Posted Dec 1st 2008 8:02PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Drama, Horror, Thrillers, Deals, Mystery & Suspense, Newsstand
Michael Marshall is one lucky writer -- he published a well-received trilogy, which was adapted into a comic series by Zenescope, and now
The Straw Men are coming to the big screen. According to
Variety, Benderspink has snatched the rights to the to the novels and the comic books, presumably in order to adapt some combination of them.
Unfortunately, I can't rustle up a preview of the comic -- but you can check out the gorgeously creepy covers on
Zenoscope. I'm not sure I could have these laying beside my bed, they're pretty nightmarish.
It sounds like the book is, too. The story begins with two men calmly opening fire at a McDonald's in Palmerston, Pennsylvania before jumping ahead ten years to meet up with Ward Hopkins, who is convinced the death of his parents was no accident. Elsewhere, a 14 year old girl is kidnapped by a serial killer, and two FBI Agents are on the manhunt to find him. These events are no coincidence, they're the first clues to the nightmarish individuals known as The Straw Men. Marshall's thriller has received nothing but praise -- Publisher's Weekly squeamishly noted its "dismemberment scenes," Stephen King praised it, and
Newsarama is calling it "one of the best horror thrillers ever written."
There's no director or screenwriter attached yet -- and Benderspink is adapting every other graphic novel known to man, so this could sit in pre-production for awhile, which gives us all time to read the book. Has anyone out there read it or the comic? Tell us everything (well, not
everything, but give us a good review) in the comments below.
Posted Dec 1st 2008 7:02PM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Warner Brothers, Scripts, Family Films, DIY/Filmmaking
It never fails to amuse me whenever parents get all worked up about an occasional f-bomb or a flash of boob, but show 'em a story about child genocide peppered with mild misogyny and presto -- you've got a children's classic! Almost two years ago, it was announced that Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón would be taking on an update of Roald Dahl's The Witches, and it was originally reported that Cuarón was going to direct. Now, though, it seems like things have changed, and Empire has broken the news (in an interview with Cuarón) that Del Toro has not only finished the screenplay, but will also be taking the helm for the fantasy update.
Dahl's original story centered on a conspiracy of witches looking to rid the world of children (great bedtime story, huh?), and received the feature film treatment once before. But, that hasn't stopped the studio from going ahead with a brand new version of the dark children's tale, and by the sounds of it, there are going to be plenty of changes in Del Toro's update. Cuarón told Empire, "It won't be like the original Nicolas Roeg version, which was a beautiful film," because (and this is the very exciting part), Del Toro plans to "do it completely in stop-motion animation."
When Nicolas Roeg's version was released back in 1990, a few changes were made to make the story a little less disturbing for the kiddies (including a much lower body count). But for you purists out there, at least we can rely on the fact that at least Del Toro isn't afraid to play rough with kids on the big screen.
Sound off below, and tell us what you think about Del Toro's plan for the 'kiddie-killing' update...
Posted Dec 1st 2008 12:40PM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Drama, Deals, RumorMonger, Scripts, Newsstand, Religious, War
Maybe all roads
do lead to Rome. According to
The Hollywood Reporter and creator
Bruno Heller, there's actually talk of continuing the brilliant HBO series on the big screen to wrap up all the historical loose ends caused by the series' abrupt cancellation. (Something which HBO now thinks was a big mistake. Between that and
passing over Preacher, they're rather low in my esteem right now.)
Heller admits the talk is, at the moment, just talk. "It's moving along. It's not there until it is there. I would love to round that show off." Heller wouldn't discuss movie plot plans, but the next step for
Rome was Augustus Caesar having to deal with a certain carpenter from Judea -- with a twist typical of the series.
Fans of the show will probably weep a little at Heller's unrealized plans -- Lucius Vorenus' off-camera fate wasn't as definite as we might have thought, and we would have gotten a whole season of Egyptian debauchery. "I discovered halfway through writing the second season the show was going to end," Heller said. "The second was going to end with death of Brutus. Third and fourth season would be set in Egypt. Fifth was going to be the rise of the messiah in Palestine. But because we got the heads-up that the second season would be it, I telescoped the third and fourth season into the second one, which accounts for the blazing speed we go through history near the end. There's certainly more than enough history to go around."
A
Rome movie is probably nothing but a dream -- anything more than a whisper, and it will vanish, it is so fragile. But cancellation is no longer a death knell, and while they can't give me back the lost season of Antony and Cleopatra, I'm
always up for more bread and circuses.
Posted Nov 27th 2008 4:32PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Thrillers, Casting, Deals, Scripts
While the Material Girl gets back to single life, her brother is getting ready for the big screen.
The Hollywood Reporter posts that Madonna's brother
Christopher Ciccone will make his feature directorial debut with a new teen thriller called
Twist. The script was written by
Jay and Karyn Milner, and while no plot details are being released, you can get a taste of the stories they write by clicking on their names -- it's the usual fish-out-of-water stories with strange and dangerous twists. Considering the name of this project, I think it's safe to say that this will be no different.
THR also reports that
Maurice Kanbar (
Hoodwinked producer) is gearing up for an indie with
Daphne Zuniga called
The Scene. Aside from
reliving her days as Princess Vespa, Zuniga is producing and starring in the black comedy, which is adapted from
Theresa Rebeck's (
Gossip) play about the "Manhattan party circuit and entertainment industry."
While I wish this meant something of the Whit Stilman oeuvre, this is more modern. Zuniga will play a cynical talk show producer who meets a chameleon social-climber played by Heather Gordon. What happens after that, we'll have to wait and see.
Amy Glazer is directing, and this should be a bit of an intimate affair since
THR says that sets have been built IN Kanbar's home. Talk about cutting costs!
Posted Nov 26th 2008 6:03PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Drama, Foreign Language, Thrillers, Deals, Scripts
Could you see
Paul Scrader in Bollywood? See, this is much more than merely Hollywood delighting in all things Bollywood.
The Hollywood Reporter posts that Paul Schrader, the pen behind
Taxi Driver and
Raging Bull, is heading to Mumbai to helm a Bollywood action flick called
Extreme City.
What's convinced him to head overseas? He says: "I've been getting indie movies made for 20 years. But I take a good look around and what I see is a barren, barren place -- in terms of the financial community, in terms of audiences, in terms of distribution. It's cold out there." So in this non-barren Bollywood, what will he direct? It's the story of an American man who goes to India to aid in the resolution of a kidnapping case for his father-in-law, and gets stuck in a gangster plot. Schrader admits that there will be a mix of dialogue and musical numbers, but it's "not a Masala movie."
I wonder... Will this continue to be a trend? If indie filmmakers can't get love here, will they take it elsewhere? And if they do, imagine the headaches the Oscar committee will get with an influx of overseas projects with mixed dialog by Americans!
Posted Nov 25th 2008 3:25PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Casting, Deals, RumorMonger, Fandom, Newsstand
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It's always fun when some tasty bit of news gets tossed out online, especially when there's only a few tiny little pieces -- like a director, an actor and a title. That seems to be the case with this piece of news, via
Production Weekly, who tell us that Sony has picked up the rights for a film called
Chef, which will be directed by
David Fincher and star
Keanu Reeves. That's it. That's all we have to go by. No genre, no premise, no additional cast -- nada.
As far as Fincher and Reeves go, each appears to be available as the former is finished with
Benjamin Button and is attached to only direct an animated segment of
Heavy Metal, and Reeves just finished
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. The only flick that comes to my mind is the remake of
Who is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe, but the titles are different and it doesn't seem like the kind of project Fincher would direct. So who is this chef? Where does he come from? Tell us more about this movie! If anyone out there has more info on it, definitely let us know.
Posted Nov 25th 2008 2:32PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Thrillers, Deals, Scripts
There's nothing quite like a father incensed with possible harm to his kid and fighting the odds to find and save her. But it's familiar. We've been there, and seen that. So, what would that be like with a French director who freaked out film festival audiences with
Martyrs?
The Hollywood Reporter posts that
Pascal Laugier has been tapped to write and direct a new supernatural thriller called
Details. Based on a short story by China Mieville, the film follows a dad obsessed with finding his missing daughter. However, this isn't a simple case of kidnapping -- she disappears after "stirring up dark forces." But if you want something more familiar, the man is also bringing us the
Hellraiser remake.
In other news...
Are you ready? Hollywood is bringing us a romcom that will strap us in seats for a full month of romantic comedy! Okay, not quite, but
The Hollywood Reporter does say that Lionsgate has picked up a spec by new writer Corinne Kingsbury called
31 Days of Larry. So far, we've got one lone word to describe it: "irreverent." Let's hope that doesn't mean a romcom starring Kevin James, as he's romanced by Adam Sandler. I'm a bit tarnished on the whole "Larry" on the big screen thing. (Not James, just anything that reminds me of that film.)
Posted Nov 24th 2008 3:02PM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Deals
I love director
Anand Tucker's professional trajectory. He dove into music, sisters, and drama with
Hilary and Jackie and followed it up with Steve Martin's strange romance,
Shopgirl. Then there was some father and son dynamics before grabbing upcoming projects about the Yorkshire Ripper, sex changes, and a CIA spy thriller. So, what does he top this all with?
Variety reports that he's signed on to helm
Harry Elfont and Deb Kaplan's upcoming romcom,
Leap Year. The one that Amy Adams grabbed
last month. The film, which heads into production in Ireland this March, follows a woman who flies over to Dublin to propose to her boyfriend on leap day. Why? Because an Irish tradition says that when men get proposals on that day, they have to say yes. She gets delayed, and surely doesn't want to wait another four years to make her possible marriage a sure thing, so she's got to race across the country to make it.
Good ... or bad? Well, this slightly brings to mind a certain
Matchmaker story, which was bad in a sweet sort of way. Harry and Deb brought us
Can't Hardly Wait, which rocked, but they also gave us flicks like
Made of Honor and
The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas. But Tucker is involved, and would he sign on for a crappy romcom? Eh, I can't decide. What say you?
Posted Nov 23rd 2008 10:32AM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Drama, Deals, Fandom, Movie Marketing, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Posters
Here are some stuff and things for your lazy Sunday:
-- News of that planned
Arrested Development movie has finally found its way to the trades, with both
Variety and
The Hollywood Reporter saying that series creator Mitch Hurwitz is real close to signing a deal to write and direct the film. Ron Howard (who narrated the show), as well as the original cast, are all expected to return (we hope).
-- Two more
Star Trek character posters have arrived online, with one featuring Eric Bana as the Romulan villain Nero, and the other shows Zoe Saldana as a very sexy Uhura. These end a pretty busy week for
Trek, which began with the debut of
the film's first full-length trailer and a
special presentation of footage by director J.J. Abrams. Check out larger versions of these posters, as well as the other two previously released character posters, in the gallery below.
-- The
5th Annual Big Apple Film Festival came to a close last night, where yours truly moderated six very fun Q&A sessions over the course of the four-day fest and was on hand for the final awards ceremony. Winning Best Feature was
The Living Wake, with
The Project taking the fest's Cityscape Award (which goes to the film that best exemplifies the city of New York). Thanks to all those
Cinematical readers who stopped me to say hello!
-- Looks like Universal plans to turn those Jason Bourne films into the next James Bond franchise, as
Variety tells us the studio has cut a deal with author Robert Ludlum's estate which gives Universal exclusive rights to not only the Jason Bourne character, but also a first look at other Ludlum novels. As far as a fourth Bourne film goes, Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon have already signed on, and George Nolfi is currently writing the script.
Posted Nov 22nd 2008 1:13PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Drama, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Mystery & Suspense, Fandom, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
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The first film has been in theaters for a little over 24 hours now, but Summit Entertainment hasn't wasted any time in officially announcing the follow up to
Twilight (which took in a whopping $35 million on Friday alone), based on the second book in the series,
New Moon. Here's the press release
Cinematical just received:
"Summit Entertainment announced today that the studio is officially moving forward with the production of NEW MOON, the second installment of its filmed franchise TWILIGHT, the action-packed, modern day vampire love story. The movie will be based on the second novel in author Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series titled, New Moon. The first movie in the TWILIGHT franchise, the self-titled TWILIGHT, arrived in theaters this weekend to sold-out showings.
Stephenie Meyer stated, "I don't think any other author has had a more positive experience with the makers of her movie adaptation than I have had with Summit Entertainment. I'm thrilled to have the chance to work with them again on NEW MOON."
Starring Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart, TWILIGHT tells the story of 17-year-old Bella Swan who moves to the small town of Forks, Washington to live with her father, and becomes drawn to Edward Cullen, a pale, mysterious classmate who seems determined to push her away. But neither can deny the attraction that pulls them together...even when Edward confides that he and his family are vampires. Their unorthodox romance puts her in physical danger when Edward's nemesis comes to town and sets his sights on Bella."
So,
Twilight fans, what would you like to see with
New Moon?
Posted Nov 22nd 2008 9:32AM by Monika Bartyzel
Filed under: Deals, Remakes and Sequels, Western
As soon as the Lone Ranger started to be pulled into modern Hollywood, I knew other cowboys would follow. If Hi, Ho, and Silver, aren't your idea of a good time, how about
Bill "Hopalong" Cassidy?
Variety reports that
300 producer
Mark Canton is joining forces with Pterodactyl Prods. on a film that will feature the iconic Hopalong. The hero, who was created back in 1904, made his way through stories and novels before going Hollywood in 1935 and appearing in a whopping 66 films through the '30s, '40s, and '50s. Canton says: "We're looking to ring in the modern age with a branded, well-loved hero that we approach in a fresh way." (Hopalong had comics, serials, a series, and was the first image to be slapped on a lunchbox.
Of course this would appeal to cross-platform thinkers, but can we really call Hopalong well-loved today? His fans are at
least pushing 50, if not 80 or 90. Nevertheless, I'm intrigued by this newfound love of cowboys. I guess after pirates, cowboys are the natural progression. And I can't feel too irked about this all -- I'll save it for the Stooges. How about you?
Posted Nov 21st 2008 7:02PM by Erik Davis
Filed under: Comedy, Casting, Deals, Newsstand
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What does last year's most talked-about teen flick have in common with this year's most talked-about pre-teen flick? Here's a hint: A director and an actress. Yes,
Juno director
Jason Reitman has finally chosen the female lead for his follow-up flick
Up in the Air -- based on Walter Kim's (
Thumbsucker) 2001 novel -- and he's chosen none other than
Anna Kendrick. Who? Oh wait, I forgot to put this next to her name:
Twilight actress Anna Kendrick.
The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Kendrick, who played one of Bella's friends in the poetic vamp tale, beat out other actresses like Emily Blunt and Juno herself, Ellen Page. Go figure! In the film, Kendrick will play "a young woman who finds herself pulled into the orbit of a "career transition counselor" (i.e. professional firer) careening through the airless world of business travel." Oh, and that "career transition counselor" will be played by
George Clooney. I haven't seen
Twilight, but Kendrick was excellent in the small indie
Rocket Science, and from what I remember she's got a sort of Emma Stone thing going on. Ya know, cute, girl-next-door-but-intelligent kinda personality. I dig her. Paramount will shovel it into theaters, but there's currently no word on a release date.
Posted Nov 21st 2008 10:45AM by Jessica Barnes
Filed under: Drama, Deals, Paramount, Scripts, Brad Pitt
So before anyone accuses me of pandering to celebrity by putting a picture of
Brad Pitt on this news item, I want you to know that I tried to find a picture that was a little more 'newsworthy', but caved when I came up with nothing. So, it's Pitt you get. The Hollywood Reporter
announced that Pitt's production company, Plan B, have purchased the rights to the true life tale of local journalist Linda Trest, and her take-down of a conman posing as a federal agent in Gerald, Missouri.
Anthony Walton and Andrew Dresher have already been tapped to write the story of a small town journalist by the name of Linda Trest who had been receiving complaints about drug searches that had been conducted by Bill A. Jakob (a new-to-town federal agent who had supposedly been sent to handle the town's Methamphetamine problem). After conducting her own investigation, Trest uncovered that Jakob was an unemployed former trucking company owner, a former security guard, a former wedding minister and a former small-town cop -- one thing he wasn't was a federal agent. Jakob eventually pleaded guilty to impersonating an officer, and is facing six years in prison.
Plan B has been
snatching up new properties left and right lately, including
Eat, Pray, Love, with Ryan Murphy directing,
The Killer and
Black Hole with David Fincher, and the
just-announced Battling Boy. Like with most Plan B projects, rumors are already brewing over whether or not Pitt will star (presumably as Jakob). But as we all know, Pitt has the bad habit of dropping out of movies even
after signing on the dotted line, so we'll have to wait and see.
Posted Nov 21st 2008 9:02AM by Elisabeth Rappe
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Warner Brothers, Fandom, Family Films, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek
The Captain Marvel film seems to finally be moving forward again, if this
Variety item is anything to go by.
Get Smart's Peter Segal has set a first-look deal at Warner Bros., and as part of the deal the studio acquired the John August-scripted
Captain Marvel which Segel is still in line to direct.
The film was originally set up at New Line, but we all remember what happened there, so Marvel fans will be relieved to know he's got a new studio to call home -- and one that all his DC friends are at. I'm curious about the title switch ... are they going to retitle it
Captain Marvel, and risk everyone being confused as to which comic brand he belongs to?
The last word we had on the project was precisely a year ago, when
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson signed on to play
the villainous Black Adam.
Variety makes no mention as to whether he's still attached. I hope he is, the fans chose him! You can't recast after a stunt like that.
Considering it has a script, a director, a villain, and a studio, all Shazam/Marvel needs is its hero, and it could be on the big screen before Warner Bros decides what to do with Superman. I'm not the biggest fan of the character, but he's a perfect one for the kids, especially in this era of dark and gritty superheroes.
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If you haven't yet upgraded to some kind of Blu-ray player, and you've decided that this might be the year to do so, then it looks like you're getting up at the crack of dawn this Friday (aka Black Friday) because there are some pretty good deals to be found. Here are a few we uncovered:_thumbnail.jpg)
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