EXTRAS!

Comings and goings in film circles near and far...

• The Writer's Guild of America went on strike on Monday, which means that no Hollywood screenplays can be rewritten and production on scripted TV has been suspended. The news is both good (no more soap operas) and bad (reality TV isn't affected) for television viewers. (See TV page 34 for more.)

• With Rocky Balboa already forgotten and John Rambo on the way, Sylvester Stallone has run out of his own tired franchises so he's decided to revive someone else's: his Death Wish remake has been given a green light. Fortunately, the writer's strike will delay production.

• In other unwelcome-sequel news, Kevin Costner reportedly has one lined up for Dances With Wolves. Directing duties go to Simon Wincer, whose spectacular work rejuvenating other franchises (Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles) is sure to be duplicated here.

• Anger-management poster boy David O. Russell returns to the director's chair with Nailed, starring Jessica Biel as a woman overcome by sexual urges after being shot in the head with a nail gun. The screenplay was co-written by Russell and Kristin Gore (Al's daughter).

• The photographer who stole 2,000 stills from the Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull got two years in jail. We can only imagine what would happen if this feared man were walking the streets with photos of Harrison Ford in a fedora. ¥ It was a big weekend at the box office with Ridley Scott's American Gangster leading the pack with US$43.6 million and Jerry Seinfeld's honey opus Bee Movie taking second place with US$38 million. With Halloween over, filmgoers reclaimed their sanity and Saw IV's box-office takings dropped by 65 per cent.

PHILIP BROWN

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