Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs very quickly turned me into a fan of directorial team Phil Lord and Chris Miller. The film pointed me towards their sharp and funny, if short-lived show Clone High, and has me anticipating the big-screen version of 21 Jump Street, which they’re set to direct in early spring 2011.
And now the duo is in talks to direct a musical for Disney. Specifically, Bob the Musical, about a man who can suddenly hear the songs within all of us. Lest that sound too sickly sweet, he’s none too happy about the deal. (At least at first.) Details after the break. Read More »
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The movie version of 21 Jump Street seems like an absurd thing at face value. But take Jonah Hill as one lead with a script by Scott Pilgrim co-writer Michael Bacall and direction from Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who did such a good job with Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and I can’t quite resist. (And Emma Stone might be a part of this, too.) What if Channing Tatum was the other lead? Would that break the spell all the other key creators might weave? No, probably not. Read More »
Looks like Universal got the jump on everyone at the end of this past week by announcing a boatload of release dates. Others are falling in line to grab their own weekends, and so we’ve got new dates for Lionsgate’s 3D version of Conan, which now seems to be officially called Conan 3D, and Sony’s 21 Jump Street, the latter of which is being pushed back from a 2011 date and had previously been dated as a ‘Winter 2012′ film. Read More »
Yesterday it was reported that Neil Marshall, Mike Newell and David Slade are on the short list of filmmakers being considered to direct Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and Scarlett Johansson and Bradley Cooper circling the lead roles. The Wrap now adds a couple more interesting names to the list:
Jonathan Demme has read the script and wants to direct the movie, but he’s not the only one interested in the job, as TheWrap has learned that Matt Reeves (“Cloverfield”), Mike White (“Year of the Dog”) and the “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” team of Phil Lord and Chris Miller are also in the mix.
I can understand Demme’s interest, but Matt Reeves seems like a more natural fit coming off of Let Me In. Mike White’s humor seems like an odd match for this property, and his directorial debut Year of the Dog left me thinking he should stick to screenwriting. I have yet to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, despite constant encouragement to do so from friends. I’ve heard it’s hilarious. I really liked Lord/Miller’s animated television series Clone High U.S.A., but does their cartoon-like sensibility fit this period zombie film (even if it is a ridiculous comic take?).
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Last night there was word that Sony may just be interested in Emma Stone for a lead female role in Spider-Man. (Mary Jane Watson we’d presume, and she’d be perfect for it.) Now there’s also a report that Stone is circling the female lead role in Sony’s 21 Jump Street, which directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs) are setting up right now. Read More »
We might eventually see a movie based on the Lego brand of toy building blocks, and while the idea sounds absurd on the face of it, the project got a bit more interesting when Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were hired. Now Lord offers a few details about their plans for the film, and also talks about how he and Miller plan to film the big-screen version of 21 Jump Street. Read More »
Do I now need to be attentive to developments in Warner Bros.’ Lego movie? We knew the studio was attempting to put together a film based, somehow, on the colorful building blocks that have been a part of so many childhoods. Now the studio has not one, but two directors on the project: Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who made the wonderful animated film Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Read More »
The public hasn’t had a chance to check out Ridley Scott‘s Robin Hood, which premieres at Cannes, but if the receipts are high, we may see more than one episode featuring Russell Crowe as the famous British character.
Speaking to the Times Online, Scott defines this film as an origin story, saying, “It is the beginnings of how the man becomes known as Robin the Hood…You don’t really get that until the last few minutes. When you realize that ‘Ah, this is who he is’. Let’s say we might presume there’s a sequel.”
From his perspective, the idea of a sequel seems natural. “If there were to be a sequel to Robin Hood, you would have a constant enemy throughout, King John, and you would follow his reign of 17 years, and the signing of Magna Carta could be Robin’s final act.”
Read the source for some great quotes about that semi-famous early draft of the script, in which Robin Hood and the Sheriff of Nottingham were the same character. Some pretty blistering comments in there about that take (“CSI: Sherwood Forest,” Crowe calls is) which makes the long development and rewrite process make more sense.
After the break, we’ve got word on possible films to follow Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Mulholland Drive. Yeah, I’m confused about that last one, too. Read More »
