Well, its that time of the week again and Father Geek is here with Elston (the birthday boy) to turn you all on to what happened last week in ol' Tinseltown... just in case you were way too busy during the last work-week to surf around and catch it all on your own. Soooooo sit back and take it easy and prepare to visit our longest running regular column...
The Weekly Recap...
TAKEN FROM VARIETY AND HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
CASTING
* Musician Dave Matthews, Eva Marie Saint and Jeff Daniels are in talks to
star in BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE for director Wayne Wang and 20th Century Fox.
It's about a 10-year-old girl who moves to the small Florida town of Naomi
with her preacher father. Lonely and friendless, the girl grows close to a
big, ugly, suffering dog, Winn-Dixie, whom she names after the supermarket
where she finds him. Because of the dog, she winds up meeting and
befriending a colorful cast of characters that becomes her extended family.
Joan Singleton adapted the screenplay based on the novel by Kate Dicamillo.
* Samuel L. Jackson is in early talks to star as controversial Richmond
(Calif.) High School basketball coach Ken Carter in BACK IN THE DAY for
director Thomas Carter, Paramount, MTV Films and Tollin/Robbins Prods.
* Tilda Swinton is in talks to join Keanu Reeves and Rachel Weisz in Warner
Bros.' CONSTANTINE, based on the comic book HELLBLAZER, for director Francis
Lawrence.
* Tom Sizemore, Gabriel Mann and newcomer Jake Muxworthy will star in the
indie pic PIGGY BANKS for director Morgan J. Freeman. The dark drama centers
on two brothers who are raised to be criminals like their father and to
think of people as piggy banks, ready to be broken whenever they need
anything. They roam the country living a life devoid of intimacy,
responsibility and direction. Problems arise when one of the brothers grows
tired of the lifestyle only to find unexpected purpose with the discovery of
a half sister. Matthew Modine and Tom Arnold are also in talks to join the
project.
* Jason Scott Lee and Jay Hernandez will star in the the indie historical
epic THE NOMAD for director Ivan Passer from a script by Rustam
Ibragimbekov. It's set in 18th-century Kazakhstan and tells the story of a
boy who is destined to one day unite the three warring tribes of the
country.
* Claire Forlani, Malcolm McDowell and Connie Ray will join Jim Caviezel in
the Bobby Jones biopic STROKE OF GENIUS. Rowdy Herrington directs the film
about the golf legend, who retired from competitive golf at age 28. Shooting
is expected to begin Sept. 8 in Atlanta.
* Judah Friedlander (AMERICAN SPLENDOR) and Julie Hagerty have joined Ethan
Embry and Kylie Sparks in InDigEnt and writer-helmer Mark Christopher's
indie feature PIZZA. It's an offbeat comedy about the unexpected
relationship that develops between a thirtysomething pizza deliveryman and a
teenage high school girl.
* Anne Bancroft joins a star-studded voice cast that includes Jennifer Love
Hewitt, Val Kilmer, Michael Clarke Duncan and Chris Kattan in the
CG-animated Fathom Studios feature DELGO.
* Anthony Hopkins and Hope Davis are in talks to star opposite Gwyneth
Paltrow and Jake Gyllenhaal in the feature adaptation of PROOF for Miramax
Films. David Auburn's play won the Tony for best play and the Pulitzer Prize
for drama in 2001. He adapted the script, with a rewrite by Rebecca Miller.
John Madden directs.
* Jonny Lee Miller joins Radha Mitchell, Chloe Sevigny and Chiwetel Ejiofor
in Woody Allen's next film at Fox Searchlight. Jason Biggs replaces Robert
Downey Jr. in the pic, which is due to shoot this fall in New York.
* Jessica Biel (THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE) will join Wesley Snipes and
Ryan Reynolds in BLADE: TRINITY for writer/director David Goyer. She'll play
the daughter of Kris Kristofferson's character Whistler, who inherits the
vampire-slaying duties that once belonged to Blade.
* Juliette Binoche, Laurence Fishburne, Gary Sinise and Samuel Ball will
star in SCHEHERAZADE to be directed by Michael Apted. Written by Jeff
Vlaming, the story is loosely based on the structure of 1001 ARABIAN NIGHTS
about the unfaithful wife of a mobster who is kidnapped by his henchmen and
must talk her way to freedom. Shooting is is scheduled to begin production
next month in London.
* Ray Liotta will star in CONTROL, replacing Matt Dillon, for director Tim
Hunter. The project is in production in Bulgaria. Film also stars Willem
Dafoe, Michelle Rodriguez, Stephen Rea and Polly Walker. It's about a
sociopath who is taken into an experimental medical program. The doctor in
charge must take drastic measures when his patient's violent past comes back
to haunt them both. Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer wrote the script.
* Ving Rhames and rapper-actor Ja Rule will star in the indie feature BACK
IN THE DAY for writer/director James Hunter. The film is slated to start
production next month in Puerto Rico. It's about a man (from the right side
of the tracks who does a favor for an old friend who is in the gang life.
After doing so, he gets caught up in a situation beyond his control. Joe
Morton also stars as a minister whose death sets the rest of the events into
motion.
* Jayne Atkinson (Broadway's "Enchanted April") is joining the cast of M.
Night Shyamalan's THE WOODS for Disney and Scott Rudin Prods. William Hurt,
Joaquin Phoenix, Sigourney Weaver, Bryce Howard and Adrien Brody star.
* Amitabh Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan will star in LAKSHYA, a poignant love
story told against the backdrop of the 1999 Kargil conflict between troops
at the de facto border between India and Pakistan in Kashmir when 1,000
died, for UTV Group..
* Emily Watson, Tom Wilkinson and Rupert Everett will star in Julian
Fellowes' A WAY THROUGH THE WOODS for Celador Films about a couple's
seemingly idyllic marriage that is complicated by the introduction of a
disruptive third party.
DIRECTOR/WRITER ATTACHMENTS
* David Hare (THE HOURS) has been tapped by Baz Luhrmann to pen the script
for ALEXANDER THE GREAT.
* Christopher Hampton will next direct Jessica Lange in his adaptation of
Colette's classic Gallic novel CHERI for Brit producer and theatrical
impresario Bill Kenwright. It's about a magnificent and talented woman in
pre-WWI Paris, who has a lengthy love affair with the young son of a wealthy
courtesan. She breaks it off when an advantageous marriage is arranged for
him, but he cannot adjust to life without her.
* Claude Lelouch (A MAN AND A WOMAN) will make a trilogy of comedies known
as LE GENRE HUMAIN (HUMANKIND), the first of which ,entitled LES PARISIENS,
goes into production at the end of the year, and the second, THEATRE DE
BOULEVARD, in early summer. Lelouch has been working on this series of
interrelated films for 35 years. The three movies will be resolutely comic,
and explore the foibles of human nature, particularly that which concerns
the battle of the sexes. The first episode is set in Paris at the recent
turn of the millennium. The second takes place in 2004. The third covers the
span from pre-history to the present day. Lelouch calls the entire project
"a gift to myself for 40 years' loyal service."
* Gold Circle Films has picked up the script MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN by
Martin Wheeler. Set against the backdrop of the Indianapolis 500, the
screenplay follows a U.K. intelligence agent protecting a witness who must
evade his enemies while trying to get back to England.
* Kirk Wise (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST) will direct the CGI/live-action comedy
GET FUZZY, based on the comicstrip by Darby Conley, for Rob Minkoff's
Sprocketdyne Entertainment.
* Gil Kenan will direct MONSTER HOUSE to DreamWorks for Robert Zemeckis'
ImageMovers to produce. Project centers on the adventures of three kids who
discover that a neighbor's house is a living, breathing monster. They try to
stop the house's evil plans despite the fact that adults don't believe their
claims.
* Sydney Pollack is in talks to direct SHOCKPROOF SYDNEY SKATE, based on the
novel by Marijane Meaker, at Fox 2000 Pictures. Steve Kloves (HARRY POTTER,
WONDER BOYS) penned the adaptation. It's a coming-of-age story about a young
man who just before college falls in love with the same gorgeous model as
his lesbian mother.
* Revolution Studios is moving forward on XXX2 with Lee Tamahori possibly
directing if Rob Cohen opts out.
* Eric Eason (MANITO) will rewrite and direct Intermedia Films' WANNABE with
Outlaw Prods. producing and Jake Gyllenhaal eyeing the project as a possible
starring vehicle. The movie is described as a modern-day mob story based on
the offspring of mobsters who defy the traditions and protocols of their
elders and embark on their own bloody paths.
* Producer Aurelio De Laurentiis has given writer/director Kerry Conran the
greenlight to start penning the sequel to the upcoming THE WORLD OF
TOMORROW, starring Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie.
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTION TIDBITS
* Palm Pictures and Arthouse Films have acquired remake rights to the 1975
classic martial arts picture MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE. First released
in 1975, the movie tells story of a one-armed boxer lured to participate in
a tournament by a vengeful Shaolin master who holds him responsible for the
death of his disciples. Palm plans to give an urban update to the project
with a hip-hop soundtrack.
* Producers Roy Lee and Doug Davison (THE RING) will produce an updated
version of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS for Warner Bros. Pictures. The new
version is expected to center on a female protagonist who uncovers a
conspiracy in a small town where the inhabitants' personalities seem to be
changing.
* Sony Pictures has landed a new release date for Tim Burton's upcoming BIG
FISH. The film had originally been set for a wide release Nov. 26 to take
advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday, but Sony now plans a platform release
for the film beginning Dec. 18.
* Albert Hughes (FROM HELL) has dropped out of 20th Century Fox's Robert De
Niro starrer HIDE AND SEEK over "creative differences." Fox had picked up
the script by Ari Schlossberg for producer Barry Josephson to produce in
November.
* Benderspink has teamed with writer/producer Sheldon Turner to option New
York magazine article "The Boys of Summer." Written by Vanessa Grigoriadis
and Deborah Schoeneman, the article chronicles two impresarios competing
over the celebrity-strewn Hamptons nightclub scene. Turner will adapt and
produce with Chris Bender and JC Spink.
GUNN SHOTS
(NOT from the trades)
* Bob Cesca's award-winning subversive comedy/mockumentary THE WAR EFFORT is
now available on DVD. Pre-order and get a copy of the official movie
one-sheet at http://www.campchaos.com/thewareffort/dvd.html
* Visit http://www.jointfilms.com/jpdvd.html for a copy of Joint Films'
collection of award-winning shorts. The disc includes H.R. PUKENSHETTE, BUM
RUNNER, ASBURIED and T. FLY BOXED.
* The 9th annual Temecula Valley International Film & Music Festival
(TVIFMF) will featre three-time World Kick-Boxing Champion, Official Karate
Magazine's three-time 'Fighter of the Year' and three different World weight
divisions titlist, Black belt Magazine's Hall of Famer, Don "The Dragon"
Wilson who will join British Director, Francis Meahy at the festival's RED
SUN RISING screening Saturday, September 13th, 2003 at 1 p.m. For more info
visit http://www.tviff.com.
Until next week... Happy September (and a so-so birthday to me. Where have
the years gone? Seriously, guys, where did they go?)
Elston Gunn
elstongunn@hotmail.com
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