Quickhits: Bier is The Duchess, More Join Evening and Spielberg Directing Jurassic Park 4?

Posted Sep 18th 2006 8:03AM

Odds and ends from Friday and the weekend:

After she finishes directing Things We Lost in the Fire, Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier will tackle an adaptation of Amanda Foreman's novel, Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire. Simply called The Duchess, pic tells a story of "politics, wealth, and intrigue of late-eighteenth-century aristocracy through the intimate story of a woman who was its leader." Bier also directed the Danish film Open Hearts, which Zach Braff is supposed to direct at some point in the very late future.
The cast for Lajos Koltai's Evening just got a whole more interesting. Hopping onboard the project are Meryl Streep and Mammie Gummer. Mother and daughter in real life, the two will play the same character at different phases in her life. Also joining this list of amazing female actresses (which already included Vanessa Redgrave, Toni Collette and Claire Danes) are Glenn Close and Eileen Atkins.
While there's no direct quote from the man, according to a few different sources Steven Spielberg may be interested in directing the next Jurassic Park flick himself. Though Joe Johnston (who directed part three) is Spielberg's first choice to helm, if for some reason he cannot do it then Stevie will take on the task. What does this mean for Indiana Jones 4? Hell if I know, but it can't be good.

'Fone Finds