Andrew McCarthy Finds Magic Lamp, Wishes Self Back to 1980's
It's true there are no new ideas left in Hollywood, and even the old ideas are starting to not look so good. Ah well, we soldier on in spite of (or because of) it anyway.
Movie folk continue to mine the oeuvre of sci-fi meditator Philip K. Dick. The latest movie project "loosely based" on one of his stories will be The Adjustment Bureau, which Matt Damon will star in for Universal. He's got a sweetass 20% first-dollar-gross backend. Not sure what kind of coin Dick's estate is getting at this point, but I'm sure some studio will soon pay handsomely for that box of old grocery lists that's just sitting there up in the attic. [Variety]
Bruce Willis got sued for dropping out of directing and starring in Three Stories About Joan, so now he's doing what any sensible person would do, countersuing. He wants $8.7 million because the producers were apparently sneaky about not exactly having full financing for the picture. [Variety]
Pennywhistle-voiced actor Mark Wahlberg will star in Prisoners, a story about a Boston man who turns crazed vigilante when his daughter and her friend are kidnapped. It's a good thing this movie wasn't just made. [Variety]
As his garage-built time machine just doesn't seem to work, a desperate Andrew McCarthy has found another way to return to the 80's. He'll be playing Brittany Snow's father on the spin-off of Gossip Girl that's set in Los Angeles' glitz rock n' roll days. No word yet on how he plans to sneak Judd Nelson onto the set every day. [THR]
Sex and the City dystopian visionary Darren Star is returning to HBO, with a first-look deal for a new series and an agreement to help shows from other writers along. His new skein will likely be called Doin' It in an Urban Area, about four friends who drink and cry all the time. [THR]
Oh good. A Marmaduke movie. But what does this mean for Steven Soderbergh's Howard Huge? [THR]