Tagged: film

Carla Gugino talks Watchmen

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  • January 30, 2008

Actress Carla Gugino, who plays The Silk Spectre (a.k.a. Sally Jupiter) in the film adaptation of the graphic novel Watchmen, had a lot to say about the role in a recent interview with MTV.

I start at 25 years old in the 1940s, and I age to 67 years old with full prosthetics in the 1980s. [Sally] is a larger-than-life character. She’s a costumed crime fighter, but her idea of a costume is very Bettie Page-meets-[Alberto] Vargas.

In the interview, which took place during the recent Screen Actors Guild Awards, Gugino offers up her thoughts on her character’s hairdo, the amount of "ass-kicking" scenes she filmed, and one of the story’s darkest moments: the scene in which her character is raped.

According to Gugino, the film’s title sequence could be one of the most impressive elements of the big-screen adaptation, combining computer-generated effects with live-action shots to create a visual timeline for the troubled superteam.

"It incorporates real history and the fictitious world of Watchmen, and so it’s very cool,” Gugino explained to MTV. “We meet Nixon and all sorts of people.”

Casting Call posted for Thor film

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  • January 30, 2008

Hey there, actors – this one’s for you:

Partially disabled medical student Dr. Donald Blake discovers his heretofore unknown alter ego, the Norse warrior, Thor.

That’s the film description posted in a casting call on www.auditions-auditions.com. The film is looking for non-union actors, ages 18-60, any gender, for filming in New York City.

Want to join the Norse God’s posse? Make sure to submit your headshot by Feb. 3!

 

New Punisher: War Zone photos

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  • January 30, 2008

Lexi Alexander, director of the upcoming Punisher: War Zone film, recently posted some photos on her website from the set  in Vancouver.

The images provide the first look (actually, a very tiny peek) at Ray Stevenson in the Punisher gear.

It seems that Punisher series cover artist Tim Bradstreet is also providing some input on the film, as Alexander posts an excerpt from one of the messages she received from Bradstreet:

I had an opportunity to see a ton of stills from the film and it looks sensational. The Jigsaw makeup is top. LOVED seeing Doug Hutchinson look like such a hard assed nut, and of course, Ray Stevenson looks AWESOME. They lit a lot of it like I light and [they] did a great job.”

 

On This Day: You Wanna Side-Step Outside?

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  • January 30, 2008

When’s the last time you got into a fight?

The last time you took it outside, socked the sonofabitch, readjusted your tie and went about your business – where was it? In a bar? How about in a ballroom?

Today in 1931, two film big-shots exchanged blows at the Hollywood Biltmore, in the middle of a dance. The fight was between prolific writer Herman J. Mankiewicz, famous for writing the screenplay for Citizen Kane and rewriting The Wizard of Oz, and executive David O. Selznick, later producer of Gone with the Wind.

What spawned it? Who knows… Maybe Selznick insulted the cowardly lion.

Larry Hama joins G.I. Joe Film, Devils Due loses license

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  • January 30, 2008

Sure, there have been a lot of recent announcements regarding the live-action G.I. Joe feature film, but they all pale in comparison to this one, folks: Larry Hama, the architect of much of the G.I. Joe mythology for several decades now, will be joining the G.I. Joe film in some capacity!

According to The Latino Review, an announcement is expected later today, but it’s believed that Hama will be a creative consultant for the film.

Hama is well-known for writing the Marvel Comics’ G.I. Joe series that ran for 155 issues (1984-1992). He also wrote the "file cards" on the G.I. Joe action figures produced during that period, and many of the characters are named after Hama’s friends, family and favorite historical figures.

In other G.I. Joe news of note, Devils Due Publishing will not have their contract renewed with Hasbro, owners of the G.I. Joe license.

First reported over at IESB, it’s speculated that Marvel or IDW will receive the license, with IDW the more likely recipient due to their current contract with Hasbro for the Transformers license.

Devils Due was widely regarded as a savior of the G.I. Joe property when they acquired the license in 2001, publishing numerous critically praised stories under the G.I. Joe banner, including the 2006 Snake Eyes: Declassified miniseries.

With the G.I. Joe feature film scheduled for a 2009 release, it appears as if Hasbro is looking to consolidate its film properties with a single publisher, much to the disappointment of G.I. Joe comics fans.

 

Y: The Last Man to be a Film Trilogy?

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  • January 29, 2008

USA Today reports that the director of the big-screen adaptation of Y: The Last Man, D.J. Caruso, plans to break up the story of the last man on Earth into several parts.

According to Caruso, the first film of what is likely to become a trilogy will focus on the storyline of issues #1-14 of the series. Caruso added that he has had "preliminary discussions" with Shia LaBeouf to play Yorick Brown, the story’s main character.

Caruso was the director of another LaBeouf film, Disturbia. The screenwriter for that film, Carl Ellsworth, is also attached to the Y project.

According to Caruso, "The most important thing and the reason I want to do this is … I don’t want to say it’s the end of the innocence, but it’s actually a man-child who has to become a real man now."

"I think it’s a really simple, beautiful theme, but at the same time, the movie’s really pop-culture entertainment," Caruso told USA Today.

 

New Dark Knight Photos

  • News
  • January 28, 2008

SuperHeroHype recently posted some new, leaked photos from the upcoming Warner Bros. film The Dark Knight featuring Christian Bale both in and out of costume as Batman/Bruce Wayne. Among the images also appears to be a promotional poster for the film.

The Dark Knight is scheduled to hit theaters on July 18.

 

Life of Groundhog, by Ric Meyers

  • News
  • January 27, 2008

 

Oh, it’s been a good week. Two of my (diametrically-opposed) favorite comedies are coming out on remastered special edition DVDs this coming Tuesday (one which was embraced by all religions while the other was roundly condemned by all religions) and I could hardly be happier. The operative word here is “hardly,” because, for while both DVD editions are good, one, in particular, could have been great.
 
But this is sour grapes on my part. I love Groundhog Day, and appreciate the skills of its star, Bill Murray, so much that I shouldn’t begrudge his disinterest in participating with the 15th Anniversary release’s special features – but yet, I still do. I shouldn’t be so petty, too, because of Bill’s absence, the true value of director/co-scripter Harold Ramis comes into sharp focus.
 
I’m a big fan of Ramis as well, ever since I saw him as harried station manager Moe Green on the original import of the milestone Canadian comedy series SCTV. I can never forget his delivery as the evil boss in the show’s satire of The Grapes of Wrath, The Grapes of Mud; “You think this land is urine … but it’s all our land, not just urine” (you had to be there, I guess).
 
Ramis left SCTV early, which I also begrudged, come to think of it. But all was forgiven when he started helming, or being intimately creatively involved with, such comedy mainstays as Animal House, Caddyshack, Ghostbusters, As Good As It Gets, and Analyze This. Groundhog Day could be his masterpiece, however, given that it’s a romantic comedy fantasy classic.
 
Columbia Pictures, minus Murray’s input, could only muster a single, pretty poorly photoshopped, disc, but Ramis is all over the extras. There’s a commentary with him, which I lapped up with my admiring head nestled on my hands. There’s also a video talking head grandly titled “A Different Day: An Interview with Harold Ramis,” which I watched appreciatively with my chin on my fist. Then there’s the making-of doc called “The Weight of Time” (borrowing a phrase by story creator and co-scripter Danny Rubin), which I watched with the back of my head resting on my sofa top. 
 

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Ingagi: Gorillas in Our Midst, by Michael H. Price

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  • January 27, 2008

 

If a long-mislaid but vividly documented Depression-era motion picture called Ingagi should ever re-surface – in the manner that such lost-and-found titles as the 1931 Spanish-language Dracula or the 1912 Richard III have cropped up, in unexpected out-of-the-way locations – its rediscovery alone would justify a monumental curatorial celebration and an overpriced DVD edition.
 
The film probably does not deserve as much, except perhaps on grounds of sheer obscurity and an ironically monumental influence. Never having viewed the picture, I am of course ill prepared to dismiss Ingagi as an unwatchable trifle. But primary-source screening notes from my late mentor, the film archivist and historian George E. Turner, describe a muddled combination of silent-screen expeditionary footage with staged bogus-safari scenes.
 
Ingagi is hardly the first of its kind, but it appears to have established a precedent for presenting an imaginary journey into unexplored regions as an authentic record of a scientific expedition. As such, it collected a reported $4 million in box-office returns – back in the day when a buck was still a dollar – and inspired numerous imitations.
 
The cryptic title became a household word: Such comedy acts as the Three Stooges and Hal Roach’s Our Gang ensemble devoted gags to Ingagi, and as late as 1939–1940 the actor-turned-filmmaker Spencer Williams, Jr., invoked the term with an otherwise unrelated picture called Son of Ingagi. During a visit at Dallas in 1993, Julius Schwartz cited the original Ingagi and a 1937 knockoff called Forbidden Adventure in Angkor as inspirations for the recurring “Gorilla City” subplot that distinguishes DC Comics’ Flash series of the 1960s.

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expendable-poster-2734549

Expendable Exposes the Secret Lives of Henchmen

  • News
  • January 25, 2008

expendable-poster-2734549Wednesdays are always big days in the comics world, but this week Hump Day was especially important because it marked the debut of Expendable, the latest film by Wondermark webcomicker David Malki !.

Expendable is a film about one of the most underappreciated cogs in the gears of global domination: the random henchman. Think back to the last spy movie you watched. Remember those guys who were thrown off the catwalk when the laboratory exploded? Well, this is their story.

Better yet, in the words of the film’s creator:

They may wear jumpsuits with skull logos on them, and they may carry assault rifles, but really they’re ordinary guys just like you and me — concerned about health insurance, pension plans, and making it through the workday without being shot, blown up, and/or karate-chopped by smug, oversexed Englishmen. Expendable is their story.

Sure, it’s a great film, but our favorite part occurred in the first four seconds, when the presentation of the production company card ("A Wondermark Presentation") blasted us in the face with some old-school TV nostalgia. We weren’t the only ones, either.

 

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