Almost a year ago we heard that Curtis Hanson (The River Wild, L.A. Confidential) would make a film about the late surfer Jay Moriarty, who rode massive Northern California wave breaks called ‘mavericks,’ but died at 22 in a diving accident.
When we first reported on the film Sean Penn was rumored; the role he was very vaguely linked to is Rick ‘Frosty’ Hesson, the young surfer’s friend and mentor. Now Gerard Butler will play that role instead. Read More »
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We just talked about the possibly-revived Neighborhood Watch; now here’s news on another sci-fi comedy that has been kicking around for a while. Used Guys was once meant to be directed by Jay Roach (Austin Powers, Meet the Parents) with Jim Carrey and Ben Stiller starring as men “in a future run by women, where cloned male slaves are traded like cars.” Fox shut down the film when the budget started to escalate and most of the talent moved on to other projects.
Now Danny McBride is attached to the role Jim Carrey would have played. Little Miss Sunshine directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton were attached to direct last year, and they remain a part of the project. A small mention in Variety says that Fox is looking for a ‘scaled-down’ production, compared to the expensive Jay Roach version. No word on other cast attachments for now, including whether Ben Stiller, who stuck around when others bailed, is still part of the film. [The Playlist]
After the break, Katherine Heigl backs out of her next picture, and Gerard Butler teams up with Antoine Fuqua. Read More »
James Franco was just cast in the Planet of the Apes prequel, which instantly makes me a bit more interested in that movie, but in the meantime he’s also booked a smaller picture. Franco will star in Ricky Stanicky, a comedy by Jeff Bushell, writer of Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
That dubious credit aside, the spec is intentioned as an R-rated ensemble comedy. And while that means The Hangover is inevitably invoked in the description, the story is about “three teens [who] pull a prank and burn down a house in their neighborhood. They create a fake person to take the blame — Ricky Stanicky did it! Twenty years later, we see that the three guys have been using this alibi to get out of every uncomfortable situation in life. When their wives force them to set up a meeting with Stanicky, they hire an actor (Franco).” OK, not actually a bad setup, and with Franco as the ‘imaginary’ character, it could work. [THR]
After the break, The Perks of Being a Wallflower finds its, um, wallflowers, and Gerard Butler sings! Read More »
I was left flabbergasted by the news that Chuck Russell would be directing a new 3D version of the Arabian Nights…or, at least, he’s directing a film called Arabian Nights. It seems to bear a passing resemblance at best to the original collection of folk tales. The film is about “a young commander who, after his king is killed in a palace coup, joins forces with Sinbad, Aladdin and his genie to rescue Scheherazade and her kingdom from dark powers.”
But now Anthony Hopkins looks to be playing the villain, opposite star Liam Hemsworth as the young commander, and that could be fun. Especially since Hopkins would be Pharotu, “an evil sorcerer who killed Sinbad’s love, a mermaid, and is looking to amass more magic for himself.” You’ll be forgiven for not remembering that character from your original reading of the Thousand Nights and One Night, aka the original Arabian Nights. (Interestingly enough, a listing on the New York Times suggest this role was once aimed at Christoph Waltz.) [THR]
After the break, Robert De Niro and more join The Killer Elite, and Gerard Butler gets some company in Machine Gun Preacher. Read More »
We’ve reported briefly on Coriolanus before — that’s Ralph Fiennes‘ directorial debut, and an update of Shakespeare’s play about a Roman general who attacked Rome after being exiled from the city. Now we’ve got the first images from the film, and even though an updating of a story about men of war would necessitate seeing the cast in full battle dress, I’m still oddly surprised to see Fiennes kitted out for the war in the Middle East. Read More »
Relativity Media announced today that Peter Farrelly (of the famous comedy directing team The Farrelly Brothers), Brett Ratner, actress Elizabeth Banks, Bob Odenkirk and Griffin Dunne (The Accidental Husband) are directing a sketch comedy feature film. More directors are expected to be announced shortly. Originally set up at Overture Films, the yet-to-be-titled comedy project takes a unifying storyline for a series of sketch comedies in the vein of the 1970s hits Kentucky Fried Movie and Groove Tube. Not much more is known about the premise.
The growing cast includes Elizabeth Banks, Gerard Butler, Kieran Culkin, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Knoxville, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Liev Schreiber, Sean William Scott, Tony Shalhoub, Emma Stone, Matt Walsh, Patrick Warburton, Naomi Watts, and Kate Winslet. The producers will announce additional cast members as further deals are solidified, and production will continue thru late May 2010.
I expect that we’ll be seeing more and more movies like this after the success of Valentine’s Day, which was able to cram an impressive ensemble cast into a modestly budgeted romantic comedy. And a Sketch movie allows you to cram even more stars and directors into a two hour feature for a low cost and time commitment. You can read the full press release after the jump.
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After last week’s flurry of great big casting stories, we’re going to start small today. Paul Dano will appear in For Ellen, from director So Young Kim, who last made In Between Days. Dano will be “a struggling indie rocker who, after nearly wrecking his car during an overnight long-distance drive, arrives in a small Midwestern town to deal with his impending divorce.” I’m OK with all that, despite a logline that sounds like it covers such familiar and self-conscious indie ground, but less so with the word that Jon Heder will co-star. [Variety]
After the break, new stuff for Gerard Butler and a possible replacement for Keira Knightley in My Fair Lady. Read More »
If you like such movies as Fool’s Gold, Hitch, Sweet Home Alabama, and Ever After, then you might enjoy director Andy Tennant‘s latest paint by numbers romantic comedy, The Bounty Hunter. The film stars Gerard Butler as a bounty hunter learns that his next target is his ex-wife, played by Jennifer Aniston. If you don’t think the plot logline screams of high concept predictable lameness, watch the trailer embedded after the jump.
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