“Yeah, I think it’d be fun!” Thurman enthusiastically replied when asked if she’d be up for playing Beatrix once again. In terms of actual progress on the script, Uma revealed that, “[Tarantino and I] did chat, we did chat. He has not yet finished the script. I don’t even really know if he’s really started it, although I got a taste of some of his ideas and they are really good.”
Variety reports that the larger Disney studio will now handle certain, “marketing, distribution, operations and administrative support functions from its Burbank headquarters.” That amounts to an almost 75% reduction in their staff down to just 20 remaining executives. Although Disney isn’t naming names for now, a series of meetings next week will say who stays and who goes. Word is that some of the people let go will be from the production and development side of things, with such rumored names floating around as production prexy, Keri Putnam, and acquisitions veep, Peter Lawson.
Fans of the X-MEN franchise were weary when first hearing about Ratner directing the third film for the installment. Well if you saw LAST STAND, then it’s possible your in the huge crowd of people who thought it was garbage. This is how Ratner feels about the response, “You can’t make these people happy. I’m kind of the anti-Christ to these comic book geeks. Every single person that wrote shit went to see that movie multiple times because a movie doesn’t gross $200 something million unless people go to see it more than once.”
Of course, he continued, “Every single person who said, ‘I’m never seeing that movie’, they were the first ones there. What are they concerned about? It’s out of the filmmaker’s hands. A film is a collaborative effort. How’s a person sitting at home going to worry about how a movie is going to turn out to be?” I did go see it, once. I love X-MEN regardless of who directs it, but after seeing it, I didn’t need to see it again.
It gets worse. Ratner claims that he made the franchise more popular than ever, “The most ridiculous statement I’ve read is – and of course I looked at the internet after the movie came out – that I buried the franchise. “If I buried the franchise how the fuck did they make a Wolverine? I mean, that’s ridiculous. And they’re making three other fucking X-Men movies. Mine kept the franchise alive!”
“We’re hoping that it’s the first week in March,” said Raimi.
At the moment, pre-production is in full swing, even as screenwriter Gary Ross (”great director and a very fine writer,” said Raimi) continues to work on the script.
“He’s working on a draft,” he continued. “I just gave him some notes and he’s doing a rewrite right now.”
On other fronts, “Spider-Man 4″ continues to chug along. “The production is starting to come together,” Raimi told us. “I’ve got a production designer who is starting to design the sets and the environments that the picture will take place in. We just brought aboard Scott Stokdyk as one of the two visual effects supervisors, and I worked with him on all three ‘Spider-man’ pictures.”
With Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst set to reprise their roles, Raimi and his team will soon turn their attention to filling out the rest of the cast. “None of the casting has really taken place, but we’re starting to think about that now,” the director said.
MGM Studios has decided to push Joss Whedon’s anticipated The Cabin in the Woods, directed and co-written by Cloverfield’s Drew Goddard, back nearly a year, from its original release date of February 5, 2010 to the new date of January 14, 2011.
MGM reps tell ShockTillYouDrop.com the reason they’re doing this is because the early response to the film has been phenomenal and they’re going to spend six months or so converting the picture to 3-D.
There is nothing else scheduled for that 2011 date, which is the four-day weekend to celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr, although the fourth Underworld movie is currently scheduled to open one week later.
Chuck Viane, in Disney’s domestic distribution department, called the extension “open-ended”, but it likely won’t run past November 2nd. That’s the day when the studio debuts its 3-D holiday flick, A Christmas Carol. The solid showing has Disney up in arms, and we’ll likely see more classics rendered for today’s 3-D-manding (get it?) audiences. Beauty and the Beast, an obvious test balloon, is set to have a 3-D release in 2011.
CanalPlus.fr has published a brand new behind the scenes report from the set of Iron Man 2, complete with interviews with director Jon Favreau and star Robert Downey Jr.
The report features a bunch of new footage, including a look at Tony Stark’s at-home particle accelerator project. There is also a series of shots with Scarlett Johansson, who plays Black Widow, and some shots of Mickey Rourke as Whiplash. It’s interesting to hear that things are getting “a bit darker,” while keeping with the tone of the first film.
All signs still pointing to Iron Man 2 being awesome. Have your own look at the new stuff below.
MTV talked to Favreau about The Avengers while he was promoting Couples Retreat, and his statement about directing the film was quite clear:
They’ll have to [find a different director], because I’m not going to be available. It’s something I’m being the executive producer on, so I’ll definitely have input and a say. It’s going to be hard, because I was so involved in creating the world of Iron Man and Iron Man is very much a tech-based hero, and then with ‘Avengers’ you’re going to be introducing some supernatural aspects because of Thor. How you mix the two of those works very well in the comic books, but it’s going to take a lot of thoughtfulness to make that all work and not blow the reality that we’ve created.”
▪ Robert Downey Jr. taking Iron Man 2 more seriously than any movie he’s ever done Collider recently got the chance to ask Robert Downey Jr. a few questions about Iron Man 2, which is currently in filming mode. He said that due to high expectations he is taking the sequel a bit more seriously, and he also praised the new additions to the cast (Mickey Rourke, Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle).
Here’s a snippet:
Another bit that Robert told us was how he is taking “Iron Man 2″ more seriously than any movie he has ever done:
Robert: I’ve never been in a sequel and it’s very daunting because I feel the expectation of the millions of people who watched it and enjoyed it and told me that it was a little different than your usual genre picture and that they expected us to not screw it up. So I actually have taken “Iron Man 2″ probably more seriously than any movie I’ve ever done, which is appropriately ridiculous for Hollywood.
On the way the suit has been improved from the first film:
Everything has been improved. Everything is ergonomic and the story is incredibly risky and artistic for a big genre movie.
In which way risky?
The set pieces have to do with things that aren’t your typical like bad guy conflict. The relationships are very complex and hilarious. The motivations Tony has and why he turns around and does things has completely to do with his own internal processes and it really is, I think, as much as we tried to in the first one really see behind the facade of this kind of storytelling. We really, I think, leaving ourselves open to… we’re kind of trying to tell a story about how a dysfunctional family saves life on Earth as we know it.
Could you talk about working with Mickey?
I could if we shot together. I’ve seen his stuff and it is literally remarkable. Literally remarkable. He’s so good. And he’s formidable and he’s very much reminding me of that kind of charming, confident guy that we know. Sam Rockwell, on the first day of shooting I was like “if this guy thinks he’s going to be funnier and cooler than me (laughter) and it was a photo-finish. Scarlett Johansson, amazing. Don Cheadle is just rocking it.
Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Group prexy offered up the first-ever public screening of the teaser trailer for “Toy Story 3.” Custom-animated short shows Woody supervising the Toy Story characters as they improvise a sign for the pic, only to have Buzz upstage them all with a high-tech version.
The Mouse House will re-release 3-D versions of “Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2″ in a double feature. “Toy Story 3″ bows June 18, 2010.
Apparently Disney will be revealing the Toy Story 3 teaser to everyone else when the first two Toy Story movies are re-released in October (which makes sense marketing-wise).
▪ Fox Atomic Closing this Week
Variety says that 20th Century Fox will close down Fox Atomic, the production label started by Peter Rice in 2007, this week.
President of Production Debbie Liebling will return as an executive at 20th Century Fox, where she’ll continue to develop comedies and genre films for co-presidents Alex Young and Emma Watts.
Fox Atomic released such titles as 28 Weeks Later, The Hills Have Eyes II, Turistas, The Rocker, The Comebacks, Miss March and 12 Rounds. Upcoming titles include I Love You, Beth Cooper (July 10) and Jennifer’s Body (Sept. 18), which will be released by 20th Century Fox now.
Other high-profile projects that were in the works included zombie sequel 28 Months Later and Accidentes, to star Sacha Baron Cohen. Those titles may be moved over to Fox main.
▪ The Hobbit will span two movies
Originally, we heard that the plan was to adapt The Hobbit into one film, and then a second film would be made that bridged the gap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. However Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson have revealed to Empire that the intention now is to split and extend The Hobbit over the two films to bring the story right up to the beginning of The Lord of the Rings.
“We’ve decided to have The Hobbit span the two movies, including the White Council and the comings and goings of Gandalf to Dol Guldur,” says Del Toro.
“We decided it would be a mistake to try to cram everything into one movie,” adds Jackson. “The essential brief was to do The Hobbit, and it allows us to make The Hobbit in a little more style, if you like, of the [LOTR] trilogy.”
This is probably the best way to go. Cramming The Hobbit into one film would have meant some stuff wouldn’t have made it into the movie. Laying it out over 2 movies means that they can do it more justice.
When Fox News gossip columnist Roger Friedman caused a mini-scandal the other day by casually mentioning he’d illegally downloaded X-Men Origins: Wolverine from the Internet — and then proceeding to review it! — a lot of us assumed he’d get away with it. Yeah, 20th Century Fox was talking a big game about chasing pirates and punishing downloaders, but we didn’t think they’d go after a high-profile writer who works for their same parent company.
Well. Seldom have I been so pleased to be wrong. As first reported by Nikke Finke on Saturday and confirmed by a statement from Fox parent company News Corporation late Saturday night, Roger Friedman has been fired. News Corp.’s statement was blunt: “We, along with 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, have been a consistent leader in the fight against piracy and have zero tolerance for any action that encourages and promotes piracy. When we advised Fox News of the facts they took immediate action, removed the post, and promptly terminated Mr. Friedman.”
…when I read that Robert Downey Jr. told ET Online this week that the sequel will have “twice as much action as we did last time, so it’s going to be nuts,” I’m instantly sold. He also mentioned that the film will be focused more on character, especially the one behind the mask. “Essentially Iron Man 2 is about looking behind the armor, or the armature, of a superhero,” Downey explained while doing press for The Soloist. “It’s one thing to say you’re Iron Man, it’s another thing to be fully ready to do that.”
He was also asked by the folks at MTV about the famous “demon in a bottle” storyline. For non-fans, this is the storyline in which Tony Stark’s alcoholism and deviant behavior begin to affect his role as Iron Man, creating a situation in which he alone becomes his own worst enemy. According to Downey, this is best left for future films: “I think that’s probably best saved,” Downey tells MTV, “because it’s such its own storyline. We’re going for the interim space [between the origin and "Demon"], which is more a look behind the mask of someone who says he’s Iron Man and what it really is to become a superhero.”
Finally, Downey also gave us an update on the physical shape of Scarlett Johansson, who has been tapped to play Natalia Romanoff a.k.a Black Widow, a sexy leather-wearing super-spy with questionable intentions and even more intriguing methods. The nature of her storyline and how it fits in with the storylines of characters such as Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) and Whiplash (Mickey Rourke). According to Downey’s interview with ET, she will be fitting into some tight clothes for our viewing pleasure: “We’ve been rehearsing and she’s in insane shape. She’s getting lean and mean.” And as much as I love to talk about how great Emily Blunt would be as Black Widow, I’m certainly not opposed to seeing Scarlett in that particular costume. As for the rest – as in, her performance – I’m sticking to my guns and trusting that Jon Favreau guy. I know he has my fanback.
Last month we posted a segment of Lee Stanhan’s interview with Kevin Smith, where the filmmaker talked about the dark side of the internet. But what about the other side of the internet? You know, the side where fans can form a community, everyone is happy and angry talkbackers don’t exist… Smith talks about how he found and learned to love the internet in the latest segment of Stanhan’s interview, embedded after the jump.
▪ Toy Story 3D Double Feature on October 2nd!
At ShoWest today, Walt Disney Studios announced that they are now releasing the 3D versions of Toy Story and Toy Story 2 together on October 2nd. The double feature will be the first place you’ll be able to see the trailer for Toy Story 3 and the only place to see it in 3D!
▪ Exclusive First Look at the Drag Me to Hell Poster!
ComingSoon.net’s horror arm ShockTillYouDrop.com has your exclusive first look at the poster for Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell , opening in theaters on May 29!
▪ Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland Gets IMAX 3D Release
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and IMAX Corporation today announced that Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen and Mia Wasikowska as Alice, will be released to IMAX theaters simultaneously with the film’s wide release on March 5, 2010. The special IMAX 3D release will be digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience with IMAX DMR (Digital Re-Mastering) technology. This is the third film confirmed out of the five-film agreement between IMAX and Disney, which was announced on November 19, 2008.
▪ Iron Man 2 starts filming Monday
Iron Man 2 director Jon Favreau updated his Twitter profile with the following: Start shooting Monday. Last of cast has arrived in LA
▪ Star Trek Sequel Prepares For Warp Speed
Paramount is flexing its muscles and showing some confidence in the upcoming franchise-rekindling film, Star Trek, by already going forward with the sequel.
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