By Sarah Sluis
Disturbia, last year's knockoff of Rear Window, a fact mentioned by every critic to review the film, Film Journal's included, has just been smacked with a lawsuit alleging that it ripped off the short story used for the plot of Rear Window. DreamWorks (including its co-founder Steven Spielberg), its parent company Viacom, and Universal were named as defendants. Given the similarity between the two films, it's embarrassing that this was just noticed. In fact, a similar lawsuit was brought to court in 1998 by Sheldon Abend over television rights to Rear Window, so it's not as if this property has been lying unnoticed since 1954. Abend, executive producer of Rear Window and owner of the rights, died in 2003, leaving Sheldon Abend Revocable Trust to do the job�and apparently the lawyers are sleeping on the job.
Mean Girls sidekick turned Mamma Mia! star Amanda Seyfried has taken a cue from her other Mean Girls co-star, Rachel McAdams (The Notebook), and signed onto a Nicholas Sparks adaption. The film, Dear John, chronicles the romance between a do-gooder college student and a soldier on leave. They fall in love the summer before 9/11, but their romance receives the ultimate test when John goes back overseas after the terrorist attacks.
Up in Toronto, the big news was Fox Searchlight's acquisition of The Wrestler. With a nod to Mickey Rourke's has-been star persona, he plays a fading semi-pro wrestler who tries to connect with his daughter (Evan Rachel Wood) and a similarly aging stripper (Marisa Tomei) as his success in the ring diminishes. The film, which won the Golden Lion at Venice, will release in the U.S. this December. Just in time for Oscar season�could this be another De Niro in Raging Bull?
No comments:
Post a Comment