Vin Diesel, a Romantic?
You heard it right. Starting out in more macho fare like XXX and The Fast and the Furious, Diesel is obviously trying to branch out these days, doing family fare (The Pacifier) and drama (Find Me Guilty). And now, romantic comedy. The buff actor is being touted for Player’s Rules, which he’ll also produce via his One Race Films banner, Variety reports. Screenwriter Ron Bass went to Diesel‘s house to pitch him a drama idea, he told Variety, but during the meeting, Diesel sparked more to a romantic comedy, a Bass specialty. With Bass‘ new writing partner Jen Smolka, they describe it as a “unique take in the ongoing war between men and women.” Well, thanks, that’s appropriately vague. Diesel is also still trying to get Hannibal off the ground, a biopic about the 3rd century B.C. Carthaginian general who rode an elephant across the Alps with 100,000 troops to attack Rome. Diesel is looking to star AND direct. Hey Vin, better talk to Oliver Stone before heading into historical conquerors territory.
Stiller, Carrey Feel Used
Preproduction has been halted on the big-budget, sci-fi comedy Used Guys, starring Ben Stiller and Jim Carrey. The 20th Century Fox project was to have begun shooting June 11. Set in a futuristic society run by women where men are cloned and sold like cars, the story revolves around two men who are returned and then go in search of the lost meaning of manhood. Emily Mortimer recently signed on to co-star. “The Jay Roach-directed film requires a long prep for its futuristic settings, and both actors have films scheduled for later in the year. All the parties remain committed to making the picture when time permits.” the studio told Variety. However, sources close to the project insist that the $112 million-budgeted film is dead, at least in its current incarnation with Stiller and Carrey heading the cast. Hope that’s not true–sounds like a pretty funny movie. It would have reunited the two comic titans for the first time since Stiller directed Carrey in 1996 The Cable Guy, which everyone considers a flop but I thought was hilarious. Go figure.
Watts, Mortensen Make Promises; Gosling Gets Real
Naomi Watts has signed on to star alongside Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises, a crime-flavored drama from director David Cronenberg. In the film, a 14-year-old girl dies on Christmas while giving birth in a London hospital. Watts plays a midwife in search of the girl’s family (a family that doesn’t include a killer little girl dropped down a well, one hopes) and ends up in London’s shady Russian crime community where she meets a Russian crime boss (Mortensen) who is not what he seems. Coming from Cronenberg, you know you’re in for some different. Meanwhile, The Notebook’s Ryan Gosling is set to play a loner who falls for a lifelike doll he finds on the Internet in the romantic comedy Lars and the Real Girl. Good for Gosling, trying his hand at comedy. He’s so serious all the time.
Oh, Great. KITT Is Back.
The Weinstein Co. is adapting the ’80s TV series Knight Rider for big screen. Sure, why not? You remember the show, right? The one in which David Hasselhoff played a cop who has been left to die and is nursed back to health by a mysterious millionaire. The moneyman gives the cop a new face; a new name, Michael Knight; and crime-fighting gadgetry, including KITT, the car with artificial intelligence. I can’t tell you how many times my name was compared to that damn car when the show was on the air. And now, with this inane big-screen update, I’ll probably get to hear it all over again. Thanks, Harvey Weinstein. Appreciate it.
Keener Inflicts Punishment
Catherine Keener and Hard Candy’s Ellen Page will star in An American Crime, a drama based on the true story of a sadistic woman and her young victim. Page will play Sylvia Likens, a 16-year-old girl who died in 1965 while under the care of a woman named Gertrude Baniszewski (Keener). She put Sylvia through an ordeal that included beatings in the guise of discipline, burnings with cigarettes and matches and scalding hot baths, among other tortures. YIKES. Encouraging a Lord of the Flies-type cult, Baniszewski involved her own children and children from her Indianapolis neighborhood in the punishments. “As a kid growing up in Indianapolis, this was a case that was always a dark part of the town’s history,” the film’s director, Tommy O’Haver told the Hollywood Reporter. Holy smokes, I should say so. Watch me rush right out.
Second Coming on Its Way; Bridges in Dog House
Bill Paxton is attached to star in The Second Coming, which marks actor Donal Logue‘s follow-up to his 2005 directing debut Tennis, Anyone …? The independently financed feature, adapted from Walker Percy’s novel of the same name by Logue and Jeff Kitchen, is the story of a depressed, suicidal widower who falls in love with a young woman who’s escaped from a mental institution. “On one level they could be crazy,” Logue told the Reporter, “but on another they’re saner than anyone.” Isn’t that always the case with people who are considered insane? In other crazy casting news, Jeff Bridges will star in A Dog Year, an HBO Films project based on the Jon Katz memoir. The story centers on a man having a midlife crisis whose life is turned upside down when he takes in a border collie crazier than he is. Turner & Hooch Part Deux.
Plummer, MacLaine Team Up; Castle-Hughes Gets a Bat Mitzvah
Christopher Plummer and Shirley MacLaine are set to star in Closing the Ring, a wartime romantic drama from director Richard Attenborough. Gregory Smith (of TV’s Everwood) and Mischa Barton (who just killed off The O.C.) are also cast. The story is set in motion when an American B-17 in WWII crashes near Belfast, Northern Ireland, and a dying gunner asks a local to return his ring to his girlfriend in the United States. Half a century later, a man finds the ring, learns its history and tracks down the girlfriend. Smith will play the young Plummer role, and Barton will play the young MacLaine role. And for a little more sap, Toni Collette and Keisha Castle-Hughes have signed on to star in Hey, Hey, It’s Esther Blueburger, written and directed by Cathy Randall. The film is a comedy about a 13-year-old’s adventures as she attempts to navigate the pressures of family, school and her impending bat mitzvah. You might remember Castle-Hughes as the young lady who gave a searing, Oscar-nominated performance in Whale Rider as a young New Zealand girl, dealing with pressures of family, school and her impending leadership of her Maori tribe. Not quite the same, though, is it?
And Finally, Something a Little Different…
Dean Devlin finally is making his long-awaited shift from producer to director. The man behind Independence Day and Godzilla said Thursday he will take the helm of Ghosting, an effects-packed paranormal thriller. The script centers on a crippled cop who works with a group of undercover investigators who temporarily paralyze their hearts to move between the land of the living and of the dead. Huh? Sounds like a cross between Constantine and Flatliners.
Until next week…
