Del Toro, Berry Heat Up
Oscar winners Benicio Del Toro and Halle Berry are in negotiations to spark in the drama Things We Lost in the Fire. Berry would play a grieving widow–and I’m presuming her husband actually dies in a fire–who invites her husband’s troubled best friend (Del Toro) to live with her family. As the friend turns his life around, he helps the family confront its loss. Sounds weepy but the pairing of Del Toro and Berry is somewhat intriguing. Berry seems cursed since winning her Oscar for Monster’s Ball. It could be that was it for her, that maybe her turn in Ball is the best she’ll ever do. But I have faith in Ms. Halle. I think she’s got plenty of good performances left in her. Of course, if this flops, I might change my mind.
The Kingdom of Garner and Foxx; Kutcher Smells Sweet
Jennifer Garner is in talks to star opposite Jamie Foxx in the thriller The Kingdom, with Oscar winner Chris Cooper also attached. Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) is set to direct. The film revolves around an FBI team on assignment in a Middle Eastern country investigating a terrorist bombing in one of the compounds housing Western workers. Sigh. I guess these type of movies are going to be coming at us fast and furious now. Meanwhile, Ashton Kutcher is set to star in a romantic comedy described as a modern-day Shampoo set amid the world of florists. For those of you who may not remember Shampoo, it was a racy 1970s film in which a hot Warren Beatty played a lothario hairdresser who bedded most of his female clientele. But the world of florists? Arranging roses, chrysanthemums–with a spray of baby’s breath–and then having uninhibited sex? I don’t see it.
Rush On Out; Romano Knows Best
New Line Cinema has officially greenlit Rush Hour 3 with Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan on board and Brett Ratner set to direct the latest installment of the popular franchise. Tucker and Chan will reprise their respective roles as LAPD detective James Carter and Chinese Chief Inspector Lee in the film, which will feature the action comedy duo traveling to Paris to battle a wing of the Chinese organized crime family, the Triads. Finally! I was getting a little worried they would never do another one–and that just CANNOT happen….Ray Romano has signed to star in an untitled family comedy, based loosely on a Father Knows Best-type premise. Although the plot details are being kept under wraps, Hollywood Reporter got a bit of it. Supposedly it’s about a child who enters his dad in a Father of the Year contest and fudges his credentials so he will win. The father vows to tell the truth when he goes to pick up his award, but when he gets a look at the beautiful woman in charge of the contest, he gets tongue-tied and continues the ruse. At least this is more up Romano’s alley than Welcome to Mooseport.
Cheadle, Ejiofor Talk; Reilly, Scott Go to Quebec
Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor will star in Talk to Me, a drama based on the true story of a controversial black DJ at a white-owned radio station. The film, which begins shooting next month, centers on Ralph Waldo “Petey” Green (Cheadle), an ex-con who became an iconic Washington-area on-air personality in the 1960s. Ejiofor will play Dewey Hughes, producer of Green’s show. Could be Oscar-worthy. Meanwhile, John C. Reilly and Seann William Scott are in negotiations to star in the comedy feature Quebec, playing two assistant managers of a large grocery chain who compete with each other for a coveted promotion. Lili Taylor (The Notorious Bettie Page) and Jenna Fischer (TV’s The Office) would portray their frustrated wives, respectively. Not sure where the Quebec aspect fits in but sounds potentially hilarious.
Roberts Goes Rodeo; LaBeof Gets Transformed
Warner Bros. and producer Jerry Weintraub have picked up the spec script Rodeo Gal, which they will quickly fashion into a star vehicle for Emma Roberts. Roberts, the niece of Julia Roberts, is the newest tween idol. She gained popularity from her Nickelodeon show Unfabulous and just completed the title role in the Andy Fleming-directed Nancy Drew. In Rodeo, the young actress will play the title character, a debutante equestrian who falls for a cowboy. Circumstances lead her to enter the rodeo. “This is material kids haven’t seen, a marriage between the elegant equestrian world and the rough rodeo, with all the conflicts,” Weintraub, who put the package together with prexy Rob Guralnick told Variety. I see, you’re sure about that? Meanwhile, Megan Fox will play Shia LaBeouf‘s love interest in Transformers, a live-action adaptation of the 1980s Hasbro toy line of giant robots that morph into cars, trucks, planes and ships. I wonder how a live-action film about these toys will work exactly. Will the humans be Transformers? If so, that might be cool.
Muniz (And Others) Grows Up
This perks my interest. Malcolm in the Middle star Frankie Muniz–all grown up and, like, 20 years old now–will star in the indie teen-sex sketch comedy feature Parental Guidance Suggested, also starring Ryan Pinkston, Jamie Kennedy, Andy Milonakis and Matthew Lillard. Set up as a series of short vignettes, we’ve got: Muniz, as a teen who loses his virginity to his girlfriend (Ashley Schneider), only to find she wants to take things much further, including farm animals and midgets; Pinkston (best known as the kid prankster on MTV’s first season of Punk’d) as an average high-schooler who falls for the cutest girl in his class but finds he’s looking for love in all the wrong places; Kennedy as a young man facing the aftermath of a crazy night of partying; Milonakis as a guy who falls in love with an electric vagina: and Lillard, who hosts a spoof of TV public service announcements about teen sex. Other actors include Michael Cera, whose character meets a girl (Joanna Garcia) online and goes to her home for role-playing sex games, only to realize he’s in the wrong apartment. Kevin Hart plays a kid obsessed with building the perfect woman on his computer a la Weird Science. The film marks the directorial debut of Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson, co-writers of Not Another Teen Movie. An electric vagina? Oh, I am SO seeing this.
Videogame Turned Movies Galore!
Vidgames as movies are just as popular as comic books–but I’m not sure if they translate as well. The latest offering is World of Warcraft, a role-playing franchise steeped in a rich, mythological fantasy life. While the Warcraft franchise has been around for more than a decade, the most recent iteration, the megahit online title World of Warcraft, has transformed the vidgame industry. Variety reports that unlike most games, where players pay $50 once and play until they’re done, more than 6 million people around the world pay $14.99 per month to participate in the multiplayer World of Warcraft online. Within the game they not only team on quests but often interact and form deep social relationships. Exec producer Jon Jashni told Variety that vidgames don’t always lend themselves to a film adaptation, but that Warcraft is not among those. “We are intending to approach this as we would the adaptation of a bestselling novel: Respect the essence of all that it is, but also build upon that fertile base while translating it into a new medium,” Jashni said. Good luck with that.
But Wait, There’s More!
Stephen Rea (The Crying Game) and Ron Perlman (Hellboy) have joined Thomas Jane (The Punisher) and John Malkovich in The Mutant Chronicles, a sci-fi action thriller based on another popular role-playing game. Rea plays the former commander of Lieutenant Mitch Hunter (Jane), a 23rd century Marine who tries to save Earth by leading a band of soldiers against evil NecroMutants. Perlman portrays the leader of a religious sect who thinks he can destroy the mutants and save the planet, recruiting Hunter to join him. Malkovich appears as the head of a council of corporations that rule the Earth. Sounds an awful like Chronicles of Riddick—and that’s not a good thing.
Until next week…
