HOLLYWOOD — Bradley Cooper, one of the producers of “Joker,” with Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro (due Oct. 4), has agreed to replace Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Shape of Water” Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming remake of the 1947 Tyrone Power/Joan Blondell film “Nightmare Alley.” Wondering how hard will it be for Bradley to be directed after he directed himself in the epic “A Star Is Born”?
Also getting the remake treatment is Noel Coward’s “Blithe Spirit,” which was made into a film in 1945 starring Rex Harrison and Margaret Rutherford, directed by David Lean. The play has often been produced on Broadway, and even as a musical, most recently with Angela Lansbury. This time it will feature “Beauty and the Beast” star Dan Stevens, Dame Judi Dench, Isla Fisher and Leslie Mann.
In addition to the TV series “Legion,” Dan Stevens has Jack London’s “Call of the Wild,” with Harrison Ford, due Feb. 21; “Lucy in the Sky,” with Natalie Portman and Jon Hamm; and the horror film “The Rental,” written/produced/directed by Dave Franco, and co-starring Alison Brie.
CNN newsman Jake Tapper’s 2012 novel, “The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor,” about 53 U.S. soldiers who battled 400 enemy insurgents in Afghanistan, is now a film called “The Outpost,” which stars Orlando Bloom, Scott Eastwood (son of Clint) and 28-year-old Milo Gibson (son of Mel), and is set for a December release.
We lost the great Italian director Franco Zeffirelli June 15. He was 94. His classic films included “The Taming of the Shrew” (1967), with Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, the Oscar-nominated “Romeo and Juliet” (1968), “The Champ” (1979), “Endless Love” (1981) and “Tea with Mussolini” (1999) with Cher, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Lily Tomlin. Zeffirelli had flair and style.
Henry Golding became an instant star due to “Crazy Rich Asians” and “A Simple Favor,” with Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively. His next two films are “Last Christmas,” with “Game of Thrones” star Emilia Clarke and Emma Thompson (due Nov. 8), and the crime drama “The Gentlemen,” directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant and “Downton Abbey’s” Michelle Dockery.
“Leaving Las Vegas” Oscar-winner Nicolas Cage made six films this year, but we can tell you only about three: the sci-fi film “Color Out of Space,” with Joely Richardson, the animated “The Croods 2” and the comic book-based martial-arts action film “Jiu Jitsu.” The others are so obscure we can’t find out anything about them. Guess Cage, like Eric Roberts, is not very selective, or is it they just want to work … in anything?
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