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Saturday, November 21
With James Cameron's epic sci-fi adventure Avatar set to hit theaters in less than a month, production crews are still rushing to complete some scenes. Producer Jon Landau told the Wall Street Journal that around 30 minutes of the movie are still not done yet, with crews working around the clock on issues from sound mixing to special effects. In part, Landau says, the 11th-hour changes are being driven by Cameron's own ever-more-exacting standards.
Every shot we get back raises the standard for what follows.
Amid all these hectic, last-minute adjustments though, one key aspect of the final edit has been locked in. Despite widespread rumors that the movie would run more than three hours, the studio is now saying that, in part due to the constraints of Imax technology, the film will clock in at a more modest 150 minutes.
Posted 11/21/2009 by Bill
Related: James Cameron | Avatar | Jon Landau
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Digital effects have become a mainstay of Hollywood action movies these days and director James McTeigue's (V for Vendetta) latest movie, Ninja Assassin, is no exception. However, in a recent interview with Coming Soon, McTeigue said that many ofthe weapons were real and that the movie's lead, Korean pop star Rain, trained "for five or six months," and that he had "incredible discipline."
Rain in the movie uses this blade and chain weapon, but when we're training him, it's with an actual martial arts weapon called the rope dart, so he trained with that so he knew how to swing it around, because then ultimately when you get into it, you need something for him to physically use. He'll use that, and the visual FX guys will put tracking markers on it, so that way, it gives the stunt guys something to react to and then we'll replace it later. But with swords and katanas and other things, sometimes we'll use bamboo painted silver for example, they're actually real sometimes.
Many critics have commented on how violent and bloody the movie is, but McTeigue said that he didn't have any problem with the MPAA ratings board.
When we submitted the movie, we said, "Look, it's really stylized." In no way is this Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer or one of those movies that's so extreme it's meant to make you feel sick. This is like a game, it is like anime, it is like a comic book. I think they saw it as that, so henceforth, they gave me an R-rating and if you look at the ratings card, it goes "For stylized violence and blood." I think they got it.
Next Showing: Ninja Assassin opens November 25
Posted 11/21/2009 by BrentJS
Related: James McTeigue | Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer | Ninja Assassin | Ji-Hoon (Rain) Jung
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Leonard Maltin sits down with John Woo to discuss the director's war epic, Red Cliff, which tells the story of a legendary civil war in early-third-century China.
With thousands of extras in its battle scenes, Red Cliff is the most-expensive production in the history of Asian movies. The movie opens as power-hungry General Cao Cao (Zhang Fengyi) seeks permission from the Han dynasty Emperor to organize a southward-bound mission designed to crush the two troublesome warlords who stand in his way, Liu Bei (Yong You) and Sun Quan (Chen Chang). Red Cliff shows the events during the end of the Han Dynasty and right before the Three Kingdoms period in ancient China.
Tune in for the Secret's Out premiere on Friday, November 27, at 6:30 PM ET/ 3:30 PM PT. Or catch one of its encore showings.
Posted 11/21/2009 by reelz
Related: Leonard Maltin's Secret's Out | John Woo | Red Cliff
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Friday, November 20
Less than two weeks ago, the first still image from the set of 30 Days of Night: Dark Days was released showing Kiele Sanchez taking over for Melissa George as Stella. 30 Days creator and Dark Days writer Steve Niles originally said that they decided to cast "slightly younger" because they hoped to make more movies based on the multitude of 30 Days graphic novels.
However, in a recent interview with Bloody Disgusting, he said that there were other issues that factored in the decision.
Schedule. The enemy of all casting. [Melissa George has] got a million gazillion things going on right now, so we couldn't fit it.
As far as plans for another film after Dark Days, possibly based on the Return to Barrow graphic novel, Niles said the main concern right now is getting Dark Days "in the can."
If that goes well, we're set up to move forward. We got a great young cast that we can bring along if this works out well, and we';ll be ready to keep going with the story. Plus, the comics are done. God, what do we have, like seven different graphic novels now if it actually took off?
30 Days of Night: Dark Days is expected to debut in 2010.
Posted 11/20/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Melissa George | 30 Days of Night | Steve Niles | 30 Days of Night: Dark Days | Kiele Sanchez
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After a notable role as Eomer in the second and third chapters in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Karl Urban went on to star in the ill-fated Pathfinder, Marcus Nispel's Vikings-versus-Native Americans action film.
Urban followed up his little-seen Pathfinders starring role with the supporting role of Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in J.J. Abrams' revamped Star Trek, a role that promised to put him back in the spotlight. However, Abrams' film focused primarily on the relationship between James T. Kirk (played by Chris Pine) and Spock (Zack Snyder), rather than on the the Kirk-Spock-Bones trinity that served as the basis for the original series. In a recent interview with IGN, Urban said that he hopes that his role gets beefed up for Star Trek 2, if only to pay homage to the original.
The structure [of the new film] wasn't really the traditional triumvirate that you've seen on the television show. It was really more a movie about establishing everybody. I certainly hope that [screenwriters] Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and J.J. continue to strengthen and evolve those characters into those directions.
I would love to play scenes being essentially Kirk's moral compass or point of conscience. The way McCoy was written, he really sort of verbalized the war going on in Kirk's conscience, and I certainly would love to see more arguments of passion versus logic with Spock because they're always fun.
Urban also offered his opinion on the direction the second Star Trek film should take.
I think the challenge is to come up with the most important mission, the mission that literally tears these people apart. The mission that is the definitive Trek mission. We have to come up with something akin to a Dark Knight or The Empire Strikes Back. Something like that.
Urban recently shot And Soon the Darkness, which is in post-production, and is currently filming Priest.
Posted 11/20/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Chris Pine | Roberto Orci | J.J. Abrams | Alex Kurtzman | The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | Pathfinder | Star Trek | Karl Urban | Star Trek 2 | Zachary Quinto
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With Silent Hill 2 starting producition in 2010, more details about the sequel are emerging. ShockTillYouDrop spoke to Silent Hill producer Don Carmody about what is lined up for the sequel, which Carmody says will be different from its predecessor.
I think we need to make it a little more accessible to the movie-going public. Silent Hill is not a blockbuster game like Resident Evil or the other games out there. It's a connoisseurs' game. It has its own, rabid fan base. They're not cheap, these things. You have to appeal not only to the gamers, you have to appeal to a wider audience. So we have to get some story in there that helps explain a bit more. I think that's all happening. Of course, [the story] is going to happen years later and the main character — without giving too much away — is much older and representative to the movie-going public which is in that age group.
While Silent Hill actress Radha Mitchell's return is uncertain, Carmody says that director Christophe Gans likely won't be back.
I don't think he wants to come back. He'll have some input forsure. In his mind, I think he wanted to do the first one and for this he's very happy to consult, but I think he wants to direct somethingnew.
The only problem that remains is getting the script from screenwriter Roger Avary, who was recently sentenced to a year in prison.
Well, we have had a bit of a hiccup with Roger. We're just debating whether we can wait for him. He's writing the script for sure.
Posted 11/20/2009 by Ryan
Related: Christophe Gans | Don Carmody | Silent Hill | Roger Avary
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Thor, which starts production in mid-January, seems to be on the fast track to complete its casting. Earlier this week, director Kenneth Branagh and Marvel cast the Warriors Three, and today, THR reports that Idris Elba has joined the cast as Heimdall, the guardian of Asgard.
While the cast is coming together, the cameo role for Stan Lee isn't. Lee Told MTV that he has met with Branagh, but a cameo role has not been chosen yet.
I had lunch with Branagh, [who's] the nicest guy in the world as well as the most talented. Months ago, when he was first starting on the movie, he said he would get a cameo for me. When we had lunch, I was sure he had asked me to lunch because he wanted me to play Odin, [Thor's father, a role Anthony Hopkins will be playing] but it was a big disappointment. I figure I'll end up carrying his spear.
Once Lee does get his cameo lined up, he'll get to visit the set like Marvel comics writer Brian Michael Bendis did. He used his Twitter account to tell fans about his on set experience.
Broadcasting live from marvel west. Thor movie meeting with Ken branagh was over the top amazing. Visited the sets! I was in Odin's chamber!
Posted 11/20/2009 by Ryan
Related: Stan Lee | Idris Elba | Kenneth Branagh | Thor