DAN’S MOVIE DIGEST 43

RESIDENT EVIL IIConcept art for the zombie sequel has been released (see right and below) DAWN OF THE DEADThe ‘Hollywood Reporter’ indicates that Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction) andSarah Polley are in talks to star in a Dawn Of The Dead remake.

DISNEY’S KING ARTHUR’IGN Filmforce’ scooped additional casting for Disney’s new King Arthuranimated movie, starring Clive Owen. Keira Knightley (Bend It LikeBeckham) is in talks for the role of Guinevere and Stephen Dillane isset to play Merlin.

Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard (Exorcist: The Beginning) is in talksfor the role of Cedric; Joel Edgerton (Star Wars Episode II) for Gawain;Ken Stott (Plunkett & Macleane) as Marius Honorius; Ray Stevenson forDagonet; Sean Gilder for Jols; Pat Kinevane (The General) as Horton;Valeria Cavalli (Double Team) as Fulcinia; and Ivano Marescotti (TheTalented Mr. Ripley) as Bishop Germanius.

THE FANTASTIC FOURThe rumour that George Clooney was being actively pursued by ‘Marvel’executive Avi Arad for the role of Reed Richards (a.k.a Mr Fantastic) inthe Fantastic Four movie have proved… false.

‘E! Online’ discussed the rumours about the movie, saying that oneinside source heard that the studio want a comedy thriller similar toCharlie’s Angels, while other execs prefer a dramatic thriller akin toX-Men.

Screenwriter Mark Frost, co-creator of TV’s Twin Peaks, has replacedTristan Patterson to write the movie because “no one’s been able tototally get it.

However, director Peyton Reed hasn’t heard anything about preferencesfor a more comedic version of the movie, saying: “that’s news to me. Ithink Mark [Frost] is a smart writer… I’m not gonna say the tone willbe Twin Peaks, and it’s not a rollicking comedy. There’s 40 years ofsource material; The Fantastic Four incorporates a lot of differenttones, so that’s what’s great about it and also what’s tricky about it.”

FIVE CHILDREN & IT’Capitol Films’ are teaming with ‘Jim Henson’s Creature Shop’ to produceFive Children & It – a family film based on Edith Nesbit’s 1902 novel,reports ‘Variety’.

Kenneth Branagh, Eddie Izzard and Freddie Highmore will star in the $20million movie, to be directed by John Stephenson.

The movie is the story of five siblings who are sent to stay with theiruncle (Branagh) in a strange house by the sea. While exploring, they digup an ill-tempered 8,000-year-old Psammead (sand fairy), voiced byIzzard, who grants them one wish a day. But the consequences are neverquite what the children intend…

The film starts shooting in July. Of course, the book was previouslyadapted into a BBC TV show in the mid-90’s, running for two series.

HANNIBAL LECTER – THE EARLY YEARSProducer Dino De Laurentis has arrived at the Cannes Film Festival 2003and revealed plans for another Hannibal Lecter movie!

Author Thomas Harris and is currently writing a prequel book entitledThe Lecter Variation, focusing on the childhood of Hannibal Lecter inhis natibe Lithuania, travelling through Paris as a teen, then moving tothe States as an adult.

De Laurentis is seeking four different actors to play Lecter – aged 12,16, 20 and 25. The accepted history of Lecter has him fleeing his richfamily after killing his parents and forming a close relationship withhis sister.

The film is scheduled for release in 2005.

HELLBOYRon Pearlman’s make-up for Guillermo Del Toro’s Hellboy movie has beenrevealed (see right) INDIANA JONES 4The film is definitely scheduled for Summer 2005, just a few weeks afterStar Wars Episode III.

Frank Darabont‘s screenplay is apparently moving along well, withSpielberg and Harrison Ford ready to begin, according to Vic Armstrong(stunt co-ordinator extraordinaire). He elaborated saying: “I saw Stevenat the Golden Globes and I asked him about Indy 4, and he said ‘clearyour diary because we’re on’.”

But it’s likely that fan-favourite character Sallah (John Rhys-Davies)won’t be returning. Rhys-Davies himself commented: “I get asked thisquestion 25 times a week, and everyone knows more than I do. I guess I’mnot in it.”

“In truth, I’d love to work for Steven again. I’d love to have one morego at Sallah, get him right. You come close, but you always want to haveone last bash at trying to make the character magical.”

JAMES BOND 21It appears that the studio is in a quandary over Bond 21’s release date.The next film is likely to be released in 2007 (007, geddit?), butshould this symbolic date mark Pierce Brosnan’s swansong, or the idealstarting date for his replacement?

The execs are debating it right now, with some preferring to introduce anew Bond on the 50th Anniversary in 2012!

‘E! Entertainment News’ reported that the script for a potential Jinxspin-off movie has been completed, so Halle Berry may begin work on thefilm after Catwoman.

Bond honcho Michael G. Wilson spoke with ‘Film Review’ magazine aboutthe next film: “As for Bond 21, it’s not even a glimmer in it’s mother’seye. It’s a matter of logistics, it takes time to make these films andthey get bigger and bigger, and they take more and more planning… Ireckon it would be at least three years from the last film.”

“MGM, and ourselves, and Halle [Berry], thought it might be a good ideato make a Jinx film, so we’re just kicking around some ideas with thewriters, to see if we can do something with that.”

KING KONG’TheOneRing.net’ has revealed that director Peter Jackson (Lord Of TheRings) will definitely begin work on his King Kong remake as his nextproject.

Jackson said: “We can do a complete rewrite. Now that Philippa hasjoined the team, it’s a chance to start over. The basic storyline willbe very similar but the scenes, the sequences and the detail will bevery different.”

It appears he now doesn’t like “the flip, smart-arsed tone of our oldscript. We are better writers now than we were in 1996. This new versionwill be based on the 1933 movie, but not on our 1996 script. This moviewill be so much better than the 1996 film would have been. In hindsight,fate has been kind to us.”

Jackson also commented that more of the film (about two thirds) will beset on Skull Island, as compared to previous drafts. Jackson has alwaysstated that he doesn’t want to just make a “colourised version” of themonochrome original.

THE SMURFS’Filmink’ reports that Jeff Goldblum is hoping to direct a movieadaptation of The Smurfs, as well as playing Gargamel! SON OF THE MASKAlan Cumming (X-Men 2) is in early talks to star as a villain for Son OfThe Mask, says ‘The Hollywood Reporter’. The sequel to Jim Carrey’s 1994original is set to begin filming on 21 July. SUPERMAN’E! Online’ reported that Justin Timberlake has been approached to playJimmy Olsen in the new Superman movie!

‘Superhero Hype!’ also reported that the latest candidate forreplacement director is Jonathan Frakes (Star Trek The Next Generation’sRiker). Frakes is currently filming the Thunderbirds movie, which somesee as being a litmus test for the executives.

VAN HELSINGThe ‘Chicago Sun-Times’ interviewed Hugh Jackman about his latest movieVan Helsing, in which he confirmed that he “fight[s] Frankenstein,Wolfman, Dracula and a few other surprises are thrown in. It’s a hugemovie. Don’t get me wrong. X2 was a big movie, but Van Helsing, my God.The sets, the action pieces – it’s out of control. It’s like I walkedinto Indiana Jones.”

“The village peasants were extras. We literally went into the sheltersto give them work, but the problem was their English was nonexistent. Soimagine this scene where I’m on wire. I have to run, run, run and thenjump and grab onto Kate Beckinsale’s legs and go flying through the airbefore I get flipped. Once I launch into this move, I cannot stop.”

“There’s a lot of horse-riding and wirework and the fight sequences areon a huge scale. Doing Wolverine is pretty intense. That scene withKelly Hu took three weeks to shoot, but it was essentially on the groundor whacking into a wall. Some of the stuff in Van Helsing we’re flyingaround.”

Some interesting concepts for the movie have also been revealed, suchas: Van Helsing has about fifteen weapons, one of which is a circularsaw the size of a mobile phone.

Frankenstein’s Monster is being tracked by Dracula because the Countthinks the Monster’s existence will shed light on his desire to have awoman bare him a child.

The design for the Monster will feature a glass chest-plate, so we cansee his innards working and wires dangling from the back of his neck.

The werewolves in the movie will transform in an original way. The ideais the wolves are inside the men, so the human body is like a skin thewolves can hide inside.

THE WICKER MANThe ‘Chicago Sun-Times’ spoke with director Neil LaBute about his remakeof the classic 1973 British horror film The Wicker Man, which will starNicolas Cage.

“The original was a horror film about a policeman [Edward Woodward] sentto a small island to investigate the disappearance of a girl who finds apagan society. Cage is attached to play [the cop]. He winds up on thisisland that’s a very matriarchal society run by women who are directdescendants of pilgrims.”

“The women range in age from 10 to 50. I think Angelina [Jolie] andWinona [Ryder] would be great choices.”

WONDER WOMANScreenwriter Peter Levens is the latest scribe attached to write themovie-adaptation of the hit comic-book series. WORLD OF TOMORROWThe ‘LA Times’ published an great article on the Jude Law, GwynethPaltrow and Angelina Jolie movie World of Tomorrow.

The pre-WWII adventure tale stars Jolie as a pilot matched with aswashbuckling colleague [Law] and a probing journalist [Paltrow].

World Of Tomorrow is written and directed by first-timer Kerry Conran, acomputer boffin who promises to push the extremes of special-effects inmovies: “The whole movie is a special effect, even a scene with twopeople sitting in a room. Really, it’s a live-action cartoon.”