john fusco Tagged Articles at Cinematical

When rumors first surfaced regarding a movie that would star both Jackie Chan and Jet Li, most of us in movie news land just chucked them into the "films that will probably never happen" pile (alongside the long-rumored Sylvester Stallone/Arnold Schwarzenegger pic). Needless to say, we were surprised to hear the film was indeed a reality, and now Variety reports it has a title -- The Forbidden Kingdom -- with Lionsgate onboard to release it in theaters in September 2008. Only problem ... it's apparently a kids film. Yes, two fantastic martial artists are finally pairing up on screen for the first time in a film that's to be directed by the same guy (Robert Minkoff) who brought us Stuart Little and The Lion King. Pretty ferocious, huh?

Nothing against Minkoff (the guy definitely knows how to deliver a successful family film), but you know it's bad when the first film you think of after reading the plot description is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3. Oh, but there is some good here -- apparently, Yuen Woo-ping (The Matrix, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) will be creating the fight sequences. Pic centers on an American teenager (to be played by Michael Angarano?) who is transported back to ancient China after picking up the king's magical stick in a pawn shop. Once there, he must team up with a bunch of warriors to help get the king back his stick. Li will play two roles in the film: monkey king and silent monk. Chan, on the other hand, will play the monk T'sa-Ho. Seeing as John Fusco (Young Guns, Hidalgo, Spirit) penned the script, I assume the flick will be littered with some elaborate horse sequences. I don't know, I'm on the fence with this one -- what do you think?

Odds and ends from Friday/Saturday:

• An interesting trio of stars have lined up to play roles in The Take, to be directed by Brad Furman. According to Production Weekly, John Leguizamo, Rosie Perez and Tyrese Gibson are attached to the heist flick, which was penned by siblings Josh and Jonas Pete. Story will surround a security guard (Leguizamo) who gets caught up in a carefully orchestrated heist. While recovering from the dramatic event, he learns the FBI and police are targeting him as their prime suspect. Damn, talk about a guy that deserves a pay raise.
• While I'm sure Martha is still holding out hope the Weinstein's remake of Akira Kurosawa's classic Seven Samurai will mysteriously disappear and never happen ... like, ever, it does appear everything is going forward as planned since a scribe has now been attached. Screenwriter John Fusco (Hidalgo, Young Guns) has been tapped to bring a little bit of the American west to 16th Century Japan. Seeing as Kurosawa originally used the Western for inspiration during Samurai, this seems like a logical choice. Whether or not the remake should happen in the first place? Well, that's a debate I'm sure will heat up as time goes on.
• Those of you who have been waiting for a sequel to the comedy classic Animal House may get a chance to see the whole thing play out in real life. Authorities recently raided the Alpha Delta fraternity house that inspired the1978 hit film. Located at Dartmouth College, police confiscated a computer, videotapes and two sledgehammers. Though no one is saying what this is all about (and if Alpha Delta is now on double secret probation), the police chief did note that it was not drug related. Animal House scribe, Chris Miller, was a member of the same fraternity when he graduated from Dartmouth in 1964 and later used his experience to help create the wonderful characters we've grown to love over the years.