Posted Dec 2nd 2008 8:02PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Deals, Scripts
Last we heard from the Farrelly camp, the brothers were cooking up a re-launch of the
Three Stooges. Now, in a bit less aggravating news: One of them,
Peter Farrelly, is getting into the trend of cooking up a myriad of shorts for one feature -- a la
Paris je T'aime.
The Hollywood Reporter posts that Farrelly and
Charles Wessler are teaming up with Liberty Media to create a comedy-centric mix that could hold as many as 24 shorts.
What names are attached thus far? None, other than Farrelly, who will direct not one, but two shorts. Beyond him, the infamous
Brett Ratner,
Todd Phillips (
Old School),
Mike Judge (
Office Space), and
Blades of Glory directors
Josh Gordon and
Will Speck are all in talks to write and/or direct. The plan is to score "other actors and directors from across the film world, even some not known for comedy." So far, no city-centric or overriding theme has been given.
Some of the names are good, but some -- *cough* Ratner *cough* -- aren't the first names I'd think of in the world of comedy, which makes me wonder what sort of film they're going for. The plus of the Paris and New York collections is the diversity. So, I can only hope that means we'll get not only stateside names like Tina Fey and Christopher Guest, but also some Guy Maddin, Patrice Leconte, Terry Gilliam, Gurinder Chadha...
Who do you want to see involved?
Posted Dec 2nd 2008 7:15PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Drama, Romance, Universal, RumorMonger, Scripts, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
When
we last heard from Sherwood Forest, there was a bit of confusion as to who exactly
Russell Crowe was playing in
Nottingham. Was he Robin Hood? Was he the Sheriff of Nottingham? Were they the same guy? Did they change it up, halfway through? Those who had read the initial script reported they
were two different characters -- something that was suggested by hints of a
"love triangle" between Robin, Nottingham, and Maid Marian.
Well,
MTV caught up with
Brian Grazer, who set the record straight on all the character confusion ... well, kind of. "The two role confusion is that what Robin Hood does is he sees Nottingham in battle very early in the movie and Nottingham dies. And Robin Hood takes over the identity of Nottingham. That's how it plays out." Grazer also described the film as an "origin story" of the characters.
I'm really curious if "origin story" means the film is setting itself up as the "real story" behind the legends, or if this is an origin reinvention / franchise in the vein of Guy Ritchie's
Sherlock Holmes? If it's the former (and it probably is), meh. I'm throughly sick of that trend, especially as the "true" stories end up even more inaccurate than the fantasy versions. But if it's the latter, and it meant a few medieval outings with Russell Crowe, well, that's would be pretty exciting. Dreamy, even.
All reports of "endlessly delayed" may also have been exaggerated -- Grazer also reports that they're waiting on a final rewrite from
Brian Helgeland, and that he fully expects that the film will start shooting in March 2009. Huzzah!
Posted Dec 1st 2008 7:02PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Warner Brothers, Scripts, Family Films, DIY/Filmmaking
It never fails to amuse me whenever parents get all worked up about an occasional f-bomb or a flash of boob, but show 'em a story about child genocide peppered with mild misogyny and presto -- you've got a children's classic! Almost two years ago, it was announced that Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón would be taking on an update of Roald Dahl's The Witches, and it was originally reported that Cuarón was going to direct. Now, though, it seems like things have changed, and Empire has broken the news (in an interview with Cuarón) that Del Toro has not only finished the screenplay, but will also be taking the helm for the fantasy update.
Dahl's original story centered on a conspiracy of witches looking to rid the world of children (great bedtime story, huh?), and received the feature film treatment once before. But, that hasn't stopped the studio from going ahead with a brand new version of the dark children's tale, and by the sounds of it, there are going to be plenty of changes in Del Toro's update. Cuarón told Empire, "It won't be like the original Nicolas Roeg version, which was a beautiful film," because (and this is the very exciting part), Del Toro plans to "do it completely in stop-motion animation."
When Nicolas Roeg's version was released back in 1990, a few changes were made to make the story a little less disturbing for the kiddies (including a much lower body count). But for you purists out there, at least we can rely on the fact that at least Del Toro isn't afraid to play rough with kids on the big screen.
Sound off below, and tell us what you think about Del Toro's plan for the 'kiddie-killing' update...
Posted Dec 1st 2008 12:40PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Drama, Deals, RumorMonger, Scripts, Newsstand, Religious, War
Maybe all roads
do lead to Rome. According to
The Hollywood Reporter and creator
Bruno Heller, there's actually talk of continuing the brilliant HBO series on the big screen to wrap up all the historical loose ends caused by the series' abrupt cancellation. (Something which HBO now thinks was a big mistake. Between that and
passing over Preacher, they're rather low in my esteem right now.)
Heller admits the talk is, at the moment, just talk. "It's moving along. It's not there until it is there. I would love to round that show off." Heller wouldn't discuss movie plot plans, but the next step for
Rome was Augustus Caesar having to deal with a certain carpenter from Judea -- with a twist typical of the series.
Fans of the show will probably weep a little at Heller's unrealized plans -- Lucius Vorenus' off-camera fate wasn't as definite as we might have thought, and we would have gotten a whole season of Egyptian debauchery. "I discovered halfway through writing the second season the show was going to end," Heller said. "The second was going to end with death of Brutus. Third and fourth season would be set in Egypt. Fifth was going to be the rise of the messiah in Palestine. But because we got the heads-up that the second season would be it, I telescoped the third and fourth season into the second one, which accounts for the blazing speed we go through history near the end. There's certainly more than enough history to go around."
A
Rome movie is probably nothing but a dream -- anything more than a whisper, and it will vanish, it is so fragile. But cancellation is no longer a death knell, and while they can't give me back the lost season of Antony and Cleopatra, I'm
always up for more bread and circuses.
Posted Dec 1st 2008 10:40AM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Comedy, RumorMonger, Fandom, Scripts, Remakes and Sequels
I guess when two out of three films in a franchise are an absolute blast to watch, you kinda try to get behind the odds that a fourth installment will fall somewhere in the middle between awesome and please don't let me see that again ... ever. After watching
Beverly Hills Cop 3, I almost filed a police report convinced the filmmakers had committed some sort of crime against humanity. Now, with the next one, you'd think folks would have learned from earlier mistakes. Well, the fact that Brett Ratner is directing hasn't exactly bolstered anticipation -- but maybe the script is good ...
Speaking of,
Latino Review managed to snag a draft of
Beverly Hills Cop 4 (one they claim "the studio loves, but Eddie Murphy is not too keen on"), and they've slapped a C+ grade on it. Based on their description (which includes spoilers, so watch out), the flick looks to be a combination of the original
Beverly Hills Cop and
Hitch, with Axel Foley (Murphy) trying to figure out who killed one of his friends, all while helping his new, fat partner score with some girl he has a crush on. LR says it's a "pretty standard police corruption story", and it feels "like the writers took an Arnold Schwarzenegger script they had lying around and changed the details to make it a
Beverly Hills Cop movie. There's no fun in it."
Good news is the script will probably change before a final product is shoveled into theaters. What do you think a fourth
Beverly Hills Cop movie needs in order to be successful with fans of the series?
Posted Dec 1st 2008 9:03AM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Music & Musicals, Scripts, Remakes and Sequels
Remember that
Hairspray sequel that William Goss mentioned back
in July?
Adam Shankman had signed on to direct the sequel, and the master of the perverse (and creator of the original),
John Waters, was going to whip up a story to send out to writers. Looks like things are on schedule -- according to
EW, Waters has finished scheming up the sequel, and they're now hunting for a writer.
Basically, Waters has handed over "an outline and some ideas" for the film that will ultimately become the next instalment of Tracy Turnblad as she heads for the "next era of music," the '60s. "That period was superpolitical, it was a time of serious change. We're trying to track, in a comedic way, the historical elements" says Shankman. This will include the British Invasion, which consumes Link (played by Zac Efron in the remake).
On the plus side: Waters schemed up the outline. On the negative side: Waters isn't writing the meat of the script. Will a Waters outline be enough? I'm not so sure.
Posted Nov 28th 2008 1:32PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, RumorMonger, Scripts, Remakes and Sequels
When
Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended its run in 2003, it didn't just fade away. Sunnydale might have been obliterated, but the
Joss Whedon universe was buzzing with the possibility of other spinoffs, television films, and big screen appearances. Over the last five years, that has become increasingly less likely, especially in the wake of the popular comic continuation. So I am sharing the following only in the interest of keeping up on rumors, not because I believe it.
According to
Moviehole, the Herald-Sun Newspaper had a small blurb on
Buffy, which said: "Rumours are circulating in Hollywood that Whedon has a feature-film script based on his hit TV series ready to roll as soon as a studio is prepared to commit." While it's entirely likely that he does have some Buffy scripts floating around, I'd be wonderfully surprised to hear that one is all ready. Besides his busyness with the new television show, there's the comics, and more specifically -- a storyline that has continued beyond the show.
Would Joss somehow pull Angel and LA out of hell and have Buffy round up the Scooby gang? The only scenario I can imagine would be Buffy bringing Angel and LA out of hell. It would be epic enough for the big screen, and be an endeavor that would bring back all of the cast (except Anya... boo hiss!). But that's just a dream, and while this rumor sounds swell and I could go for many more years of live-action Buffy, I ain't buyin' it. Are you?
Posted Nov 27th 2008 4:32PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Thrillers, Casting, Deals, Scripts
While the Material Girl gets back to single life, her brother is getting ready for the big screen.
The Hollywood Reporter posts that Madonna's brother
Christopher Ciccone will make his feature directorial debut with a new teen thriller called
Twist. The script was written by
Jay and Karyn Milner, and while no plot details are being released, you can get a taste of the stories they write by clicking on their names -- it's the usual fish-out-of-water stories with strange and dangerous twists. Considering the name of this project, I think it's safe to say that this will be no different.
THR also reports that
Maurice Kanbar (
Hoodwinked producer) is gearing up for an indie with
Daphne Zuniga called
The Scene. Aside from
reliving her days as Princess Vespa, Zuniga is producing and starring in the black comedy, which is adapted from
Theresa Rebeck's (
Gossip) play about the "Manhattan party circuit and entertainment industry."
While I wish this meant something of the Whit Stilman oeuvre, this is more modern. Zuniga will play a cynical talk show producer who meets a chameleon social-climber played by Heather Gordon. What happens after that, we'll have to wait and see.
Amy Glazer is directing, and this should be a bit of an intimate affair since
THR says that sets have been built IN Kanbar's home. Talk about cutting costs!
Posted Nov 26th 2008 6:03PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Drama, Foreign Language, Thrillers, Deals, Scripts
Could you see
Paul Scrader in Bollywood? See, this is much more than merely Hollywood delighting in all things Bollywood.
The Hollywood Reporter posts that Paul Schrader, the pen behind
Taxi Driver and
Raging Bull, is heading to Mumbai to helm a Bollywood action flick called
Extreme City.
What's convinced him to head overseas? He says: "I've been getting indie movies made for 20 years. But I take a good look around and what I see is a barren, barren place -- in terms of the financial community, in terms of audiences, in terms of distribution. It's cold out there." So in this non-barren Bollywood, what will he direct? It's the story of an American man who goes to India to aid in the resolution of a kidnapping case for his father-in-law, and gets stuck in a gangster plot. Schrader admits that there will be a mix of dialogue and musical numbers, but it's "not a Masala movie."
I wonder... Will this continue to be a trend? If indie filmmakers can't get love here, will they take it elsewhere? And if they do, imagine the headaches the Oscar committee will get with an influx of overseas projects with mixed dialog by Americans!
Posted Nov 26th 2008 10:02AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, RumorMonger, Fandom, Scripts, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Robert Downey Jr. is, quite simply, a god of geekdom. If there's a holy trinity, he shares it only with Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman because it is so rare that actors just
get it, and even rarer that they'll say it. Witness Downey's thoughts on
The Avengers to
MTV: "If we don't get it right it's really, really going to suck. It has to be the crowning blow of Marvel's best and brightest because it's the hardest thing to get right. It's tough to spin all the plates for one of these characters."
He also may have let slip who The Avengers might be battling in his concerns that Iron Man remain in a real-world setting: "The danger you run with colliding all these worlds is that Jon was very certain that
Iron Man should be set in a very realistic way. Nothing that happened in
Iron Man is really outside the realm of possibility. Once you start talking about Valhalla and supersized super soldiers and jolly green giants, it warrants much further discussion." This could mean
Giant Man, or Captain America could be looming big in Downey's thoughts.
Continue reading Robert Downey Jr. Warns 'The Avengers', Talks 'Iron Man 2'
Posted Nov 25th 2008 2:32PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Thrillers, Deals, Scripts
There's nothing quite like a father incensed with possible harm to his kid and fighting the odds to find and save her. But it's familiar. We've been there, and seen that. So, what would that be like with a French director who freaked out film festival audiences with
Martyrs?
The Hollywood Reporter posts that
Pascal Laugier has been tapped to write and direct a new supernatural thriller called
Details. Based on a short story by China Mieville, the film follows a dad obsessed with finding his missing daughter. However, this isn't a simple case of kidnapping -- she disappears after "stirring up dark forces." But if you want something more familiar, the man is also bringing us the
Hellraiser remake.
In other news...
Are you ready? Hollywood is bringing us a romcom that will strap us in seats for a full month of romantic comedy! Okay, not quite, but
The Hollywood Reporter does say that Lionsgate has picked up a spec by new writer Corinne Kingsbury called
31 Days of Larry. So far, we've got one lone word to describe it: "irreverent." Let's hope that doesn't mean a romcom starring Kevin James, as he's romanced by Adam Sandler. I'm a bit tarnished on the whole "Larry" on the big screen thing. (Not James, just anything that reminds me of that film.)
Posted Nov 24th 2008 1:32PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Warner Brothers, RumorMonger, Scripts, Remakes and Sequels
Just so we're clear: I liked
I Am Legend. I thought Will Smith did a great job of carrying what was (to be honest) a fairly mediocre film. But c'mon, was there really anything left to say? Warner Brothers is convinced that there is, and have even managed to bring back Smith and director
Francis Lawrence for what we all thought was
going to be a prequel. However, a tipster for AICN (who goes by the name of Westwood9) has dropped a few
crumbs about the project, and if you thought the idea of a prequel was bad, you ain't seen nothing yet.
According to AICN's tipster, "Smith is actually the one who developed the initial story. It took place several years before the original film and there were still pockets of survivors and the story centered around Smith interacting, bonding, and ultimately failing to save them." Not bad, right? Well, don't get too attached, because according to AICN, the studio wasn't biting (get it?) and, instead, scrapped the prequel in favor of a sequel. That's right, an honest to goodness sequel. Supposedly Smith and screenwriter
D. B. Weiss weren't going to go for it either, but have since come around to the idea.
When the project was first
announced back in September, I think most of us had just assumed that the only way to make another film was to make a prequel.
*Spoiler Alert* After all, didn't the good doctor blow up at the end of the film? (There were of course those
alternate endings, but we probably shouldn't count those). If WB does go ahead with a sequel, do you think it will open up a whole new world of possibilities about what happened to Smith's character at the end of the first film? Or, will it just confirm that the whole idea is just a cash-grab from the word go.
Sound off below...
Posted Nov 24th 2008 9:45AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Casting, Celebrities and Controversy, Scripts, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels
Seeing as it's a slow news day, let's check in with
Justin Theroux, who's hard at work penning
Iron Man 2. The cool people of
UGO did a nice interview with him, where he talks all about
Tropic Thunder,
Iron Man 2, and even a little bit about
The Avengers.
Theroux says the script is around "the first draft" and is chugging right along with input and notes from Robert Downey Jr. The writer was quick to dismiss rumors that he was involved in the Terrence Howard/Don Cheadle change-up, that his script will reflect it in any way, or that the role of War Machine will be scaled down. "No, that's all nonsense. Whatever their reason is, I'll leave that up to Marvel. We're writing the thing, virtually the same for Rhodey that we would for any actor. We're really taking what's going to be the most interesting story for the fans, and what are they going to enjoy watching. And who ever's in that part is going to have to play that part and make it work ... I haven't met Don, and I think I'm going to in a little bit and I think once I get a better sense of his voice and also hear what he has to say about what he likes about the character and just pick his brain a little bit, then we'll obviously start to tailor it to him."
Theroux is also unsure what Gwyneth Paltrow's status in the sequel is -- he's "planning like she is there" but has no confirmation as to whether she will return. Will we end up with a
new Pepper Potts? Will Tony Stark look around and see strangers replacing those he knew and loved in the first film? Because that would send any man to the bottle!
Posted Nov 21st 2008 10:45AM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Drama, Deals, Paramount, Scripts, Brad Pitt
So before anyone accuses me of pandering to celebrity by putting a picture of
Brad Pitt on this news item, I want you to know that I tried to find a picture that was a little more 'newsworthy', but caved when I came up with nothing. So, it's Pitt you get. The Hollywood Reporter
announced that Pitt's production company, Plan B, have purchased the rights to the true life tale of local journalist Linda Trest, and her take-down of a conman posing as a federal agent in Gerald, Missouri.
Anthony Walton and Andrew Dresher have already been tapped to write the story of a small town journalist by the name of Linda Trest who had been receiving complaints about drug searches that had been conducted by Bill A. Jakob (a new-to-town federal agent who had supposedly been sent to handle the town's Methamphetamine problem). After conducting her own investigation, Trest uncovered that Jakob was an unemployed former trucking company owner, a former security guard, a former wedding minister and a former small-town cop -- one thing he wasn't was a federal agent. Jakob eventually pleaded guilty to impersonating an officer, and is facing six years in prison.
Plan B has been
snatching up new properties left and right lately, including
Eat, Pray, Love, with Ryan Murphy directing,
The Killer and
Black Hole with David Fincher, and the
just-announced Battling Boy. Like with most Plan B projects, rumors are already brewing over whether or not Pitt will star (presumably as Jakob). But as we all know, Pitt has the bad habit of dropping out of movies even
after signing on the dotted line, so we'll have to wait and see.
Posted Nov 20th 2008 8:32PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Comedy, Deals, Disney, Scripts, Newsstand
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Before you start spewing out the names of Hollywood's most annoying men as if some sort of gag reflex has taken over your -- Rob Schneider! -- body, let me set this up for you:
Variety tells us Disney has picked up a comedy script called
The World's Most Annoying Man, written by Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert (those magicians behind Nick's
Kenan and Kel), and so far no one has approached me to star ... which is good, I suppose. There's no director or cast attached yet, but
Andy Fickman (director of upcoming
Race to Witch Mountain) is producing.
And what could a film called
The World's Most Annoying Man possibly be about? Animated squirrel chess champions? Um, no. Actually, the film will tell of a man who must travel across the country with his really annoying brother en route to his own wedding. Kinda sounds like
Tommy Boy (or any buddy road movie for that matter), except tack on a wedding to the end. Great. Got it. So here's where the discussion comes in: Who, may I ask, would you cast as the world's most annoying man? Do you cast a really annoying actor like Jack Black or Andy Dick or someone else who's really annoying. OR, do you cast a funny actor who's great at playing an annoying man? Once you decide all that, tell us: Who do you think is Hollywood's most annoying man?
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