You’ll remember that when we reported about Channing Tatum appearing in “Knockout,” we also revealed some details about his following project, Dito Montiel’s “Son of No One” which was set to star Robert DeNiro and shoot in March. We also noted, “if everything goes according to plan.” Well, apparently everything did not go according to plan and Montiel, who directed Tatum in the 2009 film, “Fighting” and “A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints,” lost DeNiro, who bailed on the project last minute. Taking his place will be his old-guy counterpart, Al Pacino.
….and the Roman Polanski saga continues. Swiss authorities have said they will not be extraditing the director. For now. Rudolf Wyss, a spokesman for the Swiss Justice Ministry said that it makes “no sense” to send the director to America when his lawyers are currently appealing the decision that he must be present to receive his sentence. “When the question is still open, why should he be extradited? As long as the question is still open, our decision depends on that,” Wyss told the Associated Press. With the decision on that appeal still months away, this story won’t soon be ending. Meanwhile, Polanski’s latest (last?) film “The Ghost Writer” recently premiered in Berlin and will be hitting theaters this spring. Here’s a sneak from our review that will run tomorrow: it’s not good.
Jim Jarmusch has been selected to curate the final day of ATP New York 2010, running from Friday, September 3rd to Sunday September 5th at Kutsher’s Country Club in Monticello. So far Jarmusch’s confirmed choices include Raekwon, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Fucked Up, Girls, Vivian Girls, Wooden Shjips and The Black Angels. More to be announced.
Director Mike Newell is set to write and direct an untitled feature based on the mysterious murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko. That story made headlines around the world when the spy was poisoned, then accused the then Russian president Vladimir Putin of being behind the plot. It looks like Newell is cashing in his “Harry Potter” and “Prince Of Persia” chips to get back to making smaller films like “Donnie Brasco” and “Enchanted April.” We remain cautiously optimistic about this one.
Studios are apparently falling over each other in a bidding war to acquire the Taylor Lautner starring “Abduction.” In the film Lautner will play “a teen who has long felt disconnected from his parents, and figures out why. That unleashes a chain of violent events and enters ‘Bourne’ territory.” Undoubtedly, the script will find many reasons for Lautner to remove his shirt. Make no mistake. The studios don’t want to get into the Taylor Lautner business because this will be a good film, they want to get into the Taylor Lautner business because this will be a lucrative film above all else and quality be damned. This kid is gonna get so much boy-band-like ass (or at least he better). Wilmer Valderrama, watch out.
