By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
Steven Seagal, John Cusack
Steven Seagal, America’s favorite Talentless-Clint-Eastwood-
Imitator-with-a Bowling Ball-In-His-Gut, took the top box office spot with a Fire Down Below without even hitting the $10 million mark ($6.1 million bucks). Just last weekend, even adjusting with kindness for the three-day weekend, Seagal would have been number five on the box office chart behind week two veterans G.I. Jane and Money Talks, Air Force One’s week six and Hoodlum‘s opening. And Whispering Ponytail Man would be in a fight even for spot five, with week four of Conspiracy Theory and box-office juggernaut Excess Baggage putting up similar numbers. Then again, what do you expect from a guy who kicks when he fights?
John Cusack is making the air controller comedy Pushing Tin with Four Weddings And A Funeral director Mike Newell. No truth to rumors that studio heads are trying to use their previous hits to their P.R. advantage by calling it Four Air Disasters and a Competition or Grosse Pointe Air Space.
Also, Cusack is developing a sequel to Grosse Pointe Blank, the hit film about a slacker hitman who wants to win back his ex-girlfriend. And he and Newell are developing the Nick Hornby bestseller High Fidelity, which the Reuters wire calls “the story of a slacker who owns a record store and wants to win back his ex-girlfriend.” Cusack’s resume includes The Real Thing (Slacker Crosses Country For Girl), Eight Men Out (Slacker Plays Baseball), Say Anything (Slacker Obsesses On Ione Skye), The Road To Wellville (Slacker Tries To Make Corn Flakes) and Con Air (Slacker Becomes Action Hero). No wonder they call him Mr. Originality!