Scifiwire Movie News (4/4/2003) -

[Granite]

In this Issue

Pitt and Aniston to produce The Time Traveler's Wife
James Cameron orders temporary halt to Mars plans
Casting Updates: Punisher, Thunderbirds, Riddick, Phantom

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Pitt and Aniston to produce The Time Traveler's Wife

New Line Cinema has bought author Audrey Niffenegger's SF novel The Time Traveler's Wife for a film to be produced by Brad Pitt, Brad Grey, Jennifer Aniston and Nick Wechsler, Variety reported. The story centers on a man who has a gene that causes him to involuntarily time travel, appearing at different times in his life.

The author is a visual artist who teaches the art of book assemblage at Chicago's Columbia College Center for Book & Paper Arts. She wrote the novel, a loose modern retelling of The Odyssey, after being granted a fellowship last year, the trade paper reported.
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James Cameron orders temporary halt to Mars plans

Director James Cameron told SCI FI Wire that he has put plans on hold for a fictionalized film about a manned expedition to Mars until NASA gears up space exploration again in the wake of the Columbia shuttle accident. But the director added that the movie is still in his plans. "I only need to make that film sometime before we actually go [to Mars]," Cameron said in an interview.

Cameron plans to make a realistic film about the first manned mission to Mars, without fantasy elements, as an inspiration. "It's not a wild flight-of-fantasy type science-fiction film," he said. "It's more like a directly iterative science fiction film that says, 'This is how we are going to really go and really do the most adventuresome thing the human race can conceive of doing.' This isn't about light sabers and flying faster than the speed of light and meeting cool three-eyed aliens from another galaxy. This is stuff we can do. We just have to decide to do it."
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Casting Update: Punisher

Thomas Jane (Dreamcatcher) has won the title role in the film adaptation of Marvel Comics' The Punisher, according to a report on Ain't It Cool News.
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Casting Update: Thunderbirds

Bill Paxton, who will portray patriarch Jeff Tracy in the live-action adaptation of Thunderbirds, told SCI FI Wire that the film will be more of an action movie than an homage to the 1960s marionette series. "They've retooled it as a live-action action-adventure, with some comedy for the Harry Potter crowd," Paxton said in an interview. "Most of the story revolves around the youngest son of my character. He wants to be a Thunderbird."

Paxton said that he begins filming in one month and has already adopted some of Tracy's characteristics. "I'm already starting to evolve into him," he said. "The haircut's getting shorter. I don't know if I'm up for the big eyebrows."

Paxton added that his only worry is that critics will make puns comparing his acting to the marionette animation of the original series. "I think they're going to say they haven't seen a performance this wooden since the original," he joked. Thunderbirds also stars Ben Kingsley as the Hood and Anthony Edwards as Brains. Jonathan Frakes directs, with an anticipated July 2004 release.
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Casting Update: Riddick

Karl Urban (Eomer in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers) has joined Vin Diesel in the upcoming SF film The Chronicles of Riddick, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Thandie Newton (Mission: Impossible 2) is in talks to join the cast for writer-director David Twohy, the trade paper added.
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Casting Update: Phantom

Andrew Lloyd Webber and director Joel Schumacher have set Patrick Wilson in the role of Raoul in Phantom of the Opera, the screen adaptation of Lloyd Webber's musical, Variety reported. The casting comes as Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group preps the film for an October start.

Wilson will play the boyfriend of the young singer who becomes the obsession of the phantom, the trade paper reported. Producers are still seeking an actor to play the title role, which was originated onstage by Michael Crawford; Antonio Banderas, Hugh Jackman and Nicolas Cage have all been mentioned.

Rumored contenders for the lead female role of Christine include Dawson's Creek star Katie Holmes and Anne Hathaway (The Princess Diaries), the trade paper reported. Lloyd Webber is producing the film from a script that he wrote with Schumacher.
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Bonus: New Pirates of the Carribean Trailer to premire

Disney will unveil a two-minute trailer for its upcoming fantasy film The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl at 8:15 p.m. ET/PT April 6 in simultaneous broadcasts on all of its television networks, including ESPN, ESPNews, ESPN 2, ESPN Classic, Soapnet, Lifetime, Lifetime Movie Network, Lifetime Real Women, A&E, the History Channel, E!, Disney Channel, ABC Family and ABC, Variety reported.
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[Gaumont]

thanks for posting this (and the previous ones).

=)