Below the cut/jump, there's news and thoughts on the latest addition to The Dark Knight, the nature of the JJ Abrams's Star Trek movie, Joe Carnahan's bad fortune, JMS getting a damn good director, and the first 'look' at Zack Snyder's Watchmen.
- Maggie Gyllenhaal has joined The Dark Knight, replacing Katie Holmes as assistant district attorney Rachel Dawes. For a superhero sequel, this lineup is becoming pretty remarkable: Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, and now Gyllenhaal, in addition to Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman.
But it's doubly amazing that they managed to get the much in-demand and more highly regarded Gyllenhaal to take Katie Holmes's leftovers. Plus, the role as written wasn't very deep to begin with - perhaps it's been enhanced for the sequel, especially since her new boss is Eckhart's Harvey Dent, who will become crucial when he transforms into Two-Face in either this film or the potential third. Regardless, we have traded up enormously here - there's not a weak link in this cast, and the role of detective Renee Montoya (yay!) could add yet another big name.
As for Holmes's departure, it's been fun reading the suspected reasons: that she was fired because she and Tom Cruise are maniacal crackpots who are impossible to deal with; that Cruise is unable to handle seeing his wife in romantic scenes with another man, hence her next film is a lame female buddy comedy with no love story; that she wasn't permitted to spend the time overseas and thus away from her family. I loathe celebrity gossip, but even to me the Cruise family's self-destructive fall from grace has been perversely compelling to observe.
- screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have confirmed to MTV that their JJ Abrams-directed Star Trek film will be a Galactica-style re-imagining of the franchise rather than a prequel. There will be cries of heresy, but if you're doing Kirk and Spock in continuity, all your credibility vanishes when the 1960s Enterprise bridge shows up on screen. For whatever reason, they’ve opted to revisit these characters, so rebooting is a necessary move.
I adored Trek in its prime and still do in principle, but won't waste an iota of energy worrying about this project. There are many, many hours of great Star Trek TV and movies already out there, and this new film won't change that. Frankly, I'll be fascinated to see the core Trek ideas dressed up in fancy new clothing, hopefully with the dose of freshness and modernity that Enterprise promised but so massively lacked (a schmaltzy theme song and more sexy time does not a franchise invigoration make)
However, finding a design and filming style for a 21st century spaceship-bound story that is different from Galactica will be a challenge. Damn, there are a lot of variables in play with this one. Regardless, it's out on Christmas Day, 2008.
Orci and Kurtzman also confirm that the film's title will be simply Star Trek, the simplest moniker of all that wasn’t even used for the first film. A lot about the project's intentions can be found right there in that title. Plus, they say that this will be the most action-oriented Star Trek film of all - careful there guys, don't go overboard and miss the point.
[I would link you to the MTV site, but since it's a cumbersome Flash monstrosity I saved you the bother and sent you to IGN.]
- poor Joe Carnahan. He can't catch a break. Between Narc and this year's Smokin' Aces he endured five years of movies that couldn't get off the ground. Finally back on solid ground, he suddenly has Reese Witherspoon pulling out of Bunny Lake is Missing five weeks before production begins. This will inevitably cause a delay that may affect the start date of the George Clooney-starring James Ellroy adaptation White Jazz.
For further salt, the inexplicably in-development direct L.A. Confidential sequel screws with White Jazz, one of Ellroy’s tangential sequels to his L.A. Confidential novel, as Carnahan is now forced to remove the character of Ed Exley, played by Guy Pearce in the original film. And while Carnahan is plugging along with a genuine, artistically distinct, non-cash-in follow-up to L.A Confidential, along comes a movie sequel not even based on an Ellroy novel, and apparently they are trying to lure Pearce and Russell Crowe back. Good luck.
Confused? Imagine how the unlucky Mr. Carnahan feels. Thanks to CHUD for the Bunny Lake story and IGN for the Ellroy-related issues as explained on Carnahan's blog.
- Babylon 5 creator J. Michael Straczynski is coming up in the world after twenty-five years in the TV trenches. He has reported that since selling his original screenplay The Changeling to Ron Howard’s Imagine Entertainment, he's been fielding a lot of offers. One was recently revealed: Straczynski will be adapting Max Brooks's zombie war 'history' World War Z for Brad Pitt's company. But today the cherry on top was announced: The Changeling will be directed by Clint Eastwood, with Angelina Jolie in talks to star. Not bad at all for the B5 guy.
I'd be much more revved if I hadn't become cynical about JMS's self-indulgent writing style in recent years, but I'm still fond enough of the guy's work and stories to be happy for him for coming up in the world.
The Changeling is based on bizarrely true events in the 1920s, and follows "a woman whose son is abducted but retrieved; she suspects, however, that the returned child is not her kid. The woman must then confront corruption in the LAPD." Not sure how those two can be linked, but all will obviously be revealed.
And damn, Eastwood is really churning them out. Filming is set for the end of the year.
- it’s nearly Easter, so an egg hunt is natural. The uncut 300 trailer from last year’s Comicon has emerged online, and fans have inexplicably found a single frame of a live-action Rorschach from Watchmen, Zack Snyder’s next film. Filming hasn’t begun and there’s no cast yet, so this could only be a test shot or a hoax.
It’s a cool little shot, and Harry at AICN confirms that it is indeed part of test footage that Snyder has shot during pre-production and slipped into this trailer for fun. He has a high-res version of the image courtesy of Snyder. I’m sure that the final Rorschach will look better than this, a little dirtier and less fuzzy, but it’s the first glimpse of its kind into an alternate reality where a Watchmen film actually might get made. However, Paul Greengrass got to this stage too, shooting pre-vis and finalising costumes before Paramount shut down the project, so it’s still touch and go.
300’s performance this weekend should prove to the studio whether they should have faith in the project. We should know by the end of the year, without a shadow of a doubt, whether that reality will be ours.
No comments:
Post a Comment