Aug 27, 2000
Scorcese Tries Gucci On For Size
Martin Scorsese has agreed to direct the epic Gucci: A House Divided, a film which will span four generations of the Italian fashion dynasty. Based on a 1987 book of the same name by Gerald McKnight, the project is being developed by
Michael Ovitz' Artists Production Group.
Scorsese, known for such classic films as GoodFellas and Raging Bull is currently preparing to shoot Gangs of New York in Rome starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
The Gucci family rose from peasantry to become a fashion house that still stands today as one of the icons of the industry. Most recently, there has been great scandal as one of the family members now sits in prison for orchestrating the murder of another family member.
A Pedestal For Ralph Kramden
A larger-than-life statue of legend Jackie Gleason will soon greet those who visit the city's Port Authority bus terminal. The 8-foot-high, 1,000-pound sculpture which shows Gleason in his bus driver's uniform, holding a lunchbox is scheduled to be officially unveiled this week.
A spokesman for the Port Authority made comment that it was really a great honor to literally put Ralph Kramden on a pedestal. Gleason skyrocketed to fame in the early 1950s when he played Brooklyn bus driver Ralph Kramden in The Honeymooners. TV Land, the cable channel which currently airs reruns of the 1950's show commissioned the statue.
Harrelson Beats Possession Charge
A charge of marijuana possession against actor Woody Harrelson was dismissed by a Kentucky jury Friday. Harrelson was arrested for planting hemp seeds as part of a crusade to legalize the plant and help struggling farmers cultivate a new cash crop, according to Harrelson's attorney. Harrelson claims he was challenging a state law that makes no distinction between marijuana and hemp, even though hemp contains little of the THC found in marijuana and is extremely useful in making many important industrial products.
Woody Harrelson is best known for his roles in the television sitcom Cheers and in such flicks as
Natural Born Killers and White Man Can't Jump.
Donald Duck Cartoonist Passes
Cartoonist Carl Barks, who drew Donald Duck comic books for three decades, has died at age 99 at his home in southern Oregon, according to a the Walt Disney spokesman. Associates of Barks in Grants Pass, Oregon said he died of leukemia on Friday. Barks has lived in Southern Oregon for many years and maintained a studio there.
In the more than two decades that he drew the monthly 10-page Donald Duck segment for Walt Disney Comics & Stories, Barks developed such other characters as Scrooge McDuck, Donald's super-lucky cousin Gladstone Gander and the addled inventor Gyro Gearloose.
Warner Brothers To Confirm Potter Cast This Week
Aug 21, 2000
Teen British actor Gabriel Thomson is rumored to have landed the role of wizard Harry Potter in a much talked about movie adaptation. The 13-year-old from south London played the part of young Pip in a BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens'Great Expectations last year.
Warner Brothers has yet to confirm this, but is making an official announcement via the Internet on August 21. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter novels, has so far confirmed two of the film's cast members, Dame Maggie Smith is to play Harry's art teacher Professor McGonagall and Scottish actor Robbie Coltrane is to take the part of Hagrid, the school's groundsman who befriends the young wizard.
Another Tough Guy Role For DeNiro
Aug. 21, 2000
Robert De Niro, last in theaters with The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle has committed to star in the $60 million thriller City by the Sea. Based on a true story, the film focuses on the son of an executed death-row inmate who becomes a detective, then later deals with his own son carrying on the violent tendencies. Rob Roy's director Michael Caton-Jones will direct the script which was based on an Esquire magazine article penned by the late Mike McAlary.
De Niro continues to have no shortage of roles. The first week of October he will be seen next stressing out Ben Stiller in the Universal/DreamWorks comedy Meet the Parents. That film is directed by Jay Roach of Austin Powers fame.
A Feast of Rice
Aug. 21, 2000
Anne Rice fans will be tickled pink to hear that her novel Feast of All Saints is now becoming a $14 million, four-hour miniseries set to air ABC in the summer of next year. Set in New Orleans in the 1850s, the story is about the pre-Civil War lives of four ``free people of color'' descended from French-Spanish landholders and African slaves. The novel is considered a departure for Rice because there are no vampires or the supernatural in this particular story.
Pre-production has already begun in Toronto with an ensemble cast that includes Forest Whitaker, who also serves as an executive producer along with Rice, Peter Gallagher, Gloria Reuben, Ben Vereen, Eartha Kitt and Pam Grier.
D&D Finally Hits The Big Screen
Aug. 21, 2000
Attention Dungeon Masters, this Christmas, you can finally sit back and let someone else lead the story...
New Line Cinema this week announced it has secured domestic distribution rights to Courtney Solomon's film Dungeons & Dragons: The Movie. Based on the classic fantasy-adventure role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons stars Thora Birch, Marlon Wayans, Justin Whalin and Richard O'Brien (Riff-Raff from Rocky Horror Picture Show ) as an unlikely group of heroes who must defeat an evil wizard played by Jeremy Irons. The Matrix main man Joel Silver is executive producer.
Dungeons & Dragons: The Movie is set for release this December.
Furlong Signs Up for T3
Aug 14, 2000
Eleven years since he first thrilled audiences as the kid with guts, Edward Furlong will return as John Conner in Terminator 3, which is heading towards the next phase into production. Though James Cameron will not be back to direct the third and fourth Terminator films, Arnold Schwartzeneggar will be back as promised.
Furlong made his Hollywood debut in Terminator 2: Judgement Day at the tender age of 12, with no previous acting experience whatsoever. Now at age 23, Furlong has 13 films under his belt, including Pecker and Detroit Rock City .
Screen Legend Makes Final Depart
Aug. 14, 2000
Loretta Young, the elegant beauty who won an Oscar for best actress in The Farmer's Daughter died last week of ovarian cancer. She was 87. The fascinating woman, whose acting career extended from silent movies to television died at the home of her sister Georgiana Montalban and actor Ricardo Montalban.
Helpful Harrison Saves The Day
Aug. 14, 2000
Harrison Ford is living a life as an action hero these days, off screen as well as on.
At the end of July, two hikers stranded on Table Mountain, near Twin Falls, Idaho were flown to safety in Ford's Bell 407 helicopter. 20-year-old Sarah George had been overcome with heat, altitude and dehydration, couldn't make it any further and had called for help on a cell phone from the mountain. The actor landed his helicopter in a meadow and picked up George; her friend had to hike back down, since there wasn't enough room in the helicopter.
According to the Teton County Sheriff, Ford, (a Jackson, Wyoming resident) often lends a hand with rescues by offering his flying skills and helicopter.
Monsters, Inc Signs Goodman and Crystal
Aug. 14, 2000
John Goodman and Billy Crystal will be teaming up as the voices in Disney's next computer animated film, Monsters, Inc. The two will lend their voices to the main characters Sullivan and Mike, who are experts in something called The Scare Factory.
Pete Docter , Oscar nominated for co-creating the story for Toy Story, is set to co-direct with The Simpsons David Silverman. Other celebrities lending their voices include James Coburn, Steve Buscemi, Jennifer Tilly and Bonnie Hunt. Monsters, Inc will be released in the fall of next year.
Grodin Sticks to the Facts on 60 Minutes
Aug. 14, 2000
According to television network CBS, actor Charles Grodin, who hosted his own cable talk show from 1995-1999, has joined the 60 Minutes team as a commentator for the Tuesday night spin-off 60 Minutes II. 65 year-old Grodin is probably best known for films including Heaven Can Wait, Seems Like Old Times and Midnight Run. CBS announced Grodin will first appear on the Tuesday night show's season premier in early October.
First Wolverine, Now Swordfish
Aug 7, 2000
X-Man star Hugh Jackman will be sinking his claws into a new flick called Swordfish. On the heels of his successful role as Wolverine, Jackman is in negotiations for the role of a computer hacker forced by a spy into a heist. Dominic Sena (Gone In 60 Seconds) will be directing the Warner Bros. venture that is slated to star John Travolta as well. Jackman is currently starring with Ashley Judd in FOX’s romantic comedy Animal Husbandry.
To Infinity and Beyond the Screen
Aug. 7, 2000
As is often the fate of most Disney animated films, Toy Story is the latest to become a cartoon TV series. Tim Allen, Patrick Warburton, Linda Hamilton, Wayne Knight and Stephen Furst have all lent their voices to the direct-to-video sequel, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins . Directed by Tad Stones, this 70 minute animated Disney feature launches a new TV series of the same name, set to air this fall.
A DVD version of the movie also includes a digital comic book that can be read by the viewer or a narrator, and an interactive trivia game.
Robert Downey Jr. Released
Aug. 7, 2000
Actor Robert Downey Jr. was released from jail last week after the court granted him an appeal. Downeys' attorneys were able to prove that a Los Angeles Superior Court judge had miscalculated his sentence. The 35 year old actor was serving a three-year sentence in California state prison for violating probation on a 1996 drug conviction. At the time, the actor pleaded no contest to the charges of illegally possessing cocaine, heroin and a gun found in a car he was speeding in.
Downey was released on $5000 bail within three hours of his granted appeal, and according to his attorney checked himself into a residential drug rehabilitation facility immediately after being freed. Downey was housed in a different unit of the same state prison that houses such hardened criminals as Charles Manson and Robert F. Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan.
Busy Gal Helen Hunt
Aug. 7, 2000
Helen Hunt has been extremely busy lately. She is signed up to star with Woody Allen in his next film, which begins production in New York this fall. Hunt, who won an Oscar for her role in As Good as It Gets has four films coming out before the end of the year. She stars with Kevin Spacey and Haley Joel Osment in director Mimi Leder's Pay It Forward which opens Oct. 20 (via Warner Bros). She plays a supporting role in Dr. T and the Women, the Robert Altman-directed ensemble piece with Richard Gere, Laura Dern and Liv Tyler.
She also stars with Mel Gibson in What Women Want, the Nancy Meyers-directed Paramount comedy opening Dec. 18, and with Tom Hanks in Cast Away the Robert Zemeckis-directed film from Fox and DreamWorks that is due out at Christmas.
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