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Are films too reliant on big name stars?

Photographers.jpgThe other day we learned that Gravity, the film from Alfonso Cuarón that was set to co-star the big name of Robert Downey Jr. but showcase the talents of a leading Hollywood actress, was struggling and might not get made at all. Why so? Was the studio in difficulty? Downey or Cuarón pulling out? No, it's because Angelina Jolie had said no to the lead for a second time.

We've seen this kind of thing happen a few times before, but what's surprising here is that after they tested many big name actresses they went back to Jolie, and now she's said no again, the word is that the film is in danger of being scrapped.

That surprises me and raises two points, first is that the film is so reliant on a big name star, and one in particular, that it won't get made otherwise, and the other that Jolie was the only female actress who could take charge of the film.

Continue reading "Are films too reliant on big name stars?" »

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Latest News

September 4, 2010

Alien prequel secrets revealed

Alien-Head.jpgRidley Scott has been talking about his Alien prequels and revealed some interesting facts about the film, and especially about the relationship between the huge alien we see in the first film sitting in that chair and all those Alien eggs in the ship.

When I first saw that film I assumed that the giant creature had met the same fate as the crew did in the film, the creature boarded the ship, killed them all, but had a chance to breed, lay the eggs, and lay dormant for people to discover it. Not so it seems.

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The Wicker Tree teaser trailer online

TheWickerTree.jpgWell if we forget the silly nonsense of the Hollywood version of the wonderful 1973 The Wicker Man then we can go straight to the latest news from The Wicker Tree, written and directed by Robin Hardy, the director of the original film.

The teaser trailer has arrived from the film and I can officially tell you that it reveals next to nothing. There's a nice powerful voice over, but apart from that some background images from the film that you can't really get a handle on.

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September 3, 2010

Buried International trailer online

Buried.jpgThrillers are my favourite kind of film, they are the ones that most readily pull you in and affect you emotionally, they're the ones that get your heart pumping with the characters, have you backed into a corner and uncertain about what's going to happen next, and when they're done right you're caught up in the mystery of it all.

Buried seems to be doing that early on with the marketing and I'm pretty excited by that. Now there's a new trailer online that does it again and reveals a little more of the story and a little less of what is actually going on. Perfect.

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Due Date trailer screams Automobiles, automobiles and automobiles

DueDate.jpgWell there didn't seem to be any trains or planes in the trailer, but Due Date, judging from the trailer that has just arrived, does make me think of Planes, Trains and Automobiles with a vengeance. Although the content does look harder, faster and tougher. Or is that just more and bigger, the two most loved words by studio executives listening to sequel/remake/re-imagining pitches?

Due Date is the story of two very unlikely characters who are thrown together on a road trip across the country. Obviously the trailer shows everything going wrong, the characters hating each other, and one hapless one causing all the damage and pain to the other uptight one. Sounds terribly familiar.

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Locksmith trailer online

Locksmith.jpgI don't know why I watched this trailer to begin with, but I did, and it surprised me and the brief moments we get with the character drew me in. There's not nearly enough to have me racing to the cinema but there's enough to have me intrigued, especially with some positive comments coming from those who have seen it.

Locksmith tells the story of Mike, he's a locksmith and also a prisoner on work release, who is just trying to get his life back together, do his job and make up with his girlfriend. However one of his clients pulls him into a tricky situation and before he knows it he's caught between a couple and his day is hijacked.

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September 2, 2010

Jolie passes on Gravity again

AngelinaJolie.jpgAngelina Jolie passed up on the chance to lead Alfonso Cuarón's upcoming film Gravity and so the film went looking for another strong female lead. Originally the story was going to show a female astronaut surviving a terrible accident in space and heading home to Earth on her own, kind of like the idea of Moon and Castaway focusing for the most part on the single character lead.

When Jolie left we heard that Robert Downey Jr. was joining the film and they were looking for a new strong female lead, word came that this was Blake Lively, but what seems to have been happening in the background was that Jolie was getting another offer.

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A sixth DeLorean film in development?

JohnDeLorean.jpgWe're all losing count with the number of films about John DeLorean and his work that are on the go at the moment, and news comes through that there's another one to add to the pile.

As with a number of other projects about the man a family member is involved with this new film. It DeLorean's last wife, his younger brother, his former assistant, the DeLorean estate and the film has consulting agreements with several lawyers who represented the man and his company.

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September 2, 2010

Details of Levinson's Isopod and title change

Isopod.jpgIsopod was previously a bit of an unknown project from Barry Levinson, but now some more details have leaked out and it seems that it's going to incorporate all manner of real life video and audio channels and is now known as The Bay.

No it's not about Michael, it's about a bay, and some creatures apparently, and if Isopod is more than just a working title then I've made some guesses about what this could mean.

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13 Tzameti remake trailer online

13.jpgThe first trailer for the remake of 13 Tzameti from writer and director Géla Babluani has arrived. It's called simply 13 and has been remade by the original director for Hollywood featuring a big name cast and a Hollywood style, certainly to the trailer.

Ray Winstone, Alexander Skarsgård, Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke, Michael Shannon, Sam Riley, 50 Cent, David Zayas, Ben Gazzara, to name but a few. Now that's a strong cast, but will the film hold up to the original?

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Cameron and Canton argue 3D

JamesCameron.jpgThere's a little spat of words broken out across the media between James Cameron and Mark Canton, James Cameron the first person to show that 3D can be used non-obtrusively within a film to deepen the environment and draw the viewer into the film, and Mark Canton who has produced many a film including Piranha 2 and Piranha 3D, the latter being the standard 3D implementation of things flying at the camera.

Cameron had spoken out about not really enjoying the connection he has with Piranha 2 and that the 3D in Piranha 3D cheapens what 3D could be. Now Canton has come back with his comments.

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September 1, 2010

Sayles' Amigo gains a trailer

Amigo.jpgJohn Sayles has a new film coming out called Amigo, and it looks like it's going to draw some controversy for the parallels it makes with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and yet it's based in the 1900's when the U.S. occupied the Philippines.

I'm not entirely sure about the historical facts of these events, but watching the trailer you can easily see the comparisons being made. At first I thought they were tentative and was rather negatively biased, however the more I watched the more I thought it did look similar.

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The Butcher, the Chef and the Swordsman trailer

ButcherChefSwordsman.jpgDid you ever see Stephen Chow's excellent Kung Fu comedy called Kung Fu Hustle (Filmstalker review)? No? Well you need to see it immediately, it's innovative and funny and really does entertain. Now there's a new film on the go that's being touted as very similar, The Butcher, The Chef and The Swordsman, from director Wu Ershan.

However the trailer looks far from a comedy and could actually turn out to be a rather stylish Kung Fu film, or else the trailer is misrepresenting it. Have a watch right here.

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BioShock still talking about film

Bioshock.jpgWhen we heard that Gore Verbinski left the BioShock film because of escalating budget I didn’t think there was a chance we would see a BioShock film. Then we heard that Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, the director of 28 Weeks Later was to take over the reins under Verbinski’s tutelage.

Still, it seemed that they were having problems with the budget despite the change of director, and we’d heard no more about it, until now.

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Blizzard want Cameron for StarCraft film

StarCraft.jpgIt’s funny that the games industry seems to be holding out against the desire of making every game into a film and they’re the ones really concerned about quality whereas the studios really just want to snap up the property and sell to an already made audience.

So chalk StarCraft up with BioShock and Halo as a videogame property that doesn’t want to be made half-heartedly and is holding out for the big names, Blizzard says it’s waiting for James Cameron.

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Clooney gains cast for Farragut North

GeorgeClooney.jpgIn 2007 the news came in that George Clooney was perhaps involved in Farragut North, an adaptation of the stage play by Beau Willimon about his time working political campaigns for Howard Dean in 2004.

Now word comes that Clooney is set to direct the film and starting early next year, and with a pretty strong cast.

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