Yesterday, I was looking forward to the next film from Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski. Today, I'm anxiously awaiting the biopic about him. According to The Hollywood Reporter, low-budget actor-director Damian Chapa (El Padrino) is preparing an unauthorized film about the guy who gave us Chinatown, The Pianist, Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby. Yes, we finally get to see dramatized the tragic and/or controversial events of Polanski's life, including his escape from the Kraków Ghetto during the Holocaust, his mother's death in a concentration camp, the murder of his wife, actress Sharon Tate, at the hands of Charles Manson's "family", and of course, his conviction for having sex with a 13-year-old girl, after which he fled the U.S. The biopic is expected to span the filmmaker's life, and will film in Poland, Belgium, and the U.S. However, it seems the simply titled Polanski, which begins lensing in January, may focus primarily on the statutory rape trial.

The title role has not yet been cast, but Chapa himself will be playing Gene Gutowski, who produced Polanski's early films, including Repulsion, Cul-de-sac and Dance of the Vampires, and co-produced The Pianist. Those of you who haven't seen Chapa's own movies, may be familiar with his acting from such films as Street Fighter, Money Talks or Bound by Honor. In addition to his directing and co-starring tasks, Chapa is also the writer and producer of the simply titled Polanski, meaning it probably won't be the greatest biopic we ever see. But hey, I'm curious at least. Aren't you?

I bought my first copy of Chinatown on DVD when it was released in November 1999. The extras were limited to a theatrical trailer and a collection of short interviews with director Roman Polanski, writer Robert Towne and producer Robert Evans. The movie is so good that I didn't care about the lack of extras; DVD was still in its infancy and I was just glad to have it. Fast forward eight years and a new "Special Collection's Edition" is announced -- with no mention of a remastered transfer and only a few extras, which didn't sound so special to me.

The new version was released this week and the final edition sounds like a definite mixed bag. DVD Beaver reports that the video "looks cleaner, brighter, sharper, and more detailed than previous DVD releases. Colors are quite lush, and there is a lit bit more of the image on the sides depending on the shots."

As to the extras, however, Adnan Tezer at Monsters and Critics comments: "What is particularly disturbing about this new edition is that it seems like it was thrown together with little to no care." For example, the back of the DVD case says there are four new featurettes included, while the disk includes only three, two of which have different titles. On the positive side, the features total about 55 minutes and include new interviews with Polanski, Towne, and Jack Nicholson, while the interviews with Evans are from the 1999 sessions.

I'm very glad that the video has been improved, but I'm disappointed that more care was not taken to make this a true "Special Collector's Edition." More far-ranging interviews, including Faye Dunaway, would have been welcome, as well as archival materials and other extras that would delight collectors. The list price of $14.99 is modest, but I would have gladly paid more for a more comprehensive two-disk edition. Maybe that will have to wait until a new Chinatown is made?

Everyone knows about Chinatown and how it's one of the great screenplays of all time. Some people know about the sequel, The Two Jakes, and how it was a critical and commercial failure. Few people know about the plans for a third film that was planned from the beginning yet never came to be. But now Jack Nicholson, who starred in the first two films and directed the second, has resurrected the idea of a Chinatown trilogy, claiming that he'd still consider doing it. During an interview conducted by MTV News, Nicholson discussed the plan for the third film, which he says was to be titled Gittes vs. Gittes. Set in 1968, which would be twenty years after the events of Jakes, the film focuses on no-fault divorces, which went into effect in California that year. Nicholson's Jake Gittes is divorcing his wife (I never bothered to watch Jakes, but I'm assuming his wife is Meg Tilly's character from that film), which somehow leads him to involvement with Howard Hughes, and I guess something to do with planes and flight. See, Nicholson explained that Chinatown represented water, Jakes represented fire (oil) and Gittes would represent air. Hmm, what about the fourth element, land? Or the fifth element, Leeloo?

It's cool that Nicholson is into reprising the role of Jake Gittes, and it seems in the chronology that now would be a good time to do something set twenty years after the last film (released in 1990). But the strange thing is that this is a completely different plot from the one most of us have read about. That one, mentioned as trivia on the IMDb and Wikipedia and elsewhere, even had a title, too: Cloverleaf. Set in the 1950s (making sense after the '30s and '40s setting of the prior two), this other planned film focused on the building of the Los Angeles freeway system. There was still to be an element theme, though; the sequel was to deal with air pollution. So, did Nicholson just make this story up, or has he and screenwriter Robert Towne really always have this fourth idea? Was there to be four parts for the four elements? Did they change this one to fit with the air theme? It's all so complicated -- which I guess is fitting for Chinatown.

I admit to being a little depressed after seeing Roman Polanski mugging frantically in the Rush Hour 3 trailer and Jack Nicholson frolicking at the beach in those unfortunate paparazzi photos. Let's just say that those moments will not be how they are remembered in cinema history. Thinking back to more glorious times, perhaps the career peak for both of them came in 1974's Chinatown, justly celebrated for its eminently quotable dialogue by Oscar-winner Robert Towne and the juicy performances by Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston and Polanski himself ("You're a very nosy fellow, kitty cat.") According to DVD Times, Chinatown will be issued in a new "Special Collection's Edition" on November 6, along with The Two Jakes, the ungainly, belated, Nicholson-directed sequel that finally appeared in 1990.

Both were originally released on DVD in November 1999. The first edition of Chinatown featured an anamorphic transfer, the original mono track, a remixed DD 5.1 audio version, the theatrical trailer and retrospective interviews with Nicholson, Polanski and producer Robert Evans. The forthcoming edition promises a restored mono audio track and four featurettes. Given the advances in DVD technology and the years since the original Chinatown transfer was completed, remastering the video would seem a given -- and would justify a double dip -- but no mention of a new transfer has been made.

The first DVD edition of The Two Jakes was even more bare bones: it had just the theatrical trailer in addition to the anamorphic transfer. The new "Special Collector's Edition" adds one featurette: "Jack on Jakes." Frankly, I'm having a hard time seeing how the new releases will be either special or collectible. The Two Jakes is strictly a curiosity item; a rental would suffice. But Chinatown is a classic; it rewards multiple viewings and deserves the deluxe treatment, which it evidently won't be getting anytime soon from Paramount.

Once he's finished playing John McClane for a fourth time, Bruce Willis will be going back to school ... as a high school principal, that is. The Los Angeles Times tells us that Willis has signed on to play a supporting role in Assassination of a High School President, based off a script from newbie scribes (and former South Park assistants) Tim Calpin and Kevin Jakubowski. Pic, which the Times describes as "a riff on JFK, All the President's Men and Robert Towne's neo-noir classic [Chinatown]," apparently revolves around a bullied high school journalist who's investigating the theft of the school's SAT exams.

Of course, this SAT controversy will most certainly lead to conspiracy theories and, I imagine, the assassination of the school's class President. Says Jakubowski, "Everything mattered so much when you were in high school - that's your world. And something that would happen to a student council president is as big as if the actual president was assassinated." Willis will play a Desert Storm veteran-turned-Catholic school principal -- the kind of guy who refers to his students as "filth." Picture the first half of Full Metal Jacket set in a high school, and you get the idea. Though it was one of the "most-liked screenplays late last year," the plot obviously delves into some sensitive territory, what with the recent Virginia Tech tragedy.

Right now, there's no word on whether the two writers will have to alter their script because of the shooting that took place on that campus (God knows rushing to greenlight a school shooting-type flick wouldn't exactly be the PC thing to do), but here's hoping they weather the storm and stay the course. Apart from Willis, ladies like Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan are showing interest in the film's "femme fatale," Francesca. Music video helmer Brett Simon will make his directorial debut, and the Yari Film Group (who optioned the script last fall) plan to begin production this July.

I'll have to check the files on this, but I'm pretty sure that any sort of collaboration between Brett Ratner and Roman Polanski is a sign of the apocalypse. So, if Ratner can be trusted (ahem), it's time to start preparing for plagues of locusts and whatnot -- he told CHUD last week that not only has he written a part for Polanski in Rush Hour 3 (!?), but that the two are mates, and share a "mutual respect." Ok, I'm not sure which one of those statements caused it, but I just threw up a little in my mouth. Granted, Polanski's always been, well, a bit unusual. But the guy made Chinatown, for the love of God -- how can he respect Ratner? And why on earth would he want to be in a Rush Hour movie? Personally, I suspect Ratner has developed an elaborate charade in which he's pretending to be Steven Soderbergh in his relationship with Polanski, and the poor man thinks he's appearing in Ocean's Thirteen. It's the only possible explanation that I can come up with.

Here's the best part (if you ignore the bit about how Polanski is -- gag -- "a fan") of the Ratner interview, because it reveals so much about his fragile ego: "[Polanski] treats me as an equal, he loves my movies, he's a fan. If I was directing Harry Knowles from Aint It Cool News I wouldn't feel very comfortable – he would be looking at me sideways the whole time. But Polanski gives me respect and admiration and love, so I'm fearless." Do you think Knowles shows up in Ratner's nightmares?

[via Moviehole]

Back when it was called Social Grace, East Broadway, Fay Ann Lee’s debut future, was listed as the directorial debut of B. D. Wong. At some point very, very late in production, “artistic differences” grew up between Wong and the producers, and he was replaced as director by Lee, the film’s writer and star. Subsequently, Wong request that his name be completely removed from the movie’s credits, despite the fact that he plays a major supporting role. You could say, then, that it’s fair to describe East Broadway as a “troubled production.” It also fair to say that this minor controversy is by the far the most interesting thing about the film, a lightweight Cinderella story set in and around New York’s Chinatown.

In addition to writing and (sort of) directing East Broadway, Lee also stars in the film as Grace Tang, a single, 30-something Chinese-American woman who has spent most of her life trying to escape her poor, Chinatown past. Even as a financially secure, well-established adult, she still pursues her childhood dream of acceptance by those she considers her social superiors: her current dream is to be part of the unattainable Park Avenue elite, attending regular benefits, charity auctions, and opulent balls. To that end, she crams furiously on opera in order to be well-prepared for an opera-related benefit to which she’s wrangled an invitation.

In the film's first ten minutes, there is an epic story of smugglers, mutiny, gang violence, a dangerous global sea voyage, a rescue by the Coast Guard, and the imprisonment of almost 300 "bad guys". No, this isn't a new action blockbuster out of Hollywood. It is a documentary called Golden Venture, and it is a damn near perfect one.

On June 6, 1993, the coastal freighter Golden Venture ran aground in New York City with the largest shipment of illegal aliens ever recorded. The 286 Chinese expatriates (minus 10 who died and 6 who escaped), who were part of a usually routine operation handled by immigrant runners called "snakeheads" and the Chinatown gang Fuk Ching, had the misfortune of being caught too soon after the World Trade Center bombing. They were all made an example of, and many were detained for over four years.