Hollywood Ink

Hollywood Ink

Hollywood Ink: Hugh Jackman Plays Futuristic Don King in Real Steel

Written by Seth Abramovitch | 24 Nov 2009, 6:00 AM | 1 comment

hugh1117.jpg· Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider’s first autonomous DreamWorks project since securing $825 million in movie-rupees will be … a Shawn Levy film. Real Steel, described as a “Rocky-esque robot tale,” was one of the projects Spielberg snatched on his way off the Paramount lot. It will star the always in-demand Hugh Jackman, who’ll play a fight promoter in a future where the sport is played by robots. He finds a discarded droid who keeps winning against all odds, until a climactic prize fight when the pummeled boxer wheels over to the ropes, and shouts out to his robo-girlfriend, “A-3N! A-3NNNNNNN!” (I wish I could say, “Thanks, folks — I’ll be here all week,” but luckily for you it’s Thanksgiving.) [Variety]

Next up in Ink: Judd’s hot for Aziz’s pitch; BMW wants back in; Tommy Lee Jones has creative differences with himself.

· Those pesky creative differences are being blamed for Tommy Lee Jones’ departure from The Lincoln Lawyer; the only problem is that he was set to both star and direct, suggesting the No Country For Old Men star is a deeply divided man. (Alternately — that co-star Matthew McConaughey was a little too shirtless and chill for his creative liking.) [Variety]

· BMW is looking to return to the movies, as they couldn’t help but notice only the bad guys drive their cars since they’ve stopped paying for product integration. [Variety]

· Judd Apatow and Universal have “picked up a trio of pitches” from Aziz Ansari and Jason Woliner. The former Human Giant co-stars will write at least one of the projects, which Apatow’s shingle will produce. Ready? Here’s the pitches. (Deep breath.) Let’s Do This is a “road movie about two guys who work for a motivational speaking company.” Untitled is about a “disgraced cosmonaut (Ansari) who is forced to return to outer space to clear his name.” Untitled #2 would be a feature based on his Funny People character, Raaaaaaaandy. “‘We didn’t expect all three to work,’ said Ansari. ‘We had a breakfast meeting with Judd and pitched them. We were like, ‘Which one do you like?’ He wanted all three.’” [Variety]

· Screenwriting team Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer are adapting the video game Uncharted: Drake Fortune into a feature film for Columbia. Mutated Nazis and El Dorado are involved, which is par for the course, is it not? [THR]

Tagged: hollywood ink, hugh jackman, steven spielberg

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From The Winchester | Reply
Posted 24 Nov 2009, 10:06 AM

Makes sense to pick up the "Raaaaaaaandy" pitch, he was the only funny person in funny people. At least "funny-ha-ha", not "funny-I-wanna-shoot-myself".

(And I say that as a fan of the film).

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By the Numbers: weekend takes every Monday
Avatar 20th C Fox
$34.9M
$554.9M
Legion Sony
$17.5M
$18.7M
Book Of Eli Warner
$15.7M
$62.0M
Tooth Fairy 20th C Fox
$14.0M
$14.6M
Lovely Bones Paramount
$8.4M
$31.7M
Sherlock Holmes Warner
$6.6M
$191.5M
Alvin: The Squeakquel 20th C Fox
$6.4M
$20.4M
Extraordinary Measures CBS
$6.0M
$6.0M
It's Complicated Universal
$5.8M
$98.7M
Spy Next Door Lionsgate
$4.5M
$18.8M
Data courtesy of Rentrak