Author: Josh Wigler

At long last, the 1968 written The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test from Tom Wolfe is heading to film. Fox Searchlight has picked up the rights for the novel, with director Gus Van Sant and writer Dustin Lance Black attached to the project. Richard Gladstein and his Film Colony banner will produce.

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is a drug-addled new journalism epic in the vein of Hunter S. Thompson. The novel follows the hallucinogenic exploits of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest novelist Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters, proponents of psychedelic drugs, as they drive across the country. Their vehicle of choice is a DayGlo painted school bus named "Furthur." Some prominent figures featured in the novel include The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan and Timothy Leary. Sadly, the Kool-Aid man does not play a prominent role.

Gus Van Sant and Dustin Lance Black recently collaborated on the upcoming Milk starring Sean Penn and Josh Brolin. The film debuts on November 26, 2008 in limited release.

Van Sant has directed high quality films such as Good Will Hunting and Finding Forrester, one of Sean Connery’s final films before retiring. Black is a writer on HBO’s successful Big Love, a series about a Mormon polygamist and his very large family.

Producer Richard Gladstein originally enlisted Van Sant and Black for Kool-Aid with an eye for a 2009 release, but he was unable to find financing. Now that Fox Searchlight is backing the film, development should move much quicker.

Right now, fans across the world identify Captain James T. Kirk with actor William Shatner. That’s likely to change when the J.J. Abrams helmed Star Trek premieres this coming May with newcomer Chris Pine in Kirk’s captain’s chair. Collider got the chance to speak with Pine at the recent Hollywood Awards, where the actor initially shrugged off the epic scope of his upcoming film.

"[I’m in] a small, small movie called Star Twars," jokes Pine. "It’s a mix between Star Trek and Star Wars."

Pine acknowledges that he’s stepping into some hefty shoes, and knows that some fans are already "giving the middle finger" to the project. However, the endorsement of Kevin Smith was a huge morale booster for the young actor. When he found out about Smith’s glowing review of both the film and Pine’s performance, Pine was through the roof.

"[I sent him an e-mail and said], ‘Thanks dude. I couldn’t have asked for a better thumbs up from someone [of Smith’s caliber]," Pine says. "This far away from the release date, to have someone say I did a good job, especially with the potential naysayers out there, it was a nice ego boost for a Wednesday."

Unless Kevin Smith can create millions of clones, Pine and the rest of the Trek team will need to appeal to a much wider audience. In that regard, the soon-to-be Kirk isn’t worried about the detractors.

"It’ll be what it’ll be," says Pine. "People will like [our movie] or they won’t.  I’m really proud of it. From what I’ve seen I think we did a great job. We just have to leave the rest [up to] the peanut gallery."

For now, after months of fighting Romulans and avoiding Spock’s death grip, Pine’s working on a project that’s just a tad more small scale.
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Jubei Kibagami’s strapping on the ninja gear and heading for theaters around the globe.

Variety reports that the acclaimed anime film Ninja Scroll will be adapted by Warner Bros. as a live action adventure. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way will produce the picture alongside Jennifer Davisson Killoran and Mike Ireland. The film will be written by Alex Tse, who worked as a writer on Zack Snyder’s Watchmen.

Set in feudal Japan, Ninja Scroll follows ninja for hire Jubei Kibgagami as he battles longtime rival Himuro Gemma. Gemma, who is seemingly invincible, dispatches a legion of dangerous villains to dispatch of Jubei, including the stone golem Tessai and the blind assassin Utsutsu Mujuro. Jubei is joined by the female ninja Kagero, the lone survivor of a team of killed Koga Ninja.

Ninja Scroll is one of the most beloved anime features to cross from Japan to American shores. It joins an ever growing list of anime-to-live action adaptations, including the in production Dragonball starring Justin Chatwin and Chow Yun Fat. James Cameron has stated for years that he plans to adapt Battle Angel Alita, which is rumored to be his next project after Avatar. M. Night Shyamalan has similar plans for a live-action trilogy of Avatar: The Last Airbender, which was announced in February 2007 and has a tentative release date of July 2, 2010. There’s been little movement on the project thus far.

Perhaps most closely related to Ninja Scroll is Appian Way’s involvement in the adaptation of Akira. Although Leonardo DiCaprio is not attached to star in Ninja Scroll, it’s possible that he’ll play a role in Akira, which is rumored to be set in America instead of Asia. The move is somewhat worrisome given the way Dragonball looks to be turning out with American actors in Japanese roles, but the prospect of Leo as the telepathic terror Tetsuo is awesome enough for us.

Following the news of Crispin Glover’s casting as the Knave of Hearts in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland comes word that Christopher Lee and Eleanor Tomlinson are joining the cast, while Danny Elfman confirms his involvement on the musical end of things.

SlashFilm reports on Lee’s casting, stating that the actor’s role in the film has yet to be made known. Speculation exists that he’ll either play The Caterpillar, King of Hearts or The White Knight. Lee is no stranger to fantasy films, as he’s played Sith Lord Count Dooku in Star Wars and Saruman the White in Lord of the Rings. He’s also a familiar face in the Burton circuit, having had roles in Sleepy Hallow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride and deleted scenes of Sweeney Todd.

Sixteen-year-old Eleanor Tomlinson has snagged the all original role of Fiona Chataway. Fiona, created specifically for Burton’s vision, is a spiteful young peer of Alice’s who appears in the film before Alice journeys down the rabbit hole.

Danny Elfman, meanwhile, is set to contribute to the score for Wonderland. Elfman is a staple in the Burton universe, composing music for Batman, Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas, among others.