Screenhead

Call it another casualty of the Great Recession, folks, but MGM is weighing its options in the face of horrendous losses.

As much as we’d all like to blame their lone theatrical release for the year (Fame!  Nobody cared about it…nobody watched this crap!  Fame!  Go ahead, sing along! It’s fun.)  for being the millstone around MGM’s neck, as it turns out, it was weak DVD sales that brought down the beast.  MGM had a monster library of titles, weighing in at over four thousand titles, and now it’s all up for bids.  Also up for sale is the James Bond franchise, and even the roaring lion logo.

Interestingly, though, it may not be as up for sale as we think–seems that MGM’s creditors are taking a pass on collection action for a while, and meanwhile, MGM’s pumping all the cash it can scrounge into its upcoming movies Red Dawn, the Hot Tub Time Machine and The Zookeeper.

Oh, sure, they’re pretty fair releases…a remake and two good comedies featuring solid comedy actors…but enough to save the studio?  Scuse my lack of conviction on that one.

But only time will tell if MGM will still be selling off all its assets or if this year will turn it around.

When I first saw a copy of Into the Blue 2 on video store shelves, I thought someone at my friendly neighborhood video store was having a good laugh at my expense.  Someone with some sweet Photoshop skills and a wild imagination whomped up a cheesy premise and told us a really unpleasant story.

But no…it really exists.  And it may well represent the most desperate excursion MGM has ever put on to date.  So desperate, in fact, that it will actually put on a wet t-shirt contest with only a half-hour into the movie, and you know that’s pretty desperate.

Anyway, this time we’re off to Hawaii, to hunt up a missing piece of Saddam Hussein’s lost fortune, while pretending to look for the wreck of the San Cristobal, a massive Spanish treasure ship that was on its way to the Philippines when it went down.  Featuring a pair of pretty much unknown actors as young divemasters up to their necks in hock, they’ll take on the quest to find Saddam’s lost fortune in the guise of the San Cristobal.

And here I thought Spanish treasure ships were exclusively the province of the Caribbean.  But the folks after the containers comprising the sixty million dollars of Saddam’s lost fortune are on a deadline—figuratively, and literally.  If they can’t find the containers within just a few days, they’re both dead.  And so are the two young divemasters they’ve engaged.

Okay, this sucker’s eye candy of the highest sort.  Constant beautiful views will appear for us, including hot chicks for the guys, hot guys for the chicks, and of course, the sheer beauty that is the underwater scenery, in both daylight and at night.  I think it’s possible that the underwater shots may be even MORE stunning at night.  Sadly, we won’t get to see any huge piles of gold or similar treasure in this one, probably owing to the low budget, but it would have been nice.  Like I said before, they actually included a wet t-shirt contest in this one, which is a sign of truest desperation.  They really went all out to pander on this one in one way or another—action buffs, adventure buffs, there’s even some romance in here to make this one shoot for date movie ranking.    Things like character development and even coherent plotting aren’t really in attendance here, but there’s actually a chance you might not notice.  There’s just too much else to look at to notice that things that make a good movie really aren’t here.

This movie is just one big distraction.  That’s all it is—just ninety minutes of “Hey! Hey! Over here! Look at this!” Is this what attention deficit disorder feels like? Oh, and special note to anyone reading this in Great Britain–this’ll hit theatres over there August 2.  And to my crew in Brazil, Spain, Germany, Italy and Australia–you’ll get this in late summer or early fall of 2009, so probably sooner than you think.  A big screen might actually be good for this one, because you’ll get to see the pretty in even greater detail.

But anyway, there’s a lot to enjoy here, even if it’s not exactly the most substantial of movies.  It’s a cheap little distraction, and chances are you’ll enjoy it if for no other reason than it’s just so very pretty.  It’s not much of a movie, let’s be honest, but it’s not necessarily a bad movie for the lack of any substance.  Cotton candy has its place too, and Into the Blue 2 is exactly that.

MGM Studio and the Farrelly brothers have closed Sean Penn to play Larry, and negotiations are underway with Jim Carrey to play Curly, with the actor already making plans to gain 40 pounds to approximate the physical dimensions of Jerome “Curly” Howard.

The studio is knocking on Benicio Del Toro head to play Moe.

What am I talking about?  The Three Stooges! With all three actors, MGM and the Farrelly brothers have pulled off a coupe.

As reported here in November, the film is not a biopic, but rather a comedy built around the antics of the three characters that Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Howard played in the Columbia Pictures shorts.

Production starts in early fall for a release sometime in 2010. The Farrellys also wrote the script.

Last time Penn was in a comedy was 1989’s We’re No Angels. It’s a good turn for Penn, rather refreshing, I’d say.

According to Variety, the Farrellys have long had their eyes on Del Toro to play Moe. Del Toro showed his comedic timing in Snatch.

It’s no surprise that Carrey is to play Curly. Howard established the character as a seminal physical comedian, from the first time he appeared in the first Stooges short in 1934 until he suffered a stroke on the set in 1946.

At times I really wonder what the studios are thinking when I hear of a logline such as three men in a hot tub (a bubbly time machine) get transported to 1987. 

It must be a male fantasy thing. That’s what it looks like with John Cusack and Rob Corddry set to soak up the bubbles in the MGM comedy.  Craig Robinson and Clark Duke are in negotiates to star as well.  The movie will be directed by Steve Pink.

Josh Heald wrote the script that follows a group of guys who have grown frustrated with their adult lives. They return to the ski lodge where they partied as teens to find answers and are transported to 1987 via their hot tub, a bubbly time machine, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Pink will rewrite the script with casting in mind.

Cusack, Corddry and Robinson are the three best friends, while Duke is Cusack’s younger brother.

Cusack is also producing with partner Grace Loh via their New Crime banner.

Filming might be in Vancouver with an April 20 start date.

One of my favorite directors, David Cronenberg, is set to directTom Cruise and Denzel Washingtion in The Matarese Circle, an adaptation of the Robert Ludlum thriller for MGM.

Cruise will go into a confrontation with Washington as two bitter enemy spies who, after spending two decades trying to kill each other, grudgingly team up against the Matarese, a powerful group at the root of a conspiracy reported by Vareity.

The script by Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (Wanted) modernizes Ludlum’s original Cold War premise.

MGM also attain “The Matarese Countdown,” giving the studio a shot at creating a franchise, as Universal did with Ludlum’s “The Bourne Identity.”

The plan is to get the movie in production later this year after Cruise stars next with Charlize Theron in The Tourist.

Yet another Steve McQueen biopic is headed to the big screen. The second one is based on a memoir by McQueen’s first wife of 15 years, Neile McQueen Toffel. 

The book, “My Husband, My Friend” follows the chronological relationship between McQueen and Toffel, which started in 1956 while Toffel was a Broadway star and on contract at MGM. They had two children and four grandchildren together. 

The writing team, Roderick and Bruce Taylor, for the script have complete access to the McQueen estate that is controlled by Toffel, Chad McQueen (son) and Molly Flattery (granddaughter).

Working relationships are the key to “making it” in Hollywood as I am sure many know. It looks like a solid working relationship formed with Valkyrie co-writer and producer Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise.

Variety reports that McQuarrie is currently working on three projects with Cruise, which is designed as potential star vehicles for the actor.

McQuarrie and Mason Alley are set to write Flying Tigers, centered on the volunteer fighter squadron created to help the Chinese fight the Japanese prior to the U.S. entering World War II.

Though Cruise isn’t officially attached the ace flier-actor has long sought to return to the skies, and several years ago was attached to The Few, a Paramount project about the first American pilots to battle Germans in WWII, with director Michael Mann and scribe John Logan.

Another project for McQuarrie is writing and producing with Guillermo del Toro the earlier announced United Artists project The Champions.  McQuarrie is penning the script with a hope of driving it into a Cruise vehicle. The Champions is based on the British TV series. About a team of government agents rescued from a plane crash in the Himalayas by an advanced civilization and given superhuman abilities. Sounds like a franchise to me.

Finally, the Cruise-McQuarrie alliance with the most importance is espionage drama The Tourist. McQuarrie task is to rewrite for Cruise to star with Charlize Theron in the Bharat Nalluri-directed remake of the 2005 French thriller Anthony Zimmer.

MGM’s remake of the film Fame school faculty members have been casted with Debbie Allen, Charles S. Dutton, Kelsey Grammer, Megan Mullally and Bebe Neuwirth. Production begins Wednesday, with Kevin Tancharoen directing the film set for release September 25, 2009. 

Like the original 1980 film, the remake focuses on the dancers, singers, actors and artists from auditions to graduation at the New York City High School of Performing Arts.

Variety reported the following casting of Mullally, who in real life is a graduate of the School of American Ballet,  will portray a voice instructor; Grammer, who attended Juilliard, will play an orchestra maestro; Dutton, a graduate of Yale School of Drama, will portray an acting teacher; Neuwirth, a Tony winner, will play a dance instructor. Allen, who made her feature debut in the original Fame, has been cast as the school’s principal.

Looks like the remake is taking shape nicely.

The Three Stooges is being revived by MGM with Peter and Bobby Farrelly to direct the project. The plan is to bring the Stooges into mayhem of contemporary comedy.

According to Variety, the Farrelly brothers spent five years trying to make the Stooges movie at Warner Bros.

November 20, 2009 is set for the release date, which puts the film up against Sherlock Holmes, Plant 51 and Old Dogs.

The plot for a $45 million budget comedy (PG or PG-13) will feature the slap-happy low-tech comedy prevalent in the Stooges shorts. It will be interesting to see who they get to play these off-the-wall characters that made absolutely no sense but were hilarious.

Pete Farrelly told Variety that the film will not be a biopic, but instead take place in present day while they look, dress and sound exactly like the Stooges with genuine slap-stick humor.

The plan is designed similarly to the shorts while a feature storyline threads three installments together. Each installment runs 25 to 30 minutes. Other comedy shorts will precede the Stooges. It appears the Farrelly brothers plan to create the atmosphere that audiences experienced when they watched the original Stooges shorts.

Of course, the Farrelly brothers know how difficult this will be to pull off another generation of knuckleheads. It’s a big gamble, but with their track record, There’s Something About Mary, Dumb & Dumber, Shallow Hal and Kingpin, they have a darn good chance. “Yuk, yuk, yuk.”

The final trailer for United Artists’ Valkyrie will premiere on Yahoo! Movies around 8pm PST on Thursday, October 30th. In the meantime, Screenhead was sent new production stills and widget that are just too awesome not to share.

Reviews from sneaks have been very positive.  I look forward to seeing this film by Brian Singer who also directed X-men, Superman Returns and The Usual Suspects. My only concern is that the title Valkyrie may not be understood by the public, and thus not know that the film is based on a true story.