The latest edition of The Black List surfaced on Friday, thanks to the intrepid reporting of Nikkie Finke. Yes, we’re a little behind, but we wanted to take a deeper look.
She’s revealed all of the 97 screenplays on the list, compiled by studio executives sharing the details of the finest scripts on their desks yet to be produced. In addition to the unreliability of their tastes (studio executives aren’t necessarily a bunch of Pauline Kaels), the script is also influenced by agencies lobbying for a mention on the prestigious compilation, with Finke rightly mentioning that some execs will lobby to get scripts on the list so certain stars might have their interests peaked. And by stars, we mean someone in Hollywood is saying, “Get Michael Stuhlbarg on the phone! We got ‘Baytown Disco’ on the Black List!”
The top five on the list:
1) “The Muppet Man” – Chris Weekes A Jim Henson biography, this apparently sidesteps the notions of the genre by adding hallucinations and dream sequences featuring the Muppet characters, suggesting a sideways goal of making a new Muppet movie by inserting them into the moribund celebrity biopic genre. The Jim Henson Co. is producing.
2) “The Social Network” – Aaron Sorkin
Tracks Mark Zuckerberg’s founding of popular website Facebook, which eventually becomes a legal grudge match against opposing college students claiming ownership of the site. Currently being directed by David Fincher at Sony.
3) ” The Voices” – Michael R. Perry
A schizophrenic-turned-accidental-murderer goes to his sadistic talking cat and dog for advice on how to avoid suspicion. Reportedly has a sick sense of humor, with Vertigo Entertainment looking for a big lead actor to join director Mark Romanek (“One Hour Photo”), who’s circling the project with no commitments.
4) “The Prisoners” – Aaron Guzikowski A Christian survivalist kidnaps and tortures the man who he suspects is responsible for the disappearance of his daughter. We’ve reported on this one before and how the buzz generated over the serial killers-madlib premise (which, we had last heard, was still undergoing rewrites) sounded ridiculous, but the involvement of Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg looked promising, until the duo bailed and the pedestrian Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”) jumped aboard for WB, with Russell Crowe possibly circling a role.
5) “Cedar Rapids” – Phil Johnston
A middle aged insurance salesman gets another chance to revitalize his empty life by attending a prestigious insurance convention. Described as a comedy with seriocomic undertones, this project is already shooting for Fox Searchlight under director Miguel Arteta (“Youth In Revolt”) and stars Ed Helms, John C. Reilly, Alia Shakwat, Anne Heche and Sigourney Weaver.
Other scripts of note:
-“Celeste And Jesse Forever,” a divorce-recoupling comedy, is from Rashida Jones and Will McCormack.
-“Pawn Sacrifice” tells the story of chess legend Bobby Fischer for Tobey’s Maguire Entertainment, from the pen of Steve Knight (“Eastern Promises”).
-“Neighborhood Watch,” where an innocuous group of suburban guys accidentally uncover a nefarious, wide-ranging plot against the world, was until just recently a reteaming of “Wedding Crashers” participants Will Ferrell and director David Dobkin.
-“Wenceslas Circle,” based on an Arthur Phillips short story about Cold War spies in love comes from Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, the writing team behind “The Chronicles of Narnia” and “Captain America.”
-James Vanderbilt (“Zodiac,” “Spider-Man 4”) has this to say about “Balls Out” by (seriously) The Robotard 8000 – “It’s like watching children paint with shit.” Download that script here.
-“Crook Factory” from the Dan Simmons book finds Ernest Hemmingway being babysat by an FBI agent while he organizes a spy ring in Cuba. Nicholas Meyer (“Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan”) is the writer.
-“The Umbrella Academy” is a superhero comic from My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerald Way and concerns group of former child superheroes, adapted by writer Mark Bomback (“Live Free or Die Hard”).
-“Take This Waltz” from Sarah Polley (“Away From Her”) deals with a female who only enjoys the honeymoon period of her relationships.
-Joe Wright (“Atonement”) is attached to direct David Farr’s “Hanna,” about a female assassin of fourteen years old.
-Vigilante drama “The Hungry Rabbit Jumps” from Robert Tannen has Nicolas Cage, January Jones and Guy Pearce starring for Roger Donaldson (“No Way Out”).
-“Liars (A-E),” from Emma Forrest, was set to be Richard Linklater’s next film before being completely shut down. We read this script, it’s tremendously enjoyable and chick lit that’s smart and doesn’t make you want to vomit in the least. Every intelligent female in Hollywood should want to make this one happen, so ladies with production shingles — girls like Natalie Portman, we’re looking at you — you inquire to Scott Rudin and Miramax to see what’s up with it. Though seriously, the two previous leads Rebecca Hall and Kat Dennings were perfect for these roles, so hopefully if this project gets resurrected, they keep them onboard.
-A straight-laced businessman (Robert Downey Jr.) has to deal with an obnoxious stoner (Zack Galifinakis) in Alan R. Cohen and Alan Freedland’s “Due Date,” already scheduled as a 2010 tentpole by director Todd Phillips (“The Hangover”).
-Apparently it’s been discussed many times over the years, but this is the debut for “Swingles” on the Black List, a comedy concerning a man and his female wingman on the dating scene (it was announced in Variety a few months ago, with Braff directing and co-starring and Cameron Diaz as one of the leads). Zach Braff handled the latest re-write, with hands on the project including “Scrubs” creator Bill Lawrence. We guess this means Braff’s adaptation/remake of Susanne Bier‘s 2002 Danish film, “Open Hearts” is not happening? No, really, he did want to do that at one point circa 2007.
-Nick Cave’s “The Wettest Country,” about a moonshine gang during Prohibition, already has John Hillcoat directing Shia LeBeouf and Ryan Gosling with the new title “The Promised Land” which we’ve discussed several times now (and we loved the script).
Click here for the full thing, especially the “anonymous” studio executives with sour grapes in the comments section!