Hey folks, Harry here with another of Elston Gunn's wonderful assemblies of various facts and coolosities. Some interesting projects and developments on the 'official' side of things... Here we go...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Liev Schreiber joins PAY IT FORWARD with Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment for director Mimi Leder. Angie Dickinson also joins the film as Helen Hunt's drunk Vegas homeless mother.
* Jamie Foxx has agreed to star in NATIONAL SECURITY for MGM and writers Jay Shercik and David Ronn about a white cop who was kicked off the force for being wrongly accused of beating a black man. The two men later find themselves partners in pursuit of suspected killers.
* Ron Silver and Alexandra Paul will star in EXPOSURE, an indie flick shooting in New Zealand.
* Tim Guinee joins Gary Sinise and Madeleine Stowe in IMPOSTOR for Dimension Films.
* Lisa Thornhill joins FAMILY MAN with Nicolas Cage. Francine York also joins the pic as Tea Leoni's character's mother. Brett Ratner directs.
* Harrison Ford and Catherine Zeta-Jones is in talks to star in TRAFFIK for director Steven Soderbergh about the business and politics of drug trafficking.
* Eddie Murphy is in talks to do a remake of the 1957 flick THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN for Imagine and Universal. Fred Wolf (DIRTY WORK) is writing a draft. HARRY NOTE: I'm not looking forward to this.
* Matt LeBlanc will take an unbilled role in CHARLIE'S ANGELS as Lucy Liu's love interest. He plays an action movie star who doesn't know his girlfriend is a real crimefighter.
* Eddie Griffin and Orlando Jones will star in George Gallo's DOUBLE TAKE for Disney and producers David Permut and Brett Ratner, about a framed investment banker who partners with a hustler while on the run. Griffin is also attached to the spec script HOLMES about a streetwise private eye on a case in Britain.
* Wes Bentley, Jim Caviezel and Charlize Theron seem to be likely casting favorites for the Michael Bay/Jerry Bruckheimer pic PEARL HARBOR which was greenlit by Disney since the budget was trimmed to $130m-$135m. Ed Burns, Keri Russell, Scott Speedman and Gene Hackman are other names being mentioned for the project written by Randall Wallace.
* Rosario Dawson (DOWN TO YOU) will star in LIFT, an indie urban drama about a girl who is proud to be the most talented shoplifter in Boston. DeMane Davis and Khari Skeeter are writing and directing.
* Hilary Swank is close to joining THE GIFT for director Sam Raimi and Paramount Classics where she'll play an abused wife to Keanu Reeves' character. Greg Kinnear also joins, replacing Ron Eldard in the pic. Cate Blanchett, Katie Holmes, Giovanni Ribisi, Gary Cole, J.K. Simmons, Michael Jeter and Chandice Ross all star in the film written by Billy Bob Thornton and Tom Epperson.
* Keanu Reeves will star in THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE for director Andrew Bergman (ISN'T SHE GREAT) and Columbia Pictures about a furniture salesman with a horrible secret. Reeves will consecutively star in THE GIFT, SWEET NOVEMBER and THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE right before doing the back-to-back sequels to THE MATRIX.
* Aaron Eckhart and Jack Nicholson will star in THE PLEDGE for director Sean Penn and Warner Bros. The story, set in the 1950s, was adapted by Jerzy Kromolowski and Mary Olson-Kromolowski from a novel by Friedrich Durrenmatt. Production should begin Feb. 15. Eckhart will then shoot ANGEL EYES with Jennifer Lopez.
* Edward Norton will join Robert DeNiro in THE SCORE for director Frank Oz and Mandalay Pictures/Paramount. Norton will play a young thief who blackmails DeNiro's older thief into doing one last job.
* Steve Martin is in final talks to star in the black comedy NOVOCAINE for Artisan Entertainment and writer/director David Atkins. The story centers around a dentist who becomes a murder suspect after a female patient seduces him into prescribing her drugs.
* Steven Seagal will star in UNDER SIEGE 3 for New Regency. J.F. Lawton, who wrote the original, is scripting.
* Brad Pitt is in talks to join George Clooney in the OCEAN'S ELEVEN remake for director Steven Soderbergh and Warner Bros. Johnny Depp, Julia Roberts, Mike Myers and Luke and Owen Wilson are all said to be eyeing potential involvement in the flick. Soderbergh will shoot this fall after he finished TRAFFIC. (HARRY NOTE: With these two projects, Soderbergh will achieve Godhood)
* Kevin Pollak, Bridgette Wilson and Judy Greer join THE WEDDING PLANNER for Columbia Pictures--Destination Films dropped the pic.
* Val Kilmer will star in Castle Rock's crime thriller THE SALTON SEA for director D.J. Caruso. Tony Gayton wrote the script about a man who witnesses his wife murdered and goes undercover to avenge her death.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Mike Judge is attached to direct MESSIAH COMPLEX by Josh Sternin and Jeff Ventimilia for Columbia Pictures and Tall Tree Prods. about a virgin college student who is convinced that he was cloned from a thread of the Shroud of Turin.
* John Huddles (HIGHER LOVE) will write/direct BEAUTY LOOP, reteaming with Minnie and Kate Driver who are producing. The story follows a boy who puts himself through college by being a gigolo while helping women realize their true beauty.
* Buck Henry will adapt Charles Webb's novel BATHING SUITS for Greene Street Films. It's a coming-of-age story about a girl caught between custody and censorship conflicts. Henry and Webb collaborated once before on THE GRADUATE.
* John Woo is set to direct Nicolas Cage in the WWII espionage thriller WIND TALKERS for MGM.
* Roger Kumble is in talks to direct Columbia's romantic comedy about a club-hopper who believes she's met her soul mate. She finds out the next morning at a wedding party her "soul mate" is the groom.
* Carlos Diegues will direct and co-write GOD WAS BORN IN BRAZIL about a disillusioned God taking a vacation from the world's problems in Brazil while he looks for a suitable replacement for himself.
* John Dahl (ROUNDERS) is in talks to direct Sean Connery in END GAME where Connery will play an old-fashioned CIA agent who finds himself set up within a large conspiracy and has to team up with a younger agent to prove his innocence.
* David H. Steinberg will write AMERICAN PIE 2 for Universal Pictures.
* Joan Chen (upcoming AUTUMN IN NEW YORK) will direct Lakeshore/MGM's THE APARTMENT, a remake of the Gilles Mimouri French picture, since Joel Schumacher exited the film's director's chair.
* Richard Eyre is in final talks to direct ELEGY FOR IRIS for Columbia based on John Bayley's memoir about his marriage to Iris Murdoch, a novelist and philosopher who suffered from Alzheimer's Disease.
* Sam Raimi is now in final talks to direct SPIDER MAN for Columbia Pictures this fall from a script by David Koepp. HARRY NOTE: Actually, I've heard that Raimi is throwing out the Koepp script and starting from scratch... but that's just what I've heard on this side of the fence.
* Rob Minkoff (STUART LITTLE) will direct THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE for Universal and producers Kathleen Kennedy/Frank Marshall, who is also producing a TWISTER sequel. Marshall is also directing LAST DANCE, a documentary about Michael Jordan's last year with the Chicago Bulls.
* Darren Aronofsky (PI) may direct the fifth installment of the BATMAN franchise for Warner Bros.
* Tim Roth will direct KING LEAR from a script by Harold Pinter based on Shakespeare's play.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Carl Franklin has exited Paramount's/Lakeshore's THE SHOOTER about a Vietnam vet and ex-sniper who is hired for one last assigment.
* Columbia Pictures and producer Laurence Mark picked up the rights to HONEYMOON, a novel by Amy Jenkins about a bride on her honeymoon who discovers the very first love of ther life is on his own honeymoon right next door. The two fall for each other again and head to Mexico where they find out the romantic fantasy isn't what it's cracked up to be.
* Universal is developing two remakes: CHARADE, the 1963 Cary Grant-Audrey Hepburn-Walter Matthau thriller which Jonathan Demme is now developing as a Will Smith-starrer; KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS, the 1949 Alec Guinness comedy (he played eight roles) about a bad seed who wants to kill his kin in order to gain a family title and fortune. Mike Nichols and Elaine May are scripting, with Nichols possibly directing and Robin Williams interested in starring.
John Woo is directing the World War II pic WIND TALKERS with Nicolas Cage, who is in FAMILY MAN for Brett Ratner, who is co-producing DOUBLE TAKE for Disney, which may soon greenlight Jerry Bruckheimer's PEARL HARBOR, which is also set in World War II. So it all comes full circle, you see. You could also come up with something similar using Sam Raimi (THE GIFT, SPIDER MAN,) Keanu Reeves (THE GIFT, THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE) and Steven Soderbergh (TRAFFIC, OCEAN'S ELEVEN) among others. There are a lot of busy folks out there. THE PLEDGE sounds cool. The plot is being kept under wraps. Several remakes mentioned this week. Any faves? AMERICAN PIE 2, TWISTER 2 and UNDER SIEGE 3. Welcome sequels? I think I may know the majority answer. Glad to see Mike Judge is directing something soon. Ditto John Dahl.
Harry put out his most anticipated movies list and I'm doing the same (I extended mine to 15.) We have a few of the same flicks on the list, but mine are in no particular order. I also grouped a couple together. Anyway, here they are:
1. THE GIFT
(Just look at the cast, director and co-writer.)
2. 13 DAYS
(Kevin Costner is back in JFK-esque territory.)
3. PICKING UP THE PIECES
(The cast and plot of this surreal comedy sounds intriguing.)
4. WHAT PLANET ARE YOU FROM?
(I think Garry Shandling is hilarious, hope this is too.)
5. CAMERON CROWE'S UNTITLED PIC
(Anyone not anticipating this one?)
6. GRINCH/ME, MYSELF AND IRENE
(Jim Carrey reteams with the Farrellys. How's his Grinch?)
7. ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE
(Heard the script was unbelievably funny)
8. ALL THE PRETTY HORSES/DADDY AND THEM
(2 Billy Bob Thornton-directed pics, following up SLING BLADE.)
9. X-MEN
(I loved the comic as a kid.)
10. JASON X
(The stand-out comedy of the year, I'm betting.)
HARRY NOTE: IF IT COMES OUT OR IS MADE IN TIME FOR THIS YEAR!
11. NURSE BETTY
(I liked Neil Labute's first 2 pics and this cast looks good.)
12. BOUNCE
(Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow and perhaps their best work?)
13. BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER
(This has Mink Stole in it among others. Campy? Hope so.)
14. TIME CODE 2000
(I'm just curious. Digital video, improv, good cast)
15. O BROTHER ,WHERE ART THOU?
(Coen Brothers. Period.)
Most of these were picked just because I'm really curious about them. Don't know how good they'll be. There are others like SPY KIDS, TRAFFIC, CINDERELLA MAN...I could go on, but I don't know if they'll be out or not. I could probably do a list of "anticipated projects to be PRODUCED in 2000.
Happy February!
Elston Gunn
