Category: News

Marvel Schedules 4 Films for California Studios

  • News
  • October 8, 2008

Iron Man 2, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers are now scheduled to film at Raleigh Productions in Manhattan Beach, California.

The facility has 14 soundstages and 300,000 square feet of office and support space, making it perfect to mount the four films over the next three years given the shared personnel and even props and cast if all goes as anticipated.

Louis D’Esposito, Marvel’s president of physical production, told Variety that Raleigh had been "incredibly accommodating in terms of financial structures".
 

Shyamalan Talks ‘Unbreakable’ Sequel

  • News
  • October 8, 2008

m-night-shyamalan-3804910While promoting today’s DVD release of The Happening, M. Night Shyamalan spoke about a possibly sequel to his super-powered story, Unbreakable.

During a press conference, the stylish director admitted, "How bizarre. I want to write it right now, but I want to write it for the right reasons. I want a story to pop into my head that is organic and expressive of who I am. You know, these are all kind of journals of where I am emotionally, so it’s kind of hard. I’m kind of trying to go back to the journal that existed in 1999 for me. But I know me: As soon as I give up on it is when the idea will come to me. It’s just I need to go into therapy; I guess that’s the end of that answer to this."

Of course, given the tepid reception his last efforts have received, the temptation to revisit a previous success has grown.  Not that he ever admitted that as a motivation.  Instead, he said, "I’m a strange creature. When Unbreakable came out, I was like, ‘God, man I’m so excited.’ I thought [it] was like comic books. No one has really done comic books like this: reality-based comic books. I really think this is a metaphor for things that people can go crazy over."

The film was more a commercial than critical success so demand was always there for a follow-up story. "When the reaction was mixed, kind of a disappointment, I was pettily hurt, and I was like, ‘God, I took so many incredible risks and things like that.’ I felt really hurt, and I couldn’t bring myself to write," he said.

He said filmmaking gave him an intimate connection with people. "It’s literally like a relationship I have with the audience. … And then, over the years, as it just grew and grew and grew, and people were like, ‘You know, I really like that. That’s actually my favorite movie, and I watch that all the time,’ and on and on. I’ll be on the street, and some kid will run across traffic with it in his backpack–he just is carrying it in his backpack–and he’ll be running [saying], ‘I can’t believe it’s you!’ Will you sign my Unbreakable DVD?’ And quoting the thing and all that stuff."
 

Sequel and Prequels in the News

  • News
  • October 8, 2008

There’s a lot of prequel/sequel talk in the air this week.  First, rumors have it that Jennifer Aniston is being offered tons of cash to reprise her character in a follow-up to The Break-Up, opposite Vince Vaughn.

On the other hand, Corey Haim says he’s up for a Lost Boys film; one he claims will be a prequel to the first film and not a follow-up to the direct-to-DVD sequel that was released in July. He told Bloody Disgusting, “I’ve seen the whole movie; I don’t like it, to be honest with you. I don’t like it, I’m not gonna lie to you. I don’t like it as much as the first one.”

No official word has come from Warner Bros. or any of the Lost Boys participants so Haim could be drumming up work for himself. Still, he clearly had his own vision of how the next film should be done. “[The] direction [will be] more so like the first one…" Haim described. "As far as I heard, it will be thrown back into the proper genre it was when Joel [Schumacher] executed it.”

Warner Bros. announced yesterday that they have signed a three-year first-look deal with The Office’s Steve Carell. The deal, according to Variety, has led to the formation of Carousel Productions to be overseen by Vance DeGeneres and Charlie Hartsock.

The new deal does not guarantee a sequel to the television spin-off, but given its $230 million success around the world, the gears have started to turn.  Anne Hathaway, his co-star, already told the press she was up for a second film.

"My idea was to partner with friends of mine, people I trusted, with whom I share a certain sensibility," Carell told Variety. "I have some ideas for films, but I’ve gotten to know so many people who are funny, talented and fertile with ideas that I’m confident this very strong base of friendships will lead to projects."

After the fifth season of the NBC hit, he will co-star with Tina Fey as spouses in Date Night for 20th Century-Fox and director Shawn Levy.
 

Hathaway and Carter Play Queens for Burton

  • News
  • October 8, 2008

The cast for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland is rounding out with the addition of Anne Hathaway as the White Queen opposite Helena Bonham Carter’s Red Queen according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film has already begun shooting with Mia Wasikowska scenes as Alice outside the looking glass having been completed in Australia.

The White Queen is described in the story as “a benevolent monarch who is deposed and banished by her sister, the Red Queen, who has an affinity for crying out, ‘Off with their heads!’

The cast also includes Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. Burton is shooting both live-action and motion-capture work for the film, which Disney Studios will release in 2010.
 

Could Velile Tshabalala be the Next Assistant?

  • News
  • October 7, 2008

Velile Tshabalala will guest star in 2008’s Doctor Who Christmas special, “The Next Doctor”.  In a profile published in West Sussex Today, she revealed some details about her character Rosita, "I am just so excited about it. We filmed it in April in Cardiff and Gloucester and Monmouth and so it has died down a bit, but now it is getting closer and I just can’t wait.

"It is just a one-off Christmas special but out of all the episodes I could have been asked to do it is far better that it is this one. The Doctor is faced with another Doctor. Rosita is the assistant to the other Doctor but as the episode goes on she starts helping the Doctor we know."

Will she follow the debut of Donna Nobel in a special and become the Doctor’s next assistant?

"A lot of people have been saying that it hasn’t yet been decided who the next assistant will be. But obviously I would love to do more. At the moment I am just being positive about it, that I did it and that I had a great time. But I would love to be in it again if I can."

Tshabalala is a comedic actress who debuted first appeared on CBBC’s Kerching! fdollowed by three season of Tittybangbang and had an appearance on ChuckleVision.

Her film work includes 2004’s Streets.

ComicMix Radio: Diamond Slashes Devils Due

  • News
  • October 7, 2008

Due to a legal puzzle in who has the rights to the ReAnimator characters, Diamond is not carrying issues 17 and 18 of Devil’s Due’s Hack Slash.  So how do you get your copy? We dig up the answer, plus:

Orson Scott Card talks about this week’s debut of Ender’s Game at Marvel
Dark Night headed for your Christmas Stocking
Robert Kirkman makes a pledge to you

And there’s a boatload of new comics and DVDs to tackle as well so Press the Button!

 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via badgeitunes61x15dark-6759368 or RSS!

 

Snyder & Gibbons Show off ‘Watchmen’

  • News
  • October 7, 2008

Warner Bros. is doing a tremendous amount of early publicity for March 6’s Watchmen release.  They have dispatcheddirector Zack Snyder on tour, showing clips to the press and other parties first in London then last week in Los Angeles and last night in Manhattan.  He and the clips will continue their tour to Europe and Asia in the coming weeks.

DC Comics President and Publisher Paul Levitz kicked off the festivities by reminiscing about the days when pages for the comic would arrive from England.  “It was an amazing book. We’d be waiting expectantly for the next batch of pages.”

He noted it was the first time in the company history a film option had been sold before the final issue had seen print. The series has continued to perform miraculous feats with Levitz going on to say that the company has sold more copies of the trade paperback since the trailer was unveiled on July 18 than in the last seven years even though it has topped the graphic novel sales lists for each of those years.

He then introduced Snyder who, dressed in sweater and jeans, chatted up the rapt audience before screening the first 12 minutes of the film, complete with titles. “I’ve always been a fan,” he admitted.  “But I came from the Heavy Metal side.  My Mom, I had a strange Mom, who bought me a subscription.  She thought it was a cool looking magazine.”  When he looked at comic books of the time in comparison, he was disinterested because no one was “fucking or dying, why am I looking at this?”

The Watchmen, which he admitted had a little of each, changed that for him as a reader.  He never thought of it was a film until he was nearing the end of work on 300 and it was offered to him. Snyder then recounted his evolution with Warner Bros., which inherited the project from Paramount Pictures.  They saw it as a modern day take on terrorism and while he considered it, the more he looked at the David Hayter script and the original graphic novel, the more he thought it needed to remain faithful.  Slowly, he brought the studio around to his way of thinking while acknowledging the smash success of 300 by the time did not hurt his credibility.

After the opening sequence, he introduced the origin of Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup).  After the applause died down, he showed the final sequence which was Nite-Owl and Silk Spectre breaking Rorschach out of prison followed by some more quick clips, largely taken from the trailer. (more…)

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Patrick Stewart May Make it So

  • News
  • October 7, 2008

patrick-2520stewart-1757524What was first discounted as a rumor has gained heft and may actually be a reality.  Actor Patrick Stewart may well be beaming aboard the TARDIS for the next season of Doctor Who.

According to a report in the UK’s Daily Star, Stewart has reportedly been offered the role of the Meddling Monk, a Time Lord once featured on the series. Apparently the BBC has offered him the role and are willing to wait for Stewart’s schedule to clear so it may happen for one of the 2009 specials or the new season beginning in 2010.

British fans have been treated to David Tennant, the current Doctor, and Stewart, formerly known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, performing Hamlet together.  The two have become fast friends and Stewart is an avowed fan of the series.
   
The Monk was introduced as someone who encountered the first Doctor, back in the early 1960s.  As portrayed by Peter Butterworth, he was a comical fellow and appeared in two stories, “The Time Meddler” and “The Daleks’ Master”.  The character disappeared from screen but has been used in other media through the years.
 

Woody Harrelson Defends us Against Zombies

  • News
  • October 7, 2008

So, Woody Harrelson has discovered genre filmmaking.  In addition to his super-hero film, Defendor, he is now making Zombieland, described as a horror/comedy by Columbia Pictures.  

Actor Jesse Eisenberg (The Squid and the Whale) is said to be negotiating to appear opposite the actor. According to The Hollywood Reporter,they would play “a mismatched pair of survivors who find friendship and redemption in a world overrun by zombies.”

 

Eisneberg’s character would be Flagstaff, described as “a terrified shut-in whose cowardice makes him an expert at surviving the zombies but who is forced out of his shell to join the band of survivors.

The movie is scheduled to be directed by Ruben Fleischer (Gumball 3000: Six Days in May) from a script by the Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (The Joe Schmo Show)

Harrelson will first appear in Defendor, where he will be a normal guy who thinks he’s a super-hero complete with secret identity.  Kat Dennings (Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist) just joined the cast last week, playing a street kid Harrelson’s Arthur befriends.  Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy) plays Arthur’s psychiatrist. The movie is written and helmed by Peter Stebbings (Across the River to Motor City) in his directorial debut.

Smoke Gets In Your Brain, by Dennis O’Neil

  • News
  • October 7, 2008

 

Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette / Puff, puff, puff until you smoke yourself to death. / Tell St. Peter at the Golden Gate / That you hate to make him wait, / but you just gotta have another cigarette. – Merle Travis 

I was getting ready to leave the office and walk over to NBC, where I planned to tape a reply to someone who had accused Batman of being in league with the Big Tobacco. It seems that in one panel Batman is standing on a roof, and in the background, on another roof, there was a billboard with a fragment of what might have been a cigarette ad visible. Our accuser said that putting Batman proximate to a cigarette image amounted to Batman – and his creators – endorsing tobacco products and advocating their use to children.

Well, no. Had I kept my rendezvous with the microphones and cameras, I would have probably observed that we agreed that smoking was bad and none of our characters ever actually smoked – Bruce Wayne abandoned his pipe early in his career – and, in fact, we had just done a pro bono anti-smoking ad for the American Heart Association. I might have taken my screed just a bit further and argued that we had always presented Batman’s turf as a realistic American city and – sorry! – urban areas are full of cigarette ads.

I didn’t have to do any of that. At the last moment, cooler heads prevailed and said that if I went on the air, our accuser would answer my answer and prolong the story’s life, whereas if we simply ignored it, the story would not survive into the next news cycle, which is exactly what happened.

One might ask why I allowed the billboard to appear in the first place. For the sake of realism? Or did I just miss it when I edited the artwork? Or did I see it and decide it wasn’t worth the hassle of a change? Humbling answer to all of the above: I don’t remember.

But this pretty inconsequential incident does raise another question: Where do the obligations of good citizenship and moral behavior end and the obligations to storytelling begin? Some kinds of people smoke and drink and take drugs and they’re not all hideous monsters, and some kids are influenced by what they experience through the media. I’ve heard recovering alcoholics say that the movie images of glamorous, witty sophisticates swilling booze prompted them to emulate the swillers and led, eventually, to badly damaged lives. But people do drink, and in a fictional world that mirrors the real one, shouldn’t drinkers – and smokers and druggies – be presented? Or does the potential harm of these behaviors outweigh aesthetic and narrative considerations?

I don’t know.

Sometimes, the coexistence of storytelling and responsible citizenship is painfully troubled, and sometimes I’m glad I no longer sit in an editor’s chair.

RECOMMENDED READING: The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World, By Matthew Stewart. 

Dennis O’Neil is an award-winning editor and writer of Batman, The Question, Iron Man, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and The Shadow– among others – as well as many novels, stories and articles. The Question: Epitaph For A Hero, reprinting the third six issues of his classic series with artists Denys Cowan and Rick Magyar, will be on sale any minute now, and his novelization of the movie The Dark Knight is on sale right now. He’ll be taking another shot at the ol’ Bat in an upcoming story-arc, too.  

Artwork by Kim Roberson, from Underworld. 

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