MOVIE NEWS
BATMAN BEGINS
Two more wonderful images of Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins, starring
Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader, have been released (see right and
below-right).
BULLITT
Director Wolfgang Petersen (Troy) will helm the 'Warner Brothers' remake of
the 1968 Steve McQueen hit Bullitt, reports 'Variety'. The movie, which
focuses on tough detective Frank Bullitt, will be contemporized by Cynthia
Mort. The original was based on the Robert L. Pike novel Mute Witness, but
the remake will instead choose a different storyline.
Petersen: [The film is not about] "remaking a film or repeating a plot, it
is about reviving a great character. Frank Bullitt is a cool, no-nonsense
man who doesn't compromise. Bullitt walks his own path and his pursuit of
the truth is unrelenting."
MORGAN FREEMAN
Morgan Freeman (Bruce Almighty) and screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard are
teaming up for an untitled World War II project for 'DreamWorks' about the
761st Tank Battalion, says 'The Hollywood Reporter'. The 761st Tank
Battalion was the first black armoured unit to enter combat during World War
II.
The unit, also known as the "Black Panthers", arrived in November 1944
to help Gen. George Patton in France and spent the rest of the war on the
front. They were also instrumental in the Battle of the Bulge. The unit
received a Presidential Unit Citation in 1978, 33 years after the end of the
war...
STEVEN SPIELBERG
Director Steven Spielberg is moving forward on an untitled
'DreamWorks'/'Universal' co-production about the 1972 Munich Olympics, says
'Variety'.
Eric Bana (Troy) has signed onto the film, which begins shooting in various
European locations in the next month or so. Ben Kingsley had agreed to play
one of the leads, but his participation now appears unlikely because
Spielberg delayed starting by five weeks so he could shoot a different
ending to his current movie The Terminal.
Spielberg is said to hope he can direct Tom Cruise in their remake of H.G.
Wells' classic novel The War of the Worlds, which is being scripted by David
Koepp (Panic Room).
THE FOUNTAIN
Director Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain will start filming on 1 November 1
in Montreal. Hugh Jackman takes the lead role in a story that spans three
different time periods, via a quest for immortality thanks to a "tree of
life" found in Central America.
I DREAM OF JEANNIE
Lindsay Lohan (Mean Girls) talked to 'Empire' magazine and revealed she's
interested in starring in the big screen version of TV's I Dream of Jeannie.
Lohan: "It's a great script. I know of [the TV show]. I've seen some of the
re-runs".
The actress is also due to star in a remake of The Love Bug. "In Herbie I
play a twenty year old, she's more mature, she's a student in college and
she's drives race cars. I'm taking driving lessons for that now."
CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
Irish actor David Kelly (Waking Ned Devine) has won the role of Grandpa Joe
in Tim Burton's Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, according to 'The Hollywood
Reporter'.
The child actors cast include Anna Sophia Robb (Violet), Jordan Fry (Mike),
Julia Winter (Verucca), Philip Wiegratz (Augustus) and Freddie Highmore
(Charlie). Robb plays the competitive Violet Beauregarde and Fry takes on
the role of Mike Teavee, a brainy bully with a passion for television.
'Warner Brothers' are targeting a 15 July 2005 release date.
FINAL DESTINATION III
'Variety' reports that 'New Line Cinema' has greenlit Final Destination 3,
and will reunite the franchise with its creators Glen Morgan and James Wong.
Wong directed the original film, which he also co-wrote with Morgan and
Jeffrey Reddick, back in 2000. The second instalment was directed by David
R. Ellis and written by J. Mackye Gruber and Eric Bress. Both film only cost
$25 million to make, but made $90 million and $70 million worldwide,
respectively.
Co-writer Morgan and writer-director Wong have not revealed what kind of
accident the third film will entail, although the rumour about a
rollercoaster accident seems too inviting to move away from...
KING KONG
Andy Serkis, who voiced and acted Lord Of The Rings' Gollum, before the CGI
boffins stepped in, has been tasked by Peter Jackson to breathe life into
the Kiwi director's latest venture King Kong – as the enormous ape himself!
Serkis will also appear as Lumpy the cook, a crewman aboard the Venture, the
tramp steamer that sails to Skull Island.
Jackson: "I expect this time round will be a very different experience for
both Andy and myself as we'll actually get to shoot extended drama sequences
together. It will be a little weird seeing Andy out of his Gollum gimp suit
-- and I hope we can both make the adjustment!"
"While Andy will provide very valuable onset reference, this doesn't mean we
will be softening Kong by attempting to humanize him. The power of the story
lies in the fact that this is a savage beast from a hostile environment, and
we don't intend to compromise that."
LOGAN'S RUN
'Hollywood North Report' revealed that director Bryan Singer's Logan's Run
remake will start production in September, using the new 4 stage 64,000 sq
ft Canadian Motion Picture Park in the Big Bend area of South Burnaby.
The production have booked the facility until September 2005, for what is
expected to be the largest production in Vancouver history. The shoot is
expected to last until early-2005 but the sets will be retained for possible
pick-up shots and re-shoots once the CGI work is nearly done.
MARTIAN CHILD
Director Nick Cassavetes (The Notebook) and actor John Cusack will work
together on The Martian Child, reports 'Variety'. Adapted from a short story
by sci-fi author David Gerrold, Jonathan Tolins and Seth Bass' script mixes
E.T with Parenthood in the story of an unusual father-son relationship.
Cusack will play a sci-fi writer who, shattered by the death of his fiancée,
adopts a 6-year-old because he wants to be a dad. His kid is a bit peculiar;
convinced he is an alien from Mars...
FANTASTIC FOUR
The latest casting rumours have Jason Isaacs adding Dr Doom to his
repertoire of bad-guy roles – after Harry Potter's Lucius Malfoy and Peter
Pan's Hook!
'Moviehole' has also interviewed actress Kadee Strickland, who stars in The
Stepford Wives remake, and she hinted that she could be close so signing
onto Fantastic Four. Strickland: "We're talking about it". The actress is
good friends with the movie's director, Tim Story, and bears a strong
resemblance to Susan Storm (aka The Invisible Woman).
'Superhero Hype' exclusively revealed a rejected design for The Thing (see
right), on display at the recent International Make Up Artist Trade Show in
Pasadena. At the show, it was announced that now the team who worked on
Hellboy's make-up will use that film's make-up techniques to bring The Thing
to life.
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA
The 'New Zealand Herald' spoke to director Andrew Adamson (Shrek 2) about
his big screen version of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lions, the Witch and
the Wardrobe, that begins filming very soon.
Adamson: "It's going very well. We are days away from shooting or weeks away
from shooting, so it's a train that is coming at me definitely. But it's
going great. We have a great cast assembled now so it's really coming
together. It's exciting. It's terrifying and exciting. To me it's about
making a movie which lives up to my memory of my book rather than
specifically the book itself."
"And it needs to live up to everyone else's memories and that is what my
challenge is - to make it accessible and real. You read it and it's a 1940s
children's book. I want it to feel real and for kids today to actually
relate to the children."
"So I've really tried to make the story about a family which is
disenfranchised and disempowered in World War II, that on entering Narnia,
through their unity as a family become empowered at the end of the story.
It's really bringing the humanity of the characters into what is effectively
a symbolic story."
REPAIRMAN JACK
Director Douglas Aarniokoski, who often collaborates with Robert Rodriguez
(Desperado), is working on Repairman Jack for 'Beacon Pictures', says 'The
Hollywood Reporter'.
The project is described as Indiana Jones meets The Mummy, focusing on a man
for hire who tries to track down an elusive evil figure and save the world.
Originally written by Trevor Sands, the project was most recently handled by
scribe Chris Morgan. Aarniokoski is attached to direct The Courier for Avi
Lerner's 'Millennium Films' and producers Willi Baer and Carmen Miller at
their 'Eternity Pictures'.
SHREK 3 & 4
'DreamWorks' co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg admitted to the 'Sydney Morning
Herald' that there were always plans to make four Shrek movies, saying: "We
didn't have the guts to tell anybody when we started out. We have two more
chapters to tell. Not unlike Peter Jackson did with The Lord of the Rings.
The difference is they did have the guts to make all three of them
back-to-back-to-back."
Katzenberg confirmed that work on Shrek 3 has been proceeding for nine
months and on Shrek 4 for three months, which will continue the series until
2009. "Thirteen years... you think Peter Jackson went at it a long time! We
do spend three or four years making them. The nature of the process is
[that] you get to see your work and view it over and over and over again -
and redo it and remake it in a way that live action doesn't have."
TINTIN
According to French magazine 'L'Écran Fantastique', the reason why the
long-awaited Tintin movie has taken so long to get started is because Steven
Spielberg wants to produce and maybe direct three of the movies!
The Secret Of The Unicorn, Red Rackham's Treasure, The Seven Crystal Balls,
Prisoners Of The Sun, The Blue Lotus & Tintin In Tibet are all potential
movie adaptations waiting to be adapted for the big screen. The movies are
rumoured to start production in 2005 for a 2006 release. Gregory Smith
(Small Soldiers) has been linked to the Tintin role (see right).
SUPERMAN
'Variety' published a new update on the stalling Superman movie, saying the
project is moving ahead for a late-2004 start. The studio is in talks with
Neal Moritz (The Fast & The Furious) and Gilbert Adler (Constantine) to
produce the film.
Director McG (Charlie's Angels) hasn't been signed to direct officially, but
he has recently screen-tested six actors for the Superman part. New
candidates said to have tested are Jason Behr (Roswell), Henry Cavill (The
Count of Monte Cristo), Jared Padalecki (New York Minute) and Michael
Cassidy.
The infamous J.J. Abrams script has been streamlined to a budget of just
over $200 million.
** IN THE PIPELINE **