OLIVER STONE TO MAKE HIS FIRST SEQUEL WITH WALL STREET II

#1 OLIVER STONE TO MAKE HIS FIRST SEQUEL WITH WALL STREET II

Earlier this year, Oliver Stone was quoted as saying that he had given up on Money Never Sleeps, the sequel to Wall Street, but the Los Angeles Times now reports that 20th Century Fox has signed the director back on to the project, which is now known as the more obviously sequel title, Wall Street 2. Michael Douglas is on board to reprise his role as Gordon Gekko. Shia LeBeouf is in talks to costar as a "young Wall Street trader under Gekko's spell," which also describes Charlie Sheen's character in the original movie. The details of the plot aren't known, except that it will focus again on Gordon Gekko, "whose exploits will closely reflect much of the greed and chicanery seen in the past year on Wall Street." The original sequel script was written by Stephen Schiff (The Deep End of the Ocean, 1997's Lolita), but a new rewrite is being done by Allan Loeb (Things We Lost in the Fire; co-writer of 21). 20th Century Fox is hoping to get Wall Street 2 ready for production as soon as this summer, 2009.

#2 VIDEODROME TO GET REMADE AS A LARGE SCALE ACTION MOVIE

Director David Cronenberg may have gone mainstream with his last two movies (A History of Violence, Eastern Promises), but back in the 1980s, he was known as the man behindScanners, The Brood, and Videodrome, which went into even crazier and more disturbing subject matter. James Woods starred as the head of a sleazy cable channel always on the lookout for sexy and violent material, whose interest in a satellite feed of torture calledVideodrome leads him into an experience where reality and fantasy cross. If you've ever seen images of James Woods holding a "flesh gun", or with a huge gaping hole in his abdomen, that was Videodrome. Now, Universal wants to take what was an essentially small story of a man going insane and "blow it up into a large-scale sci-fi action thriller" and "infuse it with the possibilities of nano-technology." David Cronenberg isn't involved in the project (yet?), which is being written by Ehren Kruger, whose filmography includes The Ring, The Ring Two, Scream 3 and Reindeer Games, and an upcoming TNT mini-series adaptation of Stephen King and Peter Straub's The Talisman. If Cronenberg does indeed step in to direct this new version of Videodrome, the project might have some hope, but as it stands now, this remake sounds like it's steering too far from the original's unique vision.

#3 RUSSELL BRAND FINDS THE ROLE HE WAS BORN TO REMAKE: DROP DEAD FRED

British comedian Russell Brand is an acquired taste, specializing in a certain type of frenzied personality that easily can grate on the nerves (mine, at least). A few months back, he was reported as being involved with a remake of Arthur, but this week he may have found the one remake that he is absolutely perfect for: 1991's Drop Dead Fred. Universal Pictures isdeveloping a remake, in which Brand will take over the role (originally portrayed by fellow Brit Rik Mayall) of an imaginary childhood friend who returns to a young woman's life, wreaking havok in his attempts to help her. Drafting the script is Dennis McNicholas, who co-wrote 2000's The Ladies Man, this summer's Land of the Lost, and another upcoming movie version of another old Sid and Marty Krofft TV series, H.R. Pufnstuf. McNicholas has been tasked to reimagine Drop Dead Fred "in the tone of "Beetlejuice as inspiration to imagine a new mythology based upon imaginary childhood friends." I often rail against remakes in this column because they're usually of movies that were fine the first time around, but Drop Dead Fred is a great example of a movie that could use improvements.

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