Daniel Craig and Nicole in “The Golden Compass”
Daniel Craig has just signed on to star along with Nicole Kidman and young Dakota Richards in “His Dark Materials” trilogy, which is based on the series by Philip Pullman. The trilogy is set to challenge “Narnia” and “Harry Potter” in the lucrative children’s fantasy film genre. Craig will play Lord Asriel and Nicole Kidman plays the villainous and glamorous Mrs. Coulter in “The Golden Compass” which will directed by Chris Weitz.
“The Golden Compass” (originally titled “The Northern Lights“) is the first of three books in Pullman’s series, along with “The Subtle Knife” and “The Amber Spyglass“.
“The Golden Compass” revolves around a young girl who travels to the far north to save her best friend. Along the way she encounters shape-shifting creatures, witches, and a variety of otherworldly characters in parallel universes.
Jim does not like to ‘Carrey’ on
If you are a Jim Carrey fan and if you have been keeping a tab on all the movies he has made in the past, you will notice that all the sequels he refuses to act in, Bomb.
For Example,
Dumb and Dumber - $246,200,000 (Worldwide)
Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd - $39m (worldwide)
The Mask - $320,900,000 (Worldwide)
The son of the mask - ($57m worldwide)
If you were a betting person, you could bet that Ace Ventura 3 will have the same fate. We also have Evan Almighty coming up but Steve Carell might be able to pull that off and break the Curse of Jim.
Vin in Babylon A.D
Vin Diesel plays a Veteran-turned-mercenary, Thoorop, who takes a high-risk job of escorting a woman from Russia to China. Little does he know that she is host to an organism that a cult wants to harvest in order to produce a genetically modified Messiah.
The movie will be directed by Mathieu Kassovitz who also developed the screenplay himself from the futuristic French novel “Babylon Babies,” by Maurice Dantec.
The movie is slated for release in 2007. I have been waiting for an action packed movie from Vin since Chronicles of Riddick (2004) but I am glad he is choosing his roles carefully.
Rocky can’t find a home in Philadelphia
A bronze Rocky statue, which was dedicated to the city by Sylvester Stallone in 1982, is having touble finding a permanent home in Philadelphia. Dignitaries from Philadelphia still can’t decide where the statue’s permanent home should be and a campaign to erect the larger-than-life statue at the foot of the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps has fallen flat because snobby museum bosses insist the piece isn’t artistic enough.
Sly himself has been fighting to find the statue a suitable home after learning it had been placed in storage.
Maybe they will change their minds if Rocky 6 does well.
Return of The Dark Knight
It’s official now, the sequel to ‘Batman Begins‘ will be directed by Christopher Nolan (again) and it will be called The Dark Knight.
Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman and Gary Oldman return as well and to most people’s surprise, Heath Ledger has been cast as The Joker. I really do not know how he is going to fare in this role but Christopher Nolan has been known to bring out the best in actors.
They are looking at an early 2007 start date but before that, watch out for Bale and Nolan’s next movie, The Prestige.
(But Heath Ledger???…really????)