Hollywood Hotline - Week of December 20, 2024
HOLLYWOOD HOTLINE Archives
Happy Holidays Hotliners!
Hope you’re all primed and ready for the remaining days of the year. I know I’m not! LOL. Currently sitting on the loveseat in front of Christmas tree, wearing at-home comfy-clothes, slippers, Santa hat on, sipping a rum and Arnold Palmer, listening to a nostalgic vintage Christmas party playlist as I put the finishing touches on this week’s Hotline newsletter! ;)
TOP STORY:
BARBIE and MURDER, SHE WROTE Are Back, Baby!
Respectively. Not in the same movie or series together, mind you. Barbe 2 officially in development when WBD sent Greta Gerwig all those Box Office Bonus checks for first BARBIE (2023) that must’ve cleared. And as a lifelong Angela Lansbury Fan, I think Jamie Lee Curtis is a solid choice to inherit the typewriter. Jamie Lee is in The Zone. She can do no wrong now. Will definitely be checking it out. Also, I just saw Apple TV is having a firesale on the original MURDER, SHE WROTE (1984-1996) series. 250+ episodes for $25!
Without further ado, let’s check the Hotline:
FUTURE FILMS:
This is Ain’t Your Grandaddy’s Mummy
EVIL DEAD RISE (2023) director, Lee Cronin, rebooting THE MUMMY for New Line Cinema at Warner Bros. Discovery. Logline being kept under wraps but I’m gonna take an educated guess this is gonna be a gory one. Beetles eating you alive with good CGI and all. Sign me up.
Batman Villain “Clayface” Getting Origin Story Movie
Growing up watching BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES (1992-1995), after school is where I was first introduced to ‘Clayface’ voiced by the brilliant Ron Perlman. Mike Flanagan (DOCTOR SLEEP 2019) is directing, which gets me very interested. Sign me up.
Josh Hartnett No Longer in a Career Slump Trap
“Dakota Johnson and Josh Hartnett are set to star opposite Anne Hathaway in Amazon MGM Studios’ upcoming feature VERITY. Michael Showalter (THE STATE (1994-1995) is helming. Based on the No. 1 New York Times bestseller by Colleen Hoover, the current script is written by Nick Antosca.”
The story follows, Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer who is on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford (Hartnett), husband of bestselling thriller author Verity Crawford (Hathaway), has hired Ashleigh (Johnson) to complete the remaining books in a successful series that his wife is unable to finish after a mysterious accident. Upon arrival at the lavish Crawford estate, Ashleigh slowly learns that things are not exactly as they seem with the discovery of a secret, unfinished manuscript that may divulge chilling admissions about the family’s past. As Lowen ingratiates herself with Jeremy and his young son Crew, she must discern if Verity’s writings are merely lurid works of fiction or an ominous warning by a deranged psychopath.”
Number #1 Bestseller, huh? NEVER HEARD OF IT
Guy Ritchie Drinks From The FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
“Apple TV+'s FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH, a family-friendly action-adventure film he describes as "in the vein of Indiana Jones but contemporary." Written by James Vanderbilt (Zodiac), the story follows two estranged siblings, Luke and Charlotte Purdue, played by John Krasinski and Natalie Portman, who partner on a global heist to find the mythical spring.”
Sounds like UNCHARTED (2022)?
A million years ago I developed my own feature film (with my buddy Ryan M.) about a group of estranged adult siblings forced by their estranged criminal mastermind father to come together to commit a multiple location simultaneous heist to steal the components that when put together create the fountain of youth elixir you need to live forever. It would’ve been told non-linearly with the cold opening being the climax HEAT-style takedown bank robbery already in progress/shootout and with the closing scene being everyone meeting up at the after robbery(ies) rendezvous, all successful, and happy (before they turn on each other). Would’ve been a franchise starter. Never made it to script.
American Dennis Haysbert Hard-Charging After American Smuggler
“The film will chart the relentless hunt for Craig Petties, an American drug trafficker best known for the criminal empire he led in Memphis while operating in collaboration with Mexico’s infamous drug cartels. Haysbert will play a prominent CIA agent in the film.”
This reminds me of the true crime memoir I developed with the intention of turning into a feature or series, A LIFE OF DECEPTION, about another drug smuggler, Claude Louis Duboc.
Duboc was a French/American dual citizen who smuggled roughly 60 tons of marijuana and hashish into Canada from Afghanistan, annually, during the 1970s-1990s, earning more than $160 million a year. He was eventually caught in 1994, where he plead guilty, forfeiting $100 million to the US Government, hoping for leniency, but instead they gave him a Life Sentence plus twenty. Robert Shapiro and F. Lee Bailey were his hand-holding sentencing defense attorneys who fucked him, because they lied and stole all his legal defense funds to help O.J. Simpson with his murder trial defense fund. F. Lee Bailey got disbarred over and even served time. True Story! Google it!
Bill Skarsgård to Hold Gun to Guy’s Head in DEAD MAN’S LINE
“Based on a true story, the film follows a former real estate developer who takes the mortgage banker who did him wrong hostage, demanding $5 million and a personal apology.” Gus Van Sant (ELEPHANT 2003) directing.
I could’ve sworn Werner Herzog was making the fictional version of this already? Anyhow, I at one time also developed this story about Tony Kiritsis (1932-2005) as a feature for a certain actor. It never came to be. I wonder if we’ll see more versions of this story? Tony Kiritsis was a much more dramatic/less attractive Luigi Mangione.
MAGAZINE DREAMS Gets Its Distribution Uncanceled
The disgraced Jonahtan Majors film about a bodybuilder without social skills finally sees the light of day. Not a fan of this director’s only other film, HOT SUMMER NIGHTS (2017). He seems like a trust fund bro without taste or skill. Seems like he copied TAXI DRIVER and NIGHTCRAWLER for this. We’ll see. Speaking of, notable Oscar-nominated filmmaker Dan Gilroy (NIGHTCRAWLER 2014) co-produced this, which is truly shocking (guess he needed the money?).
TRENDY TV:
MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE Reboot Greenlit
This is where we’re at. Never watched the original series (2000-2006) as I was in college/grad school. Can’t vouch for it. Can’t imagine anyone involved needs the money so it must be for creative pursuits, right? Right!? (Anakin_Padme_4_Panel.meme)
David O. Russell’s New Show is Fucking BANANAS
“Apple TV+ has landed a high-profile drama series project for development, sources tell Deadline. Tentatively titled Bananas, it has Oscar Isaac and Ana de Armas set to star and executive produce, and David O. Russell attached to direct and executive produce.”
“The premise for the potential series, written and executive produced by Carolina Paiz, is kept under wraps through sources indicate that the working title refers to so-called banana republics, a term used to describe politically and economically unstable countries in areas such as Central America.”
Oscar Isaac and Ana De Armas co-star. I’m sure Trump and Elon will love it.
MURDER, SHE WROTE Not Your Thing? DOWNTOWN ABBY Writer Got Something To Serve To Yo Ass!
“Julian Fellowes is going from crimes of high society to real crimes. The Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age creator is set to write and executive produce a TV adaptation of Swiss-American author Donna Leon’s contemporary Detective Brunetti book series, which is in development at 20th Television.”
My late single-mother “ML” (1946-2022) loved Acorn British Mystery Murder Shows. Sounds like she would’ve loved this. Miss you mom!
COMING SOON:
SUPERMAN - did you know Superman has a dog named Krypto?
KARATE KID: LEGENDS - who would win in a fight? Superman or Karate Kid: Legends?
CLEANER - What if DIE HARD was a window washer?
THE DAMNED - I’m getting Robert Eggers THE WITCH vibes
GAZER - cool looking 16mm paranoid thriller Student Feature Certified™️
DEATH OF A UNICORN - Not to be confused with Peter Bogdonavich’s 1984 book THE KILLING OF A UNICORN
WARFARE - Alex Garland endorsed follow-up to CIVIL WAR
BLACK BAG - MR. & MRS. SMITH but different
SEA OAK - One of my favorite authors George Saunders wrote the 2017 pilot for this. This clip is just the ending scene of pilot, which is about a dead grandma played by a never-scarier Glenn Close, coming back from the dead to help her stupid fucking grandkids. Here’s a teaser too. It never got picked up. I can’t imagine why!
Welp. That’s it for this week. Just a few more shopping days left! Hurry up! I gotta gotta gotta go!
Until next week, Hotliners! Thanks for calling in.
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