Jᴀᴄᴜʀᴜᴛᴜ - Tʜᴇ Cᴀsᴛ Oᴜᴛ

The opposite of my other thread. Feel free to post up news on any film project currently in development that you're looking forward to, rather than about.

I'll start off with news on Pixar's live-action John Carter of Mars adaptation. Looking forward to seeing the series in a modern setting, and the news of Bryan Cranston joining is good. He's a good actor that hasn't been in the spotlight too many times. I particularly liked him in Malcolm in the Middle as the father Hal, mostly because the character was so different from any of his other performances. Particularly his role as an anti-Semite in an episode of the X-Files (episode title escapes me), another favorite of mine.

Bryan Cranston Joins John Carter of Mars

I have some hope that The Losers won't suck. But I've generally lost faith in Hollywood; the place is creatively bankrupt.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480255/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For those interested, I highly recommend the comics/graphic novels; it's my favorite series ever ... and I've been reading comics for a long time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Losers_(Vertigo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

TheDukester wrote:For those interested, I highly recommend the comics/graphic novels; it's my favorite series ever ... and I've been reading comics for a long time.

Anything by Alan Moore gets my money!

The story seems really good. This part was pretty bad, though: "In 2007 it was announced that a movie adaptation is in development with a screenplay by Peter Berg and James Vanderbilt, to be directed by Tim Story for Warner Brothers."

Is he still on for that role?

Yeah, it morphed. Peter Berg still gets the writing credit, but Sylvain White directed. Hopefully, Berg relied heavily on Andy Diggle for the script, since Diggle, A) wrote the comic, and B) is a better writer, anyway.

The cast is strong, which is the main reason I haven't lost all hope. And they made a smart call of just sticking to the first story arc of the series. Like Dune, it's not possible to tell the story of The Losers in one film. In this case, not because it's a gigantic, sprawling SF tale, but because it's about a complicated conspiracy theory.

Redstar wrote:I'll start off with news on Pixar's live-action John Carter of Mars adaptation. Looking forward to seeing the series in a modern setting, and the news of Bryan Cranston joining is good.

heck yeah, cranston rules. i read that willam defoe is gonna be on of those big-ass barsoomian dudes. he kicks ass as well... hopefully they go all out and cast harry dean stanton as john carter.

I'm excited about the Edgar Wright adaptation of Scott Pilgrim.
After Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz I don't think he can screw it up. It doesn't need a faithful adaptation just tongue in cheek, which he has plenty of.



...And then... there's Kick Ass

that movie is going to be rad. I think it may restore may faith in Nic Cage.

I really don't like Cage these days, and most of his characters seem to be the same in their mannerisms (this one reminds me of the guy from Con Air), and this movie bugs me for some reason. I think it's the reckless child endangerment and child grooming.... But I want to see it. Seems fresh. After Watchmen, I'm thinking we're going to get a lot of these "gritty" and "real" super hero movies, so I'm hoping one of them can do what Watchmen tried to do.

Kick-Ass will need to somehow come to me free of charge, or else I ain't watching it. I loathe Mark Millar to near-Anderjacket levels, and I refuse to do anything to support him financially.

But this is the "love" thread, so I'll just stop there.

(bite me, Mark Millar!)

Sorry about that. Stopping now.

"Kick-ass" is screening @ the film side of SXSW in austin, so while not free of charge completely,
you could see it & everything else with a festival pass ... and a plane ticket, I guess ...

TheDukester wrote:I have some hope that The Losers won't suck. But I've generally lost faith in Hollywood; the place is creatively bankrupt.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480255/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For those interested, I highly recommend the comics/graphic novels; it's my favorite series ever ... and I've been reading comics for a long time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Losers_(Vertigo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)

Andy Diggle and Jock are two excellent North of the border lads A good read The Losers. Highly recommended.

Rob

Freakzilla wrote:

GREAT SOUNDTRACK to that movie, Cage was good, Chick was hot.. weekend popcorn flick, still like it.

Kick Ass looks decent:)

trang wrote:

Freakzilla wrote:

GREAT SOUNDTRACK to that movie, Cage was good, Chick was hot.. weekend popcorn flick, still like it.

Kick Ass looks decent:)

If you like that one, you'll love:



(Same chick (Deborah Lynn Foreman):

Not sure if I love this or hate this, but Shyamalan's The Last Airbender adaptation pretty much bombed. Horrible reviews all around from both critics, fans, and average movie goers, less-than-satisfactory opening gross (though one more deciding weekend and the international gross may change that), and best of all the casting controversy, boycotting/protests, and horrible reception of the movie seem to have spelled the end for Shyamalan and his waste of money.

Now, this is good example of why I both hate and love Hollywood: hate it because they gave a director like Shyamalan with no experience in this genre full-reign in directing, writing, and producing, and love it because they didn't give him enough money to make it work and forced him to cut over 30 minutes of footage just prior to theatrical release and hastily add a 3-D feature. (The cut is debatable as Shyamalan, like so many other things, has taken full responsibility for the cuts and stated it was his intention all the way)

Many of you may not be aware of this, but Shyamalan really showed his enormous ego with this movie. His many responses to the racebending controversy come off as little more than over-sensitive rants from a child. He calls the movies detractors racists for suggesting his casting of three (originally four) white actors in the roles of Asian and Inuit characters was unfair, and literally screamed in an interview "YOU DID NOT WIN!!"

Oh, and the critics' reviews? Yeah, he claimed he was unaware, and when pointed out the general consensus (8% on Rotten Tomatoes) he stated it was a "cultural difference" because he's Indian and the majority of Americans are white and thus wouldn't "get" his vision. This entire fiasco has been a very enjoyable experience, though overwhelmingly sad for a fan of the show.

Redstar wrote: Many of you may not be aware of this, but Shyamalan really showed his enormous ego with this movie. His many responses to the racebending controversy come off as little more than over-sensitive rants from a child. He calls the movies detractors racists for suggesting his casting of three (originally four) white actors in the roles of Asian and Inuit characters was unfair, and literally screamed in an interview "YOU DID NOT WIN!!"

Okay, I think now we can safely conclude that Shyamalan sucks ass. Any talent he might have (and he's always been wildly overrated, especially by himself) is overtaken and destroyed by his massive ego, which leads him to do things like cast himself in pivotal roles in his own films. Twist endings are annoying, just put surprising things throughout the story. All I could think while I was watching "The Village" was "Please, God, I do not want to see a two-lane blacktop at the end of this." The Happening was one of the stupidest movies I've ever seen. I can't believe people are saying The Last Airbender is worse. What an asshole.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTJGbfRBeas

Alright, so the trailer for the upcoming Thor adaptation recently "leaked". So, a few thoughts:

1.) Looks pretty good. Probably the only comic book-adaptation I've ever had some interest in seeing, though probably because I have familiarity with the original Germanic/Norse versions of the characters. I've never read anything of the comic version of the character and actually disliked him because of the differences from the source.

2.) There's a lot of fade-in-fade-out shots, which generally suggests the full scenes aren't too good. However, this seems to be a technique used especially for superhero movies, so who knows. At least the characters are speaking (though Odin appears to be narrating somewhat), unlike The Last Airbender trailer.

3.) I'm amused that there's a short, redhaired and bearded guy is present that looks how Thor should. Not sure his character or role.

4.) At first I was okay with Idris Elba as a Norse god (Heimdall), despite the obvious strangeness of it. I excused it because I'm aware that some of the deities could be construed as something other than the typical "white", such as the frostbitten, animated-corpse dwarves (blue or black) and even Odin, often described as the Blue God with a blue cloak and cap. I believe I've even read some variations where his body was also blue. So it's not a completely far-fetched idea, if you want to say Heimdall isn't African, just "black", but now that I've seen it it does look really distracting. Not sure how I feel about it now. (However, the "controversy" from those "offended" that a black man is portraying a Norse figure and the call to boycott the movie is utterly ridiculous)

5.) Odin says "his father and his father", which is ridiculous since Odin had no fathers, unless you want to count Ymir in some retarded way.

6.) Huginn and Muginn (the two ravens) are present. I hope they keep an eye on Thor at some point in the movie.

You got me all interested then;

NOTE: The trailer has been removed by the host site.

It's being directed by Kenneth Branagh! He's on my list of people i'd like to meet some day.
Have you ever read 'The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul' by Douglas Adams?

Perhaps I underestimate the sneakiness. Well done mate!

edit; what does 'Embedding disabled by request' mean?

I'll probably watch it, I hope it turns out better than you expect.

Redstar wrote:4.) At first I was okay with Idris Elba as a Norse god (Heimdall), despite the obvious strangeness of it. I excused it because I'm aware that some of the deities could be construed as something other than the typical "white", such as the frostbitten, animated-corpse dwarves (blue or black) and even Odin, often described as the Blue God with a blue cloak and cap. I believe I've even read some variations where his body was also blue. So it's not a completely far-fetched idea, if you want to say Heimdall isn't African, just "black", but now that I've seen it it does look really distracting. Not sure how I feel about it now. (However, the "controversy" from those "offended" that a black man is portraying a Norse figure and the call to boycott the movie is utterly ridiculous)

Um...

Heimdall (Old Norse Heimðallr, later Heimdallr) is one of the æsir (gods) in Norse mythology, in the Edda called the "white god" (hvítastr ása "whitest of the aesir Sæm 72ª; hvíta ás "white as" Sn. 104).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimdall" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Know anything about the casting choice behind this one?

I don't find it "offensive" that a black man is playing a Norse god, but it just seems... stupid. If it's a PC-motivated thing, even more so. Either the people responsible didn't do their due research, or they're assuming the audience won't know the difference or won't care, or making a statement about race was their overriding concern. Either of those three I would find offensive.

SandChigger wrote:Um...

Heimdall (Old Norse Heimðallr, later Heimdallr) is one of the æsir (gods) in Norse mythology, in the Edda called the "white god" (hvítastr ása "whitest of the aesir Sæm 72ª; hvíta ás "white as" Sn. 104).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heimdall" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Know anything about the casting choice behind this one?

I don't find it "offensive" that a black man is playing a Norse god, but it just seems... stupid. If it's a PC-motivated thing, even more so. Either the people responsible didn't do their due research, or they're assuming the audience won't know the difference or won't care, or making a statement about race was their overriding concern. Either of those three I would find offensive.

Yeah, that's the main argument used by Marvel/Thor fans but I don't find it very conclusive. Thor wasn't a clean-shaven blonde, was he? The comics (from what I've read and read of) aren't very faithful to the source mythology and in fact were vastly influential in propagating the typical "horned horny viking" stereotype. This is a comic book which is a medium infamous for its anachronistic and sometimes offensive portrayal of race. If this was an adaptation of the actual mythology or of a work such as the Middle-earth Legendarium where racial and cultural identity was crucial to the characters I could understand, but as it stands I don't see Heimdall being particularly defined by his skin color, especially since Marvel didn't care about any of the other defining details of the original characters.

I really don't know about Idris as the character, though. If he's the only black god then it's tokenism, in which case I would be annoyed, but if there's more (even background gods) I'll see it as color-blind casting.

(And no information the casting process. It was just confirmed, controversy arose, and Idris responded by saying the story is mythological (IE: not "real") so it's hypocritical to say his character's skin color has to be defined. Shows somewhat of a lack of respect for the source (both comic and mythology/culture), but he did go on to talk about multi-level/color-blind casting)

I forget, was the old TV animation connected with the comic books, or not?

I watched the cartoon all the time as a kid, but can't remember whether I ever saw/read any of the comix. And to be completely honest, I didn't even remember the Heimdall character; hence the Wikipedia check.