Kit Bowen's Weekly Role Call, March 23: Keanu Reeves as Sinbad; Willis, Swank Head into the Supernatural, More...
By Kit Bowen, Hollywood.com Staff
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Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Keanu Reeves |
Keanu channels Sinbad
Keanu Reeves is in talks to headline a brand new Sinbad movie, The 8th Voyage of Sinbad. Oh yeah, Keanu will be perfect as Sinbad. Little talk and all action! Remember those Sinbad movies of the '60s, with the cheesy visual effects by master Ray Harryhausen? Good stuff. Of course, now, with all the newfangled CGI capabilities, Sinbad is going to be in some serious trouble with those mythological monsters. 8th Voyage follows the continuing adventures of Sinbad and his crew, who are marooned off the coast of China in the 8th century. Once ashore, they embark on a quest for the Lamp of Aladdin, teaming up with an empress to battle fantastical creatures and a rebellious Chinese general. According to the Hollywood Reporter, a Sinbad flick has been in the works for several years, with John Singleton most recently attached to direct. The Fast and the Furious director Rob Cohen is now in negotiations to direct.
Willis and Swank delve into the supernatural
Bruce Willis and Hilary Swank are going supernatural in their next film projects. Willis is set to star in Solace, in which he'll play a former doctor with psychic abilities. He is asked to help find a serial killer, who turns out to be psychic as well. D'oh! This leads to a showdown between the two men who can detect each other's every move. Not your usual cat and mouse situation, more like cat on cat. What's the fun in that? Swank, on the other hand, is starring in The Reaping, a supernatural tale that centers on a myth debunker who tries to prove that a small boy is not the supernatural force behind the devastation of a small, religious Texas town. Now, that sounds interesting.
Berry falls for a single white guy
Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry is set to star in His and Hers, a comedy produced by Edmonds Entertainment. Tracey Edmond, the wife of music producer Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, told World Entertainment News Network, "(Berry will play) a about a black woman who's a single mom with kids. She meets and falls in love with a white guy with kids, and they decide to get married." The movie will explore what happens when they get everybody under one roof. Actor Will Smith recently expounded on the subject of interracial romance in movies. He told Britain's Empire magazine that because U.S. cinema-goers aren't comfortable watching a black man and a white woman kissing onscreen [or vice versa], studio bosses have refused to incorporate the theme into their films--unless the movie is a commentary on the subject of cross-culture relationships. "The idea of a black guy kissing a white girl on screen is huge news in the States, while outside the U.S. it's no big deal. Hollywood is happy to do it if the movie is about that, but they can't do it and ignore it." So true.
Hoffman and Rickman smell sweet
Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman will star in the feature film adaptation of Patrick Suskind's international best seller Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) is set direct. Set in 18th century Paris, it's a tale about Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, played by British actor Ben Whishaw, whose obsession of a beautiful young virgin turns to murder when he seeks to bottle her scent. Well, sure, trying to bottle someone's scent could be quite painful. Hoffman will play Giuseppe Baldini, the perfume maker, and Rickman will be Antoine, the merchant father of the young girl.
Scary Movie gets fourth installment
Anna Faris is back for more hilarious scares reprising her character, Cindy Campbell, in Scary Movie 4. According to the Reporter, the actress signed a deal in the low-to mid-seven figures, a career high, to star in the fourth installment of the popular Dimension Films spoof series. David Zucker, who directed the third installment, is returning to the helmer's chair as well. The Scary Movie franchise has been a massive moneymaker for Dimension, Miramax Films' genre label--and Dimension head Bob Weinstein is expected to take an active role in the production, according to the Reporter, even though he and his brother Harvey are still embroiled in a bitter divorce from the Walt Disney Co. Domestically, the first Scary movie grossed $157 million, the second $71.3 million, and the third, released in 2003, hit $110 million.
The Bard is back
Shakespeare aficionado Kenneth Branagh will direct Kevin Kline and Bryce Dallas Howard in a film adaptation of Shakespeare's As You Like It to be set in the late 1800s. Howard will play Rosalind, the daughter of a Duke who falls in love with Orlando, a young man who is subsequently banished. In order to pursue her beloved, Rosalind disguises herself as a man, resulting in comedic misunderstandings and adventures. This marks Branagh's fifth Shakespeare adaptation for the big screen, including his feature film debut Henry V. He also directed Much Ado About Nothing, Love's Labour's Lost and Hamlet. He really does have a knack for making the Bard accessible to the modern-day movie-going masses.
Campbell plays part in Indian love story
Neve Campbell is in final negotiations to join Jimi Mistry (The Guru) and Kristin Kreuk (TV's Smallville) in the Indian epic Partition. The film is a romantic tale of two people caught in the events that divided India and Pakistan in 1949. After Gian Singh (Mistry) resigns from the British Indian Army to live in a quiet Sikh village in Northern India, he suddenly finds his life turned upside down when he becomes responsible for the life of a 17-year-old girl (Kreuk) who is traumatized by the events that separated her from her Muslim family. Campbell will play the passionate but lonely Margaret Stilwell, a woman who helps Singh. Ah, got to love those good old-fashioned period romances.
Nolte is a Peaceful Warrior
Nick Nolte is joining the cast of Peaceful Warrior, an adaptation of Dan Millman's inspirational memoir Way of the Peaceful Warrior. Victor Salva, whose credits include the Jeepers Creepers movies, is directing. Scott Mechlowicz (Mean Creek) stars in the drama as a top student and gymnast who meets a mysterious older man, to be played by Nolte. He nicknames the older man, who leads him on a spiritual quest, Socrates. The cast also includes Amy Smart (The Butterfly Effect) and Agnes Bruckner (Blue Car). It sounds a little like a cross between the inspiring Finding Forrester and the awful gymnast film American Anthem. Let's hope it follows the former rather than the later.
Until next week…
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