gary ross Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Last week it was widely reported that after providing a successful rewrite of the Spider-Man 4 script, Gary Ross had been approached by Columbia Pictures to rewrite the screenplay for the spin-off film, Venom, and to direct it himself. This was noteworthy for a variety of reasons, not least of which was the fact that Ross' writing-and-directing résumé, which includes Pleasantville and Seabiscuit, wouldn't suggest he was the guy for a comic-based summer blockbuster about an alien symbiote that turns people evil.

But now The Playlist says that, according to an unnamed but well-placed source, whatever Ross is doing with Venom will have to wait -- first he's going to direct a Matt Helm movie. The source says it's supposed to go into production next summer, which would push the shooting of Venom into 2011 at the earliest.

Matt Helm, a badass spy character created by Donald Hamilton, appeared in 27 novels between 1960 and 1993. Dean Martin played Helm in four movies in the 1960s, but they were campy rather than hard-edged. There was a short-lived TV series in 1975, too. As recently as this summer, Steven Spielberg was considering making a new Helm film, before deciding to make Harvey instead.

Looks like Columbia Pictures is still interested in moving forward with a Venom spin-off movie, as Variety reports that Gary Ross (Seabiscuit, Pleasantville) is in talks to rewrite and direct the movie. Ross, for those not aware, was the one the studio hired to re-write the latest draft of Spider-Man 4, due to begin production early next year with Sam Raimi, Tobey Maguire and Kristen Dunst all back for another (their last?) go-round.

Apparently the studio was so happy with the work Ross did on Spidey that they're now interested in having the guy rewrite and direct Venom, which we assume will follow the trials and tribulations of that black gooey alien entity that, when applied to a human's skin, turns them into either a vicious and violent monster or a fan of all things emo (or both!). The fact that Ross will be working on both Spidey 4 and Venom leads me to believe there might be some cross-over between the two, as that's all the rage right now and studios know how excited fans get when a character shows up in a movie he's not supposed to be in.

Read the rest over at SciFi Squad

The Spider-Man franchise might just be heading down the road for a divorce from Sam Raimi and all his players, if I'm interpreting Variety and its sources right. Sony has "quietly" hired screenwriter James Vanderbilt to pen the fifth and sixth installments of the web-slinger franchise. Nothing wrong with that at all, of course. Vanderbilt has good work to his name, and a superhero franchise could do a lot worse than hiring the Zodiac screenwriter. However, Raimi didn't care for Vanderbilt's take and replaced him with David Lindsay-Abaire. He's currently having Gary Ross rewrite that script. However, Sony / Columbia and Marvel Studios loved Vanderbilt's ideas, in part because they form a big, interconnected storyline. (I can see Marvel all over that, can't you?) In fact, that was the original plan for Spidey films 4 and 5 which were to be shot back to back, but the idea was scrapped.

But here's where things could get really ugly. Raimi, Tobey Maguire, and Kirsten Dunst are reportedly not signed to installments 5 and 6, and with Raimi boarding World of Warcraft, the studio is even more uncertain that he'll return. So Vanderbilt's scripts are being eyed not as sequels but as a blueprint for a franchise "reboot." Obviously, there's no further details on what that would mean beyond a new cast and crew.

But Sony is that anxious for more Spider-Man, and they feel the franchise is moving too slowly. Now, I'm sure a lot of fans feel the same way, but at what cost do we want more Spider-Man? I'm cool with them bringing another director on board, as it could breathe some fresh life into the series, but new actors? If Spidey was a character that had numerous incarnations, that'd be one thing, but he's only ever been Peter Parker, and Parker and Maguire are one and the same in my mind. This is going to be one web that'll be very interesting (and possibly very disappointing) to see Sony weave ...

Mice have enjoyed a great ride in the movies. The animated variety first rose to prominence thanks to Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse in the late 20s, enjoyed a rebirth as heroes in the late 70s and 80s with The Rescuers, The Secret of NIMH, The Great Mouse Detective, and An American Tail, and overflowed into live-action territory a few years later with Stuart Little. More recently, Flushed Away was a superior entertainment about a spoiled upper-class mouse who must learn to survive in the wild and wooly sewers, while the superb Ratatouille gave a rat a rare favorable turn in the spotlight as a culinary artist.

Adapted by Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Dave) from the award-winning book by Kate DiCamillo, The Tale of Despereaux features both a rat and a mouse in leading roles, but the self-described fairy tale is much more than a slapdash character study of two rodents. The setup makes it sound like a cousin to both Flushed Away and Ratatouille: a disgraced rat must learn to survive in a dark dungeon, a mouse develops a friendship with a human, and gourmet soup features prominently. Yet as the tale unfolds, it deepens and broadens its themes to a welcome degree. Though it never climbs too far above average and too often embraces the familiar, Despereaux remains a gentle and nurturing children's story, imparting lessons without being too condescending to its audience.

While Despereaux is aimed squarely at the little ones, adults may enjoy the top-notch animation and appreciate the above average performances by a celebrity voice cast (Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Watson, Tracey Ullman, Robbie Coltrane, Kevin Kline, William H. Macy, Stanley Tucci) that is well matched to the characters they play, which is a rare pleasure indeed.

At first blush, this has all the marks of the sort of tepid, respectful, boring prestige picture that's normally a huge turn-off. Director Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit) will reteam with Tobey Maguire for The Crusaders, a film about the lawyers who litigated the landmark 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education (of Topeka, but who keeps track?). That, of course, was when the Court unanimously held that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional.

Maguire will play idealistic young lawyer Jack Greenberg, who teamed with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall (Terrence Howard was rumored for that role, but that seems to have gone away) to fight the segregationists. This project has been kicking around for a while, and Topher Grace was previously attached to star in what is now Maguire's role.

Ross and Maguire's Seabiscuit, which I thought was precisely the sort of unimaginative, tediously reverent historical Oscar-bait that the Academy loves but anyone with any taste can't stand, bored the pants off me. This sounds like a similar sort of project -- though on the other hand, having spent significant time venerating Brown v. Board in law school, I'm curious to see what Hollywood will do with this story. Sort of in the same way a geologist might be fascinated with The Core, y'know?

Each and every time I read about the purchase of yet another young-adult fantasy novel by yet another major studio, I can't help but feel they're all one in the same -- insert some kid (or kids) into a world that's kind of like ours but different, give them some magical powers, then send them off on a quest to find something important. That description alone pretty much sums up every single fantasy project currently filming or in development.

Of course, that's not stopping folks from continually snatching up more and more -- this time around, Universal Pictures has acquired Simon Bloom, the Gravity Keeper -- the first book in a potential series (what else is new) written by newbie Michael Reisman -- as a possible directing vehicle for Gary Ross (Seabiscuit, Pleasantville). Story surrounds three kids who discover a magical physics book that somehow gives them the powers to alter gravity, along with other physical properties of the world. Hey, if this doesn't officially make physics the "cool" subject to study in school, then I don't know what will.

Reisman, a script reader for Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, was first inspired to write the Gravity Keeper after reading the Lemony Snicket books. Even though he now has a book and movie deal, the dude has not yet left his job ... because someone has to discover the next Zoey 101.

Immensely talented writer/director Gary Ross, who brought us the magical Pleasantville and the Oscar-nominated Seabiscuit is finally beginning to line up his next few projects. According to Variety, Ross, who took a three-year absence from the director's chair while he penned the scrips for the animated The Tale of Despereaux and the remake of Creature from the Black Lagoon, is getting back to directing with the new films Vegas 55 and an adaptation of Neal Shusterman's supernatural novel Everlost.

This time around, Ross will not be writing his projects as he did with Pleasantville and Seabuscuit. Instead, Shusterman will be adapting his own novel, which tells the story of teenagers Nick and Allie who, after being in a car accident, are transported to a shadow world called Neverlost populated by people (good and bad) from different historical periods. Vegas 55, based on a magazine article by Charles Fleming about the first integrated casino in Las Vegas, will be written by Kevin Brodbin -- who recently scripted the comic-book adaptation Constantine starring Keanu Reeves and the super-cute Rachel Weisz.

Universal acquired the rights to Shusterman's novel for Ross and partners Allison Thomas and Naketha Mattocks to produce under their Larger than Life Productions banner. No word yet on a start date for either of these films or any potential casting. However, as Tobey Maguire is probably a little too old now to play a teenager (he is 31 you know) in Neverlost, it's more likely that if he and Ross are going to get together for a third time, after Pleasantville and Seabiscuit, it will have to be in Vegas 55. I can see it now: Tobey Maguire and his Pleasantville co-star Reese Witherspoon reunited (this time in color!) to tell the story of the first integrated Vegas casino. That film could prove interesting indeed.

What do you guys think? Time for a Ross-Maguire-Witherspoon rematch?

I'm not sure what it is about these animated features (Easy paycheck? No make-up? They can work in their pajamas?), but everyone who is anyone shows up to lend their voice. Case in point: Universal has snagged one helluva cast for The Tale of Despereaux, based on Kate DiCamillo's award-winning children's book.

Story interwines the fates of three misfits: a banished mouse, a rat who loves the light and a young servant girl with cauliflower ears. Joining the pic's cast are -- deep breath -- Justin Long (as the mouse, Despereaux), Dustin Hoffman (as the rat), Tracey Ullman (as the young girl), Kevin Kline (as a cook for the king who is also banished), Robbie Coltrane (as a palace jailer), Ciarán Hinds (as the devilish leader of the sewer rats), Christopher Lloyd (as an old, blind mouse), William H. Macy (as Despereaux's father), Stanley Tucci (as a genie) and last, but certainly not least, is Sigourney Weaver (as the narrator).

Mike Johnson (Corpse Bride) will direct, while Gary Ross (Pleasantville) will pen the script. Currently, Universal is eying a late 2008 release. Though its cast isn't as grand, Pixar hits theaters this summer with their own mouse tale, Ratatouille.