The Screengrab : morning deal report

The Last Morning Deal Report

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:00:00 GMT

A word of warning: just because this is our last Morning Deal Report at the Screengrab doesn’t mean Hollywood is going to stop announcing ridiculous projects. You’ll just have to find out about them somewhere else. I wish I could say we’ve saved the best for last, but we can only work with what they give us.

Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz will reunite for James Mangold’s Wichita. It is not the story of a lineman who’s still on the line. “The script has been through many machinations, but the most recent drafts were done by Scott Frank, with Mangold currently fine-tuning the script with Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island). Two-hander has several action scenes. Cruise will play a secret agent who pops in and out of the life of a single woman,” Variety reports.

Kevin Smith has found another pair of dicks. “Seann William Scott and Adam Brody are joining Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan in Warner Bros.' A Couple of Dicks,” Smith’s new buddy action comedy, per The Hollywood Reporter. Smith did not write the script, which is by script Robb and Mark Cullen, and “follows a maverick cop (Willis) and his partner (Morgan) who, while tracking a valuable stolen baseball card, tangle with a memorabilia-obsessed gangster and rescue a Mexican beauty who holds the key to millions in laundered drug money.”

Also, there will be another Batman movie, another Star Trek, another James Bond, and at some point, probably another King Kong remake. Save us the aisle seat!

Morning Deal Report: Al Pacino Goes the Full Kevorkian

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:00:00 GMT

“Al Pacino is in negotiations to star in You Don't Know Jack, an HBO Films biopic about Dr. Jack Kevorkian that Barry Levinson will direct,” per The Hollywood Reporter. Pacino will play Dr. Death “as he builds his infamous ‘Mercy Machine,’ conducts his first assisted suicide, and starts a media frenzy with his epic legal battles defending a patient's right to die.”

Dustin Hoffman and Paul Giamatti will team up for Barney’s Version, based on the novel by Mordecai Richler. Hoffman “will play a retired cop and father of the story's title character -- who has led a reckless life highlighted by three marriages, two children and status as a ‘person of interest’ in the mysterious disappearance of his friend,” Variety reports.

Anyone thrilled at the prospect of a Tomb Raider reboot? Not so much? “The new movie will be an origin story for Croft, meaning a younger actress would be necessary,” Cinema Blend reports. Says producer Dan Lin, “For me, the Lara Croft games and movies have gone a little too action oriented. I wanted to have action but with character.” And big boobs.

Morning Deal Report: Buffy Slays Again

Scott Von Doviak — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:30:00 GMT

More people spent time at the Smithsonian than received Salvation over the long Memorial Day weekend. Ben Stiller’s second Night in the Museum trumped the latest Terminator at the box office, taking in $70 million from Friday to Monday. Salvation, which actually opened Thursday night, took in $53.8 million for a total gross of $67.2 million. Star Trek, Angels and Demons and Dance Flick rounded out the top five.

This can’t possibly be a good idea. “A new incarnation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer could be coming to the big screen,” per The Hollywood Reporter. “Buffy creator Joss Whedon isn't involved and it's not set up at a studio, but Roy Lee and Doug Davison of Vertigo Entertainment are working with original movie director Fran Rubel Kuzui and her husband, Kaz Kuzui, on what is being labeled a remake or relaunch, but not a sequel or prequel.” This new version “would have no connection to the TV series, nor would it use popular supporting characters like Angel, Willow, Xander or Spike.” Surely there’s a lawsuit brewing back at Whedon headquarters.

Flight Of the Navigator is also set to take off again. “The 1986 original told the story of a 12-year-old boy who is abducted by an alien spacecraft in 1978 and reappears eight years later, still the same age and with no memory of what happened.”

Morning Deal Report: Rosario Dawson Meets the Zookeeper

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:30:00 GMT

“Rosario Dawson will star opposite Kevin James in romantic comedy The Zookeeper,” Variety reports. “Live actioner centers on zoo animals trying to teach the keeper their methods of dating and mating to help him win back the woman of his dreams.” Kevin James will keep the fat guy/hot chick genre alive as long as he possibly can.

Stan Lee teams up with Disney to bring his latest hero to the screen. Nick Ratchet is a “lighthearted mystery thriller centers on a Jekyll & Hyde struggle between a meek, ineffectual police officer and his online alter-ego, a tough avatar cop named Nick Ratchet who emerges from inside a video game to usurp the life of his creator,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

Will Smith’s production company has enlisted John Lee Hancock (The Alamo) to bring a Hurricane Katrina story to the screen. The film will tell the story of “John Keller, an ex-Marine who orchestrated the rescue of 244 of his New Orleans neighbors after their building, the American Can Co., was flooded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The five-story structure sat in 11 feet of water after the breach of the levees,” Variety reports.

Morning Deal Report: Sofia Coppola Goes “Somewhere”

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Sofia Coppola’s latest directorial effort Somewhere has secured the participation of a jackass. Chris Pontius of the Jackass crew “will play Sammy, best friend of the character played by Stephen Dorff, a decadent, bad-boy actor living at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood who begins to re-examine his life after a surprise visit from his 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning),” per The Hollywood Reporter.

That Dreamworks dream may be deferred. Yesterday we told you the studio had the blessing of the King family to proceed with their MLK biopic. Two of King’s children disagree. “Bernice King and Martin Luther King III have been embroiled in a legal battle with brother Dexter King, who is chairman-CEO of the King Estate, over who controls the personal papers of their late mother, Coretta Scott King,” Variety reports. “Bernice King told the Associated Press on Tuesday: ‘This is a deal that Mr. Spielberg and his people ... have entered into believing that they have the blessing of the King Estate. They don't have the blessings of Bernice and Martin King.’”

And we can all breathe a sigh of relief: the new Footloose has found its Bacon. You’ll recall that Zac Efron dropped out of the project, which had us all worried there for a while, but now Chace Crawford has stepped into his dancing shoes. “With a more mature, edgy version of Footloose than the original, Paramount will likely benefit from the fact that Crawford's Gossip Girl following skews a bit older than Efron's High School Musical audience.”

Morning Deal Report: Dreamworks Has a Dream

Scott Von Doviak — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:30:00 GMT

“DreamWorks has acquired the life rights to Martin Luther King Jr. and is bringing a biopic on the slain civil rights leader to the bigscreen,” Variety reports. Steven Spielberg is among the producers. "We are all honored that the King Estate is giving us the opportunity to tell the story of these defining, historic events," Spielberg said. "It is our hope that the creative power of film and the impact of Dr. King's life can combine to present a story of undeniable power that we can all be proud of." It remains to be seen whether Spielberg will direct.

George Clooney’s Goats have found a home. The Men Who Stare at Goats, based on Jon Ronson’s nonfiction book, is in post-production and distribution rights have been snapped up by Overture, per The Hollywood Reporter. “CAA packaged and sold the satire, in which Ewan MacGregor stars as a reporter who comes across a solider (Clooney) who reveals that the U.S. Army is using paranormal techniques in Iraq. Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges co-star, Peter Straughan wrote the screenplay and Clooney, Heslov and Paul Lister produced.”

But there’s more Clooney news! The Cloon will star in A Very Private Gentleman, an adaptation of the Martin Booth novel to be directed by Anton Corbijn. ‘Clooney will play an assassin who hides out in an idyllic Italian town before carrying out a final assignment. He resists his usual aversion to human interaction, and his friendships and romantic entanglements complicate his mission.”

Morning Deal Report: Sean Penn’s Place

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Angels and Demons nudged Star Trek out of the top box office spot, taking in $48 million over the weekend. The Enterprise crew added another $43 million to the coffers, for a total haul of $147.6 million in its first 10 days. Wolverine is hanging in there at number three, with $14.8 million, with Ghosts of Girlfriends Past and Obsessed rounded out the top five.

Sean Penn will rock you! “Penn is in talks to star in This Must Be the Place, a film that will mark the English-language feature debut of Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino, who is Un Certain Regard jury prexy at Cannes,” Variety reports. “Penn would play a wealthy rock star who becomes bored in his retirement and takes on the quest of finding his father’s executioner, an ex-Nazi war criminal who is a refugee in the U.S.”

Peter Berg sank your Battleship! “The filmmaker is in talks to direct a big-screen version of the Hasbro board game for Universal. Brothers Jon and Erich Hoeber have signed on to write the script,” per The Hollywood Reporter. “The game, which began in pencil and paper form in the early 20th century and is now available on platforms from cell phones to computers, consists of two players arranging a variety of ships on a grid. The game proceeds in alternating salvos as players try to 'sink' the opposition's ships by guessing where they sit on the grid.” But here’s the best part: “While plot details are being kept below deck, the studio is looking to make an epic naval action adventure.” Really? Not an intimate chamber drama?

Morning Deal Report: Scorsese Sings Sinatra

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:30:00 GMT

One Martin Scorsese picture that never made it out of development hell was an adaptation of Dino, Nick Tosches’ biography of Dean Martin, which was set to star Tom Hanks in the lead role. This was, of course, a terrible idea, and cooler heads eventually prevailed. Scorsese can’t let the Rat Pack go, however – he’s set to direct Sinatra, written by Field of Dreams screenwriter Phil Alden Robinson. “The deal comes after years of negotiations with Frank Sinatra Enterprises, a joint venture of the crooner's estate and Warner Music Group. Internal politics of the estate, where family members had to form a consensus as to how to tell the story and, more importantly, just how much of the story to tell -- was a hurdle that had to be overcome,” per The Hollywood Reporter. So…not exactly warts and all, then?

Lindsay Lohan is going to The Other Side. “Story centers on a grad student who must spend the summer working at a scientific institute on a remote island. She discovers an eccentric community of characters who are hiding a secret about a tragedy that took place many years before,” Variety reports.

Ozsploitation auteur Russell Mulcahy is back with Bait, a 3-D shark movie. “Upping the ante on peril, the film is set in a coastal town where a freak tsunami floods and traps shoppers in a supermarket with an armed maniac and a pack of hungry tiger sharks that have been washed into the building.” Jaws in a supermarket! I am so there!

Morning Deal Report: Hugh Jackman Unbound

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Madeleine Stowe makes her writing and directing debut with Unbound Captives, a western set to star Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz and Robert Pattinson. “Though Stowe's a newcomer behind the camera, getting the job and landing that cast is a payoff for her risky decision to turn down millions of dollars for the script in 1993…She would have played a woman (now to be played by Weisz) whose husband is killed and her two children kidnapped by a Comanche war party in 1859. She is rescued by a frontiersman, to be played by Jackman. Pattinson will play the son,” Variety reports.

Does the phrase “Scent of a Woman with a finance-y twist” make you shiver with anticipation? Please seek medical attention immediately. Al Pacino is in talks to star in Blink, an adaptation of Malcolm Gladwell’s nonfiction bestseller. Stephen Gaghan’s script “will center on the relationship between an older man (Pacino) and the twentysomething son he was never close to. The two reconnect early on in the pic, and the boy, an idealistic drifter who's teaching in a downtown New York school, and the father, a finance type living in Connecticut, must navigate their new relationship,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

Kevin Spacey will try to win back our hearts as Jack Abramoff in Casino Jack, to be directed by George Hickenlooper. “Film, formerly titled Bagman, stars Spacey as the once high-powered lobbyist whose bribery schemes and fraudulent dealings with Indian casinos ultimately landed him in prison.”

Morning Deal Report: American Gladiators? Really?

Scott Von Doviak — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:30:00 GMT

“Johnny Ferraro, creator of the American Gladiators TV franchise, is bringing a live-action adaptation of the property to the big screen,” Variety reports. I smell an Unwatchable in waiting! “The film will be based on the TV show that first aired in 1988 and has been on the air every year except one during the past 20 years…The goal is to create an action story that takes place inside the world Ferraro has created.” Oh, an action story! I was hoping for a psychological thriller.

Another Philip K. Dick novel is coming to the screen. “Halcyon Co. co-founders and co-CEOs Victor Kubicek and Derek Anderson, who picked up first-look rights to sci-fi author Philip K. Dick's estate in 2007, have selected his 1974 novel Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said as the first of his works they will adapt for the screen,” per The Hollywood Reporter. “Set in a futuristic, dystopian world, Tears is the tale of a celebrity who wakes up after an assassination attempt to find no one has ever heard of him.”

Takashi Miike will remake the samurai movie Thirteen Assassins. “Project, which is set in the shogun era and follows 13 assassins who come together for a suicide mission to kill an evil lord, is based on Eiichi Kudo's 1963 film of the same name.”

Morning Deal Report: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Reeves

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Star Trek warped its way to the top of the box office, beaming up $76.5 million since its debut Thursday night. X-Men Origins: Wolverine took an expected hit, dropping to second place with $27 million, a 68% dropoff from its opening weekend take. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, Obsessed and 17 Again rounded out the top five, while the only other new wide release, Next Day Air, didn't find many takers - it finished sixth with $4 million.

Keanu Reeves will attempt to convey a split personality in a new retelling of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This will be a modern version called Jekyll, per The Hollywood Reporter. "Universal clearly is enamored with the tale as it also has been developing a take on it with Guillermo del Toro, though the two couldn't be more different. Del Toro, who has an affinity for gothic horror as well as creature features, aims to stick more closely to the Stevenson tale. Also, del Toro's project is on the slow track as the filmmaker works on The Hobbit for New Line and MGM, which is expected to take up the next five years. Even when he comes back, he likely will tackle one or two other Universal projects before his version, so a good amount of time will exist between the projects."

Here's a timely announcement: Darren Lynn Bousman, director of three Saw movies, will helm a remake of the Troma classic Mother's Day. "The original Mother's Day revolved around three female friends who, while camping, run afoul of two brothers who engage in murder and rape to impress their deranged mother." Me, I just sent flowers.

Morning Deal Report: Katie Holmes in the Dark

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins have scripted the thriller Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, a thriller that will star Katie Holmes. The movie “is based on a 1973 ABC telepic about a young girl who moves in with her father and his girlfriend and discovers they are sharing the house with devilish creatures,” Variety reports.

The Irishmen are coming! “Ray Stevenson, Christopher Walken and Val Kilmer will play the leads in The Irishman, a crime story that Jonathan Hensleigh will direct,” per The Hollywood Reporter. Stevenson will play Danny Greene, “a violent Irish-American gangster who competed with the Italian mob in 1970s Cleveland and ended up provoking a countrywide turf war that crippled the mafia. Walken will play the loan shark and nightclub owner Shondor Birns, and Kilmer is a Cleveland police detective who befriends Greene.”

Robert De Niro and Edward Norton will reunite for the psychological thriller Stone. “Story centers on a correctional officer (De Niro) who is seduced by the wife of a convicted arsonist (Norton) up for parole.” De Niro and Norton previously appeared together in The Score.

Morning Deal Report: Rachel Weisz Blows the Whistle

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Rachel Weisz signs on to The Whistleblower, an indie political drama about…well, I think it’s about a whistleblower, but let me check to make sure. “Based on a true story, Whistleblower chronicles the trials of a female cop from Nebraska who serves as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and exposes a United Nations cover-up of a sex trafficking scandal,” Variety reports. See, I knew it!

If Wolverine is an X-Men spinoff, then what does that make Deadpool, a proposed Wolvervine spinoff starring Ryan Reynolds as the “wise-cracking mercenary played in the film by Ryan Reynolds”? An X-Men spinoff-in-law? “Deadpool is known as ‘the merc with a mouth,’ a character that under Reynolds lived up to his billing in Wolverine until the end, when the movie deviated from the comic book persona, imbuing him with several superpowers and sewing his mouth shut,” per The Hollywood Reporter. Hmm, that sounds like a spoiler to me.

Will Ferrell is ready to join the Neighborhood Watch. “Story chronicles an urbanite's journey as he moves to a suburban community, joins the neighborhood watch and uncovers a large conspiracy.”

Christina Aguilera Goes Burlesque

Scott Von Doviak — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:30:00 GMT

“Christina Aguilera will make her screen debut for Screen Gems in Burlesque, a contemporary musical that Steven Antin will direct,” Variety reports. “Aguilera will play an ambitious smalltown girl with a big voice who finds love, family and success in a Los Angeles neo-burlesque club that appears to be right out of Bob Fosse's Cabaret.” It does sound like a premise tailor-made for her talents, you must admit.

Jim Carrey has become Reese Witherspoon. Used Guys, previously envisioned as a vehicle for Carrey and Ben Stiller, has been revamped as a Stiller/Witherspoon pairing. “ The comedy takes place in a future run by women, who clone and trade men like used cars. Stiller and Carrey were to play returned, outdated models who go in search of their masculinity. The current take at Fox focuses more on the relationship between Stiller's character and Witherspoon's clone owner,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

Thar be whales here! Warner Bros. is bringing Everybody Loves Whales to the screen, based on “the true 1988 tale of the rescue of a trio of California gray whales found under the ice of the Arctic Circle near Barrow, Alaska. Over a two-week period, the U.S. and Soviet governments joined with oil company execs, environmental activists, Eskimos, businessmen and military officers to help free the giant mammals,” Variety reports.

Morning Deal Report: Haunted by Hugh Jackman

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Wolverine clawed its way to the top of the box office chart, taking in $87 million over the weekend. That means it’s officially summer, whatever the weather may be where you are. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past took the second spot with $15.3 million, while last week’s topper Obsessed fell to number three with $12.2 million. 17 Again and Monsters vs. Aliens rounded out the top five.

Wolverine star Hugh Jackman is moving to Ghostopolis. Jackman will produce and star in the film based on an upcoming graphic novel, which “centers on a man who works for the government's Supernatural Immigration Task Force. His job is to send ghosts who have escaped into our world back to Ghostopolis. When a living boy accidentally is sent to the other side, the agent must team with a female ghost (and former flame) to bring him back,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

Won’t you help Ben Stiller spread goodness? Stiller will direct Help Me Spread Goodness, a drama with comic overtones. Script, about a Chicago banker who gets swindled in a Nigerian Internet scam, was written by Mark Friedman and developed by Participant Media exec veep Jonathan King and prexy Ricky Strauss before they took it to Stiller,” Variety reports.

Morning Deal Report: Bruce Willis and the One-Word Titles

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:30:00 GMT

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bruce Willis is set to star in a trio of upcoming action movies. Red, in which “Willis would portray a former black-ops agent who has gone into retirement but is forced back into action when a high-tech assassin comes a-callin’ to threaten him and his girlfriend”; Scarpa, “a mob biopic directed by Tears of the Sun helmer Antoine Fuqua; and Inventory, in which Willis “would play a detective on the trail of a murderer.”

Natalie Portman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Rainn Wilson will headline the “indie dramedy” Hesher. “The story centers on a loser twentysomething who invades the life of an awkward 13-year-old who is living with a pill-popping father and grandmother. Gordon-Levitt is playing the title character, a good and bad influence on the boy's life. Wilson is the dad trying to keep his family together after the death of his wife. Portman, who is producing the film with Lucy Cooper, plays a supermarket worker for whom the kid falls for after she saves him from a bully.”

The French thriller Tell No One will get the American remake treatment. “Miramax and Focus will co-develop the project, still in early stages of development. No director or cast have been attached although a start date of spring 2010 has been tentatively set for principal photography,” Variety reports.

Related:
Bruce Willis to Play Robot
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Morning Deal Report: Shia LeBeouf Goes to Wall Street

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Oliver Stone has agreed to direct the sequel to Wall Street, so insert your own “greed is good” joke here. Shia LaBeouf “is negotiating to join Michael Douglas, who won an Oscar for his portrayal of Gordon Gekko in the original pic. The sequel will once again involve a young Wall Street trader, and the recent economic meltdown spurred by rampant greed and corruption will fit prominently into the plot,” per Variety.

The Flanimals are coming! The Ricky Gervais children’s book series Flanimals, that is. Universal will adapt the series into a 3D animated feature, and Gervais will voice the lead character. “The four-volume series, illustrated by Rob Steen, encompasses a world inhabited by 50 species of creatures so ugly and misshapen they become cute and endearing. Gervais' character, a pudgy, perspiring purple creature, goes on a mission to change the world. ‘It will be great to play a short, fat, sweaty loser for a change,’ Gervais said. ‘A real stretch.’”

And finally on the Morning Deal Report…I’m looking for a new deal! As you read here earlier this morning, the Screengrab is shutting down production on movie related news, reviews and snark in about a month. So if you’re in the market for a timely and talented purveyor of such things, contact me through my blog. My new landlord thanks you.

Related:
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Morning Deal Report: Failure of Imagination Threat Level Orange

Scott Von Doviak — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Universal is remaking Drop Dead Fred. Let me repeat that. Universal is remaking Drop Dead Fred. Perhaps you vaguely recall the 1991 original, which “starred Phoebe Cates as a wallflower who loses her job and husband during the course of a lunch hour. Forced to live back home, she's reunited with her childhood imaginary friend (Brit actor Rik Mayall), who promises to help but causes more havoc.” The new version will star Russell Brand as the imaginary friend and will be written by “Dennis McNicholas, one of the writers of Universal's upcoming Land of the Lost,” per The Hollywood Reporter. Of course it will.

The Universal remake train isn’t stopping there, however. They’re also planning a new version of Videodrome. “The new picture will modernize the concept, infuse it with the possibilities of nano-technology and blow it up into a large-scale sci-fi action thriller.” And you might be surprised to learn that David Cronenberg “has no role in the film as yet.” Or you might not.

If that doesn’t do it for you, how about a spiffy new screen version of Humpty Dumpty. “The 3-D sci-fi horror pic is about a half-human, half-alien creature who embarks on a murderous rampage after his alien mother is abused by two rednecks in the Deep South,” Variety reports. Oh…that Humpty Dumpty?

Related:
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Morning Deal Report: Straw Dogs Are Barking

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT

I wish I could say it was still April Fool’s Day, but as much as I’ve tried to convince myself this isn’t happening…it is, in fact, happening. Writer/director Rod Lurie is going ahead with his remake of Straw Dogs, and he’s found his star. And it is…drum roll…incredibly bland James Marsden! “The new Straw Dogs, from Screen Gems, follows Los Angeles screenwriter David Sumner (Marsden), who moves with his wife to her hometown in the deep South. Once there, tensions build in their marriage and old conflicts re-emerge with the locals, leading to a violent confrontation,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has agreed to appear in the upcoming Terminator Salvation, but this time he won’t be doing any acting. All together now: So what’s the difference? Well, the Governator will be making his appearance via the miracle of technology. “A body-cast mold of Schwarzenegger, created when he first appeared as the muscle-ripped cyborg, provided the basis for a digital-effects version of his famous character. The figure appears in Terminator Salvation as a living, breathing actor,” Variety reports.

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are making their live-action return to the big screen. It’s a reboot, “focusing the origins of the iconic crime fighters. Project, targeted for release in 2011, would mark the fifth bigscreen outing for the sewer-dwelling heroes Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael as well as their master Splinter.”

Related:
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Morning Deal Report: Angelina Jolie Plays Doctor

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Fox 2000 has acquired the screen rights to Patricia Cornwell’s series of Kay Scapetta novels, with an eye toward Angelina Jolie starring as the medical examiner heroine. “There are 16 Scarpetta novels, meaning a franchise is hoped for, but this film won't be tied to a specific Cornwell mystery title. Much the way that Jason Bourne morphed into an action hero in plots not rigidly locked into the Robert Ludlum book series, the opera-loving coroner Scarpetta will be the lead in a suspense thriller in the vein of The Silence of the Lambs and Seven,” Variety reports.

How about a little sex, drugs and rock and roll? A biopic of punk legend Ian Dury is in the works, with Andy Sirkis (Gollum himself) slated for the lead role. Ray Winstone, Olivia Williams and McKenzie Crook are also aboard for the story of “a key figure in the punk movement of the 1970s, enjoyed chart success with songs such as 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick'.” And it will be called Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll.

Marlon Wayans is ready to get biblical. Wayans will star in and produce an adaptation of A.J. Jacobs’ nonfiction book The Year of Living Biblically for Paramount. “For the book, subtitled One Man's Humble Quest to Obey the Bible as Literally as Possible, Jacobs spent a year attempting to live by the rules of the Old and New Testaments, with comic and enlightening results,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

Related:
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Morning Deal Report: David O. Russell and Christian Bale Get in the Ring

Scott Von Doviak — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:30:00 GMT

In recent weeks we’ve told you about two David O. Russell projects in the works, The Silver Linings Playbook and Aaron and Sarah. Now there’s a third, and this one is scheduled to go ahead first: The Fighter, with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale. “Pic tells the story of Boston fighter 'Irish' Mickey Ward and how he was helped to the world lightweight championship by half-brother Dicky Eklund. Eklund once decked Sugar Ray Leonard and went the distance against the boxing legend before forfeiting his career to drugs and crime,” Variety reports. But who cares about the plot? Russell and Bale on the same set! Alert TMZ!

Steven Soderbergh’s adaptation of Moneyball is coming together. Steve Zaillian has rewritten the screenplay and Demetri Martin has been cast as Paul DePodesta, the Robin to Billy Beane’s Batman in the Oakland A’s front office. (Brad Pitt has already been cast as Beane.) “Martin, a rising actor and comedian, headlines Comedy Central's Important Things With Demetri Martin, which sees him wearing actor, writer, composer and executive producer hats. Last year, he scored a role in Ang Lee's Taking Woodstock, an ensemble drama starring Liev Schreiber, Emile Hirsch and Jeffrey Dean Morgan,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

Columbia Pictures is moving quickly on the follow-up to Angels and Demons. “Author Dan Brown has announced that his next installment in the Da Vinci Code series will be The Lost Symbol, which Doubleday will publish in the U.S. and Canada on Sept. 15…Sony has the rights to the Robert Langdon character, which gives the studio the right to negotiate a deal for the new title. The studio will be bullish,” Variety assures.

Related:
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Morning Deal Report: Reese Witherspoon to Get Naughty in “Nice”?

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT

The tween demographic was once again in control of the weekend box office, as Zac Efron in 17 Again topped the charts with $24.1 million. Apparently they’ve already had their fill of Hannah Montana, which slipped to fourth place with $12.7. Enough adults turned up at the multiplex to secure a second place finish for State of Play with $14.1 million. Monsters vs. Aliens and Fast & Furious rounded out the top five.

Is Reese Witherspoon finally sick of the rom-com carousel? Witherspoon may get back to her black comedy roots with Nice, about “a magazine writer who accidentally kills her boyfriend. She finds a way to get rid of the body and discovers that killing boyfriends is easier than breaking up with them,” Variety reports. Witherspoon is not yet signed, but those of us who miss the spitfire of Freeway and Election are hoping it happens.

Felicity Jones has been cast as the female lead in The Men at the Pru, the “1970s insurance-world dramedy” from Ricky Gervais. “Jones will play Julie, who is led to believe by the men around her that a woman should focus on raising a family but who wants to break out and pursue a career in photography,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

Related:
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Morning Deal Report: Megan Fox Crosses the Border

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Megan Fox will star in the “border thriller” The Crossing. “Byron Willinger and Philip de Blasi penned the pic, in which a couple returning from a Mexican vacation is carjacked and the husband kidnapped. The wife (Fox) must smuggle heroin across the border in order to spring him,” per The Hollywood Reporter. A spokesman for the film claims that Fox is “ideal for the role of a woman who must be both victim and hero,” which I think is his way of saying she’s hot.

Eighteen years after the ill-fated The Dark Wind, Errol Morris is taking another shot at directing a narrative film. Currently known as Untitled Cryonics Project, it’s the true of Robert F. Nelson, “a TV repairman who in the 1960s joined a group of enthusiasts who believed they could cheat death with a new technology: cryonics. But freezing dead people so scientists could reanimate them in the future turned out to be harder than Nelson thought,” Variety reports. It’s described as a dark comedy, and Ira Glass is among the producers.

Catherine Keener has joined Pierce Brosnan and Uma Thurman for Percy Jackson, a Christopher Columbus adaptation of a fantasy series by Rick Riordan. “The books, which put Greek gods in modern times, involve Poseidon's half-human son, Percy, who is on a quest in modern America to prevent a war among the gods.”

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Morning Deal Report: Kristen Bell Rings Again

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Those who live in hope of Veronica Mars reaching the big screen…this is not the news you’re waiting for. Kristen Bell will star in You Again, the comedy from Race to Witch Mountain director Andy Fickman. “Written by Moe Jelline, the story follows a young woman (Bell) who finds out her brother is marrying the girl who made her high school years a living hell. She tries to find a way to show her brother the fiancee's true colors,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

Whatever happened to Elisabeth Shue? Two words for you: Piranha 3D. “Horror redo helmed by Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes) is set for a March 19 release,” Variety reports. I guess it’s important to lock down that coveted date a year in advance. “Shue plays the town sheriff trying to save the lake and her family from being devoured by the sharp-toothed fish. Adam Scott will star as a diver for the U.S. Geological Service who helps discover the piranha outbreak.”

Blake Masters, creator of the Showtime series Brotherhood, will adapt the graphic novel 2 Guns for Universal. “The project aims to be a throwback to classic '80s buddy cop movies in the vein of Lethal Weapon and 48 HRS, but with a modern spin,” THR warns.

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Morning Deal Report: Tina Fey’s Date Night

Scott Von Doviak — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Tina Fey and Steve Carell will star in Date Night, a comedy that “revolves around a married couple who find themselves in harm's way after their routine date night goes horribly awry,” Variety reports. James Franco and Mark Wahlberg will have supporting roles. “Wahlberg plays a successful and crazily buff securities expert who flirts with Fey's character. Franco portrays a not-too-bright conman and petty criminal.” Hmm, Franco playing not-too-bright? Not sure he can pull that off.

McG: The Musical? “McG is in talks to bring the Broadway rock musical Spring Awakening to the big screen, developing it with original book and lyrics writer Steven Sater,” per The Hollywood Reporter. “Set in 19th-century Germany, the coming-of-age story follows a group of teens discovering their sexuality and dealing with high-wire topics like masturbation, abortion, rape and suicide.” Could be the next Sound of Music!

From McG to McMafia: Working Title “has acquired rights to McMafia, Mischa Glenny's sprawling book about organized crime around the world…With its globalist themes, the book is said to be something of an underworld equivalent of Thomas Friedman's The World Is Flat.” But, you know, with more guns.

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Morning Deal Report: Michael Sheen Trades Fur for Fangs

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Apparently Miley Cyrus has been forgiven for her racy photos, as Hannah Montana: The Movie topped the weekend box office with a better-than-expected $34 million. Fast & Furious slowed to second place with $28.8 million, bringing its total to $118 million. (By the way, those of you who told me this installment was as enjoyable as the original? You misled me.) Observe and Report debuted with a disappointing (to someone, I guess) $11.1 million for a fourth place finish.

Frost/Nixon co-star Michael Sheen has joined the cast of the Twilight sequel New Moon. Sheen “will portray the leader of the Volturi, an Italy-based coven of vampires,” per Variety, which also notes that the actor has played a werewolf in all three Underworld movies. That’s quite a conflict of interest.

Brad Pitt’s production company has obtained the screen rights to the Paul Pope graphic novel Battling Boy. “The story line follows the son of a god who comes down from the top of a mountain at his father's urging to rid the giant, continent-sized city of Monstropolis of a plague of beasts,” per The Hollywood Reporter. Watchmen co-writer Alex Tse will pen the adaptation.

Related:
Jailbait Cinema: 16 Films That Make Us Nervous
Screengrab Review: "Frost/Nixon"

Morning Deal Report: Neeson and Fiennes Release the Kraken

Scott Von Doviak — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:30:00 GMT

“Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes will play warring gods in Warner Bros. and Legendary's Clash of the Titans, the Greek-god epic directed by Louis Leterrier,” per The Hollywood Reporter. It will be Neeson as Zeus and Fiennes as Hades in the remake of the 1981 epic, and as THR reminds us, “The deal marks Neeson's first since the tragic death of his wife, Natasha Richardson. “

David O. Russell is suddenly a busy guy. We already told you about his in-the-works adaptation of The Silver Linings Playbook, and now Russell is set to take on the romantic comedy Aaron and Sarah. “Story centers on a nerdy guy and a popular girl who meet as freshmen and, over four years of high school, four proms and one funeral, become friends and eventually fall in love,” Variety reports.

Race to Witch Mountain director Andy Fickman has signed to direct You Again for Disney. “Written by Moe Jelline, the story follows one young woman who finds out her brother is marrying the girl who made her high school years a living hell and then tries to find a way to show her brother the fiancee's true colors.”

Related:
Silver Lining for David O. Russell
Every Which Way to Witch Mountain

Morning Deal Report: Jackie Earle Haley's Nightmare

Scott Von Doviak — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:00:00 GMT

He’ll always be Kelly Leak to some of us, but in his recent comeback phase, Jackie Earle Haley has played a child molester, a violent vigilante and now…a violent child killer. And he seemed like such a nice boy. Haley will indeed assume the mantle of Freddy Krueger in a new remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. I think every Wes Craven movie has now been remade, except that one with Meryl Streep playing the violin. “Looking at his performance in Watchmen, here’s a guy playing a character under a mask yet you feel tremendous empathy for him,” director Samuel Bayer told The Hollywood Reporter. “And in Nightmare, he is going to be under prosthetic make-up. You have to feel something for the character. The greatest villains are multi-dimensional and I think he will bring that to the character.”

“Larry Charles is set to take on geriatric sex in his next project,” Variety tells me before I’ve even had my first cup of coffee. Thanks, Variety! “The Borat director is in final negotiations to helm Columbia Pictures comedy Winter's Discontent, which centers on a sexually frustrated widower who moves into a retirement community with his best buddy -- looking to get laid.”

More yelling for Al Pacino! Pacino will play Napoleon! It’s “a screen adaptation of Staton Rabin's children's book Betsy and the Emperor”! You child!

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Pacino Finds New Role Involving Lots of Yelling

Morning Deal Report: Jennifer Garner’s Butter

Scott Von Doviak — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Jennifer Garner will star in Butter, a “political satire set in the small-town world of competitive butter-sculpting.” See that, people are stealing my ideas again. “Butter follows a young orphan who, after being adopted by a Midwestern family, discovers she has an uncanny talent for butter-carving,” per The Hollywood Reporter. “She eventually finds herself up against the ambitious wife of the retired reigning champion in a town's annual butter-sculpting contest.”

Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Bryan Cranston have all signed up for Red Tails. “John Ridley wrote the script, which revolves around the young pilots who overcame institutional racism in the military to form the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American fighter pilots in U.S. military history. Their planes featured the red-painted tails that give the film its title,” Variety reports. George Lucas is producing, but mercifully not directing.

The Duplass brothers will write and direct Table 19 for Fox Searchlight. The film will revolve around “those wedding guests quarantined at the dreaded ‘singles table.’ Told from the points of view of the strangers randomly thrown together, the story explores what marriage means to those on the sidelines.”

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Gary Busey Tries to Make Out With Jennifer Garner in Public
SXSW Review: Humpday

Morning Deal Report: Christina Ricci Gets Her Porn On

Scott Von Doviak — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:30:00 GMT

It doesn’t get much faster and, er, furiouser than this: the fourth Fast & Furious movie revved up an unbelievable $72.5 million over the weekend, the biggest box office take of the year so far. It’s also more than the previous installment, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, took in during its entire theatrical run. Monsters vs. Aliens hung in there with $33.5 million in the second spot, followed by a steep dropoff to The Haunting in Connecticut, at number three with $9.6 million.

Christina Ricci was born to be a star. But you knew that. You may not have known that Ricci has signed to star alongside Adam Sandler in the “porn-tinged comedy” Born to Be a Star. Per The Hollywood Reporter, “The story centers on a small-town nerd who stumbles upon a family secret: His quiet and demure parents were famous porn stars in the 1970s. This motivates him to leave Northern Iowa for Hollywood, hoping to follow in their footsteps and fulfill his destiny as the biggest adult-film star in the world. Ricci, the female lead, is the guy's innocent girlfriend.”

We’re no stranger to hangover sequels here at the Screengrab, but Warner Bros. is taking a chance on a follow-up to Todd Phillips’ The Hangover before it even reaches theaters in June. “In the comedy, groomsmen take the betrothed for a last fling in Las Vegas, then become so caught up in the revelry that they lose the groom,” Variety reports.

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Christina Ricci: Should I Be Concerned?
Christina Ricci's Happy Meal