Man, it seems like just yesterday I was putting this up and taking Harry to catch his plane to ARUBA, but here it is again even bigger and better, and that means Harry's in the Pacific floating off the shores of that JURASSIC PARK island soon to turn his journey inland thru Costa Rica's rainforest jungles searching out the volcanic slopes of the country's central highlands. Well here's Elston Gunn's latest review of the week that was...

A News FLASH !

Harry, The Dude, and Roger were spotted yesterday in the Panama Canal on the MAASDAM with Richard Corliss and an AMERICAN PSYCHO. That's all we have.

A news brief

Thursday...Harry,the Dude, and Richard Corliss are seen walking a bit of beach in Nicaragua.

TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

CASTING

* Regina King will star opposite Chris Rock in Paramount's I WAS MADE TO LOVE HER for directors Chris and Paul Weitz.

* Gwyneth Paltrow may star in TAKING LIVES for director Tony Scott about a female FBI officer who's looking for a serial killer who takes the identities of his victims.

* Pam Grier and Snoop Dogg will star in New Line's BONES. Ernest Dickerson (JUICE) will direct the Tom Metcalfe and Adam Simon script about a ghost who seeks revenge against his killers while trying to reclaim his old girlfriend.

* Rob Schneider will star in and co-write (with Tom Brady) ANIMAL for Disney. It tells the story of a man who has received organ transplants from different animals and finds himself having some of their traits.

* Kelly Lynch joins CHARLIE'S ANGELS.

* Jim Caviezel joins PAY IT FORWARD as a recovering heroin addict.

* Paul Reubens joins BLOW with Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Cliff Curtis, Ray Liotta, Rachel Griffiths, Max Perlich, Franka Potenta, Jordi Molla and Ethan Suplee.

* Chris Klein (AMERICAN PIE) is in final talks to star in MGM and John McTiernan's remake of ROLLERBALL. John Pogue (THE SKULLS) drafted.

* Reese Witherspoon will star in and produce SLOW MOTION for Phoenix Pictures. Based on the 1992 Dani Shapiro novel PLAYING WITH FIRE, the story follows a college student who is seduced by her roommate's dad.

* Rachel Leigh Cook will star in JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS for Universal Pictures and directors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan (CAN'T HARDLY WAIT).

* Lisa Edelstein ("The West Wing") landed a role in KEEPING THE FAITH for director Edward Norton.

* Costas Mandylor ("Picket Fences") joins Jack Nicholson in THE PLEDGE for director Sean Penn.

* Nestor Carbonell, Peter Coyote and Thomas Gibson will star in the indie pic JACK THE DOG.

* Ed Harris and Amy Madigan will star in and produce SO I AM GLAD for Rocket Pictures, based on the novel by A.L. Kennedy about an emotionally damaged woman whose life is changed after a man with amnesia shows up at her apartment.

* Julia Roberts has committed to star with Brad Pitt in both THE MEXICAN and OCEAN'S ELEVEN for directors Gore Verbinski and Steven Soderbergh respectively. James Gandolfini ("The Sopranos") also joins THE MEXICAN.

* Julianne Moore is in final talks to replace Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling in HANNIBAL for director Ridley Scott.

* Jodie Foster may star as a mean teacher in THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS with Peter Care directing.

* Timothy Spall, Timothy Olyphant, Dominic West and some real-life musicians join Jennifer Aniston and Mark Wahlberg in METAL GODS for director Stephen Herek.

* Ashley Judd may star in HIGH CRIMES for possible director Carl Franklin. The courtroom drama is based on the Joseph Finder novel and follows a Harvard Law School professor who must defend her husband in military court after he's been accused of committing a mass killing in El Salvador.

* Courtney Cox Arquette may be the female lead in 3,000 MILES TO GRACELAND starring Kurt Russell and Kevin Costner about a Las Vegas heist.

DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS

* Des McAnuff (upcoming ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE) is in talks to direct the comedy THURSDAY NIGHT for DreamWorks about a married couple who try to add spark to their lives by allowing themselves one night to be "un-married," but they instead end up angry and jealous. Mike Binder wrote the script.

* Kevin Kline will direct and star in THE PALACE THIEF for Fine Line about a prep school teacher and an unhappy reunion with a former student which leads the professor to look at his life a little more closely. Neil Tolkin wrote the script based on an Ethan Canin short story.

* Gary Hardwick will write/direct THE BROTHERS for Screen Gems about four black yuppies. When one of them plans on getting married, the others find themselves in chaos as they try to come to terms with their own relationships.

* Mike Finch has written 20/20, a futuristic action pitch picked up by DreamWorks.

* Chuck Russell may direct DOCTOR STRANGE: MASTER OF THE MYSTIC ARTS for Columbia Pictures.

* Randall Wallace may reteam with producer Alan Ladd Jr. (both of BRAVEHEART) on Paramount's THE HAND OF GOD, a love story about surgeons who try to perfect a brain operation that will mend a condition caused by a stroke. Wallace may direct this or WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE...AND YOUNG.

* Mike Figgis may direct URBAN TOWNIES for Warner Bros. about a guy living in the Midwest who returns to New York and finds his best friend dating his old girlfriend. Brad Pitt may star.

* Jonathan Mostow (U-571) is in final talks to direct SECONDS for Paramount about a businessman who reinvents himself and is having trouble dealing with his new identity. Roger Avary scripted.

* Rob Marshall will direct Disney's romantic comedy ENCHANTED about an animated women enters the 3-D "real" world.

* Ron Bass (RAIN MAN) will write the adaptation to HEADHUNTERS written by Jules Bass (no relation) about four New Jersey women who pretend to be rich ladies and are targeted by four gigolos who try to act as playboys.

* James Mangold will adapt and direct THE RICH PART OF LIFE by Jim Kokorrs about a boy who has a difficult relationship with a man he thinks is his father, but is really his stepfather. Things take a difficult turn when the man wins the lottery.

* Brad Harrison has written AMERICAN LOSER which was picked up by James L. Brooks' Gracie Films. The script is about an unemployed writer who lives in his car and the ad exec he falls for.

* Brad Silberling will direct CHARLIE FAUST by Charlie Mitchell about a strange 31-year old man who, though he has no athletic talent, showed up in 1911 one day and asked to try out for the New York Giants. He was benched as a joke, but the team started winning every game. The pic focuses on the relationship between the man and pitcher Rube Marquard.

* Charlie Kaufman has written HUMAN NATURE which Michael Gondry will direct. It will star Patricia Arquette, Paul Giamatti and Miranda Otto. Rhys Ifans will play a man raised by apes and the other thesps will play three eccentric characters who have their eyes on this man--Arquette will play a hairy woman, Giamatti is a scientist and Otto his assistant. Shooting begins in May.

* Lasse Halstrom is close to a deal to direct THE SHIPPING NEWS for Columbia about a newspaper man who heads to a fishing village after the death of his unfaithful wife.

* Chris Momenee has written TIME FLIES for Columbia about a 30-year old man who gets older every night after sundown after a spell is placed on him on his birthday.

* Steve Carr is in final talks to direct Jamie Foxx in MGM's NATIONAL SECURITY about a white cop who was falsely accused of beating a black man. The two later find themselves targets of some killers.

MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS

* Universal Pictures picked up the rights to THE CRASH DETECTIVES about investigators of plane crashes based on a New Yorker magazine article by Jonathan Harr. David Veloz will script.

* Tom Cruise and Paramount grabbed the rights to HEARTSWAP, a novel by Celia Brayfield about wife swapping amongst best friends. Nicole Kidman may star.

* Columbia Pictures is developing a sequel to STUART LITTLE which could start shooting this summer for a Christmas 2001 release. Gregory Brooker and M. Night Shyamalan will not return as writers. The orignal has so far made $130m domestically.

* Hammer Film Productions has been relaunched and will develop horror TV and film projects in the long term.

* Tom Hanks and Playtone Co. got the rights to A COLD CASE written by Philip Gourevitch about the true story of a detective solving a murder in three decades.

* The release date for Martin Lawrence's BIG MOMMA'S HOUSE has been moved from October up to June 2.

* Kevin Costner dropped out of Oliver Stone's BEYOND BORDERS due to scheduling conflicts, one month after Catherine Zeta-Jones left the project due to pregnancy. Costner my take a role in PEARL HARBOR. There are two conflicting reports on the status of the project, one said it is on hold indefinitely while the other states a new cast will be assembled quickly for a spring start.

* Sylvester Stallone is planning to make a movie about the world of Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART). He is polishing the script.

* Warner Bros. is re-releasing THE EXORCIST with 11-minutes of extra footage in a very limited market on Mar. 17. They may possibly give it a wider release.

* Fox Animation Studios picked up a pitch by Eric Trueheart and Hart Getzon entitled GUY FUTOMAKI: NINJA TEMP about a ninja who works undercover as an office temp so he can expose a demon living inside the body of the company CEO. The ninja's only weapons are office supplies.

* Walt Disney Company and Spyglass Entertainment have put THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO on the fast track. Jay Wolpert scripted the story (based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas) about a sailor who is wrongly imprisoned for treason, but escapes to find a treasure on the island of Monte Cristo while vowing revenge on his enemies.

GUNN SHOTS

This is a new section I'm putting in the recap that has nothing to do with the trades. The stuff in this section comes from emailing spies who have the tiny tidbits of inside scoop on projects you may or may not have heard of. This is VERY different from the trades which usually has trustworthy, concrete info. Gunn Shots could be totally false...or not. I'll just pick a couple shots a week.

* Heath McKnight's indie pic SKYE FALLING is currently in post-production with 3/4 of the editing done. It should be released later this year.

* The filmmaker's of Artisan Entertainment's EVERYBODY'S DEAD are interested in Jennifer Sky ("Cleopatra 2525") to play the female lead Aurora. The buzz is strong on this pic which is currently being rewritten.

* Lunasola saw an early test screening of WONDER BOYS and stated it was very very slow and without much of a point, though most of the performances were very good. We'll see for ourselves in a couple of weeks.

The recap is much larger this week than last. Don't know where to begin. I like the look of the cast of BLOW. Should be pretty sweet. A lot of directors and writers made some deals this week. I look forward to HUMAN NATURE most of all, I think. Julianne Moore as Clarice Starling? There'll be some Talk Back on that, I believe. What do you think Oliver Stone should do with BEYOND BORDERS? Make it or wait? Whatever happened to him working on MEMPHIS about Martin Luther King, Jr.? ROLLERBALL is John McTiernan's second remake of Norman Jewison movie. I wonder how McTiernan would remake FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. Hmm. Looks like JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS will be in production this year. I wonder how the SCOOBY DOO is script is coming along. Anyone seen "Cleopatra 2525" and how would Jennifer Sky be in a zombie comedy? I'm curious.

Have a happy Valentine's Day.

Elston Gunn

elstongunn@hotmail.com