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Dan Owen reviews
I s s u e # 6 92 1 N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 3
STAR WARS EPISODE III’TheForce.net’ talked to Samuel L. Jackson about his continuing role asMace Windu in Episode III. Jackson said “I think in Episode III [Georgehas] definitely answered a lot of the questions that people had over theyears about how this particular thing happened or why this person isthis way, you know… who is connected to this and who is connected tothat, but I think, he’s also done what a lot of people has asked andprobably gone a little further in that people was so angry about thefirst episode because they thought it was just a kiddy movie and thesecond episode because is kind of, well… that didn’t answer all thethings we need.”
“So now, he has put all these things together and tied it up. It’s verydark and Shakespearean… and adult, and more violent than a Star Warsmovie used to be. Hopefully they’ll be satisfied with this particularepisode.”
BIRTH OF THE PINK PANTHER’MGM’ vice-chairman Chris McGurk revealed to the media at his BeverlyHills mansion that Steve Martin has agreed to star as the ineptInspector Clouseau in a prequel to The Pink Panther entitled Birth OfThe Pink Panther. The role was originally made famous by the late PeterSellers. GALILEOA film based on the life of 17th-century scientist Galileo Galilei isbeing developed by Lorenzo di Bonaventura’s ‘di Bonaventura Productions’and Guy East and Nigel Sinclair’s ‘Spitfire Pictures’. Vera Blasi (WomanOn Top) pitched the project and will write the screenplay.
The movie will focus on the scientists as he’s caught up in thepotentially fatal battle between hard science and religious dogma.Credited with developing the telescope, Galileo would discover the foursatellites of Jupiter, observe a supernova, verify the phases of Venusand discover sunspots.
His breakthroughs proved the Copernican system, but for his pains, theCatholic Church branded him a heretic.
Galileo was also a complicated family man – never marrying, henonetheless had a brief and intense relationship with Marina Gamba, awoman who bore him three children.
KING KONG
The ‘Toronto Sun’ interviewed actor Andy Serkis about his work as Gollumin The Lord Of The Rings, and Serkis almost revealed that he may be theface of King Kong in Peter Jackson’s remake of the legendary monstermovie.
Serkis was said to “Ssssh!” and grin mischievously with a thumbs-upgesture. So it appears that Jackson will be creating Kong in much thesame way as Serkis helped him create Gollum – with an actor providingthe movements and then replaced entirely with CGI effects.
INDIANA JONES 4Producer Frank Marshall spoke to ‘Indiana Jones Hub’, saying: “[IndianaJones 4 is] going to totally be in the style and the tone of the firstthree. I mean, were not going to do anything different. We’re not goingto try and change things or modernize things.”
“We’re going to stick to what works and we’re probably going to be inthe fifties. So, we’re acknowledging that we’re all a bit older andthat’s about all I can tell you except that Frank Darabont is writingit.”
LETHAL WEAPON 5Director Richard Donner has indicated that he may return to film a fifthLethal Weapon movie to finish the franchise, saying: “I have the storyin my head for a fifth and final Lethal Weapon, but it’s all up to MelGibson.”
“It would be 24 hours in the lives of Riggs (Gibson) and Murtaugh (DannyGlover). The last couple of times I talked to Mel, it really seemed hewas interested in doing one more. I really want to put the franchise tobed properly.”
OBITUARIES Michael Kamen, composer: 1938-2003
Oscar-nominated composer, conductor and arranger Michael Kamen, one ofHollywood’s most sought-after musicians, died at the age 55 on 18November. He has been suffering from multiple sclerosis for severalyears.
Kamen died in a hospital in London, where he had lived with his wife andtwo daughters. Doctors were unable to resuscitate Kamen following a”cardiac event.”
The native New Yorker and Juilliard School of Music Graduate was one ofHollywood’s most successful composers who worked on music for the LethalWeapon series and scored Die Hard, among many other films.
He was first diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1996, but did not gopublic about the disease until late September. Multiple sclerosis is aninflammatory disease of the central nervous system that causes variousdisabilities.
Kamen composed the music for such films as Robin Hood: Prince ofThieves, Mr. Holland’s Opus and X-Men, plus the H.B.O series Band ofBrothers. He earned his first Academy Award nomination in 1991 for”(Everything I Do) I Do It for You,” the Bryan Adams chart hit from themovie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
US TOP 10 (CINEMA)All figures are weekend box-office gross.
- 1. Elf ($26.3m)
- 2. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World ($25.1m)
- 3. The Matrix Revolutions ($16.4m)
- 4. Brother Bear ($12.0m)
- 5. Looney Tunes: Back in Action ($9.3m)
- 6. Love Actually ($8.6m)
- 7. Scary Movie 3 ($6.1m)
- 8. Radio ($4.8m)
- 9. Tupac: Resurrection ($4.6m)
- 10. Mystic River ($3.2m)
UK TOP 10 (CINEMA)
- 1. The Matrix Revolutions (£2.57m)
- 2. Finding Nemo (£1.20m)
- 3. Seabiscuit (£0.57m)
- 4. Intolerable Cruelty (£0.52m)
- 5. Kill Bill: Vol.1 (£0.42m)
- 6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) (£0.38m)
- 7. In America (£0.34m)
- 8. The League of Extraodinary Gentlemen (£0.28m)
- 9. Calendar Girls (£0.20m)
- 10. In The Cut (£0.12m)
** IN THE PIPELINE **Note that these are UK release dates.
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.