Wednesday, April 14, 2010

FILM/TV NEWS: Sophia Bush leaves "One Tree Hill"?, "Skins" Film, Sebastian Stan in "Captain America," and more

FILM NEWS
• Looks like Oliver Stone will soon take a break from making political and social statements (Wall Street, W., World Trade Center, etc.) to take on the adaptation of John D. MacDonald's detective thriller The Deep Blue Goodbye. The film, renamed Travis McGee, follows a private detective who lives on a houseboat. They describe him as a beach bum, so I'm picturing something like Fletch, except not funny. Since Leonardo DiCaprio is producing, he was naturally linked to star, but I think after Shutter Island, he should avoid typecasting. And since Stone just finished working with Shia Labeouf on the Wall Street sequel, one would assume he's in the running too. Of course, if he's not even offered the role, the press will assume Stone didn't enjoy working with him. Either way, depending on the age range they're going for, I'd recommend anyone from Tom Cruise in Collateral-mode, sans gray hair, (or Gerard Butler/Mark Wahlberg) to an unshaven Chris Pine (Star Trek).

• Speaking of DiCaprio, director Clint Eastwood and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk) have tapped him to star in the J. Edgar Hoover biopic. The film will tell the story of how he founded the FBI in 1935 until his death in 1972. "It's expected to be a warts-and-all look at the man from his success efforts in the gangland wars of the 30's, his paranoid concern about 'subversives,' his links with the Mafia and Freemasons, rumors of him being a deeply repressed gay man, and the often dirty and illegal methods he sanctioned to bring down people and organizations he considered threats." Looks like the 3-time-nominated actor is going for that Oscar gold.


• OMG! OMG! OMG! I've never been excited for the potential of a TV-to-film adaptation before (except when it comes to Buffy). I love "Arrested Development," but I don't need to see it as a film. HOWEVER, the possibility that there's going to be a "Skins" film, using characters from both sets of casts, is awesome! They even want Nicholas Hoult (Tony) to star. Oh the possibilities. The only thing that bums me out is that Joseph Dempsie (Chris) won't be in it. :( …unless they have flashbacks or dreams of him.

• When you think about all of the "dumb blondes" in Hollywood who could successfully pull-off a remake of Goldie Hawn's 1980's comedy Private Benjamin, do you think of Anna Faris (The House Bunny)? Well if you really think about it, "dumb blonde" has become her cash-cow schtick. In the original, a woman joins the army after her husband dies on their wedding night. I doubt they'll start off so glum, but I look forward to comparing Faris's performance to Goldie's.

• I'm not really a fan of Frankenstein adaptations, but since Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted and Night Watch/Day Watch) is the one reimagining the classic tale, I'll at least give the trailer a shot. In screenwriter David Auburn's (Proof and The Lake House) Casebook of Victor Frankenstein, a British medical student reanimates the body of an acquaintance. Horrified by what awakens, he abandons it and the monster takes revenge on his loved ones. And since it all takes place in the 1800s, the writer has included the famous romantic poets Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, and even the original author Mary Shelley. I hope it's aesthetically more Sherlock Holmes and less League of Extraordinary Gentleman. But knowing Bekmambetov, it'll probably be like nothing we've ever seen before.

• Fret not "Gossip Girl" fans. Sebastian Stan's brief return to the teen series this week may have seemed like his last one (possibly because he officially broke up with Leighton Meester), but that's not the last you'll be seeing of him professionally. The 26-year-old, habitually-overlooked actor has spent most of his post-The-Covenant career playing supporting roles in indies (The Education of Charlie Banks and Spread), commercial films (Hot Tub Time Machine), and TV shows (NBC's short-lived and criminally-cancelled "Kings" and "Gossip Girl"). He's long overdue for a breakout role…and he may have just gotten one. Earlier this year he tried for the starring role in The First Avenger: Captain America. That role, as everyone already knows, went to Fantastic Four star Chris Evans. But the producers seemed to have been impressed enough with Stan to cast him as Bucky Barnes, the sidekick. The character later becomes the Soviet assassin Winter Soldier and eventually replaces the Captain when he dies. Sounds like yet another supporting role, except this time it has potential for stardom.

• There's an action comedy in the works about a police department that hires improv actors to help out on low-level stings. I don't know why, but that sounds like it could go hilariously wrong.

TV NEWS

• Sorry "One Tree Hill" fans, but it is my pleasure to announce that there's a chance that my homegirl Sophia Bush (Brooke) might soon breakaway from that unbearably annoying television series. She's signed on for the ABC family comedy pilot "Southern Discomfort." The new series is about two parents (Don Johnson from "Miami Vice" and Mary Steenburgen from "Joan of Arcadia") whose kids move back in with them. Bush will play their daughter, a recent Harvard grad who I guess is having trouble finding a job, so she returns to her Texas hometown and falls back into her old habits with her high school boyfriend. Yes, I know, that's not exactly a step up, from lead actor to supporting role, but at least I don't have to hear her whine about Julian or Alex or anyone else in that wretched universe again. Of course, Bush isn't officially free yet, not until The CW announces whether "One Tree Hill" is getting renewed. But rarely do actors sign on for another series unless they know they won't be having a job soon.

Michael Rosenbaum ("Smallville") hasn't retired from TV just yet. He just needed a break from being bald for 7 years, and perhaps from playing the villain, since his next project has him cast as the hero...technically. In Syfy's live-action comedy "Saved by Zeroes" two former actors from a science fiction show hit rock bottom. The actor/producer told The Hollywood Reporter that he sees the series as Galaxy Quest meets HBO's "Eastbound & Down." Here's hoping it's just as funny.

• For you "Chuck" fans who are going to miss Brandon Routh once his arc on the series is finished, you'll be happy to know that he's just been added to the new TBS series "In Security." It follows two sisters (Constance Zimmer from "Entourage" and Kat Foster from "Til Death") who run a private security business protecting the elite. Can you say "love triangle"?

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