Lohan and Fonda Rule the World
My, my, Lindsay Lohan is sure branching out these days. First it was working with Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin in Prairie Home Companion. Now the starlet is in talks to team up with Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman in Georgia Rule, a dark comedy directed by Garry Marshall. The story centers on a rebellious young woman (Lohan) who is sent by her dysfunctional mother (Huffman) to spend a summer with her grandmother (Fonda). There are two male roles still to be cast. Good for Lohan. You know the old adage: You always play better tennis with someone who’s better than you.
Zellweger Is on the Case
Renee Zellweger, newly single and ready to work, has signed to star in the horror thriller Case 39, playing a social worker who saves an abused 10-year-old girl from her parents only to discover that things are not as they appear. Parents, if you’re thinking about signing your little Shirley Temple up for acting classes, you might want to reconsider. I mean, geez, little kids in movies these days get the raw end of things, don’t they? They either get snatched up by alien tripods, shot at by bad guys, watch one or both parents get brutally killed, are sexually and physically abused, thrown down wells, terrorized by demons, ghosts, schizophrenics–or whatever else you can think of–and, of course, turned into homicidal maniacs themselves. It’s kind of frightening. But, hey, this movie sounds great!
All Crowe Wants Is a Little Tenderness
Russell Crowe has signed to star in helmer John Polson‘s indie thriller Tenderness. Adapted from the novel by Robert Cormier, the story follows a violent teenager, Eric, whose life intertwines with Lori, a 16-year-old runaway who can’t resist his charm. Crowe will play Lieutenant Cristofuoro, a cop who sets out to unravel Eric’s complex past. Ooooh, intense, just how Crowe likes it. Sources close to Crowe say the actor has been hankering to work with Australian directing talent, such as fellow Aussie Polson, Variety reports. Their ties trace to when they acted together, playing soldiers in the World War II film Prisoners of the Sun in 1990. Polson also directed the Hide and Seek (see children in peril above) and the teen thriller Swimfan. Not necessarily the best pedigree but Crowe can whip him into shape, I’m sure. I bet Crowe will get to punch someone in the movie, too.
Perry Goes Numb; Watson, Chaplin Play Horse
Matthew Perry has signed to play a mentally unstable screenwriter in Numb, an indie dark comedy (honestly, these days, are they any other kind?) that brings the former Friends star back to the big screen. Perry’s film career has been spotty at best (but not as bad as Matt LeBlanc), ranging from the pretty good (The Whole Nine Yards) to the dismal (Serving Sara). But Numb sounds fun. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Perry‘s character suffers from acute depersonalization disorder, a condition so alienating and sanguine that it makes the chronically depressed look perky. When he falls for a girl, he puts himself through every single therapy in the book in order to win her love. The project marks the feature directing debut of its Canadian-born writer, Harris Goldberg, who co-wrote and co-produced Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo. Hmmm, not very encouraging. Meanwhile, Emily Watson, Ben Chaplin and Alex Etel (Millions) are jumping on The Water Horse, the Jay Russell-directed film based on the Dick King Smith novel. The film tells the story of a lonely boy in Scotland (Etel) who finds a mysterious egg on the shore of a lake. When the egg hatches, what emerges is a “water horse,” a mythical sea monster of Scottish legend. Finally, a fantastical movie about the Loch Ness Monster. I love that!
Newton, Murphy Team Up; Heigl’s Knocked Up
Thandie Newton, Cuba Gooding Jr., Eddie Griffin and Terry Crews have joined Eddie Murphy in DreamWorks Pictures’ Norbit. The laffer stars Murphy in the title role, a meek guy pressed into marrying a monstrous woman (also Murphy), only to meet the woman of his dreams (Newton). Gooding takes the role of Newton‘s boyfriend, while Griffin will star as a retired pimp. OK, color me intrigued. I do like it when Eddie is on a roll. And there’s been a casting change on the Judd Apatow comedy Knocked Up, about unexpected pregnancy and other consequences revolving around a man’s (Seth Rogen) one-night stand. Originally, it was to star Anne Hathaway but she dropped out because of creative reasons (wonder if it had anything to do with nudity?). Now, instead, we have Grey’s Anatomy Katherine Heigl. Yeah, sure, that’d work, too.
Oz Attends Funeral; Dead Team Gets Fuzzed
Stepford Wives director Frank Oz will shoot Death at a Funeral, a low-budget indie farce starring Matthew MacFadyen (Pride & Prejudice), Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent) and Ewen Bremner (Match Point). According to the Reporter, the action follows a dysfunctional British family as they gather to mourn the passing of their patriarch. When a man threatens to expose the patriarch’s secret unless he is paid a princely sum, his two mourning sons try to do everything to keep the secret from leaking to the guests, and what should be a heartfelt good-bye turns into a calamity. Ah, yes, the whole blackmail scenario. Works every time. At least it’s got a decent cast. Meanwhile, the Shaun of the Dead team is back, heading up Hot Fuzz, a police comedy from Dead stars Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, director Edgar Wright and producer Nira Park. Pegg plays a successful London cop whose jealous co-workers transfer him to a podunk British town and place him with a hapless partner (Frost). The pair stumble upon a series of suspicious accidents. “British cops are so uncool, and that’s exactly why this is going to work,” Wright told the Reporter. “The British are quite pathetic at dealing with things, which was one reason Shaun of the Dead did so well.” So true.
Until next week…
