…It began production this week on `Machete,’ the film that Robert Rodriguez is co-directing with protege Ethan Maniquis. Danny Trejo is playing the title character and Robert De Niro, Jessica Alba, Michelle Rodriguez, Steven Seagal, Lindsay Lohan, Cheech Marin, Don Johnson and Jeff Fahey play supporting roles.
The filmmaker, for the first time ever, reveals details about his next project — James is currently casting a period thriller titled The Raven, a fictionalized account of the final five “mysterious” days of Edgar Allan Poe’s life. Apparently the famous writer joins the hunt for a serial killer whose murders are inspired by his stories.“It’s like the poem, The Raven, itself, crossed with Se7en. It should be pretty cool. The script is really good and everyone responds to it really well. I’m in the middle of casting.”
Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way banner is developing a Gothic reimagining of “Little Red Riding Hood” with screenwriter David Leslie Johnson.
The “Red Riding Hood” project’s been developed internally at Appian Way but isn’t being positioned as a possible acting vehicle for DiCaprio.
The best-known version of the story — in which a wolf disguises himself to fool a girl delivering food to her sick grandmother in the forest — was published in the 19th century by the Brothers Grimm. Earlier oral versions of the tale, which date back to the Middle Ages, are far darker and sometimes involve a werewolf rather than a wolf; the first published version, by Charles Perrault, concludes with Red Riding Hood eaten by the wolf, with no happy ending.
