MOVIE ROUNDUP (FAST 7, A SLIGHT TRICK OF HAND & MORE)

MOVIE ROUNDUP 

(FAST 7, LIFE & EMMA WATSON) 

FAST AND FURIOUS 7

'Fast and Furious 7' is revving up and speeding into production with star Vin Diesel busily doing the promotional rounds for his latest 'Riddick'. After many rumours and reports of action icon Kurt Russell being a new addition to the 'Fast and Furious' franchise, Vin Diesel has just put his foot down and accelerated proceedings by declaring the rumours true.

 

Speaking to Extra, Diesel explained "There is a very big rumor that Kurt Russell will come in, and because it's you, I'll give you a little more… the eighth script in the series is somewhat akin to 'Escape from New York.' This won't make sense now, but it will make sense later. Kurt Russell was the perfect person to introduce in '7' to play out the eighth storyline that everyone is going to go crazy on."

Escape from New York features Russell as the one eyed anti hero Snake Plissken, an ex-soldier turned criminal who agrees to save the President of the USA when he crash lands in a future Manhattan island that is now a totally anarchic and impenetrable maximum security prison. With microscopic explosives injected into his body, Plissken is forced to cooperate and complete his mission.

"Game of Thrones" star Nathalie Emmanuel has joined the cast of Fast & Furious 7, which Universal Pictures will release in theaters on July 11, 2014.

Deadline says that, while her character description is staying under wraps, "Emmanuel will be part of the pedal to the metal team led by Dom Toretto, played by Vin Diesel."

THE ISLAND OF DR MOREAU

A new adaptation of H.G. Wells' classic sci-fi horror novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau, is in the works at Warner Bros. through Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way, Deadline reports.

Published in 1896, The Island of Dr/ Moreau follows shipwreck survivor Edward Prendick, who winds up on the mysterious Noble's Isle. There, the titular Moreau, a former London physiologist, has taken to experimenting on animals and, through vivisection, has created human-like beasts.

The new film would mark the sixth feature-length adaptation of Wells' story. The tale most was most recently brought to the big screen with a 1996 take directed by John Frankheimer with Val Kilmer and Marlon Brando in the leading roles.

LIFE

Director Anton Corbijn has snagged two leading men for his upcoming Life. The Wrap reports that both Dane DeHaan and Robert Pattinson are set to star.

Scripted by Luke Davies, Life is based on the true friendship formed between actor James Dean (DeHaan) and photojournalist Dennis Stock (Pattinson).

Pattinson, best known for his role as Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga, can next be seen in David Michod's The Rover. DeHaan, meanwhile, soon stars in Kill Your Darlings before taking on the part of Harry Obsorn in Marc Webb's The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Production planned to begin in February 2014.

A SLIGHT TRICK OF THE HAND

Sir Ian McKellen (magneto) is teaming up with The Fifth Estate director Bill Condon on A Slight Trick of the Mind. Based on a novel of the same name by Mitch Cullin, the screenplay is being adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher. The story is described as follows:

In 1947, Sherlock Holmes, long retired, lives in a sleepy Sussex village with his housekeeper and her amateur-sleuthing son. But far from living out a peaceful retirement, he is haunted by an unsolved case from fifty years ago. He remembers only fragments: a confrontation with an angry husband, a secret bond with his beautiful but unstable wife.

Condon and McKellen previously worked together on Gods and Monsters.

AI Film CEO Aviv Giladi added: "Bill Condon and Ian McKellen are a perfect match for this clever and intriguing project, the third on our current production slate. The next few months will be exciting as we move closer to shooting with our producer partners Anne Carey and Iain Canning."

YOUR VOICES IN MY HEAD

Emma Watson will star in Francesca Gregorini's Your Voice in My Head, written by acclaimed novelist Emma Forrest and adapted from her New York Times Bestseller.

Watson was previously attached to star in the project when it was at Warner Bros. Pictures with "Harry Potter" director David Yates directing. Later, both Yates and Watson left the project and Emily Blunt was attached to star for a while.

Your Voice in My Head, whose script was awarded a position on the prestigious Black list, will start shooting on November 4, 2013 in New York and is based on Emma Forrest’s inspirational story of a young bipolar English woman living in New York and the heroic, selfless psychiatrist who saves her life while fighting for his own.