Luckily for Tom Cruise, the latest rumors surrounding him have nothing to do with Valkyrie -- for once, there's some good news for the much-maligned movie star (a round of applause, please, if you will). Yesterday, Moviehole confirmed reports that Cruise is in talks to star as the US president in Philip Noyce's DC thriller, 28th Amendment -- and according to their sources, an official announcement will be made as soon as the paperwork has been completed.
Cruise would star opposite Denzel Washington as President Ben Cahill. Tom Cruise as President? Really? Plot follows the adventures of a commander-in-chief who learns that he has no real sway at the White House after uncovering a secret organization (run by Washington) that has been the 'power behind the throne' since WWII. Unfortunately for Cahill, this group has no qualms about bumping off presidents (grassy knoll, anyone?) and as he starts to put the pieces together, he becomes the next target -- which will probably give Cruise plenty of opportunities to show off that run of his.
Other than the official videos released by Zack Snyder, it has been shockingly quiet on the Watchmen front. (And if you missed the videos, there's one on set design and one on costuming so far.) It was, unsurprisingly, a tight set. Those who visited (ahem) still aren't allowed to publish anything about it.
While watching the two behind-the-scenes videos thus far, I saw all those extras and wondered "How the heck did they keep them all quiet?" Well, they didn't. One of them has been sending quiet reports to Comic Related throughout production -- and the amount of stuff she knows is incredible. I'm amazed this has been lurking in a corner of the Internet and no one noticed. She was an extra during many a crucial scene -- and she has written the first description of Billy Crudup's performance as Doc Manhattan.
Her latest post features numerous photos, and a map, illustrating the sets. Start there and work your way backward. Now that this is hitting the wider Internet, it may be yanked, so enjoy it while you can. Those who have not read the graphic novel may want to avoid it, as it's full of spoilers. Those who have, and are worried about Snyder's handling of the material, will find many an answer here. If you too want to see the movie fresh, I will save your innocence and assure you of one thing -- the ending remains unchanged.
Gotta love those fan-friendly filmmakers. Next Saturday the Hobbit-makers (Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro) will participate in an online Q&A session -- and you'vewe've been invited to contribute some queries! Got a question about the cast? The second film? SMAUG??!? Then make sure you're signed up in advance, and get your question(s) ready!
ComingSoon.net tipped me off first, but you can see a full invitation from Mr. Jackson right here. Here's a snip: "We ask all fans with an interest in The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings to send one question to this website. Ask us anything! Guillermo and I will select and answer the 20 most common questions, so we can both attempt to address the key issues as best we can ... In addition to answering your 20 questions -- for the entire hour we'll take additional live questions and chat about the projects with anyone who's interested."
(Dramatic pause)
ANYONE WHO'S INTERESTED? Holy macaroni, my geek-meter just overheated. Hell, I don't even need to ask a question (anything I'd want to know would probably be covered by a smarter geek than me), but I cannot WAIT to read the transcription of this chat session. Ugh, I can't believe we have to wait over two years for this Hobbit movie, but what sweet torture it is.
Joel Silver thinks he will, and he would probably know. Silver gave a long interview with Moriarty over at AICN, where the long and torturous road of Sgt. Rock was brought up. And the answer was surprisingly optimistic: "I'm going to make that. I'm going to make that very soon. With Guy Ritchie, I think." When pressed for more details, Silver would only reply with, "I hope so."
First, does anyone else think it's crazy that DC Comics would deliver a movie about a humble soldier on-screen faster than the Green Lantern or Wonder Woman? When I think of must-see DC properties, Sgt. Rock doesn't come to mind -- but that might just be me.
And if you're unfamiliar with Sgt. Rock, Wikipedia has his long and glorious WWII history. The short answer is that he is the WW2 soldier to end all soldiers, having fought in every campaign there was. Depending on who you talk to, he either died in the war or lived on to perform covert operations for the United States.
Back in January, I alerted you to writer/director Rupert Wyatt's latest film called The Trail, which was set to start shooting this spring in New Mexico. Written by Wyatt, Trail is about a few soldiers on a base in New Mexico who get led on a trail by a Native American woman to help her brother, "who has been badly hurt in mysterious circumstances." Now the film is heading into production this September, and Variety reports that two other films are getting added to the mix.
Through Paramount Vantage, he will adapt Samuel Logan's book, This Is for the Mara Salvatrucha. The book is about a girl named Brenda Paz, who was a teen member of the MS-13 gang. When she became an informant for the FBI, she was killed by fellow gang members. This should be a pretty personal account, as it's getting made with the cooperation of her court-appointed guardian, Greg Hunter, who was not only her defense attorney, but her friend.
Also up for filming is a flick at Warner Bros. called Slipping Into Darkness, which Blake Masters is adapting from Peter Blauner's novel. This one is a "cat-and-mouse thriller about a cop who, 20 years after sending a teenage to jail for life, watches him freed on a technicality."
Between informants and friendships, freed-killer thrillers, and soldiers heading into mystery, Wyatt has his hands full. In the meantime, we can wait for Think Film to release his film The Escapist, which debuted at Sundance this year.
Well, the cat is out of the bag -- all is not well over at Warner Bros. Hopefully the rocky state of affairs at WB isn't going to cause problems for their latest purchase. Variety reports that the studio has picked up Due Date, a pregnancy comedy by Alan Freedland and Alan Cohen.
The storycenters on a first-time father and burgeoning workaholic whose wife goes into labor while he is stuck hundreds of miles away in a snowstorm. The only way he can make it to the birth in time is by hitching a ride with a college student. So I can only assume that Due Date will be another one of those movies about a young man lamenting his lost youth in the face of fatherhood. I'm thinking the film will be something along the lines of She's Having a Baby, but with a dash of road movie humor thrown in for good measure.
Cohen and Freedland are two of the writer-producers of the Fox animated show, King of the Hill, and were also behind the Robert Evans cartoon, Kid Notorious. The two recently sold a comedy script to Disney with with Adam Shankman (Hairspray) lined up to direct. These two might want to stay tight with the 'Mouse', because things are starting to look a little shaky over at WB.
At the Long Beach Grand Prix, the roar of high-powered race car engines fills the air, a deep bass thrum cutting through the smell of exhaust in the early summer heat. Tens of thousands of race fans have gathered to take in the metal-and-rubber reality of racing, but in the Long Beach Convention Center, a small group of journalists have gathered to talk about a big-screen fantasy vision of the spectacle roaring around us, Cinematical was there to speak with the people behind Speed Racer: Emile Hirsch, Christina Ricci and Matthew Fox, as well as producer Joel Silver.
Emile Hirsch, relaxed and fairly amused, is asked about embodying a classic character. "It's pretty cool." He laughs; "I was a very big fan of the show growing up ... I would just watch it every morning with cereal ... sometimes soda in the cereal. ..." I then asked Hirsch if, after reading the script, he was worried about being Mark Hamill to Matthew Fox's Harrison Ford, that Speed would be out-cooled by Racer X. "Well, now I am ..." The rest of the sentence is unprintable, but Hirsch then mocked Fox's masked mystery man and spoke sincerely about Speed's virtues: "Yeah, (Racer X) is so cool ... No, no, no; Speed's got the nobility; Speed does the right thing; Speed is ... Speed's cool."
I'm very pleased that my Cinematical colleague James Rocchi both enjoyed Speed Racer and published his review before mine, and here's why: I couldn't wait for the damn thing to end. This garish, aimless film wore out its welcome (and its crayon box) after about 25 minutes, but the cinematic eyesore just kept lumbering on for two full hours. I know it's tough to keep kids still in a movie theater even when they like the movie they're watching, so I can only imagine what parents will be dealing with as Speed Racer's merciless stretches of blah-blah-blah hit the screen. Aside from three or four mega-flashy racing sequences, Speed Racer feels like the pilot episode of a Fox TV series called The Generic Family from Plastic World.
A young man named "Speed Racer" grows up to become a hot-shot car racer (imagine that), but when he refuses to sign with an evil tycoon, it kick-starts a third-act conflict that can only be solved by ... car racing! There's the whole of your plot in a nutshell, but I've left out the resoundingly clumsy flashback structure, the nominally interesting but ultimately pointless side characters, and several absurdly "emotional" moments that might have made an impact if they didn't occur on sets made entirely of bright pink styrofoam and glitter. There's also an allegedly mysterious character called Racer X, a button-cute and entirely superfluous girlfriend character, and (wedged in clumsily whenever things get dull) a mischievous little kid and his monkey sidekick.
Isn't it pretty? I'm still alarmed by the squareness of Obi-Wan's beard though, even the Clone Trooper helmets have more softness. The poster has been released to herald the debut of the trailer, which will air May 8th simultaneously on Cartoon Network, TNT, TBS, CNN and Boomerang. It will air at 7:58 in all U.S. time zones. According to the official Star Wars site (where the poster can be purchased and press release can be found), Amidala will be on the front lines alongside Anakin and Obi Wan, and we'll also be introduced to Anakin's Padawan, Ahsoka. Does it surprise anyone else they let him have a Padawan? Way to go, Jedi Academy.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars comes to the big screen on August 15th, with the premiere of Cartoon Network's weekly series debuting sometime after. With all the big summer movies this year, it's really hard to remember this is coming out too. What a geeky year.
A new month, a new video from the set of Watchmen! Zack Snyder gave this one to JoBlo for posting, and they have kindly provided an embed code so you could watch it without leaving the comfy confines of Cinematical.
This video has me seriously geeking out. It is a guided tour from costume designer Michael Wilkinson, who happily explains everything from police uniforms to the iconic outfits our heroes will be sporting. The hero costumes should help quell some of the "Oxymandias isn't gold enough!" cries that were going around, because the sketches look perfect. Nothing like the first character still.
As you may remember, I'm a costume nerd, and I can spend hours studying their construction. I would give anything to be a research gopher for someone like Wilkinson; I would live out my days happily compiling books of photos and fabric scraps. (And speaking of the designer, one of my biggest disappointments was not getting to meet him last year at ComicCon. I was under strict orders to show him the Queen Gorgo dress, and I missed him by ten minutes. Regrets!)
I am loving that first shot of what has to be Sally Jupiter -- her dress! Her hair! She's perfect. May this movie be half as good as it looks.
Well, as probably the biggest Speed Racer booster on this blog (I see the movie Tuesday night, and James's review was music to my ears), I guess it falls to me to report the bad news as well. If you believe tracking numbers -- and you might justifiably be skeptical about them (David Poland likes to hammer on the point that they don't capture the teen demographic) -- then there's good reason to think that the movie might come in a distant second to Iron Man when it hits theaters this Friday. The Hollywood Reporter's sources peg it at $25-35 million for the weekend, which would be perfect positioning for it to eat Iron Man's dust. Warner Bros.' efforts to control expectations notwithstanding, it would also be a pretty big disappointment for one of its major summer tentpoles.
I can't say I'm surprised -- as I warned a couple of weeks ago, this is an expensive brand-name release where the target audience has never heard of the brand name. As someone with a soft spot for the Wachowskis (I only abandoned ship on The Matrix after Revolutions rather than Reloaded, and one day I'll write up a defense of the latter film), I was hoping to see them return to the top of the A-list. But if we're being honest, the Hollywood Reporter's estimate seems right to me. So I'd settle for a bow that isn't embarrassing.
You know what must suck? When your big casting announcement arrives shortly after telling us that Terminator 4 will be PG-13, leaving mostly everyone with a "we give up" sort of attitude.
Variety announced that rapper Common, last seen in Street Kings and soon to be onscreen in Wanted, has joined Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin and Moon Bloodgood (a varied cast indeed) in Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins. He'll be playing a fellow freedom fighter and member of John Connor's inner circle.
Wait, has anyone in this movie not been cast as one of Connor's best friends forever? Maybe they should cast, you know, an actual terminator so they have something to fight. Although not having one would help achieve the PG-13 rating, and Connor could just rebuild society. Skip that whole War Against The Machines; it's too violent. Throw up a Wal-Mart, a Target, a Home Depot and an Olive Garden and call it a job well done.
I don't know a lot about Speed Racer aside from what I've gleaned from the theme song over the years -- apparently, the young man's a demon on wheels -- so, in many ways, I'm the best possible audience for Larry and Andy Wachowski's new big-screen interpretation of the character. Originally a Japanese animation program exported and re-dubbed for the American market in the '60s, Speed Racer has now been revived and revitalized for now. And the Wachowskis have created a blast of pure pop family fun; Speed Racer's a bright, bold visual spectacle designed for kids.
And why shouldn't it be? Or, rather, how could it not? This is a property where one of the supporting characters is, after all, a monkey; any fully-grown individual hoping for an adult action film or racing realism is looking in the wrong place. Speed Racer plays like a car-crazed visual wonder -- it looks and feels like what pop artist Roy Lichtenstein would dream if you locked him in a room full of gas fumes, gave him only candy to eat and showed him nothing but Tron, Indianapolis 500 footage, episodes of the '60s Batman TV show and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. All at the same time. With the volume very, very high.
According to Variety, Warner Bros has just picked up the rights to The Ditch, a sci-fi action spec from Sascha Penn. Penn is known as being a producer of documentaries and music videos, but now he's aiming to make his mark on the world of sci-fi shoot 'em ups.
Ditch is set in the future, where a maximum security prison has been constructed on Jupiter's moon to house Earth's worst criminals -- I mean, hey, you don't build a prison on the moon of Jupiter for credit card fraud. (Although, I would still like to see the skank who stole my wallet shipped there -- my ATM card doesn't work to this day, and all so she could spend $80.00 at McDonalds!) One unlucky day, a prison guard's family is taken hostage and in order to save them, he must help the most notorious prisoner escape.
This really sounds like something Kurt Russell or Arnold Schwarzenegger would have done back in the day, and maybe like something Vin Diesel would do today. I know I'm always harping on the fact that Hollywood doesn't pick up nearly enough original stories, and then when a new script gets snagged, I mock it (with affection, I assure you). But when it comes to the world of science fiction, there are so many brilliant novels and short stories just crying out to be adapted, and it frustrates me to see those passed over again and again. But never say never -- maybe an Escape from Jupiter's High Security Facility can give us a hero as awesome as Snake Plissken?
Near the end of last week, Defamerspread the rumor that Picturehouse, once the indie arm of New Line Cinema and currently dangling from the edge of the hulking entity known as Warner Bros., has its days numbered. Now that New Line is history and Warners, like many studios, has faced increasing cutbacks, it may give short shrift to the shingles responsible for handling artier fare. Along with Picturehouse, this also includes Warner Independent Pictures, whose recent release slate includes David Gordon Green's magnificent Snow Angels.
Defamer suggested that Picturehouse president Bob Berney might wind up at WIP or head up a new, currently anonymous company. On Friday, Variety's Anne Thompson put it in more coherent terms: It appears quite likely that WIP and Picturehouse will merge together as a single company, with current WIP president Polly Cohen working alongside Berney. Whatever happens, let's just hope that the final result still leaves room for the sharp selection of independent and foreign titles that Picturehouse has handled since its birth three years ago. Defamer points out that Marion Cotillard's unexpected Oscar win for La Vie en Rose matters less than the flop of Run, Fatboy, Run, while the John Simpson-directed horror film Amusement might get dumped on DVD. It was just last year, however, that the company helped edgy fare like The Orphanage and Rocket Science get the sort of release most studios would never try. Let's hope that bravery lives on, somewhere.
Luckily for Tom Cruise, the latest rumors surrounding him have nothing to do with Valkyrie -- for once, there's some good news for the much-maligned movie star (a round of applause, please, if you will). Yesterday, Moviehole confirmed reports that Cruise is in talks to star as the US president in Philip Noyce's DC thriller, 28th Amendment -- and according to their sources, an official announcement will be made as soon as the paperwork has been completed.
Other than the official videos released by Zack Snyder, it has been shockingly quiet on the 
Gotta love those fan-friendly filmmakers. Next Saturday the 
Joel Silver thinks he will, and he would probably know. Silver gave a long interview with Moriarty over at 
Back in January, 
Well, the cat is out of the bag -- 
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This sounds like a job for Snake Plissken.
Near the end of last week, Defamer 
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SCOOP: Spider-Man 4 and 5 Might be Shot at the Same Time!
Cinematical Seven: Disney's Awesome Live-Action Kid Adventures
