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April 13, 2001

A Weekend at the Fangoria Con with JoBlo and Arrow

Read the Arrow's FANGO COVERAGE here
                                                

April 13, 2001

Known primarily for his infectious characterizations in indie films, actor Steve Buscemi was stabbed Thursday morning, after he and fellow actor Vince Vaughn, were involved in a Wilmington, North Carolina bar brawl. Buscemi, Vaughn and screenwriter Scott Rosenberg were hanging out in a local bar called the Firebelly Lounge, during their off-time filming DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE, a movie starring John Travolta, when they got involved in this melee. Both Vaughn and Rosenberg were arrested and thankfully Buscemi's injuries were only minor and he's expected back on the set Monday. Wilmington resident Timothy Fogerty, 21, was arrested and charged Thursday with assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly stabbed Buscemi several times in the head, throat and arm. Witnesses say that Buscemi, Vaughn and Rosenberg were leaving the spot when the fight broke out. Vaughn and Rosenberg were arrested and held on $600 bail.
                                              

April 13, 2001

Our BMW Films scooper 'Big Daddy Don Bodine' (who has been kind enough to provide some sweet pics in the past) has alerted us that the official site for BMW Films has gone live. If you're a bit sketchy on the details, this is the site that will feature a short film series entitled THE HIRE, that will be produced by David Fincher and featuring the following directors:

• AMBUSH by John Frankenheimer (RONIN, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE)
• CHOSEN by Ang Lee (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON)
• THE FOLLOW by Wong Kar-Wai
• STAR by Guy Ritchie (SNATCH) and starring Madonna
• POWDER KEG by Alejandro González Iñárritu (AMORES PERROS)
• UNTITLED by Ben Younger (BOILER ROOM)

The site features all kinds of cool information on the films, their directors and duh, the cars.  You can also download the trailer for AMBUSH, which will premiere on April 26th.  If you're curious what these films will be about, here's the official synopsis for AMBUSH:

"On a dark freeway, a van swerves close and the door slides open. From inside, masked gunmen threaten to fire unless The Driver stops and surrenders his passenger, a seemingly harmless man they accuse of smuggling diamonds. It’s a simple choice: do or die. Legendary director John Frankenheimer and star Clive Owen combine talents to create a dramatic chase with some unexpected twists."
                                              

April 13, 2001

Lions Gate has given the go-ahead to AMERICAN PSYCHO 2 despite the fact that they will tarnish the good AMERICAN PSYCHO name. The film will star Mila Kunis (THAT 70s SHOW, GET OVER IT) as a survivor of a Pat Bateman attack (I thought it was all just a delusional fantasy?) who goes a little wacky herself.  The college co-ed has an obsession in becoming a certain teacher's assistant and is willing and able to kill anyone who gets in her way.  The film will be directed by Morgan J. Freeman (not THE Morgan Freeman) who seems to have no problem directing this shite.  At the very least, I can take solace in the fact that this film is most likely going to be direct-to-video.

April 13, 2001

Warner Bros. will pay screenwriter Gary Scott Thompson (THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS) a high six figure salary to pen the script CROSS CHECK, based on his own pitch to studio heads.  The studio will develop the film as a vehicle for Bruce Willis to star in and produce. So far the only details on the plot come in this vague sentence from Variety:  "Willis will play a sleuth who gets in way over his head in Canada."  Maybe Willis is a detective who goes undercover as a hockey player?  Maybe not....
                                        

April 13, 2001

Paramount Pictures has issued a casting call for extras to be used in a scene recreating the Super Bowl. The shooting will take place in Montreal at Olympic Stadium on May 9th and 10th beginning at 9am each day.  To register call 514-897-2181 and simply give them your name and number of people joining you and show up at the stadium.  There will be no monetary compensation although they will be giving out t-shirts at the end of the day and prizes will be raffled off.  Hey, isn't JoBlo headquartered in Montreal?....<yup, which is why our own Dr. Drew might take a shot at this thang!>
                                              

April 13, 2001

• Read a script review of MARCI X, starring Lisa Kudrow and Damon Wayans, here
• There are a couple of shots from SHOWTIME with Eddie Murphy and Robert De Niro here
• Noah Wyle is joining the cast of WHITE OLEANDER and you can read all about it right here
• Maura Tierney (LIAR, LIAR) and Martin Donovan have joined the cast of Christopher Nolan's upcoming INSOMNIA with Al Pacino.  Find out more here

April 12, 2001

Here, courtesy of long-time scooper 'Master P', we get our first look at what's happening on the set of BLACK SHEEP.  The film, which just began filming in New Jersey and New York, stars Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins (who you can see below) and will be directed by Joel Schumacher and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.  The film revolves around a man (Rock) who is trained by a veteran CIA agent (Hopkins) to become a secret agent; a role the man's late brother once occupied.  Check out the pics below:

< Click on pics for bigger version >
                                              

April 12, 2001

Harry and Moriarty at AICN reported on an interesting development in the marketing of Spielberg's latest, AI.  The newest AI trailer, released Monday, featured a mysterious credit to "Sentient Machine Therapist - Jeanine Salla."  More than a few people decided to type this name into search engines and they came up with a whole slew of sites related to AI.  The web (no pun intended) of sites and information is waaaay too lengthy and complicated to get into here, but try it for yourself.  Type the woman's name into a search engine and follow the links that come up.  If you're even more curious, check and see who registered some of these sites. If you're still curious, call some of the phone numbers on these sites......
                                        

April 12, 2001

Author Chuck Palahniuk (FIGHT CLUB) has sold his latest novel, CHOKE (which hasn't even been released yet), to Bandeira Entertainment (REQUIEM FOR A DREAM) in a six-figure deal.  CHOKE will be published this spring and "is a story of sexual compulsion and Alzheimer's disease that turns on a med school dropout's get-rich-quick scheme, in which he pretends to be choking in restaurants." Fox 2000 is still developing Pahalniuk's SURVIVOR with Jake Paltrow, who wrote the script, but it still remains in development hell.  Get Ed Norton and Kate Hudson in SURVIVOR and I will cream my jeans. Until then, I'll wait for CHOKE which sounds just as delightfully bizarre.
 

April 12, 2001

Variety reports that Lions Gate Entertainment has picked up the long-troubled remake of Othello, O, from turnaround at Dimension/Miramax Films. Because of scenes that include four gruesome high school murders, Miramax was reluctant to release the film in the wake of real life school shootings. Lions Gate stepped in and saved the film from a straight-to-video release and plans to distribute the film, which stars Josh Hartnett, Julia Stiles and Mekhi Phifer in August.
                                              

April 12, 2001

Susan Sarandon is in talks to star in an upcoming Disney live-action/animated film entitled ENCHANTED.  Actor David Hyde Pierce (FRASIER) has also been approached to join the production.  The film is a fairy tale romance that revolves around a girl who is banished from the animated world to the real world (i.e. New York City) by your typical Disney evil queen (Sarandon).  Barry Sonnenfeld (MEN IN BLACK) will produce the film and Disney veteran and Academy Award winner Alan Menken (BEAUTY AND THE BEAST) will compose the score.
 

April 12, 2001

Normally I stick to movie scoops, but being a DVD fanatic and noticing we don't have a place to report DVD news, I'll toss this goodie in here for ya.  The X-Files Season 3 DVD is on its way to stores for release on May 8th and these discs are chock full of goodies (and for $105 they better be).  You can read all about the discs contents and special features (which are waaaay to numerous to list in this column) right here and check out a first look at the DVD's menu screen below:

< Click on pic for bigger version >
 

April 12, 2001

• Stax got his hands on the script for PLANET OF THE APES and gives it a review here
• A whole mass of pictures from the set of K-19 have popped up on the net and you too can check them out here
• There's an update to yesterday's story of Marlon Brando's cameo in SCARY MOVIE 2, with details on what scene he will be involved in, that you can read here
• The official website for RUSH HOUR 2 has gone live and if you're so inclined you can visit it by clicking here

April 11, 2001

Variety is reporting that Marlon Brando has been offered a plum $1 million big ones for a cameo appearance in the upcoming Wayans' brothers sequel, SCARY MOVIE 2. The trade reports that Brando is looking to broaden his acting chops and as such is keen on jumping aboard a high profile comedy.  This wouldn't be the first time Brando was offered big bucks for a small role.  The burly star received a whopping $4 million for just ten minutes of screentime in 1978's SUPERMAN.
                                              

April 11, 2001

Chow Yun-Fat, star of CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON and the John Woo classic, HARD BOILED, has chosen his next role.  The voice of Terl the Psychlo in the BATTLEFIELD EARTH animated series. I don't know what's worse, that someone decided to make a cartoon out of this crapfest or that an actor such as Chow Yun-Fat would reduce himself to providing voice-over work for it. Twenty half-hour episodes are in production of the series. In a related story, an unnamed JoBlo staffer is looking for a rafter to hang himself from.
                                        

April 11, 2001

Ted Tally, writer of SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, spoke with Cinescape magazine and cleared the air regarding the HANNIBAL prequel and sequel talk that's been floating about.  He says it will be both a prequel and a sequel, with the film taking place after the events in HANNIBAL with a heavily reliance on flashbacks to the events that took place in the RED DRAGON book by Thomas Harris.  I really wish they would let this one go, but I guess when a movie makes as much money as HANNIBAL, you're going to get a sequel, like it or not.
                                              

April 11, 2001

Rachael Leigh Cook, soon to be seen on the big screen screwing up JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS (in her defense, it's not really her fault), will produce and star in the upcoming film INVISIBLE GIRL. GIRL, a low-budget comedy, revolves around a girl seemingly invisible (hence, the title) to the rest of society, until she decides to use herself as bait to catch a notorious serial killer.  The film, which begins shooting in early May, will be directed by first timer Max Hoffman.

April 11, 2001

Director Wolfgang Peterson (THE PERFECT STORM) and screenwriter Steve Zaillian (SCHINDLER'S LIST) are set to take over the troubled production of ENDURANCE, a film based on Ernest Shackelton's tragic South Pole mission, which left most of the crew dead. The project has been with Columbia for sometime but the studio has never been 100% happy with the script, which has seen at least five different writers. Zaillian will pen the final rewrite and Peterson will produce and direct the project which sounds awfully familiar to that other based-on-a-true-story, man vs. nature film directed by Wolfgang Peterson.

April 11, 2001

• Our own main horror man, the Arrow, has posted his review of the upcoming HALLOWEEN 8.  Check it out here
• Another script review of the upcoming SCORPION KING film is online and you can read it here
• Set pictures from ROAD TO PERDITION and A BEAUTIFUL MIND are online and you can check them out right here
• Sammo Hung (MARTIAL LAW) will be directing the $50 million film based on the video game SOUL CALIBUR.  Read more about this project here
• Care to find out what role Carrie Fisher will be playing in JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK? I'm not spoiling it, but if you insist, you can read all about it here

April 10, 2001

Robert De Niro and Jennifer Lopez are set to team up to remake the 1955 film LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME. The new film, which will be scripted by Howard Gould, will only be loosely based on the original film and will follow a love triangle set in the music industry (please, please, please spare me of any Jennifer Lopez related musical numbers…). The original film starred Doris Day and James Cagney and was a full-fledged musical, while this version will not be. Both stars have projects lined up before this one, so don’t expect to see this until 2002 (maybe even early 2003) sometime.
                                        

April 10, 2001

Erika Christensen (TRAFFIC) has signed to star in a "’Fatal Attraction’ but set in high school" film entitled SWIMFAN85. The film, which will also star teen up-and-comers (I think "Teen Up-and-Cummers" was the name of a porno I once rented….) Jesse Bradford and Shiri Appleby, revolves around a girl (Christensen) who falls for the star swimmer in high school (Bradford) and begins to obsess about him. The title, I assume, refers to a screen name the young girl uses to harass the swimmer.
                                              

April 10, 2001

The highly anticipated computer animated film FINAL FANTASY was screened for journalists on the Sony lot in Culver City, California this weekend.  A critic from the Hollywood Reporter says the footage was "hauntingly realistic" and it "upped the ante" for computer animated films.  The film, based on the popular video game series, will hit theaters near you on its brand new release date, July 11th.
 

April 10, 2001

Patrick Fugit (ALMOST FAMOUS) and newcomer Alison Lohman have been added to the cast of WHITE OLEANDER, which already stars Michelle Pfeiffer, Robin Wright Penn and Renee Zellweger. This will be Fugit’s first role since starring in FAMOUS and Lohman’s second after playing a part in DRAGONFLY, opposite Kevin Costner. The movie, based on the book by Janet Fitch, revolves around a young girl (Lohman) who travels from one foster home to another after being abandoned by her imprisoned mother. Fugit plays a fellow foster child. The film will begin filming later this month.
                                              

April 10, 2001

• Want to check out a really sweet shot of the Green Goblin mask/helmet? Click here
• Coming Attractions posted a possible plot summary for the X-MEN sequel that you can read here
• Want to check out the teaser poster for MEN IN BLACK 2? Head over here and see for yourself
• John Travolta returning to his musical roots with Gwyneth Paltrow and Winona Ryder  in the Miramax film adaptation of CHICAGO?  Read more here
• Unfortunately, Sly Stallone has nixed any plans for a fourth RAMBO movie.  Read Cindy Pearlman's interview here