Sarandon Dips Into Haggis’ Valley
I have previously reported on this new mystery thriller from Crash’s Paul Haggis–but the cast just keeps getting better. Susan Sarandon is now joining Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron in the film tentatively titled In the Valley of Elah. It follows a veteran father (Jones) in search of his son, a soldier who mysteriously goes AWOL after returning from Iraq. Sarandon will play Jones‘ wife while Jonathan Tucker (Pulse) has been cast as the son. The story is based on Mark Boal’s investigative Playboy article “Death and Dishonor” (see, sometimes it IS just about the articles). Sounds like Haggis is making an appropriate follow-up to his Academy Award-winning Crash.
Streep Join Spy Game with Gyllenhaal and Witherspoon
Meryl Streep has joined the cast of the political thriller Rendition. The multilayered story centers on Cairo-based CIA analyst (Jake Gyllenhaal), whose world spins out of control after he witnesses the interrogation of a foreign national by the Egyptian secret police. Reese Witherspoon is set to play the national’s pregnant American wife. Streep, meanwhile, will portray a government official who orders the national’s rendition. Alan Arkin has also has been cast as a senator. Movies involving political intrigue are all the rage these days–it certainly speaks to the times, doesn’t it?
Those Office Guys Get Movie Gigs
Rainn Wilson—the sycophantic Dwight on The Office–is making his screenwriting debut on the dark comedy Bonzai Shadowhands, a project in which he will star as a once-great ninja now living a life of mediocrity. Thank You For Smoking’s Jason Reitman will direct. “It’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Midnight Cowboy…,” Reitman told the Hollywood Reporter (apparently in a light-hearted way). That description alone piques my curiosity. Wilson and Reitman in Vancouver on the set of My Super Ex-Girlfriend, which was being directed by Reitman‘s father, Ivan. “I was in a Starbucks, and a young fellow walked in and he said to me, ‘Hi, you don’t know me, but my name is Jason Reitman, and I’m Ivan‘s son. I want to do a movie with you, and would you play a ninja?”‘ Wilson recalled. “I felt like I was discovered at Schwab’s.” Wilson told the Reporter he plans to enlist his Office mates for help. “I am going to take my outline to all of the writers and one by one get their ideas and feedback, and by the end of that, it’ll be kick-ass in a way only a ninja can kick ass.” How Dwight of him. Meanwhile, John Krasinski, the cutie-pie Jim on NBC’s The Office, is in negotiations to join George Clooney and Renee Zellweger in Leatherheads, a romantic comedy about the beginnings of pro-football in the 1920s.
My Two Cents on the Hobbit/Jackson Thing
I’m definitely on the side of, “What? Peter Jackson ISN’T making The Hobbit? Are they kidding?” The story’s been out for awhile, but the gist is Lord of the Rings peeps New Line Cinema told Jackson and his producing partner Fran Walsh it was going to make The Hobbit–without their services. This is according to a letter Jackson posted on the LOTR fan site TheOneRing.net. Jackson has been clear he didn’t want to start on a Hobbit project until his ongoing lawsuit with New Line over what he considers improper accounting practices over LOTR profits is settled. New Line’s given reason for proceeding sans Jackson is that the studio’s rights to the film are about to expire, and seeing as the lawsuit with Jackson isn’t moving ahead, New Line is, according to Variety. Chris Pirrotta, co-founder of TheOneRing.net, said the site has received some 100,000 visitors since posting the letter. “They are very upset,” Pirrotta told Reuters. “We are seeing calls for everything from letter writing campaigns to a boycott of the studio.” Well, of course they are upset. It’s going to be really, really hard imagining anyone else re-envisioning the J.R.R. Tolkein book quite the way Jackson would; the guy seems to channel the late author.
Dafoe, Hoskins on the Go
Willem Dafoe, Bob Hoskins and Matthew Modine are set to star in Abel Ferrara‘s screwball comedy Go Go Tales. Dafoe will play the owner of a New York go-go dancing club whose brother and financial backer (Modine) threatens to pull the plug on his business. The owner and his accountant (Hoskins) face a bumpy night as the strippers threaten to strike. Ferrara‘s longtime pal Asia Argento will have a small role as one of the dancers.
Ask Anna Faris About Time Travel
Scary Movie actress Anna Faris is starring in the farcical sci-fi comedy Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel. The story follows three social outcasts–two geeks and a cynic–as they attempt to navigate a time-travel conundrum in the middle of a British pub. Faris plays a girl from the future who sets the adventure in motion. Also starring are British comic actors Chris O’Dowd, Marc Wootan and Dean Lennox Kelly. Could be fun.
Until next week…
