September 15, 2000

Actor Christopher Walken wants to be a TV chef. The 57-year old actor is believed to have had meetings with a number of TV stations about the possibility of fronting his own cookery series. However, most networks, including MTV and Bravo, have opted against the idea. Instead, Walken has decided to set up broadcasting facilities in his own kitchen and plans to showcase his culinary skills over the Internet. Walken says, "You know, I could turn it on whenever I felt like it and it would just be me cooking. Once in a while I'd have a mystery guest. Maybe Joe Pesci comes over and, you know, makes his tomato sauce."
       

September 15, 2000

Did you like Luc Besson's THE PROFESSIONAL? Did you like Jet li's FIST OF LEGEND? Well, get ready for a good time since Li and Besson have apparently agreed to make an action movie together tentatively entitled KISS OF THE DRAGON. Besson wrote the script, which will be directed by commercial director Chris Nahon. Besson fave Tcheky Karyo and Bridget Fonda are also part of the cast, with a $25 million budget and filming to start later on this month in Paris. 
      

September 15, 2000

Word on the street is that writer/director Cameron Crowe's latest film entitled ALMOST FAMOUS will be taking another stroll down the Academy Award walkway, with preview audiences and critics absolutely loving the film from top to bottom. CA got the chance to speak to the director, click here to read the interview (and scroll down the page)
        

September 15, 2000

This film features SWINGERS co-stars Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau, based on a script written by the latter (who also wrote SWINGERS). It also stars Sean Puffy Combs in his motion picture debut, and Famke Janssen, in a mob-related type comedy. The reviewer liked the draft that he read, stating "the script works, the characters are great, and the writing is poignant and funny." Read his entire review here 
      

September 15, 2000

Everyone is awaiting M. Night Shyamalan's next project following THE SIXTH SENSE called UNBREAKABLE, because it features two of the cooler stars of our day, Bruce Willis and Sam Jackson, and has one of the best teaser trailers of the year. A couple of dudes at AICN got to see a test screening of the film, so read about what they thought here and here

CHUD also got their hands on a copy of the script for the movie and reviewed it to the tune of 7.9/10 with some minor spoilers. To read that review, click here
         

September 15, 2000

I think we all saw this one coming but Variety has reported that the production of SPIDERMAN has now been delayed to January 2001, with shooting to begin at that time. The film has also been moved from a November 2001 release, to May 2002 in order to "make possible a production and post-production schedule that will enable the film's creators to realize their ambitious vision for 'Spider-Man."
      

September 13, 2000

According to Mitchell Fink of the New York Daily News, actor Al Pacino, age 60, and girlfriend actress of three years, Beverly D'Angelo (aka the sexy wife from the VACATION movies), age 45, are expecting twins around the end of this year. Pacino himself has never been married, so who knows what might happen.
        

September 13, 2000

Actor Verne Troyer, better known as Mini-Me from the sequel to AUSTIN POWERS, is the latest addition to the Chris Columbus project HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE. He will play the role of Peeves the poltergeist, who plays pranks on the students of Harry's school Hogwarts.
       

September 13, 2000

Actor Ian McKellen's own website has published the first photos of his character Gandalf from the upcoming LORD OF THE RINGS films. The pictures will be in Vanity Fair's October issue. Click on the picture below to see the other one as well.

September 13, 2000

David Fincher's next film entitled THE PANIC ROOM has some new casting info. As of yesterday, the list now includes Nicole Kidman, Dwight Yoakam, Jared Leto and Hayden Panettiere. The film tells the story of a mother (Kidman) and her 9-year-old daughter trapped by thieves in a "panic room" – a hiding place that's like a combination bomb shelter / vault – in their posh New York City brownstone.

And what has Fincher been up to since FIGHT CLUB? Well, check out his latest music video called "Judith" by A Perfect Circle. Great tune!
      

September 12, 2000

Only weeks after settling his dispute over the whole DIETER project with Universal, Mike Myers is once again being attacked in the press, but this time, by a couple of his former colleagues who claim to have come up with some of Mike's characters themselves. In an interview with Vanity Fair magazine, Dana Anderson, who toured with Mike in the 80s, said that he developed the whole Dieter character and even came up with the catchphrase "touch my monkey" at the time, but that Myers has never acknowledged borrowing the material from him.

Likewise, former SNL colleague and co-star with Myers in the WAYNE'S WORLD movies, Dana Carvey, told Vanity Fair that he created the Dr. Evil character that Myers used in his AUSTIN POWERS flicks while working with Mike on Saturday Night Live. He said that the character was actually based on SNL producer Lorne Michaels. In a written statement to the magazine, Myers denied the accusations by his former colleagues.
    

September 12, 2000

StarWarsFan.org has apparently received some character information about Boba Fett's appearance in STAR WARS: EPISODE II. The description contains *** SPOILERS ***, so take note:

"Yes, Boba is a child in the picture. But it's not much what you think. Unlike Anakin, who was 8 or 9 in the last film, Boba Fett is 12 or 13 here and will come across much more mature. Lucas has done something quite interesting with this character, actually. He's not evil at all and like most kids he is mostly innocent. However, when certain events happen in this film (and into SW3) it becomes quite clear why Boba grows up with the apparent quiet rage he has in the classic films. While Lucas wants Anakin to come across as a sweet, benevolent cherub in SW1 so that his Fall is shocking and painful. The Boba Fett character is a bit more quiet and distant. Again, he's not a bad kid. But you can tell he's withdrawn and that he'll end up on the "dark" side of things."
   

September 12, 2000

Yes, with the cast of the remake of OCEAN'S ELEVEN ballooning by the second, it was strange to hear about a couple of defections. Brothers Owen and Luke Wilson were forced to drop out of the project due to their commitment to Wes Anderson's next film entitled THE ROYAL TENNENBAUMS, so the film to be directed by Steven Soderbergh was left with a "simple" cast of Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Bill Murray, Don Cheadle, Bruce Willis and Mark Wahlberg (although Matt Damon is apparently up for his role as well, since Wahlberg might be conflicted with the PLANET OF THE APES remake by Tim Burton).

Now the word of the street comes down that writer/directors Joel and Ethan Coen might be chosen to replace the Wilson brothers as the getaway drivers, Virgil and Turk Malloy. The characters are described to be "'fast talking, never shut up, annoying sobs that also happen to be a bit Mormon" and apparently the Coens come close to that description in real life. Shooting on the film is slated to begin in January, 2001.
   

September 12, 2000

The Toronto Film Festival is the place for all the news now. At a press conference for his latest film, Denys Arcand's STARDOM, actor Dan Aykroyd was asked about GHOSTBUSTERS 3. He said simply "It's dead.". The actor went on to say that it was "a combination of not getting the right story, and the business side of things. He also stated the primary reason was that Bill Murray didn't want to be involved, and that everyone had pretty much agreed there wouldn't be much point in doing it without him. He also said that it was a relief when they finally made the decision and that he was happy just working as an actor."
  

September 12, 2000

BAIT seems to be the only major film opening up this Friday, and we recently got the chance to speak to the director of the film, as well as a couple of its stars. To read the interviews, click below:

JoBlo interviews actor Jamie Foxx (ANY GIVEN SUNDAY)
JoBlo interviews director Antoine Fuqua (THE REPLACEMENT KILLERS)
JoBlo interviews actor Doug Hutchison (THE GREEN MILE)
  

September 12, 2000

Now despite MISSION TO MARS being one of the worst movies of the year so far, and actor Val Kilmer pretty much confirmed as an asshole by anyone who has ever worked with him, RED PLANET, another Mars-based sci-fi picture is slated for release on November 3 of this year. The film co-stars Tom Sizemore, Carrie-Anne Moss, Benjamin Bratt and Terence Stamp and helmed by first-time director Antony Hoffman. The script review described this film as "a very interesting movie" and gives it a fairly positive notice with minor spoilers. To read the entire review, click here
  

September 12, 2000

Actress Halle Berry is apparently poised to rejoin her co-star from the X-MEN, Hugh Jackman, in the Dominic Sena-directed thriller SWORDFISH, starring John Travolta. The film is to be produced by Joel Silver and is prepared to pay Berry $2.5 million for her role, her biggest payday yet. The film is about a charismatic spy (Travolta) hired by the CIA to enlist a computer hacker (Jackman) recently released from prison to help steal $6 billion in unused government funds. In exchange, the hacker will regain custody of his daughter and start a new life. Berry would play a woman who works for Travolta but is really an undercover agent.
  

September 11, 2000

Despite finishing at the top spot of this weekend's box-office, actor Keanu Reeves did no publicity for his new film entitled THE WATCHER because he was ultimately not very happy with his association to the project. The whole thing started about 10 years ago during a street hockey game when Keanu verbally agreed with director Joe Charbanic (then a struggling music video producer) to play a small part in his film, to help him get financing. But with Reeves on board, the producers were able to get a $30 million budget and re-write Reeves a bigger role. Charbanic says, "The script did change, it got bigger than [Reeves] wanted. He wanted it to be a little boutique film."

When he discovered his cameo role had ballooned into a headlining role, Reeves reportedly threatened to drop out before filming began in Chicago last fall. However, his attorneys recommended the actor not back out of his commitment to the film, citing Kim Basinger's disastrous court case in which she was ordered to pay $8 million to filmmakers for backing out of a verbal agreement to star in the movie BOXING HELENA. So Reeves became a reluctant star. Inside.com reports there was tension on the set, especially once Reeves, who was working for scale, found out Spader and costar Marisa Tomei each nabbed $1 million for their participation.

Not wanting to tick off an A-lister like Reeves, Universal tried to make nice-- and make Keanu virtually disappear from all the marketing. The studio reportedly agreed to feature the actor in no more than 30 percent of the trailer or other ads on the condition he laid off from publicly lambasting the film.
  

September 11, 2000

If you're like me and weren't able to attend the Toronto Film Festival this year but pissed to hear about some of the movies that are being shown down there, worry not, because our faithful man "Bear aka L'ours" was able to find these scenes from a couple of the major movies being shown in Toronto. It certainly isn't like watching the real movie, but hey, at least it's something!

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Scene 1
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Scene 2
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Scene 3
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - Scene 4
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - The Making of...

Dr. T and the Women - Scene 1
Dr. T and the Women - Scene 2
Dr. T and the Women - Scene 3
Dr. T and the Women - Scene 4
   

September 11, 2000

GHOSTS OF MARS is director John Carpenter's next film which he is currently shooting with stars Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube, Jason Statham, Joanna Cassidy and Pam Grier. He recently revealed that the film "takes place in this little outpost, a frontier type town on Mars that's near a mine. There's no trace on the surface that there was any past civilization on the planet, but the mines have uncovered this… well, basically a trap…and out comes this almost unkillable evil that sweeps across the planet. That's our dilemma. It takes us over. You're not human anymore. You become an ancient Martian warrior and you gather together and start attacking. Wiping out anything on the planet that you perceive as an invader." The director went on to reveal that "There's a lot of action in this film. A lot of action. There's a siege on a jail, fights on a train, battle sequences. Lots of physical training for everyone."
  

September 11, 2000

After falling a little behind, JoBlo's Movie Trailers has come back with a vengeance by adding 15 new trailers to its growing repertoire of online movie trailers. They include TRAFFIC starring Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, the teaser for JURASSIC PARK 3, which is actually not all that impressive, PAY IT FORWARD, the upcoming fall drama starring Oscar favorites Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment, and two new parody trailers for THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT and BATTLEFIELD EARTH. Other additions include TIGERLAND / BEST IN SHOW / CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON / CRIMSON RIVERS / HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES / REQUIEM FOR A DREAM / GIRLFIGHT / COMPANY MAN / MR. ACCIDENT / BILLY ELLIOT  
  

September 11, 2000

According to director Rod Lurie, film critic now turned filmmaker of this fall's THE CONTENDER, one-time wild boy Christian Slater has mellowed into his first name. "Christian has become a born-again Christian," says Lurie, who directed the actor in his recent film. "It's not an act, it's all for real. He prays before each take and you can just sense the difference in his whole demeanor."
   

September 11, 2000

Despite the sequel to the SILENCE OF THE LAMBS entitled simply HANNIBAL wrapping principal photography last week, director Ridley Scott and his post production team still have months of work ahead of them. Scott is also eyeing his next projects which currently look like a toss-up between:

1) An action movie with mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer called BLACK HAWK DOWN, based on the book of the same title which will recount the true events of the 1993 Special Forces military operation in Somalia that left 18 US soldiers dead.

2) A directorial gig with TERMINATOR 3.

3) An involvement in the creation of a new TV series from DreamWorks, an hour long cop show set in ancient Rome.