Jolie and Pitt Circle Atlas
Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt would be excellent in the big-screen version of Ayn Rand’s most ambitious novel Atlas Shrugged–if they decide to do it, that is. Variety reports Lionsgate has picked up worldwide distribution rights to the 1957 novel, a seminal tome which runs more than 1,100 pages. It revolves around the economic collapse of the U.S. sometime in the future and espouses her individualistic philosophy of objectivism. Rand enthusiast Jolie‘s name has been brought up to play Dagny Taggart, while Pitt, also a fan, is rumored to be among the names suggested for lead male character John Galt. But the book has taken a long and arduous journey in development hell. Mostly, it was because while Rand was still alive, she had script approval, complicating the process. At one point, Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway were interested in doing it but that fell apart. After the author’s death in 1982, it then was going to be made into a TV miniseries for TNT. That didn’t work out either. In 2003, Howard and Karen Baldwin (Ray) acquired the film rights to the novel from John Aglialoro, a New York businessman–and the rest, as we say, is history. Atlas Shrugged isn’t going to be easy to adapt, of course. Did you see how long it is? I still think a miniseries is the best idea but for a pay cable channel like HBO. Just my two cents.
Black Rewinds
Jack Black is set to star in the eccentric comedy Be Kind Rewind, playing a junkyard worker whose brain is magnetized, destroying every tape in his friend’s video store and forcing the pair to remake the lost films. Kind of reminds me of when Gilligan gets knocked in the head and becomes a radio transmitter on Gilligan’s Island. Remember that? OK, OK, I’ll move on. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) is set to direct Black, who plays Jerry, a man whose headaches lead him to believe his brain is melting. His brain is magnetized, leading to the unintentional destruction of movies in his friend’s store. In order to keep the store’s one loyal customer, an elderly lady with signs of dementia, the pair re-creates a long line of films including The Lion King, Rush Hour, Back to the Future and Robocop. Oh god, how funny will this be?
Myers Will Survive; Smith Plays Superhero
Mike Myers is attached to star in How to Survive a Robot Uprising. The comedy is based on a manual written by Daniel H. Wilson, a doctoral candidate at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, who, I take it, is pretty serious about this. Yikes. Of course in the hands of Austin Powers himself, it’ll be completely different. Myers would play a technical administrator who has the thankless job of sounding warnings against the growing presence of robots and researching ways to keep those robots from taking over. But Myers hasn’t firmly fixed on what his next starring vehicle will be. He also wants to play rocker Keith Moon in a biopic about the Who’s drummer, and he is reprising his voicing duties for the title character in the third Shrek installment. OK, Mike, time to make up your mind. Speaking of robots running amok, Will Smith, who fought them in I, Robot, is set to star in the action drama Tonight, He Comes. The project centers on a tortured superhero who crash-lands in Brooklyn, and tries to transform himself by romancing an alluring housewife, causing chaos in the process. Geez, Smith is attached, in some form or another, to at least 20 different projects in development. Busy boy–or should I say CRAZY boy.
Keener, Vaughn Go Wild; Wilson, Parker Find a Vacancy
Catherine Keener and Vince Vaughn are joining youngster Emile Hirsch (The Girl Next Door) in the true-life adventure story Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn, who is also adapting from Jon Krakauer’s book of the same name. Hirsch stars as Christopher McCandless, who graduated from college in 1992, abandoned his possessions and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness and return to nature. He died four months later in an abandoned bus at a remote campsite. Wonder how? Keener‘s character picks up the hitchhiker and takes him in as a surrogate son. Vaughn plays a tow-truck driver who Hirsch‘s character meets on the road. Hmmm, interesting. Meanwhile, Luke Wilson and Sarah Jessica Parker are shunning their comedic talents and starring together in the suspense thriller Vacancy. The film centers on a couple who check into a motel and, unaware there’s a hidden camera, become the subjects of a snuff film. Holy mackerel! Nothing good can come out of that.
Gere, Howard Take a Break; Hurt Gets the Point
Richard Gere and Terrence Howard are in talks to star in Spring Break in Bosnia, with The Matador helmer Richard Shepard on board to direct. Shepard also wrote the dramedy, which is based on an Esquire article by Scott Anderson about the half-hearted attempt he and fellow journalists Sebastian Junger and John Falk made at corralling an alleged Bosnian war criminal. The three found themselves in a predicament when they were identified as a CIA hit squad. Oops. And while I ponder on how Gere and Howard would play together in that scenario, William Hurt is in negotiations to play the U.S. president in the thriller Vantage Point, joining cast Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox. The story chronicles an attempted presidential assassination from five points of view. Now, that sounds intriguing.
Freeman Night Watches
British actor Martin Freeman, so funny in BBC’s The Office, will play Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn in Nightwatching for director Peter Greenaway. Now, that’s something different for the usually sardonic Freeman. You all might remember him better in last year’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Anyway, Nightwatching will focus on the creation of The Nightwatch, one of Rembrandt’s most famous paintings, and the effect it had on his private life. The women in his life will be played by Sarah Polley (Saskia) and Minnie Driver (Geertje). Oh, so, sort of like Girl with a Pearl Earring, which was about Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer and the painting of his famous work of the same name, starring Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. You wouldn’t think it, but movies about painters are usually pretty compelling. Pearl Earring and Ed Harris’ Pollock are two great examples. Maybe its all the tortured artist stuff that gets us.
Only One Speed
Director Jan De Bont, best known for bringing us Speed and Twister, has signed on to shoot the action thriller Stopping Power. The independently financed project centers on a single father on vacation with his daughter and girlfriend who suddenly finds himself at the center of a high-speed car chase after his daughter is kidnapped by a criminal who has stolen their RV. The father is forced to act as a decoy in the getaway car, leading the police across the city. Huh? I guess De Bont doesn’t know how to make a film that isn’t going a million miles per hour. Pity.
Until next week…
