Will Ferrell’s Such a Dork
And I’m sure he’d happily admit to it. But while he’d be perfect to star in a comedy called King Dork, he is only producing this time around. Will Ferrell‘s production company has bought the film rights to punk musician Frank Portman’s debut novel of the same name, which centers on 14-year-old Tom Henderson, a typical high school slacker whose life changes when he finds his late father’s copy of J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. It is a seminal book, so I could see how it could change someone’s life. Imagine if they ever make Rye into a movie, though. That’d be something.
Cruise, Streep, Redford Leap into the Lions Den
Wow, this is some trio. Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep and Robert Redford are set to star in the drama Lions for Lambs, which will mark Redford‘s first directing gig since 2000’s The Legend of Bagger Vance. The multilayered story stars Redford as a professor in the U.S. with two students in Afghanistan. Cruise will play a U.S. senator. “I’m the investigative reporter on (Cruise‘s) ass,” confirmed Streep, who co-starred with Redford in Sydney Pollack‘s Oscar-winning 1985 epic Out of Africa. Hmm, that’s not much to go on but with a A-list cast like this, it’s got to have some merit. The project will be set up at United Artists, which was revived two weeks ago under new bosses Cruise and business partner Paula Wagner, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Not a bad start, guys.
Baron Cohen Does Some Barbering in Sweeney Todd
Going with a plain old-fashioned acting gig this time, Sacha Baron Cohen, aka Borat, has firmed plans to co-star in Sweeney Todd, the screen version of the Stephen Sondheim musical Tim Burton will helm. Cohen will play Signor Adolfo Pirelli, a barber who becomes the nemesis of Sweeney Todd (Johnny Depp). Todd’s the barber who teams with the murderess Mrs. Lovett (Helena Bonham Carter) to kill people, grind them up and use them in her meat pies. Doesn’t sound like Pirelli stands much of chance, eh?
More on Cage and His Comic Book Obsession
Virgin Comics, the publishing company bankrolled by Richard Branson, is adapting The Sadhu for the big screen as a starring vehicle for Nicolas Cage. Variety reports the script will be written by spiritual author and Virgin Comics co-founder Deepak Chopra. Virgin is a studio based in Bangalore, India, where a staff of 100 artists and writers turn out comics and graphic novels on subjects ranging from adventures that meld the mythologies of Asia to action vehicles created by the likes of John Woo and Guy Ritchie. The Sadhu, created and written by Chopra’s son, Gotham, chief creative officer of Virgin Comics, melds action with mythology from India. Cage will play James Jenson, a soldier who travels to India during colonial times and becomes a spiritual warrior. Metaphysical comics, huh? Interesting. Of course, Cage is an unabashed comics fan who’s starring in the upcoming Ghost Rider and has made a deal with Virgin Comics to publish Enigma, a voodoo-laced thriller Cage hatched with his 15-year-old son, Weston. It revolves around a murder investigation in New Orleans, with a detective discovering the killings are directly related to the events of a fiery rebellion on a Southern plantation during the Confederacy. The comic will be published as a five-part monthly series beginning in March. “Weston has always been a huge inspiration to me,” Cage told Variety. “His creativity is fresh, original and on the pulse of what is happening now. In a world which needs more spiritually minded superheroes, Weston’s Enigma emerges.” Spoken like a proud papa.
Brosnan Does the Spy Thing Again
Pierce Brosnan can’t quite get playing the super spy out of his system. The actor has signed on to star in Spy vs. Stu, a comedy Brosnan also will produce. The story centers on Stu, a commitment-phobe who plans to propose to his girlfriend during an island vacation. Unbeknownst to him, a handsome, debonair spy (Brosnan) is on the other end of the island, having just finished saving the world. When the bored spy takes a serious liking to Stu’s girl, Stu is forced to compete with the ultra-suave superspy in order to win the heart of his true love. Sounds like Honeymoon in Vegas meets James Bond. I’m not too enthused.
TV Peeps Head Towards the Big Screen
Rhona Mitra, known for her work on ABC’s Boston Legal and The Practice, has signed on to star in the futuristic action thriller Doomsday, writer/director Neil Marshall‘s follow-up to his women-in-distress horror The Descent. The film is set three decades after a lethal virus tore through a major country, leading to the country’s walling off. When the virus, known as the Reaper, resurfaces in another country, an elite group is dispatched to the infected country to find a cure. There, they end up shut off from the rest of the world and must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare. OK, so this one is 28 Days Later meets Resident Evil meets Stephen King’s The Stand. Originality–ever heard of the word? Meanwhile, Prison Break’s Dominic Purcell and Desperate Housewives’ Jesse Metcalfe are heading to Town Creek, a vampire horror from director Joel Schumacher. The two will star as brothers on a mission of revenge who become trapped in a harrowing occult experiment that dates back to the Third Reich. Ohhh, if those two are playing vampires, I’m totally there.
Huston Heads Behind the Camera Again
Actress Anjelica Huston will sit back into the director’s chair for her first time in seven years, directing Give Us a Kiss. The story follows a struggling crime writer named Doyle who travels to his Ozarks hometown to track down his older brother Smoke, who is on the run from the law. There, he falls for Smoke’s beautiful stepdaughter before helping Smoke in a criminal enterprise to pay off the law, while keeping a rival neighboring family at arm’s length. While it sounds like a real yawner to me, it seems to fit into Huston’s sensibilities. Her previous directing efforts included the 1999’s Agnes Browne and 1996’s TV MOW Bastard Out of Carolina.
Can’t Get Enough of That Tyler Perry
Continuing its successful partnership with Tyler Perry, Lionsgate has acquired the multi-hyphenate’s next two films, Why Did I Get Married? and A Jazz Man’s Blues. Married is an adaptation of Perry‘s play revolving around the joys and trials of matrimony. The movie is expected to begin production in January, just before Perry‘s third film, Daddy’s Little Girls, bows Feb. 14. Blues tells the story of a young black jazz singer who after leaving his rural town in search of fame is drawn back home to save a woman he had an affair with years ago. The actor-director-writer’s last two movies, Madea’s Family Reunion and Diary of a Mad Black Woman, have grossed a combined $113 million. Perry has a very strong and loyal following, and with those numbers, they’ll keep letting him make as many movies as he wants.
Something About the Name Mary
New Line Cinema has come out on top of an intense bidding war for Multiple Mary, a comedy from scribe Scot Armstrong who will also make his directorial debut. Mary revolves on two best buddies who find new girlfriends. But when they discover that the girlfriends live inside the same body, they go to battle over a woman with multiple personality disorder. Variety reports insiders said what made Mary so appealing was that the comedy is not cast-reliant, as many are, and offered a very strong female role–a rarity in the comedy world. I’d say. This could be uproariously funny, especially coming from the guy who also wrote Road Trip, Old School and Bad Santa.
Until next week…
