Archive for January, 2012
Ridley Scott Could Follow ‘Prometheus’ With Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Counselor’
by Germain Lussier on Jan.31, 2012, under Stuff We Like
That Ridley Scott Blade Runner-sequel might be even further off than fans had hoped. (Or feared, depending on your thoughts on that project.) Deadline reports the director is now in talks to direct Cormac McCarthy‘s The Counselor and is keen on shooting it after he’s done with Prometheus.
McCarthy, the writer of No Country For Old Men, The Road and All The Pretty Horses, just recently sold the surprise spec script which is about a southern lawyer who attempts to make money as a drug dealer before things go horribly wrong. According to reports, Scott has been talking directly to McCarthy about the project, hence the speed of it coming together. Read more after the jump.
Deadline first reported the story of Scott’s interest in the script, which was purchased by Nick Wechsler, Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz, who co-produced The Road. Here’s what Wechsler said about the script:
Since McCarthy himself wrote the script, we get his own muscular prose directly, with its sexual obsessions. It’s a masculine world into which, unusually, two women intrude to play leading roles. McCarthy’s wit and humor in the dialogue make the nightmare even scarier. This may be one of McCarthy’s most disturbing and powerful works.
Scott is well-known for mulling and juggling several projects before settling on one. For example, just in the last few months he’s been attached to film about an African coup, Gertrude Bell and the Blade Runner sequel. So there’s no guarantee this movie goes next even if that’s what’s being said. And while I’d love to see his take on a gritty, subversive Cormac McCarthy work, it begs the question, will Scott follow through on his promise that “I’ll never work without 3D again?” Seems doubtful but, then again, who ever thought we’d get to see a Great Gatsby movie shot in 3D?
Do you think Scott is a good match for McCarthy’s material?
/Filmcast Ep. 174 – The Grey
by David Chen on Jan.31, 2012, under Stuff We Like
This week, Dave, Devindra, and Adam chat about this year’s Oscar nominations and point out how Warner Brothers continues to try and screw over its customers.
You can always e-mail us at slashfilmcast(AT)gmail(DOT)com, or call and leave a voicemail at 781-583-1993. There won’t be any live broadcast next week on account of the Super Bowl, but we will be reviewing Chronicle.
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Shownotes
Introduction
What We’ve Been Watching
- David Chen (01:00): A Separation, Certified Copy
- Devindra (10:20): Kill List, Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie
News Discussion
- (26:53) 84th Academy Award Nominations
- (41:52) Warner Brothers Won’t Let You Add Movies To Your Netflix Queue
Featured Review
- (45:23) The Grey
Credits
- A big thanks to our sponsors, Audible and Hover. Get a free audio book download by going to audiblepodcast.com/Filmcast and save 10% off your domain name registrations by going to hover.com/filmcast.
- Our music sometimes comes from Point 22 courtesy of the Podsafe Network, and Brad Sucks
- If you’d like advertise with us or sponsor us, please e-mail slashfilmcast@gmail.com.
- Contact us at our voicemail number: 781-583-1993
- You can donate and support the /Filmcast by going to www.slashfilmcast.com and clicking on the left-hand side “Donate” links! Thanks to all our donors this week!
Mel Gibson’s Viking Movie is Not Dead
by Russ Fischer on Jan.31, 2012, under Stuff We Like
We just got a look at Get the Gringo, an action film that Mel Gibson co-wrote, financed and starred in. But fans undeterred by the actors offscreen actions might still be hoping for an update on another movie that was announced right around the same time Gibson started work on Get the Gringo. That other project was a Viking epic, and a film for which Gibson said he wanted to work partially in a bygone version of the Norse language.
Turns out that Viking movie isn’t dead. While the update we have is minor, for those hoping to see the film one day, it is probably a lot better than nothing.
Deadline said today,
[Gibson's] Icon label is developing an epic period Viking film that Gibson will direct, and which his Braveheart writer Randall Wallace has just turned in a second script draft. And Gibson and Joe Eszterhas are writing for Warner Bros an epic drama about Jewish warrior Judah Maccabee, who teamed with his father and four brothers to lead the Jewish revolt against the Greek-Syrian armies that had conquered Judea in the second century B.C. Gibson will likely direct that film as well, which is also being produced through Icon.
We’ve heard more about the Judah Maccabee movie lately than the Viking one, especially thanks to the image of Gibson as an anti-semite. But it is the Viking film that I’m a lot more curious to see. I don’t know if this new second draft is the second draft by Wallace, or if he rewrote the draft that William Monahan worked on some time ago.
Regardless, Pathfinder didn’t come close to satisfying as a film about the ancient warriors, and while there have been good Viking films (I’m one of the people who really digs Refn’s Valhalla Rising) none are quite along the lines of what Gibson has promised:
I want a Viking to scare you. I don’t want a Viking to say, “I’m going to die with a sword in my hand.” I don’t want to hear that. It pulls the rug out from under you. I want to see somebody who I have never seen before speaking low guttural German who scares the living shit out of me coming up to my house. What is that like? What would that have been like?
Leonardo DiCaprio was once attached to appear in the Viking film, but that seems unlikely at this point. We’ll update again if more info arrives.
Reese Witherspoon’s MTV First: ‘This Means War’ Begins Now!
by MTV Movies Team on Jan.31, 2012, under Stuff We Like
Ladies and gentlemen, there's no need to fight each other over quality time with Reese Witherspoon. You can all enjoy a nice, long interview with the Oscar winning actress right here, right now, on MTV First: This Means War!
Starting at 7:56 P.M. EST, tune into MTV as our very own Josh Horowitz chats it up with Witherspoon. We'll be debuting an exclusive new clip from the Valentine's Day rom-com, as well as a 30-minute chat that'll take place right here on MTV.com. Reese will tell you all about her upcoming spy movie opposite Tom Hardy and Chris Pine, and that's not all; she'll also spill the beans on everything you ever wanted to know about her days getting started in Hollywood, who she believes is her all-time hardest working costar (spoiler: he's a vampire and he loves elephants), and much more. It all starts tonight, so tune in now!
Joe Carnahan Says His ‘Death Wish’ Remake Will Star Frank Grillo, Set in a ‘Drive’/’Collateral’-Style Los Angeles
by Peter Sciretta on Jan.31, 2012, under Stuff We Like
Yesterday it was announced that Joe Carnahan would write and direct a remake of the 1974 revenge classic Death Wish. Today, Carnahan has confirmed the report, and clarified his vision on the new film.
Carnahan tweeted the following:
Guys. I’m doing ‘Death Wish.’ But this version is a re-imagining of the book and set in present day Los Angeles. The L.A. of ‘Collateral.’ It’s on buses, cabs, metro trains. I want to show an unseen version of L.A. L.A. on foot. Prowling. Hunting. The vast emptiness of downtown. … Refn did a phenomenal job shooting L.A. It took on a different dimension. That’s the key. … The only role I’m writing in ‘Death Wish’ which will mark the ONE time I’ve ever written exclusively for an actor, will be for @FrankGrillo.
Grillo was last featured in Carnahan’s The Grey, and had roles in Warrior, Minority Report, and the television series The Gates. Carnahan also says that he isn’t dropping Killing Pablo, as the movie is still happening:
‘Pablo’ is basically greenlit guys. That one isn’t going anywhere. Promise.
You can read Russ Fischer’s initial report here.
(From Russ: One thing Pete didn’t mention is that this series has done LA in the past, as Death Wish 2 saw Paul Kersey relocated to sunny California. That doesn’t really mean anything in the context of what Carnahan is doing, but it is useful trivia.)
