The
Cast of ‘Winter’s Summer Movie’ Looks
Ahead
"Daredevil” is about a blind lawyer-by-day-masked-crimefighter-by-night
whose only super-powers are his other heightened senses – attained
in the toxic waste accident that robbed him of his sight.
Those, and the ability to garner $45 million over one February
weekend. So it’s pretty much a given we’re
going to be hearing a lot more from the people who brought
that kind of turnstile turnover to movie theatres.
Ben Affleck is the man in the naugahyde
jumpsuit with the devil-horned mask, and he’s awfully busy these
days. You can expect to see him sometime next year, at
the earliest, in “Daredevil 2.” Fox has announced
no script, title, director, additional cast or release
date.
In the meantime, Affleck can catch up on
his wedding planning with “The Wedding Planner” star Jennifer Lopez
in two films due this year.
“Tough Love” (a.k.a. “Gigli”) is a comedy,
set in Los Angeles, about a low-ranking mob hit man assigned
to kidnap the district attorney’s mentally challenged
brother – and what happens when the hit man comes
to bond with his captive. Written and directed by Martin
Brest (“Meet Joe Black,” “Scent of a
Woman”), it co-stars Christopher Walken (“Catch
Me if You Can,” “Kangaroo Jack”), Nichole
Hiltz (“Austin Powers in Goldmember”), Melissa
Crider (“Mulholland Drive”), Al Pacino (“The
Recruit”) and Justin Bartha. Sony hopes to have a
hit of its own Aug. 1.
“Jersey Girl,” written and directed by Kevin Smith
(“Dogma,” “Jay and Silent Bob Strike
Back”), is a comedy about a man whose already-full
life is complicated by the addition of a new wife and 6-year-old
daughter. Affleck and Lopez’s co-stars include Liv
Tyler (the “Lord of the Rings” series), and
Smith veterans Jason Lee (“Stealing Harvard,” “Dreamcatcher”),
Jason Mewes (“Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”),
Joey Lauren Adams (“Harvard Man,” “In
the Shadows”) and George Carlin (“Jay and Silent
Bob Strike Back”). Miramax returns to the Garden
State Nov. 7.
Having triumphed over February, Affleck
sets out to see how good he is at “Surviving Christmas.” The
comedy – about a successful man afflicted with holiday
depression who hires the family currently living in his
childhood home to re-enact the Christmases of his boyhood – was
directed by Mike Mitchell (“Deuce Bigalow”)
from a screenplay by Jeff Ventimilia, Joshua Sternin and
Deborah Kaplan & Harry Elfont (“Josie and the
Pussycats”). Affleck’s co-stars include James
Gandolfini (“The Last Castle”), Christina Applegate
(“The Sweetest Thing,” “A View From the
Top”) and Catherine O’Hara (“Orange County,” “A
Mighty Wind”). DreamWorks expects to release it in
December 2004.
That film’s original Christmas 2003 release was pushed
back to accommodate “Paycheck.” The science
fiction thriller is about a man who agrees to have two
years of his memory erased and then embarks on a journey
to find out what he’s been up to. The film is slated
to go before the cameras April 3. John Woo directs from
a screenplay by Dean Georgaris (“Lara Croft and the
Cradle of Life: Tomb Raider 2”). It’s based
on a short story by Philip K. Dick (“Minority Report”).
Aaron Eckhart (“Possession,” “The Core”)
was reportedly in negotiations to play opposite Affleck.
Paramount plans a December 2003 release. DreamWorks will
handle international distribution.
Moviegoers who thought kickboxing,
blade-flinging heiress Elektra Natchios failed to survive
the denouement of “Daredevil” may
be surprised to learn Jennifer Garner is expected to reprise
the character in both the “Daredevil” sequel
and an “Elektra” spin-off already in development.
Fox hasn’t announced a supporting cast, release date
or form-fitting miracle fiber for either project.
As mentioned in last
month’s Next!, Garner gets her
first big-screen starring role in “13 Going on 30.” The
comedy, to go before cameras once the current season of
Garner’s TV series “Alias” concludes,
is about a 13-year-old girl with dreams of popularity who
is locked in a closet during a birthday party game. Humiliated,
she refuses to come out until she emerges, Rip Van Wrinkle-like,
five days short of her 30th birthday. Gary Wince (“Tadpole”)
directs from a screenplay by Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yaps.
Since we last covered the project, it has gained a distributor
(Sony) and a release target (the first quarter of 2004).
Colin Farrell got his Irish up (at least
his Irish accent) for “Daredevil”; he breaks it out again for “Veronica
Guerin.” The drama, based on a true story, is about
the Dublin journalist who was murdered in 1996 after she
wrote a series of revealing articles about various local
crime figures. Joel Schumacher (“Tigerland,” “Phone
Booth”) directed from a screenplay by Carol Doyle
(“Washington Square”) and Mary Agnes Donoghue
(“Beaches,” “White Oleander”).
Cate Blanchett (the “Lord of the Rings” series),
Brenda Fricker (“The General”), Ciarán
Hinds (“Road to Perdition,” “The Weight
of Water”) and Gerard McSorley (“Felicia’s
Journey,” “Ordinary Decent Criminal”)
co-star. Buena Vista plans a 2003 release.
Meanwhile, Farrell has another Joel Schumacher
film under his belt. The long-delayed “Phone Booth” finally
hits U.S. screens April 4.
Touted for stardom since his appearance
in Schumacher’s “Tigerland,” Farrell
moves to the next stop on his road to incalculable paychecks
with a post-ironic big-screen remake of a ‘70s-era
TV series. “S.W.A.T.” is an action thriller
about the Los Angeles Police Department’s Special
Weapons and Tactical team, which finds itself battling
bloodthirsty reward-seekers after a drug lord offers $100
million to anyone who can free him from police custody.
It’s based on the 1975-76 ABC franchise. Clark Johnson
(TV’s “The Shield”) makes his feature
directorial debut from a screenplay by David Ayer (“Training
Day,” “Dark Blue”). Samuel L. Jackson
(“Formula 51,” “Basic”), Michelle
Rodriguez (“Blue Crush,”), Jeremy Renner (“Dahmer”),
Oliver Martinez (“Unfaithful”) and LL Cool
J (“Deliver Us from Eva”) co-star. Sony rolls
up the back of the van Aug. 8.
Joe Pantoliano transitions from the
New York Post reporter who learns Matt Murdoch’s secret identity to reprising
his Capt. Howard role in “Bad
Boys II.” In
this sequel to the 1995 action comedy, Miami cops Marcus
Burnett and Mike Lowrey head to London to team with Burnett’s
half-sister, an undercover agent investigating a money
laundering scheme. Returnees from part one include director
Michael Bay (“Pearl Harbor”) and actors Will
Smith (“Men in Black II”) and Martin Lawrence
(“Black Knight,” “National Security”).
Newcomers to the franchise include screenwriter Ron Shelton
(“Play it to the Bone,” “Hollywood Homicide”)
and actress Gabrielle Union (“Deliver Us From Eva”).
Sony hopes it’s good July 18. 
