AUGUST, 29

SEASON 8 BEGINS

1066

Historical / Epic

The Cast: Clive Owen, Daniel Craig, Patrick Stewart, Sean Connery. Cameo by John Daws

The Director: Mel Gibson
The Producer and Screenwriter: John Daws

The Plot: Story of the battle of hastings, the battle that allowed the Normans to conqure England.

Film opens with Edward the Confessor (Sean Connery) on his death bed. He calls for Harold (Clive Owen) the most powerful man in England. He explains to him that while he has intended the throne to go to his cousin Duke William of Normandy (Daniel Craig) he has decided to confer it to him. He soon dies.

Harold claims his stake of King and becomes known as King Harold II. Duke William of Normandy however was angered at this and declares was on the newly crowned king. He had been establishing policy for England for 15 years and felt that with the improving of the country he deserved to be king. He rallied his Army of Normandy and realised that the Army is no match for the English. He calls nobels from all over to join him. Nobles from as far as Southern Italy are called and convene in Caen, Normandy where William promises land and titles for all that join him and he tells them that the Pope himself has given his approval of this War. A huge fleet of 700 ships is assembled and they sail for England.

A storm hits the fleet and they struggle to keep many of the ships sailing. They finally arrive at to the English shores and find no opposition.

King Harold is already in a battle. The Vikings of Norway have invaded and the battle of Stamdford Bridge is ending with the resounding annihilation of the Vikings.

Harold is told of the invasion to the south of the country and immidiently sends his troops south.

His advisors urge him to delay to assemble more troops but he sends the troops south anyway. He wants to show his people that he is capable of handling any and all invasions that may fall upon his shores.

They march until they finally reach Hastings where the army is deployed at Harolds command. They sit atop of a steep slope with the Normans at the bottom.

The saxons with their 7,500 infrantry go up against the 8,400 strong Normans consisting of Infrantry cavalry and archers.

They line up Normans in the centre, Bretons on the left and Flemish on the right. Some are there for greed others because of the basis that they believed it to be a holy war after the pope had blessed the invasion.

Williams army strike the first blow. Ivo Taillefer (cameo by John Daws), a knight rides towards the English alone tossing his sword and lance in the air singing The Song of Roland. An english knight rides towards Ivo but Ivo slays him down and taking his head as a trophy to show that God favours the invaders. He then charges the Saxons and slays three men before he himself is slain.

The Archers of the Normans start firing. The enhlish however charged striaght away and many of the arrows hit a shield wall and have very little effect. William however was not aware and ordered his Infrantry to attack. They start charging the Enlish up hill and the enlish start thowing whatever they can find including stones, javelins and rocks. The Norman army sufferes heavy casulties and the ranks are broken up.

The Norman infantry reaches the English lines and hand to hand fighting takes place. William has realised that the arrows had not worked and all the English are standing. He orders his cavalry earlier than he wanted. They charge but after running towards axes, spears and swords many of the horses stop and turn away. The Breten section of the Norman Army are broken down and decide to flee back down the hill. Williams horse is then killed from underneath him and he and the horse fall down. Many Normans thought that their leader had died and so ran away in panic. William stands and takes his helmet off. He shouts to his army to rally them.

The English break ranks unable to resist temptaion of killing as many troops as possible. This breaks the shield wall and the now dispersed english are vulnerable. WIlliam realises this and he and a group of knights attack cutting down many infrantry.

The two armies scramble back together and a break in fighting takes place. Harold realises that both his brothers who had been fighting on his side have been killed by William. William had devised a new tatic. Given that the bowman could not break the wall he ordered his bowman to fire over the wall. This would take out the rear ranks. As the wall had been hurt in the earlier battle the front ranks would be easy tagets for his infrantrymen and so taking out the rear ranks was the best bet. This worked and worked better than he though as one of the arrows lands in Harolds eye. The Normans attack again then retreat and form. They keep doing this and each time take little fragements of the army out. William and a group of knight then ride through the wall. A huge battle between William and Harold takes place with william eventually striking down the English King. The army now depleted break and many men flee. Those that stay fight bravely until their death.

After the battle a clearup begins. William is informed that 5000 enlish and 3000 normans have been killed.

WIlliam rests the army in hastings and as the days go by English lords. When they do not show he takes his army to london. William army had depleted from illness and William himself was very ill. Fresh troops are brought in from neighbouring countries. They reach london bridge but fail to cross it. They are forced to go around the city.

On going around the city Edgar the Atheling (Patrick Stweart) the newly crowned king of England since Harold died comes and meets William and submit to him. On Christmas day William is crowned king in westminster abbey and the film ends.


Stark’s Comment: Recreation of the historical battle of Hastings. A three hours long movie (two of them fully dedicated to the battle itself). Gibson has shot the movie in locations in Great Britain without using any kind of digital effects. That means, among other things, the use of thousands of extras. A spectacular production with an astronomical budget. Fingers crossed as it looks as an uncertain release for box office.

JOURNEY INTO DARKNESS

Thriller

The Cast: Ray Liotta, Ellen Page

The Director and Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick
The Producer: Matt Kubrick / Midnight Movies

The Plot: A young girl name Alicia (E.Page) runs away from home and while walking along a highway she catches a ride from a stranger named Mark (R.Liotta) and they drive off.

Along their trip they begin to bond but she doesn't know the real truth about him: he is a murderer and has a body in his trunk.

Things begin to take a turn for the worst when he murders a store clerk and young boy that is also in there and she soon discovers the real danger she is in.

She is taken to an abandoned motel and tied up in a room. She manages to escape and what results is a cat and mouse game between Alicia and her abducter. She sneaks up on him from behind and begins to beat him to death with a wooden beam she finds laying on the ground.

Covered in his blood she manages to walk to town into a diner where they call the police and they come and get her to be able to take her home.


Stark’s Comment: Kubrick returns to direction after quite some time (the last time he worked as director was ‘Syndrome: Paradise Lost’) in this claustrophobic and violent thriller. I hope this one works in box office cause I think it is a brilliant production full of suspense. The ‘Kubrick touch’ at his best.

A MAN CALLED DAN

Drama

The Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Terrence Howard, Toni Collette, Glen Close, Robert Duvall, John Cusack, Jimmy Bennett

The Director: Neil LaBute
The Screenwriter: Josh Collins

The Plot: The story takes place shortly after the civil rights movement of the 60s. Phillip (T.Howard) is a black lawyer whose parents were killed years ago by a group of white people who were never caught. Phillip took to studying law and bringing criminals like them to justice, in the hopes that one day he WILL see those men in court.

Phillip's biggest challenge however isn't putting those men behind bars, it's defending a homosexual dentist in a bitter custody battle over his newly adopted son. This man is named Dan (A.Eckhart), a well loved local family dentist whose been successfully keeping his lifestyle secret. The only people who knew the whole time were his sister, Margaret (T.Collette), his mother (G.Close) and father (R.Duvall). His dad of course living in this time period still has not come to terms with the idea that his son is gay, but still keeps it quiet for the sake of the family name, seeing that he is the Mayor.

Dan is legally allowed to adopt a son, Brad (J.Bennett) by coming off as a single parent, not a single gay parent. Things go pretty well at first, but Dan's secret is revealed when he is caught red handed by giving extra attention to his lover. The secret spreads quickly over the media, Dan loses patients at his dental office, his lover, Charles (J.Cusack) gets fired from his job as an elementary school science teacher, Brad becomes the school outcast for having a gay dad, Dan's own father, the current Mayor of the city, gets fed up with his name and reputation being brought through the mud and blames Dan for it. And it's not long after that "the state" wants to take Brad away from Dan.

No attorneys want to take a case they feel they are sure to lose, except Phillip. At first, even he didn't want to take it, but he felt it was best to honor his parents who would've wanted him to fight for anyone's rights. He takes the case and throughout the film learns much about Dan, his family, Brad and they form a strong friendship. Two outcasts of society slaying the dragon together.

It all comes to the custody case in the courtroom at the end. Dan's friends are there for support. "The People" claim it's because he lied about being gay, to which Philip stated,"he didn't lie about it. It's clearly not anyone else's business but his own" and in their defense they stated that they wanted to do what was best for Brad. To grow up in a normal environment, etc. During her testimony, Margaret said she will adopt Brad just so Dan can keep seeing him. And it was Dan's father's testimony where he was being manipulated to testify against his own son where he turned around and defended his boy.

Philip's closing statement was relating his own personal experiences about his parents to this case. After that statement, fade to a few weeks later. Dan is back to his own private orthodontist practice. Charles and Brad show up to pick up Dan. It's implied loud and clear that Dan won the case and that Charles is Brad's home school teacher. Phillip's law firm happens to be across the street from Dan's practice. Phillip was standing outside his office taking a smoke break when he saw Dan. They looked at each other and Dan waved, Phillip raises his cigarette to Dan. He throws the butt on the ground, pulls out his wallet and looks at a picture of his parents smiling back.


Stark’s Comment: You all know I love these Collins’ dramas. But I have the feeling this won’t be so appealing to audiences as other ones. Anyway, another quality award-candidate drama from Collins, which means any thing can happen in box office.



HITMAN: SHADOW OF A LEGEND: Right before he starts shooting the new adventure of Dr. Henry Jones, Ewan McGregor joins the Hitman saga in its fifth episode. In it, he will play the main villain of the function. Together with him, another name quite popular in CMP will also appear in the film: Kiefer Sutherland, whose last work for the Studio was ‘No More Bush!’.

THE ICE PRINCESS: CMP’s return to animation movies will have the voice of John Lightgow in it. Lightgow had never worked for CMP before and will lend his voice to the villain of this adventure for all audiences.

THE RUNNING MAN: Fanke Jansen (‘Minos’, ’72 Hours’, ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’) is back to action in this futuristic adventure that is being directed by Jonathan Mostow. Mostow was chosen by Harry Stark to direct it after Michael Mann refused to do it, as he is more interested in other upcoming CMP’s production.

PREACHER: Green light for another comic adaptation. This is the turn for the DC / Vertigo comic ‘Preacher’, focused on a most peculiar priest. Matt Kubrick is the name behind the screenplay and Zach Snyder takes care of direction in his first work for the Studio.

NIGHT CAB: Finally, George Clooney has abandoned the idea of directing this action comedy he already stars. Instead of that, he has asked his good friend Steven Soderbergh to take care of the cameras and he has accepted, so this will be the first movie directed by Soderbergh for CMP.

WILD CARDS: DOUBLE SOLITAIRE: Here it is at last the fourth episode of the popular saga (not counting the spin-offs). In this new movie, the story will follow the group of peculiar superheroes already seen in ‘Wild Cards: Ace In The Hole’. Matt Kubrick returns as the writer of the saga. It will be the first Wild Cards’ story not taking place in New York City. The only problem is that it is not decided yet who will be directing it. Kubrick wanted McG, director of ‘Yeoman’, to do it, but he had to decline the offer as he is already directing ‘Bullet Witch’, so Stark and Kubrick are looking for an urgent replacement.

Q-BERT: Some names from the cast of this Collins’ parody directed by David Zucker and starred by Will Ferrel: Julia Stiles will be the girl of the story. Topher Grace will be Ferrel’s rival. And Kieran Culkin will also be seen on screen. The three of them make their debut in CMP with this movie.

BULLET WITCH: As we said, McG is directing this action movie. And the voices of some talents will be heard in it playing digitally generated characters: GMA Winner Michael Douglas (not seen in CMP since ‘The Heirs – Part 3’) and also GMA Winner Christopher Lee, seen past Season in ‘The Dark Tower’, are the chosen ones.

THE KILLING RUN: New title for ‘Up and coming’. Ryan Reynolds has joined the cast in his first work for the Studio. It is also confirmed that James Woods (‘Get Christie Love!’, ‘Cell Mates 2: Hearts And Minds’) makes a cameo in it. Peter Berg is the man moving the cameras.


FALLOUT: A post-apocalyptic world where different groups try to survive and / or rule the world? No, it is not ‘Monolith’ nor ‘The Last Lawman’ nor ‘Planetside’ nor ‘Space Quest’… It is the new Richard Franzwa’s screenplay, based on an Interplay game. Veteran director Richard Donner makes his debut in CMP with it while Hugh Jackman – a specialist in CMP’s mega-productions – leads the cast. It is rumoured that Jackman rejected to co-star ‘Bullet Witch’ with Hillary Swank – her partenaire also in ‘Visionaries’ – to star this one.


‘A MAN CALLED DAN: THIS IS NOT LYRA’
By Tim Reeve

Josh Collins has mustered up another film dealing with homosexuality after his last major success of the film about a teenage lesbian, Lyra. Except this time, the film is on the other side of the spectrum and it's not going to make you laugh as much, but intended to provoke more thought from moviegoers. "I don't expect it to be another little big movie like Lyra. But I think it has just as much heart in it." Josh Collins said.

The film takes place in the U.S. during a time that homosexuality was socially unaccepted and only whispered about. "I think the time period is important in this movie as if it took place in today standards, it wouldn't be believable enough. Nowadays, depending on where you live, gays and lesbians are allowed to adopt. Dan would have just been able to pack up and move somewhere else to adopt in today's standards."

Not only does the film touch on a father fighting for the custody of his son, but a black lawyer recovering from the civil rights movement. Still given the same rights as everyone else, but the recovery process of the things blacks went through during those rough times didn't just go away overnight. Phillip also suffers under the pain of losing his parents during those bad times and wanted to be a lawyer to help those in need and hope to see the men responsible for his parents' murders in court someday. Academy Award nominee Terrence Howard portrays the attorney. "I couldn't turn down the role of Phillip. He is like a modern day Atticus Finch of To Kill A Mockingbird. Dan would have been the last person on earth Phillip would defend, a gay white man. But he does it because his parents would have wanted him to do it. He does it because he sees something of himself in Dan." Howard explained.

Aaron Eckhart is the gay dentist in question. "Neil LaBute and I have been friends and doing movies together for my entire career. He approached me with this one and said the writer couldn't think of anyone else that could play the role. I got to hang out with Josh on the set and he confirmed that he said that to Neil and I thanked him for considering me for the role of a gay guy." Eckhart said with a laugh. "Even though the film's lead character happens to be gay, I knew Aaron would know exactly how to play him. To not play him gay. To be able to make the audience forget what his sexual orientation is even though we're kept reminded of it from other sources." Collins said.

"It's a film with so many layers you just can't help but think about it. Gay adoption and if it's right or wrong, a loving father just wanting to raise a child and having a custody battle for him, America just after the civil rights movement and the developing friendship of polar opposite people, much more." Director Neil LaBute stated.

The films also stars Glenn Close, not seen in a CMP movie since the first season, as Dan's mother and Robert Duvall as Dan's father, whom isn't very supportive of his son and feels ashamed. Toni Collette is Dan's supportive sister who will stop at nothing to ensure her brother's happiness. John Cusack as Dan's secret lover who takes heat and is fired from his job as a teacher and Jimmy Bennett returns to CMP in another Josh Collins film. "Jimmy is consistently underused in Hollywood and if you watch some of his roles like 'heart is deceitful above all things' 'hostage' and you could just see his talent radiating off of him. I wrote his role specifically with him in mind." Collins said.

"Lyra may have been released first, but Man Called Dan was conceived first. It's not meant to be Lyra the second wave, nor is it Brokeback Mountain. It's the kind of film you enjoy without the need of comparing it to other films that deal with the same subject matter." Collins stated.

Look for ‘A Man Called Dan’ only in theaters!


JOHN DAWS
By Anne Roman

John Daws is a veteran in CMP. Since his debut as screenwriter in Season 2 he has released 14 movies. This week, ‘1066’ will be his 15th release (and his debut as an actor, making a cameo). Here are the keywords to know a bit more about one of the most prestigious and experienced CMP’s writers:

Successful: None of his releases has ever had net losses in box office. And he is the man behind the box office’s alltimes top 1 and 3: ‘Game Boy’ and its sequel.

Original: Daws uses to write original stories, away from pc games, comic books based or any other kind of adaptations. Even in the Game Boy movies, he uses known console games characters but moved to an original storyline.

British: Daws’ stories often take place in the British Islands and he likes to work regularly with british stars like Daniel Radcliff, Colin Farrel, Keira Knightley, Patrick Stewart or Kate Beckinsale, although he combines his ‘british touch’ with mainstream Hollywood’s productions.

Innovative: Daws has done things nobody had dared to done before in CMP: a mock documentary, a spoof based in CMP’s productions, a three hours long historical war movie or an adventure using console characters digitally generated. His innovations have always come hand by hand with box office success until now.

Ignored: Although some of the stars in his movies have won a GMA or at least have been nominated, Daws hasn’t taken yet the recognition he deserves. His movies succeed in box office, but he hasn’t got yet a single nomination for Best Screenwriter.

THE FILMOGRAPHY

-THE HITMAN SAGA (Tony Scott, B.O.: 99, 125, 93, 64 mill.): One of the more lasting and popular CMP’s sagas. The original trilogy, a prequel and a coming up sequel complete until now the violent story of the religious hitman played by Colin Farrell. Rumours say that the upcoming 5th episode may be the last one, but who knows?

-SOUTH EAST (Neil Jordan, B.O.: 75 mill): The most ‘british’ Daws’ story. Daniel Radcliff proved he could do something more than Harry Potter… and won the Best Actor GMA on the way. Nice box office, critical acclaim and a bunch of GMA nominations for a very local Londoner drama.

-KING OF THE WORLD (Andrew Bergman, 70 mill): Daws moved from a very British drama to a very American comedy and Matthew Perry (once very demanded and now forgotten in CMP) added a hit to his career with this nice comedy about a man cheated by her wife, the sexy Eva Mendes.

-GAME BOY 1 & 2 (Robert Zemeckis, B.O.: 211, 265 mill.): Two megaproductions with digitally generated characters and Daniel Radcliff living among them. Spectacular success. Although critics and award voters seem to ignore these movies, audiences love them wildly. Top 1 and 3 of alltimes box office’s rank.

-LIEUTENANT USA AND HIS WARM STEEL GANG (David Zucker, B.O.: 132 mill.): A spoof laughing at CMP’s productions. A surprising blockbuster that launched a group of comedians to CMP’s stardom. Net gains were amazing and the movie has become a comedy classic in CMP. A sequel is coming up soon.

-NO MORE BUSH! (Rob Reiner, B.O.: 76 mill.): Another innovative concept: a mock documentary. The love relationship between Bush and Blair (and a jealous Bin Laden between them) became a provocative, politically incorrect and funny production.

-MISPLACED AFFECTION (Joe Wright, B.O.: 41 mill.): A sexy thriller about sick attractions. It was Daws’ debut as producer. His muse Keira Knightley, James McAvoy and Kirsten Dunst lived a passionate love triangle. Box office didn’t answer as expected, but it worked well enough after all.

-FACTION 12 (J.J.Abrams, B.O.: 189 mill.): The typical sci-fi mega-production. Another wonderful financial success from Daws, proving again he knows what audiences want. Nicholas Cage and Nicole Kidman starred in a luxurious production that became Season 7’s biggest box office hit.

-DAISY LANE (Danny Boyle, B.O.: 49 mill.): A minor thriller. Daws returned to Great Britain and the ‘South East spirit’ (Daniel Radcliff included) with this low budget production. No particularly remarkable.

-HE-MAN: THE POWER OF GREYSKULL (Tony Scott, B.O.: 154 mill.): And once again, Daws combines the british and the American touch. Now, back to a typical major Studio product. A long pre-production turned into a blockbuster that might lead to another franchise.

-1066 (Mel Gibson, awaiting release): …and back to Britain again. This time, with an epic historical production. Daws (writer, producer and even actor in it) take the risk with an expensive project that can finally take it to the only place he’s never been yet: the awards ceremony’s stage.


BEST SCREENPLAY WINNER: JOSH COLLINS

As usual, here goes an interview with the latest Best Screenplay GMA’s winner. The multi-nominated and finally winner, Mr. Josh Collins.

So you finally got the GMA after a few nominations. How does it feel?

Velcro won and I'm proud of it, but I don't want to show too much favoritism toward it just for winning otherwise Lyra, Hollyweird and Blink would get jealous.

You have turned your eyes to the women’s universe in some of your latest stories. Do you have the intention of going on writing stories focussed on female characters?

I would love to give CMP more female heroines for the female audiences that attend the movies. They can't all be big budget superhero movies and gangster films. I guess I could be known as 'the man who writes chick flicks' in CMP. Does it make me any less of a man, not really, but the CMP screen-writing roster has little to no women, someone has to speak for them.

Also, kids have always had a strong presence in many of your stories, from ‘Blink’ to ‘Babes In Toyland’ but also in ‘Velcro’, ‘Hollyweird’ or the upcoming ‘A Man Called Dan’. What’s the reason for it?

Just like my attitude towards the women, I like to give kids the opportunity to shine brightly in a role and show that kids can be seen and heard. We've reached an era in films where there are more talented children who understand how to act at young ages due to their quickness in maturity.

Some CMP’s authors like to work with the same talents, like John Daws with Keira Knightley or Daniel Radcliff, James Bradley with Kate Winslet, Marcus Trax with David Mamet and Johnny Depp... You never seem to repeat any casting. What stars have you felt more comfortable working with?

Most of the time the ones I want to use over and over again are busy doing other projects. Plus Stark enjoys seeing fresh faces in movies. But after her amazing work as Lyra, I've taken a liking to Jena Malone. I've also given a couple people jobs that I've worked with before such as John Cusack and Abigail Breslin.

What about your directing career? Do you plan directing any new movie soon?

Being able to direct my own work is great. So often when a writer passes their work onto the director, it no longer becomes their work. But then sometimes I may get carried away with wanting to direct everything and Stark's gotta draw the line sometime. But there are quite a few to be released in the upcoming seasons that will have my name attached as director.

Usually, you write your own original material. But you are releasing quite a peculiar adaptation soon: a movie based on the ‘primitive’ 80’s pc game Q*Bert. It sounds like a strange premise…

I try to leave that kind of stuff up to the other writers and show the world that there is still some original creativity in the film industry. We already have way too many remakes, franchises, unnecessary sequels. They may make money but as you can see most of my films don't make great box offices, but quality in the films are huge.

As far as Q*Bert is concerned, when I pitched that film, I had recently seen the documentary 'The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters' it was a good film about the little guy taking on the bigger guy, but it was so embarrassing to see these grown men obsessing about having a top score on an arcade game. Bam, the spoof film is born. Arcade games were huge in the 70s and 80s, so I had to come up with the right setting and a totally obscure game these characters can fight over and that's when the QBert game was thought of. Throw in some ridiculous 70s-80s style lingo(groovy) and spoofs of 70s-80s underdog 'little guy taking on the big bad guy' films(Karate Kid, Rocky, etc) I also want to show that parody films are not dead with those horrendous "Epic Movie/Date Movie" film makers.

‘The Legend Of Zelda’ looks as your first franchise. What are your plans about it?

I know it sounds like I contradict myself after that last answer, but there's much more to the story to be told. I want to try to make it a trilogy where the third one is a prequel to the first two movies.

‘A Man Called Dan’ looks as another of your award winning dramas. Can you tell us something more about this project?

It's a touching story that hopes to invoke thought out of the audience that a person can raise and love a child no matter who they are as long as they're not adopting children just to abuse them. Did you know that 'Martian Child' was actually based on the life of a homosexual man raising a child? Then Hollywood got a hold of it and assumed the audiences aren't ready for "that kind of story" but what makes them think audiences are ready or not? There are films that try to force audiences to understand pedophiles yet they aren't ready for an adoption story involving a gay person? It's Martian Child meets I Am Sam and To Kill A Mockingbird joins in the fun. I say that because Terrence Howard said it best when he compared his character to Atticus Finch. I hope it's a film all people can enjoy no matter what their lifestyle is.

CMP’s authors turn their eyes more and more often to comic based movies or console games adaptations. Do you thing there will still be room for your adult dramas in CMP?

As long as Stark keeps green lighting the adult dramas, I'll keep trying to churn them out. Sometimes it is a little difficult to come up with original material all the time and that's when we turn to adaptations. There's no shame in that, but if everything were a comic book/video game based film it wouldn't be very fun and interesting.

I personally think ‘Dream Of A King’ is your best work as screenwriter. But which one of your movies do you feel more proud of?

Oh man, like I said in the first question all of them are my kids and I wouldn't want to give one special treatment but I do agree that Dream of a King was an amazing accurate portrayal of King's story, but as a wanna-work-in-showbiz kind of guy myself, I am proud of Hollyweird. Lyra gets a special mention because it was the first of my "little films" to return outstanding results in the box office and GMAs. It's easier to make a big budget Will Smith movie and get 200 million in receipts, but put together a film where the only well known actors are Jodie Foster, David Duchovny and Woody Harrelson(who don't make the kind of money Smith makes) and that may prove a little more of a difficult task.


From now on, rumours, gossips and all the inside information of CMP’s world will be told us by the acid critic and reporter Bob Felton. So nice words for everyone are part of the past. There’s a new guy in town…

Two rock stars biopics have been cancelled almost simultaneously. Ben Tyler has abandoned his idea of writing a screenplay based on guitar legend Frank Zappa’s life. And Harry Stark has rejected a Josh Collins’ screenplay focussed on U2’s leader Bono. Collins had even asked for Robin Williams (!!) to play Bono. Thanx God, Stark has rejected to produce it.

It wasn’t much of a blockbuster. But it’ll have its sequel anyway. David Makalaster has written a sequel for ‘3’s and 7’s’, the movie with a poker game, a Chinese dragon and Tarantino in it. The original movie didn’t make it as expected in box office but, God knows why, Makalaster and Stark think it deserves a sequel.

Steve Connors keeps changing his plans. He recently announced he would be writing a sequel of his (only) megahit ‘The Shrinking Man’. That was right after he scared us to death announcing he would write another Ultraman’s movie. Then, the author of the Space Quest trilogy released the forgettable comedy ‘Black Guys’. Now he is talking again about returning to another previously announced project, the cyber-thriller ‘Netchasers’. But any other change of mind can be expected from this doubtful author.

Somebody said that Jena Malone looked as a one hit wonder in CMP with her acclaimed and awarded work in ‘Lyra’. And I would have voted for that too (even begged). But it seems like Josh Collins has decided to prove that wrong. He has already sent to CMP a new story that will include Jena in the cast.

Has a three hours recreation of the historical Battle of Hastings any chance in box office? Can Mel Gibson save this mega-expensive production from the predictable sinking with his directional skill for impossible projects? Harry Stark thinks so. Specially cause, if not, his Studio will have lost a lot of money, as the production is said to be as expensive as making a Star Wars episode although the story takes place in 1066.

And don’t miss my upcoming article about a certain comedy gang that will reunite soon for a sequel… maybe for the last time, according to the loads of rumours about difficulties and controversies I’m hearing lately…