|
|
Five weeks before production was scheduled to begin on the
Spyglass-financed remake of Bunny Lake Is Missing, Reese Witherspoon
abruptly dropped out of the film, much to the chagrin of director Joe
Carnahan.
Beyond the late notice, the exit is surprising because Witherspoon and
Type A Films partner Jennifer Simpson were aboard to produce with Mark
Gordon.
Spyglass is scrambling to find an actress to replace Witherspoon, but chances are the start date will have to be pushed.
The Columbia Pictures release has been in the works for three years.
Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright, the movie is
based on the 1965 Otto Preminger film about a woman who reports that
her daughter Bunny Lake is missing -- only to be confronted by charges
that she never existed...more click on heading
|
|
|
Matthew McConaughey will star in Surfer, Dude. S.R. Bindler will direct from a script he wrote with Cory Van Dyke.
McConaughey, who has been filming Warner Bros.' Fool's Gold in
Australia, has been hitting the waves there, getting ready for a role
that casts him as a soulful surfer in existential crisis.
Production is slated to begin May 7. McConaughey will produce with his
j.k. livin' cohorts Gus Gustawes and Mark Gustawes, as well as Playtone
partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman. Jeff Sagansky's Winchester Films
is financing, and the Weinstein Company will handle foreign sales.
Dennis Weiss will be executive producer.
|
|
Universal Pictures has set Gabriele Muccino (The Pursuit of Happyness) to direct Man and Wife, a Lorene Scafaria-scripted love story to be produced by Double Feature partners Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher as well as Domenico Procacci.
The Italian director will make Man and Wife his next film. The story stresses an immigrant's love for the U.S.
Scafaria has also written Sweet Relief, a Paramount project that has Kirsten Dunst attached to play Marla Ruzicka, a relief worker slain by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Scafaria also scripted Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist, which Peter Sollett will direct for Focus.
|
|
Ken Davitian ("Borat") has joined the all-star cast of Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow's big-screen adaptation of Get Smart.
Steve Carell is playing Maxwell Smart, Anne Hathaway is Agent 99, and Alan Arkin is portraying the Chief of CONTROL. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Terrence Stamp also have been cast. Davitian will play the evil assistant to Stamp, the head of the nefarious organization known as KAOS.
Andrew Lazar, Charles Roven and Alex Gartner are producing the comedy.
|
|
The Wild Hogs duo of John Travolta and director Walt Becker are in the process of reteaming for another Disney comedy, this one titled Old Dogs.
Becker has signed on to helm the movie, while Travolta is in talks to star. Travolta is also hoping to have his wife, Kelly Preston, and daughter, Ella Blue, cast alongside him.
David Diamond and David Weissman wrote the screenplay, which was originally titled "Old Dads." The plot details are being kept under wraps, but it is understood to be a buddy comedy revolving around two guys who become middle-aged dads.
A search is under way for a second male star to pair with Travolta.
|
|
Lasse Hallström (upcoming The Hoax) is attached to direct Columbia Pictures' romantic comedy Sammy.
Written by Delia Ephron, the story kicks off when a woman who can sense what animals are thinking meets a man who claims to have the same relationship with dead people.
Laurence Mark is producing through his Sony-based company alongside Ephron. Hallstrom's producing partner Leslie Holleran also is set to produce, contingent upon Hallstrom directing.
|
|
Oscar winner Alan Arkin is reuniting with his Little Miss Sunshine co-star Steve Carell in the big-screen version of Get Smart, which Peter Segal is directing for Warner Bros. Pictures.
Arkin will play the chief of CONTROL, the organization that fights the evil forces of KAOS. Edward Platt played the character in the 1965 TV series.
Carell is on board as secret agent Maxwell Smart, with Anne Hathaway as Agent 99. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Terrence Stamp also have been cast...more click on heading
|
|
"The Departed" won the best-picture Academy Award on Sunday, a triumph for a homegrown American film in an evening that featured the most internationally diverse field of nominees in the history of Hollywoods highest honors.
Martin Scorsese finally won the best-director Academy Award that had eluded him throughout his illustrious career, taking the prize Sunday for his mob epic "The Departed" after five previous losses.
Forest Whitaker earned the best-actor Academy Award on Sunday for "The Last King of Scotland," in which the soft-spoken actor played an uncharacteristically flamboyant role as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin...more click on heading
|
|
|
Premiere: Christina Ricci at the New York premiere of Paramount Vantage' Black Snake Moan ...more click on heading
|
|
Fox Searchlight and New Regency will co-finance The Night Watchman, a James Ellroy-scripted drama that will star Keanu Reeves.
Reeves plays a cop who's always done what was needed to solve homicides and crack down on gang violence until he gets a wakeup call and decides he can no longer play the game that made him so effective...more click on heading
|
|
Sylvester Stallone has thrown out the name Rambo IV: Pearl of the Cobra for the fourth installment of the franchise:
Not sure if this is common knowledge or not. On the news tonight, when Stallone was being interviewed by Richard Wilkins, he said that the name of the 4th Rambo film is going to be called John Rambo, in keeping with the "Rocky Balboa" thing.
The movie starts shooting on February 23 in Thailand.
|
|
Disturbia and Transformers star Shia LaBeouf might play the role of Indiana Jones' son in the fourth installment:
The thing is, we know Spielberg loves La Beouf right now. DISTURBIA became a pet project for The Beard, and it evidently came out well. TRANSFORMERS is a big deal for the company, and a lot of the weight of that falls squarely on the shoulders of Shia. So as much as I pray that there's no Indy Jr., I’m starting to think that this may in fact be true...more click on heading
|
|
"Nip/Tuck" creator Ryan Murphy is firming plans to spend his hiatus directing Nicole Kidman and Naomi Watts in Need, a thriller to be produced by Todd Black and Jason Blumenthal.
Kidman and Watts, friends since they were young actresses in Australia, have been looking for a project to do together. The sexy thriller will cast them as archenemies: Watts will play a psychiatrist, Kidman the unstable patient who steals the shrink's husband...more click on heading
|
|
With the sudden and tragic death of Anna Nicole Smith last week, the finality of it all is starting to sink in. While the last headline about Anna Nicole Smith is still far away, the last film Smith ever appeared in may be closer than you think. The formerPlayboy Playmate's last movie is heading directly to DVD and that DVD is expected to arrive on store shelves in May.
Anna Nicole Smith, who helped bankroll her final foray into the world of film, stars in the campy comedy Illegal Aliens. The movie showcases Smith as one of three space aliens fighting against an intergalactic terrorist, and is the first movie for Anna Nicole Smith since doing To The Limit in 1995. Before that, Anna Nicole Smith had roles in both The Hudsucker Proxy and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult...more click on heading
|
|
Actress Thandie Newton fought to change the plight of her character in WILL SMITH's new film THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS - because she couldn't portray a mother who would just give up a child.
The mother of two plays the former wife of homeless father-turned-business tycoon CHRIS GARDNER in the new movie, but couldn't believe her real-life character was really such a terrible mother.
In the film, Newton's character gives up on her struggling husband and dumps him with their young son - something the actress struggled with...more click on heading
|
|
|