By Katey Rich
Are we going to see Clint Eastwood in a Bullitt-style car chase? The 78-year-old has signed on direct and star in Gran Torino for Warner Bros., a film with no plot details but with the same name as a 1970's Ford car. Variety reports that the project is slated for a December release, just a month after Eastwood's directorial effort The Changeling hits theatres. Variety notes, with perhaps a bit of understatement, "Eastwood is known for quick production turnarounds."
The hunt for Red October continues! Paramount is looking into reviving the Jack Ryan character, star of the action hits A Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games, Sum of All Fears and, yes, Hunt for Red October. Sam Raimi is in talks to develop and direct a series of films, which would find CIA agent Jack Ryan at a younger, more formative period in his life. Variety writes that Tom Clancy is reportedly working on another novel starring the hero he created, but that Paramount owns the rights to the character and can pretty much do whatever they want with him. Let's hope they exercise some caution, because when I hear "younger Jack Ryan," warning sirens screaming "Zac Efron!" go off in my head.
Elsewhere at Paramount, the marketing department is finally wrapping their minds around this whole Internet thing. The studio has partnered with web developer Clearspring to provide the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull trailer as an embeddable "widget," ensuring that bloggers like yours truly can post the trailer to their websites without relying on a pirated YouTube version or a link to Yahoo! Movies. The Hollywood Reporter credits the widget for the wide distribution of the first Crystal Skull trailer. Paramount has also ventured into developing a Facebook application which will do essentially the same thing, but make clips available from its vast library of films. Basically, Paramount is leading the pack in the Internet marketing game, and may get a leg up on the summer movie contest as a result.
And finally, a match has been truly made in heaven: Michael Cera, who makes some of the funniest comedies in America, and Edgar Wright, who directs some of the funniest comedies in the U.K., are together at last. Cera will star for Wright in Scott Pilgrim's Little Life, an adaptation of a graphic novel about a young slacker who wants to woo a girl, but must defeat her seven evil ex-boyfriends first. The Hollywood Reporter describes is as an "adventure romance," which could also describe Wright's Shaun of the Dead or, if you want to be generous, Cera's Superbad. Everyone wins when great comedic minds team up, and today, friends, Michael Cera and Edgar Wright have given us a gift.
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