Is the comic book adaptation dead? Poor returns for Thor and X-Men: First Class and with poor tracking for the innumerable other upcoming fixtures is a clear indication that the bubble has burst for graphic novels. Naturally the studios need to find a new cash cow to milk, and the news this week is strewn with unnecessary sequels and potential jumping off points for major franchises.
American Assassin
Primarily there's the news of the first of a major series of novels from a well worn genre that could see significant returns. Based on the books by Vince Flynn this is the second novel to be optioned following Consent to Kill two years ago, however given this is a prequel novel explaining the back story of the central character Mitch Rapp.
For those of you interested it's essentially a revenge mystery with the young Rapp losing his fiance in a terrorist attack and vowing vengeance. It doesn't take long for the CIA to identify the potential in the virtually unstable personality and unleash him onto the un-American hordes. It sounds like an odd mix between Die Hard and the Jack Ryan series which is probably why there's been no hesitation in getting the wheels in motion - the book was only published (cover below) in October last year.
Ed Zwick has been approached to direct and it'll be good for him to get back to the kind of action adventure that he used to do so well in the early 90's.
Read on for colourful criminals, retired actors, archaeologists and boxers, and the usual round-up of casting rumours.
Dick Tracy 2
Warren Beatty (right) has finally won his protracted 21 year battle with Tribune over the rights to Dick Tracy and he's been celebrating at the LA Times Hero Complex Film Festival by hinting to plans for a sequel. I love the original film, Madonna and all, but whether Beatty who's now 74 could convince either as the star or in the directors chair again remains to be seen.
The Humbling
I've said it before and I'll say it again. I believe Al Pacino has at least one more great performance left in him, and it could just be for this bizarre hybrid of sexual humiliation and character study. He's signed up to play the suicidal aging actor Simon Axler who following his divorce shacks up with the daughter of friends 20 years his junior, a relationship which leads to him to trying a variety of unexpected things in the bedroom and learning a great deal about the impact of his age, former success and the sexual credit partners hold over each other.
Indiana Jones 5
Shia LaBeouf has been making subversive comments during the press tours of Transformers: Dark side of the Moon whilst genuinely appearing positive about the quality he seems to be ruling himself out of any future sequels, not the really the sign of someone who really believes in the quality of the product. He's also been confident about the resurrection of another blockbuster serial, Indiana Jones, stating that George Lucas is confident but is currently seeking a MacGuffin to kick start the plot. Someone should mention to Shia that the public are probably not interested in seeing his 'Mutt' (right) return to that franchise, with or without gibbons at his side.
Southpaw
I've been torn about Eminem's next movie, the story, partly based on Mathers' own life but with rapping swapped for welterweight boxing, but I actually respect him as an actor (based on his solid performance in 8 Mile) and now it has a reasonable director (Training Day helmer Antoine Fuqua) on the case I'm beginning to warm to it. Will have to wait and see if it manages to find some of the audience of The Fighter.
Casting News
The casting front has been more rumour and innuendo rather than any hard facts this week with some very big names jumping around some very interesting projects. First up was the rather bizarre connection of Anjelina Jolie with David O. Russell's Silver Lining's Playbook, which you can just imagine the stand up rows on. Whilst Leonardo DiCaprio has been confirmed for Django Unchained there is a delay with Will Smith signing on the bottom line, so much so that an alternatives list has been drawn out which includes Chris Rock (wtf?) and Jamie Foxx. Finally, and on much more solid ground, Alan Arkin has joined CIA masquerading as filmmakers true story Argo.
Saturday, 11 June 2011
Finding a new Franchise (Film News - 11/06/11)
Sunday, 6 February 2011
Dinner fit for a bride (Film News - 05/02/11)
There's been some interesting headlines this week with a couple of new titles coming our way which look very watchable, in fact the beauty of my first title is it will provide casting opportunities to hundreds. This is on top of the usual rounds of casting rumours and our monthly check of upcoming movies on imdb.
Great Expectations
If watching Derek Jacobi intone a few lines of Little Dorrit in the third act of Hereafter made you salivate for more Charles Dickens then you're in luck. It's looking like a version of his classic tale of class envy and redemptive guilt is set to make a foray into the big screen. Naturally this isn't the first time Pip, Magwitch and Miss Haversham have been in cinemas, most notably in the 1946 David Lean version with John Mills, Finlay Currie and Martita Hunt in those memorable roles.
I won't go into the plot details here, like all Dicken's it's long and meandering and with characters disappearing and reappearing with alarming regularity. There are also some magical moments of descriptive writing including fog shrouded escaped convicts and uneaten wedding cakes that could easily become iconic shots from the film.
The key thing is to try to imagine the casting. It's a film that practically begs for the brightest and best of British acting talent to be assembled. I'm saying Andrew Garfield for Pip and Helen Mirren as Miss Haversham. You heard it here first. Any casting ideas you have?
An early illustration of Miss Haversham's Wedding feast.
Read on for an unlikely true story, an surprising director says his next film will be an epic and the usual News segments.
Argo
The hunt for Ben Affleck's next directorial task continues with this bizarre true-life tale set to be produced by Men who Stare at Goats colleagues George Clooney and Grant Heslov. Like Goats it's an expose on one of the weirder moments in US military history focusing on the CIA operation to release the American Embassy hostages in 1979. Their ultimate plan involved disguising the operatives as a film crew scouting for locations. Whether Affleck can produce the satirical edge a project like this might need remains to be seen but if he pulls it off this could be hilarious.
Place beyond the Pines
Derek Cianfrance has been talking up his follow up to Blue Valentine to almost epic proportions. In an interview with indiewire he used terms like "the transformative power of fatherhood", "a Darwinistic idea of survival through ancestry" and (if that wasn't enough "I’ve had people tell me they feel like its ‘The Deer Hunter’ meets ‘The Godfather." Proof that he's certainly willing to enthuse about the project. The story focuses on a motorcycle stunt driver (Ryan Gosling's already practising in Cage's of death like this one to our right) who has to learn how to be a father and will cross generations. If it taps into even half as much honest human emotion as his latest then it will definitely be one to watch.
Casting News
The usual suspects have been hogging the casting rumours with Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes both close to signing on for Bond 23 - which could just become the starriest Bond ever - and Eva Green and Jackie Earle Haley may be hiding in Tim Burton's Dark Shadows. Robin Williams continues to be a possibility for Hugo Strange in Dark Knight Rises, although the main issue seems to be are three villains too many for the film to cope with. David O. Russell may be inviting Amy Adams back for his next project, the big screen adaptation of Playstation 3 game Uncharted: Drake's Progress although Scarlett Johannsson is another name in the mix. Finally Samuel L. Jackson has surprised nobody by exclusively revealing he'll cameo in Thor, frankly I was surprised when it was rumoured he wasn't going to.
Production News
Every month I like to update on the latest films moving into the pre-production stage, essentially as a way of monitoring which of the stories I've previously covered have actually come to fruition. This time we're seeing movement on David Cronenberg's limousine set thriller Cosmopolis, 60's crimecaper remake Gambit, hyperlink love story 360, and big budget big effects movies The Wolverine, Prometheus, Oz, Th Great and Powerful and 20,000 Leagues under the Sea. The last four of which are bound for box office glory if nothing else. One movie though caught my eye even though I hadn't imagined it would.
Playing the Field
Gerard Butler obviously believes he's a big star, and I expect the studios think the same, why else would he continue to get high profile roles. So to follow his "acting" turn in Machine Gun Preacher there will be this black comedy about a soccer coach working his way through the Mums from his son's team. Whilst this doesn't scream high quality there's something intriguing about the notion and I expect they'll be some fun to be had when they start joining the dots. 
You get some very odd results if you search for Soccer Moms on google, but this pic's relatively tame. Apparently there's a whole subculture relating to the term. Anyone want to clue me up on it?
