The Russian director of the film Wanted is taking onMoby Dick as his next project.
Call him Ishmael. Or rather, Timur Bekmambetov. The Russian director of Wanted is to take charge of a modern day "graphic novel-style" adaptation of Herman Melville's classic of brooding obsession on the high seas, Moby Dick.
Out goes the original novel's first-person structure, which famously descends into an array of wildly diverse narrative styles and structures by the end of the book, while the original's misanthropic, cetacean-hating Captain Ahab will apparently be more of a heroic figure. So not really that much like Moby Dick at all then.
One thing's for sure: it will be action-packed, if the film Wanted is any indication of how this director likes to do things.
And now Diddy has a new occupation: screenwriter. According to the always reliable entertainment news service WENN, Diddy was "so inspired" by this year's Cannes Film Festival that he decided to venture into feature writing. But wasn't the festival like two days ago, you ask? Yes, yes it was. Apparently, Mr. Puffycombs wastes no time making his brand new dreams come true.
While no studio or production company affiliations have yet been announced, Diddy already knows what actress he wants: Sienna Miller or Angelina Jolie. Both are beautiful, captivating and emotive women. Oh, did we mention this is a comedy? Not to fear, though, since Diddy plans to land Eddie Murphy as his star. A cinch!
If Puff Daddy does write a screenplay we have a feeling he will be able to sell it. One of the things Puff Daddy really excels at is marketing and self-promotion.
The Screen Actors Guild and the major producers are still negotiating
over a new contract: the current contract ends in June.
The Screen Actors Guild and the majors have completed four days of bargaining with vague indications of progress as both sides remained cordial -- despite the tough issues facing negotiators.
SAG and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers issued a joint statement early Friday evening that said negotiations had concluded for the day and would resume Saturday.
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Both sides have stressed that their primary concerns have to do with paying actors for work performed or re-used in new-media platforms. And SAG president Alan Rosenberg has emphasized that the new deal must take into account the unique concerns of actors.
We're hopeful that the two actors' unions, SAG and AFTRA, will reach a deal and avoid a strike. The last thing anyone needs in Hollywood right now is another strike.
Salon's Andrew O'Hehir talks
with the legendary Harlan Ellison. Notorious for his outbursts with hapless journalists, Ellison doesn't suffer fools gladly. And his opinions are as strong as ever. When asked his opinion of the deal the WGA struck to end the writers' strike, Ellison said to the writers: "You are their bitches. They outslugged you, outthought you, outmaneuvered you; and in the end you ripped off your pants, painted yer asses blue, and said yes sir, may I have another."
Now Harlan is the subject of a new documentary, which seemed to surprise him.
I didn't even know there was a film being made. For years! Not only two or three or four or five -- for almost 20 years. I didn't even know Erik was making a film all those years. I thought Erik was an odd little fanboy, superannuated elf if you will, who would come by periodically and push a camera in my face. I consider that part of the job. When I'm at home, I'm a writer. When I'm out on the road, you do what has to be done. You sit for four hours and sign books or answer silly questions or people want to take a photo and you do it. It's just part of the rigor. When Erik said, about two years ago, "It's about time you know what we're doing here: We're doing this movie," I still couldn't grasp it. And I'm not a slow pony! I get things pretty quickly. I thought, maybe this guy is going to sell it to the Sundance Channel, or it'll be on the History Channel or something.
I don't care much one way or another about it. I'm about as celebrated or as famous as I care to be, but what the hell? Can't do any harm, he seems a nice chap. When I went to look at the first cut, it was as if -- the trope that is most specific, I think, is the scene in "Tom Sawyer" where everybody thinks he and Huck are drowned and he comes back and he goes to the church where they're having the funeral service for him and he's up in the loft listening to all the wonderful things people are saying about him. It's an out-of-body experience. Last night, for instance, in the theater, I sat there and I looked at the movie with no vested interest. I don't look and say, "Gee I had a pimple that day," or "Gee, I wish somebody hadn't said that." I look at it as a movie about this funny, weird old guy. And I think, "That's a funny, weird old guy. I'd love to know him. He's really funny."
Erik Nelson directed "Dreams With Sharp Teeth," the documentary about Ellison which just premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival.
Tex Avery and Michael Maltese, the Warner Bros. team who created many beloved Looney Tunes characters to life will be honored in a double centennial tribute by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Monday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater at the Academy's Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study in Hollywood. The event is open to the public. From the official release:
"Putting Looney in the Toons" will return to the big screen some of the short cartoons Avery and Maltese worked on together as well as selected highlights from their prolific individual careers in animated theatrical films. The screenings will be complemented by audio presentations of rare recorded interviews with both Avery and Maltese discussing their careers with film historian Joe Adamson. In addition, the evening will feature a panel discussion with Brenda Maltese Moulthrop, daughter of Michael Maltese, and several of Avery and Maltese's collaborators, including Martha Sigall, Jerry Eisenberg and Don Jurwich.
Avery and Maltese, both born in 1908, crossed professional paths at the Warner Bros. animation studio back when it was Leon Schlesinger Productions. Avery began his career at Walter Lantz's Universal cartoon studio, working on Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. In 1935 he moved to Warner Bros., where he would create Daffy Duck and crystallize the personality of Bugs Bunny. From 1941 to 1954 Avery directed cartoons for MGM, introducing audiences to Screwy Squirrel, Droopy Dog and a whole new style of animated humor. In 1954 he initiated his final theatrical cartoons for Walter Lantz, including several Chilly Willy classics.
Maltese began at Warner Bros. in 1937 and actually appeared on camera as a studio guard in "You Ought to Be in Pictures," a 1940 Porky Pig short. After working with Avery and many other Warner Bros. directors, Maltese would go on to collaborate primarily with Chuck Jones, writing and storyboarding some of the most memorable Warner Bros. cartoons ever made, including "What's Opera Doc?," "Duck Dodgers in the 24½th Century" and "One Froggy Evening."
As real animation declines and computers take over the job of creating animated films, it's important to recognize those animation geniuses who created the format. Nothing beats those old Looney Tunes classics, in our opinion.
Tickets are available to "Putting Looney in the Toons: A Double Centennial Tribute to Tex Avery and Michael Maltese" online at Oscars.org and are are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID.
Saudi Arabia is slowly inching its way into the 21st century: it is holding its first film festival.
Saudi Arabia is inching toward opening itself up to the film biz with the creation of the conservative kingdom's first official film fest, despite the fact that cinemas have been banned there for three decades.
Five-day fest, as-yet-untitled, is being organized by the government-sponsored Dammam Literary Club along with the Saudi Society of Arts and Culture.
Event will unspool May 20 and include screenings of shorts and docs from around the Gulf. A prize dubbed the Palm will be awarded to best short and doc.
The Dammam Literary Club has been hosting select, private screenings to segregated audiences of men and women in recent months in a sign that the ban's restrictions are being gently eased.
The new fest comes on the back of a number of baby steps introduced in Saudi Arabia to pave the way for the eventual lifting of the cinema ban, initially introduced towards the tail-end of the 1970s following pressure from religious authorities.
In October 2005, the first public screenings of any kind in over 20 years took place when a selection of cartoons were shown in a hotel in Riyadh to a specially invited audience of women and children to celebrate the end of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
Let's see. Women can't drive there or go out of their houses without being veiled from head to toe and accompanied by a male relative. Celebrating Valentine's Day is against the law. But hey, it's a start.
French writers have launched a new international script market to help gain exposure for their work.
The Union-Guilde des Scenaristes (UGS) has teamed up with the Ile de France Film Commission to launch the Script Market, a website aimed at selling French scripts to international producers, directors and actors. Project was unveiled before an audience comprised mostly of European and American producers during a breakfast at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Monday.
"We want to develop our talents and develop them with overseas producers in order to (make) films that are local stories rooted in France with an international appeal," said Jerome Soubeyrand, UGS co-president.
The website fits the commission's agenda to attract more overseas productions to shoot in France. The Gallic organization is also planning to team with the French Alliance Marseilles Provence to centralize its marketing strategy and coordinate shoots, since so many foreign productions are filmed in both regions.
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Luc Besson's project to build a full-service production facility in the Parisian suburb of Seine St. Denis is also expected to attract international productions.
The commission hopes their push to get the French government to offer foreign shoots bigger tax breaks will help them compete globally.
In other screenwriting news, the writer's strike is just about over. The members are voting today on whether to end the strike based on the deal reached between the WGA and the AMPTP. That means writers will probably be back to work on Wednesday. It also means that there will be some decent television on this fall.
The WGA writers strike could end as soon as Monday reports the Associated Press. Writers are gathering for meetings in Los Angeles and New York this weekend to consider a proposed contract.
Jessica Bendinger, the writer of Bring it On and Stick It, has a video on the aworkingwriter.com website. The website includes a collection of short testimonials by members of the Writers Guild of America, currently on strike against the studios and networks.
In the video below Jessica says she has no idea how many times Stick It has been downloaded on iTunes even though it was the number one movie on iTunes for seven straight weeks. Jessica also says writing is a hard career and a lonely career. She said she would probably be selling her house right now if it wasn't for residuals. Internet residuals is one of the main reasons WGA writers are on strike. (via Huffington Post)
WGA spokesman Gregg Mitchell says the WGA has not decided whether or not to grant a waiver for the Grammys but if they are asked the answer will probably be "No." That would be consistent with the WGA's Golden Globes waiver denial.
"While no guild decision has yet been made regarding the Grammys, if a waiver is requested for the Grammys, it is unlikely to be granted," said WGA spokesman Gregg Mitchell.
The L.A. Timessays the WGA has not made a decision on whether or not to picket the Grammys.
The Grammys are produced by John Cossette Productions in association with Ken Ehrlich Productions, and are written by Ehrlich and author/journalist David Wild. Mitchell says there's been no decision yet as to whether or not the WGA would picket the Grammys, which air on CBS. Mitchell notes that there have been "no discussions yet" with the production companies involved with the Recording Academy's awards show.
Entertainment Weeklysays it is unclear how this will impact the Grammys. There are some actors and musician-actors who may decide not to cross picket lines and choose not to attend.
Since the Grammys honor musicians, not actors, it is unclear how much impact the WGA's decision will have on the show, though the dozen or so actors who typically present awards would not be involved. Last year, Quentin Tarantino, Luke Wilson, Nicolas Cage, Terrence Howard, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Rock, and David Spade appeared on the show. This year's nominees also include a number of musicans who have appeared in movies or TV, among them Justin Timberlake, Queen Latifah, Tim McGraw, Beyonce, Jack White, Jon Bon Jovi, and Fantasia. Among the Grammy nominee musicians who have historically refused to cross a picket line are Bruce Springsteen, the Beastie Boys, Joni Mitchell, John Mellencamp, and Steve Earle. And, obviously, writers would not contribute to the ceremony's script, though compared to other awards shows, the Grammys are a performance-heavy event.
Musicians not involved with films may still decide to attend. It sounds like what we will see is a watered-down version of the Grammys. The Grammys are scheduled to air on February 10th at 8PM on CBS.
Ordinary writers on the picket line at NBC Studios in Burbank talk about the writers' strike and how it is affecting them. They also have some strong opinions about the myth that all screenwriters are wealthy. Nothing could be further from the truth. Unfortunately, the talks aren't going very well.
Australian Writers Rally in Support of U.S. Writers
The Australian writers are rallying
in support of the U.S. writers' strike on Wednesday. The show of solidarity was organized by the Australian Writers Guild (AWG) and will take place in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
Other demonstrations are taking place on Wednesday in New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Mexico and France, supporting the strike by the Writers Guild of America (WGA).
WGA members began their strike on November 5 over payment for work broadcast on new media platforms.
Writers want more money when TV shows and movies are sold on internet sites such as iTunes, or via mobile phones.
Wednesday's rallies in Australia coincide with re-opened contract negotiations in the US aimed at settling the dispute.
The executive director of the AWG, Jacqueline Woodman, said Australian scriptwriters shared the concerns of their US counterparts.
"The independent film and television industry in Australia needs to fight hard to preserve an Australian screen culture," Ms Woodman said in a statement.
"Standing up for the principle of sharing the massive profits of multinational media conglomerates with the people who create the products they profit from is an essential part of that."
Speakers at the Sydney rally, to be held at 4.30pm (AEDT) at Town Hall, will include Oscar-nominated screenwriter Jan Sardi (Shine, The Notebook), Craig Pearce (Strictly Ballroom, Romeo+Juliet, Moulin Rouge) and AFI-nominated writer Rick Kalowski (Comedy Inc, The Honourable Wally Norman).
The studios have been absolutely shocked at the outpouring of support for striking U.S. writers. The Internet has allowed the top comedy writers for such shows as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and the David Letterman show to use their skills to illustrate the writers' points and to poke fun at the six giant corporations that control virtually all of U.S. media. The Australian writers' support is a wonderful show of solidarity which is much appreciated by the striking writers.
Actors are Speechless In Support Of Writers' Strike
Actors, directors and musicians have all pitched in to make videos in support of the writers' strike. In this short, Susan Sarandon and Chazz Palminteri show how difficult it is to do a dramatic scene without the benefit of screenwriters.
Stephen King talks
about director Frank Darabont's (The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption) adaptation of his short story "The Mist" into a feature film. Darabont changed the ending, and King loves it. Stephen also revealed what scares him. It's a long list.
King: I'm afraid of everything. It shows in my work. Elevators. Cars. One of the things ... the thing that started the new book was basically a combination of an accident that I had and a truck that was backing up, and the beeper was broken and somebody said, "Look out!" And a whole big long novel came out of that. But I'm with Frank on this, and that's one of the reasons why I love this movie, because it was a little bit like having somebody scratch a place on the middle of my back that I couldn't reach myself.
I mean, every night when I go to bed and nobody's popped a rogue nuke somewhere in the world, I feel this sort of combination of "I don't believe we escaped for another day," and gratitude because we did escape for another day. Because there's so much of that stuff out there. And I've written a lot of different things about that, from The Stand to The Mist, where you say a lot of people out there, they're afraid, they're angry, because fear and anger go hand in hand. They're the original-sin version of the Bobbsey Twins, you know, fear and anger.
And when they do there's always somebody to say, "Well, we had the answer, we had the only answer," because whatever the religion might happen to be, they're the ones who say, "We have the only answer, so let's get down on our knees and pray about it," and then on your way out there's guns in the vestry.
The new ending of The Mist is shocking and quite unexpected. King said in another interview that if he'd thought of it, he would have written it that way. And no, we're not going to spoil it for you. But be warned, it's really disturbing.
The writers are still on strike. The Daily Show is in reruns. And the writers of The Daily Show are really bored, walking in circles in a picket line. Which explains this hilarious short video by The Daily Show writers, featuring a cameo by John Oliver. The video explains the studios' position on why they can't afford to pay writers residuals for Internet use of their work.
More movies bit the dust, as studios have canceled the feature films Shantaram and Nine. The film version of Dan Brown's Angels and Demons has also been temporarily scuttled because of the writers' strike.
Warner Bros. called off a February production start on "Shantaram," the Mira Nair-directed adaptation of the Gregory David Roberts novel that was to star Johnny Depp.
The Weinstein Co., meanwhile, postponed "Nine," the Rob Marshall-directed musical that was slated to start production in March with Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz, Sophia Loren and Marion Cotillard starring.
Delays were caused because the scripts weren't ready. Sony previously delayed the Ron Howard-directed "Angels & Demons," and United Artists halted the Oliver Stone-directed "Pinkville," citing the same reason.
In all four cases, the sponsoring studios decided they couldn't overcome logistical and script problems exacerbated by the Writers Guild strike that is preventing rewrites, along with the looming expirations of the Directors Guild and Screen Actors Guild contracts in June. Other films are struggling to avoid the same fate.
Depp, who is producing "Shantaram" with Graham King, planned to spend the winter in India, playing an Australian heroin addict who escapes a maximum-security prison, reinvents himself as a doctor in the slums of India and eventually uses gun-running and counterfeiting skills to fight against the invading Russian troops in Afghanistan. Abhishek Bachchan was also set to star.
The WGA and the AMPTP have agreed to start talks again on Monday, November 26th, so that's promising. But the parties are still very far apart on the crucial issues of payment to writers for new media.
You can find full coverage of the Writers' Strike (What's it all about? What's the current status of all my shows? Where can I find breaking news to read instead of working?) at our sister site WritersWrite.com's comprehensive Writers' Strike Section.
Viggo Mortensen Reportedly Eying Edgar Allan Poe Role
Viggo Mortenson is reportedly in talks to play legendary American horror writer Edgar Allan Poe in a new film about his life.
Sylvester Stallone is currently busy finishing up work on Rambo IV, and may even end up doing a Rambo V, but the Sly project I'm most interested in is the one he's doing after Rambo, a film about tortured poet Edgar Allan Poe. The movie's traveled a rocky road to get going, but it's starting to look like Poe will actually get made. If the film finally does happen, we may know who Stallone is casting as his Edgar Allan.
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Our source says, "Stallone has recently met with Viggo Mortensen and has offered him the role of Edgar Allan Poe in the film. Mortensen is considering the role although he wants some slight revisions in the script."
At one point Robert Downey Jr. was rumored to be up for this part, but that was so long ago he's almost certainly moved on by now. Viggo Mortensen is currently shooting a movie called Appaloosa for Ed Harris, but after that he may be free to squeeze something like Poe in. Of course with the strike on, who knows when they’ll be able to start filming Poe anyway, so scheduling wouldn't be a problem. And if what our source says is true, then it sounds like he's not only been offered it, but he's at least a little interested in it.
So far it's just a rumor, but we think Viggo would make an excellent Poe. Dark, twisted and creepy -- what's not to love?
In this video, author and vlogger John Green explains the writers' strike by comparing the way authors are paid to the way tv writers are paid. In one part of the video, Green compares royalties in book publishing to residual payments in television writing. It is an interesting comparison and it makes it clear that Hollywood writers aren't always getting their fair share of the money. John Green is the author ofAn Abundance of Katherines. Video link via Writers Guild East.
The stars of the Harry Potter films reacted
to the news that Dumbledore was gay; most of them weren't in the least bit shocked. Actor Michael Gambon has been having a bit of fun queening it around offstage, but the powers that be say that he will not change his acting in future films.
"I thought it was hilarious," said Daniel Radcliffe, who has played the lead role in all five Harry Potter films.
He said actor Michael Gambon, who has played Dumbledore since the third film, had been "really camping it up for the last three weeks ever since he found out".....
Radcliffe told BBC News: "JK Rowling is an incredibly intelligent woman. She can't have thought for a moment that that would go down well in the Bible Belt of America, but she put it brilliantly herself: 'He's my character - I can do what I want with him.' Which I think is fair enough."
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Filming on the sixth film in the franchise, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, began in September, with Yates again at the helm. But he said not to expect any changes to the way Dumbledore is portrayed on film.
"Michael Gambon hasn't changed his approach. A person's sexuality is just one part of who they are, and so it hasn't really shifted where we're taking him."
Producer David Barron confirmed that Dumbledore would remain "the character Michael Gambon has already established".
But he added: "Michael's camped it up a bit off-camera, he's just been amused by it."
Emma Watson, who plays Harry's friend Hermione Granger, said: "It never really occurred to me before, but now JK Rowling's said that he's gay it sort of makes sense."
She added: "I think what surprised everyone was the amount of media attention it's received. I think it's nice that the story has ended but there are still things that people don't know."
The younger generation clearly isn't the least bit fazed by the revelation.
The L.A. Times reports that WGA officials have confirmed the the Writers' Strike is on. Details will be released tomorrow. The Timessays these are the hot issues for writers and for producers.
Writers want:
Residuals for shows and movies streamed over the Web and on cellphones.
A doubling of residual payments from home video sales.
Extension of guild pay and benefits to writers on reality TV programs.
Producers say:
DVD sales are needed to offset rising marketing and production costs.
It's too early to lock into pay formulas for online shows because technologies are changing rapidly.
No pay for streaming of TV shows on the Web because it is a form of promotion.
More background on the writers' strike can be found on The Writer's Blog's Writers' Strike section.
HarperCollins has signed an agreement with Sharp to facilitate turning its many book properties into feature films.
The publisher is forming a multiyear alliance with Hart Sharp Entertainment offshoot Sharp Independent called Sharp Independent at HarperCollins. The division will acquire film rights to existing and future HarperCollins adult titles to create new films, housed in HarperCollins offices and overseen by Harper/Morrow president and group publisher Michael Morrison.
The move makes sense for HarperCollins, which has had big success with film adaptations from such titles as "The Chronicles of Narnia" series and "The Pursuit of Happyness." But SI head Jeff Sharp's screen adaptations in recent years have been disappointments at the box office.
Sharp's reported $13 million all-star adaptation of the novel "Evening" earned $12.5 million this year. His reported $20 million adaptation of the Broadway hit "Proof" took in $7.5 million in 2005, his $6.5 million adaptation of "A Home at the End of the World" earned just $1 million in 2004 and his reported $10 million 2002 adaptation of "Nicholas Nickleby" grossed $1.6 million. Sharp's 2006 adaptation of HarperCollins' book "The Night Listener" grossed $7.8 million on a reported $10 million budget.
This is good news for HarperCollins authors with books that translate well to film. Although clearly they are hoping for more blockbusters like The Pursuit of Happyness and not more disasters like Nicholas Nickleby, which received good reviews, but bombed at the box office.
Francis Ford Coppola's computer was stolen. The computer contained the script and production notes for his new film, as well as other work that the director/screenwriter had been working on for years.
Thieves in Argentina have stolen a computer from US film director Francis Ford Coppola, which contained the script for his new production.
It was reported that five armed robbers raided Coppola's house in a wealthy neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, and took computers and camera equipment.
Saved on one of the computers was the script and pre-production work for his forthcoming film, Tetro.
The Oscar-winning Godfather director was not home at the time.
However, the raiders hit and threatened a person who was in the house, in the fashionable Palermo neighbourhood.
A spokeswoman for Coppola offered a reward for the return of the computer, which she said was vital to him and his work.
Tetro, which will star Matt Dillon, is about the rivalries over the generations in an artistic Italian immigrant family to Buenos Aires.
Filming is due to start next February.
Coppola has been living in Buenos Aires for several months
Five-time Oscar winner Coppola is reported to be "very sad".
We're very sad, too! Stealing a writer's unfinished work is just the lowest of the low. We hope the find the culprits and bring them to justice.
The long-delayed Justice League movie is back on track. Director Frank Miller (Mad Max, Happy Feet) is on board to direct. But Christopher Nolan is pretty mad - he thinks the project will hurt the next Batman film, Dark Knight, especially if Justice League plays it campy.
George Miller, the Academy Award-owning Aussie auteur behind such diverse flicks as the Mad Max trilogy, Babe: Pig in the City and last year's Best Animated Feature Oscar winner Happy Feet, has signed on to helm Warner Bros.' live-action version of DC Comics' Justice League of America.
The 62-year-old Miller has been given the go-ahead to begin shooting the movie in his native Australia for a targeted 2009 release, according to Variety.
Featuring a screenplay by Kieran and Michele Mulroney (the brother and sister-in-law of Dermot Mulroney), Justice League has been shrouded in secrecy, but is expected to feature five superheroes from the original comic: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and the Flash
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Per Variety, Warners is taking heat from Batman Begins director Christopher Nolan. The filmmaker is petitioning the studio to postpone JLA until after he's finished with the Caped Crusader projects he has in development, including The Dark Knight, which is wrapping production in Chicago for release July 18, 2008.
The director fears that a separate (and possibly campier) film featuring Batman could hurt Nolan's successful reboot of the DC franchise. His star, Christian Bale, has expressed similar sentiments and won't reprise the hero for Justice League.
Then there's the Man of Steel. Industry scuttlebutt suggested Warners would complete its planned sequel to 2006's Superman Returns. But the follow-up is on hold until director Bryan Singer completes work on his World War II drama, Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise. Like Bale, Supes alter ego Brandon Routh is not attached to JLA.
We think that the concerns about the Superman and Batman movies are legitimate. It's certainly going to confuse moviegoers who aren't assiduously following the Justice League film saga.
Alex Keegan analyzes the blockbuster hit Gladiator and finds
that it took a third screenwriter to make the screenplay really
great. But in order to make the story work, one of the director's
most cherished ideas had to be cut from the film. Alex explains
why sometimes a writer's most cherished ideas have to be
sacrificed for the greater good of the story. Don't miss this
fascinating analysis.
We are happy to announce that The Internet Writing Journal is expanding. As part of that expansion, we will be undergoing a format change; instead of having separate issues of the magazine, as we have since 1997, from here on out The IWJ will be updated on a rolling basis with new articles, author essays, interviews, book reviews and special features. All the content from prior to the change is easily accessible on the Archives link. Archives of past issues will continue to be free. The IWJ Blog is the only part of the site that will not change. We hope you enjoy the new and improved IWJ!
--The Editors
Here is a list of the latest content posted on The IWJwebsite.
Disney executive vp production and development Brigham Taylor will oversee the big-screen version of the tongue-in-cheek manual, which gives today's coddled youth instructions on potentially hazardous activities, such as how build go-carts and make a bow and arrow. It also provides trivia, historical anecdotes and advice on life that have inspired interest from fathers and nostalgic middle-aged men.
"Dangerous," first published in the U.K. in May 2006, has held the No. 1 and No. 2 spots on the New York Times and Publishers Weekly best-seller lists since its May 2007 stateside release and sold more than 1 million copies worldwide. The Collins/HarperCollins release also won the British Book Award for book of the year. Its success has inspired two upcoming books, "The Daring Book for Girls" and "The Dangerous Book for Dogs," a satire by several writers from "The Onion."
The book is the latest feather in Rudin's full cap. The literary-minded producer, who has a production deal with Disney and its specialty division, Miramax Films, has scored mainstream hits like Paramount Pictures' "Failure to Launch" and upscale Oscar winners including Miramax's "The Queen." His upcoming book adaptations include Dreamworks/Paramount's "Revolutionary Road," with Evamere and BBC Films, and Miramax's "No Country For Old Men," which earned acclaim at this year's Festival de Cannes.
It should be interesting to see how Rudin approaches this project. A monster hit in England before it was revised slightly for the U.S. market, the book has a somewhat random collection of chapters about "dangerous" things that boys should learn how to do: making a bow and arrow, building a go cart, learning helpful Latin phrases, palming a coin, tying knots etc. Who Rudin chooses as a screenwriter will no doubt give some helpful clues as to whether this will work or not.
One of the more interesting film projects that has been out there is the adaptation of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, which was going to star Angelina Jolie. But that project may be on hold.
Cinematical has the word:
I had a chance to speak with Angelina Jolie at the press junket for A Mighty Heart on Friday, and I asked her about a few of her upcoming (or potentially upcoming) projects. As for the one the fanboys care most about -- Sin City 2 -- she laughed when I asked her if she would do it, and then she smiled and simply said "It might be resurfacing." She had a little more to say about the adaptation of Atlas Shrugged, which is moving forward very slowly, despite having the Plan B powerhouse of Pitt and Jolie behind it.
Angelina told me that the project is still on the table, but "the thing with Atlas is just, we all feel that it's one of those projects where if you can't do it right, you really can't touch it. So we have not had all the pieces come together. There's not been a director that's right to come on, or all of those elements. So until it does, you know, I certainly don't want to be a part of something that's just put together to hit 'this date.'"
We certainly agree with that -- it's difficult material and needs to be done right. Sounds like this project is tabled, for now.
Laurence Fishburne is adaptingThe Alchemist by Paul Coehlo into a feature film.
The "Matrix" actor teamed up with A-Mark Entertainment, an independent finance and production company, to buy the film rights from Warner Bros.
He will direct from his own adaptation of Paulo Coelho's philosophical book about a traveler journeying the world during the Inquisition in order to find man's purpose in the world.
Since its debut in 1988, the book has been translated into 56 languages and has sold more than 40 million copies in more than 150 countries. Warner Bros. acquired the property in 2003 as a Fishburne vehicle.
The filmmakers' take is described as "Harry Potter meets Indiana Jones," with a sweeping adventure centering on a young Spaniard who embarks on a quest to find a hidden treasure within the Egyptian pyramids and ends up discovering a personal treasure that eclipses his wildest expectations.
This is another one of those novels that we would have said was unfilmable. But we think Laurence Fishburne has a good shot of making it work. It will be interesting to see how he approaches the material.
Brad Caleb Kane has been signed
to adapt Elizabeth Kostova's bestselling novel The Historian for the silver screen. From The Hollywood Reporter:
Child actor-turned-scribe Brad Caleb Kane will sink his teeth into "The Historian," Sony's adaptation of a bestselling tome about modern-day vampires.
The studio ponied up seven figures for Elizabeth Kostova's novel, her first, shortly before it hit bookstores two years ago, and Red Wagon's Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher have been searching for the right scribe ever since. The key, according to Wick, was finding one able to modernize the Dracula myth in a believable way.
The book revolves around a young woman's search for her father, who is on the hunt for the grave of Vlad the Impaler, the feudal lord who inspired Bram Stoker's "Dracula."
"One of the things we've been looking for is someone who could not only capture the visceral, sexy part of the story, but who also has the talent to make it credible," said Wick.
This won't be an easy adaptation, that's for sure. The leisurely pace that works so well in the novel could easily become boring on film. On the other hand, this is the kind of novel that could easily be ruined in the screenplay. Still, we wish him well.
In the book, published in August, Robbins ("Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities") chronicles the lives of students in a Bethesda, Md., high school as they navigate the SAT and college-application process. The teens are obsessed with success while they contend with illness, physical deterioration, cheating, obsessed parents and emotional breakdowns.
"I read the book while I was at the tail end of the 'Night at the Museum' shoot, and it really spoke to certain experiences I had had as a 16-year-old, virtually killing myself to get into Yale," Levy said. "And I was kind of horrified to admit that I related to these kids. And there is something really unique about the culture right now where you have kids sacrificing the enjoyment of their youth to get to the next level. And the question is, what is the cost of ambition when you are 17 years old?"
The plan is to make a character-driven teen comedy a la John Hughes. Tom McNulty, president of production at 21 Laps, met with writers for nearly a year before hearing the take from Gatewood and Tanaka.
"Overachievers" is the latest project set up by 21 Laps, which has been on a tear.
"The fact that 21 Laps is able to develop material as broad-ranging as a character-driven comedy like 'Overachievers' or four-quadrant fantastical tentpole 'The Seems' or 'The Devil You Know,' I'm thrilled," Levy said. "I just don't like one kind of movie, and I don't want my company to only develop one kind of movie."
The Overachievers isn't a funny book in the least; it's about high school students who are nearly suicidal over getting into the right college. So, naturally, Hollywood will turn it into a John Hughes-style comedy. What else would they do with it?
The much-watched Will & Grace lawsuit has finally settled, according to Variety. Will & Grace creators/writers Max Mutchnick and David Kohan sued NBC for allegedly cheating them out of their fair share of the huge profits that the show made, especially now that it's in syndication. It was an odd sequence of events. The case went to trial, the verdict came back for Mutchnick and Kohan for $49 million (plus punitive damages), a juror then had to be replaced, and then NBC realized that if they didn't settle now, they stood to lose a fortune.
The settlement puts an anticlimatic end to a trial that had been closely watched by TV profit participants and studios alike. And it also caps off an unusual series of developments that took place Wednesday, when L.A. Superior Court Judge Warren Ettinger granted a motion to dismiss jury foreman Dean Hartwell.
Having deliberated for over a week, the jury on the case -- in which Mutchnick and Kohan sued NBC Studios over money they believe they're owed -- had already rendered a verdict on the case.
But L.A. Superior Court Judge Warren Ettinger did not reveal the decision, because of the jury misconduct motion. Hartwell was removed after it was revealed that he runs a Web site known for taking a harsh stance against major corporations.
Ettinger spent Thursday afternoon interviewing each juror to determine whether the dismissed member had a major impact on their decision. Because Ettinger indicated that Hartwell's strong opinions might have swayed jurors, it was generally assumed that the jury had ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.
The judge was set to tell the courtroom Friday at 9 a.m. if a mistrial has been declared, or if the jury would be sent back to deliberations with an alternate juror. Instead, the court was told that a settlement had been reached.
Kohan and Mutchnick (and their agent, Scott Schwartz) filed suit against the Peacock in 2003, claiming that series producer NBC Studios failed to negotiate a fair license fee from its sibling network buyer -- costing the scribes tens of millions of dollars.
At the time, NBC countersued, alleging that Kohan and Mutchnick breached their contract by failing to take part in negotiations at the net to renew "Will & Grace."
Although the exact sum of the settlement was announced, the word is that it is enormous. And the reason that jury foreman Dean Hartwell was kicked off the case? His blog, DeanHartwell.com contained statements about how much he hated big media companies (like NBC).
Bestselling author Philip Pullman is thrilled that Nicole Kidman is playing Mrs. Coulter in the film version of The Golden Compass. In fact, that's who he pictured in the role when he was writing the books. He also discusses how he created the concept of a personal daemon.
Forte and Pullman had a "dream casting session" a decade ago, when she negotiated an option to Pullman's work, to which Pullman added: "I always wanted Nicole Kidman for her extraordinary quality of being warm and cold, terrifying and seductive."
He also envisaged Laurence Olivier, circa 1945, as Lord Asriel, a role eventually taken by Craig because Olivier "wasn't available".
*****
Although Lewis's and Pullman's religious beliefs are radically different, Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia shares much with The Golden Compass: talking animals, witches and child protagonists travelling to fantasy worlds. But Pullman's coup is all his own: the daemon, pronounced "demon". In The Golden Compass, almost everyone has a daemon, an animal that is another version of the person to whom they belong. They feel the same things, mentally and physically.
The daemon is an idea borrowed from Socrates, who believed he had a divine presence within himself. He called it a "daimon" and it would warn him if he was about to do something bad.
*****
For Pullman, the daemon was also a great literary device. As he told the Oxford audience: "The moment I thought of daemons was on the 16th draft of the first chapter. Before that I had to tell the reader what Lyra was thinking. I realised then I didn't have to explain so much. You don't need exposition. Exposition kills the flow of the narrative.
"The best advice ever given to a writer was by Raymond Chandler, who said, 'When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun.' This works. If you're stuck with the story, it moves it on like nothing else."
Lyra's daemon, Pantalaimon, "was my man coming through the door with a gun. It was a wonderful moment when I realised that."
We can't wait to see how the film turns out. Will the special effects overwhelm the story? Will the part about the evil Church be watered down? Can Daniel Craig really pull off this part? We admit we were pleasantly surprised by his turn as James Bond in Casino Royale, so we feel he is due the benefit of the doubt here.
There have been numerous rumors swirling around the set of the next Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Some said that the new screenwriter hated the cuts he was forced to make in the script, that Jo Rowling hated the script so much that she demanded to join the screenwrting team and so on. Apparently none of it was true. In an interview with The Leaky Cauldron, Michael Goldenberg, sets the record straight.
Melissa Anelli of The Leaky Cauldron: One of the things in this report said that Jo had mentioned that there would be some cuts that would come back to haunt the film makers in later films. I know that wasn't true, but what was the feeling about elements that you had to keep to serve the rest of the films? Did they ever become an encumbrance?
Michael Goldenberg: Not at all. In fact, as I said, Jo couldn't have been more supportive and permissive. She gave free rein. It was quite the opposite. The last time I saw her, I was sort of begging her for notes and saying, "Please! If there's anything, I would love to hear your thoughts on this or that!" And she did, finally, come through with a few, all of which I think were immediately put into the script. Tiny little things, for the most part. But as I said, we could not have asked for more in terms of a collaborator.
MA: It sounds almost as if she's battling some instincts to make suggestions so that she didn't encumber your process.
MG: I think so. And I think there was respect for that. I wouldn't speak for her, but I think she trusts that, having met us, that we're all - we really do want to make a movie that she's thrilled with. I mean, nobody wants that more than we do. So, it almost didn't need to be said, you know? It's just the baseline we're all starting from.
What a joyous thing for a writer: to have the screenwriters begging you to give some input into the script because they all just want to make you happy. Read the whole interview here.
Screenwriters long for Oscar glory. But there is a price to pay. Screenwriters who win Oscars, die earlier.
The relationship between achievement and happiness yields a mixed bag. There's a common misconception that people who are high achievers are happier. For example, actors who won an Academy Award lived on average four years longer than other nominees. Those who won two lived six years longer. But screenwriters who won an Academy Award lived three years shorter than the other nominees. Even though the Award-winning screenwriters had longer careers, they didn't live as long.
Ok, that's just weird. Surely this is some kind of statistical anomaly. Right?
Sci Fi reports that Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks Television will be producing a tv miniseries from the Stephen King/Peter Straub novel, The Talisman, which will be aired on TNT in 2008. The miniseries will most likely then become a regular series which will begin its run in 2009.
Spielberg will executive-produce a six-hour miniseries based on Stephen King and Peter Straub's best-selling supernatural thriller The Talisman for the summer of 2008, with DreamWorks Television producing. Spielberg, who produced Into the West for TNT, will be joined by his longtime partner Kathleen Kennedy as executive producer, along with Ehren Kruger (Skeleton Key, The Ring), who will adapt the King/Straub novel. Darryl Frank, who heads up DreamWorks Television, will be co-executive producer, along with Justin Falvey.
The Talisman, which was published in 1984, marked the first collaboration between King and Straub. It tells the story of Jack Sawyer, a boy who goes on a quest through this world and through a parallel world known as "The Territories" on a mission to obtain a mysterious talisman that will save his dying mother's life and that of her "twinner," the Queen of the Territories.
That sounds like a very interesting project. Stephen King has had so many of his books made into movies and series, with varying degrees of success. Let's hope the new project meets the high standards set by the film, The Shawshank Redemption (we love that film) and the current TV series on USA Networks, The Dead Zone.
It was finally Martin Scorsese's time: last night he won the Oscar for Best Director for The Departed. Scorsese seemed absolutely elated, as did the crowd. He was handed his statuette by old friends, writer/directors Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. The Departed also picked up Best Picture and Best Adapted Screeplay honors for William Monohan, who opened his acceptance speech by joking that "Valium does work" (Monohan is notoriously publicity-shy).
We really liked the way they did the writing awards for Best Original and Best Adapted Screenplay. The presenters read from the actual script, while showing the scene from the movie. It really gave the audience the feel of how a writer's thoughts translate to film.
We also loved Ellen DeGeneres'
gag when she went into the audience, crouched down beside Martin Scorsese to make small talk. She asked if it was hot in the room, then fanned herself with a spec script, pretending to be surprised at its appearance. She then convinced Scorsese to take a look at her script which she described as "sort of a cross between Goodfellas and Big Momma's House. It's Goodmommas."
Disney Loses Legal Battle Over Rights to Winnie the Pooh
The Walt Disney Co. has
lost a court battle over the copyright to the character of Winnie the Pooh.
A US federal judge in California granted Stephen Slesinger Inc., which claims the rights to Winnie the Pooh, a "summary judgment" that effectively ends Disney's efforts to take back the copyright, said attorney Barry Slotnick.
"The court once again has once ruled that Disney's claims against Slesinger are improper," Slotnick said in a statement.
"Now that Disney's misguided claims have been dismissed, we can focus on pursuing Slesinger's claims against Disney for damages, trademark and copyright infringement, breach of contract, and fraudulently underpaying royalties, and seeking in excess of two billion dollars in compensatory and general damages," he said.
The heirs of Stephen Slesinger, who bought the US rights from "Pooh" author A.A. Milne in 1930 and began licensing them to Disney in 1961, claim the powerful firm has cheated them out of hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties.
Slesinger's widow agreed to negotiate the rights deal with Disney after his death. A first agreement was reached in 1961 and re-negotiated in 1983.
Milne's granddaughter, Claire, has sought to claim back the rights to the honey-guzzling bear with Disney's support.
The ruling by a federal district court judge in Los Angeles clears the way for Slesinger to go after billions in damages in unpaid royalties on the character.
The ruling, disclosed on the court's Web site today, eliminates a procedural hurdle to Slesinger seeking more than $2 billion in damages from Disney. Disney had tried to terminate Slesinger's rights to characters the media company has marketed for more than four decades. Slesinger acquired the rights from Milne in 1930.
"This is definitely a setback for Disney," said Carole Handler, an intellectual property lawyer with Foley & Lardner in Los Angeles. "They tried to dismantle the license of the party that has been most troublesome to them in court."
The ruling is part of a larger 16-year legal battle between Burbank, California-based Disney and closely held Slesinger that's being fought in state and federal courts and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Last week, Los Angeles-based Slesinger asked the Patent Office to cancel rights to 25 Pooh-related names obtained by Disney since 1996. Disney "was not the owner of the registered marks at the time that these filings were made," Slesinger said in a petition. The company was "at most, only a licensee."
The long-running legal battle isn't over yet, but Disney has clearly lost this round.
Oscar-winning Visual Effects Pioneer Peter Ellenshaw Dead at 93
Peter Ellenshaw, the legendary Oscar-winning visual effects pioneer has died at the
age of 93. Ellenshaw was also a matte artist who created the look for numerous
classic live action Disney films, such as
Mary Poppins, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,
Darby O'Gill and the Little People,
Treasure Island, and The Black Hole. He created many of the visual effects
for Disney films and painted the iconic first map of Disneyland that was
featured on all the early postcards and souvenir booklets.
Disney issued a statement about Ellenshaw's passing.
Ellenshaw began his association with Walt Disney in 1947, when he was tapped to work on the Studio's first live-action film, "Treasure Island" (1950), and continued working there until his retirement in 1979 following "The Black Hole."
Commenting on Ellenshaw's passing, Roy E. Disney said, "Peter was a Disney legend in every sense of the word and played a vital role in the creation of many of the Studio's greatest live-action films from the very beginning. He was a brilliant and innovative visual effects pioneer who was able to consistently please my Uncle Walt, and push the boundaries of the medium to fantastic new heights. From his incredibly beautiful and effective matte paintings for films like 'Mary Poppins,' 'Treasure Island,' and '20,000 Leagues...,' to his landmark painting of the iconic Disneyland map, he was a true master of his art. Outside of the Studio, he was a fantastic painter in his own right, and I always loved his Irish paintings and felt that he did the best seascapes in the world."
Film critic and historian Leonard Maltin added, "Long before the era of modern special effects, Peter was working his magic in Disney films. People never knew how he accomplished his visual feats. 'Darby O'Gill and the Little People' remains one of the most amazing, eye-popping achievements in all of film history. And when you think that 'Mary Poppins' was made without anyone ever setting foot outside a soundstage -- let alone visiting London -- you get some idea of what he was able to pull off."
Craig Barron, president of Matte World Digital and co-author of the book The Invisible Art: The Legends of Movie Matte Paintings, observed, "Ellenshaw's matte work was truly the stuff that movie magic dreams were made of. He took audiences on cinematic journeys to the most incredible places like Captain Nemo's volcanic island from '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,' or the fairy mountain cave of 'Darby O'Gill and the Little People,' or a tour of London's magical rooftops for 'Mary Poppins.' His matte painting work belongs to that unsung craft that's now virtually disappeared. With only a small crew, he created, almost single-handedly, incredible movie making locations with just the sublime artistry of brush strokes -- literally the 'art' in movies that generations of audiences have appreciated unawares, thanks to the skill of this great-departed movie artist."
Born in Great Britain in 1913, Ellenshaw began his film career in the early 1930s, when he apprenticed for visual effects pioneer W. Percy (Pop) Day, O.B.E. He worked on such productions as "Things to Come," "Rembrandt," "Elephant Boy," "Sixty Glorious Years," "A Matter of Life and Death," and the Michael Powell-Emeric Pressburger classic "Black Narcissus."
After a stint as a pilot in the RAF during World War II, Ellenshaw created matte paintings for MGM's "Quo Vadis." In 1947, his work caught the attention of an art director for the Walt Disney Studios. Disney was in the pre- planning stages of his very first live-action film, "Treasure Island," which would be produced in Great Britain, and the art director inquired if Ellenshaw would be interested in the project. Thus began a professional collaboration and friendship with Walt Disney that would span over 30 years and 34 films.
Ellenshaw regarded Walt Disney as a source of inspiration, a wonderful executive, and over the years, a good friend. "Walt had the ability to communicate with artists," observed Ellenshaw. "He'd talk to you on your level -- artist to artist. He used to say, 'I can't draw, Peter.' But he had the soul of an artist, and he had a wonderful way of transferring his enthusiasm to you."
Among his many projects at Disney, Ellenshaw made major artistic contributions to the television shows "Davy Crockett" and "Zorro," and such classic feature films as "The Sword in the Rose," "The Story of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men," "Darby O'Gill and the Little People," "Third Man on the Mountain," "Swiss Family Robinson," "The Love Bug," "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," and "The Black Hole." He officially retired from the Studio in 1979 but returned years later to paint several matte paintings for the 1990 film, "Dick Tracy." He was designated a "Disney Legend" in 1993.
In addition to his career in the motion picture industry, Ellenshaw became known as one of the finest marine artists of the past century known not only for his dramatic seascapes but his elegant Irish landscapes and vivid oils of the Himalayas and Monet's garden at Giverny.
Ellenshaw's beloved wife of 58 years, Bobbie, passed away in 2000. He is survived by his two children, Lynda Ellenshaw Thompson (an industry veteran visual effects producer), and Harrison Ellenshaw (a visual effects artist who was an Oscar nominee for "The Black Hole," matte supervisor on "Star Wars: Episodes IV and V" and visual effects supervisor for "Tron"), as well as his two grandchildren, Michael and Hilary.
Funeral services will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Direct Relief International, Santa Barbara, California.
He worked on everything from Tron (we love that movie) to Star Wars: Episodes IV and V and really loved his work. What a fascinating career he had: to do something one loves one's entire life is truly a gift.
Helen Mirren is quite enjoying her role in the film version of the bestselling fantasy novel, Inkheart.
In Inkheart, directed by Iain Softley, Mirren plays Elinor, the reclusive book-loving aunt of Brendan Fraser's Mo, a man with the ability to bring literary characters to life by reading aloud. Andy Serkis and Paul Bettany also star as two characters from a book called Inkheart, who are brought into the world by Mo. The film, based on the best-selling novel by Cornelia Funke, is currently filming at Shepperton Studios in London.
Mirren, who has already won a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award this year for The Queen, said that working on Inkheart has reminded her of her experience on the 1981 film Excalibur. "I love fantasy movies," she said. "One of the happiest movies of my life was doing Excalibur, which was many years ago and done as Iain was making this, without special [computer] effects. ... Excalibur was done completely with lighting gels and real stuff." Inkheart will be released in 2008.
Helen Mirren is an Oscar nominee for Best Actress for her role in The Queen and the buzz is that she'll win handily. Although one should never count out Meryl Streep in her role as Miranda Priestly in the film verson of the book The Devil Wears Prada. We just loved Streep in that film.
Lifetime Gets Rights to The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Lifetime has purchased the rights to the Kim Edwards' bestselling novel, The Memory Keeper's Daughter.
According to Variety, it's the kind of family drama that the movie companies aren't making anymore; producer Howard Braunstein compares the novel to Ordinary People and Kramer vs. Kramer.
No word when The Memory Keeper's Daughter will go into production.
Lifetime has been doing novel adapatations like crazy lately. Starting next Monday for four consecutive Mondays, Lifetime is airing four original films based on Nora Roberts novels. First up is Heather Locklear and Johnathon Schaech, who are starring in the first film,
Angels Fall, which features Locklear as a woman who witnesses a brutal massacre and who is pulled into another murder mystery. Angels Fall premieres Monday, January 29, at 9 PM (ET/PT) on Lifetime.
Jason Isaacs, who does such a fabulous job of portraying Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films, told Cindy White of Sci Fi Wire that he is delighted that he will have more to do in the next Harry Potter film. He also shared how he begged J.K. Rowling to write his character some great lines in the last Harry Potter book.
Jason Isaacs, who plays Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter film franchise, told SCI FI Wire that he'll have a lot more to do in the upcoming fifth film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, including (spoiler!) a wand-to-wand fight with Sirius Black (Gary Oldman). "I had virtually nothing to do in number four," Isaacs said in an interview at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena, Calif., where he was promoting his upcoming BBC America miniseries The State Within. "In fact, when there's nothing to do like that, and they say, 'Do you want to come in for a couple of weeks?' you go, 'Well, I'm busy. Oh, God. All right.' Because the thought that somebody else might wear my wig is just too painful. But I have a little bit more to do in this."
*****
Isaacs said that the fifth film will include a harrowing showdown between his character and Harry's godfather, Sirius Black. "I get to have a wand battle with Gary Oldman, possibly my favorite actor in the universe," Isaacs said. "We get to play around like two 10-year-olds. And with kind of unlimited sci-fi imagination. It's fun. We just go, 'Well, how about if I ... .' And anything you finish that sentence with, they go, 'Yeah, OK. You can do that.' So it was magnificent."
The character does not appear in the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but Isaacs said he recently had an opportunity to meet author J.K. Rowling and appealed to her to include him in the seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, due this year, possibly July. "I fell to my knees and begged," he joked. "It didn't do any good. I'm sure she doesn't need plot ideas from me. But I made my point. We'll see. Like everybody else, I'm holding my breath to July to see what's in there. I just want to bust out of prison, that's all. I don't want to stay in Azkaban most of my life."
Jason Isaacs does such a fantastic job as the delightfully evil Lucius Malfoy. We hope that Jo was at least somewhat sympathetic to his heartfelt plea for more screen time.
The war between New Line and Peter Jackson has escalated once again. The co-chairman of New Line Bob Shaye has said that Peter Jackson will never be allowed to make a film with New Line while he is in charge.
"It will never happen during my watch," Shaye said of Jackson directing "The Hobbit" along with an "LOTR" prequel. New Line and MGM own the rights to both films.
Shaye's words are a more explicit snub to Jackson than occurred last November, when Jackson posted a letter to his fans on the "LOTR" fan site Theonering.net saying that New Line had alerted him that they were proceeding to make "The Hobbit" without him.
The severing of ties was prompted by Jackson's declared refusal to make a movie with New Line until his ongoing lawsuit is settled. (Suit was filed in August 2005 after accounting issues were raised in a partial audit of the first "LOTR" film.) New Line told Jackson that because the studio's option to the property, obtained from Saul Zaentz, was set to expire, New Line would pr
Defamer 
Producer Scott Rudin will 
It was finally Martin Scorsese's time: last night he won the Oscar for Best Director for 
Peter Ellenshaw, the legendary Oscar-winning visual effects pioneer has died at the
age of 93. Ellenshaw was also a matte artist who created the look for numerous
classic live action Disney films, such as
Mary Poppins, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,
Darby O'Gill and the Little People,
Treasure Island, and The Black Hole. He created many of the visual effects
for Disney films and painted the iconic first map of Disneyland that was
featured on all the early postcards and souvenir booklets.
Disney issued a statement about Ellenshaw's passing.