– Jeremy Davies lost 33lbs to play an emaciated Vietnam POW in Werner Herzog’s upcoming, “Rescue Dawn” film. Lead actor Christian Bale (who also lost a substantial amount of weight) apparently ate maggots, swam in snake-infested waters and ran into nasty creatures during the three-month shoot in the remote Thailand, near the Burmese border. “I was like: ‘Look at that spider. It could kill you with one bite,”‘ Bale said. The actor also spotted random elephants traipsing through Herzog’s set. “It’s an adventure to make a movie with him, and I think that’s his point… It’s about blood, sweat and tears. It’s about jumping in and getting your hands dirty and just collapsing at the end of the day.” The decidedly budget production had no 4-star trailers; the actors sleept in grass huts. Davies said: “In film or any industry, [Herzog] is probably the most fearless person I’ve ever met.” [Reuters]
– Phillip Marlowe rides again. “Sin City” star Clive Owen will reteam with the movies co-director Frank Miller for an adaptation of the Raymond Chandler noir private dick novella, “Trouble Is My Business.” Owen joins the estimable cast of actors that have portrayed The Marlowe character in the past: Humphrey Bogart, James Garner, Elliott Gould and Robert Mitchum. Meanwhile, Miller might want to consider eating a sandwich. [Variety]
– New York, L.A., San Franciso, Boston and Philadelphia will all get Michael Moore’s “Sicko,” will all get sneak previews of the film about a week early. The film will open up on one screen in New York this Friday. [NYTimes]
– As we mentioned yesterday, Michael Moore isn’t exactly sweating movie piracy. “When television was invented, they said, ‘Oh, that’s the end of the movies. TV’s killing the movies.’ Didn’t kill the movies. Then they invented the VCR. ‘Oh, that’s gonna kill the movies. People are just gonna stay home and watch movies.’ Didn’t kill the movies. [MTV]
– The chameleon-like director of “Stranger Than Fiction,” “Monster’s Ball” and “Finding Neverland,” Marc Foster will direct the next Bond film from a script he wrote he with “Walker, Texas Ranger” creator Paul Haggis. Daniel Craig will return as 007. [Reuters]
– Michael Apted, more known for his celebrated Up! series of documentaries than action or adventure will direct the third installment of the ‘Narnia’ franchise (Ok, well he did direct one Bond film). [Hollywood Reporter]
– Bruce Campbell won’t reprise his role as an aging Elvis in “Bubba Hotep 2” [AICN]
– Some girl says she won’t return for another chapter in the Harry Potter series that we likely won’t see again. [Telegraph]
– Celebrated video auteur Mark Romanek (he had his own Directors Label DVD) will direct Ben Stiller in a comedy of all things called “In Deep,” about a guy who fights parking tickets and get embroiled in bureaucratic nightmares. We did mention Hollywood was out of ideas, right? [Hollywood Reporter]
– As we mentioned a few weeks back, Pee Wee Herman (Paul Reubens) has a part in the new Todd Solondz film, “Life During Wartime.” [Yahoo]
