Victory! Entourage's Kevin Dillon has been tapped to play the title character in the 300-spoofing National Lampoon's 301: The Legend of Awesomest Maximus Wallace Leonidas.... Also per Variety, Natalie Portman joins Brothers' Tobey Maguire and Jake Gyllenhaal in a love-triangle drama based on a 2004 Danish film.... Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen) will direct Twilight, an adaptation of the best-selling young-adult fantasy series.... Both Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are in talks to just suck it up and reunite for the fourth installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise.... Also per the Reporter, Wallace and Gromit will appear in a new half-hour short set at a bakery and titled Trouble at the Mill.... Music-video vet Sam Bayer will helm a remake of the 1987 vampire flick Near Dark.
read more
Comedy Central has greenlit the pilot Michael Ian Black Doesn't Understand, which Variety describes as a "scripted showcase" for the oh-so-dry, poker-faced funnyman.... BET on Wednesday unveiled a development slate that boasts 16 new series, including projects from Will Smith (Cipha, an animated sci-fi series), Vin Diesel (Hannibal, an animated look at the ancient African king), D.L. Hughley (S.O.B., a hidden-camera reality series) and Orlando Jones (Bufu, an [again] animated sketch-comedy offering). (Nice to see BET drumming up so much on-camera work for black actors.) Also in the mix is the 26-year-old cabler's first original sitcom, Somebodies, based on the indie film of the same name.
read more
Per Variety, Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange will star in Grey Gardens, a fact-based drama about two eccentric relatives of Jacqueline Kennedy.... MTV Films and Paramount are developing Midway Games' The Wheelman into a feature starring Vin Diesel.... Per the Hollywood Reporter, Jonathan Liebesman, the director of the upcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel, is in talks to helm New Line's remake of the original Friday the 13th, which — and I can't say I agree with this — will heavily feature Jason, and in his hockey mask no less. Hmmm, maybe those Daniel Craigophobes have the right idea....
read more
Question: I recently saw the sequel to XXX and was confused about the way they explained the death of Vin Diesel's character. I didn't care for Ice Cube's performance and unpleasant attitude; I thought Diesel was much more likable and that the first movie's stunts were more fun and imaginative. What are your thoughts about the two movies? Answer: I didn't care for XXX (2002); I wasn't interested in the story and thought the stunts were too CGI-enhanced to be at all exciting. That is, to be fair, a problem I have with almost all big-budget action movies today; my feeling is that when the action is amped up to utterly outlandish proportions, I might as well be watching a Roadrunner cartoon. But I do think Vin Diesel is a credible action hero, and I can't say the same for
read more