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February 2, 2000

Source: IMDb

Brad Pitt seems to be unhappy with how his movie co-starring Robert Redford has turned out. While watching a trailer for his upcoming movie SPY GAME, Pitt was openly critical of the finished product. Pitt pointed out one line
in specific "Target in sight. Do we still have the go?" and then said "Listen to this line...Being a grown man, I feel silly saying them." No word on how Brad's Hollywood muscles may effect the editing process. Meanwhile, he's still banging Jennifer Aniston.
       

February 2, 2000

Source: Aint it Cool News and Cinescape and NY Post

The rumors about Tim Burton directing a Marilyn Manson-starring CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY have set off a crapload of denials from everyone involved in the rumors. First, Warner Brothers released a press release
stating "Marilyn Manson has not been cast in a role...Additionally, the director of the project is not Tim Burton." A NY Post columnist spoke with a Marilyn Manson band spokesperson who also denied the rumors and the actual
director of the movie, Gary Ross (PLEASANTVILLE), spoke with Harry at AICN and actually giggled at the concept of a Manson Wonka. Well, I guess that's that folks.
      

February 2, 2000

Source: Variety

Soon to be Oscar-nominated actor Benicio Del Toro (TRAFFIC) is joining the cast of THE HUNTED, which already stars Tommy Lee Jones and Connie Nielsen. The movie, to be directed by EXORCIST helmer William Friedkin, revolves around a serial killer (Del Toro) who kills for the sheer thrill of being hunted by authorities. Wow, I think Benicio could really shine playing an evil mother effer.
       

February 2, 2000

Source: Variety

Thank goodness Frank Darabont (THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION) has stepped in and saved FAHRENHEIT 451 from the possibly deadly hands of Mel Gibson. Now, I don't think Mel wouldn't do a decent job starring in the film, but I really think he would've messed things up in the director's chair. Anyway, Darabont is currently in negotiations to rewrite the script and direct the film which would be co-produced by Mel Gibson through Icon Productions. This would be Darabont's next project after wrapping THE MAJESTIC up with Jim Carrey.
     

February 2, 2000

Source: Cinescape

DreamWorks has acquired the rights to remake the Japanese thriller THE RING. This will be a great chance for all the folks stateside who never got a chance to see this cult flick (including me). I'm really looking forward to seeing this flick, although I'd really like to see the original (I have a feeling something will get lost in the translation). To give you a good idea of what this film entails, here's a link to a review of the original.
     

February 1, 2000

Source: TheForce.net

TheForce.net claims to have gotten the text that will be used in the opening scroll of STAR WARS: EPISODE II. They claim the source is pretty reliable and it sounds about right. Even if it's not, it's a pretty good idea of what you'll see. It doesn't reveal too much but if you're spoiler cautious, skip past this paragraph:

"There is unrest in the Galactic Senate. Several hundred solar systems, under the leadership of the Rebel Leader, Count Dooku, have declared their intentions to secede from the Republic.  This separatist movement has made it difficult for the limited number of Jedi Knights to maintain peace and order in the galaxy.  Senator Amidala, the former Queen of Naboo, is returning to Coruscant to vote on the critical issue of creating an army to assist the overwhelmed Jedi..."

In other SW2 news, TheForce is also reporting that the trailer for EPISODE 2 may appear before PLANET OF THE APES. They stressed this was a maybe and that it was simply being talked about at Fox and no decisions had been made. Although it would make sense if they wanted to increase awareness for both films (like you really need to increase awareness for STAR WARS).
    

February 1, 2000

Source: Aint it Cool News

There have been some cryptic clues coming from various sources, hinting that Howard Stern is close to signing a deal bringing him back to the world of movies. First, on his syndicated radio show this morning, Stern himself
said he had been in negotiations all week regarding a film project. He refused to go into detail but reports all over the web say that the movie he maaay be talking about is an action/comedy called A GIRL IN TROUBLE. Also interesting is that Shirley Manson, lead singer of Garbage, is supposedly also in talks to star as the aforementioned "girl." And Harry reported at AICN today that Stern may not write or direct the product but someone associated with ADAPTATION (Harry didn't mention who) could be brought on board. I'm sure Howard will be dropping hints all week if we keep our ears open.
   

February 1, 2000

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Ewan McGregor looks set to join the ensemble cast for Ridley Scott's next flick, BLACK HAWK DOWN. McGregor would be joining Josh Hartnett (PEARL HARBOR) and Tom Sizemore in the true story of the Battle of Mogadishu.  The Jerry Bruckheimer production will be getting underway in mid-February and is shooting for a Thanksgiving release.
    

February 1, 2000

Source: Coming Attractions

Patrick and the guys at Coming Attractions scored a major league scoop with about 19 shots from PLANET OF THE APES, most of which had never been seen by the public before. Of particular note are shots of all the main actors in
make-up (Tim Roth is sooo bad-ass) and some shots from "ape school." Check them out and prepare to get pretty excited.

January 31, 2000

Source: Popcorn

It looks as if test audiences confirmed what producers had feared: Jennifer Aniston and Mark Wahlberg have no on-screen chemistry. Considering you can't very well trim the role of the star and main character, guess who got
trimmed from the movie. Mrs. Brad Pitt got her scenes re-edited in order to play down the romance between the two characters and focus more on Wahlberg. ROCK STAR (formerly METAL GOD, a much better title) is loosely based on the real life saga of the metal band Judas Priest. Tentative release date: April 13, 2001.
  

January 31, 2000

Source: NY Post

In yet another setback for BASIC INSTINCT 2, director David Cronenberg has unexpectedly left the production leaving producers scrambling for a replacement. This comes on top of the search for a suitable male lead after Harrison Ford, Robert Downey Jr., Kurt Russell and now Bruce Greenwood (THIRTEEN DAYS), all passed. Just give up, guys. No one wants to see this crap anyway.
     

January 31, 2000

Source: Mothership

Mothership has posted the first known picture of Stuart Townsend in character as Lestat the Vampire from the upcoming QUEEN OF THE DAMNED. The movie follows the adventures of Lestat (who was played on the screen previously by Tom Cruise in INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE) who has become a rock star, and it is based on the novel by Anne Rice. The picture also shows Aaliyah, who you might remember was just cast in the MATRIX sequels.

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January 31, 2000

Source: Coming Attractions and Aint it Cool News

Coming Attractions received a very detailed set report from a scooper who was working on the film as an ape extra for a week. The report reveals some details about the costumes and includes a snapshot of a call sheet, which
includes a listing of the actors and their characters. It makes for quite an interesting read and only serves to further my excitement and anticipation for the flick. Read it all here.

In other set report news, AICN regular Mysterio, continues his on-set reports for JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK with another installment. It seems he is in pretty good with Kevin Smith himself and has gotten some really great looks at the production. There are some spoilers laced in and out, so if you're concerned, I wouldn't chance it. Read it all here.
    

January 31, 2000

Source: NY Post

British actor Rowan Atkinson (BEAN) is close to signing a deal that would bring him on board the SCOOBY-DOO live action project to play the film's main villain. The article in The Hollywood Reporter also mentions that Freddie Prinze Jr. (who actually looked a little different with blonde hair on Leno last week), Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini and Matthew Lillard are all official as Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy, respectively. No plot details have been announced but it was reported that Atkinson would play a character by the name of "Mondavarious." I'm just too depressed about this to make any sarcastic comments.
      

January 30, 2000

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Yipes! This is starting to look like a major disaster waiting to happen, people! But I guess we really shouldn't judge things before all is said and done, even though word now comes that producer Joel Silver has brought Aaliyah, the R&B songstress, aboard for the MATRIX sequels. Aaliyah made her acting debut opposite Jet Li, who himself bailed from the sequels a while back, in last year's crap-ball of a movie, ROMEO MUST DIE. She will play a character named Zee and will likely be more prominent in the third installment. So we've got Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving....uuuuhm, Jada Pinkett Smith, and now, Aaliyah. Sigh. Somebody help!!!!
 

January 30, 2000

Source: Joey Baloney

Sunday night saw the Giants getting their blue asses kicked (groooooan) and the premiere of a few cool movie commercials. Among the highlights was a pretty effin' cool A KNIGHT'S TALE commercial that totally turned my view of the pic around. Also winning points in my book (but then again, it's my book so really cares) were ads for TOMB RAIDER, THE MUMMY RETURNS and SWORDFISH. Also shown but not really making me care at all, were 15 MINUTES, HANNIBAL (not that I don't care, but I've seen this commercial about a hundred and three times already), and THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS. Now, one would have to wonder why Warner Brothers would plunk down 2.5 mil for a commercial for Steven Seagal's next movie (EXIT WOUNDS) but not AI or HARRY POTTER. Strange.

Check out all of the trailers here
          

January 30, 2000

Source: Film Force

The Coen Brothers' follow-up to O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU, tentatively titled THE BARBER MOVIE, has posted its first picture on the production company's (Good Machine) website. The film, starring Billy Bob "I like to
wear my wife's panties" Thornton, Frances McDormand, and James Gandolfini, is a film-noir shot entirely in black and white. I won't reveal any of the plot details here, other than it revolves around murder, deception and infidelity (like any good film-noir).

Click here to check out the pics
          

January 30, 2000

Source: Variety

You know, I just start to get excited about a movie and Joel Schumacher has to go and muck it up. Now before I continue, let me promise that I will try to refrain from bashing BATMAN & ROBIN (cause it's just toooo easy) and concentrate more on 8MM and FLAWLESS (insert foghorn noise). Joel Schumacher (maker of the above listed crappy movies and other good movies such as THE LOST BOYS) is expected to sign a deal this week to direct the Chris Rock/Anthony Hopkins, action/comedy, Jerry Bruckheimer produced BLACK SHEEP. The plot revolves around a street-wise con-man who must fill in for his Harvard educated, super-agent brother, when he is killed. It could've been really interesting watching Chris Rock and Sir Hopkins go at it, but with Schumacher involved, it'll most likely play like a DOUBLE TAKE rip-off. Let's see what happens...
         

January 30, 2000

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Well that didn't take long at all. We told you yesterday that Nicole Kidman was advised by her doctors to bow out of her starring role in David Fincher's PANIC ROOM and over the weekend, she did just that. Studio executives at Columbia are set to meet this week and decide the fate of the movie. The role could be recast quickly (rumors have it that producers are already talking with Jodie Foster and Robin Wright-Penn) or the entire production could be put on hold until Kidman heals. I say, cast this sucker and let's get it underway (although I think there are better picks out there than Jodie and Robin).
        

January 30, 2000

Source: Upcoming Movies

Winners were announced at this year's Sundance Film Festival and the winner of the Grand Jury Prize was the neo-nazi tale, THE BELIEVER. The Audience Award went to the transsexual musical HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, which was based on the off-Broadway musical. Here's a full list of winners:

Grand Jury Prize (Documentary): SOUTHERN COMFORT
Grand Jury Prize (Drama): THE BELIEVER
Audience Award (Documentary) (tied): DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS and SCOUT'S HONOR
Audience Award (Drama): HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH
Audience Award (World Cinema): THE ROAD HOME
Cinematography (Documentary): LALEE'S KIN: THE LEGACY OF COTTON
Cinematography (Drama): THE DEEP END
Directing Award (Documentary): DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS
Directing Award (Drama): HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH
Freedom of Expression: SCOUT'S HONOR 
Latin American Grand Jury Prize (tie): WITHOUT A TRACE AND POSSIBLE LOVES
Special Jury Prize (Documentary): CHILDREN UNDERGROUND
Special Jury Prize (Drama): Sissy Spacek and Tom Wilkinson, IN THE BEDROOM

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: MEMENTO
           

January 29, 2000

Source: Variety

An injury incurred by Nicole Kidman on the set of MOULIN ROUGE could possible derail the production of David Fincher's PANIC ROOM in which Kidman was set to star. Production continued today without Kidman, while nervous studio execs waited for word from the star on whether or not she felt as if she would be able to continue on the project. Kidman's doctors advised her to withdraw from the project as it may require too much of her physically. We will keep you up to date on whether production will be delayed or if and when the search for a replacement begins.
       

January 29, 2000

Source: Reuters

Ooooo-haaaaa! Rejoice everyone, as actor Al Pacino and more specifically, actress/girlfriend Beverly D'Angelo (also known as Mrs. Griswald from all of those VACATION movies), has given birth to twins, a boy and a girl. The babies, each weighing just over five pounds, were born in Los Angeles Thursday night and both are healthy. The twins are the first children for D'Angelo, 46, while Pacino, 60, has one daughter, Julie from a previous relationship. The two thespians have been an item for the past few years.  
           

January 29, 2000

Source: NY Post and Dark Horizons

The folks behind the James Bond movies are looking at Catherine Zeta-Jones to star in an upcoming James Bond movie, but not as who you might think. She won't be playing a "Bond girl" but James Bond's successor and the first
female British super-agent named appropriately, "008". Producers were quoted as saying, "(Zeta-Jones is) Feisty, independent, beautiful. A deadly combination for a glamorous spy. Schedule permitting, she's our girl." Could be interesting, but when it comes down to it, it just detracts from what the James Bond series is. Then again, it's a step up from Matthew Perry.

Word now comes in from Dark Horizons that the whole story was apparently bullshite. The whole thing was apparently taken out of context, as Catherine "mentioned offhand in a interview that she wouldn't want to be a bond girl, she would want to BE bond, the first female 007. She was joking about it all. Apparently the internet went with it like crazy and the article has changed hands so much that the end report is nothing like the original".
      

January 29, 2000

Source: Fetal Films

The long in-development GEMINI project may finally have some life breathed into it, because of the interest of a couple of Hollywood high-rollers. Nicolas Cage has been looking at the lead role and would play a man who finds out that a younger clone of himself is out to kill him. A new CGI program entitled ERASURE would be used to digitally "un-age" the star making Cage appear 20 years younger. ELIZABETH director, Shekhar Kapur has now been set to direct the film, which could finally be gaining some steam after a long time gathering dust in the camps of Harrison Ford and Mel Gibson.
 

January 29, 2000

Source: IMDb

Tarsem Singh (director of THE CELL) has added some (in my opinion) some much needed pizzazz to the Laura Shuler-Donner (X-MEN) production of CONSTANTINE. The film is based on the DC Comic HELLBLAZER and to be quite honest with you, I have gotten totally confused while trying to research the plot for this one. Something about a guy who's got some mystical powers and he can always save himself but not others and I remember the word "necromancer" a lot. If anyone can clear up the confusion (correction: my confusion) please send me an e-mail here. I'd appreciate it. Whatever the plot, Tarsem is bringing his impeccable visual flair to this project and at the very least, it'll look cool.
         

January 29, 2000

Source: Variety

Ahhhhh. This is more like it. This is the kind of story that makes me forget that 'N Sync is making a movie. The greatest Japanese animation film of all time, (go ahead and debate me if you must) AKIRA is being prepped by
Pioneer Entertainment for a Spring re-release in American theaters and a fourth-quarter DVD. They're spending $1million on this project which will include a high-definition re-mastering and re-mixing of the audio and an all
new English dub which will be more faithful to the original Japanese script. No word on who will distribute the new version, whose original rights were owned by the now defunct Orion Pictures. This, by the way, is the best news
I've had the pleasure of reporting in a loooong time.
            

January 29, 2000

Source: News Askew

News Askew has posted the first pics (originally posted on AICN) from JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK as well as a report from an extra that reveals some finer plot details. There is some definite spoiler material, so if
you're trying to stay pure, skip to the next article. Still here? OK...the pics reveal the marquee of a movie theater with the title BLUNTMAN AND CHRONIC: THE MOVIE which in the movie stars James Van Der Beek (DAWSON'S
CREEK) as Jay and Jason Biggs (AMERICAN PIE) as Silent Bob. There is more to it than that but I won't go into great detail here. Click pic below for more info.

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