‘Southland’ lines up Rock

Thriller ‘Tales’ costars Gellar, Scott

Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) will star opposite Seann William Scott and Sarah Michelle Gellar in the science-fiction thriller “Southland Tales” for writer-director Richard Kelly and Cherry Road Films. Production is slated to begin Aug. 1 in Los Angeles.

“Southland Tales” is set in Los Angeles on July 4, 2008, as the city stands on the brink of social, economic and environmental disaster. Johnson will star as an amnesiac action star whose life intertwines with an adult film star developing her own reality television project, and a Hermosa Beach police officer who holds the key to a vast conspiracy.

“I see enormous potential for him to become a great actor,” Kelly said of Johnson. The filmmaker added that some actors will have a musical component to their roles, but would not identify who. “Not all of them know what they’ll be doing.”

Cherry Road has greenlit the picture with co-financing from Universal Pictures International, Inferno Distribution and Wild Bunch, with Universal distributing in most foreign territories through the UIP banner, and Wild Bunch distributing in France, Benelux, Spain and Switzerland. UTA reps the domestic.

Sean McKittrick will produce under the Darko Entertainment banner he co-founded with Kelly. Cherry Road principals Bo Hyde and Kendall Morgan will produce.

Executive producers are Matthew Rhodes and Judd Payne of Persistent Entertainment, Bill Johnson and Jim Seibel of Inferno Distribution, and Oliver Hengst of Academy Film. Moby will compose the music.

“Southland Tales” also will be presented as a nine-part interactive experience with the prequel saga to be published as six separate 100-page graphic novels written by Kelly. These will be released over a six-month period early next year leading up to the film’s release, with the feature film covering the story’s final three chapters.

Adams said the script for the new movie “is based on my family members, but the actual story is not true.” She described it as a coming-of-age tale in which the main character is 35 years old. The movie will depict Southerners who are “intelligent, creative, soulful, spiritual, warm, complicated people,” she said.

Adams said the goal is to have the movie, which will also feature Diane Ladd, appear at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

“Come Early Morning” will star Ashley Judd and will be shot entirely in central Arkansas. Adams said some locations are still being scouted, but decisions have already been made to shoot at an undisclosed apartment complex in North Little Rock and at the Perry Hotel in Lonoke.

A crew of about 100, which is a mix between locals and those imported from Hollywood, expects to begin shooting April 25 and wrap by May 30.

Adams said she hopes to have the film out of post production and finished in time to debut at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, in January.

“We’re going to shoot for that, but that’s every independent filmmaker’s hopes,” she said.

KEVIN SMITH (actor/director)

Why he’s a geek: A comic-book lover his whole life, Smith named his daughter Harley Quinn after the Batman archvillain. He has also gone public recently with his love of everything Degrassi.

Why he’s chic: The director of Clerks and Chasing Amy continues to be cool and “indie” despite the pressures of Hollywood. He is currently working on Clerks 2.

– I get to the NBC lot, go through security, and get to the “Tonight Show.” I’m in my guest room about a minute before Leno drops by (he chit-chats with all the guests before the show). I ask him about what he’ll do at the end of the four years – like if he’ll just do more stand-up. He reminds me that 150 nights out of the year (three nights a week), he’s doing stand-up somewhere other than the show. The dude’s work ethic is insane. Kristin Powers from Talk/Miramax Books comes by as Jay’s leaving, as does Dave Berg, the segment producer. We go over the stuff I’m gonna be talking about until Andy McElfresh (my “Roadside Attractions” partner-in-crime) shows up. Andy and I catch up as the show begins, and then he’s off, back to an editing suite to finish his piece for tomorrow night’s show.

– I watch the show in my guest room and am floored by how fucking boring and what a terrible interview the “O.C.” chick is. I’ve now been a couch guest five or six times on “Tonight”, always as the second interview, and have figured out that there’s this delicate balance you want in the guest who comes before you: you want them to be good, but not great. You want them to warm the audience up, so that when you get out there, you’re not facing a sleepy crowd. At the same time, you don’t want the first guest to kill – otherwise you’re gonna have a tough time impressing the audience. The “O.C.” chick offers nothing. It’s dead quiet out there – which makes my job harder, because I’ve gotta be even funnier than I planned on being and win the crowd within the first thirty seconds or risk tanking harder than the chick who just said she was lucky enough to be in Rome when the Pope died.

– I’m sweating profusely (natch), so I get a litttle powder in the makeup room and trim my beard a touch. I get wired up and after the Human Ambien’s segment is over, I head backstage to go on, post-commercials.

– I do my segment.

– Post-show, I talk to Rob Thomas for a few seconds, say goodbye to Jay. Debbie Vickers (the producer of the show and a chick I really dig) tells me I killed, and Dave Berg thanks me for a great segment. I head back to my dressing room where I talk with a guy who pops in to tell me he used to be an accountant on the “Clerks” cartoon, and how ABC fucked it up. Then Andy comes by the give me the thumbs up on the segment, as does Kristin and John Melendez (aka Stuttering John). John and I bullshit for awhile about Howard and the Sirius move, as well as other non-Howard related stuff. Forty five minutes later, it’s just me and Kristin, and we go over stuff we wanna do for the book (I opt against taking out magazine ads, as it’s a waste of money, and agree to do an interview on Air America if they can get me in), including a celebratory “We Sold Out the First Printing” signing party we’re thinking of doing at the Stash before I head off to “Catch.” I drop Kristin off at the front door of the studio where her car’s waiting, and I head home.

SECOND time’s the charm for Ben Affleck. The star proposed to his girlfriend of over a year, Jennifer Garner, after her 33rd birthday party Saturday at her Brentwood home, according to Star magazine. Affleck bought Garner a $500,000, 4.5-carat Harry Winston engagement ring – as compared to the 6.1-carat pink diamond ring from Winston which Affleck got for his former fiancée Jennifer Lopez. Affleck’s rep had no comment.

Zach Braff, an alumnus of Northwestern University’s radio-television-film department, came to speak to us today. One of his closing remarks was how when he was an undergrad Kevin Smith came to speak at NU and he went, and one of the things Smith mentioned was not liking and not ever wanting to take the “a film by” credit, because he felt the film was made by lots of people and not just the director. Braff has vowed to be the same way and encouraged us to follow.