Father Geek here posting another edition of Elston Gunn's WEEKLY RECAP.
Yeah, I'm looking forward to SUM OF ALL FEARS, BLACKHAWK DOWN, and REIGN OF FIRE. They seem to be well on their way. I'm also interested in learning more about Banderas and De Palma's FEMME FATALE, and of course Fincher's PANIC ROOM. BUUUUUT for now I'll just have to settle for Elston's review of last week in Hollywood, there's more than enough there to get me through the weekend...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
CASTING
* Antonio Banderas will star in the Brian De Palma-directed film noir pic FEMME FATALE, which begins production on March 12.
* Jodie Foster will replace Nicole Kidman in THE PANIC ROOM for director David Fincher and Columbia Pictures, causing her to drop out as president of the Cannes International Film Festival jury.
* Angelina Jolie is in final talks to star in LIFE, OR SOMETHING LIKE IT for New Regency. Stephen Herek is in talks to direct. Joel Schumacher was attached to the project, but has since chosen to helm BLACK SHEEP.
* Eugene Levy, Alyson Hannigan and Natasha Lyonne will reprise their roles in the AMERICAN PIE sequel for Universal and director J.B. Rogers. Shooting begins on Valentine's Day for an August release. Lyonne also joins the romantic comedy KATE & LEOPOLD for director James Mangold about an 1880s man who is transported to present-day New York, where he falls for an exec.
* Peter Falk joins the prison pic UNDISPUTED, starring Wesley Snipes and Ving Rhames, who star as two boxing champs.
* Paul Bettany (upcoming A KNIGHT'S TALE) joins Russell Crowe in A BEAUTIFUL MIND for director Ron Howard. Lensing begins on March 1.
* Rachel Hunter will star in the indie comedy SYDNEY, opposite Joan Collins and Spencer Breslin (THE KID).
* Matt Schulze (upcoming THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS) joins the cast of BLADE 2 for New Line Cinema.
* Jonathan Tucker (THE VIRGIN SUICIDES), Jennifer Tilly and David Strathairn star in the dark comedy BALL IN THE HOUSE for director Tanya Wexler. It's about a teen trying to make it in a dysfunctional family. Matthew Swan wrote the script.
* Sylvester Stallone will star and Kevin Bacon is in talks to join him in DOLAN'S CADILLAC, the Franchise Pictures thriller based on a Stephen King novelette. It's about a woman who witnesses a mob hit is murdered and her husband is out for vengence. Bacon will play the husband while Stallone portrays a mob boss. Stacy Title will direct from her own adaptation in May. Bacon is also in talks to star in 24 HOURS for director Luis Mandoki.
* Liev Schreiber, Morgan Freeman and Bridget Moynihan will star in the Jack Ryan pic THE SUM OF ALL FEARS for director Phil Alden Robinson, opposite Ben Affleck. James Cromwell, Alan Bates, Ron Rifkin and Ciaran Hinds are in negotiations to join the cast. Shooting begins Feb. 12 in Montreal. Schrieber will also take a role in the romanitc comedy KATE & LEOPOLD, starring Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman, for director James Mangold.
* Randy Quaid, JoAnna Garcia, Samm Levine, Sam Huntington, Mia Kirshner, Chyler Leigh, Cody McMains, Jaime Pressly, Ron Lester and newcomer Chris Evans will star in the spoof TEEN MOVIE for Columbia Pictures and director Joel Gallen. Production begins Feb. 21.
* Dave Sheridan (SCARY MOVIE) will star in Frank McKlusky C.I., about an insurance claims investigator who takes his job too seriously. It's one of the last projects Disney expects to greenlight before the threatened strikes.
* Richard Schiff ("The West Wing") joins Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer in SAM I AM for director Jessie Nelson and New Line. He'll play a prosecuting attorney trying to take the custody of a daughter away from a mentally disabled man. Schiff also joins Al Pacino, Tea Leoni, Mark Webber and Kim Basinger in PEOPLE I KNOW for director Dan Algrant.
* Angela Bassett and Edie Falco are in talks to star in the new John Sayles film GOLD COAST, which begins shooting in April. It's set in Florida and centers on what happens when resort developers invade a small island and how their presence affects the local community.
* Susan Sarandon and Claire Danes will star in the indie comedy IGBY GOES DOWN for director Burr Steers about a smart teen who grows up in a dysfunctional family, run away to New York and falls for a dropout. Ryan Phillippe is in talks to join the pic, which starts shooting at the end of the month.
* Scott Glenn is in final talks to join Kevin Spacey, Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench in THE SHIPPING NEWS.
* Miko Hughes ("Roswell") joins the sci-fi action pic CLOCKSTOPPERS for Paramount and director Jonathan Frakes. Jesse Bradford and French Stewart also star.
* Anna Faris will reprise her role as Cindy Campbell in SCARY MOVIE II. Production begins next week for a July 4 release.
* Olivier Martinez (BEFORE NIGHT FALLS) will star with Richard Gere and Diane Lane in Fox 2000/New Regency's UNFAITHFUL for director Adrian Lyne. Production begins March 23 in New York. It's inspired by the French film LA FEMME INFIDELE.
* Gerard Depardieu is set to join Matt Dillon, James Caan and Natascha McElhone in Dillon's directorial debut BENEATH THE BANYAN TREES
* Parker Posey will join Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate and Thomas Jane in THE SWEETEST THING for director Roger Kumble (CRUEL INTENTIONS).
* Mark Rydell joins Tea Leoni in the next untitled Woody Allen/DreamWorks project.
* Gerard Butler will star opposite Christain Bale and Matthew McConaughey in REIGN OF FIRE for Spyglass Entertainment.
* Eva Amurri is in final talks to join Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn in Fox Searchlight's THE BANGER SISTERS. Bob Dolman directs from his own script.
* Matthew Marsden has been cast in Ridley Scott's BLACK HAWK DOWN. Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor and Tom Sizemore star.
* John Cusack will star in HOFFMAN about the relationship between a young Hitler and the Jewish art teacher who didn't nurture his artistic abilities. Menno Meyjes (THE SIEGE) wrote the script and will make his feature directing debut on the project. Cusack described the script as the best he's read since BEING JOHN MALKOVICH. The actor is also executive producing NEVER GET OUTTA THE BOAT about young men in a gritty drug rehab center in L.A. Paul Quinn (THIS IS MY FATHER) will shoot the pic on digital video.
* Tim Robbins joins Thandie Newton and Mark Wahlberg in THE TRUTH ABOUT CHARLIE for director Jonathan Demme. It's a remake of Stanley Donen's thriller CHARADE. Shooting begins Mar. 14.
* Twins Giovanni and Marissa Ribisi will star (the former in a cameo) in the romantic comedy SPENCER, which their mother, Gay, will produce. Jesse Bradford, Mia Kirshner, David Krumholtz, Adam Goldberg and Brad Rowe will also star. It's about a young guy who reunites with his childhood crush and tries to maker her fall for him. Marissa co-wrote the script with Meredith Morton and Shane Eldelman, who will direct.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* Joe Nussbaum ("George Lucas in Love") is attached to direct the romantic comedy LOVE TRUCK for Warner Bros. It's about an operative who has to make a gorgeous architect fall for the charmless son of a CEO, though he falls for her as well.
* Stephen Gaghan (TRAFFIC scribe) will direct Katie Holmes in his psychological drama script ABANDONED. Ed Zwick and Lynda Obst produce the Paramount pic.
* Robert Luketic will direct a feature film remake of the 1973 ABC TV pic THE GIRL MOST LIKELY TO... for Universal Pictures and Marc Platt Prods. It was written by Joan Rivers and Agnes Gallin, and centers on a woman who gets mistreated due to her looks. She undergoes plastic surgery and gets revenge.
* Peter Howitt (ANTITRUST) is set to direct VACATION FROM MARRIAGE, a remake of the 1945 movie, for Bel-Air Entertainment/Warner Bros. It'll be about a couple who spends years apart when the husband is sent to another country on business and seek divorce when they realize how mundane their lives were together. Leslie Dixon (PAY IT FORWARD) scripted the remake.
* Writer Stephen J. Cannell and director Chuck Bowman are developing DIRECTOR'S CUT, a digital horror pic about a high school student who is making a digital film for a summer project. Another student produces a horror pic, is reprimanded by his teacher and people start dying. Antonio Sabato Jr. stars.
* Noah Baumback (KICKING AND SCREAMING) will direct the comedy THE SQUID AND THE WHALE from his own script about two teen brothers in a strange family situation. Wes Anderson will produce the pic with Peter Newman.
For script news, check out my Weekly Script Report at
ScreenwritersUtopia.com
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Cary Woods and Independent Pictures are currently developing several projects including the biopic LIBERACE with director Philip Kaufman; the spoof RAUNCHY MOVIE; DORIAN GRAY with Alexander Payne; THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON, starring Sean Penn with Niells Mueller writing/directing; and a Harmony Korine script. The company is now searching for financing.
* Soviet submariners are claiming that the Intermedia Films production K-19, starring Liam Neeson and Harrison Ford, insults them and is incorrect with certain technical details about the 1961 nuclear disaster for which the story is based. Igor Kudrin, president of the St. Petersburg Submariners' Club, will act as a consultant for the film. Kathryn Bigelow directs.
* USA Films is in talks for the domestic rights to GOSFORD PARK, Robert Altman's period film that begins shooting March 19 in England. Jude Law, Kristin Scott Thomas and Emily Watson, as well as Clive Owen, Maggie Smith, Jeremy Northam, Stephen Fry, Joely Richardson, Helen Mirren, Michael Gambon, Richard E. Grant and Charles Dance will star. Julian Fellow wrote the script, inspired by Jean Renoir's LA REGLE DU JEU.
* FilmFour has acquired the rights to Tod Michael Volpe's upcoming memoir EYE OF THE FOX. Volpe was an art dealer to the celebs until 1997 when he was indicted for defruading his clients for $2.5million. The company is also developing WIDE, WIDE HEAVEN, based on the book by Alice Sebold, about a murdered teen girl who watches her family from heaven; as well as Michael Faber's UNDER THE SKIN about an alien who is disguised as a woman who picks up hitchikers from the Scottish Highlands.
* Universal is moving up the release date on THE MUMMY RETURNS to May 4. Other tenative releases that day include CRAZY/BEAUTIFUL, THE HEIST, MOULIN ROUGE, THE NEW GUY and TEXAS RANGERS. Coincidentally, Disney/Pixar are moving MONSTERS INC. up to Nov. 2 from Thanksgiving.
