Coogan Is Eddie The Eagle Edwards
In the Most British Film News Story Ever, Steve Coogan has signed on to play sporting legend Eddie "The Eagle" Edwards, Blighty's ski-jump Olympic disaster area and national hero, in a biopic (called, of course, Eddie The Eagle) due out next year.
Edwards was the first person ever to represent the UK at the ski jump, at the Olympics in Calgary in 1988. Ranked 55th in the world, Edwards was completely self-funded (he worked as a plasterer to make ends meet) and was the sole applicant to represent Blighty. Once there, his weight (nine pounds more than the next contestant), lack of financial support, long-sightedness (which required him to wear glasses that frequently fogged during the competition) and fear of heights rather affected his medal chances, and he finished last. Still, his good spirits and can-do attitude won him fans around the world, leading to a brief pop career and, now, this biopic.
John Heyman, producer of films like A Passage to India and father of Harry Potter producer David, has long cherished the idea of an Edwards film and has finally got it off the ground, with Coogan starring. The script's by Simon Kelton (who at one point had Nanny McPhee's Kirk Jones set to direct) with a rewrite by Sean Macaulay, and Declan Lowney is directing. Who's Lowney? Well, he's chiefly a TV comedy director, but since he directed the immortal "A Christmassy Ted" episode of Father Ted (and indeed some of that paragon of sitcoms other high points), we must assume that this will be the greatest film ever.
Shooting starts in January, so with a bit of luck we'll see it soon after next year's summer Olympics.
Unreleased Tunes Revived For Jagger Collection
A handful of unreleased tracks will enrich "The Very Best of Mick Jagger," due Oct. 2 via Atlantic/Rhino. Chief among them is 1973's John Lennon-produced "Too Many Cooks (Spoil the Soup)," which features Cream bassist Jack Bruce, Harry Nilsson on backing vocals and keyboardist Al Kooper, among others.
Two buried tracks from a session with producer Rick Rubin are seeing the light here: a cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Checkin' Up on My Baby" with Los Angeles blues band the Red Devils, and "Charmed Life," which has been remixed by producer Ashley Beedle.
Also featured on "Very Best" are Jagger's two biggest solo hits on the Billboard Hot 100: a cover of Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street" with David Bowie (No. 7) and "Just Another Night" (No. 12). His collaboration with Peter Tosh on the Temptations' "(You've Got To Walk And) Don't Look Back" rounds out the track list.
Here is the track list for "The Very Best of Mick Jagger":
"God Gave Me Everything"
"Put Me in the Trash"
"Just Another Night"
"Don't Tear Me Up"
"Charmed Life"
"Sweet Thing"
"Old Habits Die Hard"
"Dancing in the Street"
"Too Many Cooks (Spoil the Soup)"
"Memo From Turner"
"Lucky in Love"
"Let's Work"
"Joy"
"Don't Call Me Up"
"Checkin' Up on My Baby"
"(You Gotta Walk And) Don't Look Back"
"Evening Gown"
Three get intimate with 'Guru'
Jessica Alba, Romany Malco and Verne Troyer have signed on to join Mike Myers in Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment's "The Love Guru."
Paramount also has slotted the comedy for a June 20 release.
The film, which marks Myers' first original character since Austin Powers, will begin shooting next month in Toronto.
Myers will play Pitka, an American who was left at the gates of an ashram in India as a child and raised by gurus. He moves back to the U.S. to seek fame and fortune in the world of self-help and spirituality, specializing in settling intimacy issues between couples.
His unorthodox methods are put to the test when he must settle a rift between star hockey player Darren Roanoke (Malco) and his estranged wife. After the split, Roanoke's wife starts dating the star member of a rival team, sending her husband into a major professional skid -- to the horror of the team's owner, Jane Bullard (Alba), and Coach Cherkov (Troyer).
Marco Schnabel, who served as second unit director on "Austin Powers in Goldmember," will helm from a screenplay penned by Myers and Graham Gordy.
Myers and Michael De Luca are producing, while Donald J. Lee Jr., Roger Birnbaum and Gary Barber are executive producing.
Alba recently reprised her role as Sue Storm in "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer." She next stars in the romantic comedy "Good Luck Chuck" with Dane Cook and the thriller "The Eye" for C/W Prods.
She is repped by Endeavor, Thruline Entertainment and attorney Warren Dern.
Malco most recently co-starred in the hit comedies "Blades of Glory" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin."
Troyer teamed with Myers on the second and third installments in the "Austin Powers" franchise, playing Mini-Me.
Fox To Push $150,000 Movie
Fox Searchlight is planning to give the $150,000 art-house musical Once an advertising push after the film raked in $6.5 million on just 140 screens, USA Today reported on Wednesday.
The film has also received the attention -- and praise -- of Steven Spielberg, who told the newspaper, "A little movie called Once gave me enough inspiration to last the rest of the year."
The film's success has apparently surprised the filmmakers, singers Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, who say that they originally planned to sell it only at their concerts.
Aaron outrates Bonds on television
NEW YORK - Hank Aaron is still the home-run king when it comes to television ratings.
ESPN2's broadcast of Barry Bonds' record 756th homer received a 1.1 cable rating on ESPN2 Tuesday night, which translates to 995,000 households.
When Aaron hit his 715th home run on April 8, 1974, to break Babe Ruth's record, NBC's broadcast received a 22.3 rating on NBC, the equivalent of 14.9 million homes.
Back in Aaron's day, there were only a fraction of the TV channels that viewers can choose from today. Also, baseball had far less competition for the attention of fans.
Aaron's historic home run in Atlanta was hit at 9:07 p.m. EDT, while Bonds' drive in San Francisco came at 11:51 p.m. EDT. During the 11:45 p.m. to midnight time period, ESPN2's telecast averaged a 1.7 cable rating (1.6 million homes), and for the following 15 minutes the rating jumped to 1.9 (1.8 million homes).
NBC did not have 15-minute breakdowns available for the 1974 game.
Bonds' game did better in San Francisco, where is received a 7.2 rating and 15 share on FSN Bay Area (172,000 homes). During the 15-minute time period when Bonds homered, the telecast got an 11.1 rating (265,000 homes).
Tuesday's game was the 10th added Giants telecast by ESPN/ESPN2 during Bonds' home run chase.
The rating is the percentage of television households watching a broadcast, and the share is the percentage watching among those homes with televisions on at the time.