Robert Rodriguez's Fake 'Grindhouse' Trailer to Become Real Movie
Robert Rodriguez has adapted a fake trailer into a real movie. But then, what is 'real' and what is 'fake'? If you're having a crisis of authenticity you'll love today's reality-bending, adaptation-filled Trade Roundup.
•Remember that cool trailer from the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino double feature Grindhouse about the Mexican day laborer who turns into a killing machine? Robert Rodriguez made that into a real movie, and Fox just bought it. Deadline points out that 20th Century Fox is shaping up to be Rodriguez's new home base—even though The Weinstein Co. was the original backers of Grindhouse. [Deadline]
•What is with this trend of people taking famous works and 'zombifying' them? First Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, now Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead will be based on an adaptation of the Tom Stoppard play of almost the same name. Except the main character directs a version of Hamlet which has been adapted by a "master vampire". Indican has picked up the rights. [Variety]
•Dealing with the harsh realities of the Iraq war makes The Hurt Locker probably one of last year's real-est films. It got shut out of the Golden Globes and the SAGs, because voters for these awards can't bear to step outside their cushy Hollywood fantasyland. But the Producers Guild is a different story: "The Hurt Locker" took home the producer of the year award. This is because producers make shit happen and thrive on danger. [THR]
•How I Met Your Mother creators Carter Bays and Craig Thomas just signed a big overall deal with 20th Century Fox TV. Some of their upcoming projects include a sitcom from two HIMYM writers, Kourtney kang and Joe Kelly about a couple trying to take their relationship to the next level. That sounds ripe for jokes about the differences between the sexes and how they think and what they want out of a relationship, of which there are many. [Variety]
•And the first film bought at Sundance is... Buried, a thriller starring Ryan Reynolds as a man buried alive in a coffin. Lionsgate bought the film, and out of all the other potential Sundance breakouts we are partial to one film, if only because its title was once a word near-and-dear to our hearts until it jumped the shark: Douchebag, is a road-trip comedy. [THR]
•James Marsden (The Box, X-Men) has joined the Tim Hill-directed (Alvin and the Chipmunks) film I Hop This sounds terrible: It is about a slacker who injures the Easter Bunny (voiced by British comedian Russell Brand) and has to nurse him back to health. [THR]