"They'll make hypocrite judgments
After the fact
But the name of the game
Is be hit and hit back ... "

-- Warren Zevon, "Boom Boom Mancini"

Boxing is a brutal sport. Does that mean you have to be a brute to succeed in it? Mike Tyson was the youngest ever heavyweight champion in the world; when he stepped into the ring, it was as if he was in absolute control over everything that happened. And when he stepped out, it was as if he had no control over anything that happened. He had a marriage implode in public. He served three years in prison for rape. He became a nightmare-parody of himself, pathetic and terrifying, telling challengers he would eat their children. And now, as seen in James Toback's documentary Tyson, he is older, sadder, sober, off drugs and out of the fight game, trying to battle things you cannot simply strike with your fists.

I'm not sure if there are still people who still don't believe that Justice League: Mortal is dead, but here's another nail in the much-hammered coffin for you: Adam Brody talked to Empire, and it may interest you to know that even those on board were no more informed than you or I. I find it more funny than interesting -- scary, too, because directors and producers make way more money than I do, and should be much more organized.

Apparently, none of the actors were ever officially let go or told anything, and Brody has no idea whether or not the film will ever be made. He says, "Actually, I probably shouldn't be commenting on it, but who cares. I don't really know – I still feel like an outsider on that somehow. I know there was a tax credit thing and I know that the strike was a hindrance. Also, you've got Batman coming out and Singer wants to do another Superman. This is only speculation on my part, I have no inside knowledge of this, but, as a fan, I think there's controversy about going off and trying to [show a different Superman and Batman] ... I think maybe it will still happen, but I truly don't know any more than you do".

Attention, Marvel Studios: You forgot to call Jon Favreau about Iron Man 2 when you set the release date and stuff. Please put it on your To Do list. Thanks.

Favreau was on Howard Stern this past Tuesday, and revealed that he has not yet been signed for the sequel. "They haven't offered me anything yet. They're all talking -- they want to do it, they even announced a date."

I want to believe that it means nothing, that things are in such a talky, pat-on-the-back stage that they don't mean anything by it. But still, before you talked to Entertainment Tonight and announced a release date, wouldn't you slap the director on the back and say "I hope you're coming back for the sequel!" Just as a courtesy? A "Good job, Favs!"

After being pressed by Stern, Favreau revealed his director's salary -- $4 million for the first film, with a NET profit deal which will pay a very small percentage once the film begins to turn a profit. But that won't happen for years with the magic of movie bookkeeping. And when a film makes mega bucks, like Iron Man did, all previous contracts are pretty much thrown out the window. That includes those Iron Man actors who have signed on for sequels. "They're all signed for three but it doesn't work that way. That all goes out the window when you make $100 million dollars," said Favreau. "Because people want to have a good relationship with the people they are working with, and if they're making that kind of money, it's an understanding that they're going to negotiate." (Isn't this a fun look into the world of legalities? I thought so.)

If you had a slow Mother's Day weekend and were lurking around the net, you might have heard that David O. Russell's upcoming comedy Nailed hit another snag; this one much bigger than just an actor walking off set (a snag that was NOT because of Russell!). They were shut down by the Screen Actors Guild because they didn't have enough money to pay their actors.

You can check out the story, as it unfolded, at Nikki Finke's Deadline Hollywood Daily. Luckily, any of you who are itching to see Nailed needn't worry. Variety reports that ThinkFilm (part of Capitol Films) has resumed shooting (and will hopefully have enough cash to finish it).

But this is part of a bigger problem: Nailed wasn't the only film hit with funding issues. A number of Capitol projects have been stopped or delayed due to lack of funds. ThinkFilm failed to pay Alex Gibney his owed fees for Taxi to the Dark Side. Flicks like Bad Meat were shut down. Then She Found Me's paper ad campaign hit a snag when there was no money for ads. You know you have serious money issues when you can't even get enough for your ad campaigns.

And now they're heading to Cannes with films from The Edge of Love to The Oxford Murders. There's a lot of interesting films attached to this company, but my head has got "Another One Bites the Dust" playing for ThinkFilm and Capitol.

Thoughts?

Next time Terry Gilliam gets down about his bad luck, he should talk to Constantin Film about Pope Joan. In October of 2006, Franka Potente signed on. In April 2007, John Goodman got sued for backing out of the feature. That made production stop. Then director Volker Schlöndorff was fired over comments he made to a paper. Last we heard, there was a new director, Sönke Wortmann, but that was last August.

And I just had to go and say: "How funny would it be if she could no longer do it? Also disappointing, since I'd love to see her really command a period piece." The Hollywood Reporter posts that due to scheduling conflicts from the rampant delays, Franka is out and German actress Johanna Wokalek is in as Pope Joan. That news just, well, sucks. It would've been a great opportunity for Franka, and Wokalek isn't well-known stateside, which could affect the production further.

But here's where things get weird. It seems that although he was sued and left eons ago, "Constantin said Wednesday that it remains in talks with Goodman and that the actor could still join the cast." That would certainly help foreign cred, but is he really still around? Is this just due to the lawsuit? The whole production just seems like a mess.

Should I even bother saying that principle photography is now set for August, with the film's release set for 2009? Will this come to fruition, or are more problems on the way?

Well, for a tempest in a teapot the controversy over Mike Myers' comedy The Love Guru seems to be heating up by the day. CJ Report confirmed that the British Film Institute has responded to Hindu protests, and has issued a statement that the prestigious institution will "not be screening this title nor will be involved with a possible release of it." Now this doesn't mean the film will not be shown in the UK, but the BFI's refusal to support the film must come as a blow to Myers, a committed anglophile.

Guru is the story of an American-born guru who returns home to help coach a lovelorn hockey player with a struggling marriage. Sure, it looks silly, and a little stereotypical, but so did The Party and a lot of people seem to like that movie. According to CJ Report, "Hindu groups have recently been approaching film distributors associations, exhibitors groups, regulatory bodies, government ministries, theater owners, etc., in various parts of the world urging them not to distribute/screen The Love Guru till Paramount Pictures makes necessary changes to it." Paramount still maintains that they will screen the film for Hindu audiences, but they have not agreed to make any significant changes to the film.

Why would you hold the splashy world premiere of a movie that celebrates Manhattan on a different freakin' continent? A few weeks ago, Eric Kohn reported on the rumor that Sex and the City would premiere in London; as he wrote, SatC is "automatically a quintessential New York film ... Considering all that Sex and the City owes to New York -- its entire legacy, really -- the idea of fleeing to Europe first sounds a little confused."

The rumor was true; the premiere was held in London last night, and now Sarah Jessica Parker finds herself defending a decision she did not make. The Telegraph describes her as being "diplomatic," stating simply: "This is where New Line Cinema decided to do it, so we started here. We are thrilled to be in London and we will be thrilled to take it to America." Cynthia Nixon downplayed the event, calling it "kind of [a] smallish premiere," and said that last night's show and another in Berlin on Thursday are "building" to the New York premiere, which will be held in two weeks, three days before the film opens on Friday, May 30. Kristin Davis told the Los Angeles Times: "Everyone is upset about it and I just don't understand why ... It's saving the best for last. No offense to London."

Sarah Jessica asked the audience to keep the plot secret; The Telegraph promptly posted a teasing "review." I'll let you decide if you want to click through and read it.

The always-enjoyable Dennis Farina was arrested when a loaded gun was found in his carry-on luggage at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday. Farina, who's best known for being awesome in everything, was caught with a .22-caliber handgun in his briefcase. The actor claimed he forgot he had it on him when bail was set at $25,000, but then raised to $35,000 when cops learned the gun wasn't registered. 1) How do you accidentally forget that you have a loaded gun in your briefcase? 2) Why are you carrying around a loaded gun that's not registered? 3) Are there a lot of people out to get Dennis Farina -- so much so that he has to bring an unregistered loaded gun to the airport?

And when the airport security asked Mr. Farina if he was traveling with a gun in his briefcase, did the actor turn and deliver one of his trademark replies? "You kiddin' me? What? I can't carry a f**kin' gun in this country anymore. Look, Idiot #1, tell Idiot #2 that I'm Dennis F**kin' Farina and I can do what I want. You gots?"

Speaking of ... we need to get Midnight Run on Blu-ray. Can somebody make that happen? They were smart enough to stick that sucker on HD-DVD, but I want to watch one of my favorite comedies ever on Blu-ray, like, now. And then I want them to include a commentary track from Farina, and I want him to talk about getting arrested in an airport with a loaded gun. I'd love to hear what that sounds like.

Sound off ... your favorite Dennis Farina role? (For me, it's a toss up between Midnight Run and Get Shorty.)

Ever the astute observer, both of movies and of real life, Roger Ebert posted on his shiny new blog today a great post wondering what Hillary and Bill: The Movie might look like. Ebert talks about great political movies of the past, especially noting two of my own faves, Barry Levinson's Wag the Dog and Warren Beatty's fantastic Bulworth (two of the best political movies ever made). He ponders what a movie -- a narrative, not a documentary -- following the private moments of Hillary and Bill Clinton, during the last days of this seemingly endless primary campaign, might look like. Ebert writes:

Yet there must have been private moments of despair. The two realists, as able as anyone to read the trends, must have spoken privately about their shrinking options. And on Tuesday night, as Hillary's double-digit lead in Indiana dwindled to very small single digits, there must have come a time when one of them said, "We've lost this thing."

What were those moments like? What kept them going between themselves? Did they encourage one another, or was there an unspoken pact not to voice the unspeakable? Was there blame when Bill had one of his unwise moments? Did their shared past, of success and scandal, enter into it, or were they absorbed in this moment?

In answering those questions, there you would find the movie.

.

It sounds like a prank. We would all like it to be one. But it seems to be legit.

The story comes from Screen Daily, who reports that S. Darko is being shopped around, with Fox already picking up the North American distribution rights. Touted as the sequel to the 2001 cult hit, the story picks up seven years after Donnie Darko left off. The youngest Darko, Samantha, is now 18 and abandoning her commitment to Sparkle Motion. She heads to Las Vegas with her best friend Corey, but the two are plagued with bizarre visions. I imagine they will involve a rabbit.

Richard Kelly, the original director, is in no way involved. Chris Fincher Fisher* will direct instead. Daveigh Chase, who played Samantha in the original, will reprise her role. It looks like she is the only one. The movie also stars Ed Westwick, Briana Evigan, and Justin Chatwin.

As to the big looming question of why, oh God, why, Simon Crowe of UK sales company Velvet Octopus says they're thinking of the children. "I think there is a new generation of cinema-goers who will be very excited to see this film."
Which generation came of age between 2001 and 2008? Why haven't they rented Donnie Darko? I am afraid these are questions to which Crowe has no answers. But he did quip, "Donnie's not in [the new film] but there are meteorites and rabbits."

Nothing is safe from the all mighty dollar, my friends. Nothing. Even when there is a pretty conclusive ending, there can always be a sequel. I'll leave you to think about that as I go pen my script for No Country for Old Men 2.

[via Empire]

*Very kind thanks to astute reader toad_stone for pointing out our egregious misspelling of director Chris Fisher's last name. Correction made, with our apologies. - Ed.

With every passing story I read about border control or security insanity, I'm beginning to think that once you have any responsibility for your country's safety, you go insane. Everyday objects become suspect (like a friend harassed in the US for having a couple pictures of an ex amongst the pics he was traveling with), and sometimes, objects are given extraordinary value. I was once charged a couple hundred dollars in Canadian tariffs for a Buffy DVD that was sent to me as a gift, and had to prove that the box set wasn't worth their astronomical estimated cost. But I guess I can consider myself lucky that "Buffy" didn't make the border powers that be think the discs were porn.

Canoe reports that a new Canadian film from John N. Smith (Dangerous Minds) was held at the border because of its name: Love and Savagery. The romantic drama headed to Ireland last month to shoot some scenes, and then the footage was shipped to Montreal for processing, where it was stopped by the border patrol. Smith says: "There was a big kerfuffle and they suspected us of being involved in the pornography trade. They were insisting they were going to send it off to the RCMP lab to develop it to see if we were engaged in pornography." This created a bit of a panic as they worried about the potential damage RCMP processing would have on the footage.

Man, this news truly bums me out. Variety reports that Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures are shutting down. It's not like this is shocking news; ever since New Line folded, it was all pretty much a given that both Picturehouse and Warner Independent would either close or merge in some way -- but it still stings for those who, like me, were big fans. In a statement, Warner Bros. president and COO Alan Horn claims this move won't stop the studio from taking more chances on young, indie voices. He says, "After much painstaking analysis, this was a difficult decision to make, but it reflects the reality of a changing marketplace and our need to prudently run our businesses with increased efficiencies. We're confident that the spirit of independent filmmaking and the opportunity to find and give a voice to new talent will continue to have a presence at Warner Bros."

On a personal note, Cinematical has worked with folks from both Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures, and have always found them to be wonderful people who truly care about spreading these little indie films as far and wide as they can. Here's hoping that love, that heart and that passion will not disappear. We wish all those involved good luck in their future endeavors.