According to Variety, Christopher Nolan tops the shortlist to helm Warner Bros.’ Twilight Zone reboot, but he’s not alone on the list of potential candidates; Michael Bay, Alfonso Cuaron, and Rupert Wyatt are also in the mix to direct the big-budget, single-story version based on Rod Serling’s original sci-fi television series. Nolan may have an in with producer Leonardo DiCaprio and the studio that released his last five films, not to mention the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises. But should he get the gig?
It might all be much simpler if each director was given a portion of the film to shoot, a la 1983’s Twilight Zone: The Movie, which split duties between John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, and George Miller. Then again, probably not; could you see Nolan, Bay, Cuaron, and Wyatt sharing the same bill, let alone working together to create a balanced omnibus film?
Meanwhile, there’s the question of each director’s upcoming schedule. Nolan and Bay already have other projects on deck, and it’d certainly be refreshing to see Bay go the small-scale route with his Pain & Gain crime pic than take on another huge franchise. Wyatt earned a bump with Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which earned critical acclaim, but would he just go straight into prepping its inevitable sequel?
Which leaves Cuaron. He’s certainly got the sci-fi/fantasy chops, with Children of Men, Harry Potter, and the upcoming Gravity under his belt. But is he the right guy for The Twilight Zone?
Chime in below.
• Nolan, others may be slipping into ‘THE TWILIGHT ZONE’ [Variety’s Showblitz]
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Also in this Thursday edition of The Broadsheet: Warner Bros. sets some very important dates… Jerry Lewis is done with the MDA… Faye Dunaway is not getting evicted, says Faye Dunaway… and more ahead.
· Because Snow White & the Huntsman and the untitled Snow White project from Relativity Media weren’t enough, here comes The Order of the Seven, the third Snow White project heading to theaters in the near future. This one, via Disney, has been in development since 2002 (director Frances Lawrence was once attached), but now it appears all systems are go with a new director and fresh logline. Visual effects maven Michael Gracey will direct this revisionist take on Snow White, which reimagines the seven dwarfs as a “19th century-set disparate band of international warriors belonging to a centuries-old order who have lost their way. Their meeting with an Englishwoman being chased by an ancient evil is the catalyst for their redemption.” [THR/Heat Vision]
· It’s only Aug. 4, but Oscar season is shaping up. Warner Bros. has set the Clint Eastwood-directed, Leonardo DiCaprio-led J. Edgar for a limited release on Wednesday, Nov. 9, with a full rollout following on Nov. 11. The studio has also slotted Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close for Dec. 25; that film — which stars Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock — will rollout nationwide on Jan. 20, 2012. Speaking of 2012, the long awaited Alfonso Cuaron film Gravity will arrive from the studio on Nov. 12, 2012. Bullock and George Clooney star. [Deadline]
· Jerry Lewis has retired as National Chairman of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, meaning he won’t appear on the MDA telethon over Labor Day weekend.…
Full Story »· Being wowed by the fact that Eric Stoltz was in — and subsequently out of — Back to the Future is so 2010, but that doesn’t make this new/old photo of Stoltz on-set with Lea Thompson any less of a curiosity. It’s like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs. Backwards. Click through for the pic, then stick around for more Buzz Break.
[Outatime.net via Ain’t It Cool]
· Here’s your rumor for the day: Sam Raimi, Tim Burton, Shawn Levy, Alfonso Cuaron or Chris Weitz could replace Rob Marshall as director on the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean film. [CinemaBlend]
· Jesse Eisenberg will star in his own play this fall at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in New York. [NYT/ArtsBeat]
· Director David Twohy has many thoughts about the upcoming third film in the Riddick series, the one that Vin Diesel was excited about. [First Showing]
· Best headline of the day, courtesy of The Awl: “Was ‘The Flintstones’ a Documentary?” [Awl]
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Trey Songz (26)
Chamillionaire (31)
Ryan Kwanten (34)
Dawn Robinson (42)
Jon Stewart (48)
Jane Sibbett (48)
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Judd Nelson (51)
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Randy Newman (67)
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Remember that scene in Children of Men where Clive Owen watches from the treeline as Michael Caine’s character jokes with the gunman to pull his finger? And then the shooter blows his hand clean off? Yeah, Toronto — you know which one I’m talking about, especially today as the city surveys the dystopian damage from the ongoing G20 Summit. Not surprisingly, it makes for riveting, ghastly online viewing as the user-generated videos mount; this is a location shoot no one would want a part of.
Take this insane showdown on Queen and Spadina streets. “This is from a movie, right, not from someone’s window, right?” asked Ray Pride at Movie City Indie. “G20, it’s something Belgian, right? Science fiction?” If only. Staggering.
Here are some folks attempting to reason with each other, if you can call shouting while vandals, anarchists and police come to blows around you “reasoning.”
Here’s a first-person glimpse of what it’s like having Toronto’s riot crew descend on you. A striking one-shot survey of the aftermath follows, complete with camera-strap obstruction — which is a lot more unnerving than it sounds.
Here’s another one-shot wonder of protesters just having a sit in Queen’s Park until a wall of cops descends with bikes, batons and pepper spray. If there’s anything that might be most compatible with an Alfonso Cuaron film, it’s this.
And this is most compatible with a certain Stuart Townsend film you may have seen, but it’s cinematic and shocking nonetheless. [via The Lost Boy]
