PeterMedak Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Normally, the thought of an erotic thriller would make me roll my eyes. It's been done -- again and again. However, this one might have something going for it -- or at least enough to keep an eye on it for the next while. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Lionsgate has grabbed Peter Medak to direct an upcoming erotic thriller called Addicted. Now Medak has been all over the place as a director. The same guy who directed Zorro, the Gay Blade with George Hamilton (something too priceless to be fake) is the one who directed one of my favorite films -- Gary Oldman's Romeo is Bleeding. Beyond that, he's done a ton of television from Faerie Tale Theatre to House M.D.

Addicted is based on a novel by Zane -- not Billy Zane, just "Zane." It's about an African-American professional named Zoe whose personal and professional life is in turmoil because she's got an obsessive addition to sex. Zoe finds a female therapist and tries to work through her story -- one that includes sexual forays with an artist and another with a violent, destructive man. On the path to destruction, she tries to uncover the source for her dysfunction, which leads to "a climax that can threaten her sanity, her marriage...and her life." So basically, it sounds like Bliss with more dysfunction and lots more cheating. Christina Welsh adapted the novel, which will go into production this fall in Atlanta. So far, there is no cast attached -- any ideas? I'm going to throw out a more obscure name -- Gloria Reuben, who previously worked with Medak on the Anne Rice adaptation Feast of All Saints.

According to Production Weekly, the great Alan Rickman will star alongside Kristin Scott Thomas in a screen adaptation of Piers Paul Read's psychological drama, The Villa Golitsyn. The novel sounds incredibly complex and warped, which is just the sort of thing you might expect from director Peter Medak on his best days (The Krays being the shining example of those times). Apparently Rickman's character, Willy Ludley (Yikes. Is any man on earth less fitted to the name "Willy" than Rickman?) is drinking himself to death with his lovely wife (Priscilla, played by Thomas) by his side. He also might be some sort of war criminal, which is what old pal Simon (not yet cast) has come to find out. The three are joint in the Ludleys' French villa by an assortment of other characters, "and as events lead to a startling and incredible revelation, there is nothing that any of them can do to avert the awaiting tragedy." Great, yet another book I'm going to buy because of this job.

The movie will have a two-month shoot this summer, starting in June, and will hopefully show up in theaters on this side of the ocean sometime in early 2007.