Scott, DiCaprio Go on the Lowdown
Ridley Scott and Leonardo DiCaprio will team up for the dark thriller The Low Dwellers. As opposed to the high dwellers, I guess. The project, which has echoes of A History of Violence and No Country for Old Men, is a spec script from twenty-something first-time writer Brad Ingelsby, who works as an insurance salesman in Pennsylvania. Set in Indiana in the mid-1980s, the movie centers on a man (DiCaprio) trying to assimilate into society after he’s released from jail, only to find someone from his past pursuing him to settle a score. In addition to the pursuer, a third male character and a female love interest are said to figure prominently in the story. I wouldn’t expect anything less. Actually, the real story is newbie screenwriter Ingelsby, who has been working on the script in his spare time and has yet to set foot in Hollywood. But he has hit the spec jackpot, with the project selling for mid-six figures to Ryan Kavanaugh’s Relativity Media after a heated bidding war that involved Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures. Gotta love those bidding wars. Let’s hear it for the little guy![PAGEBREAK]
The Search for Tintin May Be Over
Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson might have found their Tintin, the young Belgian reporter they are bringing to the big screen in a performance-capture-based film trilogy. London’s Daily Mail reported that the lucky lad is 17-year-old British actor Thomas Sangster, who has appeared in Love Actually and Nanny McPhee. A spokesman for Spielberg‘s DreamWorks studio declined comment, according to the Hollywood Reporter. While specifics about the project have been kept under wraps, Andy Serkis, who is set to play Tintin’s globe-trotting buddy, Captain Haddock, recently told the IndieLondon Web site that he is about to begin work on the back-to-back features, with Spielberg handling the first film and Jackson taking the directorial reigns for the second. Can’t wait for Tintin![PAGEBREAK]
Deschanel and Dano Grow Gigantic
Paul Dano, coming off his role as Daniel Day-Lewis‘ adversary in There Will Be Blood, will star with Zooey Deschanel in Gigantic, an offbeat indie romantic comedy. The story revolves around a mattress salesman and a young woman he meets at his store. Wow, that is offbeat. Dano is also set to star in the indie feature The Good Heart, with Brian Cox. The story revolves around an abrasive barman (Cox) and a young homeless man (Dano) who becomes his protege. Sort of indie version of Cocktail then. Sweet.[PAGEBREAK]
All-Star Cast Goes Mental
Emily Mortimer and Jackie Earle Haley join the all-star cast of the mystery drama Shutter Island, Martin Scorsese‘s latest collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio. Max von Sydow has also joined the cast, which begins production next week. DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo play two U.S. marshals who travel to a Massachusetts island to investigate the disappearance of a patient from a hospital for the criminally insane. Chaos ensues as they encounter a web of deceit, a hurricane and a deadly inmate riot that leaves them trapped on the island. Von Sydow will play one of the hospital’s physicians. Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams and Patricia Clarkson also star in the film, which was adapted from Mystic River author Dennis Lehane’s 2004 novel. Could either be an Oscar contender–or a real dud. I’m leaning towards the former.[PAGEBREAK]
Cage Is All Knowing
Nicolas Cage and Rose Byrne (of FX’s Damages fame) will join in the sci-fi thriller Knowing. Byrne will play the daughter of a woman who buried a 1962 time capsule bearing the dates of the assassinations of historical figures, the hotel fire death of the wife of a professor (Cage) and an imminent world apocalypse. After the professor discovers its contents and alerts her, the initially skeptical Byrne begins remembering strange incidents from her childhood. Oh please don’t let this be another Next. That was truly bad enough.[PAGEBREAK]
Jovovich, Zahn Getaway; Marsden, Keener Get Nailed
Resident Evil heroine Milla Jovovich will play Steve Zahn‘s wife in the newlywed thriller A Perfect Getaway. The project revolves around a pair of honeymooners in Hawaii who run into two homicidal hikers, played by Timothy Olyphant (HBO’s Deadwood) and Kiele Sanchez (ABC’s Lost). Meanwhile,
James Marsden, Catherine Keener and Tracy Morgan are set to star in David O. Russell‘s romantic comedy Nailed, along with Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Biel. Marsden will play the small-town boyfriend of Biel‘s character Alice, a naive waitress who gets a nail shot into her head, causing erratic and outrageous behavior. She heads to Washington to fight for better health care and ends up falling for a clueless new congressman (Gyllenhaal) who must summon the political courage to save her. Keener will play a self-serving congresswoman. Ah, only from the mind of David O. Russell. I Heart Huckabees anyone?
