After Aishwarya Rai in Bride & Prejudice, it's Hollywood's hot starlet Kate Hudson!
Gurinder Chadha, whose 'big Bollywood homage' to Jane Austen met with mixed response in India and the UK, is all set to make her first full-fledged Hollywood film.
"And that too, a $75 million blockbuster! I hope to keep M Night Shyamalan company in the Hollywood blockbuster studio system," Gurinder jokes from Britain, currently supervising the shooting of her husband Paul Mayeda Berges' Mistress Of Spices, which stars Aishwarya Rai and Dylan McDermott.
Chadha's next directorial project is an arabesque fantasy. "It's an adaptation of the hit American serial I Dream Of Jeannie, about the life of a suburban witch. I've finalised Kate Hudson to play Jeannie! We start shooting this summer, in the US and Canada."
Excited about the prospect of stepping into a new and more lavish area of filmmaking, Gurinder reveals that this big-screen adaptation of the hit series will take the main character to her beginnings.
"You could say my film begins before the serial. We chose Kate after zeroing in on a handful of big names. She conveys the vivacity, mystery and magic of the main character -- qualities she has probably inherited from her lovely mom, Goldie Hawn."
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I Dream Of Jeannie is being planned as a full-blown Hollywood film.
"Thank God Bride & Prejudice has been so well received in the US. It opened last week with a huge $12,000 screen-average, which is comparable with the week's top film Hitch (featuring Will Smith). Apart from The New York Times, we've received uniformly favourable reviews in the US."
Gurinder is gung-ho about Aishwarya Rai's new screen avatar in the movie adaptation of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's book. "After Bride & Prejudice, Ash has gone into different territory in Mistress Of Spices. We wrapped up the first week's shooting on February 19 in London. The rushes are looking amazing! My husband and our cinematographer Santosh Sivan are creating magic on camera. Paul is making a supremely sensual film with evocative performances by Ash, Dylan and Nitin Ganetra."
Returing to Jeannie, Gurinder gushes, "Preparing Mistress in the UK, promoting Bride & Prejudice in the US and putting together Jeannie Gosh, I'm exhausted! After directing Ash, I'm looking forward to doing interesting things with Kate Hudson!"
Kate Hudson's photograph: Getty Images
