January 30, 2006
Gollum Gets Prestige
Andy Serkis, who gained a following playing Gollum in Lord of the Rings, both Kong and Lumpy in King Kong, and having the hair of Brian Setzer, has been cast as an assistant to David Bowie in Christopher Nolan's new film The Prestige. In the film, Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale star as rival magicians battling each other for trade secrets. Here's a tip if you're going to be an assistant to David Bowie: know now that it will likely involve wearing spandex and at least a few awkward conversations about androgyny.
Previous Entries
Napoleon Dynamite To Sumo Wrestle
The writers of Wedding Crashers, Steve Faber and Bob Fisher, have been commissioned by Fox to write a script based on Josha Davis's GQ article about being a 134-pound man competing in the U.S. Sumo Open. John Heder of Napoleon Dynamite fame is already being tapped to play the lead. Let's hope these comedy writers are able to resist making this too much of a slapstick, and really get to the deep emotional drama of a skinny white guy wrestling a nearly-naked 500 pound man.
My only question: When will Hot Topic begin carrying "Vote for Sumo" shirts?
Kidman and Leigh Following Squid
Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh are set to star in Noah Baumbach's untitled follow-up to The Squid and the Whale:
Although details are being kept under wraps, the film will be another multigenerational story that takes place over a weekend and follows a mom and her son who visit the mom's sister. Kidman and Leigh are in talks to play the sisters
With Baumbach at the helm, this film sounds like one to keep an eye on. But more importantly: how did he know about my dreams where Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh are sisters? And if he does know about those dreams, can he explain why Patrick Duffy is also in them? His presence is bringing up too many questions I can't answer.
Robin Williams Plays Teddy
Does anyone think Robin Williams is still funny? Apparently, the creators of Night at the Museum do, because he's been cast in the Ben Stiller comedy. The film, which also stars Carla Gugino, Kim Raver, Mickey Rooney, and Dick Van Dyke, tells the story of a bumbling security guard that unlocks a curse in a museum, making the displays come to life. Williams will play Theodore Roosevelt, who is awakened from one of the museum's exhibits.
Hollywood's nailed the casting of a film yet again. While Roosevelt was the first American to win a Nobel Prize, famous for the quote, "Speak softly and carry a big stick," and a key figure in creating the Panama Canal, Williams often jumps on chairs spouting a chain of impressions, and was a key figure in creating Mrs. Doubtfire and Bicentennial Man. The two couldn't be better matched.
No More Toy Story 3
Now that Pixar and Disney have become one, John Lasseter and Ed Catmull announced to the Disney animation department that they are no longer producing Toy Story 3. The news comes from a forum, where the author claims:
They said that sequels should only be made if there is a really great story that demands it, and should be the domain of those who created the original film.
In other words, if Pixar wants to make a sequel to its films, it will. If Disney Feature wants to make a sequel to its film, it will. But the two will not cross.
That's a shame real shame. I think Toy Story was one of the few cases where the sequel may actually outshine the first. I can only assume the third film would have been even better, and a fourth even better than that, and so on and so on. Until eventually, after 150 or so, they're getting so good that God has to physically intervene, because we're just getting "too close."
CHEck This Out!
Benicio Del Toro has been spotted for the first time in his full Che garb on the set of the biopic of the same name. Let me admit, straight up, I've never seen an actual photograph of Che Guevara, but Del Toro does look pretty close to the shirts people kept wearing back when Rage Against the Machine was popular. Granted, I've also never seen the actual shirts, but I think I saw a parody shirt once where that Super Mario character was Che, and I can imagine how this might look something like what that might have been imitating.
