To paraphrase James Brown, I don’t feel good after reading Rolling Stone magazine’s interview with producer Brian Grazer about the status of the biopic that he and Mick Jagger are producing on the late soul singer.
Now that the Hardest Working Man in Show Business’ estate has been put in order, Grazer says the picture is moving forward again after being in limbo for some time. Jagger has come on board as producer, which is a smart move given that he’s a student of Brown, but Grazer’s explanation of director Spike Lee’s departure from the project last fall and the subsequent hiring of The Help helmsman Tate Taylor doesn’t exactly boost my confidence level. Here’s what Grazer says:
What happened with Spike Lee, who was said to be directing the original movie project before Brown’s death?
He was the choice when I had the rights. I had just produced Inside Man with him. When the rights left me, I didn’t have any control, and I couldn’t make director choices. So when it came later with new people and new rights holders, we weren’t doing it with Spike Lee anymore. The world was different then. Now you have to make movies for less money.When it was announced that Lee was no longer involved and that a white director, Tate Taylor, was on board, the blogosphere went nuts. How do you respond to those comments?
What would I say? I view that a bunch of different ways. Mick and I don’t see the world that way. I started my career making Boomerang and CB4. I’ve made so many movies where I’ve supported black artists. Tate made The Help, and that had almost an
…
Full Story »In what could be one of the unlikeliest director-project pairings to come down the pike in some time, Vulture is reporting that Fast & Furious franchise director Justin Lin is talking to Universal Pictures about directing L.A. Riots — a cinematic re-telling of the 1991 uprising that was sparked by four Los Angeles Police Department officers’ brutal beatdown of Rodney King.
According to the website, the project was first set up at Universal six years ago, with Spike Lee set to direct a script by Red Tails screenwriter John Ridley, but the studio wouldn’t give the Do The Right Thing filmmaker the $35 million he required to make the movie he wanted.
If Lin gets the green light, he’ll be making the picture for Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment, but it’s unclear whether he’ll still be using Ridley’s script.
Video of King’s vicious beating during a March 3, 1991 traffic stop became one of the most horrific and indelible images of that decade, and during the riots, the construction worker appeared on TV to utter his now-famous line: “Can we all get along?”
In June, King became news again when he was found dead at the bottom of the swimming pool at his California home. The February shooting of unarmed Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch coordinator for a gated community in Sanford, Fla., also recalled the incident.
Lin is currently shooting the sixth film in the Fast and Furious franchise, which is slated for a May 24, 2013 release date. According to Vulture, Universal is seeking to keep the director happy “by allowing him to tackle a topic that’s quite a bit more serious”, though budget remains a question. One talent agent told the website: “They didn’t want to make…
Full Story » 
It’s over. It can mean the best of news or the worst of news, a new beginning or the utmost in closure. Its extremity is unparalleled, its harsh clarity often benumbing. Some people found out this week what It’s over meant for them. For many of the rest of us, it couldn’t be over soon enough. But you can get all the more closer here with Movieline’s Week in Review.
· Think you had a rough week? You could have been Brett Ratner. Or Eddie Murphy. Or Brian Grazer. Or the AMPAS establishment. Brutal.
· Annnnnd, action, James Bond.
· Many thanks to this week’s illustrious interviewees Henry Cavill, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Bill Condon, Werner Herzog, Tarsem and Jay Duplass.
· At debuts from Tintin to Haywire, we had you covered at AFI Fest.
· Despite Adam Sandler hitting bottom, we chose to remember the good times.
· Go watch Melancholia. Now.
· Nice knowing you, J. Edgar Oscar hopes!
· A Where’s Waldo movie is happening, apparently. Weep accordingly.
Full Story »
Happy Thursday! Also in today’s edition of The Broadsheet: Remembering new Oscar producer Brian Grazer’s own “gay” controversy… The Criterion Collection comes to iTunes (but not without issues)… Clint Eastwood’s thing for Herman Cain… and more.
· Woody Harrelson has joined the cast of Seven Psychopaths, which reunites In Bruges writer/director Martin McDonagh and star Colin Farrell in the story of a screenwriter (Farrell) seeking inspiration for his next script. When that inspiration arrives in the form of a dognapping caper targeting a psycho gangster (Harrelson), all hell breaks loose. Tom Waits, Sam Rockwell and Christopher Walken are signed up as well — should be a hoot and a half. [Deadline]
· I hate to bring this up so soon after Brian Grazer landed his new Oscar producing gig, but remember that whole flap that came down last year around the trailer for Grazer and Ron Howard’s film The Dilemma? The one where Vince Vaughn’s character called electric cars “gay”? And which Universal pulled from circulation? It’s like déjà vu all over again! Except this time you should shoot me in the face, seriously, just make it stop. [LAT]
· There’s good news and bad news for fans of the Criterion Collection: The good news is that you can now rent and/or buy a selection of the distributor’s titles on iTunes. Alas, the selection is woefully small (under 50 films!) to start with, and purchases don’t include the special features that arguably make Criterion what it is in the first place. Oh well! Baby steps, etc. [/film]
· As foreseen, remake plans for the Toronto Film Festival sensation The Raid have trickled from rightsholder Sony Worldwide Acquisitions…
Full Story »
It’s been quite a day, and quite a week for Oscar watchers, but just imagine what Academy president Tom Sherak and Co. have been dealing with on the inside of the RatnerGate hullaballoo! They’re probably thanking their lucky stars for Oscar-winning uber-producer Brian Grazer, who has agreed to step in to patch together the 2012 Academy Award telecast. Hit the jump to read invisible sighs of relief between the lines of the AMPAS official press release.
Issued by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences:
Beverly Hills, CA – Academy President Tom Sherak announced today that Academy Award®-winner Brian Grazer will join Don Mischer as a producer of the 84th Academy Awards. This will be the first time Grazer has produced the Oscar® telecast.
“Brian Grazer is a renowned filmmaker who over the past 25 years has produced a diverse and extraordinary body of work,” said Sherak. “He will certainly bring his tremendous talent, creativity and relationships to the Oscars®.”
“I am thrilled to welcome Brian Grazer as my partner and that we will be collaborating to produce an outstanding show,” echoed Mischer.
“It’s very gratifying to be part of a show that honors excellence in the medium to which I have devoted so much of my career,” said Grazer. “Don is a legend, and I am excited to work with him.”
“I too am delighted that Brian will join Don in producing the Academy Awards and I am looking forward to our producers delivering the movie event of the year,” commented Academy CEO Dawn Hudson.
Grazer has earned four Academy Award nominations. He won a Best Picture Oscar in 2001 for “A Beautiful Mind.” In
…
Full Story »While promoting Tower Heist during a recent television interview, Eddie Murphy took a moment to forecast that he will be the most awful Academy Awards host of all time. (Has he seen last year’s ceremony co-hosted by Anne Hathaway and James Franco?) Click through to watch Murphy repeatedly cut off his Tower Heist co-star Ben Stiller to predict just how bad his Oscars show will be. Spoiler alert: It ends with a powder blue suit and a golden statuette shower.
(Apologies — but you have to sit through about 90 seconds of Tower Heist director Brett Ratner raving about the wonders of Murphy while producer Brian Grazer sits by, looking utterly confused.)
· Everyone, stop what you’re doing for an important announcement: Kevin Bacon approves of the new Footloose. Straight from his Twitter feed: “F-Loose! Just saw it. Congrats to Craig, Kenny, Julianne, Dennis,Andie, Miles, and the rest of the cast. U guys roc…” [@kevinbacon]
· First the limited edition Back to the Future Nike kicks. Then the electronic DeLorean and now someone has created a real-life working hoverboard. A very rich person’s transformation into Marty McFly is nearly complete. [Live For Films]
· Werner Herzog is considering starting his own acting union — and he needs your advice! [The Wrap]
· In other news, Madonna’s brother Anthony Ciccone claims to be homeless. [LAT]
Full Story »
· Universal may have knocked down Ron Howard’s planned adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, but that doesn’t mean all hope is lost. Howard’s Imagine Entertainment partner Brian Grazer apparently told Page Six that the men are still looking for outside financing for the ambitious project, which would then be distributed through a major studio. Great! Just don’t expect this to come together anytime soon. “[T]he soonest we could do it would be June next year,” Grazer said. Mark that on your calendar in pencil, then stick around for more Buzz Break.
[via NYP]
· The Help writer and director Tate Taylor is in talks to take on another literary adaptation, Peace Like a River. The film would follow an 11-year-old boy and his “eccentric” family in Minnesota. [THR]
· Now that Jennifer Lopez has gotten her movie career back on track, she’s free to return to American Idol. She’ll judge next season with Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson, while Ryan Seacrest will return as host. [TVLine]
· Vulture reports Jonah Hill may co-star in Neighborhood Watch opposite Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn, but that he “wants to get paid considerably more than his usual quote” because the trailer for Moneyball has tested better than any in the history of Columbia Pictures. OK, then. [Vulture]
· Here are four reasons why The Carrie Diaries — the Sex and the City prequel — works better as a television series than a feature film. [BuzzSugar]
Full Story »
Also in this Wednesday edition of The Broadsheet: Ben Stiller could direct a Secret Life… Mo’Nique is acting again… Lone Ranger finds some supporting players… and more ahead.
· Stephen King may be confident that Ron Howard will still make The Dark Tower, but with the way the director’s dance card is filling up in the short-term, hopefully the famed author doesn’t hold his breath. In addition to Rush, Howard has become attached to an adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s Under the Banner of Heaven that Oscar-winner Dustin Lance Black is writing. Heaven tells the true-life story of two fundamentalist Mormon brothers who murdered their younger brother’s wife and infant daughter under orders from God. Interestingly, Warner Bros. is putting the film together with Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment — the pair usually plant their flag at Universal, though they did produce the Black-written J. Edgar for WB. Totally meaningless spitball speculation, but: with Harry Potter wrapping up and Warner Bros. looking for another major franchise, might Howard try to push The Dark Tower in the studio’s direction? [Deadline]
· In other directorial news, it appears Ben Stiller will direct himself in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. That one is still happening, with a start date allegedly pegged for early 2012. [Variety via Twitch]
· But she likes it now. Mo’Nique has potentially decided on her Precious follow-up, more than two years after winning her Oscar. Per Variety, she’s in talks for the indie dramedy Bumped, about five strangers stranded in a Chicago airport. Katie Cassidy, Kellan Lutz and Camilla Belle are in the cast…
Full Story »
Apparently, it just wasn’t meant to be — for now. Per Deadline, Universal has decided not to go forward with the crazy-ambitious adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower that director Ron Howard, producer Brian Grazer and screenwriter/producer Akiva Goldsman had planned over three films and two companion television series. Howard is now free to shop the project to other studios, though whether one bites remains to be seen. This is the second major geek property that Universal has passed on this year, following Guillermo del Toro’s At the Mountains of Madness. [Deadline]
The story of Steven Spielberg’s career beginnings — including how he fled a tour group at Universal and earned his first internship by asking staffers about their jobs — is oft-told, but when you’re the most influential filmmaker of a generation, your origin tale is always relevant. In a new video with his Cowboys & Aliens collaborators Jon Favreau, Brian Grazer, and Ron Howard, Spielberg sheds light on a time when Searchers director (and general legend) John Ford cursed him out. It is mesmerizing.
More like How Mean Was My Valley, am i right? Too funny and, uh, spellbinding.
For kicks, here’s a video of Spielberg and Grazer speaking about those humble beginnings I mentioned earlier.
Click through to Movies.com for some more videos. Cowboys & Aliens opens on July 29.
Full Story »
