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Sam Jackson Reunites With Willis, 'Underdog' Gets Real: Sundance File

Jackson and Bruce Willis team up for crime flick; 'Underdog' gets the 'Babe' treatment.

PARK CITY, Utah -- Samuel L. Jackson is making Sundance even cooler than usual this year, bringing his swagger to memorable roles in the flicks "Black Snake Moan" and "Resurrecting the Champ." The always-busy actor told us that he has three flicks upcoming in the near future, including one that will reunite him with an old friend. " 'Lakeview Terrace' is kinda down the road," he said of the newly announced thriller that will cast him as a racially insensitive cop terrorizing the mixed-race couple next door. "It's kind of an in-the-works deal." "Terrace" is produced by Will Smith, and will mark a rare villainous performance from Jackson. "Right now, I'm leaving here to start a film with Renny Harlin in Shreveport called 'The Cleaner,' " he said of a Louisiana-shot flick co-starring Ed Harris, which follows a crime-scene cleaner involved in a murder. "Right after that, I'm doing a film with Bruce Willis called 'Black Water Transit.' " That final flick will pair Jackson and Willis for the first time since 1995's 'Die Hard With a Vengeance,' and Jackson can't wait to work again with his 'Pulp Fiction' collaborator. "Oh man, I always enjoy working with Bruce Willis. He's a really, really great guy to hang out with, and he makes the work fun. It's always exciting to be around him." Regarding "Transit," a flick about criminals, cops and an illegal gun collection, Jackson said: "It's a pretty cool script. We're gonna have fun." ...

If you don't know the story of Shoeshine Boy, go ask your parents. Or better yet, wait until August 3, when you can tell them the new-and-improved origin superhero story. "I wrote a big summer movie called 'Underdog,' " writer/director Adam Rifkin said. "It's a big Disney film, a big live-action movie summer tentpole." Rifkin is in Utah with his Slamdance flick "Homo Erectus" (featuring "Heroes" star Ali Larter), but said his caveman flick had a tiny budget compared to the story of the flying canine. "[It's about] a dog superhero. It's going to look like a real dog, 'Babe' style; a real dog, mixed with a CG dog, mixed with an animatronic dog. Underdog talks, and it's Jason Lee." The flick also has "Talladega Nights" actress Amy Adams as 'Sweet' Polly Purebred and Peter Dinklage as the evil Simon Bar Sinister. "I was a huge Underdog fan; it was one of my favorite shows growing up," Rifkin remembered of the cartoon, which debuted in 1964 and ran in syndication for decades. "When I went in for 'Underdog,' I said, 'You have to do it with a real dog. Here's your chance to have fun with the superhero genre!' [And so] a radioactive flea bites a junkyard dog, and turns him into a superhero." ...

Jared Leto is causing a Sundance sensation on two fronts, playing concerts with his band 30 Seconds to Mars while simultaneously unveiling the stunning physical transformation he underwent to play John Lennon killer Mark David Chapman in "Chapter 27." Leto says he's been offered "Walk the Line"-like biopics that would combine his acting and musical talents onscreen, but he plans to keep them apart. "I've been offered opportunities to work on projects that were centered around music, but I've tended to want to keep them separate but equal," Leto said. "People ask me from time to time if I had to pick one or the other, and I really don't believe in choosing." Anybody looking for both sides of Leto, he says, should keep an eye out for future Mars clips. "The videos for 30 Seconds to Mars indicate an area that the two worlds collide in a really good way, specifically with the new video for "From Yesterday," which is a mini-movie. It's a 13-minute-long film. We went to the People's Republic of China and shot it, and it has everything from scenes with dialogue to part-period-piece to part-fantasy, and that's really exciting. [With the band] maybe there'll be some things in the future that I'll be able to rely on some of the experiences I've had as an actor." Leto currently doesn't have any films on his schedule, explaining that he'll concentrate on music for now. ...

It's hard to think of Steve Buscemi without also considering the film luminaries he regularly combines talents with, from Quentin Tarantino to the Coen Brothers to Tom DiCillo, whose Sundance entry "Delirious" marks their fourth movie together. The indie actor does have a funny bone, however, and that's why we also can't forget Adam Sandler -- whose upcoming summer blockbuster will mark his fifth flick with Buscemi. "Adam Sandler plays a firefighter who marries his best friend, played by Kevin James," Buscemi said of "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," a comedy co-starring Jessica Biel and due in theaters July 20. "Actually Kevin asks Adam to marry him, because they want to get the benefits from his job. And I play the city worker who's trying to 'out' them as being straight, thinking that they're trying to rip off the city." Buscemi added that he enjoys working with the same people from movie to movie, and he'll always keep Sandler on speed-dial for whenever he needs to loosen up. "I always have fun on Adam's films," he said, offering a rare grin. ...

Best known for playing nebbish suck-up Dwight Schrute on TV's "The Office," actor Rainn Wilson is a natural with characters that have an inflated sense of self-importance. And his next creation will be like Dwight on steroids. "I got attached to a very funny script with MTV Films co-written by Bob Odenkirk, creator of 'Mr. Show,' " Wilson reveled this week while in Utah to promote "The Last Mimzy". "It's called 'Kanan Rhodes: Unkillable Servant of Justice.' It's about a guy who serves subpoenas and takes himself way too seriously." But don't expect the tone of the film to mirror his more familiar TV work, Wilson warned. "It's a very silly, 'Ace Ventura' style of comedy," he said. "We're doing some rewrites now, and hoping to get that shooting in the summer." ...

If you're not familiar with the work of director David Gordon Green, then what are you waiting for? Virtually any shot in movies from this master of the modern visual ("George Washington," "Undertow") could be printed out, framed and hung on a wall. Now Green is planning to bring his distinctive eye to a more mainstream audience. "I'm getting ready to start production on an action comedy, a studio movie in L.A.," the 31-year-old director revealed. "We're going to wreck a lot of cars, and blow stuff up and have a good time. It's the first project I didn't write." At Sundance to promote his new flick "Snow Angels," Green said that a "40 Year-Old-Virgin" joker and a "Spider-Man" star would be helping him go Hollywood. "It's written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and it stars Seth and James Franco. Judd Apatow is producing it. We're blending our teams, and making a fun effort out of it. The film is called 'Pineapple Express,' and it's about two stoner characters who witness a murder and are chased by a drug dealer -- and madness ensues. It's kind of like 'The Blues Brothers' or Cheech and Chong in tone." The film is due in theaters in 2008 and -- who knows? -- maybe next January there'll be a huge line here at Sundance trying to get a taste of "Pineapple."

Check out everything we've got on Samuel L. Jackson, Jared Leto and Adam Sandler.

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