David Fincher To Direct Facebook Movie

Source: Variety

I’m so excited about this. Columbia Pictures is in advanced talks with David Fincher to direct The Social Network, scripted by genius Aaron Sorkin. The film will focus on the evolution of Facebook from its 2004 creation on the Harvard campus by sophomore Mark Zuckerberg to a juggernaut with more than 200 million members. Scott Rudin and Michael De Luca are producing with Trigger Street’s Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti. The aim is to begin production later this year.

So why am I so amped? Well, for one, David Fincher is my favorite director. Say what you will about his movies, but the man has only gotten better and better as a director. Zodiac and The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button are absorbing, dialogue-heavy throwbacks. It’s absolutely the same man that made Fight Club, but he’s even more mature. Aaron Sorkin is the most rhythmic writer in Hollywood. I can listen to the West Wing without any visual and be completely fine.  So the pairing of these two actually makes me really excited for this film.

Larry Doyle To Write ‘Go Mutants!’

Source: Variety

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.

T.R. Knight Officially Exits ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

Source: Ausiello Files

After months and months of rumors about actor, TR Knight, asking to be released from his contract three years early finally some confirmation. Sources confirm to Michael Ausiello exclusively that TR Knight is being granted leave from the show. “The official decision, I’m told, came down in the past few days, just as many of his castmates began receiving their formal pickup letters from ABC,” he says.

The show has been riddled with behind the scenes controversy and melodrama, and culminated last season with Knight claiming he’d be underwritten because of a clash with show creator, Shonda Rhimes. Knight became so fed up, he asked to be released from his contract. While Rhimes claimed that his lack of storyline was part of “the ebbs and flows of ensemble television”, it all seems a litle shifty. The show has been falling apart as of late, and while it may have regained a little steam lately it’s still not the beast it was a few years ago. An insider says that Knight, a theatrically-trained thespian, is in talks to start 2010 by headlining a Broadway revival of Lend Me a Tenor, the classic farce he recently did a reading of with Alfred Molina, Tony Shalhoub, and Marian Selde.

Fuller And Form Talk Platinum Dunes Future

Source: MovieWeb

MovieWeb recently had the chance to sit down and talk with Brad Fuller and Andrew Form about their upcoming projects for Platinum Dunes. They’re currently working on the Wes Craven-bashed A Nightmare On Elm Street remake, and would like to  follow it up with a sequel to last year’s crappy Friday The 13th reboot.

When asked if they sequel would be in 3d, the two seemed skeptical. “From day one, when we started talking about the movie, we always envisioned it in 3D. We would love to make a 3D horror movie. I just don’t think they will throw the money our way. And I don’t think we have the time to be ready for it. We don’t have a release date. We don’t have a greenlit movie. I want to be very clear on that: We don’t have a script for Friday the 13th II. If it does get greenlit, and we are able to mount it in a reasonable amount of time, we will have the film opening on August 13th of 2010. If we make this movie, we need to do it quickly. We need to shoot it before winter. The date is going to be summer, so we’d have to figure out how much post time we need for the 3D. It is a lot longer than a non-3D movie to get it into theaters. “

The duo are also keen to see the next Friday The 13th take place in the snow, but not entirely. “We don’t want to go to Winnipeg and shoot this whole movie in the snow. We did that once, and we are never going to do it again. We want to have fun. We want to present something that audiences haven’t seen before. One of the things they haven’t seen before is Jason in the snow. Our goal is to bring them things they haven’t seen.” By rebooting something that spanned twelve films and ripping off kills from the original movies? I’m right there with ya, guys. After that, more slasher movies for the studio. “The Butcherhouse is a really good script. We are really close on that one. It was a play, but it is original. That is in the same wheelhouse as Friday the 13th. It’s fun horror. We aren’t pulling people’s teeth and nails out. There is a great villian.”

Their version of The Birds, based on the short story by Daphne Du Maurier and not Alfred Hitchock’s film, seems less likely to happen. “We keep trying. That is so hard to get the script right. We struggle with it. I won’t have anything to say until the script is finished. We have already said enough. There are limitations with the birds. They peck. And poop. There is not a lot of variety. We lay ourselves out there to get annihilated online every single day. And that movie opens us up to complete annihilation. Why pursue it? Because as a producer, you pursue a bunch of different things. The ones that come to fruition, you make. The other ones are just a good effort. It comes to a point where we decide what we are going to make. We don’t come up with these movies and then send people to the set to make them for us. We need to figure out how much time we can spend on a set, and this year, we are spoken for. Hopefully The Butcherhouse will be made next year.”

“The Butcherhouse Chronicles”, written by Michael P. Hidalgo (who also scripted the film), was a darkly comic horror stage show about four high school students out to discover the truth behind a mysterious old property known as the Butcherhouse.

Neil Patrick Harris Double Feature

Source: THR

I swear, Neil Patrick Harris may have made the best comeback from childhood fame I’ve ever seen. From his hilarious roles in the Harold & Kumar films, to his dayjob on How I Met Your Mother, to his geek star turn in Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible, Mr. Harris has been consistently hilarious. It was announced today that he had signed on for two new films.

The first, Beastly, which co-stars Vanessa Hudgens and Mary-Kate Olsen. Harris is playing a blind tutor who helps and bonds with a teen (Alex Pettyfer) who is shellshocked from being turned into a hideous young man. In the second film, The Best And The Brightest, Harris plays one half of a couple from Delaware who move to New York’s Upper East Side and enter the world of the city’s private kindergartens. Bonnie Somerville (NYPD Blue, Kitchen Confidential) is also cast as the class-aware wife in the film, which co-stars Amy Sedaris (SNL, Strangers With Candy).

‘Trick ‘r Treat’ Roadshow!

Source: Fangoria Online

We’ve all heard the story of the film that’s made and then it’s shelved indefinitely. Those who’ve seen it consider it genius, but for some reason the studio never puts it out. Nevermind that they have no problem dumping the same crap on us every weekend. Mike Dougherty’s (X-Men 2, Superman Returns) Halloween opus Trick ‘r Treat has suffered such a fate. Or maybe not! Dougherty and actor Dylan Baker were at Fangoria’s annual Weekend Of Horrors and let fly a few tidbits abut the film.

First off, the film will see release on DVD/Blu-Ray this October. The date is still being finalized, but the film will be in stores this Halloween. Second, the Trick ‘r Treat soundtrack will be released this September. Third, a previously announced four-issue comic from DC/Wildstorm will be released as a single graphic novel in October as well. And last but not least, Trick ‘r Treat will be coming to select theaters from July-October as part of a roadshow to promote the film. Cities are still be added for the tour so check back and I’ll try to keep this updated as they add them.

FANTASIA FILM FESTIVAL, Montreal, Canada July 9-27

TORONTO AFTER DARK, Toronto, Canada August 14-21

MORBIDO FEST, Mexico City, Mexico (MySpace)

FANTASY FILM FESTIVAL – Berlin, Hamburg, Koln, Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Stuggart, and Munich Germany – August 18-September 9, 2009

FANTASTIC FEST, Austin Texas, September 24-October 1

SCREAMFEST, Los Angeles, California – October 16-25

London, UK

‘Spiderman 4’ Updates

Source: NY Post

Reed Tucker recently sat down with Todd Black, producer of the upcoming Taking Of Pelham 123 and Spiderman 4, to pick his brain a bit about developments on the latter. Last month, Sam Raimi stated that he wasn’t sure if co-star Kirsten Dunst would be back for the fourth film, but Black says she’s “definitely on board.” Rumors of Morbius being the villain in the fourth film were squashed flat, aswell as rumors concerning a wedding between Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson.

As for who the real villain will be, Black says:”We’re just coming up with who the villain’s going to be now. We’ll be shooting in New York again. Trust me, people will appreciate who we pick, because it’ll be a big part of New York.” So who then? Kingpin? Kraven? Black confirmed that the villain would be one from the comics, not a character invented for the film. Personally, a character with strong ties to New York puts me squarely in the Lizard corner. I’ve been waiting since film one to see that sewer system used in a Spiderman film (and not to find Sandman, thank you very much!)

Who do you think the new villain will be? Spiderman 4 is being directed by Sam Raimi. James Vanderbilt wrote an earlier draft of the screenplay, but it is now being re-written by David Lindsay-Abaire (Inkheart, Robots) which has officially killed any hope I had for this film. Spiderman 4 hits theaters May 6th, 2011.