Old Movie News:
April 12th-18th 1999

In this section you will find the latest news & rumours on current and upcoming Hollywood projects. To spice up the page we also serve a variety of new posters, images and reviews. If you have a scoop you'd like to share with everyone, please submit it to us.

The Matrix: Not much news this weekend, but for those who are interested in reading the script for "The Matrix," it's now available online with thanks to The Matrix Site.

Matrix - Written by Larry and Andy Wachowski

Movie Posters: The brand new "The World Is Not Enough" teaser poster has been released over at the Official Site. Look for this 19th Bond film in theatres November 19th, 1999. You can even enter to win this poster right here (for US residents only..) Also the regular "A Midsummer Night's Dream" poster.

Untitled Allen Project: Oscar-nominated screenwriter Elaine May will take her first screen acting role in nearly a decade with a part in the ensemble cast of Woody Allen's next project. Allen is writing and directing the untitled picture, in which he stars opposite Michael Rapaport, Tracey Ullman, Hugh Grant and Jon Lovitz. Produced by Jean Doumanian's Sweetland Films, the film is scheduled to begin shooting in New York this summer.

The Dreyfus Affair: Director Betty Thomas ("Doctor Dolitte") has become embroiled in "The Dreyfus Affair," a romantic comedy about a star major league shortstop and family man who falls in love with his second baseman. The project, based on the Peter Lefcourt novel "The Dreyfus Affair: A Love Story,'' is set up at New Line Cinema. New Line executives hope "Dreyfus" can start by early next year, Variety reports.

Roustabout: Variety reports that New Line has tapped Chris Eyre (”Smoke Signals”) to direct “Roustabout,” to which Winona Ryder is attached to star. Newcomer Kathleen Orillion has been hired to adapt Michelle Chalfoun’s 1997 debut novel about a modern day female circus roustabout. Ryder also will produce the pic along with her manager Carol Bodie and Ross Grayson Bell (“The Fight Club”). Book is a coming of age story about a young woman who struggles to find a way out the shadows of the big top, under which she has grown up since she was abandoned as a child.

Reeves Projects: Keanu Reeves ("The Matrix") has agreed to a co-starring role in indie thriller "Driven," the feature debut of video director Joe Charbanic. The picture is slated for an early summer or late fall start. Written by Darcy Meyers and Clay Ayers, "Driven" is the story of a cunning serial killer (Reeves) who turns the tables on an investigative team hot on his trail. Reeves is also in line for a career-best $15 million salary to play a sniper in "Shooter.'' He would play Bobby Lee Swaggart, a master sniper who exiled himself to the Arkansas hills after mistakenly causing the death of an innocent person. Finally lured out of his reclusive life to help prevent an assassination, he gets double-crossed, leaving him hunted for murder and trying to guess who sold him out and why, according to Variety and THR.

Posters: A poster for "Election" starring Matthew Broderick and Reese Witherspoon. This comedy will be released April 23rd in the US. Also the International poster for the upcoming Sean Connery/Catherine Zeta-Jones film "Entrapment." There's also quite a few new "Star Wars: Episode I - TPM" posters available over at TheForce.net - but I'm unsure whether or not they're real.

Untitled Allen Project: Hugh Grant and Jon Lovitz are set to join Tracey Ullman and Michael Rapaport in the rapidly expanding ensemble for Woody Allen's next directorial outing. Currently untitled, the picture begins production this summer in New York. Allen is writing the screenplay and will co-star in the film. And as with nearly every Allen production, story details are being kept tightly guarded, Variety reports.

The Next Best Thing: Lynn Redgrave (“Gods and Monsters”) is in negotiations to star opposite Rupert Everett and Madonna in “The Next Best Thing” for Paramount Pictures and Lakeshore Entertainment. “Best” is the story of a single woman (Madonna) who convinces her best friend, a gay man (Everett), to father and raise her child. Five years later when the woman falls in love with a straight man and wants to move away, a nasty custody battle ensues, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The Whole Nine Yards: Rosanna Arquette and Matthew Perry will star as a married couple opposite Bruce Willis in "The Whole
Nine Yards." Shooting begins in Montreal in June. Written by Mitchell Kapner, "Yards" is a black comedy about a suburban couple - Oz (Perry) a financially strapped dentist, and his nagging wife Phoebe (Arquette) - whose new neighbor is a hit man (Willis) on the run from the mob. Goaded by Phoebe into ratting on the neighbor in exchange for a handsome payout from the gangsters who want Jimmy dead, Oz finds himself in over his head, including falling in love with Jimmy's wife. Also set to star is Natasha Henstridge ("Species"). Jonathan Lynn will direct.

The Fountain Society: DreamWorks Pictures has paid $1 million for the film rights to "The Fountain Society,'' the debut novel of "Scream'' director Wes Craven. Craven is attached to direct and executive produce the picture. The total deal could be worth about $5 million to Craven and his producing partner Marianne Maddalena, depending on how well the book sells and the picture performs. "Society'' follows the last days of Dr. Peter Janze, a top weapons development scientist on a secret government project, who is dying of cancer. When a longtime friend and colleague offers him a new lease on life, Janze becomes an unwitting part of a governmental genetics project delving into human cloning and the search for the fountain of youth. Craven is expected to begin shooting in the spring or summer of 2000, after finishing work on "Scream 3." Full Story >>>

Tomb Raider: Variety reports that a live-action picture based on the popular Croft video game, is said to be on the fast track at Paramount Pictures. Director Stephen Herek ("Holy Man") is close to a deal to develop the project, which the studio hopes to turn into an event film for release in summer 2000. Several scribes took a shot at adapting the video game - at one point two writers were working independently on different versions. But it wasn't until screenwriter Steven de Souza submitted his draft that Paramount deemed the project ready for a director to come on board, according to Paramount MPG president John Goldwyn.

Me, Myself and Irene: Renee Zellweger ("Jerry Maguire,") is near a deal to star as the object of Jim Carrey's affection in the Farrelly brothers' ribald comedy "Me, Myself and Irene." Zellweger will have her hands full with Carrey, who will star as a Rhode Island state trooper with a split personality. When he fails to take his medication, each of his competing personalities falls in love with Irene (Zellweger), who then becomes the crux of a love triangle between two halves of the same person. Peter and Bobby Farrelly will produce the 20th Century Fox project.

The General's Daughter: A trailer for this upcoming film, which stars John Travolta, James Cromwell and James Woods.

The General's Daughter - Full Trailer (6.4 MB)

See Jane Run: Director Doug Liman ("Go") is taking on producing duties with indie pic "See Jane Run." Clea DuVall will play the lead role in the black comedy, which begins shooting Saturday in Los Angeles. Written and directed by first-timer Sarah Thorp, "Jane" follows a chain-smoking, suicidal waitress who cultivates her meaningless existence by turning to a life of petty crime. Nicole Laloggia and Eden Wurmfeld are also producing the low-budget pic, Liman's first foray into producing.

East Bound and Down: Adam Herz ("American Pie") will write "East Bound and Down" for the studio in a deal worth high-six figures against close to $1 million. Former studio production president Marc Platt will produce. The project is described as a contemporary "Smokey and the Bandit," the 1977 Universal film about a sheriff who pursues a bandit who has offered a ride to his future daughter-in-law who is trying to escape the unwanted wedding. The film, which starred Burt Reynolds, Jackie Gleason and Sally Field, went on to spawn two sequels, THR reports.

Standing Room Only: Variety reports that the lights have faded temporarily on the Jimmy Roselli story, "Standing Room Only'' starring John Travolta. The $50 million picture had been slated to start shooting in the spring under Gus Van Sant's helm with Travolta playing the charismatic New Jersey Italian lounge act along with his real-life wife, Kelly Preston, as Donna Roselli. Travolta's manager/producer Jonathan Krane announced that the numerous musical numbers and the elaborate staging required had lengthened pre-production and production schedules, and caused a conflict with Travolta's commitment to star in the action-adventure "Battlefield Earth.'' Travolta is supposed to start principal photography on ''Earth'' in July. Roger Christian is directing the $70 million film, which is based on a novel by Travolta's Scientology guru L. Ron Hubbard. Full Story >>>

Editors Note: The results of our "Matrix" poll are in, and can be accessed right here. The "Editors Note" spot is frequently used for forum plugs, so why not add another one now that the pace is picking up on the new board. Movie Board >>>

The news site is normally updated every other day, sometimes more often, depending on the amount of fresh news.

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