Kevin Smith Gets the Green for Red State: So, Kevin Smith’s Cop Out was a bust; I’m over it and moving on and so is he and not with Hit Somebody like was expected, but with his horror feature Red State. In a pair of Twitter messages Smith said, “I talk about lots of stuff I wanna do that either happens years later or never happens at all. Happy to report Red State is not the latter. First draft was dated 9/5/07. Looks like we start shooting this July. Took nearly three years, but we’re finally gonna roll on Red.” He also adds Hit Somebody will shoot after Red State, both films he scripted himself.
When I interviewed Smith for Zack and Miri he told me Red State was “about political and religious fundamentalism, and even governmental fundamentalism, gone amuck. What happens is all those parties concerned take it to the next level.” Although that description doesn’t read as horror, Smith has been describing the film as such because he feels “the subject matter is so horrifying it can’t be anything but a horror movie… [It] takes so many twists and turns and it covers a couple of different genres, none of them comedic. So, I don’t think people will be wrong if people call it a thriller, but that’s not what the movie is completely either.” He also says it has “supernatural elements” and “people running around cutting people up” so it should be an interesting experiment.
As for who’s fronting the cash, Smith says, “There’s no shame in coming home,” in another tweet, which leads many to believe the Weinstein’s may be the ones with the open wallets. []
Scream IV Arrives April 2011: Wes Craven is officially aboard and directing Scream IV, which will start shooting this spring for a release on April 15, 2011. The sequel arrives eleven years after Scream 3 was released in February 2000. Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courteney Cox Arquette are signed on to reprise their roles from previous films, but no official storyline has been revealed. [Variety]
Spy Hunter Once Again Alive as Adaptation: For the longest time a feature adaptation of the videogame Spy Hunter was in development at Universal with the likes of John Woo and Paul W.S. Anderson attached to direct and The Rock starring. So much so, here is old teaser art for the film. However, the rights have now turned to Warner Bros. with Dan Lin (Sherlock Holmes) and Roy Lee of Vertigo producing the story of a highly trained spy hunter whose job it is to eliminate rogue spies when they become liabilities to their governments. Chad St. John is penning the script. No telling if this means the film will finally get made, but the attachment of an unknown scripter doesn’t seem like they are taking it too seriously at the moment. [Variety]
Lutz Tapped for Gods: Best known as Emmett Cullen in the Twilight film franchise, Kellan Lutz has been cast as Poseidon in Tarsem Singh’s War of the Gods opposite Henry Cavill, Mickey Rourke and Freida Pinto. The story follows Theseus (Cavill), a warrior from Greek mythology, who leads a fight against the imprisoned titans in a story where gods fight alongside mortals. Phaedra (Pinto), an oracle priestess joins Theseus on his quest to prevent the cataclysmic war from erupting. Production is set to start in April. [Variety]
Sony Preps Popeye for Animated 3D Release: Sony Pictures Animation is prepping an all-CGI Popeye for the big screen with Mike Jones in negotiations to pen the script bringing the once popular sailor man to animated life yet again. Avi Arad is producing while the story the film will follow is being kept quiet. Jones penned The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break, which was last said to be a film Kung Fu Panda helmer John Stevenson would direct. [Variety]
Nicholson Confirmed for Brooks’s How Do You Know: Jack Nicholson was rumored to be starring in James L. Brooks’s upcoming How Do You Know and today we have confirmation he has taken the role after Bill Murray declined. The film also stars Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson and involves a love triangle, with Rudd playing a white-collar executive vying for Witherspoon’s affections, and Wilson portraying a professional baseball pitcher who is also a love interest. Nicholson plays a father figure, but in what sense is not yet known. The film is set to be released by Columbia Pictures this December. [New York Times]
Pena, Wallace and Dern Must Go: On the heels of yesterday’s casting of Rebecca Hall opposite Will Ferrell in Everything Must Go, we also now learn Michael Pena will star with Christopher Wallace (son of hip hop icon Notorious B.I.G.) and Laura Dern have also joined the cast. Dan Rush is directing from his own script based on the Raymond Carver short story centering on a relapsed alcoholic (Ferrell) who loses his job and his wife and decides to live on his front lawn while selling all of his belongings. Production begins this week in Arizona. [Deadline]
NOTE: The picture of Popeye in this post comes from Slash Film and is a sculpture created by Oscar-winning effects artist Rick Baker.
