Movies
Jack Black Leaves ‘Man-Witch’ Out of Concern?
I’m constantly switching back and forth when it comes to Jack Black, one day I hate him, the next I love him. One project of his that I was pretty stoked for was Man-Witch, which not only rocked the cool title, but also had a rad plot. A male schoolteacher who abruptly discovers he’s got witchlike abilities that lead him to be taken in by a coven of real witches. They send him to “witch school,” where he is the lone adult male, surrounded mostly by little girl witches-in-training. It was reported this evening that Black will not be part of the project anymore, details inside.
Jack Black has fallen out of “Man-Witch,” Todd Phillips’ supernatural comedy that’s set up at Warner Brothers.
When the star was attached last year, it was hailed as notable because it was the first collaboration between the boxoffice-drawing comic actor and the force behind such comedy powerhouses as “Old School” (which Phillips wrote, directed and produced) and “Borat” (which he wrote.)
“Man-Witch” centered on a man who discovers he’s a witch and then heads off to teach at a female witch school; Phillips was set to produce and, likely, to direct.
Sources said that the decision this week to part ways may have originated from Black’s camp, which had questions about Phillips’ commitment to direct the picture ahead of “Hangover,” another comedy said to be close to the helmer’s heart. That project is also set up at Warners.
Warners confirmed the departure but declined to provide further detail. A spokesperson for Black said the star had no comment. A spokesperson for CAA, which reps Phillips, had yet to comment by press time.
The actor’s departure has not affected the status of the movie, which remains in active development. Warners and Phillips are said to be combing a list of stars to replace the funnyman.
Black stars in the upcoming comedy ensemble “Tropic Thunder” as well as in the Judd Apatow-produced “Year One.”
The Black-voiced “Kung-Fu Panda” was the top-grossing movie at the boxoffice last weekend, surpassing expectations by earning more than $60 million domestically.
Described as “Ted meets ET,” David Mikalson’s raunchy comedy Goblin is being brought to life over at A24, and Will Forte (“The Four Seasons”) is now in talks to star.
Deadline first reported the news this afternoon.
Kenneth Branagh has been cast to voice the titular Goblin in the upcoming A24 movie, with the character said to be “green-colored” as well as “anatomically correct.”
Skyler Gisondo (Superman) is reportedly playing the Goblin’s human best friend.
The mysterious project sounds a bit like films including A Gnome Named Gnorm and more recently, Frankie Freako, though it’s important to note that it’s not billed as a horror movie.
Deadline details, “After [Mikalson] hatched the idea to make an outrageous buddy comedy about a goblin, using a practical puppet and operating outside the Hollywood system, his script quickly got him a rep team. While others might have eyed the raunchy comedy as a writing sample or planned to wait to see the micro-budget version Mikalson has been directing in Kentucky, A24 jumped all over it. The hot indie essentially has agreed to finance a full feature.”
“There was a lot of interest, but A24 came with what Mikalson really wanted, after spending all his money crafting the puppet title character: they acquired the movie and agreed to let him make it with a significantly increased budget than what he had left after creating the anatomically correct title character,” Deadline’s report goes on to explain.
What does the titular Goblin actually look like? Well, a cake that Mikalson had whipped up for his reps might give us our first look at what to expect. Deadline explains the photo you’ll see down below, “Take a look at the cake he commissioned with Marc Gravelle at Cake Art in West Hollywood, to present to his reps as thanks for making his dream come true.”
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