MY MOVIE WEEKwith Mike Shaw

» If last week’s news about a movie remake of The Professionals didn’t have you vomiting in fury, then the casting of the film adaptation of The Sweeney might hit your sick trigger.
Playing Jack Regan and George Carter are Ray Winstone (fine, can’t think of a role he’d be more suited to) and Ben Drew. Who?
You might know him better as Plan B; singer, rapper, pretend hardman and King of the Chavs.
He’s been in a few films before, and is actually not a bad actor, so it’s not total stunt casting, but I can understand why people are upset – especially when actors like Tom Hardy were linked to the role.
However, to those who are angry, I offer these words in the hope that they provide some succour: at least it won’t be Danny Dyer.

» It looks like Will Smith has found another project to be involved in with his son Jayden, and it sounds huge.
Tentatively titled One Thousand AE, it’s a big-budget sci-fi film that will be directed by M. Night Shyamalan and centres around a young boy and his father who crash their spaceship on an abandoned, devastated Earth, 1,000 years in the future.
The script will be written by Shyamalan and co-writer Gary Whitta (The Book of Eli), with Shyamalan saying: “The chance to make a scary, science-fiction film starring Jaden and Will is my dream project.”
The Pursuit of Happyness meets I Am Legend in space sounds like a winner to me, especially as Will Smith is involved (the guy rarely puts a foot wrong), but the involvement of M. Night is a red flag.
After The Sixth Sense and the far superior Unbreakable, it really looked like he was the future of Hollywood, but then look at what happened; every film afterwards was worse than the one before.
Why would a mega-talent like Will Smith put himself in the hands of a director who made a film about the dangers of bushes and mild breezes?
Either Shyamalan has pictures of the Fresh Prince eating babies, or the script for this film is really, really good.

» From a little-known ITV sitcom to one of 2013’s biggest films… it can be done.
Last month it was announced that Shane Black (Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang) was signed up to direct Iron Man 3, and while he is an accomplished writer himself, he has passed script duties on to a writer called Drew Pearce – most famous for creating ITV sitcom No Heroics, a series that focused on unsuccessful superheroes and their various woes.
It’s quite a leap (ITV2 to Hollywood is no mean feat), but Pearce has had a stepping stone thanks to impressing Marvel with a screenplay for the film based on Runaways, a comic about young heroes trying to subvert their super-villain parents.
Anyway, good for him; it’s nice to hear stories like this.

» As if any more proof was needed that Hollywood has gone reboot crazy, we get the news that Warner Bros are planning a reboot of the rebooted Batman. Ridiculous.
Once Chris Nolan has finished The Dark Knight Rises and his Batman trilogy, we’re going to be looking at Batman Begins… again… with a new narrative that will link Bats to the Justice League movie in 2013.
Although he won’t be directing, Nolan will still have some creative input in the new Batman, so it’ll hopefully maintain the high standards that the director has set for Bruce Wayne, but the fact remains that the more down-to-earth setting for Nolan’s take on the character would have to be ditched if Warners is going to see him share the screen with the super-powered likes of Wonder Woman, Superman and Green Lantern in the League.

» In other Batman-related news, it’s being claimed that Nolan is considering using unseen footage of the late Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker in The Dark Knight for the third film.
Nolan has previously declared that the Joker wouldn’t make an appearance in the third movie out of respect, but a number of sources are reporting that the director has changed his mind and wants to pay tribute to Ledger one more time by including a piece of footage not used in the successful 2008 instalment.
The idea is to use cut scenes and CGI to have the Joker appear one last time, which will not only be a tip of the hat to Ledger, but also provide some continuity between the movies.
What do you think? Nice touch, or should Nolan stick to his word?