WEEKLY MOVIE NEWS

[FH]

CGI-Animated Slinky Movie in the Works Source: USA Today Friday, January 2, 2004

According to USA Today, two studios are said to be interested in doing an animated movie about Slinkys, the popular toy that bounces up and down. Former Venezuelan child star Henrique Vera-Villanueva, the president and CEO of H2V Entertainment, is directing a CGI-animated feature tentatively titled Slinky: The Magic Quilt.

"We are creating a completely imaginary, full world all based on the Slinky," says Vera-Villanueva, who adds that two studios are interested in distributing his film, to be finished in 2005 for the 60th anniversary of Slinky's introduction. "It's a bunch of characters, some of them new, such as the Slinky scarecrow and the Slinky robot, some based on the property known as the Slinky Pets.

"The main character is a big Indiana Jones-type Slinky," says Vera-Villanueva, whose idol is director Tim Burton. "This character is on an adventurous quest, but it's a character-driven film, like Ice Age."

[FH]

Wagner's Grendel Headed for the Big Screen Source: The Hollywood Reporter Sunday, January 4, 2004

Warner Bros. Pictures-based John Wells Productions has optioned the graphic novel Grendel from its creator, Matt Wagner, in association with Dark Horse Entertainment and Arsenal Entertainment. Screenwriter Carl Lund will adapt for the big screen.

Grendel spans several decades with its story encompassing various generations of characters. Lund's script will focus on the story line of Christine Spar, the adopted granddaughter of the notoriously sadistic yet rich and graceful Hunter Rose -- aka the original Grendel.

Spar was the focus of Wagner's book "Grendel: Devil's Legacy."

[FH]

Natalie Portman on the Episode III Showdown Source: MTV Monday, January 5, 2004

Natalie Portman, who reprises her Padmé Amidala role in Star Wars: Episode III, talked to MTV about a dual between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker in the third prequel.

"I saw a pretty amazing fight scene between Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen," the actress said. "It's pretty sick."

While she was reluctant to give further details about the fight itself, she did reveal something unusual about the high-energy dual. "They did it all themselves. They were thinking of having stuntmen do it, but they were better than the stuntmen. It's pretty awesome."

[FH]

Exclusive Batman: Intimidation Scoop!! Source: Enigma Tuesday, January 6, 2004

Batman fans, are you ready? We hope you are, because Christopher Nolan's new Batman film is sounding better and better every day.

A Superhero Hype! source - who shall be called 'Enigma' - has confirmed that filming will indeed take place in Iceland. As you may have read here, the Warner Bros. production will shoot there for two weeks. What was not revealed was what will be filmed. We've got the exclusive scoop for you, but it's definitely spoiler material, so cover your eyes now if you'd rather not know...

Still here? Of course you are. In the scene, Batman, played by Christian Bale, will be fighting on ice with Ra's Al Ghul's #1 pupil (who that is, you'll have to figure out). They won't be fighting for real, however, as it is more of a training exercise.

We're also told by our source that Batman: Intimidation is a cross between Year One and Year Two and that it's interwoven very creatively. So start thinking about which characters appeared in each and you might get an idea. The film is also said to be very story-driven.

Of course you want to hear about the costume. Let's just say that the costume concept the production is using is awesome! Just wait and see...

[FH]

From IGN Filmforce:


Who Wants to Be Iron Man?
"He's a fascinating character," says superstar.
January 05, 2004 - In a recent interview with Empire Magazine, Tom Cruise still expresses interest in a comic book movie project he was once offered long ago: Iron Man. The project is now set-up at a different studio (New Line Cinema) with a different producer (Don Murphy) and writers (Alfred Gough & Miles Millar) onboard than when Cruise was initially approached back in the 1990s.

Empire claims "Cruise remains keen" on portraying industrialist-turned-superhero Tony Stark and that he advised the magazine in a recent interview that "he is still working on a deal to don the Iron Man's armor."

"He's a fascinating character, but we've got to figure out how it's going to work," Cruise told Empire. "And everyone is doing a Marvel character these days. How do we make that new, create something fresh where it doesn't feel like, 'Oh, here comes another superhero story'?"

Iron Man could begin filming as early as this year although no director has been hired yet.
-- Stax

[FH]

Len Wein Talks Swamp Thing Movie Source: UGO Monday, January 5, 2004

UGO talked to comic writer and Swamp Thing co-creator Len Wein about the upcoming movie. Here's a few snippets...

UGO: The Man-Thing movie is coming. I always wondered what you and Bernie thought of that.

LW: There are a couple of elements to that particular question. One of which is that I was rooming with Gerry Conway who wrote the first Man-Thing story. It was just independent creation. We were doing Swamp Thing and Gerry and I think Gray Morrow was doing Man-Thing. Neither of us knew the other was doing the same thing. The weirdest aspect is that I actually wrote the second Man-Thing story; the whole "Whatever knows fear burns at the Man-Thing's touch". In Gerry's first story anything the Man-Thing touched burned. It was a protagonist who could never interact with anybody so I came up with the idea of fear.

I am also writing the script for a brand new Swamp Thing film for Joel Silver to produce.

UGO: That's fantastic. Are you into the first draft?

LW: I have a first draft and doing some modifications now. I'm expecting to hand it in soon. Then it goes to Warner Bros and we'll see what happens then.

UGO: How are you doing it?

LW: It's a horror movie. The new Man-Thing movie sounds just like what the old Swamp Thing was. I think it has a budget of $5 million. The Swamp Thing has a budget of way beyond that. When I had my first meeting with Joel the first thing he said was "No guy in a rubber suit." Swamp Thing will be all CGI.

UGO: I can't imagine what you thought of the Swamp Thing movies.

LW: The moments that were out of the comic were fine, the rest of it not so much. Coincidentally I ran into the director the second movie [The Return of Swamp Thing] Jim Wynorski recently and we were chatting about it briefly.

But the Swamp Thing movie has a lot of elements of mine and Bernie's run, Alan Moore's run and it is definitely a horror movie.

UGO: I know Bernie works on movies. Will he be involved?

LW: Yes he will be involved in the design work.

[FH]

Freddy vs. Jason Scribes Adapting Spy-Hunter Source: Variety Wednesday, January 7, 2004

Universal Pictures has hired Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, the writing team behind New Line's Freddy vs. Jason, to adapt the video game adaptation Spy-Hunter. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is attached to star as Alec Sects, a former F-15 pilot employed by International Espionage Services as a member of the Spy-Hunter team.

Variety reports that the studio has high hopes for the film, which is scheduled to start filming in June in order to be ready as a 2005 summer tentpole. Chuck Gordon and Adrian Askarieh are producing, with Neal Moritz and Marty Adelstein expected to come on board as well.

Michael Brandt and Derek Haas (2 Fast 2 Furious) penned the original concept for bringing Midway Games' popular arcade game of the 1980s to the big screen.

Swift and Shannon are also writing Area 52, a sci-fi actioner which follows an alien monster that wreaks havoc after escaping from a secret government base in Antarctica.

[FH]

Word on the New Batman Costume! Source: Anonymous Wednesday, January 7, 2004

An anonymous scooper has provided us with word on what you can look forward to for the new Batman costume...

One of my sources said they saw a concept design in Burbank (strange, since most of pre-production is happening in UK). They said: "It was dark blue and gray. No nipples, had no Bat-logo on it, I assume they hadn't settled on a design at the time. Think the original Animated Series costume and you won't go far wrong."

[FH]

Dave Matthews will appear in Because of Winn-Dixie a feature film directed by Wayne Wang (Smoke, Maid in Manhattan), which is currently in post-production with plans for a theatrical release later this year.
"What originally drew me to it, after reading the book and the script, was I thought it was a really sweet story, and it's a small story," Matthews says. "By no means do I think it will have the effect of judging me as an actor as if I've thrown myself into some giant spectacle. It's a small spectacle."

The role is actually Matthews' second, though it might be his first to be seen by viewers nationwide. He had a part in the update of Where the Red Fern Grows, which was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival last May, but due to financial troubles has yet to see a theatrical release.

In Winn-Dixie, based upon the popular young adult novel by Kate Dicamillo, the DMB frontman plays Otis, an ex-con drifter who arrives in Naomi, Florida, and settles in as the owner of a pet shop, where he imparts his wisdom to Opal, the young girl at the film's center.

Matthews also plans to contribute new songs to the film's soundtrack; his character has trouble stringing thoughts together without a guitar in his hand. "I always said that if I ever do a part in a movie, I would refuse to play music," Matthews says. "But I realized that this is the perfect part for me. I got to write some songs and, in a way, try not to be myself. Although I can't really escape the way that I write, it was fun to pretend."

Next for Matthews will be the writing process for the next Dave Matthews Band album, the follow-up to 2002's Busted Stuff.

AUSTIN SCAGGS and ANDREW DANSBY
(January 6, 2004)

[FH]

Johnny Depp to Star in The Libertine Source: Variety Thursday, January 8, 2004

Variety reports that Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl star Johnny Depp will go to the 17th century for The Libertine, which begins production February 23 outside London.

Depp will star opposite John Malkovich and Samantha Morton in a tale based on the true story of John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester, who was a poet, courtier and notorious rake.

Adapted by Stephen Jeffreys from his own play, the film marks the feature debut of British commercials director Laurence Dunmore. The film's budget of about $16 million is close to Depp's asking price to star in high-profile studio pics.

Following "Libertine," Depp is slated to shoot Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for Warner Bros. He is also expected to reprise his Golden Globe-nominated role as Jack Sparrow in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean 2.

[FH]

De Palma, Wahlberg & Hartnett Making Black Dahlia Source: Variety Thursday, January 8, 2004

Director Brian De Palma and actors Mark Wahlberg and Josh Hartnett will make The Black Dahlia, an adaptation of the James Ellroy crime novel framed around the infamous Hollywood murder of wannabe actress Elizabeth Short.

The film, written by Josh Friedman, is a fictional account of the notorious murder in 1947 of an actress in Los Angeles and the investigation into the case. Based on a notorious, unsolved murder, the mystery begins in the late 1940s when the body of Elizabeth Short is discovered in a vacant lot with evidence she had been tortured for several days before dying.

Like Ellroy's novel, the movie will use the famous murder as a backdrop. The core of the film is the relationship between the partners as they are exposed to corruption and deceit. They also become rivals for the affection of a woman who's a dead ringer for the murdered girl.

[FH]

Jason Behr Aboard Gellar's The Grudge Source: Variety Thursday, January 8, 2004

Jason Behr (Roswell will star opposite Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) in a remake of Takashi Shimizu's Japanese-language horror film The Grudge for Senator Films. Takashi will direct the remake which is executive produced by Spider-Man director Sam Raimi.

The screenplay for the new film is adapted by Stephen Susco, combining elements from the original and its three sequels. The original film concerned a murderous curse stemming from a grudge held by someone who died enraged. Behr plays a college student at an international university in Tokyo, the boyfriend of Gellar's character.

The Grudge is set to film this month in Tokyo. Columbia Pictures will distribute in North America.

[FH]

'BATMAN' STORY DETAILS-***POSSIBLE SPOILERS****

www.DARKHORIZONS.COM


Having just read a full and in-depth synopsis of the shooting script of the upcoming "Batman" from yesterday's source, its time to share some small light on the spoiler details which will hopefully quell all the rampant speculation that will no doubt continue unless something like this is done. First off to those wondering I don't have the script or any pages from it - even if I did there's not a cat's chance in hell of me doing anything other than glancing over it and then locking it away in a drawer. I almost never read scripts because I don't like to be spoiled, and they are the studio's copyright so those who post scripts online whether it be a single page or the full baby, you are breaking all sorts of laws.

Reviews of scripts are fine, but again like most I don't want to be spoiled too much, thus what follows is tailored to that taste - there is some spoiler stuff here, almost all of it from the opening third or so, but what I've included doesn't have any real bearing on the plot, is stuff you're already familiar with and/or you'll find revealed in the film's trailers or official notes in any case. There's a few clever twists and jibes in the script, none of which I want to ruin for anyone

I was sent a multi-page breakdown/major spoiler review by this source and have since independently confirmed its genuine. The breakdown fits in with and spells out clearer the rumours heard so far, adds some whole new angles and is understandably critical about a number of points. In Nolan's hands it should be VERY different from what we come to expect from a "Batman" film (it took me a while to get used to it but I quite liked it).

After penning this item I have since deleted that breakdown as well so please don't ask me for or about it as I no longer have it. Like Warners, I don't want to see this spoiled but I will clear up some of the talk and lingering questions. This is a one-off as well, there won't be follow-up pieces or any more new details revealed although I will be able to shoot down inaccurate speculation as it comes up:

- All the characters mentioned so far are in it - Bruce Wayne/Batman, Alfred, Jim Gordon, DA asst. prosecutor Rachel, Jonathan Crane, and Ra's Al Ghul.

- Other characters include Ra's protege Ducard, Wayne Enterprise's Applied Science Dept. head Lucius Fox, mob boss Falcone, acting Wayne Enterprise head Earle, and various crims & law officials and a bunch of ninjas.

- There's no link or mention of the previous film's events, this not only ignores them completely but restarts the franchise as its essentially an 'origin' movie which changes elements such as the 'parents being shot' and 'how Bruce found the cave and took up the mantle' subplots.

- Despite the filming in London, almost all of the film is set around Gotham City (there's no mention of London) though there's numerous flashbacks to the past and early on the footage is set around a mountain monastery in China.

- The first portion of the film swaps between flashbacks and the present. In the past we see stuff we're all familiar with from the comics and earlier movies - Bruce as a child with his father Thomas Wayne, the famous alley shooting of his parents, being cared for by a younger Alfred, meeting regular beat cop Jim Gordon, etc. In the present its Wayne mano-a-mano fighting with Ducard whose 'training/testing' him as such for his master Ra's Al-Ghul whose watching from the shadows. This is no doubt the sequence being filmed in Iceland at the start of production

- With Ra's Al-Ghul he does have insidious plans but there seems to be no mention of immortality, the Lazarus Pit, or Talia. His sub-ordinate Ducard is an interesting character with a clever connection to his master.

- One subplot has Wayne Enterprise head Earle trying to take over the company and using his influence on public officials. Its revealed Gordon in the present is a Sargeant. There's also a small storyline about a mob boss whom Bruce has a personal score to settle with.

- One element I like is the discovery of the cave and its various entrances and the clever finding of the Batsuit described as "prototype spandex body armour". The Batman in full costume however doesn't appear for a while on screen (once he's there, he's there in force) which is a clever move and keeps one in anticipation.

- The Scarecrow is referred to only as Jonathan Crane who is the head of medicine at Arkham Asylum. There's a clever origin story to the fear toxin, and at certain points he covers his head in a sack/mask for protection.

- The second half (basically once the 'origin' elements are over) are more like a Batman movie we know but some cool new stuff and shots too which I won't spoil. Suffice it to say there's an elaborate plan which will wreak chaos on downtown Gotham. Key characters get drugged, Alfred pops in at the right time and place to save his master and offer wise counsel, and so on.

- Action fans will be happy with an extensive Batmobile chase through the streets, alleys and 'other surfaces' of Gotham. A decaying monorail system built by Thomas Wayne serves as the backdrop for some story elements.

- The coda includes mention of one of the Dark Knight's most famous villains - its pretty easy to guess which one.

Opinion: In the end this is one of those stories which at first glance will shock you, but then give time to process I think you'll come to really like it - fans of the comic especially should go nuts for this. With the Batman live-action movies we've become used to formula - Bats in costume hunting down a wildly costumed baddie who gets far more character development than our hero, and a dark twisted gothic fantasy sense.

That's all out the window, in this Batman really is the focus of the movie with the villains taking a sidestep. The villains themselves aren't garishly colourful or obsessively dark pastel-clothed freaks, they actually seem to be believable nutters and their connection is a quite clever twist even if their ultimate motives still feel underdone.

The love interest isn't a screaming helpless girl and how they handle it especially towards the end is quite mature, but she's not a particularly interesting character either. Alfred is handled nicely, Gordon especially seems to get some good stuff here. Even some of the plain human side characters like Lucius, Earle, Falcone, etc. are going to be interesting to see onscreen.

The action towards the end admittedly gets overly theatrical, but otherwise its quite shocking how un-blockbusterish this is, it plays more like an old-fashioned movie which allows its story to unfold than a big action spectacle - indeed the closest film I can think of in comparison is the first "Superman" and even to some extent "Spider-Man", in other words its very much a restart right from the beginning. With Nolan in charge it'll be interesting to see how it all turns out.

[FH]

Spider-Man 2 Script Review