What’s a filmmaker to do when he’s on a terrible losing streak with both critics and general audiences? If you’re M. Night Shyamalan you revisit the ideas behind one of your early hits. Speaking with MTV‘s Rick Marshall, Shyamalan reveals the third movie in his Night Chronicles series, which begins with this month’s Devil, will be based on concepts cut out of 2000’s Unbreakable and originally intended for a sequel that never materialized. He better hope this works because it could easily come across as a desperate attempt by a once great mind who has run out of good ideas. Here’s the quote:
“I cannibalized the idea for the sequel to Unbreakable for one of the Night Chronicles. It was such a cool idea for a villain, and it was actually in the script for Unbreakable, and it was too much. There were too many villains, so I pulled this villain out and was like, ‘I’ll make this the second flick.’ I fleshed it out more and more, and thought, ‘This could be a standalone movie.’ I’ll just say it: the third Night Chronicles movie is what would have been the sequel [to Unbreakable]. So now I need to come up with a new idea.”
Collider is reporting director Guillermo del Toro wants Tom Cruise to star in his next film, At the Mountains of Madness. However, the studio (Universal) is pulling for James McAvoy. The project would be shot in 3D with James Cameron producing and centers on a geologist discovering horrific ruins and a dangerous secret beyond a massive range of mountains while on an Antarctic expedition. I know Tom Cruise is considered box-office poison right now, but is McAvoy anywhere near his level? Sure, Wanted was a big hit but I don’t think that had anything to do with him. Whichever way they decide to go, production on the film is set to begin in May 2011.
According to Variety, Olivia Thirlby (Juno) has signed on to star opposed Karl Urban in the 3D Judge Dredd reboot and will play a telepathic rookie who shadows Dredd. The project will see Pete Travis (Vantage Point) directing a script by Alex Garland (Sunshine, 28 Days Later) on a $45 million budget (which is half of what it took to make the 1995 Sly Stallone version).
Variety reports Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) is in negotiations to join the already cast Sam Worthington in Summit’s cop thriller Man on a Ledge. The story revolves around a female psychologist and a former NYPD officer (Worthington) who threatens to jump to his death. A Deadline report also has Jamie Bell (Jumper) in negotiations. Bell will fill the role of Worthington’s brother who happens to be planning a heist of a jewelry store across the street while the cop threatens suicide. As for the female psychologist role, Amy Adams is said to be interested but no deal has been made yet.
A handful of names have already been announced for the cast of Final Destination 5, and Coming Soon has confirmed that Emma Bell (Frozen) has landed the lead female role in the movie. The latest installment in the cheating death franchise will revolve around a group of people who escape the collapse of a city’s suspension bridge. Shooting is set to begin on Monday.
Although the ridiculously awesome The A-Team sadly underperformed at the summer box-office, Liam Neeson must have had enough fun to want to reteam with director Joe Carnahan. Heat Vision reports the actor is currently in negotiations to star in Carnahan’s survival drama The Grey, which centers on a group of oil drillers struggling to survive an attack by vicious wolves after their plane crash lands in Alaska. Strangely enough, fellow A-Teamer Bradley Cooper was originally slated to topline the project so either age is not an issue for the leader of the team or Cooper was planning on playing a different role in an ensemble.
Tom Hardy (Inception, Bronson) has been cast in the adaptation of John Le Carre’s British Cold War spy thriller Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy for director Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In), a role that opened up when Michael Fassbender left the project in favor of X-Men: First Class. Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) wrote the screenplay, which tells the story of a British Intelligence operative whose task is to delve into the world of Cold War espionage and root out a Soviet mole in the highest echelon in the British Intelligence Services. Hardy will play an acquaintance of the protagonist (Gary Oldman), with Colin Firth and Ralph Fiennes also believed to be part of the cast. [The Playlist]
Oscar Isaac, who I thought was the best thing about this summer’s Robin Hood, has joined the cast of the action thriller Drive for Bronson director Nicolas Winding Refn. The film is an adaptation of James Sallis’s novel that centers on a Hollywood stunt driver (Ryan Gosling) who moonlights as a getaway driver for thieves and co-stars the likes of Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston and Albert Brooks. [Showbiz 411]
The Hollywood Reporter‘s Jonathan Landreth is reporting Steven Soderberg will be traveling to Hong Kong for one of the shooting locations for his outbreak thriller Contagion. In addition, he has cast Josie Ho as the sister of “Patient Zero,” a casino worker who spreads a deadly virus to passengers on an airplane leaving for the United States. Ho says she’ll draw on her own experiences during the 2003 SARS outbreak for her role as she joins an impressive cast that includes Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law and Kate Winslet.
Finally, word has it the following clip from the upcoming remake Let Me In is the clip that was shown at the San Diego Comic Con earlier this year. Give it a watch and see if it impresses you as much as it did the comic book crowd in San Diego. Let Me In hits theaters on October 1.
