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Tupac Shakur Movie Adds Oscar-Nominated Writers
Filed under: Drama, Deals, Scripts, Distribution, Newsstand
After the 2009 kerfuffle between Afeni Shakur's Amaru Entertainment and Morgan Creek was settled, production was set to begin this September on the Tupac Shakur biopic directed by Antoine Fuqua (Brooklyn's Finest, Shooter, Training Day). According to Vulture, shooting has been put off until mid-November, probably because Stephen J. Rivele and Chris Wilkinson have been brought on for rewrites. The two screenwriters earned themselves an Oscar nomination for their screenplay Nixon in 1995, and also wrote Ali together.Rivele and Wilkinson are taking the biopic in a different direction; while it was previously a more traditional and linear tale of Shakur's life, it will now "center on the last day of Tupac's life, flashing back to show the final four years leading up to it."
The 1996 unsolved murder Shakur, the rapper, actor, and poet, has been the subject of much speculation and conspiracy theories over the years. (Some people have even "seen" the slain rapper, much like others have has Elvis sightings. Those are my favorite conspiracy theorists.)
The New 'Lethal Weapon'? Ryan Reynolds and Bradley Cooper to Star as Cop Duo
Filed under: Action, Casting, Scripts
You gotta love how much a movie can change before we even see it. Five years ago, there was an action project brewing in Hollywood called Blowback, created by Andrew Panay (Wedding Crashers) and Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air). Focusing on two cops, the film had already grabbed Dwayne Johnson, who was just beginning to put his wrasslin' days behind him, and act in films like Be Cool, Doom, and Southland Tales.Half a decade later, Johnson has moved on, the project is once again picking up steam, but it's not being led by a beefy ex-wrestler. Now the names behind the action fest are none other than Ryan Reynolds and Bradley Cooper.
Neil Marshall Makes Underground Supper Clubs Horrific
Filed under: Horror, Thrillers, Deals, Scripts
If there's one thing I want to pluck off my to-do list and move to my have-done list in the very near future, it's underground supper clubs. Rather than going out to a fancy restaurant to gorge on any old meal, many are falling victim to the lure of secret, one-of-a-kind foodie adventures. Not advertised or set in one locale day after day, these clubs exist outside the law (no food inspections and stringent guidelines apply), moving from place to place and often offering up unique fare you'd rarely see on a regular old menu. Sign up, wait, and soon you're dining with a handful of strangers in an intimate locale. Sometimes it's just straight-forward chef creations, and sometimes it's something you might not be used to, like horse, or maybe crunchy l'il insects.Naturally, Hollywood wants in, and they see it as the perfect venue for horror.
'Transformers' Kurtzman to Direct Dysfunctional Family Drama
Filed under: Drama, Deals, Scripts, Newsstand, Dreamworks, Steven Spielberg
It seems like just yesterday when Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci, the screenwriters for summer smashes like Star Trek, Transformers (2007) and its 2009 sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, were in the trades every other day with new projects. A Star Trek sequel! Cowboys and Aliens! A view-master movie! Instead, Kurtzman's been given the go-ahead by DreamWorks and Steven Spielberg to direct his first full-length feature, Welcome to People, which is based on a script he wrote with Orci and director Jody Lambert. According to Vulture, Kurtzman decided to pitch his old script once he and Orci got hot in Hollywood, lest he be relegated to genre flicks.
Welcome to People is definitely not action or alien-friendly, according to what Vulture and other outlets like Heat Vision are describing.
Vulture reports:
Will an old script that they're getting made by virtue of their success on other projects really fly? Although Kurtzman and Orci have proved their value on action/sci-fi fare, Welcome to People sounds melodramatic and what younger screenwriters come up with a la Zach Braff's Garden State where everyone takes themselves very seriously and there's a type of everything-and-the-kitchen-sink dysfunction junction. Then again, Steven Spielberg's blessing carries a weight in Hollywood like few others, so perhaps the script itself has more dimension than what these tidbits suggest.Welcome to People tells the story of a struggling twentysomething man who, after flying home to L.A. for the funeral of his estranged record-producer father, discovers that the will stipulates that he must deliver $150,000 in cash to a 30-year-old alcoholic sister he never knew existed, and her troubled 12-year-old son. Determined to keep the money to solve his own problems, he's nonetheless fascinated by his unknown kin and makes contact with the two without revealing who he really is.
And in the distance, I hear the wails, "What about the view-master movie, dammit?!"
Oscar the Death-Predicting Cat Gets His Own Movie
Filed under: Scripts
Back in 2007 geriatrician David Dosa submitted an article to the New England Journal of Medicine chronicling the track record of Oscar, a therapy cat at his nursing home who had accurately predicated the death of some 25 patients. Naturally a story of that nature made its way online with a quickness, putting innocent little Oscar in the spotlight pretty much over night. No one was able to conclusively prove how or why the normally anti-social feline was choosing the people he would curl up next to, but the nurses and doctors did put stock in the growing correlation between his visits and the passing of a patient. It reached the point where the staff would actually phone a family member if Oscar was spotted spending time with their loved one.By the time 2010 rolled around Oscar had accurately predicted the death of some fifty-plus patients, which was more than enough motivation for Dr. Dosa to turn his original article into a book. And now it looks like that book, Making Rounds With Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat, is getting turned into a movie.
Miley Cyrus Gets Boozy, Stoned, and Sexy in 'LOL'
Filed under: Drama, Casting, Lionsgate Films, Celebrities and Controversy, Scripts, Newsstand
Teen queen Miley Cyrus, who has made a fortune with her Disney show Hannah Montana and countless tie-ins, including a 3D movie of a Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concert tour, is going to show us she's not just another pop star from the Mouse House. After her turn in the soggy Nicholas Sparks movie The Last Song, she's since gone on to release a "racy" music video for her single "Can't Be Tamed," which features a woman with a bird cage on her head as a hat and Cyrus as a winged sexpot being held in a cage who breaks out and wreaks havoc in a museum.
Her next stop on the "Screw You, I'm a Grown-Up!" tour is the movie LOL (Laughing Out Loud), which is based on a French movie of the same name. Both movies were directed by Lisa Azuelos, who wrote the screenplay for the French version and co-wrote the screenplay for this adaptation. I haven't seen the original, so I don't know if it's any good. Have you?
LaBeouf Returning for 'Indiana Jones 5'; Calls Script "Crazy"
Filed under: Casting, RumorMonger, Scripts, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg
Well, well, well. After publicly badmouthing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to score points with the peanut gallery at a Cannes press conference for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps back in May, look who's crawling back to the hand that feeds him. Shia LaBeouf is going around telling people that he's been talking to Spielberg about a fifth Indiana Jones film, that the screenplay is being written, that Spielberg "pitched" the idea to him, and that it sounds "crazy" and "really cool." And also, apparently, that he "can't wait" to do the fifth film, though the latter may be editorializing on the part of the Showbiz Spy blogger.I wonder if LaBeouf is referring to the Bermuda Triangle plot that was being kicked around a couple months ago as the possible subject of a fifth film (which producer Frank Marshall purported to refute). That sounds like fun to me -- but then, I'm the guy who was pilloried for admitting an affection for Crystal Skull in my earlier post. I expect most of you won't think much of the idea.
But despite (seemingly) widespread fan disgust with the attempt to revitalize the franchise, Crystal Skull made nearly $800 million worldwide. A fifth film would also assuredly make a huge profit, which Spielberg, Lucas, LaBeouf, etc., surely know. Thus, the inevitability. And look: is any Spielberg movie ever really something to dread?
In any event, Spielberg will finish filming War Horse before having a chance to turn to another Indy. So smoke if you got 'em. We've got at least two more years to wring our hands.
Maggie Gyllenhaal to Star in Vibrator Comedy
Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Casting, Scripts
Just the other night on Cinematical Late Night, we learned that one Maggie Gyllenhaal was looking to star with husband Peter Sarsgaard in his upcoming bluegrass biopic Blue Moon of Kentucky. But that's not all she's interested in working on right now. So, how do you balance a little Bill Monroe tuneage with your other work? More heavy drama, geek fare, family fun, or voice work? Nah. The actress has been there and done that.Instead, Ms. Gyllenhaal has signed on to star in a new period piece. The film is not about writers, romance, plagues, or royalty, as usually happens with retro fare, but rather -- we swear! -- vibrators.
Potentially Bogus Paramount Document Reveals Some Funny Stuff
Filed under: Casting, Deals, RumorMonger, Scripts
There's nothing like leaked communications to excite your movie fandom. A detailed e-mail has hit the Internet, one that reveals a whole lot of juicy info about Paramount's upcoming cinematic slate ... if it turns out to be true. We're not talking about a handful of features, but tidbits on over thirty projects. It details books that are starting to be adapted, sequels that are in the works, stars attached to gigs, and even which stars directors are meeting with.There's a little bit of everything on this sucker -- Kathryn Bigelow's latest, Zoolander, Twilight Zone, and even an upcoming draft for Baywatch: The Movie. Yeah.
The biggest nugget comes by way of Kathryn Bigelow. It's been a year since her next feature was announced -- the action-adventure flick called Triple Frontier -- and the e-mail states that they want to start production in December or January. Furthermore, she's talking with some really big names to lead this affair, and has met with Sean Penn, Will Smith, Javier Bardem, and Christian Bale for the ensemble cast. (Rumors for some of these names began earlier this year.)
Kristen Bell Becomes a Mean Ballerina Mom
Filed under: Comedy, Independent, Casting, Scripts
Are you ready to see Kristen Bell hit the ballet?Burlesquemight look all sorts of ridiculous, joke-worthy, and easily forgettable, but that's not stopping ol' Gossip Girl Veronica Mars from looking for more dance-centric cinema. But this time around, it won't be Bell sashaying in the spotlight. Rather than pirouetting and plieing on stage herself, Bell will play the overbearing mom to an awkward young ballerina in the upcoming Dance of the Mirlitons, a new indie similar to the 2006 hit Little Miss Sunshine. And as an added bonus: it was a Black List film in 2005 (meaning it made the list of the best unproduced screenplays in town that year), which is finally getting life once again.
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