Obsessed With Film

The following Brian De Palma anecdote from Quentin Tarantino, as caught by Jeff Wells at yesterday’s “Directing on Directing” panel at Santa Barbara’s Lobero theatre is a delightfully honest look at the rivalry filmmakers can share with each other, and how during those peak years of making movies – it’s a great thing to have someone always raising the bar and being that one step above you.

I’ve heard Tarantino mention he has one of these friendly rivalries going with Paul Thomas Anderson, and it’s partly his viewing of There Will Be Blood that really kicked Tarantino up the backside into finishing his script for Inglourious Basterds, and getting that thing done in time for last year’s Cannes Film Festival. This whole situation reminds me of an old saying - competition is the best thing for business.

That’s why it’s a blessing we have the Coens, James Cameron, Quentin Tarantino, PTA, Chris Nolan, Terrence Malick and the like, pushing boundaries movie after movie, continously raising the bar.

Speaking of Scorsese – Shutter Island opens in 11 days time, my No. 2 must see movie of 2010. I haven’t heard any press screenings/previews yet, and no posters up where I live and I’m getting anxious. Paramount wouldn’t bury this movie, would they?

Three new trailers premiered during the Superbowl 44 last night which weren’t previously leaked onto the web (though a closer inspection says Youtube had one of them for a week). They were new spots for Universal’s The Wolf Man and two of Disney’s 2010 offerings Prince of Persia and Alice in Wonderland.

Amazingly, despite the tough economy, The L.A. Times reports that each new ad cost studio’s $2.5 million+ for a 30-second spot which was paid directly to CBS – ALOT of green these days for one piece of the marketing tentpole puzzle.

Speaking of The Wolf Man, OWF are seeing the movie tonight, and personally I will be catching it either Tuesday or Wednesday….

Trailers for Alice In Wonderland and Prince of Persia, after the jump. Thanks to The Playlist for the heads-up.

So the 11.12.09 story is confirmed (spoiler if you click on that link), and well I don’t know what to think. Bill Murray has told the Mail on Sunday that he wanted it to happen in the first reel but man, I’m kinda hoping it’s a backstory thing and we don’t have to witness it.

I like the character too much, really.

You can find all our coverage on Ghostbusters 3, here.

The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision Blog say Mary Elizabeth Winstead has been cast in Universal’s prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 horror The Thing, which shoots mid-March in Toronto.

She plays Kate Lloyd, one of the movie’s leads – a PHD candidate who joins the Norwegian research team in Antarctica after it discovers an alien ship in the ice. Also cast is Joel Edgerton (he was Gawain in King Arthur), who will play the blue collar, money-driven mercenary helicopter pilot Sam Carter, who joins the team when The Thing is released.

Nikki Finke says that David Goyer’s decision to quit as showrunner on ABC’s Flashforward is so he can work on writing the script for Batman 3 with co-scribe Jonathan Nolan. Goyer said in a statement…

“As my feature projects have started ramping up again, I felt I was being pulled in too many directions,”

I think Chris Nolan will want to start his development on Batman 3 post-July time, a little after Comic Con and Inception’s release. And if it’s sooner, then all the better.

Something tells me that the Batman 3 itch has been scratched on sleepless nights by Goyer and Nolan for a while now now and they are probably further down the road than you might think on the script. I would expect them to have the major themes, the villains, the important scenes already mapped out. I mean we’ve all been doing that too in our own heads, right?

So in brief – Goyer and Nolan will probably be writing the script for Batman 3 over the next five/six months. During that time, we should hear of Chris Nolan’s official announcement that he will direct another, and sometime in the summer pre-production will begin. The film will shoot 2011 – for release Summer 2012. I think.

I’ve got about three minutes to type this up, and it’s pointless me trying to write up a news story – so I just thought I would leave you guys with something to think about and potentially discuss.

There’s been much back-and-forth discussion among fanboys for two years now (yes, even before we saw The Dark Knight) over whether The Joker should return in any future Batman movies, but I have never really given any indication of where I stand on the dilemma – except to say that it’s a tough one to call.

Here’s what I think, in a nutshell. A 3 minute nutshell at that…

Those formative childhood years that lead us to adulthood are times filled with profound sensory experiences. New tastes excite, the air feels fresher, the sun-dappled days go on forever, and every new sensation feels like an extraordinary cosmic event. It’s unfortunate that our youthful excitement fades into a flatter, more contemplative phase, one with fewer highs and lows. Although unrealistic, it might be nice to be able to feel emotions and experiences that deeply once again.

A wonderful string of comments erupted over at Hollywood Elsewhere over a clip from Back To The Future III in which many of HE’s frequent guests began debating about their personal favorite summers. In the course of the discussion, one commentator named LexG unearthed this sparkly little gem:

Synopsis: Arthur is a happy drunk with no pretensions at any ambition. He is also the heir to a vast fortune which he is told will only be his if he marries Susan. He does not love Susan, but she will make something of him the family expects. Arthur proposes but then meets a girl with no money who he could easily fall in love with.

Based on: Dudley Moore’s 1981 classic

Written by: Peter Baynham (Borat, Bruno)

Starring: Russell Brand

Directed by: ?

Info: Draft dated 16/10/09 – (118 pages)

Status: Movie should film sometime 2010.

Can anyone tell me how anyone came to the conclusion that the best man to fill Dudley Moore’s elegant shoes for the role of Arthur in a new adaptation of Steve Gordon’s 1981 classic was Russell Brand?

On a simple comparison of achievements, Moore is out of Brand’s world, a comic genius whose art was defined best by a subtlety that made his relationship with Peter Cook so perfect, and his frequent steps onto the bluer side of comedy all the more affecting. Brand on the other hand, is tabloid bait- a professional bounder of sorts who pops up on panel shows or in a few film cameos here and there, and is generally more famous for who he is doing, rather than who he is playing.

And he is the man charged with this relatively mammoth task. And it is a mammoth task: Arthur is a one-man-show, with a lot of screen time for its chief player, and nowhere to hide.

Go screw yourself, Hollywood!

Nikki Finke slipped out one last doozie before calling it a weekend: Twilight hunk of shit Taylor Lautner has been cast as Stretch Armstrong in a needless movie adaptation of the ancient toy.

According to Finke, this now makes 17 year old Lautner the highest paid teenager thanks to his role in the Twilight series and the upcoming Max Steel. Hope you’re saving your money, kid.

There are only a few superheroes that I would consider “top-shelf” material: Spider-Man, Batman, and Superman. Each of these superheroes stands for something other than being “cool” – they teach us about ourselves. In that light, I might also include the X-Men series as well, because they teach some valuable lessons about minorities.

Beyond that, you’d be hard pressed to find another superhero franchise worth the time and effort to transform into a film. We’ve seen two Hulk films, and both identify his intrinsic dramatic weakness: he doesn’t do much except get really pissed off. Iron Man made a terrific first film, but how much of that had to do with star Robert Downey Jr.’s charm in the lead? After that, we have a bunch of terrible attempts to make films out of lame superheroes like The Fantastic Four, Catwoman, Van Helsing, Elektra, and Captain America.

Now there is word out that Fox is planning to reboot the Daredevil franchise.