the mission Tagged Articles at Cinematical

What do you get when you cross Citizen Kane with Ruthless People? Something that sounds like the greatest movie ever, right? Well, we'll see if that's really what we get when Peter Berg makes a movie about the kidnapping of teenage heir J. Paul Getty III. According to Variety, the actor/director is developing a project based on John Pearson's book "Painfully Rich: The Outrageous Fortune and Misfortunes of the Heirs of J. Paul Getty" (with that title, it sounds like another Bette Midler movie is thrown into the mix, too). For those who don't know the story, 16 year old Getty III was abducted in Rome and the kidnappers demanded $17 million. But his miserly grandfather -- the founder of Getty Oil -- initially refused to pay up. At first everyone thought the kid was pulling a prank. Eventually the poor teen's ear was mailed to the family. Finally, gramps paid, though he only did so with the assurance he'd be paid back by Getty II (his son) ... with interest. As for Getty III, well he became totally screwed up, turned to drugs and his life was ruined forever. Thanks grandpa!

The trade doesn't mention whether or not Berg, whose new film, The Kingdom, is now in theaters, will direct the pic; he's currently shooting the washed-up superhero movie Hancock, starring Will Smith, and then he's linked to a few other projects, including the true Navy SEAL story Lone Survivorr, the racehorse drama Gone Like the Wind, the Cheung fo remake The Mission and the fantasy Bran Mak Morn. He will definitely be involved in producing the Getty film, through his company Film 44, along with Working Title's Chris Clark (Catch a Fire). The adaptation of Pearson's book is being written by Robin Shushman, an apparent newbie (no IMDb listing) who is also currently writing the script for The Contortionist's Handbook. Hopefully she will make the thing twisted enough, and possibly add in some relevance to how good today's spoiled heirs have it.

I have no problem admitting that I like cheesy pop music. I don't even have a problem admitting to seeing Spice World in the theater -- twice! -- and loving every minute of it. Now I'll admit another gem: I really like the song "Not Gonna Get Us" by t.A.T.u., particularly the Russian-language version. You probably remember t.A.T.u. more for their controversial image, that of two underage lesbian schoolgirls. Well, after a little hiatus the duo has returned, now perfectly legal and admittedly heterosexual (one of them even has a kid courtesy of an ex-boyfriend), and in addition to recording their third album they have plans for a movie.

Based on the novel "t.A.T.u. Come Back" by Russian Parliament deputy Aleksey Mitrofanov, the movie will follow the stories of two girls who meet and fall in love during a t.A.T.u. concert. According to Moviehole, the title has been changed to Finding t.A.T.u. and is being directed by two-time Oscar-nominee Roland Joffé. I'm not sure where it has actually been confirmed that Joffé has sunk so low -- aside from Moviehole's mention, he is also credited on the movie's Wikipedia page -- but according to the IMDb his next project, following the upcoming Captivity, is Singularity, featuring the strange pairing of Brendan Fraser and Aishwarya Rai. Personally, I would prefer it if the t.A.T.u. movie was a campy musical focusing more on the madcap adventures of the two singers, Lena Katina and Julia Volkova (a la the unnecessary guilty pleasures of Head, The Ghost Goes Gear, and of course Spice World), and I also think the once-proposed t.A.T.u. anime made even more sense, but if the director of The Killing Fields and The Mission is actually attached to this, I am very intrigued to see how the thing turns out.

Hot off its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Magnolia Pictures has nabbed the English-language rights to Johnny To's action thriller, Exiled. As part of a three-way pact (with Optimum Releasing for UK rights and Madman Entertainment for rights in Australia and New Zealand), pic marks the second acquisition for the three companies, after teaming up to snag The Host this past May at Cannes, where Magnolia also picked up the genre title Severance.

Set in Hong Kong's underworld and modeled after To's 1999 hit The Mission, Exiled packed its cast with folks like Roy Cheung, Francis Ng, Anthony Wong and Simon Yam. Says Magnolia's President Eamonn Bowles, "A lot of people thinking that the Hong Kong gangster film ran its course in the nineties are going to be pleasantly surprised by the freshness and innovation of Exiled. Now comes the more (or less) important question: How long before an American filmmaker decides to orchestrate a remake?