Female-driven western 'Jane Got a Gun' secures financing

Since her Best Actress win for Black Swan in 2010, Natalie Portman hasn't played another meaty role, instead appearing in blockbusters like Thor, the romantic comedy No Strings Attached, and the stoner comedy Your Highness. She's wrapped work on a Terrence Malick project, but chances are that
performance won't be seen for some time. Her next big appearance may be in Jane Got a Gun, a western that will film early next year. Portman would both star and produce. The production just secured financing, and the sales agents will be looking for buyers at the Toronto Film Festival in a few weeks.

Portman would play a woman who has to ask her ex-lover for help in order to save her current husband, an outlaw. The husband comes home riddled with bullets, almost on his deathbed, and a gang of Confederate soldiers is after him to finish the job. That forces Portman's character to seek out her ex, who can help her defend the family farm. It had been reported that Michael Fassbender was considering playing the role of the ex, but those rumors were later squashed.

Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin) is directing, making this truly a female-driven picture. There really aren't many films to draw on for comparison. Civil War and farm-set Cold Mountain comes to mind, but I see more differences than similarities. Though the western genre has long since passed its heyday, the right kind of project can bring people back, like 3:10 to Yuma or the more contemporary No Country for Old Men, for example. With a farm wife starring in what's normally a cowboy picture, Jane Got a Gun may be just that.

I don't get it: Supernatural adventure with Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in the works

If you take all of Hollywood's current money-making impulses and twist them around, I'm pretty sure you'd end up with the project featuring Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn currently in the works. The Paramount project, Huck, comes from a spec script by Andy Burg and will be produced by the Rise of the Planet of the Apes team Peter Chernin and Dylan Clark. My first thought was, "What a terrible idea," so here I'll explain why.

Why Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn are the wrong kind of iconic, pre-sold properties. I get that Hollywood is all about showing viewers familiar characters. There's an updated Sherlock Holmes and every single fairy tale known to man is getting re-done, often with stellar results. On the flip side, remember Gulliver's Travels? That update of a classic bombed. This project plans on taking Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and then aging them up to adulthood. There's another trend they're capitalizing on--the adult boy. But I can't and don't want to see the charming antics of mischievous kids transferred to adults. It's not as funny when adults are acting like children.

The addition of "supernatural" elements is just following trends. Have you heard about a series called Harry Potter? Twilight? They all involve magic and horrific creatures. So why not add supernatural elements to Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer? No, no, no. I hate the idea of taking Mark Twain's beloved characters, aging them up, then making them fight ghosts or monsters. In the original books, the characters are runaways, fight thieves and murderers, and dig up trunks full of gold. What about this premise isn't fantastical enough? These were all things kids thought maybe could happen to them, but never did. Moving into the supernatural just adds another dimension that isn't necessary. Did I mention the production team's inspiration is Snow White and the Huntsman, an upcoming iteration of the fairy tale that turns the poison apple story into an epic battle picture?

I'm actually fine with Snow White and the Huntsman providing an update on a classic, centuries-old fairy tale. But I'm less inclined to see Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, who are specific products of their era, the 1840s, changed. The changes Huck proposes would completely alter the nature of these characters. They aren't just adults, they're adults fighting ghosts or vampires or weird curses. Twain's work was as much a commentary on its era as it was an adventure, and that would be lost. If this project ever enters production, I think Hollywood will learn a lesson that not all iconic characters can be distorted in order to fit the day's trends, and still end up a blockbuster hit. On that note, don't even get me started on what Michael Bay plans to do to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

 

Doug Liman's 'Moon': 'Ocean's Eleven' in outer space?

By Sarah Sluis

Doug Liman's latest project, Moon, may be set out of this world, but its plot reminds me of those jetsetting heist/spy movies. After all, it would just be plain old boring if Jason Bourne or James Bond or the Ocean's Eleven crew did all their fighting stateside. The script for Moon centers on a group of ex-space agency employees, led by a woman (Another switch-up from routine, but maybe it's easier to go the Sigourney Weaver route in space). Their "mission" involves stealing space equipment and eventually capturing a NASA employee in their quest to go to the Moon, where they can mine the celestial body's energy source.

Liman's most famous for directing the first Bourne movie, which had the action sequences, intrigue, and travelogue feel of the Bond movies with a little less swagger. He also directed the stylish Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but misfired in his first foray into the sci-fi genre, Jumper. That film, which centers on a young man with the ability to teleport across time and place, garnered a mixed review from our critic Frank Lovece, who praised aspects of Liman's work. With these kinds of credentials, Liman seems exceptionally qualified to direct. He also has a historical drama in the works, Attica, but perhaps he's shelved it after the tepid box-office reception to Fair Game, another based-on-a-true-story script.

Moon (which will likely be renamed to avoid confusion with the 2009 movie with the same title) managed to keep the same star, Jake Gyllenhaal, even as it cycled from DreamWorks to Paramount. But no more. Up for the male roles are Andrew Garfield, Emile Hirsch, and Chris Pine. The list of possible leading ladies is more extensive. THR reports that Rosario Dawson, Megan Fox, Rachel McAdams, Eva Mendes, Zoe Saldana and Olivia Wilde are being considered for the part.

If Liman can assemble a cast with the proper chemistry, Paramount will greenlight the project for a shoot later this summer. I love space movies, but the genre has been in need of some punching up. Moon seems to be it. With NASA funding being cut and cut, the future of space travel is commercial. What better way to comment on that than by creating a film about anti-heroes pilfering space equipment so they can steal the Moon's energy source? Sign me up.

Today in zombie movies: 'Warm Bodies,' 'Kitchen Sink'

By Sarah Sluis

Since the success of Twilight, supernatural romances have been all the rage. Into this mix comes Warm Bodies, which replaces Edward Cullen the Vampire with R the Zombie. Nicholas Hoult, who I adored as the kid in About a Boy and who put in a memorable performance in A Single Man, will star. The concept, however, is not for the squeamish. After perusing Amazon reviews of the book, I came across this gem of a meet-cute. "R meets Julie when he eats the brain of her longtime boyfriend Perry, and appropriates his memories of this wonderful girl," Amazon reviewer xBE states."In the middle of the feed, R sees her in the room, and manages to keep himself and the other zombies from attacking her and then brings her back to the airport where they live." The reviewer compares the zombie to Edward Scissorhands, a notable comparison given that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp really made that concept work. On a story level, though, Scissorhands is closer to Beauty and the Beast than the I-want-to-eat-you-but-I-love-you Twilight. The Summit project has also found a director, Jonathan Levine (The Wackness), who also led the screenplay adaptation. One test for Twilight-inspired projects will come up in just a couple weeks. Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) directed Red Riding Hood, which pairs a feral, bloodthirsty werewolf with Amanda Seyfried in a red caplet.

While supernatural romances have seen a huge spike in popularity, horror comedies have been coming at a pretty regular pace the past several years. The latest may mark the directorial debut of multi-hyphenate star Jonah Hill, who also has writing and producing credits to his name. Kitchen Sink will center on teen zombies and vampires who must band together and avoid eating each other in order to fight off an alien invasion. I guess the title is the reference to that saying, "Everything but the kitchen sink..?" Sony will finance, but given Hill's busy schedule (he's also starring in The Sitter, appears in Moneyball and is writing/starring/exec producing 21 Jump Street), it may be a while before this project hits theatres.