That headline might seems like a strange clash of conflicting stories, but they’re closely tied together by one thing: back in February, news bubbled up that Penelope Cruz would be taking the lead in Lars von Trier’s sci-fi disaster movie Melancholia; then one day later, we heard she wouldn’t be doing it all and had signed on to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides instead.
I was rather disappointed. It was too easy to see her choice as either greedy or, perhaps worse, cowardly. And as a fan of both Cruz and von Trier, I had instantly become keen to see their collaboration. Rats.
Now, though, it seems that Lars von Trier has filled the role with Charlotte Gainsbourg, his collaborator on Antichrist. This is interesting in part because von Trier doesn’t appear to have repeated his lead actors before, unless you count Jens Albinus’ characters in both The Boss of it All and The Idiots as leads. Not only does this mean von Trier wants to work with Gainsbourg again, it means she wants to work with him.
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You’ve probably read Madeleine L’Engle’s young adult novel A Wrinkle in Time. You might also have seen the 2004 TV adaptation which, as L’Engle reviewed, really wasn’t very good at all. Now a group is having a go at a feature adaptation, spearheaded by producer Cary Granat. (Who, you may recall, is also behind the 3D adaptation of the Book of Genesis we recently covered.)
Can a feature version of L’Engle’s story work? Read More »
We’ve seen some great animation in the recent past, but damn. The Czech film Kuky Returns looks like a wonderful blend of Spike Jonze, Jan Svankmajer, the Muppets and probably a couple others. (Such as the video game Little Big Planet, even.) But despite all those influences at play, it also looks very much like its own thing. Watch the fantastic trailer after the break. Read More »
I won’t make any bones about it - I think this first full trailer for Luc Besson’s The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc Sec looks simply superb. I’ve embedded the trailer below the break and fully recommend you check it out.
Meanwhile, the film’s offical English language web site has launched. A lot of it is still “coming soon”, but you can check out the a synopsis and some character art from the original Jacques Tardi comics.
The synopsis is housed as part of a virtual newspaper which also notes “How plentiful they will be, the bonuses and videos that The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc Sec website will make available via the advertising pillar”. Clicking on the ‘advertising pillar’ on the main street-scene, I was indeed given access to an interactive roster of vids… though almost all were still “coming soon”. Disappointing.
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One of the other notable things Warner Bros head Alan Horn said at the ShoWest presentation today involved how the studio hopes to fill the void that will be left by the studio’s most successful franchise. After Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II hits theaters in July 2011, that will conclude the biggest box office franchise in cinema history. How does Warner Bros hope to fill the hole left by this profitable series?
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Here’s a piece of marketing for Clash of the Titans that is at least commendably sneaky. Go to the UK version of Google. Search Kick-Ass. What do you get? In the main results, just what you’d expect to: IMDB, the official site and so on… but over in the sidebar of sponsored advertising?
First of all, you get an ad for Clash of the Titans, Warner Bros. big would-be blockbuster, which is opening in direct competition with Kick-Ass. They’ve clearly stumped up a lump and purchased some Google AdWords action. Bleeding Cool spotted this first, and made a screen cap.
But since then, there’s been some even sneakier action. A new ad has appeared, clearly purchased by Universal, the UK distributors of Kick-Ass. It reads “Don’t Be Conned. Heroes Don’t Clash, Real Heroes Kick-Ass. Join Up Now youtube.com/kickass”
A neat trick by team Clash, a neater trick by team Kick-Ass.
UPDATE: Neil Patrick Harris says on Twitter that Hank Azaria will play a live-action Gargamel in the film, not voice an animated version of the character. Original article follows.
We’ve had a good bit of casting for The Smurfs (not Smurfs: the Movie, as we’d seen it written before) so far, including Neil Patrick Harris as one of the primary humans, and Jonathan Winters, Alan Cumming and George Lopez as some of the little blue guys in white pants.
Now more names have been thrown onto the pile: Hank Azaria, Katy Perry and Glee’s Jayma Mays. Read More »
Are you keeping up with the Conan casting? Jason Momoa is in,and as Conan no less; Mickey Rourke is out, replaced by Ron Perlman; Stephen Lang has been rumoured then confirmed… and on and on. The latest break is that Rose McGowan has been handed a role. But, hang on - isn’t she supposed to be getting her own Red Sonja movie?
So… is this a cross-over? Or does this announcement mean something else?
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The Peter Jackson-produced, Guillermo del Toro-directed two-film adaptation of The Hobbit will begin shooting in June.
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Just yesterday we heard that Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of The Invention of Hugo Cabret was looking to add Sacha Baron Cohen and Ben Kingsley to the cast. Now it looks like the two lead child actors have been chosen, as well. Asa Butterfield will play the titular Hugo Cabret, and Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass) will play “an eccentric, bookish girl” who comes into Hugo’s life as he navigates the Parisian train station where he lives. Read More »
