Rourke as Genghis Khan?: Mickey Rourke has said he will be starring as Genghis Khan in a story about the Mongolian ruler written and to be directed by John Milius (Conan the Barbarian). Rourke says, “I read his script and you know, the man is known for his tough writing. He wrote Conan and Dirty Harry and Apocalypse Now, and it’ll be interesting to see how he works behind the camera.” He added, “John wrote a piece told from the son and grandson’s point of view, how they saw this mythic figure from their family. You see him in flashbacks, back when he was in his mid-40s. And back then, being in your mid-40s was being REALLY old.” The film may be looking to shoot in India and China. Most recently, the story of Genghis Khan was depicted in the Oscar-nominated film Mongol. [Orlando Sentinel via The Wrap]
Green Hornet Delayed Three Weeks for 3D Conversion: Sony has decided to delay The Green Hornet from December 22 to January 14, 2011 to convert it to 3D. The film starring Seth Rogen and directed by Michel Gondry has already been the target of rumors citing production problems, to which Sony Pictures Entertainment Vice-Chair and marketing/distribution kingpin Jeff Blake says, “We’re investing more in the film to have it 3D. We’ve seen part of the movie. We love it. We believe in it. Whoever is spreading these rumors has not seen it.”
Also, Sony isn’t calling this a conversion, because work on the effects is yet to begin. They’re calling it an “enhancement.” Sony domestic distribution president Rory Bruer was quoted saying, “He always kind of shot it having the possibility of having it in 3D in mind. It’s got a lot of depth and amazing visuals.” If it has so much depth and such amazing visuals, why does it need to be in 3D? Perhaps I’m the only one wondering this and Sony really isn’t spending a little bit of extra dough to go the 3D route to make 1.5 times the dollars at the box-office. Just me I guess.
As a result of the move, the Scott Stewart-directed vampire feature Priest has also moved from January 14 to March 4. [Heat Vision and Deadline]
Mike Myers Still Pushing Austin Powers 4: There has been random here-and-there talk of an Austin Powers 4, some I’ve posted, most I’ve ignored. Today, Mike Myers was quoted regarding the fourth-quel saying, “Things are on track. It’s hard to keep a Stanley Cup team together and I’m very happy how insanely well it’s gone. Then it gets hard to get everybody all together.” This comes on the heels of Powers director Jay Roach saying last month, “[Mike Myers is] working on ideas for it, people are definitely talking about it and I’m all good for it.” [MTV]
Eisner Tapped for Escape from New York Remake: Back in February it was reported Allan Loeb (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps) had written a new script for the up-and-down remake of Escape from New York that had the film back on track. Prior to that story, Gerard Butler was set to star with Len Wiseman directing a Ken Nolan script. Both of them dropped off and Brett Ratner was next rumored to direct and then Jonathan Mostow was taking a stab at the script with an eye to direct. Now, Breck Eisner (The Crazies) has been granted helming duties and New Line is sticking with that Loeb script trying to mix an origin story for anti-hero Snake Plissken and merge it with the story of the 1981 original directed by John Carpenter and Starring Kurt Russell. [Heat Vision]
