Weeks after Warner Brothers lost the rights to Conan the Barbarian, New Line has moved into prime position to make a movie based on Robert E. Howard’s mythical conqueror, reports Variety. After posting a bid of mid-six against seven figures for an 18-month option with one extension, the studio entered into negotiations after CAA staged an auction for rights holder Paradox Entertainment.
Reinventing Conan didn’t come easy for WB, which spent the last seven years trying for a film that veered from the testosterone-laced beefcake fests that launched Arnold Schwarzenegger to something more reverential toward Howard’s original pulp novels. Larry and Andy Wachowski, John Milius (who directed the original and wrote the script with Oliver Stone) and Robert Rodriguez took turns developing it. Rodriguez got closest but left the project for Grindhouse. Boaz Yakin was hired last year to start again.
If New Line makes the deal, the studio will have to start from scratch, as Warners owns the various drafts it developed.
Russell Crowe will join Leonardo DiCaprio in Body of Lies, the William Monahan-scripted adaptation of the David Ignatius novel that Ridley Scott will direct for Warner Brothers Donald De Line and Scott are producing; the film shoots in the fall, says Variety. Crowe will play Ed Hoffman, the manipulative CIA boss who teams with operative Roger Ferris (DiCaprio) to trap a dangerous Al-Qaeda leader by planting a false rumor that the bomber is in cahoots with the Americans. Crowe has been courted to play the CIA boss since DiCaprio signed on in April. He’s awaiting a polish by American Gangster screenwriter Steve Zaillian before formally committing.
ShockTillYouDrop.com interviewed actor Thomas Jane about his upcoming directorial debut The Dark Country. During their discussion, the subject of Zack Snyder’s anticipated Watchmen came up, particularly the rumors that Snyder is interested in casting Jane as The Comedian.
“Is it on the Internet?” Jane asks. Yessir, Tom. It’s out there. “Yeah,” the actor responds in a slow drawl. “I’m staying quiet about it. I know that Zack’s interested and that’s a great compliment.”
Ryan Gosling is set to star opposite Rachel Weisz in Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones for DreamWorks, reports Variety. Jackson (King Kong, “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy) will begin filming in October in Pennsylvania and New Zealand. The movie will be distributed worldwide by Paramount. An adaptation of the Alice Sebold best-selling novel, the movie tells the story of Susie Salmon, who is murdered, but continues to observe her family on Earth after her death. Although she is detached from the world she once knew, Susie witnesses the impact of her loss on her loved ones, whilst her killer skillfully covers his tracks and prepares to murder again. In a tone that is both emotionally truthful, and darkly humorous, Susie tries to balance her desire for vengeance against the love she feels for her family and her need to see them heal; and ultimately comes to understand that the concept of family can encompass both the living and the dead. Gosling will play the girl’s father; Weisz plays the mother. Producers of “Lovely Bones” are Jackson, Carolynne Cunningham, Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh. Film
Melinda McGraw and Nathan Gamble have joined the cast of Warner Bros. Batman sequel The Dark Knight, reports Variety. McGraw will play the wife of Gary Oldman’s character, Lt. James Gordon, while Gamble will play their son. They join Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Eric Roberts, Anthony Michael Hall and Nestor Carbonell in the sequel, coming to theaters on July 18, 2008.
National Lampoon has set a fall start for National Lampoon’s 301: The Legend of Awesomest Maximus Wallace Leonidas, a spoof of such sword-and-sandal films as 300, Troy, Gladiator and Braveheart. Jason Burinescu wrote the script. The protagonist is Awesomest, an out-of-shape Spartan general who fails forward on a path to greatness. The film will be produced by National Lampoon, Dan Farah and Burinescu. “As we aggressively move into the inhouse film production business, ‘301′ is the kind of project we get very excited about,” CEO Daniel Laikin said. “This will be a great complement to our library.”
Mos Def has signed on to star in and executive produce Bobby Zero. The film, from writing-directing brothers Markus and Mason Canter, is scheduled to begin production in November. Def will play the romantic lead in the film about a down-on-his-luck social satirist who gives up his artistic aspirations to work at an advertising agency. Zero will be produced by Effie Brown’s Los Angeles-based production company Duly Noted, which is also producing another Def starrer, Bury Me Standing.
At the London press conference for “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” late last week, producer David Heyman revealed that one character was cut then added back into the film’s screenplay under JK Rowling’s advisement. “Jo reads each draft, she reads each screenplay, and she said, ‘You know, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Or you can, but if you get to make a seventh film, you’ll be tied in knots.’” said Heyman.
Many have wondered which character that might be, well David Yates confirmed to MTV that it’s the Black family house elf Kreacher, introduced in ‘Phoenix’, that had to stay in. “We took Kreacher out, and Jo said, ‘Listen guys, you don’t have to put Kreacher back, but I’m just telling you, if you want to kind of keep a thread going for six and seven, you might want Kreacher to come back.’ She basically told us Kreacher plays a role in Seven, in a sense. She hinted. We thought about it for five seconds, and he came back” said Yates.
Paramount Pictures has pre-emptively picked up the rights to John Rozum’s upcoming five-issue comic book mini-series “The Foundation” says Reuters. In the tale, Nostradamus’ books of foreshadowing have made him a rich man, and he took his riches and created a foundation to prevent the prophesies from happening. The comic focuses on the secret team in the present day who uses the prophet’s published and unpublished works to predict threats to the world. Andrew Cosby and Ross Richie will serve as producers.
ShockTillYouDrop.com reports that Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man) has joined Ethan Hawke and Sam Neill in Lionsgate’s futuristic vampire film Daybreakers. Australian horror veterans Peter and Michael Spierig (Undead) wrote the script and will direct, with Weta Workshop creating the creature effects.
Leading man Ethan Hawke broke the news at Star Pulse News about Dafoe’s addition to the cast. “I’m going to make a vampire picture and I’m going to chew on some necks. Willem Dafoe and I are duelling vampires. It’s a vampire movie set way in the future where everyone is a vampire and we’re all eating our own resources, so we’re trying to get off on foreign humans. We’re trying to get off of trying to create blood substitutes. It’s a big analogy about what’s going on now. It’s really dark and weird and everybody’s sucking each other’s blood.”