Movie Minesweeper - The Retirement Age Edition

I'm getting too old for this. film ick isn't my day job, you know: it costs me money. Sometimes I just don't have the patience. But I never have the choice.

And now I've vented a little, I feel better. I'm listening to The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas by They Might Be Giants. That should cheer me up a little bit.

- Is Halle Berry the next Barbarella? Probably not. Maybe. I found the link via JoBlo.

- Mark Wahlberg has confirmed Darren Aronofsky's directorship of The Fighter. No start date has been locked, however. Wahlberg said "If it aint like Raging Bull, then it aint worth doing" but I beg to differ. For one thing, we already have Raging Bull. For another thing, Raging Bull is actually rather bad.

- Nicole Kidman is headed to Monte Carlo. The film is to be directed by Tom Bezucha, previously guilty of The Family Stone.

- The site for Derren Brown's US show is now a go. If you don't watch it you're making a mistake. This man is one of the two greatest illusionists since Harry Houdini.
- Paramount have already reaped 1 billion dollars in the US this year.

- I don't need to update you at all on any forthcoming (or not) Spider-Man, Superman, Batman, Harry Potter, Ocean's, Bourne, Hulk, Mummy, Indiana Jones, X-Men, Fantastic Four, Hellboy, National Treasure or Wolf Man films because The Hollywood Reporter have done it for me.

- 'Angry Sherriff' Don Murphy listened to the fans re: Transformers and now the NYTimes have a piece on his approach. If only he'd listen to me about We3 and... er... give me the job of directing it.

- Spielberg has a finger in Aaron Sorkin's pie, lending finance and production muscle to the Broadway incarnation of The Farnsworth Invention with an eye to later turing it into a movie.

- Anywhere Road have snapped up the distibution rights to Brad Gann's Black Irish.

- Cartoon Brew have a wee piece on Barry Purves new Stop Motion book.

- Peter Berg is to produce and direct Gone Like the Wind, a based-on-fact story about the slaughter of a kentucky Derby winner because he'd broken his leg. Euthenasia for wounded sporting animals - discuss. The original Vanity Fair story was written by Berg's cousin Buzz Bissinger, and you can currently read it online.

- 3:10 to Yuma has been brought forward a month. That is, out of prestige season. Because it isn't much good?

- Stellan Skarsgaard is to star in the improbable sounding Patrick 1,5. This one is about a gay couple adopting a kid sight unseen, believing him to be 18 months old but actually, ending up with a fifteen year old homophobe.

- Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now might be on the Hairspray soundtrack CD, but it isn't in the film. On the other hand, The New Girl on Town was nixed from Boradway but it has been used for a montage sequence in the film. Stream the entire soundtrack courtesy of AOL - if you live in the US.

- Sam Rockwell has been talking Star Trek. And so has William Shatner - who seems to think there's a spot for Leonard Nimoy in the script.

- Hannah Montana is headed to the big screen. Miley Cyrus is the next...? Hilary Duff? Lindsay Lohan? Christy Carlson Romano?

- Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Hefner? Maybe. Though probably not.

- The Pirates of the Caribbean MMO game has been delayed. All the same, I bet it rolls out in a glitchy version and needs a whole string of patches.

- Richard Kelly is still promising Southland Tales news without actually delivering any. Wake me up when it hits DVD will you?

- Universal have snapped up the rights to Beware the Moon, a documentary on the making of An American Werewolf in London. I hope it's good.

- I heard Ricky Gervais and Chris Rock discussing Badge Buddies during the Live Earth concert but I didn't think for one second it was actually real. They just seemed to be making it up as they went along. What do you think?

- Leonard Hartman is adapting Water for Elephants into a screenplay.

- Season 7 of 24 has gone back to the drawing board.

- The full programme for this year's Fantasy Film Fest has been published. My picks? Paprika, Edmond, I'm a Cyborg But That's Okay, Tales From Earthsea and Bug have all been widely seen elsewhere, so how about The Last Winter, Stuck, Dead Daughters and The Deaths of Ian Stone. The title of the last one there is very amusing to me, but, chances are, you wouldn't find the in-joke at all amusing.

And as we come to close on this Minesweeper, I'm listening to Laughter in the Rain by Neil Sedaka.

Movie Minesweeper - The Chubby Teletubby Edition

- Principal photography is underway on the next Indiana Jones film, the one about the City of Gods. To celebrate, the official site has posted a video clip of Shia LaBeouf talking about his love for the series, which you can download directly. On a similar note, I thought I had a good source to check out the 'Jim Broadbent in Indiana Jones' story AintItCool ran, but so far, no reply...

- ComingSoon believe that Tim Burton is off of Ripley's Believe It or Not! and a new director is being sought for the project. This is the damage wrought by a Steve Oedekerk script, I believe. Expect the Tom Shadyac announcement soon. And I'm only half kidding.

- Freaks and Geeks writer John Francis Daley has co-written The $40,000 Man with Jonathan Goldstein, and now New Line have purchased it. The weak-sounding spoof reimagines the Six Million Dollar Man on a much lower budget. After inflation is taken into account, this is one heck of a scale-down. In fact, I'd have thought any surgery performed at that sort of cost would be life threatening.

- Michael Buckley's The Sisters Grimm books are to be films. Film one will combine books one, two and three which is likely to make for bumpy structure (and disappointing box office, if Lemony Snicket is a credible witness). The plot involves female descendants of the famous Brothers on a quest to find their missing parents.

- Brad Bird seems keen on an Incredibles sequel. That makes eight hundred and twenty nine million and one of us.

- Matt O'Neil's spec script Bull Rush has been picked up by Newmarket Films. The title is an awful pun, seeing as the film is about a hedge-fund dabbler getting involved in exciting, adrenalising games of street football.

- Eddie Izzard, Tom Wilkinson and Bill Nighy have all joined the cast of Valkyrie. Superb.

- Todd Phillips and Jack Black are developing Man-Witch at Warners. The comedy (yeah, really - it's a comedy) revolves around a school teacher who joins a coven and finds he's the only guy. That's the Todd Phi... er, sorry Jack Black role. Silly me. Phillips, of course, is set to direct. The script should virtually write itself, but Jay Reiss is picking up the pen to help it along.

- Variety's Liz Smith is hyping Aline and Wolfe, the script about...er... Aline and Wolfe. Aline Bernstein and Tom Wolfe. She offers an 'Iris meets A Beautiful Mind' comparision. One out of two ain't great.

- In the same paragraph, she mentions Madonna directing the short Filth and Wisdom, but comments that Madge isn't acting in it. All of my info states that, actually, she is.

- Beyond Wild Hogs 2 and Old Dogs 1, what beckons Walt Becker? Mild Frogs 3? Nope - something called My Samurai about an American businessman who helps out a homeless Japanese gentlemen only for this vagrant to reveal he is the last in a long line of Samurai and pledge his eternal loyalty to the businessman. Tim Allen as the businessman?

- Tyrese Gibson seems to believe his Luke Cage engagement is coming, and fast.

- Italian State Attorneys are investigating The Da Vinci Code on the grounds that it might be proven 'religiously obscene'. Church and state, eh? What a wonderful combination.

- Silvio Berlusconi is planning to write a screenplay.

- Elijah Kelley has had talks about playing Sammy Davis Jr., and now he's talking about those talks. Just about.

- J T Petty has given a good Burrowers interview. Sounds like Faces of Death may have stalled, however.

- Shinya Tsukamoto's Nightmare Detective is to get a sequel.

- John Waters has spoken out in defence of John Travolta's casting in Hairspray (as well as generally praising the film overall). Previously, Travolta had been knocked in the press, essentially for being a scientologist taking on a 'gay' role. The argument revolves around three contentions: that scientology is a homophobic religion; that prejudice on value of religion is suitable whereas on value of sexuality is not; that a drag role is a 'gay role'.

- The Gold-label full-series Twin Peaks box set seems to be on the cards for late October.

- British animators came out on top at Annecy.

- Salim and Mara Brock Akil like to keep it in the family. After collaborating on CW's Girlfriends, they've now set up a feature with the Weinsteins' condescendingly named 'urban' project sidebar, 'Our Stories Films'. The film is about a woman jilted at the altar who becomes a kind of detective to help other women ensure their partners won't be doing the dirty on them.

- As well as pimping Halo branded tat, Fox's merchandising army are also out to exploit Walden Media properties... but the Narnia films, for example, don't come under this agreement, being based at Disney.

- A sequel to The Host is on the fast track. Expect a completely different roll of credits.

Hairspray Soundtrack Unveiled - Some Changes From The Musical

The blog page of the official Hairspray site has posted an official track listing for the soundtrack. Most interesting is the credits for the final song, Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now: it's to be sung by Rikki Lake, Marisa Jaret Winokur and Nikki Blonsky - the original Tracy, the original stage Tracy and this film's Tracy.

That's a whole lot of Tracys. So, either this is a different recording than will be featured in the film, or the song won't be featured in the film. I don't think we'll see the old Tracys popping up, somehow. Or maybe, like Jedi ghosts they will - I just wouldn't bet on it.

You can preview one track of the soundtrack, Elijah Kelley's take on Run and Tell That, right now by clicking through to the appropriate bit of the main site.

Movie Minesweeper - The I've Just Eaten Some Mediocre Pasta Edition

- There's going to be a third season of Masters of Horror. I'm still waiting for season one of Masters of Comedy, Masters of Sci-Fi or Masters of Drama. Imagine that: Steven Soderbergh, Terry Gilliam, Joel and Ethan Coen, Ken Loach, David Mamet, Stephen Frears... directors like those given absolute carte blanche to create whichever 60 minute drama they wish.

- Nathaniel R is hosting video of the recent Hairspray-centric Oprah.

- MoviesOnline have the trailer for The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but it's in the wrong aspect ratio. No thanks. But it is TV and it might change direction any number of times, and will go through a great deal of writers and directors so it may, perhaps, turn out to be something very strong.

- Mark at badlibrarianship has posted Popbitch's insider info on this season's Dr. Who finale. It goes slightly against the info I've been given, but those popbitches have an incredible track record so I'm fairly confident they're at least close.

- Variety are looking at Working Title's upcoming slate. Some new titles and a whole shedload we already knew about.

- Eran Kolirin's The Band's Visit received a fifteen minute standing ovation at Cannes. It's described as "the story of an Egyptian police band that gets lost on its way to a music festival in Israel and end up stranded in a remote village."

- A great clip of James Randi arguing about Uri Geller has gone up on YouTube today. Shows Don Lane to be quite a sad character.

- Shannyn Sossamon. Stephen Rea, Christopher Lee and Vinnie Jones are appearing in the British crime thriller The Heavy.

- John Simm has signed up to play a prisoner in Michael Winterbottom's Seven Days. The film will take place over five years and that's the shooting schedule too - a few weeks per yer until 2012. Richard Linklater has been shooting his own drip-feed movie for some years now - in fact, he's not due to be done until 2013. That one is likely to be called Boyhood which works fine as the central subject matter is the growth and formative years of a young boy.

- What would The Simpsons look like if they were real people? This link is not for the faint hearted.

Direct Download Link For Hairspray Sizzle Reel

You can download the Hairspray sizzle reel, as per ShoWest. Not looking terrible, is it?

Hairspray Blips

ET screened a Hairspray preview just the other night and now, of course, it is already on YouTube. Thanks to the all-seeing eye of Mr. Markus.

From Buffy's Choreographer

Adam Shankman, the director the upcoming Hairspray musical film, was the choreographer on Once More With Feeling, the musical episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Is that enough to suggest he can pull this film off?

Nope. Nonetheless, there are plenty of stills online now, at IGN, which far exceeded my expectations.

This still seems like an entirely redundant film, however.

Oh... and as a semi-unrelated footnote, I should tell you that The Hollywood Reporter have named Phyllida Lloyd as the director of Mamma Mia's big screen adaptation. The songs will be much better than those in Hairspray, at least.

Spin, Spin, Spin The Wheel Of Justice

Alan Rickman has joined the ranks of Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd cast as Judge Turpin. This sounds great to me, particularly if he does another of his wonderful Frankie Howerd impersonations. The question now, however, is what part - if any - does Jim Broadbent have? He was previously announced as being onboard, also (it was presumed) as Turpin. Earlier in the year he left the Hairspray movie-of-the-musical-of-the-movie, to be replaced by Christopher Walken and at the time it was assumed his taking a role in Sweeney Todd played some part in this... now, I'm not so sure.

Can anybody shed any light on this? Whatever's going on, I hope Mr. Broadbent is well and that we will be seeing him in Burton's film, or at the very least, some other films very soon.