Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze Pitch Untitled Satire Project

EXCLUSIVE: Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures is negotiating to acquire an untitled satire that will re-team screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze, the tandem behind the mind-benders Adaptation and Being John Malkovich. The project was pitched recently to financiers, and I'm told it's a satire about how world leaders gather to figure out all the seismic events that will take place in the worlds, from oil prices to wars that will be waged. Ellison, the daughter of Oracle founder Larry Ellison and sister of Paramount-based financier-producer David Ellison, has become an active buyer of tastemaker film projects that include The Wettest County in the World and Cogan's Trade, as well as one of the projects mobilizing on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. She bought the Wong Kar-Wai-directed martial arts pic Grandmasters, and was an executive producer on the Joel and Ethan Coen-directed True Grit, which became a Best Picture Oscar nominee.

It's not the only Kaufman project in the mix. I'm told he's looking to direct his script Frank Or Francis. The film chronicles a volatile back and forth between a film director (Frank) and an online blogger (Francis), who takes delight in berating his cinematic talent. The project's at Sony Pictures for the moment, and names like Adaptation's Meryl Streep being talked about for roles.

Jonze and Ellison are repped by CAA, Kaufman by WME.

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Bryce Dallas Howard Helming The Originals

Following in the footsteps of your dad is not such a bad idea when your father is Ron Howard. Bryce Dallas Howard, who burst onto the scene in M. Night Shyamalan’s ultra polarizing The Village, will be stepping behind the camera soon for her first feature. Showbiz411 caught up with the actress during the busy Oscar weekend and got the first details of the film. Titled The Originals, Bryce will be looking to cast stars her own age and described it as, “a Breakfast Club for my generation.” Hit the jump for whom she has in mind to star and more details on the film.

While The Originals was initially rumored to have Ron on board to direct, that is clearly no longer the case. The film will see Bryce teaming up with her writing partner, Dane Charbonneau, who previously worked with her on her short film Orchids. Whom might she cast? “So far, I wrote a part for Zoe Saldana,” Bryce told Showbiz 411. “But there are so many good choices out there.” The story is said to revolve around a group of 20-year-olds who meet in New York upon learning that their former teacher has lapsed into a mysterious coma.

Imagine Entertainment and Universal will distribute the film, which was picked up way back in mid-2009. However, the actress, who turns 30 next week, shows no signs of forgoing her career in front of the camera. Bryce will next be seen in The Help, which debuts this August.  Also on the horizon is the cancer comedy 50/50, which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anna Kendrick.

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Wahlberg wants more Fighter’s

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Channing Tatum Attached to Peter Pan Begins

CORRECTED

Actor Channing Tatum, screenwriter Billy Ray and producer Joe Roth are seeking to tell the origin of Peter Pan with a pitch package that went out to studios Tuesday. Not much is known in the way of details, but the project carries the title Pan.

Tatum, his producing partner Reid Carolin and Eric Bromberg came up with the idea and brought it to Ray, Roth and Roth Films' Palak Patel. The five of them further developed the idea into the pitch currenlty being heard around town.

The pitch is the latest in the newest Hollywood development trend that has execs moving beyond comic books and toys and on to classic literature reading lists -- and no one is more at the forefront of this lit movement than Roth.

Roth produced last year’s billion-dollar grossing adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, is in the casting stages of Oz, the Great and Powerful, which is set up at Disney with James Franco and Mila Kunis starring, and has Snow White and the Huntsman set up at Universal with Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron in the leads.

Roth isn’t alone in raiding the public domain. Warner Bros. has Red Riding Hood coming out March 11, and the studio just set Kieran and Michele Mulroney to write a script tackling Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

While no one has made any bids just yet, the Peter Pan package is attractive and generating strong interest.

Ray, who wrote and directed Shattered Glass and Breach, is one of the town’s more respected writers. Repped by CAA and Management 360, he recently wrote the adaptation of The Hunger Games for Lionsgate, is adapting Secreto as a directing vehicle, and has the Richard Phillips/Somali pirates story in development at Columbia.

Repped by UTA and Management 360, Tatum most recently starred in The Eagle, The Dilemma and Dear John. He has Haywire, The Vow and The Son of No One awaiting release.

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Elton John Goes Off on Disney

TORONTO – Elton John has blasted Disney for not backing Gnomeo and Juliet to the hilt -- and then not ringing with congratulations after the animated movie became a box office winner. 

“We fought resistance from the (Disney) studio for so long, and to be honest with you, the film has taken $75 million in America, and we haven’t had a message of congratulations from anyone within the studio,” the British singer let rip on the CTV daytime talker The Marilyn Dennis Show Tuesday (on Sunday, John went out of his way to thank the Disney guests at his Oscar viewing party). Gnomeo, a Disney holdover, this past weekend grabbed the No. 2 box office spot in its third weekend in release, raking in $13.4 million for a total take of $74.3 million, according to Rentrak. “Gnomeo and Juliet took us eleven years to make. We defied all the odds and all of the people at Disney who said, “this wouldn’t be a hit,” John said on air with one of his legendary outbursts. “And it’s the biggest hit, but it could have been a bigger hit if Disney got behind it more,” he added. The animated Gnomeo was produced by London-based Rocket Pictures, run by John, Steve Hamilton Shaw and John’s partner, David Furnish.Miramax financed the picture, which was animated at the Starz Animation studio in Toronto. John said Disney is red-faced over Gnomeo overcoming the odds to succeed at the multiplex. “They’re so ashamed, and they should be ashamed of themselves –they’re so afraid to congratulate us because John Lasseter of Pixar did not want us to make this movie that we still haven’t had a message of congratulations or well done,” he added.
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Johnny Depp Talks Rango, Dark Shadows, and More

Opening March 4th is Rango, Industrial Light and Magic’s first fully animated film. Written by John Logan, directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin and a slew of famed character actors, the film tells the story of Rango (Depp), a pet lizard lost in the desert who lies his way into becoming the sheriff of a western town. Things go well as he uses luck, gumption, and improvisational skills to fake his way through the job, but when someone steals the town’s water supply, Rango is forced to become a real hero.

I was lucky enough to sit down with the film’s principal cast and Verbinski to discuss the film. We’ll have an interview every day this week, beginning tonight with Johnny Depp. We talked about his selectivity in animated projects, the existential origins of the film, the gonzo influences, and what’s up with The Rum Diaries and Dark Shadows. Hit the jump to watch:

For those excited about Dark Shadows, here’s what I asked Depp and his answer.  Or you can just watch the interview below:

You’ve been talking about Dark Shadows for a very long time. There have been a couple of different versions, there was an older TV series, a newer TV series, and then your film. What is your version of Dark Shadows going to be like and are you excited to film it?

DEPP: I’m very excited to film it. You know, it’s something that Tim and I have talked about for a number of years because we were both fans. As kids, you know, you run home at three ‘o clock in the afternoon to go watch this gothic soap opera on television with vampires and everything. So our version, I guess, there’s something that’s very interesting coming from the screenplay and from the talks that Tim and I have had which is it retains that sort of bizarre distance that everyone has with one another in terms of the characters. Maybe Barnabus, in this version, is maybe a little bit more, maybe waxes a little more poetic now and again, you know? But it’s definitely in keeping with the original series.

Here’s the full interview.  For more on how they made Rango, watch this great featurette.

Johnny Depp

What made this film stand out from other animated film’s Depp has been offered.:56 – Depp talks about the Hunter S. Thompson influence in the film.1:48 – Depp gives a quick update on The Rum Diaries and its’ planned US release.2:27 – Depp gives an update on Dark Shadows and describes his take on Barnabas.

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50 Great Music Scenes

They say music soothes the savage beast, but it seems to us that the best musically-driven movie scenes do just the opposite: They get our toes tapping, our hands clapping and our rumps shaking. When executed the right way, scenes that heavily involve music -- such as the 'Tiny Dancer' sing-along in Cameron Crowe's 'Almost Famous' -- can leave unforgettable impressions for decades to come.

Just how near and dear to cinephiles' hearts are such scenes? Well, take it from us: They are very important. As we set about to determine our list of the 50 all-time best music scenes in film history, the arguments that erupted around the Moviefone office as we whittled down our list were more contentious than a Rabbit vs. Papa Doc rap battle.

Yet even with our impassioned back-and-forths, we're sure our list omits some cinematic contenders that you love. We encourage you to argue along with us in the comments section. Before we begin the countdown, however, let's discuss the two rules that guided us as we shaped our list:

No musicals allowed!
As much as we like 'The Sound of Music' and 'An American in Paris,' the musical numbers in those films are a completely different breed of animal than, say, the parade scene from 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off.' Both have their places, but this list is all about the latter.

No "scored" scenes!
We love a good soundtrack as much as anyone, but for this list we considered only those scenes in which the music -- whether emanating from an onscreen band, a boombox, a disco's sound system, the mouths of the characters, etc. -- is part of the action. (Film nerds refer to scenes like this as being "diegetic." Non-nerds, you just learned something.) This explains, for instance, the absence of movies with killer, primarily non-diegetic soundtracks, such as 'Rushmore' and 'The Graduate.'

Got it? Then click on the buttons below to enjoy our countdown of the 50 best music scenes from movies.

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Toy Story’s Hawaiian vacation snippet

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Melissa Leo, Jesse Eisenberg, and Tracy Morgan Are Predisposed

Melissa Leo dropping of the f-bomb during her acceptance speech for The Fighter at this past Sunday’s 83rd Annual Academy Awards ceremony may not be considered proper etiquette for the Oscars, but it certainly fit the role she was winning for.

It’s all the more appropriate then that Leo’s next onscreen appearance (after this fall’s Red State, that is) will be as another overbearing maternal figure in an indie dramedy, titled Predisposed, alongside The Social Network‘s Jesse Eisenberg and 30 Rock‘s Tracy Morgan.

Oscar-nominated screenwriter Ron Nyswaner (Philadelphia) co-wrote the short film Predisposed back in 2009; Vulture says he will make his directorial debut by now turning it into a feature-length picture. Leo is actually reprising her role from that original short, and will once again portray a drug-addled mother who’s destined for rehab on the same day her high-achieving son (Eisenberg) is set for an interview at Julliard.

That initially tedious situation is further complicated by the fact that Leo’s character lacks health insurance and must show up under the influence in order to be admitted to rehab. Meanwhile, her drug dealer (Morgan) becomes tangled up in a feud with a fellow illicit chemical salesman, so to speak – and you know those things never end well.

Morgan and Bruce Willis in 'Cop Out'.

The one-two punch of Leo and Eisenberg doing what they do best is reason enough to be interested in seeing how Predisposed turns out, though Morgan’s involvement could be seen as more of a mixed blessing. He’s been trying his hand at more serious fare as of late, and will also appear in the grim crime drama The Son of No One this year. It’s still hard to overlook the fact that this is the guy who also had to handle Danny Glover’s…bathroom needs in Death at a Funeral, or was stuck being the (unfunny) loud-mouthed comic relief in Cop Out.

On the other hand, it’d be more fair to say that Morgan’s taken on some poorly-written comedic roles in his time, and that, as he’s shown on 30 Rock, he isn’t without talent. Perhaps Predisposed will give Morgan a chance to shine – even with his character going by the name of “Sprinkles.”

Predisposed is scheduled to begin filming this summer.

Source: Vulture

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Is Shia ready to be Bourne?

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Oscar In Memoriam Snubs Haim, others- Feldman upset

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Topher Grace Talks Take Me Home Tonight

Topher Grace unfailingly seems like an all-right dude, self-deprecating in spite of his talent, but a genuinely good actor. So it makes sense that he’s carved out a place for himself in Hollywood, popping up everywhere from That ’70s Show to Predators. With this month’s Take Me Home Tonight—he executive-produced and has a story credit—Grace takes his first step behind the camera. That step had its conflicts, though. The movie has been languishing in studio purgatory since 2007, when it was filmed. The A.V. Club caught up with Grace on a press-tour stop in Chicago to talk about the delay, why he wanted to make his own American Graffiti, and why he never gets the giggles on camera.

The A.V. Club: Take Me Home Tonight is ’80s to the core, including the Shermer High references, which we appreciate here in Chicago—

Topher Grace: Yeah, no one is getting that! We didn’t want to have any other references, though. There was a moment at the banker’s house where everything I was going to talk about was going to be stocks from Wall Street. We had lots of little plans like that, and then we cut them all. The first thing we did when we were thinking about this movie is cut the obvious jokes, which are like “How tiny is this cell phone?” and “Can you even imagine the year 2000?” There have been movies about the ’80s, but they’ve all been spoofs, and we wanted this to be the one… I mean, there’s only one chance to make the first movie that’s like you went back in a time machine and actually made it in the ’80s. By the way, no one in the ’80s was like “How crazy is the way we’re all dressing?” 

Also, we wanted to do… Like, Dazed And Confused was the ’90s doing the ’70s, and American Graffiti was the ’70s doing the ’50s. We thought “We really love these John Hughes movies, and no one’s done that look back 20 years,” so it’s a perfect way to do both things.

AVC: It has to be daunting, though, to say, “Let’s do Dazed And Confused. Let’s do John Hughes.” These are movies and people that are really on a pedestal.

TG: It was only daunting when we set it up with Ron Howard’s company, because he did a sitcom that took place 20 years in the past, and he did this kind of movie with American Graffiti, but, you know, not really. 

My dream, my real passion with it, was to work with a big cast that was my age. I just did a movie with Richard Gere. I’d done this movie with Dennis Quaid and Michael Douglas, I’ve worked with these actors, and it’s amazing to have this one-on-one time. I just spent the whole summer with Richard Gere, and that’s amazing! To be able to work with someone who you learn so much from is a really valuable experience, but if you look at American Graffiti, there’s Harrison Ford and Richard Dreyfuss before they were Harrison Ford and Richard Dreyfuss. There’s Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, Suzanne Somers, I’m forgetting others… Dazed And Confused: Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, Parker Posey, Renee Zellweger, Milla Jovovich. I know that there are those people in this cast. Demetri [Martin] is one of them. There are, like, five $20 million actors from the year 2019 in the movie, I think.

I read that Saturday Night Live book, and it’s like “I was hanging out in Chicago, and it was Belushi and Bill Murray, and then Gilda Radner walked up…” We had moments like that. I was telling this story last night at the Q&A, but we had an IHOP that we’d go to at 6 a.m. because we’d filmed all night. There’d be Dan Fogler and Demetri doing a bit, and Anna Faris would walk up, and I’m like “This is happening,” you know? I got to be in one of those moments with my peer group. It’s a little lonely, film. I loved having a big ensemble on ’70s, but I really wanted that experience. It wasn’t daunting as much as I was really psyched to get the band together.

AVC: This is the movie where Chris Pratt and Anna Faris got together, right?

TG: That’s right. We all really hang out. Dan rooms with me when he comes to L.A. I mean, Anna’s a huge star, but we’re still not in that place where… There was then a time when Belushi and Bill Murray didn’t talk, but I want to be in that moment where everyone was a rock star in bloom.

AVC: The big story with this movie was that it was allegedly unreleased because it featured too much cocaine. Why do you think that was such a big deal?

TG: The really big deal is that it’s a good movie and the audiences all really enjoyed it, so it’d be one thing if there was cocaine and it wasn’t working. The story is that originally we had a really fast development period, the film went really well, and we were really excited, and it tested really well. The studio had some reservations about seeing the drug use happen with people in their mid-twenties. Our feeling was, you know, if you’re doing a movie about Prohibition, you can’t not show alcohol. You’re pulling punches. It’s just not true, if you’re doing a cross-section of kids at a party who are in their mid-twenties in the late ’80s, there’s more cocaine use than there was in the film. 

We were really lucky at that moment that we were with Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. They’re the most prolific producers maybe of all time, and Ron had been in one of these films. That film had a problem with drinking and driving, kids out cruising in the ’50s. Dazed And Confused, same studio, actually, had real problems with people smoking huge joints. There will be a kid in 10 years, probably one of these kids on Wizards Of Waverly Place, who will be starring in the ’90s movie, and the studio will have a problem with all of the Ecstasy. It’s just how it goes. So we were very lucky that Ron and Brian said, “Believe in this movie. It’s not going to get dated, because it is all entirely dated.” They told us “Don’t cut out the cocaine.” We were being put in a position where if Dan’s character would show up at the party and just start acting crazy, it would really neuter the film. 

So we took their advice and waited. Ryan Kavanaugh, who owns Relativity, is only three years older than me. A lot of these studio execs are, like, 70, and they’re telling you what kids in your demo want to see. It’s a good lesson for me when I’m 70, to not tell anyone “No one wants to see that.” So we waited, and about two months ago, we started screening it, and it was this overwhelming relief. People aren’t that worried about it, and there is a lesson. It’s not totally irresponsible. I mean, Dan certainly goes through some weird, dark times, but people are really enjoying it. I’m really glad to be doing publicity for it, personally, because I was there during the inception of the idea. A lot of times, when a film is being held, it’s because stuff is being cut out and it’s being neutered, and in this case, we got to put stuff back in and add stuff. It’s the exact artistic idea of what we wanted when we started.

AVC: Were you at all surprised by the studio reaction? 

TG: It was annoying, especially when I saw the other films they were making. They weren’t exactly the greatest. We had to do the best thing for the movie. Did I want it to be released earlier? Yeah, but the truth is that it’s just as sweet now. People are enjoying it just as much as I thought they would. It was the right thing for the movie artistically.

AVC: In the movie, you work at Suncoast Video. Did you ever actually have a job like Suncoast Video?

TG: I worked at Suncoast Video for two years during the summer in high school. My weird story about Suncoast is I thought “Oh, this’ll be brilliant, I can just watch movies all summer, which is what I’m going to wind up doing anyway.” When I got there, I realized they only show one movie all summer, and that one movie was Space Jam, and Space Jam is the worst film ever made. The best part of that movie is that Bill Murray is in it for two minutes, so those were the best four minutes of my day, when it ran twice and I’d watch those two minutes.

AVC: Do you know the now-defunct Videogum column “What’s up with Topher Grace?”

TG: Sure. Everyone like you always brings that up to me. What I’ve been saying to people is that I write it, but I don’t.

AVC: It seems like people—Videogum included—look at you and think, “Oh, he’s a regular working actor, but he seems to have a good sense of humor about himself.” Like, everything you do is so dry, but still a little funny.  

TG: Yeah, I have a really dry sense of humor. I don’t think it’s funny when people wink at the camera. That’s more of an actor thing, just committing to whatever the thing is.

AVC: You didn’t have any problems filming with Demetri Martin because of that?

TG: Demetri is one of the funniest people alive. That’s a nice exception. I used to hate on ’70s, like how people on SNL break and you see it all the time. It was like that on ’70s Show. There was a live audience, so if you break, the audience loves it. They love nothing more. It’s not healthy to break, because it’s like giving the audience dessert, and they’re not having their nutritious comedy salad. They won’t have an appetite for that once you do that. 

So I used to hate it, and would never break. I mean I’ve probably done it three times in my career, and one of them was with Demetri, in the first scene of the movie. All that stuff was improv. I really can’t believe his mind, even here, being on tour with him. He’ll say something, and I can’t believe someone’s mind can work that fast. It’s pure invention. It’s not like he’s got this joke from before and he’s cramming it in. The guy is a real writer.

AVC: So is there a secret to not breaking?

TG: I just think about how not funny it’s going to be if I laugh. I just don’t do it.

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Mark Wahlberg Wants a Fighter Trilogy

The Fighter was one of those rare combinations of the right cast and the right story, as evidenced by its recent sweep of the supporting actor awards at the Oscars, so to Mark Wahlberg, at least, it seems like a given that they should just do it all over again. Speaking to Extra on Sunday, Wahlberg said, “We’re gonna talk about doing No. 2,” adding, “We’re gonna do the Ward /Gatti trilogy and make it real.” The “trilogy” Wahlberg is referring to is the series of fights between Mickey Ward and the late Arturo Gatti, Ward’s most famous and most evenly matched rival, brutal grudge matches that sent both opponents to the trauma ward several times yet also made them millions of dollars.

 

The cinematic ups and downs of the fights, the side story about Ward and Gatti becoming friends in the end, the way it offered a dramatic capper to Ward’s career—obviously these would lend themselves to another film. But of course, this is just talk at this point, and it goes without saying that it would be crucial to get the same cast on board. Which means Christian Bale would have to once again hit the crash diet and transform himself into a plucked rooster. Clearly this whole sequel idea is just Mark Wahlberg’s way of trying to kill Christian Bale. [via The Playlist]

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Oscar Winners: Whose Next Role Is the Most Enticing?

Winning an Oscar doesn't immediately make a Hollywood career. It's not a sudden yellow-brick road to critically beloved superstardom. Aside from the many who seem to fade into an oblivion of bad choices (see Halle Berry), there's the whole challenge of timing. Each winner has prior commitments and pre-win productions that screen after the little gold man heads home with them.

We're already trying to reconcile the fact that Natalie Portman, Oscar winner, is also Natalie Portman, Ashton Kutcher's latest romcom beloved in 'No Strings Attached.' But what about the films to come? What's next on the pike for each of the four Oscar winners this year? Melissa Leo, Christian Bale, Colin Firth and Portman herself?

As the LA Times notes, "this year's Academy Award winners won't necessarily be in Oscar mode when they next pop up on a movie screen." What's to come is a mixture of heavy drama, laughs and ultra geek fare.

Just see for yourself:

Melissa Leo
After stunning people with her 'Fighter' performance and Oscars f-bomb, Leo has got two fun features on the way. She's one of the cult guntoters in Kevin Smith's 'Red State,' which he's self-distributing in October, and the golf dramedy 'Seven Days in Utopia,' which also stars Robert Duvall.

She's also got three indies slowly making their way to the screen -- 'Lost Revolution,' 'Francine' and 'The Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best,' plus work on Todd Haynes' television series 'Mildred Pierce.'

Christian Bale
Always one to mix the heavily dramatic with the pulp fun, Bale has two key roles gearing up. He's currently filming 'The 13 Women of Nanjing,' which will have him play an American priest in China, helping to shelter women from invading Japanese soldiers during World War II. Once he's done, however, it's back to the Bat Cave for 'The Dark Knight Rises.'

Colin Firth
Having brought a stutter to Oscar-winning proportions, Firth is also partaking in a mixture of period pieces and levity. First up is a massive wallop of Brit talent as he co-stars with Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Mark Strong, Christian McKay and more in 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.' Firth plays a British intelligence officer suspected to be a Russian mole. He also just recently signed onto the Coen Brothers' latest remake, 'Gambit.'

Natalie Portman
Though she's now the Oscar-winning powerhouse behind 'Black Swan,' Portman's upcoming roster doesn't seem all that different from her past pursuits. She gets to play Isabel in the stoner comedy, 'Your Highness,' she's got a supporting role in the indie drama 'Hesher' and she's the love interest of a larger-than-life man in 'Thor.' Portman's also about to have her first child, so this could be the last work we see from the actress for a while.

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The further adventures of Bridget Jones

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Legendary Actress Jane Russell Passes Away

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Will Smith Projects That'll Probably Never Happen

Know Your Will Smith Projects That'll Probably Never Happen | Movieline Home Newswire Interviews Videos Reviews TV DVDs The Vault Movieline Oddsmaking  ||  by S.T. VanAirsdale  ||  03 01 2011  6:40 PM Know Your Will Smith Projects That’ll Probably Never Happen function twt_click276511() {window.open('http://twitter.com/share?url=http://www.movieline.com/2011/03/get-to-know-your-will-smith-projects-that-will-probably-never-happen.php&text=Know Your Will Smith Projects That\'ll Probably Never Happen&via=movieline','sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} function fbs_click276511() {window.open('http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://www.movieline.com/2011/03/get-to-know-your-will-smith-projects-that-will-probably-never-happen.php&t=Know%20Your%20Will%20Smith%20Projects%20That%27ll%20Probably%20Never%20Happen','sharer','toolbar=0,status=0,width=626,height=436');return false;} comments: 2 || add yours

If there’s anyone in Hollywood with more rumored projects in the pipeline than notorious development sluts Ridley Scott and Brad Pitt, it would probably have to be Will Smith. A casual browse of the public record yields no fewer than 30 films with Smith linked as a producer, and roughly a third as many claiming he’s attached to star. Of course, “attached” historically means little when you get to actors of Smith’s profile, magnitude and selectiveness (Men in Black 3, currently in production, is Smith’s first movie since his late-2008 effort Seven Pounds), but the buzz for each project swirls nevertheless — at least until the next rumor, the latest of which appears to have arrived.

That would be Joe, a modern-day adaptation of the biblical story of Job, in which a roundly blessed man’s faith in God is tested by the Creator’s swift, sudden and catastrophic removal of all he holds dear. Seems perfect (on paper, anyway) for our Tea Party times, just another sure thing that Smith can drive to stratospheric global grosses and/or package around his family, because God indeed knows if there’s anything Willow or Jaden Smith needs, it’s more work. (For the record, that Smith-produced/Willow-starring version of Annie is not counted against him as an actor.)

Anyway, the point is that Joe has as much of a chance of being made as any of the numerous other movies to which Smith has hitched himself (or to which overzealous producers have hitched him, because why not) over the last three or four years. Which is to say: Little chance. Let’s survey the hype and break down the odds:

· The Legend of Cain This one, first reported last summer, blends Bible-tale updating with the hot cinematic trend in… vampires? Whatever: All that matters is that Smith’s brother-in-law Caleeb Pinkett co-wrote it and wife Jada Pinkett Smith is (thus?) co-producing, while Smith is set to star in the title role, and Smith’s family affairs (see Karate Kid) generally get made. All they need is a studio. Minor details! ODDS: 25 to 1

· The City That Sailed: This is hands-down my favorite Will Smith movie to hear about seemingly every year as though OMG it’s really happening this time. Based on a script by Andrew Niccol, the film tracks the story of a street magician and his daughter living on opposite sides of the Atlantic — him in New York, her in London — who miss each other so much that Manhattan literally breaks off on a course for England. Whoa! Think Titanic meets 2012, I guess, with “magic candles” (I swear I’m not kidding) where the nude-sketch bonding goes go. Smith was first reported to produce and star in this back in 2009 with his I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence at the helm; a year later new reports surfaced that yes, the pair is serious about this and will a studio pleeaaase give them some damn money already. Willow Smith is not officially attached as the daughter, but I presume they’re saving that for the next trade-news go-around, which will arrive in 3… 2… ODDS: 40 to 1

· Untiled I Am Legend Prequel/Sequel: On the one hand, it is just a matter of time before Smith and director Lawrence reteam, and they and Warners have nearly 600 million reasons to figure out a way to franchise this blockbuster. On the other, it was a fairly self-contained adaptation of Richard Matheson’s short story in which [SPOILER ALERT] Smith’s character blows himself up, which made 2008’s prequel-cum-sequel rumors all the more unbelievable. They’ve since abated as other franchise-y Smith prospects emerge (see below), but again: 600 million reasons. And vampires! If there’s anything people love more than Big Willie, it’s Big Willie versus vampires. Gentlemen, start your deus de machina! ODDS 50 to 1

· Independence Day 2 and 3: Unless! Unless it’s Big Willie versus aliens. Fox has more than 800 million reasons to want to reconvene Smith and director Roland Emmerich, the latter of whom has Anonymous in the works but will likely be ready for his next project around the time Smith finishes MIB 3. I don’t pretend to know the budget politics involved (the most recent rumor has a second and third installment filmed consecutively, which, all things considered equal, sounds about as reasonable as anything else on this list) or if, as was noted back before Emmerich went into development on 2012, he and writing partner Dean Devlin remain unready to dump another two or three years of their lives into this concept. Anyway, what’s left to destroy? On second thought, don’t answer that. ODDS: 75 to 1

· Hancock 2: This will almost certainly happen — if/when Smith wants it to happen. Director Peter Berg stated the obvious back in 2009 when assuring a reporter that both he and Smith — as well as co-star Charlize Theron — would be back to follow up their $624 million worldwide smash hit about a downmarket superhero. Then Berg went off to do Battleship and Smith tended to a different franchise altogether, setting development back by at least a couple years. I don’t foresee Smith doing back-to-back blockbuster sequels (especially after it took nearly a decade just to get him on the MIB tip), but the guy’s not getting any younger, either. ODDS: 75 to 1

· Uptown Saturday Night: This is one of those projects where you can’t decide whether it should be fast-tracked or smothered in the crib: A remake of the 1974 Bill Cosby/Sidney Poitier comedy about a pair of estranged friends attempting to reclaim their stolen wallets — one of which contains a winning lottery ticket. Smith’s production company has owned the rights to this one for nigh on a decade, and its slow development has yielded no fewer than two scripts. The rub here is that Smith’s most recent rumored co-star was Denzel Washington, who affirmed a little over a year ago that he was “working on some sort of comedy — maybe with an action bent — with Will Smith.” So! That’s basically where that stands. The starpower upside is obvious, but it comes with a commensurate budget downside; these aren’t exactly guys who play around with their quotes, and even at a PG-13, we have very recent, compelling evidence to not overspend on your A-list comedy. We’ll see… ODDS: 100 to 1

· The Last Pharaoh: This one predates The City That Sailed on the Will Smith Passion Project Speculometer, but slid quickly from view once writer-director Randall Wallace dug into Secretariat and Smith wound up glued to half the remaining projects in Hollywood. Smith reportedly had long coveted the title role, Taharqa, “the pharaoh who battled Assyrian invaders in ancient Egypt,” and even brought the project to Wallace personally. A lot of good that did. It looks like it will ultimately end up a casualty of Smith’s attention span, but you never know! Egypt’s hot these days! ODDS: 200 to 1

· Hood: This one has the compounded disadvantage of being a modern-day Robin Hood adaptation being developed by the Wachowski Brothers — not exactly a team known to rush their films into production. Moreover, it’s set up at Warner Bros., which, after taking a bath on the brothers’ Speed Racer and witnessing from a distance the megabudget misadventure that was Ridley Scott’s own Robin Hood, might hesitate to let this one go ahead without a partner shouldering some risk. None appear to have come forth. Meanwhile, the Wachowski’s remain hunkered down with their top secret Iraq tale while Smith hammers out MIB 3. Don’t hold your breath. ODDS: 400 to 1.

· My Wife Hates Your Wife: A five-year-old project about “two couples who do everything together until the ladies feud and the guys must sneak around to continue their now-illicit friendship.” Uh, no. You’re likelier now to see Uptown Saturday Night. ODDS: 700 to 1

· It Takes a Thief: Remember this one? A big-screen adaptation of the late-’60s TV show that starred Robert Wagner as a smooth criminal blackmailed by the feds into serving his country, featuring Smith in the lead role? Me neither. ODDS: 1,000 to 1

· Bad Boys 3‘ve been talking about this forever, with a new script apparently on the way two years ago and Martin Lawrence brilliantly saying last spring: “Any time you can get Big Willie to come out and talk about doing a third installment of a hot movie like Bad Boys, you have to take notice. I met with Michael Bay, and he said he’s onboard too — so it’s real. […] We’re just waiting on Jerry Bruckheimer to let us know when it’s really real.” Mm-hmm. Did I mention Smith’s not getting any younger? He’ll play a U.S. president in two ID4 sequels before he makes so much as a cameo in Bad Boys 3. This has reboot written all over it. Big Momma: Bad Boys? Or something. ODDS: Never.

[Photo: Getty Images]

Tagged: bad boys 3, hood, i am legend, independence day 2, independence day 3, joe, my wife hates your wife, the city that sailed, the last pharaoh, the legend of cain, uptown saturday night, will smith

From snarkymark | Reply
Posted 01 Mar 2011, 8:40 PM

What are the odds that Will Smith's next project will be hosting the Oscars?

From Van Iblis | Reply
Posted 01 Mar 2011, 9:36 PM

Uhhh...

"Hood" was bought for 5 million, they will certainly make it, and odds of Will staring are pretty high. More like 5 to 1 than 400 to 1.

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