If you don't know Zak Penn, well he's basically the go-to guy for comic book adaptations. He's written some good ones ("X-Men 2") and some pretty bad ones, or at least films that ended up being pretty terrible ("Fantastic Four," "Elektra," "X-Men 3"). He also wrote this year's "The Incredible Hulk" and got into a scuttlebutt a few short months ago when he and star Edward Norton, who did a page-one rewrite on the script (dialogue, not plot points), got into an arbitration battle with the screenwriters guild over who should get screenplay credit. In the end Penn won and Norton was allegedly pretty pissed and some have speculated (including us) that this was one of the reasons contributing to Norton's lack of 'Hulk' press. Anyhow, like all good nerds worth their salt, Penn was at Comic-Con 2008 and he spoke out about Norton and offered his take on the whole 'Hulk,' writing debacle.
"Yes, [the fallout] prevented me from collaborating with him [during production]. I don't really know the [Norton], he has his own process and he chose to do it the way he wanted to do it. That said, I kept in touch with the people making the movie — but he, you know, has his own particular way of working and...it was unusual. I really don't know, I wasn't there, I was off making another movie, so it wasn't a situation where I was banging on the door saying, 'Let me come to the set.' But that was disappointing, I won't deny it. I wasn't happy with him coming to Comic-Con saying that he wrote the script. I can't tell you that made me go back and watch Fight Club."
Penn also talked about the "The Avengers" project he's writing and revealed to the audience that Mark Fergus, one of the co-writers of "Iron Man," would also be looped into the 'Avengers' project.
"Right now, we're [Marvel Entertainment and I are] planning a bigger Avengers movie that will tie all of the movies together, and it's going to bring in a lot of the comic book authors. I am writing, but also, I think you guys [looking at Mark Fergus, the co-writer of 'Iron Man'] are going to be writing with us too, right? [Fergus looks back blankly.] Maybe you don't know that yet, but you are."
In Marvel related news, during another separate panel discussion, when Ben Affleck's name came up in conjunction with "Captain America," the crowed vehemently booed. The idea of Matt Damon as Thor drew applause and cheers. It's also interesting to note: many people assumed Jon Favreau would be announced as the director of "Iron Man 2," but when asked point blank, Marvel head Kevin Feige said he couldn't confirm anything but claimed an announcement would be made next month.
7/26/2008
Zak Penn Knocks Ed Norton For Taking 'Hulk' Writing Credit; Talks 'Avengers,' Plus More Marvel Updates
'Watchmen' Director Zack Snyder Still Battling The Studio Over Running Time
"Watchmen" director Zack Snyder sat down with Variety's Anne Thompson for an exclusive chat this weekend at Comic-Con. The big "news" that came out of their talk was the fact the filmmaker is still battling Warner Bros. over the film's running time and appears, by admission, to still be struggling with convincing them the film should just as long as "The Dark Knight," if not longer.
WB wants the film, which currently runs three hours, to clock in around the 2 hour and 15 minute mark despite the fact that 'TDK' proved audiences were willing to endure the grueling 2 1/2 hour and and near exhausting grimness of the film and still call it a masterpiece.
Snyder is insisting the film run at least 'TDK' length. "If 'Dark Knight' got two and a half hours, 'Watchmen' should get fifteen minutes more. I'm trying to be reasonable."
Despite the massive success of the lubed-up Spartan hunkfest "300," the studio still seems to not entirely trust the director. But he has had some influence, convincing the studio that 'Watchmen' should be filled with lesser, non A-list actors who might distract from the story and should sport an R-rating. "I wouldn't know how to do it otherwise. Fans should thank '300' because there's no way they would let me do it, no way, I've taken full advantage."
Full advantage or not, Snyder, WB still thinks the film is "too long, too sexy, and too violent," and Snyder keeps talking his escape pod: the Ultimate Watchmen" DVD, which is clearly his back up plan if WB rapes Watchmen's theatrical running time. If fans get into an uproar about what's missing in the film, he'll have months to point to the DVD and say, "Before your cast judgement, wait for the full-story on DVD," but he seems to be hinting at that card a lot.
Geeks note: Snyder said during the panel that his adaptation of "Watchmen" is more true to the source material than the Oscar-winning ‘‘No Country for Old Men," was. He also said "Tales of the Black Freighter" (the story within the story) would be present on the "Ultimate DVD" and confirmed that "300" star Gerald Butler would be voicing the 'Freighter's Sea Captain.
It remains to be seen if Snyder will get his way, but considering the amount of positive buzz 'Watchmen' generated from Comic-Con, he should be able to get more pull if he can quantify the film's geek popularity into some kind of metric that will impress and make sense to Warner. Though note, one geek site, Rope of Silicon says the new footage shown sort of "underwhelmed."
Watch: 'Watchmen' Panel Pt. 1
Watch: 'Watchmen' Panel Pt. 2, plus Pt.3 and 4
Comic-Con '08: Frank Miller Bores The Geeks With 'The Spirit,' Film Officially In Trouble
Geeks will turn on you if you don't deliver the goods, and it appears that mostly everyone was grossly underwhelmed from the Comic-Con panel and what footage was shown. Not a good sign considering this is Frank Miller's directorial debut solo (no Robert Rodriguez to guide him) and the film comes out in December. If you can't build buzz at Comic-Con, five months out before release, you could be fucked. Does this speak to the idea that comic-book films have reached their inevitable tipping point? Reiko Takara, our correspondent in the field breaks it down:
"The Spirit" was supposed one of the most hotly anticipated movies going into Comic Con 2008 but it was quickly eclipsed on the Convention Center floor by the buzz around "The Watchmen." After attending The Spirit panel which featured, Frank Miller, Samuel L. Jackson, Jaime King, Gabriel Macht and producer, Debra Del Prete (Eva Mendes was also supposed to attend but was stuck on the set of the 'Bad Lieutenant'; who knows where Scarlett Johansson was), I don't think anyone left with a different sentiment. In fact, a third of the way thru, a large exodus seemed to head towards the exits. Miller showcased three clips from the movie, a romantic sequence between Gabriel Macht's The Spirit and Sarah Paulson's Ellen Dolan, one underwater gun scene with Eva Mendes' Sand Saref and a "clash of the titans" sequence between The Spirit and The Octopus played by Samuel L. Jackson where the two characters battle in the mud with the scene ending with The Octopus hitting The Spirit over the head with a toilet and the line, "Come on! Toilets are always funny." Really, always? Not in this case.
Although Del Prete, was clear to say it wasn't "campy," the clips' dialogue seemed unintentionally funny. The scenes previewed were heavily in the vein of the sleek, tech heavy work Miller did on "Sin City" with glossy black & white, grays and hints of red. This look they called "nevertime" which included mostly '40s and '50s references but with the presence of cell phones. When Miller was later asked about the special effects in another panel he was quick (for the reserved Miller) to explain that you need to "use every medium for their advantages. Every form has to be embraced for what it can do. You have to remember, I have been writing "boom" to explain an explosion..."One thing is clear coming out of Comic Con, "The Watchmen" is still the one to watch for the geek set and their messiah, Kevin Smith is spreading the word, who during a panel with both Miller and Zack Synder, kept raving about "The Watchmen" trailer and asking them to play it, even asking Synder to act it out if they didn't have video. Even people like Slashfilm who normally adore most comic-book films called what they saw an "atrocity." If it's constituency doesn't even like it... Man, the studios should definitely be paying attention here. This one needs a major life raft or overhaul if at all possible. One of the film's prime mistakes in our mind was hiring Samuel L. Jackson, he practically ruins every movie these days and has seriously fallen from grace in the last 10 years.
Watch: "The Spirit" panel Pt.1
Watch: "The Spirit" panel Pt.2
7/25/2008
Comic-Con '08 Filmmakers Panel: Judd Apatow, Zack Synder, Kevin Smith And Frank Miller
For not being a fan of Kevin Smith's movies, he was actually pretty funny. He and Judd Apatow totally carried the panel with Zach Synder only adding in here and there and Frank Miller practically asleep in his chair. All the questions were dumb and no one got news, but at least they were amusing.
Question: How do you guys feel about audience testing?
"I like to see how much penis you can show before you walk out of the room" - Judd Apatow
"I go with my gut but sometimes my gut has proved me wrong. My gut said, 'Do Jersey Girl, they're come with you." My gut was wrong." - Kevin Smith (in response to if listens to audience testing or goes with his instincts)
"Geek culture is here to stay- thank god for Quentin Tarantino." - Kevin Smith
"I try to give you want you ask for and what you don't know you want."- Frank Miller (about caring what the online world is saying)
Question: Do all the studio bigwigs still have you guys by the balls?
"By the balls"- Zack Synder
"I might have them by the balls"- Judd Apatow
"One ball"- Kevin Smith
"Seth Rogen is the most brilliant ad libber. Really really great at it. I got lucky with that guy. You (points to Judd) got really, really lucky with that guy." - Kevin Smith
"I don't know how to move the camera. I remember when Adam McKay and I were working on 'Anchorman' and we went to go see 'Dawn of the Dead.' I remember saying we just stumbled into the coolest fucking movie. There is nothing in that movie I can do."- Judd Apatow (on if he would try his hand at the sci-fi genre)
Question: Who are your filmmaking influences?
Kevin Smith: "Spike Lee, Richard Linklater, Jim Jarmusch, Hal Hartley."
Judd Apatow: "Kevin Smith, I saw 'Clerks' and said you can actually do *that*...but then there are others like Hal Ashby, Cameron Crowe..."
Kevin Smith: "Dude, say that shit in print."
The most random question in the world: Kevin Smith, what did you think about "Superman Returns"?
"I like Bryan Singer a lot. I was just hoping the Superman movie would be a lot more gayer then it was. I am all for the Reboot. It's the year one movie. I heard Bryan mention that the sequel would be more 'Wrath of Khan' and that's the way to go. I say, I'm all for it. 'X-Men 2' is one of the best comic book movies I have ever seen [pause]... so is it that my work doesn't interest me but your opinion on others work does?" - Kevin Smith
RE: " Watchmen"; everyone is going apeshit for it here, it's the talk of Comic-Con so far
- Kevin Smith kept mentioning it.
- Zach said the will be putting together an ultimate Watchmen DVD that would include transitions in and out of "Tales of the Black Freighter" (the story within the story) that he would weave in and out of a giant movie.
- Said Gerald Butler would be the voice of 'Freighter's Sea Captain for the DVD which confirms this story.
- Snyder said when he was sent the script of the 'Watchmen' video game it was "the dorkiest script I have ever seen." He tried to re write it to make it, more true to the graphic novel.
Some 'Spirit' thoughts soon, but people were pretty much bored and disinterested in anything Frank Miller had to show or offer.
Some of the Watchmen panel at Comic-Con is up now.
Sam Jackson Wants Nick Fury In Marvel Everything; Casts More Doubt Over Favreau Directing 'Iron Man 2'
Samuel L. Jackson, who had a small cameo as Nick Fury in this summer's surprise hit "Iron Man," is getting impatient.
Homeboy does not want to wait until Marvel's "The Avengers," which is not scheduled til 2011, to show up in a super-hero flick again. In an interview with MTV.com's Slashpage at Comic-Con, Jackson said he has no intention of waiting and if he has his way, he'll have cameos in "Iron Man 2," "Thor" and "Captain America" and any other Marvel idea from now til eternity. What he wants may seem to mean jackshit, but Jackson did get into the Star Wars prequels by publicly stating in an interview he wanted in and George Lucas heard him (then again Jackson wanted an cameo in Indy 4 and that never happened). Either way he wants to make his character into something more and soon.
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to making that character a bit more integral, in terms of other stories that are happening." Which apparently can't wait a few years.
"'Iron man 2" is coming sooner! I'd rather go to work than wait three years and be in the 'Avengers.' I'm looking forward to going to work soon." Listen to that, somebody cast this guy in a Marvel super hero movie soon (before he makes "More Snakes on the Plane"). Thanks to Marvel's slightly annoying practice of having all their "off-screen" super-heroes make small cameos in all their films, Jackson is bound to get his wish sooner than later.While discussing his wish to be given more room to explore his character in "Iron man 2," Jackson gave us reason to believe that "Iron Man" director Jon Favreau situation may not be locked into the sequel as previously thought. "First of all, Jon's doing another movie, so its not for sure if Jon's going to do it yet."
Hold the press, after all that shit we had to listen to about how Jon is signed on and ready to go, we find out that he is possibly doubled booked? What the shit, man!? Our guess is that if Marvel actually answers his calls and offers him the thing, he wouldn't pass it up.
Are Comic Book Movies Overkill? Is The Chic Fading, Have The Films Reached Their Tipping Point?
It's nerd ground-zero in San Diego, bu not everyone is loving Comic-Con and the super-hero short pants thingy.
The New York Times for one suggests that comic-book films have hit their inevitable overkill apogee moment, and even the Comics-movie blog The Beat suggested the event has jumped the shark now that people like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashia were in attendance hawking their various wares. The Hollywood Reporter also says the chicness of the event might be fading and may have reached its tipping point. That would be bad news for the vested nerds.
Last year, Comic-Con was a huge launching pad for "Iron Man," and "The Dark Knight," and building "The Incredible Hulk" buzz. It's probably a little too early to tell what's going to be the the big picture from Nerd Prom, but it's probably going to be "Twilight" even though it's basically for melodramatic tweens that can get enough of the unrequited Romeo & Juliet vampire story even though they've barely even gone to second base.
New 'Rock N Rolla' Trailer Conveys Guy Ritchie's Commitment To Aping Guy Ritchie
"When a Russian mobster orchestrates a crooked land deal, millions of dollars are up for grabs, and all of London's criminal underworld wants in on the action."
Ahh, Guy Ritchie, where would we be without your fun and predictable beats? From the story conceit of multiple parties after the same object (money of course) and the double-crossing, to the whimsical and playful almost-flamenco like music (shades of Italian singer Fabrizio De Andre), to the eventual fast-cutting, swish-panning hard-driving, "bad-ass" rock n' roll, for better or worse this is vintage Guy Ritchie. 
Just like the last trailer, the crescendo of this one is similarly set to the Subways' "Rock n Roll Queen." There's not major differences in this trailer, but it does feature more Jeremy Piven and Ludacris this time and that's probably because it's an American trailer. The last one was decidedly British and there was nary an American accent in it. The rest of the cast is rounded out by Gerard Butler (the main flamer in "300"), Thandie Newton and Tom Wilkinson.
'Pineapple Express' Hits Brooklyn Early
Last night we caught the New York/Brooklyn premiere of the Judd Apatow stoner action comedy, "Pineapple Express" directed by David Gordon Green and starring Seth Rogen and James Franco that was all part of DGG film fest week at BAM.
Like many other movie fans, it was probably one of our most highly anticipated films of the summer (if not the most) and high expectations can sometimes be problematic. To be an apologist about it, we didn't love it like everyone else seemed to, including our big group of friends (surprise, we have "friends"!), but we did enjoy it a lot and we laughed hard most of the time. Mr. Snruff's preview of the film that we posted in mid May prepped us for the fact that there would be a lot of violence in the film so we weren't as shocked as everyone else seemed to be (not because it was shocking, more because it was unexpected), but two things about the violence: one it shifted the tone from the usual Apatow milieu slightly (though it was still similar) and two, a lot of the violence was actually some of the funniest moments in the movie (for better or worse, you'd think smart-funny lines of dialogue would be funnier than a titty-twist mid fight).
As Mr. Snruff noted, Danny R. McBride as the drug dealer Red, stole most of the show and almost every scene he was in. He might not be able to carry an entire film like, "Fist Foot Way" (though that was sort of just the writing - it shoulda been just a short film). but as a side player he's amazing comic relief that's obviously don't on the fly in incredibly assured improv style. 
Bit part performances by Rosie Perez, Kevin Corrigan were great and Gary Cole was particularly excellent (he's Will Ferrell's deadbeat dad in "Talladega Nights"), but man, we've said it once, we'll say it again, Craig Robinson is funny as shit and could be a star given the right role (he's the doorman in "Knocked Up" that won't give Katherine Heigl and Leslie Mann access to the club - "I would love to tear that ass up, but you too damn old for this club.").
Though it's not quite the bonding bromance that "Superbad" is ultimately, there are similar moments of tender male friendship issues emblematic of all the Apatow films (and even though there wasn't a lot of bonding tenderness in "Superbad" it felt slightly more poignant that what's offered in 'Pineapple'). Franco definitely shined as the stoner of the duo , but Amber Heard? Eh, we woulda much rather seen a richer character and maybe Oliver Thirlby, originally cast in this role, could have provided some more depth, though the role was rather thin.
There's a few almost-lyrical moments in the movie in the woods that almost seemed like David Gordon Green was trying to mock and send-up his old style. His cinematographer Tim Orr was still on board for this one and there were a few nods and shots to the pastoral prettiness he's so fond of, but yeah, otherwise this wasn't anything like his old work. Much like Christopher Nolan in "The Dark Knight," a lot of Green's action sequences need some work, but generally they were so amusing, you probably wouldn't notice.
Surprisingly, there weren't that many musical moments in the film considering all the music in the film and when they were there they were subtle (we don't even remember where the Spiritualized song was in the film, but we suspect it was in the friendship, come-to-jesus scene). We were sort of warned that there were too many musical montages in the film and there were maybe three and they were short and never overstayed their welcome (our favorite was the driving sequence to Public Enemy's "Lost At Birth")
There were definitely some choice moments though. The selling weeds to the kids scene was a riot and the final scene in the movie (without spoiling anything major is simply just a bro-ing down scene in a restaurant that Green said was completely improvised and not in the script. They set up a camera for three hours (!) and just let 'er rip. This does speak to the comedy improv of the Apatow crew cause this scene was utterly hilarious. Is this our "review"? Kinda slovenly, no? Oh well. [B].
[full disclosure: we had a loud, talking jackass sitting behind us the whole time - dude, we literally wanted to turn around and stab you multiple times until you shut the fuck up forever - but the same thing happened to us at "Hamlet 2" and that didn't deter our enjoyment of the film, so it's debatable whether it tainted our impression or not, but we figured we'd put that out there. Generally we let that that stuff slide. BUT...Fuck it, the guy was a portly round British dude and he must live in Brooklyn we assume. Dude, if your friends somehow read this and send this to you: Do us all a fucking favor and never go see a movie in a theater again or prepare to be murdered :) Fair warning]
Download: Public Enemy - "Lost At Birth"
Watch: "Pineapple Express" Scene: "I Made A Mistake"
Watch: "Pineapple Express" Scene: "Car Chase"
Criterion Collection Releases More Melville, Cassavetes/Altman Re-Releases And Inagural Costa Gavras Classic
Along with the release of the Essential Art House Collection this October, the estimable Criterion Collection will also be releasing (and re-releasing) some additional classic films (as they're wont to do every month), which apparently were not essential or arty enough to make it into Essential Art House Collection. The fresh releases will consist of selected works from the French noir crime maestro Jean-Pierre Melville, the Greek-French political screedist Costa Gavras, rehashes from the debonair actor turned spontaneously wild, raw-nerve director John Cassavetes and over-lapping dialogue enthusiast Robert Altman.
Jean-Pierre Melville: "Le doulos" "Le deuxieme souffle"
Costa Gavras: "Missing"
Cassavetes, Altman Re-releasesMost of this is great news especially, "Les Doulos," a film we've been praying to come to DVD for some time now. Also coming in October via Criterion is The 13th Eclipse Series disc of Kenji Mizoguchi ("Ugetsu," "Sansho the Bailiff") Fallen Woman 4-disc boxset and the massive, Xmas stocking-stuffer, 10 Years of Rialto Pictures - a gold standard 10-disc boxset from the preeminent film restoration house that includes the social satire masterpiece, "The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" ( Buñuel), the taut crime caper "Rififi" (Jules Dassin), "Band of Outsiders" (Godard), Robert Bresson's wrenching "Au hasard Balthazar", Carol Reed's noir classic' "The Third Man", the aforementioned "Army of Shadows"and four other cinema touchstones.
Comic-Con 2008 Highlights: Red Sonja, Tron 2, Sin City Sequels, Wolverine, Sherlock Holmes, Plastic Man & More Nerd Heaven News
Comic-Con '08 is in full swing and the nerd parade is on! San Diego is full of adults that basically look like The Comic Book guy from the Simpsons, plus a whole fleet of poindexter's in make-up, costumes and an array of homo-erotic pageantry.
You can get autographs, you can touch famous people, you can look at posters for movies that haven't even had page of their screenplay written! It's amazing. We do have few friends down there. Karina from Spoutblog, who normally doesn't give a flying fuck for comics is practically out-blogging all the geeks with her almost rapid-fire posts of related geek ephemera. Others tell us that on Wednesday afternoon 30 fans were lined up for a "Twilight" panel that didn't start for another 24 hours!
Our friends in the field gave us a top-level view of what's it's like down there. Surprisingly they are not as frightened as we thought they might be."Comic Con is like a carnival for all the people that didn't get invited to [the real] prom. They are dressing up now, just in anime and character costumes with gun holsters. The "grown ups" look like Kevin Smith and Jack Black. The huge convention floor is completely filled top to bottom with booths and branding signs for the various vendors. The floor itself is pretty boring for someone like me who doesn't want autographs, collect figures or want ten free keychains. Warner Bros gave away 19K recyclable bags by 11am. 130,000 people attend. The panels are far more interesting, they all run about an hour long and there are anywhere from 5-10 different ones happening at a time. The lines for the big ones like 'Twilight' and 'Watchmen,' etc start waay early and go long. There is just no way to get a handle on what is happening or where you should be but the people watching is well, amazing. It's totally SXSW for the nerd set."
Highlights from Comic-Con '08 include:
- Robert Rodriguez unveiled new "Red Sonja" posters. He won't direct, his first AD will, but he'll produce it. Slashfilm says he's under contract by the Weinsteins and so this is just his way getting around not being the director "officially." He also says the "Barbarella" project is dead and he has another summer blockbuster project under his belt, but he wouldn't say what it was ("Could it be this mostly, long-forgotten project perhaps?)
- Rodriguez also said "Sin City" 2 and 3 have scripts completed by Frank Miller, but it'll be a matter of schedules since they both have so many other projects. His "Machete" project with Danny Trejo (from the "Grindhouse" trailers) is also eventually coming. "We need our own Mexploitation character,” he said.
- "Tron 2" was announced and Jeff Bridges will star in it again. Footage was screened and this was apparently a big surprise.
- Hugh Jackman made a surprise appearance for "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and unexpected footage of the film was also screened. Shots of Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber) and Wolverine apparently gave geeks full-blown erections.
- A life-size version of the Owl's ship from "The Watchmen" impressed a lot of people that enjoy life-sized models of sci-fi vehicles.
- Guy Ritchie talked both "Rock N' Rolla" and his upcoming Sherlock Holmes project starring Robert Downey Jr. Ritche promises less pontificating and more ass-kicking (naturally). "It’s going to be very contemporary… Originally Sherlock Holmes was this intellectual action man. I think what happened was they played down the action man aspect [in previous films] because they just didn’t have the means of executing the action in an interesting way. Well, we do have the means and we have the technology.” He high-mindedly says of "Rock N' Rolla," "It’s a commentary on how crime [and] identities have shifted.”
- Jennifer Connelly is apparently in "The Day The Earth Stood Still" remake with Keanu Reeves. What HAPPENED to her career??
- Speaking of Keanu, he confirmed that he will NOT be Plastic Man in any Wachowski Brothers film, though he is eager to work with them again.
- Anne Thompson saw three comedies in a row: "Step Brothers," "Pineapple Express" and "Tropic Thunder." She liked 'Pineapple' the best. She says of 'Thunder': "It's a rather reflexive and sophisticated treatise on filmmaking in Hollywood today as well as the art of acting, [but] it gets top-heavy as a star-studded big- budget action film shot on location in the jungle, [though] the Comic-Con crowd ate it up." She also notes that aside from Tom Cruise, Matthew McConnaughey also has a cameo in the film.
- The vampire-emo teen drama "Twilight" was everywhere and there was lots of screaming and panting and crying.
PS for the 10,000 guys already planning on being Heath Ledger's Joker for Halloween, spare us your unoriginality and herdist ideas and try something else (even Two-Face is more acceptable). That way October 31 will be slightly more tolerable (but not by much) when it arrives.
Siskel & Ebert Review 'The Hills'
Ah, the 'S&E' nostalgia floods in now that the show is essentially over (even though one is dead and the other hasn't been on the show in two years. Some dude takes Siskel & Ebert's 1995 review of Larry Clark's "Kids" and mixes it with footage of Season 4 of vapid MTV reality show, "The Hills." Fairly amusing. [SongsAbout Buildings And Food]
Harold & Kumar Return For 3rd Edition Of Stoner Tomfoolery, But "Story" Kept "Under Wraps"
Everyone's favorite Indio-Asian stoner duo, "Harold & Kumar" are returning to the big screen for a third edition of their ethnic and educated Cheech and Chong routine.
The folllow-up to "Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay," (which we never did see; netflix one of these days), the best part of the Variety story that revealed the threequel news is that "the story is under wraps."
Right, cause it's not about smoking lots and lots of weed, right? (with gratuitous breast thrown in for good measure) Actors Kal Penn and John Cho are "expected to reprise their roles." No shit, really? Is there a fucking movie without them? We're kind of thinking someone was high before they wrote this story. Peter Bart should take a closer look at his people. The "Harold & Kumar" franchise are profitable little fuckers. 'Guantanamo' cost $12 million, earned $14.9 million in its opening weekend and grossed $38 million total. That's a lot of bud you can buy there.
The real question on everyone's minds however is: will NPH return??
7/24/2008
Darren Aronofsky IS The "Robo Cop" Director For Franchise Reboot
Damn, who would have thunk this woulda really happened? We swear we think our posit a few months ago about Darren Aronofsky purposely trying to take on slightly more mainstream projects is kinda spot-on. Good for him, we suppose. Maybe he can turn this into something viable. The project is evidently being fast-tracked for a 2010 release. The sci-fi story is apparently being taken into a more "noir" direction (as are all comic/sci-fi stories, and if "The Dark Knight" is any indication, this is a good thing).
We didn't realize that Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood were also in "The Wrestler" alongside Mickey Rourke. [Variety]
My Chemical Romance To Cover Bob Dylan For 'Watchmen,' World Implodes
No major disrespect to comic book nerds out there, but Zack Snyder has shit for taste. You can tell he's a dork, very probably a very nice guy, and yes, he's super sewn-up with the admittedly impressive visuals, but nerds are generally lacking in the good-taste fromage dept. and it's no different here (especially when it comes to music). How do we know this? Well for one, "The Watchmen" trailer had that terrible Smashing Pumpkins song that was cheese-or-rama (and he probably thought was rad, most fans didn't even blink), but more significantly is this near laughable news: My Chemical Romance will cover Bob Dylan's "Desolation Row" (or "something like that" Synder says) in "Watchmen," according to MTV's Splashpage blog.
Did you hear that thud? Someone is going to think this is cool news, but they're probably in San Diego right now, on a laptop and likely pushing 300lbs. Shudder. Holy snob much? Probably, but this sacrilegious. Someone hinted at this in our comments section yesterday when we blogged about the news that "Watchmen" would feature tunes by Jimi Hendrix, Dylan, Simon & Garfunkle and other '60s counter-culture touchstones. We wondered allowed if they'd be able to license these songs and an anonymous person clearly in the know said, wait for it, clearances had been sought a year in advance. Our internecine conversations led us to ask, "cover versions?" And sure enough, we've got My Fucking Chemical Romance covering Dylan.
Does this mean Fall Out Boy covering Hendrix and Jonas Brothers tackling Simon & Garfunkle to be announced shortly? Thankfully, no [Sigh of relief, our weak constitution and sensitive fromage barometer couldn't take it to hear so many classic songs desecrated].
Snyder assures SplashPage that only one post 1985 track will be in the film and it's this aforementioned sacrilege that will close out the film (credit is due for not featuring modern bands doing iconic covers, that's only one notch above rapp-rock ala "Judgement Night"). My Chem frontman Gerard Way apparently reached out and contacted Snyder himself.
“He's a super-great guy, and an awesome musician, and so we’re trying to work with them right now to put together possibly a song for the end titles. [They’ll perform] like a cover of “Desolation Row,” or something like that." Synder said. We're sure he's a nice guy, in fact, we know it, but excuse us while we go wipe the bad taste out of our mouths.
Breaking! Heartwarming Greg Kinnear Movie About Intermittent Windshield Wiper Invention Trailer Revealed!
OMG, call the Oscars right now. Seriously? Who's fucking responsible for this? We don't call for crucifixion often, but Jesus H. Christ. It's called "Flash of Genius." Kill me now. [via FilmDrunk]
SPC Officially Picks Up 'Synecdoche, New York', Charlie Kaufman Film Coming Out In October
Whew. We were worried that Charlie Kaufman's meta-vision directorial debut, "Synecdoche, New York," was going to get stranded. Earlier this week there was talk that Sony Pictures Classics was going to buy the film. They just did; it comes out in October (which is earlier than the late-season Oscar season first mentioned).
Anne Thompson has the full press release on her blog, but bought and October release are all you really need to know. Variety says, SPC has been actively pursuing the film for two years, ever since "Kaufman described it to them over dinner" over 24 months ago. We just started digging into the script today, we'll give a review soon.
Peter Salett Talks David Wain's 'Role Models,' Jason Segel; More
It would probably be nice to have Peter Salett's life. The musician, singer/songwriter and composer is broseph with Edward Norton, he gets to hang out and write songs with Jason Segel; he has his phone calls returned by both Judd Apatow and David Wain and gets to write song for fun little movies including films like "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and "The Ten." He's also written the score for the upcoming Universal Pictures film, “Little Big Men” "Role Models," that's directed by the aforementioned "Wet Hot American Summer" director coming out in November that features Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Sean William Scott and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (aka McLovin). His newest solo album, In the Ocean of the Stars, comes out July 29. We rapped.
The Playlist: We're jealous. Can you talking about breaking into film scores?
Peter Salett: The first score I did was for a tiny movie called "Bittersweet Place," with Seymour Cassell, a friend of mine had written the film, and suggested to the director that I score it, they had no money so I got paid in an M Box [Pro-Tools like studio]. I had seen an early version of "Down in the Valley" (starring Ed Norton) and thought I could help out, and it was with that M Box that I ended up starting the score for 'Valley'...
How'd you meet Ed Norton? Can you talk about the relationship you've established with him?
I met Ed on the first day of sixth grade, and he's been a great friend ever since. We did many plays together growing up, and he used to come and see me play all the time in our early days in New York, even changing my guitar strings for a while. Its been fun to watch him grow creatively, and I think he'd say the same about me.
Tell us about "Little Big Men" (now titled "Role Models"), what's it about and what was your musical approach?
Little Big Men is about two fuck-ups (Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott) who have to take on the role of Big Brothers to a couple of kids in order to stay out of jail. Really I'm just a troubadour in the movie, and my part is small, playing mandolin in a mock medieval style and arranging...but I'm the cameo king, apparently.
We hear you mess with Kiss' classic Peter Criss ballad "Beth"
Yeah, "Beth" for mandolin, recorder, violin, and bodhran, with Rudd singing, and mostly messing up and personalizing the lyrics for the scene. I haven't seen it yet but I hear its really funny and touching.
I don't even know what a bodhran is. You did work on both "Wet Hot Summer," "The Baxter" and "The Ten," how did you fall into this crew?
I had worked with and become friends with Michael Showalter in college, and when we all got to NYC. The State was just breaking (doing the live shows that would get them onto MTV). I was playing a ton around New York at the time, and they would all come and see me play. My joke is that I've played four State weddings.
Does your soundtrack work inform your solo work at all and vice versa?
Definitely - but they are different animals. To make music for a particular scene many times you have to throw out what you'd do on a purely musical level, its all about making music that will give the movie and characters depth.
You're also in with the Apatow crew. How did you infiltrate two of the best comedy groups going today?
The Apatow crew... I was asked to write some songs for "Walk Hard"; they didn't pick any of the songs, but Judd really liked what I had done, so when it came time to do 'Sarah Marshall' they had me in mind, plus Segel and Nick Stoller are 'Wet Hot' fans and they knew my song from the movie.
Lucky bastard. Can you tell us a bit about the experience of writing songs for 'Sarah Marshall' with Jason Segel? That sounds like a extremely tough way to make a living wage.
Heh, Segel is a great dude, and fun to work with. Of course, being in Hawaii didnt hurt anybody's spirits. Did I mention the Mai Tai? Creatively it was fun and also a learning experience, and Jason had really funny creative ideas for the Russell Brand songs that I reshaped and refined. Segel is a natural on piano, which made things a lot easier. The musical ("A Taste For Love") was more of a challenge, with a lot of creative input from Judd and Segel and Stoller and the music supervisor, and then I put the whole thing together lyrically and musically.
What's your dream film collaboration? any people you want to work with badly or again?
I'm looking forward to working on the new David Jacobson movie [he directed "Down in the Valley"]. As much as I like the comedies I'd also be excited to work with people like the Coen brothers, Rick Linklater or Paul Thomas Anderson - but who wouldn't?
Indeed. Peter Salett's "Role Models" songs can be heard when the film's released on November 14.
Robert Downey Jr. Is Thespian Kirk Lazarus; More 'Thunder' Meta Viral Sites
"The Tropic Thunder" viral marketing people are at it again. After making fictional websites for all of Tugg Speedman's movies (Ben Stiller's doofus character in the film), they've now launched a site for six-time Academy-Award winning Australian method actor Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.), the thespian who medically darkens his skin for his portrayal of an African American in 'Thunder.'
His selected filmography includes, "Satan's Alley" which co-stars Tobey Maguire (guess he has a cameo in this thing) and is clearly a dig at "The Da Vinci Code" (with a homosexual twist?) and the WWII drama "If You Could Hear What I See," about a deaf Nazi who risks everything for the love of his Jewish speech therapist (other noteworthy roles include the lead teenage undercover cop in "Rap Street," an urban "hip-hop cop drama").
Also called a "6 Time Crying Monkey Award Winner," Lazarus' biography says he was "born into a turbulent divorce," and notes that he declined to take the role of the retarded boy in "What’s Eating Gilbert Grape."
They do go all out for these sites (though none of them seem to have actual trailers yet, that would be something), so let's hope as much effort has gone into the real Vietnam action comedy that has begat all these meta-inside jokes.
A website for Jeff "Fats" Portnoy (Jack Black's comedian character in the film), surely can't be far behind (we tried the two urls, not yet).
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