HOLLYWOOD — As if it’s not confusing enough to keep track of the three Wyatt Earp movies on the way (Kevin Costner’s Wyatt Earp, Kurt Russell’s Tombstone and Richard Dean Anderson’s Tombstone Law telepic) — now we have Wyatt Earp, the actor.
Earp the thespian, who says he’s a distant cousin of Earp the gunslinger (“his great-grandfather was my great-great-great-great grandfather”), will make his feature film debut in Touchstone’s Tombstone.
He’ll be part of the ensemble re-enacting the notorious gunfight at the OK Corral. Wyatt Earp is playing Billy Claiborne. Kurt Russell is playing Wyatt Earp. Got that?
WAYANS WRITES FLICK FOR KIDS
HOLLYWOOD — Casting is under way for supporting players on Damon Wayans’ Blankman that goes into production Sept. 14.
The Warner Bros. picture has been described as a superhero spoof, but we get word it’s actually a whimsically humorous story about a fellow who thinks he’s a superhero, and his brother who tries frantically to keep him out of trouble.
Wayans, a devoted family man, wrote the story with his own three youngsters in mind. His other movies (Mo’ Money, The Last Boy Scout) weren’t so appropriate for kids.
MULTITALENTED MODINE DIRECTS
HOLLYWOOD — Matthew Modine is taking serious steps toward becoming an auteur filmmaker.
The actor has been working almost non-stop before the cameras the last couple of years (he has Robert Altman’s Short Cuts and HBO’s And The Band Played On … debuting this fall) — and has still managed to write and direct two short films, and pen screenplays for two features he hopes to direct.
Right now, Modine is in England finishing his final two weeks of lensing on The Browning Version with Albert Finney and Greta Scacchi.
