Heat Vision‘s Borys Kit reports Bradley Cooper has entered negotiations to star in Relativity’s remake of The Crow. Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later), who boarded the project last week, is said to have hit it off with Cooper at a recent meeting. While the two supposedly share a vision for the character and film, I’m just not seeing it. My familiarity with the character is limited to the original 1994 Brandon Lee film, but in my eyes Cooper lacks that whole dark and mysterious thing the character seems to call for. I’m thinking Taylor Kitsch, but maybe that’s just because I’ve been watching so much “Friday Night Lights” lately. Any other suggestions?
Kit also reports‘s Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral) and Paul Haggis (Crash) will collaborate on the The Treasure of the Sierra Madre-esque contemporary thriller Gold. The script by Patrick Massett and John Zinman (co-writers of TV shows “Friday Night Lights” and “The Chicago Code”) initially drew interest from Haggis as a directing vehicle, but he’s busy with other projects. That’s when Mann began looking at the project, and it looks like he might direct while Haggis sticks around as producer.
Paramount has acquired the rights to The Martian Chronicles, the 1940s collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury. The series dealt with attempts to settle Mars and the Martians’ efforts to fight the humans off and the nuclear war that ensues. A TV miniseries was made in 1980 starring Rock Hudson, and an attempt was made by Steven Spielberg to make a feature back in 1997.
TRON: Legacy helmer Joseph Kosinski’s next project, the post-apocalyptic actioner Oblivion, is close to finding a home at Universal Pictures. The film recently left the Disney house when the studio decided Kosinski’s desired PG-13 rating didn’t fit into its family friendly mold. Deadline reports the deal hinges on Kosinski’s ability to meet a $100 million budget. They’re also talking to Tom Cruise about starring in the project. On a side note, it looks like the film may have been retitled Horizons.
Variety reports Joaquin Phoenix could make his big-screen comeback in Paul Thomas Anderson’s untitled religious drama (formerly known as The Master) alongside Philip Seymour Hoffman. Anderson’s script centers on the relationship between “The Master” (Hoffman), the founder of a new religion closely resembling Scientology, and the alcoholic drifter (Phoenix) who becomes his disciple. The film has had trouble getting off the ground due to budgetary concerns, so let’s hope it’s back on track.
It looks like Sean Penn and Christian Bale could be starring in the drama The Last Paragraph for Niels Arden Oplev, director of the original The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Zack Snyder and his wife Deborah will produce the project, which spawned from an idea by Zack Snyder. The film is said to be a timely drama that has elements of The Searchers and Taken. Deadline reports the plan is to begin production in 2012, after Bale finishes working on The Dark Knight Rises.
Speaking of The Dark Knight Rises, Variety delivers a few new pieces of insignificant casting for Christopher Nolan’s third film in the Bat franchise as Daniel Sunjata (“Rescue Me”) will play a special forces operative, Diego Klattenhoff (Mean Girls) will play a benevolent rookie cop and Burn Gorman (The Hobbit) has filled an undisclosed role. Exciting right?
Rufus Sewell (Dark City) will play the lead vampire villain in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, according to Variety. He joins Benjamin Walker, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Anthony Mackie and Dominic Cooper in Wanted director Timur Bekmambetov’s 3D summer 2012 tentpole.
Harry at Ain’t it Cool News got the exclusive on Sylvester Stallone’s old-school action flick Headshot picking up an old-school director in Walter Hill (48 Hours, The Warriors). The film sees a cop and a hitman joining forces to bring down a common enemy after watching their respective partners die. Stallone will play the hitman, with most people speculating that he’ll be joined by a younger co-star who would play the cop. Who would you like to see Sly work with?
Deadline reports James McAvoy is in talks to star in the London-set Welcome to the Punch, which has been described as an epic crime thriller in the vein of Heat or Internal Affairs. The film’s writer-director Eran Creevy gained a lot of attention when his micro-budget ($150,000) debut was nominated for a BAFTA in 2010. If all goes well, the pic will start shooting in July.
Rock musicals seem to be all the rage these days, with Deadline reporting that the Green Day-fueled American Idiot will follow the now-casting Rock of Ages into production. Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk) is in talks to pen the adaptation while Michael Mayer, who helmed the stage run, will direct. The musical uses the songs of the 2004 album to tell a coming-of-age story of three small-town guys. Deadline adds Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong might even reprise his stage role as a drug dealer in the film.
