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May 18, 2001

Oliver Stone has signed on to write and may direct another Vietnam-era drama, SPITE HOUSE based on the non-fiction book by Monika Jensen-Stevenson.  The book is complicated but I'll try to break it down simple for ya: A young Marine named Bobby Garwood was captured by Viet Cong troops who mistook him for an intelligence officer.  He was imprisoned and tortured for 14 years while his commanding officer branded him a traitor to avoid his own court martial. A current script entitled THE HUNTED was already written for the project but Stone will throw out that draft and start anew.
 

May 18, 2001

Halle Berry is denying reports that she was paid an extra $500,000 to go topless for her upcoming film SWORDFISH.  Berry was paid $2.5 million for the role but her spokesperson says that there was no bonus for a nude scene.  He goes on to say that Berry originally turned the role down because of the graphic nudity involved but signed on when the scene was cut significantly.  You can spin it any way you want, but the bottom line is Halle Berry is going topless! 'Nuff said.
 

May 18, 2001

If you've been watching any TV lately you may have seen the new ads for A.I. that have been playing since Tuesday.  What you might have missed on your TV screen though are the new clues to the "Jeanine Salla" mystery.  If you look closer at screenshots taken of the ads (which you can find here or here) during the credit sequence, certain letters are highlighted in a glowing red font.  These letters are W-E-S-A-W JEANINE SALLA W-L-A-H-E-V-R-N-I-E-E-S followed by the Hebrew word chokhmah, which means wisdom.  Obviously the first part says "we saw Jeanine Salla" the rest is a mystery.  The best guess I could come up with is "where is Evan - L" with L standing for Laia, a character in this whole saga. Finally at the end are a series of dots which just spell out the telephone number (503) 321-5122 that has been around since the first teaser.  This just keeps getting more bizarre.  To track the "game" further I suggest you check out this site.
  

May 18, 2001

Who else but the fine folks over at the numero uno Kevin Smith fan site, News Askew, would grab a picture of the daring duo, Bluntman and Chronic, the source of much of Jay & Silent Bob's adventures in Kevin Smith's upcoming JAY AND SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK.

< click pic to see bigger version >
 

May 18, 2001

Lawrence Kasdan (MUMFORD) has signed on to direct and produce the feature film adaptation of Stephen King's latest novel THE DREAMCATCHER.  The script is currently being written by William Goldman (who also adapted King's HEARTS OF ATLANTIS currently filming with Anthony Hopkins) and is being described as a combination between THE GREEN MILE and STAND BY ME, both successful King movies. DREAMCATCHER is a "thriller about four childhood friends who share a special relationship after having performed a heroic act. Years later, they must reunite for another heroic act -- to save Earth from a mysterious force."
  

May 18, 2001

Source: Joey Baloney

• Another review of the new Ted Tally script for RED DRAGON is online and available for your perusal here
• Thank God that Alanis/Axl Rose duet for LORD OF THE RINGS isn't true. Find out what the hell is going on here

May 17, 2001

Harry at AICN received word Wednesday afternoon that the rumor we all knew was shite, but hoped wasn't, had been officially denied by Quentin Tarantino's publicist. Word came over the IndieWire that the publicist said "Fun, but wrong" when asked if Quentin had secretly made 40 LASHES with Charles Bronson and Fred Williamson in the Mexican desert. That's really too bad but at least now we know for sure and we can put this little puppy to sleep.
  

May 17, 2001

Gus Van Sant will re-team with GOOD WILL HUNTING stars Matt Damon and Casey Affleck for the upcoming improvisational flick, tentatively titled JERRY.  The script has yet to be seen (if there is one) but has been described as "two guys in the desert." The budget is reported to be a paltry $7 million considering the talent attached to the project. We'll keep our eyes peeled and ears open for any more information we could pass along to you fine folks.
  

May 17, 2001

Clint over at Moviehole was nice enough to give us a head's up on some pictures which they were able to grab from the set of THE SCORPION KING, the film starring The Rock of the WWF as the character that he played in THE MUMMY RETURNS movie. Click on the pic below to see more:

< click pic to see more >
 

May 17, 2001

Fred Durst is at it again, this time signing on to direct the low-budget feature RUNT which will be executive-produced by David Fincher.  According to Variety, RUNT "follows an outcast teen who is endlessly taunted and persecuted by a trio of bullying jocks. When they kill his dog, he decides to avenge the loss before realizing he must break the cycle of violence and move forward with his life."  Of course, Durst will produce the soundtrack with Limp Bizkit and score the film as well.  In related news, internet journalist, Joey Baloney, will direct the film BUNT, a documentary dedicated to that fat area that develops on older women in between the belly and the...nevermind.
 

May 17, 2001

Rob Reiner's production company, Castle Rock Entertainment, bought the film rights to Richard Patterson's novel PROTECT AND DEFEND and the former Meathead my also direct the film. The film revolves around the first woman to be nominated as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and her involvement in a controversial abortion lawsuit. Reiner recently passed on an offer to direct Sandra Bullock in a thriller entitled FOOLPROOF and has been searching for another project since.  He is still attached to direct Tom Hanks in the big-screen adaptation of the children's classic THE POLAR EXPRESS.
 

May 17, 2001

Gerard Butler (DRACULA 2000) has been cast as the lead in TIMELINE, the Richard Donner (the LETHAL WEAPON movies) directed version of the Michael Crichton novel.  Butler will star as Andre Marek, an archaeologist recruited by a a group of grad students to return to the 14th century in order to rescue their professor who was accidentally transported via a time machine.  No other cast has been announced as of yet for this project.  TIMELINE is scheduled to begin filming in March.
  

May 17, 2001

Capcom, the company behind the RESIDENT EVIL video games, released official word on the feature film adaptation of the popular series.  Here's an excerpt that fleshes out (pun intended) some of the plot points:

"Production began shooting on March 5, on location in and around Berlin and on stage at Studio Berlin. The movie is an all-new story inspired by the Resident Evil franchise. In Resident Evil: Ground Zero, Alice (Milla Jovovich) and Rain (Michelle Rodriguez) lead a crack team of commandos into ``The Hive,'' a vast underground genetic research facility, where a deadly viral outbreak occurred just hours earlier. The virus wiped out the entire research staff and brought them back as ravenous undead. Alice has only three hours to trap the virus inside the complex or the undead are threatening to overrun the earth. To their horror the team realizes that the undead humans are not the only thing roaming the compound ...something even more insidious seems to be going on there."

I'm not sure if I should be excited about this film or not. What I've seen thus far seems pretty good and Milla Jovovich is one hot mama, but Paul Anderson's last effort was the terribly, awfully, disgustingly bad movie SOLDIER.

So what do you think?!?
  

May 17, 2001

Source: Joey Baloney

• Watch clips and see pics from the Coen Bros. THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE here
• More goodies from Cannes.  To watch clips from Todd Solondz's STORYTELLING click here and to watch clips from the Spike Jonze/Charlie Kaufman produced HUMAN NATURE click here
• The first 14 pages or so of the JURASSIC PARK 3 script are online here. Thanks to 'SnakeEye' for the heads up
• A boatload of pics from the New York City set of KATE & LEOPOLD with Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman can be found here
• We're thinking of setting up a "Movie Discussion Group" here at JoBlo. The idea is kind of like Oprah's stupid book groups (ughhh, I hate to have to make that comparison) but with kick ass movies and cool ass people. If you've got any interest in such an idea, already know of our discussion board, just click here for more information or to post your thoughts, suggestions, complaints, etc...

May 16, 2001

Aldera has posted what they claim to be an official Doug Chiang painting of the climactic battle between Anakin and Count Dooku at the end of EPISODE 2.  They stand by their source 100% and I have no reason to doubt the validity (then again, I'm no Photoshop expert). Whether it's fact or rumor, it's still a pretty impressive painting and deserves a look by any STAR WARS.  Check the artwork out below and let me know what you think.

< click pic to see bigger version >
   

May 16, 2001

Author Bret Easton Ellis (Warning! A Joey Baloney irrelevant tangent ahead!  On the recommendation of one Harold J. Knowles, I picked up Ellis' RULES OF ATTRACTION and despite my best efforts to enjoy it, I just couldn't.  Roger Avary has written a script of that book that will hopefully make a much better film.) has spoken out about the forthcoming sequel to AMERICAN PSYCHO. He says the mere idea of a sequel is ridiculous considering "In the first movie version and in my novel, all that actually ever happened to you if you ran into American Psycho is that he might have horrible thoughts and then make a gruesome drawing of you."  Wow, I always thought that was an object of debate but I guess he just cleared the air.  He goes on to comment on the casting of Mila Kunis saying "although I have never seen Mila Kunis in a movie, it seems totally untenable to have a woman be a serial killer. I researched serial killers when I wrote AMERICAN PSYCHO, and they are amazingly common - not to mention almost all American...I don't see how 'AMERICAN PSYCHO II' can star a woman and still be plausible." Hey, that's just what I was thinking! Ellis did mention that he has (and wants) no involvement with the sequel saying he sold the rights to Lions Gate the first time around.
 

May 16, 2001

Gossip columnist Jeannie Williams met with John Travolta and Halle Berry to discuss their upcoming film SWORDFISH but then saw the movie and went off on how bad it sucked. Here are some of the highlight quotes:

• "The movie skids downhill" after the opening 15 minutes;
• "I was dismayed to see she (Berry) does a topless sunbathing scene...so unnecessary" She does?!  Hot diggity!
• "Memo to SWORDFISH producer Joel Silver : Car chases are so over!"  They are?  Memo to Jeannie Williams:  You're a cranky old biddy!  SWORDFISH was made for people 70 years your senior!  Don't be such a prude about Halle showing her cans!  Some of us still have a sex drive! 

What am I talking about...I've bad-mouthed SWORDFISH a lot worse than this, and I haven't even seen the movie.  Maybe I'm the one who's cranky...
 

May 16, 2001

New Line Cinema bought a pitch by John Claflin and Daniel Zelman for their script, THE WATCH, a horror film set during World War II. The film revolves around "a team of soldiers on a mission to blow up a bridge to help end World War II. But the soldiers realize they're fighting not only the Germans, but also an evil spirit sent by the devil, who doesn't want the war to end."  Sounds like an interesting concept...OK, now I'm just bantering to fill space at the end of this news item.  I do this from time to time when I'm bored and there isn't enough information to fill a full story. This is because I lack the journalistic skills to write intelligently about a subject with little information, so I traditionally resort to catty comments and "witty" retorts (see above). I'll spare you this time around.
  

May 16, 2001

Source: Joey Baloney

• More pictures from the set of MINORITY REPORT are online here. Thanks to 'Gary'
• Pictures from FINAL FANTASY and PLANET OF THE APES can be found here and here, respectively
• The SIMPSONS cast have signed new big money contracts. Find out what this has to do with the upcoming SIMPSONS movie here
• A review of David Lynch's MULHOLLAND DRIVE can be read here
• Brad Pitt is launching a clothing line? Only three more horsemen left and the world is all over.  Read more here

May 15, 2001

Fred Durst has gotten bored of getting drunk and scoring hot supermodels so he has decided to direct his first film (and why not? it's not like it takes talent and years of experience or anything...), LIFE WITHOUT JOE.  JOE is not a emotional tribute to the late Kid Rock sidekick Joe C., but a thriller described as DELIVERANCE for teens (yeah, that's one film that was begging to have its own teen version.  It's so kid-friendly!), where a bus carrying a high school football team gets lost in the backwoods and soon becomes stalked by a psychotic group of locals. Apparently, Durst has had meetings with David Fincher to discuss directing films and selected this film because of the relatively low budget which lowers the amount of pressure and allows more creative control.  The rocker will also produce the soundtrack through his Flawless record label.
  

May 15, 2001

It's been a while since we've seen some new posters appear online, and now here are three in one shot. The first poster is for the movie GHOST RIDER, which has yet to find a lead (although both Depp and Cage have expressed interest), but is to be directed by Stephen Norrington of BLADE fame. The second poster is for WINDTALKERS, directed by John Woo and starring Nicolas Cage and the other one is for FROM HELL by the Hughes brothers, starring Johnny Depp and Heather Graham.

< click pics to see bigger versions >
 

May 15, 2001

Chow Yun-Fat is attached to play the lead role in the action/revenge flick, THE LINE, which was just purchased by Propaganda Films (BEING JOHN MALKOVICH). LINE will follow a Chinese railroad worker (Yun-Fat) seeking revenge on those who sold him and his wife into slavery in San Francisco (Slavery in San Francisco...wasn't that the third album from The Grateful Dead?...).  The film's budget is set at a modest (for these days) $30 million and is currently seeking a director (sorry, Fred Durst isn't available).  Filming is scheduled to begin this fall.
 

May 15, 2001

Academy Award nominee Kenneth Lonergan (YOU CAN COUNT ON ME) has been hired to write the feature film adaptation of Jack Finney's TIME AND AGAIN for Robert Redford to direct and produce.  TIME, according to the Reporter, "follows a man who travels back to Gotham in 1882 as part of a mysterious government experiment, only to fall in love while he is there."  I presume the Gotham they reference is New York City and not Gotham City (that would make a cool movie too...a BATMAN time travel, romance film...JoBlo, call my agent!).
 

May 15, 2001

Online art auction site, Graphics Collectibles, has posted eight concept design images that artist Bernie Wrightson created for the upcoming GHOST RIDER feature film.  These are some really bad-ass drawings but the folks at AICN haven't confirmed 100% their validity. From what I can tell, they look pretty solid and the rendition of Johnny Blaze looks awfully similar to Nicolas Cage (who at one point was interested in the role). They could be a clever fake, but take a look at these samples and tell me if they're not cool regardless.

< click on pic to see them all >
  

May 15, 2001

Source: Joey Baloney

• Two reviews of ATLANTIS are online and you can read them here
• A couple new stills from EPISODE 2 are online and if you click here you can see them for yourself
• Courtesy of The National Enquirer (posted by Spider-Man Hype), there are some great shots of the back of Spidey's costume and the famous SPIDER-MAN emblem online here

May 14, 2001

Disney and director M. Night Shyamalan (UNBREAKABLE) have offered the leading role in Shyamalan’s latest, SIGNS, to Mel Gibson, who is currently mulling over the offer.  The film’s plot is being kept under wraps but we do know it revolves around crop circles that mysteriously appear on a Pennsylvanian farm. Joey’s two cents:  Mel, it’s your pal, Joey with some advice for you.  MAKE THIS FILM.  Shyamalan is a marvelous (for lack of a better adjective) storyteller and SIGNS will allow you the opportunity to do something completely different than your most recent films (which while not entirely terrible seemed to be awful familiar territory).
  

May 14, 2001

We haven't heard much about this movie, but the Coen brothers have just shown their next movie to the lucky ol' people at the Cannes Film Festival and one of Harry's scoopers got a chance to see it. The film is called THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE, is shot entirely in black & white and stars Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand and James Gandolfini. The reviewer believes the film to be a definite Oscar contender, but doesn't think that it's for mass audiences. "I think this is a perfect film, that could dangerously be considered one for film-buffs, but I think that's not a bad thing."

Read the entire review here
  

May 14, 2001

Ben Affleck has signed on to play the lead role in GIGLI (I’m guessing this is pronounced like “giggly”? or is it “jiggly”?), a film to be written and directed by Martin Brest, who brought us the awful MEET JOE BLACK and the delightful (I am at a complete loss for descriptive words today) SCENT OF A WOMAN.  The plot centers around a hit man (Affleck) who kidnaps the mentally-challenged brother of a powerful District Attorney and holds him in an apartment with his free-spirited female partner.  Brest hasn’t directed a film he has written since 1979’s GOING IN STYLE with George Burns.
  

May 14, 2001

Jackie Chan will star in the action-comedy film TUXEDO as a bumbling spy who invents a tuxedo that helps him kick some major ass.  The script is being written to combine Chan’s slapstick comedy style with his background as a martial artist/stuntman.  The film is set to be directed by former music video director Kevin Donovan who will make his feature film debut with TUXEDO.  The project is set to begin filming this fall.  Chan can be seen hamming it up this summer with Chris Tucker in RUSH HOUR 2.
  

May 14, 2001

Miramax Films has acquired the rights to Roberto Benigni’s re-telling of the classic tale PINNOCHIO.  Benigni (LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL) not only will star in the film, but will direct and has also written the script with his longtime partner Vincenzo Cerami.  The film will co-star Nicoletta Braschi, Benigni’s wife from the Academy Award winning BEAUTIFUL.  PINNOCHIO is set to begin filming next month in Italy. 
 

May 14, 2001

In case you hadn't heard yet, the upcoming first part of the LORD OF THE RINGS movies directed by Peter Jackson, received a 25-minute showing at the Cannes film festival a few days ago, and needless to say...people went nuts!!

Read reactions to LOTR footage here
   

May 14, 2001

• SPY KIDS: SPECIAL EDITION coming to theaters in August? Read more here…
• Has Michael Kamen (X-MEN) been relieved of his musical duties on TOMB RAIDER? Find out here
• Rebecca Romjin-Stamos drinking tequila and stripping naked? Besides being a recurring dream of mine, it has something to do with her upcoming role in FEMME FATALE. Read more here