Kit Bowen's Weekly Role Call, Oct. 22
By Kit Bowen, Hollywood.com Staff
|
Friday, October 22, 2004
Mark Ruffalo |
Ruffalo, Witherspoon show their True spirit
Mark Ruffalo and Reese Witherspoon are starring in the romantic comedy If Only It Were True in which he plays "a pretty depressed guy who moves into an apartment that's haunted by the spirit of a lively young woman [Witherspoon] who's in a coma," Ruffalo told Entertainment Weekly. "It's a comedy, but I don't go for just the straight-up comedy stuff, so it has a really nice dramatic romance behind it." (Wonder if he's ever seen Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, about a man haunted by the ghost of his first wife.) This is after Ruffalo plays Kate Winslet's brother and Meryl Streep's son in the remake of All the King's Men, also starring Sean Penn and Jude Law, as a guy who's "out of touch with the workings of modern politics" and "a little crazy." We're just wondering, can you be haunted by the spirit of someone who isn't dead yet? Guess that's for the writers to figure out.
Meet the new Superman
The search could be over: Director Bryan Singer may have found his new Man of Steel. Though a deal has not yet been signed, sealed and delivered, it looks like relative newcomer Brandon Routh is expected to take on the role of Superman for the long-in-the-works feature. Routh, 25, was raised in Norwalk, Iowa, just 100 miles south of Woolstock--the hometown of TV's original Superman, George Reeves--and his credits include One Life To Live and guest spots on Gilmore Girls and Will & Grace. But someone should tell him about that pesky Superman curse (most of the actors who've played the part have died untimely deaths. Yikes).
Foxx on the run
Jamie Foxx--hot, hot, hot from his star turns in Collateral and the upcoming, Oscar-touted Ray--is attached to star in not one but several movies, one being The Executioner's Game, based on the book of the same name by Gary Hardwick. The story concerns a operative for an ultra-secret government organization who must track down and assassinate his onetime mentor, who has gone rogue. The talented actor is also in talks with American Beauty director Sam Mendes to star in Jarhead with Jake Gyllenhaal. Based on Anthony Swofford's book, Gyllenhaal will play a grunt Marine during the Gulf War, and Foxx is poised to play his squad commander. While Mendes would not comment on Foxx or the other players who've not been set in deals, he told Variety Gyllenhaal was cast after an exhaustive search of actors in their early 20s. "You can safely say I saw most everybody in his age group, and I was impressed by the talent out there," Mendes said. The Oscar-winning director also said the script was buoyed by "the blackest of black humor, anger, surreal surroundings and forbidden fruit of what these guys really talk about and what really goes on out there." OK, we'll take his word for it.
Survival of the fittest
Meanwhile, another romantic comedy, The Darwin Awards, is in the works. It's based on the real-life Web site that gives prizes to people who die stupid deaths, like a woman smoking a cigarette while dousing anthills with gasoline. The film will star Winona Ryder and Joseph Fiennes as two investigators on the cross-country trail of a Darwin Award candidate. I'm laughing already.
More on Mendes…
The great green ogre sings! Broadway hopeful Shrek: The Musical is being produced by Sam Mendes' Scamp Film & Theater and DreamWorks Animation and directed by Jason Moore, the Tony-nominated director of Avenue Q. Mendes, former artistic director of London's Donmar Warehouse, is creative producer. If The Lion King can be a big Broadway hit, why not Shrek?
Survival of the fittest
Meanwhile, another romantic comedy, The Darwin Awards, is in the works. It's based on the real-life Web site that gives prizes to people who die stupid deaths, like a woman smoking a cigarette while dousing anthills with gasoline. The film will star Winona Ryder and Joseph Fiennes as two investigators on the cross-country trail of a Darwin Award candidate. I'm laughing already.
Hounsou, Buscemi take a trip to The Island
Djimon Hounsou and Steve Buscemi will visit The Island for director Michael Bay. The DreamWorks film also stars Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson in the story of a "harvested being" (a what?) who becomes self-aware and tries to escape the utopia where he is being kept. Johansson plays the only person he can trust and the carrier of the child. Hounsou, who was nominated last year for an Oscar for his performance in Jim Sheridan's In America, will play the head of security for the utopian community. Maybe we should get the cast of ABC's Lost together with these guys.
Robbins, Christie share a Secret
Tim Robbins and Julie Christie have joined Sarah Polley in El Deseo's English-lingo production The Secret Life of Words, from Spanish helmer Isabel Coixet. The story follows a female survivor of the Yugoslavian war on an all-male oilrig. Wait a minute…how does a female survivor of the Yugoslavian war end up on an oilrig full of men? The intense Polley (The Sweet Hereafter, Dawn of the Dead) always seems to find eclectic projects, so I'm willing to suspend my disbelief.
Woo draws Red Circle
Poor John Woo. One of China's most thrilling action film directors, Woo has had a bad run of it lately here in the good old United States, with the poor-performing Windtalkers and Paycheck. Now, Woo is set to direct The Red Circle, an updated remake of the Jean-Pierre Melville-directed 1970 French pic Le Cercle Rouge for Paramount. The original noir tale starred Alain Delon and centered on a thief who is released from prison the same day a murderer escapes police custody. The outlaws pair up and commit a heist as a relentless cop closes in. "John has been obsessed with the original film since he saw it, and you can see some influence on his Hong Kong films," producer Terence Chang told the Hollywood Reporter. "John has wanted to go back to his roots a bit, and this is a good opportunity to make something different from the rest of his American films." Well, let's hope so.
Henry VIII gets a series
A drama series about King Henry VIII and his most famous of wives, Anne Boleyn? Brilliant! Showtime is teaming with feature film writer Michael Hirst (Elizabeth), Working Title Films and Ben Silverman's Reveille on the series centered on the Tudor dynasty. The pilot episode centers on a young King Henry VIII in his first encounter with Anne Boleyn (future mother of Queen Elizabeth I), who will soon turn his world upside down. Showtime entertainment chief Robert Greenblatt described to the Variety the pivotal point in Henry's life as "an interesting bubbling cauldron in history." Greenblatt added the skein won't be a typical historical costume drama. "It'll be edgy and vicious. We won't be doing the Henry most of us know, the middle-aged fat king sitting at a table and eating a drumstick." A sexy King Henry--I like it!
Until next week…
Photo(s) by Ken Kwok- © 2003- Hollywood.com, Inc- All Rights Reserved