entourage Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I think for fans of the psychological thriller, 13 Tzameti, an American remake probably seemed like a bad idea from the get-go -- to be honest, most of them usually are. But with the film's original creator at the helm, and the addition of Mickey Rourke, Jason Statham, Ray Liotta, and Ray Winstone, hopefully it has helped raise our expectations for the update ever so slightly. But the remake won't just be a boys club this time around, because The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Emmanuelle Chriqui (Cadillac Records) has joined the remake of Géla Babluani's Sundance winner.

The original film, released in 2006, centered on a young construction worker who in a desperate attempt to earn money for his family is swept up in a deadly game of Russian Roulette that has been turned into a 'spectator sport'. There aren't many details about the plot for the remake, but Babluani has confirmed that he will not be remaking the film 'shot-for shot', and that some of the story elements will be changed. I don't want to give anything away, but if you have seen the original film, then you probably have a pretty good guess as to what Babluani might have in mind for his re-write.

Chriqui might be best known as Sloan McQuewick on HBO's Entourage, but she has been slowly building her film resume with everything from teen horrors to 'empowering' indies (although it's probably for the best if she leaves Don't Mess with The Zohan off her resume). It shouldn't come as a surprise that in most of her work, her looks have played a large part in the roles she is offered; hookers, porn stars, you name it. I just hope for her sake, Babluani is going to give her something just a little more exciting to do this time around.

I'm sure I wasn't the only one sad to see Ebert & Roeper officially head off the air recently, but those of you really hurting will be happy to know the show made one final appearance last night during the season premiere of Entourage on HBO. And what a review they gave Medellin -- the fictional Pablo Escobar biopic starring Vincent Chase (Adrian Grenier) in a horrible fat suit. Last season on the show, the movie premiered at Cannes and was booed off the stage. Thus, at the beginning of this episode (and via Richard Roeper), we learn poor old Medellin went straight to DVD.

My favorite part of the episode, however, comes when Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) enters his office the morning after the Medellin review aired on Ebert & Roeper. And so, for a bonus treat, check out that scene after the jump (though keep in mind a couple of F-bombs are dropped). Love this show. Welcome back boys!

• Whether you watch Entourage or not, you've probably heard that the show's premise is loosely based on Mark Wahlberg's own experiences as he stepped into the movie business. Now he's finally getting into the action. Mixed in with his upcoming work with The Fighter and The Brazilian Job, Ace Showbiz reports that Wahlberg has filmed a scene with Jeremy Piven for the show where they go at it. There's no word on who Wahlberg will play.
  
• Louise Linton, who played a Skin Care Consultant in Lions for Lambs, and Katie in The Echo, is now going sporty. Variety reports that the actress has signed on for a role in the indie comedy The Wiffler: The Ted Whitfield Story. She'll play a woman called Shannon Storm in the film, which focuses on the MLB strike in 1994, that let the nation turn its eyes to wiffle ball.
• Finally, Alex Pettyfer, who you might remember as Alex Rider in Stormbreaker, is getting ready to be Tormented. Variety reports that the actor will topline the horror film, which centers on "a bullied teen who comes back from the dead to take his revenge." And people think they just have to fear karma... He'll be joined by the likes of April Pearson, Larissa Wilson, Mary Nighy, and Dimitri Leonidas.

You aren't anybody unless you're famous enough for rival biopics. I hope you all celebrated the holiday yesterday by watching both Gérard Depardieu and Georges Corraface in their respective, rival Columbus films. Coming in the future, we may also get competing movies about Harvey Milk, Philip K. Dick, Sammy Davis, Jr. and now Pablo Escobar. We've long followed news regarding Joe Carnahan's movie about the Colombian drug lord, who will be played there by Javier Bardem, but now Variety reports another Escobar pic in the works. This one will be produced by Oliver Stone, directed by Antoine Fuqua and is simply titled Escobar. It's based on the book "Mi Hermano Pablo", written by the cocaine king's brother, Roberto Escobar Gaviria, who worked as accountant and confidant to Pablo.

So, this looks like it will be more of a life-encompassing biopic. It also appears to be going into production ahead of Carnahan's film, Killing Pablo, since Carnahan is first working on White Jazz while Escobar is fully financed and ready to begin shooting in Colombia and Puerto Rico in early 2008. All that needs finishing is the script rewrite, which is being done by David McKenna, who already wrote a bit about Escobar in his screenplay for Blow (he was played by Cliff Curtis). Variety doesn't mention who Stone and Fuqua have or are casting in the title role of their film, which means it may not be secure. I'm sure some people would like to see Adrian Grenier play the part, as he does via his character Vinnie Chase on the show Entourage, but that would actually be a terrible idea. Personally, I'd like them to go back to Curtis, but for a long-term biopic they'll likely want someone younger, as well as someone more familiar to audiences.

I also wish that Stone was directing this himself -- even if he really annoyed the heck out of me recently -- because he seems to know the territory. And because he thanked "Ari Gold" (Jeremy Piven's character on Entourage) when talking to Variety about the project. But he should do just fine overseeing Fuqua's direction, a job he's sharing with former Malcolm in the Middle older brother Justin Berfield, Jason Felts and James Reach.

When HBO's Entourage decided to spotlight the making of a fictional Aquaman movie with James Cameron directing, everyone immediately began to wonder whether a real Aquaman flick would, um, surface in the near future. But once that storyline crept its way out of the TV show, folks at home and in Hollywood forgot all about the underwater superhero. As of now, a big screen Aquaman movie is not in the works. Ah, but Entourage is once again stirring the pot; this time, Vince and his crew are getting ready to bring their Pablo Escobar biopic, Medellin, to the Cannes Film Festival. Those marketing geniuses over at HBO have even gone so far as to set up a website and trailer for Medellin as if the film was really coming out in theaters. Of course it's not a real film, but, like with Aquaman, will all the buzz generate further interest in a real Pablo Escobar movie?

Actually, one doesn't have to appear out of thin air this time. That's because director Joe Carnahan already has plans to make a Pablo Escobar biopic called Killing Pablo, but whether or not all the necessary ingredients will fall into place following his work on White Jazz remains to be seen. For one, Carnahan's first (and only?) choice to play Escobar, Javier Bardem, would need to be available. Speaking with Cinematical's Ryan Stewart last month, Bardem said that "it's something in the back of our heads. Pablo Escobar is an amazing character to play, because he's bigger than life. He's an amazing character, but Pablo Escobar is somebody that is not that simple." Bardem pretty much mirrored those comments when he spoke to Premiere recently while out promoting Goya's Ghosts: "That project has been around for some years now and we have talked several times," meaning he and Carnahan. "I guess there will come a time when we can agree to do it, because Pablo Escobar is an amazing, amazing character."

Personally, I think that time should come soon. If it was up to Carnahan, I imagine he'd love to shoot Killing Pablo as soon as he's finished with White Jazz. And why not capitalize on all the buzz Entourage is currently producing around the real-life controversial figure? As of now (and according to IMDb), Christian Bale is the only one attached to Killing Pablo. Hopefully Carnahan and Bardem can come to an agreement so we can see an Escobar biopic within the next two years. Hmm, or perhaps they're just waiting to see how the fictional film from Entourage does at Cannes? What say you? Has Entourage piqued your interest in a Pablo Escobar movie?

Entourage writer/Brooke Shields hubby Chris Henchy just got a major promotion: He's been brought on board by Adam McKay and Will Ferrell as a senior producer for their Gary Sanchez Productions. (For the civilians among us, that means that he'll "help develop and produce projects" for the company.) While Henchy does have prior production experience, that experience is limited to television, where he has spent the bulk of his career. In addition to filling various producing capacities for Spin City (a secret guilty pleasure for me), Battery Park, Life with Bonnie and I'm with Her, Henchy also wrote for some of those shows before moving on to his current Entourage gig.

Prior to this deal, Henchy, McKay and Ferrell already had a professional connection: Henchy is writing the screenplay (his first work for the big screen) for Land of the Lost, a(nother) TV-show-turned-movie flick that McKay is directing, and in which Farrell is likely to star.

Odds and ends from Monday:

• After scheduling conflicts forced her out, Kate Walsh has been replaced by Mary McCormack in the Stephen King adaptation, 1408. McCormack joins a cast that already includes John Cusack (What is it with this guy and scary hotel movies?) and Samuel L. Jackson. As we previously reported, pic is based on King's short story and revolves around a debunker of paranormal occurrences who finds his beliefs put to the test upon checking into room the mysterious room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel. McCormack will play Cusack's ex-wife in the flick.
• Maybe I'm nuts, but I find it so bizarre when a country unveils plans for a film, instead of, say, Rob Schneider. But hey, that's how they do things in China, right? The country announced plans today to make a massive war movie, financed by Americans, that will chronicle "the 1937 massacre of civilians in Nanjing by invading Japanese soldiers." Based on Iris Chang's best-seller, The Rape of Nanking, pic's budget will fall somewhere between $20-25 million. Investors are already aiming high, setting their sights on Zhang Zyi and Michelle Yeoh to potentially star in the film.
• Since everyone seems to be talking an Aquaman movie these days, why not ask Mark Wahlberg what his opinion of a possible real-life film is? After all, Wahlberg is an executive producer on Entourage, whose fake version of Aquaman: The Movie helped build a tremendous amount of buzz around the underwater superhero. Speaking to IESB, the actor acknowledged the rumors, but said he'd rather come onboard as a producer and not take on the role of Aqauaman himself. And who does he think should play Aquaman? None other than Adrian Grenier, whose fictional character (Vincent Chase) on Entourage stars as Aquaman in the fake film. Confused yet? I am.

It's no secret that our biggest movie stars have earned big paychecks in Japan, where they appear in print and television ads for products like cars, ham, and instant noodles. Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Paul Newman and Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others, might never sell out so easily in America, but in the Land of the Rising Sun, it is apparently okay to be an endorsement monkey. The practice was parodied well in Lost in Translation, with Bill Murray portraying a Hollywood big shot shilling for Suntory whiskey, and in the TV-show Entourage, which really displayed Japanese advertising as being a source for a quick buck.

However, now Japan isn't as interested in American faces. For the past few years, the country has seen more Japanese and Korean stars cast in commercials, because Hollywood just doesn't sell like it used to. Another trend Japan has been into lately is -- get this -- focusing on the product, itself. Maybe too many Japanese folks got tired of discovering that their favorite icons don't come with the car/ham/noodles.

Ever since HBO's Entourage featured a fictitious storyline surrounding a James Cameron-directed Aquaman film, there's been talk about bringing the underwater superhero to the big screen ... for real.

Apparently, according to four people familiar with the informal talks, Warner Brothers is interested in an Aquaman movie (apart from the recently squashed TV show), though they've denied any involvement. In a bizarre twist of life-imitating-art, uber-agent Ari Emanuel (whom Entourage's Ari Gold is based off of) is at the center of the whole thing. While James Cameron will not be involved, Charlie's Angels director McG is the name currently being tossed around.

While a pilot for the Aquaman TV show was produced by the folks who brought us Smallville, the WB decided not to pick it up. However, the studio subsequently gave the pilot to iTunes where the thing blew up, generating thousands of downloads and forcing some folks in the industry to reconsider Aquaman's further adventures. Which would you rather see: an Aquaman TV show a la Smallville or a big-budgeted feature film? Feel free to answer none of the above. I did.

Giovanni Ribisi, Lukas Hass and Erika Christensen (a/k/a The Anti-Julia Stiles) have joined the cast of The Gardener of Eden; an independent film produced by Leonardo DiCaprio which Martha first told you about earlier this month. Directed by Entourage star Kevin Connolly, pic is a dark comedy about a guy who accidentally saves a girl's life, only to feed off the exposure and set out to become a vigilante.

Although DiCaprio is producing, chances of him actually showing up in the film are slim to none - so don't go getting your hopes up, girls. Connolly will officially mark his directorial debut with Gardener, off a script written by Adam "Tex" Davis (Just Friends.) Actually, I was lucky enough to read an early draft of this script awhile back and it was absolutely outstanding. I want to say it felt like a modern-day Taxi Driver, but for some reason, I don't see Lukas Haas (remember the Amish boy in Witness?) pulling off a De Niro-esque performance. Gardener is currently shooting in and around New York City.