Singer to Produce Not Direct X-Men: First Class: For the last week or so there has been endless chatter as to whether or not Bryan Singer would still direct X-Men: First Class or if Fox would move forward without him as Singer’s next project is Jack the Giant Killer at Warner Bros. meaning he’s not immediately available to head back to the X-verse. Word has now come down that Singer is officially off the project as director, but will remain aboard as producer shepherding the pic penned by Jamie Moss from Singer’s treatment. Fox is moving forward quickly with the film as they are said to have liked the script so much they don’t want to wait with hopes of signing a director soon with the intention of getting the film in theaters by 2011. Moss is said to be honing the origin story that focuses on Xavier and Magneto and offers similar opportunities that JJ Abrams took advantage of to resuscitate Star Trek. Whether that means it’s going to be a time-traveling story or not is unknown to me.
Fox is also still in the X-Men business with Wolverine 2 starring Hugh Jackman, and while the project is still without a director it may move along quickly for a production start this fall although the most recent report had production beginning in January 2011 for a 2012 release. By the sound of it we’ll have First Class in 2011 and Wolverine 2 in 2012. [Deadline]
More for Cannes: Along with yesterday’s announcement Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood will be opening the Cannes Film Festival it’s now being reported Woody Allen’s You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger screened for the committee and it went well so the film should be expected there along with Oliver Stone’s Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Julian Schnabel’s Miral and, as has already been said 100 times, Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. In other Cannes news, a reunion of Catherine Deneuve and Gerard Depardieu in Francois Ozon’s Potiche may also be on the docket, which is very cool for fans of The Last Metro and those two in general.
On top of all that, featured to the right is the official poster for the festival featuring Juliette Binoche with the fest saying Binoche is an allegorical figure of cinema “who gives life to the image with a single stroke of her luminous brush.” [Showbiz 411 / Variety]
Eastern Promises 2 Beginning Production this Winter?: David Cronenberg will next direct The Talking Cure starring Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender, Keira Knightley and Vincent Cassel, but after that it appears he may be joining with Mortensen yet again for Eastern Promises 2, a sequel to the 2007 crime drama with Mortensen reprising his role as Nikolai, the man who’s much more than he appears to be. Steve Knight penned both the original and the sequel and production may begin as soon as this winter. [Deadline]
Morgan and Binoche for Montiel’s No One: Talk about an unlikely pair, but Tracy Morgan and Juliette Binoche are set to join Dito Montiel’s next directorial project with Channing Tatum, Son of No One. Also starring in the ensemble cop drama are Al Pacino, Ray Liotta and Katie Holmes as Tatum plays a young cop assigned to a precinct in the working class neighborhood where he grew up, with an old secret surfacing and threatening to destroy his life and family. Morgan is replacing Terrence Howard and will play Vinnie, a friend of Tatum’s. Shooting begins next week in New York. [THR]
Singleton Directing Lautner’s Abduction: John Singleton (2 Fast 2 Furious) has signed on to direct Taylor Lautner (The Twilight Saga: New Moon) in the Shawn Christensen-scripted thriller Abduction for Lionsgate. The film centers on a teen who has long felt disconnected from his parents, and figures out why, which unleashes a chain of violent events. Production will begin July in Pittsburgh. [Deadline]
Hudson Finds Something Borrowed: Kate Hudson is joining Ginnifer Goodwin, John Krasinski and Colin Egglesfield in Something Borrowed for director Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door) from a script by Jennie Snyder Urman (“Lipstick Jungle”). The story is based on Emily Giffin’s 2005 debut novel centering on a Manhattan attorney (Goodwin) who becomes involved with her best friend’s (Hudson) fiance following her 30th birthday. Filming is set to begin in April. [Variety]
Neeson Cast in Lee Daniels’s Selma: Liam Neeson and Cedric the Entertainer are the latest to join the cast of Selma for Precious director Lee Daniels. Neeson will star as President Lyndon Baines Johnson and Cedric will play Ralph Abernathy in the American civil rights movement feature. The title of the film is in reference to Selma, Alabama, the town where segregation in the South was at its worst, leading to a march that ended in violence, forcing a famous statement by President Lyndon B. Johnson that ultimately led to the signing of the Civil Rights Act. [MTV]
Daldry Joins Breaking Dawn Wish List: Summit is either dreaming or I am in for a big surprise as Stephen Daldry (The Reader) has now been added to the list of directors the studio is seeking for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. Daldry joins the previous group made up of Gus Van Sant, Sofia Coppola and Bill Condon. The fourth and final film in the franchise will actually be the fourth and fifth final film as Stephenie Meyer’s book will be broken into two scripts with the first of the two likely to shoot this fall. Considering the group of directors listed and those that have already put in work on the franchise I would say Condon is the only one in the group I wouldn’t be surprised if they took the gig, but my bet is that none of these four will ever be directing Breaking Dawn. [Los Angeles Times]
James Bond Veterans Join The Tourist: Timothy Dalton (The Living Daylights) and Steven Berkoff (Octopussy) have joined the cast of The Tourist, which is shooting on location in Venice right now under the direction of Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck with a script from Julian Fellowes, Christopher McQuarrie and Jeffrey Nachmanoff. The film stars Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie and centers on an American tourist visiting Italy to mend a broken heart who pursues a romance with a woman who deliberately crosses his path. The couple’s then caught in a whirlwind of intrigue and danger. [Variety]
Fox Cancels “24”: It’s not film news, but Fox’s television show “24” will air its final real-time episode in May, yet 20th Century Fox is still developing a theatrical film that would take Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) to Europe. [Live Feed]
