Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Biopic About Soccer Legend Pele Is in the Works
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Joss Whedon Officially Sealed to Direct and Write 'The Avengers' Sequel
Celebrity Birthdays - August 7, 2012
Happy Birthday to: Actress Charlize Theron (1975) Actor Eric Johnson (1979) Actor Cirroc Lofton (1978) British DJ Samantha Ronson (1977) Actor Hans Matheson (1975) Actor Chico Benymon (1974)...
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Lamb of God's Randy Blythe Thanks Fans for Support, Promises to 'Act With Honor'
Monday, August 6, 2012
Damon Lindelof Talks Candidly About 'Prometheus' Creation, Release and Reception
Despite his huge commercial success, massive fan base and seemingly super-heroic ability to take criticism, Damon Lindelof is only human. The co-creator of Lost and co-writer of Prometheus hears a lot of negative comments about his work and, in a new interview, admits that it gets to him. He also admits that high-concept, sometimes ambiguous projects are the kind of stuff he loves and he wants the fans to engage with. So it goes with the territory.
Lindelof spoke to the Wall Street Journal about these things and more in specific relation to the semi-chilly online reaction to Prometheus. He reveals that he was one of the leading voices behind the viral marketing component of the film and believes the online reception of a film is extremely important, even if the studios haven't yet taken that into consideration. He also comments on some "errors" in the film and more. Read excerpts after the jump.
The below quotes come from an interview with the SpeakEasy blog at the Wall Street Journal, which primarily focuses on the conception and production of the three major viral components to Prometheus: The Weyland TED Talk, David 8 Android commercial and Elizabeth Shaw video blog. Here are some of the other highlights after that.
On whether or not Michael Fassbender, or he, got paid for this additional work:
I can only answer for myself and presume they didn't pay Michael anything additional. I looked at it this way: Part of my job, what I get paid for, is promoting the movie and the Writer's Guild is probably going to get mad at me for saying this, but that's just the way I looked at it. Since I pitched it, I wanted to do it and Fox said yes, they were putting money out there to make this thing. I looked at it as a couple of extra scenes I was doing for "Prometheus" that would be on a small screen. I do think that in the future my agent will probably negotiate bumps for additional content that are not going to be on the screen. But you have to look at it as a freebie when you are trying to do something new and cool.
On fans dissecting the film in excruciating detail:
My feeling is: this is what I signed up for. I am driven and captivated and interested in these open-ended stories that have a high level of interpretation to them. There's a certain level of frustration that comes with that package. So, when I was involved in the movie just looking at tiny little effects, naming planets and star systems, you have to be responsible. Charlize [Theron] has a line in the movie where she says, "I wouldn't be half a billion miles away from every man on earth if I wanted to get laid." And Neil deGrasse Tyson [the well-known astrophysicist] came out said "This would put her somewhere in the neighborhood of Jupiter, when they are much, much further out." I chose not to say anything because the line was intentional. It had been dinged before we even shot it. But we stuck by it for reasons I don't feel like discussing.
On the seemingly "flubbed" line of dialogue, where Fassbender's android says "2 years, 4 months, 18 days, 36 hours, 15 minutes" (emphasis mine):
The "36 hours" line has been burning a hole in my side because I wasn't there on the day they shot it. I don't know if it was an ad-lib by Michael or an idea by Ridley, that wasn't the line that we wrote. So when people contact me and say "Explain this. Is it a glitch in David?" I have to say "I can't take responsibility for this." So, I do think in terms of fair play with the audience, Twitter is a medium for me to say "I can't come out now and bullshit you." God forbid somebody pulls the script one day and sees that line is not even in the script. So I have to be honest.
On why he engages and responds to negativity on Twitter:
I am amused if somebody says something cleverly negative about it. The mean negatives, there is nothing pleasant about that experience whatsoever for me. I try to not address it unless it's so horrible that I feel the need to tell everybody who follows me, "Just so you know, there are people out there who says this." If somebody says something positive it's something I want to keep to myself.
On whether viral content can help a film's box office:
I think that tracking is very rudimentary. It's "Are you aware of this? And if you are aware of this, how strongly do you want to see it?" What it doesn't take into account is the zeitgeist construct. Take something like "Ted."
Friday, August 3, 2012
'Ghostbusters 3' Moving Forward Without Bill Murray
Bill Murray has officially pulled out of the Ghostbusters sequel, according to his co-star Dan Aykroyd. After months of negotiations, the Canadian actor has revealed Murray will not be returning a...
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Thursday, August 2, 2012
Marvel's 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Gets a Rewrite; Team Line-Up Clarified
Phase Two of the development of the Marvel Cinematic Universe begins with Iron Man 3, which shot this summer, and continues with Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Solider.
But while the first phase led to the blockbuster team-up movie The Avengers, this second wave heads out into space for something a little more strange. Guardians of the Galaxy, oft-mentioned by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige as a project the company hoped to tackle, will be released in 2014, and the company is moving forward with a rewrite of the existing script.
THR announces that three-time Black List screenwriter Chris McCoy is
going to rewrite the "space adventure movie" for Marvel. The three scripts of McCoy's that landed on the annual list of popular unproduced screenplays are: Get Back (200); Good Looking (2009); and Good Kids (2011). The trade cites McCoy's "quirky comedic bent," which will almost certainly be an asset when trying to adapt the story of a patched-together team of characters that includes a talking raccoon and a sentient tree.
The previous script was by Nicole Perlman, who came up in Marvels' writer's program, and wrote two real-life space-themed films, about Neil Armstrong and the Space Shuttle Challenger.
THR also clarifies just which team we'll see, for those who couldn't visually ID the characters (above) when concept art was released at Comic Con:
Drax The Destroyer, a human resurrected as a green warrior with the sole purpose of killing Thanos (the villain in the Avengers final scene tease); Groot, a giant tree-man; Star-Lord, a gun-toting half-human/half-alien inter-galactic vigilante; Rocket Raccoon, a genetically engineered animal with a knack for guns and explosives; and Gamora, the last survivor of her species who was saved by Thanos to be his assassin but now battles him.
The Avengers succeeded in part because the team was made up of characters that Marvel had intriduced to audiences over a period of a couple years — even those who don't know much about the source material were able to go into the film with an idea of how the heroes were going to interact, and how they might clash.
Guardians of the Galaxy is a different beast altogether, or so it seems at this point. While we might get a few more clues to the characters in Marvel's upcoming films, the studio is now looking like it will attempt to create a very unusual team lineup with characters few audiences know, fighting a villain who has to date been seen only in a couple brief shots, and who most people would also be at a loss to identify.
Risky stuff, but that's also what makes it interesting and potentially exciting. I have no idea what to expect from this one, and I can understand those who are already projecting doom for the film, saying it sounds too much like Green Lantern. But many people thought The Avengers was going to fail, too, and it did exactly the opposite, in spectacular fashion. For reasons mentioned above it's too early to assume the same fate for Guardians, but I like seeing Marvel take another huge leap.
- Superhero Bits: Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, Dark Knight Rises, Avengers, X-Men First Class 2, Guardians of the Galaxy
- 'Guardians of the Galaxy,' 'Thor: The Dark World' and 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' Titles Announced From Marvel [Comic-Con 2012]
- Marvel's 2014 Mystery Movie Moves Back Three Months; Does This Confirm 'Guardians Of The Galaxy'?
- 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' Will Likely Be Marvel's Second 2014 Movie
- Superhero Bits: Dark Knight Rises, Ant-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, Iron Man 3, Amazing Spider-Man
- Listen: An In-depth Look The Future of the Marvel Movie Universe
A Battle For Suri's Affection? Katie Holmes' Friend Claims Tom Cruise Spoils Daughter
Katie Holmes could be worried that Tom Cruise is trying to sway his daughter, Suri, from her mother. Reports say Cruise has taken advantage of his time with his daughter, whisking her away on luxur...
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Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Jennifer Lopez & Casper Smart Threaten Tabloids With Legal Action Over Massage Parlor Reports
Lawyers representing Jennifer Lopez and Casper Smart have sent letters to In Touch Weekly and Star magazine demanding that the two publications print retractions to articles they published about Sm...
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ArtsBeat: 'Vertigo' Tops Sight and Sound Poll of Greatest Films
"Citizen Kane" held the top position for 50 years.
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