alicia keyes Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I have to tread ever-so-carefully on anything about Y: The Last Man because I'm so behind (I know, I know, but it was a really long series and trades are expensive). But to all of you who finished Brian K. Vaughan's series, UGO's interview with D.J. Caruso may wind you up.

According to Caruso, the script for the first film has been turned in to Warner Bros (which Vaughan collaborated with them on), and they're waiting for the green light. They're hoping to start shooting as early as winter of 2009, and the studio is aiming for a release date of late 2010. And, yes, they're targeting more than one film -- Caruso hopes it will be one of three, with the first movie ending when Yorick and his monkey, Ampersand, meet Dr Mann and are separated. (Yes! Dr. Mann will be in it! As will 711, though neither have any actors associated with them yet)

As for casting, they still want Shia LaBeouf to play the title role of Yorick (the only surviving male mammal on the planet earth). "I just think Shia would bring such a fun sort of humor to it. And at the same time, keep Yorick sort of grounded and real with the action sequences and all the other stuff," says Caruso.

And what of 355? Is Alicia Keyes playing her? Not yet. Caruso adds, "She's definitely someone to consider. I thought she did a really cool job in [Smoking Aces] ... I'd love to have sort of a (Robert) DeNiro/(Charles) Grodin relationship between 355 and (Yorick). Kind of a Midnight Run relationship ...I think Alicia's a great girl and everything but I have to make sure that she can handle the acting part of it."

So, readers, think they're on the right track? The script sounds promising, but I'm still not sold on LaBeouf. Who would be your ideal cast for this?

The Secret Life of Bees, adapted and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood from the best-selling book by Sue Monk Kidd, weaves racism and the civil rights movement around the story of Lily (Dakota Fanning), a young white girl taken in by three African-American sisters when she runs away from her controlling, emotionless father. It's a role that's in some ways reminiscent of the character Fanning played in Hounddog, a film that was critically panned and rather controversial for having a scene in which Fanning's character was raped.

This time around, there's no such awkward controversy; The Secret Life of Bees is a sweet, mostly charming coming-of-age tale that, while it doesn't particularly break any new ground with regards to the filmmaking, does an able enough job of adapting a bestselling book of the "women's bookclub" variety for the screen. Here's the basic story: Lily is haunted by the death of her mother; now, on the eve of her fourteenth birthday, she's had enough of her father, T-Ray (Paul Bettany), and starts to fight back against him.

When their maid, Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson), is accosted by a pack of angry white men on the way to registering to vote -- and ends up arrested herself for her trouble -- Lily decides that it's time for both her and Rosaleen to escape. She has a vague idea about where to go -- Tiburon, South Carolina -- based only on the name of a town written on one of the few possessions she has of her mother's, and a label from a honey jar.