Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
Crazy: Buried With Ryan Reynolds Is Really A One-Man Show
Posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 by Russ Fischer
Just a week ago we reported on Buried, the indie thriller about a civilian contracter in Iraq who is kidnapped and buried alive, to be played by Ryan Reynolds. Now The Playlist got quotes from an Autralian TV interview with Reynolds, who says the movie is all him, all the time. One man, one coffin, one crazy thriller. Read More »
We’d recently thought that Moon director Duncan Jones would make the submarine thriller Escape From the Deep as his next feature, but now it seems like Mute, the film he’d previously likened to a Berlin Blade Runner, will be next after all. Moon won the prize for best new British feature over the weekend at the Edinburgh Film Festival, and that win may have helped push Mute forward. Screen Daily reports the UK-German co-production will once again be produced by Moon producer Stuart Fenegan, but with a lot more money: $25m instead of $5m. Read More »
Exclusive Interview: Paul Scheer on Piranha 3-D, Its Surprising Jaws Connection, “Rambo-level gore,” and Nude Wild Wild Girls
Posted on Friday, June 26th, 2009 by Hunter Stephenson
This summer, /Film considered traveling to the set of Piranha 3-D. Witnessing unlikely co-stars Richard Dreyfuss, Christopher Lloyd, Adam Scott, and completely naked bimbos battling (or getting devoured by) killer fish at the command of horror director Alex Aja is what the season is all about, no? Alas, it wasn’t meant be to be. The STD-insurance alone in the spring break hotspot of Lake Havasu, Arizona—where the film is shooting and set—is friggin’ outrageous. After informing us that we were not worthy, Piranha 3-D co-star and Human Giant comedian, Paul Scheer, offered up lots of funny, obscene and insane deets about next March’s horror flick. He also sent over this exclusive photo of his morally bankrupt character.
At times, our conversation went off the record into darker territory—a la shark viscera spilling onto a pier—but much is said below about a production that aspires to be the goriest and craziest 3-D movie ever. Paul discussed his role (it required method-acting and method-oogling), the precise amount of blood (a shit ton), Lake Havasu memories, and why Richard Dreyfuss’s sage character will seem, erm, pretty damn familiar. Chomp, chomp, chomp…
Hunter Stephenson: So Paul, I assume you wanted to do a broad family film and then you were offered Piranha 3-D. It was a matter of good timing, serendipitous.
Paul Scheer: [laughs] Yeah, well, I was trying to get Imagine That Too off the ground, where I become Eddie Murphy’s brother, and have my own adventure with my daughter. It was actually crazy, because when I first heard about this movie, it was like, “Elizabeth Shue is in Piranha 3-D, she’s awesome!” And then, you know, the title sounds cool and it sounds campy…
Ryan Reynolds will star in Buried, a film that pushes him well out of the studio comfort zone, according to Variety. The film is about a civilian contractor in Iraq who is kidnapped and buried alive in the desert. According to the trade he has a candle, knife and cell phone; not the sort of things typically left on the person of someone who is being buried alive, so I’m tending towards the assumption there’s more going on than just Iraq war drama. Read More »
The first trailer for Richard Kelly’s new film The Box has appeared, and it appropriately tries to push a few buttons. The film stars Cameron Diaz and James Marsden as a couple with an increasingly desperate need for money. A box mysteriously appears on their doorstep, followed by Frank Langella, who presents an offer: push the button on the box and someone unknown to them will die, and they’ll be given a payment of one million dollars. The story is based off Richard Matheson’s short story Button, Button. See the trailer after the jump. Read More »
Robert Rodriguez and Jessica Alba Teaming Up For French Comic Book Adaptation Insiders?
Posted on Friday, June 19th, 2009 by Brendon Connelly
According to a report at ICv2, Jessica Alba and Robert Rodriguez have teamed up to option the French comic book series Insiders. The original source for this information appears to be the French version of Premiere.
Insiders is a spy thriller in several volumes, reportedly revolving around the female lead Najah Cruz and I’m assuming that Alba has her eye on this vaguely Dark Angel-ish role as well as the Executive Producer’s seat. In the series, Cruz is a Columbian working for the White House, tasked to infiltrate and bring down a global crime syndicate.
Brody and Whitaker in Remake of German Psychological Thriller The Experiment
Posted on Friday, June 19th, 2009 by Russ Fischer
Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker have joined the cast of The Experiment, which is a remake of Oliver Hirschbiegel’s 2001 breakout film Das Experiment. Hirschbiegel’s film was based on the Stanford Prison Experiment, which was was run by Stanford’s Professor Philip Zimbardo in 1971 to evaluate the psychological effects of being a prison guard or inmate. Paul Scheuring, creator of the show Prison Break, has scripted and will direct. Elijah Wood and Cam Gigandet are also in the cast. Read More »
Is Weeds Getting Too Sinister? We Recap Season 5’s “Machetes Up Top” and Jennifer Jason Leigh’s Welcome Introduction
Posted on Thursday, June 18th, 2009 by Hunter Stephenson
Two episodes deep into the fifth season of Weeds, let’s take a look at where Nancy Botwin is headed—it’s disturbing and bleak, and involves being forcibly bent over a table. And what of her dysfunctional brood? Spoilers ahead. /Film will consider posting regular Weeds wrap-ups if there is enough reader interest. Let us know.
Over the last three days, I’ve read complaints online from a number of Weeds viewers who feel that the second episode, “Machetes Up Top,” is simply too dark. To be honest, I’m surprised I haven’t come across more of these sentiments; but we’re now in the fifth season, and the majority of viewers who have stuck around expect such testy slaps. For many, pleasurable guilt is part of the show’s appeal: Weeds is famously a love/hate series in and outside the tube. Since its debut in 2005, the series has embraced the modern, twisted anti-hero, one named Nancy Botwin molded in the fresh and hot shape of a drug-peddling MILF. Four years later, the television landscape is peppered with all kinds of charming killers, drug-pushers, gluttons, and sex fiends. And for better or worse, Weeds has confronted the trend and its anti-hero competitors by playing likability limbo hardcore. In 2009, the show’s writers appear dead-set on subjecting her to masochistic, highly self-destructive behavior and situations. How low can a mom get.
Natalie Portman Cast in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan
Posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Good news: Natalie Portman has signed on to star in Darren Aronofsky’s potential next movie.
Bad news: Darren Aronofsky’s next movie is probably not Robocop…
When the project was first announced, most people assumed that Inception would be a smaller film that Christopher Nolan would film before returning to make a third Batman film. But with a budget of over $200 million (or possibly $178 Million if the initial number is Canadian dollars) , the film isn’t looking so small after all.
Today, Tony Scott’s rendition of The Taking of Pelham 123 hits theaters. Lovers of Pelham subway-related film will know that the movie is based on a novel by Morton Freedgod (psuedonym: John Godey), in which four armed men hijack a New York City subway train and hold its hostages for ransom. It’s been made into a film twice before: Once in Joseph Sargent’s 1974 film The Taking of Pelham One Two Three starring Walter Matthau, and again as a 1998 TV movie starring Edward James Olmos.
As a fan of Joseph Sargent’s original film, I thought it might be interesting to compare his version with Scott’s new version, as I think some of the choices Scott made are pretty fascinating. If you haven’t seen the original, I’d suggest you watch before you read this, as I think it’s a great film that still holds up today. For obvious reasons, this article will contain massive spoilers for Joseph Sargent’s version of the film (1974) and Tony Scott’s version (2009). [Hit the jump at your own risk!]
Read More »
Martin Scorsese’s Shutter Island Movie Trailer
Posted on Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Paramount Pictures has released the first trailer for Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s novel Shutter Island. The story follows a U.S. Marshal named Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) who travels to Shutter Island, a small island in Massachusetts’ Outer Harbor, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insane, to find an escaped murderous patient in the Summer of 1954. And I’ll let the official plot description take over:
“But nothing at Ashecliffe Hospital is what it seems. And neither is Teddy Daniels. Is he there to find a missing patient? Or has he been sent to look into rumors of Ashecliffe’s radical approach to psychiatry? The closer Teddy and Chuck get to the truth, the more elusive it becomes, and the more they begin to believe that they may never leave Shutter Island. Because someone is trying to drive them insane. . .”
Beautiful cinematography, hints of wonderful performances, and some really creepy sequences. But is it a thriller with Oscar potential? Watch the trailer after the jump, and please leave your thoughts in the comments below!
