Eagle Eye

News You Need: State of ‘Play,’ Carnahan’s Updates, Embry Gets ‘Eagle Eye,’ Ambrose With ‘Wild Things,’ ‘Hulk’ Photos

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 00:48:46 -0700

State of Pay or Play: According to Variety, Russell Crowe is in talks to take over for Brad Pitt in “State of Play,” which is an adaptation of the 2003 BBC mini-series.

Brad Pitt.
Photo credit: WireImage.com
The film was written by Matthew Michael Carnahan (“The Kingdom”) and directed by Kevin Macdonald (“The Last King of Scotland”). It was undergoing a rewrite by Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton”) and Peter Morgan (“The Queen”) before the WGA strike.

While Pitt has been notorious for dropping out of pictures at the last moment, his publicists claim he wanted to postpone shooting until after the strike.

Crowe – who is currently shooting Ridley Scott’s al-Qaeda/CIA-themed “Body of Lies” with Leonardo DiCaprio – is also prepping “Notingham” with Scott.

If Crowe turns down the role, Universal will likely go after Tom Hanks and Johnny Depp. Their strike movies (Ron Howard’s “The Da Vinci Code” prequel “Angels & Demons” and Mira Nair’s “Shantaram,” respectively) were also postponed.

“State of Play” already had the cast of Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman (reportedly playing a Mohawked “bisexual fetish club promoter”), Rachel McAdams and Robin Wright Penn lined up.

Nikki Finke off-handedly reported that Variety held off the story of Pitt’s exit for 10 days “at the request of Universal Pictures”.

‘White Jazz,’ ‘Killing Pablo’: Carnahan’s brother – director Joe Carnahan (“Narc,” “Smokin’ Aces”) – recently made two posts on his blog about the in-flux productions “White Jazz” and “Killing Pablo”.

“White Jazz” was adapted by both brothers from the James Ellroy “L.A. Quartet” novel.

The first post was simply a picture of Marvel’s Juggernaut, which was played in “X-Men: The Last Stand” by Vinnie Jones. He made a vague and playful inference that Jones was up for a role in either “White Jazz” or “Killing Pablo”.

Vinnie Jones.
Photo credit: IMDb
Jones – who was central in Guy Ritchie’s first two films – actually wasn’t in “Smokin’ Aces” (though it’s easy to mistake that film of Carnahan’s for one of Ritchie’s).

The second post pointed out that Christian Bale – who AICN has rumored to be playing John Conner in McG’s fourth “Terminator” – is still in “Killing Pablo”.

Christian Bale.
Photo credit: WireImage.com
Carnahan’s blog has been consistently entertaining and honest since George Clooney exited out of “White Jazz,” which then was set for a Jan. 2008 shoot date.

Carnahan even leaked the shooting scripts to “White Jazz” and “Killing Pablo” before being told hours later to take them down.

New ‘Eagle Eye’ FBI Agent: “Eagle Eye,” which has been shooting in Chicago, just added Ethan Embry (“Freakylinks,” “Brotherhood”) to its cast to play Rosario Dawson’s FBI partner.

Ethan Embry.
Photo credit: IMDb
In Other ‘Can’t Hardly Wait’ Alumni News: Lauren Ambrose will replace the voice of Michelle Williams in Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are”.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the filmmakers got along with Williams but felt her voice “didn’t match their original vision”.

Lauren Ambrose.
Photo credit: Theo Wargo, WireImage.com
The film co-stars Catherine Keener along with the voices of James Gandolfini, Forrest Whitaker, Tom Noonan, Paul Dano and Catherine O’Hara.

Written by Jonze, Michael Goldenberg and Dave Eggers (who is writing an adult novel adaptation), the film is to combine live action, computer animation and puppetry.

“Where the Wild Things Are” finished shooting in Dec. 2006 and is set for a fall 2008 release.

“Where the Wild Things Are”.
Photo credit: MTV
Ambrose is also set up to co-star with Parker Posey in Fox’s mid-season sitcom “The Return of Jezebel James” from “Gilmore Girls” creator Amy Sherman-Palladino.

The network did, however, reduce its show order (thus giving it this Fox seal of quality: probable fait accompli cancellation).

Hulk Smash: ComingSoon.net has posted new photos and video of “The Incredible Hulk” along with a first look at the smartly cast William Hurt as General Ross.

Zey Don’t Belong Here, Mozambique: MovieWeb has a spoiler-full and potentially obnoxious rumor about potential cameos in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” by “old friends”.

Hint: They know sign language, and no, it isn’t the digitally generated ghost of Francois Truffaut.

By Shane Hazen
Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com

Scene Spoiler: Reader Submits Full ‘Eagle Eye’ Report For Nov. 15 Filming in Chicago

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:21:44 -0700

As we’ve been reporting here, “Eagle Eye” – a DreamWorks picture staring Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson and Billy Bob Thornton – has been filming at various locations across Chicago over the past two weeks.

What follows is a very specific report from a reader that fleshes out Chicago filming details for Thursday, Nov. 15 and heading into the wee hours of Friday, Nov. 16.

I can validate this source as accurate and verifiable based on prior submissions. Warning: Spoiler information follows.

Michelle Monaghan (left) and Rosario Dawson.
Photo credit: IMDb

Thursday’s filming, which is [said to be] the second to last day of shooting, was a shoot in the evening in the Uptown neighborhood [of Chicago] at Wilson and Broadway.

The shoot began with Shia and Michelle parked in their Porsche Cayenne Turbo in an alley next to the El [train] station on Wilson. Michelle sat on the driver’s side.

Shia began the scene by running up to the car in a panic. He jumped into the passenger’s seat where he and Michelle began to argue. All of a sudden, the rear driver’s side window would shatter.

They were simulating Shia and Michelle being shot at.

Chicago Police [Department] officers were running out of the El stop with guns drawn. [They were] shooting at the car as Shia frantically began screaming at Michelle to “Go! Go! Go!”

Numerous takes and angles were shot as the car sat idled.

Around 12:30 a.m., the crew began setting up for a high-speed car chase scene where the Porsche would barrel out of the alley heading east on Wilson. [It would] fly around the corner and turn left on Broadway.

Chicago police had Wilson and Broadway closed in all directions as rehearsals began between 1 and 1:30 a.m. Michelle and Shia’s stunt doubles were in the car with Michelle’s stunt double driving.

Shia LaBeouf (left) and Billy Bob Thornton.
Photo credit: IMDb
There were five or six regular cars being driven by stunt drivers and three Chicago police vehicles with stunt drivers. All the streets were sprayed down with water.

One of the Chicago police vehicles would be heading north on Broadway.

As the Porsche fishtailed through the middle of the intersection, the police vehicle would do a [180-degree turn] in the middle of Wilson and Broadway to chase the Porsche. [The] other police vehicles would chase from other directions.

The chase scene was very well choreographed and rehearsed numerous times.

It was amazing to see all the stunt drivers carry out their assignments with perfect precision take after take at high speed with numerous cars spinning and fishtailing in the middle of the intersection.

Numerous takes were done with the stunt doubles from different angles. This was shot with multiple cameras. Around 4 a.m., Shia returned to the vehicle for interior filming with Michelle’s stunt double still behind the wheel.

The camera was placed inside the vehicle with the camera operator in the back seat filming Shia as the Porsche went through the same route (this time, however, at a slower speed).

After a couple takes, Shia was done for the evening.

It was now Michelle’s turn behind the wheel with Shia’s stunt double in the passenger seat. She did a couple rehearsals and a couple takes. Filming was done at approximately 5:30 a.m.

News You Need: Mackie in ‘Eagle Eye,’ ‘Star Trek’ Beams in New Captain, Strike Pauses ‘24’

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 01:08:07 -0700

We! Are! Terrorist Cell!: We already told you about Billy Bob Thorton being cast in “Eagle Eye,” which is shooting now in Chicago and is directed by D.J. Caruso.

Now Variety and Hollywood Reporter and are reporting that Anthony Mackie (“Half Nelson,” “We Are Marshall”) has joined the cast as a “hot-shot soldier”.

“Eagle Eye” stars Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan as a falsely accused young man and single mother who are “forced to become members of a cell with plans to carry out a political assassination”.

Thorton will play a “patriotic hero” while Rosario Dawson plays a government agent. Dawson opted out of a role in Kevin Smith’s “Zach and Miri Make a Porno” (a role written specifically for her) to make “Eagle Eye”.

“Eagle Eye” comes from a screen idea by Steven Spielberg. Dan McDermott, John Glenn, Travis Wright, Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, J.J. Abrams and finally Hilary Seitz all worked on the screenplay, according to Film Jerk.

Kurtzman and Orci – who worked on Abrams’ “Star Trek” and did a rumored rewrite to the “Watchmen” screenplay – are overseeing Seitz. Let’s hope in light of the WGA strike that “overseeing” is past tense.

Unless Voted Out By Focus Group, Greenwood Will Boldy Go: Speaking of J.J. Abrams’ increasingly more-interesting “Star Trek” reboot, Hollywood Reporter says Bruce Greenwood (“Thirteen Days,” “I, Robot”) has been cast as Captain Christopher Pike.

Originally played by Jeffrey Hunter, Pike was technically the first captain of the starship Enterprise. That’s due to his having been in the original, shelved “Star Trek” pilot.

Bruce Greenwood.
Photo credit: Steve Granitz/WireImage
Scenes from this unused pilot were reworked as flashback footage into first “Star Trek” season two-parter “The Menagerie”. In that episode Sean Kenney took over the role and played Pike as a scarred mute who communicated via light on his wheelchair.

At one point, Tom Cruise (who worked on Abrams’ last film “Mission: Impossible III”) was rumored for the role. There’s still no official word if the movie is a restarted Ultimatization or simply an alternate reality.

Jack Bauer Now Has Time to Use Restroom: The first big casualty of the Writers Guild of America strike is the seventh season premiere of Fox’s “24”.

Originally set to air on Jan. 13, TV Week reports that Fox has chosen to hold off on airing the show until the strike’s end. The show has run the past two seasons week to week with no repeats.

After last season’s critical drubbing, which saw its viewership down drastically, “24” was set for a major revamp this season. The show already started production a month late after Fox scrapped a storyline that was to partly take place in Africa.

In Bauer’s absence, perhaps now we can finally have a real national dialogue about torture.

By Shane Hazen
Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com

Confirmed: ‘Eagle Eye’ Filming in Chicago From Nov. 6 to 16

HollywoodChicago.com — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:52:20 -0700

Since actor Shia LaBeouf popped up on the Chicago grid this weekend and was arrested following an incident at a Walgreens on the Magnificent Mile, we questioned which film he was in town to film.

Michelle Monaghan (left) and Rosario Dawson.
Photo credit: IMDb
IMDb lists LaBeouf as only having two projects in the works: “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and “Eagle Eye”. We know the new Indiana Jones didn’t film in Chicago and we logically assumed “Eagle Eye” would be it.

I can now confirm that LaBeouf is in Chicago for “Eagle Eye” filming.

Rich Moskal, director of the Chicago Film Office, told me on Tuesday: “‘Eagle Eye’ is currently scheduled to be filming in Chicago and the surrounding area from Nov. 6 to 16.”

Shia LaBeouf (left) and Billy Bob Thornton.
Photo credit: IMDb
Directed by D.J. Caruso (“Disturbia,” “Taking Lives”), the film stars Shia LaBeouf (“Transformers,” “Disturbia”), Michelle Monaghan (“Gone Baby Gone”), Rosario Dawson and Billy Bob Thornton (“The Astronaut Farmer”).

In “Eagle Eye,” IMDb says “a young slacker and a single mom get tangled up in a terrorist cell plotting a political assassination”.

‘Transformers’ Star Shia LaBeouf Arrested in Chicago, Charged With Criminal Trespassing

HollywoodChicago.com — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 11:39:56 -0700

When “Transformers” star Shia LaBeouf was in Chicago this weekend, his trip went awry and he spent some time with Chicago police.

Shia LaBeouf
Photo credit: CBS 2 Chicago
The 21-year-old actor was reluctantly handled by security guards at a downtown Walgreens at 757 N. Michigan Ave. Around 2:30 a.m. on Sunday, Chicago police arrested him due to his unwillingness to leave the store.

Chicago police said a security guard excessively told LaBeouf he wasn’t welcome and had to leave because he appeared to be drunk. LaBeouf refused and a guard called the cops.

Once the cuffs went on, police said LaBeouf was “very courteous and polite”. Police said he posted bond before 7 a.m. on Sunday. He is a resident of Glendale, Calif.

LaBeouf, who was charged with a misdemeanor for criminal trespassing, is slated to appear in court in on Nov. 28 at 9 a.m.

He was in Chicago to film a movie. IMDb only lists him as having two projects in the works: “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and “Eagle Eye”.

8:16 a.m. update on 11/6/07: Shia LaBeouf’s official mugshot from this Chicago arrest has surfaced online.

Shia LaBeouf’s Chicago mugshot.
Photo credit: The Smoking Gun