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When director Craig Gillespie was hired to helm Liongate's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, he revealed that he would need to "do a polish on [the script] and then get going, really." Gillepsie wouldn't have to look too long to find a writer.
The Wrap reports that Gillespie had his Fright Night remake screenwriter Marti Noxon perform the script polish on the draft left over from when David O. Russell was the project's writer and director. Russell left the movie last October, with Mike White hired to replace Russell a month later, only to quit in January.
In a recent interview with MTV, Gillespie described what he found attractive about the project.
who's been cast? >> Posted 06.01.11 by Ryan -
In what seems to be a common occurrence, director David O. Russell (The Fighter) has dropped out of another project. Russell left his adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies last October, and now has dropped out of the adaptation of the PlayStation 3 game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.
Russell was first announced as the writer and director of Uncharted last October, in what seemed like a curious choice to game fans. In another surprising move, Mark Wahlberg was soon cast in the lead role of video game character Nathan Drake, which left fans with visions of Max Payne.
what happened? >> Posted 05.27.11 by Ryan -
Lionsgate recently announced that Craig Gillespie would be the latest director hired to the big-screen adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, based on the best-selling novel by Seth Grahame-Smith (Jane Austen also made a contribution).
David O. Russell (The Fighter) was initially hired to write and direct the movie, and after he quit (citing budget issues), writer-director Mike White (Year of the Dog) was hired to replace Russell, until White quit as well. While speaking to EW, Gillespie discussed how he became Lionsgate's third option (and hopefully, last).
I was aware the project was around, but at the time it wasn't available. Then it became available. I was still finishing up Fright Night, but in the meantime I called my agent and said, "I want to see that script." He said, "I'm not sure we'd be able to figure out the timing." But I read the first 30 pages and said, "I want to do this." It's just such a great combination between classic literature — Jane Austen, and meshing it with zombies. The challenge of meshing those two genres is really exciting to me.
MORE >> Posted 04.19.11 by Ryan -
Author Seth Grahame-Smith was a virtual unknown until he decided to blend zombies into Jane Austen's classic novel in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The result was instant success, with studios bidding for the movie rights before the book was even released in April of 2009. Later that year, actress Natalie Portman was attached to produce and star in the lead role of Elizabeth Bennett, with David O. Russell reported to be the movie's writer and director. A year later, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies' streak came to an end.
First, Russell dropped out of the project, and Portman followed Russell out the door days later. Screenwriter/director Mike White (Year of the Dog) was announced as director, but he too left the project in January. Lionsgate is trying for a third director, and hoping that, this time, it works.
Who's going to take the reins now? >> Posted 04.06.11 by Ryan -
Mark Wahlberg mentioned a possible sequel to boxing biopic The Fighter prior to the Academy Award ceremony that won Christian Bale and Melissa Leo Oscars for their performances. A couple weeks later, Wahlberg again spoke of the sequel, which would follow welterweight fighter "Irish" Micky Ward's three fights with Arturo Gatti from 2002-2003, and said that, while the sequel was in "the early stages" he couldn't "imagine [everybody] wouldn’t want to go back." Count director David O. Russell among those ready to return.
Russell wants to write it, too >> Posted 03.23.11 by Ryan -
Mark Wahlberg doesn't want to stop working with The Fighter director David O. Russell.
Prior to the Academy Awards this past weekend, Wahlberg told Extra that he'd like to make a sequel to The Fighter.
Now we're gonna talk about doing number 2. We're gonna do the Ward /Gatti trilogy and make it real.
Wahlberg was referring to the three fights between Micky Ward and the late Canadian boxer Arturo Gatti that took place in 2002-2003. "And you know what?" Wahlberg joked to Extra's Mario Lopez, "You may want to play Gatti."
Who could join Uncharterd? >> Posted 03.02.11 by Ryan -
Shortly after an adaptation of the Seth Grahame-Smith novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was announced at the end of 2009, David O. Russell was reported as the movie's writer and director. At the time, actress Natalie Portman was attached to produce and star in the lead role of Elizabeth Bennett, but once Russell dropped out of the project almost a year later, Portman also quit, leaving the project empty, save Russell's script.
why did Russell decide to abandon the movie? >> Posted 01.28.11 by Ryan -
Thanks to the critical and financial success of The Fighter, director David O. Russell now has his pick of follow-up projects and it appears that his next two features could be a one-two punch of video game and comic book adaptations. Although there was talk that he would next direct Old St. Louis, an original comedy that he wrote that would star Vince Vaughn as a traveling salesman.
After dropping out as director of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the heat generated from The Fighter makes it far more likely that he will concentrate his efforts on Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, a live-action adaptation of the Playstation 3 game that will star Mark Wahlberg. Now, THR is reporting that Russell is "in negotiations" to rewrite and direct 2 Guns, Universal’s adaptation of the Boom! Studios comic book that has Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson attached to star in it.
what is 2 Guns all about? >> Posted 01.18.11 by BrentJS -
No one had Mark Wahlberg pegged as the lead role of Nathan Drake in an adaptation of the PlayStation 3 game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (many were campaigning for Nathan Fillion to play the role), but Wahlberg himself announced his involvement last November. Wahlberg revealed he was looking forward to reuniting with his The Fighter director David O. Russell in a story that would follow Drake and his adventuring family, which could be played by Robert De Niro and "Joe Pesci.
Last month, an interview with Uncharted 3 game director Justin Richmond put doubt into the movie's progress, with Richmond claiming that Russell disputed all previous reports and that Wahlberg "isn't anywhere near to being confirmed" for the movie. Wahlberg disagrees.
Entourage to be a trilogy? >> Posted 01.10.11 by Ryan -
Director David O. Russell already has a few projects to keep him busy now that The Fighter is in theaters. Besides the comedy Old St. Louis, Russell also will be directing an adaptation of the Playstation 3 video game Uncharted: Drake's Fortune with Mark Wahlberg as Nathan Drake. Russell revealed in December that Uncharted would have a "family dynamic" that included the extended Drake family, however a recent Joystiq interview with Uncharted 3 game director Justin Richmond puts doubt into Russell's reported claims.
"First of all, all that stuff was denied by David O. Russell," Richmond told the gaming site. "He actually called us up and was like, 'I don't know what these guys are talking about.'" Richmond also said that Wahlberg "isn't anywhere near to being confirmed" as Drake.
What's going on here? >> Posted 12.30.10 by Ryan