Last fall, a remake of Iceland's Oscar entry for last year,the thriller "Reykjavik-Rotterdam" by director Baltasar Kormakur, was announced with Mark Wahlberg producing and potentially starring and then....well, nothing. Then, last month Latino Review revealed that Kate Beckinsale had joined the project to take a starring role opposite Wahlberg.
Today, it looks like things are now going full steam forward as Universal has snapped up the film, approved its $30 million budget and turned on the the greenlight. Now titled "Contraband," the film follows a security guard and former smuggler who, facing financial troubles, is roped back into his old life. The logline seems pretty dry, and we haven't seen the original film, but Wahlberg is no slouch when it comes to picking projects so perhaps it's a lot meatier than the one-liner suggests. Aaron Guzikowski, who penned the very hot Black List script "Prisoners," is writing the screenplay.
No word yet on a production start date, but presumably sometime in 2011 once Beckinsale has wrapped up her duties on "Underworld 4." But there will be plenty of Wahlberg in the upcoming months as the most recently released trailer for "The Fighter" indicates that he is a very strong contender for a Best Actor nomination at this year's Oscars.
OK, these are a couple of Big If & Maybe stories as they are still in development and the talented circling may never end up coming on board, but with the names surrounding them as big as they are, it's sort of hard to ignore as well. So just consider it as a heads up.
First up, "Wedding Crashers" duo Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilsonmight potentially reteam for the action comedy "2 Guns." Written by "Brotherhood" scribe Blake Masters, the film would follow "two lawmen, neither of whom realizes the other is a 'good guy,' as they plot to rob a bank together, having been assigned to do so by their employers, and then must figure out who the dirty money belongs to as their respective agencies try to hunt them down." We're sure there is a piece missing to that logline that explains why a lawman would be assigned to rob a bank, but it seems right in the zone for these two. Vaughn is currently attached while Wilson is showing interest in the project that is set up at Universal. Meanwhile, Seth MacFarlane, who never misses a moment to yell "Jew!" or "Gay!" to try and get a laugh, is putting the pieces together on his R-rated comedy, $65 million dollar feature debut "Ted." As was reported earlier in the year, the film focuses on the relationship between a man and his teddy bear (the latter character will be CG-generated and voiced by MacFarlane himself) and the problems it poses when he gets a girlfriend. So just how button pushing will it be? The film apparently has parts for "a racist homosexual, a woman obsessed with talking about men shaving their assholes, and a 'Jewish-looking' person who makes anti-Semitic remarks." So, sounds like your typical "Family Guy" episode.
Anyway, Mark Wahlberg is looking at joining the film in the lead role. Wahlberg in a foul-mouthed, taboo spewing comedy? Yeah, sure we'll believe it when we see it. And given the heavy price tag, and Universal's recent and very public run in with GLAAD over the "Electric cars are gay" joke in "The Dilemma," you can bet they're gonna be second guessing giving this film the greenlight. Btw, don't be surprise if you hear Seth Rogen's name in connection to this project, according to the recent pages of Production Weekly, the young actor has been eyed to have a role. Our guess is while MacFarlane might want to voice the animal himself, Seth Rogen might be a better name to help draw audiences in.
Update: Universal will be removing the offending scene from trailers for the film.
"Ladies and gentlemen, electric cars are gay."
So goes Vince Vaughn in the very first moment of the trailer for the upcoming Ron Howard rom-com "The Dilemma," but in the wake of a number of young gays committing suicide in the past few weeks, that playful phrase is not looking so funny anymore.
Anderson Cooper recently took to "Ellen" to talk about gay bullying, and in addressing how language is used to put people down he brought up the trailer to "The Dilemma," saying, “I was sitting in a movie theater over the weekend and there was a preview of [Vince Vaughn's new] movie, and in it, the actor said, ‘that’s so gay,’ and I was shocked that not only they put it in the movie, but that they thought that it was okay to put that in a preview for the movie to get people to go and see it.”
According to Deadline, their comments section had this debate back when the trailer dropped, but Universal execs are confused. A source told Deadline, "we showed the trailer to gay groups like GLAAD and gay executives here and gays in our marketing department and no one was offended and everyone had a positive response." Hmm. So what's our take on all this? In short, it's much ado about nothing, or, very little, really. Is the phrase tasteless and not politically correct? Sure. Is it the worst thing you can use to insult somebody gay or straight? Not really. But in our experience it's how people talk (again, not condoning it, but that's the reality of the situation) and we've heard both gay and straight people use the expression. Yeah, it's a troubling use of the word as an insult, and as far as witty lines go in a shitty rom-com, it's about as bottom-of-the-barrel-not-really-trying as you can go, but does it deserve an uproar this loud? No. And there's no word yet on how electric cars feel about the comment. But you know what would really help gay kids, Anderson Cooper? If someone like yourself, who is widely known to be gay, would actually not be afraid to embrace who you are when the camera is on you. Show kids who are struggling with their sexuality that it's okay to be gay in all situations, even when it might affect your very lucrative career. Ellen gave you a golden opportunity when she asked if you were ever bullied to talk about your personal experience. You talked around it wonderfully. We know you don't talk about your personal life but what gay kids really need are strong role models and this could be a fantastic chance to reach these kids in a meaningful way. You can start by making a video for the It Gets Better project.
Update:Deadline reports that Universal has paid a whopping $1.5 million against more than $3 million in what is one of the biggest spec script sales of the year. Are you clamoring for another take on the Snow White story?
Screenwriter Evan Daugherty ("Grayskull, the still unproduced "He-Man" film), director Rupert Sanders (once hired to helm the Leonard DiCaprio-associated crime drama, "The Low Dweller") and producer Joe Roth ("Alice In Wonderland") seem to think so, and they're taking their director/writer/producer package around Hollywood looking for a studio to bite according to THR. Evidently Disney themselves are not part of the visual presentation going aroundTinseltown as they have their own project, “Snow and the Seven,” in the works.
The project is called, "Snow White & The Huntsman" and the premise sounds pretty excellent, actually. In this version of the fairy tale, the titular Huntsman is ordered to take Snow White into the woods and kill her. Instead, he lets her go and the two are evidently chained together for part of the movie as they make their escape. Evidently there's no love story either and the Hunter acts like more of a mentor, teaching the teen girl to fight and survive (sounds a bit like Joe Wright's "Hanna").
A visceral deconstruction of the Snow White story that pounds on the Disney version? We hope so (and it makes us less worried about Joe Roth's participation). The project is filled with strong talent too. While not having directed a feature-length film yet, Sanders has been circling several. He's known for directing the live-action "Halo 3: ODST" commercial for the Xbox 360, and as a director he won two Grand Prixes at the Cannes Festival 2008 and was nominated for a DGA in 2006 and 2008. More notably, he was tapped to direct the aforementioned dark ex-con drama "The Low Dweller" in 2009. A top 5 2008 blacklist script that was bought by Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Wayfor co-production with Ridley Scott's Scott Free Productions. He's also been a contender for the recent "Hunger Games" project, and was circling "All You Need Is Kill" before Doug Limanconfirmed his participation on the film.
While Daugherty's "Grayskull" might not earn him points with our readers, his screenplay "Shrapnel," about two mortal enemies squaring off on a hunting trip to the death, did make the 2008 Blacklist as well. Needless to say it sounds like an enticing project, and we're betting it's only a matter of weeks or days until someone is announced as the project's shepherd.
Jonathan Levine, director of the charming '90s set, hip-hop infused coming-of-age tale "The Wackness" and the horror thriller "All The Boys Love Mandy Lane" (which is still without a proper DVD release in North America) is now attached to direct an adaptation of Richard Aleas' hardboiled crime novel, "Little Girl Lost" for Universal, who have acquired the rights.
The film has some serious potential, as the novel it's based on won the 2008 Shamus Award for Best Paperback Original. This writer has read some of Aleas' other work and it's sweet, old school noir. Which shouldn't be a surprise considering it's published via the Hard Case Crime imprint who specialize in the genre. Most excitingly, the very hot Michael Bacall ("Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World," "Project X", "21 Jump Street") is on board to adapt the novel.
Levine recently wrapped the cancer dramedy "Live With It" starringSeth Rogen, Anna Kendrick,Bryce Dallas Howard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Angelica Huston and Philip Baker Hall, taking over the project from Nicole Holofcener. He's definitely a director on the rise, who seems to enjoy dipping his toes in different genres and we're eager to see what a potential Levine/Bacall pairing can produce. He's also attached to direct the comedic zombie feature, "Warm Bodies." [Variety]
Last fall, a remake of Iceland's Oscar entry for last year, the thriller "Reykjavik-Rotterdam" by director Baltasar Kormakur, was announced with Mark Wahlberg producing and potentially starring and then....well, nothing. Then, last month Latino Review revealed that Kate Beckinsale had joined the project to take a starring role opposite Wahlberg.
