the most anticipated...

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Leslie Mann is joining Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor in the black comedy "I Love You Phillip Morris" says Reuters.

The story follows a married father (Carrey) who is sent to prison and falls in love with a cellmate named Phillip Morris. His love leads him to make several escape attempts.

Mann will play Carrey's wife. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa ("Bad Santa") are directing and production begins later this month.

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Fox Searchlight has approached Director David Ayer ("Training Day") about the possibility of doing a prequel to his upcoming cop thriller "Street Kings" reports JoBlo.

Ayer says "I think a prequel is actually pretty interesting. Which is, what got these people into this situation.

It may sound corny but, 99.9% of people get into law enforcement because they want to help people. And so you take that, bright eyed-bushy tailed rookie, and how does he become the Tom Ludlow."

'Kings' opens this Friday.

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Former "Daily Show" correspondent Rob Corddry has snagged the role of press secretary Ari Fleischer in Oliver Stone's upcoming presidential biopic "W" reports MTV News.

Since his departure from Jon Stewart's fold, Corddry has had strong success in various supporting roles in such comedies as "Blades of Glory," "Unaccompanied Minors," "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," "The Heartbreak Kid," "Semi-Pro," and upcoming features like "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" and "What Happens in Vegas."

Fleischer served as press secretary for U.S. President George W. Bush from January 2001 to July 2003. He in many ways was the public face of the Government's more cautious and closed approach after the 9/11 attacks. He later became an important figure in the scandal about the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's name to the public.

Josh Brolin, James Cromwell, Elizabeth Banks, Ellen Burstyn, Thandie Newton and Ioan Gruffudd have already been cast as George W., George Sr., Laura, and Barbara Bush, as well as Condoleezza Rice and Tony Blair, respectively.

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Zack Snyder ("Dawn of the Dead," "300") is set to direct the animated feature film "Guardians of Ga'Hoole" for Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow says Variety.

Based on the series of children's books by Kathryn Lasky, the story is set in the Forest of Tyto, where Barn Owls live in peace until their kingdom is threatened by an evil that could destroy their home.

John Orloff ("A Mighty Heart") and John Collee ("Master and Commander") adapted the script and production will begin in Sydney, Australia later this year for a 2009 or 2010 release.

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One of the most troubled film projects in recent film development history has been "MEG".

Steve Alten's book dealt with the modern day re-emergence of an 80-foot long prehistoric shark which can eat a Tyrannosaurus Rex for breakfast. The book came out in 1997 and soon after plans were hatched to turn the property into a movie.

Over a decade later and the project remains unproduced, despite a long history and many millions spent in development costs at both Hollywood Pictures and New Line Cinema.

Now, according to The Los Angeles Times, a new financier has stepped forward. Apelles Publishing Inc. has optioned the rights from Alten. Veteran producers Lawrence Gordon ("Die Hard") and Lloyd Levin ("Boogie Nights") remain attached to produce, along with Virginia-based film financing consultant Belle Avery.

Whilst at the now defunct New Line, director Jan de Bont ("Speed," "Twister") was hired to helm the project, using a script by Shane Salerno ("Armageddon") and brought in a team of special effects and production experts to assist him.

Ultimately though the plug was pulled a few months before the studio was folded back into Warners earlier this year, a spokesman citing the project's expense ($157 million+ budget estimates) along with the several producers already being attached to the project without the studio's say.

Guillermo Del Toro and one of my oldest online mates, CHUD.Com creator Nick Nunziata, were previously attached to produce. Del Toro has since left the project.

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ThinkFilm has picked up all North American rights to the Sundance-premiered British prison drama "The Escapist" from Parallel Films and Picture Farm says the trades.

Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Dominic Cooper and Damian Lewis star in the gritty, stylish movie about a group of inmates trying to break out of a London prison.

Directed by Rupert Wyatt from a script he wrote with Daniel Hardy, the project uses dual time structure that cuts between the planning for the escape and the escape itself in a race against the clock to see his drug-addled daughter.

ThinkFilm expects to release the movie in October, following a similar platform rollout as it did with last year's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead."

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DreamWorks has tapped David DiGilio to adapt the Oni Press graphic novel "The Damned," by Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt.

Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald are producing via their DreamWorks-based shingle.

Described as horror-noir, "Damned" follows a Los Angeles detective who discovers that a new gang with ties to the supernatural has infiltrated the city.

Eric Gitter is also producing via his Closed on Mondays Entertainment, the film production arm of Oni Press Mark. Peter Schwerin will exec produce.

DreamWorks recently snapped up Oni Press' upcoming graphic novel "The Return of King Doug" for Ben Stiller to produce and potentially topline.

DiGilio wrote "Eight Below" for Disney and was creator of ABC series "The Traveler."

He is repped by UTA, Stephen Crawford at Luber/Roklin and attorney Karl Austen.

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Toll worker's spec attracts big names
By Borys Kit

March 26, 2008

Don Cheadle (Getty Images photo)
A Staten Island tollbooth worker in desperate need of a car wrote a crime thriller spec titled "Brooklyn's Finest" last year. Now he finds himself rubbing shoulders with some of Hollywood's finest, including Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke and Antoine Fuqua.

Living in Brooklyn, Michael Martin had just totaled his car in an accident. While in physical therapy, he entered a screenwriting competition, hoping to win the prize money for his new set of wheels.

"I had never written a screenplay before," said Martin, who had studied film in college. "I thought, 'How hard can it be?' I was more like, 'If I win this, I can get a new car.' "

His screenplay came in second but eventually ended up in a far better place: the doorstep of Warner Bros.-based Thunder Road exec Mary Viola, who had been looking for a writer who had an authentic and gritty voice to write a sequel to "New Jack City," which was in development at Warner Premiere, Warners' direct-to-DVD division. Impressed by "Finest," Viola set out find the writer, who then had no agent.

Martin had moved out to L.A., staying at a downtown hotel, and hooked up with representatives at ICM and ROAR. He enjoyed a brief stint writing for Showtime's "Sleeper Cell," but homesickness overwhelmed him. He returned to New York and wound up back at the Transit Authority.


Meanwhile, in the hands of Viola, "Finest" became red hot, quickly attracting top talent. Gere and Cheadle are now polishing their badges to star in the ensemble police thriller, which Fuqua will direct for Avi Lerner's Millennium Films, which is financing. Hawke is also coming on board to star, a move that will reteam him with Fuqua, who helmed him to an Oscar nomination in "Training Day." Ellen Barkin is also booking a part.

The script almost brought Mel Gibson out of acting seclusion. He took a string of meetings, but things ultimately didn't work out.

Thunder Road's Basil Iwanyk is producing with John Langley. Viola and Fuqua are exec producing with Robert Greenhut and Jesse Kennedy.

The story, a sort of "Crash" meets "Training Day," is a dramatic ensemble with three intertwining story lines involving Brooklyn cops. "I worked for a bus company that got indicted by the Feds because of Mob connections," Martin said. "I could not have written 'Brooklyn's Finest' without that experience."

The movie is prepping for a May shoot in Brooklyn, in the very locations that inspired Martin to write the script. "Things are moving very fast right now. It's something I've been waiting a long time for," Martin said.

Fuqua, whose last movie was 2007's "Shooter," is repped by CAA. Hawke is repped by CAA. Gere, last seen in Todd Haynes' "I'm Not There," next stars in "Nights in Rodanthe." He is repped by WMA. Cheadle, repped by UTA, will next appear in "Hotel for Dogs."

Martin, a new dad, was recently promoted to construction flagger within the Transit Authority, working inside the subway system. He is writing "New Jack City 2," often during his breaks in the subway tunnels.

He drives a new car.

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Ken Loach is making a biopic of Eric Cantona's
   time at Man Utd, provisionally titled Finding
   Eric. The director hasn't lost his “man of the
   people” credentials. Rather than staying in
   the posh Lowry Hotel he's in a big standard
   3 star place, refusing the services of a
   chauffeur and spending his 35 quid a day
   per diem in Pret a Manger on food for his
   staff. He and the Cantona family have been
   travelling around by tram or minicab.

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Wolfgang Petersen ("Air Force One," "Troy," "The Perfect Storm") is no longer attached to direct "Ender's Game" reports io9.com.

An adaptation of Orson Scott Card's acclaimed sci-fi novel about a child super soldier who plays a long simulation of Earth's fight against the 'bugger' race of alien insects. As the 'game' wears on, he begins to lose his sanity and makes a final and devastating decision that has real world consequences.

No word as to why he's left the project, but Chartoff Productions is said to be busy meeting with a slew of potential directors to replace him for a shoot starting in early 2009.

Author Card has apparently finished a draft of the script and is "already working to make it even better."

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Bill Cosby has joined a who's who of black comedians for the Robert Townsend-directed documentary "Why We Laugh: Black Comedians on Black Comedy" says The Hollywood Reporter.

The film is described as a no-holds-barred, raw, uncensored and truthful look at black comedy and its cultural influence. It also takes a critical examination of the social impact of black comedy and its notable artists.

Cosby joins a cast of comedians that include Chris Rock, Steve Harvey, George Wallace, Paul Mooney and Katt Williams, among others.

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MGM Films has acquired domestic rights to "How To Lose Friends and Alienate People" and plans to release the comedy on October 3rd says Variety.

Based on Toby Young's memoir, the story centers on an English journalist (Simon Pegg) who proves a failure on the staff of New York's most prestigious magazine as his bad manners and vulgar pranks lead to monumental mishaps.

Kirsten Dunst, Megan Fox, Danny Huston, Gillian Anderson and Jeff Bridges also star. Robert B. Weide directed from a script by Young and Peter Straughan.

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Nick Stoller ("Forgetting Sarah Marshall") is gearing up for another Judd Apatow-produced comedy "Get Him to the Greek" for Universal Pictures says Variety.

Stoller will write and direct comedy which centers on a fresh out-of-college insurance adjuster (Jonah Hill) who is hired to accompany an out-of-control rock star (Russell Brand) from London to a gig at L.A.'s Greek Theater.

Stoller is co-writing and will direct the comedy "Five-Year Engagement" for Universal with Jason Segal co-writing and attached to star. The pair are also collaborating on "The Muppet Movie" for Disney.

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http://dobanevinosti.blogspot.com/2008/04/full-hancock.html

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Mel Gibson has committed to star in "Edge of Darkness," marking his first starring role in a feature film since he headlined "Signs" and "We Were Soldiers" in 2002.
Martin Campbell will direct the feature adaptation of the six-hour 1985 BBC miniseries, which Campbell also helmed.

William Monahan wrote the script, and Graham King is producing through his GK Films banner. Michael Wearing, who produced the original, will also produce, and the BBC will be involved in a producing capacity.

Campbell, who last directed "Casino Royale," developed the project and brought it to King a year ago. He enlisted Monahan for a page one rewrite; the scribe worked with King on "The Departed." King is self-financing the project and is committed to an August production start in Boston. It is unclear whether he will fully finance through production or enlist a studio.

Gibson will play a straitlaced police investigator whose activist daughter is killed. He plunges into the case and uncovers systemic corruption that led to his daughter's death.

Gibson had long been a fan of the mini and was receptive when King and Campbell approached him several months ago.

Before "Signs" and "We Were Soldiers," Gibson starred in 2000's "What Women Want" and "The Patriot." Subsequently, he concentrated on directing, with "The Passion of the Christ" in 2004 and "Apocalypto" in 2006.

While Gibson has stayed under the radar after controversy sparked when he made anti-Semitic comments to a police officer during a DUI arrest in Malibu, he has continued to be offered acting vehicles, and he came close to accepting on several occasions, including "Under and Alone," a fact-based drama still in development at Warner Bros.

At a time when supposedly proven stars aren't translating to opening weekends, films that Gibson starred in and directed have grossed north of $5 billion worldwide.

King and Monahan won Oscars for "The Departed," and the producer recently made a first-look deal with the writer, who has taken residence in GK headquarters. Among the projects on which Monahan and King are collaborating is the Paramount-based true story of Jim Keene, who traded a prison sentence to go undercover at a maximum-security hospital for the criminally insane. King will produce that film with Alexandra Milchan, based on an upcoming Playboy magazine article by Keene and writer Hillel Levin.

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Jimmy Kimmel Live: 1,000th Episode
Judge


Bateman


Krinsky

Mike Judge will direct and Jason Bateman will star in the comedy "Extract," the first project to be produced under Judge's new shingle, Ternion Prods., which he formed with writer-producers John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky.
Ternion is fully financed to develop film, TV, digital and new-media projects through a finance and development deal with Media Rights Capital. The shingle will also produce films and TV projects through the traditional studio and network route.

Penned by Judge, "Extract" explores what it's like to be the boss when everything seems to be shifting around you.

Miramax will distribute in North America.

Altschuler is producing alongside Michael Rotenberg. Tom Lassally and Krinsky exec produce.

Ternion is bringing its first series to the smallscreen under its deal with MRC. "The Goode Family," which will air on ABC, was created by Altschuler, Judge and Krinsky, who are also exec producing along with Rotenberg and Lassally. The series is currently in production on its first 13 episodes and will bow in the first quarter of 2009.

MRC has also preemptively acquired Altschuler and Krinsky's spec film script "Brigadier Gerard." Comedy is set in the Napoleonic era and is based on a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle. Ternion is attaching a director to shoot in 2009.

Judge, who wrote and directed "Office Space," is the creator of "Beavis and Butthead" and "King of the Hill," which he produced with Altschuler and Krinsky.

Altschuler and Krinsky wrote "Blades of Glory" and are penning "Brothers of Invention" in addition to finishing work on "The Jetsons."

Bateman next will be seen in "Hancock" alongside Will Smith and in the Kevin MacDonald-helmed political drama "State of Play."

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Soderbergh to direct 'Girlfriend'
Koppelman, Levien to write script
By MICHAEL FLEMING

Steven Soderbergh will direct "The Girlfriend Experience," a feature that focuses on the world of prostitution from the vantage point of a $10,000-a-night call girl.
Brian Koppelman and David Levien will write; the pair hatched the project when they and Soderbergh were working on "Ocean's Thirteen."

Pic will be financed by 2929 Entertainment partners Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner through their HDNet label. It will become the second film -- after "Bubble" -- in the six-picture pact they made for Soderbergh to direct low-budget films that get distributed simultaneously in theatrical, on cable TV and on DVD.

Greg Jacobs ("The Good German") will produce.

Rather than go for star power, Soderbergh may set an adult film actress to play the lead role. Soderbergh shot "Bubble" using mostly non-pros.

Project marks the director's first exploration of sexual relationships since his breakthrough film, "sex, lies & videotape."

Much the way that Coleman Hough and Soderbergh wrote a detailed outline for "Bubble" that was used as the basis for a partly improvisational shoot, Koppelman and Levien worked out the beats of the call- girl film with Soderbergh. The director waited until he shot two installments of his Spanish-language Che Guevara biopic before turning his attention to "The Girlfriend Experience."

Soderbergh will lense "The Informant" with Matt Damon for Warner Bros. as his next film. Then he'll turn to "The Girlfriend Experience," which will be shot over 14 days this fall.

The title refers to a phenomenon in which wealthy men pay not just for the quality of a sexual encounter but also for a woman who will play the role of a perfect girlfriend. The arrangement apparently involves more intimacy than the usual prostitution relationship. Soderbergh, Koppelman and Levien interviewed numerous women and fixed on an interior look at a woman who makes $1 million a year in the business.

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Phillip Noyce ("Clear and Present Danger," "The Quiet American") is in negotiations to direct DreamWorks Pictures "The Art of Making Money" says The Hollywood Reporter.

The story centers on Art Williams, the alias of an audacious Chicago counterfeiter who printed more than $10 million worth of fake $100 bills using cutting-edge techniques and continued to do so even after he had been caught by the FBI. Last year, he was sentenced to seven years in federal prison.

Based on Jason Kersten's 2005 profile of Williams in Rolling Stone, Frank Baldwin is attached to write the screenplay.

Noyce has been considering four projects during the past few weeks. His next film is the period drama "Mary Queen of Scots" with Scarlett Johansson opening later this year.

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Joseph Ruben ("Sleeping With the Enemy," "The Good Son," "The Forgotten") has signed on to direct the thriller "Jack" for Bold Films says the trades.

Written by David Venable, "Jack" centers on a doctor who rehabilitates and ultimately falls for an accident victim with memory loss, the victim being unaware that he actually is a killer.

Casting is under way with principal photography to begin early in the fall.

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Christian Slater and Wes Bentley will topline a film adaptation of Stephen King's short story "Dolan's Cadillac" for Film Bridge International.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Emmanuelle Vaugier will also play the female lead in the thriller about a man (Bentley), who plots to avenge the murder of his wife (Vaugier) by notorious and untouchable Las Vegas mob boss Jimmy Dolan (Slater).

Erik Canuel is directing from an adaptation written by Richard Dooling. Production is scheduled to begin May 14th.

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Eli Roth ("Hostel," "Cabin Fever") is almost finished on a script for a family-safe sci-fi action film.

"This will be my first big-budget, PG-13, mass-destruction movie. I went total chaos and pandemonium" he told Reuters, but won't go into further details - leaving the specifics for a "big announcement" next month.

Why is he doing this? "I feel like I pushed the violence in R movies about as far as I can push it. I feel like I'm bled out. I wanna switch it up. Everyone I know has been saying 'When are you gonna do a movie my kids can see?' And finally, I'm gonna make a movie that 13-year-old kids can see" he claims.

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The classic dark, low-budget British 70's sci-fi series "Blake's 7" is set to get a big-budget remake says The Times Online.

The new series will premiere on Sky One, after the satellite broadcaster asked the holders of the rights to develop a fresh series.

The BBC show, created by Terry Nation (who created the Daleks for "Doctor Who"), followed the exploits of Roj Blake as he led a band of reluctant rebels against the totalitarian Federation, which ruled the galaxy. The show was considered the anti-"Star Trek" of its time and was one of the first of the genre to explore the dark and pessimistic themes that pervade modern sci-fi television.

'Trek' was a bright and happy crew of military personnel spreading messages of peace and unity in stand-alone episodes. Blake's by contrast was about a dysfunctional group of cynical thieves, murderers and dissidents forced to work together but always furthering their own agendas.

The show was morally ambiguous, filled with complex characters (many of which got killed off randomly to ensure suspense), and was one of the first shows to employ both serial storylines and seasonal cliffhangers.

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South Korean dance group the Gambler will star in Paramount and Young Film's $25 million dance movie "Hype Nation" says Variety.

Helmed by Alex Calzatti ("I Am Cuba"), the story follows dance battles between the American R&B group B2K and Korean group the Gambler.

Rapper Teddy Riley plays a music director. The project is currently casting for a Korean female lead.

Production begins July 15th with some 40% lensing Stateside and 60% to be shot in South Korea.

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Jack Bauer is headed to Africa after all!

You'll recall the ORIGINAL original plan was to start season seven of "24" with an episode or two set in Africa before jumping in time and place to Washington, D.C.

Well, the writers' strike has suddenly brought us back to that plan, sort of, with a two-hour TV-movie that takes the lead "24" character to the Dark Continent.

The "24" movie will air this autumn. Season seven, part of which was shot prior to the movie (and the strike), is slated to start airing January of next year, Screen Actors Guild permitting.

The news of Bauer's next destination was spilled in a related Associated Press story on "24" webisodes one can read here.

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United Artists spies Surnow thriller
Martin Campbell to direct film
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Surnow


Campbell

United Artists and Lakeshore Entertainment have set "24" co-creator-exec producer Joel Surnow to develop a contemporary spy thriller that will be directed by "Casino Royale" helmer Martin Campbell.
Surnow will write the film with Michael Loceff, a "24" co-exec producer.

UA, which is run by Paula Wagner and partially owned by Tom Cruise, has made it a priority to find a commercially viable franchise for Cruise, though the studio wouldn't confirm whether the Surnow/Campbell project was specifically designed for the "Mission: Impossible" star.

Lakeshore's Gary Lucchesi and Tom Rosenberg will produce.

Surnow also developed and exec produced "La Femme Nikita," which ran from 1997-2001, and served as producer or wrote episodes for "The Equalizer," "Miami Vice," "Nowhere Man" and "Wiseguy."

"This is an original concept that both UA and I feel will have an impact creatively and commercially," Surnow said.

After directing "The Mask of Zorro" and "The Legend of Zorro," Campbell showed his spy thriller acumen by directing "GoldenEye," and then "Casino Royale," the film that transitioned the James Bond franchise to Daniel Craig.

Campbell will next direct "Edge of Darkness," a drama starring Mel Gibson (Daily Variety, April 29). That film, based on a BBC miniseries that Campbell directed in 1985, is being financed and produced by Graham King's GK Films.More than one option(Co) Daily Variety
Filmography, Year, Role
(Co) Daily Variety

The new project gives UA two plum commercial projects, the other being "Champions," an adaptation of the '60s British TV adventure series that had Guillermo del Toro attached. The helmer will likely have to be replaced, after committing to four years in New Zealand making two films based on J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit." UA parent MGM shares "The Hobbit" with New Line Cinema and Warner Bros.

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Nicole Kidman will star in Fox 2000's biopic of British 60's pop singer Dusty Springfield according to scribe Michael Cunningham ("The Hours").

Cunningham tells New York Magazine that "She was a great artist who no one knew what to do with. She was coming into her full powers at the same time the Beatles were, but she is clearly going into history with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones."

Cunningham said the film would include the lonely years in exile from the U.K. in Hollywood, the drinking and the drugging, and the tortured bisexual/lesbian feelings that wove through her checkered career, which ended when she died of cancer in 1999.

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Jonah Hill is in early negotiations to co-star with Shia LaBeouf in "Transformers 2" for DreamWorks and Paramount.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Hill ("Superbad," "Forgetting Sarah Marshall") will provide the comic relief as a Princeton college roommate of Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf) who runs a conspiracy theory website.

The sequel will begin shooting shortly and is scheduled for a release on June 26th 2009.

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Miramax has signed on to remake of last year's successful Israeli thriller "The Debt" says The Hollywood Reporter.

The story revolves around three Mossad agents who, 20 years after World War II's end, learn that a Nazi war criminal is still alive and set out to pursue him across Europe.

Assaf Bernstein directed the original which like the remake is set in the 1960s and 1990s.

"Stardust" and "Layer Cake" director Matthew Vaughn and his writing partner Jane Goldman are penning the new version, but Vaughn is not expected to direct.

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David Silverman ("The Simpsons Movie," "Monsters, Inc.") has signed on to develop and direct the live-action sci-fi family comedy "The Pet" for Disney Pictures says The Hollywood Reporter.

The project, written by Matt Lieberman, centers on an everyday guy who becomes the pet of a group of aliens.

Scott Rudin and Craig Perry are producing.

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Karl Urban ("Doom," "The Lord of the Rings") will lead the cast of the $25 million 3D action feature "Relentless" for Baldwin Entertainment and Velvet Octopus reports Variety.

Demian Lichtenstein ("3000 Miles to Graceland") will direct the story of four extreme sports professionals who survive a plane crash in the Amazon jungle, and must use all their survival instincts as they are hunted by a group of homicidal natives.

Lichtenstein was mentored by James Cameron on the set of his upcoming 3D epic "Avatar", and is being trained in other 3-D techniques by James Mainard and Phil McNally of DreamWorks.

Shooting kicks off this September in Puerto Rico.

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Mel Gibson has visited a prison in Mexico's Gulf coast state of Veracruz where local officials say he is scouting locations for a new movie.
Gibson told reporters outside Veracruz's Ignacio Allende prison that it is hard for him to speak in front of microphones.

But the Veracruz state director of cinema says the purpose of Sunday's visit is to see locations.

Prospero Rebolledo says Gibson's people are just looking for locations for a film, "there is no script, right now they are looking precisely for places to do it."

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Phillip Noyce ("Catch a Fire", "Rabbit Proof Fence") is considering helming Warner Bros. Pictures action thriller "28th Amendment" reports Moviehole.

Penned by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci ("Transformers," "The Island"), the story centres on a young American president who discovers that a secret committee has controlled the US government since WWII.

This hidden power structure assassinates potential troublemakers to serve its own needs, and having made the discovery, the President now finds himself in the firing line.

Kevin MacDonald ("The Last King of Scotland," "Touching the Void") was originally attached to direct before leaving the project to helm "State of Play". "Superman" helmer Richard Donner was also previously attached.

Noyce's next film is "Mary Queen of Scots", but after that he's next film isn't yet locked. Noyce has apparenly been considering four project including this, and the Art Williams biopic "The Art of Making Money".

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- Amy Winehouse has recorded one of the several songs competing to be the theme for the next James Bond film "Quantum Of Solace". Her producer Mark Ronson says "Hopefully it will get used. But I don't think we've been guaranteed it, so we're working on it and we'll see happens."

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Rick Yune has been cast as the antagonist in the Wachowski siblings-produced action film "Ninja Assassin" for Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures says The Hollywood Reporter.

Korean actor-singer Rain plays a man brought up in an orphanage functioning as a ninja farm. The man turns his back on his tradition to make his way in the modern world, which brings him into conflict with a ninja (Yune) from the clan.

Naomie Harris has joined as the female lead, Ben Miles also landed an unspecified role.

James McTeigue is directing, and Joel Silver is producing via Dark Castle.

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Joel Silver reteams with his Matrix directors to do something he has rarely attempted: a family film. Speed Racer. Emile Hirsch takes on the iconic title role as Speed Racer who is aggressive, instinctive and, most of all, fearless.

His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized - the legendary Rex Racer, whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill. Speed is loyal to the family racing business, led by his father, Pops Racer, the designer of Speed's thundering Mach 5.

When Speed turns down a lucrative and tempting offer from Royalton Industries, he not only infuriates the company's maniacal owner but uncovers a terrible secret - some of the biggest races are being fixed by a handful of ruthless moguls who manipulate the top drivers to boost profits. If Speed won't drive for Royalton, Royalton will see to it that the Mach 5 never crosses another finish line. The only way for Speed to save his family's business and the sport he loves is to beat Royalton at his own game.

With the support of his family and his loyal girlfriend, Trixie, Speed teams with his one-time rival - the mysterious Racer X - to win the race that had taken his brother's life: the death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible. Silver is clearly excited as he discusses this latest visually inventive venture. Paul Fischer reports.

Question: I guess you were at the screening with everyone prior to this junket. Did you watch it just to see the reaction of everyone?

Silver: Look, I mean we had a screening down here in Long Beach about 2 weeks ago for a recruited screening and it was just a dream come true, I mean it was just a huge response and the numbers were just through the roof in the high 90's. You don't ever see that ever but it was a big family audience. There were a lot of kids and a lot of parents--I didn't have that last night. There were some kids there but it wasn't the kind of family audience that I think the movie will play the most, but I think it played great. I was very happy to be there.

Question: Talk about the biggest challenges on the film-- technically, logistically.

Silver: It was a technical nightmare to have the realization of what the boys wanted to do. I mean, the brothers had this...when it all came about I mean they knew I had the project for awhile and after "V" or some point after "V" they called me up one day and said, "what are you doing with that Speed Racer thing?" and I said, "well, I'm struggling" and they said, "we have an idea" and I said "well, go for it" so they had this notion of making what they considered live-action anime and that's what it is--live-action anime. And they said we want to show you what we want to do and if the studio likes it, we have a way of making a movie of this, and if they don't, then we'll do something else.

Question: How long did you have it? You said you had it for a while.

Silver: Almost 20 years.

Question: Well, what was initial idea for it? Where you going to do it strictly as an animated movie?

Silver: No, a lot of people had been involved. There were a lot of scripts written, a lot of directors attached. I mean, there were rumors of actors attached. No one was ever really attached, I mean there was a lot of discussion about the movie but really it couldn't have been made in this fashion until right now.

Question: Why?

Silver: Because the technology didn't really exist to do this. I mean, yeah there was a version that they were scouting locations for race tracks and they were designing cars to be built and I remember one of the of the things--the cost of the car was $1 million to build this car that would all--you know chrome and it couldn't be photographed from any angle--I don't know what the hell they were doing, you know? But the way that it was done where the cars could do things that you've never seen before could only be done in this fashion with the way these guys want to do it.

Question: When Larry and Andy say to you they have an idea, do you sort of turn away and just are smiling from ear to ear?

Silver: Yes.

Question: And was the studio immediately enthusiastic when they found out they wanted to do it? How did that work?

Silver: Well of course they were enthusiastic because we'd been struggling with the movie for a long time so a lot of people had been through the process. I mean a lot of ...JJ Abrams...a lot of people wrote scripts for this thing but again they were conventional type stories. So the Wachowski Brothers went off and they made a 5 minutes kind of pre-viz--a pre-visualization of a race in this movie. And there are actually some shots in that pre-viz that actually made it through to the finished movie. I mean, that first pre-vis actually had images that went right through to the end. But it was a race. It had elements of all 3 races. Elements of Thunderhead, elements of Casa Cristo, elements of the Grand Prix. It was just a race which was shown to the studio in December I think of '06, and we sat in a room at the studio and a bunch of people in the room and the lights went down and they showed this.

Question: And you said before that you'd made a lot of silly action films, but after "The Matrix" you walked away realizing that people wanted more, you know you knew what that was. So what was that that you realized post-Matrix that you brought with you into this film?

Silver: Well, I'll just finish this quick and then I'll go to that. When the lights went up and everybody stood there quietly in the room and the studio said, "well, what is it? Is it "Roger Rabbit"? I mean, what is it? Is it animation, is it live-action?" They said, "look this is what it is." So they said, "Take a shot", you know. I think that this movie...this is a family movie which I'd been involved in a few movies that were family but not with the Wachowski Brothers and you know this is the first time they really intended to do something for the family--for everybody and they had nieces and nephews and friends and family and they wanted everybody to see their movie. They hadn't been able to do that with everything we've made up to now. So it was a story about the family. It is a story about, you know, it has really kind of basic family structure, family story, family type values of this movie and it's also just a movie about a quest and an ambition and dreams and all the things that seem to work in those kinds of movies. It's brilliant in its execution but it's simple in its tale, and I think the end of this movie, I mean cheaters never prosper, you know, be true to your family, stay together and you can prevail, you can win. And I think that those elements are effective and I hope that the audience embraces it and enjoys it.

Question: What was it about the story that made you hold onto it for so long?

Silver: When I first saw "Speed Racer" which I was a kid and I wasn't as young as my son is 6 who has since has seen the original show and loves it, I wasn't that age. I was older than that. But I always remembered it being fresh and unique and having you know, a cool quality and again the Brothers have said that it was the first time they ever saw anime, so that was fresh for them. But I remember that I just liked it and when they brought it to me and they said, "Do you want the rights to this thing?" and I said, "Yeah, sure let's take a shot" which was almost 20 years ago--I think it was '89-90 I did that and we struggled with it. We tried to make it but I just felt it had something about it that was fresh and I never let it go.

Question: As a producer who claimed they didn't want to see something go over-budget, you feel more comfortable when you're making a film in these kinds of circumstances--relatively controlled studio green screen as opposed to out in the real world where anything could possibly go wrong?

Silver: I mean look, this movie as expensive as it was and it wasn't a cheap film, is nowhere near the cost of other films I've made or other films that are being made now. I mean, it was controllable. Once we finished there was a 60 day shoot in a big green room. Once you finish that, but then the real work begins in the post-production. But you know it depends. The next movie out is called "RocknRolla". I did it with Guy Richie and it's about London. There's probably not a single visual effect shot in the whole movie, you know. It's real, it's just a way we make movies, you know. But I think that this is a pioneering step on picture making--this movie. It's a way to...it's not just in how it's shot but how it was photographed, I mean the editorial process is very different. The way the camera--the lens moves is very different. The camera has no form. You see shots where the camera zooms into Speed and zooms past him to Trixie and past her into Rex and where is the camera? I mean, what is it? It's not on a...it's just there. It's just showing you what you want to see and editorially the way they put this film together I think there's a lot of ground breaking things in it but yes, it was controllable and done in a way that was kind of easier to make but not so much easier to conceive.

Question: Do you think things could even get crazier from here? I mean this is just the start...

Silver: I was reading last week in USA Today about the Bond film--"The Quantum of Solace"--and they were shooting in Chile in some desert at 120 degrees, they're running on a metal building, the crew was dying, they can't function, they don't know how they're going it, they Mayor of the city is mad at them because it's supposed to be Columbia. Everybody's going crazy. I mean they could be shooting in Pinewood. They could be in a big green room. I mean, certain things I can see not wanting to do that, but I mean George Lucas didn't have go to Tatooeen, I mean you don't have to...you can make movies in ways that are different but I think with the technology as exists now...I mean this movie was all shot digitally. I mean, it's going to be a matter of years when the film is not a factor anymore. We can still actually shoot on film but you don't have to do shoot on film. You'd have to finish on film and it's all going to make it a lot easier to make movies in a way that I mean, you can sit at your kitchen table and make a movie.

Question: Did it come in on budget?

Silver: Oh yeah. Oh sure. There wasn't a lot of things to get in the way of it.

Question: Since Larry and Andy never do press, have they started thinking about 3-D filmmaking?

Silver: Yeah, we talked about this being 3-D. We actually discussed this being 3-D. There aren't enough theatres yet right now to make it really...it would have taxed us to make this 3-D right now. But maybe if we make a sequel, I mean, they have a story for a sequel and if they make it...

Question: What is it? Any hints on where it might go?

Silver: Well, there's things they want to do with him. There's as many episodes of this cartoon so there's a lot of ideas, but if we make the sequel maybe that will be in 3-D, but I mean it would have been possible because it was digital to begin with to do it in 3-D and all those shots were rendered so it would have been possible.

Question: Do you think they want to do a sequel or do you think they want to take on another property?

Silver: Well, I mean, I don't know if they will direct the sequel. Maybe somebody else will--maybe they will, I don't know. This was pretty tough this one to do, but to create this you know, but I don't know if they'd want to give that to somebody else, I don't know. But they...the only thing I like to say is they don't....the only part they don't engage in is this part right here. They don't like to engage in this and my friend, Tom Cruise, told me a story he went to work on "Eyes Wide Shut" and he said there was Kubrick just sitting there in the director's chair. It was Kubrick! And not trying to make a connection between Kubrick and the boys but he didn't want to engage in this part either so that gives him mystique and when everybody's here--all the guys are here and Matthew's here and Emile and these are fantastic friends of ours, these filmmakers and they're great guys. They just don't like to talk about their movies and they did the whole thing for me on the first "Matrix". They did all the junkets. All the press tours, they did everything and they hated it. And they said to me, "If you want us to work with you again, you've got to promise we'd never do this again". And I said, "Fine." What could I say? I couldn't say, "No, you've got to do it." So I'm happy to try to impart to you their thoughts and their ideas but you know their thoughts and their ideas are on that screen and that's what they give you. That's their gift to all of you. I hope you liked it.

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Eva Mendes, Josh Hartnett and Ben Kingsley have joined the Jonathan Jakubowicz's female-driven actioner "Queen of the South" (La reina del sur) reports the trades.

An adaptation of the best-seller by Spanish author-journalist Arturo Perez Reverte, the story tracks a Mexican woman who escapes to Spain after her drug-runner boyfriend is murdered.

Teresa becomes the reigning drug smuggler in Spain, bent on avenging her lover. Hartnett plays a Marine who gets involved in her business, and Kingsley plays a Russian businessman.

Jakubowicz co-wrote the screenplay with Albert Torres. Shoot begins in Mexico and Spain starting this September.

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Morgan Creek Prods. has picked up the mob thriller script "Gregory Burns" for Universal Pictures to distribute says The Hollywood Reporter.

The story centers on the title character, an Arizona cop who goes undercover to take down a Los Angeles-based Russian crime family.

Rand Ravich ("The Astronaut's Wife," TV's "Life") penned the script which has been a hot property amongst film development executives for several years.

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James McTeigue ("V for Vendetta") is attached to direct the thriller "Revelation" for Inferno says Variety.

John Salvati penned the script which centers on a female journalist who is assigned to investigate a series of bizarre murders and discovers that the victims were all being treated by the head of an org that researches alien abductions.

Inferno will be handling international sales for the pic beginning next week at the Cannes Film Festival. McTeigue is currently helming Warner Bros.' "Ninja Assassin," which is being produced by the Wachowski Brothers.

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Lionsgate has acquired US, UK, Australian & New Zealand distribution rights to "W," the Oliver Stone-directed drama about the life and formative years of President Bush says Variety.

The film has been set for US domestic release on October 17th, giving the picture three weekends in theaters before the November 4th presidential election.

Stone has still yet to cast Dick Cheney. Shooting begins May 12th in Louisiana.

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Martin Scorsese will direct a major biopic for Universal Picturesabout the life of the late Frank Sinatra, according to his youngest daughter and film producer Tina.

According to Jam Showbiz, whilst Sinatra did socialize with crime figures, in this film he'll be shown as innocent of any true involvement with the Mafia or other gangsters.

Tina Sinatra tells Sun Media that Scorsese is in a "reflective period" and is willing to present the truth about her father. That means "dismissing scurrilous rumours that Sinatra was a stooge for the Mafia."

Sinatra also produced the 1992 mini-series about her father and admits it is premature to officially announce Scorsese for the biopic (meaning final signing of contracts probably has yet to happen.

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SCRIPTLAND
Leonardo DiCaprio may portray Ian Fleming
The actor's company will produce a film about the creator of James Bond.
By Jay A. Fernandez, Special to The Times
May 14, 2008
Leonardo DiCaprio may one day be able to add Ian Fleming to the list of real historical figures that he's impersonated on screen.

The Oscar-nominated actor's Appian Way company recently came on as producer of "Fleming," an original screenplay written by Damian Stevenson about the life of the British author and journalist who created James Bond.

"It's going to be very different from the Bond films," says producer Andrew Lazar ("Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," "Get Smart"), who first championed the project. "There are a lot of different ways to crack biopics, but we're not trying to emulate a Bond movie . . . The idea that this guy's life informed the James Bond character is pretty fascinating."

Related
STORY: Hollywood A-Z: Leonardo DiCaprioMore Related:
More 'Scriptland'
In fall 2005, just before the lucrative Bond franchise rebooted with Daniel Craig, Stevenson made his first script sale to Warner Bros. He then spent months mollifying the WB legal department about the historical accuracy of the Fleming story and worked through dozens of drafts with Lazar.

"It's the real James Bond," says the 35-year-old Stevenson, who previously worked as a development executive at Kopelson Entertainment and DreamWorks. "In England, Ian Fleming's exploits are much better well known. Talking to people out here, no one had any idea that M was based on a real person, Miss Moneypenny was based on a real person."

The London native scoured the underground stacks of the University of Oxford's centuries-old Bodleian Library for out-of-print Fleming biographies.

His latest version of the screenplay begins on the eve of Fleming's Jamaica wedding in 1952, just before his first Bond novel, "Casino Royale," was published (a wedding present to his new wife).

It then flashes back to Fleming's years as a Reuters journalist stationed in Moscow and then a Commander of Naval Intelligence (MI6 code name "17F") during World War II who devised innovative spying plots.

Fleming later drew from his own playboy life and his espionage contemporaries' to invent one of literature and film's most enduring characters.

During the writers' strike, DiCaprio showed interest in Fleming and his world, but he's looking to take the script in a different direction with a new writer.

The next Bond film, titled "Quantum of Solace" after a Fleming short story, will be released by MGM on Nov. 7.

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Summit Entertainment will produce a remake of fantasy thriller "Highlander" with the aim of kick-starting the franchise again.
Summit's signed the "Iron Man" writing team of Art Marcum and Matt Holloway to script, with plans to expand on the original pic's premise of immortals battling each other for a mysterious prize. Company's aiming to go into production next year.

Summit acquired the remake rights from Davis/Panzer Prods. It has tapped Peter Davis, one of the producers of the original film, to produce the new version.

The 1986 original was directed by Russell Mulcahy and starred Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown and Roxanne Hart. It launched four sequels and three TV spinoffs.

Patrick Wachsberger, Summit's co-chairman and president, said, "I have always dreamed of reinventing this franchise."

Summit production prexy Erik Feig told Daily Variety that the new pic will mix contemporary settings, action, mythology and medieval Scotland.

"We think the franchise will work on a global basis," he added.

In addition to "Iron Man," Marcum and Holloway also wrote "Convoy" for Par.

Summit has been ramping up operations for the past year from a sales operation into a full-fledged studio with development, financing, production and distribution. It's focused on projects budgeted in the middle range and plans to release 10-12 films annually. Recent pics include "Sex Drive" and Alexander Proyas' "Knowing," currently shooting with Nicolas Cage starring.

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ScreenDaily Home > Story  

Spall and Broadbent join Sheen in The Damned United
Wendy Mitchell in Cannes
20 May 2008 21:06

 

Timothy Spall and Jim Broadbent have joined the cast of Tom Hooper's The Damned United, which starts principal photography on Sunday May 25.

As reported Michael Sheen takes the lead role as legendary football manager Brian Clough, and Spall will play his right hand man Peter Taylor while Broadbent plays Sam Longson.

Backers are BBC Films, Columbia Pictures and Screen Yorkshire. Sony Pictures Entertainment has worldwide rights.

The project has been developed by Andy Harries (now of Left Bank Pictures) and Christine Langan of BBC Films, they will produce with Grainne Marmion. Harries and Langan also worked with Sheen and Morgan on The Queen.

The shoot will be held in locations in Yorkshire, Leeds, Derbyshire and Spain.

Ben Smithard, who worked on Cranford, is the director of photography, costumes are by Mike O'Neill (Elizabeth I), Jan Achibald (La Vie En Rose) is hair and make-up designer, and Eve Stewart (Topsy Turvy) is production designer.

"Peter Morgan has skilfully adapted a screenplay from wonderful source material that we are delighted to have developed, and along with director Tom Hooper, we have a story that we hope will amuse and fascinate in equal measure," said Andy Harries. "We are thrilled that the exceptionally talented Michael Sheen is taking on the role of Brian Clough and with support from Timothy Spall, Colm Meaney and Jim Broadbent we have assembled a cast that we are extremely excited about."

BBC Films' Christine Langan added: "The Damned United is an urgent and compelling movie about success, hunger and love. BBC Films is thrilled to be working with some of Britain's top talent and to be part of this passionate portrait of a footballing legend, Brian Clough, a one-off in the game of life as he was in football."

Deborah Schindler, president of International Motion Picture Production at Sony Picture, which will release in 2009, said: "We are very excited to be involved with this talented group of filmmakers who have such a proven track record in making internationally appealing and award-winning British movies. The Damned United is a universally entertaining story focusing on one of Britain's true sporting icons and the most dramatic episode in Brian Clough's extraordinary career."

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Warner Bros has acquired Spanish rights to Robert Weide's How To Lose Friends And Alienate People from Intandem.

The comedy, based on Toby Young's book of the same name, stars Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst and Jeff Bridges.

MGM has struck a deal for North America and Paramount for the UK. Both will releases will kick off Oct 3.

London-based Intandem Films structured the finance for the film and handles sales duties.

Gary Smith, Intandem chairman, said: "Our aim is to deliver studio level films with international appeal. How to Lose Friends has taken distributors by storm and with a third major studio on board to distribute, it demonstrates that our strategy is working."

Stephen Woolley and Liz Karlsen produced for Number 9 Films, with financing from Aramid, Film 4 and the UK Film Council.

Intandem's previous sales to other territories include; Germany (Concorde/Telemunchen), Italy (Mikado), Portugal (Lusomundo), Turkey (Sanat Ozen), Korea (MFI), Poland (Hagi) and Benelux (RCV).

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The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" hunk Ben Barnes has been cast in the titular role for "The Picture of Dorian Gray" says The Hollywood Reporter.

Based on Oscar Wilde's classic novel, the story follows a young man who wishes that his youth and beauty will not fade due to either age or indulgence. His wish comes true when a portrait of him begins to deteriorate whilst he stays young and beautiful.

Director Oliver Parker ("An Ideal Husband," "The Importance of Being Earnest") plans to make this a visceral, dark horror story version of the story. Shooting begins July 28th.

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DreamWorks has hired scribe David Franzoni ("Amistad," "Gladiator") to pen a biopic of British buccaneer Edward Teach, better known as the legendary pirate Blackbeard reports the trades.

Blackbeard would plunder merchant ships, forcing them to allow his crew to board their ship. Despite his ferocious reputation, there are no verified accounts of him actually killing anyone - generally prevailing by fear alone.

Barry Josephson ("Enchanted") and Pat Croce are producing. Croce is a motivational speaker and former Philadelphia 76ers prexy/co-owner Pat Croce, who wrote "Pirate Soul," a book that chronicled the golden era of piracy, which spanned 1690-1730.

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Ealing Studios International plans to make a sequel to the hit Brit comedy "St. Trinians" reports Variety.

The next installment of the Brit schoolgirl romp finds the mischief-making heroines set off on a treasure hunt after they discover headmistress Miss Fritton (Rupert Everett) is related to pirates.

Oliver Parker once again directs. Shooting on "St. Trinians 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold" is set to start in January next year and will likely re-team most of the original's cast.

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First Independent Pictures has landed U.S. distribution rights to "Sixty Six," a soccer bar mitzvah comedy from Working Title. "Made of Honor" helmer Paul Weiland directs the story of the mother (Helena Bonham Carter) of a boy whose bar mitzvah conflicts with the 1966 World Cup finals, in which England is playing. An August release is planned.

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Liberation Entertainment has picked up North American rights to "Tokyo!," the film triptych from all-star directors Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Joon-ho Bong set in the Japanese metropolis. The film premiered at Cannes and will be released by Liberation in theaters later this year.

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It comes as no surprise, but it has been confirmed now that Christian Bale is locked in to play John Connor in the next three "Terminator" movies says The BBC.

Derek Anderson, a rep for the film's production company Halycon, says "he read the script and he loved it, so he's signed on for all three".

Aussie actor Sam Worthington plays the lead role in this new film series and shooting is currently underway. A May 22nd 2009 release is planned.