELD OF DREAMS) is in final negotiations to dierct BENJAMIN BUTTON based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald book THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON about a man who physically ages backwards.
* Gore Verbinski (MOUSE HUNT) is attached to direct a film based on the children's book WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE by Maurice Sendak for Universal, Tom Hanks/Gary Goetzman's Playtone Prods. and Wild Thing Prods.
* Jay Anania (LONG TIME SINCE) is writing/directing THE CITIZEN about a U.S. journalist in El Slavador as the first feature for Sunshine Amalgamedia.
* Mark Waters (HOUSE OF YES) is in final talks to direct HEAD OVER HEELS for producer Robert Simonds and Universal. The story centers on a woman who gets stuck living with eight models. While living there, she sees the man of her dreams kill someone across the way in another building and she manages to still feel attracted to him.
* Director Dean Parisot (HOME FRIES) is in negotiations to direct Tim Allen in DreamWorks' GALAXY QUEST.
* Peter Hyams (upcoming END OF DAYS) is set to direct the indie thriller ACES HIGH about a North Korean dictator who's built the ultimate nuclear weapon while a group of U.S. fighters have days to mount an air strike and stealing high tech planes to do it.
* French director Jean-Jacques Beineix will direct his first English language film, DEAL OF THE MILLENIUM with Jean Reno starring. Jason Flemying (LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS) may co-star. It's about two young vampires who search for an older professor vampire to teach them the tricks of the trade.
* Barry Levinson is in talks to direct the comedy AN EVERLASTING PIECE about two aspiring hairpiece salesmen. The film will shoot in Ireland and will feature an all-Irish cast headed by Barry McEvay who wrote the script. Shooting may begin in the fall.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Producer Bob Evans (THE OUT-OF-TOWNERS) will next ready a screen adaptation of the book HOW LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS.
* October Films and Michael Stipe's Single Cell Pictures will produce a film based on the L.A. Times article A MYSTERY OF CLOTH about a preacher who embezzles $1 million and ran up gambling debts. He wasn't found out until after he died.
* Director Walter Hill (48 HOURS) has left SUPERNOVA, the United Artist sci-fi epic starring James Spader, Angela Bassett, Lou Diamond Phillips and Robert Forster. He wanted reshoots, the studio wanted to test it first. Principal photography was completed, however, and the studio is hoping for a fall release.
* Warner Bros. and Witt-Thomas Films will remake the 1997 Norwegian movie INSOMNIA. Hillary Seitz (EARLY BIRD SPECIAL) is writing the script.
* Bob Weinstein will produce REINDEER GAMES starring Ben Affleck, Gary Sinise and Charlize Theron.
* Mutual Film Co. will remake the Oscar-winning Ira Wohl 1979 documentary BEST BOY into a fictionalized feature. Nick Thiel (WHITE FANG) is scripting.
* Nickelodeon and Paramount will team again for SNOW DAY starring Chevy Chase, Pam Grier and John Schneider ("Dukes of Hazzard") along with young actors Mark Webber, Zena Gray and Schuyler Fisk.
REMAKE NEWS OF THE WEEK: Samuel L. Jackson is in final talks to play the title character in a remake of the 1971 film SHAFT for Paramount and director John Singleton. Shooting should begin this summer. The script is being rewritten by Richard Price (CLOCKERS).
I thought the recap would've been much smaller this week, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Where to begin... A lot of director's getting busy this week. All of their projects sound interesting. I wonder how funny AN EVERLASTING PIECE will be. *** Jenna Elfman is talking about two projects to play the female lead...very welcome. *** Affleck/Damon doing a romantic comedy...they may very well become the next Crosby/Hope. However, which one is the straight man? *** Glad to see GALAXY QUEST is close to landing a director. *** There are a lot of indie things happening this week. They all sound cool. THE ASSISTANTS reminds me a little of 9 TO 5...with the STILL CRAZY guys writing the script. *** Who'll take over the reins for post-production on SUPERNOVA? *** ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE, Hanks doing a kids' book, Stipe doing an L.A. Times article, Al Pacino, a couple of remakes--one is SHAFT, lots o' stuff...good week this week.
Have a good one. Happy Washington's Birthday.
Thanks for the emails.
Until next week....
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
