RandRavich Tagged Articles at Cinematical

You might have caught the news last year in one of our quick write-ups -- Warner Brothers and Leonardo DiCaprio's production company had grabbed Twilight Zone to stretch into a feature-length movie. It's taken a year, but they've finally got a writer on-board. Variety reports that Rand Ravich, the pen behind The Astronaut's Wife and NBC's Life, will write a script for the adaptation. This won't be an episodic tale, like Twilight Zone: The Movie was all those years ago. How it will turn out, however, is anyone's guess.

The show certainly covered enough themes that this could make for a wonderful film if it's done well. Fantasy, horror, science fiction... It's got all the tropes that put the bodies in the seats. Trying to steer clear of the '80s film, however, I would imagine that this would be a fresh story, and not simply the remake of episodes. So, it'll all come down to how well it's done, and whether it can live up to Rod Serling's genius.

The fan in me, who always chose the Twilight Zone marathon over Rockin Eve New Years' plans, is sitting on the fence. The possibility is there, but the reality is still so far away. Could anything compare to "The Lonely," "The Eye of the Beholder," "The Obsolete Man," or any of the other excellent episodes, not to mention the first movie?

With tales of Grand Theft Auto IV breaking sales records, and cartoon Russian Mob bosses plastered on billboards everywhere you look, it is the perfect time to give the Bratva more screen time (and it's probably about time we gave the Italians a break). The Hollywood Reporter announced that Morgan Creek, in partnership with Universal, have purchased Rand Ravich's Russian mob script, Gregory Burns. Ravich's script centers on an undercover cop from Arizona who re-locates to L.A. to take down a Russian crime family.

Ravich has a mixed bag of credits to his name, including video games (Crime Lords), TV (Life), and feature films. His last feature was the sci-fi ode to Rosemary's Baby, The Astronaut's Wife. Sure, Wife might have been bad, but it was definitely a step up from his other foray into screenwriting.

According to THR, Burns has been floating around the studio for a long time and has been at the top of many a studio exec's wish list. After a series of false starts, the profitable indie studio has finally put the film into production. There is no word on casting yet, but if Morgan Creek is half as eager as they appear to get this film into the can, it shouldn't take long.