Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
/Filmcast Ep. 56 - Year One (GUEST: Matt Singer from IFC News)
Posted on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 by David Chen
In this episode of the /Filmcast, David Chen, Devindra Hardawar and Adam Quigley discuss how terrible the Antichrist videogame will be, explain why Christopher Nolan directing the third Batman film would be a no-win situation, and wonder if there’s anything to get excited about in an 5th Indiana Jones film. Special guest Matt Singer joins us from IFC News and the IFC News podcast.
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 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
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Facebook Movie is An Adaptation of The Accidental Billionaires
Posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Yesterday it was revealed that David Fincher is in “advanced talks” with Columbia Pictures to direct The Social Network, the story of the creation of Facebook, as written by Aaron Sorkin. But apparently almost everyone (even the hollywood trade newspapers) failed to realize that the film is actually an adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s upcoming book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal.
Some might recognize Mezrich as the author of the bestselling book Bringing Down the House, which was adapted for the screen under the title 21. And those of you who read the story from yesterday might recall that Kevin Spacey is producing this new Facebook movie with Scott Rudin. Connecting the dots: Spacey produced and starred in 21. Yes, it all makes sense now. A lot more information is available after the jump.
WTF: David Fincher to Direct The Facebook Movie?
Posted on Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
We were baffled last Summer when Golden Globe nominated screenwriter/producer Aaron Sorkin had joined Facebook and announced that he was writing a Facebook movie for mega-producer Scott Rudin. Today Variety offers an unbelievable follow-up, filmmaker David Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en, Benjamin Button) is in “advanced talks” with Columbia Pictures to direct the film, which has been titled The Social Network.
I’m sure everyone by now has heard about the new iPhone 3GS (i hate that name) that Apple announced at the World Wide Developer’s Conference on Monday. But have you seen the first television advertisement for the new phone?
“Break In” was directed by David Fincher, a self professed mac fanatic (some might have noticed that the trailer for his last film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was only officially available on Apple’s Quicktime in HD). It might also be worth noting that the director of photography on the spot was Jeff Cronenweth, who has worked on a lot of music videos and was Fincher’s cinematographer on Fight Club.
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Last we heard, Kevin Eastman’s new big screen Heavy Metal movie had a list of impressive directors a mile long: Zack Snyder, David Fincher, Mark Osborne (Kung Fu Panda), and Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy). Eastman has said that three more directors would also direct segments on the animated anthology film. Since that time we’ve learned that Rob Zombie (Halloween) is in talks to join the mix.
But now our good friends at Film School Rejects have learned directly from Eastman that James Cameron has now come on board as Co-Executive producer, and will direct a segment. Cameron’s involvement is also notable because it pretty much guarantees that the film will be 3D. It was also revealed that Jack Black would be part of Kung Fu Panda helmer Mark Osborne’s comedy segment, although it was elaborated on if he would provide a voice, write, or even co-direct. Eastman says that the three other directors (one of which we assume is the previously mentioned Zombie), who have agreed but haven’t officially signed on, “are equally as jaw-dropping.” I do remember that Guillermo Del Toro’s name was initially on the list, but the filmmaker became too busy.
Discuss: Who else would you like to see involved in a new Heavy Metal movie?
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Criterion?!
Posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
You know a filmmaker has a lot of pull when he can force a big movie studio to allow him to release his film on DVD/Blu-ray through The Criterion Collection — the distributor and label of choice of film snobs around the world. Paramount Home Entertainment has announced that David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will be released in a two disc Criterion edition dvd and blu-ray on May 5th 2009. Full press release after the jump.
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This weekend we got our first look at the David Fincher-produced computer animated feature adaptation of the comic book The Goon. /Film reader Christopher M alerted us that Blur Studios and Dark Horse Comics cover artist Sean McNally had previously posted some of the very early concept art and a high resolution version of the teaser poster on his blog. Check them out after the jump.
AICN has a first look at the David Fincher-produced big screen computer animated adaptation of Eric Powell’s Dark Horse comic book The Goon. The project was announced during Comic Con, and the animation is being produced by Blur Studios (the same company which is developing the Heavy Metal movie).
Created in 1999, The Goon, “tells the adventures of a muscle-bound brawler who claims to be the primary enforcer for a feared mobster. The Goon and his sidekick Franky often get tied up in other machinations, often in relation to the evil zombie gangs. There is a heavy slant on the paranormal.”
I’m still not really clear who is actually directing this movie. Is Fincher directing? Head on over to AICN to see the images in high resolution. I’m actually amazed at the quality, especially considering that Blur Studios has never done an animated feature before (for example, their biggest animated feature film credit involved creating the aniamted effects for the heaven and hell sequences of the South Park movie).
Woody Allen and Miyazaki Not Included on EW’s 25 Greatest Active Film Directors List
Posted on Thursday, February 19th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Entertainment Weekly just published their list of the 25 Greatest Active Film Directors. It’s one of those really annoying slideshow stories, so we’ve done the legwork and printed the entire shortlist after the jump.
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The Science Behind The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Posted on Thursday, February 12th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Paramount Pictures has launched BenjaminButtonFX.com, a website that reveals some of the secrets behind the visual effects magic that was used to create The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. From a man aging backwards, to a city’s development over decades, the website features a bunch of different interactive displays of how the visual effects magic was created. It’s definitely one of those websites that you’ll have fun exploring. I’m wondering why it took them so long to get this site up? And I have to say I love the evolution progression on the loading bar (seen above). They should have used that image on a theatrical teaser poster.
In November 1999, Ain’t It Cool News reported that Sony had narrowed their choices for the big screen adaptation of Marvel’s Spider-Man down to four directors: Barry Sonnenfeld, Michael Bay, Chris Columbus and David Fincher. Michael Bay passed on the project saying the script needed work (talk about funny) and it was later reported that Fincher passed because “it wasn’t his thing”. I’ve always wondered how Fincher’s name got in the mix, and what Fincher’s vision for Spider-Man would have been. Recently Fincher sat down to answer questions for The Guardian, and the filmmaker was asked about the project.
David Fincher has a thing for serial killers. Se7en, Zodiac, and you could even argue Dwight Yoakam’s character in Panic Room: each of these films have focused on unhinged human beings who had no compunctions about killing many, many people. One of Fincher’s next projects was going to be an adaptation of Torso, a graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyko. Set in the mid-1930s, the novel tells the story of the quest to apprehend the “Torso Murderer,” who left only the torsos of his victims. Eliot Ness, formerly of The Untouchables (at this point in time, Al Capone is already in jail), is the investigating officer on the case.
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