Shooting has resumed on a project that came to a halt with Marlon Brando's death in July of 2004. The original film was called "Brando and Brando", which told the tale of a Tunisian boy who travelled to the US to pursue the American dream and meet his hero Brando. Tunisian director-writer Ridha Behi has begun shooting footage in Cannes for a new documentary-style fictional film titled "Citizen Brando," based in part on the "Brando and Brando" and partially on Behi's experience of becoming friends with the star. As well as starring in the film, Brando had been involved with the development of the project, including working on script revisions with Behi, the director.
The reports have Christopher Walken signed on to star in the fictional portion of the film and shooting will continue in the U.K., Tunisia and U.S. over the next six weeks. Behi, whose other films include Les Anges and Soleil des Heynes, is planning to submit Citizen Brando for next year's Cannes film festival.
The movie See No Evil opened recently in theaters and is the first-ever release from the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) film division. In light of the number of WWE movies that are on the way, CNNSI takes a look at the
Top 10 performances by a wrestler in a movie. Upcoming releases include John Cena starring in The Marine, scheduled for release on Sept. 8, and 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin headlines The Condemned, which began preproduction in April.
Check out the CNNSI article here.
There are two films at the Cannes Festival that I'm looking forward to watching. The first is Southland Tales, Richard Kelly's follow-up to his 2001 cult favorite, Donnie Darko. A black comedy about a town called Dystopia, America, Southland Tales is "a sprawling, periodically dazzling, often funny pop-and-politics mash-up" according to the NY Times. The story follows a porn star (Sarah Michelle Gellar) who unites with an action star (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) to save a country awash in celebrity culture and neo-conservatism. Currently the film has not landed an American distribution deal but hopefully someone will step up and bring this to theatres. You can watch a clip of the film at the Cannes official website.
The second film is Fast Food nation directed by Richard Linklater. I am curious about this film as it attempts a fictional narration based on Eric Schlosser's 2001 non-fiction book Fast Food Nation. The book exposed meat safety issues and revealed the United States as a country addicted to junk food. The main focus of the movie revolves around a fictional fast-food chain called "Mickey's". Greg Kinnear plays a Mickey's executive sent to the town's big meat-packing plant to investigate contamination in the company's meat. Other characters include undocumented plant workers (one of them played by Luis Guzman), a predatory line boss (Bobby Cannavale), a rancher (Kris Kristofferson), a meat buyer (Bruce Willis) and a young political activist (Lou Taylor Pucci) willing to commit acts of eco-terrorism. The reviews from Cannes have been mixed but it has an interesting premise so I'll probably give it a chance. Check out the trailer on YouTube.
A trailer for the Ghost Rider film starring Nicolas Cage is now available on the Apple website. The film is due to be released in February 2007 and the trailer gives the impression that the film will rely perhaps too heavily on CGI. Of course, there is no simple way to portray a chracter whose head is cloaked in flame.
For those unfamiliar with the story from the Marvel Comics, the lead character is Johnny Blaze, a motorcycle stunt performer who sold his soul in order to save the life of someone he cared deeply about. Through his pact, Blaze was bound with the demon Zarathos and transformed into a leather-clothed skeleton. Unlike most comic series, Ghost Rider actually came to a conclusion. In the final issue, Blaze succeeded in getting rid of Zarathos, trapping him up in a bottle where he would spend eternity battling his arch enemy, an immortal shaman called Centurius. It looks like the movie version will retain some of the elements of the comic book but just how much is something that we will have to wait and see.
Yahoo! Movies has an exclusive first look at the new movie starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. Intended to cash in on the success of recent feel good sports films such as Friday Night Lights and Coach Carter, Gridiron Gang is based on the true story of uplifting story of a detention camp probation officer who creates a high-school-level football team from a ragtag group of dangerous teenage inmates as a means to teach them self-respect and social responsibility.
Rumours are circulating once again that Tom Cruise is being lined up to star in the movie Iron Man. Cruise would play the lead role of billionaire industrialist and military contractor Tony Stark. Stark fights crime in a suit of powered armor, originally designed for military use, that gives him superhuman strength, virtual invulnerability, flight, and an array of weapons. An Iron Man movie has been in the works for several years and Cruise is not the only actor to have been linked to the lead role. Nicolas Cage and Leonardo DiCaprio have both been mentioned in the past. It was originally hoped that the movie would be filmed, edited and released in the summer of 2004 but a 2007 date is now listed on imdb.com
One movie blog that I read complained that "Tom Cruise is too short, too recognizable, and too crazy to be allowed anywhere near Tony Stark." They obviously are forgetting that Michael Keaton, who does not have a large physical presence, was one of the most effective actors to assume the role of Bruce Wayne. There is a lot more to acting than looking the part. A good actor must embody the character in their body language and movements as well as baring some resemblence to the known description of the character. As a viewer, I have to decide how important it is that the actor be the "right size" as opposed to actual ability to act. If you need an example, think Dolph Lundgren as the Punisher. Physically maybe he was a good choice but acting ability was nowhere near correct. The remade Punisher film with Thomas Jane was an improvement. Getting back to the Tony Stark character, I think Cruise might do a decent job -- depending on the story. If the movie tracks Stark's alcoholism phase, Cruise has pulled this off successfully before in 2003's The Last Samurai. As for being crazy, whatever he does on his own time is his business. If he shows up and performs a role to the best of his abilities that's the only thing that matters to me as a movie viewer.
Variety.com broke the news that World of Warcraft will be coming to the big screen. Warner Brothers offshoot Legendary Pictures has picked up the film rights to adapt the popular fantasy video game franchise and will develop the project with game publisher Blizzard Entertainment, which is owned by Vivendi. While the Warcraft franchise has been around for more than a decade, the most recent iteration, the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft has transformed the video game industry. Unlike most games, where players pay $50 once and play until they're done, more than 6 million people around the world pay $14.99 per month to participate in the multiplayer game.
With such a diverse and intricate world to work with, It will be interesting to see what sort of storyline is created for the film. This has the potential to be another in the long line of poor video-game adaptations. I sure hope they include legendary Warcraft player Lee Roy Jenkins.
Sony has released the first trailer for the upcoming Bond film Casino Royale, which features Daniel Craig as a younger Agent 007 who is just given his famous "license to kill". View the teaser trailer over at the official web site for the film. The scenes in the trailer look great and hopefully all the complaints about Craig being cast in the lead will disappear. Personally, I think he'll handle the role just fine. If you have any doubts check out the film Layer Cake on DVD.
Yahoo! Movie News reports that "Brokeback Mountain" co-star Randy Quaid has dropped the lawsuit over his compensation for appearing in the film. Quaid had sued Focus Features and the producers back in March, claiming he had worked cheaply on the basis that "Brokeback Mountain" was "a low-budget, art-house film, with no prospect of making any money."
The film topped $82 million at the US box office and won three Oscars including best director for Ang Lee. Quaid had been seeking at least $10 million but decided to drop the lawsuit after Focus agreed to pay him a bonus, which he wants to split with other principal cast members.
Focus Features has denied making any settlement with Quaid. "The circumstances of him dropping the suit are as mysterious as the circumstances under which he filed his claim," Focus spokeswoman Adriene Bowles said. "Focus Features never negotiated, offered or agreed to any settlement agreement with Mr. Quaid or his attorneys, but we are happy to put this behind us, and do wish (him) all the best."
iFMagazine has an interview with Iron Man director Jon Favreau. Among the interesting points to come up are that the plot of the movie will be an origin updated and set in the present day. He also hints that the technology-based villains will lend themselves better to the movie. Based on that, it's quite likely we will see Mandarin as the main foil for Tony Stark.
I just discovered a trailer for the filmColour Me Kubrick, which stars John Malkovich. The film tells the story of an Englishman who pretends he is Stanley Kubrick in what is billed as a "true-ish" story about a conman who duped dozens of people into thinking he was the reclusive director. The film has yet to find a distributor in North America but hopefully someone will pick it up, at least for the art-house circuit.
The first trailer for the new James Bond movie, Casino Royale starring Daniel Craig, is now up on AOL. Check it out at: http://movies.aol.com/movie-exclusive-casino-royale-james-bond. The official web site of the movie is located at:
CasinoRoyale-Movie.com