Stuff You Need to Know, Saturday, November 15, 2008

It’s like Reader’s Digest for entertainment news. But snarkier. Enjoy.

To the right there (click to embiggen) is the one-sheet for Coraline. If you need to know why you should see this, then check out my book review. Short version: Henry Selick + The Neil = potential for gold.

The Dark Knight has been disqualified for Best Musical Score because five composers are listed on the cue sheet. You can go read the article if you want, but I didn’t understand it. If it makes any sense to you, come back here and explain it to me. Maybe they only have the budget to create three little statue-guys. I dunno.

On one hand, when I tell you that Steve Carell is going to voice the titular character of Despicable Me for Universal and Illumination Entertainment, you’re probably going to yawn. I did. But then the synopsis got my attention: “Carell’s title character is a deplorable man known as Groo who masterminds the mother of all heists when he plots to steal the moon. Egged on by an evil mother ([Julie] Andrews), Groo finds one obstacle in his way: a trio of orphan girls who temporarily come under his care and won’t leave.” Now there’s some potential. On top of that all, Russell Brand and Jack McBrayer (from 30 Rock) are also in the cast. Russell Brand is, so far as we know, not providing the voices for the orphan girls. Expect the film in 2010. Source: Variety.

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Dewey is not the story of the 1948 Presidental election, it is instead based on Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World. This title implies something odd, because a cat would not touch the world, instead it would bat it around until it quit moving and then leave it as a present on your front stoop. But the title is misleading. It is instead about a cat who takes up residence in a small-town library in the hopes that Meryl Streep will attach herself to the film about its life so it doesn’t end up on either the Hallmark Channel or Lifetime. In a stroke of luck, the cat got its wish: Meryl Streep is attached. Source: Variety.

Easy A actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea either, if handled properly, even though it’s the dreaded “set X in a high school now solve for X” formula of filmmaking. It’s The Scarlet Letter, but now Hester’s apparently a high school junior who “pretends to be the school slut in hopes that she’ll benefit from the notion she’s promiscuous.” Done as a dark comedy, it could work. But then again, just about anything could work. So. Source: Variety.

The End of Eternity, the Isaac Asimov time travel novel, has been nabbed by New Regency and is looking for a director. Apparently before they got the rights, Ridley Scott and Tom Cruise were attached. Don’t worry, as long as Will Smith doesn’t get attached, we might be okay. Source: Variety.

Hereafter is a “supernatural thriller” from Frost/Nixon scribe Peter Morgan that is currently at Dreamworks and they want Clint Eastwood to helm it. Am I wrong, or would this be his first entry into the ghosty genre? Source: Variety.

Ennio Morricone has signed on to score Inglorious Bastards for Tarantino as long as there’s enough time. “Tarantino will finish shooting the film in February and has to deliver it by the end of April in time for Cannes. That doesn’t leave me enough time to do the music. Either I start working on it before he stops shooting — after we discuss it together — or I just can’t do it,” Morricone says. He might write a couple of tracks if he can’t do the whole thing. Here’s the interesting bit the article says that I didn’t know: Morricone refused to contribute any music for Pulp Fiction. And by the use of the word “refused,” I think that meant “Hell no.”

Edward Norton and Edward Norton from Leaves of Grass

Yes, that pic is of Edward Norton and Edward Norton (click to embiggen it)–he’s playing twin brothers in Leaves of Grass, a “comedic thriller” written and directed by Tim Blake Nelson. Nelson, Richard Dreyfuss, Keri Russell and Susan Sarandon are also in the cast. It’s due out in 2010.

Mad TV is ending after this season. At least on Fox, anyway. The people behind the show would be willing to move to another network. Source: Variety.

Middle Men, the movie about the rise of Internet porn, has had Kelsey Grammer join the cast. Which means he’s well enough to work. Which is good. Source: Variety.

There’s really not enough here to figure out what it’s about, except it’s a comedy about a rock band and vampires. But Suck has in its cast Dave Foley and Malcolm McDowell, with Alice Cooper, Moby, Iggy Pop and Henry Rollins all making appearances. I want to see Henry Rollins fight vampires. Who doesn’t want that? Source: Variety.

Chris Cooper has joined the cast of Julie Taymor’s The Tempest. Production starts next week. Source: Hollywood Reporter.

Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace) has been tapped to scribe World War Z. Rox asks me if this is a good thing. Good question. Hard to say. Is JMS keeping the documentary/interview style? Or is there going to be Action! Packed! Action!? Well, Quantum is his first APA! film, so it might be okay. But as with any film, keep your expectations under control. However, if this big budget zombie film goes off properly, then somebody can finally due that HBO/Showtime Walking Dead series I’ve been clamoring for. Source: Variety.

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Stuff You Need to Know, Saturday, November 15, 2008

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