Short on Time, John Dahl

Not a whole hell of a lot to report this week. I'm still reeling from the complete failure that was 'The Prince of Darkness.' A new project has been announced: Short on Time, directed by John Dahl (Kill Me Again, Red Rock West, The Last Seduction, Rounders, Joy Ride, The Great Raid, You Kill Me) and starring Johnny Depp. This is the movie I wanted to cast Timothy Olyphant and January Jones in, but Jones was busy with 'Woman' and well Timothy Olyphant ain't Johnny Depp, I guess. John Dahl is a director I've always enjoyed, and I wanted to work with him and see what he can do with a Hitchcockian thriller, with the Johnny Depp character similar to Cary Grant in 'North by Northwest.'

'Short on Time' was inspired by several noir film I've seen over the years. It's got all the elements, the shady supporting cast, the race against time, the hero who will stop at nothing short of his own death, a MacGuffin. It's not terribly original, but I think it's a nice addition to CMP's film vault, and can only be an improvement over 'The Prince of Darkness.' This project also went through some major changes just before production: a change of setting (from Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Chicago, Illinois to Biloxi, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana), and the aforementioned casting issues which were amplified by the change in setting and a last minute rewrite.

Not a very good weekend.

Well 'Prince of Darkness' didn't do much of anything at the box office. On an optimistic note, it only lost four million dollars. The reviews have been less than kind, but honestly, I don't think it's a very good movie either. So we're all in agreement. 'Prince of Darkness' sucks. And I'm willing to bet that my next movie will also suck, but maybe not as much. I have a feeling that my movies will progressively suck less and less. The critics are right, but it would've been nice if it had made a little more money. Oh well.

The Prince of Darkness Is Upon Us!

Well, it's finally happened. The 'Prince of Darkness' has come, that is, to a theater near you. I'm not feeling very confident as to its commercial appeal, and I'm pretty sure the critics are going to rip me a new asshole. But hey, everyone's got to start somewhere. I am digging the poster that the studio churned out, especially the font used on the title, and the tagline. One thing that does surprise me is the inclusion of Armie Hammer's face on the poster. Sure, he does technically play the villain, its just surprising is all. I think this is the first time Richard Gere has ever starred in a movie, but failed to get his name on the poster along with a picture of him looking handsome. I wonder if the poster would be any different if I'd have gone with Jeff Bridges as Father Pleasance and Kyle Gallner as David.

I wish I would've changed the story a little more than I did. Maybe spend more time in the oily hellish realm. But its too late now. Pretty much all I can do now is wait until Monday to see how it fares. Thankfully, my expectations are so low that just about anything that comes out will be an improvement.

I'll end this update with some behind the scenes trivia. The main character, Father Pleasance, is named after Donald Pleasance, who played the priest in the original.

New Season, Golden Moon Awards, The Prince of Darkness

Not much to report this week. The town has pretty much shut down for the Golden Moon Awards. I'm surprised by the results. I'm hoping that within a few seasons I'll have one of those gold-plated paper weights.

The release of 'The Prince of Darkness' is rapidly approaching. I don't really expect it to set the box office on fire, nor do I expect it much in the way of good reviews. But hey, a man has got to start somewhere. And my somewhere happens to be an uninspired horror remake. Call me unoriginal. See if I give a shit. This upcoming season should be a very productive one for me. You can fully expect to see my name a few times. On top of my own projects, I've got the Goonies sequel coming out eventually.

I'll keep this one short, but fully expect a lot of new information this time next week.

The Goonies 2, Co-Writing, and Timothy Olyphant vs. Johnny Depp.

'The Goonies 2' is written, and my involvement is officially through, unless I'm asked to hope promote it or something, which I would gladly do. I've heard rumors that Matt Kubrick might direct it, but don't take that as any sort of official word. Director of the original 'Goonies' Richard Donner is probably a little old and burnt out to be working with a bunch of kids (he is 80 years old, after all). The process pretty much went like this: Harry asked me if I'd like to co-write the script with Joey. And even though I've never liked 'The Goonies', I agreed and came up with the concept which Stark then expanded upon, then it came back to me and I punched it up, added scenes, and deleted scenes. I imagine it is probably on the fast track to production and will see the light of day before many other projects I wrote prior.

Speaking of co-writing, I just finished another pitch, this time with Chad Taylor. He shot me a message saying that he had a vague idea and a title, but hadn't figured out how to write it. I took his concept and ran with it. Even though I did all the writing, the credit will read that the movie is written by D.R. Cobb & Chad Taylor, because I never would've written any of it with him asking me to and giving me the concept. In Hollywood, the credit would probably be something more along the lines of: Story by Chad Taylor & D.R. Cobb, Screenplay by D.R. Cobb, but things are a little more simple at CMP. As for the plot, I'm not going to give anything away other than the genre: Thriller/Science Fiction.

Stark has rebuffed my desire to drop Johnny Depp from the lead role in one of my movies. I'm okay with it, but I really wanted to give the role to someone less overexposed, namely: Timothy Olyphant. I've always been a fan of Olyphant, and I wanted to give a lead role in a big movie, turn him in the movie star he should be. But I guess Stark had already begun work on the poster, or at least had a really good idea for the poster. In the same movie, I had also tried to recast the female lead, but January Jones will be busy acting in 'Woman' for director Sofia Coppola, which is a bummer. I ended up giving the role back to the actress I had originally cast opposite Depp, before all the changes. I had also wished for a change of setting, but after the Depp decision I am unsure if my requests will be met.