Gurinder Chadha Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Over the last eight years, British-Asian filmmaker Gurinder Chadha has brought us a pretty varied selection of films. She tackled Thanksgiving with What's Cooking?, soccer and interracial relationships with Bend it Like Beckham, musical Bollywood with Bride & Prejudice, and then a little Paris and Snogging. But now, she's taking it all a step further. Variety reports that the director is gearing up to lay on the frights with a new film called It's a Wonderful Afterlife.

Said to be a cross between My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Shaun of the Dead, the film focuses on "a British-Asian mother whose obsession to marry off her daughter comically leads to serial murder." Is the girl gay, leading mom to axe her female lovers? Is mom too picky and killing off mediocre suitors? Who knows?! What we do know is that Chadha says it will be like "classic Ealing comedies" with gore that is "easy on the eye." I imagine we could have something heavenly in the mix as well, if you consider the title.

I dig it, from eyeballs to entrails, and can't wait to see a notable woman enter the horror fold behind the camera when production begins in February. (At the very least, it's a HUGE step up from Dallas!) What say you?

The last we heard about Gurinder Chadha, she was still set to direct the movie adaptation of the TV show Dallas, despite losing most of the cast. Dallas does seem like an odd fit for the woman who directed two popular movies with a young-adult cast: Bend It Like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice. Now Chadha is negotiating to direct a new movie about teenagers: an adaptation of the book Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging. The bestseller was written by Louise Rennison, and is written like a teenage girl's diary. It's a British book, in case you couldn't tell from the word "snogging" in the title -- the Brit equivalent of making out -- and sounds like the young-adult equivalent of Bridget Jones's Diary (if you've read it, let me know if I'm right).

Chadha and Paul Mayada Berges, who both worked on the Bend It Like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice scripts, are adapting the book for the screen. I'm wondering if the title will remain the same, since British slang may not seem to appeal to American audiences. Nickelodeon Movies and Paramount Pictures International (both part of Viacom) are partnering on the film, with Lynda Obst producing. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging is currently scheduled to start shooting on April 15, which is a pretty fast turnaround for a deal being negotiated now; however, perhaps the tight deadlines will allow Chadha to work on this movie while waiting to see what happens to Dallas.

Of all the actors who are regularly mentioned on Cinematical, Johnny Depp certainly seems to be the most popular. So, I am glad to be able to give the readers another update on Depp's passion project, Shantaram, which has just acquired a new director. Indian auteur Mira Nair has signed on to the film, which is based on Gregory David Roberts' mostly autobiographical novel. Shooting is now slated to begin later this year, once Depp is done with Sweeney Todd.

It has been awhile since we last heard about this film -- its formerly attached director, Peter Weir, dropped out last summer. But there were probably few worries that Depp would run out of projects to work on. Aside from Sweeney, he's also slated for The Rum Diary and maybe Rex Mundi. Plus, his production company has a number of adaptations he could star in. Still, Shantaram is the film that Depp paid $2 million for rights to, so he was probably most interested in getting it off and running again.

Oh boy, odds and ends!

•  Remember what I said Fox acting like Dallas was going to get right back on the horse, despite losing its director and being quietly removed from their release schedule? Well, here's the proof: they're in the final stages of roping Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha into taking over the production.

• No one is going to believe this, but Ron Shelton has sold a spec script about sports. I know, I know - it's shocking. I should have asked if you were sitting down, sorry. This one is called Our Lady of the Ballpark, and is about "a slumping, egotistical New York Yankees pitcher who tries to resurrect his career in the comically corrupt Mexican Baseball League." Surely Kevin Costner's phone is already ringing.
  

• Hey, readers with kids! You know that book, Punk Farm, that the little ones are all into? The one about "a group of farm animals who have one goal in mind -- to become an underground rock band," and end up performing at -- wait for it -- Livestock? Well, you can look forward to it staying in your life for a long, long time, because Dreamworks is makin' the movie! (Are those tears of joy or sorrow? It's hard to tell from here.) The company has already hired one of Ice Age: The Meltdown's myriad writers to pen the screenplay, but there's no word yet on who will direct.