When Disney announced they’d be making new Star Wars movies, one person many people thought would be perfect to direct was Neill Blomkamp. The director of District 9 and the upcoming Elysium has already exhibited an incredible talent to make high octane sci-fi action with rich characters and complex themes. Just the kind of stuff that made the original Star Wars movies great.
J.J. Abrams, not Blomkamp, is directing Star Wars Episode VII. Before that was official, however, Abrams said he didn’t think he could direct because ”it comes with the burden of being that kind of iconic movie and series.” At Monday’s Elysium press event, also attended by Star Wars Episode VII producer and Star Wars spinoff writer, Simon Kinberg, Blomkamp said something incredibly similar.
When asked if he would ever circle back to the two unique worlds he created in District 9 and Elysium, Blomkamp said he has more to explore in the world of District 9, and that’s easy because it’s a world he built. He doesn’t have to answer to anyone. That lead to a tangent about his failed attempt at making Halo and, eventually, the sentiment that there are other “pieces of cinema history” and “iconic characters” he’d like to make films about, but he gets “an allergic reaction” when he “dips his toes” in. But “maybe one day I’ll end up doing something like that.” And as he was saying that, Kinberg smirked.
A speculative stretch? Absolutely. But the quote, the context, and more simply scream “Star Wars.” Read the full quotes below. Read More »
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Posted on Thursday, April 4th, 2013 by Angie Han
Ostensibly, trailers are supposed to tell audiences what a movie is about. In practice, though, some are more successful at that task than others. Trailers can be too revealing or not revealing enough, and in some cases can even be downright misleading.
What counts as “misleading,” though, is fairly subjective. A New Zealand man identified only as J. Congdon has filed a complaint with the country’s Advertising Standards Authority over the inclusion of a split-second explosion in the Jack Reacher trailer that didn’t make it into the final cut. If that counts as unacceptable, Judd Apatow must be this guy’s worst nightmare. Hit the jump to keep reading.
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In the next two years, Legendary Pictures is releasing two films in which giant monsters lay waste to cities. First up is Guillermo Del Toro‘s Pacific Rim, out July 12. In it, the humans have built giant robots called Jaegers to battle giant alien monsters called Kaiju. Then, in 2014, the company will release a new version of the film that brought the very concept of the kaiju to global popularity: Gareth Edwards‘ Godzilla, which is now in production.
As more and more studios think about team-up films such as The Avengers and Justice League, the possibility of some kind of new monster crossover seems obvious. Especially since it would hold true to the film history of Godzilla. There are no immediate plans for anything like this, but, Guillermo Del Toro loves the idea. Read his quote below. Read More »
“I wanted to make a film my sons could actually see before they get old,” said Brad Pitt, talking about his upcoming zombie film, World War Z. “As you will see, we got a little carried away.” Pitt was on the Paramount lot last week, along with director Marc Forster, to introduce 20 minutes of footage from the June 21 release.
The actor, who is also a producer, spoke about what they were trying to do with the movie. ”In Max Brooks’ book we found much more than a zombie film. We found this global apocalypse,” Pitt said. “This zombie epidemic as worldwide pandemic.” That massive scope was certainly on display in the footage, which featured Pitt’s character separating from his family to travel the world, hoping to figure out the source of the rising zombie apocalypse. Oh, and also rising walls of vicious zombies.
After the footage, Forster took questions from a handful of journalists, many of which were aimed at the film’s controversial production. The process saw massive reshoots and rewrites. He admitted that, yes, the ending had been changed but that they were very happy with the result.
After the jump, read more about the footage itself, watch a video blog reacting to the footage, and read more from Forster about the ending, how the film goes against zombie conventions and more. Read More »
The end of Ridley Scott‘s Prometheus is just the beginning of a new story. As Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) flies up into space it’s obvious that the prequel (of sorts) to Alien has more ground to cover. Some of the film’s questions were answered by the time the credits rolled, but many were not. The unresolved story points became a topic in criticisms levied at the film.
Further answers seem likely to come in the form of a sequel. While Prometheus wasn’t the gargantuan blockbuster many thought it would be, the director, screenwriter, and star all confirmed a follow-up has long been discussed and is currently in-development. That’s where things have sat for the past few months.
Now a report says Ridley Scott and 20th Century Fox are “freaking out” trying to figure out how to continue the franchise. They’re reportedly ”taking pitches from basically anyone who can crack the story,” and blame for the problems is placed squarely on the shoulders of screenwriter Damon Lindelof. The report says Lindelof came on board, altered Jon Spaihts‘ original script from a one-shot to a trilogy and then abandoned the franchise to work on Star Trek Into Darkness and Tomorrowland.
I asked Lindelof about this accusation on Twitter, and he responded with a long e-mail. You can read that below, along with a few other thoughts. Read More »
Here’s a curious revelation. The fine folks at Movieline noticed that, in a new TV spot for Shane Black‘s Iron Man 3, Ben Kingsley‘s voice as the Mandarin sounds radically different than it did in the latest theatrical trailer. It’s a much more straightforward delivery, with less affectation in the reading. Surely it’s impossible to judge a movie from its trailers or TV spots, which are all edited months before the final product reaches theaters, but the change mid-marketing is curious. Listen below and let us know what you think. Read More »
Having now seen Django Unchained, it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Jamie Foxx in the title role. The Oscar-winner gave a transformative performance, starting as a meek, clueless slave and slowly growing into a fearless, gunslinging bad ass. However, many readers likely remember that Foxx wasn’t writer/director Quentin Tarantino‘s first choice for the role. His first choice was Will Smith. Since turning down the role, Smith has pretty much remained mum on the details behind his decision.
Smith has now begun promoting his new movie, M. Night Shyamalan’s After Earth, and said the reason he didn’t take the role was because he didn’t think Django was the main character. Read More »
Legendary composer Ennio Morricone has some choice words for one of his biggest fans, Quentin Tarantino. The composer behind such movie music masterworks as The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and The Mission has his music prominently used in Tarantino’s latest film, Django Unchained. However, Morricone recently stated that he doesn’t like how Tarantino works with music and wouldn’t work with him again. Read his quotes below. Read More »
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