BOP Daily News
January 21, 2005
The spirit of BOP News lives on in
This is So Last Week,
our pop culture week-in-review,
presented in a pleasing quiz form.
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Seems like whenever a star’s career starts a downward spiral, the possibility of a return to a beloved franchise or character begins receiving more than casual consideration. Harrison Ford’s professed desire to do an Indiana Jones 4 springs instantly to mind, and a recent item concerning Michael Keaton also fits the bill. According to sources, Keaton is “desperate” to get a sequel to Beetlejuice, the comedy that helped cement his hot status way back in 1988 when it seemed Keaton could do no wrong. The Batman star reportedly loved doing the character, and allows that many people appear to have forgotten just what a great cast the film had, and just how well the low-tech approach of the picture worked. Given that Keaton’s most recent effort, White Noise, was the actor’s first hit - albeit a modest one - since Batman Returns in 1992, and with the prospect of co-starring with an anthropomorphic Volkswagen Beetle looms in the future, we can understand why Keaton might be thinking on movies concerning life after death, given his career has pretty much flatlined, and resuscitation efforts to date aren’t looking promising. Hey, maybe bringing back the bio-exorcist is a good thing; Beetlejuice might be able to erase that crappy Christmas movie about the kindly possessed snowman off the face of the planet for all time.
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Apparently, this is the week for faded stars to try and recapture old glories. Sylvester Stallone, never one to resist bludgeoning a deceased equine, has promised fans of his Rambo franchise that they can expect a fourth installment of that series. Yes, the man who managed to run Rocky completely into the ground is now attempting to do the same to Rambo, a prospect made even more frightening by the realization that Stallone will turn 59 this year. According to Stallone, he and his partners are “in the kitchen and [they’re] cooking”, the charming colloquialism apparently referring to meetings Stallone has had with...well, he doesn’t say, but one would have to believe it was producers or studio execs or somebody who can greenlight a film. Given Stallone’s age by the time shooting could possibly get under way, we are praying to all the filmmaking gods that there are no lingering shots of Rambo’s pecs in this one.
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Making this a triumvirate of sequel stories, there's another entry in the Why’d They Have to Go and Do That? file, this time courtesy of Robert De Niro. It seems the Oscar winner has set his sights on reprising the role that cemented his star status, Travis Bickle, in a sequel to the 1976 classic, Taxi Driver. De Niro has apparently been talking to the original film’s director, Martin Scorsese, about creating a film around an older Bickle. De Niro’s sudden desire to return to one of his signature dramatic roles reportedly stems from the actor’s desire to restore his reputation as one of the greatest dramatic actors of his generation. In recent years, De Niro has only seen success in a handful of comedies; his dramatic efforts, as well as a number of his comedic roles, have pretty much tanked. Rumors that the studio wants to add a bunch of hobbits and a talking taxi to whatever script is approved could not be confirmed at press time.
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And just cause we haven't played in a while, it’s time for another rousing game of Who’s the Next James Bond? Seems the leading candidate this week is Hugh Jackman, who is currently at 2-to-1 odds with the bookmakers in the UK. The X-Men star has been tabbed by bettors over second-place finisher Clive Owen and Ewan McGregor, who comes third. All this action comes several months after the rumor mill had it the Broccolis had supposedly chosen Ioan Gruffudd, most recently seen in lats summer’s King Arthur (Oh, who are we kidding? Not even the stars’ families saw that dog). According to sources, the decision on who will replace the most recent Bond portrayer, Pierce Brosnan, is being held up due to a fierce battle between the Broccolis, who own the rights to the venerable franchise, and MGM, who distribute the lucrative films. Reportedly the stalemate is due to the Broccolis wanting a relative unknown, whilst MGM is insisting on a name for the role. In a related story, betting on when the 21st entry in the Bond franchise will finally go before cameras has the odds-on favorite as the 12th of Never.
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"She’s a drag, a well-known drag. You turn the sound down on her and say rude things."
Previous edition's quote: Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle
Box Office Prophets offers quality, reliable news about the entertainment industry. BOP is also entertaining. To that end, please be advised that some content in this column is intended to be humorous and should not be considered factual.
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