With re-imaginings and reboots being the keyword for every movie being churned around Hollywood’s grist mill, it’s no surprise that they’re turning to L. Frank Baum and The Wizard of Oz for some fresh content to churn around. According to The LA Times, Warner Bros and New Line (blood brothers) are both looking at remakes of The Wizard of Oz in the hopes of grabbing some of that sweet cash that Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is raking in.

Warner Bros’ Oz is very much taking the Alice route. Written by Josh Olson, and produced by Basil Iwanyk, it centers on a granddaughter of Dorothy returning to Oz to vanquish evil. Todd McFarlane is involved somehow, either as producer or consultant which suggests they’re really inspired by his Twisted Land of Oz series. (That link is a bit NSFW.) Who wants to see S&M Dorothy and a monster, flesh-hooked Toto? Hollywood might! Wheee!

New Line’s project is a lot more mysterious. It has a script by Darren Lemke, but no title and it doesn’t come up on his IMDB credits at the moment. It’s also being produced by Temple Hill who has made a killing with Twilight. Could it be something focusing on the later books of Baum’s Oz series? Could they be attempting a more faithful adaptation of Baum’s book? There’s a difference between doing that and a straight-up remake of MGM’s iconic film. For now, at least, no one is looking at doing that.

In the meantime, those who favor Broadway’s re-imaginings over Hollywood’s still have Wicked to look forward to. It’s still in the works at Universal with producer Marc Platt, and all this fervent interest in all things Oz might just give it the fuel injection it needs to make it to the big screen.

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Here’s a curious story we missed when it was first posted by the New York Times last week. So thanks to Simon Dang at The Playlist, who likely himself caught the article late via yesterday’s correction. Apparently there are two competing documentaries in the works about the independent film king Harvey Weinstein. And one of them is to be made by Quentin Tarantino.

The main focus of the Times piece is on the other film, which is being developed by Barry Avrich. He’s the director of the 2005 doc The Last Mogul, about agent-turned-studio head Lew Wasserman, and he’s reportedly just received funding for his $1 million-budgeted expose, currently titled Unauthorized: The Harvey Weinstein Project.

And sure, that project sounds plenty interesting, particularly as it’s being planned as an uncensored look at a “a brilliant, feared, charming and yet loathsome character,” who is completely unsupportive of Avrich’s topic of choice, regardless of how the former Miramax and present Weinstein Company head will be portrayed. But the Tarantino business is what we’re all really intrigued about, right?

Continue reading Quentin Tarantino to Document Harvey Weinstein?

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One of my favorite films from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival will kick off one of my favorite film festivals of the year, as Gen Art has just unveiled the lineup for their 15th annual film festival, which will run in New York City from April 7th-13th. Sundance fav (and audience award winner) HappyThankYouMorePlease will open this year’s festival, which is looking to make a big splash in the Big Apple in honor of its 15th anniversary.

Also screening the fest this year — which boasts a pretty enticing (from a festgoer’s perspective) lineup of 7 film premieres and 7 parties in 7 days — Adrian Grenier’s (Entourage) excellent doc Teenage Paparazzo (which was another buzzed-about Sundance title), Sebastian Gutierrez’s Elektra Luxx, Tanner Hall, Waiting for Forever, Scott Caan’s Mercy and the Slamdance audience award winner, The Wild Hunt. All seven of these films will be enjoying their New York premieres at the festival, and all of them are completely worthy of a night out on the town.

The one thing I love about the Gen Art fest (and I say this every year) is that the price of a ticket ($25-35) not only gets you in to see the film (all features are also accompanied by a short), but you also get access to the film’s after party at some way-hotter-than-you NYC hot spot, which comes complete with open bar, celebrity appearances and a chance to meet yours truly (I’ll be the guy making an ass of himself on the dance floor as onlookers point and laugh continuously).

For more information, tickets and schedule, please visit Gen Art’s website at or call(212) 255-7300. So … I’ll be seeing you there, right?

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With re-imaginings and reboots being the keyword for every movie being churned around Hollywood’s grist mill, it’s no surprise that they’re turning to L. Frank Baum and The Wizard of Oz for some fresh content to churn around. According to The LA Times, Warner Bros and New Line (blood brothers) are both looking at remakes of The Wizard of Oz in the hopes of grabbing some of that sweet cash that Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is raking in.

Warner Bros’ Oz is very much taking the Alice route. Written by Josh Olson, and produced by Basil Iwanyk, it centers on a granddaughter of Dorothy returning to Oz to vanquish evil. Todd McFarlane is involved somehow, either as producer or consultant which suggests they’re really inspired by his Twisted Land of Oz series. (That link is a bit NSFW.) Who wants to see S&M Dorothy and a monster, flesh-hooked Toto? Hollywood might! Wheee!

New Line’s project is a lot more mysterious. It has a script by Darren Lemke, but no title and it doesn’t come up on his IMDB credits at the moment. It’s also being produced by Temple Hill who has made a killing with Twilight. Could it be something focusing on the later books of Baum’s Oz series? Could they be attempting a more faithful adaptation of Baum’s book? There’s a difference between doing that and a straight-up remake of MGM’s iconic film. For now, at least, no one is looking at doing that.

In the meantime, those who favor Broadway’s re-imaginings over Hollywood’s still have Wicked to look forward to. It’s still in the works at Universal with producer Marc Platt, and all this fervent interest in all things Oz might just give it the fuel injection it needs to make it to the big screen.

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Time probably stopped for Superman and DC fans when news broke that Christopher Nolan was going to oversee Warner Bros’ Superman reboot, and that David S. Goyer would be penning a new Man of Steel story. (Possibly even titled Man of Steel.) As Nolan is one of those quiet chaps, there’s been little word on what he and Goyer plan to do, but he’s broken his silence and given an interview with Hero Complex.

Nolan remains tight-lipped on Goyer’s idea, but revealed that it came about as they hit an impasse on Batman 3. “He basically told me, ‘I have this thought about how you would approach Superman.’ I immediately got it, loved it and thought: That is a way of approaching the story I’ve never seen before that makes it incredibly exciting. I wanted to get Emma [Thomas] and I involved in shepherding the project right away and getting it to the studio and getting it going in an exciting way.” He wasn’t willing to discuss villains (though he said Mr. Freeze won’t be in it) or what time period it’ll be set in, though he denied all the Man of Steel rumors currently circulating. There’s a Superman reboot, and Goyer is writing the script. That’s all he’ll say, the tease.

Ok, not quite. Nolan quickly quashed any idea that a new Superman movie will lead to a Justice League spinoff. Superman will exist in his own world of Metropolis, and have no conception of a world where other superheroes exists. “A lot of people have approached Superman in a lot of different ways. I only know the way that has worked for us that’s what I know how to do …. Each [hero] serves to the internal logic of the story. They have nothing to do with each other.”

Continue reading Christopher Nolan Talks ‘Superman’ and ‘Batman 3′

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Since 2007 Florida has offered tax credits to filmmakers willing to shoot their movies in the state. This can be a hard sell, as you know if you’ve ever been to Florida. Just about anything is eligible for the credits, covering 15 percent of the film’s production costs, but some movies are eligible for additional discounts, too. For example, the current law allows for “family friendly” movies to get another 2 percent of their budget covered by the state. A bill now being considered by the Florida legislature would increase this bonus to 5 percent, and would add “nontraditional family values” to the list of things that would disqualify a movie from being eligible. And as you know, “nontraditional family values” means “the gays.”

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Stephen Precourt (R-Orlando), said he didn’t want to target gays specifically, but when the Palm Beach Post asked him whether movies with gay characters could qualify as “family friendly,” he said, “That would not be the kind of thing I’d say that we want to invest public dollars in.” This from the guy who represents Orlando, home of Walt Disney World, i.e., the gayest place in the universe.

Waitasec. Precourt represents Orlando. Disney is in Orlando. Disney makes a lot of family-friendly movies. Disney could therefore get a lot of tax credits by shooting locally. This is an astonishing coincidence.

Continue reading Shoot Your Film in Florida!* (*No Gay Characters, Please)

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Continue reading It Continues! ‘Iron Cross’ Filmmaker Sues Variety For Negative Review

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Continue reading The Geek Beat: Will Costumed Vigilantes Ever Get Oscar Gold?

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I know it’s considered “fun” to see has-been movie actors struggle through Z-grade horror flicks and painfully embarrassing reality shows, but here’s where things get non-fun in a big hurry. Former child star Corey Haim, best known for films like The Lost Boys, Dream a Little Dream, and License to Drive, died a few hours ago from an apparent drug overdose. (Haim had dealt with substance abuse and addiction for most of his adult life, I believe it’s fair to say.)

So that’s the long and the short of it, right? A cute kid star turned into a not-so-cute grown-up with a lot of problems and not all that much self-respect, and now he joins the drug-riddled stat sheet full of cautionary tales. End of story.

Only … Corey Haim was born six days before I was. His was always a welcome face on the movie screen as I was growing up. He was funny and goofy and endearing. And then he vanished, partially because of drug problems, and probably (in large part) because he wasn’t all that great of an actor. But you know what? He was a “bankable” little star for a few good years, but (as it often happens) Hollywood just spit the guy out and he became a C-list tabloid joke. Mostly because of his own doing, absolutely … but it’s still a sad story any way you slice it.

So make your Corey jokes and have a nice hoot, but when you’re done with that, go rent a great little movie called Lucas, and then stop back here and tell me a Corey Haim joke if you still feel like it. I hope you won’t.

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Continue reading It Continues! ‘Iron Cross’ Filmmaker Sues Variety For Negative Review

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