Ridley Scott’s Sci-Fi Roots May Bring Us Another Trip to the Future

Ridley Scott Back to Sci-Fi: Eclipse Magazine posed a question to Ridley Scott (Alien and Blade Runner) asking him, “Why have you not done more science fiction films?” To which he replied:

I am going to do one. I waited for a book for 20 years and I have got the book. I am not going to tell you what the book is but that film is going to probably be written within the next month. That will definitely be what I do next after Nottingham, the Robin Hood film that I am doing now in England.

He also talks a little about bringing Cormac McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian” to the big screen and speaking of the novel saying, “We got it down as a screenplay and the problem is that it is so savage.” [Eclipse]

DePalma Bringing Stranglers: Brian DePalma is still trying to capture old time glory. He hasn’t had a bonafide good film since 1996’s Mission: Impossible and he is still best known for his gangster flick Scarface. One has to wonder if The Boston Stranglers will be any better. The film is based on Susan Kelly’s nonfiction book “The Boston Stranglers: The Public Conviction of Albert DeSalvo and the True Story of Eleven Shocking Murders” and was adapted by Alan Rosen. Don’t know who Rosen is? Try the writer of a few episodes of the ’80s sitcoms “Head of the Class” and “Diff’rent Strokes”. How’s your confidence in this flick now? The thriller will detail the early-’60s Boston killings and their controversial resolution. Many question whether Albert DeSalvo — a publicity hound who confessed to the murders and was later stabbed to death while incarcerated on unrelated charges — was the actual killer. [THR]

Rossum Up for Dare: Emmy Rossum is set to star in Dare, an independent film lensing in Philadelphia. Directed by Adam Salky and scripted by David Brind, the film is about three privileged high school seniors who decide they can no longer ignore their deepest needs and take the biggest risk of their lives. She joins Ashley Springer, Ana Gasteyer, Alan Cumming, Sandra Bernhardt, Tricia Mara and Cady Huffman. [Variety]

Morgan Heads to Shanghai: Jeffrey Dean Morgan will star in Shanghai alongside John Cusack and Ken Watanabe. The period piece set up at The Weinstein Co. will feature Morgan playing Connor, an American killed in Japanese-occupied Shanghai before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Cusack’s Paul Soames sets out to investigate his friend’s murder and discovers a larger secret that the government is hiding. Mikael Hafstrom is directing from a script by Hossein Amini. THR]

McG Clears the Terminator 4 Air: McG has posted a new bit of information on the official Terminator Salvation site giving details about the shooting including this nugget on the rumors that it will be rated PG-13:

Oh yeah, don’t get too uptight about the prospect of the film being PG-13. We have entertained the idea of a PG-13 rating largely because Batman Begins, in my opinion, was made compromise-free. So we’ll see. The movie comes first and it will be protected at all times…

As for the rumors that the ending has been spoiled he says, “By the way, there are only three people who know the ending.” [T4Blog]

Cruise Filming More Valkyrie: This is no huge secret as everyone already knew there were reshoots for Valkyrie and that there may be more. Well, Variety head honcho Peter Bart has posted a bit on his pompous blog (look at his smug face up there) saying, “Tom Cruise is going back to work. He’s going to shoot the three final scenes on Valkyrie, the movie that began production one year ago in Germany. Cruise will be shooting three scenes in North Africa within the next three weeks. In one, his character, Col. Claus Von Stauffenberg, is badly injured but survives, a key moment in the film’s first act.” [Variety]

Christopher Lee is Up for Playing Sauron: Wow, big surprise here. Christopher Lee has hopes of playing Saruman again in Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation of The Hobbit. “Originally Saruman The White and the rest of the wizards, or the Istari as they call them, were immortal,” he told Empire Magazine. “There were five of them, two of them never appear, I know their names but they never appear, and the only three that are mentioned are Saruman The White, Gandalf The Grey and Radagast The Brown who you never see – so basically it’s two wizards… I’d be interested in seeing how that transition from good to evil occurred and, yes, of course I would return to the role if I was asked.” [Empire]

McPhee Roles in a Bentley: Katharine McPhee and Wes Bentley are starring in the indie psychological drama The Storyteller, which Robert Angelo Masciantonio is directing. Bentley plays a writer who goes on a downward spiral when his father dies, causing his assistant (McPhee) to start investigating whether his muse as well as narrator for his stories (Anita Briem) is a figment of his imagination. [THR]