July 31, 2006
Fire on the Casino Royale set
If you were hoping or guessing that this story was about an explicit love scene with Bond and one of the ladies you'll be disappointed. Today we have news of an actual fire which seriously damaged the set of the latest James Bond movie on Sunday.
A roof was caved in on one of the Pinewood Studios sound stages being used for the film. The stage in question had been transformed into a replica of Venice for the production of Casino Royale. Luckily, filming for the Bond production had been completed and its film sets were in the process of being removed. The cause of the fire was unknown and the three people who had been inside Pinewood Studios, located about 30 kilometres west of London, were not hurt.
On a related note, the Bond producers are evidently so pleased with Daniel Craig's performance in Casino Royale that they have signed him on for a second outing. Eon Productions said yesterday in a joint statement with Sony and MGM that Bond 22, a working title if ever there was one, will open in cinemas on May 2, 2008. Bond producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli were quoted as saying "As we wrap production on Casino Royale we couldn't be more excited about the direction the franchise is heading with Daniel Craig". The announcement went on to praise Craig for playing the character with "emotional complexity" and creating "a darker and edgier 007."
I loved the daker, edgier Bond films with Timothy Dalton in the lead role, though to be fair I have not viewed any of the Pierce Brosnan era films. I really got tired of the same formula of cheesy pickup lines, women with weird names and cornball villains during the Roger Moore era and perhaps unfairly associated Brosnan with a return to that style of Bond film. I have some at least one of the Brosnan films on VHS so I will have to dig it out and give it a viewing.
Batman Returns sequel casting
A flurry of rumours are going around about the currently untitled Batman Returns sequel. Reports are caliming that Christopher Nolan's sequel will feature two classic villains: The Joker and The Penguin. One of the names being mentioned as The Joker is Heath Ledger. An interesting choice but I can see him more as a brooding villain like Two-Face. On that front, Ryan Phillippe's name was being tossed around for the role of Harvey Dent/Two Face and he has also been linked with the role of The Penguin.
Yet another rumour has an offer being made to Philip Seymour Hoffman to take on the role of Penguin. The Penguin will reportedly be reconceived for the film as "a British arms dealer/mob boss with designs on Gotham." Personally, I think Hoffman would be a great choice to play The Penguin and would likely be looked upon favorably by fans of the Batman films. I can imagine many of them are scared by names like Heath Ledger and Ryan Phillippe being attached to any Batman project.
At this stage, it is all just wild speculation but it will spark many debates among fans.
July 26, 2006
New Spider-Man 3 images
Two new images from the Spider-Man 3 movie for you today:
The Vader Sessions
Weird but funny frames of video from AKJAK Moving Pictures. They have taken Darth Vader's scenes in A New Hope and overdubbed them with dialogue from other James Earl Jones movies.
Streaming (requires Quicktime 7 or better): http://www.akjak.com/vader-sessions
Download: http://www.akjak.com/videos
YouTube (requires Flash): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A0rwG39Jzk
July 24, 2006
iTunes movie rentals
ThinkSecret, one of the top web sites for Apple-related gossip, claims that Steve Jobs will announce the debut of movie rentals through the iTunes Music Store at the upcoming Apple Worldwide Developers Conference.
Apple is said to have compromised on agreements with Walt Disney, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Bros., and is currently in talks with other major movie studios. Apple had reportedly been trying to persuade the movie studios that the a-la-carte model of buying individual titles, as the iTunes Music Store offers with music, was the way to go. The studios have been fixated on offering only subscription or rental models. It's unknown to what content will be available should this announcement be made.
As the movies will be rented to consumers and not sold, downloads will apparently be coded with a date stamp that will restrict playback. It is not known exactly how the coding system will work, but it is possible that either the number of playbacks will be limited or the movie will be able to be viewed as many times as possible for a short period of time, after which the movie will be "turned off" and no longer available. The latter model is similar to many cable television suppliers "video on demand" service.
July 21, 2006
iklipz
iklipz is a new social media site that is video centric and attempts to bridge the gap between aspiring filmmakers, audiences and the film industry. Users can view full length feature films such as Super Size Me, and TV clips for free in a high quality streaming player.
iklipz was formed by a leading group of experts in the fields of design, technology, and entertainment. Two of the website’s creative forces include former President of Marketing for Paramount Pictures Arthur Cohen and internet entrepreneur Richard Witkowski.
July 17, 2006
The Quiet trailer
Popular cheerleader Nina Deer’s (Elisha Cuthbert) seemingly unblemished suburban world is turned upside down when her parents (Edie Falco and Martin Donovan) adopt their recently orphaned goddaughter Dot (Camilla Belle). Dot’s arrival delivers a blow to Nina’s idyllic social life and triggers the unraveling of the family’s darkest secrets.
You can view the trailer with either Quicktime or Windows Media
Director as Diva?
An excellent article from the NYTimes.com (free subscription required), discusses a favorite M. Night Shyamalan ploy: self-promotion by proxy. With his new film, “Lady in the Water,” set to open on Friday, he seems to be making a push to raise his celebrity profile. “My life is about finding time to dream” is the tag line of his Amex commercial. A dream can be a tough thing to share, especially when it’s the fantasy of turning yourself into a pop-cult star.
July 14, 2006
Denzel's Halo?
According to the Dark Horizons movie news website, Oscar winner Denzel Washington is rumored to be up for the role of "Master Chief" in the film version of the video game Halo. The Dark Horizons site does not name their source for the rumour. This comes on the heels of the news reported earlier this month that Washington met with filmmaker Peter Jackson in New Zealand to discuss working together. Jackson is the executive producer of the Halo film. The Halo script has been developed by Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later). At the moment there is no director attached to the project.
The story behind the video game is that a crew crash-land on an artificial ring-world called "Halo" and must find out what the Covenant, the alien race they are at war with, are looking for on the ring. One of the members of the crew is the genetically and surgically enhanced super-soldier called "Master Chief". You can read more of th game's backstory at the official Halo website.
July 13, 2006
Rocky Balboa trailer
Rocky Balboa is the sixth film in the Rocky series. Sylvester Stallone returns as writer/director (Stallone directed Rocky 2-4). In this film, an aging Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) comes out of retirement, intending to fight a few low-profile local fighters. He is approached to fight a match with the reigning heavyweight champion, Mason Dixon (Antonio Tarver), and soon his comeback sets off a media firestorm.
The full trailer can now be viewed on Yahoo.com.
July 04, 2006
The Blood Diamond controversy
The Blood Diamond, starring DiCaprio and Jennifer Connelly, is set to shake up the diamond industry. DiCaprio will portray a diamond smuggler who matches wits with an African diamond syndicate. The Blood Diamond, which is being backed by Warner Bros, is expected to show diamond profits being used to fund wars in Africa and is based on events in Sierra Leone between at the turn of this century. The film is due to be released early next year and will also depict the exploitation of miners in Sierra Leone during the civil war in 2002.
Diamond company De Beers is to spend $15 million US on a marketing campaign aimed at countering potentially bad publicity from the film. The World Diamond Council and a loose coalition of diamond organizations have gone a step further and launched an appeal directly to the film's producer, cowriter and director, Edward Zwick. They asked him to include a scene at the end of the movie depicting improvements in the trade of so-called "conflict diamonds" (rough diamond sales that helped fueled bloody African civil wars in which thousands of people were killed). They indicate that the events portrayed in The Blood Diamond predate the implementation of the Kimberly Process, a voluntary certification program initiated in 2000 that sought to put an end to conflict diamond sales by certifying the movement of rough diamonds across international borders. The move came amid massive protests by human rights groups, including Amnesty International, urging industry leaders to clean up their act.
Zwick has indicated that he has no desire to change the film's content to please the diamond industry. He feels his team have done their research and the story they are presenting is accurate. Several watchdog groups including Global Witness says the industry has not done enough to tackle trade in "conflict diamonds".