Scifi/Horror news

[Brian]

Benioff Penning Disney's Gemini Man
Source: Variety May 6, 2007


Walt Disney Pictures has hired screenwriter David Benioff to bring his take to the long-gestating action project Gemini Man.

Benioff will be doing a ground-up reworking of the story of an over-the-hill hitman forced to do battle with a younger clone of himself.

The film will be produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, who boarded the project about nine months ago; Bruckheimer toppers Mike Stenson and Chad Oman will executive produce along with Angry Films' Don Murphy. Jason Reed will act as creative executive for the studio.

[Brian]

EXCL: Producer Talks Countess
Source: Ryan RottenMay 7, 2007


Last week, we told you about Julie Delpy's forthcoming sophomore outing behind the camera, The Countess, a script the actress has had in-hand for five years that concerns the true story of Erzsébet Báthory, the Hungarian noblewoman who supposedly bathed in the blood of virgins to retain her youth. The acts of murder she committed within her castle in the early 1600s provided inspiration for a number of films including Countess Dracula, Daughters of Darkness, Eternal and even teen horror drivel like Stay Alive (ugh).

Delpy - who snagged an Academy Award-nom for the Before Sunrise script - penned "Countess," of course, with an aim to cut a little deeper into the subject matter where other films have not. She's also pulling double duty as the film's director and star, as Báthory (natch). Already the film has attracted actors Radha Mitchell (Silent Hill) as Báthory's accomplice (it's said she had four, including a dwarf), Ethan Hawke (Training Day) as her husband, Daniel Brühl (The Edukators) and Vincent Gallo (Buffalo 66).

"'The Countess' is much more of a period, art house piece with allusions to the macabre life and times of Erzsébet Báthory versus a straight horror tale," says Chris Tuffin in a Shock exclusive. His Bloodworks banner is co-producing the flick with Matthew Chausse, Delpy and Martin Shore of Social Capital. "We think audiences will find it more akin to 'Perfume' or 'Quills' in that it shows how even the most refined individuals can lose their humanity when darkness or depravity consumes them."

The Countess is a return to, shall we say, "classic" genre material for Delpy after her stint in 2004's "Frankenstein" mini-series. Since then she has busied herself with Two Days in Paris, her directorial debut co-starring Adam Goldberg. "Julie Delpy is becoming one of the most respected young multi-hyphenate filmmakers in the world. Her intelligence, humor, passion and charm attract the best and brightest to her projects, which we're honored as producers to be apart of. Our hope is that this picture will stand out amongst next year's crop of award contenders as Julie's vision, coupled with a phenomenal ensemble cast and screenplay, has given us all a sense of excitement with respect to what may loom ahead."

Filming is said to begin on The Countess in Hungary and Slovakia late-October. Intandem Films has already picked the film up for international sales.

[Brian]

Ghost House and Vertigo Enter Asylum
Source: Variety May 8, 2007


Ghost House Pictures and Vertigo Entertainment are teaming to make horror project Incident at Sans Asylum and signed Spanish helmer Daniel Calparsoro to direct, reports Variety.

Vertigo's Roy Lee and Doug Davison will produce alongside Drew Crevello (The Grudge 2). Ghost House's Rob Tapert, Joe Drake and Nathan Kahane will executive produce with Vertigo's Sonny Mahli; Kelli Konop and Nicole Brown will co-produce.

Mandate Pictures is handling sales on the film as part of its Cannes slate. Production is scheduled to start in late summer.

S. Craig Zahler (The Brigands of Rattleborge) wrote the script, which follows aspiring musicians working as cooks for the criminally insane who find themselves locked in the asylum when a major thunderstorm hits.

[Brian]

Rodriguez Choosing Jetsons or Lost?
Source: The Hollywood Reporter May 9, 2007


The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed a rumor at LatinoReview.com that director Robert Rodriguez is in talks to direct a live-action feature version of futuristic 1960s cartoon The Jetsons for Warner Bros. Pictures, being produced by Denise Di Novi and Donald De Line.

At the same time, Rodriguez has met with Will Ferrell and Universal executive for helming duties on Land of the Lost, based on the 1970s Sid and Marty Krofft fantasy TV series to which Ferrell is attached to star.

The trade adds that "Jetsons" has the edge because its script, whose latest draft is by Adam Goldberg (Fanboys), is further along.

[Brian]

The De Laurentiises Take on The Swarm
Source: Variety May 9, 2007


Dino and Martha De Laurentiis will partner with a trio of German producers to turn the bestselling Frank Schatzing novel The Swarm into a big-budget ecological disaster film, reports Variety.

Ted Tally has been set to adapt the novel. The film is a co-production between the De Laurentiis duo and German producers Michael Souvignier, Ica Souvignier and Till Gronemeyer. Dino and Martha De Laurentiis have a first-look deal at Universal, which will be first stop for the project.

The story is about an alien presence that exists quietly on the ocean floor and is compelled to destroy humanity after its eco-system is disrupted by pollution. Scientists race to stave off an apocalypse.

Tally, who won an Oscar for scripting The Silence of the Lambs, most recently worked with the De Laurentiis duo on another Hannibal Lecter film, Red Dragon.

Martha De Laurentiis said the film will be designed on the scale of natural disaster films like Roland Emmerich's The Day After Tomorrow.

The De Laurentiises, who last produced Hannibal Rising, are reinventing Barbarella with Casino Royale scribes Neal Purvis and Robert Wade.

[Brian]

Tim Roth Cast as Hulk Villain
Source: Variety May 9, 2007


The Incredible Hulk will be matched against the oversized adversary Abomination, and Tim Roth will play the villain's alter ego, Emil Blonsky.

Variety says Roth is joining Edward Norton and Liv Tyler in the Louis Leterrier-directed film, which is being financed by Marvel Studios and distributed by Universal Pictures on June 13, 2008.

Blonsky is a KGB agent who deliberately exposes himself to the gamma rays that caused Bruce Banner to morph into the Hulk. Blonsky has upped the dosage, making him larger and stronger than the Hulk, but unable to change back to human form. He blames Banner for his problem, and makes his best efforts to destroy the Hulk.

The Incredible Hulk is being produced by Avi Arad, Gale Anne Hurd and Marvel's Feige. Jim Van Wyck, David Maisel, Ari Arad and Stan Lee are executive producing. Zak Penn wrote the script.

[Brian]

McDowell Signed for Three Halloween Movies
Source: Rotten Tomatoes May 11, 2007


While talking about playing Linderman in NBC's "Heroes," Malcolm McDowell also briefly discussed taking over the role of Dr. Loomis in the new Halloween, directed by Rob Zombie.

"I've signed for three," said McDowell, "How about that? They obviously think it's going to be a big hit."

McDowell has never seen any of the "Halloween" movies, and Zombie told him not to. "It's a new look, it's a reinvention of it and he is completely different, my Loomis, I presume. So I guess there will be some people that will be sort of disappointed if they think I'm just going to copy [Donald Pleasence] because I'm not."

Halloween hits theaters on August 31.

[Brian]

De Mol Revives Hammer Film Productions
Source: Variety May 10, 2007


Dutch producer John De Mol is reviving famed British horror studio Hammer Film Productions, which built its name on a string of films released in the 1950s and 1960s under the Hammer House of Horror label, reports Variety.

Private equity firm Cyrte Investments, led by de Mol, has acquired the rights to Hammer's library, home of roughly 300 titles featuring the likes of Count Dracula, Frankenstein and the Mummy as well as the popular "Quatermass" franchise.

Reinvigorated Hammer studio --which hasn't done any production to speak of since the mid-1980s -- will be run by former Liberty Global executives Simon Oakes and Marc Schipper. Oakes played a leading role in brokering the deal.

"Hammer is a great British media brand that has lain dormant but lived on in people's imaginations. It is more intelligent and character-driven than traditional American 'goreography,' and we intend to capitalize on this and make it a global brand," Oakes said in a statement.

Guy East and Nigel Sinclair of L.A.-based Spitfire Pictures have joined the Hammer board and plan to produce two to three horror pics or thrillers a year for the U.K.-based studio.

The production house will pursue both film and television. It is said to already be in talks with a U.K. broadcaster about a Hammer Horror TV series.

[Brian]

Mane Signed for Halloween Sequel
Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com May 13, 2007


ShockTillYouDrop.com reports that Tyler Mane, who plays the new Michael Myers in Rob Zombie's Halloween, is signed for a sequel should one happen. Malcolm McDowell last week said he is signed for two more.

McDowell also stars in Neil Marshall's upcoming action-thriller Doomsday, for which Shock has a new piece of promo art

[Brian]

Eric Bress Penning The Alchemyst
Source: The Hollywood Reporter May 14, 2007


Eric Bress has been hired to write The Alchemyst, New Line Cinema's adaptation of Michael Scott's fantasy book series "The Immortal Nicholas Flamel." Mark Burnett is producing, says The Hollywood Reporter.

The story revolves around a pair of teenage fraternal twins who find themselves caught up in an age-old battle between good and evil as they race across America learning the ancient ways of magic. Along the way they are hunted by creatures and beings from the mythologies of a dozen nations. Nicholas Flamel, a 600-year-old man who looks to be 50, serves as their teacher and guide.

"Alchemyst" is the first novel in the book series and is due to hit store shelves this month.

Bress, who created the TV series "Kyle XY" with frequent collaborator J. Mackye Gruber, is the co-writer and co-director of New Line's The Butterfly Effect and the co-writer of the studio's Final Destination.

[Brian]

Madsen Experiences Haunting in Connecticut
Source: The Hollywood Reporter May 15, 2007


Virginia Madsen will star in A Haunting in Connecticut, a supernatural thriller that Peter Cornwell is directing for Gold Circle, says The Hollywood Reporter.

"Haunting" tells the true story of a family forced to relocate near a clinic where their teenage son is being treated for cancer. There, they discover that the home they have rented is a former mortuary with a dark history that might account for the extraordinary manifestations of the boy's illness and the supernatural events that threaten the family.

Tim Metcalfe and Adam Simon wrote the screenplay. A late summer start is being eyed.

[Brian]

Why in the hell is a sequel being made?

Jane Pulls Out of The Punisher 2
Source: Ain't It Cool News May 15, 2007


Ain't It Cool News received a note from Thomas Jane which says that the actor has pulled out of Lionsgate's The Punisher 2. Here's a bit from the letter:

What I won't do is spend months of my life sweating over a movie that I just don't believe in. I've always loved the Marvel guys, and wish them well. Meanwhile, I'll continue to search for a film that one day might stand with all those films that the fans have asked me to watch.

[Brian]

Avi Arad Talks Magneto
Source: MTV May 15, 2007


MTV talked to producer Avi Arad who revealed a bit more about Magneto, the upcoming "X-Men" movies spinoff. Here's a clip:

"Think of meeting him in [the first "X-Men" movie] as a young boy in a concentration camp. What happens to his life after the war?" he teased of the film's plot. Arad quickly answered his own question, telling MTV News that the flick will follow Magneto discovering "if [his powers are] real or not and the whole journey of [his] survival as a young man."

[Brian]

Johnny Knoxville in Soter's Horror-Thriller?
Source: MTV May 16, 2007


Broken Lizard's Paul Soter (Watching the Detectives) tells MTV that Johnny Knoxville ("Jackass") may star in his next film, an untitled horror-thriller that he wrote and hopes to direct.

Soter says the film is "about a small Colorado town and there's a forest fire nearby and it ignites these lost barrels of toxic who knows what. It blows this toxic ash into town and makes all the dogs go apesh*t. The lead guy is in a custody battle for his son and has him for the weekend. He's a firefighter and drops off his son at school and goes into town to fight the fire when he realizes what's going on. So he's on one side of town. His eight-year-old boy is on the other side of town. He's got to get through this army of rabid dogs to get his son."

[Brian]

Early Look at Trick 'r Treat!
Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com May 17, 2007


Warner Bros. Pictures has provided www.ShockTillYouDrop.com with a whoppin' 27 photos from writer/director Michael Dougherty's Trick 'r Treat, opening October 5. The horror-thriller stars Dylan Baker, Rochelle Aytes, Anna Paquin and Brian Cox.

Click to view the pics: http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=282