andrew kevin walker Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Se7en... I'll never forget the first time I watched it, nestled with friends into the old seats at Gettysburg's Majestic Theater, all of us enamored, shocked, chilled, and buzzed on the thrill of the film IMDb ranks as #27 out of the Top 250 Films. It's one of those movies that elicits glazed eyes of fandom at its mention. But could the magic be brought to life again?

The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision Blog reports that Se7en alums David Fincher, Andrew Kevin Walker, and Michael De Luca are re-teaming to make a new adaptation of Max Ehrlich's The Reincarnation of Peter Proud for Columbia Pictures. Fincher is, of course, attached to direct, and Walker will pen the script. (The book was originally adapted by Ehrlich himself for the film back in 1975.) The story focuses on a college prof who becomes plagued by recurring dreams and nightmares that he realizes are memories of a past life. With the help of his girlfriend, he tries to find the source of the visions and "discovers a woman and her grown-up daughter who are keys to his past life." The original story got in some hot water for a subplot rife with incest, but methinks that will be diluted or deleted this time around as everything gets updated.

With all of this in place, the only blocks left are the cast. It might seem like an easy pick, but I'd love to see Kevin Kline bite into this. Yes, he's the go-to guy for college professors, but he's also severely talented and severely under-utilized. A role like this could rip him out of the crap. But if the choice was yours, who would you like to see crack the past? Or are you just recoiling at word of another remake?

John Landis may or may not belong in "director jail," as Ryan Stewart wrote about yesterday, but he won't be directing the upcoming big-budget remake The Wolf Man. Instead, Variety is reporting that Joe Johnston has been signed by Universal Pictures to fill the director's chair recently vacated by Mark Romanek due to "creative differences."

Johnston's directorial career began nearly 20 years ago with the earnestly entertaining Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and The Rocketeer. He got bogged down with The Pagemaster and Jumanji before delivering the appealing drama October Sky, my fave of his films. He returned to big budget studio projects with Jurassic Park III and Hidalgo.

Is he the right director for The Wolf Man? Based on a script by Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven), the new film is set to star Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt. Reportedly, Romanek worked for about a year on the film, and del Toro has long been attached to star, but the two producers that Variety says were "integral in keeping the project on track" -- Scott Stuber and Mary Parent -- have a mixed record.

Ever since her star-making role as Meryl Streep's proudly ambitious assistant in The Devil Wears Prada, Emily Blunt has been very much in demand for both big studio and smaller independent pictures. Currently she's a Sundance darling, showcasing her work in two films playing at the festival: Sunshine Cleaning, in which she's teamed with Amy Adams as sisters who become crime scene cleaners, and The Great Buck Howard, in which she plays "a fiery publicist hired to stage the comeback of a lifetime," according to the program notes.

Now it looks like she's set to play the gal pal of a rather hirsute fellow. Back in December, Scott Weinberg first passed on a report that Ms. Blunt had been (almost) hired to play Benicio del Toro's girlfriend in Mark Romanek's version of The Wolf Man, based on a script by Andrew Kevin Walker (Seven). MTV News spoke to her at Sundance, and she confirmed on Saturday that she has been cast and will begin filming in February.

I very much agree with Scott's description of Ms. Blunt as "mega-hot and seriously talented," and the romantic pairing of her with Mr. del Toro looks like a powder-keg of dynamite ready to explode. I look forward to witty banter being exchanged between the couple -- Emily with her pitch-perfect diction rolling bon mots off her tongue, as Benicio mumbles something incomprehensible in return. What a great contrast that will be when Benicio goes all lupine on her! Brilliant casting, I say. The only drag? We'll have to wait until February '09 to see the results.

I know I bitch and moan about horror remakes all the time, but every once in a while there comes a project that melts my cynicism and gets me all geeky. Universal's impending rendition of The Wolf Man is one such project, and I'm basing my early opinions on a few cool factors:

1. Benicio del Toro is going to star, and that's what I call good casting. OK, and this Anthony Hopkins guy is pretty solid, too.
2. Mark Romanek is directing, and if you've ever seen One Hour Photo (or, better yet, this DVD) then you know that's a good thing.
3. The screenplay comes from Andrew Kevin Walker, also known as the man who wrote the blisteringly awesome Seven and one very cool version of Sleepy Hollow.

And now, courtesy of CHUD.com, I have a fourth reason to get excited for this new version of The Wolf Man: The mega-hot and seriously talented Emily Blunt has been (almost) cast as the female lead. (Probably best known for a great supporting turn in The Devil Wear Prada, Ms. Blunt appeared in no less than four films this year: Wind Chill, The Jane Austen Book Club, Dan in Real Life and Charlie Wilson's War.) Plus, like I said, she's really pretty with a powerfully sexy accent.

Unfortunately the new Wolf Man isn't scheduled to make his big-screen appearance until February of '09 -- which will give us plenty of time to bring you all the newest developments.

Putting together last week's list of my favorite screenplays of the 2000's was relatively easy. I came up with about ten worthy candidates and narrowed from there. When I started putting together this week's list -- my favorite screenplays of the 1990's -- things got a lot more complicated. I had a much larger list of worthy candidates to choose from. It made me realize that a) the 90's, particularly the late 90's, was a genuinely incredible time for film, and b) I was going to have to split my list into two halves: 1995 -- 1999 and 1990 -- 1994.

So, in support of all the great screenwriters currently on strike, what follows is my favorite screenplays produced between 1995 and 1999. Read that last sentence carefully! If you've got movies you'd add to or subtract from my list, I would love to hear them, but make sure your choice fits the criteria. On my 2000's list, I was getting comments like "How DARE you not include Citizen Kane, you freaking idiot?"

Now then, with all apologies to the scripts it killed me to leave off (Office Space, A Simple Plan, As Good As it Gets, Chasing Amy, Lone Star, Three Kings, Swingers, Jackie Brown, Kingpin, I could go on and on), here is my alphabetical list:

I am The Wolf Man, coocoocachoo! There are times when remakes make me cringe, times when I'm indifferent and times when I start to get the itch of excitement. The latter usually comes from who is involved. It didn't scare or upset me to hear that Lon Chaney's Wolf Man was getting remade, because Benicio Del Toro's involvement just seemed right. Then we got Mark Romanek added to the pot to make things interesting, and then in a moment of insanity or genius, Anthony Hopkins came on-board to play pops -- Sir John Talbot. Now TMZ has a photo up of Del Toro, who is in the midst of his role as Lawrence Talbot. While this isn't an on-set image, he's still looking wolfy.

Take a look at that mug! Well, imagine it without "The Hunted" truck cap and worn, leather jacket, because they make him look like a scary rapist or something. The hair... The look in his eye... This is what got me amped about the project. Will it be just like the original? Doubtful. Will it do it justice? My magic 8-ball says signs point to yes -- crap! I just pulled it out and actually asked, and it says: "Cannot Predict Now." Back when Hopkins jumped on, his agent had said it was a great script, but then again, as many great roles as he has had, he's also had some stinkers. According to the script review at Latino Review, we've got Victorian London in 1888, and Talbot is a Shakespearean actor performing Hamlet, picked for the passage: "To be or not to be, that is the question; whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them." They also say screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker is at the top of his game. God, I hope so!

While I never thought there would be the day that Benicio del Toro would take over a role immortalized by Lon Chaney Jr., Scott Weinberg posted in February that Dr. Gonzo would become the epically hairy beast man. We learned that Se7en scribe Andrew Kevin Walker was in charge of the screenplay, and music video helmer and One Hour Photo director Mark Romanek would head the film. Now, according to Rotten Tomatoes, Anthony Hopkins Is considering the role of Wolfman's dad.

While it might be strange to think that Del Toro could come from Hopkin's loins, they bear a vague resemblance. Of course, a Latin mother would be necessary to make us buy it, but I'm pretty intrigued by the idea. The World's Fastest Indian is quoted as saying: "There's also a chance I may play the Wolfman in London in a movie with Benicio Del Toro. My agent says it's a great script, but he hasn't sent it to me yet." While he isn't signed on officially, it seems that he has every intention of playing the part: "[The agent] said he just wants to make sure that the deal is all in but I play the Wolfman's father in Paris. A wonderful part." Since Hopkins is also known for his tendency to bark between takes, I'm sure he'll feel right at home in the feature. If you're anxious for more, your can read a script review here.

Last time we heard from director Mark Romanek he was giving us a decidedly unique look at Robin Williams in the surprisingly intense One Hour Photo. The longtime music video maker has also been attached to the Tom Hanks project A Cold Case for a little while, but it looks like Hanks is about to take a back seat to a werewolf: Mr. Romanek will direct a new version of The Wolf Man for Universal Pictures. And it gets better...

The Hollywood Reporter says that the new version will "hew to the period pedigree of the 1941 original," a decision that makes me very happy indeed. As reported a while back, Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro is attached to play lead character Lawrence Talbot. And the good news keeps on coming: The Wolf Man screenplay comes from Andrew Kevin Walker, who is only the scribe who gave you 8MM, Sleepy Hollow and Se7en! (OK, he also wrote Brainscan and Hideaway, but I'm a fan anyway.)

So there you have it: Universal's mounting a new Wolf Man, the director is solid, the leading man is fantastic and the screenwriter knows his genre material. The first person who whines about "oh, another remake!" is required to sit through as many wolfman movies as I can think of -- and trust me, there's been a whole bunch. (Plus look at it this way: We've already been through Van Helsing; things can't get much worse than that.)

Picture this: Batman and Superman get lost in the mountains while fighting some villain and, in the process, wind up falling in love with one another. Upon realizing that superheroes are not allowed to be gay, they become bitter little men and fight to the death. Okay, so maybe that's not going to happen, however a Batman vs Superman script has been written and director Wolfgang Petersen is now saying he may be into making it. Like, totally!

Awhile back, a script was written by Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en) and Petersen was attached to direct. But, before the studio could go all Alien vs Predator on our beloved caped crusaders of steel, the decision was made to shelf the project and take a chance with some new solo films instead. Well, now that Batman Begins totally rocked and Superman Returns is kind of looking like it's going to (crosses fingers) kick ass, inquiring minds want to know if Petersen is still interested in pissing the entire universe off by pitting these two against each other in one film.

IESB recently asked Petersen that very question and, while he admits the project has been collecting dust for some time now, he says that he might just do it...but not now. And about that script, well, it sounds pretty cool. The story is said to focus on an older, semi-retired Bruce Wayne who's trying to move on with his life after losing Robin five years earlier. Just as he's about to get married, the Joker pops back up and kills the woman he loves. This causes Batman to go all nutty and seek revenge, but when Superman questions the caped crusader's motives, the two clash - to the delight of Lex Luthor, who planned the entire thing. Eh, I think they should stay solo. You?

[via Moviehole]