Star Trek sequel aims to connect to real-world issues

Star Trek Crew, Old and New

By David Bentley – CoventryTelegraph.net

Where does the newly-relaunched Star Trek go next after taking the franchise from the black hole of oblivion into a shiny new universe?

That’s the question everyone’s been asking, including director J.J. Abrams and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

The pressure’s on the team to deliver an equally stellar sequel and Abrams (pictured above) has explained what they have in mind. Think deep space with deep meaning…

He told the Los Angeles Times: “The ambition for a sequel to Star Trek is to make a movie that’s worthy of the audience and not just another movie, you know, just a second movie that feels tacked on.

“The first movie was so concerned with just setting up the characters – their meeting each and galvanising that family -that in many ways a sequel will have a very different mission. it needs to do what [the late Trek creator Gene] Roddenberry did so well, which is allegory. It needs to tell a story that has connection to what is familiar and what is relevant.

“It also needs to tell it in a spectacular way that hides the machinery and in a primarily entertaining and hopefully moving story. There needs to be relevance, yes, and that doesn’t mean it should be pretentious. If there are simple truths – truths connected to what we live – that elevates any story – that’s true with any story.”

Orci added: “We’ve literally had two meetings now. We haven’t decided anything but we’re starting to circle around some ideas.

“We got a lot of fan response from the first one and a considerable amount of critical response and one of the things we heard was, ‘Make sure the next one deals with modern-day issues.’ We’re trying to keep it as up-to-date and as reflective of what’s going on today as possible. So that’s one thing, to make it reflect the things that we are all dealing with today.”

Jeffrey Dean Morgan to be cast in ‘Red Dawn’ remake

Jeffrey Dean Morgan

by Jessica Nunez – MLive.com

According to Variety magazine, “Wachmen” and “Grey’s Anatomy” star Jeffrey Dean Morgan is in final negotiations to join the cast of the remake of 1984 film “Red Dawn.”

There’s still no word on what role Morgan will play, but MTV’s movie blog mentioned that they wished he was playing the role of Mr. Eckert, whom Harry Dean Stanton played in the original.

It seems that it’s not meant to be, however. “Lost” actor Brett Cullen is rumored to be playing that role.

“Red Dawn” started filming in Mount Clemens last week and will continue in other Metro Detroit locations, including Royal Oak and Harper Woods, throughout this month.

Shawn Levy is new man of ‘Steel’

Shawn Levy

By Jay A. Fernandez and Borys Kit – HollywoodReporter.com

How’s this for an unexpected switcheroo?

Action director Peter Berg, who had been talking with DreamWorks about taking on the studio’s futuristic robot boxing movie “Real Steel,” has moved on, opening up the gig to Shawn Levy.

Levy is known for directing and producing broad, hit comedies such as the two “Night at the Museum” movies, which have grossed nearly $1 billion in worldwide boxoffice. But the “Steel” story line takes place in a near future where human boxing has been outlawed, and heavy, humanoid robots slug it out in the ring instead. Into this world step a father and his estranged teenage son, who train an extraordinary fighter.

Levy’s participation could mean a change in tone for the adventure project and/or a stretching of the creative muscles for the director, who has signed on with DreamWorks to take a swing at it.

“I’m thrilled to be working with Shawn on this project,” DreamWorks CEO and co-chair Stacey Snider said. “He’s a master of combining heart and human stories with fantastic visuals. I’m sure that in his capable hands, ‘Real Steel’ will be a film that touches and excites all audiences.”

John Gatins (“Dreamer”) is writing the most recent draft of the “Real Steel” screenplay.

Angry Films’ Don Murphy and Susan Montford are producing. Steven Spielberg will exec produce along with ImageMovers’ Robert Zemeckis, Steve Starkey and Jack Rapke. Levy also will serve in a producing capacity.

DreamWorks originally purchased the Dan Gilroy-penned spec in 2003 for ImageMovers to produce, and new Paramount Film Group president Adam Goodman developed it there as production president. Screenwriters Jeremy Leven (“The Notebook”) and Les Bohem (“The Alamo”) worked on the script as well.

The project was then among those that DreamWorks purchased from Paramount when it split from the studio last fall. In recent months, DreamWorks has been bustling with activity as it completed its multistrand financing deals with India’s Reliance ADA and a syndication of banks.

“Steel” would be distributed by Disney.

The project began generating heat this summer when Berg (“Hancock”) started circling it. The WME-repped director ultimately decided to concentrate on two Universal projects — an adaptation of the Hasbro game “Battleship” and the Afghan war story “Lone Survivor” — so Spielberg called Levy last week to ask if he were interested.

“Steven’s passion for this project was absolutely infectious and I’m so excited to bring this story to life,” Levy said. “In a movie filled with these mechanical warriors, at its core ‘Real Steel’ is an incredibly human story.”

The WME-repped Levy is finishing up his latest comedy, “Date Night,” which Fox will release in April. He has a dozen other projects in development as a director and producer through his 21 Laps Entertainment banner.

Jay A. Fernandez reported from Los Angeles; Borys Kit reported from Toronto.

Venice screens 1st horror flick since Jekyll/Hyde

By Sherri Jennings – AP

Venice, Italy — George Romero swears his latest zombie installment isn’t a horror-filled commentary on America’s military entanglements in Iraq or Afghanistan.

“George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead” is more a broad, global commentary on enmity and discrimination of every kind, Romero told reporters Wednesday after screening the film at the Venice Film Festival.

The film, Romero’s sixth in the zombie franchise, is the first horror film in competition at the Lido since the festival’s debut, when Rouben Maumolian’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” opened the 1932 edition, Venice artistic director Marco Mueller said.

In the movie, Romero’s flesh-eating zombies are set against the backdrop of a warring world in which two feuding families disagree on how to dispose of the dead: One clan opts to kill them off indiscriminately while the other chains them up to “keep them among us.” A band of AWOL soldiers arrive on Plum Island, off the eastern U.S. coast, hoping to find paradise but find that life there is all too similar to the war they left behind.

“Zombie films are always a vehicle to talk about something that happens in the present time,” Romero told reporters. While no specific war inspired it, a host of current conflicts — from Northern Ireland to the Middle East — were all influences, Romero said.

“Discrimination, racial discrimination, religious discrimination and tribalism of any kind,” he said. “I wasn’t looking at Iraq and saying ‘Oh, let’s make a movie about that,’” he said.

“It’s more about what’s underlying man’s inability to forget enmity,” he said. “They’re enemies even long after they’ve forgotten what started the conflict in the first place.”

Some of Romero’s previous “Dead” movies explored the Vietnam War, racism, consumerism, militarism and class differences.

Romero’s 1968′s classic “Night of the Living Dead” launched the franchise; he followed up with, among others, the 1979 “Dawn of the Living Dead” and the star-filled 2005 box office flop, “Land of the Dead.”

“I don’t know how many more there will be,” Romero said. “It’s a practical reality. I think I would prefer it if they were farther apart.” But he said his financial backers frequently want him to do another if the latest one does well financially.

“I think if I were trying to make serious films about some of these topics I wouldn’t be able to,” he said. “So it’s great to be able to bring the zombies and talk about social issues and have fun at the same time.”

Diablo Cody unleashes her evil twin in horror flick ‘Jennifer’s Body’

Diablo Cody

By Michael Ordoña – LATimes.com

Screenwriter Diablo Cody’s copy of the Oscar Winner’s Playbook has apparently gone missing. The Academy Award-winning “Juno” scribe follows that success (and her critically praised Showtime series “The United States of Tara”) with a horror movie, “Jennifer’s Body” (opening Friday), about teenage BFFs played by Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried (who have a makeout scene — maybe this is the perfect post-Oscar project after all) whose friendship is tested when one is possessed by a demon. Worst-date-ever murders ensue.

When did you write this?

Before “Juno” was filmed. I had written something uplifting, and I wanted to do something darker. There are no sing-alongs in this film.

You’re in the bar scene before the fire, but we don’t see your death.

I was actually involved in a pyrotechnic stunt, but it got cut. My acting is terrible, to be frank. We had to be content with the one shot of my face.

Aren’t you afraid this could lead to a trend of false diagnoses of demonic possession?

I would feel proud. It’s already wonderful being blamed for the teen pregnancy epidemic.

Can you think of a movie so scary it practically traumatized you?

One of the first horror movies I ever saw was “Poltergeist.” I’m telling you, that movie would not be rated PG now. I mean, a guy rips off his face. It was more than I could handle at 7 years old. I didn’t sleep for a long time.

You’ve talked before about this being a different approach for a horror film — how so?

I think tonally, the film is complicated. In test screenings, people were asked to write down “What other movie does this remind you of?” — for marketing purposes. And so many people wrote, “Nothing. I have never seen another movie like this.”

I’d take that as a compliment.

I think it made some people nervous, but it made me very happy.

Spring opening for Harry Potter theme park

By Alex Dobuzinskis – Reuters

Harry Potter fans will soon be able to kick back with a glass of butterbeer after riding the Hippogriff through Hogwarts grounds.

It’s not magic but the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a 20-acre (8-hectare) theme park due to open this spring in Florida, Universal Orlando said on Tuesday.

Visitors will be able to sip the non-alcoholic “butterbeer” and “pumpkin juice” at the Hog’s Head pub, go shopping and tour a huge replica of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, just like the one where Harry Potter learned his magic.

Other attractions will include the Dragon Challenge, a twin high-speed roller coaster, and the Flight of the Hippogriff, a coaster for families that will roll along the grounds of Hogwarts.

Within Hogwarts, Universal plans to install state-of-the-art technology to bring the characters Harry, Hermione, Ron — and their friends and enemies — to life.

“Harry Potter” began as a book series by British author J.K. Rowling that has sold more than 400 million copies worldwide and inspired a series of six films that have grossed more than $5.3 billion worldwide at box offices.

The series clearly has wide appeal, said Mark Woodbury, president of the creative group at Universal Orlando Resort.

“We had a pretty good idea of that, but once we started to really get into it you realize how huge these stories have become around the world,” he said.

Universal is operating the park under a licensing contract with Warner Bros, a division of Time Warner Inc and the movie studio behind the “Harry Potter” franchise. Universal Orlando Resort is owned by the Blackstone Group and NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co.

Deadpool spin-off will be a Reboot

Deadpool and Ryan Reynolds

By David Bentley – CoventryTelegraph.net

The planned Deadpool spin-off, featuring Ryan Reynolds’ sword-wielding character from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, is to be a reboot, says producer Lauren Shuler Donner.

Comic book fans were not entirely happy with the way the character was portrayed at the end of Wolverine when Deadpool, aka Wade Wilson, was given implanted arm blades, the eye-blasts of Cyclops and the teleportation ability of Wraith.

Reynolds has always maintained this version was more ‘the creature that becomes Deadpool’ and still allowed the opportunity to expand and evolve the so-called merc with a mouth in the proposed spin-off.

Asked about the Deadpool solo movie, Donner told IGN: “We’d kind of reboot it and make it the Deadpool that’s in the comics.”

And she confirmed Ryan Reynolds would play the role again: “Yes, he would [return for it]. I’d like to see Deadpool, so we’ll see where we are moving forward on that. I’m hoping to make a movie out of Deadpool.”

There was some worry when Reynolds signed on to play DC Comics hero Green Lantern in the Warner Bros film. Donner had said in another interview there should be no issue with the actor playing both roles: “I think you can do different characters. We’ve had different Bonds, right? And I think if Harrison Ford can be in Indiana Jones and he can be in the Tom Clancy movies, I think if you are a good actor you become the character and it’s all right.”

The comic book version is a masked anti-hero known for his wisecracks, pop-culture references and also for ‘breaking the fourth wall’ (addressing the reader directly). The comics actually mention Ryan Reynolds by name so it’s always seemed inevitable that the actor would play the part.

Donner also confirmed that the recent Marvel/Disney deal would not affect the status of Marvel’s X-Men characters whose film rights are with 20th Century Fox: “Evidently they carved out the X-Men world and kept that at Fox, and so we’re fine.”

‘Silent Hill’ Writer and Producer Duo Return for Sequel

From AceShowBiz.com

With screenwriter Roger Avary and producer Samuel Hadida coming on board ‘Silent Hill 2′, Davis Films plans to kick off principal photography after ‘Resident Evil: Afterlife’.

Roger Avary

Familiar faces from “Silent Hill” are making their return to the video game adaptation. According to The Hollywood Reporter, screenwriter Roger Avary and producer Samuel Hadida have come on board “Silent Hill 2″, the sequel to the 2006 horror thriller. The two signed on while no director has been attached to the project.

Confirmation of Avary’s return was in contrast to his 2007 remark to Shock Till You Drop. At the time, he indicated that he won’t be making a return should director Christophe Gans refuse to return to the director’s chair for the second time. “I’m not gonna do Silent Hill 2,” he said. “If Christophe’s not gonna do it, I’m not…”

Roger Avary is known for his work on Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction”. His writing credits include “The Rules of Attraction” and “Beowulf”. He is writing for videogame adaptation of “Return to Castle Wolfenstein”. Samuel Hadida, in the meantime, has produced such movies as “Resident Evil: Extinction” and “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”.

Samuel Hadida

The original “Silent Hill” centers on a young mother desperate to find a cure for her only child’s illness. Ignoring the protests of her husband, she travels to an abandoned town in search of answers and finds supernatural occurrences taking place there. It stars Radha Mitchell and Jodelle Ferland. The sequel is expected to begin shooting in 2010 after “Resident Evil: Afterlife”, which is currently preparing to film.

Peter Berg boards ‘Battleship’

By Mike Fleming – Variety.com

Universal has set July 1, 2011, for the release of “Battleship,” confirming Peter Berg as helmer of the live-action pic based on Hasbro’s naval combat board game.

Deal is part of a two-picture pic pact Berg has made with U, where he’ll follow “Battleship” with an Afghan war drama “Lone Survivor.”

Universal’s date declaration positions “Battleship” to become the second film release from the studio’s multiyear deal with Hasbro to turn its classic games into features. The studio previously set an April 11, 2011, release date for “Stretch Armstrong,” with Steve Oedekerk about to deliver a script.

“Battleship” is the latest in Universal’s strong push toward branded entertainment films, and Hasbro has fast become an increasingly important cog in that campaign.

“This is a powerful brand, and in an era where brands have become the new stars, ‘Battleship’ is a big opportunity,” said U Pictures chairmen Marc Shmuger and David Linde.

Aside from “Battleship” and “Stretch Armstrong,” U is separately developing “Clue” with Gore Verbinski, “Monopoly” with Ridley Scott, “Candyland” with director Kevin Lima, and “Ouija” with Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes. As a board game, “Battleship” was launched by Milton Bradley in 1967 and has sold more than 100 million units.

Scott Stuber and his U-based Stuber Pictures will produce “Battleship” alongside Hasbro’s Brian Goldner and Bennett Schneir, Berg and his Film 44 partner Sarah Aubrey. Script was written by Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber (“Whiteout”).

Deal reunites Berg with Stuber, who produced the Berg-helmed “The Kingdom” with Michael Mann. Production on “Battleship” will begin next spring.

For Berg, the picture realizes a passion for ship-bound war stories that he picked up from his naval historian father.

“I’ve been consumed with doing one of these since I tried to convince Tom Rothman at Fox to make a film about John Paul Jones, the founder of the American Navy,” Berg said. “As a kid, I was dragged from Navy museum to museum, and spent so much time on ships, listening to my father talk about the great battles of WWII, I did my high school thesis on the Battle of Midway. When this came up, it didn’t take me long to find a take for a film that is filled with raucous action-packed naval battles.”

Peter Berg

Berg called the pic “a contemporary story of an international five-ship fleet engaged in a very dynamic, violent and intense battle” — but he would not disclose any details about the enemy force.

The film will be the next directorial assignment for Berg, who last helmed “Hancock.”

Berg made something of a quid pro quo pact with the studio to follow “Battleship” with “Lone Survivor,” a fact-based story he scripted about a Navy SEAL team that is sent to Afghanistan and is ambushed.
“It was pretty obvious to me they weren’t jumping head over heels to make a war film in the Middle East right now,” Berg said. “So they said, ‘what if you give us ‘Battleship’ for July 2011, and we guarantee you’ll follow with ‘Lone Survivor?’ I already loved the take we had on ‘Battleship,’ so that wasn’t a hard deal to make.’ “

Other projects percolating for Berg, including “Dune” and “Hancock 2,” will come later.

Bruce Campbell: Next Spidey Shooting in January, Bigger Part For Him

Bruce Campbell

by Brendon Connelly – SlashFilm.com

The world’s most A-grade B-actor, Bruce Campbell, was stopped at the red carpet premiere of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and pressed for details on the upcoming Spider-Man 4. Seeing as he’s had a role in each of the three Sam Raimi Spidey pictures so far it wasn’t too much of a stretch to assume he’d be on the call sheet for the next go around too. Not only did he confirm that, he also claimed a January start date for the project. But what could he reveal about his appearance in the film?

According to the info garnered by Access Hollywood, Campbell is expecting his role in the next film to be “a major part.” Of course, they translated this in their headline to there being a “villainous role in the works” for the actor, despite the absolute lack of evidence to support this supposition.

It’s just about possible that Campbell has been playing the same character in each of the films so far, one guy who just doesn’t seem able to hold down a job. Explicitly revealing that could be a fun quirk. Or maybe they could hold that off until the fifth installment, already rumored to be at the basic planning stages.

Campbell’s little roles in the series have turned out to be rather important to the overall narrative – from giving Spider-Man his “mask name” to creating serious tension in the Peter-MJ romance or, last time around, facilitating Peter’s wedding proposal, if in a slightly embarrassing manner. Perhaps this kind of significance is all Campbell meant by major, and he knew he could pull a few legs and start a wave of speculation with his use of the term yet still justify it later? I wouldn’t be surprised. But then, I wouldn’t be surprised if his comment was based on nothing at all. What would surprise me, if pleasantly, would Bruce Campbell actually taking one of the lead roles in the film.

A whole host of talented writers have taken a pass at the Spider-Man 4 screenplay and Raimi swears that the lessons of part 3 have been learned (hopefully this means that Avi Arad has been chained up in the dungeon with Sean McNamara and their Robosapien) so I guess I’m back to full on optimism