Hey folks, once again our amazingly capable and ever observant... Elston Gunn has once again filed his astute scientific findings upon constant 24/7 study of the infamous... TRADES... Tons of stuff this time out... take a look... ya might of missed something... it's all here. The blindings with hot irons, the ear lobbings... Here's Elston...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Peter Coyote and Natassja Kinski will star in the indie thriller RED LETTERS about a professor who moves to a new campus after losing his job for being sexually involved with a co-ed, he later gets involved with a woman convicted of a murder. Fairuza Balk, Jeremy Piven, Ernie Hudson and Udo Kier also star.
* Heather Donohue (THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT) joins Freddie Prinze Jr. in BOYS AND GIRLS for Miramax and director Robert Iscove (SHE'S ALL THAT). Claire Forlani joins as well, replacing Anna Friel.
* Wood Harris and Kate Bosworth join REMEMBER THE TITANS.
* Mary Steenburgen joins Cary Elwes and Christopher Lloyd in WISH YOU WERE DEAD as well as ANASAZI MOON with Skeet Ulrich and Gary Oldman.
* Eddie Griffin may star in a comedy for Buena Vista based on the script HOLMES by Colby Carr (BLANK CHECK) about a streetwise American private eye on assignment in Britain.
* Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr. is set to co-star and Rodney Dangerfield is in negotiations to join Adam Sandler and Harvey Keitel in New Line's LITTLE NICKY. Lister will play Sandler's brother and son of Keitel's Devil.
* Greg Kinnear and Mena Suvari are joining Jason Biggs in LOSER for Columbia Pictures and writer/director Amy Heckerling about a college student who is branded a loser by his roommates. He winds up falling for a fellow student who has a crush on a professor.
* Edward Norton will star in an produce MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN for New Line Cinema about a detective with Tourette's Syndrome who is pressed into duty to solve the murder of his mentor.
* Reed Diamond and Richard Lee Jackson join MADISON about an Indiana hydroplane regatta with Jim Caviezel and Jake Lloyd also starring.
* Djimon Hinsou and Armin Mueller-Stahl will star in THE LONG RUN about a manipulative track coach who poaches a runner by discrediting his professional rival. Jean Stewart directs.
* Angus MacFayden (BRAVEHEART) and Penelope Ann Miller will star in A WOMAN'S A HELLUVA THING about a publishing magnate who tries to rekindle an old flame after the death of his mother.
* Kate Winslet will star and executive produce the big screen adaptation of Emile Zola's 19th century novel THERESE RAQUIN about the title character and her lover Laurent, who conspire to murder her weak husband, Camille. Camille's ghost returns to haunt them, turning their love for one another into hatred.
* Anjelina Jolie, Thomas Jane and Viggo Mortensen will star in the thriller DANCING IN THE DARK for MGM about a wealthy businessman who marries a young woman he knows only through letters. He finds out she and an accomplice murdered his real fiancee and are plotting to kill him.
* Marco Hofschneider (EUROPA EUROPA, IMMORTAL BELOVED) joins URBAN LEGEND 2.
* Jack Noseworthy (upcoming U-571) joins the John Waters flick CECIL B. DEMENTED.
* Tom Green, Rachel Blanchard and Ethan Suplee join Sean William Scott in ROAD TRIP about college students traveling from one campus to another to intercept a video accidentally sent to an unsuspecting girlfriend.
* Alan Cumming is in talks to play Sylvester Stallone's nemesis in GET CARTER.
* Brad Pitt will star in URBAN TOWNIES for Warner Bros. and director Mark Romanek about a novelist who returns to his rich parents home to tend to his dying father. He regains control of his life, rekindling a relationship with a woman of his past.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Grant Mitchell will direct an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's THE PAVILION starring Patsy Kensit, Craig Sheffer, Richard Chamberlain and David Riordan.
* Lasse Halstrom (WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE?) will direct CHOCOLAT for Miramax based on Joanne Harris' novel. The romantic comedy centers around a woman who moves to France to open a candy store, but is faced with a priest who thinks chocolate is the dessert of the devil. Gwyneth Paltrow may be in talks for the lead.
* Richard Donner is attached to direct a feature version of Michael Crichton's upcoming novel TIMELINE about a group of youngsters transported back to the 14th century.
* Mike Girardi's spec WINNERS was picked up by Spyglass Entertainment. It's about two absurdly naive, yet highly ambitious, young men chasing huge dreams in a small town.
* Wesley Strick (FINAL ANALYSIS) has written GLASS HOUSE for Sony. It's a thriller about a young woman whose parents die in a suspicious accident.
* Peter Gilbert is in talks to direct A TIME FOR DANCING starring Taryn Manning about two high school girls whose love for dance is challenged when one of them is diagnosed with cancer.
* Writer/director Michael Davis (EIGHT DAYS A WEEK) is next making 100 GIRLS which will star Jonathan Tucker, Emmanuelle Chiriqui, Larisa Oleynik, Stacy Dash and Ali Larter. The story follows a freshman who meets his dream girl in an elevator during a blackout. They make love and he never saw her face. His goal is to find out the mystery girl among 100 females he suspects.
* Jerry Bruckheimer Films picked up YOU NEED THERAPY by Steve Bing about a die-hard bachelor who tells his dates he's seeing a therapist and makes up advice to use as scapegoats to break off relationships.
* James Salter is rewriting a script based on his novel THE HUNTERS that will be more faithful to the book than the 1956 adaptation. The story centers on a clash of wills between two American fighter pilots during the Korean War.
* Todd Durham will write STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT for Disney as a possible Michael Keaton starring and exec. producing vehicle. It's a comedic thriller about a lonely guy torn between pursuing the woman of his dreams and maintaining his secret identity as a guy who protects the world from scary supernatural creatures of the night.
* Mike Figgis (LEAVING LAS VEGAS) will next shoot TIME CODE 2000 completely improvised with digital cameras. The story is said to be centered on a woman who tries to create a new life after killing her abusive boyfriend years eariler. Corrupt cops find her out and she confesses to her psychologist husband and they try to confront the blackmailers.
* Dirk Shafer (MAN OF THE YEAR) will direct CIRCUITS about one man's decline into drugs and the sex-filled gay circuit party scene.
* Joseph Conti will direct FIRST FLIGHT from his script about the first private sector company to develop space flight with a commercially viable passenger plane.
* Newmarket Capital picked up MINT CONDITION by Tom Franck and Paul Golding with Michell Yeoh attached to star. John Woo and Terence Chang will produce the story of two long-ignored cops who solve an international crime while their incompetent partners get all the credit.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Sen. John McCain has sold the rights to his memoirs FAITH OF MY FATHERS to USA Films.
* Miramax has agreed to co-finance and distribute domestically Martin Scorcese's GANGS OF NEW YORK starring Leonardo DiCaprio about Irish and Italian street gangs in 19th century New York.
* Walt Disney Co. has acquired the life rights to pitcher Jim Morris, the high school baseball coach who made the major leagues.
* United Artists is co-financing KINGDOM COME with Pathe Pictures for director Michael Winterbottom. The film will star Charlize Theron, Natassja Kinski, Wes Bentley, Peter Mullan and Sarah Polley. Frank Cottrell Boyce wrote the script based on Thomas Hardy's THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE with the scence shifting to California during the Gold Rush.
* Walt Disney Co. is set to make a feature film based on the life of confessed Unabomber Ted Kaczynkski with Jon Avnet directing. David Kaczynski will serve as a consultant.
* 20th Century Fox picked up CAT AND MOUSE, a live action/animated project in turnaround from Columbia Pictures. The story, by Neil Tolkin, is about a cartoon mouse zapped into the live-action world, becomes human and adjusts to his mortal life. Later, his rival cartoon cat visits and tries to bring him back to their animated world.
* Miramax Films bought the rights to Mario Puzo's last novel OMERTA, paying a "record sum" for movie and television rights. The story follows a young man who is groomed to run the legitimate businesses of a Mafia don, but is threatened by drug lords, which may cause him to break the "omerta" or "code of silence."
* JOHN CARPENTER'S GHOSTS OF MARS will be the first project to go into production at Screen Gems. Carpenter and Larry Sulkis wrote the story about human colonists on Mars who must be rescued after becoming posessed by vengeful Martian ghosts.
So, finally, Heather Donohue gets a role in a flick after the two guys from BLAIR WITCH grabbed roles of their own earlier. Will BOYS AND GIRLS be any good? We'll see. As far as comedies go, I'm curious about LOSER. Amy Heckerling directing Jason Biggs, Greg Kinnear and Mena Suvari...that's a pretty decent mix. The premise to CAT AND MOUSE reminds me of a "Simpson's" episode. Sounds fun. This was the first I've heard of JOHN CARPENTER'S GHOSTS OF MARS. Intriguing in a B-movie kind of way. Sen. John McCain, Jim Morris and Ted Kaczynski all sold their life rights this week. Lots of biopics in the future. Speaking of rights--Miramax buying Mario Puzo's last book: Oscar potential from the get-go, one would say. The book isn't due 'til summer. Anything else you see interesting? Talk Back.
I don't usually do this, but I just wanted to say "Hello" to Jimmy Hall, an old friend and an avid reader.
Those of you who can, enjoy the changing leaves while they're still up this weekend while you're on your way to see a flick.
Until next week...
Elston Gunn
