Empire News

New Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Pics

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:40:02 GMT

The Lincoln destroyer

What do Daniel Day-Lewis, Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, Hank Azaria have in common with Benjamin Walker? Answer: not a lot, judging by these first looks pics from Timur Bekmambetov's Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Those other interpretations on Abe have been conspicuously lighter on the axe mayhem and we'd be surprised if Spielberg's bucks the trend. Bekmambetov's take on Seth Grahame-Smith novel definitely will.

“It’s told through the structure of Lincoln’s actual life," Walker told Entertainment Weekly. "You not only see these huge fight scenes and great moments of drama, but you get sort of the greatest hits of Lincoln’s life, from the mysterious death of his mother through the Gettysburg address. You get a portrait of this man, as well as a thriller.”

“The joke is in the title, and then we fully commit to it,” explained Walker, dismissing ideas of a hammy horror romp in a way that brings back worrying memories of the po-faced Cowboys And Aliens.

So can a B-movie premise with prime-time aspirations find a place in moviegoers' hearts? With a supporting cast of Alan Tudyk, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Dominic Cooper and Alan Mackie and a bunch of historical vampires, it's got to have a chance.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is out in 3D on August 2.

New Snow White And The Huntsman Pic

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:40:02 GMT

You've got chainmail

If your afternoon is in need of a blazing battlefield and a tooled-up Kristen Stewart to amp it up, we bring glad tidings. This new still from Snow White And The Huntsman, recently arrived via the medium of Twitter, has both. We knew that Stewart's Snow White is no wallflower - this could be the first princess to qualify for The Expendables 2 - but here's more proof that she'll be kicking substantially more ass than her on-screen rival, Lily Collins.

With their respective trailers out in the public domain, it's pretty clear that there's serious daylight between Universal's new take on the Grimm Brothers fairy tale and Tarsem Singh's frothier confection, Mirror Mirror. Which makes perfect sense. If we invent a completely imaginary fantasy spectrum with Stardust and The Princess Bride at one end and Lord Of The Rings at the other, there's a whole lot of room for both.

Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron are Stewart's hunky ally and narcissistic nemesis respectively. Sneezy, Dopey, Happy, Disruptive, Hairy Palms and the rest of the gang are presumably just off screen. Or not.

Snow White And The Huntsman is out on June 1, 2012. Click here for more in the meantime.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation Poster

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:23:40 GMT

Mel Gibson returns... with a gun!

Mel Gibson's follow-up to The Beaver may be going straight to DVD over in the U.S. under the new title of Get The Gringo, but over here in Blighty it'll be hitting cinemas under its original name, How I Spent My Summer Vacation.

Written by Gibson himself, it tells the tale of Driver - no, not the Ryan Gosling one, this is Mel's role - an American criminal who pulls off a big job in the US of A before winding up south of the border and banged up behind bars.

With the help of a nine-year-old boy he befriends in jail, he sets about getting out - from the looks of things, with the help of a gun, some grenades, and some scowly looks.

Here's a poster for the film, and beneath that, a teaser trailer to give you a better taste of what exactly How I Spent My Summer Vacation is.

{How I Spent My Summer Vacation One Sheet}

How I Spent My Summer Vacation is out on May 11.

Devil Inside Guys' New Film Called Wer

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:09:15 GMT

Short for Werewolf? Possibly...

Right at the beginning of this year, two new films were announced as follow-ups to William Brent Bell and Matthew Peterman's surprise horror hit The Devil Inside. One was conspiracy thriller The Vatican, and the other was being referred to as The Untitled Bell/Peterman Project. A few more details have now emerged on the latter, including the fact that it's no longer untitled, and actually called Wer.

What does Wer mean? Well, the word on the street is that, following The Devil Inside's exorcism shenanigans, the new film will be pointing its shaky-cams at another classic horror mythology, leading to some speculation that Wer is an abbreviation of Werewolf.

Not necessarily so, says Bell. "We can't speak about many specifics. There are rumours; some true, some not." He did reveal that "wer" can mean both "who" in German and "man" in Old High German. So, like, read into that what you will... BD seem confident that it's about a locked-up lycanthrope in a Transylvanian prison, and the defence attorney who's working on his case.

The Vatican and Wer will both continue to utilise The Devil Inside's by now tried and tested found footage / documentary technique, but Bell says their approaches will be very different, and that he wants to "try new things as well". He also seems to have learned a thing or two from the almost universally adverse audience reaction to Devil Inside's abrupt ending, but says he and Peterman "won't shy away from taking chances in future projects."

Wer starts shooting in April, while The Vatican awaits the first draft of Dave Cohen's screenplay. We get The Devil Inside in the UK on March 16.

New Wrath Of The Titans Posters Online

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:53:31 GMT

Worthington and pals wrath up warm

Even if Roland Emmerich and his Mayan mates turn out to be wrong about the world ending this year, the good(ish) news is that we've still got a potential Greek apocalypse also on our hands. This one comes in the ginormous, multi-bonced form of the Titans, all unleashing Khan-like levels of wrath in, er, Wrath Of The Titans, as you can see in the one-sheets below.

The only thing standing in their path is Sam Worthington. He's seen here in the new character posters for Jonathan Liebesman's mythical blockbuster sequel, and while the Danny McBride mullet is new, so too is the crew of sexy Titan-crushers he's bringing along for the ride. Click on the pics below for a closer look.
{Wrath Of The Titans Character Sheet}
Wrath Of The Titans' story picks up ten largely peaceful years after the first film. With Titans at large and violent Earth-threatening business on the cards, Worthington's Perseus is joined by Rosamund Pike's warrior princess Andromeda, Toby Kebbell's demigod Agenor, and fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy). Together they must free Zeus (Liam Neeson) from his underworld prison and stop the Titans's schemes from coming to fiery fruition.

The film's trailer has already stomped onto the internet in a blaze of action and angry ~~cyclopses~~ ~~cyclopi~~ monsters. There's more good news for anyone left underwhelmed by the franchise's first instalment: this one was shot in 3D, so there'll be none of that shonky 11th hour retrofitting. Plus, there are actual Titans in it. We can't stress that enough.

Titans will wrath on March 30. Excited? Let us know in the usual place.

Janney Sits For Friday Night Dinner

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:03:17 GMT

Tony Shalhoub also at the table

Somewhere in the mid-Atlantic, on the deep ocean floor, there’s a waste pile of comedy ideas that didn’t quite make the transition from the UK and the US. The challenge of translating British comedy for American audiences is fraught with failure, with every Office countered by ten Couplings. But that doesn’t stop networks from trying, and now Allison Janney and Tony Shalhoub are set for the pilot of Friday Night Dinner.

The Channel 4 original has been a hit over here, featuring Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal and Mark Heap as the bickering Goodman family (and their creepy/weird dog-owning neighbour Jim) who spend every Friday night round the dinner table, which never quite goes to plan.

Created by Robert Popper, the show was aired across the Pond on BBC America, and now NBC wants to give a US version a try, with Janney and Shalhoub taking over from Greig and Ritter as the parents. There’s hope for this one, as Greg Daniels, one of the leading lights behind the network’s take on The Office, is overseeing the pilot, which has Office regular director Ken Kwapis attached to direct. Daniels also has experience on the likes of The Simpsons and King Of The Hill.

As of right now, it’s just a pilot, but we’re intrigued to see how the typically British-style humour can be converted. Thankfully, Popper is also involved, so you know it’s in good hands this end. Still, we wonder if he’s been in touch with Steven Moffat to hear how badly it can all end…

Imagine Finds The Tale Of The Body Thief

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:03:17 GMT

The vampire Lestat could be back...

It’s been a few years since we’ve seen Anne Rice’s most famous bloodsucker, Lestat, on the big screen. But he could be about to make a comeback after Imagine Entertainment teamed up with producers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman to option Rice’s fourth Vampire Chronicles book, The Tale Of The Body Thief.

Lee Patterson, who came to Hollywood’s attention with his screenplay Snatched, has been hired to write the adaptation. Body Thief finds Lestat depressed and lonely. Looking for a little change, he agrees to transfer souls for a day with a human psychic who promptly does a runner with his body. Trapped in human form, the vampire must reach out to some friends to help him track the man down and reclaim his body. Suffice to say that, despite the premise, the focus will be on horror and drama, not wacky shenanigans. So don’t go expecting scenes of whoever plays Lestat running down a street screaming, “Give me my body back!” as he sees the thief about to enter an ice cream shop for a marathon dessert session.

Lestat, of course, was the romantic, dangerous bloodsucker long before the current crop of sparkly, moody types came along. He was played back in 1994’s Interview With The Vampire by Tom Cruise and resurrected by Stuart Townsend for the decidedly dodgier Queen Of The Damned in 2002.

Body Thief is at a very early stage, so there’s no word on who might play the lead this time around – assuming the script makes it through development at all.

Hoffman Is A Most Wanted Man

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:03:17 GMT

In the Anton Corbijn Le Carre pic

Last June, word broke that The American director Anton Corbijn was planning an adaptation of John Le Carre’s novel A Most Wanted Man. Now he’s found a star: Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Hoffman’s close to a deal to star in the film, which tracks a Chechen/Russian Muslim named Issa who arrives in Hamburg and gets caught up in the War On Terror. Hoffman will be playing the rogue chief of a German spy unit who tries to track down the man’s whereabouts and untangle the mystery surrounding him.

Edge Of Darkness co-writer Andrew Bovell is the man behind the script, which is based on Le Carre’s 2008 book. Le Carre, who spent time in Hamburg during his stint as a British agent, partly took the story from the life experiences of Murat Kurnaz, a Turkish citizen living legally in German who was arrested in Pakistan in 2001 and packed off to Guantanamo Bay before winning release in 2006.

The various producers on the movie will be hunting for sales on the film at the European Film Market in Berlin. There’s no sign yet when it might start shooting, but Hoffman’s involvement is a good sign that it’ll go ahead this year.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Turns Director

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:03:17 GMT

He's making a comedy

Given how much Joseph Gordon-Levitt has enjoyed stretching himself in various creative ways both cinematically and musically, it was only a matter of time before his career wheel spun towards directing. Now he’s making that move, setting up an untitled comedy that he’s written and will also star in alongside Scarlett Johansson.

Talking to Deadline, the Inception star didn’t want to divulge many plot details, but he did reveal that he’s playing a “selfish dick” modern-day Don Juan-type who decides to try to better himself. “I wrote myself a helluva role, one that people wouldn’t necessarily have thought of me for,” the actor says, admitting that he’s been preparing to watch himself on screen through his short film work. “It takes practice to get used to seeing yourself and not being freaked out and self conscious by the sound of your own voice.”

He’s locked in funding from Hurt Locker producer Nicolas Chartier’s Voltage Pictures, and plans to co-produce via his hitRecord Films company. “I was a child actor for years and quit at 19, went to school awhile, and a big part of why I came back was that I ultimately wanted to make movies,” Gordon-Levitt explains. “I spent a year working with Chris Nolan, Rian Johnson, Steven Spielberg, and I did my best to pay attention. I’ve also been making short films for a long time now, I’ve directed a ton of them, and that is a huge part of why I feel comfortable and confident in this.”

We’ll see the fruits of those directors’ labours this year, as Gordon-Levitt will be seen in Premium Rush, The Dark Knight Rises, Looper and Lincoln. But his filmmaking ambitions might keep him from sticking to his small part in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. “It will be tricky schedule-wise, but I was honest with Quentin upfront,” Gordon-Levitt says. “He was so cool and encouraging. He said, ‘You strike me as the kind of guy who would want to direct,’ and I took that as high praise.”

Amy Adams Will Be An Object Of Beauty

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:47:11 GMT

In the film of Steve Martin's novel

She was last seen singing and dancing with Kermit and the gang in The Muppets, and now Amy Adams wants to make us all think about art. She’s signed on to star in and produce an adaptation of Steve Martin’s 2010 novel An Object Of Beauty.

Adams will play Lacey Yeager, a young, beautiful and captivating young woman who has real ambitions in the New York art world. After getting her start at Sotheby’s, the driven entrepreneur enjoys a 15-year meteoric rise through her chosen career, buying a gallery in the process, travelling the world and getting into a string of relationships, including one with an artist who goes on to become famous. Lacey’s journey charts the enjoyable highs and dark lows of the artistic community and the world at large. And since Martin himself knows a thing or two about art, it’s naturally loaded with authentic detail.

There are no real details about who will handle the writing/directing sides of the movie yet, but producers Trudie Styler and Celine Rattray of Maven Pictures are now on the hunt to find the right team. Given that Martin adapted Shopgirl for the screen, we wonder if he’ll get the first crack at this one…

Adams will next be seen in Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, Jack Kerouac adaptation On The Road, Clint Eastwood drama Trouble With The Curve and Superman saga Man Of Steel. And if that isn't a good slate for a girl to boast, we don't know what is.

Karate Kid 2 Gets A New Writer

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:47:09 GMT

Incredible Hulk's Zak Penn limbers up

It cost $40m to make and took north of $300m at the box office. A sequel to The Karate Kid was clearly a no-brainer, and, following a previous draft by the Kung-Fu Panda team of Cyrus Voris and Ethan Reiff, the job of writing Karate Kid 2 has now fallen to Zak Penn.

Absolutely no details about the direction of the follow-up are yet being revealed, although there's been speculation that, in a reversal of the original Ralph Macchio Karate Kid 2, the action might take us from East to West. Columbia pictures are tight-lipped on the subject. Maybe Jaden Smith could actually learn the right martial art this time.

Voris and Reiff (who also handed in screenplays for Bulletproof Monk and Nottingham, which eventually became Ridley Scott's Robin Hood) were underway with the script eighteen months ago, but there seems to have been little movement on the project since then. Penn contributed to the second and third X-Men movies and wrote Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk. He's since been beavering away on SyFy's series Alphas. It's not clear yet whether his Karate Kid 2 is an overhaul of what's already been written, or a start-over from scratch.

As before, Jaden's dad Will Smith is producing Karate Kid 2 with James Lassiter and Ken Stovitz. Jaden, obviously, is expected to be back, and all involved are hoping that Jackie Chan will join him again.

Vince Vaughn Developing Interns

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:47:08 GMT

He's reuniting with Owen Wilson

The combination of Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson worked well for Wedding Crashers, so you’d imagine that any studio would be eager to have them reunite. It seems that 20th Century Fox will be the lucky recipients of some development changes, with Vulture reporting that it has secured the duo for Interns.

The plot will see Wilson and Vaughn play two fortysomething corporate types whose cushy jobs suddenly come to an end when they get downsized. They decide to take stock of their lives and switch tracks, taking up intern positions at a Google-style tech company. But while they figure their experience might serve them well, they’re suddenly thrust into competition with web-savvy, cutthroat, 22 year-old ladder-climbers.

Vaughn wrote the script and had apparently put it into development with Universal. But then another project he was working on for the studio – Jeremy Garelick’s The Insane Laws – fell apart due to budget issues. That film hit the turnaround showers and Interns was sent along with it.

Now Fox has pounced thanks to Vaughn’s new relationship with Neighbourhood Watch producer Shawn Levy. Levy has also reportedly been having budget issues over his planned Frankenstein film, so he’s after another job. Levy’s had more than a little box office success (if not so much critical love) for his comedy work, so this could be a decent combo.

There has been no official announcement, so all this is currently floating in the ether between rumour and truth, but with Fox on the hunt for more comedy hits, it could potentially be a big winner for them. Let’s just hope it’s more like Wedding Crashers and less like The Dilemma. In every sense.

Washington Wants To Fire 2 Guns

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:47:08 GMT

Alongside Mark Wahlberg

Mark Wahlberg has been attached to graphic novel adaptation 2 Guns for a couple of months now. Now it looks like he’ll be going toe-to-toe with Denzel Washington, as the Safe House star has entered talks to snatch the other lead role.

Steven Grant created the Boom! Studios title that fuels the film, which finds a DEA agent and an undercover naval intelligence officer unwittingly investigating each other as both steal mob money. Sounds like there will be more than two guns involved in this one…

While the movie was previously slated as a directing job for David O Russell, the apparent current chilliness between director and actor now means that Wahlberg has turned to his new helming buddy, Icelandic megaphone-wielder Baltasar Kormákur, who he just worked with on Contraband.

Universal is footing the bill for this one, having produced both Contraband and Safe House. It’s currently looking for another company to share the costs with, as movie bullets aren’t cheap these days.

Safe House will open its cinematic doors here on February 24. Washington also just finished working with Robert Zemeckis on pilot drama Flight. Wahlberg will next be seen in Seth McFarlane’s comedy Ted.

Battle Of The Super Bowl Movie Ads

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:26:44 GMT

Which worked? We take a look...

This year’s crop of Super Bowl advertising for 2012's upcoming blockbusters followed the seemingly standard pattern of recent years: more and more are either getting teased in increasingly tiny chunks days before the match itself and some, like the G.I. Joe: Retaliation promo, are online in full before a single touchdown has been scored. But even with the early sneak peeks, a few actually debuted on the day itself, so we thought we’d slap them together into one big list and take a look to see how effective they were.

First up, The Avengers. It's had plenty of exposure, and, yes, we’ve seen a lot of this material already, but this nifty spot assembles what it has to work with efficiently and will get your blood up. It’s obviously a bonus when you’ve got a charismatic ensemble led by Robert Downey Jr, but director Joss Whedon also has plenty of set-piece eye-candy to help up the wow factor. Got to love that shot of the team together in New York, presenting The Hulk as just one of the guys, and that final line.
UK release: April 27.

Empire's Avengers issue now on sale.

Universal’s big blockbuster hope, Battleship. Most of the footage in this one has already appeared in various trailers. There is a little more of Taylor Kitsch vs. a suited alien type here, however, which adds a bit of flare, but on the whole there was not much to convince anyone either way. We’re seemingly in for another Transformers-style burst of bombast and if that floats (or sinks?) your boat, have at it.
UK release: April 11

The John Carter marketing team have had a tougher job selling a big movie with lots of moving parts, based on a pulp series of books the mainstream isn’t quite so familiar with. But this new promo gives a bit more story and lets the wow factor do the talking. It’s certainly a step in the right direction. Here’s hoping the film itself can complete the job.
UK release: March 9

Act Of Valor hasn’t had the same exposure or push behind it as the blockbusters above, mostly because it isn’t backed by one of the huge studios. But it does have real-life Navy SEALs mixed in with a fictional story, so while we figure it's probably a little bit more aimed at audiences across the Pond (and it's tough not to start hearing the Team America music during some sections), action fans here should be happy.
UK release: March 23

The latest release from Despicable Me creators Illumination Entertainment (backed by Universal) lands in Horton Hears A Who! territory with Dr Seuss’ The Lorax. The latest promo leans a lot on jokes we’ve seen in at least two trailers (that final bit of gender confusion especially), but there are a few new little chunks here and there.
UK release: July 27

Finally, one that has nothing to do with a movie itself, but does feature a cinematic icon… Clint Eastwood shills for Chrysler. “It’s halftime in America…” indeed. Clint for President!

New Amazing Spider-Man Trailer Arrives

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:10:51 GMT

'I've got to stop him...'

Empire was one of the hosts at last night's international Amazing Spider-Man event, where fresh footage was revealed alongside a brand-new trailer for Marc Webb's web spectacular. And now, here it is online, and it's looking good.

More wisecracks, more flashbacks, and some jaw-dropping action sequences make up its two-and-a-half minutes, and it should silence the critics who thought the previous Amazing Spider-Man trailer felt a little too much like a computer game.

As well as all that, there's much more detail to be gleaned of Rhys Ifans' Lizard, as well as Peter's police adversary (and in-law), George Stacy (Denis Leary).

There's also a lovely moment where you can see the mechanical web shooters being assembled, and an enlightening snippet of Peter coming up with the formula that creates The Lizard in the first place.

So, what are you waiting for? There's a trailer to be watched!

Let us know what you think of it in the comment box below, and don't forget, The Amazing Spider-Man is out on July 4.[[Poll625]]

Eli Roth Feels The Aftershock

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:02:53 GMT

He's starring in the horror thriller

Throw your mind back to late 2010, when we reported on Eli Roth collaborating with filmmakers to produce two very different horrors. Well, one of them – earthquake thriller Aftershock – is now shooting in Chile and it’s been revealed that Roth is starring in the movie.

Aftershock was birthed by Chilean director Nicolas Lopez, based on his experience during the 2010 earthquake that hit his country. He wrote the script with Roth and Guillermo Amoedo, cranking out a script that sees inmates escaping from an insane asylum on an island during the tremors. While character info is being kept under wraps for now, Roth has revealed that he’s taking the lead and that Selena Gomez is making a cameo.

“I’ve been a huge fan of Nicolas Lopez since his remarkable debut Promedio Rojo and have watched him grow into one of the best young filmmakers out there,” Roth said in a statement picked up by Deadline. “He has the incredible combination of commercial sensibility with an artistic eye, and what he has done here in Chile with their film industry is revolutionary. This collaboration marks the beginning of what we call Chilewood, making genre films for the global market using all the resources Chile has to offer. We are making a smart elevated disaster genre movie with superb production value, something really big. The film’s going to be very scary, very intense, and very real.”

Distributors are now pitching to take the film on, and it’ll also be tagged with the Hostel man's Eli Roth Presents label.

Empire's Woman In Black Videblogisode

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:02:53 GMT

Exclusive: On set with Daniel Radcliffe

You haven't known fear until you've seen James Watkins' The Woman In Black, which is out in cinemas on Friday. Or, alternatively, until you've seen Empire's exclusive The Woman In Black videblogisode, featuring the film's star, Daniel Radcliffe, as you've never seen him before!*

We sent our intrepid videblogisode duo, Chris Hewitt and Sam Toy, to the movie's set last year, where they spoke at length to Radcliffe, Watkins and co-star Ciaran Hinds about the adaptation of Susan Hill's chilling ghost story.

And that's not all - we also bagged astonishing on-set footage of Radcliffe getting spooked out by the world's creepiest sets, while he even found the time to... No, you'll just have to watch the whole thing to see.

Enjoy - if you dare! (Laugh sinisterly, repeat to fade)

*Empire bears no responsibility if you've seen Daniel Radcliffe like this before.

Franco's Child Of God Already Shooting?

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:46:48 GMT

And Tim Blake Nelson is in it...

Back in September there were reports that, while James Franco had hit a wall with his planned adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian, he was sticking with the author and turning to the earlier Child Of God instead. Nothing's been heard in the meantime, with Franco's name still attached to practically everything that's announced, but there are reports this morning that Child Of God is unfolding in front of Franco's cameras as we speak, and that Tim Blake Nelson is starring.

Even more bleak than Blood Meridian (if that were possible), Child Of God is a slim volume about a backwoodsman called Ballard. Recently released from jail, Ballard opts for the survivalist route, takes up residence in a cave in the East Tennessee hills, and goes on a murderous spree to indulge his penchant for necrophilia.

Why the hell would the ever-so-nice Tim Blake Nelson want to play that role, we hear you ask? Well, we don't know that he is. All that's been revealed so far is that he's in the film. His role hasn't yet been confirmed, and his co-stars are apparently "a number of West Virginia locals" (West Virginia being the location for the shoot).

And all may not quite be as it seems, with The Playlist pointing out Franco's penchant for shooting test footage under his own steam before he's landed any kind of production package or green light. He did this with William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, and with Blood Meridian: he put together as much as twenty minutes of the latter with Scott Glenn and Luke Perry, before having to leave it aside.

So Franco continues to scratch his McCarthy itch, but whether we'll actually get to see what he's doing remains unclear. We'll update when more information emerges. McCarthy's original screenplay The Counsellor, is currently being pursued by Sir Ridley Scott...

Ford Won't Be In New Blade Runner

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:46:48 GMT

Rumours flatly denied by production co.

This is one of those stories where we update on a rumour that seemed so tenuous that we didn't bother to report it in the first place. But if you saw reports last weekend that Harrison Ford was in talks to return as Deckard, you can now safely ignore them. Production company Alcon Entertainment has flat-out told Deadline that, whatever Ridley Scott's new Blade Runner turns out to be, Harrison Ford almost certainly won't be in it.

Scott had already said this pretty categorically several months ago, and given Ford's well-known antipathy for the film (he didn't come to love it like the rest of the world), the possibility of the actor's involvement always seemed remote at best. But Alcon's Andrew Kosove reiterates that with a fairly strident, "It is absolutely patently false that there has been any discussion about Harrison Ford being in Blade Runner."

"What we are trying to do with Ridley now is go through the painstaking process of trying to break the back of the story, figure out the direction we’re going to take the movie and find a writer to work on it," he explains. "The casting of the movie could not be further from our minds at this moment. It's like asking if we're going to make the sky red or blue. There has been no discussion about it."

Kosove was also keen to stress that, as most have surmised, Scott is not planning anything like a conventional sequel to his 1982 classic. "What Ridley's doing in Prometheus is a good template for what we’re trying to do," Kosove says. "He created something that has some association to the original Alien, but lives on its own as a standalone movie."

So what about that "almost certainly"? "In advance of knowing what we’re going to do, I suppose you could say yes, [Ford] could [return]," Kosove admits. "But I think it is quite unlikely.”

Machete Kills Kicks Off In April

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:46:48 GMT

Danny Trejo Picking Up The Knife Again

While Robert Rodriguez’ Grindhouse-spawned, blood-splattered exploit-o-thon Machete didn’t quite deliver as we hoped, it did well enough given its low budget to activate the promised sequel, Machete Kills. Now Rodriguez has announced that it’ll start shooting in April.

“The fan response to the Machete character has been fanatical since his first appearance,” Rodriguez said in a statement scooped up by Deadline. “Machete is truly a super hero and Machete Kills will be bigger and more ambitious than the first time.”

This time around, the script is by Kyle Ward, with some development polishing by Rodriguez and brother Marcel Rodriguez. The plot will find Machete (Danny Trejo, hopefully) recruited by the US government to track down a crazed cartel leader in Mexico who is hatching plans with an eccentric billionaire arms dealer to create global anarchy via a space-based weapon. So, just an ordinary day at the office for the knife-wielding former Federale, then…

Trejo is in talks to return, though given his close working relationship with Rodriguez and the fact that Machete is his signature character, we doubt there’ll be much negotiating before a deal is signed. And anyone who survived the first film is likely to get invited back.

There’s no word yet on whether Rodriguez will tackle this one alone, or whether he’ll recruit a co-director as he did with Ethan Maniquis on the original.

Mackenzie Foy On For The Warren Files

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:46:48 GMT

Along with Joey King

Insidious director James Wan has locked down the final two core cast members for his new haunted house horror, now known as The Warren Files. And he’s hired two young actresses who have roles in what will likely be the biggest films of the year: Mackenzie Foy and Joey King.

The Warren Files is based on the real-life experiences of paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren, who reached out to try to help the Perron family after they claimed they were being haunted in their Rhode Island farmhouse.

Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga have signed on to play the Warrens, and Lilli Taylor and Ron Livingston will be the Perrons. Now Foy and King will play the daughters of the haunted family.

Foy already has some experience with horror; at least, the sparkly, tween-friendly type. She scored her big break when she was cast to play Edward and Bella’s hybrid spawn Renesmee Cullen in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2. King, meanwhile, had a memorable supporting part in Crazy, Stupid, Love and will crop up in The Dark Knight Rises. Given the likely success of both those films, we're secretly hoping they show up to the Warren set demanding massive trailers and ice cream for every meal. But we're sure that they're probably entirely lovely people, damnit.

Wan is set to start shooting the film later this month in North Carolina.

First Wreck-It Ralph Pics Online

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:46:48 GMT

Disney's new gaming' toon

Last August, Disney used its D23 convention event to unveil an early look at its big animated hope for the year (at least one not produced by Pixar), Wreck-It Ralph. And now, courtesy of French site CineHeroes, we’re getting our first online look at imagery from the movie, which you can check out in the gallery below.

The hero of the story is Ralph (voiced by John C Reilly) who is actually the villain of his video game. But he’s sick of just being the guy who ruins buildings, only for perfect, player-controlled hero Fix-It Felix (Jack McBrayer) to come along and clean up, winning friendship and plaudits along the way.

Ralph decides that there must be more to life, and that he wants a shot at being a hero, so when a modern, first-person shooter game is installed in his arcade, Ralph jumps at the chance to win some respect. But he wrecks everything in the new game, run by tough Sergeant Calhoun (Jane Lynch) and unleashes a dangerous new enemy who threatens every pixel around him. He’ll have to work with a troublemaking character from a kid-friendly racing game (Sarah Silverman) to try to put things right before the while arcade shuts down…

{Wreck-It Ralph Pictures}

From what we saw, Wreck-It Ralph could be a gaming reference-littered delight, a knowing, loving tweak on 8-bit nostalgia and more modern, bloodthirsty shooters.

The film arrives on December 26.

Al Pacino Is Despicable Me 2's Big Bad

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:46:48 GMT

Replacing Javier Bardem

There was much rending of garments and wailing of tears when it was revealed that Javier Bardem would not be taking the role of the villain in the Despicable Me sequel, called, in a feat of staggering originality, Despicable Me 2. But now Steve Carell’s Gru will have an opponent boasting the voice of Al Pacino.

Bardem had been in negotiations to play a brand new threat called El Macho, who has a child called Machito. There’s no word on whether Pacino will directly take over that role, but given the production schedule on these movies, we doubt there’ll be much chance for change if that really was the new Big Bad. Especially since the sequel is due out next year.

In the Minion-rich universe of Despicable Me, of course, the term “villain” is a changeable one, as Gru himself started out as a megalomaniacal evildoer whose heart was won over by three adorable orphans. We’re pretty sure he’ll be back to some level of wrongdoing this time around.

While there has been no confirmation on other casting just yet, we’d expect the likes of Russell Brand and Julie Andrews to return.

Despicable Me 2 is currently set to arrive on June 28, 2013.

Exclusive Red Dog Clip

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:27:15 GMT

Red Dog assemble!

In case you were wondering, Uggie is not the only canine in town. Red Dog's Koko could be the next pup to get the big trailer and giant T-bone treatment. The Kelpie crossbreed is the true-life star of the Australian family drama that's been adapted from the pages of Louis de Bernières' novella, and having won the hearts of Aussie filmgoers, he's heading this way with tail'a'waggling.

Red Dog was a legend in the Pilbara region of West Australia during the 1970s, especially the town of Dampier. Loyal and much loved by the locals, he was even given his own bank account, although how he used the ATM is anyone's guess.

In this clip from the film, Josh Lucas, last seen as J. Edgar's Charles Lindbergh, proves that beneath that growly exterior lies a big old softy. He witnesses Red Dog being exploited for sport and isn't afraid to beat to a pulp the people doing the exploiting. OK, so not that much of a softy.

We're thinking that Lucas, an American trucker called John Grant, and the companionable canine become firm friends soon after. The film, already out and well-received Down Under, sticks loyally to the story the real Red Dog, so if you're still recovering from War Horse, steel yourself for lots more emotionality.

Josh Lucas, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Noah Taylor, Rachael Taylor complete the cast. Red Dog is out in the UK on February 24.

Catherine Hardwicke Picks Plush

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:04:48 GMT

Evan Rachel Wood may star...

It’s been a few years since Catherine Hardwicke and Evan Rachel Wood worked together on Thirteen, which established both on the Hollywood scene. Now it appears they might be teaming back up again for the erotic thriller Plush.

Hardwicke co-wrote the script with Artie and plans to direct. As for Wood, she’s attached to star, but we don’t exactly know what she’ll be playing as the only details that backers IM Global have released are that it’s a thriller set in the LA music world.

The company is about to start shopping the project around the European Film Market next week, hoping to drum up enough cash to get it made. If it does go into production, it’ll see Hardwicke and Wood back on similar territory to Thirteen, which featured unflinching portraits of teenage drug use and sex. From the sounds of it, Plush will feature slightly more grown up characters, but still with lots of emotional manipulation.

Hardwicke last brought the world Red Riding Hood, and has since been developing a few projects, including novel adaptation Maximum Ride and boxing biopic Knockout.

Wood, meanwhile, was last seen in The Ides Of March and TV miniseries Mildred Pierce.