Email: Subscribe Unsubscribe Click here before submitting.

Movie & TV News | Serendipity Cinema | The DVD Review | Archives | Links | About C Wayne Owens

C Wayne Owens' Movie & TV News is a daily newsletter featuring news gathered from all over the net with the newest and hottest movie and tv scoops. It is heavily weighted towards SF and Fantasy film, but if it's news (and not just Celeb gossip) it will be here, and be here weeks before the TV News shows even touch on it.

MOVIE & TV NEWS

Dvd Wizard Pro, Copy Dvd! High Quality. Excellent Pricing. Fast Turnaround. 100% Guaranteed.

Hot* New Movie Site: Movieadvanced $19.95 Over 90 Million Movie Files! Movie-Advanced Promise Safe & Speed

Director Rodriguez's 'Princess of Mars' In Doubt

Robert Rodriguez's decision to resign from the Directors Guild of America  rather than accept its "one director-one film" mandate looks to imperil Paramount's A Princess of Mars, which Rodriguez was slated to direct, Daily Variety reported Thursday. Under its agreement with the DGA, Paramount only hires directors who are guild members. "We are in discussions with Mr. Rodriguez and are trying to come up with a solution," Paramount COO Rob Friedman said. Rodriguez quit the DGA last month in order that he could co-direct Dimension Films' Sin City with Frank Miller, author and illustrator of the graphic novel series on which the movie is based. Rodriguez wanted a waver from the DGA to work with Miller, but the guild refused, maintaining that its position must be a firm one that only one director may receive screen credit on any film. Rodriguez has also said that he wants Quentin Tarantino to direct part of Sin City as well. IGN Filmforce got in contact with Rodriguez's wife and producing partner Elizabeth Avellan, to talk about "A Princess of Mars, and they simply said "As of today, we are not dropping out. We are still very much making that movie". The text of the novel is available at Project Gutenberg, other books in the series are available here.

---

All The King's Men
Steven Zaillian is set to direct "All the King's Men," an adaptation of Robert Penn Warren's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a Southern politician. Sean Penn is in talks to play the role of Willie Stark (based, in part, on Huey Long). Columbia Pictures is aiming for a September shoot in New Orleans.

---

Wednesday Belongs To "Idol" & "The Swan"
"The Swan," Fox's extreme-makeover plastic surgery then Beauty Pagent reality show, began with a strong showing Wednesday thanks in part to a big lead in from "American Idol." On the other hand, ABC's latest version of "The Bachelor" had a slower start at 9 p.m., but did built throughout its two-hour opening episode. Fox easily won the night in total viewers (17.4 million) and with adults 18-49 (7.7 rating/22 share) with the strength of the 8 p.m. edition of "Idol" (19.9 million, 8.6/27).  At 9 p.m., "The Swan," about a group of women who go undergo cosmetic surgery but then are never allowed to see the results until after they've been eliminated from the competition, debuted to an average of 15 million viewers and 6.8/18 in adults 18-49.

---

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
This is a title that has had a lot of talk around town for some time.The star filled drama included Amanda Peet, Mark Ruffallo, Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Kip Pardue, James Cromwell and James Gandolfini in its cast. But now, very quickly, it has been put on the back burner with no word on when, or if filming might actually start.

---

Harry Potter's Family To Be Left Out Of The Fourth Film Boy wizard Harry Potter's evil uncle and aunt have been excised from the fourth movie in the fantasy series. British actors Richard Griffiths and Fiona Shaw were surprised to find that the scenes involving their characters Vernon and Petunia Dursley have been removied from the film adaptation of JK Rowling's fourth book Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire. Sleepy Hollow star Griffith reports, "Filming had already started on the fourth and Fiona and I asked the producers, 'Are we in it?' and they said, 'Oh, did no one tell you?' The problem is that the fourth book is just too long for a film, so they've done away with our bit - where Harry is at home with the Dursleys - and will just begin with him at school." The 56-year-old continued, "I said to JK Rowling, 'Couldn't the Dursleys turn up to an open day at Harry's school or something?' But she said, 'I don't think so.'" Griffiths, Shaw and Harry Melling - who plays the Dursleys' son Dudley - have yet to discover whether they will be reappearing in the fifth movie or not.

---

Chronicles of Narnia
More news from the set of the CS Lewis book adaptation of "The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe" is up at The NZ Herald.

---

The Amazing Westerbergs
Veteran actors George Segal and Susan Sullivan  will guest star in the CBS comedy pilot "The Amazing Westerbergs." The story is about two brothers (Chris O'Donnell, Jay Harrington), raised to think they're special, who find out that they are anything but. Segal and Sullivan will play the brothers' parents.

---

Boarding Now: Flight of the Dead
Lions Gate Films is fast-tracking production of its own zombie picture, "Flight of the Dead," setting a September start date. "Flight" is the tale of two zombies being shipped back to their homeland after they are captured. But when the deadly creatures escape aboard an airplane... well, you get the picture.

---

Green Hornet Stings Clooney

Mediasharx was there when Kevin Smith spoke at the University of Maryland, and hinted at his verdant visions of superhero fun. "They are actively pursuing Jet Li for the role of Kato as had been rumored, but George Clooney is definitely not up for the lead role. It appears that Clooney hasn't been in the running since long before Smith agreed to helm the picture." On filmmaker Kevin Smith's View Askew Web site, he has opened The Hornet's Nest, a page to track the production of Smith's upcoming Green Hornet movie.

---

Black Widow
IGN FilmForce tells us that Lions Gate is in the very early stages of negotiations with "X-Men" screenwriter David Hayter, for him  to write and direct the espionage thriller based on the Marvel comic.

---

Hill Harper Bites Big Apple "C.S.I."
Hill Harper is now officially a member of the cast of CBS' new drama series "CSI: New York." The show a spinoff of "CSI: Miami," (which was itself a spinnoff), will be headed by Gary Sinise and Melina Kanakaredes . Surprisingly  the series revolves around a dauntless team of crime scene investigators who happen to work in New York.

---

Phantom of the Opera
With little fanfare the Andrew Lloyd Webber film nears its final stages. Patrick Wilson discusses his role in the muscial adaptation to Phantom Movie.

---

Rogue Redials "Phone"
Rogue Pictures, a new studio imprint that will specialize in thrillers and action movies, has scheduled a U.S. remake of the Korean horror hit "Phone." The tale is about a reporter who changes her cell phone number after publishing a controversial article that results in death threats. But a friend's daughter's bizarre behavior after she answers the new phone, convinces the reporter to begin an investigation into the mysterious string of deaths that have haunted her phone number's previous owners. The original version of "Phone" was one of the highest-grossing South Korea films released two years ago, with nearly 2 million people viewing the film. The remake is being produced with Madonna's Maverick Films. Other films on the Rogue slate are a Jet Li film that as yet has not title, a remake of "Assault on Precinct 13," and "Seed of Chucky," which will be released on Halloween weekend.

---

Comcast Will Add Some Viacom Channels To Its On-Demand Service
Comcast is planning to add content from MTV, BET, Nickelodeon, and Noggin to their On-Demand service at no additional charge to Comcast Digital Cable customers. Content is expected to include programs like SpongeBob SquarePants, Rugrats, and Blue's Clues. In addition to the Viacom programming, the On-Demand service already offers over 1,800 hours of programming from other networks including Cartoon Network and Boomerang.

---

Magick Genre And Gender Benders
Tommy O'Haver, is to direct the supernatural romantic comedy film Magick for DreamWorks, told SCI FI Wire that the movie is a body-swapping story with a twist (You need a twist in a story about body-swapping?). "It's totally sick, because it's a guy and a girl who switch from the neck down only," O'Haver told the interviewer. "It will be PG-13, maybe R, so I'll get away with a lot more." O'Haver added that Robert Zemeckis is to producr, and script development is already underway. The title might change to avoid confusion with other similarly titled films. "There's the Anthony Hopkins movie [called Magic] about the dummy," he remembered. "We don't want people to think they're going to see a horror movie about a talking dummy."

---

How Much Punishment Can You Take?
With so little time before opening, the team set to promote The Punisher seems ready to flood us with proof that this film will be better than the first attempt. iFilm has four clips from the film online. Comingsoon.net is kicking off a week of interviews leading up to the premiere, with writer/director Jonathan Hensleigh (with references to "Othello," "From Russia With Love" and "Mad Max") and producer Gail Anne Hurd (who happily announced that this film was shot for less than $40 million and that means a sequel would be easy to get greenlighted) up first. Thomas Jane talked to Skewed and Reviewed about a possible sequel. "We are going to do at least one more," Jane said, confidently, "and I knew this going in and wanted to make sure I enjoyed this idea and would not think I was saddled with a sequel. I wanted to be challenged and explore the line between right and wrong, as this is not often done in films today, as he is an anti-hero. I want to make a future film as relevant and real as the first one and further films after that would be based on how I felt about the second one." That promo machine coasts into high gear as E! debuts "Behind The Scenes: The Punisher" on Thursday, April 15 at 2:30 p.m. Thomas Jane will be talking about the superhero flick to NWLink, while Director Jonathan Hensleigh talks to Screenwriter's Voice.

---

I Knew That! Question #818
 (Friday, April 8, 2004)
Question #818: What did Ozzie Nelson
do for a living on "The Adventures Of
Ozzie and Harriet?"

 
 

Answer #817:  On the television cartoon,
what are the names of George Jetson's son &
daughter?

Elroy & Judy. This was a popular one. Andrew got
it first, then Duane, Robin H., Rachel, Max, Brian,
Sandy, Scott, John A., Lori, Mr. Mike, Rachel B.,
Michelle, Jeanne & Nicole
 

You can join in the fun, Subscribe here to get the question
the night before it shows up here, if you answer, your name
will be listed for the world to see.

--posted by Wayne Thursday, April 08, 2004

Copyright 2004-5 C. Wayne Owens
Discount web hosting through Houston Web Hosting Discount
Movie & TV News graphics by A Dragon's Eye Fantasy Art

· Brobdingnagian Bards Free Music Downloads · Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers
· Celtic Music MP3 Downloads Magazine · Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings Music · Free Music Blog · Directory of Free Music Downloads ·