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Dan Owen reviews
I s s u e # 86 S e p t e m b e r 2 0 0 2
** MOVIE NEWS **
“BATMAN: THE MUSICAL” – Bats Over Broadway?
In a surprise move for the “Batman” franchise, director Tim Burton willbe directing “Batman: The Musical” – a multi-million dollar productionfor ‘Warner Brothers’ according to ‘The New York Post’!
A spokesman for the project said: “We’re thrilled he’s going to do it.[We] floundered around for a year trying to figure out how to musicalize’Batman’. Then we looked at Tim’s original movie and thought, that’sit.”
According to a theatre source, Burton wanted to direct the musicalbecause he detested the direction the movies took when Joel Schumachermade “Batman Forever” and then destroyed the franchise with the terrible”Batman & Robin”.
The spokesman said: “[Tim] wants to re-establish his original vision.His major impulse is to redeem the soul of the ‘Batman’ series.”
Burton will begin working on the musical next year as a full-timeproject that should mean a hiatus from movie-making. The schedule is forthe musical to open in 2004 and arrive on Broadway in 2005.
In addition to Batman, the musical will also feature the charactersRobin, The Joker and Catwoman – with the design of the project beingpitched as “Gotham City as Berlin in the 1930s.”
Picture (right) just an idea of the potential horror that awaits 😉
“BEYOND RE-ANIMATOR” – The Dead Are Alive!
Jeffrey Combs, best known these days as a regular guest star on “StarTrek: Deep Space Nine”, “Star Trek Voyager” and “Enterprise”, hasrevealed that a further sequel to the 80’s cult classic horror”Re-Animator” is entering production in Spain very soon in which he willreprise his role as the mad professor who discovered a serum toreanimate dead corpses…
“THE A-TEAM” – Planned & Coming Together?
The oft-rumoured movie version of the ’80s action series “The A-Team” isapparently going through “heavy rewrites” right now, with Jack Black(“Shallow Hal”) the latest candidate for the Murdock role!
What?? Listen up studio execs; this is how it should go – Hannibal(George Clooney, with white hair), Face (Brendan Fraser), Murdock (JimCarrey), B.A (Michael Clarke Duncan or Ving Rhames).
Okay, fools?!
“BLADE III” – Story Approved!Screenwriter David Goyer has revealed the latest developments for “Blade 3”:“‘Marvel’ has just approved the story for “Blade 3″. I’m working on atreatment as well. If things work out as planned, we may see a couple ofother somewhat obscure ‘Marvel’ characters making an appearing in thefilm.”
Goyer also spoke about the rumours that Oliver Hirschbiegel (“TheExperiment”) will be directing the film: “I met with Oliver – liked hiswork and we discussed the film a bit – but it’s no more than that, atthe moment.
He also confirmed that plans are afoot to reinterpret the Bladefranchise as a TV series sometime after “Blade 3” hits cinemas. However,Wesley Snipes will not reprise his role as Blade in any futuretelevision series.
“THE BOOSTER” – Vin’s In?
It just wouldn’t be ‘Dan’s Movie Digest’ without some Vin Diesel news,would it? So here you go! ‘Entertainment Weekly’ have reported that VinDiesel is being courted to take the lead with Morgan Freeman in “TheBooster”, a heist movie about two legendary thieves who come out ofretirement to rob Chicago’s Sears Tower.
The movie has been adapted from Eugene Izzi’s 1989 novel and will bedirected by “Die Hard” helmer John McTiernan – who’s desperate for a hitafter his abysmal “Rollerball” remake!
They also reported that Vin Diesel is still possibly involved with thenext “Conan the Barbarian” movie. Perhaps playing Schwarzenneger’s sonKon?
“THE BOURNE IDENTITY 2” – Damon’s Willing…
The surprise success of Matt Damon action adventure “The BourneIdentity” – out today in the UK – has perhaps secured asequel.
Damon says: “I didn’t sign up for another one, partly because I didn’tknow how I would enjoy this one. Having said that, I did have a goodtime doing it and I would do another one, but it would have to be basedon the script. I don’t want to milk the cash cow, audiences don’tappreciate that – I always used to hate that, when I’d see a sequel andit sucked, so I think the goal for the sequel will be to do it if wethink we can make it better than the first one. Then that’ll besomething we’re all really excited about.”
“… the person who’s really going to get put upon for the sequel is[screenwriter] Tony Gilroy. Because he went so far afield with the firstnovel that there’s really not much he can retain from the second one, soyou’re keeping the name but then making up a whole other story.”
“CHARLIE’S ANGELS 2” – Python Meets Angels!
“Monty Python” star John Cleese has been cast in “Charlie’s Angels 2:Halo” at the request of Cleese fan Lucy Liu! Cleese has been writteninto the movie by erasing the character of Liu’s mother – with Cleesenow having a cameo as her father.
In related news, Mary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen (a.k.a, The OlsenTwins) have also lined up a cameo in the new movie.
“DIRTY HARRY 6” – Make His Day… Again!
Clint Eastwood may reprise his most famous character, Dirty Harry, in asixth movie of the cop franchise. His agent, Leonard Hirsham, has saidthat “if a good script came along he would play Dirty Harry again.”
Eastwood hasn’t had a box-office hit since he directed and starred in”Space Cowboys” two years ago, and believes reprising Dirty Harry couldstrike box-office gold for him again.
“THE EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING” – Neeson Replaced?
Swedish newspaper ‘Expressen’ has stated that native actor StellanSkarsg=E5rdhas has replaced Liam Neeson as Father Merrin in the prequel =to”The Exorcist” – due to start filming this November (under the name “TheExorcist: The Beginning” or “The Exorcist: Dominion” depending on whichreports you believe!)
Father Merrin was originally played by Max Von Sydow, another Swedishactor, and many people consider Stellan Skarsg=E5rdhas would be a morefitting choice to play the devout Priest battling a demon in Africa.
Director Paul Schrader (“Autofocus”) is now directing the prequel movie,while Liam Neeson has moved on to starring in “Love Actually”.
“THE FOG” – Rising Again?
‘Creature Corner’ has reported that director John Carpenter and producerDebra Hill are pitching a $20-30 million remake of Carpenter’s 1980 hit”The Fog”, which starred Jamie-Lee Curtis.
“THE FOUNTAIN” – Brad Bails, Project Drains!
Brad Pitt has reportedly bailed out of director Darren Aronofsky’sscience-fiction time-bending opus “The Fountain”. Pitt was apparentlyunhappy with the latest draft of the screenplay Aronofsky had worked on,which charts the life span of Pitt’s character from the 16th Century tothe year 2500 AD.
The troubled project now looks set to crumble without its lead actor.Pitt now looks set to star in “Troy” from director Wolfgang Petersen,while Aronofsky now wants Joaquin Phoenix as his replacement. However,’Warner Brothers’ are apparently eyeing Russell Crowe, Mel Gibson orGeorge Clooney as replacement possibilities.
“HARRY POTTER 3” – Harris Out?
Richard Harris, who plays Professor Dumbledore in the “Harry Potter”movies, may have to be replaced for the third movie “The Prisoner OfAzkaban” which starts filming in January.
The hard-drinking 71-year-old was rushed to a London hospital recentlyamidst health fears. ‘Warner Brothers’ executives will assess his healthand decide whether or not they will recast the role next year.
Harris’ replacement could well be unknown 72-year-old actor HarryRobinson, who has been a body-double for Harris during his career.Robinson said he’d “love the role but I can’t talk about it.”
A spokesperson for Richard Harris has said “he is still in hospital witha chest infection. It’s too early to talk about ‘Harry Potter’.”
Later a spokeswoman said “Richard has had pneumonia, but has respondedreally well to treatment and will be out of hospital any day now.”
Harris’ agent later denied the rumours that he would be unfit to startfilming Harry Potter 3 next year. Guess we’ll have to wait and see…
“HOUSE OF A 1000 CORPSES” – Finally Released!
Rob Zombie’s movie “House Of A 1000 Corpses” has finally got adistributor to release the long-completed film. The completed movie hasbeen lost in scheduling hell after ‘Universal’ passed it to ‘MGM’ whothen failed to release the film in 2001.
However, ‘Lions Gate Films’ have not acquired the rights to the movieand should release the film in the “first quarter of 2003”.
Tom Ortenberg, president of ‘Lions Gate Films Releasing’ said: “With’House Of A 1000 Corpses’ Rob Zombie has created an in-your-face,unrelenting horror film experience. We are really looking forward toworking with Rob and having a lot of fun with this campaign.”
The film tells the story of a group of kids who venture into amysterious house after their car breaks down… with hair-raisingresults!
“HOWARD HUGHES: BIOPIC” – On Its Way!
Director Christopher Nolan (Memento, Insomnia) spoke on ITV show ‘Movie Nights’about his proposed biopic of legendary American oddball entrepreneurHoward Hughes. Nolan confirmed that he’s writing the screenplay rightnow, and that he isn’t concerned about the fact Martin Scorsese alsoharbours ambitions to film a Hughes movie.
Nolan: “…there’s no sense of any kind of race simply because it’stoo difficult a subject. And I think that’s why these projects have tendednot to happen in the past, so I think we need to take our time andreally try to crack the subject. So I don’t think there’s any point inworrying about what other people are doing and any time you go intomaking a film there are always other factors around and you just have tobelieve in the project you are doing, that it will find it’s way to getmade”.
“RESIDENT EVIL 2: NEMESIS” – Zombies Return!
Director Paul W.S Anderson has spoken to ‘Empire’ magazine about thescreenplay he’s writing for the sequel to his “Resident Evil” movie:
“The sequel will be ‘Nemesis’ and it will be set during the same timeperiod as the ‘Nemesis’ game [partly before and partly after the initialzombie encounter]. So it will be survivors from the movie meet survivorsfrom the video game. We’re going to introduce Jill Valentine and CarlosOliveira from the game and a few little surprises as well. Of coursethere’s the Nemesis himself too, the big dude”.
“SCARECROW” – Not Just Scaring Birds…
‘The Hollywood Reporter’ says that ‘Revolution Studios’-based ‘Blue StarPictures’ has hired screenwriter Todd Farmer to develop a horror projectknown as “Scarecrow”.
“Scarecrow” is described as a psychological horror focusing on asmall-town farmer and his family who discover a scarecrow that ends upscaring more than just the crows. ‘Blue Star Pictures’ heads WilliamSherak and Jason Shuman and ‘Revolution’ genre executive John Hegemancame up with the idea and took it to Farmer – who recently wrote “JasonX” for ‘New Line Cinema’.
“SUPERMAN: THE MAN OF STEEL” – Writer’s Agent Speaks!
J.J Abrams‘ agent has spoken about his client’s screenplay for the nextstandalone “Superman” movie which has apparently wowed ‘Warner Brothers’execs from out of nowhere.
He said: “The script is far less than 200 pages – about 130. It is goingbefore ‘Batman Vs Superman’ and Wolfgang Petersen is doing another movie[‘Troy’] first. That’s all I can tell you other than its one of the bestscreenplays I’ve ever read and is epic, action-packed and extremelyhumanistic. Fans will not be disappointed.”
“SPIDER-MAN 2” – Casting Doc Ock!
Rumour has it that Stellan Skarsg=E5rdhas (“Good Will Hunting”) beenapproached to play Doctor Octopus in “Spider-Man 2”. Previously it wasthought Sam Neill (“Jurassic Park”) was in the frame for the leadvillain.
However, Stellan Skarsg=E5rdhas was later contacted through his websiteby ‘Superhero Hype’ and stated that there is “no truth to the rumour yet”.
Yet..? Hmmm.
In relates news, ‘Edge FX’ are currently providing designs for threecharacters that could appear in the sequel: Doctor Octopus, The Lizardand Black Cat.
“THE THING 2” – Shape-Shifter Sequel!
‘Coming Attractions’ have broken the story that ‘Universal Pictures’want to make a sequel to John Carpenter’s cult 80’s horror classic “TheThing” (a remake of Howard Hawke’s 1951 sc-fi).
Carpenter’s version of the 50’s horror wasn’t a success with audiences,but it later garnered a strong cult following after its video release.More importantly, ‘Universal’ are said to be amazed at the amount ofinterest in their upcoming “The Thing” video game – and this promptedtalks of a sequel.
So will John Carpenter direct? Well, apparently he’s asking for too mucbcash and seeing as his recent movies have all been huge box-officefailures (“Ghosts Of Mars”, “Vampires”, “Escape From L.A.”) the studioisn’t that keen on Carpenter reprising directing duties…
“UNBREAKABLE 2” – Will It Happen?
Again, director/writer M. Night Shyamalan has spoken tantalizingly aboutthe possibility of a sequel to his modest hit “Unbreakable”. “I keepstruggling with whether to do it or not. It’s hard because I feel alittle upset that it split audiences, but I’d love to see what thatguy’s life is like now”.
“How does he orchestrate his life so that he doesn’t touch people? Andthen his wife doesn’t know, but [his] kid knows that dad’s a superhero -that’s so fucking fun! I’d love to do that.”
“THE VEGA BROTHERS” – Sibling Rivalry…
Michael Madsen (“Reservoir Dogs”) has spoken about a movie projectQuentin Tarantino may be making entitled “The Vega Brothers”. As fansknow, Tarantino has stated that Madsen’s Mr Blonde in “Reservoir Dogs”and John Travolta’s Vincent Vega in “Pulp Fiction” are actuallybrothers… who may now share the screen together…
Madsen: “Quentin and I have talked about doing a film about the Vegabrothers. He has the idea in his head, where Travolta and I would playclub owners in Amsterdam. I do see the film being made. He just has tofinish work on ‘Kill Bill’ and the World War II movie he’s working on,so it won’t be for another 2 or 3 years, but I do see it happeningthen.”
US TOP 10 (CINEMA)
** TRAILERS **
One Hour Photo:Robin Williams goes serious again in an unsettling psychologicalthriller about a lonely photo-technician who takes an unhealthy interestin the lives of a family whose photographs he develops…
CLICK HERE
The Animatrix:A preview trailer for the 9 animated short movies that will be releasedas part of the “Matrix Reloaded” DVD in 2003, and on the Internet thisyear. Of special note, the ninth entry is a stunning computer-generatedfilm from the creators of “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within”…
CLICK HERE
Pinocchio:Roberto Benigni (“Life Is Beautiful”) stars in this live-actionadaptation of the fairy tale about a living wooden puppet that longs tobe a real boy…
CLICK HERE
Treasure Planet:Disney adaptation of the classic pirate story “Treasure Island”, butwith a science-fiction twist…
CLICK HERE
Monster’s, Inc. – Mike’s New Car:Fun little short movie from ‘Pixar’ designed to advertise the impendingrelease of “Monster’s, Inc” on Region 1 DVD.
CLICK HERE
Dreamcatcher:The excellent Stephen King book about psychic friends battling aliens ina snow-bound forest is adapted for the movie screen. Sadly, this trailerdoesn’t bode particularly well… but is this just a case of ‘badtrailer, great movie’…?
CLICK HERE
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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.