Jeff Nathanson Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Earlier this year, Summit decided that they needed another franchise, one that would cater to those who don't particularly dig sparkly vampires. Their answer was Harry Houdini, and they optioned a controversial biography with an eye to making him an Indiana Jones type. If you were thinking "That's a pretty weird idea, I bet it'll never happen," it's become a little more solid today. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Summit has hired Jeff Nathanson to adapt and direct William Kalush and Larry Sloman's biography, The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero.

Kalush and Sloman's book claims that Houdini was an English spy, and was once offered an position at Tsar Nicholas II's court. (This means the movie will have him fighting Rasputin.) They also try to stir up a conspiracy theory around his unfortunate death, suggesting that he was murdered by the charlatans he enjoyed debunking. Summit has the idea of adding lots of action, and turning him into something akin to Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes.

Remember that ginormous project called 39 Clues that was announced awhile back -- a worldwide mystery to span books, interactive games, trading cards and a movie deal, courtesy of Steven Spielberg? The first book in the series, The Maze of Bones, hits shelves all over the world next Tuesday, the same day as its interactive online game. Will it spark an obsession along the lines of Twilight or Harry Potter? Time will tell.

Steven Spielberg has confidence in it, though. Acccording to Variety, he's hired his old pal Jeff Nathanson to pen the script, marking their fourth collaboration together. They paired up previously on The Terminal, Catch Me If You Can, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Spielberg is still eying Clues' director's chair, and it will be interesting to see where this can fit into his busy schedule, where Tintin and Lincoln were taking precedence. Does he want this worldwide money hunt (the prize for solving the project's mystery is $10,000) to be over before the movie, or will the bloom be off the rose by then? What if the whole multiplatform concept fails spectacularly? Are the books still filmable? The ambition of 39 Clues leaves me doubting whether it can deliver -- but I can hardly pretend to have better judgment than Spielberg. At any rate, I'll be watching the book pages with interest to see what audiences make of The Maze of Bones -- if anyone out there buys it, give us the scoop!

Every great music group deserves its own biopic, and Milli Vanilli is no exception. Don't laugh, and don't try to deny you liked "Blame it on the Rain" and "Girl You Know It's True" before the duo was infamously outted as being fakes. I have no problem admitting to still owning the cassette and listening to it for novelty effect every so often. But if you somehow lost your copy, you may look forward to a possible soundtrack to the new film about the group coming soon from Universal.

Jeff Nathanson, who previously wrote about a famous fraud for Catch Me If You Can, is working with Fabrice Morvan and the estate of Rob Pilatus in order to script the Milli Vanilli story from their point of view. He is also set to direct the movie. He has his work cut out for him, as it will be difficult to get audiences to accept the duo as a tragic pair and not the joke they still are thought of as. Especially out of respect to Pilatus, who committed suicide in 1998, the tale will have to be told as a serious drama. If it need mock anything, it would do fine to ridicule the pop music industry. But it shouldn't go so far as to treat the guys like victims.

It is hard to tell if Nathanson will pull it off, even with regular Spielberg producer Kathleen Kennedy overseeing things. Nathanson's directorial debut, The Last Shot, wasn't much of a success with critics or audiences, and even if he actually makes a great film about Milli Vanilli, the chances of it appealing to moviegoers might be probably pretty slim. Not everyone is as nostalgic as I am.

Chris Tucker was really freakin' hilarious in the original Friday. I sure think so, anyway. I open this piece with that admission because, well, that flick was the last time I ever actively enjoyed a Chris Tucker performance. His subsequent work (in The Fifth Element, Money Talks and both Rush Hour movies) left me irritated, unamused and suffering from a semi-large migraine. So when the guy turned down a $20 million paycheck for Rush Hour 3 (despite the fact that he hadn't worked since 2001's Rush Hour 2), I pretty much gave up on the Eddie Murphy clone and pointed my attentions elsewhere.

But when New Line ponied up a full $25 million for Tucker to star with Jackie Chan in Brett Ratner's second sequel, I knew I was in trouble. Chris Tucker was coming back, and I'd have no choice but to deal with the shrill-voiced shrieker. Now get this: According to The New York Post, Mr. Tucker has taken to (allegedly) locking himself in his trailer while demanding last-minute script changes. Yes, a man earning $25 million for a half-year's work is (allegedly) pouting in his trailer while screenwriter Jeff Nathanson churns out extra pages. As if something like Rush Hour 3 actually needs a screenplay. No offense to Mr. Nathanson (who also penned Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal and the underrated The Last Shot), but a flick like this doesn't even require a screenwriter -- just a few pre-planned action scenes and a big platform for Tucker to do his patented high-pitch squeal routine. Rush Hour 3 hits screens on August 10, and if it's anything like the first two.....I'll hate it.

So after years of waiting, wondering and whining, now we get the word from George Lucas himself. The as-yet-untitled Indiana Jones 4 will begin shooting next year. Seems that Lucas and Steven Spielberg have finally signed off on a screenplay they like, and Paramount has already circled May 2008 for the release date. Obviously Harrison Ford will be returning to play the globe-trotting troublemaker, most likely for one last hurrah ... but boy it'll be fun, I bet.

That's all the real news we've gotten so far, but stop by ComingSoon.net to see their full report.

For those who've been living exclusively in the arthouses for the past twenty years, Indiana Jones is the swaggering hero found in three Steven Spielberg films: Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). All three flicks represent a whole lot of old-fashioned adventure-time fun, but it's the original that still holds up as maybe one of the best movies ever made. (It just never gets old. Trust me.)

Long in development, the fourth chapter has been semi-promised for ages, and the lengthy screenwriting process has involved the likes of Tom Stoppard, M. Night Shyamalan, Chris Columbus, Frank Darabont, Jeff Nathanson and David Koepp -- although I bet there were even more than that. Rumors have been running rampant about the project for years (Kevin Costner as Indy's brother!?!) but just last week Lucas said "It's going to be the best one yet."

Yeah, we'll see about that.

Picture this: Indiana Jones races through the Outback chasing a bad guy while riding atop a kangaroo! Can you see it? Okay, maybe I'm taking it a bit too far, but producer Frank Marshall told Australia's Herald Sun that filming Indiana Jones 4 in the land down under is a definite possibility. Since it's his job to get this damn picture made already, if he can do it better and for less money in Australia, then you bet your ass they'll be shooting there.

Indy in the outback? Could be interesting. Marshall also alluded to a timeline for the story. He said that the fourth installment will take place approximately a decade after Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, making it about 1948-50. As far as when the actual film will begin production, it appears as if everyone is now in agreement with the screenplay after David Koepp turned in a polished draft of Jeff Nathanson's script. So that's good, right? However, we still need to wait for Steven Spielberg to return from his one-year sabbatical before the ball can really get rolling. Well, I guess we've got casting, title and plot rumors to keep us busy until then. Damn you Spielberg - stop snoozing and go make us a movie!

Steven Spielberg spoke to Fox News columnist Roger Friedman last night at the Academy Governor's Ball and the director claimed that he's taking a year off. His film, Munich, was so non-existent at the Oscars, if it weren't for the random shots of Spielberg, I would have forgotten all about it. What was it called again?

Anyway, while this news obviously means we are waiting that much longer for Indy 4, it does not mean there won't be a sequel. According to Spielberg, he is still directing the film...sometime before he dies. Phew. Also, it appears as if Jeff Nathanson, who wrote the latest draft of Indy 4, has been taken out of the game for reliever David Koepp. Spielberg says, "I have David Koepp in it now, and he's my closer." Well, if the story is anything like Koepp's version of War of the Worlds, then it appears as if this one may slip away from us in the bottom of the ninth.