August 11, 2000

Less than a week after his release from jail, actor Robert Downey Jr. has nailed himself a recurring role in the hit TV series "Ally McBeal". He will be playing the part of a mysterious stranger who seems able to connect with the complicated Ally (Calista Flockhart). Robert was typically candid regarding his acceptance of the role, "David's a genius, Calista's awesome, and once again I have a choice of shirt colors".
  

August 11, 2000

Rumor has arisen that a new character named Niobe will join the members from the original Matrix group in the highly-anticipated sequel. She will apparently be a tough female captain of the fastest ship in the league and the ex-girlfriend/or wife of Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) who is now dating the leader of Zion. The filmmakers are apparently looking for someone "drop-dead gorgeous" but "tough" to play the "toughest chick there".

According to AICN, Jet Li has also been confirmed for both sequels and a new character named Commander Lock is also in the works. More info on these and other characters here
  

August 11, 2000

David Fincher, the extremely talented man behind such great films as SEVEN and FIGHT CLUB, is in serious conversations to shoot THEY FOUGHT ALONE, a World War II drama based on real events. Written by William Nicholson, co-writer of GLADIATOR, the film is a "heroic saga of a man's relentless pursuit of victory in the face of daunting odds". Tom Cruise and several other A-list actors are said to be interested in the project as well. The film would not likely begin production until well past next summer. 
  

August 11, 2000

THE REPLACEMENTS (6.5/10): Comedy starring Keanu Reeves
BLESS THE CHILD (4/10): Thriller starring Kim Basinger and Jimmy Smits
AUTUMN IN NEW YORK (5.5/10): Drama starring Richard Gere, Winona Ryder
  

August 11, 2000

Despite his directorial debut TEACHING MRS. TINGLE getting raked over the critical and box-office coals, Miramax has decided to take another chance on the screenwriter who began the whole teen-horror flick craze, Kevin Williamson, with a film tentatively entitled CURSED. The film is a thriller said to be in the vein of THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS about a serial killer in New York, which apparently contains a unique twist. Of Miramax, Williamson said "These guys get me."
  

August 11, 2000

After the awesome success of both A BUG'S LIFE and the TOY STORY movies, Disney and Pixar have slowly begun to unveil details about their next production called MONSTERS INC. The lead voices will feature Billy Crystal and John Goodman, while other confirmed voices will include James Coburn, Steve Buscemi, Jennifer Tilly, Bonnie Hunt and Mary Gibbs. Set for a November 2001 release, the comedy-adventure involves a monster world "scare factory" and features top scary-guy James P. Sullivan (Goodman) and his opinionated best friend, Mike Wzowski (Crystal).
 

August 11, 2000

Universal Pictures and actor/comedian Mike Myers finally settled their respective lawsuits against one another today, with little to no details disclosed in the matter. Universal originally sued Myers for walking off their DIETER/SPROCKETS movie project, and Mike fired back with a lawsuit of his own. All parties are said to be "pleased" with the results of the settlement, which does state that "Myers will write his next original character-based comedy as a co-production for Universal Studios and DreamWorks, with Imagine Entertainment producing."
  

August 10, 2000

Fans of the deliciously talented actress Katie Holmes could rejoice as word has come down from Harry's palace of movie news, that Katie and her wonderful "assets" will make a full 5-second appearance in the upcoming Sam Raimi film THE GIFT. The guy who saw an early screening of the film, which is about a small-town white-trash mother of three who has the special power to see things in the future, liked the movie in general, but said that with "a bit of editing here and there it will make this a pretty fun, well-paced film."

The film also stars Cate Blanchett, Keanu Reeves, Greg Kinnear, Hillary Swank and Giovanni Ribisi. But he goes on to say that the "creme de-le-cream scene (no pun intended) goes to a sequence where Katie Holmes (yes, our sweet, innocent DAWSON’S CREEK cutie) flirtingly removes her jeans, then, surprisingly, takes off her bra to reveal two incredibly perky, mesmerizing and almost-tasty mountains of mams". Want to read the whole review? Click here
  

August 10, 2000

Some dude over at AICN recently caught an early screening of the much-troubled CHARLIE'S ANGELS and well....liked it! He says that this is "not a movie to be taken seriously; it's a spoof on the action genre that manages to supply some pretty cool sequences at the same time." He saw the film with three other people, two of whom hated the movie, while the other was mixed. You can read his entire review here. And Garth over at Dark Horizons was able to pick up a couple of new pics from the Angels movie. Here they are, and click on over to Garth's site to see them get bigger.

August 10, 2000

Mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer knows a good thing when he sees it. Bruckheimer is wooing rookie director Tarsem, the man behind this month's THE CELL starring Jennifer Lopez, to direct an action thriller called TAKE DOWN. The story centers on a U.S. marshal team in hot pursuit of a politically motivated assassin. The plot thickens when the marshals discover that the killer is being protected by another government agent. That would be Tarsem's second feature film.
  

August 10, 2000

Director Steven Spielberg's next directing gig after the much-anticipated MINORITY REPORT with Tom Cruise might be a film called BIG FISH, with the help of the producers of AMERICAN BEAUTY, Dan Jinks and Bruce Cohen. The film is based on the eponymous novel by William Wallace and been translated to the screen by John August, the man who wrote GO.

It's a story of braggart and exaggerator Edward Bloom and his son William, who after a long estrangement returns home only to learn his father is dying of cancer. Desperate to know the complicated man before it's too late, William sets about trying to unravel fact from fiction, with much of the story told in humorous or poignant flashback.
  

August 10, 2000

Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, the man behind the 1999 Best Picture award winner AMERICAN BEAUTY, will team up with Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks on his next project called ROAD TO PERDITION, a feature film adaptation of DC Comics' serialized mystery novel about Al Capone's head hit-man in Depression-era Chicago.
  

August 9, 2000

By now you have all hopefully seen the awesome trailer for a snowy movie called VERTICAL LIMIT. But up until now, nobody had seen the film or spread any word about it. Well, Patrick and the gang over at CA got themselves a sweet scoop on this one. Even though it is a mixed review, the fellow does say that "it's a decent popcorn flick" and "a fast-paced event film", despite the lack of character development. To read his entire review, which I warn you CONTAINS SPOILERS, click here
  

August 9, 2000

Smilin' Jack Ruby is spreading the word on the latest screenplay by the man behind the magic that was THE SIXTH SENSE, M. Night Shyamalan, called UNBREAKABLE. The film stars Bruce Willis once again, and adds Samuel L. Jackson to the mix. Release date on the film is slated for this coming November. Check out the trailer here and read Jack's entire spoiler-free positive review here
  

August 9, 2000

Everybody and their uncle is telling us that actor Nicolas Cage will be joining the cast of SPIDERMAN in the very immediate future as the oldest bad guy of them all...the Green Goblin!
  

August 9, 2000

GET CARTER: Crime starring Sylvester Stallone and Mickey Rourke
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM: Drama starring Ellen Burstyn and Jared Leto
RING OF FIRE: Drama starring Kiefer Sutherland and Darryl Hannah
  

August 9, 2000

Mrs. David Duchovny, Tea Leoni, is apparently in final negotiations to star in the third installment of the dinosaur park films, in which she will portray the love interest of a wealthy businessman, to be played by William H. Macy. Not much more is known about the film, but principal photography is set to begin in Hawaii this month with a slated release date sometime next summer.
  

August 9, 2000

Tobey Maguire, the man who was chosen to play Spiderman over such hopefuls as Freddie Prinze Jr. and Wes Bentley, finally came out and said a few words about the process, "They put some kinda grease on my body and then layer after layer of this...stuff. When it hardens, they take it off, and it's a bit painful 'cause I have hair on my body,'' said Maguire in Time magazine's August 14 issue.
  

August 9, 2000

Thespian Laurence Fishburne, best known as Morpheus from THE MATRIX, recently got his directorial debut picked up by Lion's Gate studios, who would like to release it in October. The film is called ONCE IN THE LIFE, a gritty drama centered around brotherhood and friendship. Larry also stars in the film along with Titus Welliver, Eamonn Walker, Paul Calderone and Gregory Hines.. 
  

August 9, 2000

Actor Michael Douglas and fiancee Catherine Zeta-Jones became the proud parents of a baby boy on Tuesday. They named the kid, Dylan Michael Douglas. It's Cathy's first baby, and Michael's second.
  

August 8, 2000

MGM has decided NOT to pre-screen AUTUMN IN NEW YORK starring Richard Gere and Winona Ryder to any critics before it opens this coming Friday. This usually means only one thing...the film sucks! Which is why Gere and Ryder have both come out to speak against the studio's decision, "Winona and I are very proud of this film and disagree with the decision not to preview it", said Gere. The studio claims that they don't want the critics giving away any crucial plot points in the film. I guess we'll all have to wait until Friday to see who was right on this count, eh?
  

August 8, 2000

Arnold and his mighty lawyers have sent a cease-and-desist letter to a website which shows him hawking products on Japanese television. Zero One Design's Gaijin a Go Go is the site that is making these commercials available on the Net, with Schwarzenegger's ad still available until the 10th of August. So why does he want them to stop posting these commercials? Well, according to big man Ahnuld himself, it's something about "infringing on the actor's intellectual property rights", but after having seen the commercial, we think it has a little more to do with the fact that he may not want the entire world to know that he's a...well, check it out yourself.

The site also has Leonardo DiCaprio pitching credit cards, Meg Ryan selling beauty cream, Harrison Ford pushing beer, Keanu Reeves for Whisky, Demi Moore kudo-ing an energy supplement and Sean Connery (yes, even Sean Connery!) selling Mazda cars!
 

August 8, 2000

Not necessarily a "news" item, but I just wanted to let you all know that studly actor Russell Crowe recently played a live sold-out show with his rock band, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, before a 2,000-strong crowd down in Austin, Texas (mostly females, natch!). The show took place this past Friday, and get this...they will be performing there for the next two Fridays as well. The place is called Stubb's BBQ.

Two cool things about this story: 1) It's reported that Crowe was chugging down all kinds of beers during the show and stripped down to a tank-top during the encore and 2) Didn't mention his so-called current flame (Meg Ryan) once but did dedicate the show's opening number to his good "friend" Jodie Foster. Okay, okay...so this is a gossipy item but what the heck?! One is okay every now and then, right? :)
  

August 8, 2000

Despite reports to the contrary, director Paul Verhoeven is actually still thinking about directing the sequel to the very successful BASIC INSTINCT movie starring Sharon Stone. He told Jam! that his decision to direct would weigh heavily upon his meeting with Ms. Stone, "Before I'd ever sign onto that project, I'd have to check out and see if Sharon is a nightmare these days or not", said the "never shy to say what's on his mind" director. Of course, we all know that Sharon is in major need of a hit lately, while Michael Douglas has already turned down the opportunity to star alongside Ms. S.
  

August 8, 2000

Jason X, the 10th film in the Friday the 13th series, is tentatively scheduled to be released in April 2001, and now fridaythe13thfilms.com has snapped up some pretty cool pre-production sketches. Click on the picture below to see them all, and keep checking back to their site because they will be adding three new ones every week.

August 8, 2000

Rob Schneider just signed a low seven-figure deal (that means at least $1Million, boys and girls) to star in a film in which he will play a man whose internal organs have been replaced with those of various animals. The joke is that at various inopportune moments during the film, the man will display the crude attributes of the critters. Aptly titled ANIMAL, the film has been greenlit for an October 1 start and a summer 2001 release. Exec producer on the project will none other than Schneider buddy Adam Sandler.
  

August 7, 2000

With a career spanning 60 years, Alec Guinness was the consummate actor. Guinness won an Oscar for his role in the 1957 classic war movie THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI and had major parts in classic films like LAURENCE OF ARABIA and STAR WARS, a film for which he will probably be best remembered...he played Obi-Wan Kenobi. More info here
  

August 7, 2000

Directed by Joe Johnston (JUMANJI, THE ROCKETEER), executive produced by Steven Spielberg and starring Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Richard Attenborough, the New Zealand press is now reporting that Helen Hunt, Elisabeth Shue and Chris Klein might all soon join the cast as well.
 

August 7, 2000

The Man of a 1000 Script Reviews, Stax, is back with yet another premiere review of a movie script, yet to be filmed. This time around, the takes a close look at the David Koepp version of the SPIDERMAN script, dated April 14, 2000, a script which has now been handed over to screenwriter Scott Rosenberg for a re-write. Read his entire review here
 

August 6, 2000

THE SIXTH DAY: Science-Fiction starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
SNATCH: Crime directed by Guy Ritchie, starring Brad Pitt, Benicio Del Toro
NURSE BETTY: Comedy directed by Neil Labute, starring Morgan Freeman and Renee Zellweger
CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON: Adventure directed by Ang Lee, starring Chow Yun Fat
PSYCHO BEACH PARTY: A comedy/horror starring a whole bunch of folks
  

August 6, 2000

Actress Melanie Griffith recently joined the Web-ification of Hollywood by winning back her own URL, as a congressional act allowed to buy back her namesake world wide web address from someone who had purchased the rights to it five years ago (http://www.melaniegriffith.com/). She also co-founded One World Networks (http://www.oneworldlive.com/), a site which does merchandising and promotions for celebrities and health experts, selling everything from cosmetics to protein powder. "A great place for celebrities to be able to control their image," says Griffith.
  

August 6, 2000

For anyone who cares, two so-called celebrity couples called it splittsville over the weekend. Actor/voice-over guy on the Simpsons, Hank Azaria and actress Helen Hunt called it quits after a little over a year of marriage (they dated for five years prior to that). They are officially separated, not divorced. Cute has-been actor McCauley Culkin, 19, also separated from his wife actress Rachel Miner, 20, this past weekend. The couple had been married for about two years.
  

August 6, 2000

1. Hollow Man:              $    26.8 Million/ New
2. The Klumps:             $    18.0 Million/ $  76.5 Million
3. Space Cowboys:       $    17.6 Million/  New
4. Coyote Ugly:             $    17.0 Million/  New
5. What Lies Beneath:   $    13.9 Million/ $  95.2 Million