There are competing 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea projects in development, and big name directors are behind both projects. David Fincher (Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) is in talks to take over the Disney version, which once had McG attached to direct, so says Heat Vision. Meanwhile, Ridley and Tony Scott are developing another version for 20th Century Fox, based on a script from Clash of the Titans’ scribe Travis Beacham. Timur Bekmambetov is being approached about directing this movie. So, we can add 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea to Three Musketeers, Excalibur, and Treasure Island in the category of competing projects in development. (THR)
Hey! If you end up loving Shrek 4, that will put you in the exclusivel company of one Pete Hammond, blurb-whore extraordinaire. (FilmDrunk)
John Landis (Burke and Hare, all your favorite ’80s movies not directed by John Hughes) is putting together financing for a biopic on Bill Gaines, who founded Mad Magazine in retaliation to being driven out of the U.S. Senate’s morality police in the 1950s. (Deadline)
Keanu Reeves will star in Passengers, about an intergalactic spaceship that’s making a centuries-long trek to find another planet to inhabit. All the folks onboard are meant to be cryogenically frozen until they reach their destination. However, a computer fuck-up brings Keanu Reeves’s character out of hibernation (and you can hardly tell!), so he decides to unfreeze a beautiful woman to make her his companion. Gabriele Muccino (Pursuit of Happyness) will direct. (THR)
Bruce Willis joins the cast of Rian Johnson’s (Brick, Brothers Bloom) Looper. He will play the older version of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character. (Deadline)
Cameron Crowe has all but been confirmed as the director of We Bought a Zoo, his first movie since Elizabethtown. Details of the movie are here. (Coming Soon)
And speaking of Cameron Crowe, Terrence Howard is reportedly in talks with the director to star in a Marvin Gaye biopic that Crowe has quietly been working on for three-and-a-half years. Gaye had a fascinating life, and I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten the biopic treatment yet. Cameron Crowe is the perfect director for such a project. (Deadline)
In the chaos of all the network presentations of next year’s television schedule, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Breckin Meyer have quietly signed on to a buddy lawyer show called “Franklin and Bash” for TBS. (TV By the Numbers)
Finally, though I have no desire to stir up anymore unrest where it concerns “Lost,” I did find it amusing that George Lucas wrote Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse a nice letter that started off this way:
Congratulations on pulling off an amazing show. Don’t tell anyone … but when ‘Star Wars’ first came out, I didn’t know where it was going either. The trick is to pretend you’ve planned the whole thing out in advance. Throw in some father issues and references to other stories — let’s call them homages — and you’ve got a series.
It’s not as bitchy as it sounds if you read the rest of the letter, but it certainly doesn’t shed a favorable light on Lucas. (Movieline)
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Lucas had Joseph Campbell to consult with. It is no accident that the post-Campbell movies are unfocused. I only watched the last couple for Yoda. Yoda kicks ass.
Posted by: Lindsey with an 'e' at May 17, 2010 5:45 PM
I thought George Lucas was just honestly being encouraging.... No?
Posted by: SB at May 17, 2010 5:57 PM
Does it say anywhere in that letter from Lucas:
"...and when you need more money just reissue the original movies again and call them the new {insert number here} anniversary special directors cut editions" or some other such nonsense. Don't worry the stupid fanboys will fork over the money because they don't know any better."
Posted by: John W at May 17, 2010 6:42 PM
Lucas should just STFU and keep hiring guys like Genndy Tartakovsky to do Star Wars material.
Posted by: Fredo at May 17, 2010 6:48 PM
Star Wars should just die already. It's a fucking kids movie that hasn't aged very well and the sequels show that George has no fucking clue what made the movies popular in the first place.
Did Lucas create the big budget sci-movie franchise and showed the world how to market the fuck out of it?...yes. Should he be known for anything else...Hell no.
Posted by: Diablo at May 17, 2010 8:36 PM
Keanu Reeves will star in Passengers...
This movie just came out last year. It was called Pandorum?
Posted by: D-Day at May 17, 2010 9:30 PM
"Don’t tell anyone … but when ‘Star Wars’ first came out, I didn’t know where it was going either."
Honestly, is there anyone left on earth who hadn't drawn that conclusion already?
Posted by: spazmodeas at May 18, 2010 12:26 AM
MM, I liked Pandorum too. They could have lost the Space Crazy Syndrome but overall it was enjoyable. I'm beginning to think we were separated at birth.
We'll find out soon enough if the Lost producers were pulling ideas out of their ass too. I'm not feeling too optimistic after last week's reveal of the magical golden light.
Posted by: DeadBessie at May 18, 2010 8:25 AM
Fucking Arcturus couldn't shine a favourable light on George Lucas.
..because he's fat, see?
Shut up.
Posted by: Ed at May 18, 2010 10:19 AM
cok tesekkur ederim bu filmi bi kere izlemek daha istiyorum
Posted by: film izle 18 at November 21, 2010 6:04 PM
It’s not as bitchy as it sounds if you read the rest of the letter, but it certainly doesn’t shed a favorable light on Lucas.
Very little does these days.