Daniel Goldberg, the co-screenwriter of “Stripes” and producer of feature comedies like “Space Jam,” “Old School” and the “Hangover” trilogy, died Wednesday at age 74.
A frequent collaborator of directors Ivan Reitman and Todd Phillips and actor Bill Murray, who in addition to “Stripes” starred in the Goldberg co-penned “Meatballs,” Goldberg is survived by his wife, fellow Canadian film producer Ilona Herzberg, and his brother, “Deuce Bigalow” screenwriter Harris Goldberg. Per media reports, no cause of death was made public.
In a tribute for Deadline published Wednesday, Ivan Reitman’s son, filmmaker Jason Reitman, remembered Goldberg as “one of the kindest and most gentle souls I’ve ever known.”
Goldberg and Reitman first met in 1966 at McMaster University, where they went on to make several short films together (many of which starred a young “Schitt’s Creek” Emmy winner Eugene Levy) and cofounded a film society — not without kicking up some controversy,...
A frequent collaborator of directors Ivan Reitman and Todd Phillips and actor Bill Murray, who in addition to “Stripes” starred in the Goldberg co-penned “Meatballs,” Goldberg is survived by his wife, fellow Canadian film producer Ilona Herzberg, and his brother, “Deuce Bigalow” screenwriter Harris Goldberg. Per media reports, no cause of death was made public.
In a tribute for Deadline published Wednesday, Ivan Reitman’s son, filmmaker Jason Reitman, remembered Goldberg as “one of the kindest and most gentle souls I’ve ever known.”
Goldberg and Reitman first met in 1966 at McMaster University, where they went on to make several short films together (many of which starred a young “Schitt’s Creek” Emmy winner Eugene Levy) and cofounded a film society — not without kicking up some controversy,...
- 7/13/2023
- by Dessi Gomez
- The Wrap
Daniel Goldberg, the frequent Ivan Reitman and Todd Phillips collaborator who co-wrote and produced the Bill Murray starrers Stripes and Meatballs and shepherded other films including Space Jam, Old School, Road Trip and the Hangover trilogy, has died. He was 74.
Goldberg died Wednesday in Los Angeles, his brother, Deuce Bigalow screenwriter Harris Goldberg, told The Hollywood Reporter. “He was a gentle, lovely guy, he was my hero,” Harris said. “He was everything I measured myself against.”
No cause of death was immediately available.
Survivors also include his wife, British Columbia native Ilona Herzberg, a producer on films including The River Wild, Evan Almighty, Waterworld, Rachel Getting Married and Feds, the 1988 comedy that starred Rebecca De Mornay and Mary Gross and was the only feature her husband directed in Hollywood.
Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Goldberg was the older son of Irwin, an aeronautical engineer, and Audrey, an artist.
He met Reitman...
Goldberg died Wednesday in Los Angeles, his brother, Deuce Bigalow screenwriter Harris Goldberg, told The Hollywood Reporter. “He was a gentle, lovely guy, he was my hero,” Harris said. “He was everything I measured myself against.”
No cause of death was immediately available.
Survivors also include his wife, British Columbia native Ilona Herzberg, a producer on films including The River Wild, Evan Almighty, Waterworld, Rachel Getting Married and Feds, the 1988 comedy that starred Rebecca De Mornay and Mary Gross and was the only feature her husband directed in Hollywood.
Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Goldberg was the older son of Irwin, an aeronautical engineer, and Audrey, an artist.
He met Reitman...
- 7/13/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Director, producer and screenwriter Jason Reitman, son of director Ivan Reitman, is paying tribute to his late father’s dear friend, writer-producer Daniel Goldberg, who died today at 74. Goldberg was a writer and/or producer on several of Ivan Reitman’s films and a father figure to Jason. Here is his first-person remembrance.
Dan Goldberg is the writer and producer of some of your favorite films. He made a career of dangerous outsider comedies that often-challenged comfort zones, yet he was one of the kindest and most gentle souls I’ve ever known. This morning, he passed away in Los Angeles.
Dan and my father met at McMaster University in 1966. By the time they graduated, they founded a film society, made several short films with classmate Eugene Levy, and shot a short film that received national distribution. Additionally, they financed and completed a feature adaptation of My Secret Life, for...
Dan Goldberg is the writer and producer of some of your favorite films. He made a career of dangerous outsider comedies that often-challenged comfort zones, yet he was one of the kindest and most gentle souls I’ve ever known. This morning, he passed away in Los Angeles.
Dan and my father met at McMaster University in 1966. By the time they graduated, they founded a film society, made several short films with classmate Eugene Levy, and shot a short film that received national distribution. Additionally, they financed and completed a feature adaptation of My Secret Life, for...
- 7/13/2023
- by Jason Reitman
- Deadline Film + TV
Daniel Goldberg, who produced all three The Hangover films, Space Jam, Old School and many others and co-wrote movies including the Bill Murray comedies Stripes and Meatballs, died today in Los Angeles. He was 74.
Filmmaker Jason Reitman, whose late father Ivan Reitman directed Stripes and Meatballs and had known Goldberg since their college days in the 1960s, confirmed the news to Deadline but did not provide other details.
Goldberg and Ivan Reitman collaborated for more than 30 years, working together on features including the animated Heavy Metal (1981); toon/live-action hybrid Space Jam (1996), starring Michael Jordan alongside Looney Toons characters; 1994’s Junior, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the world’s first pregnant man, along with Danny DeVito and Emma Thompson; the 1997 Robin Williams-Billy Crystal comedy Fathers’ Day; the 1998 Harrison Ford-Anne Heche adventure pic Six Days Seven Nights; Howard Stern’s Private Parts, which the shock jock infamously promoted at...
Filmmaker Jason Reitman, whose late father Ivan Reitman directed Stripes and Meatballs and had known Goldberg since their college days in the 1960s, confirmed the news to Deadline but did not provide other details.
Goldberg and Ivan Reitman collaborated for more than 30 years, working together on features including the animated Heavy Metal (1981); toon/live-action hybrid Space Jam (1996), starring Michael Jordan alongside Looney Toons characters; 1994’s Junior, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the world’s first pregnant man, along with Danny DeVito and Emma Thompson; the 1997 Robin Williams-Billy Crystal comedy Fathers’ Day; the 1998 Harrison Ford-Anne Heche adventure pic Six Days Seven Nights; Howard Stern’s Private Parts, which the shock jock infamously promoted at...
- 7/13/2023
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
We've been excited for A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting ever since we spoke with writer Joe Ballarini (who also wrote the killer zombie prom movie Dance of the Dead) about the film adaptation of his book trilogy back in 2017, and now the wait is nearly over, as the official trailer for the film has been unveiled ahead of its October 14th release on Netflix.
Directed by Rachel Talalay from a screenplay by Ballarini, A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting stars Tamara Smart, Oona Laurence, Alessio Scalzotto, Ian Ho, Tamsen McDonough, Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson, Lynn Masako Cheng, Ty Consiglio, Ashton Arbab, Crystal Balint, Ricky He, with Indya Moore, and Tom Felton.
"When high school freshman Kelly Ferguson (Tamara Smart) reluctantly agrees to babysit Jacob Zellman (Ian Ho) on Halloween, the last thing she expects is to be recruited into an international secret society of babysitters who protect kids with special powers from monsters.
Directed by Rachel Talalay from a screenplay by Ballarini, A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting stars Tamara Smart, Oona Laurence, Alessio Scalzotto, Ian Ho, Tamsen McDonough, Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson, Lynn Masako Cheng, Ty Consiglio, Ashton Arbab, Crystal Balint, Ricky He, with Indya Moore, and Tom Felton.
"When high school freshman Kelly Ferguson (Tamara Smart) reluctantly agrees to babysit Jacob Zellman (Ian Ho) on Halloween, the last thing she expects is to be recruited into an international secret society of babysitters who protect kids with special powers from monsters.
- 9/25/2020
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
After crashing the prom with zombies in his screenplay for Gregg Bishop's must-see horror comedy Dance of the Dead (which Daily Dead and friends celebrated in style last year for its 10th anniversary), Joe Ballarini brought the boogeyman (and a whole host of creepy creatures) to life in A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting book series, and the first novel is now being developed as a film at Netflix.
Deadline reports that Rachel Talalay will direct A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting from a screenplay by Ballarini. Like the book, the family friendly film will focus on teenager Kelly Ferguson, who teams up with a secret and highly skilled group of babysitters who moonlight as monster slayers after the child she's watching is abducted by sinister forces.
Tom Pollock, Ilona Herzberg, and Walden Media's Naia Cucukov will executive produce the film, with Walden Media, Montecito Pictures Company, Ivan Reitman,...
Deadline reports that Rachel Talalay will direct A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting from a screenplay by Ballarini. Like the book, the family friendly film will focus on teenager Kelly Ferguson, who teams up with a secret and highly skilled group of babysitters who moonlight as monster slayers after the child she's watching is abducted by sinister forces.
Tom Pollock, Ilona Herzberg, and Walden Media's Naia Cucukov will executive produce the film, with Walden Media, Montecito Pictures Company, Ivan Reitman,...
- 4/18/2019
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Netflix Turning ‘A Babysitter’s Guide To Monster Hunting’ Into Family Film; Rachel Talalay To Direct
Exclusive: Netflix will turn the Joe Ballarini children’s three-book series A Babysitter’s Guide To Monster Hunting into a family film, setting Rachel Talalay to direct it. The author is writing the script. Book was published under the HarperCollins imprint Katherine Tegen Books.
Walden Media and Montecito Pictures Company are producing and have been developing the series for several years. Ivan Reitman and Amie Karp will produce, with Naia Cucukov of Walden Media, Tom Pollock, and Ilona Herzberg executive producing.
Talalay’s credits include most recently directing episodes of American Gods, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Riverdale, Supergirl and The Flash;; she’s directed Sherlock and Doctor Who episodes in the UK and has feature credits that include Tank Girl and Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare.
When babysitter Kelly Ferguson’s charge is kidnapped by monsters, Kelly is recruited by a secret society of badass babysitters, who protect...
Walden Media and Montecito Pictures Company are producing and have been developing the series for several years. Ivan Reitman and Amie Karp will produce, with Naia Cucukov of Walden Media, Tom Pollock, and Ilona Herzberg executive producing.
Talalay’s credits include most recently directing episodes of American Gods, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Riverdale, Supergirl and The Flash;; she’s directed Sherlock and Doctor Who episodes in the UK and has feature credits that include Tank Girl and Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare.
When babysitter Kelly Ferguson’s charge is kidnapped by monsters, Kelly is recruited by a secret society of badass babysitters, who protect...
- 4/15/2019
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
How far would you go to protect your family?
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures has just released a new trailer and poster for Death Wish! Director Eli Roth’s reimagining of the classic 1974 revenge thriller stars Bruce Willis, Vincent D’Onofrio, Elisabeth Shue, Camila Morrone, Dean Norris and Kimberly Elise.
Death Wish is in theaters everywhere on March 2, 2018!
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures presents director Eli Roth’s reimagining of the 1974 revenge thriller Death Wish. Dr. Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis) is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of his city’s violence when it is rushed into his ER – until his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and college-age daughter (Camila Morrone) are viciously attacked in their suburban home. With the police overloaded with crimes, Paul, burning for revenge, hunts his family’s assailants to deliver justice. As the anonymous slayings of criminals grabs the media’s attention, the city wonders if this deadly avenger is a guardian angel or a grim reaper.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures has just released a new trailer and poster for Death Wish! Director Eli Roth’s reimagining of the classic 1974 revenge thriller stars Bruce Willis, Vincent D’Onofrio, Elisabeth Shue, Camila Morrone, Dean Norris and Kimberly Elise.
Death Wish is in theaters everywhere on March 2, 2018!
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures presents director Eli Roth’s reimagining of the 1974 revenge thriller Death Wish. Dr. Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis) is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of his city’s violence when it is rushed into his ER – until his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and college-age daughter (Camila Morrone) are viciously attacked in their suburban home. With the police overloaded with crimes, Paul, burning for revenge, hunts his family’s assailants to deliver justice. As the anonymous slayings of criminals grabs the media’s attention, the city wonders if this deadly avenger is a guardian angel or a grim reaper.
- 1/3/2018
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
For many film fans, the name Paul Kersey is synonymous with Charles Bronson, but Bruce Willis is breathing new life into the role in Eli Roth's reimagining of Death Wish, which is teased in a new trailer packed with bullet-riddled vengeance and plenty of AC/DC.
MGM will release the new Death Wish film in theaters on November 22nd. Stay tuned to Daily Dead for more details and check out the official trailer and poster below. Are you looking forward to a new take on Death Wish?
"Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures presents director Eli Roth's reimagining of the classic 1974 revenge thriller Death Wish. Dr. Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis) is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of Chicago violence when it is rushed into his ER - until his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and college-age daughter (Camila Morrone) are viciously attacked in their suburban home. With the police overloaded with crimes,...
MGM will release the new Death Wish film in theaters on November 22nd. Stay tuned to Daily Dead for more details and check out the official trailer and poster below. Are you looking forward to a new take on Death Wish?
"Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures presents director Eli Roth's reimagining of the classic 1974 revenge thriller Death Wish. Dr. Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis) is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of Chicago violence when it is rushed into his ER - until his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and college-age daughter (Camila Morrone) are viciously attacked in their suburban home. With the police overloaded with crimes,...
- 8/3/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures have released the first trailer for director Eli Roth’s reimagining of the classic 1974 revenge thriller Death Wish.
The original film starred Charles Bronson and it became his most famous role when he was age 52. He played Paul Kersey, a successful New York architect who turns into a crime-fighting vigilante after his wife is murdered and his daughter sexually assaulted. This successful movie spawned various sequels over the next two decades, all starring Bronson. (Trailer)
Updated from the original novel by Brian Garfield, director Eli Roth and screenwriter Joe Carnahan’s (The Grey, Narc) bring the latest version:
Dr. Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis) is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of Chicago violence when it is rushed into his ER – until his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and college-age daughter (Camila Morrone) are viciously attacked in their suburban home. With the police overloaded with crimes, Paul, burning for revenge,...
The original film starred Charles Bronson and it became his most famous role when he was age 52. He played Paul Kersey, a successful New York architect who turns into a crime-fighting vigilante after his wife is murdered and his daughter sexually assaulted. This successful movie spawned various sequels over the next two decades, all starring Bronson. (Trailer)
Updated from the original novel by Brian Garfield, director Eli Roth and screenwriter Joe Carnahan’s (The Grey, Narc) bring the latest version:
Dr. Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis) is a surgeon who only sees the aftermath of Chicago violence when it is rushed into his ER – until his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and college-age daughter (Camila Morrone) are viciously attacked in their suburban home. With the police overloaded with crimes, Paul, burning for revenge,...
- 8/3/2017
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Columbia Pictures and Regency Enterprises are scheduling Cameron Crowe Untitled for release on May 29, 2015.
Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams star in the Hawaii-set tale about a military contractor who returns to the site of a professional triumph where he reconnects with an old flame and falls for an Air Force regulator.
Bill Murray also stars and will play a billionaire with secret motives. The cast includes John Krasinski, Danny McBride and Alec Baldwin.
Crowe wrote the screenplay and produced alongside Scott Rudin and Cameron Crowe. Ilona Herzberg, Eli Bush and Ben Waisbren serve as executive producers.
Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams star in the Hawaii-set tale about a military contractor who returns to the site of a professional triumph where he reconnects with an old flame and falls for an Air Force regulator.
Bill Murray also stars and will play a billionaire with secret motives. The cast includes John Krasinski, Danny McBride and Alec Baldwin.
Crowe wrote the screenplay and produced alongside Scott Rudin and Cameron Crowe. Ilona Herzberg, Eli Bush and Ben Waisbren serve as executive producers.
- 7/22/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Columbia Pictures and Regency Enterprises are scheduling Cameron Crowe Untitled for release on May 29, 2015.
Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams star in the Hawaii-set tale about a military contractor who returns to the site of a professional triumph where he reconnects with an old flame and falls for an Air Force regulator.
Bill Murray also stars and will play a billionaire with secret motives. The cast includes John Krasinski, Danny McBride and Alec Baldwin.
Crowe wrote the screenplay and produced alongside Scott Rudin and Cameron Crowe. Ilona Herzberg, Eli Bush and Ben Waisbren serve as executive producers.
It was originally slated for a Christmas 2014 release.
Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone and Rachel McAdams star in the Hawaii-set tale about a military contractor who returns to the site of a professional triumph where he reconnects with an old flame and falls for an Air Force regulator.
Bill Murray also stars and will play a billionaire with secret motives. The cast includes John Krasinski, Danny McBride and Alec Baldwin.
Crowe wrote the screenplay and produced alongside Scott Rudin and Cameron Crowe. Ilona Herzberg, Eli Bush and Ben Waisbren serve as executive producers.
It was originally slated for a Christmas 2014 release.
- 7/21/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Now that Columbia Pictures and Regency Enterprises have screened writer-director Cameron Crowe's still-untitled return to original filmmaking, they're scheduling it for May 29, 2015. That suggests that they did not consider the comedy --which stars Bradley Cooper as a military contractor who reconnects with former love Rachel McAdams when he returns to the Us Space program in Hawaii-- to be fall awards material. “Once we saw the film, we knew that it would make a perfect summer release," says Jeff Blake, Chairman, Worldwide Marketing and Distribution for Sony Pictures. "The movie is Cameron at his best.” Emma Stone plays Cooper's other love interest in the film, while Bill Murray plays an enigmatic billionaire who is launching a complex satellite system. Also starring are John Krasinski, Danny McBride, and Alec Baldwin. The film is produced by Crowe and Scott Rudin. Exec producers are Ilona Herzberg, Eli Bush,...
- 7/21/2014
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
It's been a while since Jonathan Demme has pursued work on a scripted project. But that's Ok ... he was just waiting for the right one. Although it won't hit bookshelves until Nov. 8, Demme is already attached to direct a big-screen version of the Stephen King novel "11/22/63." The film, a time travel story, follows a Maine school teacher who escapes to the past and falls in love with a librarian in 1958, only to hit the Kennedy assassination point-blank in November 1963. Demme is fully committed to this project, which he will do through his Clinica Estetico production company, as the writer, director and producer. He will be joined by Ilona Herzberg and King himself as executive producers. This would be Demme's first full-fledged film project since the Anne Hathaway drama "Rachel ...
- 8/14/2011
- GeekNation.com
The Oscar-winning director of The Silence of the Lambs has picked up the film rights to Stephen King’s as-yet-unpublished novel about a rip in time that leads a small-town teacher back to JFK’s assassination.
11/22/63 is due on shelves Nov. 8, but Jonathan Demme has gotten the jump on the title, a kind of odyssey story in which Jack Epping, a school teacher from Maine, ends up going back to 1958, falling in love with a librarian, and encountering assorted historical figures from Elvis Presley to Lee Harvey Oswald as he ventures closer to the political murder that changed history. (Smart...
11/22/63 is due on shelves Nov. 8, but Jonathan Demme has gotten the jump on the title, a kind of odyssey story in which Jack Epping, a school teacher from Maine, ends up going back to 1958, falling in love with a librarian, and encountering assorted historical figures from Elvis Presley to Lee Harvey Oswald as he ventures closer to the political murder that changed history. (Smart...
- 8/12/2011
- by Anthony Breznican
- EW - Inside Movies
Jonathan Demme ("The Silence of the Lambs") is attached to both write and direct a feature film version of Stephen King's upcoming science fiction novel "11/22/63" reports Variety.
The story follows Jake Epping, a 35-year-old English teacher in Maine. He receives an essay from one of the students—a harrowing first person account about a night 50 years ago when the man's father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer.
Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, divulges a secret: his diner storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane—and insanely possible—mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination.
Demme will also produce alongside Ilona Herzberg.
The story follows Jake Epping, a 35-year-old English teacher in Maine. He receives an essay from one of the students—a harrowing first person account about a night 50 years ago when the man's father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer.
Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, divulges a secret: his diner storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane—and insanely possible—mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination.
Demme will also produce alongside Ilona Herzberg.
- 8/12/2011
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Veteran director Jonathan Demme acquired feature rights to Stephen King’s upcoming John F. Kennedy novel 11/22/63 and announced plans to write, produce and direct the adaptation. Variety reported that King’s upcoming novel tells the story of Jake Epping, a 35-year-old high school English teacher from Maine who travels back in time to try and prevent President Kennedy from being assassinated. Ilona Herzberg, who produced Demme’s previous drama, Rachel Getting Married, signed on to produce the film via Demme’s Clinica Estetico shingle.
- 8/12/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Veteran director Jonathan Demme acquired feature rights to Stephen King’s upcoming John F. Kennedy novel 11/22/63 and announced plans to write, produce and direct the adaptation. Variety reported that King’s upcoming novel tells the story of Jake Epping, a 35-year-old high school English teacher from Maine who travels back in time to try and prevent President Kennedy from being assassinated. Ilona Herzberg, who produced Demme’s previous drama, Rachel Getting Married, signed on to produce the film via Demme’s Clinica Estetico shingle.
- 8/12/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Veteran director Jonathan Demme acquired feature rights to Stephen King’s upcoming John F. Kennedy novel 11/22/63 and announced plans to write, produce and direct the adaptation. Variety reported that King’s upcoming novel tells the story of Jake Epping, a 35-year-old high school English teacher from Maine who travels back in time to try and prevent President Kennedy from being assassinated. Ilona Herzberg, who produced Demme’s previous drama, Rachel Getting Married, signed on to produce the film via Demme’s Clinica Estetico shingle.
- 8/12/2011
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Angus MacFadyen is in talks to join the cast of Cameron Crowe's "We Bought a Zoo" for 20th Century Fox. According to Variety, the cast includes Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Patrick Fugit and Elle Fanning.Crowe and Aline Brosh McKenna wrote the screenplay based on Benjamin Mee's novel.Julie Zorn, Ilona Herzberg and Marc R. Gordon are producing.The film tells the story of a widowed father (Damon) who buys a neglected zoo and, with the help of his children and a loyal staff, works to create a sanctuary for breeding and raising endangered species.Fox has set a Dec. 23, 2011, release date.MacFadyen is best known for his role as Robert the Bruce in "Braveheart."...
- 12/13/2010
- by Adnan Tezer
- Monsters and Critics
Matt Damon has joined the cast of Cameron Crowe's "We Bought a Zoo" for 20th Century Fox. Also in talks is Angus MacFadyen for the film which tells of a father who moves his family to an estate which turns out to be a zoo. Damon has signed on for the lead role and MacFadyen is in as the zookeeper. Aline Bosh McKenna ("The Devil Wears Prada") wrote the screenplay, based on the Bejamin Mee-written memoir of 2008. Mee spent his savings and moved his family to a zoo in the English countryside. Aline Brosh McKenna penned the script, based on the 2008 memoir by Benjamin Mee who spent his savings to move his family to a zoo in the English countryside. Julie Yorn and Ilona Herzberg are producing and Marc R. Gordon will serve as an executive producer...
- 12/13/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Matt Damon has joined the cast of Cameron Crowe's "We Bought a Zoo" for 20th Century Fox. Also in talks is Angus MacFadyen for the film which tells of a father who moves his family to an estate which turns out to be a zoo. Damon has signed on for the lead role and MacFadyen is in as the zookeeper. Aline Bosh McKenna ("The Devil Wears Prada") wrote the screenplay, based on the Bejamin Mee-written memoir of 2008. Mee spent his savings and moved his family to a zoo in the English countryside. Aline Brosh McKenna penned the script, based on the 2008 memoir by Benjamin Mee who spent his savings to move his family to a zoo in the English countryside. Julie Yorn and Ilona Herzberg are producing and Marc R. Gordon will serve as an executive producer...
- 12/13/2010
- Upcoming-Movies.com
This review was written for the theatrical release of "Evan Almighty".Situating the biblical story of Noah and the Ark in a Washington that closely resembles Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" makes for one determined stab at a populist comedy. In Hollywood's newfound desire to court Christian audiences, nothing apparently is too over the top.
This does mean that Tom Shadyac's "Evan Almighty" develops a split personality. What starts out as a politically themed comedy takes a sharp turn into, as the ad copy suggests, "a comedy of Biblical proportions."
With popular Steve Carell as the circus master of an impressive menagerie of God's creatures, the film should live up to its populist aspirations. The film appears primed to entertain a large congregation of family audiences with its mix of Old Testament magic and skewering of modern-day skepticism.
The film is a sequel to 2003's "Bruce Almighty" -- and then again it isn't. The original film was a Jim Carrey vehicle where he played a disgruntled Buffalo, N.Y., TV reporter who is given divine powers by God (Morgan Freeman in a bit of typecasting) to see if he can do a better job. The new film focuses on a supporting character from that film, Carrey's news rival, Evan Baxter, who was played by Carell before he became a star in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin".
So the new movie can't wait to get out of Buffalo. Seems Evan has run for Congress even while retaining his TV job. (How the hell did that work? Did he get to cover himself?) By the time you've gobbled down your third handful of popcorn, Evan, his wife, Joan Lauren Graham), and three sons -- Dylan (Johnny Simmons), Jordan Graham Phillips) and Ryan (Jimmy Bennett) -- are off to a brand-new Virginian suburb outside D.C., still largely in the building stage.
Written by Steve Oedekerk (from a story by Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow and himself), the film doesn't even bother to get any of the details of Capitol Hill right. A shifty-eyed senior congressman, played as if bloated on corruption and venality by John Goodman in one of his lesser performances, gets Evan an office grander than the Oval Office so he'll co-sponsor a land-grab bill. Neither the freshman congressman nor his staff smell a rat. Later, the congressman is seen commanding police and suspending fellow congressmen at will.
Nevermind. The show doesn't really begin until God (Freeman again) appears to Evan. He gently requests that Evan build an ark to prepare for a mighty flood. It takes longer than Bill Cosby's classic comedy routine about Noah for God to persuade Evan, and even then most of the persuading is done through a series of mammals and birds that follow Noah, two by two, everywhere.
When building gets under way -- on adjacent subdivision plots God has purchased for Evan along with a copy of "Ark Building for Dummies" -- Evan's family is convinced this is a midlife crisis gone far beyond the red Corvette stage. Meanwhile, his hair and beard grow overnight, and neither can be shaved off. Then God helpfully leaves a dusty old robe for Evan to use while working with the animals.
Much of the slapstick comedy involved in the building is feeble, and the film never does something unexpected once the wheels are set in motion. Shadyac and Oedekerk rely on the nonhuman supporting cast for their comic shock and awe. Composite shots of myriad animals and birds -- quite a few real and the others realistic CG critters -- fill the screen while TV reporters and neighbors gather to mock the modern-day Noah. The disappointment is that no one bothered to think through in contemporary comic terms what a repeat of Noah and the Ark would look like today.
Carell is getting quite good as these everyman characters but lacks the audacity of, say, a Carrey or a Robin Williams. He is making comedy out of dullness. Evan's family is too generic to do much more than blend into the scenery, where everyone can get upstaged by the animals.
With Evan's staff, things liven up. Wanda Sykes makes the most of the script's best wisecracks. John Michael Higgins is all unctuous anxiety as Evan's chief of staff. And Jonah Hill has moments as an intern who unaccountably morphs into his chief of intelligence.
Production values are outstanding as animal coordinator Mark Forbes, cinematographer Ian Baker, the visual effects unit and production designer Linda DeScenna put together the ark, animals and the biblical flood required. No "Ark Building for Dummies" needed here.
EVAN ALMIGHTY
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present in association with Relativity Media a Shady Acres/Barber-Birnbaum/Original Film production
Director: Tom Shadyac
Screenwriter: Steve Oedekerk
Story: Steve Oedekerk, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow
Based on characters created by: Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe
Producers: Tom Shadyac, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Neal H. Moritz, Michael Bostick
Executive producers: Ilona Herzberg, Dave Phillips, Matt Luber, Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman
Director of photography: Ian Baker
Production designer: Linda DeScenna
Music: John Debney
Co-producers: Jonathan Watson, Amanda Morgan Palmer, Ori Marmur
Costume designer: Judy Ruskin Howell
Editor: Scott Hill
Cast:
Evan Baker: Steve Carell
God: Morgan Freeman
Joan Baxter: Lauren Graham
Dylan Baxter: Johnny Simmons
Jordan Baxter: Graham Phillips
Ryan Baxter: Jimmy Bennett
Congressman Long: John Goodman
Rita: Wanda Sykes
Marty: John Michael Higgins
MPAA rating: PG
Running time -- 78 minutes...
This does mean that Tom Shadyac's "Evan Almighty" develops a split personality. What starts out as a politically themed comedy takes a sharp turn into, as the ad copy suggests, "a comedy of Biblical proportions."
With popular Steve Carell as the circus master of an impressive menagerie of God's creatures, the film should live up to its populist aspirations. The film appears primed to entertain a large congregation of family audiences with its mix of Old Testament magic and skewering of modern-day skepticism.
The film is a sequel to 2003's "Bruce Almighty" -- and then again it isn't. The original film was a Jim Carrey vehicle where he played a disgruntled Buffalo, N.Y., TV reporter who is given divine powers by God (Morgan Freeman in a bit of typecasting) to see if he can do a better job. The new film focuses on a supporting character from that film, Carrey's news rival, Evan Baxter, who was played by Carell before he became a star in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin".
So the new movie can't wait to get out of Buffalo. Seems Evan has run for Congress even while retaining his TV job. (How the hell did that work? Did he get to cover himself?) By the time you've gobbled down your third handful of popcorn, Evan, his wife, Joan Lauren Graham), and three sons -- Dylan (Johnny Simmons), Jordan Graham Phillips) and Ryan (Jimmy Bennett) -- are off to a brand-new Virginian suburb outside D.C., still largely in the building stage.
Written by Steve Oedekerk (from a story by Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow and himself), the film doesn't even bother to get any of the details of Capitol Hill right. A shifty-eyed senior congressman, played as if bloated on corruption and venality by John Goodman in one of his lesser performances, gets Evan an office grander than the Oval Office so he'll co-sponsor a land-grab bill. Neither the freshman congressman nor his staff smell a rat. Later, the congressman is seen commanding police and suspending fellow congressmen at will.
Nevermind. The show doesn't really begin until God (Freeman again) appears to Evan. He gently requests that Evan build an ark to prepare for a mighty flood. It takes longer than Bill Cosby's classic comedy routine about Noah for God to persuade Evan, and even then most of the persuading is done through a series of mammals and birds that follow Noah, two by two, everywhere.
When building gets under way -- on adjacent subdivision plots God has purchased for Evan along with a copy of "Ark Building for Dummies" -- Evan's family is convinced this is a midlife crisis gone far beyond the red Corvette stage. Meanwhile, his hair and beard grow overnight, and neither can be shaved off. Then God helpfully leaves a dusty old robe for Evan to use while working with the animals.
Much of the slapstick comedy involved in the building is feeble, and the film never does something unexpected once the wheels are set in motion. Shadyac and Oedekerk rely on the nonhuman supporting cast for their comic shock and awe. Composite shots of myriad animals and birds -- quite a few real and the others realistic CG critters -- fill the screen while TV reporters and neighbors gather to mock the modern-day Noah. The disappointment is that no one bothered to think through in contemporary comic terms what a repeat of Noah and the Ark would look like today.
Carell is getting quite good as these everyman characters but lacks the audacity of, say, a Carrey or a Robin Williams. He is making comedy out of dullness. Evan's family is too generic to do much more than blend into the scenery, where everyone can get upstaged by the animals.
With Evan's staff, things liven up. Wanda Sykes makes the most of the script's best wisecracks. John Michael Higgins is all unctuous anxiety as Evan's chief of staff. And Jonah Hill has moments as an intern who unaccountably morphs into his chief of intelligence.
Production values are outstanding as animal coordinator Mark Forbes, cinematographer Ian Baker, the visual effects unit and production designer Linda DeScenna put together the ark, animals and the biblical flood required. No "Ark Building for Dummies" needed here.
EVAN ALMIGHTY
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present in association with Relativity Media a Shady Acres/Barber-Birnbaum/Original Film production
Director: Tom Shadyac
Screenwriter: Steve Oedekerk
Story: Steve Oedekerk, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow
Based on characters created by: Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe
Producers: Tom Shadyac, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Neal H. Moritz, Michael Bostick
Executive producers: Ilona Herzberg, Dave Phillips, Matt Luber, Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman
Director of photography: Ian Baker
Production designer: Linda DeScenna
Music: John Debney
Co-producers: Jonathan Watson, Amanda Morgan Palmer, Ori Marmur
Costume designer: Judy Ruskin Howell
Editor: Scott Hill
Cast:
Evan Baker: Steve Carell
God: Morgan Freeman
Joan Baxter: Lauren Graham
Dylan Baxter: Johnny Simmons
Jordan Baxter: Graham Phillips
Ryan Baxter: Jimmy Bennett
Congressman Long: John Goodman
Rita: Wanda Sykes
Marty: John Michael Higgins
MPAA rating: PG
Running time -- 78 minutes...
- 6/22/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Situating the biblical story of Noah and the Ark in a Washington that closely resembles Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington makes for one determined stab at a populist comedy. In Hollywood's newfound desire to court Christian audiences, nothing apparently is too over the top.
This does mean that Tom Shadyac's Evan Almighty develops a split personality. What starts out as a politically themed comedy takes a sharp turn into, as the ad copy suggests, "a comedy of Biblical proportions."
With popular Steve Carell as the circus master of an impressive menagerie of God's creatures, the film should live up to its populist aspirations. The film appears primed to entertain a large congregation of family audiences with its mix of Old Testament magic and skewering of modern-day skepticism.
The film is a sequel to 2003's Bruce Almighty -- and then again it isn't. The original film was a Jim Carrey vehicle where he played a disgruntled Buffalo, N.Y., TV reporter who is given divine powers by God (Morgan Freeman in a bit of typecasting) to see if he can do a better job. The new film focuses on a supporting character from that film, Carrey's news rival, Evan Baxter, who was played by Carell before he became a star in The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
So the new movie can't wait to get out of Buffalo. Seems Evan has run for Congress even while retaining his TV job. (How the hell did that work? Did he get to cover himself?) By the time you've gobbled down your third handful of popcorn, Evan, his wife, Joan Lauren Graham), and three sons -- Dylan (Johnny Simmons), Jordan Graham Phillips) and Ryan (Jimmy Bennett) -- are off to a brand-new Virginian suburb outside D.C., still largely in the building stage.
Written by Steve Oedekerk (from a story by Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow and himself), the film doesn't even bother to get any of the details of Capitol Hill right. A shifty-eyed senior congressman, played as if bloated on corruption and venality by John Goodman in one of his lesser performances, gets Evan an office grander than the Oval Office so he'll co-sponsor a land-grab bill. Neither the freshman congressman nor his staff smell a rat. Later, the congressman is seen commanding police and suspending fellow congressmen at will.
Nevermind. The show doesn't really begin until God (Freeman again) appears to Evan. He gently requests that Evan build an ark to prepare for a mighty flood. It takes longer than Bill Cosby's classic comedy routine about Noah for God to persuade Evan, and even then most of the persuading is done through a series of mammals and birds that follow Noah, two by two, everywhere.
When building gets under way -- on adjacent subdivision plots God has purchased for Evan along with a copy of Ark Building for Dummies -- Evan's family is convinced this is a midlife crisis gone far beyond the red Corvette stage. Meanwhile, his hair and beard grow overnight, and neither can be shaved off. Then God helpfully leaves a dusty old robe for Evan to use while working with the animals.
Much of the slapstick comedy involved in the building is feeble, and the film never does something unexpected once the wheels are set in motion. Shadyac and Oedekerk rely on the nonhuman supporting cast for their comic shock and awe. Composite shots of myriad animals and birds -- quite a few real and the others realistic CG critters -- fill the screen while TV reporters and neighbors gather to mock the modern-day Noah. The disappointment is that no one bothered to think through in contemporary comic terms what a repeat of Noah and the Ark would look like today.
Carell is getting quite good as these everyman characters but lacks the audacity of, say, a Carrey or a Robin Williams. He is making comedy out of dullness. Evan's family is too generic to do much more than blend into the scenery, where everyone can get upstaged by the animals.
With Evan's staff, things liven up. Wanda Sykes makes the most of the script's best wisecracks. John Michael Higgins is all unctuous anxiety as Evan's chief of staff. And Jonah Hill has moments as an intern who unaccountably morphs into his chief of intelligence.
Production values are outstanding as animal coordinator Mark Forbes, cinematographer Ian Baker, the visual effects unit and production designer Linda DeScenna put together the ark, animals and the biblical flood required. No Ark Building for Dummies needed here.
EVAN ALMIGHTY
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present in association with Relativity Media a Shady Acres/Barber-Birnbaum/Original Film production
Director: Tom Shadyac
Screenwriter: Steve Oedekerk
Story: Steve Oedekerk, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow
Based on characters created by: Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe
Producers: Tom Shadyac, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Neal H. Moritz, Michael Bostick
Executive producers: Ilona Herzberg, Dave Phillips, Matt Luber, Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman
Director of photography: Ian Baker
Production designer: Linda DeScenna
Music: John Debney
Co-producers: Jonathan Watson, Amanda Morgan Palmer, Ori Marmur
Costume designer: Judy Ruskin Howell
Editor: Scott Hill
Cast:
Evan Baker: Steve Carell
God: Morgan Freeman
Joan Baxter: Lauren Graham
Dylan Baxter: Johnny Simmons
Jordan Baxter: Graham Phillips
Ryan Baxter: Jimmy Bennett
Congressman Long: John Goodman
Rita: Wanda Sykes
Marty: John Michael Higgins
MPAA rating PG
Running time 78 minutes...
This does mean that Tom Shadyac's Evan Almighty develops a split personality. What starts out as a politically themed comedy takes a sharp turn into, as the ad copy suggests, "a comedy of Biblical proportions."
With popular Steve Carell as the circus master of an impressive menagerie of God's creatures, the film should live up to its populist aspirations. The film appears primed to entertain a large congregation of family audiences with its mix of Old Testament magic and skewering of modern-day skepticism.
The film is a sequel to 2003's Bruce Almighty -- and then again it isn't. The original film was a Jim Carrey vehicle where he played a disgruntled Buffalo, N.Y., TV reporter who is given divine powers by God (Morgan Freeman in a bit of typecasting) to see if he can do a better job. The new film focuses on a supporting character from that film, Carrey's news rival, Evan Baxter, who was played by Carell before he became a star in The 40-Year-Old Virgin.
So the new movie can't wait to get out of Buffalo. Seems Evan has run for Congress even while retaining his TV job. (How the hell did that work? Did he get to cover himself?) By the time you've gobbled down your third handful of popcorn, Evan, his wife, Joan Lauren Graham), and three sons -- Dylan (Johnny Simmons), Jordan Graham Phillips) and Ryan (Jimmy Bennett) -- are off to a brand-new Virginian suburb outside D.C., still largely in the building stage.
Written by Steve Oedekerk (from a story by Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow and himself), the film doesn't even bother to get any of the details of Capitol Hill right. A shifty-eyed senior congressman, played as if bloated on corruption and venality by John Goodman in one of his lesser performances, gets Evan an office grander than the Oval Office so he'll co-sponsor a land-grab bill. Neither the freshman congressman nor his staff smell a rat. Later, the congressman is seen commanding police and suspending fellow congressmen at will.
Nevermind. The show doesn't really begin until God (Freeman again) appears to Evan. He gently requests that Evan build an ark to prepare for a mighty flood. It takes longer than Bill Cosby's classic comedy routine about Noah for God to persuade Evan, and even then most of the persuading is done through a series of mammals and birds that follow Noah, two by two, everywhere.
When building gets under way -- on adjacent subdivision plots God has purchased for Evan along with a copy of Ark Building for Dummies -- Evan's family is convinced this is a midlife crisis gone far beyond the red Corvette stage. Meanwhile, his hair and beard grow overnight, and neither can be shaved off. Then God helpfully leaves a dusty old robe for Evan to use while working with the animals.
Much of the slapstick comedy involved in the building is feeble, and the film never does something unexpected once the wheels are set in motion. Shadyac and Oedekerk rely on the nonhuman supporting cast for their comic shock and awe. Composite shots of myriad animals and birds -- quite a few real and the others realistic CG critters -- fill the screen while TV reporters and neighbors gather to mock the modern-day Noah. The disappointment is that no one bothered to think through in contemporary comic terms what a repeat of Noah and the Ark would look like today.
Carell is getting quite good as these everyman characters but lacks the audacity of, say, a Carrey or a Robin Williams. He is making comedy out of dullness. Evan's family is too generic to do much more than blend into the scenery, where everyone can get upstaged by the animals.
With Evan's staff, things liven up. Wanda Sykes makes the most of the script's best wisecracks. John Michael Higgins is all unctuous anxiety as Evan's chief of staff. And Jonah Hill has moments as an intern who unaccountably morphs into his chief of intelligence.
Production values are outstanding as animal coordinator Mark Forbes, cinematographer Ian Baker, the visual effects unit and production designer Linda DeScenna put together the ark, animals and the biblical flood required. No Ark Building for Dummies needed here.
EVAN ALMIGHTY
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment present in association with Relativity Media a Shady Acres/Barber-Birnbaum/Original Film production
Director: Tom Shadyac
Screenwriter: Steve Oedekerk
Story: Steve Oedekerk, Joel Cohen, Alec Sokolow
Based on characters created by: Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe
Producers: Tom Shadyac, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Neal H. Moritz, Michael Bostick
Executive producers: Ilona Herzberg, Dave Phillips, Matt Luber, Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman
Director of photography: Ian Baker
Production designer: Linda DeScenna
Music: John Debney
Co-producers: Jonathan Watson, Amanda Morgan Palmer, Ori Marmur
Costume designer: Judy Ruskin Howell
Editor: Scott Hill
Cast:
Evan Baker: Steve Carell
God: Morgan Freeman
Joan Baxter: Lauren Graham
Dylan Baxter: Johnny Simmons
Jordan Baxter: Graham Phillips
Ryan Baxter: Jimmy Bennett
Congressman Long: John Goodman
Rita: Wanda Sykes
Marty: John Michael Higgins
MPAA rating PG
Running time 78 minutes...
- 6/18/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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