Saturday, October 31, 2009
Check Out The 'March Of The Penguins' Limited Edition Giftset
Kellan Lutz Talks First Kiss, Worst Habit, and Dream Job
A Preview of Robert Pattinson's 'How to Be' Audition Tape
Solange Knowles Parting Ways With Interscope Records
'Ghost Whisperer' and 'Medium' November 6 Previews
Video: Jimmy Fallon Spoofs Robert Pattinson for Halloween
Friday, October 30, 2009
'Eclipse': Close Up Photo of Xavier Samuels' Riley Biers
Colin Farrell Welcomes Baby Boy
World War Z and My Fair Lady: Who's On and Who's Off?
It's nothing like the merry-go-round of screenwriters but it does sometimes seem that pretty much all studio pictures go through a few directors on their way to the screen. Very often a director will board a project, wrestle with it for months, if not years, then depart. Other times, a whole list of directors will have passed pretty much as soon as they close the script and a project can find some time to find somebody willing to commit.
The last we told you, Marc Forster was going to direct zombie epic World War Z from a script by Matthew Carnahan. Some rumours bubbled up in the summer that he was off the project, but died down pretty quickly, and now word is definitely that he's very much still in the driving seat. On the other hand, our last report on Joe Wright told you that he would be directing Keira Knightley in a new version of My Fair Lady and that, it has now become clear, isn't the case at all.
World War Z is an adaptation of a novel by Max Brooks. The Washington Post today conducted an online chat with him and so, from that, here's his word on the movie:
I can tell you that Marc Forster has signed on to direct the project. I just had lunch with him a few weeks ago and he is either the world's best liar or he really wants to make this movie. Right now we're waiting for a new draft of the script. That should determine the next step in the 'development' process.
Sounds to me like Carnahan's draft is still pending, then. I know his fans will be pleased to hear Forster is still forging ahead here.
Over in the rather more gentile, less flesh-eaty realm of My Fair Lady, there's bad news for fans of Joe Wright, and straight from the horse's mouth. Screenrush tagged him on the red carpet last night, as he was off to see Nowhere Boy, and asked for some Lady details. Here's what he told them:
It's not happening. No. It's all a lie. I kind of thought about for a couple of minutes and then decided not to do it and suddenly it got into the press that I was doing it.
His reason for not taking the gig? "No reason really".
No Danny Boyle, then no Joe Wright. Who will be next British director to not sign on for My Fair Lady? Every day this film circles closer and closer to Oliver Parker…
- Matthew Carnahan Rewriting World War Z
- Keira Knightley and Joe Wright Reteaming For My Fair Lady Remake
- World War Z Concept Art
- World War Z will be a HUGE Scale Zombie Movie
- Marc Forster to Direct World War Z
- Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper Want To Join The A-Team
Roger Rabbit Sequel Being Written by the Original's Screenwriters
Robert Zemeckis has been loosening us up for a Who Framed Roger Rabbit sequel for some months now, letting slip the odd reference here and there that he's been keen to give the follow on a good crack. In April he said that he had a good idea for the second installment; on July 22nd he said he'd been discussing the film with Bob Hoskins; on July 23rd he told the Comic-Con audience that he could neither deny nor confirm any plans for a sequel.
Now he's just come out and revealed that not only is he gunning for another run at the funny Bunny, but also that writing on the new screenplay already currently underway. Purist fans of the original will probably jump for joy at his revelation on who is wielding the pen, because it's none other than the scribes of part one, Peter Seaman and Jeffrey Price.
I think that Zemeckis has now been sufficiently loose lipped that we can start to read between the lines a little. Let's rake over some of his quotes after this break.
We all know that Zemeckis is the leading proponent of performance capture cinema, in terms of output if arguably not in terms of quality. Is he planning for Roger 2 to utilise these techniques? Here's the salient quotage, pieced together from various interviews a line at a time:
I'll tell you what is buzzing around in my head now that we have the ability -the digital tools, performance capture - I'm starting to think about Roger Rabbit.
The 2D characters from the original movie will remain 2D. They will not be dimensionalized. Not to say there wont be 3D.
I'm really committed to getting this art form [performance capture] off of the ground, but of course I would [shoot live action again] and I'm never going to say never to anything, but right now though I really want to make sure that we get this out there so that younger filmmakers have these absolutely breathtaking tools that they can use.
A picture is starting to take shape, don't you think? A Roger Rabbit film that will use motion capture and 2D animation… or maybe motion capture to create the 2D animation? Wow. That'd be something a bit different from Zemeckis recent attempts to plough through the valley of the uncanny. Can't imagine how he'd approach anything like the quality of work that animators would generate, however. I love mo-cap but it's definitely not a replacement for animation.
MTV, who gathered the Seaman and Price information, are promising that they have more news to come and that they're going to roll it over the next few days. Hit teases. I'll be keeping an eye on their reports though, to see just how much more shading we can add to this sketch of Zemeckis' plans.
- Robert Zemeckis and Bob Hoskins Still Planning a Roger Rabbit Sequel?
- Robert Zemeckis Can't Confirm or Deny Roger Rabbit Sequel Rumors
- Casting Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol
- City of Ember Director to Adapt Airman with Producer Robert Zemeckis
- A Christmas Carol Japanese Trailer, With New Footage and a Ghost Story Tone
- A Christmas Carol Movie Trailer #2
Casting Notes: Cheadle and Gleeson, Witherspoon is #1, and Djimon Hounsou Works With Ong Bak Director
Here's your blast of casting bites for the end of the week. First up, Don Cheadle and Brendan Gleeson will team as unlikely cop partners in The Guard. Film follows the confrontational small-town Sgt. Gerry Boyle (Gleeson), who likes hookers and isn't interested in drug runners, and FBI Agent Everett (Cheadle) in a tale of international coke smuggling. Sounds on the surface like an Irish reversal of Beverly Hills Cop, where the small-town local guy is the irreverent jokester while the outsider is terribly straightlaced. John Michael McDonagh writes and directs. If it weren't for the cast, and the fact that it takes place in Ireland (not even sure why that's a draw) I'd be brushing this one off already. [ComingSoon]
After the break, Reese Witherspoon demonstrates the first rule and Djimon Hounsou kicks some ass.
Reese Witherspoon will produce and star in Rule #1, a tidy little dramedy about "a New York woman who befriends a Puerto Rican girl with attention deficit disorder." Script is by Terrel Seltzer, who wrote How I Got Into College and co-wrote the George Clooney movie that almost everyone has forgotten, One Fine Day. Get excited for this one. No? OK, I can see that. [THR]
Finally, and I wish we knew a lot more about this one, Djimon Hounsou will be working with Ong Bak and Chocolate director Prachya Pinkaew on the film White Elephant. Hounsou will be an assassin hired to avenge the murder of a businessman's daughter at the hands of white slave traders. The film will shoot in Bangkok in March. Prachya Pinkaew and Ong Bak choreographer Panna Rittikrai also have the english-language film City of Angels in development. That one was just announced a week or so ago, so we'll see which of the two goes into production first. [Variety]
- Don Cheadle Talks About War Machine in ET Set Visit Clip
- New Iron Man 2 Photos
- First Look: Don Cheadle and Sam Rockwell in Iron Man 2
- Harrison Ford Earned Almost 2.5 Times More Than The Top Earning Actress in 2008
- Used Guys Refit Looking Very Good
- First Look: Don Cheadle as Rhodey in Iron Man 2
Video: Miley Cyrus Wants Twitter to Be Banned From the Universe
First Look: Padma Lakshmi on '30 Rock'
'Table for 12' to Replace 'Jon and Kate Plus 8'
Cool Stuff: Admiral Ackbar Obama Parody T-Shirt
I know the Fairey Obama parody art has been overdone, but TeeFury has done it again with another awesome one-day-only t-shirt print. Tom Ledin created this Admiral Ackbar (Star Wars) / Barack Obama mash-up titled "TRAP". As always, the t-shirts will only be on sale until midnight, and are available for only $9 plus shipping (not a bad price). See the full design in higher resolution after the jump.
Cool Stuff is a daily feature of slashfilm.com. Know of any geekarific creations or cool products which should be featured on Cool Stuff? E-Mail us at orfilms@gmail.com.
- LOL: George Lucas Tells House Subcommittee That Barack Obama is Obviously a Jedi
- LOL: Obi-Wan's Mos Eisley Tourism Video
- Cool Stuff: Darth Tut T-Shirt
- LOL: President Obama and His Lightsaber
- VOTD: Stormtroopers Will "Never Forget"
- Star Tours 2 Trailer
First Official Promo of 'Lost' Season 6
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Introducing a New /Film Podcast: The Tobolowsky Files, Episode 1 - Sex, Death, and Halloween
I love a well-told story.
That's why I really enjoyed a small film called Stephen Tobolowsky's Birthday Party (hereafter abbreviated as STBP) which made the rounds at many film festivals a few years ago. The film features a series of short stories, as told by legendary character actor Stephen Tobolowsky on the anniversary of his birth. The stories are funny, profound, and moving, and many of them stay with me to this day. In his lifetime, Tobolowsky has had some pretty wild and crazy adventures, not to mention the fact that he's worked with directors like Paul Verhoeven, Harold Ramis, Christopher Nolan, and Spike Jonze, just to name a few.
Deep in my heart, I knew that even with STBP out there, Tobolowsky probably still had a bunch of great stories tucked away in the recesses of his memory. So, shortly after one of his recent appearances on the /Filmcast, I pitched Stephen the idea of recording more of his stories and releasing them in podcast form in an effort at continuing to promote the STBP DVD. Stephen agreed.
Thus, it gives me great pleasure to present to you the first episode of the Tobolowsky Files! The Tobolowsky Files is a new podcast from the people who brought you the /Filmcast, featuring a series of stories about life, love, and the entertainment industry, as told by Stephen Tobolowsky. In this very first episode, Stephen recalls stories about Halloweens past, along with their attendant sexiness, fun, humiliation, and danger.
You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Let us know what you think of the show, and whether you'd like these episodes to be included in the /Filmcast feed!
You can Download the Episode or Play Now in your Browser:
Subscribe to the /Filmcast and The Tobolowsky Files:
[Note: If you already subscribe to the /Filmcast, the Tobolowsky Files episodes will automatically appear in your subscription feed]
- /Filmcast Ep. 72 - Where the Wild Things Are (GUEST: Stephen Tobolowsky from Glee)
- The /Filmcast Commentary - Groundhog Day (GUEST: Stephen Tobolowsky)
- The /Filmcast: After Dark - Ep. 35 - Groundhog Day Blu-Ray and Stephen's IMDB Trivia Page (GUEST: Stephen Tobolowsky)
- /Filmcast Ep. 35 - Towelhead (GUEST: Stephen Tobolowsky)
- Tonight at 9 PM EST / 6 PM PST on the /Filmcast: The Return of Stephen Tobolowsky!
- Stephen Tobolowsky Re-Enacts/Reviews "The Matrix Reloaded"
The Lost Cut of Metropolis To Play at the Berlinale
Finally, after over a year of me holding my breath and wishing big chunks of my life away, the restoration has been completed and the full, original cut of Fritz Lang's Metropolis is nearing it's re-premiere. Of course, I won't be there to see it, and chances are you won't be either, but at least we know that widespread distribution is approaching fast.
The re-premiere is to take place during the 2010 Berlinale. The gala screening on February 12 next year is to take place at the Friedrichstadtspalast while a parallel event will see the film screened at the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, both with live performances of the original score.
This long-lost version of the film was discovered in Buenos Aires last year. After the break is a step-by-step of the amazing chain of events that led to it being found again.
This is one heck of an odd series of transfers and passes, but here we go:
- Adolfo Z. Wilson of Terra Film distribution arranged for Argentinian screenings of the film in 1928.
- Somehow, the reels ended up in the posession of film critic Manuel Peña Rodríguez.
- Peña Rodríguez sold the film reels to Argentina's National Art Fund in the 1960s.
- They became the property of the Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires in 1992, and were archived.
- In January 2008, Paula Félix-Didier became curator of the Museo del Cine. She and her husband took a look at the film and saw, for the first time in some 70-odd years, the fabled missing scenes.
- Paula Félix-Didier and her husband did Walter Huston's dance from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Probably.
Immediately word began to spread that this new footage was actually essential to understanding the film, and several key plot points would now be seen in a new light. How exciting is that? Finally we'll know how a human woman and a robot could be caught up in a case of mistaken identity.
The Local, a German news source that comes also offered in English, report that Transit Film GmbH be responsible for distributing the newly restored cut, though I'm reckoning they'll be shifting the international distribution rights to different agents in different locales.
Back at the time of the original news break, Aint it Cool ran some great images from the missing scenes. I've gotten by on this little for over a year, I'm sure I can last a few months more…
- Cool Stuff: Martin Ansin's Metropolis Poster
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