So we can cover as many films as possible, we thought we'd give you these quick updates on some of today's smaller film announcements...
A couple of months ago it was announced the commercials director Fredrik Bond had signed up to direct the comic book adaptation Hack/Slash. Well now it appears that the much delayed project (it had a Comic Con panel in 2006, but the film still hasn't gone before the camera) is still slightly on a holding loop, as a new writer has just been brought in. Stephen Susco has taken over from Justin Marks, although this isn't particularly great news, as Susco has previously scripted the lacklustre Grudge and Texas Chainsaw remakes. Hopefully he'll find a way to make the story work though, and we'll finally see tough as nails, monster-hunting Cassie, on the big screen. (Source: Bloody Disgusting)
While Sean Connery has repeatedly said he has no plans to come out of retirement following his tempestuous time on the set of The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, he has now lent his voice to the animated feature, Sir Billi. It's also been announced that he'll be joined by legendary Welsh singer Dame Shirley Bassey, who'll sing the title track of the movie. The film is a follow-up to the 2006 animated short, Sir Billi The Vet, and will follow the adventures of the eccentric, skateboarding vet, Sir Billi, who holds together a remote Scottish community through sheer force of personality. Connery will once more voice the main character, while others in the cast include Alan Cumming, Ruby Wax and Richard Briers. The film has been in production for five years and should reach our screens in 2010. (Source: Empire)
Character actor Stephen Root, who's appeared in everything from No Country For Old Men to the recent The Men Who Stares at goats, has lined up two new movies. He's joined Ed Helms, Anne Heche and John C. Reilly in the comedy Cedar Rapids, where he'll Helm's boss, the proud owner of an insurance company. Root has also signed up for Robert Redford's Lincoln assassination drama, The Conspirator. In that he'll play a principal witness for the prosecution in the trial of a woman (Robin Wright) accused of plotting to kill the President. (Source: THR)
Jonathan Ames, creator of the TV series Bored To Death, has written a screenplay based on his own novel, Wake Up Sir!, which he is currently trying to get made into a movie. As is normal for Ames, the book teases that it's autobiographical, while actually being more fiction than reality and concerns an author who gets a big payout after an accident and sets off to an artist’s retreat in upstate New York, much much farce ensues. Ames has also said their there's some interest in turning his graphic novel, The Alcoholic, into a film. (Source: The Gothamist)
Paramount has bought a currently utitled family action pitch from Brit duo Jim Field Smith and George Kay. Although the plot is being kept under wraps, it's descibed as being in the same vein as Night At The Museum. Smith has recently directed She's Out Of My League, and will helm the new movie, while he and writer Kay have teamed up on several projects, including the upcoming Good Luck Anthony Belcher, which topped the Brit List of the best unproduced screenplays by UK writers. (Source: THR)
Lionsgate had bought the action-thriller spec script, Last Stand, which is the first screenplay from writer Andrew Knauer. The story, described as having shades of Gone in 60 Seconds and High Noon, features a Gumpert Apollo, a race car used by drug smugglers, and centres on a cartel leader that uses it to break out of a courthouse. As he speeds to the Mexican border, the only thing standing in his way is a border-town sheriff and his inexperienced staff. (Source: THR)