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bad
news of the week
8/03/05:
Todd Phillips Definitely Lost Originality
The co-writer/director
of the hilarious comedies Road Trip and Old School,
neither the most fresh ideas yet both filled with inventive style, is
continuing down the path of conformity that was hoped to be just a fluke
with his television series adaptation Starsky & Hutch.
This time he and writing partner Scot Armstrong are going with a remake
by updating the 1960 British comedy School for Scoundrels with
Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder in the roles originated by Alastair Sim
and Ian Carmichael. (Variety)
Sean Connery Quits Hollywood
Sean Connery
hates Hollywood and the "idiots" making movies today.
He hasn't made a movie in three years and says it will take some extreme
convincing to get him do another. I love that the man has the balls
to speak out about being fed up and I know he has enough money to retire,
but I am a bit disappointed that he can't accept any alternatives.
I hope that the lack of interest in non-Hollywood fare isn't because of
his price tag. Mostly I am just disappointed that I'll never get
to see him in a movie like The Rock again. His contempt
of big-budget movies has been apparent on screen in the last fifteen years
and the attitude is welcomed in action films that take themselves way
too seriously. (IMDB)
Invasion Tries to Hide From the Remake Label
Back in the day, when screenwriters
and producers weren't original, they pitched movies by referencing others
(at least this is what I learn from The Player) as if they were
remakes or sequels with no association. The new Invasion of
the Body Snatchers redo would be sold as just that but would be reworked
and retitled to avoid any licensing problems or redundancy fears.
Now, studios feel they need that
association so audiences already have some familiarity with the product
being hawked. It doesn't help that The Island and Stealth,
this summer's two blockbusters bearing some semblance of individuality
(I wouldn't call them original just because they weren't remakes, sequels
or adaptations), have tanked, either.
Still, Hollywood never
likes too much criticism, and perhaps all the disdain for so much recycling
has them trying to find the middle ground. Warner Bros. has announced
that their recent decision to produce the fourth version of Body Snatchers
has evolved into a project that they consider neither a remake nor a reimagining.
The script by David Kajganich is supposedly now "fresh" enough
not to clearly be associated with the 1956 science-fiction thriller or
the Jack Finney story upon which it's based. The shortening of the
title to Invasion is clever enough to avoid a legal affiliation
(if there was one) while still alluding for the audience's sake.
It is still up for debate whether a Kevin McCarthy cameo will be acceptable.
(Hollywood
Reporter)
R.I.P. Pat McCormick
(1934-2005)
How many hours will it take to drive
a truck full of Coors to the other side?
A writer for "The Tonight Show with
Johnny Carson" and "Get Smart" and friend
to little people (co-writing Under the Rainbow), McCormick is
best remembered for his recurring role as Big Enos Burdette in the Smokey
and the Bandit films.
Another Children's Series Adapted
Fox
2000 is bringing Michelle Paver's book Wolf
Brother
Another Comic Book Adapted
Samuel L. Jackson is
naturally the casted actor for a live-action version of Takashi Okazaki's
Afro Samurai comics about a black samurai avenging his father's
death in a futuristic Japan. (Variety)
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