Author: Robert Greenberger

Director Guillermo del Toro told Bloody Disgusting that he is producing Gris Grimly’s directorial debut, a new version of Pinocchio.

"We are trying to get a full stop-motion version of Gris Grimly’s Pinocchio off the ground, with the Jim Henson Company," del Toro told the site while promoting the DVD release of Hellboy II: The Golden Army. "The idea came from Gris, and everybody loves his book about it. The original story is far more perverse and spooky and semi-necrophilia vibe to it in certain aspects. Gris certainly has that vein in him, he wants to do this with that original spookiness in it, we are trying to get it going. The Jim Henson Company is the behind it and we are currently working on the screenplay! It’s not coming to a screen near you any time soon, even if it were to begin today it would be about three years in the making, but we are working to make it happen. A full-scale puppet universe takes time," he jokes.

Del Toro has been fascinated with puppets it seems given the extensive work on the prologue setting up the story for Hellboy II.  He also says he’s developing an original puppet project with Hellboy creator Mike Mignola.

Producer Ari Lerner told The Los Angeles Times that Brett Ratner was the “perfect” choice to direct a new version of Conan the Barbarian.

"He has the passion and feeling for this project — he even wrote a story about Conan when he was 10 years old," Lerner said. "He understands the character; he analyzed the script really well. He knows how to make this a really big movie. I like his childlike enthusiasm–he almost sees these movies as wonderful toys. What can I say, he’s a nice, likable Jewish boy."

He confirmed that although the news broke over the weekend, the director remains unsigned. He has though spoken with the screenwriters who were rushing a new draft to see if his ideas made the script more to his liking.

"We still have a few obstacles," Lerner said. "Brett is only committed if we agree on a budget, on how to do the special effects and exactly where we’d shoot the film." Lerner has a studio in Bulgaria, so he’d like to shoot most of the movie there, with some exterior work in China.

"Let me make this very clear," Ratner told the Times. "I am not doing Conan now. This is totally premature. For now, Conan is only a development deal. I have a deal at Paramount and I’m doing Beverly Hills Cop first, no matter what. Avi shouldn’t be telling you or anyone else in the press what I’m doing."

The story went on to explore how the announcement may have surfaced before contracts were signed. With the American Film Market occurring at the time, Lerner was likely making noise in order to sell foreign distribution rights and raise capitol he’d need for the production.

The film rights to Robert E. Howard’s barbarian hero have bounced around Hollywood since Dino De Laurentiis failed to get a green-light despite five years’ effort at Warner Bros. Paradox Entertainment, a Swedish company, picked up the rights then sold them for $2.5 million to Lerner nearly a year and a half ago.

"Everyone was after it, from New Line to Paramount to Universal," he says. "But we acted quicker. The studios always say they need a committee to discuss the decision and then run the numbers. With us, it’s very simple. I talk to my partner, Danny Dimbort, and then I say yes."

He fully expects Ratner to shoot Beverly Hills Cop 4 first and let development continue on Conan which he’d film next. Meantime, the producer said he wants to find a younger Arnold Schwarzenegger for a 3-4 picture deal.

"I saw Arnold in Las Vegas at the premiere of Rambo," Lerner said. "He said, ‘Wait two years for me — I’ll be coming back.’ But I can’t wait that long." Lerner did offer the Governor $1 million for a cameo.

Earlier this week we reported that Showtime was looking at a modern day retelling of the Camelot tale and now Ain’t it Cool News is reporting that director Terence Malick (The New World) is developing his own take on the legendary court of knights.

The Independent on March 23, 2002, first wrote about this, saying, "[Jim] Caviezel’s old friend Malick (also a Catholic) is apparently planning to make a film of the Middle English poem, Gawain and the Green Knight. Gawain is a proud and virtuous knight tempted three times by a beautiful lady, the Green Knight an emissary from God who ultimately exposes the chinks in his armor. Caviezel may well have talked himself out of a job by the time Malick gets round to casting, but he’d make a perfect Gawain. He’s so determined to be a saint, but what he always sounds is human."

Freshman series My Own Worst Enemy, starring Christian Slater, has been canceled by NBC, along with sophomore entry Lipstick Jungle, according to The Hollywood Reporter. At present their final airdates and replacements have not been formally announced but both shows saw declining ratings throughout the season.  Enemy was considered important to peacock network but its reviews were mostly negative and it generated zero buzz.

The CW, meantime, has ordered five more episodes of Privileged, which is actually generating a little chatter. The 18-episode order is four shy of a full season but is an act of faith on the part of the network. To let people find out what they’ve missed, they will run episodes on consecutive days from December 1 and 8 while being repeated in the series’ normal timeslot, Tuesdays at 9 p.m.

One of our favorite character actors, Joshua Malina (West Wing), has been added to the cast of USA Network’s In Plain Sight. He joins the second season, which just started shooting in Albuquerque, NM, and Malina will portray Peter, a recovering alcoholic.

CBS holiday programming includes annual classic animated specials and feature films: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer celebrates its 44th anniversary when the digitally re-mastered version airs Wednesday, December 3, 8 p.m.; Frosty the Snowman is set for Friday, December 12 at 8 p.m. followed immediately by Frosty Returns at 8:30 p.m.; CBS will air the feature film Elf on Saturday, December 20, 8 p.m..

Audiences will be invited to visit 1313 Mockingbird Lane once again as the long-delayed revamp of The Munsters, under the control of the Wayans Brothers, is finally inching forward. Shawn Wayans confirmed for MTV News that they’re nearly done with the third draft of the script.

“I’m almost ready. It’s almost ready to be shot. We had to finish this movie and now we’re going through our third polish on The Munsters.”

The project first surfaced for the comedy family in 2004 and the focus will be on the fish-out-of-water family.  “If we do anything, maybe we’ll do a cameo, but we’re not gonna make The Munsters black all of a sudden,” Wayans said. “They’re gonna be green, white people just like they were in the TV show. Their characters are still who they were in the ‘50s. It’s just in modern day.”

“We were big fans of The Munsters. We grew up watching them. We loved the characters. We thought that they would be a very, very funny movie,” Wayans insisted. “You know, they did ‘The Addams Family,’ which I thought wasn’t that funny or well-thought out of a show, but they did it ‘cuz they had a catchy theme song and turned it into a movie. I thought The Munsters had the real meat and potatoes rich characters.”