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October 12, 2001

It seems to me that George Clooney is picking all the right projects. He consistently surrounds himself with top notch creative talent and stays away from the mindless action crap (BATMAN AND ROBIN aside) that most leading men get sucked into, to concentrate on more interesting, diverse projects. What's more interesting about Clooney is how he seems to have made many powerful (and often Academy Award winning) friends in Hollywood. Steven Soderbergh. Julia Roberts. The Coen Bros. All seem very eager to work (and re-work) with George at a moment's notice. Case in point: the Coen Bros. so enjoyed working with Clooney on O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU? they will re-team for a black comedy entitled INTOLERABLE CRUELTY. Need more evidence? Clooney is reportedly close to convincing Julia Roberts to join him in the pic. This is all after the release of OCEAN'S 11 this Christmas (which co-stars Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Andy Garcia) and after he finishes filming his directing debut, CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND, based on the acclaimed script by Academy Award nominee Charlie Kaufman. Does this guy know how to surround himself with grade-A talent or what?

CRUELTY is has been floating around Hollywood for almost five years now and the Coens even took a stab at rewriting the script about two years ago. Only because of the dissolution of their film TO THE WHITE SEA were the brothers able to come back aboard as directors. The film revolves around an unscrupulous divorce attorney who finds himself the target of a revenge-seeking divorcee. Eventually sparks fly and the two fall in love with each other. Doesn't quite sound like Coen Bros material but from what I hear, their draft of the script is excellent. Sounds like it'll be a lot of fun.
  

October 12, 2001

The future doesn't look good for the BATMAN franchise. In a recent report at Coming Soon!, it seems that almost all of the BATMAN related films currently in development at Warner Bros. have hit major snags. Let's take inventory and see where everything stands. As was reported a few months ago, the BATMAN BEYOND film, to be directed by Boaz Yakin (REMEMBER THE TITANS) has been scrapped altogether due to budgetary issues. The Darren Aronofsky directed BATMAN: YEAR ONE has reportedly gone through numerous scripts, each one deemed unworthy and completely scrapped. According to their report, the film is still stuck at "square one."

Next up is the new CATWOMAN project with Ashley Judd attached to star. This film apparently "won't see the light of day" as Warners didn't like the idea of a different Catwoman that the Selina Kyle version from BATMAN RETURNS. Finally there's the recently reported SUPERMAN AND BATMAN project that Wolfgang Petersen (THE PERFECT STORM) and writer Andrew Kevin Walker (SEVEN) were developing. More development problems there as well and it may be permanently stuck there. It seems that most of the announcements of these movies in the trade publications like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter were way premature and now once the excitement has died down and reality has set it, the WB is leaving most projects to die.
 

October 12, 2001

Mel Gibson will reteam with LETHAL WEAPON director Richard Donner for the psychological drama SAM AND GEORGE, pending approval of the script. The finer details of the plot are being kept under wraps until the script is finished but it is reportedly in the vein of THE FISHER KING. Donner, his wife Laura Shuler-Donner and Gibson will all co-produce the film. Donner and Gibson have worked together on all four LETHAL WEAPON films as well as the awful CONSPIRACY THEORY and the pretty good MAVERICK. Gibson is currently filming SIGNS with M. Night Shyamalan in Pennsylvania and Donner is prepping his version of Michael Crichton's TIMELINE with Paul Walker starring. Shuler-Donner meanwhile is busy prepping for the scheduled February start date of X-MEN 2. Writers David Hayter and Zak Penn are currently hard at work on that script.
 

october 12, 2001

Rachael Leigh Cook is desperately trying to move on after the and distance from the disaster that was JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS. Since that film bombed big-time at the box-office, the young actress has signed on to two low-key independent projects. She will star first with Lucas Haas and Johnny Galecki in BOOKIES, a comedy that revolves around a group of college kids who run into trouble with the Mafia after starting their own gambling business. Directly after that project, Cook will team up with Kip Pardue (DRIVEN) to star in AMERICAN CRIME. The pair will play reporters for a local TV news channel who become the prime suspects in a murder case and set out to prove their innocence. No word on how Tara Reid or Rosario Dawson are handling things these days.
 

October 12, 2001

Producer Brian Grazer and his Imagine Entertainment have signed a deal to bring the historical drama GIDEON FORCE to the big screen. FIGHT CLUB writer Jim Uhls will pen the script based on a pitch from journalist Howard Blum. FORCE, according to Variety, revolves around a British general named Orde Wingate and his alliance with Des, a black prince, to take control of Ethiopia away Italian rule at the start of WWI." Blum has another history-based film, THE BRIGADE, currently in production at Miramax. That film follows a group of 5,000 Palestinians who fought the Nazis and freed tens of thousands of Jews from concentration camps. Grazer produced, along with Ron Howard, this December's A BEAUTIFUL MIND, starring Russell Crowe.
  

October 12, 2001

Source: Joey Baloney

• It seems the report that THE SUM OF ALL FEARS may never see the light of day wasn't true after all. Read all the details here
• Check out the official 13 GHOSTS website and play the new online game based on the film here was kind enough to take some screenshots and post them for you, in case you missed it
• A report on when we might actually see the delayed Ah-nuld flick COLLATERAL DAMAGE can be read here

October 11, 2001

Well, apparently the wait is not for too much longer. Cinema Confidential is reporting with 99.9% sureness, that George Lucas will soon be announcing his pick for the film before which he has chosen to present the world with a glimpse of EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES, and it will apparently be Disney/Pixar's own MONSTERS INC. movie, coming out on November 2nd. That's right...that means that there are only 3 WEEKS left before you catch your first look at the next STAR WARS movie. Woo-hoo! Okay, let's calm down and read more information about this breaking story at Cinema Confidential here >>>
  

October 11, 2001

Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) has signed deals to create the visual effects for THE HULK and HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS.  The combined deals are expected to be in the tens of millions of dollars.  ILM beat out rival effects house Imageworks (SPIDER-MAN, STUART LITTLE 2) for both films despite the fact Imageworks provided the CGI for the first HARRY POTTER film due this November.  I'm not surprised POTTER producers wanted to go in a different route from the first film considering the CGI in the trailer and commercials looks like complete crap.  The studio will have longer than usual (until the 2003 release date) to complete the complicated work on Ang Lee's HULK.
  

October 11, 2001

A scooper wrote in to AICN to report that on the website devoted the whole A.I. online game (www.cloudmakers.org), that one of the creators and authors of that game has been brought in by DreamWorks to consult on their remake of FORBIDDEN PLANET. Sean Stewart posted on that site's message boards and revealed that while he didn't know much about the original film, DreamWorks was eager to speak with him and hear his ideas on the remake.  PLANET is described as Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST with a sci-fi spin.
 

October 11, 2001

Much to my surprise, and probably the surprise of everyone else in the world, Jean Claude Van Damme is still making movies.  In fact he has just signed a deal with Millenium Films to star in the $20 million action film DERAILED.  The film is described as "SPEED on a train."  I thought the "SPEED on a..." trend went out a long time ago - sometime after SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL.  The film follows a man who must stop a speeding train which has been taken over by terrorists (why can't THIS film be postponed in the wake of the disasters...) from crashing into a highly populated city.  Interestingly enough, Van Damme also has just finished another film for Millenium called THE REPLICANT.  I'll look for both of these in the discount bin at Blockbuster...
 

October 3, 2001

Source: Joey Baloney

• Read the first set report from the Mel Gibson/M. Night Shyamalan film SIGNS here
• New stills from VANILLA SKY, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, THE SHIPPING NEWS and others are online here
• Check out the backgrounds of the 13 ghosts in the upcoming film 13 GHOSTS here
• A lot of negative QUEEN OF THE DAMNED reviews are chronicled here

October 10, 2001

Joel and Ethan Coen, who are known more quirky noir films like FARGO, BLOOD SIMPLE and the upcoming THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE, have taken a different route with their next project. The brothers have written a script (based on a pitch by the writers of CATS AND DOGS) called BAD SANTA, about a thieving "Santa" and his elf who are inadvertently taught the true meaning of Christmas by an 8 year-old boy. The film will be directed by Terry Zwigoff who has had critical success with his past two features GHOST WORLD and CRUMB. The Coens will produce the film, which is described as a "quirky comedy." I'm guessing the Coen's brought in the "quirky". No word on whether John Goodman will play the con man dressed as Santa.
  

October 10, 2001

Quentin Tarantino is close to signing deals with Yuen Woo Ping and Sonny Chiba to coordinate different action sequences in his next film KILL BILL. Woo Ping, who also choreographed THE MATRIX and CROUCHING TIGER, will work on the kung-fu scenes and Chiba, who you might remember from clips in Tarantino’s TRUE ROMANCE, will work on the samurai fight scenes. The report, which came from news service Reuters, also gives us a clearer look at the plot:

“KILL BILL is about a female assassin who tries to leave a group of professional killers. Her fellow hit men show up at her wedding and kill everyone in the church, leaving her and her unborn child for dead. As it turns out, she takes a bullet in her brain that leaves her in a coma for five years. When she awakes, she is out for revenge and hops around the world killing gang members. She leaves the leader, Bill, for last.”

It had long been reported that Uma Thurman’s character in the film was a hooker seeking revenge on her pimp, but that apparently is not the case. According to Tarantino, he also expects Yuen and Chiba to play small roles in the film.
 

October 10, 2001

Rapper-turned-actor Snoop Dogg has signed on to star in LADY T. AND MOJO SLIM, which has got to be one of my favorite movie titles. The film is being described as a ROBIN HOOD meets BONNIE AND CLYDE. Snoop will star as Mojo Slim, a crook who falls for the daughter of a local police officer. As the two begin their romance, they set off on a crime spree, handing off their loot to the poor. The script was written by Eric Bernt (ROMEO MUST DIE) and is currently out to directors. Snoop can be seen next, in his first starring role, in the urban horror film BONES, set to open on the 26th.
 

October 10, 2001

Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Kate Beckinsale and Alessandro Nivola are set to star in the independent film LAUREL CANYON. The film revolves around a Harvard Medical School grad (Bale) who returns home with his fiancée (Beckinsale) to visit his record producer mother (McDormand). Soon after his return home, he finds normally uptight fiancee has fallen in love with a British rocker (Nivola) who also happens to be his mother’s boyfriend. Whew! That’s pretty complicated so I hope I did a decent job of encapsulating all that plot. But what a cast, huh?  The film has been written and will be directed by Lisa Cholodenko, who filmed the Ally Sheedy lesbian film HIGH ART. Filming begins Monday in Los Angeles.
 

October 10, 2001

Source: Joey Baloney

• The official one-sheet for the Bruce Willis/Colin Farrell WWII flick HART'S WAR is online here
• The first two official promo stills for DEATH TO SMOOCHY have been posted here and here
• A bunch of new shots from the set of SPIDER-MAN are online here.  Beware - they contain SPOILERS
• The teaser one-sheet for Ridley Scott's BLACK HAWK DOWN can be found exclusively here

October 9, 2001

October 9, 2001

October 9, 2001

October 9, 2001

October 9, 2001

October 9, 2001

October 9, 2001

Source: Joey Baloney

• Go NOW and download the trailer for VANILLA SKY here; OK, it's not the greatest quality but hey, what can you do?...
• Check out the poster for next summer's animated flick ICE AGE here
• There's an early (and negative) review for Jim Carrey's THE MAJESTIC online here
• The US government calling upon Spike Jonze and David Fincher for contingency plans in the wake of terrorist attacks?!  'Tis true...read more here

October 8, 2001

Last week was a busy one.  With all the JOY RIDE fun and other goodies (look for another cool non-JOY RIDE interview to be posted sometime early next week), I wasn't writing my daily news reports.  JoBlo was kind enough to step in for me but regrettably I missed one of the stories I was looking forward to reading for a long time.  Who exactly was being cast in DAREDEVIL.

I had long been a proponent of Guy Pearce starring in this film.  I think his acting work so far has been way solid besides his obvious resemblance to the Man Without Fear.  None of the other candidates did much for me. Matt Damon?  Too short.  Ed Norton?  Too bald.  Mark Wahlberg? Too....well I don't have time to get into that list here but suffice to say, it just wouldn't work.  Then came word that Vin Diesel was offered the role.  I nearly had a heart-attack but when I questioned Fox personally, they assured me that no one had been cast yet.  Never in any of this did I hear the name Ben Affleck. Not sure why really cause he is (now that I think about it) rather good for the role.  But when I read the news that Affleck had all but "dotted the i's and crossed the t's" to play DAREDEVIL, I had mixed-emotions.  I was disappointed because Pearce didn't make the cut.  Disappointed because Affleck isn't as strong an actor as I had hoped for.  Yet I was relieved that it wasn't Diesel (who HAD been offered the role but turned it down for CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK), Damon, Norton or (shudder) Wahlberg.

All this being said, I wish the best of luck to Affleck and director Mark Steven Johnson. I hope you guys can make a dark (not too dark, though...we don't need another BATMAN), suspenseful, touching, believable, fun and successful DAREDEVIL film.  I think you've got the talent to make it happen and I hope you use your resources to the best of your abilities.  That being said, DO NOT fuck this up.  I'm sure you all know how pissed off comic fans can get when you mess with their beloved.  Watch SUPERMAN, BATMAN, X-MEN and BLADE to see how it's done right.

Discuss the choice of Ben Affleck as DAREDEVIL here
  

October 8, 2001

In the current issue of Entertainment Weekly (the one with the top 100 soundtracks on the cover), the magazine reports that after November's SHALLOW HAL (with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black), the Farrelly Bros. will film their 10-year old script STUCK ON YOU. Originally slated to star Jim Carrey and Woody Allen, the directing duo have instead brought aboard Ben Stiller and Steve Martin to play the oddly mismatched siamese twins.  The project was originally intended to follow THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY but the Bros instead took on ME, MYSELF AND IRENE and HAL and the script has been stuck in neutral for sometime until just recently being fast-tracked by Fox.  I'm not sure how they'll explain the obvious age difference between the two stars, but I imagine it's all part of the gag. 
 

October 8, 2001

ROAD TRIP director Todd Phillips has signed on to direct Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn in a big screen version of the classic 70s detective show STARSKY AND HUTCH. Stiller will also produce the film under his Red Hour Films banner but it is unknown whether he or Phillips (or both) could tackle the script.  The series ran on ABC from 1975-1979 and starred Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul (great name BTW) as the title characters.  Normally I would think this would be another completely unnecessary comedy/action film based on a old 70s TV show.  Didn't THE MOD SQUAD teach us anything?  But I don't believe that either Stiller would attach himself to anything that would stink so highly of crap. He's had a pretty decent string of funny flicks so I hope they pull this one together and concentrate more on the comedy than the action.  Get Orlando Jones to play Huggy Bear and you're headed in the right direction.
 

October 8, 2001

Hot off the news that Martin Scorcese's GANGS OF NEW YORK will premiere in 2002 comes work that Universal's high-profile/high-prestige Holiday release, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, will go wide (after a platform release in a few major cities) on January 4th instead of Christmas Day. Could this have anything to do with the news that Sony moved it's HP/HP release ALI to Christmas Day and proved too much competition for MIND?  The studio insists their mind was made up before the ALI move was announced but one never knows.  It certainly will be a crowded late December with LORD OF THE RINGS, THE MAJESTIC, KATE & LEOPOLD, JOE SOMEBODY, JIMMY NEUTRON: BOY GENIUS, HOW HIGH and MONSTER'S BALL all trying to stake their claim in the lucrative market.  Who will survive?  I'm not sure it even matters as studios aim to get prestigious films under the wire for Academy Award consideration which could lead to financial success further down the line.  As a moviegoer I'm excited to see these flicks one way or another.
 

October 8, 2001

Square Pictures, the folks behind the underwhelming and underperforming FINAL FANTASY, have lost all funding from parent company Square Company, Ltd., but will continue to function as an independent entity.  FANTASY was expected to gross in the $80 million range domestically but wound up only raking in about $30 mil.  This after the film cost a reported $135 million and four years of time to create. Square Company said the decision was made after they expected to turn a yearly profit of about $5 million but because of FANTASY wound up posting a whopping loss of over $100 million.  A Square Pictures rep says there are no immediate plans to close the studio and that they will continue to produce other CGI-animated films for other studios.
 

October 8, 2001

Source: Joey Baloney

• Read more about last night's Emmy Awards postponement here
• Check out the official one-sheet for Wes Anderson's THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS here
• Some new shots from OCEAN'S ELEVEN are ready for your review here