Peet Preps for 2012
Amanda Peet is getting into disaster mode.
The Whole Nine Yards star has been tapped to play the female lead opposite John Cusack in helmer Roland Emmerich’s latest big-screen apocalyptic adventure, 2012.
The film centers on survivors of a massive catastrophe who struggle to stay alive amid volcanic eruptions, glacier melts and typoons that threaten humanity’s very existence.
Cusack’s character is a divorced father and aspiring writer who makes his living as a limo driver. Peet will play his ex-wife, who recently married a very rich man. The cast also includes Chiwetel Ejiofor (Children of Men), Thandie Newton (Mission: Impossible II), Danny Glover and Oliver Platt.
The script was written by Harald Kloser and Emmerich, the director of such B-movie popcorn flicks as Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and, most recently, 10,000 B.C.
After playing Jack in the short-lived WB series Jack & Jill, Peet caught the attention of moviegoers when she appeared with Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry in 2000’s The Whole Nine Yards. She landed roles in several notable features after that, including 2002’s Igby Goes Down, 2003’s Something’s Gotta Give, and 2005’s Syriana. Next up for the actress is a plum part opposite David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson in next month’s highly anticipated blockbuster sequel, The X-Files: I Want to Believe.
Columbia Pictures has targeted 2012 for a July 9, 2009, release.
A Hairless Cameron Is Still Hot
With a face like that, who needs long, flowing, golden locks anyway, right?
Despite donning a bald cap for her new movie, My Sister’s Keeper, Cameron Diaz’s stunning self still shined through Wednesday while shooting scenes on the Santa Monica Pier with costars Abigail Breslin and Sofia Vassilieva.
The film centers on the relationship between a young girl battling leukemia (Vassilieva) and her sister (Breslin); Diaz plays their mother, who shaves her head in support of her ill daughter.
Proving that bald, in more ways than one, can indeed be beautiful.
Paramount/Dreamworks 2008/2009 Reshuffled Schedule
Earlier we told you how Paramount/Dreamworks had pushed JJ Abrams’ Star Trek back to May 2009 as part of a major studio schedule reshuffle. Lets take a look at some of the other films in this huge reshuffle:
- Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s Shutter Island starring Leonardo DiCaprio will now hit theaters on October 2nd 2009. No release date had previously been announced
- David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button starring Brad Pitt will move from November 26th to December 19th 2008.
- The Ben Stiller comedy Tropic Thunder has been moved from July 11th to August 15th
- Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, will now be distributed by Paramount Vantage.
- A new yet-to-be-titled Wayne Bros comedy has been given a February 6th 2009 release date. The movie follows a rich, white girl from the suburbs who finds herself on a series of misadventures when she moves to the mean streets of the inner-city. Sounds hilarious! </sarcasm>
- The Renée Zellweger horror/thriller Case 39 originally scheduled for release on August 22nd 2008 will now be released on April 10th 2009. The film centers on an idealistic social worker who saves an abused 10-year-old girl from her parents only to discover that the girl is not as innocent as she thinks.
- Eddie Murphy’s Nowhereland, which was originally set to hit theaters on September 26th 2008 will now be released on June 12th 2009. Murphy plays a financial executive who can’t stop his career downspiral is invited into his daughter’s imaginary world, where solutions to his problems await.
Dreamworks Buys Paranormal Activity, Plans Remake
One film that’s already being touted as the next Cloverfield even more so than Cloverfield 2 is the recent Slamdance Film Festival sensation Paranormal Activity: Evidence of a Haunting. The indie, handicam-style haunted house flick, shot in a week’s time by video game designer and upstart director Oren Peli in his own house, has been purchased along with all remake rights by Dreamworks for nearly seven figures. In a stipulation that sealed the deal, Peli will direct the new theatrical version. The studio will most likely release the original film stateside on DVD; IM Global has the international rights.
We’ve got the trailer. After watching it, I have to say I’m still not convinced, but numerous reviews so far tout that it’s “the scariest flick in years.” The film centers on a couple, played by newcomers Katie Featherstone and Micah Sloat, whose house is haunted by all the tell-tale supernatural bells and whistles, so they decide to film it themselves, sometimes with a tri-pod.
Obviously, another film its drawing comparisons to is The Blair Witch Project, and all of the screaming and camera work in the trailer definitely supports that. Poltergeist is another, but one of the better haunted house pictures I’ve ever seen that might be more apt is 1981’s The Entity, which was based on true events (look it up, veddy crazy). Peli’s definitely earned himself a nice success story that will play well in the press, so we’ll being hearing a lot more about this one, for sure.