Zellweger in a Cabaret frame of mind
Get this. Renee Zellweger is reportedly in negotiations to reprise Liza Minnelli‘s role in a remake of the 1972 Cabaret, the musical about a club entertainer who romances two men as the Nazi Party rises to power in pre-WWII Berlin, Germany. That’s right, the Chicago star is the red hot favorite to play the lithe Sally Bowles, according to www.skynews.com. Zellweger tells the Web site, “I do love a challenge as an actress and this would be one of the biggest.” Uh, yeah, no kidding. Give the girl a little taste and suddenly she’s a musical star. Sigh. It’s not that I don’t think Zellweger couldn’t play Sally. She could. She proved she could sing and dance in Chicago–although it was her co-star Catherine Zeta-Jones who won the Oscar. And I know Cabaret had a recent revival on Broadway with a host of actresses playing the part (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Natasha Richardson etc.) But honestly, why mess with a classic like Minnelli‘s Oscar-winning film performance? Minnelli pretty much set the bar–and I don’t think Zellweger could ever top it.
Leo and Marty, together again
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who played eccentric aviation pioneer Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese‘s last film The Aviator, is ready to charge up San Juan hill as Teddy Roosevelt in the director’s next movie. I guess DiCaprio likes playing real-life eccentrics. Paramount Pictures told Variety on Monday it has optioned rights to the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of the 26th U.S. president, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, by Edmund Morris. According to Variety, the biography focuses on Roosevelt’s youth and his personal journey from frail child of privilege to Spanish-American War hero as commander of the Rough Riders cavalry regiment, which set the stage for his celebrated political career. As U.S. vice president under William McKinley, Roosevelt became the youngest man ever to assume the presidency after McKinley’s assassination in 1901. “His life reads like a movie that requires a big bag of popcorn,” screenwriter Nicholas Meyer said. “We start at 25, as he begins to transform himself through sheer force of will from this asthmatic, near-sighted 125-pounder to this Sherman tank of a man so tough that he once got shot on the way to make a speech and completed his talk, bleeding with a bullet in his chest,” Meyer continued. The attempt on Roosevelt’s life came in 1912, during his unsuccessful campaign for a third White House term as nominee for the “Bull Moose” party. Can’t say I blame them for doing a feature film on the guy. He was larger-than-life.
Crowe eyes Master AND Gladiator sequels
Fans of his seafaring literary hero Captain Jack Aubrey want Russell Crowe to return to the high seas for a Master & Commander sequel. The Oscar winner has yet to sign up for a sequel, even though the rest of the entire cast in contracted to return in a second film. He told World Entertainment News Network, “It comes up all the time, man. People I meet–bankers, doctors, pilots–are always pulling me aside and saying, ‘So, Captain Aubrey. When do you think he might set sail again?’ Contractually, with Fox, I’m not required to (appear in a sequel). Everybody else is if they want to do another one. I think Paul Bettany is contracted for three (movies).” Crowe admits he’s not completely against the idea of returning as Aubrey. He added, “There are 20 books and there are so many more adventures. You never know. There are some intriguing ideas, like bringing in his dad, his wife, other characters from the books.” So, just do it already. The Aussie actor is also in negotiations to reprise his dead Gladiator character Maximus. How, may you ask? That’s tricky but apparently a new script has piqued Crowe‘s interest. He tells Australia’s Empire magazine, “At first I was very cynical about that notion (of a sequel), but I’ve come around on it. We’ve had other ideas too, where we step off into the metaphysical and you actually acknowledge the fact that Maximus is dead, but that is a hard script to write. Nick Cave actually wrote a draft for me and [director] Ridley [Scott] at one point. He’s an excellent writer. Nick did this draft and Ridley and I considered it for a while. I actually paid for it, such is my belief for the idea. But unless everybody is on line then it’s kind of pointless going forward with it.” Well, at least, I’m curious.
Nancy Drew lives on!
Julia Roberts‘ actress niece Emma Roberts is slated to revive beloved sleuth Nancy Drew for a new series of children’s mysteries. The teenager has signed up to play the young detective in Nancy Drew: The Mystery in Hollywood Hills. In the film, Nancy Drew travels to Los Angeles with her father and stumbles upon evidence involving the long-unsolved death of a glamorous movie star. Nancy’s practical nature and resourcefulness are put to the test when dealing with the self-indulgent world of Hollywood. Roberts, actor Eric Roberts‘ daughter, has shot to fame on TV in America as the star of hit children’s show Unfabulous. For many of us who grew up reading Nancy Drew, this is very exciting.
Paquin, Christensen in new projects
X-Men‘s Anna Paquin is starring a new ensemble drama Margaret, from You Can Count on Me‘s director Kenneth Lonergan. “I play a 17-year-old New York private school student who is involved in a bus accident that kills a woman,” Paquin told Entertainment Weekly. “My character then carries an enormous amount of guilt and tries to get justice served, but it doesn’t work out that well…” That sounds uplifting. Also starring are Matt Damon and Longergan favorite Mark Ruffalo. And in other EW news, Hayden Christensen will be playing opposite Jessica Alba in the upcoming thriller Awake. It’s a story about a man who is left conscious during open heart surgery after an ineffective dose of anesthesia. But because he is also paralyzed, he is unable to let his doctors know. “It’s what happens to people when they go through surgery, but [the doctors accidentally] don’t put them out completely, so they can feel the surgery but can’t speak,” Alba told EW. Good lord, that’s sounds awful. I’m just getting the shivers thinking about it. “…what gets him through [the experience] is this love he has for my character, Sam,” Alba added. I sure hope there is more to this than just watching a guy go silently through agony while being operated on.
Police Academy No. 8?
Oh, why not? The original stars of the Police Academy films are being invited to return to
the franchise for an eighth movie. Producers want Steve Guttenberg, Bubba Smith and Leslie Easterbrook to make cameos, which has been co-scripted by another former Academy original, Tim Kazurinsky. Producer Paul Maslansky feels the time is right for the original cast to return and pass the truncheon to a group of new recruits. Easterbrook, who has played Lt. Debbie Callahan in all but one of the six Police Academy sequels, has already agreed to reprise the role in the eighth film. Of course she has.
Until next week…
