• Edward Behr (c.1926-2007) - British writer of Half Moon Street, starring Sigourney Weaver. He also appears as himself in Otto Preminger's doc Rosebud. (International Herald Tribune)
• Jo Durden-Smith (1941-2007) - Documentary filmmaker who wrote and directed A Horse Called Nijinski, which was narrated by Orson Welles, and produced the rock docs The Stones in the Park, The Doors Are Open and Johnny Cash in San Quentin. He died following a stroke May 10, in the UK. (Guardian)
• Kei Kumai (1930-2007) - Japanese filmmaker who directed The Sea Is Watching (pictured), which was written by Akira Kurosawa. He also directed Tunnel to the Sun, Lady Ogin and Death of a Sea Monster, all starring Toshiro Mifune, and The Sea and Poison, which won the Silver Bear at the 1987 Berlin Film Festival. He died of a brain hemorrhage May 18, in Tokyo. (Variety)
• Bruno Mattei (1931-2007) - Italian cult filmmaker who directed Hell of the Living Dead (aka Zombie Creeping Flesh), Womens Prison Massacre, Violence in a Woman's Prison, Rats: Night of Terror and Zombie 3. He was also the co-editor of Jesus Franco's 99 Women, for which he also directed the hardcore sequences, and Count Dracula. He died of cancer May 21, in Rome. (Contact Music)
• Bud Molin (1925-2007) - Editor on all of Carl Reiner's films between 1970 (Where's Poppa?) and 1993 (Fatal Instinct). He also edited They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!, Police Academy 3: Back in Training, The Man With One Red Shoe and Up the Academy, for which he was also the second unit director. He died May 21 in Rancho Mirage, California. (Variety)
• Charles Nelson Reilly (1931-2007) - Actor and television personality who played "Don Don Canneloni" in Cannonball Run II and appears in an uncredited role in Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd. He also voiced characters in Don Bluth's All Dogs Go to Heaven, Rock-A-Doodle and A Troll in Central Park. He died of complications from pneumonia May 25, in Los Angeles. (NY Times)
• G. Srinivasan (c.1958-2007) - Indian producer of Mani Ratnam's last four films, including the director's latest, Guru, which stars Aishwarya Rai. He died May 27 when he fell into a 50-foot gorge near Halan, India. (Earthtimes.org)
• Robert Sully (1918-2007) - Actor who appears in Meet Me in St. Louis, A Guy Named Joe and When Worlds Collide. He died May 15 in Santa Barbara, California. (Santa Barbara News-Press)
• Alberto Verso (1941-2007) - Italian costume designer for Ripley's Game and The Truce and assistant costume designer for The Night Porter, Waterloo and Visconti's L'Innocente. He died May 16 in Rome. (IMDb)
• Ben Weisman (1921-2007) - Composer of the scores to Andy Warhol's L'Amour and Ed Wood's short Crossroads of Laredo. He also wrote tunes for many of Elvis' movies, including Jailhouse Rock, King Creole, Clambake, Blue Hawaii and Roustabout. He died May 20 in Los Angeles. (Variety)
  
• Gretchen Wyler (1932-2007) - Actress who played one of the few female characters in The Devil's Brigade and "Aunt Kissy" in Private Benjamin. She died of complications from breast cancer May 27, in Fresno, California. (FresnoBee.com)

Fresh off his hit film The Departed, director Martin Scorsese is taking a small break from violence, cursing and Leonardo DiCaprio in order to shoot a feature-length documentary on The Rolling Stones. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Paramount has picked up all North American rights to the pic, which it intends to release at some point during the latter part of 2007. These music docs are nothing new to Scorsese, as the man just put out No Direction Home: Bob Dylan back in 2005 and is responsible for 1978's The Last Waltz, in which he documented the final concert of The Band.

While there's no title for the doc yet, Scorsese began shooting this past Sunday at New York's Beacon Theater where the Stones were performing for Bill Clinton's birthday bash. (Must be nice to have the Stones play your birthday party, huh? The closest I ever came was the mechanical animal band that rocked out center stage during my fifth birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's. Sigh) The film will showcase two concerts from the band's current tour, as well as "historical and contemporary behind-the-scenes footage and interviews."

Oh, and if you're wondering how Scorsese will go about covering each concert, well, it's pretty safe to say he's got a solid team backing him up. Check out this mind-blowing list of cinematographers covering the Beacon's main auditorium: Mitch Amundsen (2nd unit, Mission: Impossible III), Stuart Dryburgh (The Piano), Robert Elswit (Good Night, and Good Luck), Ellen Kuras (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), Andrew Lesnie (The Lord of the Rings trilogy), Emmanuel Chivo Lubezki (The New World), Anastas Michos (Mona Lisa Smile), Declan Quinn (In America) and John Toll (Braveheart). Yeah, I think Scorsese has officially defined balls-to-the-wall coverage with this monster of a documentary. What do you think?

Odds and ends from Friday:

• There's always been something about Cary Elwes that doesn't sit right with me. I'm not exactly sure what, but the dude definitely strikes me as somewhat creepy in a stalker-ish kind of way. Lucky for him, this makes Elwes perfect for the part of the child-molesting step-father in Garry Marshall's upcoming Georgia Rule. The actor recently signed on to the film in which he'll play an all around great guy and husband who, at times, secretly molests Lindsay Lohan, his step-daughter. Sounds peachy.
• 20th Century Fox desperately wants to be cool. And they're proving it by picking up an untitled comedy pitch by Derek Guiley and David Schneiderman. Story is based on a real-life seminar for adults who feel as if they've lost touch with what's "cool" these days. Pic will follow four ad execs who wind up in a high school where they find themselves reverting back to a teenager's mentality. I assume this means there will be tons of note passing, keg-stands and sloppy make-out sessions. Hey, I'm game.
• According to British newspaper Daily Express, Keith Richards begged the producers of Pirates of the Caribbean to let his fellow Rolling Stones bandmates appear in the third installment of the franchise along with him. Richards thought it would be a hoot if Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts could play a vile pirate crew that hangs around Richards' character. Apparently, however, producers denied his request saying the script doesn't allow for it. Not for nothing, but one Rolling Stone is enough. Throw the whole band in there and now you're coming dangerously close to something The Simpsons would do. Just my two cents.