I wonder ... how do you meet the super thieves and spies? How do these cinematic guys always find the people with deep, dark secrets, or law-breaking wild sides? Variety reports that Christian Slater and Cuba Gooding Jr. are starring in a new action comedy called Lies & Illusions, which will be directed by Tibor Takacs. (Will it be able to match the wonder, humor, and intrigue that is Kuffs?!) Sarah Ann Schultz, Christa Campbell, Al Madrigal, and Lochlyn Munro have also signed on to star.

The script, written by Eric James, focuses on "a novelist being hunted by a spy who believes the writer holds millions of dollars in diamonds stolen by his dead fiancee." But it's more than just that. According to IMDb, the writer is "torn between two lovers," and also, "A book editor from New York becomes obsessed with the author of a violent novel. She soon learns secrets about his past." Seeing that Slater gets a first and last name -- Wes Wilson, and Cuba only gets "Isaac," I assume that Slater is the writer, and Cuba is the spy. But I don't see how the editor fits into all of this.

IMDb says that it's now in post, but Variety says the film began shooting this week in Spokane.

I was beginning to think that the big-screen adaptation of Dolan's Cadillac had once again slid into development hell. First there was Kevin Bacon and Sylvester Stallone. Then, last February, Dennis Hopper was in talks to play the mob boss, and production was going to begin that Spring. Now, we've got a new cast and a new start date.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that Christian Slater, Wes Bentley, and Emmanuelle Vaugier will star in the feature, which is being whipped up by Film Bridge International. This is, most definitely, not a cast I would have thought of. Dolan's Cadillac is a thriller about a man (Bentley) who is distraught when his school teacher wife (Vaugier) is murdered. She has seen a mobster, Jimmy Dolan (Slater), kill someone in the desert, and before she can testify against him, she is murdered. The widower then plans to get revenge on the Las Vegas mobster and his silver Caddy.

To think that I thought Eminem and Hayden Christiansen were an odd match. How on earth do you get from Hopper to Slater? I'm sad to say that this sounds like a desperate rush job now. I love Slater, and have really enjoyed Bentley, but this feels so very second-string. The new production start date: May 14.

Siblings dealing with their dying father trumped a man who can only move one eyelid in a box office battle between two award-worthy independent films. On the face of it, just because of their subject matter, neither would seem likely to draw big crowds, but excellent critical response and festival buzz appear to have paid off.

The Savages opened last Wednesday in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles and earned a very good $38,250 per screen, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman star as the siblings, with Philip Bosco as their father; Tamara Jenkins directed. Cinematical's Kim Voynar wrote: "There are no easy answers in dealing with aging and dying parents, and Jenkins doesn't try to give us one; she simply takes us into the story of her fascinating characters, and the integrity with which she handles it makes it ring true throughout."

The "one eyelid" movie, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, opened at three locations in New York and Los Angeles; weekend receipts reflect a strong per-screen average of $25,100. When he saw it at Cannes, our own James Rocchi said he found himself "on the edge of tears more than a few times ... [it's] a movie well worth seeing, with images and lessons that strike with power and don't let go."

Four other indies opened in one or two theaters in New York and/or Los Angeles, and Leonard Klady at Movie City News has their estimated per-screen earnings: Jessica Yu's doc Protagonist ($4,920; read Christopher Campbell's review); Miles Brandman's "darkly comic" Sex and Breakfast ($3,850), Robert Stone's doc Oswald's Ghost ($1,830; read my review), and Francesco Lucente's drama Badland ($1,220).

At least four other indies also opened, but financial results have not yet surfaced: ice hockey bio-pic The Rocket, prison escape thriller Chronicle of an Escape, foodie/lesbian romantic comedy Nina's Heavenly Delights and Christian Slater-starrer He Was a Quiet Man.

Having finished the immigration drama Crossing Over, which will come out this December in time for the last-minute Oscar push, Ashley Judd is getting ready to get depressed for her next film. Variety has reported that the actress is going to star in a drama called Helen, which will head into production next month, and is being made by Egoli Tossell Film and Insight Film Studios. Sandra Nettelbeck, who wrote and directed Mostly Martha and Sergeant Pepper, will wear both hats again for this production. The film is about "a music professor and mother who suffers from a deep, debilitating depression. Her family tries to help her, but no one can relate to her pain other than a young female student who knows depression all too well." So, Judd is bummed, but there's no word on who will help her through her struggle.

It's surprising -- as big as Ashley Judd's name is, she's definitely not one of those actresses with oodles of credits to her name. After starting her cinematic career with the terribly (yet pretty enjoyable) Kuffs, you know, that Christian Slater cop movie, she's averaged a few a year, which has slowed down lately. After a busy 2002, she's starred in Twisted and De-Lovely in 2004, Come Early Morning last year, and now Bug and Crossing Over this year. Now if we could only hear more about her Dame Alyce Kyteler adaptation...

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.

There may not be a Sopranos movie in the pipeline, but that doesn't mean Hollywood has officially whacked the Mafia. The LA Times reports that someone has finally landed the rights to produce a biopic on the life and times of infamous gangster, Lucky Luciano. Throughout the years, several Hollywood studios have tried to snag the rights away from Luciano's family, who have been reluctant to give them up. But now, producer Joseph Isgro (Hoffa) has somehow managed to land the goods, and he claims to have already approached a "specific A-list actor" to play the lead role. He's also said to be "wooing several actors from The Sopranos to join the cast." Considered the father of modern organized crime, Luciano was named one of the 20 most influential builders and titans of the 20th century. But he also helped orchestrate a number of gangland killings, as well as a massive international heroin operation, along the way.

According to Isgro (who's repeatedly denied his own ties to the Mafia), the film will cover all of Luciano's life, but focus mainly on his time in prison and the period after he received a presidential pardon for using the Mafia to help the government during World War II. Apart from actors, Isgro has also interviewed potential writers and directors; one of which is Charles Matthau, son of Walter Matthau. Currently, New Line is in talks to distribute. I'm not sure who they're going after to play Luciano -- hopefully it's not Christian Slater, who played the man in the 1991 flick Mobsters. There are a number of actors who could pull off the role; I guess it depends on whether they're willing to age-up a younger actor or age-down an older one. If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say Alec Baldwin might be a good fit. What do you think?

I still can't help but think of J.D from Heathers whenever I see Christian Slater. But, one glance at the poster for his latest, He Was A Quiet Man, and that sexy trench-coat wearing psychopath is long gone. He's replaced by a convincingly nebbish type clutching what looks to be a homemade bomb -- J.D would be proud. Now, the trailer for the slightly odd romantic drama has just popped up on the web. The story centers on the unassuming office drone (Slater) who stops a workplace shooting spree, only to move up the corporate ladder and find love with one of the victims. Also starring is William H. Macy, and Elisha Cuthbert as Slater's love interest. The role is a nice change for Cuthbert who has spent too much screen time with either Paris Hilton or a hook up her nose -- and I'm not sure which would be more painful. But, she seems to be branching out from her current horror fare with this film and the upcoming remake for the South Korean film My Sassy Girl.

Quiet Man was written and directed by Frank Cappello, who has a relatively short resume as a director. Unfortunately, I've had some experience with his work in the relatively cheesy cop thriller No Way Back, but anyone worried that this film will be a return to those roots only has to look at the trailer for reassurance. This film seems to be aiming for a vibe that is quirky with a capital Q. So far, a release date has not been announced, but now that the trailer is making the rounds, we should hear word soon.

Last night, Cinematical was on hand for the New York premiere of He Was a Quiet Man at the 2007 Gen Art Film Festival. Pic wrapped up what was a very exciting seven days, chock-full of some fantastic films that will soon be coming to a theater near you. Following the film, Jeffrey Abramson, Gen Art's VP of Film, announced that the documentary Sharkwater had won the Acura Grand Jury prize for best feature (check out our interview with Sharkwater director Rob Stewart from night 4) and a very cool short film, High Maintenance, won the Acura Grand Jury prize for best short.

On a personal level, this was a pretty cool night for me as I got to meet Christian Slater for the first time. In the video above, I speak with Slater about the film, his role (which has him playing a quiet and lonely cubicle hermit trying to decide whether or not he should listen to the voices in his head and shoot up the office he despises) and his future projects, which include a starring role in a big-screen adaptation of a graphic novel. Is Christian Slater hopping onboard the superhero bandwagon? You'll have to watch the video to find out. Also included is an interview with director Frank Cappello, who returns to the director's chair after a 12-year absence. Oh, and the very beautiful Elisha Cuthbert makes a brief appearance ... although her publicist wouldn't allow her to speak to Cinematical for some reason. She seemed nice though, albeit a tad tiny. I never knew she was that small.

As far as the film goes, it was pretty damn good. Imagine if the Milton character from Office Space was in a very very dark comedy; throw in some fantasy elements, a fantastic performance from Christian Slater and Elisha Cuthbert half naked in a wheelchair -- that's He Was a Quiet Man. With everything that's gone on recently over at the Virginia Tech campus, this was an interesting film to watch in that it really shows us how an ordinary man can be pushed so far, to a point where he contemplates killing those around him. Currently, domestic distribution is not set up, but we'll let you know when this sucker has a release date. Thanks again to Gen Art for hosting a wonderful festival, and for inviting Cinematical to be a part of it.

For more on He Was a Quiet Man, check out Jette's review from SXSW.

Note: Music from Madison Park

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.

John Cusack will officially be lending his voice to tell the story of a brilliant underdog named Igor. Chris McKenna, who wrote for the animated series American Dad, penned the film, which is titled after its main character. Igor tells the story of a gifted scientist that, due to undisclosed reasons (physical abnormalities perhaps?), must live his life in the shadow of the acclaimed Dr. Glickenstein. In an effort to move out from under his oppressive wing he creates a huge monster to win in an Evil Science Fair.

Igor was originally set to be played by Christian Slater (who voiced the character in the short film), though there's no word why he dropped out. Cusack will do wonders with the role and is supported by an incredible cast including Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, and Jay Leno. Who will be playing the huge, prize winning monster? None other than the ridiculously funny Molly Shannon. It is comforting to see Shannon working after her long success on SNL that until recently -- thanks to the likes of Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph -- was often times death to a woman's career. I hope to see her in larger roles in the near future. The Weinstein Co. -- still going strong since their split with Miramax in 2005 -- is producing the film and John Cusack will also be starring in another Weinstein Co. produced film later this year. Maybe it's just me, but he's still dreamy even when you can only hear his voice.