Here's yet another of Elston Gunn's fantastic assemblies of cool (and not so cool) news from the official (so-called) pages of the mainstream Entertainment press.... Lotsa news this week, so read on....
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Oliver Hudson (THE OUT OF TOWNERS) joins THE SMOKERS about three rebellious boarding school girls who are frustrated with their respective suitors.
* Mili Avital (KISSING A FOOL) joins Luke Wilson, Norman Reedus and Dennis Farina in PRESTON TYLK, a film noir thriller about a man who is suspected of killing his wife.
* Tamala Jones ("For Your Love") will play the female lead opposite Ice Cube in New Line's NEXT FRIDAY, the sequel to 1995's FRIDAY. Mike Epps, Don "D.C." Curry, John Witherspoon and Tony Lister also star.
* William Lee Scott (OCTOBER SKY) will play a young car thief in GONE IN 60 SECONDS starring Nicolas Cage.
* Chris Cooper (LONE STAR) joins the cast of ME, MYSELF AND IRENE as detective Joe Sarrasin.
* Patrick Stewart is in final negotiations to play Professor X as Dougray Scott (EVER AFTER) is in talks to play Wolverine in 20th Century Fox's X-MEN directed by Bryan Singer.
Harry Note: I want RUSSELL CROWE dammit!
* Natassja Kinski, Alyson Hannigan and Jennifer Esposito will star in BEYOND CITY LIMITS for director Gigi Gaston. The casino heist flick also stars Steve Harris, Todd Field, Bryan McCardie, Alexis Densiof and Sophie B. Hawkins.
* Willem Dafoe is in talks to star in ANIMAL FACTORY for actor/director Steve Buscemi who is helming the Edward Bunker script based on Bunker's novel. Dafoe would play a convict who shows the ropes to a prison newcomer.
* Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz are in talks to star in the DreamWork's comedy I WENT TO DATE SCHOOL based on th Mademoiselle article about a New York consulting service that sets up clients on a simulated date then critiques their dating skills. Greg Mottola (THE DAYTRIPPERS) may direct.
* Forest Whitaker will star in R XMAS with Annabella Sciorra and John Leguizamo for director Abel Ferrara. He is also in talks to join John Travolta in BATTLEFIELD EARTH. He may also take parts in WHERE THE HEART IS and PICKING UP THE PIECES.
* Jim Carrey is in talks to star in a remake of the 1947 Danny Kaye flick THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY for New Line and director Chuck Russell (THE MASK) after the latter finishes directing Kim Basinger in BLESS THE CHILD. Carrey would play a timid man who becomes a brave hero in his daydreams. Russell will rewrite the remake.
* Nick Corri (WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE) and Laura Herring (LAMBADA) will star in CALLE OCHO about a Cuban American singer torn between music and political activism. Maria Conchita Alonso, Steven Bauer and Miguel Sandoval also star. Shooting begins July 12 with Betty Kaplan (DONA BARBARA) directing and Willy Chirino handling the music.
* Rod Steiger joins THE LAST PRODUCER starring and to be directed by Burt Reynolds.
* Greg Kinnear, John Goodman, Ben Kingsley, Linda Fiorentino, Nora Dunn and Judy Greer join Garry Shandling, Annette Bening and Camryn Manheim in Mike Nichols' WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM?
* Mark Wahlberg is in talks to star in METAL GOD about a heavy metal cover band whose lead singer gets to join a real metal band after they dump their own lead singer. George Clooney and Robert Lawrence are producing the John Stockwell script.
* Carrie-Anne Moss (THE MATRIX) will join Val Kilmer in MARS this fall. Antony Hoffman directs the WB pic.
* Jennifer Grant (EVENING STAR) will star in the indie flick A VIEW FROM THE SWING about a couple trying to have a baby.
DIRECTING/WRITING ATTACHMENTS
* Mike Mitchell (HERD short) is set to make his feature debut directing Rob Schneider, who co-wrote the screenplay with Harris Goldberg, as an up and coming gigolo in DEUCE.
* Director Roger Donaldson (DANTE'S PEAK, SPECIES) is in final negotiations to direct Kevin Costner in the Cuban missile crisis pic 13 DAYS.
* Preston Whitmore has written LOCKDOWN, a black-themed prison pic starring rappers Master P and Treach. John Lussenhop will direct.
* Paul Reiser is writing/developing a screenplay for Rob Reiner and Castle Rock Pictures about a father and son who hit the road to solve the mysteries of their family.
* Martin Scorcese and Liv Tyler are in talks to develop a picture about pre-60s kinky pinup girl Bettie Page for the former to direct and the latter to star. Documentarian Mark Mari and Barbara de Fina will produce. No writer is attached and there is no hurry as Scorcese is unsure of his next project. Meanwhile, Mary Harron (upcoming AMERICAN PSYCHO) is directing THE BALLAD OF BETTIE PAGE written by Harron and Guinevere Turner.
* David Paymer will direct GRACE for Platform Entertainment about a young woman coping with the mental deterioration of her uncle and closest friend. Lex Olson wrote the script.
* Steve Barnes has written TELEGRAPH HILL, a period piece set in 50s San Francisco for Jersey Films; PROMISE OF RAIN based on the Clay Reynolds novel AGITATE (with Sam Shepard possibly starring); and REDHEADS which he may direct himself.
* Jordan Brady (DILL SCALLION) will direct THE THIRD WHEEL starring Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. Brady is also working with David Bendel on finalizing the script for the screen version of THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY.
* Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins (GOOD BURGER, VARSITY BLUES) will direct and produce respectively SUMMER CATCH, a story about a poor boy and rich girl who hook up for a summer romance.
* Kim Fuller (SPICE WORLD) has written THE BIG CON, a comedic thriller for Buena Vista International about two friends who try to frame burglars before a big robbery.
* Jim Thompson and Jim Hershleder have written BLACK IRISH about two black guys on the run who win an Irish pub in the Guinness sweepstakes.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Nina Menkes will make her next picture HEATSTROKE with Andrea Sperling producing and Gus Van Sant directing. The story follows the relationship/rivalry between two sisters and the disappearance of one of their husbands.
* Miramax Films is co-producing with Granada Film and London Week Television NORTHANGER ABBEY based on the Jane Austen novel. This gothic love story was adapted by Andrew Davies (CIRCLE OF FRIENDS).
* Lynda Obst picked up JACK AND JILL written by Heather Richards to produce for Paramount. Nicolas Cage is attached to star in the story about a corporate bloodletter who rediscovers his humanity through falling in love with a schoolteacher.
* Universal picked up the rights to CROSS DRESSING, a potential Tom Shadyac directing vehicle about an ad executive who assumes the identity of his deceased twin brother, who was a priest. He proves to be the wrong kind of person to be a priest, especially after falling for a nun.
* Quincy Jones and Morgan Freeman picked up the feature rights to Ralph Ellison's book JUNETEENTH, about the son of a black man and white woman who is raised by a Baptist preacher (Freeman) and turns into a hateful politician. David Mamet is in talks to adapt and direct.
* Producer Marco Weber (THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR) picked up the rights to SHOOT THE MOON by Joseph Klemper. Ravel Centeno-Rodriguez will write the screenplay.
* New Line will remake the 1996 German comedy TO ERR IS HUMAN for Ben Stiller's Red Hour Films and Industry Entertainment about a man who learns about a man who learns he is infertile and couldn't have possibly fathered his children. He decides to invite his closet friends to a reunion to find ot the true father.
* Paramount picked up the unpublished manuscript THE FUNDAMENTALS OF PLAY by Caitlin Macy about a group of twenty-something Manhattanites and a relationship that can't happen due to class difference. Described as THE GREAT GATSBY for th '90s.
* DreamWorks has picked up rights to the novel ASSAULT ON NORWAY by Thomas Gallagher about the race for the atom bomb during WWII.
This movie is one to be excited about. To anyone that watched those Olympics that took place up there in Norway and saw to short docu about this event.... Well... you know to be excited. Fantastic "WHERE EAGLES DARE"/"GUNS OF NAVARONE" style film. It was made before as OPERATION: CROSSBOW with George 'I love it when a plan comes together' Hannibal from A-TEAM!
REMAKE NEWS OF THE WEEK: Universal, Imagine's Brian Grazer, MUMMY producers Jim Sacks and Sean Daniel are remaking the 1935 James Whale classic THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN setting it in ten years from now and tapping Rick Backer to do the makeup. A writer/director will be hired soon.
HARRY NOTE: Sigh.... I'll reserve comment till I see the script, but... Sigh...
It's almost June and Hollywood is turning up project develop. Especially with picking up the rights to many novels. JUNETEENTH sounds great. Morgan Freeman seems to be one of THE busiest actors in Hollywood...as is Forest Whitaker. *** First up...the BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN remake. After seeing THE MUMMY...thoughts? *** Scorsese just keeps getting attached to more projects. Hope he makes a decision soon. And 2 Bettie Page flicks to go with all the other "movies in 2." *** How about the cast to WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM? *** Rod Steiger in a Burt Reynolds flick. I predict shenanigans. *** Chris Cooper in a Farrelly Bros. flick. I can't wait to see him in a comedy (though he was in BREAST MEN). *** Looks like Jim Carrey's schedule is full 'til the middle of next year. WALTER MITTY? Could be cool. *** Stiller and Diaz again; some X casting that is warm and cool in my book; another Jane Austen flick; METAL GOD taking off...intriguing stuff this week. Talk about 'em all in the TALK BACK. *** Check out Harry's response to the news of Roger Donaldson directing 13 DAYS from earlier this week.
Enjoy your holiday weekend and have a happy June...
Until next week...
Elston Gunn
