Technically, Heaven's Gate/The Deer Hunter director Michael Cimino (@Cimino1939) isn't yet verified on Twitter, but we'll allow the man the benefit of the doubt: He's barely been Tweeting for 24 hours and already his account is a must-read.
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Ghostbuster fans have waited for what seems like an eternity for a follow-up, but the spooky adventure comedy is on track for a third apparition 23 years after Ghostbusters II hit the big screen.
Speaking with Esquire, Dan Aykroyd said that he and director Ivan Reitman are "closer than we ever have been" to getting the project underway, he noted via Yahoo U.K. One obstacle though is that Ghostbusters I & II star Bill Murray may be a no-show, though Aykroyd and Reitman are holding out that he may just come on board in the end.
"I'm not sure Billy [has to sign on] anymore, since he abrogated his rights by sort of saying, two years ago, 'I don't want to be involved,'" Aykroyd said according to Yahoo Movies U.K. "The picture company I think had some clause in there that if he actually passed on the third of fourth offer, he no longer has a view of the franchise."
But a Ghostbusters III sans Murray will not be a mortal wound should the likely re-do go ahead. The creative team, he notes, will even leave a space should all work out in the end.
"We have to move on, but we’ll always leave a hole for him. He’s always there. He can always come back at any time and be rebuilt into it, as far as I’m concerned. That’s up to his lawyer and the picture company to work out, but creatively, he will always be a part of it."
Continuing Aykroyd added: "If it does not happen, the life of Dan Aykroyd and his family and friends will be quite full without Ghostbusters 3."
[Source: Yahoo U.K.]
The Hobbit doesn't make you heave, according to Warner Bros. The studio behind the first film in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings prequel trilogy is batting down reports that the the high-frame rate of the picture caused nausea and dizziness for some fans who saw early screenings of the picture in New Zealand. more »
Aviation and music tycoon Sir Richard Branson and his son Sam Branson are no fans of the War on Drugs and they're hoping a new film that they launched on YouTube will do for their cause what An Inconvenient Truth did for the issue of global warming.
Produced through the younger Branson's production company, Sundog Pictures, Breaking the Taboo features a host of notables including former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, other former world leaders as well as experts and other household names in a doc hoping to change hearts and minds about the global war on drugs.
Clinton is shown in the trailer saying the War on Drugs, which has cost billions and jailed thousands in the U.S. alone, "hasn't worked."
Morgan Freeman narrates the English version of the pic, the trailer of which opens with Richard Nixon's proclamation ushering in the U.S. War on Drugs. Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal narrates the Spanish version of the film, which has its trailer available on YouTube. The site indicated the full-length Breaking the Taboo will bow December 7th.
"I am hoping in the same way that Al Gore's film An Inconvenient Truth opened people's eyes to global warming issues…, Branson told The Guardian. This film will open people's eyes on the war on drugs and the failed war on drugs and make it easier for people who want to be brave and do something about it."
Sam Branson said the film will head to YouTube because of its "potential to reach millions. Both Branson look to countries such as Portugal and Spain where drug users receive treatment as opposed to jail time as providing an example. Sir Richard calls the legalization of marijuana as "inevitable" and added that most in power secretly agree with him.
"I have hardly ever come across a politician that won't say – off the record – what needs to be done...in the end they just need to be brave."
Washington and Colorado voted to legalize marijuana in the most recent election and the U.N. general assembly voted to hold a special session on drugs in 2016. Obama is also seen in the film before being elected saying that a change is needed, though he has held the line on decriminalization earlier this year.
"We would be hopeful that in a second term Obama intends at the very least to start treating drugs as a healthcare problem, not a criminal problem," said Sir Richard Branson.
Check out the trailer below:
[Source: The Guardian]
We the People of the United States...are some weird dudes. A clever but clearly tongue-in-cheek petition to build a Star Wars-style Death Star isn't the only petition that's been started on the Obama administration's much-debated We The People website. more »
The Sexiest Man Alive is looking to take an acting break. 21 Jump Street and Magic Mike star Channing Tatum is planning to put the acting gigs on hold next year in favor of working on his directing chops with production partner, Reid Carolin.
"[Reid and I] have about three to four ideas that we love that are all in the hopper. By the end of next year, we’re going to shut things down and write the first thing that we’re going to direct," Tatum told EW. “We’re going to be like, alright, no more acting parts for a minute, let’s take a few and really get caring about that section of our career."
Tatum and Carolin are in the midst of developing a Magic Mike sequel - and with a nearly $166 million worldwide gross from the first installment and a production budget only a fraction of that - then why not? They're also developing a pic on 1970s daredevil, Evel Knievel.
Still, Tatum won't be absent from the big screen in 2013. He's set for Steven Soderbergh's Side Effects in addition to action pic White House Down along with Jamie Foxx and Maggie Gyllenhaal as well as drama Foxcatcher from Bennett Miller.
“I love the steps that I’ve taken acting-wise. That has been a wild sort of exploration," Tatum said. "But I don't want to just keep putting [directing] off for these fun and incredible opportunities."
Tatum gave a shout-out to Soderbergh for showing him and Carolin the filmmaking craft.
"I don’t think Reid and I would have the balls to try to make a movie without learning what we did from Soderbergh and [assistant director] Greg Jacobs," Tatum said about the Magic Mike director. "It was like a crazy crash course Cliff Notes on directing and how to make movies, literally get them done. We had a Matrix-style download, like a plug in the back of the head and bloop! I know Kung Fu now."
People magazine named Tatum its 2012 Sexiest Man Alive last month.
[Source: EW Inside Movies]
Middle-earth may have some perils of the stomach variety if Kiwi viewers are an indication of things to come. Early screenings of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in New Zealand have left some movie-goers feeling nauseous.
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Ewan McGregor is a veteran of three Star Wars manifestations and has indicated he'd go for a fourth round should he be asked by the franchise's new owners.
McGregor played a young Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith and he said he'd be up for a return to the galaxy far, far away once more.
"I guess, yeah, of course," said McGregor to Digital Spy about a potential return. "If they need me, yeah, I'd be happy [to go back]."
Speaking with Moviefone earlier this year, McGregor said that his experience was a good one and that Star Wars had gained him some young fans.
"It was great to be involved in - to be in that franchise and that legend of Star Wars is really satisfying. It's nice. Children speak to me about it - before then there hadn't been many films that I made that children would have watched. I've always been very happy about it."
Disney bought Lucasfilm in October for $4.05 billion in a surprising high-profile purchase and is planning to make Episodes VII, VIII and IX as a result.
[Sources: Huffington Post, Digital Spy]
George Lucas will take some part in the planned Star Wars: Episode VII planned by new Lucasfilm owner Disney, but it will likely be a minimal role.
Speaking at the Governor's Awards Saturday, he gave some insight on his duties in the next Star Wars installment being guided by Disney.
"[If the filmmakers ask],'Who's this guy?' I can tell them," he told Access Hollywood at the event in Los Angeles. "I mean, they have a hundred encyclopedias and things, but I actually know a lot. I can say, 'This is this and this is that.'"
Continuing, Lucas added, "Basically I'm not -- I don't really have much to do."
Lucas recently said in a more official capacity following the sale of Lucasfilm: "... Now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime."
He also said he'd like to do "little personal films" going forward.
Speculation has continued to swirl over who will direct the next Episode VII, though Lucas' longtime friend, Steven Spielberg, nipped any rumors he's in the running recently saying Star Wars is not his 'genre.'
"I'm pretty sure he'd never want to do that!" Lucas said when asked if he'd give his approval should Spielberg ever change his mind. "I don't think he'd want to."
Star Wars: Episode VII is slated to hit theaters in 2015.
[Source: Access Hollywood]
Singer and actor Lenny Kravitz is planning to take on playing late performer Marvin Gaye in a feature that has caught the eire of the "Let Love Rule" musician's former classmate, Marvin Gaye III.
"The producers and directors of this film are very wrong and shameful," Marvin Gaye III told TMZ. "[They're] trying to do a film about a low period in his life. They don't even know the whole story."
Kravitz will play the late singer under the working title, Sexual Healing, which reportedly centers on Gaye's life in the '80s, a period in which he battled drug abuse and depression.
Gaye's father shot and killed him in 1984.
Gaye III said that he and Kravitz are schoolmates and continue to be friends, but said he wants to meet with Kravitz and "talk to him about why he would do this."
Family members including Gaye III have reached out to lawyers to try and halt production and expressed his hope that Kravitz is pursuing the project without realizing the extent of opposition coming from the Gaye side.
"I would hope [Kravitz] doesn't have any idea that we are against this film being done," said Gaye III.
Kravitz, whose credits include Precious and more recently in The Hunger Games is taking on the role of Marvin Gaye for director Julien Temple (London: The Modern Babylon).
[Sources: Huffington Post, TMZ]
The New York Film Critics Circle Association certainly livened up the Oscar race today by choosing Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty as the Best Picture of 2012 and picking two real surprises in the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor categories: respectively, Rachel Weisz for The Deep Blue Sea and Matthew McConaughey for two movies, Magic Mike and Bernie. more »
The Griffins have sung their way through the small screen, making a Broadway-style splash at the start of each program about "Violence in movies and Sex on TV." And apparently, they'll have their chance to do just that on the big screen.
Family Guy creator - who of course will fete the big screen as this year's Oscar telecast host - said that a feature length movie about the animated irreverent nuclear family is in the offing, though it is not clear when it will actually happen.
During a visit to UCLA for MTV's series Stand In, MacFarlane said that "it will happen at some point," he's quoted as saying via Huffington Post.
MacFarlane also announced a new Oscars contest in the surprise visit to the Westwood campus in L.A.'s Westside. He told an undergraduate film and television class that a contest sponsored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will allow college students to appear on the February 24th Oscar telecast. Up to six winners will serve as trophy carriers during the show, replacing models who typically carry in the statuettes.
"In re-imagining what we want the Oscar show to be, we wanted everyone appearing on that stage to feel a deep commitment to film and its legacy, and most importantly, its future," said Oscar telecast producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron in a statement. "That was the impetus in creating this special honor for young film students who will inspire a new generation to create the films that will be honored in the future."
MacFarlane said that Family Guy is based on his own student film.
Speaking of Oscars hosts past, MacFarlane offered up his empathy, noting jokingly that the event is a "crazy little variety show," adding, "all I can do is do what I think is funny and most entertaining."
He noted to the UCLA class: "The Oscars is a tricky venue. The (hosts) who have not done well, I would classify them as a noble failure, an honorable failure, because at least they were trying something new... If I can do it without torpedoing my career and getting drummed out of the business... All I can do is my very best."
[Source: Huffington Post]
The Japanese collector who purchased Sam's upright piano from Casablanca's Parisian flashback for just $154,000 in 1988 is putting the piece of cinematic history up for auction. And as time goes by, movie memorabilia appreciates: On the auction block in December, the Casablanca piano could sell for as much as $1.2 million.
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Quentin Tarantino is one of America's most celebrated living filmmakers and his latest film - currently due out Christmas day - is highly anticipated. But even a critically acclaimed filmmaker can have a dud, even if some fans might disagree. Tarantino himself weighed in on what he considers his least accomplished work.
"Death Proof has got to be the worst movie I ever [made]," Tarantino told THR. "And for a left-handed movie, that wasn't so bad, all right? So if that's the worst I ever get, I'm good. But I do think one of those out-of-touch, old, limp, flaccid-dick movies costs you three good movies as far as your rating is concerned."
Death Proof was part of Grindhouse, a double feature along with Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror. The duo didn't exactly score at the box office either. It took in just over $25 million domestically on a budget that reportedly reached $67 million. Not all turned out dismal though, it did receive a 65 percent on Rotten Tomatoes among critics - not horrendous though certainly not gangbusters.
Tarantino recently hinted to Playboy that his latest film Django Unchained may signal the sunset of his filmmaking career, saying that he wants to "stop at a certain point."
"Directors don’t get better as they get older. Usually the worst films in their filmography are those last four at the end. I am all about my filmography, and one bad film fucks up three good ones … When directors get out-of-date, it’s not pretty."
[Sources: Huffington Post, THR, Box Office Mojo]
Ben Affleck's Argo is in the running for a host of possible Oscar nods this season. And while the film, which he directs and stars in is now just shy of making $100 million in the U.S. (it's closing in on $150 million internationally) critical acclaim and the big bucks mask some of the pitfalls of moviemaking. For the first time, Affleck had to give some actors the boot while shooting the feature based on a true story set during the Iranian hostage crisis.
"I've fired a couple of actors. It's the worst thing in the world because I know, as an actor, what it's like," Affleck said during THR's directors roundtable discussion via Access Hollywood. "I was a child actor, and the director threatened to fire me. That traumatized me. I was 13 years old. And I went around in fear of being fired."
The Good Will Hunting Oscar-winner first went behind the camera as director with Gone Baby Gone in 2007, but was forced to sack a few actors during Argo.
"This movie [Argo] was the only time I really fired people, but I had to do it," he said. "I had all these Persian actors who were supposed to speak Farsi. And often they would audition in English and I would say, 'You can speak Farsi, right?' 'Oh, yes, yes.'"
Affleck recalled one actor who hammed up his part as an Iranian during production, using some stereotypes that prompted Affleck to call him on his tricks.
"A guy came in for a really crucial part, and on the day of shooting, we were blocking the scene, and this guy's got this mini speech," he said. "And the guy did it, and it was just terrible. He was sort of like, you know, twisting the mustache and being the Iranian villain and having the accent and adding all these flourishes. A couple times I said, 'Just do nothing and say your lines. Let's try that."
And another actor ran afoul after trying to grab camera time, also getting the boot after one incident.
"There was this guy who had a little bit in the movie, but it was so nice," Ben said. "And then when this other guy was blowing it -- and not just blowing it, but hamming it up -- it made it easy to say, 'No, you know, you're trying to ruin my movie.'"
[Source: Access Hollywood]
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