Milla Jovovich looks to further cement her claim to the ‘Queen B’ throne by signing on to director David R Ellis’s “Bad Luck,” about superstitions coming true, and presumably terrorizing a group of sceptical friends. Why anyone would want to spend $30m retreading “Urban Legend” territory is a mystery to us, but in the parallel world of movies no one wants, Ellis is a busy man, a real go-getter: he has “The Genesis Code” and “War Monkeys” (not a metaphor, actually about military-trained monkeys) already on his plate.
Tom Selleck’s moustache has suggested that a second sequel to “Three Men and a Baby” may be in the works. Disney has checked the moustache’s availability, and apparently has done the same for Ted Danson’s wig and Steve Guttenberg’s puppyface – all three are having a bit of a moment, mostly due to TV roles. Selleck seems to relish the prospect of a reunion, and you know what, we did too in a nostalgic way, until we read that the project is tentatively titled “Three Men and a Bride” which doesn’t sound nearly as much fun as the “Three Old Men and Yet Another Baby” plotline we’d hoped for.
Lionsgate have snagged Sigourney Weaver to lend a thin veneer of respectability to John Singleton’s previously-reported “Abduction,” starring Taylor Lautner. We’ve gotten all rueful about Singleton on this site before, but still, you know, sigh. Weaver will play shrink to Lautner’s character, who finds a picture of himself as a baby on a missing person’s website (presumably he recognises his trademark abs). Written by Shawn Christensen, it will be shot in Pittsburgh in July and produced by Gotham Group, Vertigo Entertainment and Lautner’s own Tailor Made (because of course Taylor Lautner has a production company).
Want to watch something dreadful? No? Well don’t press play then — it’s the trailer for pre-weight loss 50 cent vehicle “Gun” (he also wrote it, or at least has a “story” credit) and is really only good for marveling at how far Val Kilmer has fallen, wondering why James Remar doesn’t have a better career and yet again being caught out by John Larroquette’s strangely puffy face. Seriously, is he wearing someone else’s face?
And from the ridiculous to the potentially horrendous: on May 24th, the day before the Iranian filmmaking community breathed a collective sigh of relief at the release of Jahar Panahi from prison following a hunger strike, another Iranian artist and director, Daryush Shokof, went missing. Just prior to his disappearance, Shokof, who lived in exile in Germany, premiered two new films in Berlin “Iran Zendan” and “Hitler’s Grave” both of which are fiercely critical of the current regime in Iran. This introductory video features Shokof eloquently articulating the dangers of “fighting for peace,” spookily acknowledging the riskiness of his own position and yet still showing faith in the possibility for change that he believes the films represent – we attach it here as a summary reminder that in some places filmmaking is much more than box office receipts and marketing hype: it can be a matter of life and death. We very much hope Shokof will be found safe and sound.