Leonardo DiCaprio Envisions A Gothic Little Red Riding Hood For Warner Bros

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: Variety

If you have been reading Monster Island News over the past couple of days, you may be convinced that the site is becoming a strictly 'Scream Queen' and sexy 'Gothic' girl news site, but I assure you that is not the case. Like I've said before, it seems like one type of story surfaces, about a zillion others just like it follow suite. These things always come in bunches.

I'll have plenty of other news stories about sci fi and monsters real soon....I promise.

Or...do you really care?

Anyway, producer Leonardo DiCaprio has just hired writer David Leslie Johnson to develop a modern 'Gothic' twist on the classic Grimm fairy tale, "Little Red Riding Hood" for his company Appian Way.

It can be assumed that after the success of "Orphan", another Appian production produced by DiCaprio, and penned by Johnson, Warner Bros will be quick to 'green-light' the production.

As everyone knows, "Little Red Riding Hood" is the story about a young girl who discovers that her sick grandmother has been replaced by a wolf who wants to have her for lunch.

It's interesting to note that though the fairy tale was published by the Brothers Grimm in the 19th century, the story itself actually dates back to Middle Ages, were it took on a much darker tone. Some versions actually involved a werewolf as apposed to a standard every-day wolf.

That may explain why the wolf in the story can talk?

It isn't known if this modern version of the story will involve a werewolf or not, but my money is on it.

Filming Begins On Nolan's Inception Starring Leonardo DiCaprio

Source: Warner Bros

Principal photography began on July 13th on Warner Bros. Pictures' "Inception," being directed by Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight").

Filming got underway in England, with future locations spanning three continents. Principal photography will also be accomplished on locations in Paris, Tangiers, Calgary and Los Angeles.

A contemporary sci-fi actioner set within the architecture of the mind, "Inception" stars multiple Oscar® nominee Leonardo DiCaprio ("Blood Diamond," "The Aviator"). The international cast also includes Oscar® nominee Ellen Page ("Juno"), Oscar® nominee Ken Watanabe ("The Last Samurai"), Academy Award® winner Marion Cotillard ("La vie en rose"), Joseph Gordon Levitt ("Brick"), Tom Hardy ("RocknRolla"), Cillian Murphy ("Batman Begins"), Oscar® nominee Tom Berenger ("Platoon") and Academy Award® winner Michael Caine ("The Cider House Rules").

Nolan also wrote the script and is producing the film with his producing partner Emma Thomas, with whom he most recently teamed on the blockbuster "The Dark Knight."

The behind-the-scenes creative team includes three-time Oscar®-nominated director of photography Wally Pfister ("The Dark Knight," "The Prestige," "Batman Begins"); production designer Guy Hendrix Dyas ("Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"); two-time Oscar®-nominated editor Lee Smith ("The Dark Knight," "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"), and Oscar®-nominated costume designer Jeffrey Kurland ("Bullets Over Broadway"). The effects teams are headed up by special effects supervisor Chris Corbould and visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin, who both earned Oscar® nominations for their work on "The Dark Knight." Academy Award® winner and multiple Oscar® nominee Hans Zimmer ("The Lion King," "Gladiator") is composing the score for the film, following his collaboration with Nolan on "The Dark Knight." "Inception" will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.

See Also: Christopher Nolan To Helm Inception For Warner Bros.

DiCaprio Wants To Enter The Twilight Zone

Source: Reutgers

Could the eerie music of "The Twilight Zone" soon be playing again at the movies?

Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, Appian Way, are seeking material for a feature take on one or more episodes from the classic TV series.

Appian Way is not known for sci-fi projects, but "Twilight Zone" is said to be DiCaprio's favorite show.

The studio and production company are quietly putting out word that they're looking for pitches and script ideas based on the show for feature development.

The companies don't aim to make an episodic movie like the 1983 "Twilight Zone," the only big-screen version of the series, but rather hope to build one continuing story line based on one or more episodes.

Warners owns rights to the Rod Serling-penned episodes, which account for the bulk of its 1959-64 run. The Serling shows include such famous episodes as "To Serve Man," about giant aliens who land on Earth, and "Eye of the Beholder," about an inverted society where the attractive are considered ugly. The original series contained about 155 episodes.

Thanks to syndication -- the show now runs on Sci Fi Channel -- and many pop-culture homages, "Twilight Zone" continues to have a devoted, if somewhat older-skewing, fan base nearly five decades after it left the primetime airwaves.

Twenty-five years ago Warners released a four-segment film based on the series. Each segment was helmed by a different director -- Joe Dante, John Landis, George Miller and Steven Spielberg -- with three of the segments direct remakes of classic episodes.

The movie drew modest boxoffice and was known mainly for the on-set accident that killed actor Vic Morrow and two child actors during production of the Landis-directed section.

There have been other attempts at "Zone" updates, among them CBS' 1994 TV movie based on several Serling episodes. Summit is making a big-screen version of the Richard Matheson-penned story "Countdown," which was turned into the "Twilight Zone" episode "Death Ship" and centers on astronauts who land on a planet only to find their dead bodies already there.