I think the trailer made its way online a while back, but Film Junk just posted it. I have never seen Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant, but apparently this remake starring Nicolas Cage looks nothing like Ferrara's 1992 version. Which might seem bizarre, but since Werner Herzog hasn't actually seen the original we'll have to let that slide. Why in the name of hell is this even considered a remake then? The words "Bad Lieutenant" are in the title so therefore, it's a remake? Nicolas Cage movies have a way of fucking baffling me.
Cage plays a drug addicted cop, and even though I've taken a few shots at Cage's ludicrous career, this looks interesting. At least he isn't trying to save the world and it reminds me of his oddball performance in Matchstick Men, which I liked.
Speaking about Cage’s performance, he [Herzog] is quoted as saying, “You will see something extraordinary when you see him on screen. It’s the best he’s ever done.” So there. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is expected to be released sometime in late 2009. [Film Junk]
In wild speculation Golden Apple Comics in LA had a surprise visit from Katee Sackhoff attempting to buy them out of every Typhoid Mary comic in their stock.
She said it was “for a role” so we don’t know if she is courting to play Typhoid Mary, or a character like her Tie this in with rumours that Marvel wants to Reboot Daredevil, and the rumour mill hits the ground running.
So, it looks like Marvel wants to reboot some of its not so popular movies. The studio tried it with The Incredible Hulk last year, and with the decidedly mixed reactions to that endeavor, I'm beginning to wonder how successful a reboot of Daredevil can be. Daredevil was God-awful (what movie with Ben Affleck isn't?), and its spin-off, Elektra, was near unwatchable and made the Typhoid character totally different from her comic book incarnation. I don't really have anything against a reboot or a remake though, especially since I believe that if Hollywood wants to do remakes, they should do so with bad films, and try to improve them. Daredevil was always a fascinating character, and his relationship with Typhoid Mary, if handled well, could make for a very interesting movie. So, I've got mixed feelings about this, mostly because so far, the details are just at the rumor stage.
1) He got actual victims of the genocide to play themselves. I honestly think he says he got a rape victim, who now has AIDS because of the rape, to reenact the rape on camera. I really hope that's not true, and that his accent has made me completely misunderstand him.
2) The movie has no script and he wanted his actors to improvise, but then he found out quickly that they had "problems with improvisation". Really. Billy Zane and Kristanna Loken had trouble writing their own lines? You don't say.
3) He can't afford the submission fee to have his movies screened at festivals.
There is word flying all over the internet today that the first trailer for James Cameron’s “Avatar” is going to debut in front of Transformers 2. Nothing has been officially confirmed at this point as far as I know… but the info SEEMS to be legit.I'm probably one of the few movie buffs on earth who isn't all that excited for Avatar, though that's likely to change upon seeing the trailer. But, I don't like James Cameron movies (yes, I dare blaspheme), and nothing about the plot entices me, my sci-fi fanaticism be damned. Its only saving grace, at least at this point, is Steven Soderbergh' s enthusiastic endorsement.
"I love Peter Parker. I've always loved the Spider-Man comics, and I fell like I still know more about the character that I think can bring to the screen - and perhaps make it great if I do it right. It's the same reason I keep reading the Spider-Man comic books. I'm really enamored with the character and now I feel like I have a history with him. I'd like to really make a great picture with him and bring the character to life at a level of detail that I've never realized before. It's almost like I have a desire to do something I've been trying to do right and haven't yet been able to. Not exactly." [LA Times via The Playlist]
That's about enough of that Mr. Raimi. Somewhere between Spider-Man 3 and just now, I had forgotten how much I really loved the first two Spider-Man films. I'm beginning to wonder if Raimi is morphing into George Lucas or something - like the guy needs to be saved from destroying his own work.
"We are all honored that the King Estate is giving us the opportunity to tell the story of these defining, historic events," Spielberg said. "It is our hope that the creative power of film and the impact of Dr. King's life can combine to present a story of undeniable power that we can all be proud of."
"In trying to tackle such an ambitious project, the question we had to ask ourselves is, 'Why now?' " Snider said. "The answer lies in MLK's own words: 'All progress is precarious.' With every step forward, new obstacles emerge and we must never forget that his life and his teachings continue to challenge us every day to stand up to hatred and inequality." [Variety via Awards Daily]
As usual, I'm trying to cast this project in my head. Jeffrey Wright played MLK flawlessly in the HBO film Boycott, so I think it'll be hard for me to imagine anyone else in the role. Would Spielberg hire Wright to play him again sort of the way Michael Sheen gets hired to play Tony Blair? Who knows? There have been other suggestions going around with everyone from Don Cheadle to Terrence Howard (who also starred in Boycott with Wright) to Chiwetel Ejiofor. Ejiofor would be a pretty great choice I think, but I wonder how people would feel about a British actor playing an American hero.
The other typical names are getting thrown around as well (mostly because you can count the amount of famous black actors in Hollywood on your hand): Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, and Denzel Washington. I doubt that I could get excited by any of those three actors mostly because they've all done their share of biopics, and because none of them actually seems to fit the part. There hasn't been an official release date announced yet, so there will be a lot of time to speculate.
Ward [partner and co-founder of William Ward's ROAR management who reps Hemsworth] had found Chris during one of the manager's many scouting trips to Australia. Ward brought him to Los Angeles and really put him out there to casting directors and production executives.
Chris had read for the part of Thor but wasn't given a test because a casting director had nixed him early on. I'm told Chris' younger brother Liam (who's also a ROAR client) then tested for the role of Thor, but Marvel's Kevin Feigy passed. That's when Ward called up Feigy and said, "You've got to reconsider Chris. He's your guy." So Feigy let Chris read again. And once Marvel put him on tape, it was "Oh my god". Branagh came to town last week and saw the Chris test and made the final decision today.
What a week for Chris since, on Thursday, he just got cast as the Red Dawn lead. Brother Liam, who's only been in Los Angeles for 3 weeks and doesn't even have an agent yet, just got cast the male lead in Last Song opposite Miley Cyrus in the Disney film based on the Nicholas Sparks novel. Both brothers live in William Ward's guest house. Unreal! [Nikki Finke]
The deal comes after years of negotiations with Frank Sinatra Enterprises, a joint venture of the crooner's estate and Warner Music Group. One major obstacle was the internal politics of the estate, where family members had to come to consensus on how to tell the story and, more importantly, just how much of the story to tell.
Sinatra not only will allow Scorsese to tackle the life of a fellow Italian-American with enormous cultural impact, it will also give him a chance to paint a portrait of Sinatra's pal, Dean Martin. The filmmaker has for over a decade been developing a biopic on Martin titled Dino, working with a script by his Casino and Goodfellas writer Nicholas Pileggi based on the Nick Tosches biography, Dino: Livin' High in the Dirty Business of Dreams. [THR]
When celebrated science fiction writer James Tiptree, Jr. (AKA Alice Sheldon) started watching Star Trek in the 1960s, she wrote in letters to her friends about how the one aspect of the show that truly fascinated her was Spock. She wrote a fan letter to Leonard Nimoy, explaining that his sexual magnetism came from humans' natural exogamy, their urge to marry outside their own groups. An alien would be the ultimate outsider, the ultimate object of desire. In one besotted passage, she described Spock's "touching shoulder blades, the tremor, the shadowed and infinitely effective squint."
Tiptree's renegade nerd sexual desires have now gotten a lot closer to being the desires of the mainstream. Zachary Quinto's new Spock still has a thin, trembling body and the squint of a scientist, but he's emerged into this special-effects blockbuster of a film as a leading man, competent, virile, and sexually desirable. This triumphant sexualization Spock could only have happened in the early 21st century, when geeks are culture heroes and dork actor Michael Cera has become a romantic lead.
The movie is a drama/comedy about two brothers from a rural lower class Mexican family with roots in a little "banana town" on the coast of Mexico, and fighting over who performs better in professional soccer. It is also a parody of contemporary Mexico's "narco-society" perceptions of life and values. [Wikipedia]
The Crybaby
Known in the scientific community for his time-tested ability to fall for cliche without guilt or restraint, the Crybaby will embrace any film that makes him weep. Predictably, brittle emotions and dangerous exuberance leave this breed helpless to avoid falling for any potentially hackneyed plot element: the hero returns after an apparent death, dude cries. The drug dealer dies after finally atoning for his sins, dude cries. Ugly people fall in love because of indie pop music, dude cries. Give this blubbering exhibit a bit of slow-motion and Enya choir music, and watch the saline flow. Because the Crybaby typically attaches most of his emotional well-being to films that serve his needs-of-the-heart, his financial priorities usually place food, clothing, and shelter below a massive, and growing, DVD collection.The Pros: Loves every movie you do.
The Cons: Wear a slicker if you sit next to him.
Characteristic Traits: Shouts “masterpiece” in his sleep; Gives bigass bear hugs in the lobby of the theater after shared experiences
So, which nerd are you?
