New Films in Production

[Matt]

Who's the woman in the last set of pictures who looks like Scarlett Johanssen's homely sister?

[dadaistnun]

I could have sworn that Anton Corbijn (a good friend of Ian Curtis, and director of the only Joy Division music video) was going to direct a film about Ian and Joy Division... I wonder if this is the same project

Corbijn's film is called Control and is based on Touching From a Distance by Deborah Curtis. Both she and Tony Wilson have producer credits.

NME article

Samantha Morton is playing Deborah in Control, so that probably means Sandra Bullock will have the role in this other film.

[Lino]

Van Sant's new project. Read on -- you might be in it!

[Jeff]

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Aug. 04, 2006

Bale digs spurs into 'Yuma' redo

By Borys Kit and Tatiana Siegel

Christian Bale is close to a deal to star opposite Russell Crowe in James Mangold's "3:10 to Yuma." Relativity Media is stepping in to finance the film, which has been without a home since Columbia Pictures put it into turnaround earlier this summer.

The move is certain to give Mangold a sigh of relief as the Western remake is taking a tortuous journey to the screen. Columbia spent four years developing the film, which it had hoped to start filming this summer.

Tom Cruise had been circling the film for his follow-up to "Mission: Impossible III," with Eric Bana rumored to be in pursuit of a role as well.

But by June, Cruise and Bana were no longer in the mix, and Columbia put "Yuma" in turnaround, leaving producer Cathy Konrad and Mangold to shop the project to various studios.

Fox 2000 was believed to be the front-runner based on Konrad and Mangold's relationship with topper Elizabeth Gabler, who championed their "Walk the Line."

Now, Relativity plans to finance the film, either in whole or in part, and is currently in negotiations with Columbia. Relativity has not yet lined up a distributor.

Relativity sees the movie as a one-off project, separate from its other business with Sony, Columbia's parent company. In May, Relativity sank $385 million into 11 Columbia films, a move that came on the heels of its investment of $400 million in January into the production costs of an additional 11 of the studio's films.

"Yuma" is based on the 1957 film that starred Glenn Ford as captured outlaw Ben Wade, who finds himself in the custody of small-time rancher Dan Evans. The rancher is secretly trying to take the outlaw to a railway station to catch a train to Yuma for the outlaw's court date. A battle of wills ensues.

Mangold's take sees Crowe as the outlaw and Bale as the rancher. Michael Brandt, Derek Haas and Stuart Beattie have all contributed to the screenplay.

The movie is on track for a fall shoot, after the Endeavor-repped Bale films "I'm Not There," Todd Haynes' fractured Bob Dylan biopic. After "Yuma," Bale, who has "The Prestige" opening Oct. 20, will then segue to his "Batman Begins" sequel, "The Dark Knight," which is scheduled to start shooting in late winter or spring.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Finally! Altho, isn't Russell getting a little long in the tooth for this?

Is Snake Plissken Leaving This Planet with Carpenter?
Get more on Rumor Control | Posted 08.05.06 @ 02:52 pm ]

It has been 25 years since Kurt Russell made his first appearance as the bad ass Snake Plissken in John Carpenter's Escape from New York, now it looks like Russell and Carpenter are teaming up once again, this time to leave Earth. Escape From Earth is the title of the third entry to the franchise, according to our anonymous scooper. Inside you can read the unconfirmed scoop, which we'll be looking into this week...

Anonymous writes in:
"A major meeting was held at Paramount last week with both John Carpenter and Kurt Russell in attendance. The topic -- preparing for a third entry in the Snake Plissken chronicles entitled Escape From Earth.

Apparently, Carpenter completed a script for the project eight years ago but the studio has now taken an interest in it after Russell demanded doing it before signing on with the studio for a three picture deal.

Although the screenplay is being kept under tight wraps, I'm told (by another anonymous) who was lucky enough to take a peek at the first thirteen pages that the script takes off immediately where the previous left off and features our planet en-route to Armageddon.

It looks as though Carpenter will push-off the production of Psychopath with Titan Productions and collaborator Todd Farmer in order to ready this entry for a 2008 release.In the first film, which takes place in 1998, the US President crashes into Manhattan, which is now a giant max. security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in for a rescue.

Of course, this kinda rumor has been floating around for ages. We'll see. I'll believe it once on-set photos start popping up.

[solaris72]

David Jacobson has signed on to write and direct the crime drama, Roadside Picnic for Columbia.

The futuristic story is based on the book by Russian writers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky where an alien visitation occurs, and gangs of smugglers plunder the lucrative artifacts left behind, says Variety.

There is no production schedule for Roadside Picnic.

OK, so yes, I would have a problem with anyone who was hired to remake Stalker, no matter who they are. Even if the script was written by a clone of Dostoevsky, with cinematography by the sun god Ra, editing by world famous heart surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub, and directed by Superman, I'd still have a big problem with such a venture. I'm no objective voice on such an issue.
But, come ON, "crime drama"?!!!!!!!

[DrewReiber]

Finally! Altho, isn't Russell getting a little long in the tooth for this?

How about a little long in the tooth for supposedly being approached (!) by Paramount for a 3 picture deal??!? Yeah, I was pissed off the minute I read it because Wikipedia is the ultimate source for jerks looking to push people's buttons. Furthermore, people really need to stop looking to Bloody Disgusting for news updates, especially after that George Clooney in "Pet Semetary" remake debacle.

Anyway, before there is any further confusion from their reports, John Carpenter's only directorial to-do list lately is post-production on "Pro-Life" for Masters of Horror. Otherwise, he's currently in talks with Robert Rodriguez to score "Planet Terror", Rodriguez's feature portion of "Grindhouse". Don't listen to anyone telling you that it's "Death Proof", because I was there in San Diego when they announced Carpenter's involvement and Proof's use of a jukebox-based, rotating soundtrack.

And yes, Rodriguez's footage is indescribably fantastic. Tarantino and Rodriguez set it up best, imagine John Carpenter shot a zombie-action film between "Escape from New York" and "The Thing". I would also add Rodriguez's usual John Woo/George Miller flavoring and a dash of George Romero. It's going to be something, though I doubt it will make up for the unbelievably tragic loss of Carpenter's infamous, unfilmed zombie/action-opus, "Shadow Company".

Lastly, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Tarantino was dead from a coke overdose in the next 10 years.

[flyonthewall2983]

From imdb.com: Zooey Deschanel has beaten Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears and Scarlett Johansson to the coveted role of Janis Joplin in the forthcoming movie biopic of the tragic singer. Pop punk Pink was originally director Penelope Spheeris' first choice to play the late rocker, but pulled out, blaming the movie's producers for turning the casting process into "some circus pop contest - who's the 'it' girl who wants to play Janis." However, Almost Famous beauty Deschanel, 26, has signed to play Joplin in The Gospel According To Janis, which starts filming in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in November. "Piece Of My Heart" hitmaker Joplin died of an heroin and alcohol overdose in a Hollywood hotel room in October 1970 at the age of 27.

Opinions? Personally, I'm glad Pink is out of it. I'm somewhat sick of these singers now wanting to be actors.

[Kirkinson]

Wow, were the other choices just rumors or did someone in the production completely change their priorities? Zooey Deschanel is a completely different (and infinitely better) choice than any of those other options.

[flyonthewall2983]

That's good as far as the acting thing may go, and I'm sure she'll even get the Texas accent right. But the film will either swim or sink depending on how good her singing performance will be.

While we're on the subject of music films, does anyone know more about the rumored Miles Davis biopic, with Don Cheadle? He would be perfect in the role, I'm just wondering about the timeline of Miles' life they will cover.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

From Empire Online:

[quote]Spielberg, Ford and Lucas on Indy IV
Exclusive: Dream team talk sequel

Getting one of the Indiana Jones triumvirate to talk about the fourth sequel is a rare opportunity, but getting George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford to spill at the same time is as infrequent as finding a needle in a haystack under some hen's teeth on a blue moony night at the end of a month of Sundays.

But Empire was lucky enough to speak with the trio as part of our massive Indiana Jones 25th anniversary celebrations and it seems that Indy IV is going to be a tad controversial.

“We're basically going to do The Phantom Menaceâ€

[Jem]

Being a graphic designer this documentary is very exciting to me, though I imagine not so much for the GP.

About the Film
Helvetica is a feature-length independent film about typography, graphic design and global visual culture. It looks at the proliferation of one typeface (which will celebrate its 50th birthday in 2007) as part of a larger conversation about the way type affects our lives. The film is an exploration of urban spaces in major cities and the type that inhabits them, and a fluid discussion with renowned designers about their work, the creative process, and the choices and aesthetics behind their use of type.

Helvetica encompasses the worlds of design, advertising, psychology, and communication, and invites us to take a second look at the thousands of words we see every day.

The film was shot in high-definition on location in the United States, England, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, France and Belgium. It is currently in post-production and is slated to begin screening at film festivals worldwide starting in early 2007.

[exte]

Anyone read about Cronenberg's new film at AICN? Awesome news!

[Fletch F. Fletch]

Richard Linklater to do ‘Last Detail' sequel

In an interview with MTV Linklater reported he's interested in making a sequel to the 1973 film 'The Last Detail', a film basically about three sailors getting drunk (Jack Nicholson, Randy Quaid and Otis Young). Linklater told MTV:

"I do like that movie, and there's a book by the same writer who wrote 'The Last Detail' back in the late '60s, Daryl Ponicsan. He wrote a follow-up novel that I've adapted. … I sent [Quaid] the script, and he'd be great. I hope he'll do it."

So at this point it's all just loose talk…

"I haven't even talked to Nicholson about it yet; I don't even know if he's read it. … It hasn't gotten that far down the line. They haven't made an offer to him yet or anything like that."

MTV also talks briefly about the plot of the book Linklater mentioned

"The novel has Buddusky running a bar and Quaid's Larry Meadows reuniting with him after the Iraq war takes his son's life. Rumors persist that Morgan Freeman is interested in taking over the role of Mule from the deceased Otis Young"

I've always thought 'The Last Detail' doesn't get enough credit and is kind of over-shadowed by Nicholsons other films from the same period like 'The Shining' and 'One flew over the Cuckoos Nest'. If nothing else it would be fun to see Nicholson and Randy Quaid back together. --source slashfilm

[lord_clyde]

WHY THE FUCK IS THE S.W.A.T. GUY REMAKING THIS?!

I guess I don't really have anything important or constructive to say, and I usually bear remakes, but this is going too far. Even worse than the idea of John Woo's Le Cercle Rouge.

[Matt]

Ayer apparently signed to direct this back in November. Considering the fact that no cast or crew information has surfaced since then, I'd say it's in development hell (where most announced remakes, including Woo's Le Cercle Rouge remake, currently reside).

[Antoine Doinel]

But a John Woo remake would have doves!

[lord_clyde]

But a John Woo remake would have doves!

It would also have nothing similar to the calculated jewelry store heist of Melville's original.

Still, I can't be completely against it simply because it can be nothing except a completely different film.

[dadaistnun]

Fernando Meirelles to Direct Blindness

LONDON -- Fernando Meirelles is returning to Brazil to direct "Blindness," an English-language film based on the 1995 novel by Portuguese Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago.

Book is a philosophical thriller about an epidemic of blindness that sweeps through an unnamed contemporary city and pushes society to the brink of breakdown.

The $25 million project is being set up as a Brazilian/Canadian co-production. It will shoot next summer in Sao Paolo, Meirelles' hometown, and Toronto.

The script is by Don McKellar, the Canadian writer-director-actor, who optioned the book with his producing partner, Niv Fichman of Rhombus Media.

McKellar also will play a supporting role in the movie. The other parts have yet to be cast.

Fichman will produce with Simon Channing-Williams and Gail Egan of London-based Pot Boiler Films, who produced Meirelles' last movie, "The Constant Gardener."

The other co-producers are Sonoko Sakai of Japan's Bee Vine Pictures and Andrea Barata Ribeiro of O2 Filmes in Brazil.

It was only after they offered the project to Meirelles that they discovered he had previously tried to option "Blindness" back in 1998, but had been rebuffed by Saramago.

Meirelles went on instead to make "City of God," the movie that first brought him international acclaim.

Like Meirelles before them, McKellar and Fichman were initially rebuffed by Saramago, who had never previously sold film rights to any of his books. "He told us that cinema destroys the imagination," Fichman recalls.

But the 83-year-old Nobel laureate relented after they flew halfway around the world to persuade him. Saramago also approved their plan to set the movie up as an international co-production, rather than seeking financing from a single U.S. studio.

Saramago's novel is one of the most amazing things I've ever read, a novel that really pulls the reader into a situation of such despair yet manages to hold hope for humanity on both individual and societal levels. I haven't seen The Constant Gardener, but I was pretty chilly towards City of God (I didn't dislike it, it just didn't do much for me), so...

I can't recall who, but one reviewer likened Time of the Wolf to Blindness and I think it was a fair comparison, not just in the broad outline of the plot, but that weird sense of emotional catharsis that Haneke's film has at the end.

[flyonthewall2983]

From suicidegirls.com

Who's the one that makes ya feel good?
Who's the one that makes ya feel alright?

Larry Charles.

The Borat director has signed on to helm the biopic about Motley Crüe, the movie version of the band's autobiography "The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band." Obviously, this could very well be the greatest movie ever made. Even better news, is that hard core porn writer Rich Wilkes is responsible for transforming the tome into a screenplay. I wonder what parts of the book Mr. Wilkes will concentrate on in the movie adaptation. Vince mourning the loss of his daughter? Nikki Sixx's troubled past? Or banging Girls, Girls, Girls?

Nikki Sixx has said the band will remain deeply involved in the MTV/Paramount production that should see release in 2007.

Casting has yet to be finalized so start making bets on who will play who. The most obvious choice of having the band play themselves seems unlikely with the band currently on tour with Aerosmith and production set to begin in Fall.

I have to admit that I'm very interested in what will come out of this. I'm in no way a fan of theirs, but they undoubtedly have one of the most notorious reputations of debauchery in show business, not just rock music.

[Antoine Doinel]

From filmstew.com:

Polanski to Police Rush Hour 3

The Oscar winning filmmaker is set to play a disagreeable French cop in the long awaited action comedy, one of several big name cameos.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006 at 12:01 AM
By Dennis Michael

Roman Polanski is going back to acting - very briefly - in Brett Ratner's upcoming comedy Rush Hour 3. Fox News reports Ratner has convinced the filmmaker to appear as a French cop who gives stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker some trouble as the film progresses. Ratner has also managed to convince European actors Max Von Sydow and Yvan Attal to appear in the film in cameos as well. Polanski won an Oscar as Best Director a few years ago for his work on The Pianist, but he was unable to come to the US to accept the award. If he steps on US soil, he's likely to be arrested. Polanski pled guilty to having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl back in 1977. He skipped bail and fled to France rather than face his prison sentence. That means he's unlikely to show up at the junket to do publicity for Rush Hour 3. Polanski's acting career high point was his cameo in Chinatown: Polanski directed the film, but also performed the bit part as a thug who slices Jack Nicholson's nose.

[Cosmic Bus]

Fernando Meirelles to Direct Blindness

I was thrilled to hear about this one, as Blindness is among my favorite novels; Meirelles strikes me a strong choice for the material and the filming locales suggest that this will not be terribly homogenized.

Curious about the statement regarding this being the first of Saramago's works to be adapted, as George Sluizer directed The Stone Raft a few years ago. Either the writer of that brief article wasn't aware of this film, or perhaps Saramago himself was not involved with negotiations for it?

Either way, this is certainly one of my more anticipated projects. Oh, dadaistun, if it's of any interest to you, there's an indirect follow-up novel to Blindness called Seeing, although it isn't nearly the same quality.

[Lino]

[quote]FROM Screendaily:

Lars von Trier to shoot horror project next summer


Jacob Wendt Jensen in Copenhagen 26 September 2006 04:00



Only hours after the world premiere of Lars von Trier's The Boss Of It All at the Copenhagen International Film Festival last Thursday, the maverick director has announced his next film. Moving from the comedy of The Boss Of It All, he will next tackle horror in Antichrist.

The project was announced for the first time two years ago but was delayed after producer Peter Aalbaek Jensen told vital parts of the plot to reporters.

Jensen and von Trier, who co-founded Zentropa, had their friendship tested but now restored. “I have rewritten parts of the story and this time Peter Aalbaek Jensen is getting less information about details of the project,â€

[The Fanciful Norwegian]

So, uh, Tom Laughlin is trying to get a new Billy Jack movie off the ground. Normally I'd roll my eyes and say "good luck with that," but the "treatment" by itself is such a trainwreck I truly hope it gets made -- besides reading a bit like outtakes from Timecube (or maybe a lost rant by Francis E. Dec), it also suggests the movie will be about a billion hours long and cover the entire spectrum of human existence, or something. I know some of you here have a fair amount of disposable income, so please, give it to Tom and Dolores and help make their dream a reality.

[Fletch F. Fletch]

from LatinoReview.com:

[quote]Burn After Reading: According to Production Weekly, George Clooney will reunite with Joel Coen & Ethan Coen on “Burn After Reading,â€