Warner Brothers Developing ‘Elfquest’ Movie

Warner Brothers and Rawson Thurber are developing Elfquest, a fantasy movie based on the cult comic by Wendy and Richard Pini, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Thurber (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story) will write, direct and produce the feature, whose format is undetermined.

The original comic, which the Pinis initially self-published starting in 1978, follows a tribe of elves known as the Wolfriders in their attempts to survive and link with other dispersed elves on an Earth-like planet with two moons while on the lookout for tribes of humans and trolls, both of which acted as allies and enemies.

The series–which at certain points in its history was published by both Marvel and DC Comics–attracted a more mature audience as it went along, with scenes of battles and sexuality that were intense for that time.

Source: SciFi Wire

Video: Hellboy vs Chuck

I gotta hand it to Ron Perlman.  Not only does he endure the grueling hours of applying makeup in order to film his scenes, he’s also been doing  it for a group of advertisements promoting Hellboy 2.  Check out this video clip of him and Chuck bonding over a videogame…

Batman’s Bale Says No To Robin

BATMAN star CHRISTIAN BALE has declared he will quit the comic book movie franchise if producers ever decide to reintroduce the caped crusader’s sidekick ROBIN.  Bale took on the role of the legendary action hero in 2005’s Batman Begins and will be seen again in The Dark Knight, which is due for release later this month (Jul08).

But the actor is hoping that the character of Robin is not brought back into any of future Batman movies - because he will resign in protest.  He says, “If Robin crops up in one of the new Batman films, I’ll be chaining myself up somewhere and refusing to go to work.”

Source: ContactMusic.com

The Dark Knight Is Fandango’s Fastest Seller

The Dark Knight is Fastest Fandango Seller of Summer

Seth Rogen Talks ‘Green Hornet’

Rogen Explains Why He’s Hornet

Seth Rogen told reporters that he and writing partner Evan Goldberg are putting the final touches on a proposed Green Hornet movie and confirmed that he will play the title character.

“I will, yeah,” Rogen said in a group interview in Los Angeles over the weekend while promoting his upcoming stoner comedy The Pineapple Express. “Don’t say it like that,” Rogen added, with his trademark snicker in response to the reporter?s tone.

Rogen promised that the movie, based on the ’30s radio serial and subsequent TV series, will be packed with action. But fans of Rogen’s Judd Apatow comedies, such as Knocked Up, may be in for a rude awakening if they expect the same brand of lewd humor in The Green Hornet.

“We have not hit many situations where you’re like, you know, ‘What would make this scene better?’ If Kato said c–ksucker? That hasn’t come up many times,” Rogen joked.

Still, many fans may be left scratching their heads at the notion that the guys who did Superbad are making a Green Hornet movie. Rogen offered this explanation: “To us, it was just this funny notion that, when you say Green Hornet to someone, the first thing they say is, ‘Hey, Bruce Lee played Kato in that show.’ We really wanted to make this hero-sidekick movie. … For years we’d really been trying to write a movie that was kind of about a hero and his sidekick. When we heard the Green Hornet movie was up for grabs, we thought that could be the perfect way to do this story, because he is the only hero whose sidekick is more known than he is. We thought it would be a good way to tell this relationship story and just do a big crazy action movie.”

He expected less trouble getting the action and violence of Green Hornet past the Motion Picture Association of America’s ratings board than he’s had with Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which was recently tagged with the dreaded NC-17.

“Luckily, the MPAA decided that violence is fine,” Rogen said. “When you’re doing an action movie, you can really have as much violence as you want. I’d say, action-wise, we’ve been able to do everything that we could have ever wanted.” –Jeff Otto

Source: SciFi Wire

Zack Snyder In The Editing Room With Watchmen

Got this from Sci-Fi Wire this morning.  I hope this means that the DVD will be loaded with extras. - JR

Zack Snyder, director of the upcoming Watchmen, told SCI FI Wire that he is currently in the process of editing down the first director’s cut of the film, which currently runs about three hours long.

“It’s impossible,” Snyder said in an interview at the Saturn Awards in Universal City, Calif., on June 24, where he was honored as best director for his film 300.

Snyder added: “The balancing act for me is, you want the movie as tight as possible for, I don’t know why, I guess so people can enjoy it. But for me, the hardest part is just, when is it not Watchmen anymore? I don’t think that’s a danger, but it’s a thing that I am trying to be the gatekeeper of while other forces conspire to say, ‘No. Length, length, length. Playability.’ Whatever the hell that means.”

Based on the seminal graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Watchmen is a faithful film adaptation that reproduces many of the original panels in exacting detail. Snyder said that he has been going back and forth with the studio, Warner Brothers, about which scenes should be cut and which ones should remain.

“I’ve lost perspective on that now, because to me, the honest truth is I geek out on little stuff now as much as anybody,” Snyder said. “Like, people will go, ‘We’ve got to cut. You don’t need that shot of Hollis Mason’s garage sign.’ And I’m like, ‘What are you talking about? Of course you do. Are you crazy? How will people enjoy the movie without s–t like that in it?’ So it’s hard for me. I think it’s probably good, because I think we’re going to end up with that stuff in the movie.”

Snyder also said that he’s looking forward to showing the film to true comic-book fans at Comic-Con International in San Diego this July.

“Everyone who [made] the movie, loves the movie,” he said. “I’ve never been around so many people that just took the book [so seriously]. It’s like a yearbook. Like, on the set, at the end of the shoot, we all would sign each other’s Watchmen copies. And we had Dave Gibbons in there, too, and he would draw on our books, and it was just sick cool. And so then you come back from that experience, and you go to the studio, and the studio’s cool, don’t get me wrong, but they don’t love it like we do. Right? It’s like just a movie, like, ‘Oh, we have this movie, Watchmen, and it’s f–king long.’ Like, ‘What are these superheroes? They look crazy.’ So you have that experience. So for me, right now, I’m in the middle of that. So for me to go to Comic-Con is to get a chance to go back to people that love it.”

Watchmen is scheduled for release on March 6, 2009. –Cindy White

Source: Sci Fi Wire

Quentin Tarantino Talks Inglorious Bastards

Source: ComingSoon.net

Mummy’s Fraser Thrilled To Return To Franchise

Brendan Fraser, who reprises the role of adventurer Rick O’Connell in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, told SCI FI Wire that he was thrilled to return to the franchise after seven years away.

“I missed playing Rick,” Fraser said in an interview. “He’s a lot of fun, and he gets in a lot of trouble, and then out of it somehow. He gets bashed up along the way, but always gets back up. It’s like a running joke of the reluctant hero that always has to dispatch the undead–’What did I do to deserve this?!’” the actor said with a laugh.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor takes place in 1946 as the O’Connell clan comes together to fight a new mummy threat from the East. Alex O’Connell (now played by Luke Ford) accidentally awakens the evil mummy Emperor Han of China (Jet Li) and the terra cotta army of Xi’an. With their previous undead expertise, Rick and Evelyn O’Connell (Maria Bello, stepping in for Rachel Weisz) race to China to save the day. “I get the tar knocked out of me by Jet Li,” Fraser said about what his character faces in the sequel. “So I trained. I went to this Krav Maga [Israeli martial arts] training center with [trainer] Junior Merkle. It’s all about finishing moves, scary stuff. It toughened me up a bit. And I worked with different weapons. … I wanted to get my hands on them so I don’t look like a guy with a prop.”

Despite the long stretch between the last sequel, The Mummy Returns, and this latest installment, Fraser said he thinks fans will embrace the series again. Rob Cohen directs.

“I think it might be better than the first two,” Fraser said. “I’m really hopeful. Is it wishful thinking? I think it has a lot more to offer by way of a movie-going experience than the first two. I think, also, it’s because seven years have gone by, and another generation has come of age, if you will.” The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor opens Aug. 1. –Tara Bennett

Source

An Interview With Screenwriter J Michael Straczynski

AMCTV.COM has a great interview with J Michael Straczynski and among other things talks about the Silver Surfer, Zombies, and Lensmen…

J Michael Straczynski’s screenplay for Changeling, directed by Clint Eastwood, wowed audiences at Cannes, but don’t expect this writer to rest on any laurels. The creator of the hit series Babylon 5 has projects coming out faster than the speed of light, but took time out to talk to AMCtv.com about them.

Q: Did your work on Silver Surfer: Requiem comic bring about the offer to write the Silver Surfer movie?

A: It was one of those weird synchronicities. Whether or not it ever gets made I don’t know because they were kind of disappointed in how Fantastic Four 2 did. And given how this will be a subset of FF2 in terms of the marketing strategy, I think there is hesitation there about putting it forward. The script is pretty good, I like it, but whether or not it goes into production, I have no idea.

Q: Does this pick up where Silver Surfer left off in Fantastic Four 2?

A: I was writing it as FF2 was about to come out, and the theory was for it to pick up literally the next frame after the FF2 movie, where you find out why Silver Surfer was there and what happened to him. We would have seen Galactus, his home world, what happened and him trying to get back there, because now that he’s betrayed Galactus, he’s concerned his home world might be in jeopardy.

Read the rest of the interview HERE.

Stan Winston 1946-2008 R.I.P.

F/X Maestro Winston Is Dead

Hollywood special-effects maestro Stan Winston–whose company was best known for creating creatures for the Terminator films, Jurassic Park and this year’s Iron Man–died June 15 after a long fight against cancer, the Associated Press reported. He was 62.

The Oscar-winning visual effects artist died at his home surrounded by family after a seven-year struggle with multiple myeloma, according to a representative from Stan Winston Studio, the AP reported.

Winston won visual effects Oscars for 1986’s Aliens, 1992’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day and 1993’s Jurassic Park.

Winston is survived by his wife, Karen; a son, daughter, brother and four grandchildren.

Source

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