Much of the rumor-mill has had Ralph Fiennes pegged to play Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Skyfall.
While he doesn't spill the beans, Fiennes offered one hint to The Daily Record seemingly null and voiding those visions of him sporting a bald head and stroking a white cat (Even if he was playing Blofeld, we can all agree it would have been a different design for Bond's arch-nemesis. Less-than-informed, younger movie-goers would be under the misguided impression Blofeld was a Dr. Evil knock-off):
"I'm allowed to say that I'm a government agent."
No, leave that info-divulging to Movie Web who claim to have received word from an Eon-based mole filling in the blanks towards Fiennes' on-screen identity:
"Ralph Fiennes play's a government agent, which we never get a name on, because he is set to play the new M."
In a twist that plays against the logic of simply offing Judi Dench's M and thus giving Daniel Craig's 007 a character-arc in Skyfall, the site adds the thrust of the plot involves a past action of M coming back to haunt her resulting in MI6 putting a new M in charge.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo wasn't the money-magnet Sony spent all that dough hyping it up to be. As everything goes back to normal as this week progresses including the box-office, Sony is left standing in the aftermath of Dragon Tattoo's underwhelming intake.
Like every other studio backed in a corner (of their own doing), they're swearing The Girl Who Played with Fire will still commence as planned to EW:
"[Dragon Tattoo] continues to do strong business and nothing has changed with respect to development of the next book."
They go as far to reiterate old information (dating back to before Dragon Tattoo opened) to "prove" everything is still a go, i.e. Steven Zaillian, the high-dollar, Oscar-winning scribe is adapting Stieg Larsson's second Millennium trilogy novel and stars Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig contractually bound for follow-up films. Also re-confirmed is the iffy subject matter of whether or not David Fincher will return to direct.
It's too soon to close the book on this however. Dragon Tattoo has barely opened in the foreign territories (where it was always going to make its bread-and-butter). So it's possible we haven't seen the last of Mara as Lisbeth Salander. Just don't take the word of this update. It's nothing more than Sony trying to save face.
If you're a theater geek like me, 2012 started with a couple of theatrical goodbyes.
First up: after approximately 345 performances - and having not missed a single one - Daniel Radcliffe hung up his bowtie for good as he played his final performance as J. Pierrepont Finch in the revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying yesterday. One would think after playing the same character in a movie series for ten years, the last thing any young actor would want to do was spend nearly a year singing and dancing through eight grueling performances a week in a 50-year-old Broadway musical, but Radcliffe did it so well that by the end of the first song you forgot he was ever Harry Potter:
In addition to Radcliffe, his co-star John Larroquette (who won a Tony Award for his role as boss JB Biggley) also played his final performance yesterday. Having grown up watching him as Dan Fielding on Night Court, he was as much fun to watch on stage as Radcliffe was. You can watch a shaky-phone-cam version of Radcliffe's goodbye speech from the show yesterday here.
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying will continue performances tomorrow with Glee's Darren Criss taking over the role of J. Pierrepont Finch (for three weeks only - Nick Jonas takes over after that) and Beau Bridges in the role of JB Biggley.
The other Broadway departure yesterday was Hugh Jackman, who ended the 10-week run of his one-man show Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway. The show (which happened as a result of the Wolverine sequel being postponed yet again), was a mix of Broadway showtunes, classic standards, a mini-revival of The Boy From Oz, a jaw-droppingly amazing medley of movie musical songs, some hilarious audience interaction, and a simply beautiful Aussie-flavored version of "Over the Rainbow", complete with didgeridoo players and Aboriginal singers.
In short, it was awesome. I saw it twice:
It's also worth noting that all of these guys did some amazing charity work during their stage runs. During their two fundraising drives for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, How to Succeed raised a combined total of $597,851 from selling autographed posters and programs and holding nightly post-performance auctions of Radcliffe's show-worn bowtie.
Jackman's show only played during the fall fundraising drive for BC/EFA, yet he still managed to raise a record-breaking $1,789,580. How the hell did he manage to do that? By not only selling the usual autographed posters, programs and photo ops backstage, but also by auctioning off the sweaty undershirts he wore during the show. I saw two of the shirts go for $13,500 at one of the shows I saw. No, I didn't bid on them. But the auction was fun (and a little frightening) to watch.
And it's always good to know these movie star guys can do some major kickass stuff when they hit the stage as well.
Among the names most associated with having played Darth Vader: David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Sebastian Shaw and Hayden Christensen, one name is often strangely left out when discussing the making of the Star Wars films, and that name would be Bob Anderson. The reason it's so strange is that while Prowse had the imposing height, Jones had the terrifying voice, and Shaw and Christensen had the whole Anakin Skywalker thing going on, Anderson played Vader during some of his coolest scenes: when he had to handle a lightsaber.
Anderson, who died yesterday at the age of 89, was a fencing master who competed for Britain in the 1952 Olympics (he tied for 5th place in a sabre event). That same year, he coached Errol Flynn for his swordfighting scenes in The Master of Ballantrae. He joined the Star Wars saga during the filming of The Empire Strikes Back to double for David Prowse in some of the more complicated lightsaber fighting scenes...even though there was a slight height difference between the two actors. Anderson played Vader during most of the lightsaber scenes in both Empire and Return of the Jedi.
Out of respect for Prowse's performance, George Lucas decided to keep Anderson's involvment in the films a secret...which lasted until Mark Hamill gave Anderson due credit for his lightsaber badassery during an interview with Starlog Magazine in 1983:
"Bob Anderson was the man who actually did Vader's fighting. It was always supposed to be a secret, but I finally told George I didn't think it was fair any more. Bob worked so bloody hard that he deserves some recognition. It's ridiculous to preserve the myth that it's all done by one man."
After Return of the Jedi, Anderson continued to have a long and incredibly impressive career. Other films he worked on included The Princess Bride, Die Another Day (his James Bond history goes back further than that - he also worked with Sean Connery on From Russia With Love), First Knight, The Mask of Zorro, The Three Musketeers (1993), Highlander, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, The Legend of Zorro, as well as all three Lord of the Rings films. He also worked on the upcoming big-screen version of The Hobbit.
In the 2009 documentary Reclaiming the Blade, Viggo Mortensen recalls working with Anderson on the fight scenes for Lord of the Rings:
His passing is definitely a huge loss for swashbuckling movie fans everywhere, but his work will certainly not be forgotten anytime soon. Rest in peace, Bob. And thanks again to Mark Hamill for making sure we all knew who was in the first place.
Besides hopefully missing the tourist madness that hit the Orlando theme park area during the holidays last week, anyone visiting Universal Orlando today got the opportunity to say goodbye to a classic attraction, as Jaws sailed its last Amity tour. Based, of course, on the 1975 Steven Spielberg film, the Jaws ride took guests on a guided boat tour through the shark-infested waters of the film's island town of Amity.
The attraction opened along with the park in 1990...and then promptly closed for nearly three years due to major technical issues that led to the ride being almost completely redesigned. However, once the revamped version was up and running, it became those classic rides that you had to check out right after you finished riding Back to the Future and the Mummy rollercoaster.
To commemorate the closing of Jaws, fans and Universal team members took the chance to share their favorite memories:
I loved the Jaws ride. Yes, it was cheesy and scripted. Yes, the shark looked fake (and that didn't stop me from screaming out loud when that damn thing popped up right next to my side of the boat once). But it was fun, it was freaking Jaws, and you have to love any "tour" that involves your tour guide firing a fake shotgun at a fake shark:
I don't think I want to know how many Jaws fans ended their final spin on the ride today yelling "EAT THIS, YOU SON OF A BITCH!", although I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen when rides close at Disney World.
So what's replacing Jaws? Universal hasn't officially said yet, but it's assumed at this point that Amity (the ride and the whole boardwalk-themed section around it) is making room for more Harry Potter stuff. Plans that leaked this weekend on Theme Park Insider show designs for a Diagon Alley-type land, compete with a rollercoaster/simulator ride based on the Gringotts bank vault scene from Deathly Hallows Part 2. It's also rumored that Universal will be building a Platform 9-3/4, where guests will be able to board a Hogwarts Express that will take them to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter over at Universal's Islands of Adventure.
But here's the really clever part: the two parks, Universal and Islands of Adventure, require separate admission, so in order to see all of this Harry Potter awesomeness, you'll need to buy tickets to both parks. So...that will end the days of people just buying tickets to Islands of Adventure to see the Harry Potter stuff. Slick, Universal. Genius, but slick.
As far as Jaws fans, they join Back to the Future and Kongfrontation fans forever in mourning over their favorite theme park rides at Universal's closing time today. There is a little light at the end of the tunnel though...we are getting a blu-ray edition of the original Jaws film in August.
Having worked in New York for the last fifteen years, I can totally believe that this probably really happened...especially since I once saw a guy in Times Square try to sell a bootleg VHS copy of Titanic to Victor Garber (who was, of course, inTitanic) back when that was still in theaters. See, scalpers may have lots of popular stuff available to sell, but that doesn't mean they always know what it is.
While plugging his one-man show Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway during the PBS show Theater Talk, Hugh Jackman and host Michael Riedel discussed the scarcity of tickets to the show's limited run. This I can also believe, since when I recently tried (and succeeded!) to get a standing room ticket to the show, I watched the guy in front of me at the box office casually shell out $351 apiece for six tickets, two of which weren't even located together, because was that was all they had left.
So obviously this show has been a cash cow for scalpers and ticket brokers. And apparently, even Hugh hasn't been able to avoid them either:
That's pretty funny. If you missed Theater Talk - and keep in mind, even in the NY area this thing airs at 1:30 in the morning, so everyone missed Theater Talk - you can watch the whole show here. There's some good stuff at the end about the upcoming Les Miserables movie, which is set to start shooting in March.
Hugh Jackman's one-man show ends its Broadway run on Sunday. And if you'd like to see it, you better go find that scalper, because even those $351 tickets at the box office are gone by now.
The LA Times Hero Complex was blessed with a little face time across from the talented and lovely Anne Hathaway. The actress talked shop on The Dark Knight Rises and you can read some juicy details on Selina Kyle's (Catwoman) alliance with the behemoth terrorist known as Bane.
Once you read the scene below you wonder if it occurs during the raid of Wayne Manor which sounds like it is ripped straight from the pages of what I believe is Batman #497.
Gotham City is a war zone. A ruthless madman named Bane has ripped away any sense of security and the citizens, haggard and clutching suitcases with refugee anxiety, sit behind barbed wire waiting to see what will blow up next. A hooded prisoner is dragged in – it’s Bruce Wayne, one of Gotham’s most famous faces – but the eyes of the crowd go instead to the woman in black standing at the top of the staircase.
“Sorry to spoil things, boys, but Bane needs these guys himself,” says sultry Selina Kyle, played here by actress Anne Hathaway, navigating the steps with stiletto heels that, on closer inspection, turn out to have serrated edges capable of leaving nasty claw marks in a fight. She also wears high-tech goggles that, when not in use, flip up and resemble feline ears.
On The Catwoman Costume:
“I love the costume. I love the costume because everything has a purpose, nothing is in place for fantasy’s sake, and that’s the case with everything in Christopher Nolan’s Gotham City.”
On Nolan's Portrayal Of Gotham:
“Gotham City is full of grace. You look at Heath’s performance as the Joker, there was a lot of madness there but there was also a grace and he had a code there. There’s a lot of belief and codes of behavior in Gotham and my character has one, too. A lot of the way she moves and interacts with people is informed by her worldview. Chris has given us all such complex, defined, sophisticated worldviews that it’s just a matter of doing your homework and getting underneath the character’s skin.”
On The Comics:
“I really got into the comics after I was cast and I like that when she made her first appearance she meets Bruce Wayne and says ‘Let go of me or I’ll claw your eyes out,’ and he says, ‘Careful, claws in or papa spank.' So I’m glad we’ve come a long way since then. I’m not saying anything against Bob Kane, though.”
On Hedy Lamarr Being The Inspiration For Catwoman:
“I know this sounds odd, but her breathing is extraordinary. She takes these long, deep, languid breaths and exhales slowly. There’s a shot of her in [the 1933 film] ‘Ecstasy’ exhaling a cigarette and I took probably five breaths during her one exhale. So I started working on my breathing a lot.”
On What Came Before:
“What’s come before doesn’t limit or even affect this new version. It doesn’t affect me because each Catwoman – and this is true in the comics as well – she is defined by the context of the Gotham City created around her. Catwoman is so influenced by Gotham and whoever is creating Gotham at the time. Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman was informed by Tim Burton’s Gotham and Eartha Kitt was informed by Adam West’s Gotham. You have to live in whatever the reality of the world is and whatever Gotham is.”
Well, someone had to do it. Fans of outrageously bad movies are about to get an extra holiday present as Manos: The Hands of Fate, easily the worst horror film ever written, produced, directed, and starring a fertilizer salesman from Texas, is getting prepped for a non-awaited digital restoration for an eventual blu-ray release, courtesy of a fan (sadist?) named Benjamin Solovey.
For those not familiar with the legend that is Manos, here's a quick history course:
-Released in 1966, Manos really was written, produced, and directed by a Texas fertilizer salesman, Harold P. Warren, who also stars in the film. Warren made the movie based on a bet that anyone could put together a film. While he won the bet that anyone could make a film, the lesson learned from Manos was that not everyone should.
-The story involves a family on vacation who takes a wrong turn and drives straight into a hotel overrun by a cult. Unfortunately, almost no one involved in the film had actually worked on a film before...which means the movie itself was overrun by such electrifying moments as this:
-That stuttering doorman, Torgo, played by John Reynolds, was meant to be a satyr-type creature complete with hooves. Unfortunately, the rigging in his costume to give him this appearance just left him looking like he'd shoved something down his pants and he stumbled around the screen for no apparent reason. Reynolds actually committed suicide the same year Manos was released, although it was reportedly not because of his performance in the film.
-The title character, Manos, actually wears a robe adorned with giant hands. He appears to reside somewhere in the backyard with his legion of wives. In one scene, the wives break into a full-out brawl that goes on for most of the rest of the film.
-The film features several scenes of a couple making out in a car. They have nothing to do with the story and we never figure out why they're there. To add insult to injury, a clapboard is visible at the start of one of their makeout scenes.
-Because the movie was filmed with a 16mm camera that could only film 32 seconds at a time without sound, the editing is horrendous and the actors were dubbed over by the same four people in post-production. This led to scenes where two-person conversations were voiced by the same person, and the little six-year-old daughter having the voice of an adult woman.
-"Manos", of course, does mean "hands" in Spanish. So you could translate the title to "Hands: The Hands of Fate".
Needless to say, the film's release was short-lived. After a disasterous El Paso premiere during which the audience members that didn't walk out within the first twenty minutes stayed to laugh at the ridiculousness on screen, the movie lingered at some local drive-ins before fading into obscurity...where it remained until Mystery Science Theater 3000 spoofed the movie in 1993.
Thanks to MST3K, Manos has gone on to achieve the cult-status is enjoys today amongst bad-movie afficianados. It's also made watching the movie a lot less of a painful chore:
So, getting back to the whole digital-restoration thing, who is this Benjamin Solovey guy, who feels some desperate need to restore this film? According to Fangoria, he's a professional cameraman who collects old 16mm prints. He somehow got his hands on two copies of the 16mm edition of Manos, including the original workprint. Granted, the film does look like hell (MST3K's Joel Hodgson was right on when he described every frame looking "like someone's last known photograph")...but considering how bad the movie is, the poor picture quality seemed like the least of its problems.
Looking over some samples of the restoration on Solovey's site, the work he's done so far is actually pretty impressive. Almost as scary is seeing how he's already gone more than $6000 over the needed funds he's asking to help restore Manos to digital glory.
Solovey's plan is to ultimately make prints available to reperatory houses and even release a blu-ray edition. Although why anyone would want a non-MST3K version of this film, I'll never know.
But if you're a fan...it looks like it just might be happening!
This movie continues to look creepy as hell. Daniel Radcliffe stars in The Woman in Black, a gothic horror film about a young lawyer who travels to an English village that is being menaced by what appears to be a clearly unhappy spirit. You can check out the latest TV spot here:
So...yikes. The Woman in Black opens in theaters on February 3rd. As part of the promotional machine, Daniel Radcliffe will be hosting Saturday Night Live on January 14. He's set to finish his Broadway run in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on Sunday, so you still have a few more days to catch him in that...you know, if the ghost story/horror movie setting isn't really your thing.
The movie stars Taylor Kitsch as Hopper, a Naval officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones; Brooklyn Decker as Sam, a physical therapist and Hopper's fiancée; Alexander Skarsgård as Hopper's older brother, Commanding Officer Stone of the USS Samson; Rihanna as Lt. Raikes, Hopper's crewmate and a weapons specialist on the USS John Paul Jones; and international superstar Liam Neeson as Hopper and Stone's superior (and Sam's father), Admiral Shane.
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Tue, January 3, 2012 
