David Fincher, director of such masterpieces as “Zodiac,” “Fight Club” and “Se7en,” is taking his name off of a “Black Hole” remake. This should come as no surprise to those who know Fincher has agreed to direct an American version of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and could easily stay with the franchise through the next two titles in the series. With “Girl” keeping him busy, Fincher will not be entering “The Black Hole,” so Pajiba.com reports that the producers will begin looking for a new director.

Also seeking another helmer is Spyglass Entertainment’s remake of David Cronenberg’s “The Brood.” Breck Eisner, who recently directed “The Crazies,” no longer is attached to direct, according to Pajiba.com.

In the same story, it’s reported that “The Hangover” screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott Moore are shopping their new script, called “21 and Over” to directors. Maybe they can pitch Eisner? The movie follows two college seniors who get their buddy wasted on his 21st birthday and embark on a journey through the University of Boulder before getting their friend to a med school exam the next morning.

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BY SEAN O’CONNELL

Hollywood is a busy town. Movers bump into shakers on their way to the next power meeting. You have to move quickly if you want to keep up.

HollywoodNews.com is here to help. Our interview feature, “Hollywood In Five,” showcases the creative individuals responsible for the movies we love, and corners them for five quality minutes. Or, at least, as close to 5 minutes as we can manage!

Click here to listen to our interview with “The Crazies” director Breck Eisner.

Breck Eisner, son of Hollywood executive Michael Eisner, cut his teeth directing psychological thrillers (2003’s “Thoughtcrimes”) and big-budget, tentpole vehicles (“Sahara,” with Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz). This weekend, audiences will see a different side of the storyteller as he tackles a stripped-down, chilled-to-the-bone adaptation of George A. Romero’s 1973 horror fave, “The Crazies.”

The film follows the denizens of a quiet, Midwestern farm community who must fight for their survival once a toxin in the water turns townfolk into malicious zombies. Eisner spoke to HollywoodNews.com on his way to the airport on the day his movie hits theaters.

- Overture Lets Loose Crazy Comics, Games

- A night to remember for “The Crazies”

BY ROBERT W. WELKOS

The invitation came from the “Pierce County Gazette” and read:

Dear Friend,

“I received your message and am relieved to hear you will be meeting me at 4401 Sunset Boulevard on Wednesday, February 24th, to witness THE CRAZIES.”

For security reasons, people receiving the invitation were told to arrive between 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., to bring their photo ID, and “security is tight and only authorized vehicles will be allowed to enter the quarantine zone.”

The invitation also came with a warning: “Please keep this information confidential. Only your names have been submitted for processing. No personal cameras are permitted and will be confiscated.”

It was signed: “Samuel O. Simpson, Staff Writer.”

What people attending the screening found was a scene that won’t soon be forgotten.

Paul Degarabedian, the box office analyst at Hollywood.com, said the first thing he noticed that made him nervous was pulling into the parking lot at KCET television studios in Los Feliz and noticing guys in military uniforms. In the minutes that followed he realized that everything that would happen to him that night would be scripted “from actors playing roles from the film, to the sounds of choppers flying overhead and sirens whaling and red lights flashing” all to promote Overture Films’ new horror film, “The Crazies.”

When it comes to promotion, Degarabedian said, it was one of the most fun “and crazy” screenings and after-parties he has ever attended.

The first sign that something was odd, he recalled, was driving into the parking area at KCET and seeing men in military uniforms.

“The guy shined a flashlight in my eyes and on my (invitation),” Degarabedian said. He was very abrupt. Then he asked me, “Have you had any water to drink today?” I didn’t know this, but I gave the right answer. I said, “No, sir, I didn’t drink any water.?”

In the film, directed by Breck Eisner, a toxin in the water begins to turn the residents of Ogden Marsh, Iowa, into violent psychopaths and it’s the job of Sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant) to make sense of the situation while he, his wife (Radha Mitchell) and two other unaffected townspeople band together in a fight for survive. The military quarantines the whole town.

After parking his car, Degarabedian said, he and others invited to the screening were told to get wristbands and then were herded onto buses with blacked-out widows. A soldier was yelling at them: “Move along! Get on the bus!”

“They don’t take us to the theater,” he continued. “Instead, we have to get out and walk through the neighborhood with a military escort.” All the time, the soldiers are barking “Move along! Move along!”

Before entering the theater, the moviegoers had to go through a gauntlet of military personnel. Red lights were flashing and the sounds of sirens and helicopters blared throughout the Los Feliz neighborhood..

“There were people dressed up as patients who were on gurneys,” he said. “They were screaming for help.”

At one point, the moviegoers were met by a doctor who checked their ears trying to take their temperatures.

Inside the Vista Theater, where the screening took place, the audience was given popcorn and soda, but before the movie started, actors in military garb paraded up and down the aisles with flashlights announcing that everyone had been cleared for quarantine.

Then the PA announced: “You have been cleared for quarantine.”

“Then a bunch of military guys ran down the aisle and dragged somebody kicking and screaming out of the theater,” Degarabedian said, noting it was obviously scripted.

“I love it!” he said.

Degarabedian said he has been going to Hollywood premieres and screenings for many years and rarely has he been treated to such an over-the-top promotion.

“The age of showmanship is kind of dead,” he said. “The last great screening I attended was ‘Harry Potter’ in New York last year.”

But “The Crazies” equaled or topped that experience.

The after-party was equally macabre.

Guests entered the party and the first thing they saw was a real woman hanging by her neck from a wooden beam.

Degarabedian said she was an actor in a harness, but still the sight of her was eerie.

Spread around the party were costumes from the film, including blood-soaked shirts.

“The experience was like you’re living inside the movie,” he said. “It was really cool.”

Degarabedian said Breck Eisner’s father, former Disney Chairman Michael Eisner, attended the after-party.

And the movie was an enjoyable as the scripted events, the box office analyst said.

“The movie was good, really solid,” he said.

“The Crazies” opens wide on Friday.

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