Category: Rumours

Eastwood In Gotham?
Clint Eastwood was rumoured to be playing Commissioner Gordon in the upcoming BATMAN 5. This however would seem to have been false. Instead, word is that he is to play the Gotham City Mayor

Fraser considered for ‘Superman’ role
Brendan Fraser is being considered for the title role in the latest Superman movie, according to Zap2it.com.
“Yeah, I’ve been approached, and I’m interested,” Fraser told Zap2it.com. “It’s a possibility.”
Fraser would be the latest in a long line of actors to portray the Man of Steel, based on the popular superhero created more than 60 years ago by Canadian cartoonist Joe Shuster.
Having previously embodied animated characters in “George of the Jungle” and “Dudley Do-Right,” Fraser said the role is something he would have to consider carefully.
“Whoever it is who plays that role is historically forever known as that character,” he said. “He’s a superhero with no mask.”
Tentatively titled “Kal-El: Genesis of Superman,” the movie is currently in pre-production. “Charlie’s Angels” director McG is attached to direct.
Fraser can next be seen co-starring with Jenna Elfman and Bugs Bunny in “Looney Tunes: Back in Action,” in theatres Friday.

Star Wars on DVD?
The rumors have been flying fast and furious ever since the debut of The Adventures of Indiana Jones box set: the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD in 2004? Finally, some genuine hints have come out by way of Lucasfilm themselves. At the company’s big Star Wars meet ‘n’ greet at San Francisco’s The Presidio last week, news there was that the original trilogy will finally arrive on DVD next holiday season. No official word has come from Lucasfilm, nor have there been any press releases or public statements. But stay tuned…
And adding fuel to the fire? On December 31st, Fox Home Entertainment will put both Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones on indefinite moratorium. Get ’em while you can…or what for another opportunity next year?

O’Brien in talks to bring show to T.O.
Discussions are under way to bring NBC’s Late Night With Conan O’Brien to Toronto for a week in February, The Toronto Sun has learned.
The nightly talk show, which recently celebrated 10 years on the air, would tape its four shows that week from a venue yet to be determined.
Late Night executive producer Jeff Ross, reached by phone yesterday at his New York office, wouldn’t say the Toronto gig was a done deal, but did say that they were “trying to figure out” a way to bring the show across the border.
“We’d like to do it,” Ross said.
The show is produced by NBC Enterprises and Broadway Video, the company owned by Saturday Night Live boss and Toronto native Lorne Michaels. Ross has a Toronto connection himself, having lived here when he was executive producer of The Kids In the Hall in the 1990s.
O’Brien representatives may be in Toronto next week to scout venues.
O’Brien tapes his show in Manhattan at Rockefeller Centre in the same studio used by David Letterman for 11-plus years. The Canadian shows likely would include O’Brien’s house band, the Max Weinberg Seven, plus Robert Smigel, the voice behind those phony celebrity interviews, as well as Triumph the insult comic dog.
This would be the first time a U.S. late-night talk show broadcasts from a Canadian city. David Letterman took his CBS Late Show to London in summer 1995. Both Letterman and O’Brien have taken their shows on the road to Los Angeles and other U.S. venues.
O’Brien frequently refers to the Great White North on Late Night, joking during the Iraq war that “the prime minister of Canada said he’d like to help, but he’s pretty sure that last time he checked, Canada had no army.”
The 40-year-old talk show host and his wife, advertising copywriter Liza Powell, had their first child in October.

Clive Owen definitely has a licence to thrill, but is he the next …OO7?
LONDON — Will the next James Bond please grab the gun, kiss the girl and catch the next evil nutter who wants to destroy the world?
Rampant speculation here in 007’s home base is that the new Bond — after Pierce Brosnan does one more movie in the famous role — is going to be Englishman Clive Owen.
While best known to critics for the superb Mike Hodges thriller Croupier, and familiar to keen observers as a valet in the nifty Gosford Park ensemble, Owen is expected to catapult to fame as “the manly man” star of Beyond Borders, which opened in theatres yesterday.
His passionate kissing scene with Angelina Jolie is as 007 as it gets.
And Beyond Borders director Martin Campbell, who directed Brosnan in GoldenEye — the 1996 film credited with resuscitating the now 41-year franchise — says Owen would be a throwback to the Sean Connery era.
The trouble is, says the amiable Owen, nobody has offered him anything to do with James Bond — and until somebody does, he does not want to join in the speculation.
“That’s exactly what they are — rumours!” Owen says. “There has never been anything substantial underneath them. It’s reared up so many times now. I’ll deal with it, I’ll think about it, if it ever becomes a fact.
“I learned a long time ago in this game that there is a lot of bulls–t and, if you worry about things that are not factual, you end up wasting a lot of time. If ever there is an official approach, or somebody talks properly to my representatives, I’ll think about it. But, until then, I read what you read. No, no, no, no … I honestly do not think about it.”
Owen is a tall, dark and handsome type from Keresley, near Coventry, in Warkwickshire, England. Now 39, he first came to prominence in a series of BMW commercials as “the mysterious driver” and was seen driving a Beemer in The Bourne Identity.
But he is actually a serious actor, having graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1984.
Contrary to reports, Owen has a wry sense of humour, even about James Bond. He likes to tell stories to illustrate how silly the speculation has become.
Story 1: “I had a phone call two weeks ago from someone saying, ‘It’s just been confirmed that you’ve signed to do two Bonds — congratulations!’ ”
Story 2: During filming of the Hodges film I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, Owen was photographed by a tabloid sporting the long hair extensions and beard he wore for the role. The tabloid had a picture of him with the headline: Bond Bosses Unveil New Bond. “They had the inside scoop that I had been offered Bond, but the Bond people wanted to disguise me with long hair and a beard until they were ready to unveil me!” Owen says of the story: “That was an extraordinary page that they got out of a silly little picture. You read that and it’s just absurd!”
Campbell, however, says that Owen is not only terrific in Beyond Borders but that he would make a great James Bond — and play the role with more gusto than Brosnan.
“He’s slightly darker and more dangerous. Sean Connery had a real edge to him, which none of the rest do. I mean, I love Pierce and he’s great and he does it real well, but it’s different. I think Clive goes right back to Connery.”
Few could pull that off, Campbell says. “Where are the William Holdens and the Burt Lancasters and the Lee Marvins and the Robert Ryans and the Tyrone Powers? They don’t exist — and I think Clive is one of the rare exceptions.”
Owen grins maliciously when he hears Campbell’s praise: “He’s full of s–t!”

BIONIC BUTT TALK?
Jim Carrey starring in a comedic remake of the Six Million Dollar Man. Old School helmer Todd Phillips will write and direct. A fall 2004 production date is predicted.

Diana Predicted Her Own Car Crash Death, Says Aide
LONDON (Reuters) – Princess Diana made a chilling prediction of her own death in a car crash just 10 months before she died in Paris road tunnel, according to a secret letter revealed by her former butler Monday.
The former wife of heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles wrote the letter in October 1996 claiming there was a plot to kill her in a car crash and gave it to her butler Paul Burrell, asking him to keep it for insurance for the future.
The Mirror newspaper, which is serializing Burrell’s book “A Royal Duty,” said the letter includes an allegation by Diana that someone was planning her death, but that the plotter’s name could not be published for legal reasons.
“This particular phase in my life is the most dangerous,” it quoted the letter as saying. “(DELETED WORD/S) is planning ‘an accident’ in my car, brake failure and serious head injury in order to make the path clear for Charles to marry.”
Burrell claims in his book that before sealing the letter in an envelope marked “Paul,” Diana told him: “I am going to date this and I want you to keep it… just in case.”
A spokesman for the royal household declined to answer any questions. “We are not making any comment,” he told Reuters.
Burrell was Diana’s servant, friend and confidante for more than a decade during some of the most turbulent times in her marriage to Charles. The couple’s divorce became official in October 1996 after both Charles and Diana had admitted to having adulterous affairs during their rocky 15-year marriage.
Burrell stood trial last year accused of stealing hundreds of the Princess’ belongings including jewelry and clothes, but the case collapsed dramatically after Queen Elizabeth told prosecutors she remembered Burrell telling her after Diana’s death that he would look after some of her possessions.
Diana died at the age of 36, alongside her lover Dodi al Fayed and chauffeur Henri Paul when their car crashed in Paris on August 31, 1997.
Burrell told the Mirror: “With the benefit of hindsight, the content of that letter has bothered me since her death.”
CONSPIRACY THEAORIES RIFE
Robert Lacey, a royal biographer, said the letter was an “extraordinary revelation and prophecy” which was bound to add to the raft of conspiracy theories on how and why Diana died.
“There is something magic about this,” Lacey told Reuters. “People will say forever now that Diana foretold her death. And that will add to the magical aura — the supernatural and the prophetic — that surrounds Diana.”
He also said it would add to growing pressure for a British inquest into Diana’s death. The coroner charged with investigating the death has promised there will be an inquest, but has so far declined to set a date.
An inquiry by French authorities in 1999 ruled the crash was a accident caused by Paul being drunk and driving too fast.
But Dodi’s father, the multi-millionaire owner of the exclusive Harrods London store, Mohamed Al Fayed, has repeatedly called for a British inquiry, insisting that Diana and his son were murdered by the British secret services.
Piers Morgan, editor of the Mirror, which has exclusive coverage of Burrell’s book, said he had no reason to doubt the authenticity of the letter. “Paul Burrell is about as reputable as it comes…when it comes to the testimony and legacy of Princess Diana,” he told BBC radio.
Lacey too said the writing looked exactly like Diana’s hand.

Travolta eyes ‘Get Shorty 2’
John Travolta is in final talks to reprise his role as Chili Palmer in “Be Cool,” the sequel to “Get Shorty,” Variety reports.
Dwayne Johnson, a.k.a. The Rock, is also being eyed to play a bodyguard-singer who develops an uneasy alliance with Palmer.
“Be Cool” moves the loan shark-turned movie producer Palmer away from the feature film business and into the music industry.
After witnessing the murder of his music industry friend by the mob, he agrees to manage an up-and-coming singer, but is threatened by her mob-connected manager.
The Rock would play the manager’s bodyguard, who wants to be a singer and who happens to be gay. After beating him up in their first encounter, Palmer tries to help the tough guy become a film star.
“Be Cool” will begin production in January for a holiday 2004 release.

PULP FICTION 2 anyone?
Surprisingly enough this could well happen. After the success of the original PULP FICTION and RESERVOIR DOGS, it was rumoured that Tarantino would revisit the characters Vic and Vincent Vega in their own movie called, yep you guessed itÖÖÖ..THE VEGA BROTHERS. Well as it was going to be a prequel, which would mean younger brothers and the fact everyoneís getting older, things look to of changed.
Says Tarantino, “That’s something I always planned on doing, but other projects took precedence. Ten years on , John Travolta’s getting older, Michael’s getting older. I don’t think they’d even want to do it. Not that that’s the last hope audiences have of seeing more of Vic or Vincent Vega. There’s an idea I have a Pulp Fiction follow-up. Sequels generally suck, so it’s nothing I want to rush into. But Bottom line the studio wants it, the fans want it. I’m sure I can compromise somewhere. It’d be my way of apologizing for never getting Vega Brothers off the ground I guess. That way, we could get John, we could get Michael, and we could get Sam and Tim…everyone back. It would be interesting to see whatever happened to Jules and his plans to ‘walk the earth’. Hey, just having Michael and John in the same frame would be great. They’re great. But that said, I got to write such a thing”.

Freddy VS Jason, Now Ash Wants In!
It started off as a rumour, but now itís become solid talk at the NEW LINE CINEMA. After the success of the first film ($82 million domestically), they are seriously considering adding Ash (Bruce Campbell) to the inevitable FREDDY VS. JASON Round Two that the studio has in development.