TSM Movie News Round-Up

June 23, 2003

TSM Movie News Round-Up

For the week ending Friday June 6th, 2003.

Well, I was gonna skip this week and just do that Pearl Harbor review. I changed my mind at the last minute. This is a bit rushed.

You know, I didn't think anybody actually read this crap until I got the 2 million emails last week to tell me that the dude that did the voice of Garfield is dead.

Movie's still gonna suck! Bah!

Indy 4 scripted and ready to go

Harrison Ford told the Sci-Fi Wire that Frank Darabont has completed his script for the fourth Indiana Jones movie. "Steven Spielberg's quite happy with it," Ford said in an interview. "I'm expecting to see it in a couple of weeks." Ford added that he worked closely with director Spielberg, Darabont and executive producer George Lucas on the story. "The way the process works is that George and Frank work together, then Steven gets the script, then I get the script, and we all work together. We all met together and talked about it before they started writing."

I hope Indy finds the Fountain of Youth in this movie so he won't have to use the walker ALL the way through it.

Another week, another load of Superman BS

There is never a lack of Superman rumors to report is there? This week Esquire magazine reports that Brett Ratner and producer Jon Peters were at the point of physical violence when Ratner quit the troubled project.

"The two ended up in a shouting match," Esquire reports. "Ratner warned Peters to stay away."

"Peters later claimed that Ratner threatened him with an armed bodyguard," to which Ratner shot back: "I don't need a guard to pull a gun on someone."

The fights were mostly about money, according to Esquire. The production was supposed to be around $180 million, but Ratner submitted a $225 million price tag - not counting the $50 million to $75 million in marketing costs, according to one top agent, who added: "Those numbers are just insane."

Ratner also didn't pay enough attention to the script and its changes - all written by "Alias" creator J.J. Abrams. Beyond that, the film, which was supposed to start production last January, had no leading man.

The studio originally wanted Josh Hartnett for the lead, but Ratner insisted on a screen test. Then Ratner wooed Ashton Kutcher and Jude Law - both of whom turned him down. The actors balked, partly because the deal included two sequels.

The "public and frantic" search then shifted to Brendan Frasier, Paul Walker and soap star Matthew Bomer. Ratner wanted Bomer but the studio nixed him - the other stars nixed the movie. By the time Ratner agreed to sign Hartnett, the star didn't want the role of the Man of Steel. In April, Ratner finally "jumped before he was pushed" and quit the production.

While Warner still claims the project will go forward, "many in the industry doubt the movie will ever be made," Esquire says.

Josh Hartnett claims that he turned the role down 4 times.....

"It just wasn't the kind of movie that I wanted to do," he explains to Zap2it.com. "They offered me the role while I was shooting Hollywood Homicide. I said no. They offered it to me again, I said no. They offered it to me again, I said no. They offered it to me again, I said no."

"I just didn't want to play Superman and I've turned down all of the other superhero movies too," Hartnett says.

But the actor did reconsider when Brett Ratner, who was initially attached to direct the project, came to speak to the actor in person about the film.

"I talked with Brett, and I really thought that he had great ideas for the film," Hartnett says. "When people pursue you with that amount of vigor, I take it seriously. So, I had to think about it, but no, I don't ever want to do it and that's just why I ended up not doing it because it's just not what I wanted to do."

The latest rumor is that the studio has come full circle and returned the movie to it's original director, McG. But who the hell knows?

Batman returns to TV

A new animated Batman series is in the works for the WB. But don't get your hopes up, it's just something stupid, it's not a return of "Batman TAS". No, this is about a "young" Batman. It's being described as "Year One" for kids.

Another video game movie! Yay!

Less than six months after securing an option for the movie rights to Capcom's popular video games "Onimusha" and "Tekken," Gaga Communications announced Monday that it has inked to turn another Capcom game, "Devil May Cry," into a blockbuster. The deal is based on an exclusive rights option agreement.

As part of Gaga's extensive efforts to diversify and get into the content production business, "Devil May Cry" will be developed as a live action feature film with the help of Hollywood talent to be announced later. The $40 million budgeted pic is slated for a 2005 production and release the following year.

I wonder, does the contract really say that? Is it the contract that they're turning it into a "blockbuster" instead of a movie?

In related news, Artisan has picked up House of the Dead for theatrical distribution.

Another remake! Yay!

Terminator 3 writers Michael Ferris and John Brancato have signed to write Westworld, the Warner Bros.-based remake that will be produced by Jerry Weintraub and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The scribe team got sole script credit for T3 and shared story credit with Tedi Sarafian. They also rewrote Catwoman, a Pitof-directed film at WB to star Halle Berry.

WB liked the writers enough to bring them back for a third high profile project. The studio and Weintraub hope they can write fast enough to make Westworld the next star vehicle for Schwarzenegger, who will not be playing the Yul Brynner role of the robotic gunfighter who turns the Old West vacation into a nightmare for a group of wannabe gunslinger tourists. Schwarzenegger will instead play one of the vacation guests.

"It is the same idea, but this Westworld will be a much bigger place," said Weintraub. "Hopefully, we get it made as Arnold's next one, before he's governor. Though it would heighten the tension if he were visiting Westworld as the governor of California," Weintraub joked.

Boy, I don't know what's best joke in here. Arnold Schwarzenegger in Westworld or Arnold Schwarzenegger as the governor of Calfornia.

Another comic book movie! Yay! Oh wait, I like those!

Columbia Pictures has picked up the rights to Marvel Studios' comic book property "Luke Cage," one of the comic industry's most recognizable black superheroes, for Neal Moritz's studio-based Original Films to produce. The studio is moving forward on the project, tapping Ben Ramsey (The Big Hit) to write the script. Marvel's Avi Arad will produce. "Cage" is about a former gang member who is framed for a crime. In prison, he volunteers for a medical experiment that goes awry, giving him superstrength and bulletproof skin. Using his newfound powers, Cage escapes and becomes a hero for hire.

Goyer takes over Blade III

David Goyer, who wrote all three installments of New Line Cinema's Blade franchise, will get his chance to direct with Blade III. Goyer and star Wesley Snipes haven't met to sign off on dates, but the studio expects to begin production in Vancouver this summer.

In the third installment of the franchise, Blade must reverse an apocalyptic event that threatens to bring Earth under the vampires' control.

Blade and its first sequel earned $277 million worldwide. Goyer is also writing Christopher Nolan's Batman for Warner Bros.

I know two things for sure when it comes to Blade III. It can't be as good as the first and it can't be as bad as the second.

How about one more remake?

Focus Features will team with Stephane Sperry's Liaisons Films and Why Not Productions on an updated U.S. version of John Carpenter's cult classic Assault on Precinct 13, to be distributed domestically by the Universal specialty unit and handled worldwide by its international sales arm. The English-language feature is being scripted by James DeMonaco (The Negotiator).

Inspired by Howard Hawks' Rio Bravo, the 1976 movie took place in an isolated, nearly abandoned Los Angeles police station, in which officers, staff and prisoners are forced to negotiate a partnership when a vengeful street gang lays siege to the building.

The new version transports the story to the present day, in a police precinct made obsolete by the industrialization of its surroundings.

I know two things for sure when it comes to remaking Assault on Precinct 13. It can't be as good as the first and it can't be as good as the first.

Deathlok update

The IGN FilmForce Web site reported a rumor that Lee Tamahori (Die Another Day) is the front-runner to direct Paramount's live-action adaptation of the Marvel Comics series "Deathlok". Stu Zickerman and Raven Mentzner have written the screenplay for Marvel Studios and Crystal Sky Productions. The site based its report on anonymous sources.

Deathlok will be about a man who is made a test subject for research that turns him into a living computer, the site reported.

A few years ago Triple H was the leading candidate to play the title role for some reason. Thankfully wrestling has become as popular as cancer so he's no longer in the running.

Another V?

"V" creator Kenneth Johnson has announced that a new version of the 1980s alien-invasion miniseries is in development for NBC. "TV Guide will break the story about the project being in development in their June 14 issue," Johnson told the site. "But ... there is absolutely no shooting date planned at this time."

Johnson added, "I have only just delivered the first story treatment to Warner Brothers and NBC. They must approve it, I must write the screenplay, go through as many drafts as they want, determine what the budget will be, have NBC order it to production, and Warners elect to pay the necessary cost in concert with NBC. Many, many, many, many, many, many, many bridges yet to cross."

A new "V" movie could be cool. I just think that they might try to make it look too good now. I wanna see cheap ass rubber lizard masks. Not TV quality CGI monsters or something.

The Hulk is finished

Director Ang Lee says he just completed the final print of The Hulk, at 2 a.m. June 2, just hours before he was supposed to give interviews to the press.

He greeted the press corps for a screening Sunday night at the Universal Studios Alfred Hitchcock Theatre and then went back to the lab to finish the film that will be released to the public on June 20.

"I was still working a lot at the lab, I was still tweaking the release print in the lab at the studio," Lee tells Zap2it.com in an interview this past Monday.

Producer Gale Anne Hurd says the perfectionist director, who was an Academy Award nominee for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, was working late into the morning to get the print completed. "There were minor things he wanted to adjust," she says.

Lee said at the the screening, "I got a big budget and everything I wanted from the studio, so if this movie sucks it's all my fault."

At least we all know who to blame now!

This week's sign of the Apocolypse:

No Doubt's Gwen Stafani is in negotiations to take on the role of blonde bombshell Jean Harlow is the upcoming Howard Hughes biopic.

Sylvester Stallone: Desperate Man

Sylvester Stallone is writing and will direct and star in a film about corruption in the LAPD and the murders of rap stars Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. Elie Samaha's Franchise Pictures will produce the pic. Stallone is eyeing a Sept. 1 production start for the drama, which threads together a number of controversial recent events.

Stallone will play a real-life LAPD detective, Russell Poole, in the pic, which has the working title Rampart Scandal. It will be told from different perspectives, in the vein of Rashomon. The movie begins with Poole's investigation of the murders of Shakur and Smalls. It follows Poole -- who vows to Smalls' mother he'll finger her son's killer -- as he unravels the intrigue and coverups surrounding the crime.

Is that not crazy? Stallone is so desperate to have another hit that he's gonna piss off the entire LAPD! Not to mention comparing it to Rashomon. Yeah, whatever.

Reason to kill one's self:

Milla Jovovich is now ENGAGED to Paul Anderson.

As blood runs from my wrists, feel free to check out these new trailers...

Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star