By Romeo San Vicente
Wahlberg and Bullock try 'True'
It's always a good sign when A-list actors, fed up with bloated, big-studio star vehicles, turn their attentions to roles that force them to be something other than movie stars. This week's independent film converts are Mark Wahlberg and Sandra Bullock, who've become more or less attached to Douglas McGrath's ("Emma") Truman Capote biopic, "Every Word Is True," which Romeo previously reported on. Wahlberg has signed on to play Perry Smith, one of the two killers made famous in Capote's book "In Cold Blood," and Bullock is in negotiations to play Harper Lee, Capote's childhood friend and author of "To Kill a Mockingbird." Capote will be played by British stage actor Toby Jones, also known as the voice of Dobby the Elf in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." No release date yet, but this much is true: the Killer Films production begins shooting in November.
Singer to make 'Superman' soar
Bryan Singer, the director whose "X-Men" mutants have become the most gay-analogous superheroes to hit the big screen since Joel Schumacher's nippled-and-codpieced "Batman and Robin," is about to resurrect the "Superman" franchise. The last movie to feature the character, 1987's "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace," starred Christopher Reeve and was a limp installment of what had become a disappointing film series. Enter comic-book enthusiast Singer and his track record for pleasing crowds, critics, "and" the industry suits obsessed with box-office receipts, and it looks like a match made in Smallville. Of course, when Singer will find the time to take on the Man of Steel is another story. He's already scheduled to helm 2005's "Logan's Run" remake and "X-Men 3" for 2006. Maybe he has time-warping superpowers no one knows about.
New hope for 'The Normal Heart'?
Larry Kramer's mid-80's play about the early days of the AIDS epidemic, "The Normal Heart," has been notorious for its inability to find its way to the screen, be that screen big or small. Nearly 20 years after its debut, following a period during which Barbra Streisand's longtime wish to shepherd it to film never came to fruition – and Romeo followed her every move on the subject – Oscar-nominated actor/producer Tom Hulce ("Amadeus," "Animal House"), who recently produced the gay-themed "A Home at the End of the World," is now expressing interest in producing Kramer's drama. Having described it as his "dream project," Hulce is fishing around for funding. If all goes as wished for, audiences may yet see "Heart" beat with new life. Go Amadeus go!
The record shop on 'Avenue Q'
Indie rock on Broadway? Don't laugh. That's what people did when someone mentioned a show with puppets that sang songs about pornography, and look what happened there. And it's the same forces behind the left-field hit "Avenue Q" that might bring Broadway audiences into the Sonic Youth-infused world of slacker record store clerks. "Q"'s producing team of Robyn Goodman, Kevin McCollum, and Jeffrey Seller have acquired the rights to "High Fidelity," the Nick Hornby novel-turned-film about the owner of an indie record store whose musical obsessions and compulsive listmaking mirror his romantic failures. Now, the last time Broadway tried to rock was with "Rent" (nope, not "Hedwig" – that was off-Broadway), and the result was heartfelt, if a little showtunes-via-VH1. Maybe Modest Mouse or some other cool band can come aboard and lend a little street cred.
