So far, there are only a few actors officially attached to Oliver Stone's W., the epic biopic about our current commander-in-chief. Josh Brolin was cast as President George W. Bush back in January, then recently Elizabeth Banks was chosen as his wife, First Lady Laura Bush, and last week James Cromwell and Ellen Burstyn were locked into the roles of former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush, respectively. Unofficial casting bites, though, include a lot of other big name actors. Jeffrey Wright is reportedly in negotiations to play Colin Powell, Tommy Lee Jones is supposedly being sought for Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Duvall has been rumored to be the choice for Vice President Dick Cheney and now both Paul Giamatti and Toby Jones are being named as potentials for the part of Karl Rove (who Giamatti may have already channeled for his character in Shoot 'Em Up).

For many people, Sundance can be defined as edgy, difficult, dysfunctional, and dramatic. But for distributors looking for films they can sell in a tight marketplace for specialty fare, Sundance evidently now means "lighter, funnier."

In the third big Sundance deal of the day -- all involving comedies, to one degree or another -- Focus Features has acquired Hamlet 2, according to Lou Lumenick of New York Post. (And confirmed a few minutes later by Anne Thompson of Variety). The film stars Steve Coogan as an "ex-actor, ex-user, relentless dreamer, and sometimes-delusional high school teacher" who stages his own unusual adaptations (e.g. Erin Brockovich). Facing budget cuts and student rebellion, he decides to go for broke and mount his most ambitious production: his self-penned sequel to Hamlet.

Anne Thompson fleshed out the story with the purchase price ($10 million) and the specific rights (worldwide). She says the deal was closed "in the wee hours Tuesday morning ... after an intense bidding war." As she points out, the figure is quite high for Sundance, putting Hamlet 2 in the exclusive neighborhood previously occupied only by titles like Spitfire Grill (a bomb) and Little Miss Sunshine (a hit).

Monika gushed a few days ago about director Andrew Fleming's Threesome, which debuted at Sundance back in 1994, but his career since then has been mixed. Most recently, he made Nancy Drew and before that, the very flat remake The In-Laws. However, the concept for Hamlet 2 sounds funny, Steve Coogan can be a very funny actor, and other members of the cast (Catherine Keener, Amy Poehler, David Arquette) make me optimistic about the film's prospects.

Friday Night Double Feature had been lingering in my brain for a while before its December release, stemming from memories of insatiable video rentals, and double or triple-movie theater-going when it was too hard to pick between the films screening. However, it has come to our attention that our friends over at Cinema Blend have their own Friday Night Double Feature. (Nuts!) To differentiate the two, this column is now Cinematical's Friday Night Double Feature, and I definitely urge you to check out their own double-feature picks for more viewing options.

Now, onto the 3-ways. Two of my favorite movies of the '90s, a decade that I spent indulging in hordes of cult movies and youth cinema, happen to both dip into alternative sexual relationships -- Gregg Araki's Splendor and Andrew Fleming's Threesome. What is so great about these films is that they are not stunning, pitch-perfect examples of cinema, but rather, awkward, flawed, and endearing glimpses into expanding sexuality. The characters fail to find one person who can fulfill all of their idiosyncratic desires, and come to realize that if they cannot merge two people, perhaps one person is not enough.

Splendor



When Splendor came out in 1999, it was a bright, fun, and candy-coated surprise from Gregg Araki, the filmmaker who always knew how to deliver humor and romance, but always in a dark and disturbing package. With this story, Araki showed that he was more than f-bombs and Rose McGowan, and used his modern sensibility to revisit retro, pulpy romance. The story is simple -- Veronica has been suffering from a romantic dry spell when she meets two guys in the same night -- the light, carefree and sweet Zed, and the dark, pensive, and serious Abel. Thinking she'll date both and then choose, she quickly discovers that she wants them both, because each man has his own special appeal. Neither romantic choice wants to back down, so they decide to try an open-to-two relationship, which has its sexy perks, and its dramatic troubles.

It's dysfunctional, unlikely, and all sorts of fun. Casting Kathleen Robertson, Johnathan Schaech, and Matt Keeslar was step one. Adding an incredibly-vibrant and colorful world was step two. The final, finishing touch -- a great soundtrack that featured the likes of Everything But the Girl, My Bloody Valentine, and New Order. It's the sort of flick you can laugh with, swoon with, sing with, and just be goofy with.

Watch Kelly McDonald rant on the phone, dubbed-style.

A bottle of alcohol, a love triangle, and a game of Dare can only turn out one way.

Before Splendor, there was Rose, Traci, and Shannen as Valley Girls in Nowhere.

Good ol' Nancy Drew is back. Yep, everyone's favorite tweenie crime-solver is returning to the silver screen for the first time since ... 1939? Can that be right? According to the IMDb it is, but if you definitely have strong memories of seeing the young detective in other movies, you're probably just thinking of an old TV series.

Updated and modernized for an all-new generation of kids girls, Nancy Drew hits screens anew courtesy of first-time screenwriter Tiffany Paulsen (who, once upon a time, was skewered with a spear by Jason Voorhees), the director of The Craft and Warner Bros. Pictures. Cast as the legendarily brilliant lass is Ms. Emma Roberts, whom you might remember from Aquamarine -- and if you found yourself sitting in a movie theater that was playing Aquamarine, then I'm betting you're precisely the target audience for this new Drew to-do.

The plot sees Ms. Drew transplanting herself into the alien landscape of California, where she initially has some trouble fitting in ... but when a local mansion's murky mysteries prove too much for Nancy to resist, well, you know the drill: The chick solves crimes! (Yes, just like Veronica Mars, girls.) Cast members of legal drinking age include Rachael Leigh Cook, Tate Donovan and Laura Harring.

Anyway, a Nancy drew flick is obviously not geared for mid-30 male-types, but I think this trailer looks pretty darn solid. No over-the-top gross-out gags or stupid slapstick stuff. Heck, I think the flick (which doesn't open until June 15!) actually looks kinda cute. Ooh, and maybe if Nancy Drew is a hit, someone will make a new Hardy Boys adventure! Or hell, maybe (finally) Encyclopedia Brown!

Starring Eric Roberts-spawn (and Aquamarine's girl-who-finds-the-mermaid) Emma Roberts, the Nancy Drew movie has had a lot of people (many of whom totally won't admit it) in a nostalgic frenzy since news of its existence was announced way too long ago. Now, finally, there's some good news: production has begun. Woo hoo! Not only that, but we've got a plot (the news of which is possibly slightly less good).

In order to get her somewhere with lots of pretty people and parties (and, of course, because the title is Nancy Drew: The Mystery in Hollywood Hills), Tiffany Paulsen and Andrew Fleming's script has Nancy traveling to Hollywood with her dad (Tate Donovan) on what is apparently a very, very long "business trip," since Nancy ends up enrolling in Hollywood Hills High School and meeting a boy (Josh Flitter). Because she is a girl detective, Nancy inevitably "stumbles across evidence about a long-unsolved crime involving the mysterious death of a beautiful movie star." However, in addition to wearing her play dress and solving the mystery, innocent little Nancy also finds herself temped by the "fast-living, self-indulgent world of Hollywood." Now, I don't know anything for sure, but knowing our girl, I'm pretty sure she'll come out of it ok.

While the relocation to Hollywood is a little scary, the fact that Fleming, who co-wrote and directed Dick, is also writing and directing here is just awesome news. If anyone can effectively balance sweetness with the smart sense of humor that's going to be required to deal with this whole Hollywood thing, it's him. The movie's not slated for release until 2007, though, so we've plenty of time to sit and worry.