Rohan vs. the Martians.

Human reinforcements arrive as Team Human Nature/Ian and Eowyn, a.k.a. Tim Robbins and Miranda Otto respectively, spell Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning in Spielberg’s War of the Worlds. Good. I generally root for all of these actors, Code 46 notwithstanding.

Uh-oh. Dakota Fanning is cast as the daughter of Tom Cruise (soon to reunite with Michael Mann for a Battle of Britain film) in the upcoming War of the Worlds remake. It’s nothing against Fanning — she actually seems like a relatively talented child actress. But the combination of cute kids and Spielberg have been a recipe for real schmaltzy trouble in the past.

Good heavens!

Trouble is brewing again in Grover’s Mill…With the Munich Olympics project and the third Mission Impossible both hitting snags, Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise are now looking to remake The War of the Worlds. I’d wish they’d kept it a period piece, but this should still be more fun than MI:3.

Terminal B.

A few days after the TV Spot landed, a longer trailer for Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal takes off over at the official site. I think Spielberg’s been on a bit of a roll lately, at least visually, but I fear this might be a product of his schmaltzier instincts. Ah well, we’ll see.

Gates of Eden.

Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Stanley Tucci hang around The Terminal in this trailer for Steven Spielberg’s latest flick. Hard to tell how this one came out from here…I suspect Hanks’s accent might end up being a bit Balki-esque by the end.

Tom vs. the Martians.

With Indy IV in turnaround, Steven Spielberg now plans to team up with Tom Cruise for War of the Worlds. (And, what with Robert Rodriguez’s John Carter movie, 2005 is looking to be the year of literary Martian invasion adaptations.) Anyway, hopefully Spielberg and screenwriter David Koepp will stick closer to the source material than did that godawful-looking version of I, Robot.

The Calculus Affairs.

In a strange bit of movie news, Steven Spielberg and Roman Polanski may be heading rival Tintin projects. Moreover, the Spielberg version is looking at Rupert “Ron Weasley” Grint or Jamie Bell as the boy detective in question…Not exactly star wattage, but I could see Bell in particularly working out. (And I could also see Spielberg going to the well and putting Tom Hanks or somebody as Captain Haddock.) As for a Polanski Tintin…I’m scared to think about it.

Category: Steven Spielberg