By Katey Rich
Even for a movie where most of the main characters are dead at the end, a sequel is always possible. That's what's happening with Cloverfield, now that Paramount has signed director Matt Reeves for a follow-up to the smash hit, as well as a chance to direct his own script, The Invisible Woman. Producer J.J. Abrams and screenwriter Drew Goddard will be back for the monster movie sequel, Variety reports; the first film has grossed over $65 million in just under two weeks of release. Shot on digital video with a cast of unknowns, Cloverfield cost $25 million to make.
Jared Hess, who made the breakout hit Napoleon Dynamite, has secured a cast for his next project, Gentlemen Broncos, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Michael Anganaro (Sky High), Sam Rockwell (Joshua) and Jemaine Clement (one half of HBO's "Flight of the Conchords") will star in the film, about a high school outcast who attends a sci-fi convention and discovers a well-known writer has ripped off one of his stories.
Just weeks after the death of the legendary chess champion, Kevin Macdonald will direct Bobby Fischer Goes to War, about the young American's match against Russian grand master Boris Spassky in 1972. Macdonald's feature directing debut, The Last King of Scotland, earned an Oscar for its star Forest Whitaker, and he's currently at work on the star-studded State of Play, an adaptation of the British miniseries. Variety notes that Macdonald will make the film for State of Play studio Universal.
New production studio Overture Films has struck a deal with the WGA, according to The Hollywood Reporter, that will allow production with union writers to resume at the studio. The Weinstein Company and Lionsgate have already established similar deals. Film Journal International featured Overture just a few months ago; you can read all about the studio here.
Finally, Variety reports that writer-director Paul Haggis (Crash, In the Valley of Elah) has established a production company with Michael Nozik and set it up at United Artists. The new shingle, Hwy61 Films, will take on the project Haggis already set up with the studio, which was one of the first to cut a side deal with the WGA and allow union writers to work on its projects. The first film will be Ranger's Apprentice, based on the fantasy novels about a young man training as a ranger in order to protect a mythical kingdom.
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