January 2008 News Archive (Page 3)

IGN recently conducted an interview with Michael G. Wilson, producer of Quantum of Solace. Here are highlights:

How do you find your villains in the modern world?
Michael G. Wilson: There are plenty of villains to go around. With the last one, we were thinking about terrorism in the sense of people who finance it. So we dealt with it a bit there. Basically, an hour after the last film ended, this film starts, and it continues where that left off, with Bond's story.

Was it easier to find villains in the days of the Cold War?
Wilson: Well there might have been bad Russians, but they weren't representative of the Russian people. Cubby was always careful not to take on those political issues because I think they foresaw the day when we could release in Russia, and Russia's becoming one of our big markets now. I think if you're in the entertainment industry, you aren't out to make any enemies.

Can you talk a little bit about where you will be shooting?
Wilson: We go from London to Panama, Peru, Northern Chile, Italy and Austria, then we are back here again. So we have the travelling circus going a lot of places this time.

Read the full interview with Wilson now.

Julia Roberts, who most recently appeared on the big screen opposite Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War, has chosen a new project.

The actress will produce and star in a film version of Margot Berwin's upcoming novel Hothouse Flowers for Sony's Columbia Pictures.

The book - and planned movie - tells the story of a newly divorced woman who is dissatisfied with her job at a Manhattan ad agency and heads off on an adventure. Roberts, naturally, will play the divorcee. No release date has been set.

Due to Heath Ledger's tragic passing, The Dark Knight is receiving even more attention than before. If that's even possible.

With that in mind, a new poster for the film has been released. Here's a look:

Here are a couple of new Nim's Island movie picture featuring Jodie Foster and Abigai Breslin (Gerard Butler also stars).

Thanks to Wiki for this plot summary of the film: Nim (Breslin) is a young girl who imagines an island to be magical, basing its mystic nature on the experiences of her favorite fictional character, Alex Rover (Butler).

When Nim's father (also played by Butler) goes missing on the island, Nim teams up with Alexandra (Foster), the author of the Alex Rover books and Rover himself.

Nim's Island hits theaters on Friday, April 4.

Check out a futuristic-looking Will Smith in Hancock.

In the movie, the actor portrays an alcoholic superhero who has seen better days. A publicist (Jason Bateman) helps rehabilitate him, but the character eventually begins an affair with the publicist's wife (Charlize Theron). Follow all that?

Hancock rolls out in theaters on July 2.

Channing Tatum has landed the lead role of Duke in the upcoming G.I. Joe movie, which is st for release on August 7, 2009.

Tatum will be joining Sienna Miller, Ray Park, Rachel Nichols, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Said Taghmaoui, Marlon Wayans and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the cast for the film.

The movie, based on the Hasbro property, is set to start shooting next month in Los Angeles.

Mortgan Spurlock is a hot name once again.

The film maker - who made himself famous for eating nothing but McDonald's for a month for the documentary Super Size Me - is a hit at the Sundance Film Festival. That's where his movie Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden? premiered.

The director chatted about it with MTV News:

MTV: You have possibly the most talked-about film at Sundance '08. Give us the basic plot in your own words.
Morgan Spurlock: I travel all over the Middle East looking for the most wanted man on the planet.

MTV: We remember your saint of a girlfriend from Super Size Me, and she's now your spouse. What does she say when you come up with these life-threatening concepts?
Spurlock: She was really unhappy about this movie. Especially because, right before I left, she told me she was pregnant. So about two months into preproduction for this movie, she said, "I'm going to have a baby," and that changes your whole outlook on making a film like this.

We talked about it ... for me, what the movie became wasn't why [we haven't] found Osama bin Laden but what creates an Osama to begin with. What kind of world am I about to bring a kid into?

MTV: A lot of the fun in this movie comes with the graphics you use to make it look like a video game.
Spurlock: Yeah, I love documentaries, but so many of them go down like medicine. So this ... is something you can watch and have fun [with] and eat popcorn during.

I'm a product of the '80s video game generation, where we went through the Atari 2600, ColecoVision, into Nintendo, all the way up to the Xbox 360, [which] we have in our house here in Park City. I thought that would be a great thing to incorporate to help tell a story.

Read the full interview with Spurlock now.

Speed Racer, which opens on May 9, is targeting a G rating, reports Comingsoon.net and Variety. Need proof? Just check out the marketing deals the studio has lined up as promotional partners.

"You have to open big," producer Joel Silver said of Speed Racer says. "You have to let them know you're out there. The only way to make a lot of noise is to have people shout from the rooftops. ('Speed Racer') was an opportunity to do something we've never done before."

The marketing line-up includes:

- General Mills stamping Speed Racer imagery on packaging of its cereals and other brands like Betty Crocker cookie mixes, Old El Paso Mexican foods and Fruit Gushers.

- LEGO creating four playsets based around the film.

- Target, which rarely does film promotions, coming aboard as the pic's official retail partner and, in addition to in-store ads and circulars, offering a gift card that enables consumers to access exclusive footage from the film;

- Puma designing Speed Racer-themed shoes;

- McDonald's offering separate Happy Meals for boys and girls.

Having just featured an interview with How She Move Star, Tre Armstrong, we figure it was time to focus on the movie itself.

How are critics reacting to the MTV production? Here are a few viewpoints...

- The story itself is a hodgepodge of devices, conceits and half-baked motives, but amid the dissing and the dancing are affecting moments, usually quieter ones, between people at war who shouldn't be. -- The Washington Post

- It's a little bit earnest, it's a little bit afterschool-special-y, but its young newcomer cast is highly appealing, its spirit is honest and affecting. -- Flick Filosopher

- A grittier, slightly more real-world version of movies like Step Up, Stomp the Yard, and Save the Last Dance. -- The Boston Globe

- Honestly, this is a carbon copy of every other 'gotta dance' flick ever made, down to the cheesy emcees who host the big dance-off (it's in Detroit!) and the wannabe heart-tugging conclusion. -- The Detroit News

Tre Armstrong has starred in a number of dancing movies over the years: Honey, Shall We Dance?, and Save the Last Dance 2.

Now, though, Armstrong has a chance to show off her acting chops and dancing chops in the new film How She Move. It comes out today. The choreographer/actress recently spoke about the project with MovieWeb:

Can you tell me a little bit about the casting process on this film?
Tre Armstrong: It was a fun process. I was contacted by Stephanie Gorin, the casting director for this film. She asked me to hold an audition myself, and choreograph the routine. So I did that. I decided to put myself on the tape. I figured, "What the Hell?" Stephanie saw the tape and said, "Great." She wanted me to come in for the role.

So they had you choreograph your own moves for the audition. Did they have you bring some of those original moves into the actual film itself?
Tre Armstrong: I didn't really bring my own moves into this film, per se. Only because we had such a wickedly amazing and talent choreographer already by the name of Hi-Hat. I had previously worked with her before on the Missy Elliot tour, as well as some other projects.

I felt it disrespectful to change what she already had planned out for us. What I would do is, in the film, when they had us acting out certain movements, I would add my own personality to that. And Hi-Hat is such a wicked person. She is so easy to get along with. Once she saw what I was doing, if it fit the mood, she had no problem with it.

Read the full interview with Armstrong now.