Posts Tagged ‘videos’

Tom Arnold Also Lands a Role in Peter Berg’s Battleship Movie

In what might one of the most spot on casting announcements recently (who doesn’t think of Tom Arnold when casting a crazy Naval officer), Movieline has learned that Tom Arnold has indeed joined the cast of Peter Berg’s Battleship movie. Earlier today it was announced that Taylor Kitsch (of Wolverine and John Carter of Mars) will be playing one of the leads, but it was Arnold himself who leaked the news about being on-board this project. Apparently he left a comment on another article saying, “Doing Pete Berg’s Battleship in Australia in August, got my kids camp and indies for Sundance plus the standup and comedy special.”

This does seem a little bit sketchy, but I trust that Movieline wouldn’t report this as news unless they really confirmed that Tom Arnold wrote that, plus who would randomly say something like that? Oddly enough, Battleship isn’t actually shooting in Australia anymore, as production has been moved to Louisiana instead (just like Green Lantern). We also know that the plot involves a US naval fleet that battles aliens called The Regents who are trying to build a power source in the water. And although it may start shooting in August, Battleship won’t hit theaters until May 25th, 2012, so we’ve got a while until we see Arnold in the Navy.

Maybe it’s just because I’ve got McHale’s Navy on my mind, the comedy where Tom Arnold plays Lt. Cmdr. Quinton McHale, that makes me feel like this casting is just pitch perfect. Now I’m wondering who else Peter Berg has cast in this to go along with Taylor Kitsch and Tom Arnold. I can’t wait to find out. Any ideas?

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First Look: Early Creature Concept Art for Next Riddick Film

Back in early February it was officially announced that another Chronicles of Riddick sequel titled simply Riddick was on the way, in pre-production at Universal, with shooting starting later this year (I believe). Franchise creator David Twohy will be back directing a script he wrote and word is that this will be “closer in tone to the cult hit Pitch Black and will focus on the character of Riddick as opposed to the universe he inhabits.” Perfect. Riddick himself, Vin Diesel, just posted a photo on his Facebook (via Ain’t It Cool News) earlier today giving us our first look at some early concept art from Riddick, which you can check out below.

Diesel also writes: “Early Riddick concept art… first frame of a 2D Motion Choreography Study. Grrrr… The Furian… left for dead…” Not sure what all of that means, especially the “2D motion choreography study” part, but it looks pretty damn cool. I have a feeling that might be a “mud demon” we’re looking at above, as we learned back in February that the plot involves Riddick getting dumped on a “barren alien planet” where he has to fight mud demons and “trisons.” They don’t look as creepy as the monsters from the original Pitch Black, but as a big Riddick fan, I’m pretty excited based on that bit of concept art above. Is anyone else?

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Barry Sonnenfeld Helping Develop ‘Pig Scrolls’ at DreamWorks

DreamWorks Animation seems to be putting a lot of different adaptations into development. Add another one to their slate, this time an adaptation of Paul Shipton’s novel Pig Scrolls about a talking pig who was transformed into the beast by the goddess Circe on her island. The story follows Gryllus and his endeavors to save the world (in Ancient Greece), plus it includes all the ancient Greek gods. Basically, Hollywood is a bit obsessed with Greek history at the moment (Percy Jackson, Clash of the Titans, War of the Gods) and now DreamWorks wants their Greek gods movie, too. So that’s where Barry Sonnenfeld comes into play.

Sonnenfeld, who has directed live-action movies like The Addams Family, Men in Black (I and II), and RV (bleh) but hasn’t directed a feature film since then. Pajiba says that DreamWorks has recruited Sonnenfeld to develop a Pig Scrolls adaptation “as a potential directing project.” So he’s not necessarily going to direct, but he is going to help give the project some direction early on. But considering Sonnenfeld has a lot of other options, including Men in Black III, a Scandal Makers remake, Edward Stratemeyer’s Swift, Lisa Lutz’ The Spellman Files, so who knows what he’ll eventually end up taking on as a his next full-time feature project.

Normally, I’m not too excited by ideas at DreamWorks, however after How to Train Your Dragon, I’ll give some of their movies a chance. Although I don’t know if I really want to watch a talking pig fight Greek gods for two hours anytime soon, do you? Has anyone out there read these books? Does they have any potential?

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Clive Owen and Daniel Bruhl Cast in Fresnadillo’s ‘Intruders’

What happened to BioShock? Heat Vision is reporting that Clive Owen and German actor Daniel Bruhl, who played Fredrick Zoller in Inglourious Basterds, have been cast in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s new thriller Intruders. Shooting is supposed to start in June in London and Madrid. So it looks like BioShock really has been delayed again, since that was possibly going to be Fresnadillo’s next movie after Gore Verbinski left the project. Oh right, it’s Universal, they’re canceling everything that could be good. So what is Intruders about? Well, all we know is that the story centers on an 11-year old girl who’s forced to confront childhood demons.

Clive Owen will play the girl’s father, but no word on who Bruhl will play. Casting is still underway, but they have a few months to go before shooting starts, so I’m sure we’ll hear more about this. Heat Vision does say that Fresnadillo is “still attached to direct Bioshock” but this will indeed be his next English-language movie since 28 Weeks Later. Universal Pictures International is financing the project with Spanish media company Antena 3, but Universal is not necessarily distributing in the US. I’m curious to hear more about the plot, as this could be an interesting little project. Maybe this means that Clive Owen could end up in BioShock, too?

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Joss Whedon or Peter Sollett Might Direct Marvel’s Runaways?

Though the news of Joss Whedon’s potential to direct The Avengers came on April Fool’s Day, LA Times was happy to confirm news that seemed too good to be true. Whether he ends up directing the superhero movie or not, it looks like Marvel really wants him for something as The Playlist reports Whedon is also in the running to direct an adaptation of Marvel’s Brian K. Vaughan-written comic book series Runaways, which is briefly described as The Breakfast Club with superheroes. Meanwhile, Deadline has exclusive news to the contrary as they report Peter Sollett (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) is negotiating to direct.

If you’re unfamiliar with series, it follows a group of kids (seen above) who just so happen to be the offspring of super-villians and are endowed with their own powers for evil. However, the kids don’t want any part of their parents diabolical plans and wish to use their powers for good along with exposing their parents for the villains they are. Calling themselves The Pride, they’re housed in a secret lair under the La Brea Tar Pits

Maybe it’s just because I want Whedon to remain available to feed the dreams of directing The Avengers, but I’m inclined to find Deadline’s scoop on this project a little more reliable. I don’t mean to discredit The Playlist at all, because they’ve certainly had more than their fair share of accurate and reliable scoops, but Mike Fleming has plenty more insiders and his reputation certainly precedes him in finding accurate scoops.

Sollett being chosen over Whedon might indicate their desire to keep this more grounded to the characters (which is definitely the best part of Runaways) rather than a predominantly FX-heavy superhero bonanza, which is exactly what The Avengers will be in the end. But at the same time, Whedon’s involvement with a movie the size of The Avengers is bigger than anything he’s ever done, so Runaways might suit him better in that regard. After all, Whedon did write some issues of the comic book series when Brian K. Vaughan was unavailable, so we’ll just have to see how all this plays out. Stay tuned as more info becomes available.