Empire News

New Anchorman: The Legend Continues Trailer Strolls In

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:34:16 GMT

The great ones always return...

We were incredibly excited when the first teaser for Anchorman: The Legend Continues arrived a while ago (see it at the bottom of the page). Now here’s the trailer and, by Odin’s raven, we’re… exactly as excited.

Yes, there is literally no footage from the film itself to be seen here (despite the filming having been in progress for a couple of months already), but let’s face it: when you’ve got Ron Burgundy and the rest of the Channel 4 News Team striding up and talking nonsense, who needs footage? Plus, aren’t you sick of comedy (and other) trailers that give away every good joke or fun action beat?

It’s a long time until December, so we’re sure there will be the suitably pun-filled trailers for the film wandering along soon enough (hopefully without spoiling too much), but for now, just wallow in Brian Fontana (Paul Rudd)’s new cologne scent and marvel as Steve Carell delivers killer goofiness as Brick Tamland. Happy Easter!

Anchorman: The Legend Continues will sit astride our cinema screens on December 20, like the early Christmas present you always want from your parents but never go because they are terrible, terrible people.

Cannes 2013: Film 4 Upcoming Slate Reaction

Sat, 18 May 2013 09:44:38 GMT

From Fassbender with a paper head to Nick Frost salsa dancing

Film4’s contribution to British cinema over the past few decades has been virtually unparalleled – and, judging by the slate we saw previewed today here in Cannes, that’s not about to change in a hurry.

At a lunch at Film4's Cannes HQ (sadly, not a building in the shape of a giant four – they’re slipping up), Film4’s Tessa Ross, who won a Bafta earlier in the year, cued up a showreel that contained brief glimpses at around a dozen forthcoming Film4 titles. The future is bright. Here’s a film-by-film rundown.

Starred Up

The latest movie from David Mackenzie (Young Adam, Spread) looks like, with its no-holds-barred depiction of the British prison system, a modern update of Scum. But there’s a wrinkle here, too, as Jack O’Connell’s Eric, bristling with anger and rage against the machine, meets his match inside… and that match just happens to be his father. The briefest of brief glimpses at this one, but shots of Eric brandishing table legs as weapons and weeping in the arms of a fellow inmate are very promising.

A Most Wanted Man

Anton Corbijn’s spy thriller, about a Chechen Muslim who becomes the subject of serious interest from German and US spy agencies when he illegally immigrates to Hamburg, was harder to get a handle on. But it looked as stylish as you might expect, there were brief looks at the key players, including Rachel McAdams, Daniel Brühl and Willem Dafoe, we got to hear Phillip Seymour Hoffman rocking a German accent, and there was a bit of business with someone being bundled into a car. It may be too early to dub this one this year’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but the signs are there.

Frank

Already much buzzed about due to that first look pic showing Michael Fassbender wearing a Frank Sidebottom-style papier-mâché head, the footage from Lenny Abrahamson’s comedy about a gonzo rock band was the biggest hit among the assembled journalists. The focus here is on Domnhall Gleeson, effectively playing Jon Ronson (on whose experiences the film is based) as he joins a band, only to find that they’re all one capo short of the fifth fret. We got to hear Fassbender speak as Frank, in a deep, rich American accent, but there wasn’t even a hint of the head coming off. And there were plenty of laughs, too, as Gleeson’s character adjusts to the methods of a group that think outside the box. “Somebody’s thinking in the key of C!” bellows Frank, as he and his cohorts run around in a circle. “It’s me! Sorry” yells Gleeson, who is promptly decked by Maggie Gyllenhaal, as the band’s thereminist. Highly promising.

For Those In Peril

One of the two Film4 films playing here at Cannes (The Selfish Giant, which I saw today and was hugely impressed by, is the other), Paul Wright’s film about a man who is the sole survivor of a boating accident was represented by elliptical footage of the man (George MacKay) and his other half, set to Johnny Cash’s version of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face that felt very Terrence Malick. The finished film, we suspect, will be something radically different.

Under The Skin

A sci-fi tale by the director of Sexy Beast, starring Scarlett Johansson? This was always going to be interesting, and so it proved. This tease of Jonathan Glazer’s story of an alien in human form was crammed with interesting, eerie, unsettling images (naked alien men-babies cavorting underwater and through a field, anyone?), while Johansson – eyes wide and dark as lochs – seems to be a perfect fit for the director’s sensibilities. Cannot wait to see what this thing is like. It’s described in the Film4 booklet we were given as “part road movie, part science fiction, part real”. That may be as close as anyone can come to nailing it.

20,000 Days On Earth

At first glance, it seemed to be a Nick Cave concert film/documentary, but it seems that 20,000 Days On Earth is something more. To quote the booklet, it’s “an innovative drama-documentary with Nick Cave about creativity and our fight against time.” It’s also a “search for truth through artifice and myth,” which is nice. I must admit, I didn’t get that from the footage, but then again I was just waiting for him to do the one with Kylie.

How I Live Now

A dialogue-free look at Kevin Macdonald’s adaptation of Meg Rosoff’s novel about a young New Yorker whose summer holiday with her English cousins is interrupted by a cataclysmic war. Saoirse Ronan is the American cousin, George Mackay – him again – looked suitably swoonsome as the boy with whom she falls madly in love. Hard to judge at this stage, but it looked more lived-in and real than most books based on young adult novels, while we’re sure Ronan – surely the best young actress around – will deliver again.

A Field In England

Ben Wheatley’s psychedelic, black-and-white Civil War-set descent into weirdness has been seen, and greatly admired, by Empire back in Blighty. It’s out on June 5 on every format under the sun. If you liked any, or all, of Wheatley’s previous works, this is a must see.

The Double

Richard Ayoade’s follow-up to Submarine has a touch of the Brazils about it as Jesse Eisenberg’s hapless office jockey finds himself supplanted at work and at home by an exact duplicate, while the forces of bureaucracy – personified by Wallace Shawn – conspire to not give a damn.

Twelve Years A Slave

Steve McQueen’s hotly anticipated third film is the story of Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who is sold into slavery in 1841. The film charts his twelve-year odyssey through slavery, as Solomon tries to stay alive and retain his humanity and dignity in the face of those with none. The clip we saw was powerful, as Solomon watches in mounting horror as one of his friends is taken away from him. With an all-star cast including Michael Fassbender (of course), Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti and Alfre Woodard, expect this one to be there or thereabouts come Oscar time.

Cuban Fury

Ever since I visited the set of Nick Frost’s salsa comedy, which has been pushed back to January 2014, I’ve been itching to see one thing in particular: the dance fight between his decent, noble Bruce Garrett and Chris O’Dowd’s cock-blocking nemesis. Today, I finally caught a brief sneak peek at the sequence, in which the two men resolve their issues through thrusting, pirouetting and tangling for the lead – and it was very funny indeed. I’m expecting big things from Frost’s first non-Pegg/Wright lead in a movie. Oh, and one more thing: the man can move.

Cannes 2013: The Bling Ring First Reaction

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:02:28 GMT

Sofia Coppola launches a smash and grab on the Croisette

The Bling Ring had already had a smattering of clandestine screenings before its Cannes premiere last night, in the presence of its cast and director, and the advance word was lukewarm on Sofia Coppola's latest. Though low-key (as ever), it is, however, deceptively smart, and possibly one of Coppola's most complete and intelligent films, perfectly capturing the bizarre madness of modern pop culture.

Nominally starring Emma Watson, it's actually an ensemble piece that features some superb performances by virtual unknowns (notably Katie Chan and Israel Broussard) and, with its shimmering cinematography, makes great use of digital video to tell a very American story.

Based on a Vanity Fair story about a group of wayward teenagers, it begins with Rebecca (Chang) and Marc (Broussard) becoming friends when the latter is transferred to a new school in LA. Marc slots into Rebecca's social group, which includes Emma Watson's Nicki and Claire Julien's Chloe, and before long he and Rebecca are kind of a low-rent Bonnie and Clyde, stealing from unlocked cars in wealthy LA neighbourhoods. Things progress, however, when Rebecca suggests going to Paris Hilton's home. Internet reports suggest that the heiress is away, so Rebecca and Mark pay her home a visit in the middle of the night, taking clothes and jewellery as proof.

News gets around, and soon all the girls want to know about it, spreading their net to the likes of Orlando Bloom and Lindsay Lohan but always returning to Hilton's home, where the famous “nightclub room” becomes a hangout. The film has been criticised for glamourising shallow people but this is really a part of its genius. What The Bling Ring recognises is how, as a culture, we have become complicit in the industry of celebrity porn, and how the consequences will only become stranger. It feels right therefore that Coppola's film does not moralise or interpret, since it reflects a climate of empty aspiration that is so prevalent right now that it really is too early to explain it.

The Bling Ring is set for a July 5 release in the UK, with the US able to see it earlier on June 14.

Cannes 2013: First Reaction To The Past

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:02:27 GMT

The first serious Palme D'Or potential hoves into view

Friday morning saw the first heavyweight contender for the Palme d'Or unveiled, with Asghar Farhadi's follow-up to A Separation playing to a packed house in the Lumiere Theatre. Continuing that film's themes, The Past is another story of divorce, this time in a French setting, as the Tehran-based Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) returns to the suburbs of Paris to sign the end of his marriage to Marie (Bérénice Bejo). At 130 minutes, it was certainly a long haul, but the film received an overwhelmingly positive reception and immediately became a frontrunner for awards glory.

Slightly reminiscent of Guillaume Canet's Little White Lies (a similarity that would have been more obvious had not original star Marion Cotillard dropped out), The Past is an elegantly scripted family drama that plays out almost like a Nordic noir, uncovering details and secrets that hinge on Marie's somewhat chaotic love life. As Ahmad finds out, Marie is about to set up with Samir (Tahar Rahim), a near carbon copy of Ahmad, much to the disgust of her eldest daughter Lucie (Pauline Burlet). But Lucie has more on her mind than jealousy, as everyone is soon to find out.

Even if it does, however, this is one of the best domestic dramas to screen in Cannes in many years, telling a story so gripping and involving that it becomes easy to forget that almost literally nothing happens – it is part of the subtle craft of Farhadi's film that the meat of the drama unfolds retroactively, in the mind's eye.

Cannes 2013: Fruitvale Station First Reaction

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:24:08 GMT

The Sundance winner rolls into town

Fruitvale Station arrived in Cannes last night fresh from its triumph at the Sundance film festival in January, where it won the Grand Jury Prize, taking the now-annual slot previously given to the likes of Precious and Beasts Of The Southern Wild. However, although it is extraordinarily well made for a debut feature and boasts a career-making performance from Chronicle's Michael B Jordan, Ryan Coogler's film doesn't quite have the same breakout potential of those other two. Both Coogler and his leading man will certainly get deserved festival attention for the rest of 2013, but it's hard to see Fruitvale Station as a commercial proposition outside of the US.

Based on a true story, the film begins with cameraphone footage of police arresting and intimidating a group of African-Americans in Oakland, California. Tensions escalate, a shot is fired, and we backtrack through 24 hours in the life of the victim, a local man named Oscar Grant (Jordan). Grant is a smalltime drug dealer with a girlfriend (Melonie Diaz) and a daughter he dotes on, and after losing his job in a supermarket he realises it's time to straighten his life out. Though somewhat fictionalised, the film fleshes out Grant's relationship with his immediate family and friends, sketching a portrait of a flawed but nevertheless decent man whose potential was never realised.

Aside from Jordan there is also the excellent Octavia Wilson as Grant's long-suffering mother, whose tough love inspires Grant to shoulder his responsibilities, while Diaz, often wasted in thankless roles, gets a chance to show what she can really do here. It is, however, Jordan's show, and he presents Grant as a hugely sympathetic individual cursed with a fierce pride he can't seem to control.

When the film really hits its stride in the last 20 minutes, this is where Fruitvale Station finally becomes gripping. For the most part, sadly, it keeps our attention by dint of the huge stormcloud that hovers throughout, but despite the film's narrative limitation, it is clear that Coogler is a very talented director whose next film should be very interesting indeed.

Fruitvale Station is set for a limited release in the US come July 12.

Cannes 2013: Videblogisode #1 - Welcome To Cannes

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:08:30 GMT

DiCaprio! Luhrmann! A... supervillain?

After a break last year, Empire's videblogisodes - also known as video diaries to the uninitiated - are back, back, back, helmed by our very own Chris Hewitt. Join us for your first dose of Cannes madness, where Leonardo DiCaprio and Baz Luhrmann talk about The Great Gatsby and a mysterious stranger makes his presence felt...

If you want to keep up to date with everything that's going on here on the Croisette, be sure to regularly check up on further updates over on our Cannes 2013 microsite.

Cannes 2013: The Past First Reaction

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:52:57 GMT

The first serious Palme D'Or potential hoves into view

Friday morning saw the first heavyweight contender for the Palme D'Or unveiled, with Asghar Farhadi's follow-up to A Separation playing to a packed house in the Lumiere Theatre. Continuing that film's themes, The Past is another story of divorce, this time in a French setting, as the Tehran-based Ahmad (Ali Mosaffa) returns to the suburbs of Paris to sign off on his marriage to Marie (Bérénice Bejo). At 130 minutes, it was certainly a long haul, but the film received an overwhelmingly positive reception and immediately became a frontrunner for awards glory.

Slightly reminiscent of Guillaume Canet's Little White Lies (a similarity that would have been more obvious had not original star Marion Cotillard dropped out), The Past is an elegantly scripted family drama that plays out almost like a Nordic noir, uncovering details and secrets that hinge on Marie's somewhat chaotic love life. As Ahmad finds out, Marie is about to set up with Samir (Tahar Rahim), a near carbon copy of Ahmad, much to the disgust of her eldest daughter Lucie (Pauline Burlet). But Lucie has more on her mind than jealousy, as everyone is soon to find out.

At this stage of Cannes it's still far too early to make grand predictions, but it does seem likely that the film's themes of fractured marriages and families might find favour with jury president Steven Spielberg. Acting, directing and scriptwriting prizes all seem well within its grasp, too, so The Past is extremely unlikely to go home completely unrewarded. Even if it does, however, this is one of the best domestic dramas to screen in Cannes in many years, telling a story so gripping and involving that it becomes easy to forget that almost literally nothing happens – it is part of the subtle craft of Farhadi's film that the meat of the drama unfolds retroactively, in the mind's eye.

Cannes 2013: The Bling Ring

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:21:39 GMT

Sofia Coppola launches a smash and grab on the Croisette

The Bling Ring had already had a smattering of clandestine screenings before its Cannes premiere last night, in the presence of its cast and director, and the advance word was lukewarm on Sofia Coppola's latest. Though low-key (as ever), it is, however, deceptively smart, and possibly one of Coppola's most complete and intelligent films, perfectly capturing the bizarre madness of modern pop culture. Nominally starring Emma Watson, it is actually an ensemble piece that features some superb performances by virtual unknowns (notably Katie Chan and Israel Broussard) and, with its shimmering cinematography, makes great use of digital video to tell a very American story.

News gets around, and soon all the girls want to know about it, spreading their net to the likes of Orlando Bloom and Lindsay Lohan, but always returning to Hilton's home, where the famous “nightclub room” becomes a hangout. The film has been criticised for glamourising shallow people but this is really a part of its genius. What The Bling Ring recognises is how, as a culture, we have become complicit in the industry of celebrity porn, and how the consequences will only become stranger. It feels right therefore that Coppola's film does not moralise or interpret, since it reflects a climate of empty aspiration that is so prevalent right now that it really is too early to explain it.

Cannes 2013: Jackie Chan Talks Expendables 3, Police Story 2013, Skiptrace

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:21:39 GMT

'I’d most like to have a fight scene with Stallone...'

Jackie Chan is in Cannes this year, once again tempting us to ask "How are you enjoying this year's Channes Film Festival?" but resisting on the basis that it's not very funny. Instead, we bombarded him with questions about his upcoming project Skiptrace, as well as the Police Story reboot Police Story 2013 and, of course, Expendables 3.

"[The Expendables team] did contact me, but right now I have not read the script yet," says Chan. "I’d love to work with Stallone, but until I get back next week and meet Stallone and his manager, see the script… that’s when he’ll tell me what happens."

"I’d most like to have a fight scene with Stallone. Though I’d like to team up with him against the bad guy. There are so many action stars involved, it must be so difficult being the director. How do you share out every scene? 'I want to do something special, I want to do something special!' At the end, it’s all small parts, small parts, small parts. I want a big part! I hope I have a big part with Stallone!"

But this fight scene with Stallone... who would win in that fight? "I would", replies Chan with a smile. "I run faster than him."

Police Story 2013 is a different kettle of fish, however. Another reboot of a movie franchise from Chan's heyday, it sees him return not as Kevin Chan Ka-Kui, but an entirely different character: a policeman not from Hong Kong, but from the mainland.

"I’ve just finished Police Story 2013. It’s totally different to my last movie, 12 Zodiac [also known as CZ12 and Chinese Zodiac, a 2012 pseudo-reboot of the Armour Of God series]. 12 Zodiac was 'ah-ah-ah-ah-ah' (mimes fast kung fu moves), whereas Police Story 2013 is very much a drama. That’s why I choose different roles every year – I don’t like to do three 12 Zodiacs in a row, then Rush Hours 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. So after 12 Zodiac, then Police Story, now I’m doing Skiptrace. A different kind of character. Next year, probably Karate Kid 2, then I’m back to the old things again."

The aforementioned Skiptrace is a pet project of Chan's that's finally coming to screens thanks to new director Sam Fell, who you probably recognise from his work helming feature-length animations Paranorman and Flushed Away (he talked to us about the former here). Not your usual action director, perhaps, but Skiptrace isn't your usual action film, seeing Chan buddy up with a new partner (who hasn't yet been cast) as they go around East Asia prodding buttock.

"This is a script I’ve been developing for 20 years," says Chan. "One of my babies. Then I gave it to Sam, he changes a lot of the script, he changes a lot of the characters. I really want the situation to help with a lot of the stunts. You don’t want another restaurant, a beach, a boat… I have to find new locations for the fights. And this movie is all about the locations. Mongolia, Siberia, Macau, Hong Kong, Yellow River, Vietnam, construction sites… that helps with a lot of action comedy."

Skiptrace is looking to shoot in September, with X-Men: Days Of Future Past's Fan Bingbing already locked in. Chris Tucker was offered the script, but Chan wasn't keen on his casting as he thought the film would inevitably morph into Rush Hour 4.

Expendables 3, meanwhile, has a director - Red Hill's Patrick Hughes - and a strange new poster with the tagline "Never send a boy to do a man's job" but no confirmed dates. Rumours about Wesley Snipes and Mickey Rourke coming on board are also circulating. More news on Police Story 2013's distribution as we get it.

Empire Podcast 61: The Great Gatsby, Jeffrey Tambor And Fast & Furious 6

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:47:03 GMT

Mulligan! Maguire! Edgerton! Tambor! Cannes!

The Great Gatsby goes head to head with Fast & Furious 6 in this week's special Cannes-based Empire Podcast, with Vin Diesel and The Rock narrowly overtaking Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan at The Valley Of Ashes to win three stars to Jay-G's two.

Discover more about the world's biggest film festival by listening to one of the world's top five Damos - that's Damon Wise, our own Cannes expert - talking about this year's line-up and the news so far. Then be sure to check out Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire and Joel Edgerton discussing that Gatsby chap everyone's banging out about. Warning: contains mention of Satan's Alley.

That's all not forgetting Pop Pop himself, Jeffrey Tambor, who enjoys speaking in an English accent as he ruminates upon the return of Arrested Development to Netflix on May 26. It's all here, and it's all very much downloadable, via iTunes, our RSS feed or SoundCloud below.

Final Pacific Rim Trailer Crashes In

Fri, 17 May 2013 13:47:03 GMT

Monster smash!

If the previous promos haven’t offered up enough footage of robots throwing down with monsters, then this latest, likely final trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim should offer enough to sate even the most eager appetite for destruction.

The trailers before this have set the scene and now we get it all in one place: how the massive creatures known as Kaiju emerged from a portal joining their dimension with our own Pacific Ocean and came roaring out to destroy population centres such as San Francisco and Manila to break the spirit of the human race.

Humanity responded by pouring its resources into crafting huge, two-crew (three, in the case of China) robot craft that could counter the new threat. Not, of course, without causing incredible amounts of property damage. The insurance rates in Rim’s universe must be through the roof…

What we really take away from this final blast of Guillermo del Toro goodness is that this looks like a whole lot of fun. The director is rarely able to contain his glee about monsters and now it's whacked up on screen for us all to enjoy. Speaking of which, there’s a new picture of a Kaiju skull on display below.

{Pacific Rim Kaiju Skull}

With Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi, Idris Elba, Charlie Day and Ron Perlman aboard for the ride, Pacific Rim arrives on July 12.

Justin Lin On Fast & Furious 6's Credit Sting

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:28:21 GMT

Warning: contains huge spoilers, intriguing details

As part of the Fast & Furious 6 junket, Empire was lucky enough to speak to the director of the past four Fast & Furious movies, Justin Lin and we asked him about the thing that is on everyone's mind after watching the sixth installment of the franchise: where did the idea of (spoilers follow, highlight to reveal) Jason Statham being the big bad come from?

Below is the spoiler-filled response, which touches on everything from whether Lin will direct Mission: Impossible 5 - just imagine that for a second - to how he feels now that his grand masterplan of dovetailing four movies together has finally come to pass.

The Jason Statham details start at 2.00, so if you'd rather jump to that, go ahead - but not before you've read this news story from a couple of months back which reveals how The Stath's sting was spoiled by certain script-stealers before the movie had even been finished.

The sad news is that Fast & Furious 6 is Justin Lin's final Fast film. Insidious director James Wan will be taking the wheel for the next outing, with Lin citing a lack of time and energy as the reason why he's bowing out, which makes sense considering how keen Universal are to have as many Fast & Furious movies out as quickly as they can. Remember, Fast Five earned $626 million internationally off a $125 million budget, making it the studio's biggest earner back in 2011.

Fast & Furious 6 is out today, May 17. Be sure to bring your Thunderwear.

New Trailer Shows Paul Bettany In British Thriller Blood

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:12:44 GMT

Whodunnit becomes what have we done...

Amid all the Cannes madness, here's a more homegrown effort for you: the new trailer for Blood, a thriller starring Paul Bettany and Stephen Grahams as Joe and Chrissie Fairburn, cops and brothers investigating the murder of a young girl. But the problem here isn't just finding out who was responsible, but covering up what happened next. For more on that, watch the trailer below.

As you can see, the film also stars Brian Cox as the brothers' father, a police legend who's just beginning his descent into dementia. The brothers are under pressure to live up to their father's reputation - which may lead to recklessness. Mark Strong plays fellow policeman Robert, who's soon putting pressure on the brothers as he investigates a related crime.

Bill Gallagher, of TV series Blackout and Conviction, wrote the script, and Nick Murphy, who directed Rebecca Hall chiller The Awakening called the shots here. Blood hits selected cinemas, video on demand and pay per view on May 31, with its DVD & Blu-ray debut soon after on June 10

Michelle Yeoh To Star In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II The Green Destiny

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:57:03 GMT

The Green Destiny calls

When the Crouching Tiger sequel was formally confirmed back in January, we lamented the fact that Ang Lee wouldn’t be coming back to direct. Now, however, there are two chunks of good news to report. Legendary action director and choreographer Yuen Wo Ping is on to make what is now called Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II – The Green Destiny, and Michelle Yeoh is back to star.

Yeoh, who was a big part of the 2000 original, will return as Shu Lien, with Donnie Yen signing on as Silent Wolf.

Green Destiny is adapted from Silver Vase, Iron Knight, the fifth book in Wang Du Lu’s Crane-Iron Pentalogy (the first Crouching Tiger film was taken from the fourth). John Fusco's adaptation focuses even more on Shu Lien.

“This introduces a new generation of star-crossed lovers, and a new series of antagonists in a battle of good and evil,” Fusco said when the sequel was first announced. "It has a Knights Errant quality. There is an alternate universe in the books, a martial forest that exists alongside the real world, full of wandering sword fighters, medicine men, defrocked priests, poets, sorcerers and Shaolin renegades. It’s so vast and rich, and I found characters from the second and third books in the series to create a most interesting stew while being as true to the source material as I could be.”

Shooting will start in March next year, with producer Harvey Weinstein confident it can be good. “I loved Ang Lee's film,” he says. “I thought it was a master class in directing, but I know we are in fantastic hands with Yuen Wo Ping directing the second instalment. He is a first-class director and choreographer, and I am thrilled to be teaming up with him once more." Given that Yuen worked on the first film, we also have faith in him…

Terry Gilliam Will Be In Jupiter Ascending

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:33:42 GMT

In a 'small but vital part'...

He may be best known as the anarchic animator, writer and director responsible for such movies as Monty Python And The Holy Grail, The Fisher King, Brazil and Twelve Monkeys, but Terry Gilliam is not above gracing the screen with his acting presence when the moment (and, more usually, friends) call for it. He’s hit Facebook to announce that he’ll be part of the Wachowskis’ Jupiter Ascending.

Gilliam offered no details on what he might be doing in the film, beyond remarking that he’ll be in a “small but vital part”.

Jupiter Ascending finds the Wachowskis back in big-scale sci-fi territory, set in a universe where humans are near the bottom of the evolutionary ladder. But destitute young woman Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) is destined for something greater – and that brings an assassin hired by the Queen of the Universe, none too happy that her reign is under threat.

The film also features Channing Tatum, Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth, James D’Arcy and Doona Bae. It’ll arrive here on July 25, 2014.

As for Gilliam’s own directing career, he’s busy editing his next movie, The Zero Theorem, which will hopefully hit screens early next year.

Bruce Willis Set For Action Thriller Expiration

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:33:42 GMT

As a poisoned hit man seeking a cure...

Given that Bruce Willis is best known for Die Hard, surely a film he stars in called Expiration can never end, because he dies hard. Geddit? Hello? Anyway, he has indeed signed on for the lead in hit man thriller Expiration.

No, it’s not the complicated struggle of a man battling his way to the shops to find a pint of milk still not past its best before date. Apparently the script, written by Broken City’s Brian Tucker, finds a hit man who discovers that he’s been poisoned and rushes to find a cure. That premise has shades of Crank, but we're guessing it will be less demented than that.

According to Variety, the script is in the works now and has a planned start date of next March. What it doesn’t have yet is anyone to direct and tell Bruce who to shoot, but backers Emmett/Furla Films are ironing out that particular wrinkle even now.

Willis, who was last seen in A Good Day To Die Hard, will next grace our screens in Red 2 (August 2). He’s also been at work on Sin City 2 for Robert Rodriguez, which is due sometime late this year.

Gerard Butler Flocks To The Raven

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:33:42 GMT

He's on for the sci-fi action pic

As we pointed out when Liam Hemsworth was rumoured as star, no, The Raven is not a remake of the Edgar Allen Poe wannabe period thriller that starred John Cusack and it's not to be confused with The Crow. It’s actually based on Ricardo de Montreuil’s ambitious, conspiracy-minded dystopian sci-fi thriller short (see below) and it looks like Gerard Butler is up to take the lead instead.

Universal nabbed the rights to make the short into a movie back in 2010 with support from Mark Wahlberg’s production company. Assuming he signs on the dotted line, Butler will play a man who possesses remarkable powers. He's hunted by the government and the military, who consider him both a threat and a possible new weapon.

De Montreuil is set to direct based on a script that has seen work from Justin Marks and, more recently de Montreuil himself, working with original short scribe Antonio Perez.

Butler last saw action in Olympus Has Fallen, the first of this year’s two White House-in-peril movies. He’ll next be heard rather than seen in How To Train Your Dragon 2, which arrives on July 4 next year.

Jake Gyllenhaal Could Head Into The Woods

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:18:01 GMT

UPDATE: Emily Blunt now close to joining too

Update: The news is still of cast members being "near to deals" rather than actually signed on, but latest to circle Into The Woods is Emily Blunt. The role she's eyeing in the Disney/Sondheim fairytale musical is the Baker's Wife, who gets cursed by the Wicked Witch (likely to be Mery Streep).

As Blunt arrives, her potential screen husband possibly departs however. Reports that James Corden was on board to play the Baker were apparently premature. In fairness, with the greatest of respect to Corden, he and Blunt don't make an obvious couple. Those negotiations, presumably, are still ongoing...

We can almost hear the overture starting. Yes, with Johnny Depp and Meryl Streep now on board and Jerry Bruckheimer pulling the producer’s puppeteer strings, director Rob Marshall is gathering his likely cast for new movie musical project Into The Woods. The latest potential recruits? Jake Gyllenhaal and Chris Pine.

We say potential, because the Hollywood Reporter cautions that they’ve yet to start even negotiating deals to join the ensemble, let alone signing anything. But they have both sung for the director and are expected to score offers.

The film will adapt Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s Broadway musical and find James Corden as a childless baker, who attempts to lift a family curse by journeying into the woods with his wife to confront the witch (Streep) that put the spell on them. Along the way, they encounter Rapunzel, Cinderella, Jack And The Beanstalk’s Jack, Little Red Riding Hood and other classic characters. Depp is playing a sexy version of the Big Bad Wolf.

It appears Pine and Gyllenhaal are up to play the film’s pompous princes, who score a show-stopping tune of their own.

Marshall is currently looking to shoot in the autumn, giving Depp enough time to work on Wally Pfister’s Transcendence and Boston crime drama Black Mass.

Gyllenhaal will next crop up in Prisoners (out October 4) and An Enemy. Pine, of course, is on our screens in Star Trek Into Darkness and has Jack Ryan set to arrive on December 26. He’s also lining up a small role in Joe Carnahan’s Stretch.

Scarlett Johansson To Make Her Directorial Debut With Summer Crossing

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:18:01 GMT

Adapting the 'lost' Truman Capote novel

First mooted at least two years ago, Scarlett Johansson's long-held ambition to bring Truman Capote's Summer Crossing to the screen has finally come to fruition. Production company Aldamisa Entertainment has announced at Cannes that they've signed up to shepherd the project, which will be Johansson's debut as a director. Whether she'll also appear in front of the camera isn't yet clear.

Summer Crossing was Truman Capote's first novel, written in the late 1940s. It involves a middle-class New York teenager left home alone for a sweltering summer in 1945 while her parents are in France. Free to do what she wants any old time, she starts an affair with a Jewish parking attendent, which leads to marriage. But the class divide proves a tough one to navigate, and there's tragedy on the road ahead.

Capote claimed to have destroyed the book in a fit of ruthless self-editing sometime in the early '50s, but the story goes that it was rescued from the trash, along with numerous other Capote papers, by one of his Brooklyn neighbours. The collection was acquired and curated, decades later, by the New York Public Library, and Summer Crossing was finally published, 21 years after the author's death, in 2005.

“Several years ago," says Johnansson, "I began working alongside the Capote estate and writer Tristine Skyler [Innocence] to adapt Summer Crossing, an inspired early work of Truman’s which has long captured my heart. Being able to bring this story to the screen as my full length directorial debut is a life dream and deep privilege.”

Production is currently pencilled in for the first half of 2014.

Cannes 2013: First Reaction To Ari Folman's The Congress

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:02:25 GMT

Folman and Wright take on Hollywood

Ari Folman's Waltz With Bashir premiered in Cannes in 2008 and was the people's choice for the coveted Palme D'Or, which Sean Penn's jury gave to Laurent Cantet's The Class instead. Folman was vindicated with an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, and the fact that we haven't heard from him in five years has nothing to do with him resting on his laurels. His follow-up, The Congress, a semi-animated fantasy begun some five years ago, opened Directors' Fortnight at this year's Cannes today, and it's easy to see why it was so time-consuming.

The film begins with a telling credit – “Robin Wright At” – before the title appears: The Congress. We cut straight to Wright, playing herself, being lectured by her agent, Al (Harvey Keitel). Al tells her that she is being made the offer of a lifetime, a job so important it will also be her last. Wright refuses, but eventually, brought low by her son's debilitating illness, decides to see what the offer is. A meeting with slimy industry executive Jeff (Danny Huston) reveals the deal: Miramount Studios plan to motion-capture Wright and sample every possible element of her personality. After that, the real Wright will retire while the studio puts her virtual self into any film, sitcom or commercial it chooses. Initially she refuses, but, concerned for her son, she finally agrees to the process.

Of the film's two-hour running time, a good half takes place in the real world, but after 50 minutes Wright, heading to something called “The Futurist Congress” breaks open an ampoule, sniffs it, and is taken into a strange “animated zone”, where she becomes what she describes as a cross between “Cinderella on heroin” and “an Egyptian queen on a bad hair day”.

In this limbo world, which mashes up the hand-drawn style of Max Fleischer's Betty Boop cartoons of the '30s and that of more recent animations like Ren & Stimpy, Wright is presented with a second contract, one that goes even further.

In principle, this sounds like classic second-movie meltdown, and with a few more wrong steps it could easily have been another Southland Tales. Folman, however, keeps things simple, playing the movie industry for laughs while setting up a much more serious story about Wright and her family. Wright, as ever, is exquisite, and it's not only unusual to see a film that deals so clearly with the issue of sexism in movies, it's practically a miracle that the protagonist is also female.

The Congress slows down a little in the animated section, perhaps because this is where we lose the charismatic Wright to her 2D avatar, but this is still an extraordinary and very touching film that exists somewhere in the twilight zone between the existential brainteasers of Charlie Kaufman and the psychedelic wonders of Hayao Miyazaki.

{Congress Stills}

There are no confirmed US or UK release dates for The Congress just yet, but given how well it was received in Cannes we expect that to change in the near future.

Last Vegas Teaser Trailer Parties Online

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:46:36 GMT

Michael Douglas and the gang get drunk...

Anything Bradley Cooper and the Wolfpack can do, Michael Douglas and the, er, slightly older Wolfpack can do better! At least, that appears to be the message coming over the loudspeakers from the first teaser trailer for oldies gone wild comedy Last Vegas.

While it may not be as chaotic or filthy as The Hangover, the presence of Douglas, Morgan Freeman, Robert De Niro and Kevin Kline means there’s more than enough old-school charm on display.

The premise for the film – which has Jon Turteltaub wrangling the gang from behind the camera – sees Douglas as the last bachelor in the group to getting hitched. Cue a party and the foursome heading to Vegas for drinks, gambling, girls and as much bacchanal as their doctors will allow (or more, if they can get away with it).

Yes, with six Oscar wins, 14 nominations and an estimated $16.6 billion box office between the leading men, this one is looking to blend their class with a little madness. Can the combo work? Drunk Morgan Freeman has our vote already, but we’ll reserve judgement until the full film swaggers (or staggers) into our cinemas on December 20.

Anna Kendrick Joins Wish I Was Here

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:46:36 GMT

She's set for Zach Braff's new indie

With the funds in place from Kickstarter, his own pocket and now financing to hold him over until he sells the distribution rights, Zach Braff continues to gather the cast for his indie pic Wish I Was Here. Mandy Patinkin signed on earlier this week and Anna Kendrick is the latest recruit.

Braff co-wrote the script with his brother Adam and is calling the shots. He's also starring as Aidan Bloom, a struggling actor, father and husband, who at 35 is still trying to find his purpose in life.

He and his wife are barely getting by financially and Aidan passes his time by fantasising about being the great futuristic Space-Knight he'd always dreamed he'd be as a little kid.   When his ailing dad (Patinkin) can no longer afford to pay for private school for his two kids and the only available public school is on its last legs, Aidan reluctantly agrees to attempt to home-school them.

Josh Gad is aboard to play Aidan’s brother, and he’ll become smitten by a young woman (Kendrick) who enjoys cosplay.

The rest of the cast isn’t official yet, but Braff has indicated that Garden State’s Jim Parsons and Scrubs co-star/real-life best pal Donald Faison will appear in some capacity. Well, Faison will be there as long as nothing happens to him. Because, as we all know, Hooch is crazy…

Justin Lin On Fast & Furious 6's Jason Statham Credit Sting

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:46:35 GMT

Warning: contains huge spoilers, intriguing details

As part of the Fast & Furious 6 junket, Empire was lucky enough to speak to the director of the past four Fast & Furious movies, Justin Lin and we asked him about the thing that is on everyone's mind after watching the sixth installment of the franchise: where did the idea of Jason Statham being the big bad behind it all come from?

Fast & Furious 6 is out today, May 17. Be sure to bring your Thunderwear.

Why Man Of Steel Wasn't Called Superman

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:46:35 GMT

Writer and producer David S. Goyer speaks

It's not that unusual for interviews on the Empire Podcast to include news stories that jump out of the podcast and onto the internet at large. Ryan Reynolds (on both the Justice League movie and the Deadpool script), Iron Man 3's Drew Pearce and Shane Black (on Pepper Potts sex scenes and more). Now writer / producer / director David S. Goyer is talking about why Man Of Steel has that title in the first place.

The interview in question went live two weeks ago, in Podcast #59, which also included the delightful Rian Johnson talking about directing or writing a Doctor Who project, but instead of fanfaring the news snippet we thought we'd leave it in there as a kind-of-sorta present for regular listeners.

Now time has passed, here's a transcript of what Mr. Goyer said for anyone who's allergic to podcasting and/or doesn't have headphones they can use in the office.

"We decided not to call it Superman, that was very deliberate. Chris [Nolan] and I [suggested] Man Of Steel, and Warner Bros. said, ‘Why?' And we started talking about it, and we said, ‘We want a line of demarcation in the sand between the old and the new.’"

"We always knew we would be using the Superman glyph or the shield as we call it. But Man Of Steel was also supposed to represent our take, which was he’s a man, but he’s not made of flesh and blood, metaphorically he’s a man of steel. So that was sort of the whole thing wrapped up in a nutshell."

You can listen to the whole podcast below - the David S. Goyer interview starts at around 44.29 - or you can make sure you don't miss out next time around by subscribing to the Empire Podcast via our iTunes page or this handy RSS feed.

Man Of Steel lands on June 14. The latest trailer can be found lurking below and for lots more on the movie, pick up the new issue of Empire in shops or on the iPad…

Zac Efron Will Drive The Autobahn

Fri, 17 May 2013 08:31:02 GMT

Amber Heard calls shotgun

Having proved he’s a director to watch with Shifty and more recently Welcome To The Punch, Eran Creevy is now kicking things up a gear for road thriller Autobahn. He’s been attached for a while, but has now cast Zac Efron and Amber Heard as his speedy leads.

Autobahn, set (and set to shoot), in Germany, sees an American backpacker (Efron) falling foul of a Turkish gang when he agrees to take part in a scam.

Fleeing his pursuers around Munich, he must keep his girlfriend (Heard) safe and stay alive himself as they both try to untangle themselves from the mess.

This one has been in the development garage for a while as directors including Mark Steven Johnson have come in, tutted about not being able to get the right parts until Tuesday, and gone. Now Creevy, who has done a pass on the script with The Numbers Station’s F. Scott Frazier, is preparing to shoot in the autumn. Expect high speeds.

Efron has Parkland and Are We Official Dating? in the can. He’s currently shooting Nicholas Stoller’s new comedy Townies. Heard, meanwhile, has worked on Paranoia, Three Days To Kill and Machete Kills.

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