You might remember that back in October, a new project started to gear up called The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. Based on Arthur Miller offspring Rebecca Miller's upcoming novel (that she adapted and will direct), the pic will focus on "a dutiful wife whose husband falls for a younger woman, freeing her to explore her buried sensuality and leading to a very quiet nervous breakdown."

I was ouching just at the thought of sensual exploration leading to a nervous breakdown, but now I have two reasons: along with the added cast just posted by The Hollywood Reporter, it's been confirmed that Robin Wright Penn is the wife, and Winona Ryder is the younger woman. For frak's sake, there's only a handful of years between the two women. Are they planning to age Wright Penn, or do they just think she looks that much older?

Anyway, adding to the tasty cast is Keanu Reeves, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Alan Arkin, and Monica Bellucci. Arkin will, of course, play the husband who leaves Wright Penn in the dust, and Bellucci will play his first wife -- so he's a dude who loves those May-December romances. Gyllenhaal will get the honor of appearing in flashbacks as Pippa Lee's "diet pill-addicted mother." Julianne Moore is some "lesbian novelist." And finally, Reeves gets to explore Wright Penn's sexuality. Now it all makes sense -- fool around with Keanu and you'll go crazy!

Once everyone finishes up their current gigs, production will kick into gear this April in Connecticut.

Perhaps the oddest bit of Star Trek XI casting has been unveiled today, courtesy of Variety, and it has to do with Winona Ryder (of all people) landing the role of Spock's (Zachary Quinto) mom, Amanda Grayson. Freaky. I wonder if they'll be at least one "Dude, Spock, your mom is, like, totally hot!" The way the story goes is Grayson was a schoolteacher on Earth when she married a Vulcan diplomat named Sarek, and then later gave birth to Spock. So yeah, Ryder will just be playing some chick from earth -- how much fun is that? Still, it's a very odd role for her -- one I'm sure isn't very large -- considering the gal hasn't starred in a major commercial flick since ... 2002's S1m0ne? Or how about 2002's Mr. Deeds? But she did throw on the duds for Alien: Resurrection, so we know the sci-fi is in her blood, somewhere.

In related Star Trek XI news, the first spy photos from the set have leaked online. Ah, I always love it when the first spy photos for a major film hit the net -- especially when it's a Paramount film, because Paramount goes to such great lengths to hide stuff from everyone. Case in point: IESB managed to get a hold of these photos of extras shooting out of some sort of warehouse. But since the studio knows spies are everywhere, they're making all of the actors and extras dress in long black trenchcoats ... with hoods. So when you see them, all packed together, they look like some bizarre cult heading off to sacrifice a virgin or ... William Shatner. One of the actresses on set looks just like House's Jennifer Morrison, and IESB claims she might be playing Janice Rand (a role that was rumored to be going to Rachel Nichols). Personally, all this makes my head spin -- I'm still trying to get over Ryder's casting. Winona Friggin' Ryder. As Spock's mom! Do you dig it?

I'm not sure if this is true, but I've heard some movie geeks out there grew up crushing on Winona Ryder. I know I wasn't the only one. Actually, I know there were thousands of us, if not millions. Now, as a sensitive teen, one of the things I liked about the actress was that she was firm on her decision to keep her clothes on. Of course, as a hormonal teen, this was also one of the things that frustrated me about her. Well, now that it's been about twelve years since I met Ryder while selling her Shine tickets and came to the realization that she was a real person and not someone to obsess over, she is baring some skin. It's still not a lot of skin, and it's only noticeable if a certain gossip blog freeze frames it for us, but Winona Ryder is a bit naked in Sex and Death 101. Now, you might want to chime in and point out that, as MrSkin.com does, Ryder showed a dab of flesh in Autumn and New York (there were rumors of a full nude scene that was cut out), and this isn't that much better. But this is a little different; I would at least consider it more of a nude scene. And if you want to watch it, you better do it quick. The video and the NSFW photo are sure to be taken down soon.

For those who don't know, Sex and Death 101 is the film that reunites Winona Ryder with Heathers screenwriter Daniel Waters, who also directs this time around. It stars Ryder, of course, as a serial killer named Death Nell, who targets sex criminals. Ryder's co-star in the film is Simon Baker (The Devil Wears Prada), who can be seen in the video, as a guy who one day receives a mysterious email detailing all the women he has and will have sex with in his life. Our own Scott Weinberg saw the film at Fantastic Fest and called it Waters' "best work in a very long time," and Ryder's, "best stuff in years." That may not say much to you, knowing their lack of success in recent years, but Scott continued to give the film praise. He wrote, "the movie juggles romantic comedy, dark humor, sex farce and slight slapstick with seldom a misstep, resulting in a surprisingly unpredictable flick that works on a small variety of levels." Sounds interesting. Oh, and don't forget that sex scene; that might interest you, too.

Three of Hollywood's most beautiful and talented actresses -- Winona Ryder, Robin Wright Penn, and Julianne Moore -- are teaming up for a comedy/drama called The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. That title makes it sound like a sitcom doesn't it? According to Variety, the story "centers on a dutiful wife whose husband falls for a younger woman, freeing her to explore her buried sensuality and leading to a very quiet nervous breakdown." Explore her buried sensuality? OK, now this sounds like something you'd see on Cinemax.

Rebecca Miller will direct the film, which will be adapted from her upcoming novel of the same name. The book's release date is listed as October 5th, 2008, and filming is scheduled to start this April. Maybe they're going for a simultaneous release? Miller also wrote and directed The Ballad of Jack and Rose and co-wrote the snoozefest Proof, which starred Gwyneth Paltrow. The Variety article doesn't give many plot specifics, but I'd imagine Ryder plays the younger woman and Moore's the one having the "very quiet nervous breakdown?" And perhaps she "explores her buried sensuality" with Penn? Wishful thinking? Here's hoping Ryder is bringing up the comedy side, I thought she was hilarious in The Ten.

To say that screenwriter Daniel Waters has had an "up and down" career would be a very accurate observation. After penning the cult classic comedy that is Heathers he moved on to The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (ugh) and Hudson Hawk (whoa) before earning a credit on the excellent Batman Returns. Then he co-wrote Demolition Man, vanished for eight years, and made a small comeback with an indie comedy called Happy Campers, the movie that marked his directorial debut. So which Waters would show up in Sex and Death 101? Well, let's just say we're not nearly in Heathers territory, but Waters' latest represents his very best work in a very long time.

The plot is a cleverly simple one: A likable ladies' man receives a list of names -- all the women he's ever slept with! At first it seems like a prank played by one of Roderick's wise-ass buddies, but get this: The list also includes the names of every woman that Roderick Blank (Simon Baker) WILL sleep with! Like, for the rest of his life! Now, imagine if you received an email telling you the name of every sex partner you'll ever have ... precisely what would that DO to your approach to romance? If you meet a nice sweetie -- but she's not on the list -- what would you do?

Adaptations of Bret Easton Ellis' books are like smooth, tasty, cinematic butter. No matter what directorial eye tackles his prose, the unique fire remains, and even improves. First there was Less Than Zero, then came American Psycho, and finally, my favorite, The Rules of Attraction. After drug habits and Huey Lewis-led murder, the stakes were high, and Roger Avary whipped together a music-led dance of destruction. Could anything top that? I'm not sure, but I'm holding out hope that Gregor Jordan makes something great out of The Informers, which Christopher Campbell first posted about in May. Since then, they've started to compile one heck of a cast, and the list just keeps growing.

The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Winona Ryder and Mickey Rourke have joined the eclectic ensemble cast. The film is about seven interconnecting stories in 1980's LA, about a movie executive (Billy Bob Thornton), his wife (Kim Basinger), his mistress, a rock star, a kidnapper, and to strange things up some more, a vampire (Brandon Routh). Ryder is going to be a newscaster who has been dumped by the married producer she's had a long affair with, which I assume means she's Billy Bob's mistress, and Rourke is going to play Peter, a former security guard who wants to kidnap a kid to sell to an LA cult (which should make him the kidnapper). All that's left to fill is the rock star, unless that's being handled by one of the other names on the cast, like John from Cincinnati's Austin Nichols, or Thumbsucker's Lou Taylor Pucci. Production begins in October, so hopefully we'll have more Ellis goodies for you soon.

One of the only cool things about the first AVP: Alien vs. Predator was that Lance Henriksen co-starred. Of course, he didn't play "Bishop", his beloved android character from Aliens (or even Bishop II), but it was still a nice touch to have him in there. That is why it's disappointing to hear that none of the past Alien or Predator actors will be appearing in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. In an interview with the MTV Movies Blog, AVP2 co-directors Colin and Greg Strause revealed that they attempted to cast some surprise guests, but were unfortunately unable to do so. The brothers wouldn't name names, but said that one person sought after was too expensive -- even for a cameo? -- and another "shockingly" blew them off. Funny, because aside from Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Bill Paxton and Ian Holm, I can't imagine many of the Alien series players being too high profile that they couldn't do a fun little throwback appearance. Maybe the Strause Brothers were aiming too high, but surely they could have even made attempts for Charles S. Dutton, Ron Perlman, Veronica Cartwright, Tom Skerritt or even Paul Reiser, not to mention tons of others. And what about Carl Weathers, for the Predator way around? After seeing his recurring role in Arrested Development, I believe he would have been up for such an idea.

The Strause Brothers also discussed with MTV the title, although they didn't even mention the lame "Requiem" part. They only said that Fox is currently not into numbering their sequels and that the pluralization of "Alien" is directly referencing James Cameron's Aliens. Other highlights from the interview (as pointed out by Movieweb) include an acknowledgment that the studio -- not just the Strauses -- thought the first AVP was a disappointment for fans and that the R rating is a response to that (Colin: "I mean, we chest-burst a little kid!"), a discussion of the Alien/Predator hybrid (aka "The Predalien") and a hint that the duo want to do another sequel set in space. MTV Movies Blog has also been sharing some exclusive fight-scene photos from the upcoming sequel (out this Christmas) that are pretty neat.

Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be.
The future's not ours to see...

Almost two decades have ticked by since Heathers quietly slid onto the big screen. The years have been kind to the film, and while it never made a big splash while projected for darkened theaters, it has become a cult legend that few films can even think to touch. Premiering in 1989, Heathers was the perfect, ironic final chapter to the decade of John Hughes, big hair and cheery optimism.

Winona Ryder stars as Veronica Sawyer, a young woman who had forsaken her unpopular friend Betty Finn (note the names) to join a popular triumvirate clique of Heathers – the red Heather Chandler, the green Heather Duke and the yellow Heather McNamara. She's displeased with the actions of her new circle, yet yields to the demands of their red-themed leader – that is, until she becomes mesmerized by the dark clothed, attitude-laden new kid named Jason Dean (Christian Slater).

One night, Veronica heads out with Heather Chandler to a frat party. She gets sick and soon the girls are in a bitter, cursing fight. Veronica finally stands her ground against her bossy friend, and Heather vows: "Monday morning, you're history." As Veronica later stews over the argument in her bedroom, J.D. pops up in the window, helping to turn her rage into old-fashioned revenge. The next morning they head to Heather's house to give her a hangover cure -- J.D. is itching for the fatal, chemical solution, while Veronica just wants Heather to have the same puke-filled embarrassing situation that she suffered.

One of the oddest films in the history of motion pictures got a new DVD release last week, although they must have just run out of the old supply, because this new DVD doesn't contain so much as a trailer in the way of extras. The film I'm talking about is Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael, a low-budget dramedy that Winona Ryder unwisely embarked on right around the same time that she was making Edward Scissorhands and Heathers. The premise of the film -- a fifteen year-old girl in a small town comes to believe that a famous woman who hails from the same town, but left it abruptly fifteen years ago, is her long-lost mother -- isn't what makes it so odd. You could make anything out of that premise. No, the insanity of Roxy is in the details. The film would have us believe, for example, that the title character has made such a craterous impact on humanity in those fifteen years since she left that guided tours are now given of her old house, like as if Abe Lincoln lived there.

And that's just the beginning. The people around town reference Roxy in any conversation, for any purpose, like she's the God of their tribe. They get into fights over 'what Roxy would do.' They amuse themselves with Roxy trivia and busy themselves with preparations for a humongous 'welcome home' ceremony, which Stephen Tobolowsky will emcee and at which Roxy shall deign to actually walk amongst the mortals she left behind. So what's so astounding about Roxy that inspires such mania? She must be a stratospheric movie star, the Marilyn Monroe of her day, right? The first female president? A doctor who cured cancer? Well, no. She's some gal who some singer wrote one song about. And, according to the movie, she somehow got crazy rich off the royalty payments from this song she didn't write -- that's a new one -- and now she lives in a big mansion. We see Roxy from behind at the beginning of the movie -- we don't deserve to see her face -- diving into her mansion's big swimming pool, like something out of a perfume commercial.

There aren't too many movies that necessitate sequels. Unless a movie is part of a pre-proposed series or is an adaptation of a series of books, it should probably be able to stand alone. But a lot of sequels come from movies that are perfect by themselves -- sometimes the sequels compliment nicely; sometimes they are easily ignored; occasionally they actually take away from the previously regarded original.

It isn't often that a movie screams out for a sequel, but I think I've come up with seven that at least whisper a request for one. Two actually have source sequels that they would be adapted from. One has a lot of history to mine material from. Three of them have been discussed at length at different points in time by makers of the original(s). The problem is that none of these sequels is likely to ever grace your DVD player let alone your local theater. For whatever reason, they simply have too much against them in the minds of studio execs. For now, though, we can dream.

1. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe (sequel to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

Even with the incredible cast and the surprisingly faithful-enough script, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was not the epic that I was hoping for. It also wasn't the blockbuster that Disney was hoping for. The filmmakers, Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith (aka Hammer and Tongs) and the necessary actors had signed on for the sequel, to be adapted from Adam's follow-up, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, but it appears to be dead in the water. Despite my few reservations with the first film, I would love to see the sequel, as well as the rest of the series (they could end before The Salmon of Doubt, I guess). I remember being bored with some of the prehistoric Earth sequences in Restaurant, but I think they'd make for great cinema. In any event, I think Martin Freeman and Mos Def were a great duo in the original, and they alone should have been propelled to stardom following its release. Maybe they can appear in something else together.

In the 90's Winona Ryder was at the top of her game, starring in quirky comedies like Edward Scissorhands and period pieces like The Age of Innocence. She rued the real world in Reality Bites and topped it all off by executive producing and starring in Girl, Interrupted. Then came the new century.... In 2001 she was arrested for shoplifting loot at Saks in Beverly Hills. She trucked on with stints in mediocre films like Mr. Deeds and S1m0ne, but continued to slide out of the spotlight. After some time away from the pressures of Hollywood, Ryder now seems to be determined to get back to where she once was, by adding another movie to her growing list of upcoming films.

On the heels of The Ten, Sex and Death 101 and Alpha Numeric, Production Weekly is reporting that Ryder has signed on to play the female lead in the romantic dramadey The Last Word. Written and directed by Geoffrey Haley -- camera operator-turned writer/director -- the film also stars Wes Bentley, who worked with Haley on American Beauty, and Ray Romano. Bentley plays a reclusive writer whose job is to write suicide notes for other people. (How do you score that job?!) Upon the death of one of his "clients," he finds himself in a romance with her sister, played by Ryder. PW has no word on Romano's role, but I'm sure he's an older, bitchy brother or father of one of the pair. The movie starts shooting later this month in Los Angeles. Welcome back, Ms. Ryder.

Chris reported in June on The Ten, a David Wain-penned and directed 10-part spoof of the Biblical Ten Commandments (Yes, it's one story/commandment -- good work!). The potential in the film had him (and yours truly) excited, both because of Wain's past (he was a member of The State and Stella, and co-wrote Wet Hot American Summer, among other things) and the film's packed cast, which at that time included Paul Rudd, Jessica Alba, Amanda Peet, Justin Theroux and Adam Brody.

Depending on how you feel about Wain and this film, it either just got a lot better, or added a load of useless cast members, who will contribute nothing to its spoofy nonsense. Me, I'm in the former camp -- how can the addition of Liev Schreiber to anything fail to make it better? In addition to Schreiber, Winona Ryder, Famke Janssen, Gretchen Mol, Rob Corddry, Ron Silver and Oliver Platt have all come on board. That, my friends, is quite a cast. Granted, many of them will probably appear for 30 seconds in robe and beard, carrying a tablet, but still.

The film is currently filming in New York and Mexico; it'll come out some time in 2007.

Why is everyone calling Sex and Death 101 "the return of the guy who wrote Heathers," rather than "the return of the guy who wrote Hudson Hawk?"* Come on, people -- let's give Daniel Waters his due! Anyway, back in March we told you about the movie, which revolves around a man receiving "a mysterious e-mail containing the names of every woman he has had sex with and, eerily, every woman he will have sex with in the future." So there, you see, we have the "sex" part of the title -- no idea where the "death" comes in, though. (Personally, since the man is being played by Simon Baker, I'm fervently hoping someone else bites it.)

Since the movie went into production without a female lead, it's a good thing that Waters finally worked his Heathers connections to bring Winona Ryder on-board. Supposedly, she was his one and only target for the role -- Waters says he wrote it her in mind. (Do you think he really did, though? I mean, how often do people pull that line out in an effort to flatter stars into appearing in their movies? "Denzel -- I wrote the part for you! Really! You can totally play fat, old, and white.") Also in the film are Dash Mihok and Boston Legal's Julie Bowen; release is planned for some time next year.

*There is no sarcasm whatsoever in this statement. I'm going to be buried with a Hudson Hawk DVD.

Milla Jovovich blames her propensity for being cast in sci-fi flicks on the fact that she has an odd name.  The Fifth Element star claims that American directors get so confused by her foreign name that they automatically typecast her as either an alien or a superhero, (um, hello, Ultraviolet is like totally a vampire).  I suspect Milla's pigeonhole issues may have something to do with the fact that she continues to accept starring roles in the Resident Evil Franchise.   And really, are we now counting Joan of Arc as a superhero?  She didn't exactly ascend from the burning stake with the power to shoot fireballs from her wrists. 

Not six days old and already lil' Shiloh has her own website.  Angelina Jolie snapped up shilohnouveljoliepitt.com before Wilmer Valderrama some deranged pervert could do something unsavory with her web namesake.   And not a minute too soon!  Tom and Katie didn't move fast enough and now there is a giant clock at www.suricruise.com counting down the seconds until 'lil Suri becomes "of age".  Ew. 

 

This, my friends, is more like it. Finally, we have a proper trailer for Richard Linklater's fanboy dream,  A Scanner Darkly. After forcing us to survive for months on an interesting-looking but totally uninformative teaser, Warner Independent Pictures has unleashed something with a little meat on its bones (presumably this is the trailer that the Amp'd Mobile kids got last week).

Confession time: I have major, major issues with Linklater and find it almost impossible to take Keanu Reeves or Winona Ryder seriously. And yet, I dig this trailer - that must mean it's good, right? The look is still fascinating, and for someone who hasn't read the source novel, the story is as well. The best thing about the trailer, though, is Robert Downey Jr. It's interesting how the visual style forces you to focus more on how familiar the voices of these people are - there's a wonderful, weird gravity to Downey's that somehow gives everything he says a lot more layers that it might actually deserve. And, though Reeves' delivery on his "The two hemisphere's of my brain...are competing?" line is a little too "I know kung-fu" for my tastes, even that doesn't destroy the surreal atmosphere that the trailer manages to conjure up.

Only, what, five more months until it comes out?

[via Filmmaker Magazine]