Hey folks, Harry here with another... and this one is long and fact filled with tons of cool news.... ELSTON GUNN's WEEKLY RECAP! Now, while reading this week's recap, I was struck by something... You know why Tom Hanks continues to have kick ass roles while actors like Harrison Ford continue to choose suck ass parts? Well, this week Tom has 3 projects in development that he's attached to. One is being written by John Sayles, another by Alan Ball and the third is written by Charlie Kaufman and directed by Spike Jonze. Man, Hanks knows who to hook up with doesn't he? Sheeshus.
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER VIA REUTERS
CASTING
* Miguel Nunez (LIFE) will star in JUWANNA MAN about an NBA player who is kicked out of the league, but continues to play the sport via the WNBA where he is disguised as a female player.
* Thora Birch (AMERICAN BEAUTY) will star in the thriller THE HOLE for Granada Film and director Nick Hamm (TALK OF ANGELS). The story follows a group of British private school students who discover a secret hole created a long time ago as a possible bomb shelter. Ben Cort and Caroline Ip scripted.
* Ice Cube will star in JOHN CARPENTER'S GHOSTS OF MARS about Mars colonists who become possessed by Martian ghosts. Shooting begins in June.
* Jim Caviezel (THE THIN RED LINE, upcoming FREQUENCY) will star in a remake of THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO for Spyglass Entertainment. No director is attached yet, but the studio is hoping for a July start.
* Ray Liotta joins Gene Hackman, Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jason Lee in HEARTBREAKERS (formerly BREAKERS?). David Mirkin (ROMY AND MICHELE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION) is directing the story of a mom and girl con team.
* Taye Diggs is in talks to star in LIBRIUM for Dimension Films and writer/director Kurt Wimmer about an agent who is an enforcer of a system where humans must suppress their emotions with daily doses of librium.
* Kirsten Dunst will star in Dimension's GETTING OVER ALLISON for director Tommy O'Haver (BILLY'S HOLLYWOOD SCREEN KISS) about a high school student who gets dumped by his girlfriend as he enters his senior year. R. Lee Fleming Jr. (SHE'S ALL THAT) scripted.
* William Lee Scott will play a fighter pilot in PEARL HARBOR.
* Joanna Gleason (BOOGIE NIGHTS) joins THE WEDDING PLANNER with Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey.
* Jessica Alba (NEVER BEEN KISSED) will star in Fine Line's THE SLEEPING DICTIONARY with Hugh Dancy, Brenda Blethyn and Bob Hoskins about a young Englishman in the 1920s who becomes part of a colonial government in Sarawak and comes face to face with unorthodox traditions and romance. Guy Jenkin will shoot from his own script in May.
* Frances O'Connor (MANSFIELD PARK) may play the female lead in A.I. for director Steven Spielberg. Jude Law and Haley Joel Osment star.
* Selma Blair and Max Beesley will star in TAKE MY LIFE PLEASE for director Dana Lustig (WEDDING BELLE BLUES) about a suicidal bank teller who promises a bank robber she will take him to the bank's money if he promises to kill her. Annette Goliti Gutierrez scripted the story by Gutierrez and Lustig.
* Joseph Fiennes, Adrian Lester (PRIMARY COLORS), David Wenham (THE BOYS) and Anne Brochet (CYRANO DE BERGERAC) will star in DUST for director Milcho Manchevski (BEFORE THE RAIN). The movie tells two parallel stories: one is a western about two cowboy brothers and the other is set in modern New York and focuses on a thief and a 90-year old woman.
* Jet Li may star in THE MATRIX 2 & 3 though negotiations are not yet underway.
* Heather Graham is in talks to join Johnny Depp in FROM HELL for the Hughes Bros. and 20th Century Fox. Terry Hayes (THE ROAD WARRIOR) scripted the story based on the graphic novels by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell about the investigations of the murders by Jack the Ripper. Graham will play an Irish prostitute.
* Anna Gasteyer ("SNL") and Valerie Perrine join Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt in WHAT WOMEN WANT.
* Jacob Vargas (upcoming TIGERLAND) and Clifton Collins Jr. (aka Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez) join TRAFFIC for director Steven Soderbergh. Vargas also joins WALL TO WALL RECORDS for Warner Bros. and director Joshua Brand.
* Sarah Michelle Gellar is in talks to join Christian Slater and Tim Allen in the comedy CLETIS TOUT for writer/director Chris Ver Wiel about a case of mistaken identity.
* Jonathan Pryce will star as composer Gustav Mahler in BRIDE OF THE WIND with Sarah Wynter in talks to play the female lead Alma Mahler. Bruce Beresford directs.
* Amy Irving, Dennis Quaid, James Brolin and Miguel Ferrer join Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta Jones, Erika Christensen, Benecio Del Toro, Don Cheadle and Topher Grace in TRAFFIC for director Steven Soderbergh.
* Jason Biggs (AMERICAN PIE) is in talks to join Christina Ricci in PROZAC NATION about a girl with chronic depression. Norwegian director Erik Skjoldbjaerg is helming. Shooting begins May 15 in Vancouver.
* Hugh Grant may join Renee Zellweger in BRIDGET JONES' DIARY for Universal/Miramax. Sharon Maguire directs the story of a thirtysomething single woman in London. Shooting is slated to begin May 1.
* Wilmer Valderama (Fez on "That 70s Show") and Brittany Murphy (GIRL, INTERRUPTED) join Freddie Prinze Jr. in SUMMER CATCH with Mike Tollin directing.
* Tobey Maguire (THE CIDER HOUSE RULES) is eyeing the WWII drama HART'S WAR about a law student/lieutenant who is captured and sent to a POW camp where he defends a black POW who has been falsely accused of murder.
* Billy Bob Thornton will co-star with Frances McDormand in the new Coen Bros. movie (known now as "the barber project"). He'll play a barber and husband to McDormand's character.
* Kieran Culkin (THE CIDER HOUSE RULES) joins Jenna Malone and Jodie Foster in the black comedy THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS.
* Keanu Reeves has committed to star in the Paramount drama HARDBALL based on the Daniel Coyle book for director Brian Robbins (VARSITY BLUES, READY TO RUMBLE). John Gatins is scripting the story of a ticket scalper who finds salvation in an inner city baseball league.
* John Cusack is in talks to star in and exec. produce a modern day remake of SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS for MGM and Trilogy Entertainment.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Eric Kmetz will write TAG for Paramount Pictures based on an original idea from David Fagenblum and Neil Weinberger about a deadly, underground game of tag where a man is "it" and runs from a group of assassins.
* Kevin Hooks (PASSENGER 57, FLED) is in talks to direct the urban drama HIGH CALIBER about a young gun dealer who tries to start a new life. Coolio will star in a supporting role.
* William Friedkin will direct Placido Domingo in a feature based on the life of opera composer Giacomo Puccini. The script is being written by Marta Domingo and Luciano Vincenzoni (THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY) and will focus on Puccini's adulterous years between MADAME BUTTERFLY and THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST.
* Miles Millar and Al Gough will script a sequel to the upcoming pic SHANGHAI NOON which stars Jackie Chan, Owen Wilson and Lucy Liu. It is said the sequel will be more of an action-adventure than the first which is due to hit theaters this Memorial Day weekend.
* Scott Reynolds (HEAVEN) will write and direct SHEARER'S BREAKFAST for Columbia TriStar. Radha Mitchell (PITCH BLACK) and Barry Watson (TEACHING MRS. TINGLE) are attached to star in the story of a woman whose life is changed when an injured man enters her diner claiming to be the target of murderers.
* Bob Dolman (FAR AND AWAY) will write SECOND CHANCE for New Line Cinema about five women who reunite for a beauty pageant rematch because the winner 15 years earlier may have slept with a judge. Ellen DeGeneres and Meg Ryan may star.
* Christopher McQuarrie (X-MEN) will write the screen adaptation THE PRISONER based on the cult-60s TV show. Simon West (CON AIR, upcoming TOMB RAIDER) is attached to direct for producer Barry Mendel (THE SIXTH SENSE) and exec. producer Patrick McGoohan (who created the show).
* Jenny Trip is scripting the remake of the 1966 film THE TROUBLE WITH ANGELS for Sony and producer Denise Di Novi about a nun who outsmarts to rebellious Catholic school girls.
* Alan Ball will write a script for Tom Hanks to produce and star in based on Hanks' idea of a 1960s Cleveland cop who investigates the murder of a loved one.
* Charlie Kaufman (BEING JOHN MALKOVICH) is rewriting ADAPTATION as a possible vehicle for Tom Hanks. Spike Jonze will direct.
HARRY NOTE: Aaaawwww yeah! Now this is what I'm fucking talking about! Sweeeeeeeeeet!
* Pedro Almodovar may direct the Miramax Frida Kahlo/Diego Rivera biopic starring Salma Hayek and Alfred Molina.
* Earle Sabastian will direct COLOR OF LOVE based on a Vanity Fair article about the relationship between Sammy Davis Jr. and Kim Novak.
* The Farrelly Bros. are busy directing the live-action version of OSMOSIS JONES with Bill Murray as the host body, developing SHALLOW HAL as their next directing gig with Gwyneth Paltrow possibly starring, producing SAY IT ISN'T SO with Heather Graham, producing THE SIX BILLION DOLLAR MAN with SHANGHAI NOON writers Miles Millar and Al Gough scripting, producing SONNY BRIGHT with Doug Liman directing and also producing Rob Schneider in NO MORE MISTER GUY the world's nicest guy who gets matched up with the sleaziest lawyer.
* John Sayles has been tapped to write the adaptation of the New Yorker magazine article A COLD CASE for Tom Hanks to possibly star about an investigator's 30-year mission to solve a murder of a restaurateur in Manhattan.
* Rob Minkoff (STUART LITTLE, THE LION KING) is in talks to direct the STUART LITTLE sequel, but may be having trouble with fitting the pic into his schedule. He may serve only as producer or exec. producer.
* Universal has picked up the script THE IMMORTALS by Michael Jonascu about four friends who are can become immortal if they choose someone to die in their place.
* Gil Netter has written the drama comedy spec AGENT JOE for Fox 2000 about a government assassin who moves to the suburbs and meets a single mom and her son.
* Steve Carr is in talks to direct Eddie Murphy in DOCTOR DOLITTLE 2 for 20th Century Fox for a planned summer 2001 release.
* John Putch is directing the indie film THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS for actor-producer Alex Hyde-White. Amy Jo Johnson and Jean Stapleton star with Hyde-White.
* Gregory Allan Howard (REMEMBER THE TITANS) will write a script for Miramax based on the life of ballet dancer and National Dance Institute founder Jacques D'Amboise.
* Steven Gary Banks and Bruce Graham have written SLUGGER for Moving Pictures about a boy who inherits Babe Ruth's baseball bat and becomes a better player.
* Danielle Gardner (SOUL IN THE HOLE) will make a documentary about Hollywood nightlife--more specifically the Sunset Strip scene--called GUEST LIST ONLY.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Producers Arnold and Anne Kopelson (PLATOON) and 20th Century Fox are developing a remake of the French film LA FEMME INFIDELE with Adrian Lyne directing this fall. The story centers around a woman who has an affair with another man. Her husband, however, kills the other man once he finds out. This act puts the spark back into their marriage.
* Miramax is in talks to buy the feature rights to Tom Goldberg's upcoming novel FAKE LIAR CHEAT about a guy who works for a temp agency who meets a kleptomaniac named Claire. The two go on a crime spree through Hollywood's nightclubs and restaurants.
* French producer Claude Berri is developing ASTERIX ET CLEOPATRE, a follow up to ASTERIX ET OBELIX CONTRE CESAR. Gerard Depardieu and Christian Clavier will return for director Alain Chabat. Shooting begins in September.
* Columbia Pictures and Marvel Entertainment have parted ways on the projects DAREDEVIL and DOCTOR STRANGE. Marvel will shop them to other studios.
HARRY NOTE: Yup.... we know the rest of the story.
* Agenda 2000 will finance the low-budget pic MANIC about a group of teens in a juvenile mental institution. Jordan Melamed will direct in May the script written by Michael Bacall and Blayne Weaver.
* Sky Films is producing the betting comedy ON THE NOSE starring Dan Aykroyd, Brenda Blethyn and Robbie Coltrane as well as KISS KISS (BANG BANG) starring Stellan Skaarsgard, Chris Penn and Paul Bettany about a washed up hit man coming out of retirement.
* Brad Silberling (CITY OF ANGELS) has passed on the DreamWorks remake of THE TIME MACHINE.
HARRY NOTE: All Points Bulletin!!! We must capture and look at the TIME MACHINE script! Important! Important!
* Aurora Prods. and Voyager Films have optioned the rights to the book LOBSTER BOY: THE BIZARRE LIFE AND BRUTAL DEATH OF GRADY STILES JR. by Fred Rosen about a sideshow performer whose hands and feet resembled lobster claws, and who was killed by his wife and stepson. Turi Meyer (CANDYMAN: LAND OF THE DEAD) is attached to direct. Patrick J. Clifton and Beth Rigazio are scripting the first draft.
Wow, long recap. The cast to HEARTBREAKERS is getting pretty interesting. I wonder what the script is like. How about Jet Li doing THE MATRIX sequels? Nothing is set quite yet. Heather Graham playing an Irish prostitute in FROM HELL? Cool. I'd love to know more about the new Coens project. Thornton AND McDormand? Love it already. Tom Hanks was mentioned three times this week in relation to three writers: Alan Ball, Charlie Kaufman, John Sayles--not bad company. I'm anxious to see all of those projects the Farrelly Bros. are associated with... some I hadn't heard of like SONNY BRIGHT and NO MORE MISTER NICE GUY. Hopefully, we'll hear more.
God Bless Daylight Savings...I love that late sunset. Until next week...I have taxes to finish.
Elston Gunn
