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Dan Owen reviews
I s s u e # 51 6 A u g u s t 2 0 0 2
** MOVIE NEWS **
“BATMAN vs SUPERMAN” – Another Week, Another Rumour…
More casting rumours continue to arise on Wolfgang Petersen’s “Batman VsSuperman” movie. The latest musing from the ‘Superman Homepage’ onlineis that Josh Hartnett (“Pearl Harbor”) could bag the Superman role.
Adding further credence to this rumour is a statement from an allegedfriend of ‘Warner Brothers’ Vice President. The source told the net’s’Superhero Hype’ that Josh Hartnett has signed to play Superman in”Batman Vs Superman” as well as two solo “Superman” movies. Hmmmm.
However, whoever is cast, it looks like the project may have to wait.Director Wolfgang Petersen is about to begin work on “Troy”, whichshould push “Batman Vs Superman” back by about a year. If it evenstarts.
“ALFIE” – ‘My Name Is Bradley Pitt…’
According to the ‘Moviehole’ website, Brad Pitt is hoping to star in aremake of Michael Caine classic “Alfie”. Pitt wants the part of Alfie,so his mate Vinnie Jones (who he starred with in “Snatch”) has recordeda tape full of cockney rhyming slang – which Pitt apparently takes withhim everywhere in an effort to get the London accent just right!
“AMERICAN PIE 3” – Got Your Slice?
Seann Williams Scott, Jason Biggs, Eugene Levy and Alyson Hannigan haveall now signed to star in the third “Pie” movie, directed by JesseDylan.
“CONAN III” – Arnie’s Back!
John Milius, director of the original “Conan The Barbarian” starringArnold Schwazenegger, has talked about what fans can expect from thethird film of the series “King Conan: Crown Of Iron”.
The film will again star Schwarzenegger, whose Conan character now has ason (possibly named Kon). Conan will again wield his Atlantean sword,but according to John Milius: “… he’s also going to have an axe, and willuse that quite a bit. For a Conan axe, of course, he’ll have to have aFrazetta axe, which would be quite impossible to swing around because ofits tremendous size and weight. To be usable, a Frazetta film axe wouldhave to be made of something lighter than steel – aluminium, maybe…”
“[The movie] was written for him [Schwarzenegger]. It’s got to be him.Somebody younger will play his son but Arnold is Conan. The storyfollows him until he’s old. It’s like, King Lear.”
“CHARLIE’S ANGELS 2” – Bad Angel!
Hollywood starlet Demi Moore (“Ghost”) has joined the cast of “Charlie’sAngels 2: Halo” as an ex-Angel who is now the current trio’sadversaries! The rest of the cast is as follows: Drew Barrymore, CameronDiaz, Lucy Liu, Robert Patrick, Luke Wilson, Bernie Mac, Matt LeBlanc,Justin Theroux and Jaclyn Smith.
“THE DESCENT” – The Road To Hell!
Screenwriter David Goyer (“Blade”) has adapted “The Descent”, a novel byJeffrey Long. The plot has a group of scientists confronting aterrifying subterranean species six miles beneath the Earth’s surface incaves and tunnels that may have been the inspiration for Hell…
“THE EXORCIST: DOMINION” – Trick Or Treat?
A project already living up to the “cursed” reputation of the originalfilms, following the death of its original director recently, the”Dominion” prequel is now slated to start shooting this Halloween!Ominous.
“THE FAST & THE FURIOUS 2” – Mendes Cast & The $20m Snub!
Eva Mendes (“Training Day”) is close to starting in the sequel to “TheFast & The Furious”, directed by John Singleton (“Shaft”). Singleton isabout to begin shooting the film, which could see Mendes playing anundercover agent.
In related news, it’s been alleged that Vin Diesel (who starred in theoriginal) turned down $20 million to star in the sequel!
Vin Diesel told ‘The Toronto Sun’ newspaper: “I don’t like to be bought. Ihave real issues with stuff like that, you know. My [step]father raisedme as pretty much a stand-up guy.”
“FREDDY VS JASON” – The Nightmare Begins!
Brad Renfro (“Apt Pupil”) joins Robert Englund for director Ronny Yu’s”Freddy Vs Jason” movie. There’s still no actor definitely attached tothe role of Jason Vorhees. Regardless, the project that spent the 90’sin Development Hell finally begins shooting on September 9th inVancouver!
“HOME ALONE 4” – Bad Parenting Continues!
Over a decade since MacCauley Culkin first clapped his hands on hischeeks and yelled “Aaaaaaah!”, it looks like the “Home Alone” franchiseis set to spawn a fourth entry. “Home Alone 4” will be a TV-moviestarring child actor Mike Weinberg. Plot details? Parents leave kid homealone. Villains come to the house. Kid makes traps to defeat them.Parents arrive home. They all cry. Voila! Hey it worked for the other 3movies!
“HULK” – SFX Sneak-Peak!
An insider has sneaked a peak at some special-effects footage for AngLee’s “Hulk”, due out next Summer. Although ILM’s footage was displayedon a small screen, the scene was said to look absolutely phenomenal. Inthe sequence, the Hulk (who seemingly grows larger the angrier hebecomes!) leaps onto a flying helicopter and dismantles the rotor-bladesas the chopper crashes to the ground!
“I SPY” – Buddy Spies!
That old 80’s tradition – the mismatched buddy movie – gets anotherupdate this year with “I Spy” (based on the 60’s TV series starringRobert Culp and Bill Cosby). The movie version stars Owen Wilson (“TheRoyal Tenenbaums”) as a spy and motormouth Eddie Murphy as an athlete,who team up to search for an advanced plane.
“JEEPERS CREEPERS 3” – Creeping Back Into Cinemas!
“Jeepers Creepers 2” hasn’t yet hit the cinemas, but there is alreadytalk about a third movie from writer/director Victor Salva: “I have avery weird idea for a third one. If I made another one, I would go backand do a Western. Since [the Creeper] has been around for thousands ofyears, I thought of a great idea of this wagon train that’s goingthrough a sort of Donner’s Pass kind of thing. There’d be snow andhorses, but they’ve already told me, ‘you’re on a freakin’ bus and youalmost drove yourself crazy, now you want to do snow and horses? Don’teven go there!'”.
“Jeepers Creepers 2” is now slated for release on 18 April 2003.
“KING KAMEHAMEHA” – The Rock Is King!
Rob Cohen (“xXx”) is in early talks to direct ‘Columbia Pictures’historical epic “King Kamehameha”. WWF (sorry, WWE!) superstar The Rockis onboard to star. Screenwriter Greg Poirier is penning the story -about a man who conquered tribal Hawaiian Islands in the 18th Century,made himself King, and became a trading partner with the British – whohad been exploiting the primitive tribes.
“LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION” – Elfman Goes Looney!
Jenna Elfman is set to star in “Looney Tunes: Back In Action”, fromdirector Joe Dante (“Gremlins”). The movie already has Brendan Fraser inthe lead human role, and will be a mix of live-action with animation -as seen in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”
Dante is promising a return to the golden-era of the Looney Tunescharacters (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, etc) and notthe modernised versions seen in “Space Jam”, starring basketball legendMichael Jordan.
The plot has the Looney gang searching the live-action world (Hollywood,Las Vegas and Africa) for a legendary ‘Blue Diamond’. It should reachcinemas next year.
“THE MASK 2” – Son Of ‘The Mask’?
Director Larry Guterman (“Cats & Dogs”) is set to helm “Son Of TheMask”, the sequel to Jim Carrey’s “The Mask” from 1994. The plot has thechild of a cartoonist discovering the ancient Mask Of Loki…
“THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE” – Reborn?
Terry Gilliam’s movie “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote”, starring JohnnyDepp, has become one of the movie world’s most famous disasters. Thefilm was never completed following torrential floods, and the only proofof its existence is with the theatrically released documentary “Lost InLa Mancha” – which detailed the Gilliam project from birth to prematuredeath.
But Gilliam is battling to get his Don Quixote movie resumed. ‘PeopleNews’ reports that Johnn Depp is still interested, and if Gilliam cansecure another $40 million to buy the script back from an insurancecompany who now own it, filming will continue.
Terry Gilliam says: “The film is in my head. I’ve watched it there thousandsof times. I just want to get it out. All I know is that in September2003, Johnny has a window in his film commitments, and all my effortsare concentrated towards that. We’re gonna buy back the script, get thecrew together, and probably recast some roles. But it’s going tohappen”.
“MULTI-FACIAL” – Diesel Directs!
New Hollywood action hero Vin Diesel is deciding whether or not toapproach Steven Spielberg about helping him make “Multi-Facial” – hisaward-winning short movie which so impressed Spielberg that he gaveDiesel a role in “Saving Private Ryan” (he’s the grunt who gets shot bythe sniper early on).
Vin Diesel: “I don’t know what he’ll say about it.” The 20-minute short,written, directed and financed by Diesel, documents his life as astruggling actor in New York, trying to land roles written for manydifferent ethnic actors.
“STAR WARS EPISODE III” – Location, Location, Location!
Yes, the “Episode III” rumours and news finally begin on the Digest!”Star Wars” producer Rick McCallum is apparently scouting Scotland andthe Czech Republic for Gothic locations to film “Episode III”…
George Lucas has also spilled the beans on the status of Boba Fett in “EpisodeIII”: “Boba will be in “Episode III”, but his role definitely won’t belarger. He’s in a transition period of becoming a bounty hunter. Thenext film takes place two or three years later, so Boba would only be 13and still wouldn’t fit in the suit.”
Lucas also talked about Anakin Skywalker’s transformation into DarthVader: “The scene where Anakin does actually become Vader is prettygood. I mean, I like it. It’s a little in the vocabulary of… I don’tknow how much I want to give away… but it’s in the vocabulary of atime – of the 1930s and 1940s. It’s a pretty neat little thing, Ithink, and hopefully it’s going to work.”
But will Anakin of Vader feature more prominently in the next movie?Lucas: “It’s mostly Anakin.”
“OVER THE HEDGE” – Carrey The Raccoon?
‘Dreamworks’ have purchased the screenplay for “Over The Hedge”, ananimated movie about a raccoon, a turtle, and their forest friends,escaping a housing development project that’s destroying their woodland.Len Blum will direct, with Jim Carrey and Garry Schandling (“The LarrySanders Show”) providing animal voices.
“PINK PANTER” – Returning Soon?
Herbert Lom, who starred as Chief Inspector Dreyfuss in most of the”Pink Panther” movies starring Peter Sellers as the idiotic InspectorClouseau, spoke to the ‘Guardian’ recently about a reprisal of thecharacter:
Lom: “Comedy is not my main genre, acting is my main genre! But I didmore comedy after I met Pink Panther director Blake Edwards. And youwon’t believe it, but I am even now preparing to make another PinkPanther.”
So who will play Clouseau? Lom: “It’s a black actor – Chris Tucker.Unusually brilliant. Edwards is also planning a Broadway musical of thefilms.”
WHRRR! WHRRR! WHRR! What’s that? Peter Sellers spinning in his grave,perhaps…?
“A SCANNER DARKLY” – Need More Dick?
Following the success of Steven Spielberg’s “Minority Report”, based ona novel by celebrated sci-fi author Philip K. Dick, it seems another ofDick’s creations will get the big-screen treatment – “A Scanner Darkly”.
Richard Linklater (“Waking Life”) has been contacted by director StevenSoderbergh and George Clooney to direct an animated version of theseminal sci-fi/drug novel.
It’s also come to light that Bob Sabiston (Linklater’s director ofanimation on “Waking Life”) is attached to the project, which iscurrently in development.
If true, this could finally kill the proposed live-action version of thestory – which director Terry Gilliam has wanted to make.
“TERMINATOR 3” – First ‘Terminatrix’ Pic!
The very first image of the TG1 (a.k.a., ‘The Terminatrix’) from “T3:Rise Of The Machines” has been sneaked out onto German magazine ‘PlanetMovie’. Take a look (right). Not a very clear image, and – to be honest- not particularly promising for the film. But time will tell…
“SOLARIS” – Soderbergh Big-Ups Cameron!
Director Steven Soderbergh has praised James Cameron in the ‘USA Today’newspaper. Cameron is creatively involved with his sci-fi film”Solaris”, starring George Clooney.
“He was really helpful during the script stage. We’d have longconversations and lengthy e-mails after each draft. I really liked thefilm, and I loved the book (by Stanislaw Lem), and I had some ideas ofdoing a very different version. [Cameron was] a great resource, askingquestions that kept me on track.”
“He has a really good sense of ‘Something needs to happen here.’ I foundthat really helpful on a script that, if you aren’t careful, would justabstract itself into oblivion, because of the philosophical issues beingplayed out.”
Solaris is the name of an ocean planet, where a psychologist discoversthe commander of an expedition to the planet has died in mysteriouscircumstances. Then… dead acquaintances of the crew begin to appear…
“STARGATE SG-1 MOVIE” – Aborted?
The possibility of a “StarGate” sequel based on the TV-series charactersis increasingly unlikely. The final season of the TV show has seen asizeable drop in ratings, and executives now consider it unwise to pumpa movie-budget into an ailing franchise. Also, the “SG-1” cast areapparently free for convention appearances – which would be impossibleif they were filming a movie soon.
“THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE” – Leatherface Returns!
The remake of Tobe Hooper’s classic horror chiller “The Texas ChainsawMassacre” has a release date of Halloween 2003…
“TRON 2.0” – Ready to Download?
The chances of a “Tron” sequel (known as “Tron 2.0” by fans) have beengreatly improved. If you try to access to www.tronkillerapp.com(the URLthat appears at the end of the 20th anniversary “Tron” DVD) you getredirected to www.tron20.net
Inside is the page of a computer company called fCon, and if you explorethe website, you’ll get a message from a hacker (apparently trying tohack the fCon mainframe) inviting you to download a “Tron 2.0″screensaver…
“UNDERWORLD” – Romeo & Juliet… with vampires!
“Underworld” is a new feature-film by Len Wiseman – a music videodirector responsible for Megadeth’s “Crush ‘Em” and Quarashi’s “Stick’Em Up.”
The film stars Kate Beckinsale (“Pearl Harbor”), who describes the movieas “fun and exciting and cool. It’s a very cool ‘Romeo and Juliet’ setagainst the backdrop of vampires and werewolves. I didn’t want to readit when I was told about it. I really don’t go for vampire movies. Butit’s more kind of like ‘Interview With the Vampire’ meets ‘The Matrix.’Lots of leather pants in it.”
So will the delectable Beckinsale transform into a hideous bat at anypoint? “We’re not doing any of that stuff. That’s old-school! There’s nobiting, even. We have cloned blood for that. It’s very slick.”
Beckinsale’s character is part of a group of vampires called the DeathDealers, who are trained to kill werewolves. Beckinsale: “And that’spretty much what they do. They don’t really have any interaction withhumans at all. There’s been this centuries-old feud between the Lycans[werewolves] and the vampires. And she’s got sort of a personalvendetta, because they butchered her whole family. So she’s a toughcookie.”
“xXx” – Sequel Go!
Director Rob Cohen is ready to start shooting a sequel to his smash-hit”xXx”, which could now become a trilogy! “Once you give birth to afranchise and a character like this, if it should catch on and peoplereally want it, [you stay involved]. I could let “Fast And The Furious”go. This is more my real baby, and the idea of following the characteras he grows and develops is really exciting to me. It’s more like anovel.”
“I know where I want to begin the story and how I want it to develop andhow I want Sam Jackson in the field with him, working in an actionformat, not just as a handler. I know the parameters – I just have tofill it in with story and more spectacular stunts and stuff.”
US TOP 10 (CINEMA)
** TRAILERS **
THE CORE:The official trailer for “The Core” can now be downloaded at the movie’swebsite. The feature concerns geophysicist Dr Keyes, who discovers thatthe earth’s inner core has stopped rotating.
With the planet’s magnetic field deteriorating, our atmosphere literallystarts to come apart at the seams with catastrophic consequences. Toresolve the crisis, Keyes, along with a team of the world’s most giftedscientists, travel into the earth’s core in a subterranean craft pilotedby “terranauts. Their mission: to detonate a device that will reactivatethe core.
Kinda like an earth-bound “Armageddon”! The film’s directed by JohnAmiel and stars Aaron Eckhart, Hillary Swank, Delroy Lindo and D.J.Qualls.
CLICK HERE
8 MILE:Slim Shady himself stars in this biopic of his turbulent life – fromdeadbeat suburbanite Marshall Mathers to millionaire rapper Eminem.Starring Kim Basinger as his mother!
CLICK HERE
BALLISTIC: ECKS vs SEVER:The new espionage action thriller starring Antonio Banderas and LucyLiu, as two opposing agents out to steal a secret gadget…
CLICK HERE
I SPY:Eddie Murphy plays an athlete who teams up with spy Owen Wilson to trackdown a high-tech aeroplane. Based on the 60’s TV series. Think “Mission:Impossible” crossed with “Get Smart”, with a helping of “The Man FromU.N.C.L.E”. Probably.
CLICK HERE
SOLARIS:Download the trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s science-fiction moviestarring George Clooney. The trailer follows a satellite through thedepths of space, in a very ominous “2001”-esque moment…
CLICK HERE
Page Content copyright © Dan Owen, 2002.
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.