Shooting is just 2 months away on a prequel to “The Scorpion King”.  The movie is “The Rock-less” so they’re looking for a new lead to play the role…

from MovieHole:

The film, set to start shooting in South Africa on October 1, is on the lookout for an actor to fill the Rock’s shoes. As the sides say “There is no requirement to look exactly like a young Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but we still need an EXOTIC QUALITY: Polynesian, mixed race, Arabic, brunette. NOT blond. We also need our Mathayus to reflect the charisma and comedic elements of the character created by The Rock, especially in his warm, relaxed and humorous relationship with Layla, the young girl whom he has grown up with, and with whom he experiences a growing sexual tension.”

The movie is being directed by Russell “Highlander” Mulcahy  – and I am SUPER disappointed by this news. 

Why?  Because I actually liked The Scorpion King.  It was a good 80s inspired Barbarian flick, and I would have really liked to see a sequel starring The Rock.  Alas…it ain’t gonna happen.

 

Kevin Smith’s next film “Zack and Miri make a Porno” is on the fast track, and that fast track caused Rosario Dawson to not be able to play the part that was originally written for her.  Kevin Smith comments on just WHY she isn’t able to be in the film:

I wrote “Zack and Miri” with two actors in mind for the respective leads: Rosario, natch, as Miri, and this other guy as Zack. The idea was to shoot it sometime after the first of the year, post “Red State”, but the reaction to the “Zack and Miri” script was so enthusiastic across the boards (from producer Scott Mosier, everyone at the Weinstein Co., the agents and managers of both Rosario as well as the unnamed male lead, Entertainment Weekly), that it got fast-tracked into first position (something that wasn’t hard to do, considering “Red State” wasn’t finished yet). Suddenly, we were looking at an Oct/Nov ‘07 start for “Zack and Miri”.

Then, our prospective male lead needed some time to get some stuff done, so we moved “Zack and Miri” back to a January start – which would mean a late October/early November pre-production start (precluding any pre-”Zack” start for “Red State”). This would’ve mean Rosario would be sitting on her hands all fall, waiting to shoot “Zack and Miri”. And with the impending strike, with actors not knowing if they’re gonna be working at all post-March, that’s a tough request to make of any actor.

Then, along comes “Eagle Eye” – the flick starring man-of-the-moment Shia LeBeouf, to be directed by “Disturbia” helmer D.J. Caruso – based on an original idea by…

Wait for it…

Steven fucking Spielberg.

I mean, who wouldn’t take that gig?

Problem is, “Eagle Eye” starts shooting in November and doesn’t wrap ’til Feb/March. Well, that’s not really a problem for anyone… except me and “Zack and Miri”.

So here I sit, momentarily, without a leading lady.

*sigh*

So there you have it.  Rosario’s out…someone else is back in.

BTW – the rumor is that Jason Bateman is Zack.

via Silent Bob Speaks 

 

It looks like Howard Stern’s long thought dead remake of Porky’s is back on track.  Stern recently took the day off from his radio show to work on the film according to Slashfilm.

Howard Stern has been hard at work on a remake of the cult teen comedy film Porky’s. Last week Stern took a vacation from his daily Sirius Satellite Radio Show and worked on the film project which the Shock Jock now claims is “ready to go.” “They say it’s all greenlit and everything, ready to go. They say they can even start shooting in October, but I don’t know if that’s true,” says Stern. “It seemed like a fun project, which it is.”

Frankly, I just don’t care about this.  I don’t have a connection to Porky’s.  I’ve never watched the film, and I probably never will…having read what others say about it, though, I don’t see any reason for this thing to be remade.

 

The 3rd teaser poster for Star Trek XI, which is apparently just called “Star Trek” has come online.  This continues the “retro” theme of the previous posters.  I like it, but I’m really, really ready to see what a set looks like – what a ship looks like – and what uniforms look like.  This is so close to the original look, it almost makes you wonder if they’re going to use old looking sets and uniforms.  There is no way that’s going to happen, mind you, but with these posters…you have to wonder… 

Thora Birch, Derek Magyar, Gloria Votsis, Kavan Reece, and Gideon Emery all star in a film called “Terror Train”. Gideon Raff says the film has nothing to do with the 1980s film starring Jamie Lee Curtis of the same name, but for some reason, Dark Horizons insists on calling it a remake.

How can it be a “remake” if they’re not remaking anything? Sounds to me like they’re simply using the same title…which, honestly, isn’t that great a title…so I’m really not sure why they’re even using it.

The director had the following to say about the film. “I’m a big fan of that film, but this is not a remake, it’s an original screenplay. It’s about a group of American athletes competing in Eastern Europe and they’re supposed to get on a train to continue the competition. And our group of people miss the train ’cause they went partying the night before. They get on a different train to catch up with their teammates and horror ensues. I researched real crimes that happen here in Eastern Europe and based it on that.”

There is no Magician character like in the original either. So, I think it’s safe to say this is officially NOT a remake.