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Dan Owen reviews
I s s u e # 9 70 9 J u l y 2 0 0 4
BATMAN BEGINS
A photo of the Batman Begins cast, minus star Christian Bale, has beenrevealed. (see right, clockwise: Liam Neeson as Ducard, Gary Oldman asGordon, Michael Caine as Alfred and Morgan Freeman as Fox).
A teaser trailer for is expected to appear before I, Robot in cinemas laterthis summer, so keep your eyes peeled…
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER’Moviehole’ reports that actor James Marsters (X-Men), formerly of TV’sBuffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel, mentioned on ‘Rove Live’ that four BuffyTV-movies could be in the works, and that creator Joss Whedon wants him toreturn.
Marsters: “I said, ‘Joss, stop it. Three lines, fifty lines, lead role,whatever you want man, call me. I’m there for you, because frankly, you’reone of the best writers I’ve worked with. And he said he wanted to do aSpike movie. TV-movie. But it’s also contingent upon other characters. Hewants to do four TV movies and one of them is Spike.”
BONDPop singer/reality TV star Jessica Simpson (right) has been approached to become thenext Bond girl, ‘Teen Hollywood’ has reported.
A source stated: “Jessica is being mentioned as a possible Bond girl. Theyreally want Catherind Zeta-Jones but it doesn’t look like she’s going to beavailable.”
In related news, Aussie actor Heath Ledger (A Knight’s Tale) has ruled outreplacing Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. ‘Teen Hollywood’ states that “Heathis worried he will be type-cast if he plays the suave spy.”
DOOMThe Rock talked to ‘Empire Online’ about his upcoming Spy Hunter movie,based on the popular 80’s video game, but also said he is interested instarring in another video game adaptation – Doom.
The Rock: “Spy-Hunter’s great. John Woo’s on board to direct. The scriptshould come in, in about two weeks. I’m very, very excited about that. It’ssupposed to be shot in Prague and Amsterdam, but… you know howmovie-making is. If we have to push it because of the weather and theChristmas vacation, then I’ll probably take another movie with Universalcalled Doom.”
Enda McCallion is making his directorial debut on Doom, using a script thatutilizes the plot from ‘Doom 3’. The movie is slated for a 3 August 2005release.
ELEKTRAJennifer Garner returns next year with a spin-off from Daredevil, focusingon her character of sai-wielding assassin Elektra – and the first image fromthe movie has been released (see right). DUKES OF HAZZARDActor Paul Soter has announced on the ‘Broken Lizard’ official Blog thatwriter-director-actor Jay Chandrasekhar (Super Troopers) will direct the bigscreen adaptation of 70’s/80’s TV show The Dukes of Hazard.
The ‘Warner Brothers’ film is based on the popular series that focused onthe adventures of Southern cousins Bo, Luke and Daisy Duke, who drove aroundin a Dodge Charger (nicknamed the General Lee) as they evaded theunscrupulous Boss Hogg and Sheriff Coltrane.
Ashton Kutcher and Paul Walker previously expressed interest in starring asthe cousins, with Anthony Anderson as Hogg. In previous months pop starBritney Spears has been linked to the Daisy Duke role, as have ElisabethShannon (American Pie) and Charisma Carpenter (TV’s Angel).
THE FANTASTIC FOUR’20th Century Fox’ have finally confirmed casting on The Fantastic Four!Michael Chiklis (TV’s The Shield) will play Ben Grimm/The Thing, IoanGruffudd (below left) (King Arthur) is Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic and Chris Evans (below centre)(Cellular) will star as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch.
‘Variety’ added that Jessica Alba (TV’s Dark Angel, right) is the front runner forSue Storm/Invisible Woman, but Rachel MacAdams (below right) (Mean Girls) and Keri Russellare also possibilities.
‘Fox’ production president Hutch Parker said: “We see Fantastic Four’ as thelast great jewel in the comic-book crown. The casting has been extremelyimportant in terms of fulfilling expectations of an audience that’s beenincredibly loyal to these characters for over 40 years.”
The $85 million-$90 million adaptation of the ‘Marvel’ comic-book is headedfor an August or September start in Vancouver, and should be released on 1July 2005 to compete against Mission Impossible 3.
Tim Story (Barbershop) is directing from a script by Simon Kinberg.
KING KONGColin Hanks (right), son of Tom Hanks, and last seen in Orange County, has signed-upfor a role in Peter Jackson’s King Kong remake. Hanks will star asproduction assistant to Adrien Brody’s adventurous filmmaker Carl Denham. POLICE ACADEMY 8The Hollywood Reporter says that Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshoware teaming up to co-finance the eighth sequel in the popular Police Academyfranchise. It’s been 10 years since Police Academy: Mission to Moscow wasreleased.
Warners-based Jerry Weintraub is on board to produce, says the trade, andseries creator Paul Maslansky is executive producing with Village Roadshow’sBruce Berman.
The project is out to writers, with the exact direction of the newestinstalment yet to be determined.
PINK PANTHERThe first pictures from MGM’s big 2005 summer film The Pink Panther,starring Steve Martin (right), Kevin Kline, Beyoncé Knowles, Jean Reno, EmilyMortimer, Kristin Chenoweth, and Henry Czerny, have appeared online atDVDRama.
In the Shawn Levy-directed update, a world-famous soccer coach has beenmurdered and his priceless ring has been stolen – a ring set with thestunning diamond known as the Pink Panther. The French government needs amaster detective to solve the crime and recover the gem… but he’s notavailable, so they recruit Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Martin).
SPIDER-MAN 3The ‘Irish Examiner’ reports that director Sam Raimi has already turned histhoughts to Spider-Man 3. Raimi is said to be “flabbergasted” by Spider-Man2’s record-breaking success at the U.S box office, but is now busy writingthe storyline for part three with his brother Ivan.
Raimi: “… we were working on [the Spider-Man 3 storyline] at the hotellast night and this morning. But I don’t know what is going to happen yet.”
RESIDENT EVIL – APOCALYPSE’Latino Review’ has revealed the one-sheet for Resident Evil Apocalypse, duefor release in U.S cinemas on 10 September. The sequel, directed byAlexander Witt, stars Milla Jovovich, Eric Mabius, Oded Fehr (The Mummy),Sienna Guillory, Jared Harris, Sandrine Holt, Mike Epps, Zack Ward, ThomasKretschmann and Sophie Vavasseur. X-MEN 3Halle Berry will not appear in a third X-Men movie because her character,Storm, doesn’t feature heavily enough.
A studio insider commented: “Halle was ready to do X-Men 3, but only ifStorm was given more storyline, but the studio sees the third movie as ameans to wrap up the trilogy, and that means Storm won’t be featured morethan Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Halle has now passed on the third moviebecause she’s not into bit-parts. She’s an Oscar winner and she wants rolesthat test her”.
Rumours have begun that ‘Fox’ want pop star Christina Milian to fill therole.
OBITUARIES Marlon Brando (1924 – 2004)
Actor Marlon Brando passed away, aged 80, on 1 July. The death occurred at aLos Angeles hospital, his attorney disclosed. The exact cause of death waswithheld, noting the actor “was a very private man.”
Brando revolutionized American acting with his Method performances in AStreetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront, before creating the iconiccharacter of Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather. He was also famous for hisappearance in Superman, which netted him a massive $4 million for just tenminutes of screen time, and for his bizarrely powerful performance inFrancis Ford Coppolla’s Apocalypse Now.
Brando, whose unpredictable behaviour made him equally fascinatingoff-screen, was often heralded by his peers as the greatest actor of hisgeneration, despite disparaging comments about the acting profession inlater life.
He was a two-time winner of the Academy Award whose new style of actinginfluenced some the next generation of actors that followed him – such as AlPacino, Robert De Niro and Jack Nicholson.
US TOP 10 (CINEMA)All figures are weekend box-office gross.
- 1. Spider-Man 2 ($116m) (total to date: $180m)
- 2. Fahrenheit 9/11 ($21.0m)
- 3. White Chicks ($12.0m)
- 4. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story ($10.4m)
- 5. The Notebook ($10.3m)
- 6. The Terminal ($10.2m)
- 7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ($8.1m) (total to date: $225m)
- 8. Shrek 2 ($7.9m) (total to date: $410m)
- 9. Garfield: The Movie ($3.6m)
- 10. Two Brothers ($3.6m)
UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)
- 1. Shrek 2 (£16.22m)
- 2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (£1.21m)
- 3. Mean Girls (£0.59m)
- 4. The Day After Tomorrow (£0.56m)
- 5. Godsend (£0.49m)
- 6. The Ladykillers (£0.36m)
- 7. The Notebook (£0.16m)
- 8. Troy (£0.15m)
- 9. Eurotrip (£0.08m)
- 10. The Cooler (£0.04m)
** IN THE PIPELINE **All dates are U.K release dates, and are subject to change.
Email Dan Owen
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.