Author: Jason Apuzzo

By Jason Apuzzo. • Red finished only second at the box office this past weekend, and I would be more pleased about that if it weren’t for the fact that Jackass 3D finished at #1, taking in some $50 million. I can’t even begin to describe how depressing that is. Silver lining: at least we won’t have to hear more bloviating about how Willis and Stallone have ‘revived the action genre.’

• Easily the juiciest rumor out of Hollywood late last week was the potential pairing of Angelina Jolie and James Cameron on a huge, 3D Cleopatra biopic epic – with the project to be based on Stacy Schiff’s book, Cleopatra: A Life. There are about a thousand different things I could say on this subject, but here’s what holds me back: the fact that James Cameron (or one of his many doubles) is currently attached to about a 1000 different projects right now, so who knows whether this particular one will ever happen? I’ve otherwise embedded a video above of Stacy Schiff describing her biography of Cleopatra. There are several concerns I have about her approach – perhaps you can guess them? – but there’s not much more to say, really, until this proposed Jolie-Cameron pairing becomes an actual, going concern. [Jolie, incidentally, just got her film permit back to shoot her indie film drama in Bosnia.] Also: I can only imagine how impatient Fox’s executives must be right now regarding their Avatar sequels …

• Brigitte Bardot is back in the news. Bardot is thinking of running for President of France, because Nicholas Sarkozy apparently hasn’t kept his promise to crack down on the ritual Islamic practice of slaughtering animals for halal meat (!). She also thinks Carla Bruni is “as beautiful as she is badly brought up,” and that Sarah Palin is “disconcertingly stupid.” Ouch. I’ve always been a big fan of BB – what male isn’t? – but there’s such a thing as retiring gracefully, and BB perhaps should think about more elegantly easing her way off the stage …

In the spirit of 3D film projects centered around glamorous women, however, I’ve put up a 3D picture of France’s great blonde for our readers’ general delectation. You’ll need your red/blue anaglyphic 3D glasses to enjoy this picture properly.

• In other news on the Political front, Oliver Stone does another interview about Wall Street 2; Shia LaBeouf is apparently interested in playing Lee Atwater in College Republicans; Iranian dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi’s The Accordian just opened the Abu Dhabi Film Festival; and McG apparently wants to do a movie about Christopher Columbus. McG?! This improbable project would apparently be done “300-style” and would be funded by Virgin’s Richard Branson, who must a lot of money to burn. [Sigh.]

• It now seems that the Christian audience did not go out in droves to see Disney’s Secretariat. This doesn’t surprise me, because there’s actually very little Christian content in the film. As I’ve said before, Disney really should’ve marketed this film more to women.

• Peter Jackson’s Hobbit films have finally been greenlit, and there are already casting rumors floating around. You know what I’m even more interested in seeing, though? A little Norwegian indie flick called The Troll Hunter that just got picked up for distribution by Magnolia and is getting all sorts of buzz. I’ve embedded the trailer below – it’s looks cheeky, provocative and thrilling.

We’ve been covering these little indie sci-fi bootstrap projects for months here at Libertas – whether it’s Monsters or Skyline or Iron Sky or The Mercury Men or The Third Letter or Pioneer One. This is clearly the new wave, the next mode in which indie filmmakers are breaking through to the mainstream, and sometimes dealing with controversial subjects. Check out the trailer below – it’s a hoot.

• On the Superhero front, the new Christopher Nolan/Zack Snyder Superman will apparently be an ‘origins’ story (yawn), and there’s no confirmation that General Zod will appear at all. Snyder is also talking about some of the boffo action sequences planned for his latest project with Frank Miller, Xerxes, which is the 300 ‘prequel.’ Also: The Lizard will apparently be the new villain for Spider-Man, and there are some new stills out for the forthcoming Conan movie that’s currently being retro-fitted into 3D.

• I’m very excited about Apocalypse Now coming to Blu-ray. Check out this LA Times article for some of the interesting new elements included in the set.

• As usual there’s a lot of news on the Sci-Fi/Alien Invasion front. We may have a Cowboys & Aliens trailer by Christmas; Luc Besson says his massive new sci-fi project will be like The Fifth Element “to the power of ten”; Sigourney Weaver may be back for Avatar 2; there’s another new behind-the-scenes look at Skyline; someone’s now going to be doing what’s described as an ‘Area 51 comedy’; there are interesting rumors circulating about Guillermo del Toro’s potential involvement in a huge, creature-invasion project (a lá Monsters) called Pacific Rim, which may or may not morph into the Godzilla reboot; a new poster for the Disney/Robert Zemeckis Mars Needs Moms is out; some great pictures from the new The Making of the Empire Strikes Back book are now online; and, unfortunately, Alec Baldwin has just been cast in Men in Black 3D – making it even less likely that I’ll be seeing that film. [When will people in Hollywood understand how roundly despised he is?]

• AND IN TODAY’S MOST IMPORTANT NEWS … there were some big developments on Mad Men this past weekend – which we won’t spoil now, but will deal with later on in the week here at Libertas – but for now we wanted to take a look at actress Jessica Paré, who apparently will be a very busy woman on the show next season …

And that’s what’s happening today in the wonderful world of Hollywood.

Posted on October 18th, 2010 at 8:09pm.

By Jason Apuzzo. New York Magazine’s Vulture blog is becoming the place for scoops these days, and today they’ve got a whopper. Apparently Larry Ellison’s son David wants to finance a reteaming of Tom Cruise (in a limited, cameo-esque role), Tony Scott and Jerry Bruckheimer on a Top Gun sequel. The screenwriter on this would apparently be Oscar-winner Christopher McQuarrie, who just wrote The Tourist and also wrote Valkyrie for Cruise. As a side note, David Ellison is currently helping to finance Cruise’s Mission: Impossible 4.

I think this is a great idea, if executed properly. For those of you who weren’t around back then, Top Gun was the the movie from the 80s that romanticized American military life (without having to demonize any particular enemy nation). I personally know a guy who, I strongly suspect, was pulled into life in Naval aviation – and beach volleyball – at least in part due to this film. And who could blame him? Between the girls, the Kawasakis and the volleyball, it painted a pretty appealing picture of serving your country while flying jets in San Diego. [Whatever happened to Berlin, by the way?]

If it isn’t already obvious, folks, the 80s are mounting a major comeback these days – with Obama’s indirect help, I strongly suspect. A Wall Street sequel just came out; even Back to the Future is getting re-released this month, for goodness sake.

As a side note here: this is the Tom Cruise I miss, the guy in the shades on the motorcycle flying jets for his country – not the couch-jumping oddity we’ve come to know.

Obviously we’ll be keeping an eye on this one. Fun footnote here: years ago when I was in high school I was hanging out on the Paramount lot one day while Tony Scott was in post-production on one of his films. His Kawasaki – the one Cruise rides in the film – was parked in the lot. When nobody was looking, I hopped on. 🙂 Awesome.

I’ve just got to know just one thing about this sequel: will they be bringing back Iceman?

Posted on October 14, 2010 at 10:57am.

By Jason Apuzzo. • All of the big  news today is on the Sci-Fi/Alien Invasion Front. Apparently the screenwriter on Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel turned in his script to Fox, and the Suits were pleased; and, what’s more, the Suits supposedly want Natalie Portman to play the lead role, a character described as “a female Colonial Marine general.” Uugh. Portman’s shrill, abrasive performance in the Star Wars prequels was easily their biggest problem – not Jar Jar Binks. Mercifully, we also learn today that someone else – Noomi Rapace, star of the Swedish version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – is similarly in the running for the lead. My prediction is that Scott would go with Rapace, as she seems edgier – and would probably be less expensive than Portman for this 3D-native film that Fox apparently wants to keep in the $150-$160 million range. Also: supposedly the script reads more PG-13 than R-rated, which also made the Suits happy – albeit perhaps not Scott. We’ll see. This whole thing could still blow up and go nowhere.

• Are you aware that there are three competing Snow White projects in Hollywood right now? The latest apparently involves director Tarsem Singh (of Jennifer Lopez’ dreadful The Cell), who’s just been offered what is described as “an ‘edgy’ and comedic look at the original Brothers Grimm story.” This would be the one to put Natalie Portman in; I suggest having her whine about having to clean up after the Seven Dwarves.

• In other Alien Invasion news, Luc Besson is apparently returning to the sci-fi genre, with a large-scale project that “he’s planning on shooting in 2012 and 2013 for a release in 2013 or 2014.” Supposedly he’s already at work designing creatures for this project, and he’s also saying that James Cameron’s recent innovations (one assumes 3D here) were a large part of his motivation to return to sci-fi. Very interesting. Also: actor Morgan Freeman is saying that he and David Fincher still very much want to adapt Arthur C. Clarke’s sci-fi ‘alien encounter’ masterpiece Rendezvous with Rama – and that they want to do it in 3D. I think that’s a marvelous idea – and long overdue, frankly. It would be an absolutely perfect project for 3D. Also: there’s a new featurette out on I Am Number 4 (a forthcoming teen alien invasion flick) that pretty much gives away the whole movie, which I’d actually already lost interest in due to the trailer. And finally: there’s a very interesting, semi-spoilerific interview out with the Strause brothers of Skyline, in which they detail how they’ve managed to create a large-scale alien invasion movie on an ultra-low indie budget – and how the freedom associated with indie filmmaking has made them even less eager to work though the studio system. They’re also already planning a sequel! Good for them. This is really amazing stuff – and gives you a little glimpse at filmmaking’s future, I suspect. There are also some interesting new pics out from the film, and I’ve put one below. Remember that this film was made for under $10 million; Peter Jackson, take note.

• In related Sci-Fi news, the Tron marketing bonanza has begun. Disney already has a theme park attraction in the works, the new Daft Punk Tron album is coming, and a teaser for the new Pirates of the Caribbean film (which will similarly unspool in 3D and in IMAX) will apparently be attached to the Tron prints when the film debuts in December. I certainly hope the film is good, with all this happening … and in other sci-fi news: Steven Spielberg’s huge Terra Nova TV series is apparently running into major cost overruns; NBC’s Obamaphillic The Event is slipping in the ratings (while Hawaii Five-O soars); and Aint It Cool News is running a glowing review of J.W. Rinzler’s new book, The Making of The Empire Strikes Back. I’m very eager to read that book.

• In Classic Movie News, Paramount is about to debut a new, digitally restored ‘roadshow’ version of Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 masterpiece, The Ten Commandments – a longer version that apparently hasn’t been seen since the film’s debut! This is fantastic news, although the LA Times article on the subject is frustratingly short on details. What are the new/extended scenes?! I hope this reaches DVD/Blu-ray soon. We showed what was then the best existing print of The Ten Commandments at the 2005 Liberty Film Festival. [I still remember that print sitting in my living room – I think I hugged it.] Cast member Lisa Mitchell introduced the film that night, and what a thrill that was. I can’t wait to see this ‘new’ version of a great classic. In other classic movie news: there’s a new book out that delves into the romance on- and off-screen between Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, probably the best romantic pair the movies have ever produced.

• On the Political Front, Aaron Sorkin recently addressed concerns over The Social Network’s misogynistic depiction of women. His excuse basically boils down to: they’re geeks, so what do you expect? The explanation doesn’t fly. Sorkin’s film doesn’t critique misogyny so much as revel in it. Tacking on a female lawyer with a brain at the end of the film hardly makes up for that. Elsewhere, Obama recently met with the kids from Waiting for Superman, and also with Clooney (re: Darfur). He should’ve met with both of them at the same time – I think Clooney dropped out of Northern Kentucky. Elsewhere: Clint Eastwood says that Joaquin Phoenix will not be appearing in his J. Edgar Hoover biopic (although DiCaprio will be); Paul Giamatti will be playing Ben Bernanke, Billy Crudup will be playing Timothy Geithner and Ed Asner will be playing Warren Buffett (?!) in Libertas reader Curtis Hanson’s Too Big to Fail for HBO; and, finally, Clint Howard – brother of Ron, and star of some of my favorite Roger Corman flicks – advises young Hollywood conservatives to exercise caution when speaking their minds. I respect Clint’s opinion on this, but it’s for exactly this reason that so many of us choose to avoid the Hollywood system altogether and work independently – so that we can exercise our free speech rights. No Hollywood career is worth sacrificing those for.

• In franchise news, George Miller says that heavy seasonal rains in the Australian Outback were actually the cause of the Mad Max: Fury Road delays. Elsewhere, the projected $500 million budget for the two Hobbit films will apparently be the largest movie budgets ever (in unadjusted dollars), assuming those films are greenlit. Is this really a good idea for MGM, which is presumably trying to exit from bankruptcy? Anybody remember how Peter Jackson’s King Kong turned out? Hint: it underperformed. Elsewhere, the more recent Harry Potter films will apparently be getting the 3D treatment after all, once those films hit Blu-ray; and Inception’s Tom Hardy will apparently be joining the cast of Christopher Nolan’s new Batman film.

• The Playboy Mansion recently hosted a charity event to benefit our wounded warriors. The event featured motorcycles and Playmates, as well as a live auction of limited edition Playboy centerfolds and a prop gun once used by John Wayne. Honestly, I can’t think of a more patriotic way to spend one’s weekend outside of hunting Taliban.

• AND IN TODAY’S MOST IMPORTANT NEWS … in a sign of how bad Obama’s economy is, Kim Kardashian recently posed nude for W Magazine covered only in silver. In a better economy she clearly would have been covered in gold …

And that’s what’s happening today in the wonderful world of Hollywood.

Posted on October 13th, 2010 at 6:52pm.