Update: February 5th ,1999
NEWS
Crusade : Arnold Schwarzenegger is in serious talks to revive the epic action film Crusade. It’s unclear who Schwarzenegger and producer Arnon Milchan would choose to direct, though Paul Verhoeven is interested, sources said. Schwarzenegger will play Hagen, a reluctant warrior who begins the film as a prisoner set to die. He’s freed when he burns the image of the cross into his back during a visit by the pope, and he’s drafted to recapture Jerusalem.
Reindeer Games : Charlize Theron has joined the cast of Reindeer Games which stars Ben Affleck and Gary Sinise. John Frankenheimer will direct. Affleck plays a freshly paroled ex-con trying to get his life back on track who’s drawn into a casino robbery staged around the holidays. Theron plays the female lead.
The Stanford Prison Experiment : Twentieth Century Fox is close to a deal to pick up The Stanford Prison Experiment. Leonardo DiCaprio is attached to star and Lee Tamahori (The Edge, Mulholland Falls) attached to direct.The story is based on an actual experiment conducted at Stanford University in the summer of 1971, when a professor named Phil Zimburdo turned the basement of a psychology building into a mock prison. The randomly chosen subjects were 19- and 20-year-old students who were divided into experimental camps of either prison guards or prisoners. What was to be a two-week experiment was cut short after six days because of the level of cruelty and sadism that erupted among the participants, mainly those playing guards.
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Gangs of New York : Leonardo DiCaprio has committed to star in Gangs of New York. The film will be directed by Martin Scorsese. Robert De Niro is also in talks to star in the film.
Spider-Man : Daily Variety's Michael Fleming reports that "the litigation tangle that has frozen a screen version of Spider-Man has cleared somewhat. A summary judgment was issued Wednesday, dismissing MGM’s claims that it had proprietary rights to do a live-action feature based on the webslinger. MGM said it will appeal the dismissal, and still has several other claims of ownership on the franchise. Before it became entangled in legal webbing, the superhero was to be the subject of a movie to be written and directed by James Cameron, who once penned a detailed treatment. Still standing in the way of Marvel’s attempt to regain control is Sony, which is also claiming ownership rights."
The League : Jim Caviezel (The Thin Red Line) has signed to portray Al Pacino's son in Oliver Stone football drama The League. Dennis Quaid, James Woods and Edward Burns also stars in The League . The film centers on personal and professional dramas that swirl around the fictitious Miami Sharks football team.
Magicians : Writer-director James Merendino (SLC Punk) has pacted to helm the indie comedy Magicians. Magicians will feature Alan Arkin and Claire Forlani (Meet Joe Black). Pic is an ensemble comedy about two untalented magicians who make their way to Las Vegas from New York City in the hopes of becoming the next Siegfried Roy. In Sin City, they hire a beautiful assistant (Forlani) and sign with an old-school showbiz manager (Arkin).
Wonder Boys : Katie Holmes (Dawson's Creek) has joined the cast of Wonder Boys directed by Curtis Hanson. The film tells the story of Michael Douglas as a writer and professor who is behind on his deadline for the follow-up to his successful novel. Holmes plays Hannah Green, one of Douglas' students who harbors a crush on him. Hannah, who boards with Douglas, gets her hands on his manuscript and reads it before it's finished. She eventually serves as a catalyst that causes Douglas to have an epiphany on life.
New Trailer
"The Mod Squad" Full Trailer (3.1Mb, MOV) The Official Site has released trailers for the Claire Danes film, which is about three high school dropouts that are arrested for drug use, and are then recruited by the police to be trained as undercover cops, under the provision that as long as they help the cops, they won't be sent to jail. Disliked by most of their fellow cops, these three unlikely partners are then sent out into the underground Los Angeles youth community to sniff out and arrest the bad guys.
"The Mod Squad" Full Trailer (7.3Mb, MOV)
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Independence Day Sequel : Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich is in negotiations to make a sequel to Independence Day. 20 Century Fox denied there was any imminent deal, but sources indicated the time apart might have eased bad feelings between the parties, and that the duo's representatives at Creative Artists Agency are trying to hammer out some kind of deal with Fox. Devlin and Emmerich are said to have figured out a creative direction for a sequel that would likely include the original characters.
Blade Sequel : Wesley Snipes has agreed to play vampire hunter in New Line Cinema's sequel to Blade. "Blade will be back and better than ever," said New Line executive vp Lynn Harris.
Forever Mine : Ray Liotta will star with Joseph Fiennes and Gretchen Mol in Forever Mine, written and directed by Paul Schrader (Affliction). Liotta plays a political bigwig who is targeted for revenge by a past nemesis as his marriage is unraveling.
Superman Reborn : After Tim Burton dropped out Warner Bros. Superman project, the company is looking for a director for Superman. The leading candidates close to the project, are Elizabeth helmer Shekhar Kapur, Simon West (Con Air); and Steve Norrington (Blade).
Angel : Ray Liotta is in negotiations to star in Angel, co-starring Vanessa Redgrave. The film will be scripted and directed by Peter O’Fallon (Suicide Kings). Liotta will play a man whose wife dies and is unable to help his son come to grips with the tragedy. The boy finds an outlet for his grief in an older friend.
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Reindeer Games : Gary Sinise has signed to play the villain opposite Ben Affleck in the John Frankenheimer-directed Reindeer Games.Sinise will star as a con artist who manipulates a young ex-con (Affleck) into robbing the casino where the ex-con once worked. The two shared a jail cell and reconnect when Affleck’s character gets paroled. Before he knows what hit him, the ex-con becomes the unwitting participant in a casino heist that takes place around the Christmas holidays.
Mission to Mars : Gary Sinise has signed to play the hero in Mission to Mars, a big-budget sci-fi film for Disney. The film takes place in the year 2009, on the eve of the first manned mission to Mars. When the first team reaches the red planet, they encounter an unusual beacon that wipes out most of the crew and equipment. Another group of astronauts is quickly rounded up to stage a rescue. Sinise plays the second group’s leader, who missed the first mission because he was dealing with the death of his wife.
Thirteen Days : Director Martin Campbell (The Mask of Zorro) has emerged as the leading candidate to direct the picture for Sony two weeks after Phil Alden Robinson dropped out of the Kevin Costner starrer Thirteen Days.
The House on Haunted Hill : Famke Janssen is in final negotiations to star opposite Geoffrey Rush in the remake of The House on Haunted Hill . Marilyn Manson is in talks to play the film's lead villain. Janssen will play Evelyn Price, a woman unhappy in her relationship with a business tycoon (Rush), who finds herself in a former insane asylum where five strangers are getting $1 million apiece to spend the night.
Blue Streak : Dave Chappelle, Peter Greene, Tamala Jones and William Forsythe will join the cast of Blue Streak, which stars Martin Lawrence and Luke Wilson. Les Mayfield directs the comedy which Lawrence plays an ex-con who impersonates a cop in order to find some jewels he hid before going to jail three years earlier.
New Trailer
"Just the Ticket" Full Trailer (2.8Mb, MOV) The Official Site has released the trailer for the Andie McDowell and Andy Garcia romantic comedy which is about a street con (Garcia) who promises his girlfriend (MacDowell) that he's going straight, but when the Pope visits Yankee Stadium, he can't resist scalping tickets. As the thrill of crime lures him away from his girlfriend, he's also the target of attention of one of his partners-in-crime (Harris).
"Just the Ticket" Full Trailer (6.4Mb, MOV)
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Gone in 60 Seconds : Nicolas Cage is in talks to star in Jerry Bruckheimers' Gone in 60 Seconds. The film is a remake of the 1974 film starring and directed by H. B. Halicki. Gone in 60 Seconds tells the story of a man who must assemble a crew of car thieves and steal 50 specific cars during one night to help his troubled brother. The film is expected to get under way in April.
The Patriot : Mel Gibson is in advanced talks to star in The Patriot, which Roland Emmerich will direct. The story was described as a Revolutionary War drama about a pacifist drawn into battle against his will.
RKO 281 : HBO has set Liev Schreiber (Sphere, Phantoms) to play Orson Welles, James Cromwell (Babe) to play William Randolph Hearst, and John Malkovich to play screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz in RKO 281. The film is about the bitter battle between Welles and RKO over the making of Citizen Kane. Ben Ross has signed to direct.
Down to You : Freddie Prinze Jr.(She's All That) has signed to star in Down to You. The film cenetrs on two college students in a tumultuous affair as they learn about the impermanence of young love.
Duets : Scott Speedman (Felicity) has been cast opposite Gwyneth Paltrow and Maria Bello in Duets, Duets, directed by Bruce Paltrow, centers on the phenomenon of karaoke hustlers in the Midwest who compete for prize money. The film follows three characters who travel the country on their way to a karaoke competition in Omaha, Neb. Speedman plays Billy, a cab driver convinced by Bello to drive her to Omaha.
New Trailers
"The Matrix" Full Trailer (9.7 MbMOV) Trailer for the Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne flick.
"The Matrix" Full Trailer (5.8 MbMOV)
"The Matrix" Full Trailer (3.1 MbMOV)
"Wild Wild West" Trailer (1.8Mb, MOV)Wild Wild West official site has released trailers of the film.
"Wild Wild West" Trailer (4.2Mb, MOV)
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15 Minutes : Robert De Niro and Edward Burns are near a deal to star in the New Line Cinema thriller 15 Minutes. Pic will be written and directed by John Herzfeld (2 Days in the Valley). The film is skedded for a late April shoot in New York and L.A. In the pic, De Niro plays a famous homicide detective who teams with a fire department investigator (Burns) to solve a murder case.
Mission to Mars : Brian De Palma is in talks to take on Disney's big-budget sci-fi thriller Mission to Mars. De Palma would replace Gore Verbinski, who dropped out of the project over creative and budgetary differences. The film is an adventure about the first and second missions to Mars. When the first team disappears shortly after sending an alert back to Earth, a second team is dispatched to rescue survivors.
Bicentennial Man : Embeth Davidtz will star opposite Robin Williams in Walt Disney Pictures' Bicentennial Man. The film is based on the Isaac Asimov short story about an android who yearns to become human. Davidtz (Fallen, The Gingerbread Man) will portray Williams' girlfriend and granddaughter as his android character lives through two centuries in his struggle to become a human being. Chris Columbus (Stepmom) will produce and direct
102 Dalmatians : Disney has collared the writing team of Kristen Buckley and Brian Regan to script 102 Dalmatians, a sequel to the hit 1996 pooch pic 101 Dalmatians that starred Glenn Close and Jeff Daniels. John Hughes, who wrote and produced the original live-actioner, will produce the sequel. Like the original, the sequel will revolve around the dogged efforts of the fur-crazed villainess Cruella DeVille to turn the Dalmatians from pups to frocks. Disney has high hopes that Close will return to reprise a role she played with wicked abandon.
Love’s Labour’s Lost : Pathe Pictures has confirmed that it will co-finance Kenneth Branagh’s Love’s Labour’s Lost in partnership with Intermedia Films and Miramax Films. The pic, adapted from William Shakespeare’s play, will star Alicia Silverstone, Carmen Ejogo, Natascha McElhone, Nathan Lane, Adrian Lester, Matthew Lillard, Emily Mortimer, Alessandro Nivola and Timothy Spall, along with Branagh himself.
Viva Rock Vegas : Jane Krakowsky (Ally McBeal), will star as a young, tantalizing Betty Rubble in Universal Pictures' The Flintstones prequel, Viva Rock Vegas. She joins Mark Addy and Kristen Johnston as Fred and Wilma Flintstone and Stephen Baldwin as Barney Rubble in the story that sees the newly married twentysomething couples embark on a trip to the Stone Age version of Las Vegas.
Asterix vs. Obelix : The official site has opened released full trailer for the film.
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