DAN’S MOVIE DIGEST 59

RESIDENT EVIL – APOCALYPSEThe look of villain Nemesis looks to have been retained, if thisbehind-the-scenes photograph is to be believed. (see right) BLADE – TRINITYThe Hollywood Reporter indicates Jessica Biel will play the daughter ofWhistler (Kris Kristofferson).

The Hollywood Reporter indicates Aussie actor Dominic Purcell (TV’s”John Doe”) will play the villain in the next “Blade” flick. Shootingbegins this month in Vancouver.

BOND 21Rumours surrounding Keira Knightley’s possible casting as Bond Girl forBond 21 have proven unfounded. CATWOMANLambert Wilson (The Matrix Reloaded’s Merovingian) confirmed hisinvolvement with the Catwoman movie to ‘Canal Plus TV’. He will playSharon Stone’s husband. CONSTANTINEScreenwriter Warren Ellis sent out a mass e-mail describing a boozynight-out with actress Tilda Swinton – who has been cast as the angelGabriel in Constantine, based on the Hellblazer graphic novels.

Ellis commented: “…we had an hour of discussing the character, thebook, the selection of Keanu Reeves (which is actually a big part of herinterest. I’ve always said that Reeves is a better actor than anyonegives him credit for — watch him carefully, and you’ll see himdeliberately creating a space for other actors to work in), and thepossibilities in the role in relationship to America today.”

“She said something I found fascinating: in an America where a Presidentagain invokes the term Evil in public statements, there’s the potentialto say something very interesting in a major-studio film about Biblicalgood and evil.”

“To present the angel Gabriel as a figure of horror; there’s space tosay something that in the mainstream of American culture is certainlysubversive. She characterised Reeves as an intelligent, spiritual man,and thinks there might be the possibility, with Reeves there, to dosomething challenging.”

Djimon Hounsou, Shia LaBeouf and Gavin Rossdale have also joined thecast as the following characters respectively – occult club owner PapaMidnite, sidekick Chaz and nemesis Balthazar.

BIG FISH’The Hollywood Reporter’ indicates that director Tim Burton’s movie BigFish is being delayed for two months to allow for a stronger advertisingcampaign. The film will now have a limited release alongside the finalLord Of The Rings movie on 18 December, then open widely on 23 January2004.

The poster for the movie has also been released (see right)

CRUSADES’IGN Filmforc’e reports that Australian actor Joel Edgerton (Ned Kelly)is a leading contender for one of two major roles in Ridley Scott’supcoming Crusades – most likely King Baldwin IV.

Ridley Scott confirmed at a press conference that “I’m doing Crusadesnext… I’ve been on this idea of The Crusades for almost twenty years,you know. So I’ve been developing it for the last nineteen months,really, with another writer. I’ve been through two evolutions before.Never got there because I felt the subject has to be dealt in such adelicate fashion… It’s one giant misunderstanding.”

CURSED’Sci-Fi Wire’ talked with director Wes Craven about his much-troubledwerewolf movie Cursed. The production will resume filming in Novemberafter being shut down eleven weeks into filming due to script problems.

Craven talked about the problem and seemed frustrated: “The studiowasn’t happy with the third act, which we were about to start shooting.It’s just been a matter of trying to get it done, so it’s been a verylong arduous process, and frankly I’m just sick of the process and wantto go out and do something I can feel really good about”.

“We started with me being offered to do a remake of a Japanese filmcalled Pulse. The usual translation was sometimes called Circuit. It’sby [Kiyoshi] Kurasawa. Five weeks before shooting, Dimension pulled theplug on it. And then for one reason or another, they made us an offerthat we kind of had to accept to do this film Cursed.”

THE EXORCIST – THE BEGINNINGIn stunning news, Morgan Creek Productions have fired director PaulSchrader from The Exorcist prequel! Apparently the celebrated directorwas delivering a movie “without any of the bloody violence the backershad wanted”.

Schrader has finished filming the movie, but his initial edit hasapparently emphasised the psychology of the material and not the fearand score.

Co-writer Caleb Carr commented, saying: “The problem with Paul’s cut ofthe movie is it does not deliver the psychological fear we were lookingfor… It does have some good dramatic elements which can be rearrangedwith some good shooting into a very good movie”.

Schrader’s replacement will oversee refilming and editing to sculpt themovie into the type of Exorcist movie the investors expected.

‘Horror Express’ spoke with Caleb Carr as well, who said: “I can confirmthat Paul Schrader’s connection with the film has been concluded, bymutual agreement. More details than that, I do not know. As for myreaction and the future of the film, I am heartened by the departure ofa director who had apparently taken on the project not because he lovedit, but for a paycheck and as a way to get [by his own public statement]’back’ into the mainstream of commercial films [his previous solid lockon commercialism apparently having been that landmark of popularculture, Cat People].”

“Mr. Schrader has left us with a good amount of useable material which,when cut in with necessary re-shoots, should make up a fine film; but inthe future, I’d hope that he would have more respect for the work ofothers than to treat it as a tool with which to gain his private,unconnected, pragmatic goals.”

FANTASTIC FOURThe promotional poster for The Fantastic Four movie has apparently beenfound on Ebay.com (see right). THE FLY’Fox Searchlight’ has made a deal to remake The Fly, with newcomer ToddLincoln writing the script and directing.

Lincoln is an admirer of the 1958 original and David Cronenberg’s 1986remake, but swears he won’t just regurgitate a well-worn plot: “I’m oneof those comic book sci-fi fans who read the remake announcements andgroan. This is certainly inspired by the original but it’s a totalre-imagining.”

So what can we expect to be different? Lincoln questions:“Why, in both films, did the fly never fly..?”

INDEPENDENCE DAY IIWriter-producer Dean Devlin has revealed that he has written a scriptfor a second Independence Day, which the studio loved. However he anddirector Roland Emmerich don’t feel it’s as good as the original andhave no serious plans to get it made.

Devlin also revealed their aborted plans for StarGate sequels, whichwould have linked the Mayan Pyramids with the Egyptian Pyramids andeventually have connected every human myth to outer-space interventions.

INVASION OF THE BODY-SNATCHERSWriter-director Victor Salva (Jeepers Creepers 2) is under seriousconsideration to remake Invasion Of The Body-Snatchers.

Salva told the BBC: “I think it’s just one of the best ideas that anywriter has ever come up with and that’s why it translates so well ineach incarnation”. In terms of its progress though things are inultra-early stages – I haven’t put it through the thinking machine yet”.

Salva is also being considered to direct a World War II horror filmentitled The Watch. “I like [it] very much because it’s a horror movieand a wonderful anti-war story at the same time. I think we really needour anti-war stories right now, because we’re falling back into a verydangerous place.”

KILL BILLDaryl Hannah has commented on Kill Bill, in which she stars, saying: “Ohmy God. The parts that I’ve seen, it wasn’t the parts that I’m in, butparts that I’ve seen of – from the House Of Blue Leaves, it’s juststunning, it’s just amazing.”

“It was really, really, really different from anything I’ve ever seenbefore because Bob Richardson is the cameraman and the camerawork isjust spectacular and it just floats through this scene and every extrahas his own story going on, but their own story adds to the whole storyand the story doesn’t stop for a fight scene. The story evolves throughthe fight scenes and grows and changes to you know, it’s hard toexplain… it’s really striking.”

MADMAN’Zap2It’ reports that Robert Rodruguez (Once Upon A Time In Mexico) isstill interested in adapting Mike Allred’s comic series Madman for thebig screen.

Rodriguez commented: “Madman is a really funny comic because you couldkind of spoof comic book movies and do a really great one all at thesame time. I think it would really catch on and be funny and fun”.

Madman follows the exploits of Frank Einstein, a reanimated corpse withunpredictable psychic powers who is trying to revive his creator andseek revenge on the killer. The comic also has quirkiness to it, becauseFrank has self-doubt issues about his appearance which leads to himdressing up in a “Mr Excitement” costume!

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3’FilmJerk’ has revealed that the female lead for Mission Impossible 3will be a character called Leah Quint, with filming to begin in January2004.

Leah is described as a natural American beauty endowed with grace,warmth and vulnerability. She is exceedingly intelligent with acompelling presence and a great, disarming sense of humour. Leah has hadextensive training with the IMF (Impossible Mission Force), starting hertraining with the agency right out of school. She has extensiveexperience for someone her age, a force to be considered with, as shecan instantly turn into a person of steely resolve and toughness.

OCEAN’S TWELVEFrench actor Vincent Cassell (Brotherhood Of The Wolf) is the newaddition to the Ocean’s Eleven sequel.

Dutch newspaper ‘De Telegraaf’ spoke to producer Jerry Weintraub whorevealed that one of the team’s targets will be Rembrandt’s ‘Nachtwacht'(Nightwatch) painting that is located in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

The team will be going after three valuables in the follow-up, so thereare still two heists that are as yet under wraps.

PREDATOR 3’Moviehole’ talked to Sam Park – the writer of a Predator 3 scriptthat’s being considers at the moment. Park says that because of ArnoldSchwarzenneger’s political aspirations, the script may be re-cast if thefilm is given the greenlight.

Park considers WWE superstar The Rock as the best contenders to stepinto Arnie’s shoes, saying: “I think this is an excellent idea and couldinsure the franchise continuing on for many years – Clay McBride and Ihave definite ideas for sequels with some bizarre twists for the Dutchcharacter and the Predators that we believe will keep the franchisestories fresh and exciting for decades.”

SON OF THE MASKPlot details have been leaked about this sequel to The Mask, starringJamie Kennedy. Kennedy’s character Tim Avery will only wear the Masktwice in the movie and get his girlfriend pregnant during the firstwearing. Hence, their son is born with the powers of The Mask (withoutthe need to wear the façade).

A subplot will involve the Norse God Odin commanding the God of MischiefLoki (Alan Cumming) to find the lost Mask and return it. Apparently thefinal action sequence of the film will involve a huge car chase thatshould astound audiences if they follow the script’s descriptions.

THE SIMPSONS – THE MOVIEExecutive-producer/writer Al Jean has revealed that the team behind TheSimpsons have discussed creating a spin-off show starring Krusty TheClown.

“They talked about doing a spin-off starring Krusty. My view of it isthat the show, itself, is still vital and we wouldn’t want to doanything to dilute it. We might do feature films, but I would say theyshould just do the series as long as they want and then do features ifthey choose to”.

So there films are definitely on the way? “Yeah, there’s a deal inplace, but it’s years away from completion. We’re just concentrating nowon keeping the show as good as possible.”

STAR WARS EPISODE IIISome rumours and news have emerged about Episode III: Christian Bale(American Psycho) is not playing Governor Tarkin in the new movie, theDeath Star has no real importance in Episode III, the reason forObi-Wan’s name change to Ben is revealed, Obi-Wan’s actions are seen tobe pivotal to events that end the Clone War, Force “ghosts” and the fateof the younglings is explained [the kids with Yoda in Episode II], DarthSidious has more screen time (and he will remove his hood), and we willsee proto-type Tie-Fighters! SUPERMANDirector McG (Charlie’s Angels 2) is in talks again with Warner Brothersto take the helm of their new Superman trilogy. TERMINATOR 4’Entertainment Weekly’ talked actor Nick Stahl about the possible fourthfilm, who said: “They’re tossing around different ideas now becausethey’re committed to move forward. I know they’re developing ideas to doit without [Arnold Schwarzenegger] if he’s unavailable.” TRANSFORMERSX-Men producer Tom DeSanto told ‘Dreamwatch’ magazine that he’scommitted to filming a movie-version of the classic 80’s cartoon seriesTransformers.

DeSanto: “There’s no better mythology to bring to the big screen thanTransformers. Transformers has got great characters and created aniconic world, and the mythology still resonates with people 20 yearsafter it was launched. Even though they’re robots the characters have alot of personality and a lot of heart and people still care about them.That’s a great thing.”

“The plan with the movie is that it will combine live action with CGI. Ithink it’s going to be something the audience has never seen before. Inall the years of movie-making, I don’t think the image of a trucktransforming into a 20-foot tall robot has ever been captured onscreen.”

“I also want to make a film that’s homage to 1980’s movies and gets backto the sense of wonder that Hollywood has lost over the years. It willhave those Spielberg-ian moments where you have the push-in on thewide-eyed kid and you feel like you’re 10 years old even if you’re 35.That’s the energy I want to go for.”

THE WOODSM. Night Shyamalan’s The Woods will be changing its title soon, becauseanother movie project is already in existence with this monicker.

BATMAN 5A supposed working title for Chris Nolan’s fifth Batman movie hassurfaced – Batman: Intimidation – although some rumours suggest thistitle, and sets being built at Shepperton Studios, are actually for anew video-game.

Regardless, a list of potential Batman lead actors has been announced:Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko), Christian Bale (American Psycho), JoshuaJackson (The Skulls), Cillian Murphy (28 Days Later), Henry Cavill (TheCount Of Monte Christo), Eion Bailey (Almost Famous) and Hugh Dancy(King Arthur).

THE WORLD OF TOMORROW’Variety’ reports that quirky sci-fi movie The World of Tomorrow isbeing planned to become “a three-picture franchise with the same castand substantial merchandising potential”. In fact, director Kerry Conranhas already been given permission to start writing the sequel. YOUNG LECTERMacauley Culkin (Home Alone) is rumoured to be under consideration tostar as a young Hannibal Lecter in a proposed prequel detailing thechildhood of Anthony Hopkins’ infamous cannibal. ZORRO 2Antonio Banderas (Spy Kids 3) has confirmed that plans are afoot for asequel to The Mask Of Zorro, saying: “Steven Spielberg came to thetheatre [Banderas’ Broadway play Nine] like several weeks ago and saidto me ‘We want to do a different approach to Zorro this time, we want tomake more of an adult movie, and we are going to talk about more of thehuman stuff, there’s going to be a big issue with General in the secondpart, and more of the relationship between you and your wife’.”

“And of course there’s going to be stunts and all that stuff but theyare going to make the film a little bit more deeper than the first onewas, and I thought that was an interesting approach instead of going forthe popcorn straight-forward, they wanted to something a little morecomplex than that.”

“I thought that was interesting too… If everything goes as planned wewill begin filming at the end of March beginning of April. We willprobably start shooting in San Miguel De Allende, Mexico. I practicallylive there now, going back and forth from the states to San Miguel allthe time.”

Bronson died of pneumonia at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with his wifeat his bedside. He had been in the hospital for weeks.

During the height of his career, Bronson was hugely popular in Europe;the French knew him as “le sacre monstre” (the sacred monster), theItalians as “Il Brutto” (the ugly man). In 1971, he was presented aGolden Globe as “the most popular actor in the world.”

All figures are weekend box-office gross.

• 1. Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star ($6.6m)
• 2. Jeepers Creepers II ($6.5m)
• 3. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl ($5.2m)
• 4. Freaky Friday ($5.0m)
• 5. S.W.A.T. ($4.5m)
• 6. The Order ($4.4m)
• 7. Open Range ($4.2m)
• 8. Seabiscuit ($3.7m)
• 9. Freddy vs Jason ($3.2m)
• 10. Uptown Girls ($2.4m)

UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)

• 1. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (£1.54m)
• 2. American Pie 3: The Wedding (£0.98m)
• 3. Jeepers Creepers 2 (£0.62m)
• 4. Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Circle of Life (£0.43m)
• 5. Blackball (£0.37m)
• 6. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (£0.30m)
• 7. The Lizzie McGuire Movie (£0.27m)
• 8. Camp (£0.24m)
• 9. Spy Kids 3D: Game Over (£0.42m)
• 10. Intermission (£0.19m)

Note that these are UK release dates.