Movie Morsels 37 - Bourne & Spider-Man 4

First up: The Bourne _____ (basically, just the 4th Bourne movie. Also known as The Bourne Who Cares Just Give Us Your Money. Well, according to TunaFlix, anyway.) Variety is reporting that Universal is moving ahead with the 4th installment, having just secured a writer:

...George Nolfi [will] write the script.

Nolfi was co-writer of the third film, which was based on a story by Tony Gilroy.

Though the series is based on the Robert Ludlum novels, the new film won't be based on a Ludlum title, but rather an original story. (Lauren's note: And this makes the movie different from the other movies how exactly?!)

Studio toppers Marc Shmuger, David Linde and Donna Langley are making the continuation of the Bourne franchise a top priority in their effort to mount tentpoles, and they've secured director Paul Greengrass and star Matt Damon to attach themselves to a new film (Variety, February 22, 2008).

Robert will be tickled pink. Me? I think you already know my feelings about a fourth Bourne...

Moving on! (To yet another needless sequel... grr...) MTV posted a little blurb with Spider-Man director Sam Raimi yesterday and it sheds a little light on his thought processes for #4 (and 5...):

Although things weren’t looking too good for awhile, Spider-Man has overcome adversities tougher than a Green Goblin-Doc Ock team-up, and now once again has Tobey Maguire and Sam Raimi in his corner. But what about Kirsten Dunst?

“Kirsten, I’d love to work with her again,” Raimi explained to us this week, making it sound as if current plans to include Dunst for “Spider-Man 4” and “Spider-Man 5” are still up in the air, despite recent statements that she wants to remain with the franchise. “I hope she’ll be written into it. I couldn’t imagine making one without her, and I think she’s an important part of the movies.”

Nevertheless, Raimi admitted that the very nature of an episodic series requires that characters come and go. “I wish I could work with James Franco again,” said the man who directed the first three hit movies. “But his character died in the last one; same with Uncle Ben. Fortunately, we’ve been able to bring back all the dead characters [like Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn or Cliff Robertson as Ben Parker]. I can’t let them go, in each and every picture; but it gets harder and harder.”

Now things are about to get hard yet again for Raimi, as he’s making plans to continue the cinematic tale of Peter Parker. “I’m really excited about Spider-Man, and I’m hoping to direct it,” he cautioned. “I don’t have a script yet, but production would start probably by March of 2010, I’m guessing. It sounds like a long time away, but we need a script first, and a lot of pre-production has to take place.”

The filmmaking legend also revealed to us that there is a lot of truth behind rumors that he might shoot the next two “Spider-Man” films at the same time. “That had been talked about,” he said, deferring to the head of his studio. “It’s Amy Pascal’s decision. I don’t think it has been decided yet, and she’s the one that’s really going to make that decision; I’m really curious myself.”

By his own admission, “Spider-Man 3” was an exhaustive film to shoot, but Raimi is confident he can handle the double duty. “It would be a real endurance test, probably only Peter Jackson knows how hard something like that would be,” he marveled, hinting that “4” and “5” would be very closely linked in storyline. “If Tobey and me, and all the producers, like the story for two pictures and Amy wanted to do it, then we would do it. It just hasn’t been written yet.”

Finally, Raimi offered comment on the wishes of fans (and yours truly) to finally let Dylan Baker’s storyline come to fruition. “He’s a great actor, and I think one day The Lizard’s story will be told,” he teased, referring to Baker’s Curt Connors character. “I don’t know if it will be this one or not. I just don’t know. I’m definitely hoping to work with Dylan in the picture. I just don’t know who the villain is yet.”

Sigh. Who cares? Even if the movies suck donkey balls and just have Tobey Maguire running around in a circle waving his arms above his head, stupid people will go and see them. Stupid people like me who feel the need to 'finish out the series' even though they KNOW they're not going to like it. Stupid stupid people!

Movie Morsels 17 - Transformers 2 & Bourne 4

I'm very glad I stumbled across TunaFlix a while back - it's a site that doesn't update as often as others but it usually provides very reliable info. You could just go there yourself to get the latest scoop, I guess... But why would you deliberately rob me of such a small pleasure, hmm? Mew for me. :o(

* Guilt trips aside, here's the latest on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (they got rid of the '2' a few weeks back. Ooh.):

• We already knew the sequel would focus on Shia’s “Sam growing up and going to college … a teenager growing into a man,” but apparently “although both characters have grown from high school- to college-age since the first “Transformers” installment, only LaBeouf’s Witwicky is off to college because Fox’s Banes can’t afford school, Bay said.” But when Fox comes to visit, all hell breaks loose, because a scene shot outside the Ivy League school’s gym reportedly has Shia and Megan (along with a healthy number of extras) running for their lives.
• A mini-article in Empire featured this cryptic quote from Josh Duhamel: “I guess who he’s working with is probably the biggest change,” said Duhamel, before adding once more, presumably for emphasis. “Who he’s working with.”

Supposedly, we are to glean from Josh's remark that the Autobots and Decepticons will be teaming up to fight an even more dangerous foe like The Fallen (as hinted at by the film's title), alternately described as "a relatively obscure character from the comics" and "an incredibly powerful robot – one of the thirteen original Transformers." While Empire thinks this scenario is likely, TunaFlix leans toward not jumping to conclusions just yet. Since I don't care, I can't say. However, if you want to read the Empire piece or an on-set article from The New Jersey Times, you may do so here and here.

* Also mentioned in today's TunaFlix updates was a bit on the 4th movie in the Bourne franchise. I must admit that I have a little egg on my face - I had no idea the 4th movie had already been greenlit! I knew there were talks and blah blah blah but had no inkling that the movie already has a proposed title (The Bourne Legacy) and release year (2010) or that it already has pages at IMDb and Wikipedia. Where the heck have I been?!!!! Dang.

Anyway, in a video interview with producer Frank Marshall (at the recent Saturn Awards), the IESB states that director "Paul Greengrass will aim to start shooting next summer with an eye towards a 2010 release, and although there is a fourth Bourne book (not written by Robert Ludlum), Marshall indicated they’ll be taking their “own direction” with the as-yet-untitled Bourne 4." Really? 'Cause I didn't get that the movies weren't faithful to the books when Marie DIED in the second movie whereas she's married and living with Jason in Maine in the books. But whatever. It doesn't matter if the 4th movie's plot involves Jason Bourne churning butter in an Amish community, I will have to see it because Robert has a man-crush on all things Bourne. Yip. Pee. I'll just have to run The Bourne Identity through my head as I pretend to watch #4...