Between this and the Tower Heist trailer, I just don’t know anymore. I didn’t even mention Imagine That and Meet Dave. Eddie Murphy, once one of the most bankable movie stars on the planet and not too long ago a very promising dramatic actor (thanks to Dreamgirls), is once again wading into the high-income/low-impact world of voice-over animation. The property this time around is Hong Kong Phooey, based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon about a puppy who knows…kung fu.
To be more specific: “Murphy will voice Penry, a mild-mannered dog who stumbles into a secret ceremony and is accidentally granted mystical powers, including the ability to walk, talk and do kung fu.” [Variety] Whether this property will be more like Shrek/Shrek 2 or Shrek The Third/Shrek Forever After is to be seen. Alex Zamm, who helmed the latest Dr. Dolittle straight-to-DVD sequel (Million Dollar Mutts), will direct. At first glance/read, it feels like, of course, Kung Fu Panda. So there’s that. Whatever that is.
Keeping to the funny-not-because-its-meant-to-be swing of things, Andy Dick will appear in the latest Elmore Leonard film adaptation Freaky Deaky. The only thing the comedy actor has had make the papers recently was his sex abuse arrest last year. Not unlike Leonard’s own Get Shorty, Deaky follows a group of misfits (this time around, counter-culture misfits) as they try to blackmail a Hollywood producer via their bomb-making abilities thanks to late-60s protests. [Variety]
Directed by Charles Matthau – Walter’s son – the film stars Crispin Glover, Christian Slater, Billy Burke and Michael Jai White. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. That’s the cast of this movie. With the addition of Dick especially, this all feels more like a Comedy Central Sunday afternoon movie, not a theatrical release that will be paid for outright. That said, don’t knock it before you try it. Let us not forget that both Screwed and Dirty Work play on CC all the time and, while no one saw them in theaters, they are both hilarious Norm McDonald movies.
And in totally-not-related-at-all-but-there’s-not-too-much-to-cover-about-it news, Heather Locklear and Richie Sambora’s 13-year old daughter Ava Sambora will make her acting debut in Judd Apatow’s next film, the once kind-of-titled This Is Forty starring Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann as the same stilted married couple they portrayed in Knocked Up, Apatow’s second feature film. It’s a cameo role for Sambora, who’ll play the best friend of Maude Apatow, who’s playing the daughter of her off-screen mother on screen. [Variety]
Which of these films interest you most? Which of these actors?