Cage, 50 Cent Duke It Out
Nicolas Cage and 50 Cent in a boxing ring–who do you think would win? That’s really a rhetorical question. Actually, the two are set to star in The Dance, a film based on the life of prison boxing coach Billy “The Kid” Roth. Once a successful prizefighter, Roth has spent more than 40 years as a volunteer boxing coach in Louisiana state prisons. Cage will play Roth, while 50 Cent will play an inmate the coach believes has the talent to be a contender–the only hindrance being that he’s serving a life sentence. Yeah, that does put a damper on things. Wonder if 50 Cent will bite someone’s ear off? Seriously, you’ve got to give 50 some props for getting back in the acting saddle again. The scathing reviews he got for his Get Rich or Die Tryin‘ would have put anyone off. But not this guy; he’s bound and determined to make a go of it.
Captain Marvel to the Rescue
Clap your hands and yell it with me: SHAZAM!. Director Peter Segal, who shot the Adam Sandler hits The Longest Yard, 50 First Dates and Anger Management has come aboard to helm Shazam!–an adaptation of the DC Comics series featuring Captain Marvel. The comic focused on young Billy Batson, who becomes the superhero known as Captain Marvel when he utters the magic word “Shazam!” The name is an acronym for six gods and heroes of the ancient world as well as their attributes: the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Aries, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles and the speed of Mercury. Now, the question is, will Sandler play Captain Marvel? That’d be a superhero movie to watch.
Espionage Abounds
Busy bee Will Smith is attached to star in Greenbacks, a Morocco-set action thriller which revolves around an American ex-pat who stumbles across a plot to destabilize the world’s economy by mass-producing perfect counterfeit greenbacks. Smith is also set to star in a remake of the TV show To Catch a Thief. Then there’s 24. Kiefer Sutherland has confirmed his hit TV show will indeed be made into a feature film. Sutherland told MTV.com plans for a film are already in motion. He said, “The 24 movie would be a two-hour representation of a 24-hour day. That would be the first time that we would not do something in real time, but the characters would obviously all be derivative of the show. The timing issue is something the writers are working on right now. But the sky’s the limit at that point for them, because we would not be restricted by the time element.” Um, wouldn’t that just be like watching a regular movie? I thought the whole appeal to the TV show is that each week, we get to see one more hour in the day. And then have to wait a whole other week to see the next hour. I just can’t see how that’ll translate to the big screen. But, hey, if they build a good script, they will come.
DeVito, Broderick All Lit Up; Lopez Has Some Balls
Danny DeVito and Matthew Broderick are set to star in All Lit Up, a comedy that will reunite Big Momma’s House 2 director John Whitesell and screenwriter Don Rhymer. DeVito and Broderick will play neighbors in a small New England town who collide when one decides to decorate his house for the holidays so brightly that it can be seen from space. Oh, that’s gotta be the DeVito’s part. Meanwhile, George Lopez and Asian actress Maggie Q have joined the cast of Balls of Fury, a comedy being directed by Ben Garant (Reno: 911). The story follows a washed-up ping-pong champion (played by relative newcomer Dan Fogler), who must reclaim his skills after being recruited by the government to go undercover and bust a crime lord, Feng. Feng hosts an annual ping-pong tournament in which all the losers are executed. Lopez will play the FBI agent who recruits Fogler, while Maggie Q plays the sexy niece of his mentor, Master Wong. Christopher Walken is cast as Feng. Ping-pong, huh? Okaaay.
Directors Get Gigs
Hot off of directing the horror remake The Hills Have Eyes, Alexandre Aja is going Into the Mirror for more horror. Uh, oh, this doesn’t sound good. The story follows a security guard at a high-end department store who begins to investigate mysterious deaths occurring in front of the stores’ mirrors. He soon discovers that there are murderous reflections out for revenge. I knew there was a reason all those darn department store dressing room mirrors make you look bad. Also on the docket, director Phil Joanou is attached to direct a remake of Sharky’s Machine, a 1981 movie that starred Burt Reynolds as a vice cop who hunts down a group of brutal bad guys. Honestly, what’s the point? The original, also directed by Reynolds, wasn’t very good to begin with. I guess doing a remake will miraculously make it all better.
It’s Drake & Josh: The Movie!
Oh. My. Gosh! I can hear all the tweenage girls screaming now. Drake Bell and Josh Peck, stars of the hit Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh, are graduating to the big screen. The duo will star in an as-yet-untitled feature about a wealthy but extremely sheltered young man (Peck), who is thrust into the real world and quickly finds himself in over his head. To make up for lost time, he receives a crash course in life experience from a jovial slacker (Bell). No director is attached. Bell and Peck are a phenomenon among the tyke set. According to the Hollywood Reporter, their series broke records when it debuted in January 2004 and is rated the No. 1 live-action series among kids aged 2 to 11. This year, their TV-movie Drake and Josh Go Hollywood was the highest-rated TV movie in Nick history.
Arnett Moves On After Arrested
Will Arnett, the screwed up brother on the now-defunct Arrested Development, is getting ready to embark on an ambassadorship. DreamWorks and Paramount have picked up The Ambassador, a feature pitch by Arnett and Michael Schur, that will be a starring vehicle for Arnett. The story centers on a former U.S. vice president’s privileged son, who is assigned an ambassadorship in Europe, where he quickly becomes the quintessential ugly American. Nice.
Until next week…
