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Film News Roundup – January 2010 – Week 1

Film News Roundup – January 2010 – Week 1

THE ORPHANAGE GETS A DIRECTOR
Guillermo del Toro co-wrote the script for the remake with Larry Fessenden, who was originally rumored to also direct the flick. Mark Pellington (The Mothman Prophecies) is in final negotiations to direct the film.The story will be similar to the original, about a woman who takes over an orphanage where she was raised and gets creeped out when her son starts playing with the same imaginary friend that she used to.

Pierre Morel to direct ‘Dune’
Pierre Morel has signed a deal to direct “Dune,” Paramount’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel. Kevin Misher is producing the adaptation, which he set up at Paramount back in May 2008 after a year of pursuing the rights from Herbert’s estate. Pete Berg was attached to helm but left the director’s chair to take command of “Battleship” for Universal, for whom he will also make “Lone Survivor.”

Trejo on Machete
The lastest on the Grindhouse adaptation, plus potential sequel news.
“You know, when I first saw Robert De Niro on the set, he came up and his first words to me were, ‘Don’t leave me like this, homes.’ You know, that was my line in Heat. And I kind of laughed and he said, ‘Man, Danny, I’m really proud of you. You’re the lead. This is it, this is you.’ And I looked him right in the eyes and I said, ‘Can I get some coffee, Mr. De Niro?’” Trejo laughs. “I couldn’t believe that Robert got De Niro. And then Jessica Alba, you know? And Lindsay Lohan. And Michelle Rodriguez, and Jeff Fahey, and Steven Seagal, and Cheech Marin. It just goes on and on. It was really hard like not just giggling, you know?”

AVATAR Concepts & Controversy : Sex, Smoking & Video Games
Cameron explained of [Sigourney Weaver’s] character: ”She’s rude, she swears, she drinks, she smokes. Also, from a character perspective, we were showing that Grace doesn’t care about her human body, only her avatar body, which again is a negative comment about people in our real world living too much in their avatars, meaning online and in video games.”

U2 movie Killing Bono to be filmed in Belfast
Filming will get under way in Northern Ireland next month on Killing Bono — a story about two Irish brothers chasing a dream of being rock stars. Heading up the cast will be Brit actor Ben Barnes, star of The Chronicle of Narnia: Prince Caspian and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Barnes will be joined by Robert Sheehan, who starred in the Irish movie Cherrybomb. Killing Bono is based on Neil McCormick’s autobiography ‘I Was Bono’s Doppelganger’. Barnes play Neil McCormick while Sheehan plays his hapless brother Ivan. Together they set up a band in Dublin in the late 1970s. Sadly for them, however, so do their classmates and rivals — and they go on to become U2.

Ethan Hawke: Daybreakers is a subversive vampire movie
“To be honest, when I got this script it was 2007,” Hawke said in an interview. “I was doing a Tom Stoppard play in Lincoln Center, and the play was about mid-19th-century Russian radicals. Twilight (and True Blood) hadn’t come out yet. So this seemed like the most original damn idea I’d ever heard of. It seemed so retro to do a vampire movie. If I’d gotten the script today, I’d probably be thinking, ‘No way I’m doing a vampire movie.’ But the funny thing is, whatever the given genre—if it’s a cop movie or a western or a vampire movie—these things are never new. It’s just whether or not you have something new to say.”

Ewan McGregor, Dennis Quaid & Michael Douglas (& More) Join Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Knockout’
When the action spy picture “Knockout” was first announced a few months ago, director Steven Soderbergh promised that the lead star, non-actress/ mixed martial arts champion Gina Carano would be surrounded by a name-recognizable cast of supporting talent and he wasn’t kidding. Sources close to the project have confirmed to us that the principal cast members supporting Carano include Michael Fassbender (“Inglourious Basterds,” “Hunger”), Ewan McGregor, Dennis Quaid and Michael Douglas.

Pirates 4, Prince of Persia, Sorcerer’s Apprentice details!
Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, confirmed a June start for the fourth installment. “Yeah, everything’s fine. We’re moving forward. We hope to start in June, and Rob Marshall’s set. We’re moving forward. No deals have been made yet, other than Johnny’s,” Bruckheimer continued. “We’ll make those decisions later and let you know. I think it kind of takes off from the end of 3, where he’s got that map to the fountain of youth. That’s where the story starts. That was the inspiration.”

STAR TREK Sequel Sets June 29, 2012 Release Date
According to Box Office Mojo, the sequel to 2009’s Star Trek just found itself some nice, official real estate on the calendar.  The currently untitled Star Trek sequel is looking to hit theaters on June 29, 2012.  Not much is known about the film so far, although writers Damon Lindelof, Robert Orci, and Alex Kurtzman as well as J.J. Abrams have hinted at storylines they are considering. Star Trek producer Bryan Burk confirmed the June 29, 2012 release date.  While it’ll be a long wait, having two plus years to make the movie should ensure a quality film.

Harrison Ford Says Next Indiana Jones Movie Is ‘Full Of Opportunity’
Action veteran is eager to embrace the whip and fedora again before he has to ‘do it in a wheelchair.’
“I think it would be interesting to advance the understanding of the character, as we always have had that ambition throughout the series,” Ford said of what he needs to see in an “Indy 5″ script before he’s willing to step on the gas like Short Round in a Shanghai taxi cab. “I think it would be interesting to deepen the relationship between he and his son [Mutt, played by Shia LaBeouf] and play on that relationship. … It’s full of opportunity. The series is full of opportunity.”

‘Clash Of The Titans’ Director Louis Leterrier Says No To 3-D And Has Massive Attack, Not Muse, On The Score
“We tried [to do 3-D for 'Clash'].’ We tried hard. We just won’t have time,” Leterrier explained. “Maybe we possibly can re-release it in 3-D.” With all of the effort put into trying to release “Clash” in 3-D, it was tough to get on set every day and deal with Worthington and his “Avatar” experiences. “Because it was Sam Worthington, I could hear all these 3-D stories from ‘Avatar.’ And James Cameron was calling often, and I was like ‘Guys, I’m doing the best i can with [the two dimensions] I’ve got!’ So if we ever get to do ['Clash'] in 3-D, that would be fantastic. But it’ll never be as good as James Cameron’s stereoscopic 3-D.”

Producer Mike De Luca Says It’s Game Over for a METAL GEAR SOLID Movie
“[T]he video game companies are very protective of their property and there are certain things a studio requires freedom-wise to market and distribute a movie effectively in a global marketplace and sometimes getting those two things to match up is really hard. And in the case of Metal Gear Solid, the agendas just….not because the parties weren’t amicable, it was just kind of impossible to get the agendas to match up.”

‘District 9′ director Neill Blomkamp says a prequel ‘might be interesting’
NB: A television show I wouldn’t really want to do. That would be…well, I just don’t want to do that. But a sequel might be interesting. I know what I’m doing next so it wouldn’t be right away. But the concept of aliens in Johannesburg is such an appealing idea to me and the issues of race and how they meet. All of the things that I had going on with it. I wouldn’t mind messing around with it again. I’m open to it if the story works and there’s a reason to do it. And [Copley's character] Wikus is so funny to me, I’m very interested in a sort of passive racist like that. If you go forward [with his story beyond "District 9"] it’s more of a traditional film but if you go backward I’d be intrigued in that. I’m not so interested in aliens coming back and blowing things up but [a prequel] might be interesting.

WB wants ‘Vengeance’
Korean film is part of Chan-Wook Park’s trilogy
 Warner Bros. has acquired remake rights to the Chan-Wook Park-directed Korean film “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” and set Brian Tucker (“Broken City”) to write the script. The film is one leg of Park’s famed Vengeance trilogy. Another pic in that series, “Oldboy,” is being remade by Mandate and Vertigo. In “Sympathy,” the women two different men love most are murdered, and the men set out on violent quests to punish those responsible. Trouble is, they themselves are the ones responsible and only one of them will have vengeance.

SCOTT STUBER ON THE FUTURE OF THE UNIVERSAL MONSTERS
It’s not contingent on [how the Wolfman does]. The studio is committed to these characters, and while we sometimes classify them as the Monsters as you know the Wolfman is a very different story than the Creature [from the Black Lagoon], which is very different from Frankenstein. They’ve been actively developing all of them. I’ve been working with Guillermo del Toro with Frankenstein and they’ve been working with Gary Ross on Creature from the Black Lagoon, so I think they’ve been trying to very actively get all of these characters up and running.

The Cutting Room Floor

The Fine Print
This is by no means meant to be a comprehensive roundup of the entire weeks’ news. All stories are chosen by me for no other reason than that they got my attention and might capture yours. If something you think is more important chime in on the feedback; we’d love to hear comments and have a conversation about it.

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About The Author

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Scott is an art director, writer and comics creator living in Los Angeles. He has been a pop culture maven from a very young age. His very first job was as a manager of a comic book store. He spent several years working in a video store, and yes, we are talking VHS tapes. A student of literature and Writing, he brings his obsessive love of comic book trivia, movie history and science fiction/fantasy writing to bear on the work he does for CoolShite.

Article Information

  • Posted: Friday, January 15th, 2010
  • Author: Scott From LA
  • Filed Under: Movie News,News
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