Michelle Pfeiffer Could Never Be Your Woman
Ah, the lament of many men, I’m sure. But in actuality, it’s the name of Michelle Pfeiffer‘s new movie, a romantic comedy called I Could Never Be Your Woman, also starring Anchorman‘s Paul Rudd and directed by Clueless‘ Amy Heckerling. The indie project has Pfeiffer playing a mother who falls for a younger man (Rudd) while her daughter (newcomer Saoirse Ronan) falls in love for the first time. Tracey Ullman plays Mother Nature, who meddles in their fates. OK, that’s where you lost me. Mother Nature? What the hell? It sort of reminds me of that old margarine commercial when Mother Nature eats the margarine and thinks its real butter, only to be told its not. She bellows, “It’s not nice to fool with Mother Nature!” Remember that? [pause] Right. Well, this film’s premise still sounds a tad frivolous to me, but it’ll be nice to see Pfeiffer in something again. It’s been awhile.
Murray to play Garfield again
I guess Bill Murray didn’t get enough of his inner fat cat the first time around. The actor, who has been turning in such stellar work in indie gems such as Lost in Translation and the recent Broken Flowers, also apparently needs a heftier paycheck. He’s in negotiations to reprise his role as the voice of the obnoxious comic-strip feline Garfield in Garfield 2, which is slated for a summer 2006 release. Breckin Meyer, as Garfield’s owner Jon, and Jennifer Love Hewitt, as Jon’s love interest, have signed on to return to the sequel, although Hewitt’s role will be greatly reduced because she is filming the upcoming CBS series Ghost Whisperer. Darn the luck! Lucy Davis, best known as the lovely Dawn in the U.K. version of The Office, will step up to the plate, though, along with Scottish comic Billy Connolly. Davis will play animal lover Abby Westminster (can’t they come up with a more original British name than that?), a fashionable professional who has been brought in to try and trap Lord Dargis (Connelly) into revealing his evil plans. I hope they include squashing the annoying orange black-striped tabby and his dog pal, Odie, for good. Why we need a sequel to a dismally stupid original is anyone’s guess.
Neeson to play American president
Yes, of course, this makes sense. Hire an Irish actor to play one of the greatest presidents the country has ever known. Liam Neeson is tagged to play Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg‘s planned biopic about the legendary 16th President of the United States. Spielberg had originally considered Tom Hanks for the coveted role, but he has settled for his Schindler’s List star to portray the bearded politician. Neeson tells the New York Daily News, “We’re definitely going to do it. We’ve been working on it since November. (The tale) speaks to our time.” Now, it’s not that I have anything against Liam Neeson; he’s a great actor. I just think it’s sort of in bad taste to cast a non-American in a role that is so very American. But what do I know, I’m sure it’ll be an excellent movie.
Miller’s 300 gets a big-screen treatment
Hot off the success of his gritty noir-ish Sin City, creator Frank Miller and Warner Bros. are teaming up to bring Miller‘s graphic novel 300 to the big screen, with Gerard Butler (The Phantom of the Opera) on board to play the lead. Zack Snyder (Dawn of the Dead) is directing. The film adaptation will tell the true story of 300 elite Spartan warriors led by their fearless king, Leonidas (Butler), who thwart the charge of Xerxes and his massive Persian army at the battle of Thermopylae. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the studio is looking to make the film in the style of the comic, which Miller wrote and drew in 1998, with heavy use of greenscreen and virtual sets out. Oh, we are so there.
Blunt joins Prada cast
Emily Blunt, who co-starred in the recent teen lesbian film My Summer of Love, is set to join Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, Fox’s adaptation of Lauren Weisberger’s best-selling novel, which is set at a glitzy Manhattan fashion magazine. Blunt will play Emily (isn’t that nice she gets to play someone with the same name), the magazine’s senior assistant and loyal servant to despotic editor Miranda (Streep). Hathaway will play Andrea, a Brown University grad and wannabe writer who lands the coveted but nightmarish job as Miranda’s assistant. My goodness, Meryl is a busy bee these days. She just finished making Prairie Home Companion for director Robert Altman and has got a few other films in pre-production. I also reported last week she’ll be playing Martha Mitchell, the whistle-blowing wife of Nixon’s attorney general John Mitchell, in a Watergate film in development. You go, girl!
Until next week…
