October 27, 2000

Katie Holmes plays a role in Sam Raimi's upcoming film THE GIFT. Gary Cole played a role in Sam Raimi's dark thriller A SIMPLE PLAN. Now both Holmes and Cole are rumored to have starring roles in Raimi's upcoming major motion picture SPIDER-MAN. Cole would be up for the part of Jameson, the newspaper man himself, and Holmes is rumored to be donning blonde hair in order to play the part of Gwen Stacy (which would only be a cameo in the first film). As an aside, Holmes and Tobey Maguire, Spiderman himself, worked together on the solid WONDER BOYS earlier this year.
          

October 27, 2000

If you haven't seen any of the Tim Burton written and directed episodes of "Stainboy" on the Internet yet, now is your chance, with episodes I, II and III all online for your viewing pleasure. Episode I pits Stainboy against Staregirl. Episode II sees him fighting the evil Toxicboy and episode III throws Stainboy up against The Bowling Ball Head. All of the music in the clips is provided by Burton right-hand man Danny Elfman. Click pic below to be taken to Stainboy!

October 27, 2000

What do you do when you film a pilot episode for a proposed new TV series and the Disney-owned ABC network decides to nix it because "the pace of the movie was too slow and they hated the characters"? Release it in Europe as a stand-alone David Lynch film, of course! Eccentric director Lynch got his modern day film noir show "Mullholland Drive" rejected by the network and sold to Canal Plus in Europe, who as part of the deal have secured David Lynch's agreement to film a new ending, to ensure the film works as a stand alone project. The film centres around two women involved in a murder mystery in modern-day LA and stars Ann Miller, Naomi Watts and Robert Forster. God knows if we will ever see it here. 
          

October 27, 2000

Maybe not the coolest cast gearing up for a shoot next year, but definitely a runner-up, as Gene Hackman has now officially joined the growing cast for Wes Anderson's (RUSHMORE) next film project, entitled THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS. Hackman will be joining Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Owen and Luke Wilson and Bill Murray, in this eclectic cast set for a Disney comedy. The film is about a dysfunctional family of geniuses who wind up as adults living under the same roof. Shooting is expected to begin in March. The first place for "best cast" goes to the remake of OCEAN'S ELEVEN which now sports George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Alan Arkin and possibly Bruce Willis as part of their pack.
         

October 27, 2000

Now that the SCOOBY DOO movie has finally been green-lighted, with director Raja Gosnell at the helm, casting rumors have started coming in left and right. The first one features buxom, young teen actress Christina Ricci, playing the "brain" of the bunch, Selma. With filming set to begin shooting in Australia next spring, no final decisions have been made in terms of casting yet.
        

October 27, 2000

Niobe was the first new major character announced for the MATRIX sequels (presently being negotiated with Jada Pickett Smith), and now three other new casting proposals have come to the forefront. They are:

"Warrior": Late 20s to early 30s. Strong, silent type with a spiritual aura similar to that of a Native American. Could be any ethnicity...

"East Indian Family": Middle aged man, his wife, and a 7 - 10 year old daughter. Daughter does not have to be an actress.

"Thanatos": Male, 30s. Second in command, he is a handsome but imposing man, inspiring fear in those around him by his mere presence. He is a brilliant military strategist but harbors a dark secret.

No final casting choices have been confirmed for any of the parts above, but I guess one could start putting together a list according to some of these descriptions.
        

October 24, 2000

Kevin Smith's next movie, secretively titled VIEW ASKEW 5, will apparently star Jason Lee in a dual role, both as Bankie (the role that he played in MALLRATS) and Brodie (the role that he played in CHASING AMY), according to the man himself, Kevin Smith, who spoke about the project at a presentation he made at Bloomsburg University last Thursday evening. Smith also said that Ben Affleck would be playing two parts, Holden (from MALLRATS), but would not divulge his other character. He also mentioned that Jeff Anderson would be back as Randall (from CLERKS), and the IMDB claims that Brian O'Halloran would be back as Dante (from CLERKS) as well. Micheal Rooker (from MALLRATS) will apparently not be cast. The only other thing that he hinted about the film was that it would be shot in Los Angeles, and that it would more than likely be a "road movie" of sorts.
        

October 24, 2000

Sadly, it appears as though two-bit director Paul Anderson (SOLDIER and EVENT HORIZON) has decided to ditch all of the characters and the story from the "Resident Evil" video game for the film version, and started on a new concept whose relation to the game would be in name only. A casting call sheet apparently confirmed this news last week, as it indicated the plot of the film as having something to do with "a group of commandos trapped in a building operated by a rogue computer creating an army of the undead." A petition AGAINST the movie has begun and you can add your name to the list by clicking on the link below.

Petition against the RESIDENT EVIL movie
      

October 24, 2000

More fall releases have been previewed by sneak audiences and AICN has picked up on several of them. Please note that most of these reviews contain ** SPOILERS **, so do not read them if you don't want the films spoiled for you in any way.

Early review of THE SIXTH DAY

Early review of THE GRINCH

Early review of LITTLE NICKY

Early review of CHARLIE'S ANGELS
  

October 24, 2000

Director Jonathan Demme (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS) is in negotiations to direct a dark romantic comedy entitled INTOLERABLE CRUELTY. A start date of March is currently being eyed, as our actors Hugh Grant, Tea Leoni and Geoffrey Wright for parts. The film is about a revenge-seeking gold digger who marries a womanizing Beverly Hills lawyer with the intention of making a killing in a divorce. It's unclear whether Grant will play the lawyer. Leoni looms likely as his wife, with Wright in the third lead. Other directors who were at some point attached to this project include Andrew Bergman, Ron Howard and Joe Dante. The film was originally written by Robert Ramsey and Matthew Stone, and rewritten most recently by FARGO filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen.
     

October 24, 2000

Renaissance Films has finally confirmed that Terry Gilliam will direct the big screen version of the comic fantasy GOOD OMENS. Based on the book by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, the film will have a budget in the $50M range, be shot in the UK, and is scheduled to start shooting in late 2001. The film is the story of an angel and a demon who are sent together on a mission to track down the Antichrist, who has been misplaced somewhere on Earth.
  

October 22, 2000

Thanks once again to Bear aka Lours for providing us with yet another heads-up to a cool interview on the Net. ROLLERBALL is currently being remade by director John McTiernan with Chris Klein in the lead and LL Cool J, Jean Reno and Rebecca Romjin-Stamos as co-stars. Not a lot is known about the film as of yet, but LL was nice enough to offer some thoughts to Premiere France online, including his take on the original, his character in the movie, the social implications of Rollerball, comparisons to ANY GIVEN SUNDAY and his role in CHARLIE'S ANGELS. All 8 audio clips could be found on the page below (Real-Audio).

Listen to LL COOL J discussing the remake of ROLLERBALL