The Rock Escapes to Witch Mountain
Dwayne “Don’t call me The Rock” Johnson has signed on to the Disney remake of Escape to Witch Mountain. What has happened to Johnston as of late? He has a promising career in medium level Hollywood action flicks. Even his turn in Gridiron Gang wasn’t bad. But now he’s going from one Disney family comedy (The Game Plan) to another Disney family comedy. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, I’m sure Disney movies offer a big paycheck. But how are we supposed to take The Rock seriously as an action hero if he’s doing all these kiddie flicks? Is that partly what hurt Arnold Schwarzenegger’s persona/career?
And it doesn’t help that the guy who made She’s the Man and a 2003 direct to video movie titled Who’s Your Dady? is attached to direct Witch Mountain. In all fairness, Andy Fickman did made Reefer Madness: The Movie Musical, a nice little musical comedy which I caught at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and was shortly after dumped on Showtime (Kristen Bell and Neve Campbell star). Flickman also directed The Game Plan, which sort of explains how The Rock may have became involved with this project.
The original Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) was based on the sci-fi novel by Alexander Key. The movie followed two mysterious orphan children who have extraordinary powers and are chased by a scheming millionaire with plans to exploit them. The film spawned one sequel (Return from Witch Mountain in 1978), one spin-off tv movie (Beyond Witch Mountain in 1982) and was remade for tv in 1995. I vaguely remember loving the film during my early childhood, but IMDB’s 6.0 rating makes question my childhood judgement.
Catherine Bell Biography
A beguiling dark-eyed beauty with a statuesque figure, Catherine Bell rose to prominance on the military-themed television series “JAG” (1995 -2005) as Maj. Sarah “Mac” MacKenzie. Born in London, Bell emigrated to California with her Iranian mother at the age of two and began acting and modeling as a child. After a stint as a fashion model in Japan, Bell first got a foothold in Hollywood as a body double, performing a nude scene for Isabella Rossellini in director Robert Zemeckis’ “Death Becomes Her” (1992). Small roles in TV movies, C-level action flicks, sydicated fare including “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” and racy TV series such as HBO’s risque comedy “Dream On” and the erotic cable anthology “Hot Line”–which made great advantage of her enviable physique–followed.
She made her “JAG” debut on an 1996 episode as Lt. Diane Schonke, the love interest of lead character Harm (David James Elliott). After return engagements her character was tragically killed off, but Bell learned that “JAG” producer Don Bellasario was looking for a new regular female lead for the series and wrote Bellasario a letter, suggesting that it would be intirguing if the new character were the spitting image of Harm’s lost love. Bellasario agreed and Bell joined the cast as a new character, Maj. Sarah “Mac” MacKenzie when the show switched networks from NBC to CBS in 1997. She parlayed her visibility and the show’s mainstream popularity–especially with military supporters–into several magazine covers and roles in telepics, ultimately landing a high-profile movie role as the object of Jim Carrey’s lust in the comedy “Bruce Almighty” (2003). When her co-star Elliott announced his attention to leave the show following its tenth season in 2004-2005, producers initially planned to reshape the series around Bell, but the network ultimately pulled the plug on the show.
- Born:
on 08/14/68 in London, England - Job Titles:
Actor, Model
Family
- Grandparents: spoke Farsi
Significant Others
- Husband: . Adam
Education
- University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, pre-med
Milestones
- 1971 Moved to Los Angeles with family (date approximate)
- 1992 Served as Isabella Rossellini’s body double in “Death Becomes Her”
- 1993 Had supporting role in the NBC movie “Mother of the Bride”
- 1995 Feature acting debut “Men of War”
- 1997 Joined cast of “JAG” playing Sarah ‘Mac’ MacKenzie when show moved to CBS
- 1998 Co-starred with Maureen O’Hara in the CBS TV-movie “Cab to Canada”
- 2003 Returned to the big screen in the comedy “Bruce Almighty”
- Spent several months in Japan as a model
Jessica Biel’s Keepin’ Busy
Jessica Biel’s Keepin’ Busy
Jessica Biel just finished launching a movie, has another being released in July and two more in the pipelines. With such a hefty schedule, the fitness-addicted Hollywood starlet keeps loading up her plate as her star power continues to rise.
Recently spotted in Brentwood jogging with her dogs before heading to a Hollywood movie set to film a few scenes, Jessica spoke with AskMen about her latest release, Next, which co-stars Nicholas Cage and Julian Moore.
When asked what attracted her to the role, Jessica responded: “Well, I think number one was to work with Nic and Julianne, and with Lee (Tamahori). That was like the number one thing. Anything that this group of people are doing, you want to be involved in.”
Getting into movies with big-name actors is now coming more easily for Biel, whose previous films tended to be action flicks with less substance. In theaters July 20, 2007, Jess stars alongside box-office giant Adam Sandler in the comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry.
And while Chuck and Larry should pack numbers in the theaters, Biel is most excited to film Powder Blue (co-starring Oscar winner Forest Whitaker) followed immediately by A Woman Of No Importance (co-starring Annette Bening and Sienna Miller).
Living by her word, Jessica told AskMen, “You know, I’m trying to always keep it switched up and not do the same thing over and over again.”