Quite a bit of movie news lately: Bryan Singer’s next Superman achieves liftoff, as does Harold & Kumar II. (I didn’t think much of Superman Returns, but am willing to give Singer another shot, particularly given how much better X2 was over X-Men. As for H & K…yeah, I’ll see it.) Meanwhile, the Peter Jackson-produced Halo is off for now…probably not a great loss, I suspect. And, finally, Steven Soderbergh and Benicio del Toro’s Che is now two films: The Argentine and Guerrilla, to be shot back-to-back.
Category: Steven Soderbergh
I Vant to be alone. (So does Beyonce.)
More from the movie bin: Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy let Beyonce break up the band in the full trailer for Bill Condon’s Dreamgirls, and Stephen Soderbergh noirs up George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, and Tobey Maguire in a Mr. Movie Voice trailer for The Good German.
Ocean’s Hoo-ah / Shadow in the East.
In casting news, Al Pacino joins Ellen Barkin and the usual suspects in Stephen Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Thirteen, where he’ll play “Willie Banks, the owner of a high-profile casino and hotel in Las Vegas.” And, fresh from A History of Violence, Viggo Mortensen re-ups with David Cronenberg for Eastern Promises, a project penned by Dirty Pretty Things‘ Steve Knight.
Lucky Number?
It looks like the rumors are true, and Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Thirteen is a go, with everyone returning (except possibly Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta Jones) to shoot this summer for a 2007 release. Also joining in the fun this go ’round is Ellen Barkin, who will have something to do with Matt Damon’s character.
Che What?
In movie news, the first few pics of Benicio del Toro in costume as Stephen Soderbergh’s Che are now online.
Tear Off Your Own Head.
(It’s a doll revolution.) By way of Quiddity comes this rather creepy trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s recent side project, Bubble, a tale of love and murder amid the plastic baby parts.
Out of Sight, Out of Mind.
Another director update: Steven Soderbergh, late of The Good German, talks Che and Ocean’s 13, and David Fincher, currently completing Zodiac, has picked up, yes, still another serial killer flick, Torso, about the latter days of Elliot Ness as a crimefighter in Cleveland.
Oceans Away.
For fans of heist flicks and celebrities behaving badly, word is a Soderbergh-directed Ocean’s 13 may be in the works for later this year. I preferred 12 to 11, and would be up for another outing if it continues in the goofy, self-referential vein of the last one.
Match to Magic, Germany to Cuba.
Scarlett Johansson joins Chris Nolan’s version of The Prestige as Olivia, the lovely assistant to magicians Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman. And, also in film news, Stephen Soderbergh’s next project after The Good German will be Guerilla, a Che Guevara biopic starring Benjamin Bratt.
Lost Cause.
Apparently, David Gordon Green’s forthcoming film adaptation of John Kennedy O’Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces is no more. This version, co-scripted by Steven Soderbergh and set to star Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, Mos Def, Lily Tomlin, and Olympia Dukakis, was axed (according to Green) because “it didn’t cater to a lot of the cliches or conditioning of contemporary American studio sensibilities.”