Sigh.... The Catholic League angers me. Here's Elston Gunn before I get angry....
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Connie Nielsen (SOLDIER, GLADIATOR) is replacing Monica Potter in MISSION TO MARS for director Brian De Palma. Shooting begins in July.
* Dougray Scott signed to play Wolverine in 20th Century Fox's X-MEN.
* Edward Furlong will star opposite Willem Dafoe in ANIMAL FACTORY for director Steve Buscemi. He'll play a law student serving a prison sentence for a crime he didn't commit.
* Carrie-Anne Moss (THE MATRIX) will join THE CREW starring Richard Dreyfuss and Burt Reynolds about retired mobsters who try to run off yuppies in their neighborhood. Moss will play a detective. Michael Dinner (HEAVEN HELP US) is directing from the Barry Fanaro (KINGPIN) script.
* Matt Dillon will star opposite Liv Tyler in ONE NIGHT AT MCCOOL'S for Michael Douglas Further Films. (Douglas will play a hitman in the pic.) The film, directed by Harold Zwart (HAMILTON), follows different men's recollections of the same young woman. Shooting begins Aug. 16.
* Rupert Everett is in final talks to star with Kathy Bates in New Line's UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for director P.J. Hogan (MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING). Bates would play a woman who goes to London for her pop star idol's funeral and meets up with the dead singer's lover and convinces him to join her in finding the killer.
* Peter Gallagher will star in the untitled Nicholas Hynter-directed flick about the cutthroat world of ballet.
* Iben Hjejle (MIFUNE) joins John Cusack in HIGH FIDELITY for director Stephen Frears (HI LO COUNTRY).
* Jeremy Northam (AN IDEAL HUSBAND) joins Nick Nolte, Uma Thurman and Anjelica Huston in Merchant Ivory's THE GOLDEN BOWL.
* China Chow (THE BIG HIT) joins HEAD OVER HEELS opposite Freddie Prinze Jr. and Monica Potter for Universal and director Mark Waters.
* Martin Lawrence will star in SEE SPOT RUN for Warner Bros. as a postal worker who takes in a stray dog that is part of the witness protection program. Dennie Gordon ("Ally McBeal") directs.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Warner Bros. picked up HELLDORADO by Cooper Layne about a bounty hunter with a gun arm made of steel in New Mexico in the late 1880s.
* Lisa Schrager has written severl scripts for the big screen including SUGAR MOMMY at Fox 2000, ROUND THE WAY GIRL at USA Films, THE RUBBER SHOE DANCE and THE LAUREN SCHWARTZ STORY: A LOSER'S SAGA (to star Janeane Garofalo).
* Andrew Gurland (FRAT HOUSE) has written CHEATERS, picked up by New Line, about the rise and fall of a high school cheater.
* New Line picked up Victoria Strouse's (MARY JANE'S LAST DANCE) comedy JUST LIKE A WOMAN for $1 million about a bride-to-be who awakens to find herself in a world where gender roles are reversed.
* Eric Kripke (BATTLE OF THE SEXES, TRULY COMMITTED shorts) will direct the MGM teen dark comedy MUNCHIES about a group of anorexic girls who develop a taste for human flesh.
* Ivan Reitman will direct WISH, a "comedy with songs" which will combine live-action, animation and special effects for his own Montecito Picture Co. at DreamWorks. David Stern wrote the script. That production co. will also start shooting ROAD TRIP the feature directorial debut of Todd Phillips (FRAT HOUSE).
* Mark Illsley (HAPPY, TEXAS) is in talks to direct the comedy MALE PATTERN BALDNESS for Paramount. Joe Eszterhas wrote the script about a guy in his late 40's who is struggling to adjust to the 90s.
* John McNaughton (COUSIN BETTE) will direct the farce SPEAKING OF SEX for Fox Searchlight about a couple with marital problems who seek help from different therapists, the wife ultimately sleeps with hers.
* Adam Rifkin will write and direct REAL MONSTERS based on a pitch by KISS founder Gene Simmons for New Line. The chiller comedy is about two dock workers who mistakenly open a crate and unleash three monsters into New York City. The film is said to be in the vain of such movies as ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN and THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Film Roman and comic book creator Gilbert Shelton have teamed to develop THE FABULOUS FURRY FREAK BROTHERS based on the comic book. Mike B. Anderson ("The Simpsons") will direct the pic about three hippie brothers.
* Itsy Bitsy Entertainment picked up the rights to the classic ELOISE children's books about a 6-year old who lives with her nanny and pets in the Manhattan Plaza Hotel.
* Regent Entertainment acquired the distribution rights to SPENT directed by Gil Cates, Jr. and starring Jason London, Richard Arquette, Rain Phoenix, Barbara Barrie and Margaret Cho about dysfunctional twentysomethings.
* This fall New Line will release a 2 hour edited version of LA LAGGENDA DEL PIANISTA SULL 'OCEANO entitled THE LEGEND OF 1900 directed by Guiseppe Tornatore and starring Tim Roth as a pianist born on a cruiseliner from which he never disembarks.
* Elisabeth Shue injured her Achilles Tendon at a gym, but as of now will NOT be replaced on THE HOLLOW MAN.
* Warner Bros. has acquired rights to Joe Quirk's 1998 thriller novel THE ULTIMATE RUSH where a skating messenger along with his girlfriend become targets of a Chinese gang in San Francisco.
* Dimension Films picked up Stephen Hunter's novel MEDAL OF HONOR about an ex-Marine and district attorney teaming to shut down the corrupt gambling mecca of Hot Springs, Ark.
* New Line bought rights to Coerte Felske's satire WORD for Felske and Scott Rosenberg (DISTURBING BEHAVIOR) to turn into a film. The story follows a screenwriter who agrees to give women to a studio head to further his career.
* Jersey Shore may turn John C. Russell's Off-Broadway play STUPID KIDS into a flick. Richard LaGravenese (THE HORSE WHISPERER, BELOVED) may produce and write the screenplay.
* Fox moves THE FIGHT CLUB from Aug. 6 to the fall due to hurried post production and a crowded schedule.
HARRY NOTE: A very smart move!
* The Catholic League is petitioning Disney to dump Miramax over the Kevin Smith film DOGMA. The Weinsteins sent a letter back holding the League "accountable for any wrongdoing, injury or damage it causes."
HARRY NOTE: Dear Catholics, This is Harry Knowles. Have you seen the film? Has God recently spoke to you and told you to protest this film? Have you spoken to someone who has seen this film? Casting Stones seems awfully obnoxious don't ya think? After all it is just a movie. Surely your faith isn't that fragile.
* USA Films will turn the soon-to-be published mystery DARKNESS PEERING by Alicia Blanchard into a film. Lee Reynolds will write the screenplay about the daughter and son of a police chief who committed suicide and their involvement in the investigation of a murder of a teenage girl.
* WB picked up the film rights to EULOGY FOR JOSEPH WAY by John Scott Shepherd about a man, three days before his father's funeral, who must decide to give the eulogy everyone expects--or one that will change their lives forever.
* Universal and Imagine partners Brian Grazer and Ron Howard have stuck a deal to produce a film about Playboy creator Hugh Hefner.
* Miramax bought the film rights to DROWNING RUTH, the Christina Schwarz novel about sisters in 30s Midwest, for Wes Craven to direct.
* Character Builders animation house acquired the rights to THE LUST LIZARD OF MELANCHOLY COVE to be produced as a live action/animated feature about a sex hungry ailing sea monster who disguises himself as a mobile home in California and is nursed by a wacky actress.
Not as much casting this week as usual. A lot of folks must be on vacation. There are several names I'm unfamiliar with, but am curious to see their performances. Casting of THE CREW, ANIMAL FACTORY and ONE NIGHT AT MCCOOL'S are shaping up nicely. *** Now that the Wolverine casting is said and done, I'd like to see who they've got in mind for all the other X-MEN. *** UNCONDITIONAL LOVE sounds interesting. What an odd pairing, though. *** MUNCHIES landed its third director. What's the deal? It's racing with 13 DAYS to see how many directors they can attach before production. *** Some animated (or partially animated) stuff going on with WISH, THE FABULOUSLY FURRY FREAK BROTHERS and THE LUST LIZARD... I'm curious about them all. *** John McNaughton and a sex farce? Cool. *** Finally, so many book film rights are being picked up, I may have to create a new section. Which ones are you looking forward to? Which ones do you think won't make good flicks?
I wasn't going to mention the bit about the Catholic League/Miramax/DOGMA thing, but it was actually pretty big news this week. I just hope they get the film out there soon so we can see it and [judge/enjoy] it for ourselves...same goes for SUMMER OF SAM.
Comments or questions?
Thanks for the emails. Until next week...
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
