Hey folks, Harry here with Elston Gunn's Weekly Recap. Last weeks was late because... well Elston Gunn was on a top secret mission to... Well, I can't say yet, but it'll be Stupendousooperfying! I think. Here's the latest....
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Ginuwine joins JUWANNA MANN for Morgan Creek and director Jesse Vaughan. Shooting begins in July.
* Chris Kattan will star in CORKY BONONO where the son of a mafia head goes undercover for the FBI. Robert Simonds will produce with Dave Garrett and Jason Ward scripting.
* Susan Sarandon, Tobey Maguire and Michael Clarke Duncan will lend their voices to LIKE CATS AND DOGS the live action/animated comedy for Warner Bros. Larry Guterman (ANTZ) is directing the story of the war between cats and dogs and a canine vaccine against allergies that the felines want destroyed.
* Scott Caan and Ali Larter (both of VARSITY BLUES) join Colin Farrell in JESSE JAMES for director Les Mayfield (BLUE STREAK).
* Annabella Sciorra and Claudio Amendola will star in the Italian film DOMENICA about the relationship between a cop and an orphaned girl. Wilma Labate directs.
* Rita Wilson joins THE GLASS HOUSE with Leelee Sobieski, Diane Lane and Stellan Skaarsgard about a girl staying with close neighbors after her parents are killed and discovers they may have been behind their deaths. Daniel Sackheim is directing the Wesley Strick script.
* Christopher Plummer will star in DRACULA 2000 for Dimension Films and producer Wes Craven. Editor Patrick Lussier (SCREAM) will direct the modern take on the Bram Stoker story. Joel Soisson (PHANTOMS) wrote the script.
* Cameron Diaz will join Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorcese's 19th century Irish crime gang film GANGS OF NEW YORK. Shooting begins in August. Steve Zaillan wrote the most recent draft of the script.
* Tobey Maguire and Harvey Keitel are attached to star in the period caper JACK SHEPPARD AND JONATHAN WILD for director Ben Ross.
* Andie MacDowell will star in John McKay's comedy SAD FUCKERS CLUB about a woman who causes a stir among her friends by falling for a much younger man. Anna Chancellor and Imelda Staunton will star as the friends. Shooting begins in June.
* Meg Ryan will star in the romance pic BEYOND BORDERS with Kevin Costner for director Oliver Stone and Mandalay Pictures set against the backdrop of international relief efforts. Shooting is scheduled to start in early October.
* DMX joins Steven Seagal in the corruption and cops flick EXIT WOUNDS for producer Joel Silver.
* Carrie Stevens joins METAL GOD with Jennifer Aniston and Mark Wahlberg.
* Garcelle Beauvais ("The Jamie Foxx Show") joins DOUBLE TAKE.
* Connie Britton ("Spin City") and Chris Eigeman ("It's Like, You Know") will star in the romantic comedy THE NEXT BIG THING for Double A Films.
* Kerr Smith (FINAL DESTINATION) will star in FORSAKEN, a vampire pic for Screen Gems.
* Vincent Perez (I DREAMED OF AFRICA) will star in BRIDE OF THE WIND about the composer Alma Schindler, who will be played by Sarah Wynter. Bruce Beresford will direct.
* Hayden Christensen may have been chosen to play Anakin Skywalker in STAR WARS EPISODE 2.
* Jonathan Silverman joins Vince Vaughn, Famke Janssen and Sean "Puffy "Combs in MADE for writer/director Jon Favreau.
* LL Cool J, Jada Pinkett Smith and Vivica A. Fox join Whoopi Goldberg in KINGDOM COME with Doug McHenry (JASON'S LYRIC) directing.
* Richard Voll (BLACK AND WHITE) joins Harvey Keitel and Brad Rowe in NAILED.
* Lauren Graham ("M.Y.O.B.") grabbed a role in SWEET NOVEMBER starring Keanu Reeves.
* Jake Richardson (TOOTHLESS) joins THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS with Jodie Foster executive producing.
* Bryan Kirkwood ("One World") landed two roles in DEVIL'S PREY with Patrick Bergin and FORSAKEN with Jonathan Saech.
* Jessica Lange is in final talks to play Christina Ricci's mother in PROZAC NATION for director Erik Skjoldbjaerg (INSOMNIA). Jason Biggs, Anne Heche, Michelle Williams and Jonathan Rhys-Myers also star.
* Candice Bergen will join Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine, Benjamin Bratt and William Shatner in MISS CONGENIALITY. Bergen will play a beauty pageant coordinator. Donald Petrie directs.
* Jordana Brewster (THE FACULTY) joins Paul Walker in REDLINE (formerly titled RACER X) for director Rob Cohen. Shooting begins this summer.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Carter Blanchard will write MARIAN AND ROBIN for Disney about the classic Robin Hood characters and a teen Maid Marian, who originates the idea of stealing from the rich to give to the poor.
HARRY NOTE: I despise the above idea for a movie and pray that a chandelier will fall upon the project.
* Nicholas Meyer (STAR TREK VI) is in talks to direct the indie pic SPOILS two soldiers at the end of WW II who steal a princess's jewels while staying at a German castle. Meyer co-scripted with Ron Roose (COLLATERAL DAMAGE).
* Jim Herzfeld (MEET THE PARENTS) will write PALS for Castle Rock as a starring/producing vehicle for Billy Crystal. The story follows a prison inmate who corresponds with a family thru a community work program and discovers the family is more immoral than he.
* Bill Duke (HOODLUM) is in final talks to direct Ice Cube in PIMP for Fine Line Features about the street hustler Robert "Iceberg Slim" Beck based on his 1969 autobiography. The film may shoot this fall after Ice Cube wraps John Carpenter's GHOST OF MARS.
* Tony Scott will direct TAKE DOWN for Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer about U.S. marshals after a killer who is being protected by another government agency.
* Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio will write YELLER for Disney about an injured football player who becomes a cheerleader to keep his scholarship.
* Rap-rocker Kid Rock joins David Spade in the Columbia Pictures comedy THE ADVENTURES OF JOE DIRT also starring Gary Busey, Roseanne, Brittany Daniel, Joe Don Baker and Erik Sullivan. Dennie Gordon is directing the story of a disc jockey and his lifelong search for his parents.
* Rob Cohen (THE SKULLS) will direct the thriller THE DECEIVER by Keith Davidson the discovery of a relic which invites one of Satan's disciples who wants to unleash evil on mankind.
* Tom Tykwer (RUN LOLA RUN) will direct HEAVEN for Miramax about a woman who takes the law into her own hands when she finds the man who is responsible for the death of her husband. She also falls in love with an officer after being arrested for murder. Cate Blanchett may star. This was the final screenplay written by the late Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski.
* Emily Kapnek ("As Told by Ginger," "Noah Knows Best") will script an animated version of ROBINSON CARUSOE for Paramount/Nickelodeon.
* Fox 2000 picked up John Scott Shepherd's script JOE SOMEBODY about a divorcee who is beaten up and humiliated by a co-worker, but decides he's going to fight back--falling love and enjoying life again in the process.
* Carroll Ballard is in final talks to direct New Line's ONE FOR THE AGES starring Richard Gere about a college football coach who loses his team in a plane crash and spends the next year putting together a team to take to the championship. David Murray scripted.
* Writer/director Joel Hopkins is working on an indie feature for FilmFour based on his short JORGE. The film follows a Nigerian man who falls in love with a Latin girl four days before he is supposed to get married.
* David Fincher is somewhat close to final talks to direct David Koepp's script THE PANIC ROOM. Fincher wants final cut of the film and Nicole Kidman to star in the story of a mother and daughter who fight for their lives in their home against intruders.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Both Brad Pitt has dropped out of the Warner Bros. project URBAN TOWNIE and, as a result, so has director Mike Figgis.
* DreamWorks is picking up the rights to the completed movie THE CONTENDER to release it domestically. The political thriller stars Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen, Gary Oldman, Christian Slater and William Petersen.
* Rick Baker is doing the special effects makeup for the remake of PLANET OF THE APES for director Tim Burton and 20th Century Fox.
* Touchstone Pictures is putting the sci-fi flick GEMINI on the fast track. Darren Lemke wrote the story of a genetics company who creates a younger clone of a hitman they cannot find. The clone is sent to hunt the older one down.
* You'll be able to download Universal's HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS trailer on Wednesday at Mean-One.Com.
* Fox 2000 picked up the rights to the NY Times article "Biker Boys" about urban underground motorcycle street racers.
* Indie producer Stephanie Zessos and documentarian Conor McCourt optioned A MONK SWIMMING, the bestselling memoir from Malachy McCourt, Conor's father, and his journey from Ireland to New York where he opened up one of it's first singles bars, Malachy's.
* Miramax is optioning the book 57, CHICAGO by John Monroe which the company is also publishing through its Talk Miramax Books division next spring. The novel explores the world of police, organized crime and boxing in 1950s Chicago.
GUNN SHOTS
(not from the trades)
* Production on the film NEWPORT SOUTH hit a rough spot when, apparently, a camera was stolen from the set possibly along with 2 rolls of films which led to some reshoots. Will Estes, Todd Field, Raymond Barry, Kevin Christy, Blake Shields and Melissa George star in the film directed by James Hughes (son of director/producer John). Anyone have a script review on this project?
* If anyone is interested, Christopher Field did the music for the LORD OF THE RINGS trailer, but Wojkiech Kilar is still supposed to score it.
* Stax Flixburg has a script review of the Dec. 3, 1999 rewrite of THE SCORE by Kario Salem. You can find it at IGN FilmForce--where Stax now does his reviews. THE SCORE will star Marlon Brando, Robert DeNiro and Edward Norton.
Have a Gunn Shot? Email me.
Hey folks. Everyone's gearing up for the summer movie season and continuing to produce an astronomical amount of films at the same time. The casts for PROZAC NATION and MISS CONGENIALITY are starting to round out. KINGDOM COME looks good too, but my guilty pleasure is the cast of THE ADVENTURES OF JOE DIRT--I just hope the script is really funny. How about Christopher Plummer doing DRACULA 2000? Anyone read the script? The male and female leads seem to be locked down for GANGS OF NEW YORK and BEYOND BORDERS for Martin Scorcese and Oliver Stone respectively. Will THE PANIC ROOM be David Fincher's next? Sounds like we'll have an answer soon...along with who is going to play Anakin Skywalker.
Until next week...enjoy the prom.
Elston Gunn
