Welcome to The Extras – OSCARS 2015 EDITION! A daily dose of all the smaller movie related news, clips and just plain cool stuff that you might have missed!
- As mentioned above, this is the Oscars 2015 Edition of Extras as we wrap up some odds and ends from this morning’s awards show. And what better way to kick it off than with the Neil Patrick Harris’ funny musical number that kicked off that show?!
- As soon as I finished watching Kingsman for the first time, two things struck me: a) That must be the only movie in history dedicated to somebody’s mum that ends in butt sex, and b) newcomer Taron Egerton had just become a red hot star in Hollywood. And it seems Hollywood agrees, at least according to the grapevine as new rumours have pegged the young British actor as being the frontrunner to star in a Han Solo origin film for Lucasfilm. We’ve heard unsubstantiated rumblings about a young Han Solo spinoff for some time now, but what’s adding considerable fuel to this fire are a couple of tweets from Kingsman producer and original comic book creator Mark Millar, who either knows something we don’t or he’s just punting for his star to get the highly coveted gig.
Taron shot first. #justsayin
— Mark Millar (@mrmarkmillar) February 21, 2015
Okay, let’s get back to training, @TaronEgerton. Repeat after me: “Laugh it up, fuzzball”
— Mark Millar (@mrmarkmillar) February 23, 2015
- Speaking of Kingsman, in news that puts a GIGANTIC smile on my face, the movie opened in several global locations this weekend and pulled in huge numbers pushing its box office total past the $155 million mark. Looks like that talk of a possible sequel just started looking very likely.
- It looks like Idina Menzel has forgiven Glom Gazingo for him mangling her name at last year’s show. No word yet if she’s willing to do the same for his hands doing an uncanny impersonation of a facehugger in this year’s show! And let’s not forget ol Touchy-Feely Travolta’s red carpet faux pas with Scarlett Johannson.
- Whiplash is undoubtedly one of the best films of the year. JK Simmons picked an Oscar last night (to along with the film’s other two Oscars for Sound Mixing and Film Editing) for his ferocious performance for his turn as music teacher who puts Miles Teller’s young drummer through hell in order to force him into reaching his full potential. But what’s an even more impressive story is how virtually unknown 28-year old writer-director Damien Chazelle actually filmed the entire movie in just 19 days!! THR has the fascinating full write-up on the making of this incredible movie, detailing how the director managed to get the movie off the ground, how he had to give Teller drum lessons himself, how he had to keep shooting despite a concussion, how Whiplash is sort of Chazelle’s autobiography, and much more.
- Poster of the day: Stage Fright
- In the comics, even though he looks like he could be in 40’s, Wolverine is actually about 120 years old. He keeps his “youthful” appearance thanks to his incredible mutant healing factor, something that Hugh Jackman may need a huge dose of if his latest claim is to be true. The actor who has portrayed the X-Man on-screen six times already (7 if you count his First Class cameo) has mentioned in the past that he may want to hand over the claws to a younger, fitter actor at some point, but it looks like he’s changed his mind as he doesn’t just want to keep the gig forever, he also wants to keep looking better while doing it.
“I said to my wife, ‘The moral is that I should never stop playing Wolverine. I’ve got to find a way to keep playing him until I die.’ I know that someday they’ll recast the role with another actor…I’d be happy if the role was eventually recast. It would mean that it had become iconic.”
“I always want to be in better shape than I was for the last one. I don’t believe in stagnation. People say they try to maintain the status quo. But I believe the natural cycle means you’re either advancing and getting closer to something or you’re receding…Every time I play Wolverine I want to go further, physically and emotionally.”
- With all the people that get offed (and will get offed) on a regular basis on Game of Thrones, you would think that the show is all serious business. Clearly not, based on this blooper reel for the show’s fourth season.
- It was recently revealed, much to fans’ pleasant surprise, that Mission: Impossible 5 was being pushed forward a whopping 6 months because the production was going so good (and also to avoid Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ December release date). Proving that he is just not afraid of deadlines even if they get moved up half a year, writer-director Chris McQuarrie has reportedly halted the film’s production for a week so that he can rewrite its finale. There’s no need to get too concerned though, as apparently McQuarrie and star/producer Tom Cruise simply want to tweak the script to an even better place.
- First rule of the Fight Club comic book sequel: Don’t talk about the Fight Club comic book sequel. Unless it’s to mention that you can go read the first six pages of the official comic book sequel, penned by original author Chuck Palahniuk, online right now!
- The LEGO Movie’s “Everything Is Awesome” may have lost out to Selma‘s “Glory” for Best Original Song, but when it came to live musical performances at the event, it totally reigned supreme!
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: February 23, 2015
