by Moviekingz
2:37 am in television shows by Moviekingz
Daniel talks to his exact opposite, yells some ridiculous things and goes on a trip with the Double Rainbow Guy in a quest for the meaning of nature’s most beautiful miracle.
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12:54 am in television shows by Moviekingz
The roommates deal with the fallout from the girls’ fight; Angelina starts dating a guy she met at the club; J-Woww and Snooki don homemade hazmat suits to clean up the “smush” room
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12:35 am in movies 9 by Moviekingz
A minister is about to face another challenge and this time he invites a film crew to document his fraudulent days as exorcist. After receiving a letter from a desperate father whose daughter is possessed, the minister is out for another face to face encounter with the devil.
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11:38 pm in television shows by Moviekingz
The 15th cycle begins with 32 would-be models in Palm Springs, where they attempt to become one of the 14 finalists. The ladies attend a party hosted by designer Cynthia Rowley. The season’s theme is high fashion.
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11:32 pm in television shows by Moviekingz
When she was a deeply troubled teenager, Nikita was rescued from death row by a secret U.S. agency known only as Division, who trained her as a spy and assassin. Nikita was eventually betrayed by the only people she thought she could trust. Now, after three years in hiding, Nikita is seeking retribution and making it clear to her former boss, Percy and her former friends Michael and Birkhoff that she will stop at nothing to expose and destroy their covert operation. Division continues to recruit and train other young people, among them Jaden and Thom, erasing all evidence of their former lives and turning them into cold and efficient killers. One of these new recruits, Alex is a beautiful girl with a violent past and a story not so different from Nikita’s. The recruits all spend part of their training with Amanda, a master manipulator who can turn any ugly duckling into a swan and any bleeding heart into a killer.
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11:27 pm in television shows by Moviekingz
In the first-season finale, the rookies face evaluations to determine whether they’ll keep their badges or not, and Andy thinks about quitting the force. Earlier, Andy and Chris make an arrest and unwittingly compromise a major drug sting. Andy tries to salvage the sting by going undercover with Swarek, but both their lives are endangered. Meanwhile, Dov learns a hard truth about his girlfriend and must choose between the force and his love life.
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11:21 pm in television shows by Moviekingz
The Power of Veto competition is held.
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10:26 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
What the hell did I just see? My second film of the Toronto Film Festival (first was The Town) that I just saw today was the Casey Affleck directed documentary I’m Still Here about Joaquin Phoenix’s attempt to become a rapper. The film just hit limited theaters today and also showed in Venice, so there’s some good buzz for it already. I will admit that I actually enjoyed this, it was entertaining and it was a fairly fascinating character study, but it’s not perfect, and it’s not anything more than just a bit of entertainment. And I’m still not even sure if it was all just an act or not, but that’s one of the most interesting ideas. Was he just acting?
We all know the story – a few years ago, Oscar nominated actor Joaquin Phoenix decided to announce claim that he was retiring from acting to pursue a career in hip hop. While we got to see some of his bizarre public appearances, like his rap-performance-gone-awry in Las Vegas and his funky David Letterman appearance, Phoenix and Affleck decide to show us a bit more of the behind-the-scenes of it all, including a taste of what is/was going on in Phoenix’s crazy mind. However, it doesn’t ever answer the question of why he decided to become a rapper nor does it really address the issue of this all being a hoax, but it does at least show enough to entertain those ideas (and that’s about it) as it follows Phoenix’s year long journey to become a rapper.
Here’s what interests me the most about this doc. If we learn later that it was all an act and Phoenix did just create this wacky character and play it out for over a year, will we eventually look back at this as an amazing performance? The problem is that there is no greater message in I’m Still Here and it’s not even anything to be considered “art” in a way that some really fantastic performances can be. But at the same time, I feel like if we learn that this was all a setup, I’ll be even more amazed that he did all that he did. It’s not anything to be proud of, but I never really thought I was watching him “act” at all (except for one scene with P. Diddy).
If you’re intrigued by the wackiness of the whole situation and interested in seeing Joaquin Phoenix lose his mind, then I do suggest seeing this, especially because it’s a unique character study that will definitely leave you either dumbfounded or questioning whether this was all a a big hoax or not (for better or maybe worse). To wrap things up, Peter from SlashFilm and Jordan from The Film Stage and I recorded a quick video blog while in the media lounge at TIFF with a quick discussion on the film, which you can check out below.
by Moviekingz
10:26 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
Innocence Dies. Abby Doesn’t. Okay, I hate to be overly critical of this poster, but I’m not really digging that tagline. That said, I can tell you that the movie kicks ass and does live up to the original. Overture Films has debuted two final posters from the viral website for Matt Reeves’ Let Me In, starring Chloe Moretz as Abby and Kodi Smit-McPhee. I like the designs and their subtle use of blood-tinged imagery, but nothing will ever top this French poster for Let the Right One In. Buzz is definitely building up for this, and it’s very positive buzz, so I hope a lot of you go into this as optimistic as possible. And check out these two new posters below!
A bullied young boy (Smit-McPhee) befriends a young vampire girl (Moretz) who lives with her guardian.
Let Me In is both written and directed by American filmmaker Matt Reeves, who’s feature directorial debut was J.J. Abrams’ Cloverfield but prior to that he directed episodes of “Felicity” and various other TV shows. This is a remake of Tomas Alfredson’s 2008 film Let the Right One In, or more specifically a re-adaptation of the Swedish novel Låt den rätte komma in written by John Ajvide Lindqvist. Overture Films is bringing Let Me In to theaters everywhere starting October 1st this fall. I highly suggest seeing this at its opening!
by Moviekingz
10:26 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
It goes without saying that I enjoyed the hell out of my first Comic-Con back in July, but I can’t help feeling disappointment that DC Comics didn’t deliver what was previously hinted during WonderCon. At that con, DC Comic’s Chief Creative Officer and DC Entertainment consultant Geoff Johns declined to talk about the potential of a Justice League movie in favor of revealing more in San Diego. All we got there was some cool but brief Green Lantern footage. But Marc Guggenheim recently told Newsarama (via The Playlist) that a treatment is done for The Flash though development isn’t moving as swiftly as the hero himself. Read on!
We’ve already been told that Guggenheim along with the other two Green Lantern writers (Greg Berlanti, Michael Green) were working on treatments for both a Green Lantern sequel and The Flash. However, the trio of writers would only be writing the treatments for both and end up having to choose which of the two projects for which they would actually write the screnplay. Shortly thereafter, writer Michael Goldenberg (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) was being brought in to pen the screenplay for Green Lantern 2 which left us to assume the aforementioned trio of writers would write The Flash screenplay.
So with the anticipation of Green Lantern next year, everyone is waiting for DC Comics to make swift moves in getting other characters like The Flash, Wonder Woman and hopefully a new iteration of Superman onto the big screen. But with the lack of an announcement at Comic-Con, we were all left wondering if the DC Comics universe will end up merging together on screen in the same fashion that Marvel has begun crafting their cinematic world to lead into The Avengers. For now it seems like the characters are very much being thought of independently, and while it’s hard to not think about sequels and crossovers, Guggenheim says they’re doing their best. Here’s what he had to say:
“We’ve turned in the treatment for ‘Flash.’ And we’re talking about ‘Green Lantern 2.’ It would be a quality problem to have, to think about a third ['Green Lantern' right now]. But one step at a time. I think it’s very hard to talk about these characters in a closed-ended, sort of non-sequel way, especially characters like The Flash and Green Lantern, which have such rich, long histories. You can’t help but talk about the characters and go, ‘Oh, I really want to do the movie where we get to this moment, or that moment.’ So you’re always talking in terms of sequels, but no, nothing’s planned. We haven’t even written the script yet for ‘The Flash.’ It’s very much one step at a time for ‘The Flash.’”
Hopefully a big step will be made soon to figure out who will direct the adaptation of The Scarlet Speedster featuring the Barry Allen iteration of the character. It’s been rumored that writer Greg Berlanti will helm the film, but nothing has been confirmed. Meanwhile, on the Green Lantern front, though Guggenheim says it’s a bit too early to begin thinking about production on a third film in the series, he does confirm that Berlanti originally pitched Warner Bros three films for a trilogy, so it’s certainly in the cards years down the road.
In a way, it’s good that DC Entertainment isn’t rushing to throw all these new characters together (after all a lot of people complained about a somewhat contrived, sloppy inclusion of an Avengers subplot in Iron Man 2), but it’d be nice to have an idea of what they’re looking to accomplish with their characters. But for now Guggenheim says, “We’re really just focusing on the treatment for Green Lantern 2… I know that everyone involved in the production of the movie is just focusing on completing the first film.” We’re still waiting for that first trailer, so hopefully progress on that is moving a little faster. We’ll continue to keep you updated!
by Moviekingz
10:26 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
This rather badass trailer for Scott Stewart’s Priest, based on the Tokyopop comic, first debuted at/during Comic-Con, and we featured a post on it back then, but it has since been pulled. However, Screen Gems has now debuted a “second” official trailer for Priest, which you can check out below. It still looks as good as it did at Comic-Con, which is surprising because I thought Stewart’s Legion looked like crap last year, but this looks like they really took the visuals and action to the next level. I’m not sure if it’ll be a hit next summer, but you never know. I’ll be hoping for the best, I want this to be awesome! Check out the new trailer below.
Watch the second official trailer for Scott Stewart’s Priest:
Priest is an adaptation of the TokyoPop manga created by Hyung Min-woo. It fuses the western genre with supernatural horror, gun fu, and dark fantasy themes and is notable for its unusual, angular art style. Here’s the short logline: “In a world wrecked by centuries of violent warfare between man and vampire, a warrior priest turns against the church in order to save his kidnapped niece from a homicidal gang of vampires.” So something about vampires and… you lost me. Although, it may be good because this Priest guy actually kills vampires. ScreenGems is making a big bet and has scheduled Priest for release on May 13th, 2011 (in 3D).
by Moviekingz
10:26 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
DreamWorks Animation has just debuted the third full-length theatrical trailer (via Apple) for their big fall release Megamind, featuring the voices of Will Ferrell (as Megamind), Brad Pitt (as Metro Man), Tina Fey and Jonah Hill. We’ve already seen plenty of trailers for this already (this is the third and final one) and I’m not sure if I’m into it yet. At least they’re finally no longer shying away from the fact that the plot involves Metro Man being killed off in the beginning and Megamind being the only villain let with nothing to do. Is anyone really that excited to see this? DreamWorks has had solid films recently, but this doesn’t look good.
Watch the third official trailer for DreamWorks Animation’s Megamind:
You can also watch the latest Megamind trailer in High Definition on Apple
A satirical take on superhero movies, in which a notorious villain loses his oomph after he accidentally kills his nemesis Metro Man. Megamind is being directed by DWA’s own Tom McGrath, of both Madagascar and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa previously. The script was co-written by first-time writers Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons. This will be DreamWorks Animation’s third feature film this year following How to Train Your Dragon in March and Shrek Forever After in May. Paramount will be releasing Megamind in theaters everywhere starting on November 5th this year. Anyone planning on seeing it or just skipping it instead?
by Moviekingz
10:26 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
After taking his sweet time to finish the film, it looks like the long-awaited Terrence Malick directed flick The Tree of Life has been picked up by Fox Searchlight for release in 2011. Malick wrote the film which tells the impressionistic story of a Midwestern family in the 1950′s. More specifically, the film chronicles the journey of the eldest son, Jack (played as an adult by Sean Penn), through the innocence of childhood to his disillusioned adult years as he tries to reconcile a complicated relationship with his father (Brad Pitt). He is a lost soul in the modern world, seeking answers to the meaning of life and questioning an existence of faith.
Searchlight presidents Stephen Gilula and Nancy Utley couldn’t be more pleased when they say, “Terrence Malick has crafted a deeply moving, keenly observed and magisterial film.” Meanwhile producer Bill Pohlad is even more forthcoming with praise for the film and news: “Malick has given us another masterpiece that is both profoundly moving and stunningly beautiful. And there is no better partner than Fox Searchlight to bring this film to audiences. Their ability to distribute and market independent films with a passion and creativity is incredibly rare in our industry.” The movie once had a distribution deal in the making with the new distribution company Apparition that almost fell through, but Searchlight will do the film right as the studio has made great strides with indie films like Little Miss Sunshine and our fave 500 Days of Summer.
This seems a bit odd for Searchlight, considering it’s supposedly a very art house film that we’d normally expect to see from someone like Sony Pictures Classics, but I take this as an early sign that The Tree of Life is not only incredible, but much different than we might all be thinking. We’ll definitely keep you updated on their plans and will follow their marketing as it kicks up. Excited to finally see The Tree of Life?
by Moviekingz
10:26 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
Some big news this morning. The world famous Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas announced that they’re starting a distribution label called Drafthouse Films and will be releasing the British “terrorist comedy” Four Lions (that showed at Sundance earlier this year). “I’ve been a huge fan of Chris Morris’ comedic television and radio for years. To launch our new distribution label with what I consider to be a modern classic is a dream come true,” said Drafthouse founder Tim League. This is exciting news for anyone in the film world, as the Drafthouse is a strong brand and it’s great to see Tim testing the waters in distribution.
There aren’t many details yet on how Drafthouse Films will work, but they’ll be kicking things off with a 10 city promo screening tour (featuring Four Lions) before opening the film limited in New York, Los Angeles and Austin in the fall. I imagine that means it’ll eventually open in all 10 cities or they wouldn’t be building some buzz there without that promise. This is exciting because the indie distribution world is struggling a bit (Apparition is on the verge of shutting after a year) and I have enough confidence in someone as smart as Tim League to do a fantastic job with this. Let’s hope this ends up being as successful as we all want them to be!
This is an exciting announcement and I’ll be looking forward to seeing what other features Drafthouse Films picks up and how they handle the release of Four Lions. I’ve heard good things about the film, so I’m looking forward to seeing it. Tim League’s Fantastic Fest at the Drafthouse in Austin starts up in a few weeks as well, so stay tuned for more from that fest. Visit the official Drafthouse Films website: drafthousefilms.com.
by Moviekingz
10:26 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
One of my favorite films from Telluride was Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go, adapted by Alex Garland from Kazuo Ishiguro’s bestselling novel. The film stars Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield & Keira Knightley, and is a emotional drama about a love story between these three set in a slightly dystopian England (without giving away too much). I loved the film, giving it a 9 out of 10 in my review, and I was very excited to speak with Romanek. Both Peter Sciretta and I interviewed Mark Romanek together and we ended up speaking with him for 45 minutes, so we decided to cut the full interview into two parts – the first of which is below.
This is Romanek’s second feature film following One Hour Photo from 2002, so Peter and I decided to start out talking about his background, before getting into the details on Never Let Me Go (watch the trailer here if you haven’t yet). Romanek is a fascinating guy and had a lot of great things to say, so if you’re interested at all in him (and his history in music videos) or his latest film, you’ll definitely want to read through this in its entirety, as we cover a lot of topics. Stay tuned to read Part 2 of our interview tomorrow morning as well!
I wanted to start at the beginning because a lot of people reading this probably don’t know your background. I wanted to hear how you got into filmmaking? I know it’s been a long, weird road, and I wanted to know if you could tell us a little bit about that.
Mark: Well, my dad bought me a really nice camera when I was 12, and he built me a dark room because his uncle had done that for him. So I learned about real nuts-and-bolts photography at a really young age. And then I loved movies. This is back in the 70′s. It was kind of before Jaws and Star Wars so it wasn’t that common to decide to want to start being a film director. But I borrowed my uncle’s Super 8 camera. It occurred to me like it was this brilliant, original thought that you could take your uncle’s camera, and you didn’t have to make home movies of your family waving on the beach. You could make a story movie, which there weren’t a lot of kids that wanted to be film directors back then. As I say, after Jaws and Star Wars, every suburban kid wanted to be Spielberg. That hit just a few years later. So that desire to make little films coincided with the explosion of 70′s cinema, which was arguably the greatest period since the 30′s. And so it was like throwing a match on gasoline for me. I just saw such amazing movies, and then I was just hooked. I basically have been doing it ever since. I started when I was 15, and I’ve been basically doing nothing but thinking about films and making films since then.
Somewhere along the way you got, I don’t want to say sidetracked, but you went from film to music videos. It seemed like you went in to do film but ended up becoming a prolific music video director instead. How did that happen?
Mark: Yeah, that’s true. I wanted to be a film director, and I made a little film in the 80′s. I made a little film in the 80′s called Static. And I did it because all my heroes made films before they were 25, and I thought I had to do that, too. But, when I made it, I realized that I wasn’t ready to be making a feature film. I wasn’t mature enough. I didn’t know enough about life. I didn’t have any sort of artistic point of view or themes that I had discovered I wanted to explore yet. I hadn’t lived enough. I lived kind of a sheltered, suburban life. So I made the film. It actually was very well received in some places as a little cult film. But I think I was self-aware enough to know that something wasn’t right about it. And that that was sort arbitrary. Make a film before you’re 25. So I used a lot of pop music in the film, an eclectic score of pop music. And I met this guy named Matt Johnson because I used his music in the film. He’s in a band called “The The” which was one of my favorite bands at the time.
Back then, there weren’t music video directors that had name recognition. It was just like, “Oh, he’s a filmmaker. Let’s ask him to make a video because we know him and he’ll probably do it cheap.” There wasn’t any of that Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze yet. So he asked me to do a music video, and I made one. It’s not very good. It’s embarrassing now. But I enjoyed it. I felt like maybe I had a knack for that. So, again, another light bulb went off. And I said, “Maybe if I just stick with this.” Because I sensed that something was happening with this music video thing and MTV. That I can use that to kind of bide my time, get paid to learn the craft of filmmaking, try different things out. And then maybe wait until I felt like I had something to say as a filmmaker before I made another feature film.” And so what happened was I got really successful at it. It clicked in that way, and so I just stuck with it. I was just kind of on this ride, having this great time, meeting my idols. I was like, “Wow, I just met David Bowie. I just met Keith Richards. I just worked with Iggy Pop. I’m making a video with Beck.”
It was all so fun that I forgot. Well, it’s not that I forgot. It’s like I didn’t realize until too late that I was kind of, I don’t want to say wasting my prime years making music videos when I could have been making features, because I don’t think I wasted them. I don’t have those kind of regrets about it. But, in retrospect, I think I just stayed in it about four or five years longer than I should have. I should have just kind of gone cold turkey like a drug and said, “OK, no more videos. Concentrate on movies now.” But I kept getting more and more interesting offers that were really hard to turn down like, “Hey, do you want to make a video for, I don’t know, Fiona Apple?” And I went, “Yeah, but I really want to make movies.” “Well, but listen to this song and watch this video of her.” I go, “Oh my god! She’s amazing. OK, yeah. I guess I’ll make a video for her.” And I had a hard time getting out of it.
And you were in there in an era where the music companies were throwing lots of money to make these very cinematic music videos.
Mark: Yeah. I guess I was in the right place at the right time along with a bunch of other guys. And that was part of it, too. It’s like there was this exciting sense. [David] Fincher the other day was saying it was like Dogtown and Z-Boys. It was just this moment, particularly at Propaganda and Satellite Films, where you really felt you were part of something going on in the zeitgeist. And people were culturally, on a global scale, they were paying attention to what you were doing. So if you were making this thing, it would be serviced to 17 countries the next day. Back then, it’s only 10 years ago or something, they didn’t really do movies day-and-date globally. And TV commercials were usually pretty regional. But music videos, if you made a music video, it went out to 22 countries the day you finished the master. That’s pretty heady stuff. And to young people, by and large, who are going to have an effect on the culture. And it was very exciting because I had an office. Spike Jonze had an office next to me, and David Fincher was down the hall, and David Lynch was walking around, and Michel Gondry would come over from France to do a video. And we’d all be at the coffee shop at Propaganda talking shop. It was pretty fucking cool.
Someone should make a documentary on this.
Mark: You know, I was talking about that the other day because, again with Fincher, he was comparing it to Dogtown and Z-Boys. And we were saying someone should make a documentary on it. You could make it more far-ranging than just Propaganda and Satellite, but that could be enough. Get it together, man. You should do it.
[laughs] So you made One Hour Photo. It was a modest hit. Cinephiles and critics loved it. But now it’s been eight years since that film. Why has it been eight years?
Mark: Well, I had a weird string of good/bad luck. I say good/bad luck because it was bad luck in the sense that I got involved in all these really great projects that sort of hit brick walls for very odd, unpredictable reasons. But I say good luck because I learned a lot. And, most importantly, I got married and had two beautiful children. So I have this life, that’s far more precious and rich and fulfilling than making movies, which I love. And so, had the professional side not been problematic, I don’t know that things would have worked out that way. So, again, I don’t have a lot of regrets about it. In the moment, there was a lot of frustration.
I was deep into pre-production on a film with Tom Hanks called A Cold Case which is based on this stunningly great book by Philip Gourevitch who’s a writer for The New Yorker and has written several non-fiction books. I highly recommend that book. We had issues with the life rights at the last minute that torpedoed that project which was crushing to me. I kind of curled up into a fetal position for six weeks because I was so disappointed.
Then I got involved in A Million Little Pieces and I was deep in pre-production on that. I was scouting locations. We were going to shoot it in Milwaukee. And I got a phone call, “Have you seen the Smoking Gun?” I was standing in a ditch near a river in Milwaukee and I got a phone call, “Have you seen the Smoking Gun?” And I go, “No, what?” So when that book was revealed to be somehow fraudulent, that was torpedoed.
And then I got involved in The Wolfman which was exciting because I was going to work with Benicio Del Toro. And I wanted to reinvent that genre and make this dark, rich, intelligent Jungian kind of piece that I was hoping could totally work as populist entertainment and yet be legitimate, like be an intelligent film that might even be critically well-received. And I just could never get on the same page with the producers about what it should be. I think they were scared of doing it the way I was suggesting. There was so much money involved that I ultimately couldn’t convince them of my idea of the film. That was really exacerbated by the writers’ strike and some serious budget problems, that I thought between all of those things were insurmountable. And by then I had lost my passion for it because the film they wanted was just not something I was that interested in anymore. But I hung in there. Because I had had these other disappointments, I didn’t want this one to go away. So I hung in and hung in and hung in and tried to make it work until it was literally three weeks before shooting. And I said, “Guys, I think you should find someone else that can fulfill your vision of it because there’s a lot of money involved.” And it wasn’t actually that acrimonious. It was kind of a mutual thing. It’s like, “I think it might be best for you to find someone who’s more invested in your idea of the film.” So that was pretty much that. And then, you know, with getting married and having two children that was the eight years. And I wrote two screenplays too in that time.
What interests you in the stories that you want to focus on, make films on? It sounds like you have such a wide range even just hearing about the projects you were interested in.
Mark: Yeah, I guess if I feel like I haven’t quite seen them before. They’re not necessarily… it’s hard. You can’t find something that’s wholly original, but you can find things that feel like I can do something a little bit new here or reinvent something that people have seen before. And, you know, just a good story. And it’s something that you’re excited enough about that you want to spend 18 months of your life, 18 hours a day doing. That’s kind of hard to define.
How did you find Never Let Me Go? Why did you want to make that into a film?
Mark: Well, I read the book the first week that it came out because I’m a just a fan of Ishiguro. I read everything he writes. It made me cry and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I picked it up again to read the beginning. I was kind of curious like with the knowledge of having read it all the way through, I wanted to read it again with that knowledge.
Then I started thinking, to your last question, it’s a really original book. The rudiments of the plot maybe we’ve seen before, but that’s not what the film is really about or what the book was really about it. And I just thought it was so, I mean, you’re looking for something of quality too. To get to adapt a book by one of the greatest living novelists, come on. It’s like what an opportunity. And it’s not just one of our greatest living novelists in a vacuum, but someone I am a huge fan of. There was an elementary school class that they asked us to speak at, and it was just me and Ishiguro. And I’m sitting next to him, and I’m going, “I’m fucking sitting next to Kazuo Ishiguro!” So I was drawn to how daring it seemed as a concept, and I was drawn to the sincerity of what he was expressing about our lives.
You spoke at the Q&A about how you didn’t want to be auteur on this film. So what was the collaboration like between Ishiguro and [Alex] Garland and you and everybody else?
Mark: Well, I wanted to be an auteur… No, I’m being glib.
I wasn’t invited to be the sole creator of this. I was invited by three guys, or four including Kazuo, who had been working on it already for two years and had an idea of the type of film that they wanted to make. And I think they brought me in too because they felt that the film needed to be strongly visual. But we all agreed on what it was essentially about and what was important about it. And we also knew that it was a delicate, strange, original story that was going to take a lot of careful thought and tinkering to get to the screening safely without fucking it up. So between the four of us, five of us including Kazuo because he would be available to us when we really couldn’t figure something out, we all kind of came to… Allon Reich was one of them, who you just met. We all had come to agreement on almost every aesthetic issue. But that said, I was supported in my idea of my role in it which was making the tone of the film and creating strong, beautiful images. I feel like it’s such a disturbing, the truths that it’s expressing can be so disturbing because they’re so true [laughs] that, just like his writing, if the film wasn’t an aesthetically beautiful experience, it would just be too harsh really. So they really supported me in helping me get my aesthetic idea of the film on screen at the same time. So it was a very, very pleasant experience. I don’t want to be insulting, but I would say that it was the opposite of my Wolfman experience.There was enough money. There was enough time. And all a director wants is to be believed in and supported, you know?
You were talking about coming up with the tone and the visuals more than anything. When I was watching the film, it feels very much like the England of the history as we know it. But as the book is, it’s an alternate version of history. Was there ever a desire to turn it more into the Children of Men-esque kind of world where it doesn’t look like our actual history?
Mark: Well, I want to say also that I didn’t just come in to shoot it and make pretty pictures. The performances are foremost, and the way we worked in rehearsals was taken very seriously by me. We can talk about that later. I briefly toyed with the idea with Marco Digby, the production designer, of having… We always knew that the science fiction needed to be extremely subtle. That’s the way it is in the book, and that was an exciting challenge. But it was hard to find a template of a film like that. We thought of Fahrenheit 451, Alphaville. But we were having a rough time coming up with other references. And we would look at locations of buildings that were kind of very or slightly futuristic, and it never felt right. One day we just went, I think I just said, “You know what? There shouldn’t be any science fiction in this film at all.” And everybody got really excited by that. Everybody got really excited by this science fiction film with no science fiction tropes. Because the thing that felt wrong about it to me, and I didn’t realize this without going through this process, was that the film is about time and the preciousness of time and how little time we have. And I guess in the back of my mind I felt like we needed to see the effect of time on things. Things needed to be old, not new and worn and not perfect.
And so I was trying also to bring out… I had another instinct which was that Kazuo tends to deny the Japanese-ness of his books. But I think it pervades his books and that’s who he is. And what’s interesting about it is that weird hybrid between his Japanese sensibilities and British sensibilities, which makes a very original, new kind of alloy.
So I knew I was going to be pointing my camera at British things. So what if I tried to have sort of a Japanese sensibility about it? So I looked at a lot of Japanese cinema, and mostly a Mikio Naruse films which some of them are really brilliant, especially When a Woman Ascends the Stairs. Really can’t recommend that film highly enough. What was my point? So then because of that, that led me to exploring ideas of Japanese aesthetics, concepts in Japanese aesthetics in art and painting and theater. The production manager tracked down a professor in England on that topic, and I had a couple of meetings with him. And I learned about several Japanese concepts, some of which I knew about.
One of them was this idea of “yugen” which is Y-U-G-E-N, which is the calm surface that belies the deep strong currents underneath. There’s a beautiful idea in yugen which comes from Noh theater, which is this idea of the kind of joyful acceptance of the basic sadness of life, which is, I feel like, where Kathy ends up at the end of the film, which is what’s so moving to me about it, and was so moving about the end of the book. I don’t want to give anything away. And also the idea of “wabi-sabi” which is this idea that things that are broken or rusted or cracked or worn or torn or old are far more beautiful than things that are new and perfect. And another concept, what was the other concept? Another important Japanese concept is of “mono no aware” which some people describe as the “aahhh-ness” of things, like A-A-H-H-H, and this idea of how impermanent things are.
So all of these things were constantly on my mind as we were shooting England, because I was trying to create a visual analog, a tonal analog, to Ishiguro’s writing style which is deceptively simple. So I wanted the shots to be simple but filled with all of these resonances. That’s a long answer.
That was great. I’m curious about the times that you went to Ishiguro with questions, because you said you went to him a couple times, what kind of questions did you present to the author?
Mark: Oh, they were really specific things, because in a film you have to concretize things that maybe aren’t described in the book because you have to make a decision about it. Like I actually came up with the idea of there being a Hailsham school song. There is no Hailsham school song in the book. And I said, well, this whole Hailsham campaign to treat these children like free-range chickens rather than factory farm chickens. They probably didn’t have a big budget for it. So it’s not like they’re going to hire someone to write the school song, so where are they going to get a school song? Well, they’ll probably just repurpose a school song from someone. And we had to ask him, “Is that OK with you? Does that sound like a good idea?” And he said, “Yeah, that’s a great idea.” And they talk about tokens and all they say is, you know for the sales, but that’s all they say is tokens. But I as a filmmaker go, “What’s the fucking token? Is it a bus token or a tube token or is it a tiddlywink or what is it?” I figured that things are going to be repurposed because they don’t have a big budget. So with Marco Digby again the production designer, and my art director Michelle Day, I think Michelle or Mark came up with the idea of tiddlywinks. What if they’re tiddlywinks? And I said that’s a brilliant idea. So again I said, “Ishiguro, is it OK if they’re tiddlywinks?” Because we wanted to be very respectful of his vision of the book.
Those are just a few examples. I think there were some more major examples. Obviously, we checked with him about these bracelets that they wear where they have to scan in so their whereabouts are tracked. That was a fairly bold addition that’s not in the book and he understood the reason that was a good idea. Things like that. It was kind of, “Is this OK? Is this OK?”
Thanks for reading the first half of our Telluride interview with Never Let Me Go director Mark Romanek. The second half will be posted up tomorrow morning, so check back then!
by Moviekingz
10:26 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
Forget everything you know about Santa Claus… It’s all lies. Are you ready for an early Christmas present? You’ve probably heard about this (or knew we’d one day see it) but there is a film coming out this year that is a horror movie about Santa Claus. He’s apparently a deranged killer who doesn’t like when you’re naughty, or something like that. Twitch has debuted a trailer for Rare Exports, a Finnish horror fantasy with Peeter Jakobi as Santa Claus, written and directed by Jalmari Helander. It actually looks surprisingly quite good, at least it has strong visuals, and I can’t wait to see Santa go crazy on these people. It’s in English, check it out!
Watch the official trailer for Jalmari Helander’s Rare Exports:
A movie for those who think they don’t believe in Santa Claus anymore… In the depths of the Korvatunturi mountains, 486M deep, lies the closest ever guarded secret of Christmas… The time has come to dig it up!
Rare Exports is written and directed by Finnish filmmaker Jalmari Helander, who actually adapted his own award winning short films into this full-length feature. It was shot on an estimated budget of €2 million late last year. This does not have a US distributor yet, but will premiering at the Toronto Film Festival as well as Fantastic Fest in Austin later this month. You can visit the Facebook page for the film or the official website located at: rareexportsmovie.com. Don’t know if everyone digs this, but I can’t wait to see it. Who else?
by Moviekingz
10:26 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
Two of the most buzzed about acting talents in the industry right now may be coming together for quite an interesting project. Though this certainly isn’t anywhere near official, a Norwegian press outlet (via Twitch) sat down for an interview with actor Jeremy Renner at the Venice Film Festival where he revealed that he and Noomi Rapace (of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) are up for leading Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters. Though details are sparse (and we don’t speak Norwegian) it appears that the two are only in the running to follow the breadcrumbs in director Tommy Wirkola’s very unique take on the classic fairy tale.
If you don’t recall, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are co-producing this wacky project with a story that takes place some 15 years after that whole gingerbread house incident. Their excitement for the project came from the prospect of bringing a Shaun of the Dead/Evil Dead 2 sort of action/horror comedy to their production company. Knowing those details, casting Renner and Rapace don’t seem like the most obvious choices with comedy in the mix, but maybe this has a much more serious tone than we’ve been led to believe. Once again, Renner may have let this information slip out of his own mouth a bit too early, but if there’s no deal in place, then we won’t count our actors before they’re cast. Is there anyone else you’d like to see in this flick?
by Moviekingz
9:53 pm in television shows by Moviekingz
The second season begins with Elena discovering her uncle John’s bloody body and learning Jeremy’s fate, and Damon realizing that Katherine has returned. Meanwhile, Caroline is taken to the hospital following a car accident, and Tyler’s mysterious uncle Mason arrives in town.
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7:52 am in television shows by Moviekingz
Original Air Date—September 2010
The Guinness World Records is on hand and sets the test conditions as Criss attempts the largest vanish of people in history at the Luxor Convention Arena. One hundred people are chosen at random and shackled together in front of a crowd of thousands and Criss attempts to make them all disappear – instantaneously!
by Moviekingz
6:16 am in television shows by Moviekingz
The heat’s on in Part 1 of the two-part Season 7 finale when the remaining chefs square off in the penultimate culinary challenge in Singapore.
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3:25 am in television shows by Moviekingz
The final four acts are revealed
by Moviekingz
2:54 am in television shows by Moviekingz
A favor for an old drinking buddy leads Hank and Britt, down a rabbit-hole of corruption in deceptively sunny Ocean Beach.
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1:53 am in television shows by Moviekingz
Possible crooked behavior by a renowned figure in the black community rises to the surface in the wake of a young black man’s shooting death. The case turns deeply personal for Ty, whose girlfriend has a tie to the shooting.
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11:22 pm in television shows by Moviekingz
When a spy is framed for a crime she didn’t commit, she decides to use Shawn and Gus to prove her innocence.
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10:26 pm in television shows by Moviekingz
Carter and his stealthy squad try to wipe out a home-invasion gang. While Ty assumes the identity of a thief, Alex and Carter pose as bait, but the mission is compromised when their target learns about the sting.
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10:25 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
There’s really no need to introduce this, but it’s worth checking it out anyway, so here you go. Our friends at Tron Sector recently found a new website located at tronsoundtrack.com (that we’ve confirmed was created by Disney) for the Tron Legacy soundtrack by Daft Punk. Everyone already knows I’m crazy excited for Tron Legacy, especially Daft Punk’s score, which has been teased many times at viral events and on various websites. There’s not much on the site yet, but it has a viral feel (though it’s not connected) and Tron Sector says more “will soon be appearing.” Also, view the source code on the site and you will see something cool.
Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father’s disappearance and is pulled into the digital world of Tron where his father has been living for 25 years.
Tron Legacy is directed by first-time filmmaker Joseph Kosinski. The screenplay was co-written by Adam Horowitz (“Lost”), Richard Jefferies (Blood Tide, Living Hell), Edward Kitsis (“Lost”), and the director of the original movie, Steven Lisberger. This first got the greenlight last year because this early teaser played well at Comic-Con. Disney is bringing Tron Legacy to theaters in 3D starting on December 17th. You in?
by Moviekingz
10:25 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
I have openly admitted before that I didn’t care for the art-house film Hunger, written & directed by British filmmaker Steve McQueen (not the classic actor, seen above left), but it was praised by many as one of the very best film of 2008 and I do admire what McQueen achieved (visually) in his feature debut. We’ve heard bits and pieces about his follow-up film, but now Variety has confirmed that McQueen will be reuniting with Michael Fassbender (who starred in Hunger) for a project that starts shooting in January titled Shame. Fassbender will play Brandon, a 30-something man living in New York who is unable to manage his sex life.
Written by McQueen and Abi Morgan (Brick Lane), Shame will examine the nature of need, how people live their lives and react to the experiences that shape them. Although I didn’t really like Hunger, I realize many cinephiles regard McQueen as one of the best up-and-coming filmmakers, which is why we’re covering this. HanWay Films is handling sales and Iain Canning is producing through See-Saw Films with Film4. Canning says he’s “thrilled” to be producing a McQueen film, who he described as a filmmaker “not afraid to turn a mirror on the world.” And to tease you a bit more, HanWay’s CEO says that “Shame will tell a modern story that is deeply honest and provocative.” I’m actually curious to see how McQueen’s second film turns out.
by Moviekingz
10:25 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
Those of you who have been anxious to see a Dark Tower adaptation for years should be foaming at the mouth at this good news today. Though Stephen King’s books were once going to be adapted into a TV series by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot production banner, we found out back in April that the rights had since left their hands and ended up with Ron Howard and Akiva Goldman at their Imagine Entertainment/Weed Road Productions banners. Now Deadline has official word on the once hazy deal that involves an unprecedented fusion of film and TV at Universal/NBC. As Vice President Joe Biden might say, “This is a big fuckin’ deal.”
For those unfamiliar with Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, the story follows Roland Deschain, the last living member of a knightly order of gunslingers, and humanity’s last hope to save a civilization that will crumble unless he finds the Dark Tower. Universal has picked up the comprehensive deal which includes an initial feature film directed by Ron Howard followed closely by one season of a corresponding TV series written by Akiva Goldsman (of Angels & Demons and I Am Legend most recently, who will also write the first film). That TV series will act as a bridge to a film sequel and then back to another season of television, but this time with a prequel storyline following a younger Deschain (which itself will be informed by a comic book that King helped plot). Then the final film returns to an older Deschain as his journey comes to an end.
As good as Scott Pilgrim vs the World was, it sounds like this is truly the epic of epic epicness that Universal needs. Howard himself is truly excited about the project and he knows that they’re walking into uncharted territory with this deal. He compares the venture to Peter Jackson’s undertaking of a back-to-back Lord of the Rings trilogy and elaborates about their vision for the comprehensive project with some new quotes:
“What Peter did was a feat, cinematic history. The approach we’re taking also stands on its own, but it’s driven by the material. With this story, if you dedicated to one medium or another, there’s the horrible risk of cheating material. The scope and scale call for a big screen budget. But if you committed only to films, you’d deny the audience the intimacy and nuance of some of these characters and a lot of cool twists and turns that make for jaw-dropping, compelling television. We’ve put some real time and deep thought into this, and a lot of conversations and analysis from a business standpoint, to get people to believe in this and take this leap with us. I hope audiences respond to it in a way that compels us to keep going after the first year or two of work. It’s fresh territory for me, as a filmmaker. This is going to be an amazing life experience for us, trying to do justice to the story and the universe.”
Because of the connection between the films and TV series, the actors involved will be committed to doing both. Goldsman says of the cooperation between the two media: “Some of the shooting will likely encompass both platforms, and that has never been done before. It’s thrilling, we feel like kids in a candy story.” This is something that will end up coming together quickly, too, as both Goldsman and Howard have cleared their schedules to focus on this next. Howard says, “I’m finishing The Dilemma, and then I don’t have anything scheduled and I plan to work hard on this with Akiva and Brian [Grazer]. We will refine our take on the feature and TV shows. We have a clear view of what we want to do, and we’re lucky to have a company with the nerve to back us up on this venture.” Wow. This is just awesome. What do you guys think of this?
by Moviekingz
10:25 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
The initial story that precedes this bit of news didn’t make it over here simply because an actor not stepping into a coveted role isn’t all that newsworthy unless the actor who actually gets the role is mentioned in the same breath. But it looks like we have some fuel for the fire as EW reports Martin Freeman (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Love Actually) could still end up playing Bilbo Baggins in the troubled yet anticipated production of The Hobbit with Peter Jackson finally at the helm. A commitment to BBC’s series “Sherlock” (where he plays Dr. Watson) initially held him back, but a new schedule proposal may allow him to do both.
No doubt it would be an exhausting run for Freeman, but it might be well worth it for a role of this caliber that will certainly make him a household name. Freeman already has made a decent name for himself in the original British version of “The Office” not to mention Hitchhiker’s Guide and bit parts in films like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, but this would be huge. Personally, I love the choice, and if New Line and MGM want him badly enough to jockey around their production schedule to accommodate his other commitments, he’s obviously impressed all the right people. Apparently a deal is currently being negotiated so this is the most official word we’ve heard on casting Bilbo Baggins. I really hope it happens. What do you think?
by Moviekingz
10:25 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
Many were sad and angered to hear that Paramount had officially passed on greenlighting a sequel to the surprise comedy hit Anchorman. And once it became clear that budget concerns were stopping the project from getting off the ground, fan outcry just couldn’t believe Paramount didn’t want to spend the money on a sequel to a very successful comedy where the cast are now much bigger audience-drawing talents then they were when the original opened. Well it looks like the whining may have helped as director Adam McKay told Collider that fans clamoring for the sequel all over the interwebs absolutely have “made a difference.”
Though the film hasn’t pulled a complete 180 to go into full-fledged production, apparently the higher-ups have heard the masses calling for a sequel, and it may not be as dead as originally thought. McKay explained:
“[Fan outcry] made a difference. Paramount heard it. Adam Goodman, the President of Paramount, was on the first one so he loves it and when that outcry came, he was kind of excited because he knew it could maybe push it towards happening. That having been said, I’m clearly going into it like another movie so if it does happen it’s still two years away or a ways away. And I haven’t talked to anyone. There’s nothing happening right now but it helped, it helped.”
Well it’s not as exciting as the film actually being made, but it’s always good to hear when a studio realizes the error of its ways when fans so loudly proclaim their love and desire for a project. I know that I would love to see Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner return as the Channel 4 News Team, but McKay is already looking at getting started on The Boys after he finishing up a little more foreign press and a much needed break after promoting The Other Guys. Of course, we’ll let you know if we hear anything else new about Anchorman 2. Just for good measure, let us know how badly you want this sequel!
by Moviekingz
10:25 pm in television/movie news by Moviekingz
Back in January we heard directly from The Chin himself that the anticipated sequel to the cult classic My Name is Bruce would finally arrive in the form of Bruce vs Frankenstein. Though there were some vague story ideas that surfaced back in 2008, Bruce Campbell recently talked with Hero Complex and shot off a whole slew of exciting ideas for this. Essentially, Campbell sees the sequel as The Expendables, or more like the It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World of horror. “I want to get so many horror movie stars that people can’t possibly not see the movie.” Certainly sounds like an exciting prospect, but nothing is set in stone. Read on!
Campbell elaborated on some specific actors and roles he’d like to make happen in the film, but once again, these are all just ideas for now, and we all know Campbell loves to talk and talk. Here’s what he had to say:
“I want to get so many horror movie stars that people can’t possibly not see the movie. I want to give them other stuff to do. I want to have Kane Hodder be very particular about what he eats. I want Robert Englund to be a tough guy, like he knows tae kwon do or something. I want to find out the hidden sides of all these people. Some will play themselves, some will play alternate characters as well. I may approach Kane Hodder to play Frankenstein. He could be Kane Hodder himself fighting himself as Frankenstein. It could be crazy. It’s a silly concocted story that we hope to do maybe in a year or so. There’s a script, it just kind of blows right now, so no one’s really seeing it. We gotta work on it.”
Certainly sounds wacky enough for some horror fun, but it’s definitely not shooting “this fall” like Campbell originally mentioned in January. If the script is in that bad of shape, I don’t think fans want it to be rushed just to quench their thirst. It would be a real treat to see some of horror’s biggest icons together in one fun flick, but I won’t hold my breath yet. Campbell likes to talk about his sequels all the time, and similar to the probably never-going-to-happen Evil Dead sequel, who knows if this is ever going to happen either, but we’ll be crossing our fingers at least. We’ll keep you posted as more information becomes available. Excited?
