Deebee-deebee-deebee! Buck Rogers alum Erin Gray says "a producer who has a few comic-book movies under his belt" is working on getting the license for a feature-film redo. MovieHole.net also reports that another big screen-bound show, Kung Fu, is actively seeking a "male, 20-35, a handsome mix of East meets West," for its lead.... Sex and the City: The Movie has been tagged with a May 30, 2008 release date, says MTV.com.... Cillian Murphy will be mentored by Al Pacino's acclaimed painter in the biopic Dali & I: The Surreal Story.... Ricky Gervais will star in This Side of the Truth, about a world where no one has ever fibbed — until, that is, Gervais' character realizes how productive it can be.
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Christian Bale, whose war drama Rescue Dawn hits theaters July 4, proved evasive when asked by TVGuide.com about the rumored return of Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow in the Batman Begins follow-up Dark Knight. "I won't confirm it, 'cause I never know what I can and can't say," he hedged (in what our Raven describes as "his seriously hot native-Welsh accent"). "I usually wait for other people to say it, then I know it must be common knowledge."That unsaid, Bale notes that the sequel — hitting theaters in July 2008 — enjoyed a seamless transition, with the returning likes of Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman and Michael Caine joined by newcomers Heath Ledger (as the Joker), Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent/Two Face) and Maggie Gyllenhaal (replacing Katie Holmes as love interest Rachel Dawes). "It's been a nice progression," he said, "and we have the confidence now," based on Batman Begins' strong reception. — Additional reporting by Raven Snook
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Per the Hollywood Reporter, Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters' Kevin) will play Welsh poet Dylan Thomas in The Best Time of Our Lives, an indie biopic also starring Lindsay Lohan, Keira Knightley and Cillian Murphy.... Mark Wahlberg will star in M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening.... Rod Lurie is remaking Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs.... Paula Patton (Denzel's Déjà Vu love interest) is joining Kiefer Sutherland in Mirrors.... Per Variety, Hilary Swank is developing and may star in a remake of Intimate Strangers, in which a woman thinks she's visiting a new shrink but instead bares her soul to an accountant. Ha!.... Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd is on track for a Dec. 21 (limited) release.
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Question: Why are actresses playing transsexuals in movies lately? First Felicity Huffman and now possibly Catherine Zeta-Jones. I think it's completely ridiculous/offensive that these roles aren't being cast with actual transsexual actors. Not only would that be a wonderful way to represent more diversity in Hollywood, but it makes sense to cast someone whose own life is the same as the character's. Being a transsexual is not a mere lifestyle choice that an actor can emulate; it's a gender. This new trend is like having a man play a woman, a woman play a man or even having one race play another — a practice I thought had finally left Hollywood.Answer: First, I need to point out that even by the laziest J-school standards, it takes three instances to make a trend. Right now we've got one confirmed instance — Felicity Huffman as a fictional pre-op transsexual in Transamerica
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Question: I just saw Red Eye and there's something I don't understand: What was the exchange between the main characters, Lisa (Rachel McAdams, who was amazing) and Jack, about his last name being rude? I also thought the actor playing Jack was phenomenal; what's his claim to fame? Or was this movie his big break?
Answer: It's not that his name, Jackson Rippner, is rude. It's that it's menacing, sounding uncomfortably like "Jack the Ripper." And since Red Eye (2005) is a Wes Craven thriller, I don't think it's giving away too much to say that the suggestion isn't without meaning. Rippner is played by up-and-coming Irish actor Cillian Murphy, 29, who was studying law when he took a sudden career detour into acting.
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