Father Geek here with another fine report on last weeks Hollywood happenings by Elston Gunn...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
CASTING
* Jeff Bridges and John Abrams (SCARY MOVIE) will star in the indie pic SCENES OF THE CRIME for writer/director Dominique Forma. It centers on a young man who makes extra money as the driver of a local mobster, but gets caught in the middle after the mobster is shot and killed by a rival ranking mob boss.
* Sandra Bullock is in talks to star in AGAINST THE ROPES for Paramount about female boxing manager Jackie Kallen. Cheryl Edwards scripted.
* Kate Kahanovitz ("Annie Get Your Gun") will star in her film debut opposite Lynn Redgrave in the pic HOUND DOG.
* Erik Von Detten joins THE PRINCESS DIARIES for director Garry Marshall.
* Gary Oldman, James Marsden and Amy Jo Johnson will star in INTERSTATE 60 for writer/director Bob Gale (BACK TO THE FUTURE) about a man who travels a road that doesn't exist on any map.
* Emily Mortimer and Rhys Ifans join Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Carlyle in THE 51ST STATE for director Ronny Yu about an American chemist who becomes involved in the underworld of Liverpool as he tries to introduce a new designer drug into Europe. Shooting begins Sept. 25.
* Jeff Bridges is in talks to star opposite Kevin Spacey in K-PAX for director Iain Softley and Universal/Lawrence Gordon Prods. Shooting is expected to begin in November. Bridges would play a psychiatrist to Spacey's mental patient. Charles Leavitt (THE MIGHTY) adapted Gene Brewer's 1995 novel of the same name.
* Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Gwyneth Paltrow are in negotiations to star in Paramount's THE HOURS based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Michael Cunningham. It follows three female characters in different periods of the 20th century: Virginia Woolf writing MRS. DALLOWAY while recovering from depression, an L.A. housewife in 1949 who evaluates her life as she waits for her first child and a woman in present day New York who is planning a party for her former lover who has AIDS. David Hare wrote the script.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Danny DeVito will direct Warner Bros.' comedy DEATH TO SMOOCHY. Shooting may begin this fall on the pic about a man who plays a big, blue rhinoceros character who is the target of an assassination. DeVito is expected to have a role in the film but will not play Smoochy. Adam Resnick (LUCKY NUMBERS) scripted.
* Norman Jewison is in talks to direct DINNER WITH FRIENDS for HBO Films based on Donald Marguiles' off-Broadway play about modern-day marriages through the eyes of two couples, one of which is forced to evaluate its marriage when their best friends' marriage crumbles.
* Mark Perez has written THE COUNTRY BEARS as a live-action pic for Disney based on the Country Bear Jamboree attraction at Disneyland. The script includes several country music numbers by singing bears and cameos by country music stars. The story follows a 10-year-old who is raised by a human family then leaves home to find his purpose in life. He ends up in Tennesse where he finds out the Country Bear Hall is doomed for demolition. He tries to reunite the Country Bears band for a benefit concert to the save the hall. Shooting is expected to begin before spring.
* William Goldman (MISERY) will script THE DREAMCATCHER for Castle Rock based on the upcoming novel by Stephen King about four friends who were given a strange gift as a reward for a heroic act. Years later, the boys reunite to use that gift to defeat a mysterious enemy.
* Gary Lennon has written and will direct the dark comedy .45 with Heather Graham attached to star. It's about a BONNIE AND CLYDE-esque couple who turn on each other in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen. Lennon has also sold his autobiographical script CONCHETTE to Banner Ent. about a grandmother who is a bookie and runs a numbers racket with her grandson. Lennon also sold an untitled pitch set in the world of DJs to Fox Searchlight.
* Ridley Scott is in talks to direct BLACK HAWK DOWN based on the nonfiction novel by Mark Bowden. It's about the 1993 Special Forces military operation in Somalia that left 18 U.S. soldiers dead and several others injured. Bowden wrote the first draft of the script while Ken Nolan penned earlier drafts.
* Steven Puri sold his pitch THE REALLY FAKE MOVIE (aka OH BROTHER, HOW TO BE A SURVIVOR IN THE REAL WORLD), a spoof of television reality programs, to Interlight Pictures. A writer will soon be hired to write the script.
* Richard D'Ovidio (upcoming ACE IN THE HOLE, EXIT WOUNDS) will write a remake of WESTWORLD, the 1973 flick by Michael Crichton, for Warner Bros. and producer Joel Silver.
* Mad Guy Films picked up Jeff Copeland's script THE LONG HAIR DEPRESSION, a love story set in southern Missouri in the early 1970s. Madonna may star.
* Stephen Herek (MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS) is in talks to direct the FUGITIVE-like thriller IN THE WIND written by Oliver Butcher for Warner Bros.
* T.J. Scott and Kevin Lund have scripted AIRTIGHT, picked up by Miramax, about the U.S.S. Squalis, which sank in 1939 off the Russian coast. A trapped U.S. sailor was rescued from the vessel.
* New Line is in final talks to pick up SHUDDER by Matthew Odgers and David Markus about a wartime photo-journalist who's haunted by the ghosts of the victims whose misery he has chronicled and exploited.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment are planning to rerelease E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL in March 2002 for the film's 20th anniversary. It will include new footage, CG enhancements and a digitally remixed soundtrack.
* Production on USA Films' FLORA PLUM, to be directed by Jodie Foster, has been put on hold after Russell Crowe suffered an injury himself training for the film.
* Jim Sheridan has ceased his involvement with New Line's adaptation of THE NOTEBOOK by Nicholas Sparks. Instead, Sheridan will now concentrate on I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE with Matt Damon playing twin brothers.
* Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has dropped out of a futuristic cop/cloning sci fi film for Revolution Studios written by James Wong and Glen Morgan. Revolution is still planning on making the film. Meanwhile, Morgan and Wong have will write and then produce and direct, respectively, the sci-fi alien-landing thriller AFTER THE VISITATION for Columbia Pictures. It's based on a 1970s Russian novella entitled ROADSIDE PICNIC.
Not a lot of news this week due to Labor Day. You'll have that. Can't believe the cast for THE HOURS. Wonder who'll direct. Same goes for THE NOTEBOOK. Who do you think should direct these pics? Jeff Bridges is keeping busy with SCENES OF THE CRIME and K-PAX. It'll be interesting to see him working with Kevin Spacey. James Wong and Glen Morgan are busy as well. Has anyone read the ROADSIDE PICNIC novella?
THE REALLY FAKE MOVIE was bound to happen as was a remake of WESTWORLD. Thoughts? It's good to see William Goldman doing another Stephen King project. He also scripted HEARTS IN ATLANTIS which is currently in production. It's also good to read Norman Jewison, Ridley Scott and Danny DeVito will soon be back behind the camera. But will their projects be overshadowed by THE COUNTRY BEARS? Stay tuned.
