TAKING POSSESSION

Having scored a Best Screenplay prize at Cannes with his third film, Nurse Betty, director Neil LaBute is sticking in the literary vein for his next movie, which will be an adaptation of Possession, the best-selling novel by British writer AS Byatt. And he’s writing the script himself this time, as he did for his first two films, In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbors (Nurse Betty, on the other hand, was written by John C Richards and James Flamberg, who took the Cannes award).
The story of Possession - which time-shifts between the present day and Victorian England - is about two contemporary academics writing a book about a secret love affair between two 19th-century poets who end up becoming emotionally involved themselves.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Ralph Fiennes look likely to star, and there will also be a role for Aaron Eckhart, who has been in every one of LaBute’s previous films, but is probably best known as Julia Roberts’ biker boyfriend in Erin Brockovich.

BORN AGAIN TO BE WILD

Thirty years on, and Captain America and Billy the Kid could be getting their choppers out once again: US indie producer Miracle Entertainment has acquired the sequel rights to the 1969 classic, Easy Rider, and plans to make a millennial version on the same locations as the original, with shooting - under director Mikki Allen Willis - due to start this autumn. I’ll pass on casting information as I get it - ie. when plans get beyond the announcement stage.

THE SPY GAME

With The Legend of Bagger Vance set for a November US release, Robert Redford can now turn his attention to another cherished project; The Spy Game, which was first announced a couple of years ago (see these pages in the July/August 1998 issue of Preview). Just as well, too, since the film needed some urgent attention when Dutch director Mike van Diem - who did the 1998 Oscar-winner Karakter and who was signed to direct Spy Game early last year - quit in mid-May, citing “differences in scale and tone”.
The question of whether this meant that Redford wanted a bigger or a smaller movie was quickly answered when Tony Scott was hired as a replacement. Whatever else he may do, Scott does not do chamber dramas or character pieces: his most recent directorial outings have been along the lines of Crimson Tide and Enemy of the State, with the occasional side-trip into producing (In Too Deep, Where the Money Is) plus the frenzied Robert De Niro stalker pic, The Fan.
The Spy Game is the story of a veteran CIA agent (Redford) who is forced back into action when his young protégé - a role for which Brad Pitt recently signed up - finds himself in danger. With those two on board, the budget reportedly rocketed to somewhere in the region of $70 million. And that seems the most likely reason why Scott replaced van Diem. Apparently it was all quite amicable, however, with van Diem continuing to develop other projects for Spy Game backers Beacon Communications.