By Jason Apuzzo. • In the buildup to The Expendables, new clips of the film are being released (see above), and Sly Stallone is talking a little bit more freely about the political situation in Hollywood. Here’s what he says today, in an interview conducting with Aint It Cool News readers:
[I]t’s a minor miracle the last RAMBO would even be released, but I took a gamble there … [for people who] desire to see an action film unfold that wreaks of pride and manly individualism that has unfortunately fallen out of vogue. I believe that everything is a cycle. And once again America will have its cinematic heroes reflect the incredible honor it is to be defending the most extraordinary country the planet has ever known. Just give it time, everything is a cycle.
I sincerely hope he’s right – that these things proceed in cycles. Suffice it to say that if he’s right about this, then we’re long overdue for a correction toward more pro-American, pro-freedom material. We’ll see. Most of the action on the pro-freedom front seems to be coming from independent filmmakers, not from within the Hollywood system.
• The debate rages on over the merits of 3D cinema. Today J.J. Abrams and Joss Whedon are more or less weighing in against 3D. What’s interesting here is that nobody was having this debate right after Avatar. It’s the recent run of crappy 3D conversions that have been causing doubts. I continue to say: filmmakers should shoot natively in 3D, or not use the technology at all.
• Communist China is apparently eager to have Inception playing in its theaters. It’s no wonder; the film’s basic subject matter is brainwashing! It doesn’t surprise me in the least that they would be enthusiastically courting this film, and otherwise banning Salt. In related news, the LA Times’ Patrick Goldstein notes the age-difference in critics who love/hate Inception – with older ones hating it. I guess I’m breaking the mold here, because I’m under 40 and I hated it, too!
• The Jack Ryan reboot Moscow may have a director: Lost’s Jack Bender. In related Cold War movie news, you may not have known that until his recent meltdown Mel Gibson and Lethal Weapon screenwriter Shane Black were apparently collaborating on a picture called Cold Warrior, which would have featured Gibson as “an ex-Cold War spy who comes out of retirement and teams up with a younger agent to stop a Russian terrorism threat.” There’s also news today that Joel Silver may be trying to lure Gibson back to revive the Lethal Weapon franchise. I can’t begin to describe what a bad idea that would be.
• Transformers 3‘s Rosie Huntington-Whiteley appears on the cover of LOVE Magazine today. Yowza. Where does Michael Bay find these actresses? Oh, right – from the pages of Victoria’s Secret catalogues.
• Hollywood Elsewhere’s Jeffrey Wells asks a fascinating question today: “[W]hat about the next generation of Hollywood Republicans? Are there any industry righties from among [the] under-35 set? A movement without young blood is no movement at all.” How true! Boy would I love to answer this question in detail for Mr. Wells, whom I suspect would be fascinated by the answer. Let’s just say that it’s to the benefit of certain people’s media careers that you never hear about the younger crowd – or about anyone currently involved in actual filmmaking, for that matter. You’ll always here about them here at Libertas, though, because that’s our entire mission: to promote and support pro-freedom filmmaking. Plus we have great pin-ups.
• And speaking of which, Tron‘s Olivia Wilde, who is quickly establishing herself as a go-to sci fi babe, apparently just shot a nude scene for Jon Favreau’s Cowboys & Aliens in which she stands “naked in front of a bonfire in front of 500 Apache warriors.” Hey, this sounds like my kind of film! Maybe Favreau read this.
• AND IN TODAY’S MOST IMPORTANT NEWS … Mad Men‘s Christina Hendricks does an interview and photoshoot for this month’s UK GQ. We’re big fans of Mad Men here at LFM (see here), and are pleased to see this retro-curvy bombshell is popping up (and out) everywhere these days …
And that’s what’s happening today in the wonderful world of Hollywood.
Posted on August 3rd, 2010 at 1:42pm.
I appreciate Stallone trying to put a good spin on things, but the problem is that there aren’t younger versions of him being groomed right now. For things to go in cycles, new people have still got to be developed.
It’s sort of like what J. Wells says about there not being people in the younger bracket. I don’t think the Powers That Be care what Stallone does, because they figure he’ll be collecting Social Security soon.
I think it’s his job to stay positive, basically. It’s understandable in his position. He has a film to sell, and wants to feel that things will carry on positively in the future once he hangs it up. Which he’ll do. At some point.
It would be great to see a film like “The Expendables” but with women in it and not an action film, maybe a romantic comedy. There are so many great actresses that I would love to see in films again.
I already commented on “Salt” (the marketing people blew it because I had no idea it was anti-Communist), so let me just say that Rosie Huntington-Whitely looks great, but can she act? I’ve known a few models in my time (especially when I was in New York), and most of them are so programmed to pose that you have few that can transition into acting.
3D, Christina Hendricks, Russ Meyer.
The mind boggles.
K – are you a Russ Meyer man?! No wonder you’re my favorite reader!!!
By the way, you’ve just more or less described my next film.
you’ve just more or less described my next film.
Just be sure and reserve me a ticket.
Could you elaborate on why you think Lethal Weapon 5 is a bad idea?
I actually think it is a great idea for all involved. For Gibson, it really would be the only way for people to see him in an established brand the public loves. The script apparently is by Shane Black and Silver and Warner’s get another entry in one of the most succesful action franchises of all time. They could also get Gibson at a cut rate which keeps the budget reasonable. Nobody involved in this franchise at this date including Glover and Gibson could call the shots.
Really, assuming the quality of a Shane Black script, I see no downside. Lethal Weapon 5 would easily clear 100 million domestic and overseas, I doubt Gibson’s tirades will have anywhere near the affect as they do here.
I actually think from every POV a Lethal Weapon 5 is a smart idea on Silver’s part. He was able to give Seagal a last chance career hit with exit wounds…why not Gibson who has made a lot more money for more people?
Nicol, thanks for writing in. Let me just say, before going further, that I have a Lethal Weapon anecdote; namely, I was actually on the set of the original film. I was in high school at the time, and I was given a job on the set: namely, picking up Mel Gibson and Danny Glover’s spent bullet shells!
Do you remember the scene, for example, in which the helicopter shows up and starts shooting people at a funeral along the coastline – and Gibson and Glover start blasting away at it along the cliffs? My job was to rush in and pick up their spent shells after each take. And it was a great job. 🙂
I did my best to stay out of the cast’s way, although at one point Gibson and I backed into each other and butted heads. Years later we would butt heads in a different way, but I’ll leave that story for later … What I really want to say is that I’ve been very supportive of Gibson over the years, and went to the mat for him multiple times in the national media during the Passion controversy. But you must understand that he’s become completely toxic due to his atrocious behavior, and no re-boot of the Lethal Weapon franchise is going to bring his public reputation back. And as for the kind of money a Lethal 5 would make, it would need to make a lot because of how expensive the cast would be at this point. The budget could easily be north of $100 million and I’m not sure Warner Brothers would touch it.
Jeffrey Wells is a dummy. His statement doesn’t reflect reality at all, just wishful thinking.
Working in Hollywood, I can assure you the under-35, “Republican” crowd is doing just fine.
It’s good to be back, Jason. I’ve been a Libertas fan for years.
Wilson, you’re back!!! Thanks for returning! We certainly remember you here.
As far as the under 35 crowd, I think the point is that we never hear about these people even when they do exist. May I be blunt? There are a lot of younger filmmakers who could use some support from the alternative media, because guys like Kelsey Grammar and Jon Voight and Dennis Miller, etc. are multi-millionaires and really don’t need the publicity. Plus, those guys put an old face on what should be a more youthful, vibrant movement.
Keep coming back, Wilson!