I’m aware that, chances are, after you read that headline above, you’re probably going to have a minor embolism.
Rest assured that you DID read that correctly, and by all accounts, someone, somewhere, at Disney has greenlit a sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
You may not, however, be aware that Who Framed Roger Rabbit was actually based on an old conspiracy theory proven terrifyingly accurate about how a coterie of companies came together to take down the Los Angeles streetcar system and replace it with a freeway, which is pretty much what happened in the original.
There are some rumors that say that we’ll have much the same thing in this one, with another conspiracy theory being targeted and analogized to fit into a ninety minute cartoon / live action hybrid film. Naturally there’s no proof of this as the script hasn’t even been started on yet, but the concept remains, and in all honesty, I’m looking forward to it!
I loved that film when I was a kid, and have fond memories of going along with a group of childhood buddies to catch it. It was downright amazing. And I can only hope that a whole new generation of kids will have the same opportunity to laugh at a moron bunny that I did.
January Jones will be starting with Nicolas Cage in the thriller The Hungry Rabbit Jumps. Jones is known for her on AMC’s Mad Men.
Rabbit is schedule to start shooting around the beginning of December.
The film follows a man (Cage) who, after a crime is perpetrated on his wife, gets more than he bargained for when he enlists a vigilante group to help him settle the score. Jones will play the wife.
Reportedly, Jones’ role is very meaty and active.
Roger Donaldson is attached to direct from Robert Tanen’s script.
What do Tom Cruise, Beck, John Travolta, Kirstie Alley, Giovanni Ribisi, Katie Holmes, and Paul Haggis all have in common? Why, they’re all members of the cult-I mean religion-called Scientology. That is, until this week when a letter written by Paul Haggis (director of Crash, writer of Million Dollar Baby and Casino Royale) to the “church” of Scientology was revealed.
Apparently, Haggis was infuriated by Scientology’s backing of California’s Proposition 8, which in 2008 made same-sex marriages illegal. Haggis wrote: “The church’s refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of no other word. Silence is consent [...] I refuse to consent”. Haggis also criticised Scientology for putting pressure on Haggis and his wife to “disconnect” their lives from her grandparents’. And so, Haggis has quit.
What’s far more astounding is how on earth people can buy into this ridiculous cult. It was created by a crazy sci-fi writer who wanted to abuse the tax-breaks handed out to religions. How can anyone associate themselves with an organisation who charge people up to thousands of dollars for “personality tests” (haven’t they heard of facebook applications?), deny the existence of autism (which John Travolta’s recently deceased teenage son had), and forbid a woman from screaming during childbirth? Not to mention their hatred for psychiatry, their use of legal waivers forced upon those who join, and their tendency to harass and torment those opposed to or investigating them. It’s a secretive, money-grabbing, dangerous cult. And anyone who disagrees with me need only check out the Simpsons episode called The Joy of Sect, in which Springfield is controlled by a group known as the Movementarians. So well done, Paul Haggis, let’s hope the millions of others see sense and follow suit.
Fans of the Che Guevara road movie The Motorcycle Diaries will be pleased with this news. Director Walter Salles and writer Jose Rivera will team up again, this time to adapt the modern American novel ‘American Rust’, penned by Philipp Meyer. Scott Stuber (The Break-Up, Role Models) will produce.
American Rust is Meyer’s first novel, and it tells the tale of two childhood friends, Isaac and Billy. Set in a dying steel town in Pennsylvania, a murder is committed that involves the boys, and through betrayal and arguments, leads to a split in the friendship that may affect the rest of their lives. The novel has been lauded by critics, with comparisons made with the likes of Cormac McCarthy and William Faulkner.
While The Motorcycle Diaries was an entertaining film, many criticised it for distorting events to glorify and idealise the young Che, despite the reality being far from that (and of course the problem that the revolutionary became overly vicious in his later years). Meyer’s novel is praised for its ability to find drama in the drab and downbeat lives of a decaying community, and if a film adaptaion merely tries to replicate the main plot points, it may indeed miss the point of the tale. Regardless, it will be an interesting prospect so see how a Brazilian director and a Puerto Rican writer take on a story of an American community.
Sometimes pairings are so strange they just might work. Who would have thought sweet and sour could combine to make such a tasty Asian sauce? So what sort of film we will see with the combination of writer/director Gus Van Sant (pictured left) and cult novelist Brett Easton Ellis? Van Sant is known for a mix of engaging dramas (Good Will Hunting) and pretentious experimentations (Gerry), while Ellis is the oddball responsible for the darkly comic novel American Psycho and the socially critical Less Than Zero, both adapted already into films. And together they are working on an adaptation of a Vanity Fair article.
The article, entitled “Golden Suicides”, concerns New York artists Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake who separately commited suicide in 2007, after growing increasingly paranoid that they were being followed by Scientologists. Last year Ellis agreed to write a script but now Van Sant has come aboard as consultant and possible director. It’s great to see these two big names attached to the project. It’s also worth noting that when Van Sant deals with true stories, like Elephant (loosely based on the Columbine killings) and the biopic of Milk, he makes something very special.
Sharon Stone will be in frontof the camera, starting the first quarter of the year in the United Kingdom, with Carice Van Houten of Valkyrie. Together the actresses will star in the indie drama Satisfaction directed by Anya Camilleri.
The story, written by Simon Burke, centers on a young gigolo in London, who finds himself caught between a rich and manipulative older woman (Stone) and a younger woman (Van Houten). The story isn’t anything new, but with Burke credited at the screenwriter, I suspect the story is worth the effort to put the movie on the silver screen.
Burke’s writing credits include adaptations of Tom Jones, Sons and Lovers, The Picture of Dorian Gray, White Teeth, A Tale of Two Cities and Persuasion
Now here’s an unsettling factoid for you, folks–seems that someone decided that Michael Bay’s horrendous remake machine, Platinum Dunes, would best be served by offering it access to a massive distribution network in exchange for a cut of the proceeds. Paramount has allied itself with Platinum Dunes, and here’s where things get double interesting: seems that the first movie to come out of the Platinum Dunes / Paramount alliance is NOT a remake.
Whoa whoa, you say with something like shock, because I sure did, Platinum Dunes’ bread and butter has been remakes for the last like three years now. Indeed it has, but now, that changes. The first movie of the alliance is called The Butcherhouse Chronicles, and it’s being written by the guy who handled the Grudge remake. It’s being described as a lot like “the Breakfast Club in a haunted house”, so you can reasonably figure it’s gunning for PG-13 rank.
I’ve heard worse ideas, and the Grudge remake was far from terrible, so maybe this won’t be so bad after all. No word on release dates yet, but you know where to look for the latest.
Hey kids…can you spell disaster?
If you spelled it E-H-R-E-N-space-K-R-U-G-E-R, then I knew that you could.
Kruger’s Hollywood resume is almost as nighmarish as the serial slasher who shares his name. He’s been responsible for such low-rent fare as The Skeleton Key and Scream 3. Though he did have a little something to do with Blood and Chocolate, it’s not much reason to hold out hope. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
But now, Kruger’s going to be sole writer for the Transformers 3 script, as the other two writers of Transformers 2 have bugged out. Considering his track record thus far, it’s not boding real what you’d call well for the third installment of the gigantic cash cow of a series.
Scuse me while I go looking for some comfort whiskey, while I count down the days until the release of this next grotesquerie on our childhoods when Transformers 3 comes out in 2011.
Yes, I know…some eye rolling cynicism is to be expected here, as this is not the first time you’ve heard about a revived Arrested Development about to make a push on the movie front. But this new bit of news has something of a new twist to it–a script is reportedly being written by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz and co-executive producer James Valley.
Even better, apparently the last holdout, Michael Cera, has expressed interest in coming back and playing both the role he made famous and the character he’s been playing ever since the show got cancelled–George Michael Bluth.
So there’s reason for at least cautious optimism–all the former cast is on board and the script is in progress–but you should probably take it with the same enormous grain of salt that you’ve been taking all Arrested Development news with for years now. But hopefully, the news is accurate, and by this time a couple years from now we’ll all get to see them…hm. Um…rebuild the banana stand?
Bad news for folks hoping for a Silent Hill sequel--its writer, Roger Avary, has just gotten convicted on a DUI related manslaughter charge and sentenced to one year in prison with five years probation.
Avary pled guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving back in August, when he crashed his Mercedes going a hundred miles an hour into a telephone pole, severely injuring his wife and killing another passenger.
You can rail all you want about the evils of drunk driving–go ahead, I totally won’t stop you–but I feel a lot more sad than I do angry at this point. Lives lost, families shattered, and yes, Silent Hill 2 delayed (oh, don’t pretend that’s NOT part of this. A very small part, granted, but part nonetheless.)–no good comes of driving drunk. This is an excellent opportunity for those of you with families out there to talk about this, especially if you’ve got a kid that’s coming up on driving age. Having these discussions can often prevent the behavior itself down the road.