Director James Cameron doesn’t plan to tell any more ‘True Lies’
Director James Cameron doesn’t plan to tell any more “Lies.” For many years, Cameron was planning to bring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis back together for a sequel to “True Lies” (1994), a thrill-packed hit about a lethal spy who hides his occupation from his wife and daughter.
The terrorist attacks on New York, however, ended any possibility of a follow-up for him.
“To tell you the truth, I kind of lost my appetite for it (“True Lies 2″) after Sept. 11,” Cameron says in the current issue of Cinescape magazine. “A light, romantic action-comedy about an anti-terrorism unit, you know, just doesn’t appeal to me anymore.”
Cameron hasn’t made a major motion picture since landing an Oscar as best director for “Titanic” (1997), which also won best picture. He has devoted most of his efforts to developing the recently cancelled TV series “Dark Angel” and to the IMAX documentary “Ghosts of the Abyss,” which opens in April, features Bill Paxton (“Titanic”) and offers a 3-D look at the actual “Titanic” wreckage. “In ‘Ghosts of the Abyss,’ I think you’ll really feel what it’s like to be on one of those submerged dives,” the 48-year-old filmmaker says in Cinescape. “I’ve spent about 600 hours in those subs at depths of two to three miles, because it’s really untapped. It’s an almost infinite frontier.
“I grew up wanting to be an astronaut and wanting to go to other planets, and this is the closet thing that I’ll probably ever achieve in my life.”
Casting Calls
– After the success of “Moulin Rouge” and her Oscar nomination as best actress for “The Hours,” Nicole Kidman is hotter than ever, and she’s expected to sizzle on screen in two high-profile projects.
The 35-year-old native of Australia will star in “Pay the Girl,” a 1990s-set drama about Hollywood Madam Heidi Fleiss and her famous clients.
After playing Fleiss, Kidman may tackle “Catwoman.” Michelle Pfeiffer originated the role in “Batman Returns” (1992) and was no longer interested. Ashley Judd was then hired to make the leather-clad comic-book character purr once again. A theater commitment to make her Broadway debut as Maggie in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” however, forced Judd to relinquish the role, and Kidman is expected to prance across the screen as the seductive Catwoman in a big-budget tale that could turn into a franchise series.
As fans of the Caped Crusader cinematic series know, Kidman appeared as a criminal psychologist in “Batman Forever” (1995), starring Val Kilmer as the title character and featuring Tommy Lee Jones and Jim Carrey as Two-Face and the Riddler, respectively.
– Morgan Freeman (“The Sum of All Fears”) and Julianne Moore (“Far From Heaven”) will co-star in “Freedomland.” The edgy drama concerns a woman who blames the death of her daughter on a black man. The project, based on the book by Richard Price (whose screen credits include gritty works such as “Clockers” and “Sea of Love”), will be directed by British filmmaker Michael Winterbottom (“24 Hour Party People”).
– Angelina Jolie, who has finished the sequel “Lara Croft and the Cradle of Life: Tomb Raider 2,” opening July 25, will next star in “Taking Lives.” The 27-year-old actress will play a FBI profiler on the trail of a madman (Ethan Hawke of “Training Day”) who assumes the identities of his victims. D.J. Caruso, last represented on screen by “The Salton Sea,” a totally overlooked drug-world thriller starring Val Kilmer, will direct.
Hidden ‘DVD’ treasures
People overjoyed by the quality of the sound and image provided by DVDs now have something else to celebrate.
On a number of discs, the manufacturers provide what are called “Easter eggs,” bonus materials hidden from view on special movies. In the past, information on Easter eggs was restricted to Web sites and word-of-mouth between film buffs, but with “DVD Confidential: Hundreds of Hidden Easter Eggs Revealed!” (McGraw-Hill/Osborne; $14.99), author Marc Saltzman exposes the treasures inside more than 350 eggs and how they can be accessed via the remote control.
The easy-to-use paperback gives specific instructions to unlocking the extras. On the DVD of “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,” for example, Saltzman provides the secrets to finding a hidden two-minute interview clip with star Angelina Jolie and her real-life father, Jon Voight, discussing how they felt working together on the action-fantasy film based on the popular video game.
Of course, the Easter egg on “Tomb Raider” is extra special, because shortly after the release of the film, Jolie announced that she was no longer communicating with her dad.