U.S. Request To Extradite Roman Polanski Denied By Polish Court
A Polish court today rejected a U.S. request to extradite the director for having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl in 1977. The verdict is subject to appeal within seven days. The ruling comes days before a new, Conservative government is seated and which was considered more likely to grant the request. The refusal of the court to grant an extradition request from U.S. authorities closes the latest chapter on a decades-old case. (DH)
It’s Been Years In the Making, but It Appears We Are, Finally, Getting a ‘Bad Santa 2’
Miramax and Broad Green Pictures have announced that Billy Bob Thornton will reprise his role as Willie Soke, and production on the film will start in January in Montreal. However, there is no word on who has penned the script, or who will be directing. Steve Pink and Doug Ellin had been linked to the project in the past, but that was a long time ago. As for original helmer Terry Zwigoff, don’t count on him returning behind the camera. (COL)
Today In Reboot News: Sandra Bullock Will Lead an All-Female ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ Re-Do
A new version of the film is in the works, only this time, in line with the recent Hollywood gender-swapping trend, it’s due to feature an all female line-up, with Bullock in the lead, and Gary Ross directing. The project was initiated last year by the power trio of late producer Jerry Weintraub, Ocean’s trilogy director Steven Soderbergh, and the franchise’s main star, Clooney. Olivia Milch is working on the screenplay. (TP)
They Are Also Remaking ‘Billionaire Boys Club’, With Ansel Elgort and Taron Egerton
The pair is in final negotiations to star in a movie version of “Billionaires Boys Club,” Variety has learned exclusively. The film will follow the true story of the rise and fall of two outsiders, whose investment pool propelled them into the upper echelons of Los Angeles in the early 1980s and led to murder. The story was originally told in a 1987 made for TV film starring Judd Nelson and Ron Silver. (VAR)
Add ‘The Muppets’ To the List Of New TV Series To Get a Full Season Order
ABC has given freshman comedy The Muppets a full season order — though a full season, in this case, means three more episodes that will ultimately total 16 instead of the standard 22. As for the other freshman series, ABC ordered a full back nine for Dr. Ken, while Quantico got six, with the potential for more. Fox has picked up The Grinder and Grandfathered for full seasons, the same for CBS with Limitless and Life in Pieces, while NBC gave Blindspot a full order. (EW)
James Franco’s Movie About the Making Of Cult Classic ‘The Room’ Finds a Home at New Line
The Disaster Artist, based on actor Greg Sestero‘s The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, will tell the story of the midnight movie favorite, The Room. Besides directing, Franco will star as eccentric filmmaker Tommy Wiseau. Franco’s brother Dave Franco will also star in the film as Sestero, a struggling actor who meets Wiseau in San Francisco and ends up part of the oddly-spoken man’s dream of finding success in the movies. (BC)
Don’t Count Out ‘Pacific Rim 2’ Just Yet, as Guillermo Del Toro Has Turned In a Script and Budget
Director del Toro tweeted out that he had turned the budget and Jon Spaihts’ script in to Universal and Legendary, and now can only wait and see what happens. Universal pushed Pacific Rim 2 off its calendar completely last month, but Guillermo del Toro has insisted he’s still working on it. (SF)
Meanwhile, Neill Blomkamp’s ‘Alien 5’ Project Has Been Pushed To the Back Burner
In a statement on his Twitter feed last night, Blomkamp announced that Ridley Scott’s Alien: Paradise Lost is the priority project when it comes to the two Alien universe pictures set up at 20th Century Fox. Even Scott himself was trying to put Blomkamp’s continuation of Ellen Ripley’s story on hold, at least until after his second prequel was out of pre-production. Scott’s movie is scheduled to shoot in early 2016. (CB)
Director Adrian Lyne Is Back In Business, and Has Nicole Kidman Starring In His New Thriller
Actress is set to star in The Silent Wife, based on the bestselling book by A.S.A. Harrison. Kidman will play a dedicated wife who, despite her husband’s frequent indiscretions, continues to play the dutiful spouse. When confronted with the brutal truth of him leaving her for a younger woman, Jodi will not accept defeat. What begins as a tragic dissolution of a marriage quickly spirals into a game of cat and mouse. Billy Ray adapted the script. (THR)
Screenwriters: ‘Basic’
The 110-page screenplay by Jamie Vanderbilt, labeled First Draft, March 27th, 2000. (DS)