In the world of creature and makeup effects, there’s one name to rule them all: Rick Baker. In addition to films like King Kong, Star Wars, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Planet of the Apes, Hellboy and The Ring Baker has won seven Best Makeup Oscars for the films Harry and the Hendersons, Ed Wood, The Nutty Professor, Men in Black, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Wolfman and An American Werewolf in London. His creature and makeup effects on the 1982 An American Werewolf in London were so impressive, it finally pushed the Academy to recognize the category, which is why it’s sometimes referred to in the industry as “The Rick Baker Award.” That film is also why Baker made his first ever trip to Austin for Fantastic Fest 2011. He did a special Q&A after a screening of American Werewolf, which also included a print by Olly Moss.
Before the movie, I had the chance to sit down with Baker to pick his brain about the effects business as it stands today, his career, his latest work on Men in Black III and more. Read the full interview as well as see some exclusive images from the event after the jump. Read More »
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You all know who Olly Moss is. We’ve written about him extensively, from his humble beginnings with Threadless up through his Mondo prints and the epic Paper Cuts gallery show. Moss’s latest print was revealed at Fantastic Fest this weekend, as part of a screening of the 1981 cult classic An American Werewolf in London and – as usual – Moss doesn’t disappoint. The poster subtly makes the United Kingdom into a monster and got a huge round of applause when it was revealed after a Q&A with the film’s Oscar-winning effects guru, Rick Baker (more on that in the coming days). After the jump, check out both the original and variant editions of the soon-to-be-highly sought after poster. Read More »
There’s almost too much that’s good about Fantastic Fest: experiencing the Alamo Drafthouse for a week straight; the small, friendly, film fan atmosphere; the parties. Oh yeah, then there’s the insane films. Every year Fantastic Fest is filled with a ton of wild genre flicks that either you’ve never heard of yet or already have a lot of buzz surrounding them. As the 2011 festival is set to kick off this week, /Film will be on the ground telling you about the sickest, most disturbing and exciting films playing in Austin, Texas. Before that though, since there’s so much that’s good about Fantastic Fest, we’ve got three lists to get you as excited:
- The Top 15 Films I’m Curious About – The true gems of Fantastic Fest, these are the wild cards we’re excited for from description alone.
- The Top 10 Most Anticipated Films – These are films with familiar names or built in buzz from previous festivals.
- The Top 5 Films of Fantastic Fest 2011 Already – This is a list of five films playing at the Festival we already know to be winners.
Read all of this after the jump and keep checking /Film from September 22-29 for all your coverage of Fantastic Fest 2011. Read More »
We’re mere weeks away from the craziest genre films in the world invading Austin, Texas for Fantastic Fest 2011. They’ve already announced not one, but two waves of films that’ll screen at the festival and now the third and final wave has been revealed. It includes the opening night, world premiere of The Human Centipede 2: Full Sequence, the closing night U.S. premiere of Morgan Spurlock’s new documentary Comic Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope, the much anticipated Juan of the Dead, Sundance darling Take Shelter, a 30th anniversary screening of An American Werewolf in London with Rick Baker in person and poster by Olly Moss and more.
Plus, Drafthouse CEO Tim League will be fighting bare-knuckle brawler James Quinn McDonagh to usher in the a screening of the documentary Knuckle.
Read the full third wave of films and see some hype videos for the fight after the jump. Read More »
Last year it was announced that the Weinstein brothers had acquired the rights to remake An American Werewolf in London, and my heart sank. Since then, there’s been no news of any progress on the project, and I promptly forgot about it.
That was a happier time. And a relatively short-lived one.
Alas, looks like the remake is starting to kick into gear, with the studio looking to Fernley Phillips, the writer of The Number 23, to tackle the screenplay. Learn more about what direction they plan to take the film after the break. Read More »
It looks suspiciously like somebody has slipped Bob Weinstein a shot of truth serum because he’s just spilled enough Dimension dirt to keep me blogging for a week. Buckle up, however, because I’m going to blast through it all in one big burst. After the break: Scream 4 casting and director news, Spy Kids 4 details, promises of a string of remakes and sequels set to be shot in 3D and even a little reveal about the release strategy for The Road.
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The world premiere unveiling of a freshly remastered digital print of John Landis‘ An American Werewolf in London was arguably the highlight of the Film 4 Frightfest last weekend. To accompany this, the festival also premiered Paul Davis‘ long awaited, self initiated American Werewolf retrospective documentary, Beware the Moon. Settling in for this double bill was like watching the new Werewolf Blu-Ray in the best possible circumstances: on a huge screen, wonderfully projected and in the company of over a thousand ardent horror fans.
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In this episode of the /Filmcast, David Chen, Devindra Hardawar and Adam Quigley share their feelings on an Uncharted movie; get excited about a Facebook film based on Ben Mezrich’s new book; try not to think about the American Werewolf in London remake; mourn the passing of an influential pop star; and find there’s a lot less to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen than meets the eye. Special guest Eric Vespe (AKA Quint) from Aint It Cool News joins us.
You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993. Join us next Monday at 9 PM EST / 6 PM PST at Slashfilm’s live page as we review Public Enemies.
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