With a Lot Of Free Time Suddenly On His Hands, Jon Stewart Signs Four-Year Deal With HBO
Former Daily Show host will be back in the TV saddle before too long: he and the pay cable net have entered a four-year, cross-platform agreement, including a first-look option for Stewart’s film and TV projects.Along with its forthcoming daily newscast from Vice and its recent agreement with Bill Simmons, the move further strengthens HBO’s efforts to expand beyond its prestigious fictional programming to compete in the 24-hour content cycle. (TOH)
Duncan Jones Lands Paul Rudd and Alexander Skarsgard For His Passion Project, ‘Mute’
A sci-fi set in Berlin forty years in the future, Mute centers on a mute bartender (played by Skarsgard) whose only reason for living suddenly disappears, leading to a search that takes him deep into the city’s underbelly and to a pair of American surgeons, led by Rudd. Jones says he’s been working on for 12 years, and co-wrote the script with Mike Johnson. (CS)
‘Concussion’ Director Will Follow Up With Watergate Drama, Has Liam Neeson Starring as Deep Throat
Neeson will star in Felt, the story of Mark Felt, the man who was the Watergate scandal’s infamous informant, Deep Throat. Peter Landesman, the filmmaker behind the upcoming Will Smith NFL drama, is directing the spy drama. Lifelong FBI agent Felt leaked information to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward, who would only name his source as Deep Throat. His identity was revealed in 2005. (HV)
It’s a Busy Day For Kevin Spacey, Who Signs Up For Not One, but Two New Films
The Oscar winner is in the process of setting up his next two movie roles, and they’re both with Ansel Elgort. Spacey is in final negotiations to join Baby Driver, Edgar Wright’s pic starring Elgort, John Hamm, Jamie Foxx and Lily James. Spacey also has closed a deal to star in Billionaire Boys Club, directed by James Cox toplined by Elgort and Taron Egerton. (DH)
Cult Filmmaker Shane Carruth Assembles an Impressive Cast For His Next Project
Filmmaker’s shipping drama The Modern Ocean has Anne Hathaway, Keanu Reeves, Daniel Radcliffe, Chloe Grace Moretz, Tom Holland, Asa Butterfield, Abraham Attah and Jeff Goldblum all on board. Carruth will also star. Film centers on the competition for valuable shipping routes, the search for the hidden cache of priceless material and the powerful need for vengeance in a secretive world filled with mysterious technologies and bitter rivalries. (VAR)
‘Bad Santa 2’ Lands Itself a Director, and There Is Some ‘Mean’ Stuff In His Past
Mark Waters, who directed the hit 2004 Tina Fey-Lindsay Lohan film Mean Girls, has been set to direct the sequel to the 2003 comedy that is now in the works after Miramax and Broad Green Pictures agreed to co-finance and co-produce the comedy. Billy Bob Thornton, Tony Cox and Brett Kelly are returning the original cast. Principal photography starts in January in Montreal on the script from Doug Ellin, Shauna Cross, John Phillips and Johnny Rosenthal. (THR)
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele To Team Up With Legendary Animator Henry Selick For New Stop-Motion Comedy
The trio will team up for Wendell and Wild, an animated comedy about two scheming demon brothers who must face their arch-nemesis, the demon-dusting nun Sister Helly, and her two acolytes, the goth teens Kat and Raoul. Selick is perhaps best known for James and the Giant Peach, The Nightmare before Christmas and Coraline. He will co-write the script with Peele, and will also be directing and producing the picture. (COL)
‘LEGO Batman’ Adds Another Prestigious Cast Member, as Ralph Fiennes Will Voice Alfred
Actor will voice the loyal butler to Will Arnett’s caped crusader. Fiennes joins a pretty fun cast including Michael Cera as Robin, Zach Galifianakis as The Joker and Rosario Dawson as Batgirl. Chris McKay moves from animation supervisor on The LEGO Movie to direct here, with Phil Lord and Chris Miller on board to produce. The Lego Batman Movie opens on February 10th, 2017. (TP)
One Hundred Women Directors Hollywood Should Be Hiring
Here’s a list of the best and brightest female directors in the industry, very few of whom are afforded the same major opportunities as their male counterparts. Some are promising up-and-comers, while others are award-winning veterans. Their talents run the gamut from comedy to drama, and from action to arthouse. (VUL)
Screenwriters: ‘Nothing But the Truth’ AKA ‘The Big Easy’
The second draft of the script by Jack Baran & Jim McBride, from an original screenplay by Daniel Petrie Jr. Script is labeled Pink Revisions, and dated November 11th, 1985. (DS)