TOM CRUISE NOT OZYMANDIS… PROBABLY
Our good friends over at CHUD were having a chin-wag to 300 director and general dead-set legend Zack Snyder the other day, and asked him straight about the rumours of Tom Cruise joining the cast of Watchmen. Turns out they had some substance, but it probably won't be the case. "He was interested…I did talk to him about it for a while," said Snyder. Of course, there's still no confirmation either way, and if all that is standing in the way of him coming on board is Lions For Lambs, currently shooting, then he could still be clear for Watchmen's potential start date of this summer. For more details and a very interesting conversation, click here.
GOVERNMENT HAMSTRINGS U.K. FILM FINANCING
Those fools in the finance department of the British Government have scuppered the plans of several big films to be shot in the UK, thanks to scrapping the tax laws that allow for 'GAAP funds'. According to Variety, it "outlaws tax funds that have invested hundreds of millions of pounds in movies made by indies and U.S. studios over the past couple of years." Future films that are put into jeopardy by what insiders are calling 'Black Friday' include Mike Newell's Love In The Time Of Cholera, the seemingly-destined-never-to-be-made Brideshead Revisited, and the new St Trinians movie.
TARANTINO'S GRINDHOUSE FESTIVAL
Quentin Tarantino could never be accused of not knowing his audience, or not knowing how to promote his own product. To get some attention for Grinhouse, he's arranged for the New Beverly Cinema to host the Los Angeles Grindhouse Festival 2007, which will feature 50 choice picks from the genre, several of the prints for which will be taken from the director's own library. The bill includes theme nights (Back-To-Back Kung Fu Superstar Angela Mao Double Feature, and Euro Sex Comedies Triple Feature), and uncut versions of exploitation classics like The Mack and Brotherhood Of Death. Best. Festival. Ever.
CRONENBERG IS TURNING THE FLY INTO AN OPERA
This is not a joke - Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg is teaming up with no less than
Tenor maestro Placido Domingo to set his remake of '50s sci-fi flick The Fly to the operatic stage in Paris. It's already got an opening night and everything – July 1, 2008. Cronenberg said in a press statement "It's magical re-living of a part of my life, this time playing a completely different role in the creation of a very different animal. I can't wait to see what happens." Neither can we, but we can't help thinking what might have been if only he'd go with Rabid: The Musical.