-Isla Fisher is circling “Desperados,” a spec script by Ellen Rapoport that was recently picked up by Universal, which the studio is describing as a “female-oriented ‘The Hangover.'” The story is about a woman who sends an indignant email to her beau after she dosen’t hear from him, only to find out he’s in a coma in Mexico. She then races there to intercept the e-mail before he wakes up. “The Hangover” plot was equally absurd but was saved by a great cast, and if this film is to succeed, it will need some great leads to support Fisher.
-Bradley Cooper is set to replace Shia LaBeouf in “Dark Fields,” a new thriller by Neil Burger. Described as a cross between “Fight Club” and “The Game,” the film is about a writer who gains professional and financial success after taking a top-secret, intelligence enhancing drug. Unfortunately, the drug has some lethal side effects including “trip-switching,” in which time moves with a stop-motion quality. Frankly this sounds a little bit intelligence draining, and we were up with the premise until it got to the time-trip nonsense. We’ll give it a go if Burger manages to succeed where countless others have failed. Time alterting films are almost never good.
-You’re about to get more Eminem than you ever bargained for. The rapper has signed on to his first film since “8 Mile,” the 3D horror anthology “Shady Talez.” The film is being described as a mix between “Creepshow” and “The Twilight Zone,” and will also be turned into a 4-issue comic in 2010 under the Marvel Icons imprint. “Underworld” story creator Kevin Grevioux is writing the screenplay along with “I, Robot” producer John Davis. Davis, Eminem and Dallas Jackson are producing, but we urge them to read our anthology assessment before moving ahead. We like Em as an actor so far, but a 3D horror anthology sounds kinda dumb.
-Some small in-roads are being made to get “Liberace” some financing. KMI has signed on to pitch international sales for Steven Soderbergh’s movie — starring Michael Douglas as the flamboyant entertainer — and the filmmaker is at AFM this week trying to find funds (then again, who isn’t there this week trying to entice someone to invest in their new project this week?). Much like we’ve already reported, producer Jerry Weintraub expects filming to begin in June 2010, once Soderbergh wraps up the tentatively titled “Knock Out” which is set to begin shooting in January. The script is partly based on “Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace,” by Scott Thorson, Liberace’s lover for five years (Matt Damon’s got that role), who caused a public stir when he tried to out the showbiz star when he filed a palimony suit. Let’s hope it happens.
If all this pans out, it confirms Damon as the busiest man in Hollywood. He is currently working on Clint Eastwood’s “Hereafter,” after which he’ll more than likely be doing the press rounds for “Green Zone” that comes in out in March, which also happens to be the month he begins work on the Coen Brothers’ adaptation of “True Grit,” after which he will start pre-production on “Liberace.” Phew. We can’t remember the last actor who had such a diverse trifecta of films on their plate and we applaud Damon for putting his name to these projects, helping them to get greenlit. Keep ’em coming, Matt.
