Update: Del Toro confirmed that Andy Serkis, Ian McKellan, and Hugo Weaving would return in the roles they originated. When asked about the supposed bridge film, Del Toro said the plan was to make just two films, between adapting the novel and subplot material. “There is a whole other chapter, so to speak, which is the comings and going of Gandalf which are dealt with, people that know the lore know that Gandalf was delayed with a crisis… with a character that is very shady called the Necromancer that proves to be Sauron.” [LISTEN TO INTERVIEW(Del Toro comes in at 1hr 47min)]
Guillermo Del Toro and Peter Jackson share more than a few things in common. But whereas it was Jackson’s lifelong dream to direct King Kong, it is Del Toro’s dream to resurrect Mary Shelley’s timeless monster, Frankenstein. “Frankenstein is my lifelong dream, one of the primal books in my life, one of the primal monsters in my own mythology,” he said. “I’m hoping I get to do that [movie] very, very much.”
Speaking with Radio 5 Live’s Simon Mayo, Del Toro confirmed that Doug Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy) will take the role of Victor Frankenstein’s monster in his remake of the original story. “We’re doing make-up tests for the monster. In a few weeks we’re going to shoot a test for the monster.” Del Toro is in no rush to make the film, which is definitely a good sign. “I’m not in a hurry. I want to test it, develop it perfectly. If I shoot it five years from now, six years from now, it’s fine by me. You have one shot in your lifetime at these things and I don’t want to do it the wrong way.” Might we finally see the definitive Frankenstein tale? If anyone understands monsters better than Del Toro, please let me know.
In terms of the huge pressure of following up Jackson’s billion dollar, award-winning franchise Del Toro says he feels no pressure. “If I live the experience like that I would go insane. I don’t know if there’s a compartment in my brain that just doesn’t register those things. I feel an enormous responsibility but not to the results, either by Oscars or box office. I have an enormous responsibility to a book I adore and to a legacy of a world. Creatively I feel very responsible and very daunted, but honoured, doing this.” Del Toro and Jackson seem perfect together. Two geeks in Heaven with all the toys at their disposal.
Guillermo Del Toro is currently in heavy pre-production on the two Hobbit films which, if kept on schedule, will appear Christmas 2011 and 2012. Last week, he told MTV he was “very close” to announcing the cast, including the film’s main character Bilbo Baggins.
Here’s a script review for Andrew Kevin Walker’s (Se7en, The Wolf Man), Fred Durst-directed Psycho Killer. I’m a huge fan of AKW, and really loved this script until you find out PK’s reasons for doing what he does. Not that it loses any steam, it just seems kinda meh. Anyway, check it out below.
If you thought you were the only person pissed off about the new Nightmare On Elm Street remake, you’re not the only one. IGN recently spoke with Wes Craven who stated that he “has had no contact with Platinum Dunes about the project, and that he feels genuinely hurt by what’s happened.” Craven, who wrote and directed the original based on a dream he had, said “its such an important film for me that, unfortunately, when I signed the original contract I gave up all rights to it and so there’s nothing I can do about it.”
In contrast, Wes Craven was much more involved in The Last House On The Left and The Hills Have Eyes remakes. “I was much happier with Last House on the Left that I could kind of shepherd it towards production and we found a really wonderful director.” I’m not really sure how to feel about any of this. On prinicpal alone, I hate the idea of remakes. Platinum Dunes started off well enough with The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but have since consistently gotten worse.
“I don’t even know who’s doing it and I’m not interested. It’s the film of mine that I probably love the most, and which made the most money. The script went around Hollywood for three years and nobody touched it and I went through all my life savings and everything else to pay for it, so I had to make the deal I did. Frankly, at that time I thought it would be one movie and that’s it. I never thought it would go on and on and on.”
A Nightmare On Elm Street stars Jackie Earle Haley as Freddy Krueger, and is being helmed by video director Samuel Bayer. The script was written by Wesley Strick (Wolf, Cape Fear).
BD have posted a couple of interesting new shots from [rec2], the upcoming sequel to one of my favorite horror films of the past five years. The first is a shot of more zombie, but the second….well, I really have no idea what the hell is going on in that second shot. Rumors are that the creators of [rec] have jumped the shark with their second film, yet somehow I think it’ll all work better than if an American studio attempted it.
Now I have absolutely no idea what the hell is going on in that second shot, but count me in! Also, if you’ve seen the original and pay careful attention to the trailer you’ll notice some characters from the original turning up as ravenous zombies.
Alessandra Torresani has joined Floria Sigismondi’s directorial debut, The Runaways. Torresani has played the hyper-intelligent daughter of creator of the first Cylon model on Ronald D. Moore’s Caprica. The 22 year-old actress joins Kristin Stewart as Joan Jett and Dakota Fanning as Cherrie Curie in the film directed by video director Floria Sigismondi. Shooting begins next week.
Disney has just released a few beautiful stills from their return to hand-drawn animation, The Princess And The Frog. Keep in mind, the pictures are insanely huge, but they are absolutely stunning. I’m so glad that John Lasseter decided to keep this animation division open and not just rely on Pixar. If you didn’t already, this is Disney’s first African-American Princess.
The Walt Disney Studios continues its fairy tale legacy in animation by taking moviegoers on an all-new “once upon a time” musical adventure. Set in the legendary birthplace of jazz – New Orleans, The Princess and the Frog will introduce the newest Disney princess, Tiana, a young African-American girl living amid the charming elegance and grandeur of the fabled French Quarter. From the heart of Louisiana’s mystical bayous and the banks of the mighty Mississippi comes an unforgettable tale of love, enchantment and discovery with a soulful singing crocodile, voodoo spells and Cajun charm at every turn.
Featuring the voices of Anika Noni Rose (as Princess Tiana), Oprah Winfrey, Keith David, Jim Cummings, John Goodman, Jenifer Lewis, Bruno Campos, Michael-Leon Wooley, Peter Bartlett and Terrence Howard. Directed by and based on an original story written by Disney’s acclaimed filmmaking duo John Musker & Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin). Scored and music written by Oscar®-winning songwriter/composer and New Orleans native Randy Newman (Toy Story, Monsters, Inc.).
The Princess and the Frog hits theaters with a limited run in New York and LA starting on November 25th, followed by a wide release on December 11th.
I hate Eli Roth. I mean, he could be such a better director with the right material. I mean, he’s a great director but his stories suck. Hard. I loathe Cabin Fever and that stupid ‘Pancakes’ kid. I almost walked out of Hostel, because audiences hyped it as the most intense film ever and I basically scoffed. To be fair, Hostel 2 was a vast improvement over the original, and really reined in his style. It’s just so frustrating to see someone who is obviously better than their material make crap. Anyway, enough about our beef.
BD broke word a few weeks back that Universal was working on an update of Tobe Hooper’s classic Funhouse. The 1981 film follows four friends who spend the night in a carnival funhouse, stalked by a deformed man in a Frankenstein mask.
I’m talking with Universal about that one,” Roth reveals. “ THE FUNHOUSE is a movie where the first half is brilliant—they set up these great characters—and then they pay off none of them. You have Marco the Magician sawing his daughter in half, the brothers who run the carnival and the funhouse setting. And then it’s all about this weird mutant thing. It should be about the kids getting killed in horrible ways, put in different contraptions in the funhouse and the final girl being strapped into the ride and sent into the tunnels to be confronted by terrifying tableaux of her dead friends. A smart remake could be so much fun. Kill the kids in fabulous ways and continually reuse the bodies by making them freaks in the freak museum, sew their eyes shut, waxworks… That’s the stuff I want to do in a remake of THE FUNHOUSE.”
Roth will be seen in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds this August. He is currently working on the script for his sci-fi film Endangerd Species, producing Cotton, a faux-documentary about a faux exorcist who experiences the real thing, and producing Andrew Kevin Walker’s next script Psycho Killer, one of my favorites that I’ve read this year.
“Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en, The Wolfman) wrote the script, but most studios have found it too dark.” Roth says, “From the writer of SE7EN, what did they expect? We didn’t think it was dark enough and asked Andrew to rewrite it that way. It’s basically a slasher movie from the killer’s point of view. The first 30 minutes is our maniac subjectively watching his prey, a girl who works in a pharmacy, and then stalking her as she clocks off. Then a female cop suddenly pops into frame… It’s fantastic and intense, and MGM wants to release it.”
David Fincher, self-professed Mac man, recently directed a commercial for their new iPhone 3GS titled “Break In.” Fincher has been editing on Final Cut since Zodiac, I believe, and has become an advocate for all things Mac. So much so that his Curious Case Of Benjamin Button trailer was only available in Apple HD.
Points to Rob Cohen: He wised up and realized that absolutely no one gives a damn about XXX: The Return Of Xander Cage. “I talked to Vin over the weekend and said I hoped they would wait, but that if they find another director who’s right for the sequel, I certainly wouldn’t be angry. But I could not let something like this go.” That something is a spec script by Alex Litvak and Michael Finch titled Medieval. Described as The Magnificent Seven in the Middle Ages, sources say the action brings together warriors from disparate cultures.
It turns out the film is sort of a passion project for Cohen who studied anthropology and European history at Harvard. He was drawn by the opportunity to tap into the historical period and create a heightened reality with big action pieces. Cohen hopes to get the picture into production by October. McG is involved in a producing capacity for New Regency.
Film School Rejects have unveiled an exquisite final poster for Shane Acker’s animated debut, 9.
(click to make super damn huge)
I’m really excited about this film. It looks absolutely amazing and seems to have a bleaker tone than anything we’ve seen in an animated feature in awhile. It’s again directed by Shane Acker, and based on his Oscar-nominated short.
Source: DigitalSpy
![[rec2]](https://cinemafique.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/rec2-tease1a.jpg "[rec2]")
![[rec2]](https://cinemafique.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/rec3061009.jpg "[rec2]")
![[rec2]](https://cinemafique.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/rec2061009.jpg "[rec2]")
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