A Resurrection And A Few Returns

Inside this week's Cinema Stew:

A film based on idea from maverick director Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) is coming soon to a theater near you; A sequel to Spike Lee's intense thriller Inside Man (2006) seems likely; An even sooner than expected look at the second trailer for Spider-Man 3?--among other webhead rumors... And finally former man on the run Wesley Snipes makes nice with the Feds for tax evasion...

Charles McGrath of The New York Times has the info on Kubrick's "return":

Stanley Kubrick never threw anything away. On the other hand, he didn’t have much of a filing system, and when he moved — permanently, it turned out — from Hollywood to London in 1962, a great many things went astray. Among them was the sole copy of a film treatment called “Lunatic at Large,” which Mr. Kubrick had commissioned in the late ’50s from the noir pulp novelist Jim Thompson, with whom he had worked on “The Killing,” a 1956 bank-heist story that became his first successful feature, and then on 1957’s “Paths of Glory.”

The manuscript remained lost until after Mr. Kubrick’s death, in 1999, when his son-in-law, Philip Hobbs, working with an archivist, turned it up, along with a couple of other scripts, and set about trying to make it into a movie.

There were a couple of false starts. Mr. Hobbs originally approached the French company Pathé — partly because the French hold Jim Thompson in the same esteem as Edgar Allan Poe and Mickey Rourke — and after that arrangement fell through, he formed a partnership with Edward R. Pressman, a New York-based producer, and the London producers Finch & Partners. Mr. Pressman, who is expected to announce the completion of the deal..., said the film would be directed by Chris Palmer, from a finished script by Stephen R. Clarke.

“When Stanley died, he left behind lots of paperwork,” Mr. Hobbs said in a telephone interview.

“We ended up going through trunks of it, and one day we came across ‘Lunatic at Large.’ I knew what it was right away, because I remember Stanley talking about ‘Lunatic.’ He was always saying he wished he knew where it was, because it was such a great idea.”

Speaking from her home in Britain, Mr. Kubrick’s widow, Christiane, said: “My husband always had a drawerful of ideas. There were always a lot of stories on the go, things he started, things he left lying around. It was like being in a waterfall. I remember he was very excited at the time about ‘Lunatic at Large,’ but then other things happened.” First, she explained, Mr. Kubrick was forced off “One-Eyed Jacks,” with Marlon Brando, and then he was hired to replace Anthony Mann on “Spartacus.”

“ ‘Spartacus’ changed his life,” she said. “And after that his imagination was held by ‘Lolita,’ which gave him the opportunity to film in England, where making movies cost so much less.”

The loss of his manuscript was a bitter disappointment to Mr. Thompson, who had a long and mostly hard-luck relationship with Hollywood. Like a lot of writers who seek their fortune there, he eventually drank too much and became his own worst enemy. He died in 1977, much too soon for the revival of interest that made him a cult writer in the ’90s, when four of his novels were made into films: “The Grifters,” “The Getaway,” “Hit Me” and “After Dark, My Sweet.”

Despite its title, “Lunatic at Large” is not a horror story. It’s a dark and surprising mystery of sorts, in which the greatest puzzle is who, among several plausible candidates, is the true escapee from a nearby mental hospital...

Continued...

The premise sounds interesting enough...Kubrick had a very unique way of telling a story that is still unmatched...I hope the film avoids the pitfalls and problems of another unfinished Kubrick project turned movie--2001's Artificial Intelligence: AI from Steven Spielberg.

Variety reports:

Spike Lee and Brian Grazer are developing a sequel to "Inside Man" for Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment.

Lee is still in negotiations on a helming deal for the project, but he's already working with the original's writer, Russell Gewirtz, on a script.

For now, the pair are keeping their sequel concept under wraps, including whether it would involve the return of the original's main characters, played by Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster.

Bank heist thriller became the biggest-grossing pic in Lee's helming career, earning $184 million at the worldwide box office earlier this year.

Sequel is now on a list of several projects Lee is considering for his next helming gig.

In addition to "Man," this year Lee also directed Hurricane Katrina docu "When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts" for HBO.

I loved the original flick...Denzel Washington, Clive Owen, and Jodie Foster were an amazing trio in this movie...If the sequel moves ahead--I wish 'em luck--Catching lighting in a bottle twice in Hollywood is a tricky thing...

IGN-Filmforce via Superhero Hype! (and 2 blogs) posted the Spidey stuff...

The new trailer for Spider-Man 3 hits theaters later this month attached to prints of the new James Bond flick, Casino Royale. But fans may not have to wait that long to check it out.

The Superhero Hype website has received reader emails indicating that the trailer will make its debut on TV [this] Thursday between 10-10:30PM during MTV's The Duel. A Sony spokesperson was not immediately available to conform or deny the reports...

In other news, the Film Ick blog is passing along a rumor they've heard about Bruce Campbell's cameo in the new movie... They've heard that Campbell will make a brief appearance as a villain in the film (that brings the total to 4!), the fish bowl-headed Mysterio.

Finally, a making-of Spidey 3 book will be published by Chronicle Books prior to the film's May 4th 2007 [release]. Grant Curtis, who is writing the book, revealed this recently on his official blog and says the book will be a comprehensive look behind the scenes

If the rumor is true about Bruce Campbell's cameo this time out--it makes me absolutely giddy about the way things are coming together. Up until now, his appearances in the Spidey saga have been played for yucks...Of course Campbell's so good--he could be playing a head of lettuce in the film, and I would feel the same way...

Variety has the terms of the Snipes settlement. Given the circumstances and the state of Snipes career--making this "go away" is the only thing he could to avoid jail. I wonder if a regular guy like me does the same thing...what the chances would be for me to stay out of jail?

That's the Stew for now...

Later this afternoon...

The Miami Dolphins take on my Chicago Bears in Miami...