Big screen GREATEST AMERICAN HERO xXx with still more to read. Josh Hartnett is in negotiations to join the cast of THE RUM DIARY, based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson. Nick Nolte will co-star, and Johnny Depp will reprise the role of Thompson, which he played in FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS. Bernie Mac is in final talks to join Chris Rock in HEAD OF STATE for Dreamworks. Rock will make his directing debut with the film, about an unlikely Presidential candidate. Rock also co-wrote the script with Ali Leroi. Hayden Christensen will star in Lions Gate’s SHATTERED GLASS for writer/director Billy Ray. It follows the true story of Stephen Glass, a twenty-something wunderkind journalist in the late 90’s who wrote for publications from New Republic to Rolling Stone. It was later discovered that he had faked quotes and sources and entirely fabricated more than half of his articles. Monica Belluci is expected to sign on as Mina Harker in THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN for 20th Century Fox and director Stephen Norrington. Sean Connery will play Alan Quartermain. Jan DeBont is in negotiations with Paramount to helm the sequel to LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER. Angelina Jolie will reprise her role with a tentative production schedule of early fall. Frank Oz is in negotiations to direct a remake of the 1975 sci-fi suspense film THE STEPFORD WIVES for Paramount. The original dealt with a young woman who moves to a new town and finds the domesticity of the house wives in the area a little too strange. Griffin Dunne will direct Hayden Christensen and Lelee Sobieski in NAILED RIGHT IN. The story follows a group of Catholic friends in Brooklyn against the backdrop of John Gotti\’s rise to power in the mob. Terence Winters, a writer on THE SOPRANOS penned the script. Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst will make his feature directing debut with LORDS OF DOGTOWN for Indelible Pictures. The story follows the creation of the late 70’s skateboarding revolution led by a group of teenage friends in southern California. Stacy Peralta, one of the original skateboarding pioneers wrote the script. Revolution Studios has pushed the release of their Vin Diesel action pic XXX back one week to August 9, to make room for M.Night Shyamalan’s SIGNS. Sam Raimi is launching a new enterprise with his long-time production partner Rob Tapert. The new production label will produce mid-budget horror, sci-fi and fantasy films. Raimi will not be directing any of the projects, but may take on some writing duties. The first film out of the new label will be THE BOOGEYMAN, written by Eric Kripke. It is about a young man who is haunted by memories of horrible things he experienced in his childhood bedroom. Following the death of his father, the man returns to his childhood home to face his fears and find out if they were real. Miramax have just finished shooting on an introductory film in the MODESTY BLAISE series. The film, tentatively called MY NAME IS MODESTY, was created outside the series of novels by Peter O’Donnell. Miramax had optioned the rights to the character and the novels, but felt that they needed an introduction to the character of Modesty, a feisty female spy. Modesty is played by English actress Alexandra Staden and the film is directed by Scott Spiegel. Disney has hired Paul Hernandez to write a big screen adaptation of the cult 80’s TV show GREATEST AMERICAN HERO. The story follows a nerdy teacher who becomes a reluctant superhero when he is given a special suit by extraterrestrial visitors. Hijinx ensue when he loses the operation manual and joins a government agency. UK firms Film & Music Entertainment and Tartan Films have teamed up to produce an adaptation of James Ellroy’s KILLER ON THE ROAD. Originally published in 1986 as SILENT TERROR, the story concerns the inner workings of the mind of Martin Plunkett, a serial killer known as ‘the sexecutioner’. It follows Plunkett from his outcast teenage years in 60’s LA to his eventual capture in New York in the 80’s. Plunkett is deeply delusional and is tormented by bizarre and violent dreams. He finds solace in fresh blood, and takes great pleasure in dismembering his victims and arranging their bodies in gruesome tableaux.
