Public Enemies - What Did You Think?
The first set photos from Louis Leterrier’s remake of Clash of the Titans have appeared on the Spanish website Loque Pasa En Tenerife. These ruins were photographed in Tenerife, Spain. Production began in studios outside of London earlier this week, but will later move on to various locations in Wales and in the Spanish Canary Islands, predominantly on Tenerife, off the coast of Africa. Further aerial work is set to take place in the diverse locales of Ethiopia and Iceland. Head on over to the Loque Pasa En Tenerife to see a few more photos from the location.
Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans Begins Production
Posted on Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Warner Bros Pictures has issued an official press release announcing the beginning of principal photography on Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans. I’ve included the whole press release after the jump, and it is actually worth reading because it includes a detailed cast and crew breakdown, and plot synopsis. The film is currently scheduled to hit theaters on March 26th 2010.
Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes Cast in Clash of the Titans
Posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 by Peter Sciretta
Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes have been cast in Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans. Neeson will play Zeus, king of the gods, a character played by Laurence Oliver in the 1981 film. Sam Worthington is already on board to play his son, Perseus. Fiennes is in talks to play Hades, the ruler of the underworld who is on a mission to overtake Zeus.
Captain America Found in The Incredible Hulk Deleted Scene
Posted on Saturday, October 11th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
You might remember that in June we reported that director Louis Leterrier was making the claim that Captain America had a brief cameo/easter egg in The Incredible Hulk.
“As a filmmaker and as a fan, I like to go see movies and watch them several times, … and every time I see it, discover little things in the background,” director Louis Leterrier said. “Did you know that in Iron Man, Captain America’s shield can be found somewhere? Well in Hulk you might see Captain America Himself!”
Of course, everyone went to the theater and saw the movie, but no Captain America. The director then changed his claims, saying the scene in question was actually in one of the scenes that was cut from the finished film:
“There’s a point when Bruce Banner gives up on his quest for the cure and decide to kill himself. So he travels far North and reaches the Arctic Circle. You might have seen bits of it in some of the promos. The result was a very dark and strong scene, which Marvel, me and everyone else’s considered to be too hard to young audiences to take, so we’ve cut it. Having that said, when Bruce arrives at his destination he meets up with Captain America! At some point this week, we will make it available on the internet but I cannot tell you where or when and the material will definitely be on the DVD.”
Well now the DVD is out and our friends at FilmSchoolRejects went through the deleted scenes frame by frame. The result is the screenshot of the Captain buried in the Arctic. If you look closely you can see his shield. I’ve been told its much clearer on the blu-ray disc, but no one has been able to do a HD screen capture yet.
Update: We’ve since added a few clearer photos which were posted in the comments.
I still get a lot of emails asking me how if the Captain America movie is set during World War II, how the Captain will appear in The Avengers film. This is the answer, he becomes frozen in the Arctic.
The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier slipped at a recent AlloCine question and answer session and revealed that “maybe they have already asked me” to direct the new Superman movie. From the first minute Superman: The Man of Steel was announced, rumors have been running wild that Warner Bros wanted to replace Bryan Singer and reboot the franchise. I’ve heard that other big name directors had been offered the project, but had never been able to confirm the story. Leterrier quickly responded in the talkbacks on AICN claiming that what he “meant was that [he] had been told about a possible reinvention of Superman.”
“Not that I was offered the job.”
For some reason, I’m just not buying it. And then again, this is the guy who claimed Captain America was in The Incredible Hulk. May be he’s just a compulsive liar?
Discuss: I know a lot of people weren’t happy with Superman Returns, but I think Bryan Singer knows what he needs to do to satisfy fans in the sequel. Would you be happy if they replaced Singer with Leterrier? I vote for Singer!
Tarsem Singh’s War of Gods vs. Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans
Posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Yesterday producers Mark Canton, Gianni Nunnari and Bernie Goldmann revealed to Collider that they had landed director Tarsem Singh (The Fall, The Cell) to helm War of Gods, a new Greek mythology epic which will be filmed like 300.
Relativity Media paid mid-six against seven figures for the script by Charley and Vlas Parlapanides. The official logline follows: “A purported bastard who retains an allegiance to his mother despite the fact that he longs to join the quest of a king who is battling demons in ancient Greece later embarks on a grail of discovery that has him finding he is the king’s son and also fated to become his country’s greatest hero as he leads the successful war against long-imprisoned Titans who are hoping to use the demons to restore their power.”
Warner Bros even toyed around with the idea of buying the Gods script (which is believed to be further developed) for their epic-style green screen remake of Clash of the Titans. The studio announced tonight that The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier has been hired to helm the Lawrence Kasdan-scripted remake. And now both studios are racing into production to be the first to the silver screen. War of Gods is scheduled to begin production by year’s end, and Titans was only greenlit after landing Leterrier.
contributing sources: variety, thr
The Incredible Hulk: The Truth About Edward Norton vs. Marvel
Posted on Saturday, June 14th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Okay, you’ve heard the rumors of the behind-the-scenes battle between Marvel and star Edward Norton over The Incredible Hulk. I’ve been getting a lot of emails asking me to explain what exactly happened. Here is what I know/have heard or gathered:
Edward Norton turned down the project when he was first approached but Marvel insisted that he meet with director Louis Leterrier, and Norton relented. At the meeting Norton offered his version of The Hulk story, and Marvel agreed to hire a screenwriter to work with him on a rewrite of Zak Penn’s draft. But no screenwriter was ever hired and Norton did a substantial page-one rewrite by himself. Anne Thompson explains: “With about two months to go before the movie started filming, Norton did a page one rewrite–knowing that he couldn’t do anything radical, because sets were being built, locations found, etc. The entire Brazil sequence was already story-boarded.” Norton added a lot of dialogue and character motivation, and Marvel agreed to shoot Norton’s draft of the screenplay.
After production was completed, Leterrier put together “an assembly” of the film, which basically included everything that was shot. The director explained to Collider: “It’s called a suicide run because it’s absolutely horrible. You want to commit suicide after you see it.”
Marvel decided they wanted make a shorter, more action-packed cut of the film, discarding a lot of the character development pieces that Norton had brought to the screenplay.
“So after this we had a meeting—just like this—like a round table where I go okay we have to find solutions. And then we were screaming stuff and everything. Maybe somebody walked in, a PA or somebody walked in, somebody who’s not used to it and we’re having a conversation and Edward was like…no, Edward’s very vocal.”
Norton was understandably pissed. He was brought onto the project under the premise that he would have considerable creative control. But the final cut was, of course, not his. Norton and Leterrier lobbied for a more nuanced cut of the film that ran about two hours and 15-20 minutes, but Marvel stuck to their guns.
“Everyone was exhausted; it was like a little burst. ‘’I’m angry with you!’’ ‘’No, I’m angry with you!’’ And me in the center saying ‘’Boys, calm down.’’ It didn’t come to blows. It was just a remark here and there, then it became public,” Leterrier told EW.
Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily ran the story on the Norton/Marvel blow up.
“The next day when the Nikki Finke…Nicky Fink or whatever her name is…article came out, Edward was right next to me. He’s like ‘you want to laugh?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, what’s up?’ ‘Read this’.”
A day later, Norton even showed up to do ADR work on the film. Leterrier told Collider that 70 minutes of deleted footage is set to be released on the inevitable Bluray release. (Leterrier describes the out-takes: “It’s like the back story. It’s more the sequel to the Ang Lee movie.”)
“I regret that [Marvel and Norton] didn’t come to an agreement where we could’ve all worked together,” Leterrier explained to Entertainment Weekly. “The press is what kept Edward and Marvel from talking to each other. [The argument] was nothing, but then it became something big.”
Norton’s script opened with a suicide scene in the Arctic. While the scene added a lot of depth to Norton’s character, giving you a greater understanding of just how much he wanted to get rid of his curse. I’ve heard that the scene is included in the video game adaptation. A couple reasons why Marvel may have exorcized the scene from the final cut:
1. It added an extra five minutes to the beginning of the film, and in effect pushed the first appearance of The Hulk to page 26/27 of the script (or about a half hour into the actual film). Hollywood’s reasoning is that with a movie titled “The Incredible Hulk”, mainstream audiences want to see Te Hulk as soon as possible. I tend to disagree. I think that one of the reasons Richard Donnor’s Superman is so great is for it’s extended origin story. It builds to the first climactic moment when you see Christopher Reeves in the Red and Blue suit. And lets not forget Jaws…
2. It undermines the moment that Penn wrote where Bruce Banner jumps out of the helicopter, not knowing if he would survive. The risk was removed from that scene.
3. Suicide is less accessible and not family friendly.
Norton’s flashback sequences were also cut from the film, including a sequence with Banner having a sit down conversation with a Doc Samson, which can be seen in the trailers. The storyline with Banner finding a serum in the Amazon and his computer conversations with Mr. Blue (Tim Blake Nelson) were some of Norton’s storyline additions that remained in the final cut.
Marvel submitted both Zak Penn’s and Edward Norton’s (under a pseudonym, Edward Harrison) drafts to the Writers’ Guild for arbitration. Penn also wrote a letter to the WGA insisting that Norton had not considerably changed his screenplay. Members of the Guild follow a formula for determining the credits. An original writer must contribute at least one-third of the final screenplay to receive credit. If subsequent writers labor on an original screenplay as script doctors, they must contribute more than half of the final screenplay to receive credit. The Guild compares the final cut of the film against both drafts, favoring story and characters over dialogue. And as I said before, most of Norton’s changes were dialogue driven. The conclusion was that Penn would get sole screenplay credit. Zak Penn’s original script was also said to include two pivotal scenes from his 16-year-old screenplay attempt: Bruce Banner jumping out of a helicopter, and the scene where Banner tries to get intimate with Betty, but his rising heart rate becomes an issue.
Edward Norton released the following statement to Entertainment Weekly:
“Like so many people I’ve loved the story of The Hulk since I was a kid, so it was thrilling when Marvel asked me to write and help produce an altogether new screen incarnation, as well as play Bruce Banner. I grew up reading Marvel Comics and always loved the mythic dimension and contemporary themes in the stories, and I’m proud of the script I wrote. In every phase of production, including the editing, working with Louis Leterrier has been wonderful…I’ve never had a better partner, and the collaboration with all the rest of the creative team has been terrific. Every good movie gets forged through collaboration, and different ideas among people who are all committed and respect the validity of each other’s opinions is the heart of filmmaking. Regrettably, our healthy process, which is and should be a private matter, was misrepresented publicly as a ‘dispute,’ seized on by people looking for a good story, and has been distorted to such a degree that it risks distracting from the film itself, which Marvel, Universal and I refuse to let happen. It has always been my firm conviction that films should speak for themselves and that knowing too much about how they are made diminishes the magic of watching them. All of us believe The Incredible Hulk will excite old fans and create new ones and be a huge hit…our focus has always been to deliver the Hulk that people have been waiting for and keep the worldwide love affair with the big green guy going strong.”
EW’s sources say Norton, worried about being unfairly branded “a pain in the ass” by the press, conceded to Marvel’s cut, which even though it wasn’t what he wanted, he understood would be more commercial.
Edward Norton is supporting the film, and doing select press. Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson and Louis Leterrier have contract stipulations for two sequels, if Marvel wanted to bring them back. Norton’s contract doesn’t have any such stipulations. Even if a sequel isn’t greenlit, The Hulk will return in the upcoming Superhero team-up film The Avengers. However, I’d be shocked if Norton returned to reprise the role of Bruce Banner.
Today, The Incredible Hulk opens in face of months of fanboy speculation (early consensus is quite positive), the looming memory of Ang Lee’s Bruce Banner, M. Night’s worst R-rated movie, and the celebration of Jason Voorhees. We want to hear what you thought of the big budget Marvel/Universal film all weekend long.
Things to consider: Is this the Hulk we’ve been waiting for? Better than Ang Lee’s? Was the CGI up to snuff? Is Edward Norton the definitive Banner? Does Norton have good reason to remain displeased with the film’s editing? How does Louis Leterrier’s film rank against Jon Favreau’s Iron Man and which film did you enjoy more? Is this a better film than Iron Man as some viewers are saying? Was Liv Tyler’s character just another damsel in distress or did she offer something different? Tim Roth, one of the great comic-to-film villains? And what about Captain America? Tony Stark?
Discuss: Worth the wait?
Director Promises That Captain America is in The Incredible Hulk
Posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
On Friday, we ran a transcript of an interview where director Louis Leterrier told G4 that in The Incredible Hulk “you might see Captain America Himself!” We saw the film earlier in the week, and were unable to see the Captain on screen. Leterrier later insisted to Collider that Captain America is still featured in the movie, but wouldn’t reveal the location:
“No, I can’t. Otherwise it’s not fun. Are you crazy? It’s an Easter egg,” said Leterrier. “It’s an Easter egg. It’s not like oh, it’s Captain America and it changes everything.= It’s still a Hulk movie, but it’s really Captain America and it’s there, you’ll see.= It’s the real deal.= You have to look for it.”
But in an interview with SOS Hollywood, Leterrier not only reveals which scene the cameo occurs, but also revealed that the scene was actually cut out of the finished film:
“There’s a point when Bruce Banner gives up on his quest for the cure and decide to kill himself. So he travels far North and reaches the Arctic Circle. You might have seen bits of it in some of the promos. The result was a very dark and strong scene, which Marvel, me and everyone else’s considered to be too hard to young audiences to take, so we’ve cut it. Having that said, when Bruce arrives at his destination he meets up with Captain America! At some point this week, we will make it available on the internet – but I cannot tell you where or when – and the material will definitely be on the DVD.”
Is Captain America’s cameo in the film somewhere or not? If it’s in the cut of the film that I saw on screen, then it is in the opening credit sequence which is done over a montage of clips which features a bevy of other great easter eggs including Nick Fury and Stark Industries. The Tony Stark scene which is being advertised on television felt like it was originally intended to be attached to the end of the credits (what they call - a button), but was instead featured before the credits.
There is a possibility that Marvel might attach the Captain America scene to the end of the credits when the film begins to play to public audiences later this week. Marvel Studios did the same thing for Iron Man, holding the Samuel L Jackson/Nick Fury cameo from the advance press screenings, as a treat for the fans.
You Might See Captain America in The Incredible Hulk
Posted on Friday, June 6th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
The Incredible Hulk is filled with homages to the original comic and television series. For instance, Lou Ferrigno, who played the character in the television show, lends his voice to the big green comic book hero. And with Iron Man there was a cameo appearance by Samuel L Jackson as Nick Furry. And we know that Tony Stark himself (Robert Downey Jr) makes an appearance in Hulk, But the big question is, does Captain America show up in The Incredible Hulk?
“As a filmmaker and as a fan, I like to go see movies and watch them several times, … and every time I see it, discover little things in the background,” director Louis Leterrier told G4. “Did you know that in Iron Man, Captain America’s shield can be found somewhere? Well in Hulk you might see Captain America Himself!”
Could Captain America actually make an appearance in The Incredible Hulk? We know that the blue super serum that will be (or was) used to create Captain America makes an appearance in the film, but the Captain himself? That’s what Leterrier said, right? The “Captain Himself”! I’ve talked to a few people who have seen the film, and no one has spotted the red white and blue superhero, which means one of two things:
Captain’s appearance, like his Shield in Iron Man, might be something in the background of one shot, so hard to spot that if you blink, you’ll surely miss it (and even if you don’t blink, you still might miss it).
OR
The piece of footage might have not been included in the advance screenings. As you might remember, the Nick Fury footage was intentionally left out of all advance screenings of Iron Man, including the film’s premiere, to preserve the surprise for opening day.Watch the video interview after the jump, and tell me what you think in the comments below!
Read More »
The Incredible Hulk: Early Positive Reviews Hit the Net
Posted on Friday, June 6th, 2008 by Hunter Stephenson
When all is said and done, will The Incredible Hulk take the spot on our Fave Movies of Summer ‘08 listicles previously reserved for Indy and Spielberg? For months, the redo’s marketing, CGI, behind the scenes differences, and purpose have been scrutinized beneath formidable anticipation for The Dark Knight, Iron Man and Hellboy 2. Early reviews are hitting the Net and it appears that the latest Marvel tale, from director Louis Leterrier and star Ed Norton, is a worthy contender and then some. I’ve compiled excerpts from what’s currently being said on the Net. If you’ve attended an early screening, let us hear all about it in the comments, or email/Twitter us. This entire post is spoiler-free.
First off, The Incredible Hulk recently screened at the championed Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas and the locals and spies over at AICN report the following…
“I was afraid going into this movie that the CGI would take me out of the movie, but it never did. The cinematography and CGI were beautifully shot. I loved the Hulk as much in this movie as I did in the comic books. …Ed Norton was incredible as Bruce Banner. But the Hulk? The Hulk truly came to life for me for the first time on film. …Is it as wonderful as Iron Man? No, but it is still a pretty damn good superhero film that continues to give me hope for the future Marvel films in the works.” - CheriBomb
The following guy nitpicks at Liv Tyler’s performance (”she’s always out of breath…”), but he’s even more excited. Given his alias, I can only imagine where and in what circumstance he typed the following…
“Really, let’s not even worry about the thin plot, the point of anything Hulk is SMASH! …In short, the geekiest comparison I can make is to Star Trek:consider Ang Lee’s Hulk to be Star Trek:The Motion Picture, a long drawn out effects heavy cerebral film clearly crafted with a fetishistic love; and consider The Incredible Hulk to be The Wrath Of Khan:shorter, faster, pure ass kicking all the way through.” - The Human Burrito
Yes mom, I went to J-school to quote a spy named The Human Burrito. And if said spy is actually a plant dressed up like my favorite food, I have to say his Star Trek comparison still makes me want to check it out. Other spy reports: This next guy admits that the CGI Hulk is pretty, uh, CGI-y and yet the effects do not “distract” from the overall badassery. He also says that the film is chockful of Easter Eggs and gushing with geek references, something we keep hearing over and over…
“The real surprise for me was Tim Roth - he’s not been this good for years and he’s great as special forces soldier Emil Blonsky, even if his character does get lost a bit towards the end and he does look a bit like Harry Potter’s Dobby at one point. There’s one sequence in particular that has me drooling at the prospect of Marvel’s upcoming Captain America movie.” - rjl1138, NYC
Yeah, but what about Professor Dark and Serious Movies Only, will that chief like it? Probably not and who cares, but Massawyrm says…
“The Incredible Hulk fucking rules. …Every bit as good as Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk takes the material we all love, gets at the heart of what makes it tick and then puts it on the screen FOR ADULTS. It’s dark. It’s heavy.”
Oh, and what about AICN’s Harry Knowles?
“OH HELL YEAH!” - Harry Knowles [includes animation of himself turning into Hulk, makes token allusion to "creaming"]
Elsewhere, reactions are equally elated, like this one…
“Except for one or two quiet moments shared by Banner and his girlfriend while on the lam, Incredible Hulk doesn’t waste a single frame on dull talky exposition. It is all plot-driven and action-filled. In fact, unlike the much-hyped Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Incredible Hulk never runs out of steam.” - Sci-Fi Movie Page
Gives yet another new meaning to “Nuke the Fridge.” Here’s an exclusive mini-reaction via txt/Twitter to Slashfilm just seconds ago…
“I was not expecting great things. I knew there was a lot of hype surrounding The Hulk, but I figured it might be just as disappointing as the first one. I am not a huge fan of fantasy/superhero movies because they can fail miserably if there’s poor CGI. But The Hulk was great! Not only was Edward Norton really convincing, but the action was on top of its game. I was pumped the whole time and waiting to see what happened next. Plus, after seeing Iron Man… I couldn’t help but feel anticipation and excitement during the last moments of the movie.” - Alana Taylor, Journalist, NYC
If a negative review(s) pops up, we’ll include it here, but for now, the buzz is on high. And we might as well tell you to stick around for the end credits. Also, the film’s ending is said to be a mega-highlight.
Discuss: HULK (not Ang Lee’s)! Look out for possible spoilers in the comments.
Sequel Talk: Pineapple Express, Hulk 3, Sex and the City 2, Bad Boys 3
Posted on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 by Peter Sciretta
Hollywood loves sequels, and the readers of movie blogs love to hear the early talk of them (even if it never develops into anything). So lets take a look at the recent sequel gossip going around the interwebs.
Seth Rogen and James Franco are already talking about the possibility of the first comedy sequel produced by Judd Apatow - Pineapple Express 2?
“Yeah, I’m waiting for the sequel,” Franco revealed to MTV at Sunday’s Movie Awards. Rogen added, “Yep, we’ve talked about it.”
When asked who will play the villain in the next Incredible Hulk movie (if the demand warrants a sequel), director Louis Leterrier says that Samuel Sterns (played by Tim Blake Nelson) is introduced in his film and of course, will eventually become The Leader. [comics2film]
At the 2008 MTV Movie Awards, Will Smith told Hollyscoop that he has an idea for Bad Boys 3.
“We need Bad Boys 3, but Michael is too expensive now, he’s way too expensive.”
Even series director Michael Bay admitted that it might never happen even though they’ve talked about doing another one.
“I don’t know,” said Bay. “We talk about it, but we all make too much money.”
Meanwhile The Daily Mail claims that the producers of Sex and the City are “exercising the sequel option in all of the stars’ contracts. They want it to be a franchise and think they can stretch it over at least a trilogy.” But can you really believe the British tabloid paper’s sources?
Thanks to /Film reader Marcus for contributing.
