snitch Tagged Articles at Cinematical

He's either really hot right now, or he's indecisive. Just last week we heard that Carl Franklin (Devil in a Blue Dress) would be directing The Maintenance Man, which he had decided to do instead of Tulia (now to be helmed by John Singleton). Today The Hollywood Reporter has Franklin linked to another project, a thriller at New Line titled Snitch. Of course, he could be lining up the film as his next job following The Maintenance Man. But the only thing THR mentions as being on his slate is an episode of HBO's upcoming miniseries The Pacific. Personally, I would be fine if Franklin abandoned The Maintenance Man, which sounds beneath him, but I'd also like to see him make up his mind. It's been four years since his last release, Out of Time.

Snitch seems like a good project for the director. Written by Justin Haythe (The Clearing) and based on an episode of PBS' Frontline documentary series from 1999, the film will focus on Joey Settembrino, an 18-year-old looking at about 30 years in prison for selling drugs after being ratted out by a snitch. To help his son get off with a lighter sentence, Joey's father goes undercover in an attempt to deliver other drug dealers to the feds, a plan that was actually suggested by the government. I'm picturing a movie similar to Paul Schrader's Hardcore, which is about a father doing detective work in an underworld setting in order to save his daughter. Frontline producer David Fanning will also be producing the adaptation along with Haythe and Spitfire Pictures' Guy East and Nigel Sinclair. As far as I know, it will be the first movie spun-off from the series.

Odds and ends from Friday and the weekend:

• If he's going to seek revenge upon the gang that attacked his family, Kevin Bacon will have to go through John Goodman, as the big guy has just signed on to play the boss of a drug ring in Death Sentence. As previously reported, joining Goodman and Bacon will be Kelly Preston and Stuart Lafferty who will be playing Bacon's wife and son.
• Kyle Newman's Revenge of the Nerds remake has been hard at work adding geeks and sorority girls to its ever-expanding cast. Jenna Dewan (Take the Lead), Ryan Pinkston and Nick Zano have become the latest dorks to join the pack. Dewan will play love interest to Max (Christopher Marquette), one of the film's main nerds, while Pinkston will settle into the role of Felch, a 15-year-old college freshman and the pic's token whiz kid. Zano will play lead jock and (we're assuming) the nerds' biggest nemesis.
• New Line has been busy chasing a Snitch ... the screenplay that is. Studio has just picked up Justin Haythe's script, which was inspired by a PBS Frontline documentary. Story revolves around a devoted dad who goes undercover in the drug world to try to find a way to free his son from prison after the boy was sent away on drug charges.