Cameron Diaz, Keira Knightley, Johnny Depp Find New Gigs
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Diaz, Knightley, and Depp have all found new things to do with their insanely rich and exciting lives - though not together, at least not right this second anyway. I would jokingly say that no studio could afford to have all three star together in a single film due to the inevitable price tag, but the real joke here is that studios will spend any amount of money to put pretty people on the screen, because you can always save cash by short changing the writer. Don't believe me? None of the Rush Hour films have a particularly riveting storyline and they wont be winning any awards for best screenplay anytime soon, in fact the first film was downright obvious and plotted, but that hasn't stopped the studio from paying Chris Rock somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million for the third film. According to Variety, Cameron Diaz has signed on to star in My Sister's Keeper, a film adapted from a book by Jodi Picoult. This is one of several projects Diaz is balancing as of late, having already played a role in a film with that guy from The Butterfly Effect, which was an oddly satisfying if not simplistic and already-well-explored parable over the role of destiny, one that I happen not to subscribe to. Diaz is filming a Shrek TV special I assume for this coming Christmas, while The Box is in post, with...wait, I guess the film she's in with that guy hasn't been filmed yet. Oh well. What Happens in Vegas... films next year, along with Shrek 4, because apparently we haven't said enough with the first three. Keeper begins production later this year.
And yes, apparently the name of the film with that guy actually does end with three periods.
Keira Knightley has signed up for a boring period flick set to shoot this fall, called The Dutchess. It'll probably be nominated for best picture, but also for least seen film. That's what it seems like, yeah? Best Picture and the really big awards the past two years have been synonymous with box office failure. Maybe it'll win Best Foreign Film, or something.
And then there's Depp. Depp's production banner is involved with this one, as it is with the possible adaption of the Dark Shadows to the big screen (no plans to star.)
Depp will play Paul Kemp, a freelance journo writing for a rundown newspaper in 1950s Puerto Rico and surrounded by a bunch of lost souls bent on self-destruction. The journo was 22 when he wrote the autobiographical novel and had yet to develop his trademark gonzo style. It was written in 1959 but not published until 1998.This is from the novel The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson. Depp, like Diaz, is juggling a number of projects. I see three solid projects listed along with two sequels to Frank Miller's Sin City, although I've heard they have been put on the back burner due to the unfortunate failing of Grindhouse. Note I said pushed back, not killed off. They'll come, it'll just take a little more time.
