IT was the talk of California for the past week, a story endlessly discussed in the newspapers, radio and television. It; had nothing to do with Clinton V Dole, or Israel after the election, or the peace talks in Northern Ireland. Nor was it yet another book; on the O.J. case.
No, the big story was nothing less startling than the decision of Keanu Reeves to pull out of the sequel, Speed II, which is due to shoot in the autumn. The drama was played out day by day: first as a rumour, then confirmed as a fact. Next came speculation regarding the decision, followed by a statement from Keanu himself that he preferred to spend the next few months touring with his rock band, Dogstar.
The fever continued. Would Sandra Bullock pull out now? No, she wouldn't, her agent said next day - and why would she when she's getting around $11 million for the sequel, which is around 20 times what she got paid for the original. And the suspense continues with frenzied speculation as to who might fit into Keanu's snug white vest. Nothing is certain yet, but it looks like the role will go to rising star Matthew McConaghey, who Co stars with Sandra Bullock in the John Grisham adaptation, A Time To Kill, which opens in the US next month.
AS if the Keanu saga were not sufficiently draining, hot on its heels came another casting shocker, this time involving Jodie Foster who has filed a law suit against PolyGram and Propaganda Films for dumping her from David Fincher's imminent production, The Game, which stars Michael Douglas. Foster, who has won Oscars for The Accused and The Silence Of The Lambs, is seeking $54.5 million in damages for breach of contract, fraud and deception. Ironically, Foster is likely to be replaced in The Game by a man - Jeff Bridges who as reported here two weeks ago, was replaced by a woman: Frances McDormand, in Hidden In America.
EVEN more major casting changes: It's goodbye to Daniel Benzali, who played the central character of attorney Ted Hoofman with such authority in the riveting Murder One, still running on RTE 1 and BBC 2 and the best American TV series in decades. However, the series ranked a lowly 66th place in the overall US ratings for the season just ended - not least because it was launched in the same time slot as ratings topper ER.
To ensure the renewal of Murder One for the autumn schedules, producer Steve Bochco offered to create three different trials running simultaneously in the new series - and to recast the main character. American audiences apparently never warmed to Benzali's performance and found his character stern, aloof and given to grandiose monologues". Benzali will be replaced by movie actor Anthony LaPaglia who, in Bochco's view, is "fresh, adult sexy, very talented, and has a real warmth and charm".
If you have yet to see the dramatic ending to the current "Murder One" series, you should skip on to the next paragraph. Three other actors who won't be back on Murder One are Jason Gedrick, who played murder suspect Neil Avedon; Stanley Tucci, who was superb as the sinister Richard Cross; and Patricia Clarkson, who was Ted Hoffman's much suffering wife. All the other key actors are due, including Barbara Bosson - who, incidentally, is Steve Bochco's wife - as prosecutor Miriam Grasso.
WHAT are the most under rated movies of all time? The July issue of the gossipy Movieline magazine asked 30 film makers that question and came up with some surprising answers. Bryan Singer chose Ken Russell's "awesome" The Devils; Joel Schumacher opted for his, "favourite film of all time", Peter Greenaway's The Cook, The Thief His Wife And Her Lover; Clive Barker chose Cleopatra; Tim Hunter picked Mandingo; and Fatal Attraction director Adrian Lyne went for Brief Encounter, which could hardly be more of a contrast with his own lurid work.
More understandable choices came from Christopher Munch (Barry Lyndon), Jodie Foster (Mishima), Kevin Reynolds (Badlands), John Frankenheimer (The Battle Of Algiers) and Pen Densham (Things To Come). Densham directed Moll Flanders on location in Ireland last year and the movie, preceded by heavy TV advertising, opens in the US today.
THE same Moll Flanders was made the lead review in Variety last week, in which critic Greg Evans wrote most enthusiastically about it, predicting it will send its star Robin Wright "to the upper echelon of actresses with the talent, charm and unflagging, watchability to carry a movie". He added that "David Tattersall's camerawork makes attractive use of such Irish sites as St Patrick's Cathedral and Dublin Castle" and that the costumes by Irish designer Consolata Boyle "reflect every shift, from the squalor of the streets to the opulence of a New World plantation".
DOMINATING the display area in Sunset Boulevard's premiere bookstore, Book Soup, this week are multiple copies of Hit And Run: How Ion Peters And Peter Guber Took Sony For A Ride In Hollywood by Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters. Inevitably the subject of a media frenzy in Hollywood, the book has been praised and attacked in roughly equal measures for its account of how Sony lost $3.2 billion when they hired Peters and Guber as the co chairmen of Sony Pictures. The authors interviewed more than 200 people for the book, including Peters, who was a hairdresser before he turned producer, but not Guber, who refused to co operate with the book.
