Posts

Casting Notes: Dwayne Johnson Replaces Clive Owen In Protection; Leslie Mann And Kate Bosworth In Goodnight Moon; Emma Roberts Does Homework By Russ Fischer/April 22, 2010 8:36 am EST The ‘special forces soldier versus Mexican gangs’ action film Protection has gone through a lot of changes. Originally to be directed by Simon West, the film got a new director in District 13: Ultimatum helmer Patrick Alessandrin. Paul Walker was originally the lead, then he was replaced by Clive Owen....

Cool Stuff: 600 Hanna-Barbera Characters Size Comparison Infographic By Peter Sciretta/Sept. 1, 2010 3:00 pm EST Earlier this year, we posted a couple awesome infographic created by Chilean-based graphic designer Juan Pablo Bravo showing “100 pixar characters” and “250 characters from Walt Disney Animated Films” with their estimated sizes. Today Bravo has posted another follow-up, featuring 600 different Hanna-Barbara characters, from 1957’s Ruff and Reddy to 1998’s The Powerpuff Girls. Excluded repeats and new versions of some se All of the character are drawn to scale, shown grouped by television series in chronological order, with their respective names in english and spanish....

Farrelly Brothers Want Cher To Play A Nun In ‘The Three Stooges’ By Russ Fischer/Feb. 16, 2011 4:30 pm EST The LA Times talked to the directors, who praised Cher as they talked about wanting her for the role. (“Cher is just the coolest chick ever. It’s hard to describe. You meet a lot of celebrities in our business. We’re not cowed by many of them. But Cher is bawdy, she’s fun, she’s cool, she’s lived a life, she’s got experience, she’s humble....

Final ‘The Hunger Games’ Poster Flares Up By Russ Fischer/Jan. 19, 2012 7:58 pm EST I’m not sure why we ever accept it when a studio says that a poster or trailer release is the final one; lately that is rarely the case. Regardless, here’s the latest, and yes, perhaps final poster for The Hunger Games. It features a nice close-up of Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone, X-Men: First Class) as heroine Katniss Everdeen, with her bow drawn and ready....

By Russ Fischer/Nov. 29, 2011 5:00 pm EST The question about actors qualifying for Oscar when performing under layers of makeup and prosthetics goes back years. The conversation has intensified in recent years with the rise of motion-capture technology, and since Andy Serkis helped incarnate Gollum in The Lord of the Rings there has been a push to give Academy recognition to actors, specifically Serkis, who aren’t directly seen on screen....

Javier Bardem Offered Starring Role In New James Bond Film By David Chen/Jan. 30, 2011 3:32 pm EST Javier Bardem has been pretty unstoppable this week. In the past 7 days alone, Bardem has received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and been offered a lead role in Ron Howard’s Dark Tower adaptation. On top of all that, we’ve now learned that Bardem has been offered a starring role in the 23rd James Bond film....

Lasse Hallström Takes Over Bill Condon’s Salmon Fishing In The Yemen; McGregor And Blunt Starring By Russ Fischer/May 12, 2010 8:59 pm EST Some time after that, Bill Condon came aboard the project to direct. But his new responsibilities on Breaking Dawn preclude making the picture. So he’s been replaced by Lasse Hallström. A bit more exciting than that is the cast: Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt and Kristin Scott Thomas....

Len Wiseman Promises ‘Total Recall’ Remake Will Include A Three-Breasted Woman By Angie Han/Aug. 2, 2011 4:30 pm EST We’ve been following the Total Recall remake for a few years now, wondering what to expect from the retooled adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s short story. We’ve already covered some of the differences between Len Wiseman’s new version and Paul Verhoeven’s 1990 film, but a new interview has surfaced indicating that at least one key aspect will stay the same: the new Total Recall will most definitely include an appearance by a three-breasted woman, just as the original Total Recall did....

LOL: Lost Alternative Ending By Peter Sciretta/June 16, 2010 11:00 am EST What if I told you that the ending of the Lost finale was not the only ending filmed for the series? …That Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse wrote a completely alternative ending to the series? Okay, well, it isn’t true. The three “alternative endings” that Damon and Carlton premiered on the Jimmy Kimmel show is as close to we’ll ever get from official sources....

MGM Approved For Bankruptcy; Composer Says ‘Bond 23’ Back On By Germain Lussier/Dec. 2, 2010 1:00 pm EST Among the projects the company is believed to have prioritized once their business is fully operational is the 23rd James Bond film, which had been postponed indefinitely. In fact, composer David Arnold told one magazine that the film is officially back on. Read more about all of this after the jump. All of the economics of the MGM deal are pretty complicated, with various people lending money, getting money and if you are interested in the ins and outs of it, Variety has a good write up as does The Wrap....

Mini-Reviews Of The Disturbing Drama ‘Michael’ And Sort-Of-Sex-Comedy ‘Boys On The Run’ [Fantastic Fest 2011] By Germain Lussier/Sept. 28, 2011 10:00 am EST Somehow, with only two full days left at Fantastic Fest, I’d avoided movies that were about sex. That was remedied on Tuesday as I saw two films that have wildly different takes on the subject in Michael and Boys on the Run. Michael is a German film by Markus Schleinzer about a normal, down to earth guy who also keeps a young boy trapped in his basement....

New Images: Robert Pattinson And Sarah Gadon In David Cronenberg’s ‘Cosmopolis’ By Russ Fischer/Nov. 8, 2011 12:00 pm EST Most of us haven’t yet had a chance to see David Cronenberg’s new movie A Dangerous Method, but the director is already wrapping up yet another film: an adaptation of the Don DeLillo novel Cosmopolis. Robert Pattinson stars in the film as a young billionaire whose journey across Manhattan over the course of a day proves… eventful, at the very least....

Now Lionsgate Is Remaking ‘American Psycho;’ Screenwriter Hired For New Version By Russ Fischer/Dec. 8, 2011 11:00 am EST We’ve heard rumblings and now the threat is real: Lionsgate is developing a new film based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel American Psycho. The studio has just hired Noble Jones to write the script. Jones seems at first like an unknown quantity, as his few IMDB credits include second-unit director on part of The Social Network, and shooting and directing the doc 10 Days Out: Blues From the Backroads....

Philip Seymour Hoffman Confirmed As Plutarch Heavenbee In ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’ By Germain Lussier/July 9, 2012 9:30 am EST They should retitle it “casting fire,” am I right? The Francis Lawrence-directed sequel The Hunger Games: Catching Fire just got some serious Oscar clout as Philip Seymour Hoffman has accepted the role of Head Gamemaker Plutarch Heavensbee, a role for which he was previously rumored. He joins the stellar returning cast, along with new addition Jena Malone, for the film which starts shooting this fall....

POTD: Filming The Empire Strikes Back’s Opening Crawl By Peter Sciretta/May 19, 2010 1:47 am EST The above photo was released in Maxim Magazine’s May issue which featured rare behind the scenes photos from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. So now we know how that opening crawl was created… And here are a couple of other cool photos from the article: via: StarWars POTD: Filming The Empire Strikes Back’s Opening Crawl...

The JustifiedCast S3E01 - The Gunfighter (GUEST: Myles McNutt From AV Club) By David Chen/Jan. 18, 2012 9:03 pm EST The JustifiedCast is a weekly recap podcast featuring reflections, theories, praise, nitpicking, and wanton speculation about the FX show Justified. In the very first episode of The JustifiedCast, David Chen chats with Myles McNutt from AV Club and Cultural Learnings about Justified’s season premiere, “The Gunfighter.” E-mail us and let us know what you thought of the episode, as well as of the podcast, at justifiedcast@gmail....

Todd Phillips’ Secret Comedy Project X Is Revealed By Peter Sciretta/April 20, 2010 3:02 pm EST For a while now we’ve been hearing about Todd Phillips and Joel Silver’s super secret low-budget, hard-R comedy movie which is being referred to as Project X. The project is set-up at Warner Bros with a $12 million budget. Phillips is working as ‘producer and creative godfather’ for commercial turned first time feature film director Nima Nourizadeh, and even the casting process is a bit of a mystery....

Transformers Producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura Buys Action/Comedy Pitch Based On The Hunchback Of Notre Dame By Russ Fischer/July 12, 2010 10:26 am EST With the recent fixation on making big budget action-oriented versions of classic stories and characters like Sherlock Holmes, the Three Musketeers and Don Quixote, it should come as no surprise that one more classic has fallen into the studio mill. Paramount has bought a pitch by Willie Block and Jake Emanuel that jumps off from the story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame....

Two Rejected Concepts From Upcoming ‘Godzilla’ Film By Germain Lussier/Jan. 18, 2012 6:00 am EST When last we left development of the new, Legendary Pictures Godzilla, Monsters director Gareth Edwards was attached to direct and Max Borenstein was rewriting the script previously worked on by David Goyer and David Callaham. Edwards even stressed “Everyone involved knows what the film has to be.” This latest update confirms that. A Japanese monster magazine called G-Fan has uncovered, what they claim, are two concept designs from the film that were reportedly rejected by Legendary Pictures....

WB Fast-Tracks ‘Arthur & Lancelot,’ Kills ‘Excalibur’ Remake In The Process By Russ Fischer/July 25, 2011 3:30 pm EST Briefly: It is very possible that you’ll read of Warner Bros.’ enthusiasm for the David Dobkin script Arthur & Lancelot and give a shrug. We know little about the story, after all, other than the fact that it comes from the Wedding Crashers and The Change-Up director and is a contemporary retelling of the Arthurian legend....