Too many items to catch up on here, so let’s be brisk.
1. At last, we have a Joseph! TelevisionPoint.com reports that the Guatemala-born Oscar Isaac will play the husband of Mary in Catherine Hardwicke’s Nativity, while Irish actor Ciarán Hinds will play King Herod. Thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet for the tip.
2. Cinematical says Harry Potter Movie #5 will come out on July 13 of next year, only six days after Harry Potter Book #7 comes out. Looks like that will be one Very Crazy Week. Incidentally, did you know that this year, 2006, is the first year since 1996 in which there has been, or will be, not one new Harry Potter book or film?
3. FilmStew.com interviews Josh Hutcherson, who is currently filming Bridge to Terabithia in New Zealand:
“What’s really cool about Bridge to Terabithia is that we’re filming almost all of it on location,” Hutcherson says. “New Zealand is so beautiful and has such different scenery. We are really shooting it out in the woods in the middle of nowhere.”
“AnnaSophia Robb is great to work with,” Hutcherson exclaims. “We’re close to the same age and have a lot in common, so we’ve become great friends. That’s cool because being so far away from home it’s really nice to have someone to hang out with and go do stuff with.”
Hutcherson also has generous praise for the screen dad to follow Williams, Robert Patrick, most recently seen as the distant father figure in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line. “He is the most giving actor I’ve ever worked with,” the actor insists. “He’s such a big inspiration to me. He’s helpful and shares ideas and, being a younger actor than him, I can learn so much.”
4. Cinematical reports that location scouting has begun — and in Australia, not Vancouver — for Terminator 4, which will apparently be made with or without Arnold Schwarzenegger.
5. E! Online reports that the judge in the Da Vinci Code court case has ruled in favour of author Dan Brown.
6. Jim Hill says Disney failed to get merchandising deals with a number of companies, apparently because the executives at those companies think Disney’s upcoming film The Wild won’t be a hit.
7. Orlando Sentinel critic Roger Moore blogs about his experiences with Sony and their not-so-airtight efforts to prevent critics from seeing The Benchwarmers in advance.
8. Cinematical reports that Anna Paquin is developing Blue State, a movie about an American Democrat who follows through on a promise to move to Canada after George W. Bush is re-elected — just in time to watch Canada elect its first Conservative government in 13 years! Actually, I don’t know if the movie will get into that last detail, but it would add a nice touch of irony.
9. Nerve.com reports that Walden Media founder Philip Anschutz is “using his wealth to buy a place for evangelicals in Hollywood,” via films like The Chronicles of Narnia. (And where, I wonder, does Bridge to Terabithia fit into his nefarious schemes?)
10. DVD Active reports that The Princess Bride (1987) is being re-issued on DVD again — in blue-and-pink boy-and-girl versions.
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