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FILM/TV BITS: Fuqua’s ‘Shooter’; Scott’s ‘Gangster’; ‘Brokeback’ in Jamaica; Lee vs. 50; ‘Harlem in Hollywood’; SamJac’s wedding; Star’s marriage; Africa on Comcast.
*Antoine Fuqua has signed on to direct the political thriller "Shooter" for Paramount Pictures. Based on Stephen Hunter's 1993 1novel "Point of Impact,” the story will star Mark Wahlberg as a marksman – living in self-exile after causing the death of an innocent person – who is persuaded by his former associates that they need his help to prevent an assassination. Subsequently double-crossed and framed for the presidential assassination he was trying to prevent, he is forced to go on the run while trying to track down the real killer and discover the truth about who betrayed him. Production is scheduled to begin in June for di Bonaventura Pictures.
*Ridley Scott has been tapped to helm Universal’s “American Gangster,” starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe in the biopic of 1970s heroin kingpin Frank Lucas. As previously reported, Lucas crafted a scheme to smuggle dope out of Southeast Asia in the caskets of Vietnam soldiers. The film, however, is not yet a done deal, as Universal is seeking co-financing to minimalize risk.
*The Jamaican Cinematograph Authority on Tuesday ruled that “Brokeback Mountain” will be allowed to screen in two theaters. As previously reported, religious groups had sought to ban the gay-cowboy love story because homosexuality is illegal in the country. Major Neil Lewis of the Family Life Ministries, one of the groups seeking to ban the film, told Britain's Guardian newspaper: "We are allowing Hollywood to swamp us with the wrong things. It is dragging us down into the maelstrom of immorality."
*Among the gripes Spike Lee expresses in the new issue of Complex magazine is a frustration with rapper 50 Cent and the message in his film “Get Rich or Die Tryin.’” The director says: "For me, that's criminal. Because young brothers, they took that to heart. They're like, 'Whatever I got to do to get them rims, get my fly gear, to get my b****es and hos, I am going to do it. F*** who I got to hurt, who I got to shoot, who I got to kill.' That's crazy to me." Lee adds: "50 Cent has made a lot of money, but whatever you are doing that makes you have to put a bulletproof vest on your 5-year-old son, that's time for some deep introspective s***.”
*“Ebony Presents Hollywood in Harlem,” the publication’s second annual Oscar celebration, will honor director John Singleton, actress Kimberly Elise, entertainment manager Dolores Robinson and the legendary Cicely Tyson on Thursday, March 2 from 8 p.m. to midnight at Jim Henson Studios in Hollywood (Charlie Chaplin Stage, 1416 North La Brea Ave). “Hollywood in Harlem” will also recognize the South African Oscar-nominated film, “Tsotsi,” which arrives in theaters today.
*Samuel L. Jackson tells Contact Music that it was fairly easygoing leading up to his walk down the aisle with wife LaTanya Richardson, once he got over the shock that the entire ceremony was planned with neither his knowledge nor consent. "I came home one day and she had this stack of things (invitations) and she gave me one and said, 'Be here,'” said Jackson, who has been married to Richardson for 36 years. “(The wedding) happened to be on a Monday, because we were all doing theatre in New York and she had all these girls that were going to be bridesmaids - she had 23 bridesmaids. It was a huge production - I had to borrow friends to walk with all these girls. …We had dancers and singers. It was such a big production that it got reviewed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in the entertainment section. It was the best show in town that week."
*“The View” co-host Star Jones Reynolds said she got flooded with e-mails from folks wondering if her recent appearance on the talk show wearing her wedding ring on the wrong hand meant something was up with her 15-month marriage to Al Reynolds. Star, 43, appeared on the February 8 show with a Band-Aid where her wedding ring usually is. She later explained it was due to an infection on her ring finger. At a book signing session in White Plains, N.Y. later that day, the National Enquirer reported her as saying: "I got 1,000 messages asking me if something was wrong and I said no. I told them not to worry. It's a nice thing that people are that loving — I appreciate it."
*The Africa Channel has inked an affiliation agreement with Comcast that will bring the commercially-supported entertainment network to Comcast's cable systems. The channel, which features programming about the people of Africa, will initially launch on Comcast's Atlanta system on March 20.
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