Friday, September 25
Hollywood actor and stuntman Dick Durock, most famous for portraying the DC Comics anti-hero Swamp Thing in the original 1982 Wes Craven film, passed away recently after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Durock was 72.
Durock was a television staple for years before donning the green latex suit that made him famous, appearing on The Little House on the Prairie, Quincy M.E., The Incredible Hulk, The Rockford Files, and many other shows. While critically panned, Swamp Thing had a strong cult following and Durock went on to reprise the role of Dr. Alec Holland's mutated alter-ego in The Return of Swamp Thing (1989) and in 71 episodes of the Swamp Thing TV series that ran on the USA Network.
In one of Durock's final interviews, he confessed that he was not familiar with the character before getting the part.
You know, honestly, I wasn't. I grew up in the era with Superman, Batman, all the classic older comic books, and by the time this came about, I guess I was past the comic book stage. In my era, comic books were strictly for kids, though, later on, they obviously had a great adult appeal.
Durock said that he enjoyed playing Swamp Thing, but there were definitely aspects of the role that he did not relish.
I hated the thought of having to go through the whole thing of wearing 50, 60, 70 pounds of weight in the summertime in Savannah, Georgia, but the money was there, and it's a job.
Joel Silver, the producer the Predator, Die Hard, and Matrix series, recently announced his interest in reviving the Swamp Thing franchise using digital 3-D technology.
Posted 9/25/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Joel Silver | Swamp Thing | The Return of Swamp Thing | Dick Durock
Thursday, September 3
Joel Silver knows a thing or two about making movies. The producer of such successful franchises as Die Hard, Predator, Lethal Weapon, and The Matrix series, Silver tries to stay ahead of the game by keeping up with the latest technology. Silver's latest production, Whiteout, based on the comic book series by Greg Rucka, utilized digital 3-D technology to make the harsh Antarctic weather come to life, a vast improvement over chasing storm systems around the globe, he told Straight.com.
I don't think that this film would have been possible without the computer-graphics work we do today. The fact that in the middle of these terrible storms you can actually see the people and not see anything else is all due to the technology today. I made Die Hard 2 20 years ago, and you had to have snow and it was difficult to do. We were chasing snow around the world, and it was a complicated way of making a picture. In this one, we did have some harsh environments [to shoot in], but a lot of it was created in a way that you could believe what you were seeing. You believed you were watching these characters living in this environment, which, I think, is what makes the film original and unique.
Whiteout isn't the only comic book movie adaptation on Silver's plate. He also has plans to make a movie based on the DC Comics classic Swamp Thing, and feels that high-tech might be the perfect thing for this "green" anti-hero.
Our company [Dark Castle Entertainment] is currently working on developing a remake of Swamp Thing ... and we think [3-D] might work. There are a couple of things that would work for us, but not everything.
Whiteout is directed by Dominic Sena and stars Kate Beckinsale as U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko, Gabriel Macht as Robert Pryce, and Tom Skerritt as Dr. John Fury.
Posted 9/3/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Joel Silver | Swamp Thing | Die Hard 2 | Whiteout
Saturday, August 29
Prolific movie producer Joel Silver has launched many successful franchises in his career, including the Predator, Die Hard, and Matrix series, and now he has plans to bring a certain muck-encrusted anti-hero to the big screen, possibly in glorious 3-D.
While participating in the press conference for his latest picture, Whiteout, Silver was asked what plans, if any, he had for making a 3-D movie. Silver said:
I'm developing a picture now that I'd like to do ... I'll hopefully do Swamp Thing, which is a movie we've had for a long time. We think that would be great to do in 3-D. There are a couple of projects I'm thinking about (for the 3-D format), but not everything.
A DC Comics character, Swamp Thing is a plant elemental, an animated mass of plant material who fights for the survival of the environment against eco-terrorists and supernatural threats. Swamp Thing first received the big-screen treatment in 1982 courtesy of horror master Wes Craven. The first movie was successful enough to earn a sequel and a short-lived TV series, but the big screen and TV versions of the character differed drastically from the comic book version.
Posted 8/29/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Joel Silver | Swamp Thing | The Return of Swamp Thing