Jennifer Lynch returns with indie thriller

Jennifer Lynch will direct indie thriller Surveillence, which stars Pell James, Bill Pullman, and Julia Ormond. It is her first movie since she directed 1993’s Boxing Helena. Lycnh wrote the script with Kent Harper and will begin shooting later this month. The story is about an FBI agent who goes to a small town, where everyone lies and no one is safe. (Variety)

Lieberman joins Saw crew for Tortured

Director Rob Lieberman will join Twisted Pictures partners Mark Burg and Oren Koules for Tortured, a psychological revenge thriller written by Marek Posival. Burg and Koules will finance the movie and seek a distrbutor. The duo also self-finance the Saw films and release them through Lionsgate. Shooting on Tortured begins in June, after Twisted finishes Saw IV, which is directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. Tortured is about a couple whose life is destroyed when a pedophile kidnaps and kills their only child. The couple becomes obsessed with revenge and seizes an opportunity to kidnap the killer. (Variety)

Stone films anti-war ads

Oliver Stone directing anti-war ad
Moveon.org and VoteVets.org have hired director Oliver Stone to direct a 30-second TV commercial questioning President Bush’s military strategy in Iraq. Members of MoveOn will select one of 20 interviews of Iraq soldiers and their families posted on the MoveOn site, and also on YouTube, for Stone to turn into a commercial, which will air in coming weeks. (Hollywood Reporter)

Wood producing first film

Elijah Wood has signed on to produce his first movie, teaming with Anthony Moody and Rob Malkani’s Indalo Prods. for the movie adaptation of Elliott Chaze’s noir novel Black Wings Has My Angel. Wood does not plan to star in the film. Writer Barry Gifford (Wild at Heart, Lost Highway) and writer-producer-director Christopher Peditto are penning the script. Chaze’s novel is about an ex-convict who stages a daring armed car robbery in Colorado with the help of a call girl he picked up in a backwoods Mississippi motel. The book was out of print for 50 years, and Peditto reportedly spent 10 years chasing down rights. Shooting is scheduled to start some time this year. (Hollywood Reporter)

The Silver Surfer gets a voice

Laurence Fishburne has signed on to voice the Silver Surfer for Twentieth Century Fox in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, which opens June 15. Contrary to the Internet rumors that Fishburne would take on the villainous role of Galactus, the actor will embody the hotly anticipated, sleekly CG’d metallic surfer for the summer sequel. Fishburne most recently lent his vocal talent to Warner Bros. Pictures’ TMNT as the film’s narrator and is currently voicing a character in the Dirty Harry video game. With its release sandwiched just three weeks after the third installment of Pirates of the Caribbean and three weeks before Transformers, Fantastic Four’s success is expected to be largely dependent on the strength of the Silver Surfer character and whether it is deemed cool enough to bring the fanboys to the theater. (Variety)