Howdy folks, Father Geek here with another of Elston's reviews of the past week of movie news.
First off though, I just got back in Austin from a trip down to San Antonio to visit MY Dad on his 81st birthday. LOBO, Sister Satan, and myself took the newest member of the family down to meet his Great Grandparents in part as a B-Day present to my Pop. The kid was great on the road to and from as well as the whole time we were there, and the entire SA Knowles clan dropped by to pay tribute to both the oldest and the youngest family members. And in an extra cool turn of events my uncle (the Kid's Great Uncle)unexpectedly drove over from Houston to check him out and hang with his older brother for the afternoon. It was a day of family coolness at it best.
Also this just came in, so add it to Elston's casting recap: Jimmy Duvall (THE DOOM GENERATION, INDEPENDENCE DAY)
has been added to the cast of DONNIE DARKO as Frank
the Bunny.
Now on to Elston's report...
Elston Gunn's Weekly Recap
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
Also this just came in, so add it to Elston's casting recap: Jimmy Duvall (THE DOOM GENERATION, INDEPENDENCE DAY)
has been added to the cast of DONNIE DARKO as Frank
the Bunny.
Now on to Elston's report...
Elston Gunn's Weekly Recap
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
Elston Gunn's Weekly Recap
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
CASTING
* Owen Wilson will join Gene Hackman in Fox's BEHIND ENEMY LINES about a Marine veteran and a Navy pilot who must fight for survival in hostile territory after they're aircraft is downed. John Moore will direct.
* Da Brat joins Mariah Carey in ALL THAT GLITTERS for director Vonde Curtis-Hall. Kate Lanier (SET IT OFF, WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT) wrote the script.
* Marty Ingels joins Luke Perry in the indie pic LUXURY OF LOVE.
* Larry Miller (NUTTY PROFESSOR II: THE KLUMPS) joins WHAT'S THE WORST THAT CAN HAPPEN? for MGM.
* Monet Mazur grabbed a role alongside Jennifer Lopez and Jim Caviezel in ANGEL EYES. Mazur will also be seen in BLOW.
* Scarlett Chorvat, Judd Nelson and Lance Henriksen will star in the supernatural thriller THE LOST VOYAGE.
* Keith Campbell joins A.I. for director Steven Spielberg. He'll play a road warrior. Sam Robards will join Jude Law, Haley Joel Osment and Frances O'Connor in the pic as well.
* Bill Maher will play a casino boss in the film TOMCATS for director Gregory Poirier (ROSEWOOD, GOSSIP writer).
* Jena Malone (FOR LOVE OF THE GAME, STEPMOM) will play the female lead in DONNIE DARKO starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Noah Wyle and Drew Barrymore for writer/director Richard Kelly.
* Mary Tyler Moore joins New Line's CHEATERS as the high school principal who suspects cheating from a group of students (Matthew Lawrence, Elden Henson, Martin Starr and Trevor Fehrman) but can't catch them. Andrew Gurland directs from his own script.
* Matt LeBlanc will star in the indie comedy/drama ALL THE QUEEN'S MEN for director Stephan Ruzowitsky about a team of Special Forces agents in World War II who must (in disguise) infiltrate a female-run factory to bring back a device that will end the war. David Schneider and Jeff Stockwell (THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS) scripted.
* Sam Rockwell (GALAXY QUEST, THE GREEN MILE) is close to a deal to join Danny DeVito and Gene Hackman in THE HEIST for writer/director David Mamet. He'll play the nephew of a jewel thief who tags along on a heist to make sure his uncle's partner is honest about dividing the riches.
* Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, David Arquette, Mira Sorvino, Daniel Benzali and Natasha Lyonne are in final talks to star in THE GREY ZONE, a Holocaust drama based on Tim Nelson's (EYE OF GOD, O) Off Broadway play who will direct the pic. The story centers on a group of Jews who are forced to work against their fellow Jews in the crematoria of Ausshwitz.
* Diane Lane (THE PERFECT STORM) is in final talks to join star in two pics: HARD BALL, opposite Keanu Reeves for director Brian Robbins (VARSITY BLUES) as well as CRIMINAL CONVERSATION for director Iain Softley (THE WINGS OF THE DOVE).
* James LeGros, Maura Tierney, Christopher Walken, Kevin Corrigan, James Rebhorn, Tom Guiry, Andy Dick and Amy Smart will star in SCOTLAND, PA, a retelling of MACBETH set in a fast-food joint in the 70s. Billy Morrisette writes/directs.
* Ben Affleck is in talks to play Jack Ryan in THE SUM OF ALL FEARS based on the Tom Clancy novel. Akiva Goldsman and Paul Attanasio adapted the script (though it was for Harrison Ford).
* Peter Weller, Bryan Brown and Angus MacFadyen star in the jewel heist pic STYX. Alex Wright is directing the George Ferris script for Promark Entertainment.
* Estella Warren (upcoming CONSPIRACY OF WEEDS, CHAMPS) is in talks to join Mark Wahlberg in PLANET OF THE APES (aka THE VISITOR) for director Tim Burton.
* Mira Sorvino is in final talks to star in THE TRIUMPH OF LOVE for producer Bernardo Bertolucci about a princess who wants to restore the throne to its rightful heir, a prince she falls in love with. She assumes masculine and female idenitities, using seduction as a weapon, but later finds herself engaged to three people. Clare Peploe, Marilyn Goldin and Bertolucci adapted the screenplay from Marivaux's 18th-century play.
* Cameron Diaz is in final talks to star in the bawdy romantic comedy THE UNTITLED NANCY PIMENTAL PROJECT for director Roger Kumble (CRUEL INTENTIONS) about a woman who must teach herself the etiquette of wooing the opposite sex after she meets the man of her dreams.
* Rip Torn is in final talks to play Tom Green's father in FREDDY GOT FINGERED to be directed by Green. Shooting begins Aug. 21.
* Jimmy Smits and Christopher Lee join the cast of STAR WARS EPISODE II as Sen. Bail Organa and a charismatic separatist respectively.
* Kirsten Dunst will star in Disney's AT SEVENTEEN for director John Stockwell about the culture clash and relationship between a poor Latino boy and a rich L.A. girl.
* Noah Emmerich (FREQUENCY) is in talks to join Nicolas Cage and Christian Slater in John Woo's WINDTALKERS.
* Cristian de la Fuente ("Family Law") grabbed a role in CHAMPS starring Sylvester Stallone and Gina Gershon.
* D.J. Qualls (ROAD TRIP) will star in THE NEW GUY for Revolution Studios.
* Tomas Arana (GLADIATOR) joins PEARL HARBOR.
* Johnny Strong (GET CARTER) will star with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in REDLINE. Shooting begins Aug. 1.
* Leo Fitzpatrick (KIDS) will play Selma Blair's love interest in Todd Solodnz's (HAPPINESS) upcoming untitled pic.
* Minnie Driver will star in HIGH HEELS AND LOWLIFES about a nurse who eavesdrops on a cell phone conversation and gets the details to a bank heist. She and a friend then conspire to blackmail the would-be robbers. Mel Smith (BEAN) will direct the Kim Fuller script.
* Sandra Bullock is attached to develop and star in the thriller ENOUGH for Columbia Pictures and producer Irwin Winkler about a woman who thinks she married the man of her dreams, discovers he's abusive and flees with her daughter while he pursues them. Nick Kazan scripted.
* Stuart Townsend (WONDERLAND) is in talks to play Lestat in WB/Village Roadshow's QUEEN OF THE DAMNED for director Michael Rymer (IN TOO DEEP).
* Don Cheadle, Michael Bacall (URBAN LEGEND: THE FINAL CUT) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (``3rd Rock From the Sun'') are starring in MANIC, a digital film about the relationships between some mentally ill youths and their addict-turned-psychologist. Elden Henson (THE MIGHTY), Zooey Deschanel, Sara Rivas (CRASH), Cody Lightning (SMOKE SIGNALS) and Blayne Weaver also star. Jordan Melamed is directing the Bacall and Weaver script.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Simon Wincer (FREE WILLY, "Lonesome Dove") will direct CROCODILE DUNDEE 3 which begins shooting Aug. 7.
* Music video directors Emmett and Brendan Malloy will helm Disney's snowboarding comedy TEN TO ONE for Spyglass Ent. and producer Lauren Shuler Donner. Jon Zack scripted.
* Tony Gayton (THE SALTON SEA) will write two projects for Castle Rock: an untitled thriller about a man who tries to clear his name over a 20-year old murder and the other is a blind script commitment. Gayton also scripted MURDER BY NUMBERS for Castle Rock about two high school students who craft a series of perfect murders and then battle it out with a female FBI profiler.
* Phillip Noyce (THE BONE COLLECTOR) will direct FOLLOW THE RABBIT PROOF FENCE based on a nonfiction book about three Aboriginal girls who are taken away from their home due to official government policy commonplace in the 1970s. They manage to escape, head back home and are taken away again by the authorities.
* Bob Hilgenberg and Rob Muir (SMALL WORLD) will write FATHER KNOWS BEST, a big screen adaptation based on the classic TV series. The pic will have a kid entering his dad in a father of the year contest, lying about his credentials. The father wins, discovers the woman giving the prize is hot, goes along with the lies hoping to woo her into the mix.
* Gavin Scott (SMALL SOLDIERS, THE BORROWERS) will write HELMSTAR based on his pitch purchased by Disney/Henson Co. which takes Vikings/magic/sorcery and puts them in a new venue.
* Hossein Amini (THE WINGS OF THE DOVE) will write the adaptation of Leon Uris' 1976 bestselling novel MILA 18 for Miramax. The story is set in Warsaw and centers on a group of Jews who hold Nazi forces at bay using homemade weapons.
* Leslie Dixon (THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR) will write an original animated picture for DreamWorks entitled CHAKULAN based on the fact that male Bengal tigers have a "biological animosity" toward female tigers and their cubs.
* Sam Scribner will write a project based on the true-life experiences of George Reppas, a cattle rancher in Madagascar who was sent to prison after his political uprisng. The story will also cover the horrid prison conditions and his escape. Daniel Paulson will produce.
* Christian Gudegast and Paul T. Scheuring have sold their script DIABLO to New Line Cinema as a starring pic for Vin Diesel. The story centers on a U.S. Customs agent teaming up with a jailed drug boss to find, identify and bring to justice a mysterious new leader of a drug cartel named Diablo.
* Jonathan Hales (EPISODE II script polisher) will write THE SCORPION KING, the third installment (a prequel) to THE MUMMY based on a character in the sequel played by The Rock--who is also in talks to star in the prequel.
* Simon Wells (THE PRINCE OF EGYPT) is in talks to direct THE TIME MACHINE based on the novel by H.G. Wells (his great grandfather). Wells was attached to direct CASPER 2, but Universal decided not to go ahead on that feature due to its budget.
* Jorge Ali Triana will direct his script YO SOY BOLIVAR about South American hero Simon Bolivar. Shooting begins Sept. 4.
* Russell Crowe may direct A COURSE IN MIRACLES for DreamWorks about a priest with a crisis of faith who investigates some purported miracles by the Vatican.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Fragile Films picked up the rights to NEW CARDIFF, the latest novel by Charles Webb (THE GRADUATE).
* Mike Myers is countersuing Universal/Imagine alleging fraud, assault and invasion of privacy--the latter two over the way Myers was served his papers and the former is based on he having complete script approval over Dieter.
* New Regency picked up DAREDEVIL after talks between Columbia Pictures and Marvel Enterprises ceased. Mark Steven Johnson is still attached to script and direct the pic which will now be distributed by 20th Century Fox.
* James Cameron will definitely not return for T3. However, it has been revealed Schwarzenegger's character will fight a female android.
* Revolution Studios and producers Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen (AMERICAN BEAUTY) will develop FAMILY FIRM with writer Sara Kernochan about based on the true story of businessman Rick Platt who teams with his wife and kids to take on a large accounting firm after his accountants and lawyers had been taking advantage of him.
* Cameron Crowe finally has a title for his rock 'n' roll pic: ALMOST FAMOUS. The feature will open Sept. 15 with a Sept. 8 at the Toronto Film Festival.
* Sony is close to purchasing the film rights to the 11 Patricia Cornwell novels featuring the character Dr. Kay Scarpetta including CRUEL AND UNUSAL, FROM POTTER'S FIELD, SOUTHERN CROSS and her upcoming THE LAST PRECINCT due in November.
