"Fox Searchlight Pictures has acquired North American distribution rights to "Fast Food Nation." Directed by Richard Linklater, the film is a dramatic character study about the fast-food industry based on Eric Schlosser's nonfiction best-seller. A 2006 release is planned. The film boasts an ensemble cast that includes Patricia Arquette, Bobby Cannavale, Luis Guzman, Ethan Hawke, Ashley Johnson, Greg Kinnear, Kris Kristofferson, Avril Lavigne, Esai Morales and Wilmer Valderrama..." (full details)
"Gold Circle Films has tapped scribe Eric Poppen ("Borderland") for a pair of supernatural thrillers, "The Puritan" and "The Healer." "The Puritan," which is going out to directors, centers on a psychiatrist and his family who are threatened by an evil spirit after the shrink begins treating a patient who claims her family has been haunted for many years. "The Healer" revolves around an American doctor who journeys to Mexico find a mysterious healer able to cure terminally ill patients..." (full details)
"Spain's 10-week-old mega studio, Alicante's Ciudad de la Luz, will host the shoot of "Asterix at the Olympic Games," the third pic in the franchise and the first big-budget international production to roll at the studio. The film is budgeted at a reported E78 million ($92 million) and toplines Clovis Cornillac, who takes over as Asterix from Christian Clavier, while Gerard Depardieu reprises his role as Obelix. "Asterix" will shoot from May to December at the Ciudad and nearby locations..." (full details)
