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!
- Hey, guys! There’s some crazy guy in a boat who says that a giant man-eating shark is killing people in the bay! But the mayor says there’s nothing to worry about, and that I’m probably just imagining the giant chunk of flesh missing from my leg. Must’ve just bumped it really hard on the coffee table while I was sleepy, I guess. I mean these guys Between the Scenes know what I’m talking about.
- Production has officially wrapped on Fast and Furious 7. As you may know, the sequel was dealt a tragic blow when star Paul Walker passed away in a car accident right in the middle of the shooting schedule. Through a combination of CGI, Walker’s real life brothers acting as doubles and a whole lot of script reconfigurations, director James Wan was able to complete the movie while still honouring their fallen friend. And now that it’s over, the crew would like to share their feelings in this heartfelt note.
We made it.
Today we completed the last shot in the production of FAST & FURIOUS 7.
We wanted to take this moment to express how thankful we are for your support. We felt the love and strength from our fans throughout this journey, and it’s because of you that we got here.
There was a time when we didn’t know how we could go on, or even if we should. But we listened to you, and you inspired us not only to keep going but to try and make the best FAST & FURIOUS movie yet.
Our FAST family has been together for almost fifteen years now and has grown a lot in that time. From the start, Vin has been our leader who feels what’s right for FAST in his gut and in his heart. When we had to stop production last year, Vin gathered us back together and moved us forward when we needed it most. He led us to this day.
Some of us have been here from the very beginning. Vin, Michelle, Jordana and our producer Neal all go back to that first little movie we shot on the streets of LA. We came back to LA in FAST 7, and it was an especially emotional homecoming for those who’ve grown up with each other since that first shoot.
There are those we count as brothers who we gathered along the way and are with us again: Dwayne, Tyrese, Luda, Lucas and our writer, Chris. We’ve got some new additions this time in Jason, Kurt, Djimon, Nathalie and our director, James. Caleb and Cody joined us to honor their brother and help complete his work.
Our family is big and strong but it won’t ever quite be whole again without Paul.
All of us — those who’ve been here from the start and those whose first FAST film is 7 — wanted to create a special film for him and for you. We believe we have.
Thank you for being there for us. You are the biggest part of our family, and we couldn’t have gotten here without you. The countdown to April 3 begins.
With love,
Your FAST & FURIOUS Family
- Poster of the day: The Hunger Games
- We still don’t know much about the story and characters for the eagerly anticipated second of True Detective, except that the little bit we do know is probably all cow feces. But it looks like we may just have got our first whiff of who might be behind the camera for at least some of the episodes: William Friedkin. The Oscar winning director of such classics as The French Connection, The Exorcist and most recently Killer Joe (which starred recent True Detective star Matthew McConaughey) revealed to IndieWire that he’s thinking about helming a few episodes and has already begun speaking to the show’s creator.
“I am considering it. I like this writer [Nic Pizzolatto] very much. I’ve met him, and he’s the real deal as far as I’m concerned. Now, all the new seasons are different so I’m not committed—this new season has nothing to do with the last one. Except for him and his sensibility, which I think is extraordinary.”
“I’m… I can’t say much more at this time. But I’m a fan of his writing, even though this will not be a continuation of what was done before with [Matthew] McConaughey [with whom obviously Friedkin has a relationship after ‘Killer Joe’] and Woody Harrelson. So what you can say is I’m a huge fan of his writing, I’ve met with him, I like him, I like the direction he’s taking with this.”
- Today sees the release of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – WHICH YOU MUST SEE – so naturally we’re still going silly for simians around here, and thus this handy video, teaching you everything you need to know about the Planet of the Apes franchise, comes highly recommended.
- Before today, I had never heard of the movie Tanya’s Island. Oh, how I now wish for those much more innocent times.
- If you subscribe to every rumour around Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, then besides for Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor, the film should also be featuring about one hundred and eleventy one other villains. But apparently there’s room for one more, and he’s a doozie. Or Doomzie. According to Bleeding Cool, their sources claimed to have seen designs for Superman killing rampaging monster Doomsday, who will apparently be seen in the movie. No word on whether this is just a cameo or easter egg, if it turns out to be true, that is.
- The Bechdel Test is a very effective method of testing the legitimacy of a female character’s inclusion in a movie. Does she really add something to the story, or did the lame writers just include her as window dressing for her male counterparts. Unfortunately, times have changed and the Bechdel Test just isn’t going to cut it anymore. We need a whole bunch of new tests.
- After the game- and wardrobe-changing brilliance of The Matrix, the sequels were always going to pale in comparison. That being said, I’ve always felt that Matrix: Reloaded was decent enough though, doing its job as a middle-chapter setup movie really well (even if the setup didn’t quite pay off with Matrix: Revolutions, which not only contradicts it’s own mythos in places, but is essentially just one long action sequence). But apparently, I needed to pay more attention, as evidently there was a whole lot more wrong with it.
- So here’s what we know about Star Trek 3: After JJ Abrams swapped franchises to Star Wars: Episode VII, Roberto Orci (who penned and produced the previous two installments) was tapped to replace him and make his directorial debut, and Orci has indicated that the film will see the crew of the Enterprise off in deep space, acting out their 5-year exploration mission. Now here’s how much of that is definitely confirmed to be true: 0%
It seems that despite all the press reports and interviews and words directly out of the mouth of Roberto Orci, he actually hasn’t been officially hired to direct yet, nor has his proposed story actually been given the go ahead.
“Well, I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch. The studio has yet to even read the script. I’m in the middle of writing it, with the talented team of [John D.] Payne and [Patrick] McKay. They are true Star Trek fans, as well. So, I can’t even think anything about the future until I give them a script and they greenlight it. Until that happens, everything else is just a rumor.”
“If I’m lucky enough that Paramount loves the script and that we go forward, it’ll be because I have loved Star Trek for so long and the idea of having seen one of the best guys in the business direct two of them already, and to have seen it from the vantage point of a producer too, I know where a lot of the challenges are and where a lot of the fun is. If we’re lucky enough that everything goes right, then I’ll start to feel the pressure. Once it’s really happening, it’s like, ‘Oh, my God, the 50th anniversary! Holy, moly!’ As a writer, I feel the pressure as the returning screenwriter to this franchise. I feel it at the story level. I can’t speak for Payne and McKay, but they seem to be having a good time. They don’t look as nervous as I feel, but maybe they’re just good at hiding it.”
- Dear HBO, if you want to save a Hodor-sized pile of money on the next season of Game of Thrones, then just fire all the actors and replace each and every one of them with this guy and a good costume department.
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: July 11, 2014
