This Week In Lawsuits
Everywhere you look, people are suin’ mad!
Queen Latifah has sued Perfect Christmas Productions, the production company behind The Perfect Holiday (2007, starring Terrance Howard and Gabrielle Union) for breach of contract. The Queen says that she has not been paid for her cameo in the movie. She’s seeking $275,000. Even though the movie was basically a dud, only making $5.8 million domestically and scoring a 2.3 on IMDb (#91 in the bottom 100 rated movies…ouch!), the production company had been able to raise millions from third party investors to make the film. Latifah did her job, and girl just wants to get paid! Chances are this will be settled relatively quickly. They wouldn’t want to ruin their image before the DVD release!
Also throwing his hand into the suing pot is the son of Godfather creator, Anthony Puzo. What’s got his gun in a twist? Apparently, Paramount Pictures failed to pay him royalties for the 2006 video game they released based on his father’s work! Mario Puzo died in 1999, and Anthony is in charge of his estate, which includes an agreement with Paramount to receive a “significant share” of the revenues from any audio or visual products that included elements of “The Godfather” films…which OBVIOUSLY includes video games! Puzo is seeking $1 million for this breach of contract issue. I don’t blame him! Why do big studios think they can just use people’s work and not pay them? First New Line versus Peter Jackson and the Tolkien estate, now this! Note to studios: Stop pissing off the people behind your money makers!
Spielberg Elects Lincoln
Now that he's got Indiana Jones out of his system, Steven Spielberg is ready to get serious again.
While making the PR rounds for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the Oscar-winning filmmaker announced he's cast his vote for his next feature project: an Abraham Lincoln biopic, which could start shooting early next year.
Per Variety, Spielberg has postponed production on The Trial of the Chicago Seven, about the tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention, because he was unable to get a polished script due to the writers' strike.
But he does have a solid screenplay for Lincoln from Angels in America playwright (and Munich scribe) Tony Kushner.
First up, though, is Tintin, the opening installment in a trilogy of movies he and Peter Jackson are making based on the popular European comic strip. Then Spielberg will tackle Lincoln.
The Civil War epic will star Liam Neeson, who agreed to play the fallen president three years ago and has been cooling his heels waiting for the green light. After that, Spielberg will choose between Chicago Seven or the top-secret sci-fi tale he's been prepping, Interstellar.
McKellen Confirms Hobbit Habit
Sir Ian McKellen is going there and back again.
The acclaimed British thespian, who, as the wizard Gandalf the Grey, helped shepherd Frodo Baggins through a perilous journey in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, has announced he will reprise his Academy Award-nominated role for the hugely anticipated Hobbit prequels.
"Yes, it's true," McKellen told Britain's Empire movie magazine. "It's not a part that you turn down. I love playing Gandalf."
The twin films will be based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, which of course he published before his epic Lord of the Rings cycle.
This time around, however, the 68-year-old McKellen will team up with Jackson's bespectacled stand-in, Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan's Labyrinth), who announced last week that he was moving to New Zealand for four years to take the reins on the project.
Jackson and longtime partner Fran Walsh, who already have their hands full adapting the beloved Tintin to the big screen, among other films in the pipeline, will serve as executive producers on the Hobbit flicks and collaborate with del Toro to ensure proper continuity with their Oscar-winning LOTR.
The first Hobbit movie will follow the story of Frodo's uncle, Bilbo Baggins (played in the LOTR films by Sir Ian Holm), as he journeys with a group of dwarves to a dragon's lair to recover stolen treasure. The second will mine material from Tolkien's appendices about the 60 years between The Hobbit and the start of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
McKellen added that he was excited to be working with the Mexican-born helmer, who's beginning to work on the scripts.
"I spoke to Guillermo in the very room that Peter Jackson offered me the part, and he confirmed that I would be reprising the role," Sir Ian said. "As to how it's going to work over two films and what's going to happen onscreen, well, Guillermo has not got down to working out the major details yetI can tell you it's going to be amazing though."
Talking to the fansite TheOneRing.net, del Toro confirmed McKellen's casting as well as that of Andy Serkis, who's once again aboard to play Gollum. Serkis, in fact, has added The Hobbit to his list of upcoming films on his official Website, just after Jackson's Tintin.
Filming on the Hobbit movies is set to get under way in 2009, with the films unspooling in 2010 and 2011.
Rumor Watch: James McAvoy as Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit?
Rumor has it that James McAvoy will play Bilbo Baggins in Guillermo del Toro’s The Hobbit. A source tells British newspaper the Daily Express:
“A number of names have been doing the rounds, including Daniel Radcliffe and Jack Black, but James (MCAvoy) is the one the film’s bosses really want. They’re expected to have talks soon so hopefully it could be confirmed in the not too distant future.”
Daniel Radcliffe? Jack Black? Really? The Daily Express isn’t exactly the most accurate source of information and these names seem more random than believable. In Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings, Baggins was played by Ian Holm. Guillermo said in an online chat last week that he still has plans to utilize Ian Holm “in some fashion for sure” and that “the difficulty of the role will be better assessed after” the screenplays are completed. del Toro told Empire Magazine last week:
“We are writing based on [Ian Holm’s performance], but other than that, we have ideas [of who could play him],” Del Toro told us. “I can tell you that it’s down to a few names that we all agree upon. And that our first choice…completely, magically, we said the same name. All of us!”
del Toro also said that we can expect “at least a year before we announce any casting”. So true or not true, don’t expect an official selection for a while.