Welcome to The Extras! A daily dose of all the smaller movie related news, clips and just plain cool stuff that you might have missed!
- This bootleg DVD cover for HBO’s True Detective may just be the most honest and accurate representation of the show you will ever see. Full frontal action!
- Funnyman John Cleese is not a fan of grit. Especially when said grit is applied to a franchise he stars in – as in the James Bond movie in which he played gadget-man Q – and said application is only done to appease those pesky action loving Asians.
“I did two James Bond movies, and then I believe that they decided that the tone they needed was that of the Bourne action movies, which are very gritty and humourless.
“Also the big money was coming from Asia, from the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, where the audiences go to watch the action sequences, and that’s why in my opinion the action sequences go on for too long, and it’s a fundamental flaw. The audiences in Asia are not going for the subtle British humour or the class jokes.”
- Poster of the day: Hannibal
- Did you know that Colin Farrell suffers from a rare medical condition that forces him to always stare at corners? It’s totally true, and there’s lots of evidence to support it.
- After (un)comfortably stepping into Noomi Rapace’s spiky leather shoes in the remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, it’s clear that Rooney Mara has no problem with tackling difficult material. And difficult material is exactly what she’ll be facing in A House in the Sky, which despite the name is the very opposite of a sequel to Up! The film is an adaptation of the memoirs of Amanda Lindhout who in 2008 was abducted by rebel terrorists in Mogadishu, Somalia and held captive for 460 days, during which times she was starved, kept in chains and physically abused.
- It’s the TV series intro mashup that you never asked for, but you’re getting away! I give you, the Game of Brady Bunch Thrones!
- Ever heard of Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return? Probably not. You really should though, but for all the wrong reasons. The CG-animated film – which boasts a respectable voice cast that includes Lea Michele,Patrick Stewart, Kelsey Grammer and Hugh Dancy – is a sort of of sequel to Frank L. Baum’s Wizard of Oz, and is based on a book written by Baum’s great-grandson. All of that sounds pretty good, until you hear that when the film – which reportedly had a budget of $70 million – opened in the US last month, it set the record for the worst wide release opening for an animated movie of all time. Just a month later, it has already been pulled from cinemas, having made only $8.8 million.
But that’s unfortunately not where this tale of woe ends, as an in-depth investigative report from The Wrap has uncovered all kinds of shady facts about just how the film was financed, which including misreporting of its budget, and how producers lined their pockets while investors – made up many private and uninformed citizens – could lose a collective $100 million on the flop.
- We’ve just glimpsed him in the trailers so far, but here’s the first real clear look at Guardians of the Galaxy’s Lee Pace as the villainous Ronan the Accuser. Ronan the Accuser? More like Ronan the Recycler of Tyres, amirite?!
- So, you may have heard that Seth Rogen and James Franco made a rather silly looking comedy called The Interview, in which the duo play two goofball TV men roped into a CIA plot to assassinate North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Know who’s not to happy about it? North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un. Did I say he’s not happy about it? I meant to say that he has promised, via a spokesperson, “a strong and merciless countermeasure” if the United States administration promoted the movie in any way, and that North Korea considers The Interview to be “the most undisguised terrorism and a war action”.
Here’s Rogen’s appropriate response:
People don’t usually wanna kill me for one of my movies until after they’ve paid 12 bucks for it. Hiyooooo!!!
— Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) June 25, 2014
- I recently learnt that a “panther” is the term given to a sort of anti-cougar, i.e. a young woman who goes after older men. I have no idea what that says about the news that Ben Kingsley will be voicing the panther Bagheera in director Jon Favreau’s upcoming live-action Jungle Book, but that was the only lead-in to this story that I could think of.
- If Disney is known for two things, it has to be casually racist movies that were best left to be swept under the rug and some rather ace musicals. That being said, when the original Star Wars films receive an eventual remake, I do hope they contain an ounce of musical talent like this fan effort for Star Wars: The Musical.
If you have anything you would like to contribute to Extras, whether it be interesting stories, funny videos, or artistic photos of yourself in morally questionable poses, feel free to drop a mail to kervyn@themovies.co.za.
Last Updated: June 26, 2014
