Category: Cinema
Escape from Das Boot.
Wolfgang Petersen begins casting yet another boat movie, a remake of The Poseidon Adventure, with Kurt Russell, Emily Rossum, Richard Dreyfuss, Mike Vogel, and possibly Andre Braugher. I assume Russell is playing the Hackman Role.
They’re Already Here.
Quiddity birddogs Turner Classic Movies’ line-up of Future Shock: Sci-Fi Films from the Cold War Era, every Tuesday this June. Featured films include the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Village of the Damned, Soylent Green, The Thing, It Came from Outer Space, 2001, and several others worth catching.
Mutant Massacre.
With Matthew Vaughn gone, is Marvel really going to put X3 in the hands of Brett Hackner? Oh, lordy, that’s terrible. Apparently, the film will include three surprising deaths and a sex scene to boot. Well, shucks, I hope they find a way to fit some car chases in there too. I always thought X-Men needed more car chases. Update: It seems official…Ratner’s in.
Cloudy, Chance of Weirdness.
Thinking of having a picnic or a bizarre and unexplained transmogrification this afternoon in LA? On his website, filmmaker David Lynch offers a daily weather report in Quicktime. (Via Incoming Signals.)
Fall of the Mutants.
Layer Cake director Matthew Vaughn is off X-3, citing the hectic production schedule. That’s too bad…I was looking forward to seeing what he did with the franchise.
V for Vitiated?
As creator Alan Moore removes his name from the forthcoming V for Vendetta film, word leaks back that the Wachowskis’ shooting script substitutes Moore’s characters for Matrix 2/3-style ponderousness. Hmm. Well, perhaps they’ll tighten it up on set (and at least there’s still the possibility of Watchmen, if Paramount will get their act together.)
In the Company of Pagans.
AICN obtains the teaser poster for Neil LaBute’s update of The Wicker Man, starring Nicolas Cage in the Edward Woodward role. Still no word on who’s playing Christopher Lee’s Lord Summerisle.
Sith Sense.
“The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities, some considered to be…unnatural.” Along those lines, Darth Vader has an uncanny knack for reading minds (with the aid of the Burger Moff) in this decent online version of Twenty Questions. (Via Tessa.)
One More Crusade.
Moving a long-awaited project closer out of development hell, George Lucas approves the new Indy IV script. If Harrison Ford also approves, Indy IV could get a 2006 start, after Spielberg finishes both Vengeance, his Munich Olympics film with Eric Bana and Daniel Craig, and his Liam Neeson Lincoln biopic, based on a forthcoming book by Doris Kearns Goodwin.