HOLLYWOOD - Everyone is hot on the trail for the new miss thang in Hollywood--Brittany Murphy (Girl, Interrupted). She's got 'em all talking about Oscars and what not, especially in her new movie, Don't Say a Word, with Michael Douglas, in which she once again plays a trouble lass stuck in a mental institution. She's also costarring with Drew Barrymore in Penny Marshall's Riding in Cars with Boys, due in Oct. And now she's signed up to join Mekhi Phifer (O) in The Untitled Detroit Project directed by Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) and also starring rapper Eminem, in his first feature film.
This is what I read in the Hollywood Reporter about the film: "An honest and provocative fictional examination of a critical month in the life of a young man named Jimmy (Eminem) as he searches for identity and a sense of purpose. Against the familiar backdrop of indifference and community decay, he learns to express his anger, fears and frustration as he struggles to transcend his bleak circumstances." In other words, Eminem plays a street punk who tries to break out. Why can't they just say that? Geez, they're trying to make it sound like an Ivory/Merchant film. Murphy is going to play Eminem's girlfriend. Lucky girl.
Vin Diesel: Part I
The buff star of The Fast and the Furious is banking some serious bucks lately. He's going to do the sequel to his claim-to-fame film Pitch Black for a reported $11 million. Not bad. The sequel is called The Chronicles of Riddick, in which Diesel will reprise his role as Riddick, a brooding convict who was being transported as part of a space mission that got shipwrecked on a mysterious planet. You remember, where the big bad bug-things came out at night and ate most of the cast? Sure. But Diesel's big payday didn't come easy. Apparently the studio brass had a difficult time shelling out the dough to get Diesel, but hey, he keeps making movies that do well at the box office. So, he's got the clout.
Vin Diesel: Part II
And that's not all Diesel is doing. He's also got a new film starting production in November called XXX. I don't believe there's any porno in it, but I could be wrong. Samuel L. Jackson is in negotiations to join the film as a government agent who recruits and trains Diesel's character for an undercover operation designed to infiltrate a Russian crime ring. Apparently, Diesel is playing one tough mother in XXX, a cross between James Bond and Limp Bizkit's lead singer Fred Durst, and will be performing some death defying stunts. And his asking price is only $10 million for this one. OK. Whatever.