A trip to the 60's - (Film News - 04/12/10)

Still surrounded by snow miles from home, but at least I'm back on a computer that works - ish. With that in mind I'm going back to the on the fly version of rounding up the big news on the cinematic front. To be honest I quite like the energy and pressure involved in this - it keeps me focussed on the task in hand and I'm able to condense the stories into one hour of writing! On the other hand I can't get a cup of tea half way through and I'm sure my spelling gets worse. But, what can you do?

Inherent Vice

With The Master's funding having dried up (no connection to the apparent anti-scientology message of the script) Paul Thomas Anderson has found himself looking for a new project. Until this week when he's started to be linked with Thomas Pynchon's private eye yarn Inherent Vice. Taking the tropes of Chandler and Hammett, Pynchon looks at the tail end of the summer of love and a plot to kidnap a multi-billionaire. Robert Downey Jnr is rumoured for the marijuana addicted dectective Doc Sportello.

I love detective stories and the chance to see Anderson take on this sort of convoluted plot is delicious, so this is definitely one to look forward to.

Read on for African war stories, labyrinths and two (yes, two) musical adapatations.



Ben Affleck's East Congo Concept

Less an actual film than a vague desire, but Ben Affleck has been bringing up the issue of the Eastern Congo Initiative in order to bring the long standing conflict into the public eye. It's nice to see that Affleck is genuinely concerned about what has been referred to as the African World War and which involves over 9 countries in a long history of guerilla warfare. Tragicaly his perception that the studios just won't support such a project is almost certainly true.

The Maze Runner

It's another young adult series that may just lead to a replacement Potter franchise. This one is about a boy who wakes up in the centre of a maze, which is constantly shifting. Sounds a little like Labyrinth to me, and I'm not completely sure how that could sustain more than one movie successfully.

The Scottsboro Boys/Next to Normal

You wait for ages for a big screen musical then two turn up at once. Lee Daniels has stated an interest in bringing the former, a musical based on the true story of nine African American men falsely accused of rape and trying to find justice in a corrupt and racist system. The second is about a surburban mother with bipolar disorder and has recently been showered with a bucketful of Tonys and a Pulitzer Prize.

I have to say neither feel like the subject matter that normally fits with musical theatre, which may just be why I'm a little excited about seeing the final results.

Robocop

Finally

Casting News

I've not done this for a couple of weeks, so excuse me for being a little jumpy. Sir Ian McKellan has confirmed on his own website that's he's set to return as Gandalf in The Hobbit (quell surprise!). Paul Giamatti is up for David Cronenburg's limo set thrill ride Cosmopolis. Tom Hanks has confirmed he will star in Triple Frontier, although I'm sure I've read that before.