Hey yo there kemosabes and amigos, Harry here with a slight shaky hand after a night of kicking back at SXSW to relieve the tensions of dealing with the passing of my grandmother. I have to say, I'm very glad that SXSW was going on when she passed on, as it distracted me and yanked my attention away from... what it would otherwise be upon. As a result, I've missed a ton of news from the trades this week... so let's catch up together...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Burt Reynolds, Rod Steiger and Tom Berenger will star in THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN by Leon de Winter for German director Sonke Wortmann (MAYBE, MAYBE NOT) in his English-language directorial debut. It follows three washed-up actors who must give their best perfomances during a dangerous scheme to finance their comebacks. Kathleen Gati (JAKOB THE LIAR) will also star.
* Alec Baldwin is in talks to join Ben Affleck, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Josh Hartnett in PEARL HARBOR for director Michael Bay. Baldwin will play General James H. Doolittle, who was appointed by FDR to lead an air raid on Tokyo four months after the Pearl Harbor bombing. James King (upcoming HAPPY CAMPERS) also joins the cast and Kate Beckinsale (BROKEDOWN PALACE) is in talks to play the female lead, a Navy nurse who falls for Affleck's character. Shooting begins April 8.
* Michael Douglas is back in talks to star in Steven Soderbergh's TRAFFIC with his fiancee Catherine Zeta-Jones (whose pregnancy will be worked into the story). Kevin Costner was in talks for the role of a drug czar, but negotiations broke down when his asking price was not met (same goes for the Doolittle role in PEARL HARBOR). Erika Christensen and Topher Grace ("That 70s Show") join TRAFFIC as young drug users.
* Tommy Lee Jones and director William Friedkin are in talks to work together on SHOOTER based on the novel POINT OF IMPACT by Stephen Hunter. The story follows a retired sniper who is dragged into a conspiracy which involves a plot to kill the president.
* Nia Peeples joins the indie flick THE RIFF.
* Khalil Kain will star with Snoop Dogg in New Line's BONES for director Ernest Dickerson.
* Justin Walker (CLUELESS) will co-star with Alexis Arquette (SHE'S ALL THAT) in THE WOMAN EVERY MAN WANTS.
* Jason Lee joins Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt in the MGM pic BREAKERS about a mother-daugher con team. He'll play a bartender whom Hewitt's character targets for a scam, but finds herself falling for him.
* Kevin Spacey may star in THE SHIPPING NEWS. Lasse Halstrom is directing the adaptation of the Anne Proulx' Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Miramax and Columbia Pictures are partnering on the production.
* Courtney Love, Whoopi Goldberg and Jason Statham may star in JOHN CARPENTER'S GHOST OF MARS about a homicidal ghost in an ancient Mars civilization and the expedition that finds it.
* Tom Green will star in the comedy FREDDY GOT FINGERED (which he co-wrote with Derek Harvie) for New Regency Prods. about a man who moves back in with his parents much to his father's dismay.
* Tom Hanks will produce and star in a feature adaptation of the Chris Van Allsburg (JUMANJI) children's book THE POLAR EXPRESS for Castle Rock about a steam train that takes some children to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus. Hanks will play the conductor of the train.
* Orlando Jones (LIBERTY HEIGHTS) joins Chris Klein and Heather Graham in SAY IT ISN'T SO which is being produced by the Farrelly Bros. with J.B. Rogers directing. Jones will then star in DOUBLE TAKE with Eddie Griffin.
* Nigel Hawthorne (THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE) is in talks to play Sir William Gull, chief physician to the Queen in FROM HELL starring Johnny Depp for the Hughes Bros.
* Jude Law is in talks to star in A.I. for director Steven Spielberg. Haley Joel Osment is in negotiations as well. Law has dropped out of Miramax's FOUR FEATHERS--the studio may replace him with Billy Crudup.
* Carla Gugino ("Chicago Hope") joins Peter Sarsgaard in Artisan's erotic pic CENTER OF THE WORLD for director Wayne Wang.
* John Cusack will star in the romantic comedy SERENDIPITY for Miramax Films about a couple who reunite ten years after the night they firs met, fell in love and went their separate ways. Peter Chelsom (THE MIGHTY) directs.
* Frances McDormand is set to star in an untitled noir drama for the Coen Bros. about a wife whose boyfriend turns up dead. The Coens scripted with Joel taking the usual directing chores while his brother Ethan will produce.
* Shannyn Sossamon will play the female lead opposite Heath Ledger in A KNIGHT'S TALE for director Brian Helgeland.
* Scott Speedman ("Felicity") will star in the Destination Films thriller THE WHEELMAN about a prodigy getaway driver. Dwight Little (MURDER AT 1600) directs.
* Anna Paquin joins Sean Connery, F. Murray Abraham and Robert Brown in FINDING FORRESTER for director Gus Van Sant.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Scribe Steve Zaillan (SCHINDLER'S LIST, A CIVIL ACTION) is working with Martin Scorcese on GANGS OF NEW YORK to star Leonardo DiCaprio. Shooting begins next month in Rome.
* Will Baum and Jason Kassin sold their script CURTIS AND CHLOE'S BLIND DATE to DreamWorks about a couple who go on a blind date, witness a murder and are forced into the witness protection program.
* Jeff Gutheim and Ari Steinbeck have written DAY TRADER for Warner Bros. and Jerry Weintraub Prods. about a high school student who has to pay his way to college and hits it big financially and socially through the world of day trading.
* Production designer Bo Welch (PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE, BATMAN RETURNS) will make his directing debut on SPROCKETS starring Mike Myers as Dieter, a German talk show host who has lost his monkey.
* Andy Tennant (EVER AFTER, ANNA AND THE KING) will direct and rewrite Joss Whedons script AFTERLIFE about an ailing scientist who is saved after a secret brain transplant--into the body of a serial killer.
* Michael Schiffer will write HOPELESS TO HARDCORE, the adaptation to the upcoming memoir of Vietnam Special Forces commander Col. David Hackworth and his opposition of the Vietnam War in 1971. Casey Silver will produce.
* Patrick Clifton and Beth Rigazio will write the comedy RAISING HELEN for Disney about a New York woman who goes home after a family tragedy.
* Tom Shadyac may direct KING OF THE PARK based on the true story of street comic Charlie Bennett who was hired to work on "Saturday Night Live," but lost it because he was illiterate and the job went to Eddie Murphy. Bennett got some exposure on "Miami Vice," but got involved with heroin. He later mentored comic Dave Chappelle (who would play himself in the pic).
* David Schmidt has written LITTLE EDDIE POST which was picked up by Alcon Entertainment for Frederik Du Chau (QUEST FOR CAMELOT) to direct. The story is about an orphaned racehorse and a teenage girl who wants to become a professional jockey.
* Steven Spielberg will direct A.I. for Warner Bros./DreamWorks which he has written based on Stanley Kubrick's previous plans for the project. The story is set in the future when the polar ice caps have melted and put New York skyscrapers under water. Production begins July 10 for a summer 2001 release. He will then segue into MINORITY REPORT starring Tom Cruise.
* Guillermo del Toro will next direct the Spanish-language project THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE and BLADE: BLOODHUNT--the sequel to the 1998 Wesley Snipes film. The former begins shooting in June while BLADE will begin in November. BACKBONE is a ghost story set in an orphanage during the Spanish Civil War. The story to the BLADE sequel is being kept secret, but del Toro wants to keep the action of the first, yet make it much more scary.
* John Patrick Shanley (MOONSTRUCK) will direct his script ESCAPADE for Summit Entertainment about a man who mingles with some seedy characters in society after he suffers a nervous breakdown, and changes their lives in the process.
* Andy Fickman will write the script ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES 2 and may also direct it. Original KILLER TOMATOES writer/director John De Bello will produce the film along with Daly-Harris Prods.
* Paramount Pictures picked up BETHLEHEM by David Hollander about a forensic pathologist who follows a series of deaths back to his hometown. Hollander is also adapting Mark Cavanaugh's memoir THE ZEN OF LAUNDRY.
* Rob Bowman will direct the sci-fi epic GENERATION SHIP for Columbia Pictures about a spaceship that contains several biospheres, each with a sample from Earth that has evolved into a separate world. However, the ship has been involved in an accident that killed the piloting crew and has been off course for 5,000 years until a man discovers the truth and must save the ship before it crashes into a star. It is based on the novel PHOENIX WITHOUT ASHES by Harlan Ellison and Edward Bryant.
* Bonnie Hunt (upcoming RETURN TO ME) may direct ANNIVERSARY, which she co-wrote with Don Lake. The story follows a separated couple who reunite for the 50th anniversary of the man's folks.
* Bernard Wright has written FRANKIE'S COMEBACK to be produced by Pathe Pictures about a showman and his descending career.
* Dimension Films picked up OBSESSED by Don McLennan about a professor whose family is haunted after he has an affair with a student.
* Walt Disney and Hunt/Tavel Prods. have picked up the pitch TIME'S UP by Sheryl Longin and Roger L. Simon about two New York therapists who have an effect on each other.
* Harry Hook (LORD OF THE FLIES) will direct VALLEY SONG for New Line Cinema about a girl who wants to go to Johannesburg to become a singer.
* Dewey Nicks will direct the Destination Films comedy SLACKERS about three college students who try to get through school without doing any work. When a geek finds out their scheme, he blackmails them to help him win over the school's most popular girl.
* Jan Sverak (KOLYA) will direct the WWII pilot drama DARK BLUE WORLD. Tara Fitzgerald (BRASSED OFF) stars.
* Disney bought the comic pitch JAILBABES.COM by Jason Filardi about a guy who uses the internet to find a woman. He comes upon a jailed female in jail who breaks out to make his life miserable.
* Mark Perez has written THE PARTY PROFESSIONAL, picked up by Gone Fishing Prods. and Universal, about a college senior who is the biggest partier on campus and doesn't want to graduate, but the dean wants him out of there, even if that means giving him good grades.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Ameko Entertainment Co. and Hyper Image will team on the CGI-animated pic STARCARS about a futuristic deadly race. Rob Smiley will direct from a script he co-wrote with Kevin O'Donnell.
* New Regency has put the thriller TAKING LIVES into turnaround. Tony Scott, who will remain attached, was to direct Cate Blanchett in the FBI/serial killer pic.
* New Line Cinema bought the rights to Geoff Nicholson's upcoming novel THEN about a womanizing slacker who hits it big in the literary circuit when he puts his face on the cover of a book written by the school loser.
* DreamWorks has optioned Robert Whiting's book TOKYO UNDERWORLD for a film to be overseen by Martin Scorcese and Nick Pileggi and produced by Harry and Mary Jane Ufland. Jason Cahill ("The Sopranos") will work with Pileggi on scripting. Scorsese and Pileggi will exec produce the pic with the former eyeing the film as a possible directing vehicle. The story follows Nick Zapetti who was stationed in Japan in WW2 and turned it into a booming black market business. Zapetti later opened a popular pizzeria.
* Alfonso Cuaron (A LITTLE PRINCESS) has exited the directing post of MGM's HART'S WAR due to his directing another project, the Spanish film AND YOUR MOTHER ALSO. Jeb Stuart adapted HART'S WAR from the novel by John Katzenbach about a POW who defends a black soldier who is falsely accused of murder.
* Brad Silberling, Chris Columbus, Alan Parker and Terry Gilliam are the four directors up for helming the feature HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE.
* Halle Berry has dropped out of the Eddie Murphy-starrer PLUTO NASH, but has been replaced by Rosario Dawson (LIGHT IT UP).
* Gemini has picked up the feature rights to Salman Rushdie's THE GROUND BENEATH HER FEET about the relationship between two Indian rock stars. Raoul Ruiz will direct the film.
* Sony may soon option FLINT, a spy/suspense novel by Paul Eddy, about a female British intelligence agent who is severely attacked during a mission. She has reconstructive surgery, takes on a new identity and then sets out to find her attackers.
* Paramount and producer Lynda Obst picked up the film rights to Philip Roth's novel AMERICAN PASTORAL about a guy who does what he can to become a successful part of the community, however his daughter becomes an anti-Vietnam rebel, kills an innocent man and goes into hiding.
GUNN SHOTS
(not from the trades)
* Sources say the BLAIR WITCH 2 production in Maryland is going rather well. *SPOILERS* I hear it concerns 3 young people (2 guys, 1 girl) who kill 4 people in the woods and use their innards to make the Blair Witch symbol. Hmmm.
* Don't forget to check out a script review of BLOW which is in production now with Ted Demme at the helm. Nick Cassavetes script it. Look for it at Stax Flixburg's place: BLOW review
Where to begin? This is one of the most news-filled weeks in the longest time. PEARL HARBOR, TRAFFIC and A.I. are three huge projects that seem to be finally getting off the ground. The cast of THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN is rather intriguing. BREAKERS just got better by adding Jason Lee to their roster. Coen Brothers are back at it; Spacey may resucitate THE SHIPPING NEWS and Tommy Lee Jones may do the same with POINT OF IMPACT. GANGS OF NEW YORK, SPROCKETS and BLADE 2 seem to be progressing nicely. Who's gonna do HARRY POTTER? I think we'll know soon. KILLER TOMATOES 2? Should've seen that coming. GENERATION SHIP sounds wild. Female lead roles look to be filled in PEARL HARBOR and A KNIGHT'S TALE. There's just so much stuff. Discuss amongst yourselves...
Happy St. Patrick's Day!!
Until next week...
Elston Gunn
