‘New Moon’ Stars To Appear At Comic-Con

FROM HOLLYWOOD CRUSH: If you live in the San Diego area, we suggest you buy some ear plugs, stat. Variety is reporting that “New Moon” stars Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner will appear at Comic-Con 2009 this week to promote the “Twilight” sequel. Cue the squealing teens!

Fans have been speculating for months whether the Saga’s stars would turn up for the event, with keen interest focused on RPattz who is in the middle of filming “Remember Me” in New York City. According to the report, Robert, Kristen and Taylor will participate in an off-site press conference Thursday morning and will attend a Hall H panel later in the afternoon at the San Diego Convention Center. (View an entire Comic-Con schedule of events here.)

Source

‘Twilight: Eclipse’ Selects First New Cast Member - Xavier Samuel

Looks like the Twilight series is looking to launch one more career. Empire writes that Australian actor Xavier Samuel will join the cast of Eclipse, the third movie in the series due out in June 2010, playing Riley, “a newborn vampire…instrumental in an evil plot to kill” our heroine, Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart).

Odds are, you don’t know very much about Xavier Samuel, and unless you’ve seen movies like Newcastle and September, the odds are even slighter. It’s a notable casting choice, though, because Samuel is the first new face to join the cast of Eclipse, which will go in front of cameras later this summer.

As you know, Summit really, really, really wants to cash in now on the Twilight movies, so they’re rushing - perhaps too much - to get parts two and three in production and in theaters. New Moon opens a year to the weekend that Twilight opened to hordes of screaming fans. Eclipse follows about seven months later.

Source

‘Twilight’ Saga ‘Spinoff’ Possibilities Explored

FROM HOLLYWOOD CRUSH: Though the blood has barely dried on the set of “Twilight” sequel “New Moon,” talks are now turning toward the future of the saga once the final installment, “Breaking Dawn,” debuts on the big screen. More specifically, producers may be eying a spin-off.

Radar caught up with “Twilight” producers Wyck Godfrey and Greg Mooradian at the 36th Annual Vision Awards, where the duo said there could be more bloodsucking action to come. “Stay tuned. I think if our movies do as well as the first did all possibilities are out there. But right now we need to finish what we have and finish Stephenie’s vision as best we can and then let’s see where the audience demands us to go from there.”

Source

Blade Prequel Featuring the ‘Deacon Frost’ Character?

And here I thought the Blade franchise was dead in the water after Blade Trinity’s abysmal failure. Stephen Dorff, who played the villain Deacon Frost in the first film, mentioned to the Sunday Mail last year that a prequel trilogy spearheaded by Blade director Stephen Norrington was in the works:

It will be a prequel to the Blade movies, Deacon’s story. It’s a new trilogy the director has created. It will be cool. We hope to shoot the first film next year. Frost is a character I have never been able to shake.

Without further confirmation from Norrington, we’ve pretty much treated the news as rumor, but today he admitted to Comics2Film that a prequel film is indeed in the works (as soon as he finishes his Crow reboot). Norrington mentions that the project isn’t exactly like Dorff described, but it’s close. He goes on to say that it “has evolved into a very interesting story,” and that “the linkage to Blade is still big in the equation.”

Norrington has had it tough since the first Blade in 1998. He went on to direct The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, an experience that turned him off of the movie making business for several years. His remake of The Crow will be his first project since 2003. Dorff has appeared in various roles since Blade, but nothing has been as successful with mainstream viewers.

While this project is in such early stages that it could probably fall apart at any moment, it’s an interesting prospect. Norrington managed to turn what could have been a throwaway comic adaptation into a memorable action film that also helped jump start the comic book film frenzy.  I’m not the only fan that came away soured by Blade Trinity, and this sounds like a good chance to reboot the franchise. I don’t suspect we’ll see much of Wesley Snipes, though given Blade’s connection to Frost I wouldn’t be if we see the character in child or teenage form.

Discuss: Do you care at all about more entries in the Blade franchise? Is Deacon Frost interesting enough to have his own prequel trilogy?

Source

‘Twilight’ Actor Michael Welch Talks About ‘New Moon’

FROM MTV.COM: It’s a beloved moment in the “New Moon” novel, a rare moment of comic relief as Bella Swan attempts to get over her Edward Cullen-induced heartbreak by going on what becomes a three-way date with the love-struck Jacob Black and Mike Newton. Recently, actor Michael Welch made big news by assuring Twilighters that the scene would be in November’s “Twilight” sequel — and now, we’ve got the scoop on the key tweak masterminded by director Chris Weitz.

“I really should’ve checked with someone if this is information I can give away or not,” grinned Welch, the fan favorite who plays puppy dog-like Mike Newton in the blockbuster series. “But, whatever — here we are.”

Welch stopped by the MTV studios to discuss such far-ranging topics as his concern for Robert Pattinson’s safety and the “three-way date,” a scene that has Bella, Mike and Jacob at a movie theater, watching a horror film. But, in the grand tradition of such films as “The Player,” “Bowfinger” and “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” director Weitz is inserting his own mini “movie within a movie” into the mix.

Source

Trailer For Vampire Flick ‘Daybreakers’ Has Arrived

What? More vampires? Yep, but these aren’t the dreamboat kind that glisten in the Pacific Northwest sun, nor are they tortured but emotionally open Scandinavian bloodsuckers. These are the genuine article.

The movie Daybreakers certainly doesn’t look like Twilight or Let the Right One In. In fact, in the world created by the Spierig brothers (Michael and Peter), the vampires aren’t the outcasts hiding from the rest of society. It’s the other way around. So yeah, that’s a new wrinkle.

A new trailer has premiered for Daybreakers, which stars Ethan Hawke as a human researcher working to reverse the plague that has turned most of his race into accident lawyers…I mean vampires. Common mistake… Read more

Jackson Rathbone (Jasper Hale) Talks ‘Twilight: New Moon’

Jackson Rathbone, who plays vampire Jasper Hale in The Twilight Saga: New Moon, told reporters that he and the cast of the upcoming sequel are feeling the weight of the franchise’s popularity more. Oh, and he really does get hurled into a piano.

"We have a bigger budget, and we have a little bit more pressure to keep that [indie] feeling going," Rathbone said in a group interview Tuesday on the Pennsylvania set of his upcoming film The Last Airbender. "But the nice thing is that we are delving more into the story now of New Moon.

But I will say that Twilight is my favorite, because it takes you into this realm, from reality into this fantasy reality, and it makes that fantasy more real. As the films progress, you get deeper into the mythical world that we are establishing, with the werewolves and what the actual vampire society and legacy is with the Volturi."

Source

Michael Sheen Talks About ‘New Moon’ And Director Chris Weitz

There’s this little vampire movie coming out in November called “New Moon.” Perhaps you’ve heard of it? Among the new characters joining the series is Aro, one of three leaders of the Volturi coven, the largest organized group of vampires in Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” universe. Michael Sheen (”Underworld: Rise of the Lycans,” “Frost/Nixon,” “Blood Diamond”) is the one stepping into Aro’s shoes for the silver screen adaptation of “New Moon,” and Empire recently had an opportunity to chat with him about it.

From the sound of things, Sheen enjoyed his time on the “New Moon” set. “It was great to work with Chris Weitz; it was a really funny set, really relaxed,” the actor told Empire. His part in “New Moon” is admittedly a small one, but Sheen spoke hopefully about working with Weitz again. “That might be the thing that I direct, I don’t know yet, you never know.”

He goes on to talk about his impressions of both his character and the “young, beautiful” cast that he worked with. It’s a brief interview, but enlightening stuff if you’re a “Twilight” fan. Which I’m guessing that a few of you are.

Are you familiar with Sheen’s other work? Excited about seeing the “Underworld” lycan reinvent himself in a “Twilight” vampire role? What might this directing project be that he speaks of?

Source

‘The Twilight Saga - Eclipse’ Sends Out Casting Call

FROM MTV.COM: While we only just debuted the first trailer for “New Moon,” the second film in the “Twilight” franchise, it’s never too early to turn our attention to the third adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s vampire books, “Eclipse.” And turn our attention we must, because casting for the June 2010 movie is currently under way.

E! Online reports that a casting notice has gone out for at least three “Eclipse” characters: vampire Riley and two siblings in the Quileute tribe of werewolves, Seth and Leah Clearwater.

According to the casting notice, Riley "is a handsome, blond, clean-cut college boy who falls victim to [vampire] Victoria." The character is in his early to mid-20s and "plays an integral role in Victoria’s attempt to murder Bella Swan."

For the Clearwater siblings, filmmakers are looking for Native American or First Nations (Canadian Indian) actors. Seth is said to idolize fellow werewolf Jacob Black and to be a "tall, gangly limbed boy with a huge, happy grin," the notice explained.

Leah is 19-years-old and the only female member of the wolf pack. "She is tall and slender with beautiful skin and short cropped black hair," the notice said. "She would be considered gorgeous if not for the perpetual scowl she carries due to a broken heart and her anger issues."

Stars Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are already set to reprise their roles in "Eclipse." Shooting on the film is slated to begin in August, with David Slade ("30 Days of Night") taking over directing duties from "New Moon" helmer Chris Weitz.

Source

The Twilight Saga: New Moon Movie Trailer Is Here

In conjunction with the MTV Movie Awards, which are pushing the series like mad, the full trailer for The Twilight Saga: New Moon has debuted online at MySpace. This is the first good look we’ve had at the work being done by director Chris Weitz (The Golden Compass, About A Boy) who took over after Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke departed the franchise.

The clip opens with the sort of drama between Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) and Bella (Kristen Stewart) that is the lifeblood of this ’saga’ before moving on to some classic human/vampire conflict and a look at werewolves as envisioned by this series. Watch the embed and get more details after the jump.

This trailer promises more of what we saw in the first film: highly emotional, arguably over-dramatic supernatural stories made to appeal to the young romantic in everyone. That formula didn’t work for me the first time, and this doesn’t instill much hope that anything will be different in round two, especially given what this trailer displays with respect to werewolves. There just aren’t many good werewolf movies out there, and if this example — Taylor Lautner’s character undergoing a CGI change from man to wolf over just a few frames of film — is what we’re going to get across the board, then I’ll pin my lycanthropic hopes elsewhere.

I did get a laugh out of the trailer’s conflict between Jasper Hale and Bella. Why? Because Jackson Rathbone, who plays Hale, has evidently been cast in Lords of Chaos as Varg Vikernes, a legendary Norwegian black metal musician who was just released from jail after serving 16 years for burning churches and murdering another musician [via ScreenDaily]. Casting a Twilight actor as one of the most notorious figures in the musical underground is great. It gives fans of the series something odd to discover, and is the final punishment for a man who’s done some truly horrible things.

Read more

Next Page »