Extras! 28 January 2015

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!

• Have you seen the Fantastic Four trailer yet? I’m really digging what I’m seeing here, especially how instead of a straight-up superhero jaunt this looks more like a hardcore sci-fi movie. One specific hardcore sci-fi movie in particular: Chris Nolan’s Interstellar. And just to prove it, the internet – in bloody record time – have produced this mash-up trailer, and it’s incredible!

• “We can’t get Will Smith back? No problem! Just replace him with a white Australian guy half his age! Nobody will notice, right?!” I’m guessing that was some of the dialogue happening between director Roland Emmerich and 20th Century Fox that has led to the rumour that the lead role in the Independence Day sequel, ID Forever, has apparently been offered to Liam Hemsworth. I guess when you’re fighting off an alien invasion, having a thunder god as an older brother is a real bonus.

• Speaking of Will Smith, he’s been scheduled to get a concussion on Christmas. Hey, don’t look at me. I don’t know what tickles the fancy of these Hollywood sta– Oh wait. Oops, my bad. It’s actually the Will Smith led drama Concussion that is scheduled for release on December 25, 2015. The movie is the true story of “Dr. Bennet Omalu, the forensic neuropathologist who made the first discovery of football-related brain trauma in a pro player and fought to bring awareness to the public.”

• Poster of the day: Spaceballs

• Apple making more money than anybody ever who is not named Scrooge McDuck is not the only bit of good news related to the tech company today. Director Danny Boyle and writer Aaron Sorkin’s long-gestating, troubled biopic of Apple founder Steve Jobs has finally found an official title: Steve Jobs. Whoa, slow down now Danny and Aaron! No need to go so crazy with the names there! Along with that highly imaginative title, it’s also been confirmed that Michael Fassbender will in fact be the one bringing the late Jobs to life on screen again (somehow I get a feeling he doesn’t feel threatened by Ashton Kutcher’s portrayal of the Apple guru in jObs), while the rest of the cast –  Seth Rogen, Kate Winslet, Katherine Waterston, Jeff Daniels, Michael Stuhlbarg and Perla Haney-Jardine – have also been locked in. Shooting commences today with an early 2016 release date expected.

• British funnyman John Oliver has become one of the most powerful voices in entertainment with his show Last Week Tonight, in which he uses some seriously in-depth investigation to expose corruption, malpractices and more social ills with such accuracy and vigour that he’s caused US legislation to be altered in response to his program. The next episode of the brilliant show is only due next week, but Oliver has shot a special short segment to address a very pertinent and troubling topic: the Fifty Shades of Grey movie.

• Just in case you were concerned that the planned film adaptation of popular video game The Last of Us was suddenly going to pull a Super Mario Bros and introduce all kinds of outlandish stuff that wasn’t in the game, screenwriter Neil Druckmann (who is also actually the game’s director) is here to calm your fears. Sort of. Okay maybe not at all.

“(It’s) Pretty faithful to the game. There are some big changes, but the tone and what the story’s trying to say is pretty faithful to the game.”

Er… faithful but with big changes??

• Now we’re not endorsing alcohol abuse around here, but this Definitive Arrow Drinking Game sounds like a lot of drunk fun. Heavy – HEAVY – emphasis on the “drunk” part. I mean seriously, you’re going to be drunker than a South African judge barely halfway through an episode.

• Woah! I know more than kung fu!

• Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark is undoubtedly the no1. star of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and a guy that everybody just loves. But in Captain America: Civil War we see him going up against the other big star, Chris Evans’ poster boy Captain America. So how does Tony go from popular party guy to opposing a man whose honour is legendary? According to RDJ, it will happen naturally.

“It’s natural to change your views. The main thing to me is, what sort of incident could occur, and what sort of framework could we find Tony in? The clues about where we might find him next are in [Avengers: Age of Ultron\. But what would it take for Tony to completely turn around everything he’s stood for? Joss brings this up all the time. It’s kind of weird that these guys would have all these throw downs all over planet Earth and yet when the movie’s over, nobody minds. What would the American government do if this were real? Wouldn’t it be interesting to see Tony doing something you wouldn’t imagine?

I wouldn’t [say that Tony is the bad guy]. The biggest question is, for Chris and for Cap, how do we bring Cap to a place where people go, ‘Man, I never thought I would see such a vast change in Steve.’ After you see Snowpiercer, you’re like, ‘I want to see a little bit of that guy.’

• And staying with the Avengers… Look out, Guardians of the Galaxy! Because it appears that Star-Lord and the guys aren’t the only ones with a thing for dance-offs!

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: January 28, 2015