ShaneSalerno Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci Have 'License to Steal'
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Deals », Paramount », Scripts », DIY/Filmmaking », Newsstand »
Oh, the obvious jokes you can make about Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci being involved with a project called License to Steal. Considering they penned both of Michael Bay's robot-gasm installments, and Star Trek, plus produced The Proposal, one could say that this was their Hollywood life story. But it's not. According to Variety, License to Steal is actually based on Marc Weingarten's Salon.com article The Learjeat Repo Man, which examines world of repo men. Not just any repo men that come after your flatscreen or your Prius, but the "big game" hunter who steal / repossess private jets, yachts, helicopters, and whatever else it is rich, corrupt people own. For the dangers they face (and oh, do they face dangers) they receive a cut of the overall value.
The script is being penned by Shane Salerno, Kurtzman and Orci are its executive producers. The project was shopped around by WME to three major studios, all with directors lined up to bid, and Salerno pitching it each and every time. McG took the project to Warner Bros., Timur Bekmambetov took it to Universal, and Bryan Singer took it to Sony. But Paramount snapped it up before anyone else had a chance to bid, and without a director attached. But Paramount has the dynamic duo pulling the strings, so they'll undoubtedly pull some major name in to tell the story they describe as "a smart, lighthearted action movie ... with a lot of unexpected plot twists." As you wait for the talent to hook themselves up, you can read the Salon piece, and dream of success and adventure ... either those enjoyed by Weingarten's repo men, or that of Kurtzman and Orci.
(Oversight! Thanks to ScreenRant for the photo up there! -- Weinberg)
Hey, Remember MEG?
Filed under: Action », Horror », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Thrillers », New Line », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
Several years back I read a book called MEG by Steve Alten. It's about a massive prehistoric shark who ascends from the deepest depths of the Marianas Trench and caused all sorts of high-end mayhem. (Picture a shark about the size of a blimp.) I distinctly remember thinking as I read the novel: Wow, it'd be really expensive, but darn this could make for a pretty slick movie! And then Disney bought the movie rights, which they held on to for a while before New Line came in and picked the property up "in turnaround." Since then we've learned that Jan De Bont has been signed to direct the big shark adventure and that action veteran Shane Salerno would be on adaptation detail ... so where's the production date? Where are all the casting reports?
Well, according to Variety, New Line might be just a little bit stingy with the purse-strings these days, what with big projects like Rush Hour 3 and The Golden Compass demanding so many resources -- but De Bont is still confident that MEG will see the inside of a multiplex, most likely sometime in 2008. Obviously it's the mega-pricey FX work that's causing MEG to swim extra slowly -- or for all we know New Line might just decide to ashcan the whole darn thing.
But I really hope not. The world deserves a movie in which a blimp-sized monster shark who chows down on yachts and helicopters. Well, I deserve one anyway.
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
Directors We Love: Jim Jarmusch
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
_thumbnail.jpg)
