Hammond On Cannes: Wet Fest’s Official Competition … 
‘Vampire Academy’ Adds ‘Modern … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Shark Tank’ Finale Up, … 
Friday Box Office: ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ … 
Cannes: Worldview Options Andrew Dominik’s Marilyn … 
UPFRONTS 2013: The Overachievers 
‘Mike & Molly’ Creator Mark Roberts To … 
Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts Set For … 
Hammond On Cannes: Weinstein Brings Out Stars For 2013 … 
Cannes: Fake Gunshots Interrupt Canal Plus Live Broadcast … 
‘The Great Gatsby’ Starts With $5.4M … 
Cannes: Music Box Snags Competition’s ‘Michael … 
UPDATE: Amazon Studios Begins Pilot Pickups; … 
Bruce Rosenblum Bids Classy Goodbye 
RATINGS RAT RACE UPDATE: ‘American Idol’ Hits … 
UPDATE: ‘Iron Man 3′ Box Office Crosses $1B … 
Upfront Market: Will Auto Makers Subsidize TV … 
Cannes: Thief Makes Off With $1M+ In Chopard Jewelry Meant … 
‘Scandal’ Finale On Small Screen And Onstage At … 
‘Modern Family’ Gets Cable Makeover For Launch … 
Adam Sandler To Leno: “Maybe Go To Fox” 
EXCLUSIVE: Deadline scooped the news today that Safety Not Guaranteed helmer Colin Trevorrow landed the plum gig of Jurassic Park 4, a move which could catapult him to the director A-list. There is a lot of movement going on among directors that will reverberate depending on who takes what job.
First up, Steven Spielberg has ended his long flirtation with directing Gods And Kings, the epic-sized Warner Bros film about life of Moses based on the script by Michael Green and Stuart Hazeldine. That puts Warner Bros in a bind because of the rival Moses project, the Adam Cooper/Bill Collage-scripted Exodus, which is gathering steam at Fox, with Ridley Scott looking to mobilize that as soon as he completes The Counselor. But Warner Bros is now out to Ang Lee, who just won the Best Director Oscar for Life Of Pi. I’m told he’s intrigued with the project but hasn’t had a formal meeting on the script. Imagine what either director can do with that subject matter, and with the ratings on History Channel’s The Bible miniseries, the audience is certainly there. Spielberg hasn’t dropped the project for another; while he postponed his next film Robopocalypse, he hasn’t replaced it with anything as he continues to develop that robot pic. Spielberg also recently told French TV he’s developing a Napoleon miniseries for TV based on Stanley Kubrick’s screenplay and research. for
Meanwhile, David Fincher seems to be getting serious about Gone Girl, the Gillian Flynn runaway bestseller that Fox has been developing with The Social Network helmer since January. Pacific Standard’s Reese Witherspoon and Bruna Papandrea are producing, along with Leslie Dixon, and Flynn wrote the first draft of the screenplay. The plot: a woman disappears on the day of her fifth anniversary and all roads point to her husband as the killer. It looks like Witherspoon is now only going to produce the film, and Fincher’s participation is gaining currency because every age-appropriate actress in town is getting excited about the lead role.
Finally, I’m hearing there could be a potential match between Tom Hooper and the Peter Morgan-scripted film about icon Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury that is set at Sony Pictures and GK Films. Sacha Baron Cohen, who just worked with Hooper on Best Picture Oscar nominee Les Miserables, has long been attached to play Mercury, one of the most gifted rock frontmen to grace the stage. From what I’m hearing, there is no formal offer at the moment and there are several offers for Hooper, who before Les Miserables helmed the Best Picture-winning The King’s Speech. But keep an eye on this one, which Graham King and Tim Headington are producing with Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal, with Queen Films.
Loading ...
Fincher should do THE KILLER. That script rocked. And then it just disappeared. No updates. No black list. What the hell happened to it? Does anyone know?
What in the hell is deadline talking about? finches is doing 20,000 leagues under theses as his next film!
You are correct he is doing a movie about college theses (which is plural for thesis) it’s an exciting adventure about traveling 20,000 leagues under the giant stack of theses that the professors have to read.
ROFL! Thank you for the laughs!
Anonymous–who wrote that script? Curious as I haven’t heard of it.
Please do not let Tom Hooper anyone near a movie musical ever again. He basically murdered Les Mis, and I fear he might do the same to Queen.
I thought Les Miz was amazing under Hooper’s direction. Obviously, a lot of people agree with me. He hardly murdered it.
So is that his secret? That he can attract an a-list cast and coax decent performances from his actors? It certainly can’t be his head-scratching, clumsy use of camera lenses (fish-eyed lens? huh), amateurish and bland frames and compositions.
Argh, he used wide angle lenses! Argh, he frames actors off-center! Argh, he attracts an A-List cast! Argh, he’s worst than ten Hitlers for attempting something visually original in this moribund genre! Bah!
Fine, you didn’t like ‘Les Miserables’, good for you. However, I hope you understand that the film’s haters (and haters of ‘Prometheus’, ‘TDKR’, ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild’) are just BORING everyone else when they decide ‘hey, I just HAVE TO whine about it’ on any article associated with the filmmaker. You’ve got the right to post whatever the hell you want, yet you choose to regurgitate the EXACT SAME OPINIONS well after the film has been released.
Hooper’s crime was making a film you didn’t like. That’s it. So why are you punishing US with the same overused opinions?
He shot it for an audience. Not for your approval, apparently.
And I’ll add my voice to the many people who found the film, particularly the bizarre direction and cinematography, abysmal!
+1000! I’d never seen the play and really didn’t know the entire story and was blown away by the movie and all the performances in it (yes, even Russell Crowe). Brilliant from start to finish!
Sacha Baron Cohen doesn’t have the right kind of teeth to play Freddie Mercury.
Yeah, Mercury has some major buckteeth, didn’t he? No one in Hollywood has choppers like that — except the actors who have those horse-teeth veneers.
Hrmm, Chevy Chase got this all covered.
“…49 cents on a set of novelty teeth”
Anybody else read that article on i09 about the author of “Robopocalypse” whining about Spielberg dropping his project? This after he basically sold the same project, “How to Survive a Robot Uprising” to Fox?
Great read! Entitlement’s a bitch, folks!
I enjoy discovering new websites. So thank you for sharing the information. I googled and read the article but I didn’t get “whining” or “entitlement” from that article.
It a loose timeline of his project being optioned, the turn-around process and Daniel imaging winning the Feature Lottery (i.e., Speilberg signing on to director his film).
Wasn’t Fincher supposed to helm the 20,000 Leagues remake for Disney?
I agree completely about the teeth. Is Mr.Ed availabile?
Yes, nothing puts you on the A-list like directing the third sequel of a theme park ride. Gimme a break. Trevorrow has a great future as a corporate hack. How unique. Maybe one day he’ll even direct a Mission Impossible movie.
He doesn’t have the voice either. As for Les Mis, the soundtrack was so awful I couldn’t bring myself to go see the film. Cohen was only part of the reason.
Something tells me assholes and morons playing Freudian Comment Scrabble in purely subjective little constructed “movie frames” would keep any director from doing anything.
Spielberg already made such a movie called ‘Close Encounters’, except those aliens weren’t helpful to anyone.
Any tibits about the script to Gods And Kings? Wonder why Steven dropped it….
Steven would rather do Robopocalypse, an I-Robot reboot than Gods and Kings, an epic Exodus movie, what are you thinking?!
Hooper did a great job with Les Miserables,the casting, production and of course the live singing was excellent.When someone does an assignment so well it generates, in Hollywood, lots of envy and subsequent bad behavior.The bad behavior is usually some adolesccent ridicule aimed at the project with the desire to smear the film.The film has made $423 millions worldwide because it is a well made well acted film.
Don’t forget the other obvious reason for the Hooper hate. Fincher fanboys. They’re mad he didn’t win for The Social Network and mad that the film didn’t win Best Picture. Gotta tear Hooper down rather than get over it. It’s as if he personally screwed Fincher over as far as they’re concerned. They’ve decided he’s undeserving which completely ignores the nuance in The King’s Speech. He did a terrific job there and is hardly a newbie to directing. “Amateurish” he is not.
Oscar wins and nods and $ 423 million to-date — that’s not bad. It seems Les Miserables movie musical fans agreed with Hooper’s cinematic vision, his excellent cast, and the strong adaptation from the stage musical and Hugo’s book!
“The Bible” miniseries has been heavily promoted by churches around the country. I’m not so sure that audience would support a movie that focused on Moses.
Actually, I think there is a huge audience for biblical stories, but only if told as they were written. Nearly every “biblical” movie in the last few decades has been written for the wow factor, the conflicted character issues and completely unrelated to the actual bible. There is a lot of wow factors and conflicted characters in the Bible – if someone wants to make a profitable movie, stick to the story. Don’t take license or put your own weird slant on it; the real story from the Bible is what we want to see. God is a great writer and director. The new movie, “The Bible”, is written by people that actually know the Bible. Christians know that the Bible is full of flawed characters, but we are happy with the truth it tells. We don’t want them white-washed or “condensed with other characters to tell the tale better”. But that is the problem, if more people saw the Word as it really is, they might want to know more about it, and liberal hollywood would shoot themselves for bringing more people to Christ.
God is a great writer! LOL. Look, unless God’s really Aaron Sorkin he’s gonna have to get rewritten and go through WGA arbitration like everyone else.
Haha:))) so funny.
I don’t think that would be the issue at all. Why do you think they still continue to show the 10 commandments on tv almost 70 years after making it? That’s all about Moses.
briguyx, “that audience” is the same audience that sold out theaters for Gibson’s “Passion” and a very low budget “Facing the Giants” – they would buy tickets months in advance for any movie that stays true to the original text. Regardless of your theological leanings, read the first 14 chapters of Exodus and tell me that a big-budget production of 10 nasty plagues and the destruction of the most powerful army at that time wouldn’t sell tickets and DVD’s. “That audience” has money to spend.
Churches do not promote movies. The movie industry has learned to promote the movies to the churches – ie.. “Passion”. I’ve seen nothing of any type of promotion of “The Bible” in the churches. What I see is people of faith talk about the good and bad of the miniseries. If it is good, people will watch. If it is bad, people will not watch it. Moses the movie will do good if it is a good movie based on a good script and good direction. Other wise, nobody will want to see it, even the church people.
Did’ja ever wonder what language was used on the original stone tablets?Pretty sure it can’t be Hebrew.Which leads one to ask:How many gyrations of translation have occurred?Why did the Council of Nicea order the murder of EVERY one of the Gnostics?Down to the women and children?LONG before the inquisition?
While The Bible series is being well received, I wouldn’t expect a butchering of Moses directed by a liberal shill to have the audience they think they would.
Movies about rock stars bore the hell out of me. Enough about them.
I should make an epic size movie about Moses as a crazy man who thinks he talks to god, and rescues the deposed priests of Aten from persecution by King Tut.
Wasn’t Spielberg heavily involved with the animated “Prince of Egypt”? Directing a new live-action version of the story may have just felt redundant to him.
Yes, that was the one where the burning bush was marijuana and Moses got high as a kite.
Sweet.
Spielberg is wise. The REAL story of Moses will be that he is found with his ARK and the EXODUS beginning is in the ANDES. I own the story. Proof is not a problem. Just call me Arthistoreebc. Thank you.
Pharoah also said NO to Moses
Moses was Akhenaten and had to leave Egypt because monotheism pissed off all the other Egyptian God’s priests. So he took some slaves with him and brainwashed them, however, some wanted to go back so he had them killed.
Religious type movies, if done well, will guarantee big bucks. There is a big market for this that is continually ignored. I just don’t get it why a significant part of the market is totally ignored.
big market on TV (older audience). not so sure about the movie theaters. remember ‘the nativity’ that tried to cynically cash in after the passion of the christ? (true religious auds can spot an opportunistic hollywood move as opposed to a crazy authentic passion and won’t show up for the former)
Spielberg should read my new book, The Queen of Sheba: Legend, Literature and Lore, and make that into a movie.
Whoever produces ‘Moses’ I hope they keep in mind that Egypt is definitely in Africa unlike the Bible miniseries, it’s really sad when we can only refer to Africans as being black when it’s not in context of the Bible
It’s true that most Biblical films will always remain popular among the faithful and curious; even the now-near-silly ‘Ten Commandments’ starring Edward G. ‘nyah, nyah’ Robinson as Nathan. There’s money to be made. Still, I am personally relieved that Mr. Speilberg has chosen to shy away from ‘Moses’. After what he did to the enormously powerful anti-war story ‘War Horse’ by turning it into a weird combination of ‘Darby O’Gill and the Little People’ and ‘Apocolypse Now’, I fear for his next epic. Ang Lee is impressive of course but I wonder if anyone has thought of calling the amazing Brian Beresford; a director who knows how to let the characters speak authentically. Alas.