DAN’S MOVIE DIGEST 67

LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN IIDespite LXG receiving very mixed reviews, plans are still afoot tofast-track a sequel into production, to be filmed in Australia with anew cast – excluding Peta Wilson (right), who will retain her role as vampiressMina Harker. THE A-TEAMMike Tyson has voiced his interested in playing Mr T’s signature roleB.A Baracus in any future movie adaptation of The A-Team. BATMAN 5’Ain’t-It-Cool-News’ indicates that Morgan Freeman (Seven) is beingconsidered to play a Doctor/Scientist role – possibly a lead villain -in the new Batman movie. Anthony Hopkins could also replace MichaelGough as loyal butler Alfred.

In related news, WWE wrestler Adam Copeland (a.k.a Edge) is rumoured tohave secured a role as a henchman called Egghead in Batman 5.Interestingly, screenwriter David Goyer (Blade II) is good friends withanother wrestler – Triple H – and has cast him in Blade III.

JOHNNY BRAVO’Warner Brothers’ have hired screenwriters Matthew Berry and Eric Abramsto script a live-action version of the cult ‘Cartoon Network’ animationJohnny Bravo. As rumoured for ages, wrestler The Rock is still attachedto star. ICE AGE 2The sequel to Ice Age is provisionally being titled Ice Age 2: TheMeltdown. This strongly hints that the film’s premise will revolvearound the apocalyptic end of the Ice Age for its characters. JOHNNY ENGLISH 2’Working Title’ and Rowan Atkinson are working on sequels to Bean andJohnny English, in the hope of getting one into cinemas for 2005.

The two sequels will be developed with their original writers – RobinDriscoll, possibly Richard Curtis for Bean 2, and Will Davies for JohnnyEnglish 2.

KNOWINGWriter-director Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) was interviewed by’About.com’ recently, and asked about all his future projects

Project 1: Cat’s Cradle. Kelly: “Just to clarify, the project right nowis sort of in limbo. I was hired by Appian Way… Hilly Elkins hascontrol of the novel and they came to me and asked me to adapt it. Iaccepted their offer and I locked myself in a hotel room by the beachfor about eight days and cranked out an adaptation of the novel.”

“But it’s yet to be determined who is going to direct it, if it’s goingto be Darren [Aronofsky]. I don’t know if it’s going to be Darren ornot. I think that they’re still figuring out exactly what they want todo with the project.”

“It’s very much up in the air and in flux right now, so stayed tuned onthat one (laughing). I’ve taken significant liberties with the novel. Ithink I’ve done a very faithful interpretation. I tried to capture theessence of the novel. It’s a fairly radical adaptation… probably more”inspired by” the novel.”

“I’ve tried to take some of his [Kurt Vonnegut] visionary ideas andbring them to a modern audience, and make them accessible to a modernaudience. My hope is that, if this film is made, that a whole newgeneration will discover his genius.”

Project 2: Knowing: “It’s been delayed four or five times due to budget,distribution, foreign distribution issues, casting issues… It’sseriously harder to get Knowing off the ground than it was to get DonnieDarko off the ground (laughing).”

“We’re definitely hoping to start shooting the first quarter of 2004.There’s some legal entanglements involving the ownership of thescreenplay and foreign distribution that have contributed significantlyto the delay.”

“It’s frustrating and I wish I could have already been in production bynow, but I just want to get it right. You don’t want to rush into asituation where we can’t get enough money or we can’t get the rightcast. I’m just holding out till we get it right.”

Project 3 – House At The End Of The Street: “That’s a project thatJonathan Mostow [Terminator 3] approached me about, and he’d murder meif I said anything about the plot. We’re still putting the finishingtouches on it and going back and forth with the script. But I’m reallyexcited about what’s going to become of that film, too.”

Kelly also mentioned he’s working on a Director’s Cut of Donnie Darko,an adaptation of Richard Mathieson’s novel The Box with Eli Roth (CabinFever), directing a project entitled Southland Tales, developing a KateHudson action movie entitled Into The Great Wide Open, writing a bountyhunter biopic script entitled Domino for Tony Scott [True Romance], anddeveloping a movie called Bessie.

SON OF THE MASKActress Traylor Howard (Me, Myself & Irene, right) will be the female leadopposite comedian Jamie Kennedy in the sequel to 1994’s superhero comedyThe Mask. SPIDER-MAN 2A one-sheet poster for Spider-Man 2 has been released (see right). Themovie is due to hit US screens on 2 July 2004. SUPERMANThe Wachowski Brothers (Matrix Revolutions) are rumoured to be linked tothe Superman project and could write a new draft that would eliminatethe need for a trilogy – which has become a key reason many actors haverejected taking on the role of Superman. TOMB RAIDER IIIAngelina Jolie has said she would consider doing a third Tomb Raidermovie, saying: “I’d never say never because I love that character. Itwasn’t a bad movie; it just didn’t come out at the right time.”

“I think [Tomb Raider 2 was] a much better film, so I don’t think youcan put too much weight on how something opens. At the end of the day Idon’t take it so seriously.”

WALLACE & GROMITHelena Bonham-Carter (Planet Of The Apes) and Ralph Fiennes (Red Dragon)have been cast in the Wallace & Gromit movie, entitled Curse Of TheWere-Rabbit.

The movie sees the popular characters Wallace and Gromit hunting down amysterious beast that has been eating their village’s prize marrows andpotatoes days before a giant vegetable growing contest.

Helena will voice new character Lady Tottington, and Ralph will providethe vocals for Lord Victor Quatermaine.

Curse Of The Were-Rabbit has a budget of approximately $80 million andwill take 18 months of painstaking animation to create, before beingreleased in 2005.

(DVDfever Dom adds: “No, Robert Wilfort (PC Craig ‘Heartbeat’Harriet in BBC3’s “Grass”, right) will not be in this film, but since seeing himin the comedy alongside The Fast Show‘s Simon Day I’ve thought he shouldplay Wallace if they were to make a live-action version.”)

All figures are weekend box-office gross.

• 1. Scary Movie 3 ($20.0m)
• 2. Brother Bear ($19.4m)
• 3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) ($10.8m)
• 4. Radio ($9.6m)
• 5. Runaway Jury ($6.5m)
• 6. Mystic River ($6.2m)
• 7. Kill Bill: Vol.1 ($6.2m)
• 8. School of Rock ($4.5m)
• 9. Intolerable Cruelty ($2.4m)
• 10. Good Boy ($2.2m)

UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)

• 1. Finding Nemo (£3.39m)
• 2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) (£1.35m)
• 3. Kill Bill: Vol.1 (£1.11m)
• 4. Intolerable Cruelty (£1.03m)
• 5. The League of Extraodinary Gentlemen (£0.83m)
• 6. Calendar Girls (£0.39m)
• 7. In America (£0.28m)
• 8. In The Cut (£0.27m)
• 9. Holes (£0.25m)
• 10. Alien: Director’s Cut (£0.20m)

Note that these are UK release dates.