So which SMOKIN' ACES alumni is taking up WHITE JAZZ?

WHITE JAZZ, the Joe Carnahan adaptation of the James Ellroy novel of the same name which is going to kinda be an unofficial sequel to L.A. CONFIDENTIAL is going to kick ass, I'm absolutely positive of it. This is going to be the film that pushes this talented storyteller and innovative helmer right to the top of the directorial food chain and with the help of lead George Clooney, will finally give Carnahan a big box office success. Joe's got a puzzle for us regarding the film. This comes from his official site...

Junior Stemmons and Glenda Bledsoe have been CAST. Which actors are playing these parts will be part of a slow torture session until I can reveal their names but rest assured, the choices will shock and amaze: Pissing off some while pleasing many more. I can tell you one of the actors I worked with in Smokin' Aces will be playing whackjob deviant kid cop Junior Stemmons. I'll let you fight among yourselves now. Cheers and have a tremendous weekend.

Interesting. I don't remember who told me this, but way back when someone e-mailed me saying that Jason Bateman would have a role in WHITE JAZZ, and when you think about it he would make a pretty cool Stemmons. He is an alumni of SMOKIN' ACES. Was that e-mail concidence or did they know something for sure?

Now, if it were Matthew Fox, I would have been even more excited about the potential awesomeness of Clooney and Fox as partners but I think it's likely to be Bateman. He does have a big role in STATE OF PLAY but I think Carnahan will have this movie wrapped before work begins on that. Now, for the role of Glenda... That very same e-mail said Scarlett Johansson was up for a role. Is she a choice that would shock and amaze? Quite possibly. She of course starred in THE BLACK DAHLIA, Brian De Palma's adaptation of a James Ellroy novel and she is soon to star in THE SPIRIT, another femme fatale character so she is no stranger to this kind of noir-ish environment. However, she is a busy girl at the moment with THE SPIRIT and MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, maybe she won't be in this.

We can all speculate till the cows come home I guess, but for my money I would bet on Jason Bateman and Scarlett Johansson... though I would love Matthew Fox to be in this. Carnahan also has news on his straight-to-dvd sequel of SMOKIN'ACES which now has a title - SMOKIN' ACES: BLOWBACK and looks ready to move into production...

Smokin Aces: Blowback' was submitted to Universal yesterday. They're pretty hot to put this thing into production as soon as possible, so I think all things being pre-strike, we're going to move pretty fast on this. I'm sure we'll have some hard answers as early as next week.It's a pretty ambitious picture action-wise and has a wonderfully unique political skew. I'm hoping the powers that be dig it and just let us do our thing.

The movie will focus on the least interesting characters of the original film (The Tremor Brothers) but still, it should be pretty cool and is an excuse for Carnahan to give us a crazy-ass action flick with no rules, and no restrictions... at least that's what we hope. All this and then KILLING PABLO next summer with Christian Bale, Javier Bardem and we think Benicio Del Toro. Lots to look forward to in Smokin' Joe's universe!