Short Cuts

Mo' Alamo Dept.: It feels like pre-production on Disney's epic adaptation of The Alamo has been slogging on for decades now, but in point of fact, this sprawling behemoth of a film has only been in "pre-pro" for a year or so. That's not counting the time it took for original scribe John Sayles (Sunshine State) to work out his first draft of the script, of course; Sayles is now sharing writing credits with Traffic scribe Stephen Gaghan, and although a source on the production says the script isn't completely locked down yet, director John Lee Hancock has a firm start date of Jan. 20, 2003. Actors Dennis Quaid and Ethan Hawke are officially signed as Sam Houston and William Travis, respectively. To no one's surprise, Russell Crowe, who was initially on board back when the project was slated to be helmed by A Beautiful Mind buddy Ron Howard, is no longer involved, though we think the presumed personal animosity between Quaid and Quaid's ex's ex would have sent the film's must-see quotient into the stratosphere. By all accounts the production is ramping up big-time, with nearly all of the below-the-line crew positions humming along with the day-to-day business of creating what popular opinion both in and out of the film's camp assumes will be one of the biggest releases of 2004. According to production sources, the best source of current info on the often-confusing machinations behind the scenes is local, nonofficial Web site www.thealamofilm.com, which not only provides up-to-the-minute casting news, but also features a wealth of related info on the historical context of the film, with links to other, more-detailed Alamo sites. Good stuff to be sure, but we'll keep covering the biggest Texas film in decades as events develop.