De Niro and 50 Cent…In the Same Movie?
I thought I heard it all. Oscar-winner Robert De Niro and rapper 50 Cent are in final negotiations to co-star in New Orleans, a police thriller set against the backdrop of Hurricane Katrina. The indie film (previously titled Microwave Park) centers on a cop (De Niro) who thinks his partner was killed by the storm, only to discover that he was shot to death. When he gets a new partner (50 Cent), the pair investigate the murder, taking them on a journey into a world of police corruption. Now what must be going through Mr. De Niro’s mind? Is it just the paycheck? Or does he seriously believe this is a project worthy of his time? One thing’s for sure: 50 Cent is probably pinching himself. The project was originally set in Los Angeles but changed to New Orleans after the Katrina disaster. And so it begins.
Roberts Takes Up Knitting
Julia Roberts is set to star in the family drama The Friday Night Knitting Club, with Roberts and Christine Peters producing. Based on Kate Jacobs’ upcoming novel, the story centers on a single mom who juggles the demands of running a Manhattan knitting store with raising her spunky teen daughter. Her regular customers gather once a week to work on their latest projects and chat, but when a tragedy occurs, the customers realize they’ve created more than just a knitting club. That’s all well, good—and amazingly sappy—but Roberts’ other project sounds FAR more intriguing. She will star alongside Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman in the Mike Nichols-directed Charlie Wilson’s War. Based on the true story of how Charlie Wilson (Hanks), an alcoholic womanizer and Texas congressman, persuaded the CIA to train and arm resistance fighters in Afghanistan to fend off the Soviet Union. With the help of rogue CIA agent, Gust Avrakotos, the two men supplied money, training and a team of military experts that turned the ill-equipped Afghan freedom-fighters into a force that brought the Red Army to a stalemate. However, the result also empowered the Taliban and terrorists, including Osama bin Laden. See? Fascinating.
Borat Turns Bruno
In an intense bidding war the likes of which we haven’t seen in quite some time, Universal Pictures has won the worldwide rights to the film Bruno, Sacha Baron Cohen‘s follow-up movie to Borat. Baron Cohen is calling upon another of his comic alter egos, Bruno, a gay fashionista from Austria who fancies himself as “the voice of Austrian youth TV.” Sources told the Hollywood Reporter that Universal is paying $42.5 million for Bruno, which includes the production budget of the film, rumored to be in the $20 million-$25 million range. No director is on board, though it has been reported that Baron Cohen wants to shoot the movie during the summer. The price has raised eyebrows in Hollywood because Baron Cohen‘s much-hyped Borat is just releasing and no one is quite sure how well it will do. Despite much advance praise for Borat, distributor Fox scaled back its Friday opening to about 800 theaters because it is concerned the movie wasn’t registering high enough in audience-awareness tracking. Regardless, Borat is going to zing. Universal scored a major coup.
Lohan, Knightley Have a Time of It
Lindsay Lohan is joining Keira Knightley in the The Best Time of Our Lives, a script by Knightley‘s mother, playwright Sharman Macdonald. Based on the true story, the film examines the relationships among Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, his wife Caitlin (Lohan), his childhood friend Vera Phillips (Knightley) and her eventual husband, William Killick. The guys have yet to be cast. It centers on the curious incident in which Phillips and Killick opened fire on the Thomas home with a machine gun and a hand grenade. Hmmm, wonder why? Guess I’ll have to wait to find out. My problem is Lohan. I’m suppose to believe she can play the British wife of a famed poet? Not too sure about that.
Brenneman, Smits Join the Club
Amy Brenneman and Jimmy Smits will play an unhappy couple, and Lost star Maggie Grace their lesbian daughter, in The Jane Austen Book Club, a feature adaptation of the Karen Joy Fowler novel. Also on board are Maria Bello (A History of Violence), Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada), Kevin Zegers (Transamerica) and Hugh Dancy (Ella Enchanted). According to the Hollywood Reporter, Robin Swicord will direct the ensemble drama which revolves around a California-based group of women and one man who form a club that meets periodically to discuss Jane Austen novels. As they meet, their lives unfold, with marriages being tested, affairs beginning, unsuitable arrangements becoming suitable and love happening. Brenneman will play Sylvia, whose husband Daniel (Smits) leaves her after 32 years of marriage. Bello will play Jocelyn, her best friend who never married. Zegers will play an oversexed teen who gets involved with one of the club’s members, while Blunt will portray Prudie, a teacher with a worthy husband but is nagged by fantasies of sex with other men. Dancy will play Grigg, a sci-fi fan and computer whiz. Do we have to even see it now?
Chan and Li Duke It Out
It’s about time. Jackie Chan and Jet Li will star together for the first time in an untitled family flick. The story is based on the legend of the monkey king and his quest to achieve immortality. Li is set to play two roles, that of the monkey king and the silent monk. Chan will play the monk T’sa-Ho. The two martial-arts masters have long said they would like to appear together in a film and fight each other, so this should be a lot of fun.
Metcalfe’s Loaded
Desperate Housewives hunk Jesse Metcalfe is set to star as a rich club kid in Loaded. Yummy. Metcalfe plays a character whose life takes a downward spiral into a world of drugs, sex and violence. Less Than Zero meets Bright Lights, Big City, eh? Nathalie Kelley (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift), Monica Keena (First Daughter), Johnny Messner (The Whole Ten Yards), Vinnie Jones (X-Men: The Last Stand), and hip-hop performer Kurupt co-star.
Grasshopper, Listen Well…
Directors Allen and Albert Hughes are taking on Kung Fu, a big-screen adaptation of the 1970s classic TV series, which will keep the Zen spirit of the David Carradine skein about a kung fu master who roams the wild West, solving people’s problems and flashing back on the wisdom he received as a child from his own master. The Hughes brothers haven’t helmed a feature since the 2002 Johnny Depp drama From Hell. Variety reports since then, they’ve become prolific blurb directors, doing spots with the likes of Kobe Bryant and Vince Carter for such brands as Pepsi, Coke, Reebok, Heineken, Adidas, Nike and Sprite. They also directed videos for such bands as Korn. The brothers were among several hip directors who coveted the Kung Fu job, and it was an assignment they sought for two years. Good luck, guys! You’ll need it.
Until next week…
