Matt Damon To Don Thigh-Baring Shorts For 'Human Factor'

Seth — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:00:00 EDT

· Celebrity nape-haver Matt Damon will play South African rugby star Francois Pienaar in Clint Eastwood's Human Factor. Accent time! [Variety]
· Chuck creator Josh Schwartz declares "computer geeks...the new doctors and cops of television," by which he means a clichéd profession conspired upon by lazy writers and unimaginative network executives to oversaturate the TV landscape. [Variety]
· SAG is churning out more and more waivers with indie producers, guaranteeing production won't be interrupted after June 30 should something go horribly wrong with the negotiations. It's a limbo agents are referring to as "Waiverland," named for the union spokesman who signs the interim agreements, Kenneth Waiverland. [Variety]
· Bruce Willis will star in Kane & Lynch, a lesser-beloved-videogame adaptation for Lionsgate. [THR]
· Brian DePalma goes to the serial-killer well once more with The Boston Stranglers, written by former Diff'rent Strokes and Head of the Class writer Alan Rosen. No word yet on whether or not they'll throw Dan "Arvid" Frischman a bone. [THR]

Nicolas Cage To Star As Al Capone In 'Untouchables' Prequel No One Asked For

Seth — Fri, 11 May 2007 18:24:05 EDT

Veteran Hitchcock ~~cribber~~ homagist Brian DePalma is reaching back over two decades for his next project, following up 1987's The Untouchables with an origin prequel, The Untouchables: Capone Rising. MTV Movie Blog now confirms it's Nicolas Cage, in the latest in a string of bizarre career choices, who'll be stepping into Robert DeNiro's wing-tip shoes as the title mobster:

Following in the footsteps of DeNiro, Cage will portray Al Capone in "The Untouchables: Capone Rising".

Directed by Brian DePalma, the flick is a prequel to his 1987 classic "The Untouchables", and revolves around the early dealings of the infamous gangster with Jimmy Malone - the Irish cop role that won Sean Connery an Oscar.

After the disappointment that was The Black Dahlia, we suppose it's natural that DePalma might want to return to the familiar world established in one of his most commercially and critically well-received films. What drew Cage to the project, however, is less apparent, as the straightforward mob story appears on the surface to offer the esoteric actor none of the more colorful character flourishes he's been drawn to in his recent work. Perhaps DePalma has made assurances that this Capone won't be the one-note monster of the first film, but a far more complex and emotionally resonant one, whose brutality and lawlessness were part of a life-sparing deal with the devil that required him in exchange to haunt the criminal backrooms of Prohibition-era Chicago in a bear suit carrying a flaming baseball bat.

Nicolas Cage Confirmed As Capone In 'Untouchables' Prequel [MTV Movies Blog]

Gawker: defamer, brian depalma

Matt Damon To Don Thigh-Baring Shorts For 'Human Factor'

Nicolas Cage To Star As Al Capone In 'Untouchables' Prequel No One Asked For