Big Picture
Renée Zellweger: Fashion Fun Plus, Nicole Kidman hangs out with her family and Bradley Cooper is a grizzly guy. The latest pics!
MORE PHOTOS +Most Commented
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: Vote in the Final Round! (2036)
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: This Round Is Closed, Please Stand By (972)
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: This Round Is Closed, Please Stand By (684)
- Afternoon Mail! Are Gleeks Having More Sex Than Vamps? (586)
- Whitney Houston Dead at 48 (394)
- Beyoncé and Jay-Z Share First Photos of Baby Blue Ivy! (389)
- TV's Top Couple Tournament: And the Winner Is... (328)
- Morning Mail! Is Lea Michele Ready to Walk Like an Egyptian? (286)
- Twilight Director Talks Kristen Stewart and Ex Michael Angarano: "They Were Such a Great Couple" (261)
- Life After Breaking Dawn?! Maybe, Says Studio Head! (226)
Top 10 Stories
- Chris Brown Tweets to Haters After Grammy Win
- Whitney Houston Tribute: Watch LeAnn Rimes' Emotional Performance of "I Will Always Love You"
- Oprah Twitter Scandal! Winfrey Apologizes After Soliciting Nielsen Viewers to Watch OWN
- Glee Scoop: There's a New Love Triangle Going Down!
- The Voice vs. American Idol: This Is War
- Chris Brown's Grammy Lovefest Slammed by Miranda Lambert, Jack Osbourne, Eric Stonestreet, More
- Janet Jackson Remembers Whitney Houston's "Sweet Soul," Gives Advice to Bobbi Kristina on Coping With Death
- Triplets? Twins? Jennifer Aniston Addresses Pregnancy Rumors, Gets Serenaded by Steven Tyler
- Whitney Houston's Body Arrives at Funeral Home as Burial Plans Formally Announced
- Bruce Jenner Talks Kim Kardashian's Marriage: "The Next Guy's Got to Go Through Me"
Fashion Police
Angelina: Going Grey! Plus, Christina Hendricks, Vanessa Hudgens, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Michelle Williams and Kristen Wiig. Rate the highs and lows!
MORE PHOTOS +
Our Partners
Fox's New X-Man: Brett Ratner
X3 marks the spot for Brett Ratner.
Six years after the Rush Hour helmer was approached by 20th Century Fox to direct the very first X-Men feature--only to see Bryan Singer get the job and go on to do the sequel--Ratner is now the studio's latest choice to shepherd X3 to the big screen.
The studio confirmed Monday that Ratner will take over directing duties on the third installment from Matthew Vaughn, who dropped out of the project last week, supposedly because he didn't want to be away from his London-based family to spend a year on the production in Los Angeles and Canada.
However, insiders tell Daily Variety that Vaughn, who produced Guy Richie's Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels but has only one directing credit so far in the just-released Layer Cake, might have been nervous about taking the reins on a big-budget Hollywood franchise with so little hands-on experience. Vaughn, who has two small children with supermodel wife Claudia Schiffer, hasn't commented on the report.
Although Vaughn's departure came just weeks before shooting was to commence, 20th Century Fox and Marvel Entertainment say Ratner will be able to step in immediately and the production schedule for X3 won't be affected. Cameras will roll in August and the film is still slated for a release date of Memorial Day 2006. All the key cast members are ready to go, save Halle Berry who's reportedly still in negotiations to reprise her role as Storm. The X3 roster also has some new additions, including Kelsey Grammer as the super intelligent blue behemoth good guy known as Beast and Lock, Stock star Vinnie Jones as the evil, metal-clad Juggernaut.
X3 is something of a consolation prize for Ratner. After the longtime comic book fanboy lost out to Singer on the original X-Men films, he jumped to Warner Bros., where he spent a year developing Superman Returns before exiting after failing to land a key star. Ironically, his path to X3 was cleared when Singer skipped out on the mutant sequel to try his hand at reviving the Man of Steel, essentially picking up where Ratner left off.
Now that he's joining Wolverine and company, several other projects Ratner was working on are going on the backburner.
The most high-profile of these was Rush Hour 3 for New Line Cinema, which would have reunited him with stars Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. The film had been targeting a fall start date and a 2006 release. Ratner and Chan had already signed up based on a script by Rush Hour 2 screenwrither Jeff Nathanson, but Tucker wavered despite being offered a reported $20 million deal, because he wanted script approval. New Line balked and negotiations have stalled in recent weeks.
Fox was also eyeing Ratner to get behind the camera for Josiah's Canon, a heist flick starring Sean Connery, but those plans were scuttled when the former James Bond announced he was exiting the project.
Beside the Rush Hour franchise, Ratner's recent credits include The Family Man, Red Dragon and After the Sunset.
0 Comments
Now loading...