Film News (16/01/10)

It's been an odd week for headlines, with some massive upcoming films that I've chosen to ignore. This could be because they're oddly dull - hello to Harrison Ford who's really keen on Indiana Jones 5 - or because I think the news is really bad - Sony are making a big mistake dropping Raimi and Maguire from Spider-man 4, don't they realise it was studio pressure that caused the drop in quality of the last film? Saying that there have been lots of other stories bubbling away...

The Chancellor Manuscript

Last year you couldn't move for news on Robert Ludlum adaptations. We had the Parsifal Mosaic linked to Ron Howard and David Cronenburg picking up the Matarese Circle and neither were a surprise following the massive populairty of the Bourne series. Both projects have gone quiet so this week it was the turn of The Chancellor Manusript about a novelist who gets entangled in a dark and dangerous plot to forever alter US policy (I'm guessing it's a foreign policy, or related to big business and not, say, about fishing rights).

Marc Forster has signed on to direct, clearly getting over the ribbing he got for Quantum of Solace, and Leonardo DiCaprio is looking to play the titular Peter Chancellor.



This is Robert Ludlum, by the way, complete with bizarre cigarette holder.


Consent to Kill

You hear a title like Consent to Kill and you can probably guess the plot... No?.. Well it's about a CIA assassin with a cowardly boss and a massive price on his head. Sound familiar? Of course it does, it's like a big mess of cliches, but apparently it is serious. We'll just have to wait and see what Devil's Advocate scribe Jonathan Lemkin can do with a premise like that.

Held by the Taliban/Nemesis

OK, so there's nothing David Rhode's diary of 9 months held in a Taliban stronghold has in common with Mark Millar's new graphic novel, except that both have some crazy rumours going round about who might be directing the big screen adaptations.

Kathryn Bigelow and Terrence Malick have both throw their hat in the ring for the former project - that's a big deal as Bigelow is extremely hot right now due to the stong Hurt Locker critical buzz and Malick, who has a superb track record and has never ben known to rush into things, very quickly said he was interested when news of Bigelow's involvement was released. Whichever way that goes it's worth keeping an eye on it.

On Nemesis Millar has announced on his blog that he's in talks with Sam Raimi and Guy Ritchie. That seems unlikely as both we surely be looking carefully at their current slates. Millar work is highly regarded though, so maybe there'll be some shifting to accommodate it.




Kill Bill 3

Quentin Tarantino has been mouthing off about his upcoming films by refusing to say what he's currently working on. He has said the third installment of the Kill Bill anthology is still planned for 2014, ten years after Bill died in volume 2. I can't remember why he wants to go back to the story, or who's turn it will be to wreck bloody revenge, but I expect it will be more self indulgent than enything he's done in the past.

The Outcast

Sadie Jones' novel about the teenage boy struggling to cope with the death of his mother in post-war Britain has been picked up by Blueprint Pictures. The book was a best seller back in early 2008 so it's hardly surprising it's been picked up, but as it has a tendency to focus on small gestures and character appearances to build tension it may be tough to adapt. We'll see.

Will

High concept comedies are very tough to get right, so it's with trepidation I turn to Will about a world where everyone's life is scripted in advance by angels except one day one of the writers quits leaving our hero free (free will geddit??!!) to make his own choices. Paul Rudd is Will, Zack Galifrankis is his striking writer, Little Miss Sunshine creators Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris are calling the shots and the script comes from comic Demetri Martin. That's good pedigree and probably a team that can make this work.

Win Win

In the publicity tour for The Last Station Paul Giamatti has blurted out his next film will be Tom McCarthy's follow up to The Visitor. No details have been released about the film and so far everyone, including Paul's publicist is denying it, but it's good to see that soemtimes even the most experienced actors get so excitied about projects they spill the beans to reporters.