DAN’S MOVIE DIGEST 98

BASIC INSTINCT 2

The Herald Sun reports that Sharon Stone (right) will star in a sequel to BasicInstinct now that her fight with the film’s producers is over.

And she may appear nude again in the follow-up. “I’m like, ‘Does anybodywant to pay $12 to see me naked?”‘ the 46-year-old said. “I’m like, ‘I guessit’s OK.”‘

Michael Douglas will not appear in the sequel, and Stone said she would havea younger lover this time. “Somebody should be younger,” she said.

Stone was suing producers for $19 million over the collapse of the project,but said yesterday a settlement had been reached.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT (LUHRMANN’S VERSION)’E! Online’ confirmed that director Baz Luhrmann’s epic movie Alexander TheGreat is not dead yet because of Oliver Stone’s upcoming version. LeonardoDiCaprio is likely to take the lead, with Nicole Kidman as his mother,Olympia.

The ‘Telegraph’ reported that Luhrmann opted to scrap the movie because hewanted to take a year off and spend time with his production designer wife,Catherine Martin, and their new daughter, Lillian, born last October. Thestory was subsequently picked up by the ‘New York Post’.

However, disputing those accounts, Luhrmann’s representative, Maria Farmer,said the filmmaker has not scuttled his historical biopic on the Macedonianconqueror, and is still firming up plans for his next cinematic outing.

Farmer: “Baz is currently in Europe working on the final draft of his scriptfor Alexander The Great. When he completes that draft he will decide whetherAlexander is the next film on his slate. We do not know where these reportshave originated from. They certainly did not come from Baz.”

Oliver Stone’s version is released on 5 November, with Colin Farrell in thelead, opposite Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, and Val Kilmer.

BEOWULFOne of the oldest poems in English literature is being turned into aHollywood movie, says The Hollywood Reporter.

Beowulf, the epic tale of man vs. monster, is set up at Warner Bros., andwill be written by rookie screenwriter Matthew Sand, a former SoHo artdealer with a background in art history.

Written in Old English and dating back to the eighth century, theblood-soaked poem tells the tale of Beowulf of the Geats, who is called toslay Grendel, a monster that is attacking a Danish kingdom. After defeatingGrendel, Beowulf slays Grendel’s mother and then clashes with a dragon.

FANTASTIC FOURJessica Alba (TV’s Dark Angel, right) has been cast as Susan Storm in The FantasticFour, says The ‘Hollywood Reporter’, meaning the core cast is now in place -finally! Alba is currently filming scenes for Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City.No word yet on whether she’ll be dying her trademark dark hair blonde, but Isuspect so… BIG BUG MANBrendan Fraser is in talks to provide the voice of the titular animatedcharacter Big Bug Man. The movie concerns a hapless guy who works for acrooked candy company and, in a mishap, gains the odd powers of a slew ofinsects that have bitten him. In his final performance, Marlon Brandorecorded a supporting voice role for the picture. BOND 21Variety has learned that executives on the next James Bond instalment arekeen on filming in Prague and have begun talks with studios and servicecompanies. However, it looks like a decision may be waiting on thecompletion of a script. CHRONICLES OF NARNIA’NarniaWeb.com’ reports that the four child leads for The Chronicles ofNarnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe have been announced.

The ‘New Zealand Herald’ says that the four children are Georgie Henley, 9,from London, who plays the lead character Lucy; Skandar Keynes, 12, alsofrom London, who plays Edmund; Anna Popplewell, 15, from West Yorkshire, whoplays Susan; and William Moseley, 17, from Gloucestershire, who plays theeldest brother Peter.

Meanwhile, ‘The Dominion Post’ also revealed that Jim Broadbent (MoulinRouge!) will play the role of the professor in the film.

FLAGS OF OUR FATHERSClint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg are teaming up to bring the story of theBattle of Iwo Jima to the big screen, reports ‘Variety’.

Eastwood will direct an adaptation of Flags of Our Fathers: Heroes of IwoJima for Spielberg’s ‘DreamWorks’ studio. The 1945 battle was a turningpoint in the Pacific; in just one month, 22,000 Japanese and 26,000Americans died, and the battle produced one of World War II’s most enduringimages: a photograph of six soldiers raising an American flag on the flankof Mount Suribachi, the island’s commanding high point.

One of the six soldiers was Navy corpsman John Bradley. Bradley nevermentioned his experiences to his family, and it was only after his death in1994 that his son James discovered his father’s heroism. James Bradley wrotethe Flags Of Our Fathers book, which was published in 2000, with Ron Powers.

Eastwood and Spielberg previously collaborated on 1995’s The Bridges ofMadison County, which Eastwood directed and Spielberg produced. The scriptfor Flags Of Our Fathers will be written by Paul Haggis, who is currentlyco-writing The Million Dollar Baby with Eastwood, who is also directing withHilary Swank in a leading role.

THE GREEN LANTERNJack Black (School Of Rock) has been cast as superhero Green Lantern, for acomedic version of the superhero character.

THE HOBBIT’Variety’ reports that it’s increasingly likely that ‘Time-Warner’, who own’Warner Brothers’ and ‘New Line Cinema’, will purchase ‘MGM’ – because’Sony’ were unable to deliver a final offer for the company.

Buying ‘MGM’ would give ‘Time-Warner’ a nice little bonus, too – namely theworldwide theatrical and television rights to any future movie version ofJ.R.R Tolkien’s The Hobbit!

Therefore, ‘New Line Cinema’, which released The Lord Of The Rings trilogy,would be able to pursue the film for Peter Jackson to, hopefully, direct…

(DVDfever Dom asks: Will PJ come up with better CGI thanthe 1980s computer game (right), though? 🙂

THE ITALIAN JOB 2’Paramount Pictures’ has assigned producer John Goldwyn to begin work on asequel to recent U.S Italian Job remake. ‘Variety’ reports that, while theplot is still being thought out, St. Tropez, Paris and the Swiss Alps areprobable shooting locations.

There’s no word yet on who from the original U.S cast will return, but Idoubt Oscar-winner Charlize Theron will be quite so eager to appear thesedays…

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3Director Joe Carnahan (Narc) has dropped out of helming Mission Impossible 3because of those oft-mentioned creative differences, according to ‘TheHollywood Reporter’.

The Tom Cruise sequel was scheduled to begin shooting next month in Berlin.Also confirmed for the cast are Scarlett Johansson (Lost In Translation),Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix), Kenneth Branagh (Harry Potter) and VingRhames (Pulp Fiction). Hopefully this is an indication that M:I-3 willactually feature a team (which was the whole point of the TV show) and notdevolve into another Cruise/Bond hybrid.

SEE ARNOLD RUN’A&E’ is in talks with German actor Jurgen Prochnow (Judge Dredd, right) to playthe role of Arnold Schwarzenegger in its upcoming biopic about themuscle-bound actor, entitled See Arnold Run.

‘The Hollywood Reporter’ says the cable channel has already cast RolandKickinger (Son Of The Beach) to play a younger version of Arnie in the film,which will focus on his successful bid to become governor of California aswell as his early bodybuilding career.

The project is scheduled to begin shooting next month in southern Californiaand could be released as early as late-2004.

LADY LUCKLindsay Lohan (Mean Girls) is in final talks to star in Lady Luck for $7million, reports ‘Variety’.

Director Donald Petrie (How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days) will helm the comedyabout the luckiest girl in the world (Lohan) who, through a chance encounterwith a perennial loser, finds her good fortune swapped for his incrediblybad luck.

The script was originally written by Jonathan Bernstein, James Greer andMark Blackwell, but then rewritten by I. Marlene King.

LAND OF THE DEADGeorge Romero is set to direct Land Of The Dead, a horror film thatcontinues his decade-spanning zombie saga.

‘Variety’ says the film, written by Romero, will begin production thisOctober in Winnipeg or Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh was the site of shooting forRomero’s original 1968 zombie trilogy.

In the film, the zombies having taken over the world and those left aliveare confined to a walled-in city that keeps out the corpse corps. Anarchyrules the streets, with the wealthy insulated and living in fortifiedskyscrapers.

The drama revolves around a group of scavengers who must thwart an attemptto overthrow the city while the dead are evolving from brainless slow-movingcreatures into more advanced creatures.

Romero had been developing Diamond Dead, a black comedy musical that’s beingproduced by Scott Free and Andrew Gaty, and he also scripted an adaptationof the Stephen King novel The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, which he may directfor Canadian financier Don Archibald and ‘Lions Gate’.

A PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATION’Variety’ reports that X-Files creator Chris Carter will direct the thrillerA Philosophical Investigation for ‘Paramount Pictures’. Carter and hisX-Files associate Frank Spotnitz have signed on as co-writers and willproduce with Mace Neufeld.

Based on the novel by Philip Kerr, the story is set in the near future wheregenetic testing is mandatory to identify individuals predisposed toviolence. The plot centres on a female Scotland Yard inspector who’s drawninto a cat-and-mouse game when a sociopath computer expert finds himself onthe list and decides to kill the others on it.

Neufeld hopes the script will be ready in a few months. No casting has beenset. Carter is currently adapting the book The World Of Ted Serios andintends to direct for ‘Dimension Films’. Spotnitz recently wrote DoomsdayCrossing for ‘Revolution Pictures’ and will also direct a remake of StarChamber for FX, which he co-wrote.

STAR TREK XIWhile speaking with Star Trek Communicator, Star Trek producers Rick Bermanand Brannon Braga hinted at the direction of the eleventh Trek movie.

Apparently, the plan is to film a prequel movie set before the OriginalSeries of Captain Kirk’s era, but later than TV’s Star Trek Enterpriseseries.

Star Trek XI will centre on the Federation’s first encounter with theRomulans, sparking a huge war and the eventual formation of The NeutralZone. In Trek chronology, the Neutral Zone was created in 2160, just sixyears in the future of TV’s Enterprise.

TERMINATOR 4Screenwriter John Brancato told ‘Latino Review’ about his next job -scripting Terminator 4 as a Schwarzenegger-less vehicle (although theAustrian Oak may appear in a cameo).

Brancato: “We did have to think about a new franchise character. [ArnoldSchwarzenneger] couldn’t carry the movies anymore. So that caused us tohave, I think, a pretty novel approach about what the new Terminator wouldbe like. What directions would it go in? Again, they made me actually signthings that I would not leak. As much as I would like to brag about thescript, I can’t really tell you!”

SUPERMANDirector Brian Singer (X-Men) has accepted an offer to helm the new Supermanmovie by with his X-Men cohorts Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris. Nothing isknown about the movie, except that J.J Abrams’ script is being abandoned,and the movie will not start the franchise from scratch.

Singer’s Logan’s Run remake is now on hold, as is X-Men 3 unless the studiodecide to go with a new director.

Singer has also commented on his involvement with the Superman franchise,saying: “My interest in Superman dates back many, many years. In fact, itwas the Richard Donner classic film that was my day-to-day inspiration inshaping the X-Men universe for the screen. I feel that Superman has beenlate in his return and it is time for him to fly again.”

SHADOWMANCER’Universal Pictures’ have acquired the rights to G.P. Taylor’s best-sellerShadowmancer, and will adapt it for the big screen with ‘Fortitude Films’producing.

Taylor’s 17th-century tale is about a group of kids who try to steal anancient relic that will be used by an evil sorcerer to bring darkness to theworld.

‘Fortitude’ have already agreed buy to Wormwood, Taylor’s second novel,which is a current best-seller in the U.K., and will be published in the U.Sthis autumn.

STRANGER THAN FICTIONWill Ferrell (Elf) is in talks to star in the comedy Stranger Than Fiction,which Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball) will direct for ‘Senator International’.

The film, written by Zach Helm, revolves around an IRS auditor whose life isinterrupted by the sound of a personal narrator who knows his every thought,feeling and action, including when and where he will die.

This September, Ferrell starts filming the long-awaited Bewitched moviealongside Nicole Kidman. His projects for next year include the Woody Allenfilm Melinda & Melinda, and Kicking & Screaming with Robert Duvall.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS’Paramount Pictures’ is contemplating remaking The Ten Commandments for thethird time, according to ‘The Hollywood Reporter’. Mark Gordon is on boardto produce, and screenwriter Charles Randolph is about to meet with thestudio about writing the biblical epic.

First released in 1923, the Cecil B. DeMille film was a silent, mixedblack-and-white footage with early Technicolor film and featured TheodoreRoberts and Charles de Rochefort. DeMille revisited the epic as a 1956feature starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner and Anne Baxter. That film wasnominated for seven Academy Awards, including best picture.

The trade says Gordon and Randolph are interested in fashioning a serious,research-based treatment of the subject.

All figures are weekend box-office gross.

• 1. I Robot ($52.2m)
• 2. Spider-Man 2 ($24.8m) (total to date: $302m)
• 3. Anchorman ($13.8m)
• 4. A Cinderella Story ($13.6m)
• 5. Fahrenheit 9/11 ($7.18m)
• 6. King Arthur ($7.16m)
• 7. The Notebook ($5.6m)
• 8. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story ($3.8m)
• 9. White Chicks ($3.4m)
• 10. Shrek 2 ($3.2m) (total to date: $425m)

UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)

• 1. Spider-Man 2 (£8.76m)
• 2. Shrek 2 (£3.44m)
• 3. Fahrenheit 9/11 (£0.73m)
• 4. Around the World in 80 Days (£0.54m)
• 5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (£0.39m)
• 6. The Prince & Me (£0.36m)
• 7. The Day After Tomorrow (£0.11m)
• 8. Walking Tall (£0.09m)
• 9. Mean Girls (£0.0812m)
• 10. Godsend (£0.0811m)

All dates are U.K release dates, and are subject to change.