wilmer valderrama Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Because you know sh*t always hits the fan on Columbus Day. Unfortunately, it's not a sequel to Eli Roth's Thanksgiving trailer from Grindhouse (although some dude dressed as Christopher Columbus hacking his way through the annual Columbus Day parade would have been an interesting route to take). Nope, this one is a straight-up crime thriller, and the Hollywood Reporter tells us Val Kilmer, Wilmer Valderrama and Marg Helgenberger have just joined the pic, which will be produced by Kevin Spacey's Trigger Street Prods. (HR's fun fact of the day tells us that Kilmer and Spacey went to Chatsworth High School together in Los Angeles. Hmm, I wonder who was cooler?)

Instead of the usual "guy takes on one last heist job before retiring," Columbus Day looks to go in a different direction; this one is set the morning after a thief (Kilmer) has pulled off the biggest job in his life, but now, he needs to fix the things that went wrong ... or else. At the same time -- and in order to show us these criminals are still humans with real feelings -- said thief attempts to repair the relationship he has with his ex-wife (Helgenberger). The dude from That '70s Show will play Kilmer's associate -- ya know, the guy who helps plan the heist even though he isn't sure they can pull it off. Though the Hollywood Reporter fails to clearly point this out, Charles Burmeister (The King of Sixth Street) will direct off his own script. Pic will be shot on location in Los Angeles, and I assume will hit theaters sometime next year. No word yet on whether Spacey will also make an appearance, but chances are he'll slide in there somewhere. (Hey, maybe he can play a guy who went to high school with the thief -- ya know, they can grab a cup of coffee, look through some old yearbooks and think back to what once was ... )

I'm not only a sucker for a good remake of classic cheese, but I also love musing over who should be cast as classic characters. Sometimes my vision makes it, like Christian Bale's lips getting the chance to pout below that tight Batman mask, and sometimes it isn't meant to be, like Maggie Gyllenhaal as a classy Lois Lane. Somehow, in all of the discussions I have had over the years concerning remakes, CHiPs never occurred to me. However, I really don't think I could've come up with someone better to take over Ponch than Wilmer Valderrama.

Cinematical has been following the development of this remake for a while now. While recent rumors have given the new Ponch his twenty-first century Jon Baker, Valderrama recently set the record straight during a press junket. There is no saucy partner signed onto the project yet, although Wilmer's wording didn't completely rule out Chris Evans in the part.

What is more promising is Valderrama's attitude towards the remake. The word "remake" usually makes us queasy, and leads to many questions. Will it be a farce like The Brady Bunch Movie? Will it seem too different like Miami Vice? Wilmer insists that this current-day adaptation will be respectful, colorful and fun. Although they've got the script and are currently looking for a director, I wonder if the feather-haired duo will hold the same magic outside the unique style of the seventies and eighties?

[via Cinema Blend]

Chris Evans has reportedly agreed to turn in his white-hot Human Torch tights and appear as Officer Jon Baker, better known as partner to one Officer Francis L. Poncherello of CHiPs fame. That role will be filled by Wilmer Valderrama as these two hop on motorcycles and take this early 80s show onto the big screen.

Unlike the rumored previous casting of George Lopez and Matthew Perry, at least Evans and Valderrama both look marginally like their TV counterparts, although Evans could probably never pull off the wholesomeness that Larry Wilcox always managed to convey. Erik Estrada has a slightly sleazy edge to his Ponch, but you could imagine Wilcox sipping a tall glass of milk while staring off into space, dreaming about the better life. He was the ultimate motorcycle-ridin' Boy Scout.

Memo to Hollywood: At this point, just about everything from my childhood days has been strip-mined to oblivion, leaving only the PBS memories untouched. Please start making some original material before The Great Space Coaster: The Movie opens at my local multiplex.

Right, that's it: The world is officially beyond redemption. Not only does PartyBuddys exist, but a movie is actually being made about its founders. Seriously, shoot me now. In addition to not being able to spell, these guy guys charge huge fees to enable people to, as their MySpace page says roughly 405 times, PARTY LIKE A CELEBRITY. They provide an entourage, which apparently gets people into Exclusive! Clubs!, and makes them look like high rollers, something the ladies surely find irresistible. "Oh yeah baby," they say, "hook me up with that hottie -- look at all the men standing around him, he must be super important!"

And apparently this works on some level -- at least it makes money for founders James King and Jason Roefaro. Plus, if Variety is to be believed -- and I'm afraid it probably is -- there's now that damn movie deal, which will reportedly tell the story of this thrilling business. (Remember what I said about beyond redemption? Do you believe me now?) The movie, which will be called PartyBuddys, is going to be produced by, among others, the great Wilmer Valderrama. And, yes, he might just star. Sigh.

This morning's Variety contains further news of Hollywood's pursuit of the elusive Latin market, a rapidly-growing community that has never been successfully targeted by American studios. Lionsgate has been most aggressive about going after Spanish-speaking viewers (though the first offering from their new dedicated arm didn't do great business), but Disney also has an eye on the Latin market, which they go after with English-language projects. In addition to television's George Lopez, Disney is now planning a Latin-oriented feature starring Wilmer Valderrama and the impossibly awesome John Leguizamo.

The film, entitled Something Blue, is described as a family comedy that "revolves around a father who becomes unhinged when his first-born daughter gets engaged to a young police officer." And I was about to write that I was unsure who Leguizamo would play (assuming Valderrama is the fiance), since there's no way he's old enough to have a daughter of marrying age. Then I checked the IMDb, and discovered that he's 42-years-old. 42! How is that possible? My lord. Ok, I'll deal with this one my own later, but I think it's safe to say he's going to play the dad. Wow.

While I'm not necessarily a big fan of family comedies, the idea of Leguizamo taking his rage out on Wilmer Valderrama strikes me as a nearly irresistible one. I'm not in your target audience, Disney, but my butt will be in a seat for this one.

Wilmer Valderrama who, with the merciful ending of That '70s Show is going movie crazy, has added yet another feature to his already full slate. This time, he's agreed with Warner Brothers to star in Unaccompanied Minors, a comedy set in a fictional airport. In the movie, a group of middle school students from broken homes find themselves stranded at the airport, and take the opportunity to "create a makeshift holiday." Hmm. Does anyone else see a problem here? The report says that Valderrama is going to star, but the thought of having the guy who is going to play Ponch pretend to be in middle school is more than a little laughable. So far, his costars are Brett Kelly (he's 13) and Tyler James Williams the star of Everybody Hates Chris who, quite reasonably, is also 13. Valderrama? 26.

At the moment, we're just going to have to fervently hope that the movie's "star" turns out to be an adult, for some reason. If it's not, all actors under 20 need to write nasty letters to the casting people at Warner's, because I'm sure at least one of them could match Valderrama's acting *cough* chops. Oh God, wait - do you think  Valderrama's character has been held back 13 times, or something? Is that really funny or really dumb? It's so hard to decide.