NUNTII: More Movie Gossip -- Gladiator II

Okay ... coffee's ready but is too hot to drink. So I meander to Chuck the Movie Guy's site and find he's done a recent audio interview with Ridley Scott, ostensibly about the upcoming not-classical-in-any-way movie Matchstick Men. At the end of the two-minute interview (requires RealPlayer) he asks him about rumours of Gladiator II. The response: it will be out in 2005. Elsewhere, we find that Russell Crowe probably won't come back from the dead, but the movie will probably focus on that precocious little princelet who survived at the end.

::Monday, August 25, 2003 7:07:36 AM::
Comment on this post @ Classics Central

NUNTII: More Movies

So I'm waiting for my coffee to come up and decide to poke around to see what's happening with other films of the new millennium's version of the sword and sandal epic. Ecce! a piece from the Hartford Courant turns up, all about a forthcoming exhibition called Braveheart: Men in Skirts, which traces historical fashion trends for men. Inter alia, the article claims "Keanu Reeves is in discussions to play the Roman emperor Constantine" and I start to wonder what the heck a movie about Constantine would be like, so I poke around for more info. It appears that the Courant's reporter didn't look into things deeply enough as it is clear that Reeves is going to be playing John Constantine, in an adaptation of a comic series called Hellblazer which is elsewhere described as "Dirty Harry set in the occult world". That makes more sense and seems more in line with the sorts of roles Reeves tends to take on.

Meanwhile, all the movies about Hannibal that are supposedly in the works don't seem to be getting very far. According to Greg's Previews at the Yahoo site, the Denzel Washington piece was looking for a screenwriter as of the end of July. The same source elsewhere  has an interesting rumour that Ridley Scott was approached to direct the one supposedly starring Vin Diesel -- as if RS would even consider VD in the starring role. Another director touted appears to have been Ron Howard, who obviously isn't known for this sort of thing. What's more interesting, however, is the note that Sony -- who also seems to have some other mentioned-in-passing Hannibal project kicking around -- likely won't finance two movies about the same subject. This leads to speculation, of course, that the 'mentioned-in-passing' project is probably more serious and Vin Diesel will be dumped somewhere along the way for a rather more serious actor.

::Monday, August 25, 2003 6:47:19 AM::
Comment on this post @ Classics Central

NUNTII: Alexander the Great flick II

The other Alexander the Great flick is casting about for someone to play the young Alexander. The 'old' Alexander will be played by Leonardo DiCaprio (yikes!) while Nicole Kidman will play the role of 'Olympia' (I hope that's a typo in the source). This one is directed by Baz Luhrman, who brought us the visually interesting Moulin Rouge. See FilmStew for a somewhat lengthy article ...

::Monday, August 25, 2003 6:22:56 AM::
Comment on this post @ Classics Central

NUNTII: Alexander the Great flick

As some might be aware, there are two Alexander flicks in the works. Details of one seem to be more solid and bode fairly well. One will be directed by Oliver Stone (Platoon, JFK) and have Colin Farrell in the starring role. Angelina Jolie has signed to play Olympias (I think that works!) while Anthony Hopkins will play Ptolemy. It's set to hit the screens in December 2004. Windy City Media is the source for this ...

::Monday, August 25, 2003 6:14:31 AM::
Comment on this post @ Classics Central

NUNTII: Troy Out in May

According to the Hollywood Reporter, which seems to have rather high hopes about the upcoming flick starring Brad Pitt, Troy will be in theatres May 14. Read more (it's buried in news about other upcoming movies) ...

::Monday, August 25, 2003 6:04:25 AM::
Comment on this post @ Classics Central

NUNTII: More NJCL News

The coverage continues to trickle in, this time about Maureen Rideout and her Tewksbury Memorial High crew. Noteworthy in this piece is the designation of Latin as the "mother of all languages". Read more ...

::Monday, August 25, 2003 5:45:13 AM::
Comment on this post @ Classics Central