Movie Minesweeper - The New Broom Edition

- Luis Tosar is to star in Spleen, from first time director Alfonso Zarauzer.

- Don Murphy had posted a response to Michael Bay on his own site, but now... it's gone. From memory: Murphy commented on how he and Tom De Santo had nurtured the Transformers project for years before Bay's involvement; he credited Bay for making the film such a success; he stressed how good he felt the film was. Where's the comment gone? And why? And how true is it that Murphy is 'widely reviled by executives at Paramount and Dreamworks', as reported in The NYTimes? [EDIT: An old statement has been re-linked by Murphy]

- Alex de la Iglesia going to write and direct the film adaptation of The Yellow Mark, a story from the Blake and Mortimer comic book.

- The Icelandic media seem to believe location scouts for the new Star Trek film have come knocking.

- Richard Corliss has published a paen to animation in Time. Might seem a little naive to actual animation fans.

Movie Minesweeper - The Application Note Edition

- Merrick discusses the script for the Escape From New York remake at Aint ItCool and makes it sounds utterly redundant, witless and insulting. I'm not sure he agrees, though.

- According to Michael Bay, on his official site, Tom De Santo was barely involved in the creative process behind Transformers and 'treated the set like a theme park' and Don Murphy trashed the script and made Michael 'and the writers feel like a big sh*t pile'. You have to wonder how trustworthy Bay's reportage is - he's been caught out barefaced lying before now.

- Milos Forman isn't directing an Amarillo Slim biopic.

- Kevin Costner is producing The Explorer's Club, a web series that will be animated by the Chiodo brothers.

- WorstPreviews have a picture they claim is from the set of The Wolf Man but... I'm not sure. Yet. Trust me: I like the idea of Mark Romanek being on set, making a new feature film, but my information had this one still in pre-production.

- Director Yam Larans had announced the female lead of his film The Echo on his blog but, curiously, the post disappeared. It's Amelia Warner - maybe he shouldn't have revealed this but, er... too late. The cat is out of the bag.

- Don Bluth has discussed his entire career in a new interview.

Movie Minesweeper - The If You Can't Read Variety For Yourself Edition

All of the following are reported in Variety. Just in case you can't read Variety for yourself, here's a little bullet point or so on each.

- Tom De Santo is to produce a feature film version of City of Heroes, the stupidly expensive MMORPG. The plan is to then get a TV spin-off running - TV superheroics are so much more cost effective. I can imagine the 'your hero, our world' promotions now when they try to get cheap IP from players of the game to exploit on the show. De Santo has made it clear that he wants to see superheroes versus aliens in the film, but I suspect that may be too much at once for the typical Batman or Spider-Man punter.

- Savage Steve Holland has another film coming (blah blah, number 38 bus, blah blah, two at once, blah blah). It's called National Lampoon's Ratko: The Dictator's Son. Sadly, Holland didn't write this one.

- Lionsgate have greenlit Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns. That's four Perry films from Lionsgate now, and not a single one of them any good.

- Orson Scott Card's Empire is being adapted into a screenplay by Oren Moverman. Great name. Expect the presidential asassination plotline to create plenty of controversy - more so, in fact, the closer Moverman's 'near future' world is to our own.

- Bourne boys Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass are bunking up again to adapt Imperial Life in the Emerald City. Damon's character is to be a composite of several real life figures, presumably to streamline the real life events into something like a digestible plot.

- Roland Joffe's t.A.T.u film is moving ahead, with Mischa Barton in the lead. Dear lord - this film is looking like such an easy target. Even if it's actually pretty very good - which it may well be - I can't see many people coming out and admitting they like it. Critics, eh?

- Menno Meyjes has two films still outstanding - Martian Child and Manolete. Before either of those hit the screen, however, he'll be underway with Last Battle Dreamer, a love story set amidst the Viking invasions. Not at all typecasting by nationality or pandering to low audience standards, Meyjes is looking for an American movie star type to play the Viking warrior lead and an English actress to play the noblewoman he ra... er... falls for.

- Naomi Watts is to take the lead in We Are All the Same, adapted from the non-fiction book that recounts how a white South African woman adopted a black child with aids, and then toured the world with the kid in an attempt to raise awareness. I think this has the potential to be incredibly interesting, if it isn't kept too simplistic. There's some complex arguments to be had here.

- Disney have inked a first-look deal with Stan Lee for any future creations he might cook up. Until he comes up with something, there's no idea how much of a waste this will turn out to be. Or not. Pressure's on, Stan.