Even though we’ve already had one excellent modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma” with Amy Heckerling’s CLUELESS, it seems that isn’t modern enough for some. Screen Gems’ Clint Culpepper feels that “Emma” needs to be re-imagined as an urban musical featuring around 15 songs and dance numbers in it, and re-titled EMME. Why? Because apparently “this is the way it should be re-imagined in the new millennium.” Well, when you put it that way. I’m not entirely adverse to fusing classic literature with modern ideas. After all, modern re-imaginations of Shakespeare can work (10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU or O), and Jane Austen for that matter (BRIDGET JONES). I just wonder if this take on “Emma” is motivated by a genuine interest to bring a classic text to a new audience, or to simply capitalize on the rising popularity of the urban dance genre (STOMP THE YARD, STEP-UP, YOU GOT SERVED).
Source: Variety
Brad Pitt’s production company, Plan B, has made a deal with Paramount to produce the upcoming non-fiction book by David Grann, entitled “Lost City of Z.” The book “concerns British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett, who was attempting to find the so-called City of Z when he and his party disappeared in 1925. Over the next 70 years, scores of explorers tried and failed to retrace Fawcett’s path, including a 1996 expedition of Brazilian adventurers. Pitt would play Fawcett.” Though right now I’m horrified by anything associated with ruins in a South American jungle (I’m currently working my way through Scott Smith’s “The Ruins”), I think this has the great potential to be a fantastic action-adventure, made all the more fun (and mysterious) by the fact that it’s based on fact. Also, I’ve always believed that Brad Pitt would be perfectly suited for this kind of an Indiana Jones/Rick O’Connell , so I really do hope he takes the opportunity to star in this film.
Source: Variety
Popular Mechanics has a really neat feature that lists the Top 10 Most Prophetic Science Fiction Films, movies that picture a future or technology that have already come to fruition, or seem poised to do so. Each film gets broken down in sections, discussing where the film prophetically hits, misses, or is undecided. Some films on the list are perhaps a little obvious choices, such as THE TRUMAN SHOW and RUNNING MAN, both representing the realization of reality shows, but there are some insightful justifications for their choices here, including a observant note about urban development in BLADE RUNNER. Given that this is Popular Mechanics you also get a quick update of how a lot of technologies featured in these films are (or are not) progressing into becoming realized.
Much like he did with the original trilogy a few years ago, George Lucas apparently has decided to go back and re-release THE PHANTOM MENACE, ATTACK OF THE CLONES, and REVENGE OF THE SITH as special editions. It seems the Grand Master of the galaxy far far away is still not quite happy. It’s probably best to let the man speak for himself:
“Though we certainly did our best with the technology that we had at the time we made these movies, we were never quite able to realize the original vision I had for them. Now that moviemaking technology has grown with leaps and bounds, we now have the opportunity to make these movies exactly the way I had always imagined them in my head. I recently re-watched the LORD OF THE RINGS movies, and was really impressed with how well Peter Jackson did with melding together CGI and non-CGI effects. So with these Special Editions we’re going to go back to some of the model based effects we were using back with the original Star Wars.
These Special Editions aren’t just about re-releasing them with new effects, though. There were a lot of story elements that I just wasn’t happy with. For example, I thought the romance between Anakin and Padme was not given enough screen time, especially in EPISODE II, and I’ll be re-inserting some extended scenes of them in the fields of Naboo that were cut from the original theatrical release. It also seems that Jar-Jar Binks really struck a chord with kids, so there’ll probably be more of him too.
I think Star Wars fans will relish the opportunity to see these films the way I meant them to be seen. This isn’t a Director’s Cut so much as a final cut of the movies. It’s not going to make much money for us in the end. It would make a lot of money if I wasn’t rich. But I’m not doing it for the money. I’m doing it as an artist with a particular vision, and hopefully moviegoers all over the world will be able to share it with me.”
Currently the plans are to stagger the releases of each of the three films throughout 2009, with EPISODE I coming out in February, EPISODE II in July, and EPISODE III in November. The Special Editions will then hit Blu-Ray in 2010. There are currently no plans to release the original cuts on Blu-Ray.
I’d totally spend 500 DAYS OF SUMMER with these two
Though the plot sounds entirely unoriginal (guy falls for girl who doesn’t believe in love, or otherwise known as my life story), apparently the lovely Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are in negotiations to star in 500 DAYS OF SUMMER. Right now the story doesn’t matter so much as the fact that two of my favorite young actors are going all romantic comedy with each other. I’m especially excited to see Gordon-Levitt return to the romantic comedy, a genre that suited him quite well in 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU where he also played a guy pursuing an unrequited love. Since then he had a little foray into smaller, darker independent films (MYSTEROUS SKIN, BRICK, HAVOC, THE LOOKOUT), and now seems to be emerging into more high-profile gigs (STOP-LOSS) and even some silly blockbuster fare (G.I. JOE). Though I secretly think he deserves better, I’m just happy to see him land some films that will hopefully drawn more attention to the fact that he’s one of the better and more underappreciated actors of his generation.
Source: EW
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Wandering around on /Film, I came across this little bit of news that apparently CHILDREN OF MEN (one of the best films of 2006) is currently in the process of being made into a television show. Though sometimes movies don’t translate well into TV shows, what helps lend this project some respectability though is the fact that David Eick (writer-producer of the frakkin’ awesome BATTLESTAR GALACTICA TV show) is the one writing the pilot. Though his recent re-imagination of BIONIC WOMAN was lackluster, he has still earned more than the benefit of the doubt, especially with such an intriguing property as CHILDREN OF MEN. Now, according to Eick, he is a bit more interested in what was in the original novel (by P.D. James), specifically the issue of “how society defines responsibility, freedom and a sense of values when it doesn’t necessarily believe humans will survive as a species” and how in this world “young people become the society’s utter focus.” So sounds like it’ll be a slightly different adaptation of the novel, as opposed to a direct translation of the film. Either way, I’m a completely sucker for dystopias and David Eick – who essentially did one already with BATTLESTAR – so I’m there.
What do you guys think? Are you interested in his different approach to the subject matter, or should it stick closer to what the film was like? Do you love the idea of a TV series based on this property, or totally against it?
Anyone else think that Oliver Stone’s George Bush Jr. biopic is one of the strangest projects currently in development right now in Hollywood? Well, at least the strangest outside of David O. Rusell’s current film. Though Josh Brolin works as the Bush Jr., as does Elizabeth Banks who has just been revealed to be cast as the First Lady, James Cromwell (Bush Sr.) and Jeffrey Wright (Colin Powell) seem to be stranger choices to me.
Also doesn’t it just seem a bit early to have a biopic about George Bush? Given how popular he is these days, does anyone even care to see a film about him, especially one that Stone promises will be a balanced representation of the current American President yet is being described as, “the improbable story of a man who went to the White House despite getting fewer votes than his opponent; who became commander-in-chief despite having avoided military combat himself; and who became the least popular president ever elected to a second term. W will shock and surprise you and leave you questioning everything you believe to be true.”
That description does sell the film slightly better, I find, but I’m still left wondering how the film is actually going to turn out, and whether it’s really going to end up being a biopic, or just another liberal anti-Iraq film.
What do you guys think?
Source: EW
Jack Ryan Returns
Not satisfied with having spear-headed one successful franchise (SPIDER-MAN), Sam Raimi is in negotiations with Paramount Pictures to revive the Jack Ryan franchise, inspired by the Tom Clancy’s novels. Previous installments included THE HUNT FOR THE RED OCTOBER (1990) with Alec Baldwin playing the character, PATRIOT GAMES (1992) and CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER (1994), featuring Harrison Ford in the role, and THE SUM OF ALL FEARS (2002) with Ben Affleck. However, according to Variety, the intention this time around is to not only feature a younger, more in-training Jack Ryan, but to possibly set the films in the present. It hasn’t been made clear whether new films would be based on existing Clancy novels, or would be original stories created specifically for the films. Regardless, it’s great to see Raimi branching out finally from the SPIDER-MAN films, and if all goes according to plan - and to how Paramount wants it - we may see another Ryan installment as soon as 2010.
Source: Variety.
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Nothing makes me happier than to see alumni from the TV show “Freaks and Geeks” finally get the success they deserve. With James Franco and Linda Cardenelli things went pretty fast. For some it took longer, but it came. Seth Rogen finally broke out for good with KNOCKED UP and SUPERBAD last year. Now Jason Segel, who is already doing excellent work on CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother,” is posed to break through with FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL which he wrote, headlines, and apparently appears nude in. Okay, that last part probably wasn’t vital information. Anyway, it now seems that Segel is making a nice little niche for himself as a writer as well. Not only are he and Nicholas Stoller (the director of FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL) also working on another Judd Apatow produced comedy, FIVE-YEAR ENGAGEMENT, but their pitch for a new Muppet movie was picked up by Disney. Yes, the guy who you’ll see full-frontal of in a few weeks, is working with Disney. On a Muppet movie. Actually, in a way this is double good news. Segel’s career is blooming, and we’ll hopefully get a good Muppet movie again (given that the last good one was THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL in 1992).
Source: Variety
Wiseman plays the game
Though a minority in my opinion, I thought UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION was better than its predecessor, mostly because it seemed to me that Len Wiseman made a gigantic leap forward in terms of his ability to stage and direct excellent actions sequences. When it was announced that he was directing LIVE FREE AND DIE HARD, I was excited, because it might prove him to be the next great action director I suspected him to be. Turns out I may have been right. So since then I’ve been waiting for his next project (especially after GEARS OF WAR and ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK remake fell through). Well, here it is. He’s just joined SHELL GAME, apparently a big-budget passion project for him that is “a sci-fi action thriller [that] follows a detective who is faced with a moral dilemma as he investigates the dangerous black-market business of immortality.” Not only is that the kind of dystopian sci-fi film like BLADE RUNNER and MINORITY REPORT (minus that gooey ending) I love, but it seems like an ideal vehicle for Wiseman to prove if he’s a one-trick pony or not. If that fails, he can always settle for being Mr. Beckinsale.
Source: Variety
Neil Marshall goes West
Writer-director Neil Marshall, he of THE DESCENT and the upcoming DOOMSDAY, has his next project all set: a horror Western. I would be more excited if I wasn’t disgruntled that it stepped on my own script idea for a zombie western. At least there don’t seem to be any zombies planned for Marshall’s film, which he describes as “This is ‘Unforgiven’ by way of H.P. Lovecraft, with that grim, gritty setting and a horror element nobody has seen before.” Nobody has seen before except me and my zombie Western script, that is.
Source: Variety
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