Hey folks, Harry here with the latest spectacular sandwiching of a seven day cycle of official news from the great hunter of such delicacies... ELSTON GUNN!!! That's right, he's fought gators and anacondas, pigeons and mice, even platapusses and do-dos. And this week there is... let me tell you... one hell of an update... check it out..
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Tim Roth is in talks to play Professor Snape while Robbie Coltrane is in negotiations to play Hagrid the games keeper in HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE for director Chris Columbus and Warner Bros.
* Christian Bale joins Emily Watson and Taye Diggs in Dimension's futuristic thriller LIBRIUM. Kurt Wimmer will direct the film which is slated to begin shooting next month.
* Billy Baldwin and Elizabeth Mitchell (FREQUENCY) will star in the cop thriller DOUBLE BANG for writer/director Heywood Gould (ONE GOOD COP) based on his own novel about a police officer out for revenge after his partner is killed.
* Molly Shannon joins John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale in Miramax's SERENDIPITY as a lesbian candle shop owner. Peter Chelsom (THE MIGHTY) directs.
* Sam Neill is in talks to star in JURASSIC PARK 3 for director Joe Johnston (JUMANJI) and Universal.
* Matt Damon is in negotiations to star in THE BOURNE IDENTITY based on the Robert Ludlum novel. Doug Liman (GO) directs.
* Elizabeth Perkins will star opposite Jeff Goldblum in the live action/animated comedy LIKE CATS AND DOGS for director Larry Guterman (ANTZ). The story centers on the war between cats and dogs and a canine allergy vaccine the felines want destroyed.
* Comedian Bernie Mac (upcoming KINGS OF COMEDY) joins Martin Lawrence, Danny DeVito and Richard Schiff in MGM's WHAT'S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN? He's also in talks to star in DEADBEAT DAD DETECTIVE for MGM as well as SEVEN SPELLS for Fox.
* Roger Willie joins John Woo's WINDTALKERS.
* Breckin Meyer joins the ensemble comedy RAT RACE for director Jerry Zucker about a race for money set up by a Vegas magnate.
* Jason Segel ("Freaks and Geeks") joins SLACKERS starring Devon Sawa and Jason Schwartzman.
* Lisa Rinna ("Melrose Place") joins Charlie Sheen, Denise Richards and Rosanna Arquette in GOOD ADVICE.
* Sharon Leal ("Rent") and Elena Lyons ("USAHigh") join the indie pic FACE THE MUSIC.
* Giovanni Ribisi is in talks to star opposite Cate Blanchett in HEAVEN for director Tom Tykwer (RUN LOLA RUN) about a woman who takes the law into her own hands, gets arrested and falls in love with an officer.
* Nick Stahl, Sissy Spacek and Marisa Tomei are currently shooting the indie pic IN THE BEDROOM.
* David 'Shark' Fralick (GONE IN 60 SECONDS) joins Michael Madsen and Gary Daniels in IDES OF MARCH.
* Travis Wester ("Camp P") joins Ed Begley Jr., Larry Miller and Michael McKean in CALL O' THE GLEN.
* Gabrielle Union (10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU) will have a role in THE BROTHERS.
* Martin Starr ("Freaks and Geeks") will star in New Line's CHEATERS about a group of students who cheat their way through high school.
* Kirsten Dunst and Shane West will star in GETTING OVER ALLISON written by R. Lee Fleming (SHE'S ALL THAT).
* Kip Pardue (REMEMBER THE TITANS) joins Sylvester Stallone in CHAMPS.
* Jake Gyllenhaal (OCTOBER SKY) will star in the fantasy thriller DONNIE DARKO for Pandora/Flower Films and writer/director Richard Kelly. Drew Barrymore exec produce and take a small role.
* Arnold Schwarzenegger has committed to return as the cyborg in TERMINATOR 3 for producers Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar.
* Jet Li has committed to playing Kato in THE GREEN HORNET for Universal. Christopher McQuarrie is working on the script.
* Jerry Butler (MRS. BROWN) will play Dracula in Dimension's WES CRAVEN'S DRACULA 2000. Patrick Luccier will direct.
* William Mapother grabbed a role in the indie pic IN THE BEDROOM and his reworking an untitled script for Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner's C/W Prods. That project will be directed by John Polson.
* Marisa Tomei and Ellen Barkin are in talks to join Ashley Judd, Greg Kinnear and Hugh Jackman in ANIMAL HUSBANDRY for Fox 2000 and director Tony Goldwyn.
* Steve Zahn will star opposite Drew Barrymore in RIDING IN CARS WITH BOYS for director Penny Marshall and Columbia Pictures based on Beverly D'Onofrio's autobiography.
* Sharon Stone has signed on for the BASIC INSTINCT sequel for C-2 Pictures. Leora Barish and Henry Bean (DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN) have scripted the pic. Shooting begins this fall.
* Laura Dern, William H. Macy and David Paymer will star in the indie pic FOCUS based on the Arthur Miller novel about a man and his wife who are mistaken as Jews by their anti-Semitic neighbors in 1945 Brooklyn. Neal Slavin will direct.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Dana Carvey and Harris Goldberg (DEUCE BIGALOW) will write MASTERS OF DISGUISE for Revolution Studios as a starring vehicle for Carvey. The story centers around the last ancestor of a family of masters of disguise. Adam Sandler will exec. produce.
* Jon Zack's comedy script TEN TO ONE was picked up by Spyglass Entertainment about a snowboarder who wants to start a snowboarding park until his girlfriend comes back to town.
* Writer/director Michael Elias and director John Maybury are developing two separate projects of the life of playwright/poet Christopher Marlowe. Elias' project is an adaptation of Anthony Burgess' novel A DEAD MAN AT DEPTFORD. Alex Ayres, John Brownlow and Maybury scriped the other project.
* Neal Brennan and Michael Schur will write TOTALLY AWESOME for Dimension Films about three siblings who must relocate so their father can keep his job. It's said to be modeled after 80s flicks such as SIXTEEN CANDLES and THE KARATE KID.
* Patrick Sheane Duncan (COURAGE UNDER FIRE) has written ACT OF COURAGE, picked up by Revolution Studios, about a female military specialist who joins an ex-special forces officer to fight for custody of her children.
* Joe Nussbaum ("George Lucas In Love") will direct HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS for Nickelodeon Films and Imagine Ent. based on Thomas Rockwell's children's book. It's about a fifth grader who is challenged to eat 15 worms in a day.
* Michael Miner will direct the USA Films mystery thriller MARATHON about a group of criminals who plan to rob a bank during the Los Angeles marathon.
* Michael Browning (SIX DAYS, SEVEN NIGHTS) will adapt Mark Haddon's novel THE REAL PORKY PHILLIPS for Disney about a 13-year old who wishes all his cares and responsibilities go away, then a double of himself shows up.
* Jason Marx and Ben Loory have written the WWII script THE CODE where Nazi secrets are communicated to Resistance fighters through music. USA Films and Egg Pictures picked up the script.
* Barry Blaustein (BEYOND THE MAT) is in talks to direct the comedy THE GELFIN for Universal/Imagine Ent. about an very annoying genie who can bring good or bad luck depending on his mood. Blaustein co-scripted with David Sheffield.
* M. Night Shyamalan (THE SIXTH SENSE) is in talks to script the fourth installment of the INDIANA JONES series which Spielberg would direct in 2002.
* Writer/director Cameron Crowe is in talks to develop and direct SHOCKPROOF SYDNEY SKATE for Fox 2000 based on the novel by Marijane Meaker about a 17-year old boy who falls in love with a female model with whom his mother is also in love. Steve Kloves (HARRY POTTER scripter) is working on the script.
* Sam Montgomery sold his script IN THE LAKE to Warner Bros. Based on the 1957 Frederick Dard novel DELIVREZ-NOUS DU MAL, it follows a wealthy man whose plots revenge against his unfaithful wife.
* Eric Champnella will direct his script I WAS A TEENAGE MOVIE for Key Ent. He also sold an untitled college comedy pitch to Columbia.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Universal Pictures has pulled out of the DIETER (aka SPROCKETS) project which was to have Mike Myers star as a German talk show host based on the "Saturday Night Live" character he created.
* Shooting begins in August in Australia on CROCODILE DUNDEE III starring Paul Hogan.
* Warner Bros.-based Mark Canton, Universal-based Marc Platt, Columbia Pictures' Sid Ganis, Phoenix Pictures topper Mike Medavoy and Paramount-based Donald DeLine are rumored to be interested in bidding on the rights to the 11-book FLETCH series--while several reps for comedic actors are eyeing the role for their clients.
* Maysville Pictures, Film Roman and Spyglass Ent. together will option the novel BAD CONNECTION by Mike Ledwidge about a telephone cable splicer who taps into a CEO's phone line and hears inside information of a merger that would make the phone guy wealthy.
* DreamWorks may grab the screen rights to the bestseller FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS by James Bradley and Ron Powers about a man's search to find out his father's role in raising the flag on Iwo Jima during World War II.
* Mark Walhberg has dropped out of talks to star in CRIMINAL CONVERSATION. Iain Softley will direct for C/W Prods. and Paramount.
* DreamWorks is in talks with Aardman Animations to produce an animated feature based on Aardman's "Wallace & Gromit" shorts. It would follow the two companies THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE. If the WALLACE & GROMIT pic goes forward, it probably won't hit the screens until 2004.
* Lakeshore Entertainment bought the screen rights to Philip Roth's new novel THE HUMAN STAIN about a black professor who passed himself off as a Jewish man for several years.
* French producer Studio Canal has the rights to Harlan Coben's BIG TEARS FALL about a man who receives an email from a woman who he thought was brutally murdered.
Wow. What a news week! Arnold back for T3, Stone back for BASIC INSTINCT 2, Sam Neill back for JURASSIC PARK 3, M. Night Shyamalan in talks to script INDY 4, Cameron Crowe's lining up his next project, Jet Li playing Kato, DRACULA 2000 got its Dracula, Dana Carvey's working on a movie, Universal exited DIETER, a WALLACE AND GROMIT pic, CROCODILE DUNDEE 3 (?)...a week of fan boy fodder. I think the casts of HARRY POTTER, LIBRIUM, SERENDIPITY, LIKE CATS AND DOGS and FOCUS among others look rather cool--and I'm looking forward to the big screen adaptation of HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS. Jeez, I'm surprised they didn't cast SPIDER MAN this week. With all the news above it seems like the right time.
Until next week...
Elston Gunn
