Father Geek here with another of Elston's Weekly Recaps. It's a little later than usual, but we had some sort of E-mail jumble here at Geek Headquarters this weekend (it is April Fools weekend after all) and this got misplaced, but luckly for all you loyal readers of this column, Elston noticed and resent it to Father Geek and as a result I post it now for you all... and by the way... HAPPY BIRTHDAY... SARAH!!!
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Gene Hackman joins Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jason Lee in BREAKERS for director David Mirkin about a mother-daughter con artist team.
* Bianca Lawson ("Dawson's Creek") and Michael T. Weiss ("The Pretender") grabbed roles in BONES with Snoop Dogg and Pam Grier.
* Lacey Kohl (upcoming GRINCH) joins James Caan and Patricia Richardson in VIVA LAS NOWHERE.
* Orson Bean and Michael Dorn will appear in the indie pic THE GRISTLE.
* Edward James Olmos, Ruben Blades, Alex Meneses and Nicholas Gonzales will star in the indie film SIRENA THE LITTLE MERMAID.
* Jason Gedrick and Brian Dennehy join Freddie Prinze Jr. in SUMMER CATCH for director Mike Tollin. Production begins next month.
* Jeanne Moreau will play French author Marguerite Duras in an adaptation of the novel CET AMOUR LA (THAT LOVE).
* Haley Joel Osment is in talks to join Jude Law in A.I. for director Steven Spielberg.
* Deborah Kara Unger (THE HURRICANE) will play the female lead, a neighbor and nemisis, in THE SALTON SEA opposite Val Kilmer for director D.J. Caruso. Shooting begins April 24. Frank Darabont, Ken Aguado, Butch Robinson and Eriq LaSalle are producing.
* Greg Germann ("Ally McBeal") joins Keanu Reeves in SWEET NOVEMBER. Germann recently wrapped I WAS MADE TO LOVE HER with Chris Rock.
* Sandra Bullock is in talks to star in Universal's HER LEADING MAN for producer/director Kevin Williamson. The film is described as a "deconstruction" of the romantic comedy.
* Mena Suvari (AMERICAN BEAUTY) is attached to star in the dark comedy MINI'S FIRST TIME about an 18-year old girl who uses her femininity to wrap guys around her finger including her stepfather--this leads to a plot to get rid of her mother. Nick Guthe scripted and may direct.
* Jason Biggs and Steve Zahn will join Jack Black in the comedy SAVING SILVERMAN for director Dennis Dugan (BIG DADDY) and Columbia Pictures about two friends who set their buddy up with a blind date who turns out to be a nightmare
* Matthew Glave (THE WEDDING SINGER) will play Mark Wahlberg's brother in METAL GOD.
* Michael Rooker joins Jean-Claude Van Damme in the indie pic REPLICANT which begins shooting next month in Vancouver.
* Dustin Hoffman has committed to star in the English-language pic T FOR THRILLER for French writer/director Claude Lelouch (A MAN AND A WOMAN). Shooting is set to begin at the end of the year on this "love story thriller."
* Shiri Appelby ("Roswell") and Larisa Oleynik (10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU) will star in the indie movie A TIME FOR DANCING. Peter Gilbert (HOOP DREAMS producer) will direct the story about two high school girls whose friendship and love for dancing is tested when one of them is diagnosed with cancer. Shooting begins April 12.
* Parker Posey joins Rachel Leigh Cook in Universal's live-action pic JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS for dierctors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan. Tara Reid and Alan Cumming are in talks to join as well.
* Jodie Foster and Morgan Freeman will lend their voices to the DreamWorks/Pacific Data Images animated film TUSKER about a herd of elephants and their dangerous journey across Africa. Tim Johnson (ANTZ co-director) and Brad Lewis (ANTZ co-producer) direct.
* Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Jane Krakowski and Goran Visnjic will help voice the 20th Century Fox animated feature THE ICE AGE. Kristen Johnston may also lend her voice to the project about a woolly mammoth, a saber-toothed tiger and a giant sloth who team up to help return a human baby to its family. Chris Wedge directs.
* Dennis Quaid joins Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones in TRAFFIC for director Steven Soderbergh. He'll play a lawyer counseling Zeta-Jones' character.
* Steven Seagal will star in EXIT WOUNDS for producer Joel Silver and director Andrzej Bartkowiak (ROMEO MUST DIE) based on the 1990 James Westermann novel about a cop who uncovers corruption while stuck in an inner city precinct.
* Jena Malone (STEPMOM, CONTACT) will star in THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS for director Peter Care and producer Jodie Foster (who has a small role).
* Kevin Spacey will star in THE SHIPPING NEWS for director Lasse Halstrom and Columbia Pictures/Miramax Films. Shooting will begin early next year. Ron Bass and Tom Epperson are scripting with Irwin Winkler producing.
* James Marsden will star in OCEAN WARRIOR for director John Badham (NICK OF TIME) about the true life of Greenpeace founder Paul Watson who was booted from the group. He then went on to form the Sea Shepherd Society. Filming begins Aug. 15.
* Christian Slater and Tim Allen are in talks to star in the comedy CLETIS TOUT for writer/director Chris Ver Wiel about an escaped convict who takes the identity of a dead man who was slated to be the target of a hit man.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Robert Harling will adapt the Amy Jenkins novel HONEYMOON for Columbia Pictures. The story centers on a bride who experiences her honeymoon next door to an old love. They rekindle their romance and head to Mexico rediscovering why they broke up in the first place.
* Frank Marshall (CONGO) will direct EXPENDABLES for Warner Bros. about prison inmates who are allowed to leave to be part of a special unit that deep sea dives on missions. They recover a Nazi sub full of gold, pull off a heist and become heroes. Scott M. Smith (NAVY DIVERS) scripted.
* Television director John Whitesell ("Providence," "Law & Order") will direct David Arquette in the feature SEE SPOT RUN about an FBI dog in a witness protection program.
* Po-Chih Leong will direct MGM's BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE based on the Anne Curtis Klause novel about a female werewolf who is torn between her pack and her love for a male human.
* Eric Schaeffer (FALL) will direct Jeffrey Tambor and Jill Clayburgh in NEVER AGAIN, an offbeat romantic comedy about two middle-aged people who vow never to fall in love again--which changes after the two meet in a gay bar. Shooting begins June 5 in New York.
* Robert Pucci (THE CORRUPTOR) is writing a script for MGM about "behavior moderation camps" where parents pay to have their kids abducted to remote areas of the world to keep them away from bad influences and teach them discipline. This story revolves around a girl who is sent to one of these camps and a boy who schemes to have himself kidnapped to be with her.
* Neil LaBute will adapt and direct THE DANISH GIRL based on the book by David Ebershoff about the Danish artist Einar Wegener, who in 1931 became the first man to have a sex change operation. The book is a complicated love story between Wegener and his wife.
* Chris Columbus (HOME ALONE) will direct the first adaptation of the Harry Potter series, HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE, for Warner Bros.
* Stuart Beattie has written the thriller script COLLATERAL for DreamWorks and exec. producers Frank Darabont, Rob Fried and Chuck Russell about a cab driver who is "collateral" (a murder not yet contracted) for a hitman he has been driving from hit to hit.
* Seth E. Bass and Jonathan Tolins will write the psychological thriller UNDONE for Disney about a man who is haunted by his wife's dead ex-husband.
* Robert Greenwald (upcoming STEAL THIS MOVIE) will produce and direct a feature adaptation of Diana Son's play STOP KISS about two women whose friendship turns into a love affair.
* Ed Decter (THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY co-writer) will direct the comedy THE NEW GUY from David Kendall's script where a guy gets himself expelled so he can start anew at another high school where he is deemed "cool." However, his nemesis from his other school joins him at the new school. Shooting may begin this summer.
* Jamie Blanks (URBAN LEGEND) will direct the romantic horror film VALENTINE for Warner Bros. based on the Tom Savage novel about a nerdy guy who is humilated by a group of women. He becomes a successful and handsome man ten years later and seeks seduction with as well as revenge on each woman. Blanks is also developing BLOOD RELATIVE with writer David Scarpa for Phoenix Pictures.
* Ellory Elkayem will direct the comedic thriller ARACH ATTACK for Centropolis Entertainment, Village Roadshow Pictues and Warner Bros. from a script he co-wrote with Jesse Alexander about a toxic spill that leads to rampaging giant spiders.
* Steve Guttenburg may direct P.S. YOUR CAT IS DEAD based on the James Kirkwood play about two desperate men whose lives have hit rock-bottom and who are eager to kill each other on New Year's Eve, if they don't find out all they have is each other. Guttenburg and Jeffrey Korn wrote the adaptation.
* Rae Dawn Chong will write/direct CURSED PART 3, a horror spoof that follows a crew filming a documentary a la BLAIR WITCH. Shooting begins April 10.
* Danny Leiner will direct DUDE, WHERE'S MY CAR starring Ashton Kutcher ("That 70s Show") for 20th Century Fox about two pot smokers who lose their car after a night of heavy partying. Philip Stark scripted.
* Andrew Fleming (THE CRAFT) will direct Sarah Michelle Gellar in the dramatic thriller THE IT GIRL for Warner Bros./Village Roadshow about a girl who shows up in New York out of nowhere, makes it in high society and falls for the crowd's most eligible bachelor.
* Stephen Hauser (SPHERE) will write the adaptation of Robert Stone's novel DAMASCUS GATE about an American journalist investigating religious extremists in Jerusalem.
* James Vanderbilt has written BASIC, which Phoenix Pictures may produce, about a homicide detective who investigates a murder at a basic training camp the day after a devastating hurricane.
* Adam Rifkin will write and direct POSSE for Disney about a small town sherriff drafted into a manhunt by three alien federal marshals.
* Director Gregory Nava (MI FAMILIA) is developing two projects with New Line: BORDERTOWN, a thriller which he is writing and Jennifer Lopez is in talks to star, about a female journalist who investigates murders in a bordertown and finds herself in danger; NEW MEXICO which is being written by Mark and Mike Polish (TWIN FALLS, IDAHO) about a family of guitar-makers.
* Scott Ziehl will direct the thriller PROXIMITY for the new company Zinc Pictures (launched by Joel Silver's Silver Pictures). Rob Lowe is in talks to star.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Brad Anderson (NEXT STOP, WONDERLAND) will not direct Miramax's remake of the French film WHEN THE CAT'S AWAY. Heather Graham will star.
* German distributor VCL and Japanese distributor TOHO TOWA will help producers Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna in financing TERMINATOR 3 and TERMINATOR 4. Teddy Sarafian is nearing completion on the script to T3 while David Wilson has completed a treatment to T4.
* Mel Gibson's Icon Prods. and Digital Domain are developing A THOUSAND CRANES, an epic love story set in Japan during the last days of World War II. John Patrick Shanley (MOONSTRUCK) will write the project.
* Todd Kessler ("Blue's Clues") is developing two features for his No Hands Productions based on short stories by Ron Carlson: KEITH is set up at Miramax and tells the story of two high school kids who have chemistry, but never go out; the other project is EVIL EYE ALLEN about two high school students with a strange magic show.
* Warner Bros. picked up the feature rights to THE MATCHSTICK MAN, a novel by Eric Garcia about a con man who meets his daughter he never knew existed. Ted Griffin (RAVENOUS) and his brother Nick will adapt the script for producer Sean Bailey (BEST LAID PLANS).
* Woody Allen has signed a three-picture distribution deal with DreamWorks.
* Paramount is picking up the feature rights to Mike Paterniti's upcoming nonfiction book DRIVING MR. ALBERT about the author's relationship with Dr. Harvey who has been in possession of Albert Einstein's brain for 40 years.
GUNN SHOTS (not from the trades)
* Look for the Kinky Friedman novels ELVIS, JESUS & COCA COLA; THE LOVE SONG OF J. EDGAR HOOVER and GOD BLESS JOHN WAYNE to be developed as features by Warner Bros. Jack Nicholson is in talks to play the Kinkster.
* Columbia Pictures is developing a shot by shot remake of the Don Knotts classic THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN for Matthew Perry to star. Knotts will have a cameo.
* Paramount is bringing both THE FALL GUY and DALLAS to the big screen. Look for Tommy Lee Jones to take the role of J. R. Ewing.
The biggest news of the week is Columbus doing HARRY POTTER. Hope it turns out well. The casts for BREAKERS, THE SALTON SEA and TRAFFIC and *ahem* JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS are starting to round out. Anyone read the SAVING SILVERMAN script? The three actors involved are funny, I wonder how the script is. Gregory Nava and Todd Kessler are pretty busy. Cool. TUSKER and THE ICE AGE are two animated pics in the works with interesting names involved. Speaking of names involved, look at THE SHIPPING NEWS. Think it'll be a future award-winner? Love the title CLETIS TOUT--hope the pic is funny. T FOR THRILLER sounds interesting and A.I. is getting pretty interesting too. Having tackled the horror genre, Kevin Williamson will now "deconstruct" the romantic comedy genre with HER LEADING MAN with Sandra Bullock? I'm very curious. I'm also curious about THE DANISH GIRL now that Neil Labute is involved. Lots o' stuff this week.
Okay, everything in Gunn Shots is not true this week. April Fool's!! However, they COULD happen...couldn't they? I wouldn't be surprised.
Until next week...Happy April Fool's Day weekend. Enjoy the month.
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
