Boxoffice-July.1997

8 BrixomcE
HOLLYWOOD
REPORT
NICOLAS CAGE
"Detective" Find
WILL SMITH
"Wild" Man
LAUREN HOLLY
Something "New"
"WHAT DREAMS MAY
COME" Robin Williams will
headline this romantic drama
about a man who dies but
whose spirit remains earthbound,
as he can't bear the
thought of leaving his wife. His
wife is then trapped in Hell, and
Williams' character must team
with a tracker ("Jerry Maguire's"
Cuba Gooding Jr.) to save her.
Vincent Ward {"Map of the
Human Heart") will helm; Ron
Bass ("The Joy Luck Club")
scripts. (Distribution to be set)
"IT'S A DOG'S LIFE" Chris Farley
("Beverly Hills Ninja") will
star in this fantasy/comedy
about household pets magically
transformed into human beings.
As a pup-turned-person, Farley
must win over the lady of the
house before she is seduced by
a transmogrified pet snake (possibly
to be played by Alec Baldwin).
(Warner Bros.)
"DEFECTIVE DETECTIVE"
Terry Gilliam ("12 Monkeys")
will direct Nicolas Cage ("Con
Air") in this comedy/drama
whose plot is in the vein of
Gilliam's 1981 film "Time Bandits."
Cage will play a detective
who's searching for a lost girl in
New York and ends up on a
fantastic adventure. Gilliam coscripts
with Richard LaGravenese,
his "The Fisher King"
collaborator. (Universal)
"BELOVED" TV talk show host
Oprah Winfrey ("The Color Purple")
returns to the silver screen
alongside Thandie Newton
("Gridlock'd") in this period
drama about a slave haunted by
the ghost of the baby daughter
she'd killed years before. Jonathan
Demme ("Philadelphia") is
in talks to helm. This adaptation
of Toni Morrison's novel will be
produced through Winfrey's
Harpo Prods. (Buena Vista)
"WILD, WILD WEST" This adaptation
of the '60s TV series will
reteam "Men In Black" star Will
Smith and "MIB" director Barry
Sonnenfeld. Smith will play
James T. West (originally portrayed
by Robert Conrad).
Johnny Depp and George
Clooney are possible contenders
for the part of sidekick Artemus
Cordon. (Warner Bros.)
NOTHING
"LONG TIME,
NEW" A small-town woman
("A Smile Like Yours'" Lauren
Holly) must find the courage to
forget her past and move forward
with her life in this drama
scripted and directed by Edward
Burns ("She's the One"), who
also co-stars. (Gramercy)
"SIMPLE SIMON" In this drama
helmed by Harold Becker ("City
Hall"), Bruce Willis will play an
FBI agent on the run from the
government. With him is an autistic
boy who has inadvertently
broken into secret databases.
Alec Baldwin ("Ghosts of Mississippi"),
who worked with Becker
for 1993's "Malice," co-stars as
their nemesis. (Universal)
"DOGMA" Kevin Smith ("Chasing
Amy") next tells the story of a
woman chosen by renegade angels
to save humanity. Smith will
play a role alongside "Chasing
Amy" stars Ben Affleck and Joey
Lauren Adams. Jason Scott Lee
("Jungle Book") is in talks to play
the angel of death. (Miramax)
"IN TOO DEEP" In this black
comedy, a man (not yet cast)
learns his best friend ("Inventing
the Abbotts'" Joaquin Phoenix) is
sleeping with his wife ("An Awfully
Big Adventure's" Georgina
Gates). He then plots to fake his
own death and frame the friend
for murder. Vince Vaughn
("Swingers") and Janeane Garofalo
("Romy & Michele's High
School Reunion") co-star. David
Dobkin will direct. (Gramercy)
"KNOCK OFF" Jean-Claude
Van Damme and director Tsui
Hark, who joined for "Double
Team," reteam in this terrorist
actioner scripted by Steven de
Souza ("Die Hard"). Leia
Rochon ("Waiting to Exhale")
will play a CIA operative who
helps him in his plan to take
down the terrorist conspiracy.
(Distribution to be set)
"TARZAN AND JANE" The
Edgar Rice Burroughs character
leaves civilization to return to
Africa to save his homeland.
Casper Van Dien ("Starship
Troopers") will play the famed
jungle man, and jane March
("Colorof Night") will play Jane.
(Distribution to be set)
"BODY COUNT" A "Jade" reteaming,
Linda Fiorentino and
David Caruso will star in this film
about an art heist gone wrong.
Co-starring are Ving Rhames
("Rosewood"), Forest Whitaker
("Species"), John Leguizamo
("The Pest") and Donnie
Wahlberg ("Ransom"). Robert
Spruill ("The Squeeze") will
helm. (Distribution is to be set)
"BEGIN THE BEGUINE" Elijah
Wood ("Flipper") and Anna
Paquin ("Fly Away Home") will
star in this coming-of-age love
story scripted by Raymond De
Felitta ("Cafe Society"). (Distribution
to be set)
"KISS OR KILL" Down Under
helmer Bill Bennett ("Two If By
Sea") will direct "Love and Other
Catastrophes'" Frances O'Connor
and Matt Day in this dramatic
thriller about a couple running
from police across Australia's
Nullarbor desert. When a series
of murders occur along their
route, each suspects the other.
Bennett also scripts and produces.
(Distribution to be set)
"THE RISE AND FALL OF LIT-
TLE VOICE" This adaptation of
the hit British play will star
"Trainspotting's" Ewan McGregor
and Jane Horrocks ("Life Is
Sweet"). Horrocks also starred
in the original play in Lancashire.
Sam Mendes directs. (Distribution
to be set)
"THE ROAD TO GRACE-
LAND" Jonathon Schaech
("That Thing You Do!") will play
a man whose life is shattered
when his wife is killed in a car
accident, but he's helped
through this trying time by a
man (Harvey Keitel) who he
thinks is Elvis Presley. Bridget
Fonda is in talks to play Marilyn
Monroe. David Winkler, son of
director/producer Irwin Winkler
("The Net"), will direct and
script. (Distribution to be set)
"THE FAMILY BLOOM" In this
drama, Penelope Ann Miller
("The Shadow") will play a
woman who gives up her own
life to take care of her widowed
brother and his children. But that
life to which she's become accustomed
falls apart when the
brother decides to remarry. Newcomer
Craig Saavedra directs;
Eric Tuchman ("Anastasia")
scripts. (Distribution to be set)
ET CETERA: "Volcano's" Anne
Heche has been cast opposite
Harrison Ford in Buena Vista's
romantic comedy "6 Days, 7
Nights". ..Harry Connick Jr. will
take his first romantic lead in
Fox's "Hope Floats," which
stars Sandra Bullock and is
being helmed by Forest Whitaker
("Waiting to Exhale"). ..Gena
Rowlands, Gillian Anderson
and Harry Dean Stanton have
joined Sharon Stone in
Miramax's "Freak the Mighty"
...Chris Columbus ("Nine
Months") will direct Julia Roberts
and Susan Sarandon in
TriStar's "Stepmom," about a
dying woman who befriends
her husband's new girlfriend...
Lending their voices to Fox's
Eddie Murphy starrer "Dr.
Dollttle" are Ving Rhames as a
tiger, Chris Rock as a guinea pig,
John Leguizamo as a rat and
Paul Reubens as a raccoon.