maverick films Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The Maverick Red label is set to produce Digger, a horror film about grave digging. Not to be confused with Diggers, which came out this past Friday, the film will center on a man named Joshua Bauer who is forced to dig graves by hand as a young man and decides to seek revenge on whoever made him do that by going on a killing spree. Interestingly, the Hollywood Reporter notes that the producers "hope to launch Bauer as a new horror icon." Joshua Bauer is going to give Freddy Krueger and Jason Vorhees a run for their money? Okay, let's see what you've got, Joshua. Gregory Segal and John A. Gallagher will serve as producers on the project, with Gallagher directing. The screenplay is being penned by Stephen Lancellotti, who has no prior credits that I can see.

As for Gallagher, his prior credits include the 1997 independent feature The Deli, which starred Gretchen Mol and the more recent Blue Moon, a dramedy starring Ben Gazzara and Rita Moreno. The HR article also notes some other projects that Maverick currently has in development, including The Stepfather, which I assume is a remake of The Stepfather with Terry O'Quinn and a remake of The Phone, an Asian horror movie as well as a film called Labyrinth, about a serial killer. No word on whether boss lady Madonna is interested in taking on an acting role in any of these projects, or if she's happy with having her film appearances continue to be unintentionally horrifying. Actually, I'm just taking a cheap shot there -- I thought Madonna was pretty good in Dick Tracy, Who's That Girl? and a couple of other films.

Odds and ends from Wednesday:

• After cracking us up as conniving Hollywood agent Ari Gold on HBO's Entourage, Jeremy Piven has signed on to play a conniving American diplomat in Peter Berg's The Kingdom. Pic, which already sports a dynamite cast of Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman, tells of a group of U.S. FBI agents who are sent to investigate the bombing of an American facility in the Middle East.
• Maverick Films is looking to lock and load after snatching up the spec script Shoot, written by Ron Krauss and Tom Hietter. Picture The Fast and the Furious, but with gunslingers instead of souped-up automobiles. Pic, which Krauss will also direct, revolves around the "underground world of contemporary gunslingers" and follows a young shooter on his quest to challenge the sport's undefeated champion.
• As we previously reported (without any official word), Zooey Deschanel is now confirmed to be taking on the role of Janis Joplin in Penelope Spheeris' upcoming biopic, Gospel According to Janis. Written by Spheeris and Brad Vanderburg, pic will focus on the period of time between Joplin first moving to California and her subsequent death eight years later. I've always thought Deschanel was a bit too "goth" looking to play Joplin, but she definitely has the gritty, indie part down. So, let's see what she does with it.