quits Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Frankly I don't even know if this is good news or bad news: Nicolas Cage has decided to bail on the Untouchables prequel that Paramount and producer Art Linson are planning to put together. The original plan was for Cage to play a "young" Al Capone, but Variety indicates that "scheduling issues" will now prevent that from happening. (The paper also says that Cage's next movie is unknown, so I guess we know what "scheduling issues" actually means.) One piece of good news is that Gerard Butler has been cast as the "young" Jimmy Malone -- the character played by Sean Connery in Brian De Palma's 1987 near-masterpiece.

Or perhaps it's just that Nicolas Cage feels like giving us a break from his face for a few months. Nothing against the Oscar-winning actor (indeed, I'm a big fan of the guy), but he's already got National Treasure 2 coming in December, and the last few years have been littered with titles like Next and Ghost Rider and The Wicker Man and World Trade Center and Lord of War and The Weather Man. Heck, half of 'em are damn good movies, but there is such a thing as massive over-exposure. Or hell, maybe Nick's just trying to be the next Michael Caine.

In related near-news, it looks like Brian De Palma is in talks to direct The Untouchables: Capone Rising, but I'm not sure if he's signed the deal just yet. It'd be pretty cool if he did. Here's hoping they can wring a fresh screenplay out of David Mamet. THEN I'd be really excited for this movie. Actually the screenplay seems to come from David Rabe and the team of Koppelman and Levien. Not bad, not bad. But the question of the day, of course, is this: Who would YOU cast as a prequel-style Al Capone? (My vote is for Timothy Olyphant.)

Bad news for the Punisher posse: After a few years of waiting for Lionsgate to give The Punisher 2 a green light, actor Thomas Jane has decided to move on and worry about other gigs. Early word was that the sequel would be decidedly darker and more action-packed than its flat-footed predecessor, and Jane seemed more than amped to leap back into the role of Frank Castle and turn the series around. And then ... nothing.

And now comes something that looks like the final word: According to AICN's Quint, who recently received an email from Mr. Jane, the actor is done done done waiting around for his Marvel sequel ... but he doesn't exactly say WHY, either: "I am, sadly – no, make that heartbrokenly – f*** it - just rip out the heart and stomp it into the pavement a couple of times – pulling out ... What I won't do is spend months of my life sweating over a movie that I just don't believe in. I've always loved the Marvel guys, and wish them well."

So what this tells me -- keeping in mind that this is pure conjecture on my part -- is that Lionsgate wants to stick on the PG-13 track if they make a Punisher follow-up. And maybe even go the direct-to-video route, which is something Mr. Jane probably wouldn't dig. Between The Mist and The Mutant Chronicles, the guy's on his way up ... and doing just another lame-o sequel might be counter-productive at this point. (Plus he's also got Killshot on the way, which has been sitting on a Weinstein shelf for well over a year now.) Check out Tom's entertainingly rambly email message right here.

Well it's a new day and, yes, Lindsay Lohan has apparently dropped out of another movie. For those of you keeping count at home, this marks the fourth film La Lohan has bailed on in the past year. Life&Style Weekly claims to have the exclusive scoop, saying Lohan passed on The Best Times of Our Lives (which was to begin production next week) because she wasn't happy with changes that were being made to her contract. While it's the fourth film she's bolted from, this is the first time the whole "shady contract" reason was given.

In the past, Lohan has ditched a project because she's either been "too busy" or "not interested in working with anyone who isn't a big name director." Oh, and she did have to take a brief hiatus from a project due to a stint in rehab -- but before that, folks on the set of Georgia Rule were pissed that the girl was showing up late or, in some "heat exhaustion" cases, not showing up at all. If you or I were to pull these kinds of stunts at our jobs, we'd be fired in an instant. But, see, in Hollywood the rules are reversed -- the more drama you cause, the more people write about you and, subsequently, the more people show up to watch you on the big screen. See, it's the little things that make the entertainment industry so damn special.

It's probably best that La Lohan dropped out, as I could not see her in this role at all. Based on the real-life story of a night in the life of poet Dylan Thomas, Lohan was supposed to star alongside Keira Knightley, Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys. This isn't to say Lohan's appearance would have cheapened what, essentially, looks like a pretty interesting film -- well, okay, I guess I am saying that. Here's hoping they find an adequate replacement on such short notice, or else The Best Times of Our Lives might turn into The Worst Production of the Year.