This week the film headlines have been dominated by the Oscars (congrats to everyone involved with The King's Speech - really must get round to watching it) and by Charlie Sheen's continuous breakdown however slinking underneath the headlines have been a number of projects discussed which may be worth keeping an eye on.
Boys in the Boat
The Weinstein Company is having a very good week - see my comments above - so obviously they're already on the way to planning for future Oscars. As it is with this historical movie set on the eve of the Second World War, focusing on the US Olympic crew who defied the will of Adolf Hitler and his aryan rowers (pictured passing the winning post below). Hoo-rah! 
Bizarrely all Harvey has paid for is the rights to a book treatment that isn't even finished by David James Brown, so expect a very very long wait until this gets made.
At the moment Kenneth Branagh is linked to direct but luckily he has cancer-ridden drama Italian Shoes with Anthony Hopkins on his slate first.
Read on for returning boxers, drinking buddies, classic literature, a Job story, a project that worries me, flowers and Quentin Tarantino as well as all the latest production news fit to print.
Fighter 2
Whilst working the red carpet last Sunday Mark Wahlberg (left) made references to a potnetial sequel to the oscar winning boxing movie. Likely to focus on Mickey Ward's three bouts with Arturo Gatti. I really am amazingly uninterested in seeing this happen, but if it does they really need to think of a better way to film the boxing segments.
Honeymoon with Harry
The drama about an alcoholic groom who's fiancee dies so he goes on the honeymoon with his not quite father-in-law is back on track with Jenny Lumet giving the script a polish before passing it on to director Jonathon Demme. The pair have worked wonders with dramedy before in 2008's Rachel Getting Married.
Hunchback of Notre Dame
We haven't had a major live action version of Victor Hugo's classic monster romance for many years so it's no surprise to hear Josh Brolin is trying to get the talent together to make a new version. So far he has Sherlock Holmes 2 scriptwriters Michele and Kieran Mulroney and he's looking to entice Tim Burton to he directors chair. I am concerned about the potential tone of this adapatation given the diverse perspectives but it will be good to see Brolin swinging from the bells screaming for Esmerelda. That's Charles Laughton on our right taking the role in 1936 - don't expect Brolin to mess with the formula too much.
Joe
Apparantly The Coen Brother's A Single Man wasn't close enough to the Biblical Job for Will Smith so he's signed up to a modern retelling which starts with the premise that God and Satan are fighting over a man's soul. Smith will star as the titular put upon hero who will lose his wealth, health and family in what the writers (Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson of The Fighter) claim is a comedy.
O.K.C.
We're on dodgy territory here. Barry Levinson is set to make a low-budget film about Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh using a script by Clay World (who's brother was on McVeigh's defence team). This could be an interesting artsy look at why a seemingly well-adjusted adult commits such a horrific crime, or it could become a extraordinary attempt to belatedly clear McVeigh's name, or at least shift the blame onto extremists groups - a possibility that would be offensive to the families of those who were killed or injured as a result of his attack.
Tulip Fever
The temptation to put this long-gestating British movie at the top of todays headlines was high, but that would have made three weeks in a row leading with Tom Hooper rumours and I don't want to be seen as rubbing it in. Effectively trailed by Gordon Gekko in Wall Street 2 Deborah Moggach's novel is set against the trading on tulip bulbs in 17th century Holland - althugh it's essentially a love story between a penniless artists and a married woman. It has been close to being made a couple of times - in 2004 the cameras were set to roll when funding collapsed (somewhat aptly) - but given the currently financial mess we're in I doubt it could be more prescient.
Tulips in Amsterdam (see background windmill) pictured.
Untitled Quentin Tarantino Western
Quentin's seen how well True Grit has done commercially and seems t have decided the time is ripe for his spagetti western. I wasn't a fan of Inglorious Basterds but I think his excess and asthetic could work in a Wild West setting. Christoph Waltz and Franco Nero are among those already getting calls from the auteur.
Production News
Whilst trawling through IMDb this week there are a shocking number of projects that have kicked into gear over the last month, far more than you would expect to see in a single month. In fact just try to imagine 16 films you want to see all opening in one month - doesn't bare thinking about. So production has begun on gambling biopic Lay the Favourite, writer's block tale Third Act and Lasse Hallstrom kicked off on both Swedish crime thriller The Hypnotist and transgender drama The Danish Girl. Returning to forthcoming schedules (having disappeared for a short while) are Lee Daniels's civil rights movie Selma, Great Hope Springs with Meryl Streep and the Al Pacino version of King Lear. There's also tough family drama Back Roads, sci-fi tinged romance Adaline, literary adaptation The Great Gatsby (which I still don't understand why Baz Luhrmann wants to shoot in 3D), young adult adaptation The Graveyard Book and football drama Les Seigneurs. For action fans there's Headshot and Bourne Legacy and for music fans there's yet to be titled biopics about Mahalia Jackson and Tupac Shakur.
Whew! There are a couple more which turned up of which I had no previous idea they even existed. As follows:
El Chico Blanco
Drama about two friends who take different paths with one joining the police and the other choosing crime and eventually become mortal enemies. Oddly just writing that seems terribly passe, but I was strangely drawn when I heard it was written by Twilight actor Peter Facinelli.
Whole Lotta Sole
British comedy - steady - about a robbery in a Belfast fish market (hence the pun filled title) that goes horribly wrong. Brendan Fraser and Sophie Okonedo are set to be two of the hotchpotch selection of hostages. Possibly set in the market pictured below...
Saturday, 5 March 2011
Future Oscar Bait (Film News - 05/03/11)
Sunday, 8 August 2010
Worst Honeymoon Ever (Film News 08/08/2010)
Naturally with me not being here it's been an incredibly busy week with loads of new productions appearing on the periphery demanding my attention. I'm hoping that's a good sign that we're going to gets an increase on interesting movies - personally I've been generally disappointed by the overall quality of projects getting the green light.
Honeymoon with Harry
I won't pretend this piece of news is recent, or that I am desperate to see the adaptation of Bart Baker's unpublished novel, but the genesis of the production is quite unique. First optioned in 2004 Paul Haggis (Crash, Quantum of Solace) was due to write and direct this tale of a combative father and son-in-law as they recover from the sudden death of the woman they both love. The writers strike and other projects got in the way so this was shelved and has since gained the reputation of being one of the best unfilmed scripts in Hollywood.
Robert De Niro and Bradley Cooper, having worked together on Neil Burger's Dark Fields (left - note Bobby's decidedly unsharp shoes), are anxious to reunite on the screen and have chosen this juicy concept as the vehicle for that. Jonathan Demme (Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married) has allegedly been approached to direct the piece.
Overall that's a fine team that few would argue with wanting to see on screen even if the first half of the spec comes close to the relationship in Meet the Parents.
Read on for sex education, American classics, superheroes, communing with the dead and literary dilemmas. As well as the latest production news.
The Abstinence Teacher
You wait a year for a Sandra Bullock story then two come along at once as she has is now in talks to Star in Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton's Little Miss Sunshine follow-up with Steve Carell. In it Bullock will play a free-spirited sex education teacher with liberal views facing backlash in a generally conservative small town. Sounds like it will do wonders for her image.
On the Road
I had been fairly ambivalent about the big screen adaptation of Jack Karouac's (right) ground breaking beat novel, it seem to me not that it's unfilmable but it does raise the question of why you would want to film it. That said Viggo Mortensen and Amy Adams have now been added to the supporting cast so I am beginning to waver.
The Shadow
Earlier in the year there were the stirrings of rumours that The Shadow is due a remake now the stench of the Alec Baldwin original has cleared away and the comic book receipts keep coming in. Latest twist is that Quentin Tarantino may end up directing, and whilst I'm not the greatest fan of Inglorious Basterds this would be the perfect opportunity for Quentin to indulge in all his ultra-violent fantasies and for it to fit in the universe. 
Skippy Dies
It is deeply disappointing that this will not be a final chapter to the long running Aussie children's drama about a bush Kangaroo that rescues idiots in National Parks (left). Instead it's from Paul Murray's boarding school set novel about a student who tries to commune with his dead roomie. Whether it's a celebration of innocence, an paean to hope or just downright depressing this could be a project to look out for and might just be a major career starter for two teenage boys out there.
Young Adult
This might take a bit of suspension of disbelief but in this Diablo Cody scripted Jason Reitman directed piece Charlize Theron will play a writer of "young adult" fiction who seeks out an old high school love interest who then scorns her having no wish to revisit his time as a teenager. Whether this leads to bunny boiler type actions from Charlize or a long hard look at how her life has turned out is unclear but there is sure to be ultra-hip dialogue and a nicely ironic look at society. I look forward to finding out why anyone would say no to getting back with Charlize though (I'm gay and I'd totally be up for making a go of a relationship...)
Production News
Every month I trawl though old news stories to identify which rumours have become reality and whether anything I missed is suddenly underway, and every month I am pleasantly surprised by some of the revelations. Over the last 5 weeks the you tube documentary project Life in a Day has filmed so we await to see if there is anything decent to come out of that, work has begun on the Disney fantasy The Odd Life of Timothy Green, Sam Mendes has decided for On Chesil Beach to be his next film in the absence of Bond and the above Young Adult has already begun the pre-production process, becoming only the second 2013 film that I'm interested in - look out for it in a 20 for 2013 countdown.
The films have also appeared with no fanfare:
Me.
Adaptation of a 1971 darkly comic play ("Untold Damage") which looks at the changing dynamics within a family following a tragic little league baseball injury. Was filmed for television with Richard Dreyfuss and Geraldine Fitzgerald which makes it an interesting cast to beat in this remake.
Detachment
The inspirational teacher sub genre of movies is a perennial favourite so it's no surprise to see another version roll into production, even if this seems more Half Nelson than Dead Poets Society as the substitute teacher is inspired by his students into becoming a better person. Adrien Brody will be taking the central role with a supporting cast including Marcia Gay Harden as the head and James Caan, Lucy Liu and Blythe Danner as other teachers. The big surprise is they've entrusted this to the directorial hands of barking mad Tony Kaye (American History X) - stand by for rows in the editorial suite and long protracted legal battles before it ever gets released.
I'm not sure when this pic was taken but I think Mr. Brody is enjoying his post-Predators buffness.
