New Line and LotR producer Mark Ordesky hire scribe Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons, The Quiet American) to pen the screenplay for Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. How this fellow, barely a novitiate in the Magickal Arts, (or for that matter anyone but the esteemed and learned Mr. Norrell) could do this remarkable tome justice is quite beyond me.
Tag: Cinema
Slap-Stick(s).
Moviefone obtains a full scene from Hitchhiker’s (and one not in the book), namely Arthur, Ford, Zaphod, and Marvin trying to cross a field of those slap-happy doodads from the first trailer. A bit goofy on its own, but if the rest of the movie has succeeded into lulling you into Douglas Adams‘ trademark sense of humor by this point, I could see this being pretty funny.
The Passion of the Karol.
Pulling his Captain-Walker-for-the-fundies schtick again, Mel Gibson is apparently now planning a Pope John Paul II biopic. Hoo boy.
Pardon me for breathing.
Attention, People of Earth: Touchstone releases eight character-specific and guide-themed posters for Hitchhiker’s. Also, some of y’all might have seen this extremely negative first review of the film over at Metafilter. Well, I’d take it with a grain of salt. Not only does this guy seem Marvin-like in the extreme, he has a nasty purist streak that rivals those of the most-impossible-to-satisfy Tolkien fans. At least in this corner, the jury’s still out.
Mean Machine.
Word is ex-footballer Vinnie Jones, also of Lock Stock and Snatch, may suit up as one of the X3 villains, namely Juggernaut. That’s a right good fit, innit?
Liquid Cinema.
The web site for the live action Aeon Flux, starring Charlize Theron and Francis McDormand, goes live with a short intro and flash images of some of the main characters. While this doesn’t seem like a must-see by any means, it might make for a decent B-movie, I guess. I’ve yet to figure out how they’re going to capture the feel of the cartoon, tho’.
Bats out of Hell.
Phew, this movie had best hurry up and come out before I run out of lame bat-centered cliches. At any rate, SuperHeroHype unveils another swanky new Batman Begins poster.
I find your lack of faith disturbing…
By way of my sister Tessa, Admiral Motti gets caught mouthing off again. Silly Admiral, you should’ve known there was an outside chance that he’d now be more powerful than you can possibly imagine.
Amorous Allies.
For his next project, Stephen Soderbergh is apparently looking to direct The Good German, a romantic thriller set in the last days of WWII, starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett (and based on a 2001 book by Joseph Kanon.) But will Nicky Katt play Hitler?
Season of the Witch.
It may seem like we’re on the threshold of springtime here in New York, but Narnia still suffers under the perpetual chill of the White Witch, as you can see in these impressive leaked stills from the teaser for The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.