Doug Liman Tagged Articles at Cinematical

It was almost a year ago when news hit that Jake Gyllenhaal was going to the moon with director Doug Liman. Literally, not the Honeymooners way. Focusing on a private expedition to the moon to create a Lunar colony, the project was set for another rewrite in June. But that was all we heard. Now rumors are bubbling about casting, and if true, we could see a clash of the private and public.

Just Jared has posted that In Touch insiders have pegged Abbie Cornish as Jake's co-star in the lunar film -- in other words, Jake's current girlfriend Reese Witherspoon's ex-husband Ryan Phillippe's current girlfriend. Oh, those messy Hollywood lives. The insider states: "This is one of those only-in-Hollywood situations. It could work out as long as Reese doesn't visit Jake on the set."

Whatever the potential drama, this would definitely be an interesting casting move for the feature, which is hoping to hit screens in 2010. Cornish has taken on a number of themes over the last few years, from the times of Queen Elizabeth to being a tough Texan girlfriend, so why not add some moon action to the mix? Thoughts?

It doesn't seem to be easy to get to the moon, even with the Prince of Persia attached for the ride. The Hollywood Reporter has posted that the Jake Gyllenhaal's untitled lunar action movie, that he signed on for last year, is getting another rewrite.

First, Doug Liman (Jumper), who will direct the film, teamed up with John Hamburg (his cousin, and Along Came Polly writer/director) to whip up the story and write the script. Then, the author of Black Hawk Down, Mark Bowden, revamped it. Now, Dan Mazeau has signed on to "bring it in for a landing with a different take 'based on an original story by Liman, Bowden, and Simon Kinberg.'" Apparently something isn't working quite right, although I imagine there has to be something tasty in there somewhere since Gyllenhaal signed on.

What this story covers remains to be seen. All THR says about the plot is that it's an "action film about lunar colonization." IMDb adds a little more, describing it as "An action film centered around one crew's expedition to the moon during a time of frenzied interest in lunar colonization." So, stay tuned for some sort of action-packed, Jake-led, lunar colonization on the big screen, should this rewrite work out.

Well, Erik got Nicole Kidman right as the actress who will play Valerie Plame, outed CIA agent, in the upcoming biopic, but it looks like director Doug Liman has other ideas for Joe Wilson, her husband -- the man who wrote the famous op-ed piece "What I Didn't Find in Africa." It's not Richard Gere. Instead, Liman talked with MTV and says that he wants Russell Crowe for the role.

His reasoning: "If you've met Joe, he's a really strong guy. I've never met an actor stronger than Russell Crowe." Liman goes on to say: "It's the Valerie Plame story, but you wouldn't know it when Joe's around. I met with [Russell] for Bourne Identity, and I was terrified. The whole time I was in the room with him I was just scared of him. This is a scary dude! And Joe is kind of like that."

Russell would definitely need to clean up and be aged a bit for the gig, but I guess he could pull it off. However, I wonder if Liman is focusing too much on the scary aspect. Strong and terrifying aren't really the same thing. But we're in a movie world where Josh Brolin is Dubya, so anything is possible.

It warms my heart when popular art is recognized as art, rather than being written off as "product" by the intelligentsia. If I had to pick one recent set of commercial films to formally celebrate as an artistic achievement, I would have gone with The Lord of the Rings, but the Bourne trilogy is a strong contender. New York's Museum of Modern Art has acquired the Bourne films and is screening all three of them this week, accompanied by panel discussions with Bourne Identity director/franchise supervisor Doug Liman and an expert on neuroscience and memory.

MoMA didn't break with precedent by adding the Bourne movies to its collection, which includes a number of other "mainstream" works (e.g. all of the James Bond films). I'm a bit surprised the MoMA curators were able to get any sort of consensus on Bourne, given many cinephiles' distaste for the hyperactive editing style of Supremacy and Ultimatum. Of course, I do agree with the assessment that the movies represent a higher standard in action filmmaking, both dramatically and technically. As for how much they have to contribute to our understanding of "brain function, memory, personality, and identity" -- ehhh. I like the films, but I'm not sure they seriously engage with those questions. I'm all for talking about it though.

Sometimes, casting alternatives seem to come out of left field, like this latest one. According to MTV, before Hayden Christensen was cast in the new science-fiction flick Jumper, it was... Eminem -aka- Marshall Mathers. What the F***?! I've heard of strange possibilities before, but this pushes those strange boundaries. It would be like hearing Mick Jagger was up for a role Christopher Walken got, or Debbie Harry instead of Mia Farrow.

Sure, Eminem did alright in his movie, but it's not a stretch to pretty much play yourself. Anyway, writer/director Doug Liman says that the two met and they were having "conversations" about his participation. It was back in 2006, right after Liman was tapped to adapt the sci-fi book by Steven Gould. As Liman describes it: "The thing is that you're like, 'Oh my God, what would that movie have been like? But you've got to understand that Nicole Kidman was originally cast as the lead in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and Brad Pitt was originally the lead in Bourne Identity." Wow. I'm sure both of those actors are thrilled that their possible casting is being equated to Eminem -- a guy who has only acted as a version of himself. Anyway, when Hayden entered the picture, Marshall's shot faded, and Christensen got to jump around the world all fancy-like.

Who would you have liked to see: Hayden or Eminem?

Back when I first wrote about the planned Valerie Plame biopic, I said that I expected Nicole Kidman to be an immediate frontrunner to play Plame. And -- whaddya know -- today MTV Movies Blog found out the actress has, indeed, landed the part. Not only that, but they found out from the man directing the film -- none other than Doug Liman. Oh yes. It's on! Last March, Warner Bros. snagged the life rights for Plame and her husband Ambassador Joseph Wilson after "someone" outed Plame as a CIA agent following an op-ed piece in the New York Times her husband wrote in which he attacked the Bush administration. Hmmm ...

Liman admitted that Kidman was supposed to star in Mr. and Mrs. Smith as the latter, and that "we owe a movie together. That's an unrequited thing between me and an actor where I fell in love with them for a role and never get to consummate it." On how he plans to tell the highly-publicized story (remember "Scooter" Libby?), Liman said, "I have a really, really insane take on how to tell it. It's so outrageous. Ultimately, I'd be doing something no one has ever done before. Therefore it's automatically appealing to me. I'm just starting to explore whether [what I have in mind] is even possible to do." There's been no official announcement yet; last we heard the studio was jumping through some hoops in order to get this on the big screen, but it certainly appears as if it's moving along just fine. Doug Liman and Nicole Kidman? Next up, my prediction for Wilson is going to Richard Gere. What do you think about that pairing ... for this story?

You would have thought that if 20th Century Fox was going to go to all the trouble of staging a Jumper press event on top of the Luxor Hotel, then they might have at least included their latest international poster. But they didn't, and now Empire Online has the new poster for Doug Liman's film adaptation of Steven Gould's young adult sci-fi series. Jumper stars Hayden Christensen as David Rice, a young man with the ability to teleport himself. So of course, he catches the attention of a secret society that wants to kill off 'jumpers' everywhere, and he is dragged into one of those eternal battles -- the kind that always seems to be going on in the movies. Rachel Bilson also stars as Christensen's childhood love, and Samuel L. Jackson plays the head baddie.

The first poster for the film was definitely a little more 'kid friendly' but now it looks like they are definitely pushing the action angle again. Some of the more obvious tricks include name dropping The Bourne Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Smith. They have also thrown a leather coat into the mix, and suddenly Christensen has morphed into Neo -- and it's not like I'm the only one who has noticed this. Since I haven't read the original novels or obviously seen the movie yet, I'll have to reserve judgment on what Liman has planned. However, it always makes me a little nervous when it seems like the people who made the movie aren't even sure what the film is supposed to be. Jumper hits theaters on February 14th, 2008.

It's a sci-fi action flick starring Hayden Christensen, and it's called Jumper. Sound like something you'd want to see? Eh, maybe. But if I went on to explain that the flick comes from the director of Go, The Bourne Identity and Mr. & Mrs. Smith ... and all of a sudden the movie sounds just a little more intriguing. (To me, anyway. I'm a Doug Liman fan.) Based on the novel by Steven Gould -- and adapted for the screen by the eclectic team of David S. Goyer, Simon Kinberg and Jim Uhls -- Jumper is about a young adult who has the power of teleportation. Which leads to all sorts of espionage mayhem and chases and such.

Co-starring alongside the former Anakin Skywalker are Diane Lane, Jamie Bell, Rachel Bilson, Tom Hulce, Michael Rooker and Samuel L. Jackson in a wig that looks like white astroturf. Fox presently has Jumper scheduled for that coveted February 15 release date, but if you'd like to click through the newly-updated official site, please do so right here. The brand-new trailer is also included, so stop back and share your thoughts. I hate to sound so negative, but I'm getting a distinct Operation: Stormbreaker vibe on this flick. Either way, the teleporting stuff looks really cool.

Now that The Bourne Ultimatum has broken box office records, I have to say again that I like Doug Liman's Bourne Identity -- the first of the trilogy -- best. Still, I don't mind that he left the franchise in the hands of Paul Greengrass, because it allowed him to make the brilliant Mr. & Mrs. Smith and the upcoming Jumper, which I'm really looking forward to. I've loved everything directed by Liman since Go (yeah, Swingers was fine but nothing great), and I hope Jumper continues the streak. Based on a series of young adult novels by Steven Gould, is a sci-fi adventure thriller about a teenage jumper -- or someone with the power to teleport -- in search of his mother's killer while also being tracked by the NSA. It has a script from David S. Goyer (Batman Begins), Simon Kinberg (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) and Jim Uhls (Fight Club), and a great cast that includes Samuel L. Jackson, Diane Lane, Jamie Bell (Billy Elliot) , Rachel Bilson (The O.C.), Tom Hulce (Amadeus), Michael Rooker (Slither) and Hayden 'Anakin Skywalker' Christensen. The movie now also has a website.

The thing I love best about the Jumper site is that it's easy to navigate. It's one of these websites that pans through a location (here someone's room/office) where certain objects can be clicked on to reveal things like a synopsis, a cast, etc. But for those of us who are impatient or have slow computers, or just simply aren't good at finding every last hidden link, there's a menu at the top of the screen that gives us pretty much the same stuff the link-objects do. Well, it doesn't include the site's clock links, which go to a site that gives us the exact time in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, St. Petersburg (Florida), Tokyo and ... Tokyo (because the New York one also accidentally links there, too). I'm surprised that Rome isn't one of those provided, since the city features prominently in the movie. The in-site links include a back story about jumpers and Paladins, who hunt and kill jumpers. There's also a photo gallery, a wallpaper download and a character guide. One of the link-objects, a group of video cassettes, don't really give us anything special, so I'm guess that's where the trailer will appear once it is available. I guess the site isn't too amazing, but it's given me some more background, and I'm now even more interested in seeing the movie. Jumper hits theaters on February 18, 2008.