Alba, Banks Join Bill
Lovelies Jessica Alba and Elizabeth Banks (The 40 Year-Old Virgin) have joined Aaron Eckhart in the indie comedy Bill. This is the same film Miss Lindsay Lohan recently extricated herself from because she only wants to work with well-known directors. Or so the rumor goes. Too bad for Lindsay since Bill sounds like it might be a lot of fun to be in. Eckhart plays the title character who, fed up with his job, his wife (Banks) and his life, finds himself the reluctant mentor of an unruly teenager. His life hits an all-time low when he catches his wife having an affair. But with the help of Lucy (Alba), an intriguing saleswoman, he regains his lost sense of self. The screenplay was written by Melisa Wallack, who also will co-direct with her husband, Bernie Goldman. Lohan was suppose to play the unruly teen–which, I’ll admit, is understandably beneath her now. I mean, she’s, like, 20 and all.
Cage Is Dangerous
Nicolas Cage is set to star in Bangkok Dangerous, a remake of the 1999 Thai film that will be helmed by the original’s directors, Oxide Pang Chun and Danny Pang. Cage will play a cold-blooded hit man (big stretch) who heads to Bangkok to pull off four jobs, and winds up falling in love with a local girl and bonding with his errand boy. Oh god, not another hit-man-with-a-heart-of-gold scenario. It’s starting to get boring and frankly after The Professional, everything pales in comparison anyway.
Phillippe’s at a Loss
After months of searching, Boys Don’t Cry director Kimberly Peirce has picked Ryan Phillippe as her leading man for the Iraq war drama Stop-Loss. The actor is in negotiations to star in the Paramount film, playing a soldier who returns home to Texas and is called to duty again in Iraq through the military’s “stop-loss” procedure. The soldier then refuses to return to battle. Abbie Cornish already has signed on to play the female lead. Ah, very topical.
Smith Gains Some Pounds
Will Smith, the hardest working actor out there these days, has signed up for yet ANOTHER project. He’s going to do a drama called Seven Pounds, which centers on a man who falls in love with a woman while attempting to kill himself. How does that work exactly? He’s about to hang himself in his apartment but spots a girl in the building across the way and falls instantly in love with her thus getting him down from the table? Or is he in a bathtub, about to slit his wrists, when the maid walks in and he falls instantly in love with her thus getting him to drop the razor blade? I’m not getting it. Smith is also attached, it one form or another, to several other projects, including the long-in development I Am Legend for Warner Bros., Columbia’s Tonight, He Comes and possibly a movie based on To Catch a Thief. Whew!
Not Crowe…Not Ledger…It’s Jackman!
Just weeks after Russell Crowe dropped out and Heath Ledger passed, writer-director Baz Luhrmann finally got someone to say yes to starring in his untitled period epic: X-Men star Hugh Jackman. Jackman will star opposite Nicole Kidman in the 20th Century Fox romantic action-adventure set in northern Australia before World War II. The film centers on an English aristocrat (Kidman) who inherits a ranch the size of Maryland. When English cattle barons plot to take her land, she reluctantly joins forces with a rough-hewn cattle driver (Jackman) to drive 2,000 head of cattle across the country’s most unforgiving landscape, only to face the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by Japanese forces. Well, now. I’ve been reporting on this movie for awhile and this is the most description I’ve ever gotten about it. Sounds a lot like The Thorn Birds meets City Slickers meets Saving Private Ryan, doesn’t it? Of course, Luhrmann must be relieved. “He just continues to astound in terms of his range, whether it’s (his Tony-winning turn in) Boy From Oz or Wolverine, Luhrmann said in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. “He’s always been a leading man, but he is moving toward being an iconic leading man, which is perfect for the story we’re doing.” Sure, he has to say that.
Tamblyn Goes on Spring Break; Bacon Faces Death Sentence
Amber Tamblyn, best known for her starring role in CBS’ Joan of Arcadia, has joined the cast of the comedy feature Spring Breakdown. The film revolves around three thirtysomething friends who break the monotony of their uninspired lives by vacationing on an island that is a popular spring break getaway for college co-eds. One of the women works for a powerful senator whose daughter is one of those co-eds, only she’s as geeky as her chaperones. Tamblyn portrays the senator’s daughter. Amy Poehler, Rachel Dratch and Parker Posey already are cast as the thirtysomething friends. Oh, I like that cast–could be fun. The underrated Posey never gets enough to do. Meanwhile, Kevin Bacon is channeling Charles Bronson in his next film. The actor has signed up to star in the revenge thriller Death Sentence, playing a father out for revenge after his family is attacked in a heinous gang-initiation crime. He enacts a death sentence on each person involved in the crime. How nice. Kevin, remember how funny you were in The Big Picture? Do another comedy, for the love of god!
Coen Bros. Go West; Jailbird McTiernan Gets a Gig
The Coen brothers have lassoed Woody Harrelson and Stephen Root for their contemporary Western thriller No Country for Old Men. Based on the acclaimed Cormac McCarthy novel, the story deals with the battle between good and evil and the importance of choice and chance in shaping destiny. Thanks for being so vague, guys. Also stepping up to the plate is director John McTiernan, who is set to helm Deadly Exchange, his first movie since pleading guilty to lying to the FBI in the Anthony Pellicano scandal. McTiernan went to jail for his misdeeds but is now out and about and ready to work. Exchange revolves around a terrorist who goes undetected as he hunts down the FBI agent who assassinated his father 10 years earlier. Now, that’s an interesting parallel.
Until next week…
