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Friday, December 12
Why remake a sci-fi classic like The Day the Earth Stood Still? That's what Keanu Reeves initially asked: "I came to the director, Scott Derrickson, like why do you want to do this? Why remake a classic? And he said, 'Yes, it is a classic, but I think we can take that premise, that story, and retell it today.'"
Reeves was sold on the "contrast of the plot." But will fans be? See our review of The Day the Earth Stood Still. And if you're looking for additional details about this action-packed remake, see our interview with Keanu Reeves and interview with Jennifer Connelly.
Posted 12/12/2008 by reelz
Related: Jennifer Connelly | Keanu Reeves | The Day the Earth Stood Still | Scott Derrickson | The Day the Earth Stood Still
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Perhaps more than any other recent sci-fi release, The Day the Earth Stood Still has struggled to put the science back in science fiction. But has it gone too far? Scientists have been consulted. Real equations have been deployed. What makes it possible for the upgraded robot Gort to crush, kill and destroy is an extrapolation from real cutting edge nano-technology. At a panel discussion at Caltech Keanu Reeves is drafted to field physics questions from science students. And the movie itself is set to be broadcast to deep space audiences, and debut in the neighborhood of Alpha Centauri sometime in 2012. Really.
Well, at earthside theaters anyway, there is no delay. The Day the Earth Stood Still debuts in theaters today.
Posted 12/12/2008 by reelz
Related: The Day the Earth Stood Still
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Keanu Reeves has built his career as a science fiction avatar on what the LA Times recently referred to as his "cosmic blankness," a facial minimalism that certainly helped make him alien enough for his role as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still. But the folks over at New York Magazine's Vulture Blog have assembled a rejoinder to all the jokes and jibes about his lack of range in their illustrated field guide to the facial expressions of Keanu Reeves. Their "patented Kean-u-meter" uncovers a range of elasticity from zero (The Matrix Revolutions) to ten (Bram Stoker's Dracula). As Klaatu, he racks up a one for his display of "alienation."
Posted 12/12/2008 by reelz
Related: Keanu Reeves | The Day the Earth Stood Still
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Monday, December 8
Keanu Reeves and Scott Derrickson
on set.
With a senior astronomer at the SETI institute as resident science advisor to The Day the Earth Stood Still, the goal was to make this archetypal tale of aliens come to Earth at least modestly true to science, something not always much of a priority in sci-fi flicks. As the only real scientist on set, Seth Shostak was challenged to keep his fictional counterparts, alien and otherwise, talking -- and chalking -- as plausibly as possible. One key scene involves dueling equations between the alien Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) and Earth scientist Professor Barnhardt (John Cleese). To keep it real, Shostak had the actors trace out some equations from General Relativity. But when it came to the Greek letters, Reeves proved a bit slow on the draw. No problem though. As director Scott Derrickson pointed out, "Hey, Seth, he's an alien!"
Posted 12/8/2008 by reelz
Related: John Cleese | Keanu Reeves | Scott Derrickson | The Day the Earth Stood Still
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Friday, December 5
Amid the explosion of remakes coming out of Hollywood, the irony of continually reworking old ground is especially notable in science fiction, where the whole point is to envision the future. With The Day the Earth Stood Still and a retro Star Trek about to debut, and with even more remakes like Forbidden Planet in the pipeline, Hero Complex, in a teaser for a longer piece in Sunday's LA Times, considers the dangers of continually mining the past to build the future. While the unwillingness of studios to risk venturing where none have gone before leaves new frontiers unexplored and risks degenerating into camp, hope remains for artistic creativity.
"Strong interpretations," says Battlestar Galactica creator Ronald D. Moore, "build on the past, they don't repeat it." Given the layers of complexity and contemporary relevance he managed to add to that universe, he has pretty much reset the bar for sci-fi remakes. It's a fine line to walk though, and at the other end of the arc of possibilities lies the cautionary tale of the nearly unwatchable Lost in Space.
Next Showing: The Day the Earth Stood Still hits theaters December 12, 2008
Posted 12/5/2008 by reelz
Related: The Day the Earth Stood Still
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Wednesday, December 3
It looks like Dragonball fans will have to wait a little bit longer for their first official glimpse of Fox's live-action adaptation of Akira Toriyama's hugely popular manga/anime series. The Dragonball trailer had been set to debut on December 12 in front of IMAX screenings of Keanu Reeves' The Day the Earth Stood Still remake, but news emerged early this morning on dragonballmovieblog.net that it will not be ready in time for the deadline. A source at Fox has confirmed to us that the Dragonball trailer debut has indeed been pushed back, and that a new date has not yet been determined.
Any number of issues could account for the delay, but we're guessing that problems were encountered while tailoring the CGI-heavy trailer for the expanded IMAX format, which projects at 70mm -- as opposed to the 35mm film used in conventional theaters.
Whatever the case, we'll be sure to keep you posted as more details emerge on this latest setback for one of 2009's most-anticipated movies. Until then, check out our Dragonball preview.
Posted 12/3/2008 by reelz
Related: Dragonball Evolution | The Day the Earth Stood Still
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Wednesday, November 26
The only aspect of Fox Sports' NFL coverage more annoying than Terry Bradshaw is Cleatus, the animated robot designed to keep viewers entertained while the network rattles off its list of sponsors each Sunday. Perhaps sensing football fans' contempt for the character, Fox has unveiled a new promotional clip for Keanu Reeves' upcoming remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, in which the alien robot Gort hands Cleatus a thorough beatdown on the gridiron.
For those eternal optimists who think this might spell the end for the Fox NFL Sunday mascot, don't count on it. Cleatus has proven more durable than Brett Favre, surviving past drubbings from both Iron Man and the Terminator.
Now, if only Gort can do something about Michael Strahan...
Next Showing: The Day the Earth Stood Still opens Friday, December 12, 2008
Posted 11/26/2008 by reelz
Related: Keanu Reeves | The Day the Earth Stood Still
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Tuesday, November 18
How do you adapt classic 1951 sci-fi for a 2008 audience?
New Gort
On a visit to the set of The Day the Earth Stood Still, ComingSoon.net got treated to a variety of answers. Of course, the filmmakers couldn't mess too much with the trinity of the ship, Klaatu, and Gort. But everything got radically re-imagined. Flying saucers and robots wouldn't pack quite the menace they did for audiences back in the day, and risk seeming old fashioned or just plain funny. And the 2008 audience has been to space a lot over the last half century. The challenge in a nutshell, notes production designer David Brisbin, is "How do you get people in 2008 to say, Oh, s***?"
So the design team talks in detail about the evolution of the film's iconic elements, about how saucers make way for orbs, and about how Gort ended up standing 25 to 30 feet tall.
Next Showing: The Day the Earth Stood Still opens December 12
Posted 11/18/2008 by reelz
Related: Keanu Reeves | The Day the Earth Stood Still
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Thursday, November 13
Following up the release of the new international trailer for The Day the Earth Stood Still, 20th Century Fox attempts to engage the hive mind in assembling a list of things that need to be saved if the the world ends. The studio has set up a web site where worldwide fans are encouraged to have their say on what should stay and see what others have chosen. The accompanying press release quotes a Fox marketing executive voting for macaroni and cheese and other responses so far range from from modern medicine to marijuana and unicorns.
The one thing most definitely not Fox's list to save is cheap imitations. The studio has gone to court to try to stop the release of the similarly titled and similarly promoted low-budget flick The Day the Earth Stopped.
Next Showing: The Day the Earth Stood Still opens December 12
Posted 11/13/2008 by reelz
Related: The Day the Earth Stood Still
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Tuesday, November 6
Variety is reporting that Jennifer Connelly has joined the cast of the remake of the 1951 sci-fi hit, The Day the Earth Stood Still. Connelly will play the Patricia Neal part in the movie, in which aliens inform humans they must either live in peace or get it. Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) will direct.
And Al Gore's daughter, Kristin Gore, is seeking to bridge the gap between movies and politics with her political comedy, Nailed. Gore co-wrote the screenplay with director David O. Russell (he of the I Heart Huckabees/Lily Tomlin outburst fame). According to The Hollywood Reporter, The satire is about a small-town receptionist who develops nymphomaniac tendencies after a nail gets shot into her head. She goes to DC to lobby for her injury rights and gets taken advantage of by a skeezy congressman. Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Biel are attached to star.
Posted 11/6/2007 by reelz
Related: Jake Gyllenhaal | Jennifer Connelly | Jessica Biel | Nailed | The Day the Earth Stood Still