thomas crown affair Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I remember very little about the Pierce Brosnan / Rene Russo version of The Thomas Crown Affair. I know that A) I liked it, B) that Rene Russo was frequently topless in it (see A), and C) there was a really cool scene with a bunch of dudes in hats. The film grossed a respectable $70 million back in 1999, and was a huge hit on video. And now a sequel is underway. You'll remember Thomas Crown was a remake of the Steve McQueen / Faye Dunaway original, which did not spawn a sequel. So are they coming up with an original story for TCA Part 2? Of course not, silly! Brosnan told Filmstalker that the sequel will be based on the Peter Ustinov classic Topkapi, and will be called The Topkapi Affair.

Moviehole is reporting that the screenplay is based on the novel Light of Day (this one, by Eric Ambler), so I suppose the script pulls from both sources. Casting has already begun on the sequel, and Brosnan says "This version of Topkapi will have a different part, different woman, and different affair. The guy is a little bit more seasoned and we're using wonderful locations this time." Wait, who is this different woman Brosnan is talking about? How do you one-up the gorgeous Rene Russo? Believe it or not, they did -- Angelina Jolie has reached a deal to play the love interest. The plot for this new adventure centers on getting the Kasikci Diamond out of Topkapki Palace, which is in Istanbul. The IMDb lists the screenwriter as Harley Peyton, whose last produced script was 2001's spotty Bandits. No word on a director yet, but let's hope they bring John McTiernan back. Mr. Die Hard stooped to making Rollerball, for crying out loud. Expect The Topkapi Affair in 2008.

In what seems like an effort to put the roar back into the lion, MGM chairman-CEO Harry Sloan is looking to turn the studio into a tentpole factory and is about to announce some of the big-budget films currently in development. Not surprisingly, since the studio is anchored by its library of franchise-available titles, most of these tentpoles will be sequels, including Terminator 4, a second installment to the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, the previously reported Pink Panther sequel, as well as a few that Erik mentioned last week.

One release to rule them all is The Hobbit, to which MGM co-owns the rights (with New Line, who made the Lord of the Rings films), and which actually may end up as two releases. There is a good chance the LOTR prequel will be a blockbuster no matter how it's produced, but Sloan is really hoping that Peter Jackson can be snagged to direct. Seeing as Jackson still has The Lovely Bones and The Dam Busters on his calendar, if he were to be interested in the project, Sloan will have to wait a few years to get it started. In the meantime, he can take another look through the library and find some more films in need of easily extended into sequels. Otherwise, he will have to find someone else ... someone that fans will trust and approve. Man, how long with that take?

Earlier this month, Mark reported on a New Line leak that claimed The Hobbit is scheduled for next summer, but the above information doesn't seem to make that possible.