Random News of the Week (September 22 - September 28, 2008)

Sadly, Paul Newman died on Saturday September 28, 2008 of cancer. It has been a dark year for losses in Hollywood with Charlton Heston going earlier this year and many many others. It will be a depressing Oscars montage of deaths this year. Newman is one of my favorite actors of all time. Some of my favorites from Newman include COOL HAND LUKE, BUTCH CASSIDY, SLAPSHOT, ROAD TO PERDITION, THE STING, COLOR OF MONEY, and many others. One you might have missed but absolutely MUST see is THE VERDICT. What was even better about Newman, beyond his acting, was his personal life. They guy had massive class. His Newman’s Own group of foods and sauces was very successful and he donated 100% of the profits to charity. He will be sorely missed.

Bill Murray actually commented on GHOSTBUSTERS 3 this week. According to an AICN informant, “But tonight he said that he knew "some writers from THE OFFICE" were taking a stab at the script right now (which we already knew) and that he thinks that's a good start. He paused for a few seconds then said that he thinks enough time has passed and that "the wounds from GHOSTBUSTERS 2 are healed" and that he would definitely be into doing another GHOSTBUSTERS movie, stating that the first 40 minutes of the original film is some of the best stuff he's been associated with and the whole shoot was an amazing amount of fun. He also went on to say that his enthusiasm for Ghostbusters was heightened after recording the voice of Peter Venkman for the video game over the summer. In fact, he said he found himself walking down the street singing the Ghostbusters theme song and then thought people walking around him were going to start yelling at him to "get over yourself, Bill," so he stopped... But the enthusiasm was there.”

News is out about CARS 2. Brad Lewis who produced RATATOUILLE will make his directing debut. It has been moved up from 2012 to 2011 now. Basically, in this one, Mater gets a passport and he and Lightning travel around the world.

Some news about a possible PREDATOR 3. According to producer John Davis,
We'd love to restart the Predator franchise but we'd have to come up with a really good script and a really great angle on it. "In regards to AVP, I think we've logically done what we could've done with the two AVP movies. But I think there's something to go back to with Predator." In other words, AVP has been a disaster and maybe if we got back to what actually made the franchises good, we might have more success.

Word is that Paul Greengrass (BOURNE SUPREMACY, FLIGHT 93) is working on a much more dark and adult pirate film. David Franzoni (GLADIATOR) wrote the script.

An I AM LEGEND prequel is in the works as well as a sequel for HANCOCK. Will Smith will be back for both. He is box office gold so it is inevitable even though both films are particularly great.

The new FRIDAY THE 13th trailer will debut on prints of SAW V.

M. Night actually talked about an UNBREAKABLE sequel this week. “I tell you I get asked about it all the time, so it’s not [an idea] I ever forget.” According to Sam Jackson, the plot would involve “I broke out of the mental institution. I’m out there doing stuff and ["Unbreakable" co-star Bruce Willis' "David Dunn" is] after me. It’s very cool. He still wears that rain thing, that windbreaker.” M. Night says “I do love the [comic book movie] genre, I just wanna make sure that I’m able to express who I am. I don’t want to get so lost in the subject that I have to neuter everything that’s me in it, so maybe ‘Unbreakable’ is the comic book thing I should do — I keep coming back to that.” PLEASE DO THIS M. It’s the right move.

George Clooney is interested in the role of THE LONE RANGER and supposedly, Johnny Depp is already signed on for the role of Tonto (Depp is part Native American).

QUANTUM OF SOLICE is going to be the shortest Bond film yet. It’s running time is only 106 minutes.

A cringe inducing article with Brett Ratner this week who talked about his keen desire to be involved in a sequel for BATMAN. Ratner thinks it’d be great to do spin-offs on the bad guys. His first choice would be to have a spin-off for Joker. “Heath was great,” Ratner said. “But the Joker is a great villain. That’s why Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger had so much to work with. And I think there will be another actor who can interpret that. It would be great to see [Robert] Downey [Jr.] as the Joker, for instance.” In regard to DARK KNIGHT, Ratner said “I’m a little jealous that I didn’t get to direct it, although Nolan did a great job. But there are so many characters in the Batman series, so many characters that I love, that the opportunities for spin-offs are endless.”