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Adam Scott and Rip Torn are joining Josh Hartnett and Naomie Harris in the indie feature August, being directed by Austin Chick.
The script, by Howard A. Rodman, follows an aggressive, young dot-com entrepreneur (Hartnett) in New York struggling to keep his head above water as the bottom of the market begins to fall out in the weeks leading to Sept. 11.
Scott will play Hartnett's brother, while Torn is their father.
The film will be shot on location in New York, with principal photography to begin April 16.
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Overture Films, making its first move into production, is partnering with Echo Lake Productions on 105 Degrees and Rising, set against the backdrop of the 1975 fall of Saigon. Jon Amiel (Entrapment) is slated to direct William M. Akers' script. Echo Lake's Doug Mankoff, Mike Marcus and Andrew Spaulding are producing along with Rob Cowan (De-Lovely). Akers' script weaves together several storylines as characters struggle to escape South Vietnam during the final days of the U.S. control of Saigon. Read the rest of this entry »
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New Line and Flower Films have signed Ken Kwapis (The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) to direct the comedy He's Just Not That Into You.
Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein (Never Been Kissed) adapted the bestseller about modern-day relationships by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, who worked together on "Sex and the City."
Flower Films' Nancy Juvonen and Drew Barrymore are producing. Kwapis most recently directed the Warner Bros. comedy License to Wed, set for release July 4. He also directed the pilot of "The Office," as well as its premiere and final episodes of the season.
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Dan Whitney, aka Larry the Cable Guy, is entering Witless Protection, a comedy Charles Carner is directing from his own screenplay. Parallel Entertainment Pictures is financing, and company principal J.P. Williams and Alan Blomquist will produce. Lionsgate will distribute. The story centers on a small-town sheriff who witnesses what he believes is a kidnapping and rushes to rescue a woman. The kidnappers turn out to be FBI agents assigned to protect her and deliver her to a big Enron-type corruption trial in Chicago but are later found to be on the take and are villains who are bent on killing her. Read the rest of this entry »
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Disney has hired Wild Hogs helmer Walt Becker to direct Link, an action adventure comedy based on a Becker novel published in 1998. Mandeville partners David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman will produce. The director and the producers will find a writer to adapt the novel, which concerns a paleontologist and maverick scientist who go in search of the missing link. Read the rest of this entry »
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Warner Bros. Pictures has hired Mark Burton to write the big screen adaptation of James Turner's comic book Rex Libris, about an everyday guy who becomes part of a secret sect of librarians who battle forces of darkness in chasing down overdue or stolen books. The story revolves around head librarian Rex Libris, who must protect the world's knowledge and most dangerous secrets from falling into the wrong hands. In their global exploits, Rex and the other librarians are aided by an ancient god living beneath the library. They're also armed with an impressive array of high-tech weapons, not to mention their intellects. Read the rest of this entry »
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Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan (upcoming The Brave One, The Crying Game) will adapt and direct thriller Heart-Shaped Box for Warner Bros. Pictures.
The film is based on the book of the same name by writer Joe Hill, the son of horror fiction maven Stephen King.
Hill's spooky storyline revolves around an aging rock star with a penchant for the macabre. He can't refuse an offer to buy a suit on eBay that's said to contain a ghost. After the suit arrives, he begins to realize that while he wants the ghost gone, the ghost wants him dead.
Akiva Goldsman is producing.
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DreamWorks Animation has acquired Alan Schoolcraft & Brent Simons' superhero sendup spec Master Mind, with Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld producing through their Red Hour Films. DreamWorks Animation veterans Cameron Hood and Kyle Jefferson are attached to make their feature film directorial debut with Master Mind, a satirical take on the superhero genre centering on a supervillain who loses his joie de vivre after accidentally killing his archrival, Uberman, in the opening scene of the movie. "They have put the film on the fast track, which in animation terms means it will be coming out in the next 15-20 years," Stiller joked. Read the rest of this entry »
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Actress Rosario Dawson has kept a promise to an old drama school friend - by starring in her first film about a date rape victim. Dawson also signed on to produce TALIA LUGACY's hard-hitting movie, DESCENT, which has become one of the year's must-see independent films. The SIN CITY star first started working on the project a decade ago when she and Lugacy were pals at acting school the Lee Strasberg Institute, where Hayden Christensen and SCARLETT JOHANNSSON were also students. Read the rest of this entry »
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The ensemble cast behind the smash hit NBC series Heroes has seen actors turned into superstars. While Masi Oka and Ali Larter have surged in popularity, perhaps the most famous newcomer on the Heroes scene is Hayden Panetierre. Now, in the hiatus between seasons of Heroes, Panetierre is making the jump back to the big screen, as it was announced Hayden Panetierre would be joining Willem Dafoe, Ioan Gruffudd and Shannon Lucio as new additions to the Fireflies in the Garden cast. Read the rest of this entry »
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Paramount Pictures has optioned "The Rules of Deception," the first of a two-novel series by Christopher Reich. Lorenzo di Bonaventura will produce. The book will be published in summer 2008.
The story follows a physician for Doctors Without Borders who shares an addiction to extreme sports with his wife. When they hike in the Swiss Alps, she falls into an inaccessible ravine. The doctor later receives a letter addressed to his wife. The contents put him in the center of a conspiracy that could result in nuclear war in the Middle East.
Reich is already writing the follow-up, "Rules of Vengeance."
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The Weinstein Company has attached Scooby-Doo helmer Raja Gosnell to direct romantic comedy . Lauren Iungerich and Brad Follmer wrote the script. Gosnell and Julia Halperin are producing.
The story concerns a man discovering the dirty secrets of an all-female book club. He enlists their help in getting his estranged girlfriend back in return for not ratting them out to the men in their lives.
In addition to "Scooby" and its sequel, Gosnell has directed Never Been Kissed and Big Momma's House.
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Rod Lurie is on board to direct a remake of the 1971 thriller Straw Dogs for Screen Gems. "The Shield" writer Reed Steiner is penning the screenplay.
Screen Gems is in the process of acquiring the rights to the Dustin Hoffman starrer, which originally was produced by ABC Pictures Corp.
The original, directed by Sam Peckinpah, revolved around a young American and his English wife who move to rural England and face increasingly vicious local harassment. Plot details for the remake are being kept under wraps, but sources said it will take place in the U.S.
Lurie's producing partner Marc Frydman will produce.
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David O. Russell is adapting and is attached to direct the Washington comedy Sammy's Hill for Columbia Pictures and Red Wagon.
The project, based on Kristin Gore's inside-the-Beltway novel, centers on a young woman who tries to balance a job as a congressional aide on Capitol Hill while searching for the right guy.
Gore is the daughter of former Vice President Al Gore. Russell is working closely with Kristin Gore, Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein on the screenplay.
Red Wagon's Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher are producing.
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Variety reports that Quentin Tarantino is likely making another trip to the Cannes Film Festival in May. Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's double feature Grindhouse will be split into two separate films for non-English-speaking markets. Tarantino said he's working on a longer version of his "Death Proof" segment that looks to be headed to the festival. Given Tarantino's Cannes history, it's possible "Death Proof" could land a competition slot at fest's 60th edition this year. He won Cannes' top prize in 1994 with Pulp Fiction. Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004) were shown out of competition, and he served as president of the jury in 2004. Read the rest of this entry »
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