PUNCH-DRUNK Is Punched Up
Sony Pictures has decided to move Adam Sandler’s next film, PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE, from its December release to October 11 in limited release, and a week later nation-wide. The move will keep it away from the next HARRY POTTER film and LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS. Sony is hoping that the dark romantic comedy will be nominated for the Oscars.
‘Citizen Kane’ Voted Best Ever Film
The greatest film ever made is “Citizen Kane,” according to an international poll of film critics and directors.
The Orson Welles classic was chosen by 144 film critics and directors polled separately by the British Film Institute.
The critics put Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” in second place, followed by Jean Renoir’s “La Regle du Jeu.”
The directors’ second choice was “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II,” followed by Federico Fellini’s “8-1/2.”
Nick James, editor of Sight and Sound, the BFI’s magazine, said the twin polls confirmed Welles as the “Shakespeare of modern cinema.”
“The Critics’ Poll is a touchstone for worldwide film opinion,” he said. “For the last 40 years ‘Citizen Kane’ has topped the Critics’ Poll.”
“Citizen Kane,” the story of an American newspaper baron, made in 1941, pushed the boundaries of cinema and changed the way films were made.
James said it owed its continuing critical acclaim to those advances.
“Pushing all the resources of a Hollywood studio to its limits, the film is a dazzling formal experiment and compelling portrait of a great man’s life,” he said.
The twin polls have been carried out every 10 years by the BFI since 1952 and are considered prestigious in the film industry.
The critics questioned include Britain’s Barry Norman and Jonathan Ross and America’s Roger Ebert.
Notable directors who polled their views include Quentin Tarantino, Sam Mendes and Bernardo Bertolucci.
There were no British films among the top tens, although Sir Carol Reed’s “The Third Man” was at number 35.
Also notably absent were titles such as “Star Wars” and “Some Like it Hot,” which consistently score highly in public surveys.
However, classic musical “Singing in the Rain” was voted tenth most popular by the critics, while “Lawrence of Arabia” scored highly with the directors.
The age of the films was also telling, with the most recent on either list being Martin Scorsese’s 1980 movie “Raging Bull” at number six on the directors’ list.
‘Lambs’ Duo Foster, Demme May Reunite
Paramount Pictures and producer Scott Rudin have set Richard Price to script an original idea that is designed to reteam Oscar-winning “Silence of the Lambs” director Jonathan Demme with Jodie Foster.
Demme will work with the producer and scribe to fashion the film specifically for the actress.
The project is untitled. Sources loosely describe it as a thriller that occurs in a modern urban setting. Price, whose screen credits include “Sea of Love” and “Clockers,” just completed his novel, “Samaritan,” which is being published later this year by Knopf. Price is doing the scripted adaptation of that book for Paramount and Rudin, as part of a $2 million film deal.
Rudin and Price have a history together that goes back to when Rudin did the casting on the screen version of Price’s novel “The Wanderers,” and Rudin and Paramount are getting close to the starting line on an adaptation of Price’s acclaimed novel, “Freedomland.” Price also just turned in his series creation “R.I.P.S.,” a drama pilot he’s exec producing with Mark Johnson for CBS which is a Dirty Dozen-type drama.
Demme is on holiday after completing for Universal the remake of “The Truth About Charlie” with Mark Wahlberg and Thandie Newton, but will become involved when he gets back to work at his production company, Clinica Estetico, in the fall.
All the Ingredients in Place for ‘Pie 3’
Universal Pictures has put together the pieces of “American Pie 3,” the sequel to one of the studio’s most profitable franchises.
Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan and Eugene Levy have signed to reprise their roles. They join Seann William Scott, who pacted earlier this week for a return. Jesse Dylan (“How High”) is negotiating to direct the script by Adam Herz.
The original “Pie” bowed in 1999, grossing more than $235 million worldwide on a modest budget. The second film did even better. Opening in August 2001, it set an opening weekend record for an R-rated comedy with $45 million and topped out at over $287 million worldwide.
The second sequel has been in the hatching stages for some time, but the dealmaking was complex. None of the players had sequel options that ran beyond “American Pie 2,” and all parties sought an extra large piece of the pie. Filming begins in January for an August 2003 release.
Go Ahead And Laugh!
First Billy Crystal and Robert DeNiro starred in “Analyze This” and this December they are back in “Analyze That.”
Stiller Negotiates for Another Hamburg-er
Ben Stiller is in negotiations to star in a Universal Pictures untitled comedy written by John Hamburg, who also wrote Stiller’s MEET THE PARENTS. Stiller would play an “anal-retentive risk-averse man” whose job is to analyze risk. His life is turned upside down when he gets involved with a risky romance. Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher will produce.
Gilliam Eyes New Take on Swashbuckler Tale
Terry Gilliam is in early talks with Warner Bros. to direct a new adaptation of “Scaramouche,” a swashbuckling tale whose screen history dates back to 1923.
Based on the 1921 novel by Rafael Sabatini, “Scaramouche” is a romance set in the early days of the French Revolution and features the exploits of one Andre-Louis Moreau, also known as Scaramouche. In addition to damsels in distress and rapier-drawn duels, the novel also featured sly commentary on the class system.
“Scaramouche” has been brought to the screen many times, with the first adaptation dating back to a 1923 silent film starring Ramon Navarro. Stewart Granger also portrayed the swashbuckler in the 1956 MGM production directed by George Sidney. However, the Warners picture is not a remake and stems from the original source material.
This will be the first time that Gilliam and Warners have teamed on a project. “Scaramouche” would be Gilliam’s first picture since the disappointing 1998 “Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas,” which he directed for Universal.
Gilliam and Universal worked together on two of his most critically acclaimed films, “Brazil” and “12 Monkeys.” However, both productions were marked by vociferous complaints on both sides, with the studio moaning about cost overruns and the director fuming about endless meddling.
Gilliam’s most recent project, “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” was just three weeks into production in fall 2000 when Jean Rochefort, playing the title character, fell ill. The collapse of that project was detailed with Gilliam’s full cooperation in the frank documentary “Lost In La Mancha: The Un-Making of Don Quixote.”
Looking At Pictures Of Jewel
Singer-songwriter sweet honey mama Jewel and her manager-mother Lenedra Carroll have created production company Magic Lantern Entertainment and made their first script purchase, “Wave” by tyro scribe David Rothmiller.
Jewel, who co-starred with “Spider- Man” Tobey Maguire in Ang Lee’s “Ride With the Devil,” will appear in the ensemble drama, which chronicles the chaos surrounding the reunion of a mother and her estranged son in a small island community off the west coast of Canada.
Jewel (last name: Kilcher) and Carroll will serve as executive producers on the project.
Carroll said Magic Lantern will look to do more projects with new talent. Magic Lantern falls under the duo’s umbrella org, the Mami Organization. They have produced videos in the past for their nonprofit organization Higher Ground for Humanity, which works toward providing clean water throughout the world.
Jewel, who had the breakthrough hit “Who Will Save Your Soul” six years ago, recently wrapped up a tour in support of her latest Atlantic album, “This Way,” her fifth for the label. She will do a five-week solo tour starting this month.
‘Freddy Vs. Jason’ in Franchise Showdown
In a continuing effort to exploit its franchises, New Line Cinema has greenlit “Freddy vs. Jason,” signing Brad Renfro to star alongside Robert Englund, who’ll be back for his eighth performance as Freddy Krueger.
The studio hasn’t yet decided on the actor who’ll play Jason Vorhees, the lumbering maniac from the “Friday the 13th” franchise who will be making his 11th appearance onscreen. Ronny Yu, the Honk Kong veteran whose credits range from “The Bride With White Hair” to “Bride of Chucky,” will direct the picture, with shooting to begin Sept. 9 in Vancouver.
The film’s premise is a simple collision of legendary evildoers who’ve each racked up impressive body counts of promiscuous teens. Renfro (“The Client”) will play a character who finds himself pitted between the two combatants, and so his mission is to try and stay alive until the end credits.
“It’s clash of the titans, the ultimate showdown,” said New Line production president Toby Emmerich. “Freddy is the intellectual manipulator, Jason the killing machine. When you have done 17 movies between these characters, it is hard to stay fresh, but putting these characters together makes it fresh. There is a hard-core fan base for each, and we will be out in front of ‘Predator vs. Alien’ and ‘Batman vs. Superman,’ other films putting venerable characters against each other.”
It is the studio’s second significant franchise move since “Austin Powers in Goldmember” posted record summer numbers last weekend. The studio just hired Troy Miller to direct “Dumb and Dumberer,” the “Dumb & Dumber” prequel that will hit the marketplace next summer. Corporate sibling Warner Bros. meanwhile, is mining its own franchises with plans for Wolfgang Petersen to direct “Batman vs. Superman.”
Rodriguez Shuns Hollywood Lifestyle
Robert Rodriguez doesn’t need to be in Hollywood to make box office hits. He’s content in Austin, Texas.
The director of the “Spy Kids” movies jokingly refers to his lakeside home and movie studio as Spywalker Ranch, a nod to George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch.
The studio and home allow him to be writer, producer, editor and almost everything else for his films.
“When I’m in Los Angeles, I pretend that it’s another world,” Rodriguez told USA Today in its weekend editions. “I know that when I get home to Texas, I’ll get back to the serious work.”
The first “Spy Kids” grossed $112.7 million, and its sequel, “Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams,” opens this week. Rodriguez’s other credits include “Desperado” and “From Dusk Till Dawn.”