The Official MovieSet Blog
World War Z’s writer loves his zombie director
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
You might recall the news that Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster has been hired to call the shots on a zombie horror film titled World War Z. Now the writer of the novel that the screenplay is based upon (whew, this sentence sounds more complicated than it actually is) has told Fangoria what he thinks of the new 007 director adapting his story into a film. The short answer: he’s happy. Continue reading…
Posted at 3:49PM by Patrick
Exclusive: Director Kari Skogland talks about the making of Fifty Dead Men Walking
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Kari Skogland’s Fifty Dead Men Walking lit up audiences when it ran this past September at the Vancouver and Toronto Film Festivals. The film tells the true story of Martin McGartland (played in the film by Jim Sturgess), then a 22-year-old young man living in Ireland at the height of its civil war. McGartland was recruited to join the IRA and carried out numerous terrorist acts before being approached to become a double agent and feed strategic information about the Army to U.K. authorities (whose contact is played by Oscar-winner Ben Kingsley.) Skogland’s film chronicles Martin’s dark journey through this complex battlefield and of the constant level of fear and danger that he faced every hour of every day. Continue reading…
Posted at 2:50PM by Patrick
Variety’s review of Twilight: it sucks
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
I’ve just read the first review published by a major news outlet for Twilight and it’s not a good one. That doesn’t mean that I believe the film is going to bomb at all; this thing is now a genuine phenom and is going to do at least $45 million dollars worth of ticket sales this weekend. No, what I think we’re seeing is another review proof movie, just as the three Star Wars prequels were. Shaky acting, too much soulless CG and weak storylines didn’t seem to matter with audiences who paid up to see The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Quite possibly Twilight could be the fangirl equivalent of this kind of movie event. Continue reading…
Posted at 11:43AM by Patrick
Old Boy remake to Dreamworks
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
According to THR Mandate has bought the rights to popular Korean cult hit Old Boy co-written and directed by Park Chan-wook from Universal, who had acquired the rights in 2004 with Vertigo Entertainment. And round and round we go.
Old Boy is “the story of Dae-Su who is locked in a hotel room for 15 years without knowing his captor’s motives. When he is finally released, Dae Su finds himself still trapped in a web of conspiracy and strangeness. His own quest for vengeance becomes tied in with romance when he falls for an attractive sushi chef.” [wikipedia]
All of the usual ingredients are falling into place to make Old Boy another big budget, cookie cutter offering from Hollywood:
- The rights to a successful foreign film ripe for remaking, with a built in fan base, have been procured
- Dreamworks is involved
- Mark Protosevich who wrote I am Legend, Poseidon and The Cell is in talks to write the screenplay
- Steven Spielberg and Will Smith are developing the project
It is a formula that works. Doesn’t mean a great film. Financially successful? Yep.
Continue reading…
Posted at 8:49AM by Mike
Spike Jonze and where his Wild Things are right now
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
If you follow movies in development and are keen to fantasy or the works of Spike Jonze then undoubtedly you have been watching for any news about the director’s next film, a live-action adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s legendary childrens book Where the Wild Things Are. Warner Bros. had given Jonze $80 million dollars to bring Sendak’s imaginative story of a young boy’s friendship with large, furry monsters to life and had eyed a release date of October 2008. And then the reports of trouble started to trickle in: that Warner execs had not liked the early material that Jonze filmed, that they had trouble making the wild things look perfect on-screen and that the business side of the studio didn’t know how to shape the marketing of the film. Was this supposed to be a kids film by the guy that made Being John Malkovich? Continue reading…
Posted at 2:22PM by Patrick
Twilight fans already lining up
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
And there it is: photographic evidence that people have begun to line up for Twilight. And they started doing it this past Sunday night. That’s right, as I write these words the Twilight line-up in L.A. has been holding strong for at least 36 hours. According to Deadline Hollywood Daily, there were about 25 people (and as Nikki Finke points out, mostly female) when the line-up began on Sunday night. There is currently about 300 waiting in that same line right now. Continue reading…
Posted at 1:17PM by Patrick
Trailer for Soderbergh’s Che biopic
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Innovative film director Steven Soderbergh’s film about the Argentinian Marxist revolutionary, Che Guevera, is so long at 4 and 1/2 hours that it had to be split into two films to be distributed domestically by IFC Films. The first one called The Argentinian is set for release in January of 2009 and the second, entitled Guerrilla, is slated for a February release.
Of not, Soderbergh shot the epic project on RED cameras. RED cameras use no film at all and are fully digital.
Check out the trailer after the jump.
Continue reading…
Posted at 11:16AM by Mike
Clooney caught staring at goats
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
That’s a shaggy George Clooney dressed up in military garb for his role as a “psychic soldier” in Men Who Stare at Goats, his new movie filming in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Three spy photos were snapped on Saturday as Clooney stepped from his trailer and made his way to the soundstage. All photos can be viewed on the gossipy Just Jared website.
Posted at 10:38AM by Patrick
Twilight selling out early
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
According to THR Twilight tickets are selling out quickly:
Online ticketers Fandango and MovieTickets said Monday that the Summit Entertainment film has sold out hundreds of performances four days before its Friday opening in about 3,400 locations. Fandango has sold out almost 700 shows — including 500 or so midnight Thursday screenings — and MovieTickets counted more than 400 sellouts of various showtimes.
“Twilight” accounted for more than 85% of presales in recent days, the ticketers said.
Even if Twilight opens well will it be able to beat out last week’s fave Quantum of Solace? Also opening this week, in more theaters with a broader fan base, is the 3D animated Bolt. I have a funny feeling all of the tweenie-boppers and their moms will be happy with the performance of the little vampire film that could come Monday morning.
Posted at 9:15AM by Mike
Christopher Lloyd’s home destroyed by wildfires
Monday, November 17, 2008
Back to the Future actor Christopher Lloyd has lost his home due to the recent spate of wildfires in Southern California. Best remembered for his role as the eccentric professor Doc Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy of movies and as crazy Jim from the 1980s TV series Taxi, Lloyd’s $11 million dollar home burned down when the wildfire ripped through the prestigious Montecito neighborhood this past weekend. Dozens of other homes were lost in the fire. Continue reading…
Posted at 4:56PM by Patrick
