Michael Ross Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Colombia's dangerous drug cartels are skeee-rewed! The Hollywood Reporter posts that Clive Owen is teaming up with Mark Cuban and heading to Colombia to take on drug cartels in Cartagena.

Turistas scribe Michael Ross is attached to write the screenplay, which focuses on an undercover agent who is embroiled in "a complex plot and must elude drug dealers and international agents if he hopes to survive." Okay, so maybe the cartels aren't screwed if Owen is running from them, but I don't think Clive will have any problem surviving these guys. If he does, they just have to give him a bunch of carrots and a baby to watch out for.

I'm sure this will be entertaining, but it's about time that Mr. Owen got that epic role -- the Indy/McClane/etc sort of blockbuster that gives him an iconic figure that's all his. He's certainly earned it by now. And no, I don't count Sin City. He's a great Dwight, he's only one of many black and white guys and gals in that one.

Iceland has a more robust film industry than you might expect from a small island nation of only 320,000 people, but still, it ain't exactly Hollywood. So when an Icelandic film gains worldwide attention, it's newsworthy.

Such is the case with Jar City, an excellent mystery thriller that Cinematical's Kim Voynar raved about last year at Telluride. It's the highest-grossing film in the country's history, from one of its most successful (and prolific directors), and it won a top prize at the 2007 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

And now it gets the ultimate honor: an American remake! (There may have been sarcasm in the word "honor.") According to The Hollywood Reporter, Overture Films has bought the remake rights and will employ the original writer/director, Baltasar Kormákur, as a producer. No word yet on who will direct the U.S. version, but a writer has been attached: Michael Ross, who wrote Turistas and who THR says is also penning the Near Dark remake.

The Icelandic setting will be changed, of course, to its logical American counterpart: Louisiana. No, really. I'm curious to see how the story transfers, since some of its details relate to the insularity of those small Icelandic communities. Also, I loved that the detective in the original was a total badass despite looking like a nerdy college professor. (That's him in the picture.) I hope they keep that element for the remake. William H. Macy would be perfect.

As far as I can determine, this is the first time an Icelandic film has officially gotten an American remake. If anyone knows differently, let me know. Otherwise, I'm marking this as a historic first for our friends in the North Atlantic.

Strays seems like one of those concepts that sounds very cool on paper but winds up being little more than a depressingly ordinary zombie movie (think Resident Evil). The Hollywood Reporter summary: "a group of young consultants on a business trip to Russia mysteriously wake up in an abandoned and radioactive city and fight to survive the deadly obstacles in between them and safety." The project, written by Michael Ross (the almost-decent Turistas), is described as an "eco action thriller," though who knows what that actually means. It sounds more like a "nuclear apocalypse action thriller."

Summit Entertainment, the studio developing Strays, is trying to sign Louis Leterrier to direct the film. Since the Frenchman is a hot commodity after this weekend's The Incredible Hulk opened big -- and since up until now he was, as far as we know, unattached as far as his next project -- this probably means that Summit is serious about getting Strays to the screen. Works for me, even if I'll always know Leterrier as "the guy who was hired to make the Hulk dumber." (Bitter? Me?) As one of the few folks around who enjoyed The Happening at least somewhat, I'm in an eco thriller mood.