LONDON INSIDER - UK Office
Good afternoon, good evening and goodnight.
The dark, cold mornings and the equally dark, cold early evenings are practically gone and the Summer is hopefully upon us, here in London. We’ll see if this new light will reflect the movie news I’m gathering together.
Jones, Duncan Jones : David Bowie’s son, “Moon” director Duncan Jones will direct a biopic on James Bond creator Ian Fleming. Before Ian Fleming became the globally renowned best-selling author, his own life was no less exciting than that of the hero he created. Fleming travelled the world and masterminded real life top-secret operations, inspiring him to create James Bond. Duncan Jones’ take will explore and tie together those events in the author’s life that gave birth to Britain’s greatest superspy. Duncan Jones remarked – “Fleming lived through one of the most perilous periods in world history, in a position that allowed him a unique vantage point of all the players, all the stakes. He witnesses true heroism first-hand. And he saw the evil men could do. Then, when the war ended, he went off to write fiction. The essential question for me is; where did Ian Fleming end and Bond begin?”
K5 Film (Oliver Simon and Daniel Baur), PalmStar Media Capital’s Kevin Frakes and Liberty Films’ Stuart Fenegan will produce the film in association with Jim Young and Robert Laycock of the Ian Fleming Estate. K5 International will handle worldwide rights.
Jones is currently in the process of casting the film, which is based on the authoritative biography “Ian Fleming, The Man Behind James Bond” by Andrew Lycett, and is anticipated to go into production later this year. It is the only film to be given the full support of The Ian Fleming Estate.
Kevin Frakes says, “Fleming is a larger than life character and it’s fantastic to be bringing him to the big screen with Duncan.”
“Duncan is one of the hottest directors currently working in film and everyone has been waiting to see what he would do next,” say K5’s Co-Founding Partners Oliver Simon and Daniel Baur.
Stuart Fenegan commented, “The opportunity to make a period action film about the life of Fleming and origins of Bond – a hero we all grew up idolising – is too great for Duncan and me to resist.”
At one stage there was talk of Leonardo Di Caprio playing Fleming, but that doesn’t sit right with me.
Yes Man: Humourist Danny Wallace, author of ‘Yes Man’, which formed the basis of the Jim Carrey movie of the same name, has penned his first novel. ‘Charlotte Street’, about a guy called Jason Priestly (cringe), who helps a girl with her bags as she’s clambering out or into a taxi, but she leaves behind a disposeable camera. Enough for the guy to develop it and track her down. Of course the girl is gorgeous and of course it’s currently being developed by Working Title as one of their rom coms.
Caged: The makers of ”Clean Skin”, an independently financed British film costing around £700k, starring Sean Bean, which was bought up by Warner Bros earlier this year has its director, Hadi Hajaig, apparently eyeing the forever busy Nicolas Cage for his next picture. Hopefully Cage’s image won’t be poorly Photoshopped as the cringe-worthy ‘Marble City’ poster circling round Cannes currently.
Don’t Carry On: Hearing rumours of a new ”Carry On” movie. Please no!
Big Willie Style: Will Smith is said to be teaming up with Simon Cowell on a project called “DJ Idol”. Pretty much says it all. Wife, Jada, is also expected to be part of the project.
Dependables: Late 80’s and 90’s action babe, Cynthia Rothrock, is also on the up and up. It’s been a while since the martial-arts actress has graced any screen and she currently has a few projects in the pipeline. She’s just wrapped ‘White Tiger’ in Burma, with fellow kick-asser Don the Dragon Wilson and wants to team up with UK kicker Zara Phythian on a new project of hers, mentioning her want for a ‘female Expendables’. I mention the project because apparently it’s looking to film in the UK.
New Year’s Eve: Trevor Eve, respected UK actor and father to the under-used Alice Eve (“She’s Out Of My League”), is back on UK screens again with his drama Kidnap and Ransom. The ITV1 hostage negotiator series is also produced by Eve, who has his sights on a feature film version and possibly within the year. All we need now is for his daughter, Alice, to be offered something exceptional. A vehicle of her own.
Look out for: It was only a matter of time, a ”Downton Abbey” period drama spoof is on the way. 70’s hit ‘The Professionals’, with Producers Callum McDougal (Skyfall) and Richard Whelan (Captain America) behind the project. Early word says there’s no script as yet, but ideas are being banded around. A very cool US talent who is now UK-based, Charlie Hides, who is fast-becoming an internet sensation with his spoofed up versions of Cher, Madonna and Lady Gaga amongst others.
Bliss! : That’s the name of a new movie being put together by Stealth Media Group. Said to be a “rites-of-passage adventure told through the eyes of 13-year-old tom-boy Tasha Robson” the film will be directed by Adrian Vitoria and stars Freya Parks (”Jane Eyre”, ”Creation”) who is currently shooting on the set of ”Les Miserables”, part of a Star studied cast which includes Anne Hathaway, Amanda Seyfried, Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe. “Bliss!” has a fantastic ensemble cast that includes Noel Clarke (“Star Trek 2″), Montserrat Lombard (”St Trinian’s 2”), Christian Rubeck (”Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters”), Gitte Wit (”The Impossible”), and Singer/Songwriter Natasha Haws, Reece Noi (”Hit or Miss”). The producers are also out to other international actors A list cast which will be announced shortly as they get closer to start of production.
Simon Pegg is Hector! : The “Star Trek” star and all-round funnyman is doing “Hector and the Search for Happiness” based on the best-selling novel by François Lelord, THR states. In Peter Chesolm’s comedy, Pegg plays an eccentric yet irresistible London psychiatrist in crisis — largely because his patients are just not getting any happier — who decides to go on his own quest to find a smile.Chelsom said: “I’ve been searching long and hard for a film that would bring me back to my European sensibilities. Not unlike Being There and Forrest Gump, Hector is a contemporary love story, a fable wrapped around a very human hero’s journey. Nobody does the innocent abroad better than Simon Pegg: he is not only a brilliant comedian but a very touching actor. He is the Hector that you want to follow to the ends of the earth.”
UK BOX-OFFICE TOP 10
1 The Avengers
2 American Reunion
3 Dark Shadows
4 The Lucky One
5 Beauty and the Beast
6 Safe
7 Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
8 Piranha 3DD
9 Get the Gringo
10 The Hunger Games
Lastly: To friend, encouraging force, web-master guru, the daddy-mac and more, Clint Morris. Glad you’re still here, man.
“I ask only for the strength to defend my people!”
