Clooney Channels the Coens Again
George Clooney is hooking up with filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen for their third film together, Burn After Reading, a spy caper about a CIA agent who loses the disc of the book he is writing. The film will mark a more comedic take on the world of spooks than Clooney‘s recent Oscar-winning dramatic turn in Syriana, and Clooney is once again set to play a killer. Clooney and the Coens previously worked together on 2000’s O Brother, Where Art Thou? and 2003’s Intolerable Cruelty. Good thing Clooney–who just split from his other frequent collaborator, Steven Soderbergh—isn’t giving up all of his friends. And anything the Coens do is, at the very least, unique. Speaking of famous directing/producing brothers, Peter and Bobby Farrelly have hopped on board to direct Baster, a character-driven romantic comedy about a woman’s longing for a baby. Wonder how they’ll fit bathroom humor in there.
X Marks the Spot
Eric Bana and Terrence Howard are attached to star in Factor X, a thriller about the capture of the so-called “BTK killer” in Wichita. Dennis Rader is the serial killer who murdered 10 people in and around Wichita, Kan., between 1974-91 and was finally caught in 2005, turning out to be a mild-mannered church leader. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the acronym described Rader’s modus operandi, which was to bind, torture and kill. Lovely. Factor X, which takes its name from what he described in taunting letters to the police as his motive for murder, tells how a young, black counterterrorism expert from Washington (Howard) teamed up with a Wichita police detective (Bana), who spent his career trying to chase down the killer. Ridley Scott will produce the New Line project, and could also direct. This–along with the upcoming Zodiac, about the ‘70s San Francisco serial killer–could start another serial killer movie trend. It’s been awhile, hasn’t it?
Theron Gets Ready for Battle
Charlize Theron heads to the Northwest to do battle with the World Trade Organization. The Oscar-winning actress is set to star in ensemble drama The Battle in Seattle, along with Andre Benjamin (aka rapper Andre 3000), Martin Henderson, Woody Harrelson and Ray Liotta. Irish actor Stuart Townsend (from Queen of the Damned and who is also Theron’s longtime boyfriend) will write and helm in his directorial debut. The political actioner is set against the backdrop of the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. Variety reports. Like Bobby or Crash, the film will use interlocking strands to tell the story of the WTO meeting and ensuing riots from various perspectives, such as those of protesters, pedestrians, politicos, police and WTO delegates. During the five-day WTO meeting, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Seattle. What started out as a peaceful protest intended to stop the talks escalated into a riot and eventual state of emergency, with the National Guard called in. Townsend will use some actual footage of the riots. I should hope so. Got to have shots of a riot if you’re making a riot film.
Ferrell Shoots Hoops
Will Ferrell is lacing up his high-tops for Semi-Pro, a basketball comedy co-starring Woody Harrelson, no stranger to BBall movies, having starred in White Men Can’t Jump. The project is set during the 1970s (my goodness, that’s been a popular time period for movies these days) in the last year of the now-defunct world of the American Basketball Assn., and follows Jackie Moon, the owner-coach-player of the fictional Flint Michigan Tropics. Moon must lead his team on a desperate attempt to make it to the big leagues. Oh Will, why?
Another Comic Book Hits the Dust
Universal Pictures has picked up the rights to the cult comic book Cobalt 60. Taking place in a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by mutants and creatures, the story follows a masked hero named Cobalt 60 who embarks on a quest to avenge his parents, who were murdered by the evil Strontium 90. Zack Snyder, who burst onto the scene with 2004’s Dawn of the Dead, is attached to direct the adaptation. According to the Hollywood Reporter, underground artist Vaughn Bode created Cobalt 60 and its characters in 1968, but after one story the characters languished in obscurity. Hmm, wonder why? Could it be because it sounds like every other comic book out there? Just a guess. But then Bode’s son, Mark, picked up his father’s mantle in the 1980s, reviving the trippy art style and violence. Well, there you go!
Bacon, Harden Make Ties
Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden are in negotiations to star in Rails and Ties, a drama that will mark the feature directorial debut of Alison Eastwood, daughter to Clint and one-time Playboy model (and who starred in daddy’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil). Rails and Ties tells the story of the physical, emotional and psychological collision of two families after a suicidal mother parks her car, with her 9-year old son inside, on a railroad crossing and awaits the arrival of a speeding train. Oh, OK, a feel-good movie then. Jeez.
Graham and McDermott Head to Texas
Heather Graham and Dylan McDermott will play a beatnik couple in A West Texas Children’s Story, an indie drama set in the 1960s. The film revolves around two 12-year-olds who embark on an adventure to improve their lives after living with abusive parents. AnnaSophia Robb (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Cayden Boyd (X-Men: The Last Stand) play the children. Graham and McDermott play the girl’s aunt and uncle who teach the children about their alternative lifestyle. Lara Flynn Boyle and Matthew Modine play the boy’s parents. Val Kilmer also is in the film. Well, of course he is. What’s a film about child abuse without him?
Until next week…
