Caffeinated Clint
Jeff Conaway’s death ruled accidental
Never jump to conclusions they say. “Grease” star Jeff Conaway died of a major internal infection and not due to substance abuse. A toxicology test was not conducted on the actor, who had a history of drug problems, because he had been hospitalized for weeks before his death and his blood would have come back clean, Los Angeles County coroner Craig Harvey said (The Hollywood Reporter)
Leo, Badge join “Flight”
Melissa Leo (“The Fighter”) and James Badge Dale (“The Pacific”) have joined the cast of the Robert Zemeckis/Denzel Washington thriller. Leo will play an investigator and Dale will play a gaunt cancer patient. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Upcoming Marvel Movies
Within the EW article containing those new “Avengers” pics, some info on some post-“Avengers” offerings from Feige’s fellows. In addition to the ones we already know about – “Iron Man 3”, “Thor 2” and “Ant-Man” – the company are looking at “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “The In-Humans” as one of the soonies too (io9)
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – New Spread
Empire has a rather provocative series of shots of Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara in David Fincher’s english-language remake.
Click the pic below to view the full gallery :
Frank or Francis
Kevin Kline (“A Fish Called Wanda”, “No Strings Attached”) will play dual roles in Charlie Kaufman’s movie blogger comedy. Jack Black, Steve Carell and Nicolas Cage are already onboard. “Black will play Francis, a charmless yet extremely intelligent Internet troll who reviews movies online. Carell is in talks to play Frank, a successful, somewhat pretentious filmmaker who is cheating on his wife.
Cage will portray The Emcee, an actor famous for commercial, high-concept films including his most recent hit, “Fat Dad.” As for Kline, he’ll play Richard Waller, the brother of Jonathan Waller, the director of a fictional film titled “Hiroshima,” the highest-grossing movie of all-time. Kline will also play Richard’s Head, an animatronic head that, through the use of advanced screenwriting techniques, helps Jonathan develop a completely inoffensive product that will have the broadest possible appeal and zero artistic integrity.” (Variety)
Time Zones
“FlashForward” alum Marc Guggenheim is writing a new time-travel film for Disney. ”Think of Zones as a race against time merged with a race in time concept (wrap your head around that!). The story is set after an event that causes the world to spontaneously develop “time zones,” described as fractures in space-time which replace various segments of the world with identical geography from the past and future; so it might be 1750 in France, 300 B.C. in China and 2065 in New York. In this scenario, one man realizes that because time travel is now a matter of geography, he has the chance to change the past and save the life of his wife, but must team up with his estranged daughter to do so.” (The Hollywood Reporter)
New writer on ”Foundation”
Dante Harper (the upcoming “Black Hole” remake) is writing the latest draft of Roland Emmerich’s feature film adaptation of the Isaac Asimov sci-fi trilogy (Deadline)
Masterson,Lesure, Cassidy, Busch for “Men at Work
TBS has secured the services of “That 70’s show” alum Danny Masterson, James Lesure (“Mr Sunshine”), Michael Cassidy (“Priveleged”) and Adam Busch (“Buffy”) for their new half-hour sitcom about four guys working in-house for a magazine. The show was created by actor Breckin Meyer (“Garfield”). (Deadline)
The “Last Passenger” is Dougray Scott
“Mission : Impossible 2” villain Dougray Scott will star in Omid Nooshin’s low-budget thriller about a doctor who finds himself on a runaway commuter train. The $2.3 million dollar production, also starring Kara Tointon, is part of Pinewood Shepperton’s investment fund for low-budgeted movies (The Hollywood Reporter)
‘Highlander’ villain races into untitled Dennis Quaid/Zac Efron car flick
Clancy Brown (“Highlander”, “Cowboys & Aliens”) has joined the cast of the untitled car-racing flick about a farmer and salesman (Quaid), who tries to deal with his racecar-driving son who refuses to follow in his footsteps. Brown will play a rival farmer. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Everest
“Bourne Identity” director Doug Liman will helm ”Everest”, a Sony Pictures drama about George Mallory and his three attempts in the early 1920s to become the first man to climb the world’s highest mountain. The picture is based on Jeffrey Archer’s book “Paths of Glory”. (Deadline)
3D for “Les Miserables”?
Hugh Jackman says his next project may also be filmed in 3D. Director Tom Hooper will, according to the actor, do some tests over the next few weeks to see whether he thinks 3D adds anything to the film. “It’s in discussion”, said Jackman, “Honestly, that’s probably gonna be part of what the tests are about, to see what that does. It’s always interesting – how do you actually convey thought through song? We’re used to the convention on stage. In film, we used to be used to it, and now sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. You need to be fresh and really look at the material. I think [Hooper’s] basically gonna do it, screen it, look at it, and see if it adds something genuinely or not. I mean, the strength of Les Mis is in its characters and the emotion, so if it aids that, fantastic. If it doesn’t I’m sure we won’t. It is not like there are massive special effects in Les Mis, you know?” (Collider)
Surprise cameo in “Dark Knight Rises”?
He popped up briefly in “The Dark Knight”, so no big surprise to hear that Cillian Murphy may be reprising his ‘Scarecrow’ character for the next ‘Batman’ movie too. Murphy, who originated the role iun 2005’s “Batman Begins”, has been spotted on the set of the film with several insiders claiming that his scene takes place in Union Station. In the sequence, a Judge is handing down sentences to various criminals; the judge, of course, is Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow. (ComicBookMovie)
Kevin Tanchorean : “Mortal Kombat” will be Brutal
The new “Mortal Kombat” movie, just comissioned over at WB with Kevin Tanchorean at the helm, needs to be “brutal” according to the director. “Up to this point, we’ve only been talking ‘rated R,’” says Tancharoen. “I like realistic takes on things, I like it when it’s a little darker and grittier. And I want the martial arts to feel real as opposed to balletic and super-choreographed. It needs to feel brutal, because that’s the nature of the video game itself.” (EW)
American Horror Story – 5 minute preview
The first 5 mins of the quirky new scarefest over at fx is available online to preview. The series, from “Nip/Tuck” creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, stars Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott and Jessica Lange. Reviews of the pilot have been mixed but as a fan of “Twin Peaks” (and to an extent “American Gothic”) this looks like it could be my cup of poison.
