Blood Simple Zhang Yimou has started shooting a remake of the Coen brothers’ debut, Blood Simple.San Qiang Pai An Jing Qi (“The Stunning Case Of The Three Gun Shots“) recently began production. Details on the remake are being kept under wraps, but the thriller-comedy stars Chinese actor Sun Honglei, comedian Xiao Shenyang and actress Yan Ni. Blood Simple was about a Texas bar owner who hires a private detective to kill his wife and her lover. The 1984 movie starring Frances McDormand won the Grand Jury Prize for best film at the United States Film Festival — the predecessor to the Sundance Film Festival — helping establish Joel and Ethan Coen’s reputations. [Source: THR]
Burlesque Cher is set to return to the screen for the first time in more than a decade in a contemporary musical for Screen Gems. Christina Aguilera will play an ambitious small-town Iowa girl with a big voice who comes of age in a neo-burlesque club on Sunset Boulevard that’s run by Tess (Cher), a former dancer who struggles to keep the club open and gives the young girl a chance to shine. “She brings a soulfulness and gravitas to this character that will ground the story,” Chris Culpepper, president of Screen Gems said. “The only person who was more excited than I am is Christina.” Steven Antin will direct from a script he wrote that was revised by Susannah Grant (Erin Brokovich, The Soloist). [Source: Variety]
Frank
Kevin Lima (Enchanted) has been tapped to direct romantic comedy Frank, a reimagining of Mary Shelley’s classic Frankenstein story. The film centers on a teenage prodigy who’s on the cutting edge of cell research in medical school and is encouraged by her guidance counselor to take a break from the lab and make some friends. After several unsuccessful attempts at socializing with her peers, she decides to use her scientific prowess and piece together a friend out of the med school’s instructional cadavers. The project is currently out to writers. Lima is also working on a remake of The Incredible Mr. Limpet. [Source: Variety]
Ghostbusters 3 Sigourney Weaver confirms that she will not be in Ghostbusters 3. “No, I don’t expect to have anything to do with it, although I wish them well. I just did a benefit with Bill and we love working together, but I think they’re trying to create something new completely with the Ghostbusters. “I hope my little son Oscar [from Ghostbusters II] is a Ghostbuster!” [Source: Digital Spy]
Smallville
British actor Callum Blue (Dead Like Me, Rome) has joined the cast of Smallville, portraying General Zod in a role previously made famous by Terrence Stamp. Supervillain General Zod from the DC Comics books was introduced in 1980 feature “Superman II.” [Source: THR]
The Special Relationship Peter Morgan has pulled out as director of the HBO Films/BBC Films movie The Special Relationship. Richard Loncraine has come on board to direct the project, written by Morgan, who will remain “integrally involved in every aspect of the production” in his role as a writer/executive producer. The cast, crew and filming schedule for “Special Relationship,” which has been greenlighted for production, remain intact. Dennis Quaid is on board to play President Clinton, Michael Sheen as Prime Minister Blair, Julianne Moore as Hillary Clinton and Helen McCrory as Cherie Blair. [Source: THR]
The Testament
After a decade of saying no, John Grisham has made a movie deal for his 1999 bestselling novel about a billionaire defies his greedy relatives and leaves his $11 billion fortune to a mysterious illegitimate daughter doing charity work in the Brazilian wetlands. A down-and-out lawyer helps her battle her relatives over the fortune. [Source: Variety]
Untitled Zac Efron Thriller
Zac Efron has signed to star in an untitled thriller for Mandate Pictures, which is being written by Leslie Dixon. The plot is being kept under wraps but it is described as “a sexy thriller.” Efron will act as executive producer with Mandate’s Nathan Kahane. [Source: THR]
Universal Pictures has aquired the screen rights for Larry Doyle (I Love You, Beth Cooper)’s upcoming novel, Go Mutants!, and set the scribe to adapt. He will work on the project alongside finishing the book this summer. Go Mutants! is a teen comedy/adventure set in a high school where all of the tropes from classic 1950s alien invasion movies came true. Years later, the children of those mutant creatures have assimilated among the other kids. Doyle said the book and movie invites cameos from ’50s fright fixtures like Gort from “The Day the Earth Stood Still” — and the Creature from the black lagoon. Universal bought the book on the basis of an outline. It will be published by HarperCollins next summer.
Kathryn Hahn (Step Brothers, Anchorman) recently landed in a role in the upcoming James L. Brooks comedy, which was last seen adding Jack Nicholson to it’s roster. In the Brooks comedy, she’ll play the assistant to Paul Rudd’s lead role. She’s also developing a half hour pilot with husband, Ethan Sandler at Sony Pictures Television as a potential starring vehicle for Hahn.
Moveline has confirmed rumors that Benicio Del Toro was tipped for an unspecified role in Sophia Coppola’s third film, Somewhere. Pop band Rooney, of which Coppola’s cousin is lead singer, recently blogged that some of its members would be appearing in the film along with Del Toro.
Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, and Jackass stuntman Chris Pontius star in the film which follows Dorff as a bad-boy actor holed up in the famous Chateau Marmont who gets a reality check when he’s unexpectedly visited by his daughter (Fanning). Del Toro’s role involves a brief run-in with Dorff’s actor at the historic hotel, but that role is exactly that — brief, nothing more than a cameo. He is currently awaiting the release of his delayed passion project The Wolf Man later this year.
Here’s the teaser trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s adaptation of the Nickelodeon cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender. I personally think this looks great, but Shyamalan’s problem has never been directing; it’s his storytelling. Hopefully working from a source where he isn’t creating everything is what he needs to get reinvigorated. The film stars newcomer Noah Ringer, Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), Nicola Peltz, and Jackson Rathbone (Twilight).
Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a fantasy world that is home to humans, fantastic animals, and spirits. Human civilization is divided into four nations: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation. Each nation has its own natural element, on which it bases its society. Within each nation exists an order called “Benders” who have the ability to manipulate the eponymous element of their nation.
Apple has debuted the trailer for the American release of PONYO, a story inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale The Little Mermaid. Already a box-office success in Japan, the story concerns a young and overeager baby goldfish named Ponyo (voiced by Noah Cyrus) who, in pursuing her goal to become a human girl, befriends a five-year-old human boy.
Written and directed by Academy Award®-winning director and world-renowned Japanese animation legend Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle). features an outstanding roster of voice talent, including Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Frankie Jonas, Cloris Leachman, Liam Neeson, Lily Tomlin, and Betty White.
Strangely, the one character banner missing from yesterday’s Alice In Wonderland update was Alice herself, but that’s all been rectified. Yahoo just debuted the banner for the lead character, played by Mia Wasikowska (In Treatment).
I think the only other banner I’m anticipating at this point is the Chesire Cat.
I think at this point my hatred for Heroes is not only known, but justified. After being given a pass for the storytelling black hole that was the second season, and grasping at straws of greatness last year, I’m not only excited but invigorated to know that Bryan Fuller (Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies) has now left Heroes as consulting producer, the same position he held in season one. “Development was really starting to heat up, And it appears like I may be writing multiple pilots for NBC so that wasn’t leaving a ton of room for ‘Heroes,’ unfortunately,” Fuller tells AICN exclusively. “We crafted some really great arcs for the season that I’m excited to see come to fruition. I love that cast dearly and am sad to go, but the plate — she was over-flowing.”
Um, yay! Bryan Fuller is one of the most creative writers working in television right now and what the world needs are more Fuller-led television shows. This guy doesn’t need to be in the background on anything. In a perfect world, NBC would have simply handed Fuller the reigns to Heroes and booted Tim Kring. Can you imagine what Fuller would have done with this universe? Fuller is under contract with NBC Universal for another year and a half, and has been preparing new series pitches since he left Warner Brothers. He’s also expressed an ambition to eventually create, or help create, a new Paramount TV series set in J.J. Abrams’ new Star Trek universe.
A couple of cool posters today: first up is a really cool teaser poster (which may or may not be fake) for the upcoming fourth season of Showtime’s acclaimed serial-killer black-comedy Dexter. I’ve only seen a few episodes of the first season, but I know people lose it over this show.Production began earlier this month with John Lithgow and Courtney Ford joining the cast. The new season introduces the Trinity Killer (because he kills in threes) who moved to Miami after evading capture for almost three decades. The season premieres on September 27th 2009.
Also, we have a poster for the Spierig Brothers (Undead) upcoming Daybreakers.
The film, which has been wrapped since 2007, is set in the year 2017 where a plague transforms the world’s population into vampires. With fewer humans to provide blood, the vampires seek to farm the remaining humans and to find a way to continue their existence. A secret team of vampires uncover a way that would rescue the human race. The film stars Ethan Hawke and Sam Neil and will be released in January 2010.
USA Today has debuted some gorgeous shots of concept art from Tim Burton’s upcoming take on Alice In Wonderland, while, the character banner for Matt Lucas as Tweedledee and Tweedledum comes from Movies.ie. The film is not an adaptation of the novel, but rather follows a 17-year-old Alice (Mia Wasikowska) attending a party at a Victorian estate only to find she is about to be proposed to in front of hundreds of snooty society types. She runs off, following a white rabbit into a hole and ending up in Wonderland, a place she visited a decade before yet doesn’t remember. The sequel was penned by Linda Woolverton.
Blood Simple
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Here’s the teaser trailer for M. Night Shyamalan’s adaptation of the Nickelodeon cartoon, Avatar: The Last Airbender. I personally think this looks great, but Shyamalan’s problem has never been directing; it’s his storytelling. Hopefully working from a source where he isn’t creating everything is what he needs to get reinvigorated. The film stars newcomer Noah Ringer, Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), Nicola Peltz, and Jackson Rathbone (Twilight).
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Cinemafique 