Caffeinated Clint
Morning friends of the wild and weird world of webbly entertainment; so I’m trying to get confirmation on a rumour I’ve heard multiple tiems throughout the past week – that Robert Rodriguez is writing a part in his new “Predator” sequel (smugly titled “Predators”) for ‘Dutch’ himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yeah, no surprise really. Anyway, what I’ve heard – and again, don’t take this to the bank until I can get some kind of confirmation, but it would be nifty – is that cigar-chompin’ Dutch may appear (and when I say appear, I mean the appearance could be as long as his cameo in the forthcoming “The Expendables” – so not much at all) as one of the prisoners in the ‘Prison Camp’ that the film’s set in, or, the character may be reintroduced another way – say as a relative (read : father) to the new male lead. I’m thinking a deal for Arnie to appear probably won’t happen overnight, but just a heads up that the wheels may be in motion for a guestie by the big guy. Clint Morris – Editor
– I don’t really know what the appeal would be for such a project (or any of these board-game inspired movies for that matter), but nonetheless filmmaker Peter Berg (“Friday Night Lights”, “The Rundown”, “The Kingdom”, the upcoming “Dune” remake) has signed to direct a feature film adaptation of the classic board game “Battleship” (which in turn spurned “Computer Battleship” – which, personally, I’m more familiar with). Robert Pattison (“Twilight”) was recently spotted with Berg; is this the reason for the meeting? Or is Berg just hoping to move in on Kristen Stewart and was beseeching neck-sucking tips?
– Man, I gotta say, I’m kinda pissed. FOX has axed TVs “Terminator : The Sarah Connor Chronicles” – and just a couple of weeks before the new “Terminator” movie rears its head theatrically. Not only was the show starting to find its legs creatively (the season finale was killer), but you’d think the network might’ve realized the potential here… what with the new movie coming out, and likely to re-energize the ‘Terminator’ brand. Guess that means Brian Austin Green is free to head over to the new “90210” and reprise David Silver now? (Michael Ausiello)
– Meantime, Ausiello also reports that NBCs “Chuck” has been renewed for a third season. A black cloud apparently lay over the show (which might be why its female lead recently retuned to Australia to make 3-films-back-to-back, thus securing herself some cabbage just-in-case) but today it was announced the network had enough faith in it to greenlit another 13 fun-filled episodes. There is going to be drastic budget cuts for the show though – which may mean one of it’s many supporting players may get the chop.
– Teaser posters for David R. Ellis’s upcoming horror flick “Humpty Dumpty” have appeared at MySpace. Though I’m sure they’re authorized, they’re likely no more than concept one-sheeters.
– The official website for Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” is online.
– Scott Speedman in another Vampire movie? Yup, he apparently likes toothy women. The “Underworld” star will join Lily Cole for the film adaptation of Rachel Klein’s vampire novel, “The Moth Diaries”. Mary Harron (“American Psycho”) will write and direct. (Screen Daily)
– Oscar Winner Forest Whitaker (currently in the rather dire “Powder Blue”), America ‘Ugly Betty’ Ferrera and Carlos Mencia have signed on to star in Rick Famuyiwa’s (”Brown Sugar”) new Untitled Family Wedding Project for Fox Searchlight. It tells of “two overbearing fathers (Whitaker, Mencia) who must put aside their differences to plan the wedding of their son and daughter (Ferrera) in less than two weeks.†(Variety)
– Meanwhile this year’s Best Actor (Academy-speaking), Sean Penn, has signed for “This Must Be the Place”, the English-language feature debut of Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino. Penn will play a rock star who becomes bored in his retirement and takes on the quest of finding his father’s executioner, an ex-Nazi war criminal who is a refugee in the U.S. (Variety)
– MK2 are developing a a 3-D animated film and videogame based on Antoon Krings’ bestselling children series “Funny Little Bugs.” (Variety)
– FoxNews’ Roger Friedman, fired from his old job because he wrote up a review of “Wolverine” based on the leaked workprint that hit the internet weeks before the film’s release date (don’t get me started), has landed himself another plum job – at The Hollywood Reporter. Fuckin’ stinks!
– An “E.T” sequel has been rumoured for years – and just last week, the rumour kicked up again (apparently Drew Barrymore would be reprising her role of Gertie for a Spielberg-directed follow-up) to the chuckles of many. Not surprisingly, Spielberg has denied all reports of a sequel being in the works, saying “[E.T] had a beginning, middle, and a definite ending, and we had nowhere to take it except to go home with him. Nor did I want to bring him back to Earth for a second time.†(KansasCity.com)
– Collider has an update on the Bradley Cooper/ “Green Lantern” situation. Is he still the frontrunner, as previously mooted?
– “The Punisher : War Zone” will go direct-to-DVD in Australia. EzyDVD has it down for a June 24th release.
