Hirsch, who helped conceive of the idea of this college-set take on the tragic play, mentioned a film he’s looking to for inspiration. “It’s almost like mixing ‘Hamlet’ with ‘The Shining’ a little bit,” he told Collider.com, “and making this kind of scary-cool vision of the play.”
Of course, the movie will still be geared toward a younger audience, Hirsch says. So don’t expect any nude female ghosts that age suddenly before Hamlet’s eyes. But maybe the ghost of Hamlet’s father can ride around on a tricycle? Or, perhaps the titular prince can tear through a door with an axe as he shouts, “This is I, Hamlet the Dane!”
Okay, seriously... Hirsch’s idea that this “Hamlet” will be a Kubrick-influenced supernatural horror movie is interesting, and something of a relief. It's certainly reasonable to think that Hardwicke’s involvement means it’s going to be more of a supernatural-centered story with a specific target audience in mind. You know, since “Twilight” is kind of a big deal these days.
If Hirsch’s vision for “Hamlet” ends up being as good in its execution as it sounds on paper, I’ll be more hopeful that Hardwicke’s next teen-oriented supernatural pic, “The Girl With the Red Riding Hood,” will be worth seeing as well.
Are you more interested in this version of “Hamlet” now that it might be scary? How could elements of Kubrick's "The Shining" be made to fit into a work like "Hamlet"?
As I wrote in Variety last year: "Is Everquest a harmless distraction or an addictive scourge? Does World of Warcraft forge communities or fray relationships? The answers are as diverse as the interviewees in Second Skin, a sometimes celebratory, sometimes cautionary look at the phenomenon of massively multiplayer online computer games (MMOs). Filmmaker Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza includes cogent observations by scientists, social commentators and game designers, and repeatedly flashes germane factoids (example: The latest edition of Warcraft software posted $96 million in first-day sales). But the human dramas of individual gamers are what really make this technically polished documentary so fascinating..."
The movie "emphasizes the allure for male and female players of assuming the identity of a dashing digital avatar in a virtual online universe of swinging swords and derring-do. Interactive gamers can compete against -- and establish friendships or begin romances with -- unseen strangers hundreds or thousands of miles away. Trouble is, gaming can be extremely habit-forming, leading, in extreme cases, to alienation and depression. Gamer Dan Bustard struggles to recover after losing almost everything while lost in virtual worlds; unfortunately, his is not the worst-case scenario in Second Skin."
But don't take my word for it. Through Aug. 13, you can go see it yourself here.
Edgar Allan Poe is no stranger to the movies. His literature has been adapted to film as early as 1908 and he was first portrayed onscreen in a D.W. Griffith short a year later. So it’s not always that exciting to hear about another Poe project in the works. However, I am very intrigued by this new movie coming from “V for Vendetta” director James McTeigue, which will fictionalize the writer’s mysterious final days.
/Film got the scoop on this project while interviewing McTeigue at San Diego Comic-Con. His latest, the upcoming “Ninja Assassin,” was screened at SDCC and it opens this November. The Poe project is titled “The Raven,” though it’s not exactly based on the writer’s avian-centric poem. McTeigue claims it’s like a cross between Poe’s “The Raven” and the David Fincher film “Se7en.” Scripted by Hannah Shakespeare (Kevin Bacon’s “Loverboy”) and Ben Livingston, “The Raven” follows Poe as he hunts for a serial killer inspired by his stories.
If you’re a fan of the Starz series “Party Down,” you may wish that a young Abraham Lincoln were involved, and that Poe was actually chasing a vampire. But this less ridiculous premise sounds pretty cool, even if it doesn’t feature Hollywood’s favorite trope du jour (hint: it rhymes with fampires).
The mystery of Poe’s death -- he was found delirious on the streets of Baltimore with someone else’s clothes and repeating the name “Reynolds,” but died shortly after without explaining what had happened -- has always been ripe for speculative fictions. Multiple works have been written about the potential circumstances that led to his delirium and subsequent death. Only a few years back there was another film, titled “The Death of Poe,” which proposed that the writer was lethally beaten during a robbery.
McTeigue’s movie is hardly the sole Poe project currently in the works. Sylvester Stallone has been developing a biography of the writer which he plans to direct while Clive Barker has been working on a Poe film for a young adult audience. Then there’s the upcoming adaptations “Tell-Tale,” starring Josh Lucas, a modern re-imagining of "The Tell-Tale Heart," and “The Ushers,” which will be a 3-D version of “The Fall of the House of Usher."
Are you ready for yet another Edgar Allan Poe movie? Who should play the writer this time around? Do you have a favorite Poe adaptation?
For many gamers -- myself included -- "District 9" director Neill Blomkamp was the next great hope for a competent video game-to-film adaptation. He paired up with Peter Jackson to deliver a big screen take on Microsoft's pride and joy franchise, "Halo." The plans ultimately fizzled out due to uncertain supporting studios and an even more uncertain financial environment. It turns out that the project's death was for the best, as without it Blomkamp's plate was cleared for next week's "District 9."
The South African filmmaker spoke with MTV's Josh Horowitz at Comic-Con, and he was more than happy to discuss his experiences with "Halo." Really though, "happy" isn't the right word. Blomkamp is clearly bummed that he didn't get to tackle Master Chief's adventures. Check the interview highlights and the video after the jump.
"It's completely and utterly dead," he said, with a small, wistful grin. "'Halo' is a really tough one for me... it keeps coming up." Not terribly surprising, considering how passionate and loyal the gamer fanbase -- and the "Halo" fanbase in particular -- tends to be.
"It's tough because I spent five months working on it, like 24 hours a day. Not only because it was my first film and I had an opportunity to try and, you know, make the best film I could make, but I loved the creative environments of 'Halo' so much," he said. "The whole universe is incredibly compelling."
"When you spend five months working on something like that, and then you just get the rug pulled out from underneath you, it's not easy to kinda go back to that," he explained. "For me it would be difficult to revisit 'Halo.' I wish I could, but I'm not sure I would be able to."
An unfortunate situation for Blomkamp, one that I hope will be less so next week when audiences go wild for his "District 9" and its incredibly low $30 million budget. Check out the video below for the full Blomkamp interview.
In honor of Penélope Cruz's recently announced pregnancy and the DVD release of Lindsay Lohan's latest Labor Pains (don't everybody rush out to snatch it up at once. I promise you they'll have enough copies) in which she fakes a pregnancy to keep a job, I thought a top ten list celebrating the miracle of childbirth -- or future childbirth rather -- was called for.
But first a bit more about Ms. Lohan. Rich at fourfour collected the Labor Pain lines that were more applicable to Lindsay the celebrity than the character she happens to be playing.
...not that Lindsay plays characters these days. The Actress wrapped things up with Mean Girls, only The Celebrity lives on. *
Ten Best Pregnant Movie Characters
10 Juno in Juno (2007) The general three act journey of zeitgeist movies goes like so... Act I: instant hype, audience love and acclaim births a new pop culture babe; Act II: media overkill curdles that hype, attempts to beat holdout audience members into submission spurring rebellions. Backlash turns pop culture darling into punching bag; Act III: Everything settles down until the darling/punching bag is just a movie again, neither the greatest nor the worst ever made. Are we in act three yet with Juno? I hope so because for all the swipes at its forced quirk and too widely adopted quotables, it's a good movie and Juno the character as written, and especially as performed by Ellen Page, should be appreciated as a pretty swell(ing) movie character, hamburger phones be damned.
But how do you think her baby turned out?
09Demi Moore in... Vanity Fair Magazine: The Movie. Don't even argue that that wasn't her best role.
08Holly in Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) That's a spoiler if you haven't seen Woody Allen's Oscar nominated classic. I love that Holly begins the movie as a bundle of cocaine snorting sister-dependent directionless neurosis and ends the movie aglow with the promise of new life and yet you never think to worry that she'll be a terrible mother. You're too in love with Holly to be anything but happy for her. Credit Dianne Wiest who is one of the most endearing actresses that the cinema has ever known.
07Sarah Connor in The Terminator (1984) If you give birth to the future savior of mankind you deserve a place on the list. I chose Sarah over Mary from any Jesus movie or Kee from Children of Men because I don't think they would have survived a robot apocalypse (too demure and too shell shocked, respectively). More on The Terminator and Sarah Connor herself.
06Dawn Lagarto aka 'Bloody Mama' in Series 7: The Contenders (2001) It's strange to me that Daniel Minahan's Series 7 never got its due as a prescient satire of the barbaric leanings of reality television and celebrity culture's fame fixation. In the movie, random citizens are selected to star in a show wherein they have to kill the other contestants before they're killed themselves. The final girl (or boy) is the winner. Did the black comedy arrive a year or two too early? Is it not quite as sharp as I remember it being? Either way, Brooke Smith's reluctant but efficient pregnant murderess still lingers in the memory with her big belly, flop sweat and bloody hands.
Is Brooke Smith cursed? Whenever you think her career is going to take off either the film doesn't (Series 7) or she's overshadowed by brilliant co-stars even though she's totally working it too (Vanya on 42nd Street and Silence of the Lambs) or she gets written out of the picture series (Grey's Anatomy, Weeds). If anyone in Hollywood had actually seen Series 7 maybe they wouldn't be so quick to write her off as a contender. Given the right opportunities, she's killer.
04Ruth in Citizen Ruth (1996) If you've never seen Alexander Payne's satire of America's eternal war between the pro-choice and pro-life forces, you should. The ever brilliant Laura Dern (in one of the best performances of 1996) plays the druggy dimwitted and frequently pregnant Ruth and both sides of the abortion divide seek to co opt her for their cause. It's worth seeing for Dern's amoral comedy alone but the political satire has real bite, too. Here I'll help you. Rent it from Netflix or Blockbuster.
03Marge Gunderson in Fargo (1996) Frances McDormand's Oscar win for her seven months pregnant police chief is one of the greatest atypical Oscar moments of all time. A memorably comedic portrayal of a truly original character wins? There is a god. That's as hopeful as Marge's innate goodness, which provides the wintry brutality of Fargo's comedy with its sole warmth.
And for what? For a little bit of money. There's more to life than a little money, you know. Don'cha know that?
And here ya are, and it's a beautiful day. Well, I just don't understand it.
Marge is a great cop. You know she's going to be an awesome mom in just "two more months. two more months."
02Trudy Kockenlocker in The Miracle at Morgan's Creek (1944) This Preston Sturges comedy about a girl who gets knocked up on a one night stand with the troops should be mandatory viewing in film schools. It's not that it's the greatest comedy of all time or anything that hyperbolic. It's that it does two things superbly that Hollywood has forgotten how to do well at all. First, briskly paced comedic storytelling and second, an endearing good time gal lead who doesn't feel like she's been assembled from pull down menus in a screenwriting program. Betty Hutton is a total dream as Trudy: funny, sexy, radiant and supremely silly. She's just wondrously fruity. And her loins are unexpectedly fruitful, too.
01Rosemary in Rosemary's Baby (1968) Roman Polanski's enduring chilleris among my personal holy trinity of horror: the father mother (Psycho), the son (Rosemary's Baby), and the unholy ghost (Carrie). Most horror movies play with our loudly admitted phobias: fear of the dark, monsters, death. Rosemary's Baby plays a more masterful game, exposing primal fears about things we're not supposed to admit we're scared of. Fears such as pregnancy, childbirth, unknowable offspring and the dread of identities subsumed by our children's. Mia Farrow's brilliant star turn channels these anxieties which are especially pronounced in new mothers, whether or not they've been knocked up by the devil.
Comic-Con is as much a time for sharing super amazing movie news—“Iron Man 2!”"Tron Legacy!!” “Avatar!!!”—as it is about debunking crazy rumors. Did you hear the wacky one that writer/director Richard Kelly was going to jump back into the “Donnie Darko” universe for a third film? After he had nothing to do with the second, stinky “Darko” flick? Really?
Yeah, not so much. When Kelly talked with MTV’s Josh Horowitz, the director couldn’t have been more clear that he has nothing to do with this rumored third film. Check out our video interview with him after the jump.
“Absolutely not,” he said.
So that’s a no?
“I know nothing about it and I would never have any involvement with any existing or future sequel to 'Donnie Darko' ever—ever!” Kelly said.
Gotcha loud and clear. So if Fox ever moves ahead with a sequel to this year’s straight-to-DVD “S. Darko,” know that the creative mind behind the film has played no part in the production.
Isn’t that right?
“Never ever ever ever would I be involved with anything like that,” said Kelly.
I haven't really highlighted it here, but Mean Magazine and Microsoft have started producing a series of comedic digital shorts in which today's most popular actors remix classic movies. Previous entries have taken on "Tron" (with Cheech & Chong), "Sid & Nancy" (with Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and "Point Break" (with members of "Human Giant" and "Reno 911!").
All sorts of news flying around the web today. Some of this would have run earlier on the blog, had it not been for a midday technical SNAFU. Here's a round-up of what we missed:
-- I don't know if it's the "first" to hit the web (I'm pretty sure it's not), but IGN UK have posted their review of "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra." It's mostly high praise for Stephen Sommers' high-energy action flick, and I couldn't be more pleased. I'd been feeling uneasy about "Joe" in recent months, but all of those fears were literally BLOWN THE EFF UP when I saw the movie myself this past weekend. (IGN UK)
-- "Monster Squad" director Fred Dekker revealed at a weekend screening of his family-friendly classic that he's currently hard at work on a script for "Cliffhanger 2." For those who don't recall, "Cliffhanger" stars Sylvester Stallone as a mountain climbing rescue worker who ends up pursuing an international gang of thieves along snowy mountain peaks. Word emerged back in May that a reboot was in the works, and now it looks like we have further confirmation. (FirstShowing)
-- Cinematical has the exclusive poster premiere for "The Open Road," starring Justin Timberlake and Jeff Bridges. I've rarely seen a stranger pairing. Written and directed by Michael Meredith. (Cinematical)
-- "Clash of the Titans" star Sam Worthington is all set to replace Tom Cruise in "The Tourist," for Spyglass Entertainment. Charlize Theron also joins the cast. (The Hollywood Reporter)
-- "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" director Troy Nixey is all set for his next project, "Simple Machines," off of his own script. A fairly general synopsis describes a scenario in which a reclusive inventor must save the world from one of his own inventions when an evil tycoon bends it to his nefarious plans. I'll need a bit more info than that before I'm sold on this family-friendly adventure. (Variety)
-- "Resident Evil" star Milla Jovovich talked a bit about the upcoming sequel, "Resident Evil: Afterlife." What she really talked about was money, and how it funds sequels. Not exactly a great mystery there, but any "Res Evil" news is good "Res Evil" news. (ShockTillYouDrop)
-- I freaking loved "District 9." Favorite movie of the summer, no question. So I've been lapping up every bit of coverage I can find since then. Here's UGO's lengthy (and excellent) interview with director Neill Blomkamp. And yes, he talks about some sequel possibilities. (UGO)
This is purely a premature news bite. In a recent interview with his hometown newspaper, The Modesto Bee, "The Hurt Locker" star Jeremy Renner mentioned that he’s “fighting” to get a role in a new “Mad Max” movie. Renner says that he’s screen testing and taking a meeting with director George Miller for the gig, though he shares no specifics on what character he’s up for.
Given his rising status in Hollywood, it’s likely that Renner is looking to nab the lead in the fourth installment of the “Max” franchise, which reportedly will not feature original star Mel Gibson. Still, it’s not even completely known what the next installment of the series will be like. Back in May, we shared the news that Miller is prepping for the sequel, with location scouting and a tentative start planned for the end of the year.
There’s also been word recently that a fourth film would be a 3-D anime effort. The fact that Renner is doing a screen test dismisses the possibility that he’s merely auditioning for a voice role. Perhaps this is a confirmation that a live-action "Max" sequel is moving ahead? I’ll just ignore any arguments that an actor could screen test for a motion capture role in either an animated film or video game and optimistically hope that Renner will be onscreen, in the flesh, as the new Max.
I’ve been a fan of Renner for some time now, having recognized his acting talent in such diverse films as “Twelve and Holding,” “28 Weeks Later” and “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.” And now with “The Hurt Locker” a modest hit, Renner has proven himself able to carry an action-packed movie while still giving a great, complex performance. Kind of like a young Mel Gibson.
Do you think Jeremy Renner could fill Mel Gibson’s boots? Are you excited about another “Mad Max”? Or, do you wish Hollywood would just leave these 80s franchises alone already?
Nathaniel (c'est moi) is back. Thank you to the guest bloggers Robert, JA, Adam, Jose, RCand Kieran for letting me breathe this week. Give them a round of applause.
The past seven or eight days have been alternately stressful, joyous, upsetting, relaxing and extremely busy (offweb stuff mostly: friends getting married, work deadlines...) but all the while I didn't have that sick omgihavetopostsomething*now* feeling that I don't think is conducive to good blogging or creativity. That feeling was beginning to sully The Film Experience a bit for me and it's something I'll have to watch out for and shoo away in the future. There's hundreds of corporate movie blogs out there that provide that 12-25 daily news-posts fix. I'll just try to craft good little nuggets as I can. I cherish this little home I've made on the web and the many people (you) who walk into it every day to join in the conversation. Please remember that even if you can't donate (times are tough) there are other ways you can encourage the Film Experience to keep on keeping on: commenting, recommending articles you like for IMDb's hit list, sharing the best pieces on social networking sites, etcetera.
LiNKS! SLatIFR Dennis Cozzalio's in-depth interview with Stephanie Zacharek (Salon) gave me much to ponder and smile about Guardian movie jargon we love to hate Urlesque "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" as someone who taught himself to type this delighted me so
---> No, Penélope & Pedro do not appear in these links. I just like seeing them pictured together. That said, I quite miss Victoria Abril. Can't Pedro bring her back for one picture... just one. Por favor?
Shiantology I'm not religious but I have been known to worship movie stars... I'd better stay away from this Daily Mail Lindsay sparkling (sort of). So much older than her years... Monkey See Laughing at the Man: HBO's Hung. Haveg. Have any of you seen the new series?
Finally... since none of my guest bloggers shared it, better late than never: The Coen Bros A Serious Man trailer. I'm not sure what to make of it. It could be an Intolerable Cruelty, which is undervalued but still mostly disposable or a Raising Arizona. We won't know till we see it. I did however get a big kick out of the sound effects as percussive musical accompaniment.
I'm not sure who the sound mixers and sound editors on the Coen Bros pictures are or if they vary from film to film but they tend to be top notch aural magicians.
Tags: film, interview, movie, movies
While talking to Emile Hirsch this week about his new movie “Taking Woodstock,” Collider.com got some new details on the actor’s upcoming reunion with “Twilight” director Catherine Hardwicke. The two previously worked together on “Lords of Dogtown,” and now they’re closely collaborating on a modernized version of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.”
Edgar Allan Poe is no stranger to the movies. His literature has been adapted to film as early as 1908 and he was first portrayed onscreen in a D.W. Griffith short a year later. So it’s not always that exciting to hear about another Poe project in the works. However, I am very intrigued by this new movie coming from “
For many gamers -- myself included -- "
Comic-Con is as much a time for sharing super amazing movie news—
All sorts of news flying around the web today. Some of this would have run earlier on the blog, had it not been for a midday technical SNAFU. Here's a round-up of what we missed:
This is purely a premature news bite. In a recent interview with his hometown newspaper, The Modesto Bee, "
Subscribe to RSS
