Internet Incest Baby Hastily Aborted. Thanks Cyber Coat Hanger - Love Diablo

What the hell is going on?

Today the Hollywood Reporter broke news that Peter Jackson would replace Steven Spielberg as the director of the first film in the "Tintin" trilogy. "Tintin" being based on the Belgian comic strip about a young boy and his pet dog that many of you know and love from our youth.

Originally Jackson and Spielberg would each direct at least one part of the trilogy with Spielberg filming the first half and Jackson helming the second.

Something went awry in the HR's reporting, or they got bad intel (or someone hit publish too early), because they yanked the story almost immediately, but not before places like /Film had reported that Jackson was replacing Spielberg. Then /Film yanked their story.

Then, HR published a new piece stating Spielberg was still directing the first film. But the mishap had the two publications (and others) chasing their tails in confusion and a lot of people going, wtf?. But The storm is over, Spielberg is still the boss and everything is cool. Just like Fonzy. Please disperse, nothing to see here. Read more...

Christian Bale Would Rather Do Batman Dinner Theater Than Work With That Kid Robin

"If Robin crops up in one of the new Batman films, I’ll be chaining myself up somewhere and refusing to go to work.” Christian Bale says he'd rather eat his Dark cap than work alongside a campy Robin character in Batman 3. [StarPulse Via Vulture]

"A very well known American action director heard about my love of Superman, approached my and asked me to team up with he and his producer to make a pitch for this. We’ve been talking for several weeks now and, if this is going to happen, we’ll know by Christmas. He has huge pull at WB so fingers crossed. But this is nothing more than a huge US name pulling me into his fold and making me part of a package.” - Does "Wanted" graphic novelist Mark Millar have any pull over the Superman franchise and does he want to do it without "Superman Returns" director Bryan Singer? [/Film]

"Unfortunately I am allergic to paparazzi and have found the best antidote to that sort of nonsense is staying behind the guitar and typewriter." - Ryan Adams breaks up with Mandy Moore. We call rebound dibs. [Daily Intel]

"If Ian Holm is able and willing and in health and in disposition, I would love more than anything to use him [in 'The Hobbit']. ... I think a lot of people don't take into account the inevitable physical exertion that making two movies back-to-back entails." - Peter Jackson intimates that Ian Holm is old. [MTV]
Read more...

Guillermo Del Toro Not Beholden To 'Hobbit' Sequel?

Guillermo Del Toro's all about "The Hobbit" and that nebulous sequel - the taint between the 'Hobbit' and the 'LOTR' - right?

Not so fast, del Toro's seemingly burning-bright enthusiasm for the second-half seemed to cool Thursday night during a Q&A for "Hellboy II" at the Los Angeles Film Festival according to Defamer.

"We believe there is a second movie," del Toro said during a discussion at the Majestic Crest. "If there isn't, there will not be. If we find it, we will shoot it, but by God, if we do not find it, we will not shoot it. I am anxious to shoot the book, and I'm willing and able to dedicate myself to shooting the [second film]."

What's the deal, just use "The Silmarillion," and whatever other Tolkien books there are, yeah? Evidently, it's not so easy. They can only use the books Peter Jackson has the rights to - "The Hobbit" and "Lord Of The Rings." "The rest of the background or ancillary literature (and there's a lot) is off-limits," the L.A. gossip blog writes.

"In the four books that are in the domain of the copyright, there are appendices and ideas and things that can be traced without risk," del Toro said. "But I have to be careful not to overstep. We believe there is a way to create this film and make it interesting, but it's too early."

So does this mean del Toro hasn't fully signed on or committed to a second 'Hobbit' movie? Sure sounds that way, no?
Read more...

James McAvoy To Play Bilbo Baggins In 'The Hobbit'?

As you've probably read by now soon-to-be 'Hobbit' director Guillermo del Toro and "Lord Of The Rings" mastermind Peter Jackson, recently held a web Q&A session / online chat where fans and geeks got to ask the two filmmakers tons of questions about the upcoming two-part prequel to the beloved 'LOTR' film trilogy.

Many little tidbits of information were given out in the discussion, but about Ian Holm - who played the older Bilbo Baggins in the LOTR films and everyone now agrees is too old to play the younger, 'Hobbit' version of the character - del Toro said he still planned to use the British actor “in some fashion."

The Mexican director then told Empire that they had many casting choices for the role of Bilbo in mind, but it was far too early to say anything. Evidently there's one actor that all the key 'Hobbit' players are keen on.

"We are writing based on [Ian Holm’s performance], but other than that, we have ideas [of who could play him],” Del Toro told us. “I can tell you that it’s down to a few names that we all agree upon. And that our first choice…completely, magically, we said the same name. All of us!”

Many names were rumored and thrown around (Daniel Radcliffe, Jack Black), but apparently the frontrunner the filmmakers and producers want is the young, British "Atonement" star James McAvoy according to the unreliable British press. It's a great choice to be sure, McAvoy can act the shit out of some scenes, but we remain skeptical and with a wait-and-see attitude (the U.K. is seriously the worst).

File it under rumors until confirmed, but yes, it would be nice. Meanwhile, Christopher Tolkien, the son of the books' author J. R.R. Tolkien, is attempting a last minute bid to shut down the production of "The Hobbit," because he claims the family and estate is still owed millions of pounds from New Line and is suing them for millions (it wouldn't be the first time someone accused NL of withholding dollars from the billions raked in via the original 'LOTR series', hello Peter Jackson).

"Christopher Tolkien did not wish to be involved in the LOTR movies and I would assume his feelings are the same with these two films," Jackson said during the online chat before Tolkien submitted his lawsuit. "I totally respect him for that since he is looking after the legacy of his father's books and does not wish to be involved in someone else's interpretation of those stories."

Not be involved? Guess again.
Read more...

Short Cuts: Lil Wayne & Whitaker, Two Dusty Springfield Biopics!, More Trouble For Jackson's 'Lovely Bones', Soderberg, Polanski; More

A few thing happened yesterday when we were out sick.

If he doesn't die first from a syrup-induced coma, Lil Wayne - the baby rapper who likes to dress in suits - will star alongside Forest Whitaker in in the post-Katrina basketball story, "The Patriots." Maybe Weezy can get some more 'Wild Things' secrets out of the Academy Award winning actor. [All Hip-Hop]

Writer Michael Cunningham ("The Hours") let it out of the bag that he's writing a Dusty Springfield biopic as a vehicle for Nicole Kidman. Variety confirms this news and also says Universal is developing its own Dusty Springfield biopic with theatre, film and television actress Kristin Chenoweth attached to star (ironically, she was in "Bewitched" with Kidman in 2005). The race is on! [Variety]

Remember that gay Woodstock film we briefly mentioned by director Ang Lee? Well, it looks like comedian Demetri Martin is going to star in it which is great cause the funny little fuck is hilarious and it's about time someone hired him for a proper movie gig. [Variety]

Music soundtrack supervisor extraordinaire. Meet the guy who scored 214 songs for the new Grand Theft Auto game. 'GTA,' more than any game, helps people discover new music and become aware of old music and break bands and all that," GTA music pmIvan Pavlovich said. [MTV]

Everyone loves Hollywood drama, right? So, was it Peter Jackson who's the difficult prick and not Ryan Gosling? Trouble is a brewing over on the set of "The Lovely Bones" which has shut down production due to some - wait for it euphemism - "creative differences." You'll remember Gosling left the project due to differences with Jackson. Susan Surandon, another actor on the project, delicately tip-toed around saying Jackson is a total dick. "Peter Jackson is really a nice guy and very interesting. It was really a very different way of working. We had a good time, I'm really curious to see what it's like because he kept pushing me to be more and more extreme and sometimes that's when you make your big mistakes so I'm not sure how it will come off - it will be interesting to see it from the point of view of the audience." [Defamer] The debacle may be so bad that the release date of the film may have been delayed.

Remember that Roman Polanski doc, "Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired" about his exile from the United States for being an alleged diddler? ThinkFilm has bought it. Welcome to extremely limited release (though we do love ThinkFilm; just wish they could get it out to more pps). [Variety] It opens July 11 in NY, two days after it airs on HBO.

One for them and then one for me. Or is it rather, one big budget one for me and fug, lo-fi, no budget one for me? Steven Soderberg is following his "Che" epic with "The Girlfriend Experience," which will likely be for the three unemployed people that saw "Bubble" and "Full-Frontal," during the day while they were drunk and had nothing better to do during their 3-day theatrical run [ed. he'll actually be doing "The Informant" with Matt Damon first] [Living Cinema] Meanwhile, Jeffery Wells is calling the two Che films ("The Argentine" "Guerilla,") a "Latin Lawrence Of Arabia"-style epic.

Oh, and an 'Iron Man 2' film coming in 2010? Well, with "'Iron Man" looking to blow past the $100 mil mark this weekend, you can probably bet they'll rush this one into production. [/Film]
Read more...

60-Year Period Between 'The Hobbit' & 'Fellowship' For Hobbit Sequel Suddenly Gone? Or Not?

Ok, so Guillermo del Toro is officially directing "The Hobbit," no big surprise there, right?

Much has been made - by fans at least - about the sequel to the 'Hobbit' (it's a two-picture project) that would take place during the 60-year period between "The Hobbit" and "The Fellowship of the Ring," according to official sources like theonering.net and the New York Times,

This "sequel" would likely reference "The Silmarillion," and some of it apparently would be pure invention from Peter Jackson and his co-writer Fran Walsh (this is where's it's either disastrous or wonderful part enters the picture - remember there is quite a bit of reinvention in the LOTR trilogy and 'Silmarillion' is notoriously known as a snoozefest).

However, stop the presses, it looks like that 60-year period has vanished and been dropped as part of the storyline plan.

In the Associated Press story about "The Hobbit" directorial announcement, their article is now corrected and has deleted their reference to this 60-year span. "New Line now says the movies are based on the book only," the AP wrote in their correction at the bottom of the story.

"Book" singular, not plural. So what gives? Did the filmmakers give up on the idea of making this extended period? Would their have been too much invention involved? Did they realize if they wanted further adventures between Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and Aragorn that Viggo Mortensen might look too old to play a younger version of himself? (Mortensen turns 50 this year, Mckellen is already old, but presumably as a wizard it wouldn't take that much make-up to make him look a little less haggard).

So, it looks like that invented period is no more. Those with real New Line contacts can get the official word, but we've done the legwork for you. Have at it.

Update: However, TheOneRing.net has a fresh interview with del Toro from yesterday (or at least it ran yesterday) and he's still talking up this 60-year period. The Mexican director said he flew to New Zealand specifically to discuss the direction of the 2nd film. " ‘The Hobbit’...is really one self-contained film. We sat down and worked out [the second film]...we got really excited because this second film is not a ‘tag on’, it’s not ‘filler,’ it’s an integral part of telling the story of those 50 years of history lost in the narrative. There will be certain things that we will see from the first movie but from a different point of view, but it will feel like a volume, in the 5 volumes of the entire story. It will not feel like... ‘a bridge film.’

So did the Associated Press fuck up? They seemed to change their story at the behest of New Line, what gives? But even the official New Line press release mentions this 60-year span. We emailed TheOneRing.net and they said, the AP will probably need to run a correction to their correction. Hmmm.... Wait, what's this? The AP correction is now gone from the story. Did we write a whole story based on their fuck-up? Grrr... You'd think the "real" media would have their shit together. The Huffington Post version of the story however, still has the correction.

It reads in full: "Please note that this version DELETES INCORRECT reference to second movie spanning time between "Hobbit" and "Rings"; New Line now says movies are based on book only."

We're not the only ones who have noticed the discrepancies (though these guys have clearly got it wrong with their last detail that we won't even bother referencing - hint "third film" - don't worry, not happening).

Whatever the case will be, "bureaucracy pending," del Toro told TheOneRing that Andy Serkis (Gollum) and Ian McKellen (Gandalf) are both "on board." Read more...

It's Official: Guillermo Del Toro To Direct 'The Hobbit'

File this under, predictable, no-brainer news, sure, but nerds (and people who like the LOTR films like us) will be happy to know that Mexican director Guilleremo del Toro has officially signed on to direct "The Hobbit," prequel to the "Lord Of The Rings" films by Peter Jackson according to EW's Hollywood Insider blog, Variety and the rest of the world who got the NewLine statement.

There's actually two Hobbit films to be made and del Toro will direct both (the latter is sort of an invention by the filmmakers and it deals with the 60-year period between "The Hobbit" and "The Fellowship of the Ring").
Update: The AP has now corrected their story and deleted their reference to this 60-year span. "New Line now says the movies are based on the book only."

We all knew this was coming, del Toro said as much a in January, but apparently a lot of ink wasn't dry yet and there was a ton of contract negotiating finagling to be dealt with. Just last week at ComicCon, del Toro told MTV that it was basically a done deal. "If all goes well we'll finish up the legal complications - that are many - and hopefully next week there will be announcement... either way."

The director will work back-to-back on both films and the plan is for him to move to New Zealand for the next four years. Filming is expected to start in 2009 with the films coming out in 2010 and 2011.

"We have long admired Guillermo's work and cannot think of a more inspired filmmaker to take the journey back to Middle-earth," Peter Jackson and longtime producing partner, Fran Walsh said in a statement.

We're not over the moon about the news or anything, we've never seen a 'Hellboy' film, nor "Blade II" and don't ever plan on it, but "Pan's Labyrinth" was great, so we trust (hope) Jackson and co. can dial down any of his past, B-movie tendencies (that seemed to have evaporated with 'Labyrinth'). In other words, if Jackson doesn't want to do it, Del Toro seems like the next best nerdy shlub to handle the franchise. All hail the chubby geek.
Read more...

Hell Sort Of Freezes Over: Peter Jackson Will Exec-Produce, Not Direct 'The Hobbit' - Two Of Them

Wow, one of the most bitter feuds in recent Hollywood history has apparently ended and ended abruptly. Peter Jackson is going to executive produce "The Hobbit" according to the Associated Press.

However, he won't be directing which is sure to disappoint many loyal and devout "Lord Of The Rings" fans.

Any Jackson involvement at all however, is nothing short of a miracle. You'll recall that a nasty feud between Jackson and New Line (the studio behind the 'LOTR' films) began last year when the formerly portly and disheveled director sued the company to open its accounting books over the billions of dollars they made from the films.

Tons of nastiness were spilled in the imbroglio and a lot of it was personal. At one point New Line head Bob Shaye even vowed the Jackson would never work on LOTR prequel, "under his watch," at the studio.

"I don't want to work with [Jackson] anymore. Why would I? So the answer is, he will never make any movie with New Line Cinema again while I'm still working at the company," he once said.

Well, apparently the two sides have buried the Orc-like hatchet and Shaye is singing a totally different tune (apparently all litigation has been settled).

"I’m very pleased that we’ve been able to put our differences behind us," Jackson said in a press release. "So that we may begin a new chapter with our old friends at New Line. ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is a legacy we proudly share with Bob and Michael, and together, we share that legacy with millions of loyal fans all over the world. We are delighted to continue our journey through Middle Earth. I also want to thank Harry Sloan and our new friends at MGM for helping us find the common ground necessary to continue that journey.”

According to MTV, the two “Hobbit” films – “The Hobbit” and its sequel – are scheduled to be shot simultaneously, with pre-production beginning asap and principal photography tentatively set for a 2009 start. The intention is to release “The Hobbit” in 2010 and its sequel the following year.

Good and bad news. Nerdlingers will be happy that Jackson is involved, many will be disappointed that he's not actually directing himself. We admit we rather liked these films and would have liked to have seen him behind the camera. Oh well...

No director is attached yet, but Sam Raimi's name was tossed around as far back as a year ago and he was up for it, should it land in his lap. We hope not, the "Spiderman" series isn't anything special and the third one positively sucked. PJ we hope you're listening.
Read more...

Random: So Really? Common, Shia LeBouf, Stephen King, Peter Jackson and Evel Knievel

So Shia LeBouf's pet project is about white rapper no one has heard about? Some dude name Cage (we thought it was going to be Nicolas Cage biopic at first). Good luck getting that one off the ground. [SPIN]

So Common was unofficially, officially cast as Green Lantern in the Justice League movie? Apparently a bunch of cheap no-names have been cast ast Batman, Wonder Woman, Underdog and Bullwinkle. [IESB]

Stephen King is apparently disaapointed with music this year. Regardless, he decided to write up a Top 7 albums of 2007 list. [MSNBC]

Is Peter Jackson going to ruin "The Hobbit" by filming it in 3D and then retroactively ruin all the "Lord of The Rings" series by somehow changing them to be 3D? [MarketSaw]

American Hero Evel Knievel who courageously risked every bone in his body to secure American freedom by unsuccessfully crash landing 70% of the jumps he made in his daredevil lifetime died today only days after kissing and making up with Kanye West for biting his steez. [Associated Press]

Evel Knievel Wipes Out At Caesar's Palace

Read more...

Creative Differences My Ass. Ryan Gosling Kicked Off 'Lovely Bones' For Being Too Fat & Difficult?

On Monday, Variety reported that Ryan Gosling left Peter Jackson's "Lovely Bones" project because of "creative differences," just one day before shooting was scheduled to begin, right?

Well, Gosling - who was swiftly replaced with Mark Wahlberg - and Gosling apparently had lots of other differences.

According to the Los Angeles Times, sources said Jackson was surprised to see that Gosling has traded his marquee good looks to gain 20 lbs of weight or as the Times specifically says, looking like Gosling has arrrived to set wearing a "fat suit" and missing "movie star allure."

L.A. Times: Gosling had apparently told the director he was going to gain weight to age himself up to play the part of a grieving father, but Jackson was still expecting some movie star allure -- not paunch and a beard.

According to the New York Post's Page Six, matters were much worse than Gosling's newfound pounds and pudginess; apparently Gosling was fussy and difficult and rubbed the once-obsese New Zealand director the wrong way.

"Peter couldn't stand Ryan," said one source. Though Variety reported that Gosling had "stepped down" and was replaced by Mark Wahlberg, our source said, "Ryan cut his own hair, and was fighting with wardrobe. He was so demanding . . . Peter booted him two days before filming started."

So Variety said Gosling had "stepped down," but Page Six says he was shit-canned. Ah, method actors, they can be a squirrely, self-important bunch, no?

Deadline Hollywood says, don't believe the hype about any litigation claims about the fiasco.

"Ryan and Peter both believed that if he put on a little weight, and perhaps added a beard, that it would age him up. In the end, Ryan felt he couldn't make the age leap in a way he felt good about."

And they echoed the "Gosling is difficult" sentiments.

Jackson "had a very hard time" with Gosling and was "irked" by his behavior. "Jackson didn't want to work with him after spending time with him in Pittsburgh," the insider says, "And the thought was that Ryan went overboard with the weight gain."

But we heart Gosling, so we hope some of these claims have been exaggerated. Time will likely tell, either way, he is one of the most remarkable actors of the last five years.

Also interesting to note is Gosling mutli-culti indie-rock group Dead Man's Bones (who were curiously absent in the tenuous 2+2=5 "world beat is the new indie-rock black" NY Times music piece). According to the GQ cover story on Gosling on shelves now, his publicist is more concerned with how his band is portrayed (they're currently negotiating a record deal) than the actors' comments on his former paramour Rachel McAdams.

Read more...