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Sunday, October 25
Actress Malin Akerman's career has been on an upward trajectory since her breakout role on the short-lived Lisa Kudrow series The Comeback. Since then, Akerman has gone psycho in The Heartbreak Kid with Ben Stiller, played a superhero in Zack Snyder's Watchmen, and is currently starring in one of this year's biggest comedy hits, Couples Retreat.
In the October issue of 944 magazine, Akerman talked about some of her upcoming projects and discussed the price of fame. For her next film, she's taking a break from comedy for a dramatic role.
Yes, The Bang Bang Club — it's based on a true story of two photojournalists' journey through the end of Apartheid — I play the photo editor. The story's incredible and it's really raw. We used a lot of locals and shot in all the same places where things happened.
Akerman will return to comedy in writer-director Josh Radnor's HappyThankYouMorePlease, an ensemble piece that Malin calls her "love."
I play a woman with alopecia universalis. I shaved off my eyebrows for the part and wore a bald cap. It's about all of our journeys to find love — and obviously I have added difficulties as a bald woman. It's [about] her trying to stay positive.
The more projects Akerman does, the more famous she becomes, a situation she says is "manageable" for the time being.
I couldn't imagine being Robert Pattinson right now. That would scare the sh-- out of me. I'd rather be able to walk out the door have a life.
Next Showing: Couples Retreat is in theaters now
Posted 10/25/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Malin Akerman | The Heartbreak Kid | Watchmen | Couples Retreat | Josh Radnor
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Saturday, October 17
In what is admittedly only a rumor at this point, Harry Knowles of Ain't it Cool News is reporting that a "pretty reliable" source has tipped him off about some very interesting Green Lantern movie news. If what AICN is reporting is true, it could be the first sign that DC Comics/Warner Bros. is listening to the fans and taking a page from Marvel Studios' playbook by making GL part of a shared universe, rather than a stand-alone universe like its Batman franchise.
As of now, the only official cast pick is Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, the most popular Green Lantern from the DC Comics series. In the comics, Hal's arch-nemesis is Sinestro, a former Green Lantern twisted by his need for order and control, and the character is expected to be the major antagonist for the feature. According to AICN, that role could be going to Jackie Earle Haley, who famously portrayed Rorschach in Watchmen and will be starring as Freddy Krueger in the A Nightmare on Elm Street relaunch.
And, in news that would trump the Hayley announcement if it turns out to be true, Green Lantern may be visited by at least one other major character from the DC Universe. According to Knowles' source, Superman will make an appearance in the movie. If this rumor turns out to be true, it could be the preamble to the Justice League movie that Warner Bros. has been planning for years, in much the same way Marvel Studios is planning on interweaving characters and concepts in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, and The First Avenger: Captain America leading up to The Avengers.
Posted 10/17/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Jackie Earle Haley | Green Lantern | Watchmen | Ryan Reynolds | A Nightmare on Elm Street
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Monday, August 24
While speaking to AICN about his next big screen offering The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Monty Python alum Terry Gilliam gave his opinion about Zack Snyder's Watchmen movie — the same movie he himself had spent years trying to get made before deciding that the comic book was unfilmable. So what did he think of Snyder's attempt?
It got trashed, but there are great sequences in there, but the overall effect is kind of turgid in a certain way ... the pace is wrong. I was glad our version didn't get done, the one that Charles McKeown and I had wrote, because we had reduced it down to about two hours and five minutes I think and we lost so much. Comedian was cut down to next to nothing. So [Snyder] did a good job, but it just felt ... I think Watchmen really bothered me, because I thought it should be better. It was all there. It looked right, but to me it was pace. It didn't have pace. It needed a bit more quirkiness in there. Dr. Manhattan was getting boring, frankly, and then Ozymandias by the end I thought "Oh, come on!" They lost me by the end, frankly, but it was certainly looking better than what I was going to do!
Despite the controversy such a criticism will surely start, Gilliam's own movie is getting some morbid buzz simply because late Heath Ledger was working on it during his untimely death in 2008. Seems like these days Gilliam can't walk down the block without starting another media blitz.
Next Showing: Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus opens December 25th, 2009.
Posted 8/24/2009 by Jim
Related: Terry Gilliam | Watchmen
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Thursday, August 6
Carla Gugino will be re-teaming up with Watchmen director Zack Snyder for Sucker Punch, Snyder's all-girl action movie that he's described as "Alice in Wonderland with guns."
Set in the 1950's, Sucker Punch tells the story of Babydoll (Emily Browning) who is institutionalized by her stepfather and retreats to an alternate reality to plot her escape, along with fellow inmates Jena Malone (Donnie Darko), Abbie Cornish (Stop Loss), Jamie Chung (Dragonball Evolution), and Vanessa Hudgens (in a fighting-and-shooting change of pace from her High School Musical days).
Gugino will play a dual role as both the nurse at the institution and a madam in the alternate reality. For fanboys that want a sneak peek — of sorts — Gugino can be seen next as a porn star in the comedy Women in Trouble this November.
Next Showing: Sucker Punch is scheduled to open March 25, 2011
Posted 8/6/2009 by Ryan
Related: Carla Gugino | Watchmen | Zack Snyder | Sucker Punch
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Monday, July 20
Before Watchmen opened in theaters this March, the movie spent years in development, hopping from one movie studio to another, ultimately culminating in a lawsuit between Fox and Warner Bros. that split the movie's meager profits.
At one point in the 1980s, Joel Silver, famed producer of the upcoming comic book adaptations Whiteout and The Losers, bought the rights to both Watchmen and another Alan Moore graphic novel, V For Vendetta. While Silver eventually made Vendetta, he lost the rights to Watchmen, something he regrets."When I read Watchmen, it changed my view of so many things. It was the first time I'd read a graphic novel really like that," Silver told Cinematical. He also would have made a different movie than eventual director Zack Snyder:
I love Zack and I love his work, and I think he's very talented, but the script that we developed, I think was better than the movie they made. I don't want to say he was a slave to the material because he made changes anyway, but I think it could have been a little more satisfying movie. I think Zack made a great movie, though; I don't want to minimize what he did. But I think at the end of the day it was more kind of tuned to just the big kind of fanatics of Watchmen as opposed to a broader-based audience who didn't maybe know the original comic.
Watchmen's poor box office seems to support Silver's accusations. However, it's possible the DVD release on July 21 of The Director's Cut may financially validate Snyder's version.
Posted 7/20/2009 by Ryan
Related: Joel Silver | Watchmen | Zack Snyder | Alan Moore
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Tuesday, July 14
In case you missed its combination debut-closing weekend (or don't live in Los Angeles, New York, Minneapolis, or Dallas), here's a clip from Watchmen: The Director's Cut to enjoy before it hits DVD on July 21.
The clip shows the death scene of Hollis Mason (Stephen McHattie), the original Nite Owl, a seminal moment for fans of the comic book, who often questioned the scene's exclusion from the theatrical cut. The melancholy scene starts with a phone call between Mason and Silk Spectre I (Carla Gugino), until Mason is interrupted by some Knot Tops gang members in a lovely choreographed fight set to "Cavalleria Rusticana : Intermezzo" from Italian composer Pietro Mascagni.
Posted 7/14/2009 by Ryan
Related: Carla Gugino | Stephen McHattie | Watchmen
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Sunday, July 12
This weekend, select cities will have a chance to watch Watchmen: The Director's Cut in theaters before it hits DVD shelves. Running for 3 hours and 10 minutes over two discs, The Director's Cut will have to pacify fans until Watchmen: Ultimate Collector's Edition is released on December 21.
The Ultimate Collector's Edition will combine footage from the animated Tales From the Black Freighter DVD, released in March, into The Director's Cut. The entire movie will span five discs.
After a disappointing box office run, Warner Bros. is clearly trying to make up for their financial loss. Perhaps they will consider making Watchmen: Edition 300, which will weave together Watchmen with director Zack Snyder's more successful 300.
Posted 7/12/2009 by Ryan
Related: Watchmen | Zack Snyder | Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter & Under the Hood
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Tuesday, July 7
Like X-Men Origins: Wolverine before it, copies of Watchmen: The Director's Cut have leaked onto the Internet and scattered to various torrent download sites.
Unlike Wolverine, however, the Director's Cut is only scheduled for one weekend of showings in four cities before its DVD release. It's also doubtful that Warner Bros. executives will be as angry about the leak as Fox was about Wolverine. At this point, Watchmen has been through its (disappointing) box office run, but what this does illuminate is that the security issues raised by the Wolverine leak are far from over.
Then again, there may be little reason for Warner Bros. to panic. After all, it's probably just Rupert Murdoch's fault again.
Posted 7/7/2009 by Ryan
Related: Watchmen
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Monday, July 6
For those who want a preview of the upcoming July 17-19 release of Watchmen: The Director's Cut before it opens in Dallas, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, and New York, or just want to know what they missed in the theater, AICN has listed the additions to Zack Snyder's cut. If you want to remain clean of Watchmen spoilers, now's the time to stop reading. Otherwise, read on...
A few notable changes include:
- More Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), including conversations with Dr. Malcolm, arguing with Laurie (Malin Akerman) on the prison rooftop, fighting with cops at the Comedian's (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) apartment, and more monologues.
- Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl, has a montage death scene. Once Dan finds out he gets into a bar fight.
- More interplay between Laurie and Jon (Billy Crudup) has been added, mostly things from the comic book.
Other unknown changes will also be in there, adding up to a new running time of 3 hours and 10 minutes. That means an extra 30 minutes of new footage.
Posted 7/6/2009 by Ryan
Related: Billy Crudup | Malin Akerman | Jackie Earle Haley | Watchmen | Zack Snyder | Jeffrey Dean Morgan
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Tuesday, June 30
Readers are often disappointed by Hollywood's attempts to turn their favorite books into films. For every success — The Notebook — there are dozens of films that simply don't live up to the source material, such as most Stephen King adaptations. But, it's not just the fans that feel slighted when a poor film is made from a great book. From Alan Moore (Watchmen, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) to Ursala K. Le Guin (Earthsea), disappointed and disillusioned authors have been very vocal in condemning films they believe are not true to their source material.
However, that is not the case with Michael Mann's latest film. Partially based on the book Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34 by Bryan Burrough, the film follows FBI Special Agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale) and his attempt to capture the infamous bank-robber-turned Depression-era-hero John Dillinger (Johnny Depp). Burrough recently wrote an article praising Mann's adaptation and the historical accuracy of the film:
This is the first Dillinger and the first gangster movie I'm aware of that takes great pains to get not only the details but the sites right. Mann not only shot at the actual scene of Dillinger's greatest jailbreak, the lockup in Crown Point, Ind., but at the actual scene of his greatest shootout, at the Little Bohemia lodge. Somehow he prevailed upon Chicago to hand over six entire blocks of North Lincoln Avenue, where Dillinger memorably met his fate outside the Biograph Theater one hot night in July 1934.
Burrough went on to say:
Yes, I know it's just a movie, and I know most in the audience won't especially care that the details are historically accurate, but I can vividly remember looking around and smiling nevertheless, happy that, in this one small case at least, Hollywood was getting it right.
Posted 6/30/2009 by BrentJS
Related: Christian Bale | Johnny Depp | Michael Mann | Stephen King | The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen | Watchmen | Tales From Earthsea | Alan Moore