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Dan Owen reviews
I s s u e # 1 12 7 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 2
** MOVIE NEWS **
“ALEXANDER THE GREAT” – Luhrmann Lands Leo!
‘The Toronto Sun’ newspaper has confirmed that Leonardo DiCaprio hassigned to star in an Alexander The Great biopic – to be directed by BazLuhrmann (“Moulin Rouge”).
The epic film has been written by Ted Tally (“The Silence Of TheLambs”), with Martin Scorsese co-producing. Interestingly, Scorsese wasset to direct his own version of Alexander The Great earlier this year,as was Oliver Stone (“JFK”). Stone’s project is likely to crumble nowthat Luhrman and Scorsese have teamed up together.
Producer Dino De Laurentis said: “We have the full support of the Kingof Morocco. They give us 5,000 soldiers and 1,000 horses. It will be avery long movie to film… you get together 5,000 extras, you need sixmonths training just for them.” De Laurentis and Luhrmann have alsoagreed to build a major movie studio in Morocco for the purposes of thisfilm.
The real Alexander The Great conquered the known world by the age of 25with an army of 30,000 men. He died in 323 B.C. Ted Tally confirms that:“[Alexander will] be bisexual. He seems to have been kind of omnisexualas a person.”
“There’s a story about him that I love, where he was campaigning inAsia, and a royal courtier from Macedonia reached him and said, ‘Yoursister is having an affair.’ And he said, ‘I don’t see why she shouldn’thave a little fun just because she’s the princess.’ The biographer says,’Coming from a man who had three wives, at least four known mistresses,a lifelong male lover, and also is believed to have slept with a eunuchand an Amazon, this is open-mindedness at its best.'”
“AUSTIN POWERS 4” – Jerry Girl!
‘Sky News’ has reported that ageing glamour model Jerry Hall is beingconsidered as the next Powers Girl for a probable “Austin Powers 4″movie.
“BALLISTIC: ECKS vs SEVER” – Sequels?
Antonio Banderas (“Spy Kids 2”) has spoken about the possibility ofsequels to his latest action-movie “Ballistic: Ecks Vs Sever” with LucyLiu, which entered the US movie charts last weekend at No.4.
He said: “I have three franchises already [“Zorro”, “Spy Kids”,”Desperado”]. I don’t know if I can hold another one. It would be great,but it [depends] on the audience.”
Banderas also spoke about his sequel to “Desperado” by Robert Rodriguez- entitled “Once Upon A Time In Mexico” and “Spy Kids 3”. He said that:“Tomorrow I have to dub some stuff [for “Once Upon A Time…”]. It’sgoing to be opening in March. [With ‘Spy Kids 3’], the second one isgoing pretty well. And I suppose the producers are thinking about itgoing for another run.”
“BEWITCHED” – Nicole Nose-Twitches?
‘The Hollywood Reporter’ suggests that Nicole Kidman is in talks to starin a movie adaptation of US TV comedy “Bewitched” for ‘ColumbiaPictures’.
Kidman is said to have expressed interest in the role of young witchSamantha, who earnestly tries to abandon her powers for the sake of hermortal husband, Darren, but temptation constantly gets in her way.
It’s also rumoured that Mike Myers is the top choice to play Darren. Theproject has no director attached and no screenplay written.
“BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY 2” – Reopened…
‘Yahoo UK!’ has reported that George Clooney is in talks to star in asequel to the hit comedy “Bridget Jones’ Diary”, which starred ReneeZellweger.
“DEATH” – Gaimain’s Grim Reaper Movie!
Neil Gaiman, award-winning writer of “Sandman” and “American Gods”, hasfinally finished his screenplay for “Death”, about the Grim Reaperspending a day in New York. Controversial..?
Gaimain said: “… about 18 months ago I finished the first draft of the’Death’ movie, and wasn’t really happy with it. I’d planned to get backto it on about September the 15th 2001, but then the events of September11th happened, and I couldn’t muster the enthusiasm for a story aboutDeath spending a day in New York.”
“I tried several narrative strategies to try and get myself writing it,including setting it San Francisco and changing the gender of severalcharacters around, but each time it petered out, and I put it aside.”
“Finally, in early August of this year, I was ready: I spent a week in ahotel and did nothing but ‘Death’. It started working. I printed out thescript and went to the UK to tour. I scribbled on it from time to time,fixing things. And two weeks ago I grabbed an afternoon and typed all myscribbles in, and sent the script off to the people who needed to seeit.”
“So far the response has been incredibly positive from everyone who’sread it. People, including me, are very happy with it. In theory I’mmeant to be directing it. Fingers crossed.”
“THE FANTASTIC FOUR” – Too much $$$?
The “Fantastic Four” movie still hasn’t been made, despite recentcomic-book movie success with “X-Men” and “Spider-Man”. Perhaps nextyear’s “The Hulk” will finally tip the scale? Maybe not, suggests “TheHulk” screenwriter Michael France, who submitted a “Fantastic Four”screenplay to a major studio five years ago. So why hasn’t it been madeyet?
France says: “The reason is that it’s unbelievably expensive. It’sprobably one of the most expensive comic-book movies you can make withspecial effects shots to portray the characters.”
The Fantastic Four are a crime-fighting quartet comprised of themalleable Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Woman, The Thing (a human brickwall!) and the Human Torch. They are a dysfunctional extended familywhose members can’t hide their super powers like heroes with secretidentities. For that reason, France estimated the movie would costnearly $200 million to produce, compared with around $130 million for”Spider-Man”.
France continued: “Spider-Man, I guess, is only Spider-Man for about 30percent of the movie, something like that. With Fantastic Four, theThing is in effect in every shot. Mr. Fantastic is in effect in everyshot. Even outside of action sequences, the comedy always revolvesaround the Thing and the Torch fighting at home, so even the comicrelief scenes are, like, a million dollars per minute.”
Director Chris Columbus (“Harry Potter”) tried to get France’s”Fantastic Four” script moving five years ago, but failed. Foursubsequent directors also gave up on the task.
France explains: “The problem they keep running into is that, no matterwhat you do, it’s too expensive. ‘The Hulk’ is not a cheap movie tomake, but all they’ve got to deal with is one character and a villain.With ‘Fantastic Four’, you’ve got the four of them plus a villain. In myscript, the villain was Dr. Doom, so there’s a lot of expense in that,too.”
“GINGER SNAPS 2” – Howling Again!
Canada’s ‘Space Channel’ interviewed the producers of “Ginger Snaps”recently, who confirmed that plans for a sequel are underway. There isalso talk of a third film – that will be a prequel to the cult werewolfflick. Both new films will be straight-to-video releases.
“GLADIATOR II” – Logan Enlisted
Screenwriter John Logan (“Star Trek Nemesis”) is said to have been hiredto pen the script for a sequel to his original screenplay “Gladiator”,which starred Russell Crowe.
“THE HULK” – Writer On Banner!
The screenwriter of “The Hulk”, Michael France, spoke to the ‘St.Petersburg Times’ about the movie project a few months ago. He said: “Myapproach was that I wanted to deal with Banner’s psychology, and that’sheld up throughout what they’re shooting right now. I see him as a guywho had problems with anger even before he got that gamma ray shower, aguy who had an abusive father so he worries about what happens when heloses his temper. He really has problems after he gets his Hulk problembestowed on him.
“You have to find a way to make a comic book character like the Hulkmore human or else you just have a Saturday morning cartoon. It’s just amonster-in-the-street movie.”
“HELLRAISER VII: DEADER” – Pinhead’s Back… Again…‘Production Weekly’ has indicated that a 6-week shoot in Romania beginson 21 October for the seventh “Hellraiser” movie – a day before thestraight-to-video release of the sixth film in video stores!
The plot for the seventh feature involves young reporter Amy Klein, whoworks for ‘The London Underground’ paper – who are known for uncoveringthe unusual and bizarre. When a tape arrives at her office addressed toher, both she and her boss are taken aback by what they have witness; aperson killed and then transformed back to life. Amy is soon on her wayto Bucharest to find out if people can really be brought back from thedead”.
“JEEPERS CREEPERS 2” – Filming Finished!
‘Upcoming Horrors’ reports that filming on “Jeepers Creepers 2” wrappedon 20 September at Long Beach Airport and the sequel is now heading intopost-production. ‘Fangoria’ reports that the release date has changed to18 April 2003.
“KILL BILL” – Genesis, Scoring & Liu!
Quentin Tarantino has spoken about what made him decide to make martialarts revenge movie “Kill Bill”. It all began when he bumped into UmaThurman at a party, Tarantino explained: “I hadn’t seen Uma in maybethree years and she asked me, as she always did when we saw one another,when I was going to finish writing this project we’d talked about doingtogether. I’ve always considered her my actress, you know. So I wentback home that weekend and dug out the few pages that I’d written on’Kill Bill’ and decided, what the heck, I’ll work on them.”
In related news, Tarantino has secured a music scorer for “Kill Bill”.In a strange choice he’s enlisted the help of RZA (pronounced ‘Rrizzah’)from the ‘Wu Tang Clan’!
As strange as this choice seems, RZA has previously worked on movies -having scored Jim Jaramusch’s “Ghost Dog: Way Of The Samurai”. RZA isnow working on some retro-styled scene-change themes (known as “stabs”)and will be collaborating on the final score with ‘Metallica’ drummerLars Ulrich.
Actress Lucy Liu (“Charlie’s Angels”) has also commented on the movie,which she stars in, saying: “We’re all assassins, but I become the queenof the underworld. It’s a revenge chick flick, yes. It’s going to be akick-ass movie. I have a really good feeling about it and I feel reallyproud.”
“LEMONY SNICKET” – Count Carrey!
Jim Carrey is in talks to star in “Lemony Snicket”, an adaptation of achildren’s book by author Daniel Handler called “Lemony Snicker’s ASeries Of Unfortunate Events”.
The movie will be directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (“Men In Black II”). Thestory concerns a trio of orphans who are passed around to a series ofquirky people. The first of those is the mysterious Count Olaf (Carrey),who is counting on separating the children from their inheritance. Thescript has been written by author Handler.
“THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES II” – Mr Moth’s Back?
‘Lakeshore Entertainment’ may be ready to film a sequel to “The MothmanProphecies”, the supernatural chiller that starring Richard Gere.
The sequel, tentatively entitled either “The Mothman Returns” or “TheMothman Lives”, will see the prophesizing entity return to smalltownPoint Pleasant. The sequel promises to be more of an out-and-out scaryfilm, and could be released in early-2004.
“POLICE ACADEMY 8” – Back On Patrol?
‘Moviehole’ recently spoke to fallen 80s movie star Steve Guttenburgabout the chances of another “Police Academy” movie. Guttenberg confimedthat: “There have been rumours of a Mahoney spin-off film for quite awhile. I sure hope they do it. If the script’s right – I’m definitelyin”.
“[As for a new ‘Police Academy’ movie -] definitely. It’s coming. I meanwe have to. When it all comes down to it people will look down at theidea, but they’re in the same business of making money too. And that’swhat doing another one would all be about”.
“SPIDER-MAN 2” – Smallville Scribes Sacked!
‘CNN.com’ has reported that “Smallville” writers Alfred Gough and MilesMillar have lost scripting duties on “Spider-Man 2” – now known as “TheAmazing Spider-Man”.
Alfred Gough said: “Miles [Millar] and I actually completed two drafts of’Spider-Man 2′. We came back on after David Koepp completed his draft inmid July. We had a wonderful experience working with Sam and [producers]Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad. They have now handed off our script toMichael Chabon, who is a terrific writer.”
Indeed, Michael Chabon is a Pullitzer prize-winning author of novel “TheAmazing Adventures Of Kavalier And Clay” – and has now taken up thereigns from the “Smallville” writers. Chabon will work from a story byoriginal “Spider-Man” writer David Koepp.
Michael Chabon said: “I’m really sworn to secrecy about it. I haven’t read anyof [the unaccepted drafts]. I’m doing my own, which I’m really verythrilled about. It’s very exciting to be given the chance to work onSpider-Man.”
“The Amazing Spider-Man” is still scheduled to begin filming in January2003, with Sam Raimi directing again, for a 7 May 2004 release in theUS.
“SUPERMAN” – Massive Mythology Changes!
J.J Abrams’ screenplay for “Superman: Last Son Of Krypton” (as it’s nowknown) makes drastic changes to the mythology of the Superman legend.The changes include the fact Krypton doesn’t explode, and that ClarkKent may not be the only Kryptonian here on Earth…
Director Brett Ratner again spoke about Abrams’ script: “The script isamazing. It’s a new version. It’s the original story and more. It’s new,exciting, and it will have new technology, but it’s Superman.”
“You have to understand that kids today don’t know those old movies.That was 20 years ago. They know Superman, but they don’t know themythology. So I’m excited to do it.”
But who will play Superman? Keanu Reeves? Josh Hartnett? Ratner says: “Idon’t know. I just got hired.” But he did reveal that they’re after alead actor younger than 25 to play the title role.
But don’t get too excited just yet – website ‘Ain’t It Cool News’reviewed the screenplay (with massive spoilers) and to say they’redisappointment would be a huge understatement!
They say it practically destroys the entire legend of Superman,needlessly changes established elements (Jimmy Olsen is gay?), and isfull of idiotic non-stop action sequences. It seems the early buzz forJ.J Abrams’ work was unfounded, and the script is actually a mess oftruly epic proportions.
To read the SPOILER HEAVY review of “Superman: The Man Of Steel” goHERE.But be warned, it gives the entire plot away, so don’t say I didn’t warn you…
Almost immediately, inside sources leaped to the defence of ‘AICN’s’harsh review, saying it: “… is a first draft that is going to havechanges and many polishes.”
Screenwriter Michael Chabon’s name has also been attached to “Superman”- to polish Abrams’ first draft. Chabon is also confirmed as writing”Spider-Man 2″ (see above).
“THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE” – Remake A Good Thing?
‘Fangoria’ magazine has reported back from the Austin, Texas set of “TheTexas Chainsaw Massacre” remake – directed by Marcus Nispel.
It appears the cast and crew all have a great fondness and knowledge ofTobe Hooper’s 1974 original, and Hooper’s original cinematographerDaniel Pearl is also lensing the remake!
Pearl has worked on numerous music videos and commercials with Nispel,who said: “When I asked him – well, begged him – to do the movie, Ithought, ‘What would make it worth it for someone like Daniel, who hasdone it before, to do it again?’ I felt only for something completelynew and different. We looked at the original story that ‘Texas ChainsawMassacre’ is based on, the Ed Gein [serial killer] story, and we wentmuch deeper into that.”
Maybe the remake won’t be such a travesty? We’ll see…
US TOP 10 (CINEMA)
** TRAILERS **
Star Trek: Nemesis:A new trailer for the tenth Trek movie, again starring ‘The NextGeneration’ crew as they confront Romulans, and a clone of Picard…
Buzz Rating: 4/5 – there’s a real sense of expectation and excitementfor “Nemesis”. It’s an even-numbered movie (which is always lucky for”Trek” films) and the trailer indicates a return to theaction-orientated “First Contact” style.
The trailer also doesn’t indicate “Trek X” will resemble a TV episodewith a huge budget. There’s real ambience and style in every frame fromdirector Stuart Baird. But will the so-so reviews of the screenplay meanit LOOKS fabulous, but will fail to engage audiences emotionally? We’llsee – but the signs are that “Trek X” looks likely to be a winner for’Paramount’ this year!
CLICK HERE
Page Content copyright © Dan Owen, 2002.
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.