-“Mad Men,” easily the best show on cable right now (the last two episodes of this season were some of the best television we saw all year), has made creator Matthew Weiner a such a hot property that actors are willing to wait until 2011 just to work with him. Jennifer Aniston, Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis have all signed on to “You Are Here,” a romantic comedy written during Weiner’s days on “The Sopranos” with the understanding that, due to Weiner’s commitment and scheduling for the fourth season of “Mad Men,” it possibly won’t get in front of cameras until it has wrapped. Weiner has financing for the film in place too, but we’re sure that all depends on if the cast can hold out that long without other projects getting in the way. This film is separate from the one Weiner promised Lionsgate during his very public negotiations earlier this year to extend his “Mad Men” contract. Weiner is still spitballing ideas with studio suits for that film, which he will also write and direct.
-Dolph Lundgren has used his time on the set of “The Expendables” to become chummy with the producers, who just happen to be working on the development of another film you might have heard of, “Conan.” While promoting his latest straight to DVD waste of time, “Command Performance” (which must be a joke about Dolph’s acting ability), the muscle bound Swede said he’s currently in talks with the producers of “Conan” about a possible role. MTV speculates that Dolph might be a good fit for the part of Khalar Singh, describe as “commanding in size and manner, a warlord and formidable warrior, brilliant, cruel, weathered and tanned by the many campaigns he has waged and won.” If you’re about to call your best bud to tell him the good news, hold the phone, because Dolph says any casting decisions probably won’t be final until 2010. Marcus Nispel, who seems to excel at these kinds of particularly empty projects, will be directing the film which should be going in front of cameras early in the New Year.
-Lee Tamahori arrived in Hollywood having helmed “Once Were Warriors” and then wasted his talents on films like “xXx: State Of The Union” and “Next.” Well his next film, about the late Uday Hussein’s body double, actually sounds pretty interesting. Titled “The Devil’s Double” it’s based on the true story of Latif Yahia, a dead ringer for Uday, who was forced against his will stand in for the hated, crazed and sadistic son of Saddam in potentially dangerous situations. As a result, he got a first hand look inside the wild world of the Husseins and went on to publish three books about his experiences, two of which – I Was Saddam’s Son and The Devil’s Double – will serve as the foundation of the film. The picture will begin shooting in January in Malta, and Dominic Cooper is the first confirmed cast member, while Ludivine Sagnier is currently circling the project.
-This summer while everyone in America was wondering why the hell they sat through “Transformers 2,” Quebecers were losing their shit over the home grown comedy “De Pere en flic.” (aka “Fathers & Guns”). The film did phenomenal numbers in the French province, beating out “Bruno” on its opening weekend, outgrossing its Hollywood competition by 50% and going on to become the most successful French language film in Canada of all time. Well, Sony has sat up and noticed, picking up the remake rights to the film. The story is about two cops who can’t stand each other (what else is new), with the twist being that they are father and son. While we didn’t see the film, as the only Quebec based writer, we were carpet bombed with advertising for this all summer. The trailer offered up some laughs, and it’s a concept that could be easily adapted into a pretty interesting high profile Hollywood comedy project of the “older lengend with trendy hip young star” variety. Smart move, Sony.
-Do you hear that? It’s the sound of an awards campaign suddenly gone silent. The team working Jason Reitman’s “Up In The Air,” quickly capitalized on the post-TIFF buzz by issuing a the poster, a teaser and full-length trailer along with a handful of clips before going offline. The game of awards campaigning is tricky, but you never want to peak too early. So they’ve gone quiet for now and will probably re-emerge in full force in early to mid December, but until then, here is a re-tweaked trailer for the film which has all kinds of gooey critic quotes instead of the standard “Story Of A Man”-text:
