Miracles' Cast and Crew

Skeet Ulrich - Cursed News and Updates

May 29, 2004
Cursed Shot Over And Over

Judy Greer, who stars in Wes Craven's troubled horror film Cursed, told SCI FI Wire that the movie faced numerous reshoots, many of which required her participation. "I'm probably going to do them forever," she said in an interview.
"Cursed had a major rewrite. We shot a lot of movie, and there were some problems with the ending, so they went back to try to finish the ending."

Greer—who is currently on view as Jennifer Garner's best friend in the fantasy comedy film 13 Going on 30—added that the revised werewolf-themed Cursed now has more heart than it did before. "The first version had a lot more blood in it or a lot more action, but the second version seems like it's more of a fable, like more of a [fairy] tale," Greer said. "It seems to come from a more real place."

Greer said that each change seemed to push the film further away from its original idea and eventually altered not only the shooting schedule, but also the characters. "Everything kept getting changed, and it got to the point where the movie was completely different," she said. "In the first version, I played Scott Baio's assistant, and I was in love with him. In the second version, I'm Scott Baio's publicist, and I'm all business."

Greer said that a number of cast members' schedules simply could not be accommodated, and they were eventually excised from the final film. "Because they were having a hard time with the ending, they decided to take a little break shooting the movie for a couple of weeks, and in that time a lot of the actors—myself included—became unavailable." Greer eventually wound up in the movie,
but the actors who dropped out included Omar Epps and Skeet Ulrich, who was replaced by Joshua Jackson. The much-delayed film now has an Oct. 1 release date.

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/art-film.html?2004-04/29/14.00.film

December 21, 2003
The Scissors are taken to Skeet Ulrich

We've got a confirmation - based on what Andy Jones from E Online whispered to us the other day - Another one has bitten the dust over on Wes Craven's "Cursed." Skeet Ulrich has been cut from the film altogether. It's believed Joshua Jackson's new character, Jake, replaced Ulrich's old character, and every scene of Ulrich's character has now been excised from the film. Basically, with the film being near entirely rewritten, a few folks have had to go -- and "Scream" star Ulrich [as well as Corey Feldman] was one of them. Ulrich got the job based on his previous relationship with Director Craven, who he worked on "Scream" with. The film stars Christina Ricci, Josh Jackson, Mya, Portia De Rossi and Shannon Elizabeth. Hopefully some of these cut actors will make it onto the DVD. Or will they? Thanks to 'LucyInTheSky'

http://www.moviehole.net/news.php?newsid=2919

As of early December, it cannot fully be confirmed that Skeet Ulrich is still a star of "Cursed." The Internet Movie Database has completely removed Ulrich from the cast list (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0257516) since major changes were made in the script, and shooting began again in mid-November. However, no other source online could befound that removes him from the cast; on the contrary, he is still in the cast list from many other sources. More information
should be forthcoming as the film's release date of February 13, 2004, closes in.

This confusion comes on the heels of Miramax demanding that "Cursed"'s ending be completely redone. Subsequently, to change the ending, a complete rewrite of the script was performed, which may have eliminated the need for some characters, and has definitely eliminated the cameos of Corey Feldman and Scott Baio.

Moviehole.net (http://www.moviehole.net) had the following to say on the new additions to the cast:

Craven for more of Mya or Pacey?

Posted November 25, 2003

He might have missed out on putting on the Cowl, but former "Dawson's Creek" star and "Batman" contender Joshua Jackson has scored a near just-as-juicy gig. The actor - now preferring to go under the much-shorter, much-cooler 'Josh' - has nabbed one of the newly written male roles in the reworked Wes Craven flick "Cursed". Singer Mya has also scored a role in the film. Both Jackson and Mya were signed the same time as Portia De Rossi was. Jackson plays Jake, Mya will play Jenny. Moviehole has also been informed that Corey Feldman and Scott Baio - who were making appearances in the film as themselves - have been given the chop. The film stars Christina Ricci, Scott Foley, Skeet Ulrich and Mandy Moore plays the opening victim, in a scene very reminiscent of Drew Barrymore's cameo in "Scream", we're also informed.

As for why the film's ending had to be scrapped, Filmjerk.com posted a review of the original script recently
(http://www.filmjerk.com/nuke/article692.html) which included this information: "Warning: I'm going to spoil the ending now. It seems that our friend Kevin [Williamson, "Cursed"'s screenwriter] has even stolen his own unique ending.
The original "Scream" had *gasp* two killers; in 1996, that was considered a genius twist. No one saw that coming. Now 7 years later, it's a bit overdone. That movie sadly spawned dozens of copycat productions with over hyped
"twists." (Three killers! The supposed dead guy! The girlfriend! The supposed dead guy and his son!) So we have two evil werewolves for the price of one. All right, that doesn't sound so bad actually. But wait, there's more. What if one of them was... SCOTT BAIO? Not a character played by Scott Baio, but Baio playing himself. Frigging Chachi is the big bad baddie."

This ending will now wind up on the cutting room floor.

August 5, 2003
'Cursed' foiled, but temporarily

Audiences waiting on edge for Wes Craven's latest directorial effort, "Cursed," may end up cursing the film's distributor, Dimension Films. According to sources close to the production -- described as a modern, hip twist on the classic werewolf tale -- Dimension last month put "Cursed" on an extended hiatus with four weeks left on the shooting schedule. A Dimension spokesperson said the hiatus was planned and concerned the addition of special effects because the filmmakers brought in more fx than originally planned as the film shot. But sources further indicated that top executives at the Miramax Films genre arm weren't happy with the film's ending or how the special effects were progressing, specifically the look of the film's lead lupine. The project was then put back into a "development phase," during which all parties could agree on the final outcome, sources said. "Cursed" began production in March. A source said Monday that all the kinks have now been worked out on "Cursed," and a September restart is being eyed. It is unclear whether this might cause any problems with the availability of crew members or finding dates that would work for the film's ensemble cast, which includes Christina Ricci, Skeet Ulrich, Shannon Elizabeth, Omar Epps and Scott Foley. The project -- penned by Kevin Williamson, who also is producing with longtime Craven collaborator Marianne Maddalena -- was originally scheduled for a release this month when Dimension announced it last year (HR 10/16). (Ian Mohr and Chris Gardner) http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/film/brief_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1948322

Nov. 17, 2003
'Cursed' again: Craven film back on

NEW YORK -- Wes Craven's "Cursed" will be back up and running this week, with Portia de Rossi added to a cast that includes Christina Ricci, Skeet Ulrich, Omar Epps, Shannon Elizabeth and Scott Foley. The actress, who stars in the Fox series "Arrested Development" from Imagine Television, will appear in the film's opening sequence, the specifics of which are being kept under wraps. The Dimension Films project -- from the "Scream" team of Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson -- was put on an extended hiatus during the summer so the filmmakers could plan for more special effects than originally anticipated and further develop the ending. (Ian Mohr)
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/film/brief_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=2030083