russell gewitz Tagged Articles at Cinematical

According to Variety, Platinum Studios is teaming up with Valhalla Motion Pictures to bring the not-yet-published comic Final Orbit to the big screen. The fact that it hasn't been read by us nerds leaves us little to talk about, but I'll try anyway.

Final Orbit follows a group of thrill-seekers who win a lottery to vacation aboard a newly completed International Space Station. Things go horribly wrong when the station is damaged, stranding the tourists in a damaged module with no trained astronaut to assist them. It sounds like a combination of Space Camp and, well, every space movie from Sunshine to Apollo 13. Don't space journeys ever go well? How did we ever make it to the moon?

The script is being penned by Russell Gewirtz, the author behind Inside Man and the much-discussed DeNiro-Pacino thriller Righteous Kill. It's another addition to the super busy slate of Platinum Studios, who are producing everything from Witchblade to Atlantis Rising, and publishing loads of comic books on the side. They are unstoppable. I'm wondering when the heck they're going to green-light Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space. (I'm not kidding, it is one of their titles. Go to their website if you don't believe me.)

As there isn't even a working preview on Platinum's website, we shall simply wait and see. Which leaves the perfect opening to wonder if where we're going with Final Orbit, we will need eyes to see. Come on, someone had to say it.

There you have it. Not only is Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino back together, making cinematic history but rapper 50 Cent might be wedged between them. The impending production of Righteous Kill has people more excited than Paris Hilton's release, but we'll have a long time to wait, since the script is sitll being dreamed up by Russel Gewirtz, who wrote Inside Man with the smokin' hot Denzel Washington and Clive Owen.

50 Cent's participation in the film is not yet finalized. According to Hollywood Reporter he is in "final negotiations" to co-star. If all contractual agreements run smoothly, 50 will portray a drug dealer who aids DeNiro and Pacino -- detectives who are working to track down a serial killer -- in finding their wanted person. I can't yet comment on 50 Cent as a casting choice since his only prior acting role was as a close-to-life character in Get Rich or Die Tryin' in 2005. Still, he has announced (not including Righteous Kill) three projects to be filmed in the coming months.

Gewirtz is known to be writing the script in such a way as to give Pacino and DeNiro as much on screen time together as possible. The two, in their prime, starred in The Godfather II and then in Heat in 1995. The latter was the only flim they've ever actually shared screen-time in, however. It's almost a joke that two of the greatest actors of our time have never shared more than a single scene on the big screen. Righteous Kill is expected to reach theatres in 2008.