Friday, October 30

• Men in Black 3 Pushing Forward

  Despite having no confirmation that either Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones will return for another sequel, Columbia Pictures is pushing forward with Men in Black 3. Variety reports that its studio has hired Etan Cohen (Tropic Thunder) to write the script.

  THR reports that Barry Sonnenfeld, who directed both Men in Black movies, will come back for the third and that Smith is "interested" in possibly returning as well.

  The pressure's on Cohen now, who will need to write a script good enough to convince Smith, and hopefully Jones as well, to return to the franchise. Sonnenfeld just needs to make a better movie than Men in Black 2 ... or at least his last effort, the dreadful RV.

  
  

  Posted 10/30/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Barry Sonnenfeld | Etan Cohen | Men In Black 3 | Men in Black II

Wednesday, June 10

• What Happened to Sherlock Holmes with Will Ferrell and Sasha Baron Cohen?

  Around the same time that Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes was being prepped for production, another Sherlock Holmes was announced. Instead of Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law playing Holmes and Watson, it would feature Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen as the famous duo in the first comedic version of Holmes since Michael Caine in 1988's Without a Clue.

  Ritchie's Sherlock is opening December 25. However, the Ferrell-Cohen version seems to have disappeared. Ferrell explained the situation to HollywoodOutbreak:

  We're trying to develop [Sherlock Holmes]. We've got a script written by Etan Cohen (Tropic Thunder). I just met with Sacha three weeks ago, we're kinda talking about it some more. It's just a question of the Robert Downey Jr. one that they just shot, which I think comes out during Christmas. I think everyone just wants to see ... well, that one's probably going to be, you know, a hit kind of franchise, and whether that is something you want to go up against or would it inform the audience to allow for us to do a comedy version or would it just feel like, "Oh we're just trying to copy them." Even though, I think, we wrote our script before they did. But yeah, we're thinking about it.

  This follows a string of bad luck for Ferrell, whose Land of the Lost bombed at the box office while the possibility of an Anchorman sequel recently became doubtful at best.

  
  

  Posted 06/10/2009 by Ryan

  Related: Sacha Baron Cohen | Will Ferrell | Jude Law | Guy Ritchie | Robert Downey Jr. | Etan Cohen | Sherlock Holmes

Wednesday, August 13

• Tropic Thunder and the "R" Word

  

  Jill Simonian is a correspondent for Dailies (ReelzChannel TV, weeknights @ 6PM ET), and occasionally shares stories from the field. This week: Tropic Thunder

  In the movie business, "R" usually means "Restricted." No persons under 17 without parent or adult guardian admitted. May contain very strong/sexual language, mild explicit nudity, strong/gore violence or strong drug content.

  Tropic Thunder is certainly "Restricted," but another R-word took center stage at the Los Angeles premiere: "Retarded." It's a scripted word that the Tropic Thunder stars use frequently in the film, and it's generated enough attention to eclipse Robert Downey Jr.'s Anglo-turned-African-American makeup in the movie.

  In addition to covering the red carpet arrivals, I found myself drawn to the street-corner protest led by Tim Shriver, Chairman & CEO of Special Olympics. Along with Shriver, about 50 outraged citizens were condemning Tropic Thunder's multiple usage of the R-word. Complete with bullhorns, signs and unstoppable spirit, Shriver encouraged passers-by to "think of a person with special needs when you watch that film." He rallied listeners to have compassion and respect for those with intellectual disabilities, to consider the work of disabled actors like Edward Barbanell (The Ringer, 2005) and also challenged Hollywood to stop abusing disabled people for the sake of comedy and entertainment.

  As for the red carpet? Some stars expressed support for the protesters' plight. The co-writers of the movie, Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen, were also sadly disappointed and upset that their words were being "misunderstood" in the movie. "The lines that they're objecting to are coming out of the mouths of very stupid people," Theroux told me. (In other words, the movie makes fun of the ignorant characters that Stiller, Black and Downey Jr. play, and not the disabled.) Theroux continued, "I'm hopeful that they [the protesters] might come back to see the movie and get in on the joke."

  You can decide for yourself today, because Tropic Thunder is now in theaters nationwide.

  
  

  Posted 08/13/2008 by Jill

  Related: Justin Theroux | Etan Cohen | Tropic Thunder