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!
Being World James Bond Day, we had to kick things off with something 007. One of my favourite scenes in Bond history has to be the underwater team deathmatch in Thunderball. Watching Sean Connery knocking other scuba divers out cold with underwater “Kung Fu” truly is something that I will never forget. And while I highly doubt Daniel Craig will be throwing aquatic judo chops anytime soon, Skyfall does have an underwater fight sequence and you can learn all about it here:
Keeping things 007 (which is probably going to happen a lot today) here’s Skyfall director Sam Mendes on how Bond’s legacy influenced his latest adventure, and how Mendes approached it as a director:
“There are definite echoes of other Bond movies – the Aston Martin DB5, the return of Q – and there are some that only the hardcore geeks will get! I hope they want to go on this adventure.”
“I wanted to make a great Bond movie… A great movie, full stop. I wanted to go back in tone, back to Ian Fleming. I didn’t want to make a movie in reaction to the last two movies. I wanted to make what I want to see when I see a Bond movie.”
The movie is still more than two months away from release but as expected an Extended Edition of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has been officially slated for the fourth quarter of 2013. As to what will actually be in the EE, that’s still a mystery seeing as I thought all the extra footage went towards, you know, making a whole other movie!
Like I said, expect a whole lot of Bond bombardment today, and here’s the next salvo in the form of the first officially released clip from Skyfall. It expands on that super cool cufflink scene in the trailer and is called “Digger vs Train”. And yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like: Bond fights a train with construction machinery!
Funnyman Sacha Baron-Cohen is reportedly looking to produce and star in a new comedy titled The Lesbian. Apparently the story will be based on recent reports of real life Hong Kong billionaire playboy Cecil Chao Sze-Tsung (who claims to have bedded over 10,000 women) who offered a reward of $65 million to any man who could win the heart of and marry his lesbian daughter, Gigi.
Legendary Entertainment have announced plans to adapt first time author Seth Patrick’s Reviver trilogy. No you didn’t read that wrong, the studio are going to make a movie based on the books of a guy who’s never really written anything else, before they even come out. That being said, it does have an intriguing premise:
Reviver is set in the USA and introduces readers to Jonah Miller, one of the world’s most gifted revivers. Revivers are those who can make contact with the dead and bring them back for a short period of time to say goodbye to loved ones or, more importantly for the police, tell them who their killers were.
But while reviving the victim of a brutal murder, Jonah discovers that a sinister presence is watching from the other side. When he starts to investigate, what he uncovers threatens everything he knows…
The first book is scheduled for release in May 2013.
Adam Brody has joined the cast of rom-com Baggage Claim, which follows unlucky in love (and names) thirty-something Montana Moore, who decides she’s fed up with being single and embarks on a 30 day, 30 000 miles cross-country barnstormer to meet a suitable suitor. The ranks of suitors include a preacher, a politician and a tycoon, but it’s unknown if Brody will play any of these roles. The film stars Paula Patton in the lead, and honestly, I hate to break it to you ladies, but if that bombshell can’t find a man, you normal girls don’t stand a chance. Well, at least that’s what Hollywood is teaching me.
Vintage obsessed site Retronaut have uploaded a marvelous picture gallery of the 1967 auditions held for the actor to replace Sean Connery as James Bond, after he was supposed to finish up with You Only Live Twice. Movie business newcomer George Lazenby (bottom right in the picture below) would eventually get the role but only keep it for one film, leaving due to feeling like he was marginalized by the producers because of his lack of experience, prompting Connery to return for one more film, Diamonds are Forever.
Warner Bros have revealed plans to convert MGM’s classic Wizard of Oz to 3D and give the film a theatrical re-release to mark its 75th anniversary in 2014. While I’m generally not a fan of 3D upconverting, I have to say that if WB don’t decide to keep the black and white Kansas sections of the film in 2D, and then only bringing in the 3D once the film hits Oz and goes technicolour, then they really are a bunch of idiots.
Speaking about Warner Bros, they have signed an agreement with Paramount Pictures that grants them the physical distribution rights of 600 Paramount catalogue titles, and will also make Paramount’s Ultraviolet catalogue (their mobile streaming service) available on WB’s much more popular film streaming service, Flixster. Warner Home Video president, Ron Sanders, offered this statement on the deal:
“These Paramount catalog titles are the perfect complement to the Warner Bros. library; they will allow us to offer consumers new multi-feature film packages and debut many titles on Blu-ray for the first time. The deal also adds a new energy to our Warner Archive Collection initiative, broadening the selection of rare titles available to consumers on demand.”
Michael Rooker, most recently seen playing racist zombie bait Merle in The Walking Dead, has worked with director James Gunn on both Slither and Super and now he wants to complete the hat-trick. By being a space raccoon in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, which Gunn will be directing.
“I’m really crazy busy with The Walking Dead right now. But you know what? Write this up. Tweet the f*ck out of it. If the fans want me as Rocket Raccoon, Marvel will listen to you guys, I think, sometimes. … Perhaps I will be lucky and blessed enough to go in there, and go at it with Mr. Gunn again, who knows?”
“He is a very loyal director. He is a very loyal writer, when it comes to working with people that he knows and loves. He really appreciates the efforts that each actor puts into these roles.”
Rooker’s gravelly voice could certainly lend an interesting slant to the gun loving anthropomorphic animal.
Jeez, lazy posters seem to be the name of the game this week. Yesterday there was the rather lame “actors just stand there” one for Broken City (it at least had a great trailer to back it up), and now we get the new international poster for Tom Cruise actioner Jack Reacher. And it’s just his face.
Iron Man 3 co-writer Drew Pearce has been given the task of polishing the script for Gareth “Monsters” Edwards’ new Godzilla film. Pearce will be the 4th writer to jump on the scaly lizard merry-go-round after David Callahan, Max Borenstein and David Goyer all had their turn.
Did you love Adele’s new theme song for Skyfall as much as I did? Think it’s one of the best in Bond’s 50-year history? Well, if you need material to compare it against then maybe you want to head on over to 007.com where they’ve released the first details on the new Best of Bond… James Bond 50-year Anniversary Soundtrack album.
And here’s the first look at the Jessica Biel, Scarlett Johansson and James D’Arcy in Hitchcock, courtesy of that bastion of journalism, People Magazine, and they are looking downright eerie in their resemblance to their real life counterparts. Yes, that is indeed Scar-Jo and not Janet Leigh in the top right corner.
If you’ve read my Taken 2 review earlier, then you may have seen my ire with the sanitization of the film. Well director Olivier Megaton had an interview over on Collider where he discussed all sort of aspects of the film, such as shooting difficulties, how he became involved and most importantly, revealed that he was indeed forced to censor the film’s action sequences to meet a PG-13 rating and draw in more numbers and that there will be an unrated, extended cut on the film’s Blu-Ray release. He also raises some very valid points about the MPAA and how their seems to be different rating standards for different filmmakers.
Samuel L Jackson and Dominic Cooper and set to headline the inde drama, Reasonable Doubt. Written by Flightplan scribe Peter Dowling and directed by Peter Howitt, the story follows “an assistant D.A. who prosecutes a fatal hit-and-run case with inconclusive evidence. As the man on trial is then acquitted, the assistant D.A. struggles to hunt him down.” At this point it’s unclear which role which actor would be be up for, but I’m Sam Jackson would be up for whichever role has more shouting lines.
We end off today with the very first video of JJ Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness. You’re probably wondering why such a momentous video hasn’t received its own story complete with puntastic headline, fireworks and a marching band led by one of the windup monkeys that smash the cymbals together. Well, check out the video below and you’ll completely understand.
Also, you may want to keep your finger poised on the pause button.
Last Updated: October 5, 2012
Rincethis
October 5, 2012 at 16:30
Ｉ want more star trek!
mornelithe
October 6, 2012 at 19:19
Kervyn – The MPAA is rife with examples of conflicting standards for their ratings. If you really want to find out more about them watch ‘This Film is Not Yet Rated’. A frightening glimpse into that cancerous group.