Kurt Russell Exits Django Unchained

Indeed, Mr. Petty. Waiting is the hardest part.

Got word late last week of Kurt Russell walking off (!?!) the set of Django Unchained. As I twiddled my thumbs waiting for back-up confirmation, what should happen but Variety's Jeff Sneider tweeted the following last night:

"EXCLUSIVE: First KEVIN COSTNER, and now KURT RUSSELL has EXITED the cast of QT's DJANGO UNCHAINED. No reason given or replacement named..."

Well played, Sir. Sigh.

Unfortunate turn of events as Russell, for the second time playing back-up for Quentin Tarantino after Mickey Rourke exited Death Proof and Costner, proved a great fit for Tarantino's way with words and his love of cult cinema from yesteryear. You know the thought of having Snake Plissken (or specifically John Carpenter's Elvis) was too much to resist. He won't be recast however as AICN says his role will be "absorbed" into another part filled by Walton Goggins.

Russell's not the only casualty. Sacha Baron Cohen also left, but his part was basically a cameo; no harm, no foul.

Tom Cruise Will Rock The IMAX

Have you been hoping against hope that one day you'd get to see Tom Cruise singing 80s hair metal on an IMAX screen?  No, me neither.  But we will be getting the chance to do that anyway, since Rock of Ages will now be getting a limited engagement at IMAX theaters when it's released on June 15, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Based on the Broadway musical whose score completely consists of 80s rock music, Rock of Ages takes place at LA's The Bourbon, a Sunset Strip nightclub facing foreclosure thanks to angry religious group led by Catherine Zeta-Jones (in the show, it was a German developer who wanted to tear it down to build a strip mall).  So the club's owners, played by Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand, recruit Cruise's egomaniac rocker Stacee Jaxx, lead singer of the band Arsenal, to play their final concert at The Bourbon to try and save the club.  And lunacy ensues.

This will be Cruise's first time singing onscreen (besides that scene from Top Gun), and his songs in the movie, which Rock of Ages music producer Adam Anders swears have not been auto-tuned, will include Guns N' Roses' "Paradise City", Bon Jovi's "Wanted: Dead or Alive", and Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me".   You can hear a little of his Bon Jovi in the latest trailer:

IMAX or not, I am looking forward to this.  The Broadway version was crazy fun (and being a child of the 80s, the music could do no wrong by me), and director Adam Shankman did a great job with the movie version of Hairspray a few years ago, so he's definitely the right guy to take on Rock of Ages.

Whether or not I bring along the little pen-light lighter they gave us at the show to the movie remains to be seen.

The World's End is Next for Edgar Wright

Be honest.

If you had to pick Edgar Wright's next, did you really want it to be Night Stalker, where Johnny Depp would jackass his way through another weirdo-cum-hero, or Ant-Man, and have follow the guidelines of whatever Kevin Feige ordered? Nah, of course you didn't (Neither project is dead!)

After Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, best thing for the brilliant, yet-to-breakthrough-to-the-masses (Its coming) British director was to get back in a room with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and get The World's End, the "Blood & Ice-Cream Trilogy" capper, going. "TOLDJA" reports its next, filming starts in September for a spring 2013 release, and here's the official synopsis:

"20 years after attempting an epic pub crawl, five childhood friends reunite when one of them becomes hell bent on trying the drinking marathon again. They are convinced to stage an encore by mate Gary King, a 40-year old man trapped at the cigarette end of his teens, who drags his reluctant pals to their home town and once again attempts to reach the fabled pub, The World’s End. As they attempt to reconcile the past and present, they realize the real struggle is for the future, not just theirs but humankind’s. Reaching The World’s End is the least of their worries."

Gangster Squad Trailer Shows Promise

The trailer for Gangster Squad is good, not great.

Josh Brolin full-on leading man, swagger and all (We'd be talking about him as one of the great movie-stars were we living in the 40s), Sean Penn displaying equal charm and menace as Mickey Cohen, Nick Nolte still unintelligible and Ruben Fleischer playing with new toys, not a trace of Zombieland or 30 Minutes of Less. I'd say something about Ryan Gosling, but hard to get a gauge.

Copsters and gangsters in Hollywood? Bring it.

"Resident Evil: Retribution" Poster

In "Retribution," the Umbrella Corporation’s deadly T-virus continues to ravage the Earth, transforming the global population into legions of the flesh eating Undead. The human race’s last and only hope, Alice (Jovovich), awakens in the heart of Umbrella's most clandestine operations facility and unveils more of her mysterious past as she delves further into the complex. Without a safe haven, Alice continues to hunt those responsible for the outbreak; a chase that takes her from Tokyo to New York, Washington, D.C. and Moscow, culminating in a mind-blowing revelation that will force her to rethink everything that she once thought to be true. Aided by newfound allies and familiar friends, Alice must fight to survive long enough to escape a hostile world on the brink of oblivion. The countdown has begun.

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New Poster For Judd Apatow's "This Is 40"

Writer/director/producer Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Funny People) brings audiences This Is 40, an original comedy that expands upon the story of Pete (Paul Rudd) and Debbie (Leslie Mann) from the blockbuster hit Knocked Up as we see firsthand how they are dealing with their current state of life.

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Kick-Ass 2 Is For Real This Time, We Swear!

Us in the common sense department knew not to take stock in Kick-Ass 2 talk. Since it originated from renowned bullshit-spreader Kick-Ass creator Mark Millar, a guy you could fill this screen, and as a result waste time of your life, with the crap he intentionally spread for the sake of publicity. Fool me once me shame on you, fool me twice shame on me, fool me thrice please put duck-tape over your mouth!

Days ago, co-creator John Romita Jr. told fans Kick-Ass 2 was real, deals done for the returning (Read: surviving) cast and filming would hence forth go in the summer for May 2013, via Bleeding Cool. Romita's a gentleman not known rattling the cages with nonsense. That still didn't convince anyone it was really real this time.

Well, it is.

Per "TOLDJA," Universal is backing the sequel with deals underway for Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Matthew Vaughn isn’t direct, but you knew that since he’s committed to the X-Men: First Class sequel. Instead Jeff Wadlow (of Cry Wolf) will command ship this time. Production might (Key word here) commence as soon as August, presumably after Moretz wraps on the Carrie remake she's headlining.

See, kids? A broken is right twice a day... or once every couple of years. Just don't start using it as your source for time!

Least-Shocking Announcement Ever - The Avengers 2 Coming

More box-office records remain to be shattered and only five days in business screening at a rate seemingly 24/7, The Avengers is doing amazing business. Everyone knew it'd make serious coin but $208 million in its three days stateside? Anyone to claim they saw that coming is merely a fanboy pretending to know box-office.

Nonetheless, hard to find anyone not enjoying Joss Whedon's superhero epic team-up. Even if you didn't know they were already planning it, after these numbers, The Avengers 2 was gonna happen. Minutes ago Disney big-cheese Bob Iger announced just that.

Will Whedon return to direct (and take credit for writing the whole script, when he knows he didn't)? Will all of Earth's Mightiest Heroes get a second helping of Shawarma? Will it be a straight-up adaptation of The Infinity Gauntlet? Time will tell. Further announcements will be made. But don't get all antsy waiting for more. Enjoy what you got in front of you right now, true believers.

Argo Trailer - Proof Ben Affleck the Director Is Here to Stay

There isn't anything about Argo not to love.

Ben Affleck, third time in the director's chair, shows he's getting more ambitious and as a result more confident in his craft. Often the butt of jokes (I particularly remember Family Guy lampooning him getting wasted while Matt Damon did the work writing Good Will Hunting), witnessing his turn as a filmmaker is a joy. He always had it in the acting department, no matter what the cynics say, but who know he'd grow into such a skilled writer/director?

The subject matter (the US and Canada posing as a fake movie crew to rescue diplomats during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis) is bizarre as it is compelling and balancing drama and comedy is a tough act. But again, Affleck's displaying the confidence to pull it off. And casting John Goodman as John Chambers (behind the makeup of Planet of the Apes) and Michael Parks as Jack Kirby is icing on the cake.

Open Road Films To Distribute "Ten", Schwarzenegger To Star

Open Road Films has acquired all U.S.distribution rights to Ten, an action thriller starring screen legend Arnold Schwarzenegger, to be directed by David Ayer and financed by QED International.  The announcement was made today by Tom Ortenberg, CEO of Open Road Films and Bill Block, CEO of QED International.

Schwarzenegger, who is currently filming The Tomb will appear in The Expendables 2, being released in August, and stars in The Last Stand which will be released in January 2013.

The project re-teams Open Road Films and filmmaker David Ayer, whose latest film, End Of Watch, will be released by Open Road on September 28, 2012.

The original screenplay for Ten is by Skip Woods (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, A Good Day To Die Hard).  David Ayer is helming the film.  Bill Block, Paul Hanson, Joe Roth, Palak Patel and Al Ruddy will serve as producers.  Alex Ott of Ayer’s Crave Films is executive producer.

In Ten, an elite DEA task force deals with the world’s deadliest drug cartels. Specializing in complex mobile operations, the team executes a tactical raid on a cartel safe house. What looks to be a typical raid turns out to be an elaborate theft operation, pre-planned by the DEA squad. After hiding millions in stolen cash, the team believes their secret is safe – until someone begins assassinating them one by one.

"I am really excited about this project and the team that's come together," said Schwarzenegger.  "David Ayer is incredibly talented and exactly what I want for a story this compelling."

Ayer stated, "This is going to be an amazing role for Arnold.  Reality is the watchword of this project and an exciting cast is in the works. I couldn't be more excited as a filmmaker to work with one of my longtime heroes."

"We are thrilled to be working with a world class movie-star like Arnold Schwarzenegger and to continue to be in business with the extraordinarily talented David Ayer," stated Ortenberg.  "And we could not be more pleased to be doing another picture with our friend and partner Bill Block."

Block stated, "We've put together a real dream team on Ten.  Arnold has been a longtime friend and bringing him together with a provocative filmmaker like David Ayer as well as Tom Ortenberg and his talented team at Open Road is a win for all of us."

David Ayer’s writing credits include 2001 hit film Training Day, which earned an Academy Award® for Denzel Washington, as well as scripts for The Fast And The Furious, S.W.A.T. and U-571.  He also wrote and directed Street Kings and Harsh Times. Ayer most recently directed End Of Watch, which stars Academy Award® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña as young Los Angeles police officers as they patrol the city’s meanest streets of south central Los Angeles.  Giving the story a gripping, first-person immediacy, the action unfolds through footage from the handheld HD cameras of the police officers, gang members, surveillance cameras, and citizens caught in the line of fire to create a riveting portrait of the city’s most dangerous corners, the cops who risk their lives there every day, and the price they and their families are forced to pay. 

The deal was negotiated on behalf of Open Road Films by Ortenberg, General Counsel and Executive Vice President of Operations and Business Affairs, Elliott Kleinberg, and Senior Vice President of Acquisitions, Ben Cotner.  Bill Block, along with Paul Hanson and Chris Corabi, negotiated the deal on behalf of QED International.  Patrick Knapp at Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal negotiated on behalf of Schwarzenegger, along with Creative Artists Agency who negotiated on behalf of both Schwarzenegger and Ayer.