Going sleepy... here be Elston....
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Dougray Scott is in final talks to star in ENIGMA for director Michael Apted. Tom Stoppard adapted the Robert Harris thriller about a young man who tries to crack Nazi U-boat codes during World War II when he discovers his girlfriend might be a German spy. Mick Jagger and Lorne Michaels are producing.
* Amber Benson (CAN'T HARDLY WAIT) joins THE PRIME GIG with Ed Harris and Vince Vaughn.
* Emily Mortimer (NOTTING HILL) and 7 1/2-year old Spencer Breslin join Bruce Willis in THE KID for director Jon Turteltaub about a man visited by his younger self. Audrey Wells wrote the comedy-drama.
* Kirsten Dunst and James Caan will star in the indie LUCKYTOWN about a young woman and a man at a crossroads in their lives: she is looking for her father, he wants a free-wheeling lifestyle. Paul Nichols will direct.
* Jennifer Love Hewitt may join Sigourney Weaver in David Mirkin's BREAKERS for MGM about a mother/daughter conwoman team.
* Kevin Costner may reteam with director Kevin Reynolds on OCRA COKE about Robert Maynard, a disgraced British naval officer who redeemed himself by capturing Blackbeard in a battle on Ocra Coke, an inlet outside of North Carolina.
HARRY NOTE: This project is... NOWHERE NEAR BEING MADE YET. My sources around town tell me that Kevin Reynolds has about 3 or 4 other projects on the stove, but that as best as can be determined.. the script for OCRA COKE, which is half owned by both of the Kevins... is soooo strong that it could very well one day reunite these two... on water.
* Mekhi Phifer will star in IMPOSTOR for director Gary Fleder and Dimension Films. Phifer joins Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stowe, Vincent D'Onofrio and Tony Shalhoub in the story of an engineer who creates the ultimate weapon in a battle against aliens. The film started out as a 40 minute short to be featured as a segment in a three-part Dimension anthology ALIEN LOVE TRIANGLE.
* Matt Davis will star in TIGERLAND for director Joel Schumacher about war games in Lousiana as training for soldiers preparing for Vietnam. Colin Farrell also stars. Davis will also star opposite Jennifer Morrison in URBAN LEGEND 2.
* Anthony DeSando (KISS ME GUIDO) joins THE WHOLE SHEBANG starring Stanley Tucci and Bridget Fonda.
* Wendy Crewson will play Arnold Schwarzenegger's wife in THE SIXTH DAY for director Roger Spottiswoode.
* Terry Kinney (THE FIRM) landed a role in SAVE THE LAST DANCE starring Julia Stiles.
* Ben Affleck will star opposite Robert De Niro in THE SCORE for director Frank Oz and Mandalay Pictures. The story follows an older thief who wants to retire and live off his riches until a young kid blackmails him into doing one last heist.
* Jeff Goldblum and Nancy Travis replace William H. Macy and Jamie Lee Curtis (who dropped out during final negotiations) in AUGGIE ROSE for writer/director Matt Tabak. Anne Heche, Timothy Olyphant and Richard T. Jones also star in the story of an insurance salesman who embarks on a double life.
* John Hannah will reprise his role in THE MUMMY II for writer/director Stephen Sommers. Shooting is expected to begin next year.
* Michael York joins BORSTAL BOY for director Pete Sheridan about the life of Irish journalist/political activist Brendan Behan.
* Julia Roberts may star in 33 LIBERTY STREET about a man who seduces a Federal Reserve Bank employee and plots to rob it, but his involvement with her starts making the heist a little difficult. Director Adrian Lyne is circling the project.
* Alan Cumming joins the cast of Dimension Films' comedy SPY KIDS for writer/director Robert Rodriguez. Antonio Banderas is offered a part, but has yet to commit. Shooting may begin in the spring in Texas and South America on the story of a pair of kids who must save their word-class secret agent parents from imminent danger.
HARRY NOTE: Shooting WILL begin in the spring!
* Ashley Judd is in talks to star in THE NOTEBOOK for New Line and director Jim Sheridan (THE BOXER.) The story follows a retired salesman who visits an old woman in a nursing home, reading a story from a notebook off a shelf about two men vying for the same woman in 1940s North Carolina. The salesman and the old woman are two of the people in the notebook, but which of the two guys he is remains a secret until the end of the movie. Jeremy Leven adapted the Nicholas Sparks novel.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Artisan Entertainment picked up Evan Katz's comedy spec AUTEURS for Eric Fieg to produce. The story follows two "gangsta" wannabes in their 20's who make an indie film about a robbery in order to camouflage a heist.
* Gore Verbinski (MOUSE HUNT) will direct THE MEXICAN after Brad Pitt dropped the project. The DreamWorks film is about a mob bagman who goes to Mexico to retrieve a cursed antique pistol.
* Peter Berg will write and direct two flicks: One is HOSTAGE RESCUE for Universal and Imagine Entertainment about an elite para-military unit who combat international terrorism. But first, he'll do TRUCK 44 based on the lives of five New York City firefighters who try to rob a building by setting it on fire.
* Oz Scott will direct WALK DON'T WALK about a detective forced to make a moral decision when a nanny is suspected of a crime she didn't commit. Anna Wilding will star and produce.
* Dennis Dugan (BIG DADDY) may direct SAVING SILVERMAN about two friends who try to save their best buddy from marrying the wrong woman.
* Centropolis Entertainment bought CELLULAR, a thriller script by Larry Cohen about a man who gets a call on his cell phone from a woman who has been kidnapped and doesn't know her whereabouts, but she is sure she is going to be killed. He must find her before his phone battery dies.
* New Line may buy Seth Pearlman's spec BILLY TWO SUGARS about a lowly driver for a powerful Cuban drug lord in Miami who sets out to get money and respect from his abusive boss by putting together a band of dysfunctional losers to rip him off. Brett Ratner is attached to direct with Antonio Banderas attached to star.
* Brad Anderson (NEXT STOP WONDERLAND) will direct the Miramax remake of the 1996 French feature CHACUN CHERCHE SON CHAT (WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY) about a woman who leaves her cat with a kitty sitter before going on vacation.
* Adrian Lyne is in talks to direct an untitled flick based on the French classic LA FEMME INFIDELE (THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE) for Fox 2000. the movie is about a married woman who gets involved in an affair that eventually leads to murder.
* Gus Van Sant will direct FINDING FORRESTER starring Sean Connery as a reclusive East Coast writer who befriends a basket-ball playing underprivileged young black writer.
* Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez (THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT) will co-direct the comedy HEART OF LOVE described as Monty Python meets AIRPLANE.
* Artisan Ent. has acquired Jon Favreau's script MADE for Favreau and Vince Vaughn to star and produce. Favreau will make his feature directing debut on the story of two aspiring boxers and lifelong friends who get involved in a money-laundering scheme.
* David Spade, Fred Wolf and Matt Piedmont will write THE ADVENTURES OF JOE DIRT for Sony Pictures (recently rejected by Warner Bros.) Spade will star as a young man who recounts on a radio show his lifelong search for his parents--who deliberately abandoned him at the Grand Canyon. Adam Sandler will get a producer credit.
* Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT, MAN ON THE MOON) will next write as well as direct a Marx Brothers biopic for Universal.
HARRY NOTE: Told ya this way back in October.
* Director Charles Shyer (THE PARENT TRAP) is set to direct Bel-Air Entertainment's THE MAN WHO ATE A 747. Gwyn Lurie wrote the script based on Ben Sherwood's upcoming book about a man who makes a living measuring world records. He winds up in a town where a man is eating an airplane for the love of a woman. The visitor falls in love with her too.
HARRY NOTE: aka 'HARRY KNOWLES: HIS STORY'
* Alfonso Arau (A WALK IN THE CLOUDS) is in talks to direct a feature film remake of Gaston Leroux's classic 1911 novel THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA for Universal Pictures. This version will not be a musical but will include pop music and classical opera.
HARRY NOTE: why do this modern day?
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* The third Pokemon flick is scheduled for release in Japan next summer. POKEMON: THE LORD OF THE UNKNOWN TOWER will introduce a "mysterious" new character.
HARRY NOTE: Oh Dear God No
* Steven Spielberg may make up his mind very soon on what his next project will be: MINORITY REPORT, A.I., or HARRY POTTER.
HARRY NOTE: It won't be A.I.
* Chartoff Prods. and Phoenix Pictures are developing a feature based on Antjie Krog's COUNTRY OF MY SKULL about an interracial romance set against the backdrop of the Truth and Reconciliation Hearings in South Africa. Ann Peacock (A LESSON BEFORE DYING) will script.
* Robert Rehme bought the film rights to Jeff Rovin's upcoming thriller novel ST. WAR to be developed as a starring vehicle for Dean Cain. The plot involves a Navy SEAL whose unit is forced to use state-of-the-art weapons against a group of ultraconservatives who have infiltrated the U.S. government and military.
* David Fincher and Chris Columbus are the final candidates to direct SPIDER-MAN at Sony. A decision is expected before Christmas.
HARRY NOTE: Told ya
* Some summer 2000 movie release dates have been set (subject to change, of course): May 12 - FLINSTONES IN VIVA ROCK VEGAS and BATTLEFIELD EARTH, May 19 - DINOSAUR, May 24 - MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2, June 16 - TITAN A.E., June 23 - ME, MYSELF AND IRENE, July 14 - X-MEN, July 21 POKEMON sequel.
Sp. Spielberg and Spider-Man. What's the former's next project? Who'll direct the latter? We should have the answers to both questions within days. Cool. Peter Berg seems busy. HOSTAGE RESCUE and TRUCK 44. He's got his work cut out for him. Antonio Banderas is busy too... he may do SPY KIDS or BILLY TWO SUGARS or both. I'd say the second one would come first since SPY KIDS may not shoot 'til spring. CELLULAR sounds intense, but familiar. Hmm. Bruce Willis is reteaming with a kid in THE KID. Anyone read the script? Hope it's good. Adrian Lyne may do 33 LIBERTY STREET and/or a remake of THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE. Which would you choose? Another French remake is in the works with Miramax and WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY. Kevin Costner to play a British officer in OCRA COKE? The story sounds great, let's hope his accent will too. Ben Affleck will star opposite De Niro in THE SCORE for Frank Oz. I wonder if that means he's not doing CINDERELLA MAN. Can't wait to see Universal's Marx Brothers biopic--especially if Alexander and Karaszewski are writing it. Anyone read Jon Favreau's MADE? I'm curious if it's as good as SWINGERS.
Gotta love the title THE MAN WHO ATE A 747. Glad to see it's taking shape. Have a good one.
Until next week...
Elston Gunn
