As always, APCB is here to remind you that there are other things going on in the world of Hollywood besides Star Wars. Not that I've done a very good job conveying that these last couple weeks.
Sideshow Beast Terwilliger to Join Cast of X3
Twentieth Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment have enlisted "Frasier" himself Kelsey Grammer for "X3" reports Variety. Grammer is set to play Beast, the oversized blue-furred creature who has not yet appeared in an "X-Men" film.
The Matthew Vaughn-directed sequel is scheduled to bow Memorial Day weekend next year. Studio is also setting Vinnie Jones for the bad-guy role of Juggernaut ("Snatch," "Gone in 60 Seconds," "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"). Juggernaut, a 6-foot-10, 900-pound metal-clad battering ram, is the half-brother of Professor X and will anchor Magneto's villainous band.
Technically, they're correct; Beast has never appeared in an X-Men film. Dr. Hank McCoy, however, was briefly shown in a TV interview in X2. Guess Steve Bacic's out of luck.
As for Grammer, either they're doing a completedly CG Beast, or they're dubbing whatever gymnast they hire for the role (is Mitch Gaylord still around?) with Grammer's voice. I saw that Dennis Rodman Celebrity Hot Tub thing he appeared in a few years back (give me a break, I have coulrophobia and the circus was in town), and the guy better could probably stand to work in a few sit-ups.
He's got the voice, though:
Beast: "Well, if it isn't my arch-nemesis Magneto. And his sister Lisa to whom I'm fairly indifferent."
"To the disappointment of many of us, 'Dunces' was put on hold last year. We had assembled the cast of my dreams (Will Ferrell, Lily Tomlin, Mos Def, Drew Barrymore, Olympia Dukakis, etc.) and I adopted New Orleans as my new home, but politics over the property rights -- torn between Miramax, Paramount, and various camps of producers -- put a weight on the project that wasn't creatively healthy to work within.
"The draft of the script by Scott Kramer and Steven Soderbergh did the novel justice, and also provided a healthy cinematic spotlight for these eccentric characters, but it didn't cater to a lot of the cliches or conditioning of contemporary American studio sensibilities. So I suppose the difficulty was even beyond the political baggage and paperwork, and stemmed in many ways from the manner in which I wanted the film to be executed.
I'm not as big a fan of the book as some, but I would've liked to see Soderbergh's adaptation. There's no way Will Ferrell was right for the part of Ignatius T. Reilly, however, and I can only imagine what the "conditioning" was that Green mentioned. Reilly probably got kicked in the balls a lot and had a gay window dresser sidekick.
Maybe that was the role Barrymore was auditioning for.
Finally, A Role That Requires Him to Suck
Before Sunset" stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy are in final talks to reunite in the vampire saga "Bathory," which will mark the French actress' directing debut. Delpy also wrote the script about the legendary Elizabeth Bathory, who inspired many a vampire myth with sadistic rituals that included bathing in the blood of virgins.
No word on the rumors that this is being renamed The Ann Coulter Story.
Bah, as long as we're discussing Elizabeth Bathory adaptations, Delpy can't hold a candle to Countess Dracula's Ingrid Pitt.
re: the X3 article from Dark Horizons: You didn't even mention the Kitty Pryde part going to Maggie Grace, possibly.
I'm sorry, but in the time of X3, Kitty Pryde is still the little teenage girl who ran through the wall in XMEN, not a blonde with big hooters.
Ah well, maybe Ms. Kay was unavailable. Yeah, right.
This interview claims that Kelsey Grammer will be in makeup, and that Kitty Pride hasn't been cast yet.
In re: Betsy Bathory and Ann Coulter, I call your attention to this. Pretty much explains it all.