Willem Dafoe to play a big green Martian in John Carter of Mars

Willem Dafoe

by Rob Keyes – Screenrant.com

Not long after the announcement that Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins were cast in the lead roles in the upcoming adaptation of John Carter of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ series of novels, we found out the talented Willem Dafoe would be playing an important character in the film(s) as well.

At the time, we knew that Dafoe would be playing the role of Tars Tarkas, a big green Martian who eventually befriends the Kitsch’s John Carter, after an unfriendly beginning to their relationship. Tarkas is a warrior and leader of his people and a very unique one at that because he, against the laws and norms of his society, shows compassion and sympathy, and even had a child secretly with the woman he loved (child bearing is a major criminal offense of his people) – he actually believes war isn’t the answer for his kind.

Taylor Kitsch

Dafoe also confirmed that the movie will be a combination of live-action and heavy CGI, something that was already hinted at during the casting announcements.

The films are said to mesh live-action and computer-based animation together in a way similar to what James Cameron has done with his eagerly anticipated Avatar. With Disney and Pixar behind the project and the promise of a series of movies on the same scale of Pirates of the Caribbean, I have high hopes for John Carter of Mars and what it will eventually look like on screen.

Lynn Collins

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Abrams Talks Star Trek 2, Will it Be 3-D?

Published by Jeff Leins – NewsInFilm.com

At a press event to promote the upcoming DVD release of Star Trek on November 17, director J.J. Abrams and screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Robert Orci opened up about their developing plans for the sequel.

According to Collider, the big status update is they are still brainstorming the story idea for the science fiction follow-up, and haven’t decided on the basic plot. Kurtzman and Orci stressed the importance of a stand-alone installment and Abrams intends to make it for general audiences not just Trekkies (like the first). Though there may end up being references for the fans, and the writers haven’t decided on whether or not the foe will be the return of Khan.

“There’s Empire Strikes Back, Superman 2, Aliens, Terminator 2, Star Trek 2. What do all those movies have in common? Well, they’re amazing stories, all on their own,” Kurtzman said.

Orci stressed that the allegorical philosophy is just that, and the eventual plot won’t be a heavy-handed reference to Guantanamo Bay or any other “modern issues.”

Abrams was asked about possibly shooting the film in 3-D to which he replied, “I’m open to looking at it ’cause now I feel a little bit more comfortable. And, if I, in fact, direct the Star Trek sequel, 3-D could be really fun, so I’m open to it. What I’ve seen of Avatar makes me want to do it because it’s so crazy-cool looking.” The release, like the first, will probably end up on the IMAX screen, so I’d rather Abrams shoot using IMAX cameras than dive into stereoscopic 3-D, but we’ll see which direction Paramount wants to go with gimmicky film making.

As for non-Trek related movies, Abrams said they’re still formulating the story and script for Mission: Impossible 4 and Kurtzman/Orci are doing Western research for Cowboys & Aliens. “Fringe” writer Brad Kane is finishing the script for the View-Master adaptation (Kurtzman/Orci are producing) that’s based on an idea he came up with before they agreed to collaborate on a toy movie for Universal.

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Zoe Saldana Talks ‘Star Trek’ Sequel and ‘Avatar’

Zoe Saldana

by Elisabeth Rappe – Cinematical.com

The lovely Zoe Saldana is quickly becoming a name to contend with after managing to land plum parts in not one, but two of the biggest sci-fi films of the decade: Star Trek and Avatar. One is a bonafide hit, the other remains shrouded in a lot of mystery, but it’s a mark of Saldana’s star power that she’s making a name outside of their huge hype. Plus, she’s becoming an action heroine in her own right, and just might be our generation’s Sigourney Weaver or Linda Hamilton.

We had the chance to catch up with Saldana this week, and she was game to talk about both projects. Of course with the Star Trek sequel still in a misty writing stage, she didn’t have any big secrets to spill, but she shared the opinion of a lot of female Trek fans in hoping Uhura gets to do a little butt-kicking later on. “In Star Trek, I had so much fun, but the boys got all the action! J.J. [Abrams] promised me that I’m going to — [that] in the sequel, she will have at least one little fight. I mean, just [let me] kick a guy in the groin or something!” Laughing, she revealed that there was an enormous ongoing e-mail list among the cast, Abrams, and the Trek producers where they regularly chat and joke back and forth. From the sound of it, that’s also where the groin-kicking requests are made.

 Saldana was full of enthusiasm and emotion for her Avatar experience and was as full of praise for James Cameron as her costar Sam Worthington. “Avatar definitely had a purpose and will always have a very special place in my heart because it was the one film that I got to shoot for two years. Usually, we only shoot for three months and you have this amazing time with the cast, and the director, and the crew. And then the film lives forever for you guys, but our experiences of shooting that will only live for three months, and sometimes we feel cheated. Working with an amazing director like James Cameron, and working with Sam Worthington who I just — he’s one of the most selfless actors I’ve ever met. We’re literally like brother and sister now. But not incestual! [laughs] Don’t [confuse] that with Avatar, because they are in love! Sh*t! But it was amazing.”

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Saldana didn’t comment on the Internet hype or criticism of the Avatar trailer, or say anything about the finished product, but she makes sure Cameron hears the good stuff fans are throwing his way. “I’ve only seen the first one, I’ve seen the first 16 or 25 minutes that we also showed in Amsterdam over the summer. But I’ve seen the movie! And I always e-mail Jim, like everytime I hear someone say ‘Oh, I can’t wait for Mr. Cameron’s movie!’ I go “Oh, People love ya!’”

Seth Rogen’s “Green Hornet” Delayed by Five Months

Cameron Diaz as Lenore Case in Green Hornet

From WorstPreviews.com

Even though Seth Rogen has been trying to convince fans that everything is proceeding smoothly on “The Green Hornet,” Columbia Pictures has just announced that it has moved the film from its July 7th, 2010 release date to December 17th, 2010.

“We’re both relieved and psyched about the change,” Rogen told HitFix. “It gives more time for post, which would have been immensely rushed if we were to come out in the summer.”

He continued: “It also affords us more time to promote the film, (now we can go to Comic-Con with more than a car!) and ultimately is a great vote of confidence from the studio. We got the same date that movies like ‘I Am Legend’ and ‘Avatar’ are getting, so we’re thrilled to be there.”

It is believed that the five month delay is created at the hands of Stephen Chow, who first signed to direct and star in “The Green Hornet” and then abandoned both positions. And since Columbia couldn’t have the Summer release, it was forced to push the film till December, another popular month for action films.

 

James Cameron’s 16-Minute ‘Avatar’ Trailer Premieres in Theaters on August 21

by Brian Haughey   – AssociatedContent.com

The 16-minute trailer for James Cameron’s much-anticipated movie Avatar will debut in participating IMAX theaters on Friday, August 21st. Cameron’s first movie since 1997′s Titanic, Avatar is touted as a revolutionary special effects-laden tale of aliens and humans in a futuristic world on the planet Pandora.

Actual footage of the years-long project has been kept top-secret. Cameron allowed certain scenes to be shown to a rapt audience of nerds at this year’s Comic-Con, with first impressions described by movie websites likeCinematical, and some stills and artwork have been leaked out in the past few weeks. However, Cameron intends the movie to be shown in 3-D in IMAX, so Friday’s sneak preview will be a more authentic experience.

The tickets to the IMAX preview will be doled out on a first come, first served basis on Monday, August 17, on Avatar’s official website. The extended trailer will only be available in IMAX Theatres, but don’t worry… the regular trailer will be available online on Friday, August 21, as well as the trailer for the Ubisoft Avatar video game.

What is Avatar about anyway? According to a press release on the official Avatar website, “Avatar takes us to a spectacular new world beyond our imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption, discovery and unexpected love, as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization. The film was first conceived by Cameron 14 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not yet exist. Now, after four years of actual production work, Avatar delivers a fully immersive cinematic experience of a new kind, where the revolutionary technology invented to make the film, disappears into the emotion of the characters and the sweep of the story.”

The movie premieres on December 18th. It stars Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation), Sigourney Weaver (Alien), Michelle Rodriguez (The Fast and the Furious), and Giovanni Ribisi (Boiler Room). However, the actors might be taking a back seat to the film’s special effects, which are rumored to involve seamless CGI. Allegedly, the audience won’t be able to tell where the CGI begins and ends.

James Cameron has always been behind new developments in motion picture special effects. Films like The Abyss and Terminator 2: Judgment Day introduced the world to the seamless “liquid metal” special effect. He certainly knows how to wow a crowd of people in a darkened movie theater, even if it is just a taste of things to come.

James Cameron confirms Battle Angel Alita, hints at Avatar 2

By David Bentley – CoventryTelegraph.net

August 21 is Avatar Day, when 15 minutes of James Cameron’s 3D sci-fi movie will be screened in all IMAX venues so everyone has chance to see what all the fuss is about and judge whether it is going to change the landscape of cinema forever.

It looks like it could do just that, because the film is already beginning to pave the way for new projects.

Cameron is planning to convert Titanic into 3D next year, and possibly also Terminator 2, while his 3D company is to work with director Paul W.S. Anderson on Resident Evil: Afterlife which starts filming in September.

And he revealed at Comic-Con that his next new film project is likely to be the long-awaited Battle Angel Alita, based on the popular manga series originally published in Jump magazine.

Cameron has now elaborated in a further interview, saying the technology developed for Avatar makes Battle Angel Alita much more feasible to achieve.

The comic book is set in a 26th-century, dystopian USA and centres on a discarded cyborg rescued from a scrapyard by a scientist called Daisuke Ido.

Ido revives and rebuilds the cyborg, who has no memory of her previous life but finds she has an intuitive knowledge of martial arts and becomes a hunter-warrior. She becomes involved in investigating the mysteries of a city called Tiphares that floats above the scrapyard .

Cameron told MTV: “I think Battle Angel will be very straightforward based on what we know right now [from Avatar].

“There are actually three technologies we designed from scratch for this movie. One was the fusion 3D camera system, which would have a big role in Battle Angel because it’s more live-action by proportion. The other one is the facial performance capture, which would allow us to create Alita that way.”

And he said the third and most important technological advancement was probably the Simulcam – “a real-time tracking system that used the motion-capture infrastructure on a live action stage, so that when I look through the eyepiece of my 3D camera, I see the set extensions as they will be.”

He added: “We can even bring in CG characters in real-time, meaning actor-to-actor, meaning somebody’s acting a CG character over here and I’m seeing him in my eyepiece interacting with an actor in a live-action shot.

“That’s never happened before,” he said. “For Battle Angel that’ll be critical, or for any other film – maybe Avatar 2 – whatever else we film.”

While Battle Angel Alita has been in the pipeline for some considerable time, it’s the first time I’ve heard mention of an Avatar 2.

Does this mean Avatar will leave the door open for a sequel? Do we detect an Avatar trilogy being planned by Cameron or studio executives? It should certainly be a faster (and less expensive) process the next time round, now that all the research and development has been done.

It’s also worth considering whether more films would benefit from being in 3D and from using Cameron’s advanced CGI technology.

Rodriguez, Pena, Moynahan join Eckhart in ‘Battle: L.A.’

Michelle Rodriguez

By Borys Kit – HollywoodReporter.com

Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Pena and Bridget Moynahan have been recruited to join Columbia’s “Battle: Los Angeles.”

Bridget Moynahan

 

The sci-fi actioner, directed by Jonathan Liebesman and produced by Original Film’s Neal Moritz, stars Aaron Eckhart and is set to begin production in the fall.

“Battle” revolves around a Marine staff sergeant (Eckhart) and his new platoon’s battle against an alien invasion on the streets of Los Angeles.

Rodriguez will play Crpl. Adriana Santos, a member of a radio battalion.
Pena plays the father of a boy the Marines find along the way, and Moynahan plays a veterinarian.

“I’m thrilled to reunite with Michelle,” said Moritz, who worked with Rodriguez on “S.W.A.T.” and “The Fast and the Furious” movies. “Her intensity is just right for the platoon.”

Ori Marmur is overseeing for Original. Doug Belgrad and Sam Dickerman are overseeing for Columbia.

Aaron Eckhart

Rodriguez next appears in James Cameron’s sci-fi epic “Avatar” and will star and co-produce her first film, the historical drama “Tropico de Sangre,” through her production company Cheshire Kat. She is repped by UTA and the Collective.

Pena, who most recently appeared in “Observe and Report” with Seth Rogen, recently completed production on Werner Herzog and David Lynch’s psychological thriller “My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done.” He is repped by CAA and Management 360.

Moynahan, repped by WME and Brillstein Entertainment Partners, next appears in Fox’s “Ramona and Beezus,” starring opposite John Corbett and Ginnifer Goodwin.

Michael Pena

James Cameron, Peter Jackson talk future of film

Peter Jackson

Sandy Cohen – AP

“Titanic.” “Lord of the Rings.” “Aliens.” “King Kong.” “The Terminator.”

The men behind those movies, James Cameron and Peter Jackson, are among modern film’s special-effects kings, advancing technology in computer-generated imagery, motion-capture photography and 3-D.

They met up at Comic Con Friday for an hourlong discussion moderated by Entertainment Weekly about the future of film, sharing details on their latest projects, their high-tech hopes and the undiminished allure of original, character-driven stories.

James Cameron

The two filmmakers say they inspired each other. Cameron said it was the artistic use of “humanoid CG” in Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” films that got him rolling on “Avatar,” set for release Dec. 18.

Jackson has said that the technology he used was borne out of Cameron’s CGI work on “The Abyss” and “Terminator 2.”

Both are thrilled by the possibilities of 3-D and plan to convert their biggest hits, “Titanic” and the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, into the format. Then they lamented the shortage of 3-D screens.

“There will be a lot more 3-D screens when they know the ‘Lord of the Rings’ films are going to be available,” Cameron said.

The movie industry needs 3-D, he said, to inspire originality and boost its bottom line. A “3-D ecosystem” could be built on big films converting to the format.

“If ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Titanic’ are available in 3-D, that sends a signal all the way back to the consumer electronics manufacturers: Make the screens, make the modified Blue Ray DVD players so you can have it in your home,” Cameron said.

That would reinvigorate sagging DVD sales, which would give studios the financial flexibility to take more risks on original and boundary-pushing material.

“The film industry is in this weird state of falling box office, or so the studios feel; DVDs are down, internet piracy, and it’s in a fragile state,” Jackson said. “It feels like the entire industry is playing a defensive game at the moment.”

Both men continue with high-tech pursuits outside of feature films. Jackson is developing a “King Kong” attraction for Universal theme parks that surrounds visitors with 3-D images and effects. Eight projectors will beam images onto giant screens surrounding the park tram, which will be stationed on a surface that shimmies and shakes with action as Kong battles a Tyrannosaurus Rex. The ride is set to open next summer, he said.

Cameron, meanwhile, is developing a company to expand the use of performance-capture technology, 3-D photography and digital projection for sports and music events.

“It could change the way we absorb music,” he said.                                              

But their first love is film, even without all the technical trappings.

The medium is “infinitely superior to any other” because of its emotional core, not its fancy dressing, Jackson said.

“The whole thing about the future of movies and technology is, to me, it’s just a huge red herring, because movies are all about story and character,” Jackson said. “They always have been and that’s all that they’re ever going to be about.”

Comic-Con: Hollywood’s Wagging Tongues Begin Debating ‘Avatar’

Dir. James Cameron and ‘Avatar’ star Sam Worthington

By Michael Cieply – New York Times

The debate begins. At a private dinner for about 10 industry insiders in San Diego on Thursday night, the talk inevitably turned to “Avatar.”

Several of the gathered executives and filmmakers suggested that James Cameron’s super-ambitious 3-D film, of which about 25 minutes screened at the Comic-Con fan convention here, was somehow less than it needed to be. One executive said that, for him, the movie was still a “cartoon” — Mr. Cameron’s elaborate blending of live action and computer-generated elements notwithstanding.

Someone else said that Fox, which is releasing the film, had erred on Thursday by showing scenes that portrayed the relationship between a female alien and the principal human, played by Sam Worthington. They should have just shown that blow-out action scene in which Mr. Worthington tames a pterodactyl-like creature, wild-horse style, and let it go at that.

Two minutes later, another filmmaker who joined the crowd said he thought Fox should have shown more of the relationship between the female alien and Mr. Worthington’s character. This becomes reminiscent of the Hollywood debate that preceded “Titanic,” wherein it was widely opined that Mr. Cameron had overplayed his hand. What you can tell from this, for sure, is that by December 18, when “Avatar” is actually released in theaters, everybody who cares about movies will be talking about it.

Clash of the Titans: Set Photo of Giant Scorpion

Photo from the set of new 'Clash of the Titans'

ScreenRant.com

Today we have a new photo from the set of the upcoming Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Transporter 2) remake/update of Clash of the Titans. The image depicts a giant scorpion that was constructed for the movie (reportedly) on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

If you’ve seen the original Clash of the Titans, you’ll remember the giant scorpions that Perseus (originally played by Harry Hamlin) has to do battle with after he defeats (and collects the head of) Medusa. No telling if this remake will follow the original to the absolute letter, although I think we can speculate that scenes like battling the giant scorpions will raise the spectacle level, an inevitability when the studio has today’s amazing CGI technology to work with (although the original, I imagine, at the time would’ve been quite a sight to behold).

The giant scorpion snapped on the new movie’s set looks pretty bad-ass, and I imagine even more so when it’s been implemented into the final movie and in full action mode. Below is the new set photo (apologies for the small-ish size) plus a still from the original 1981 movie to compare

Scorpion from original 'Clash of the Titans'

The original Titans scorpion obviously looks a bit more impressive since it’s fully within the movie, in action with its pincers at the ready. The scorpion from the new movie doesn’t look as lively, but I’m sure that will change once it’s been brought to cinematic life!

With an impressive cast and some great images (one in particular of Sam Worthington in action), the remake of Clash of the Titans is shaping up very well, indeed. Leterrier is a choice of director I didn’t see coming for this project, simply because he’s only ever directed modern (action) movies. However, he has shown he really knows how to do action with the likes of The Incredible Hulk and the second Transporter movie, so I’ll be interested to see how he does his usual thing in a period setting.

   Clash of the Titans stars Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation, Avatar) as Perseus, Liam Neeson as Zeus, Ralph Fiennes as Hades, Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace) as Io and Danny Huston as Poseidon. It is currently shooting and is set for a March 26, 2010 release.