phillip noyce Tagged Articles at Cinematical

• Jamie Kennedy is going to produce an indie called In Northwood, which stars Nick Stahl as a man condemned to a mental hospital after committing murder. THR
• Cocaine Cowboys has picked itself up a scribe -- gonzo journalist and screenwriter Evan Wright. THR
  
• Everyone's favorite pot-smoking Jay, aka Jason Mewes, has nabbed a starring role in the indie slasher flick Silent But Deadly, which shoots in Ontario next month. Variety
• Phillip Noyce, meanwhile, is going to hit the plank and write the remake of Captain Blood. THR
• Check out Jennifer's blood-dripping lips, which just so happens to look like a certain television poster that was released recently. JoBlo
  
• Get ready for Robot Chicken: Star Wars: Episode 2! Coming Soon
• Posters: The Day The Earth Stood Still and Max Payne

Amelia Earhart -- we hardly knew ya. But we're about to know the gal a whole lot more as it appears that planned biopic starring Hilary Swank (as Earhart) has brought on a new director to replace Phillip Noyce (who recently left the project). Yup, Moviehole (who've been all over this film) reports that Mira Nair has signed on to helm the flick, which will most likely begin shooting soon. Nair is a solid director; she's the woman behind The Namesake (which I liked very much), and definitely knows how to work with period films (see: Vanity Fair).

The film, currently titled (I believe) The Story of Amelia Earhart, is due out in 2009 and will star Swank as the American aviation pioneer. Earhart is probably most known for disappearing over the Pacific Ocean while attempting a circumnavigational flight across the globe in 1937, but she was also the first woman to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross, which she was awarded as the first woman "aviatrix" to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, so says Wikipedia. She also wrote best-selling books and helped launch The Ninety-Nines, which is an organization for women pilots. Needless to say, it's about time Earhart got the glossy, big-screen Hollywood treatment -- and with Swank and Nair involved, I'm sure this will be a film we hear a lot more of come Oscar time.

The Sundance Flu, The Sundance Cold, The Sundance Fever ... how about The Sundance I Feel Like Complete Sh*t ...

Looks like J.J. Abrams does plan to go all Wonder Years for his Star Trek flick! Coming Soon reports that 11-year-old (about to be 12) Jimmy Bennett has landed a role as Young Kirk in Abrams' upcoming Star Trek film, due out at Christmas. Bennett has played a little kid in films like Hostage, Firewall, Poseidon and Evan Almighty. A young Spock will also be featured, leading this writer to believe both characters will appear in the film and talk about how much they "like, like" Winnie Cooper. Fingers crossed.

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed (what was already previously reported) that New Line is in talks with Platinum Dunes to re-launch the franchise that helped secure their name as one of the big players in town, A Nightmare on Elm Street. Dunes partners Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form will produce, and a writer will be hired once the strike comes to an end. Since it's a full-out re-do, expect Robert Englund to not play Freddy Krueger, though we imagine he'll still have a role in the film (perhaps as part of Freddy's family). God bless the guy they get to fill his shoes; he'll have to convince tons of hardcore fans that he's the real deal. Dunes and New Line are also prepping a re-launch of the Friday the 13th franchise, with Marcus Nispel directing.

And finally, though it's not really a fanboy film (but I needed one more thing to throw in here, so cut me some slack), Moviehole reports that director Phillip Noyce has officially dropped out of that planned Amelia Earhart biopic starring Hilary Swank. MH spoke with Noyce, who gave the following reason for his departure: "I had worked on Amelia for 5 months from July to end of December 2007, finding all the locations and extensively storyboarding the flying sequences - When it didn't appear that the film was going ahead, I had to make a painful decision to move on and returned to a project that had long fascinated me... Mary Queen of Scots. Scarlett Johansson will play Mary in a film to be shot on location in Scotland, England and Ireland during 2008." Apparently Swank is still attached to the film, which we all thought was moving ahead as planned (script issues, maybe), so we'll keep you updated and let you know what happens.

Depending on your point of view, if you were a fan of Tim Winton's novel Dirt Music, you were either crushed or relieved when casting fell apart for the big screen adaptation last November. The first casting change came when Nicole Kidman left the film and was replaced by Rachel Weisz. Then, Heath Ledger dropped out of the project to focus on his role as The Joker in The Dark Knight. It would seem that everything is now back on track for the film, since Variety has reported that Colin Farrell has taken over from Ledger to co-star with Weisz in the Outback drama.

The novel centered on the relationship between a middle-aged alcoholic single mother and a local poacher, set against the backdrop of rural Australia. Philip Noyce, who also helmed To Catch A Fire and The Saint (although I'll try not to hold that against him) is directing and also co-producing the film. Shooting is set to begin this August in North Western Australia. You can't help but notice that there is a touch of a "Hollywood makeover" at work when the role of middle-aged alcoholic is transformed into Rachel Weisz and a grizzled bushman turns into Colin Farrell.

Oh, the plight of the writer, who exists so low on the Hollywood power totem pole. They write up a script, and it gets swept away by producers and directors. If they're lucky or have some pull, they get taken along. Otherwise, it's out of their hands, either flying to the screen with the script intact, or being revamped by different writers. And, just sometimes, a legal loophole allows a literary and cinematic character to be stolen away.

Movieweb has reported that Phillip Noyce, director of Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, has heard that there are plans to bring Jack Ryan back to the big screen. The loophole allows Paramount to use the character in other films without any word from Tom Clancy. This means that we might just see Jack Ryan prancing around without the popular author's imagined landscapes and scenarios.

Why bother? Sure, Harrison Ford's Jack Ryan was a box office success, but that was as part of the film versions of Clancy's novels. If you have to go to all the effort to create a new story for an old, established character, why not just use that creativity to write up someone new? In any medium, once the original creator's vision exits stage, the audience starts murmuring sounds of protest. Eh, forget it. We should just throw all the classic icons into new settings, and I'm not talking about super heroes. How about Raskolnikov in a new college comedy, or a dead Emily Webb in a ghostly thriller?