Welcome to the first October Screen Rant Mid-Week Movie News Wrap Up.
This week:
Battle: Los Angeles finds a director; Mickey Rourke’s Angel Heart gets remade; Jack Black is Bourne again, Punisher War Zone is rated while Sheen and Lucas joins Alice In Wonderland.
1. Battle: Los Angeles has finally landed a director. The Sci-Fi action pic will probably be helmed by Jonathan Liebesman, the man behind such frighteners (in more ways than one) as Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and Darkness Falls. The South African born director is currently in negotiations to direct the film which is being billed as Black Hawk Down meets Independence Day.
According to The Hollywood Reporter :
“In August, Liebesman went out to locations in Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles, shooting sequences and plates, and adding CGI aliens. He also created a pre-viz alien invasion sequence.”
It sounds like he really wanted that gig.
2. Now that Mickey Rourke is currently on the comeback trail with The Wrestler it’s time for Hollywood to raid his filmography for remakes. Michael De Luca has partnered with Alison Rosenzweig have optioned rights to William Hjortsberg’s novel Falling Angel, on which Alan Parker’s Angel Heart was based.
The original is a fantastic low key thriller that co-stars Robert De Niro and I highly reccomend that you check it out on DVD – just don’t let anyone ruin the ending for you.
3. Jack Black will star in an untitled live-action action comedy that is a pastiche of the Bourne movies. The Hollywood Reporter says that the film is:
“A sort of comedic The Bourne Identity, the story sees Black as an American who finds himself washed up the shores of Cuba with no idea of who he is and how he got there. He comes to the conclusion that he must be a superspy, though in reality he is far from one.”
The film was penned by Kung Fu Panda writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn.
4. Despite rumors to the contrary Punisher: War Zone is now locked and loaded with an R rating. The film was given the rating “For pervasive strong brutal violence, language and some drug use”.
It sounds just like one of my Friday nights. Just kidding – live free and well people!
5. Matt Lucas will star as Tweedledum and Tweedledee, in Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland. Lucas is huge here in the UK (but enough about his waste line) due to Little Britain. The US version aptly titled Little Britain USA is currently on HBO.
Meanwhile, another British actor Michael Sheen (Tony Blair in just about every political film) has also joined the cast.
That’s if for another week. See you at the movies!
