CASTING ABOUT
Val Kilmer will collect $9 million to play a blind man who will
try experimental surgery to restore his sight in the romance, Sight
Unseen. Funny, I've assumed he's been blind for years. I mean, he
couldn't have actually read the scripts for Island of Dr. Moreau
or The Saint, could he? He was just reading all the zeros on
his Braille paycheck.
Matthew Broderick is back in high school, only this time he's
a teacher in Election. Karmicly enough, he has a student he hates;
she's no Ferris, but a goody-goody played by Reese Witherspoon
who is running unopposed for student council president before Broderick
creates an opponent for her. The film is being made under the MTV banner.
It's their third effort after Joe's Apartment got flushed down
the toilet after scurrying for cover when exposed to the light.
Albert Brooks has joined the cast of Out of Sight, number
397 in the current string of Elmore Leonard-based movies. Brooks
is the victim of a heist by an all-star line of bad guys, including
George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle
and Dennis Farina. Leonard is quickly becoming the next in the
line of succession started by Stephen King and followed by John
Grisham. Soon to be heard at a theater near you - "If there's one
more preview for a movie with quirky, quick-witted bad guys who aren't
really bad compared to society's white-gloved criminals and who look
great in their underwear, seducing the girlfriend of the really bad
badguy so we root for them even though they spend the entire movie killing
people and preparing to rip people off, I am going to scream!"
The Whole
Picture delves into the dark side of entertainment journalism this
week.
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