The TV series that launched Johnny Depp to stardom is being developed into a movie. Right now, Imdb.com is reporting that 21 Jump Street is due to hit the big screen in 2012. It’s been running into some problems, though, so who knows.

I remember enjoying the series as a teenager. It was a early hit show for Fox that ran from 1987 to 1991. It about a police squad that was put together to pose as teenagers in high schools and colleges. The officers are all young looking detectives.

It was a fun TV series that you couldn’t take too seriously because it was so unrealistic like the TV series Miami Vice. The cops dress well and work in nothing resembling a police station. Yet, it was fun to watch and I did watch it even after Johnny Depp left the show.

Sony Pictures is developing the movie. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are expected to direct this project. It is also expected to star Jonah Hill. Hill is also the executive producer. Michael Bacall is writing the screenplay.

If the movie does make its 2012 release date, it will be more than 20 years after the original series went off the air. High schools are much different places now. It will be interesting to see how the cops from Jump Street will infiltrate the gangs and cyber-criminals.

Today, Monday December 21st I spent the whole day in my pajamas decorating the Christmas tree and watching 21 Jump Street on DVD. It was nice getting to be home without any commitments to the point where I didn’t have to get dressed at all. IF YOU KNOW YOU HAVE A LOT OF COMMITMENTS IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS, TAKE A DAY TO DO NOTHING. You will appreciate the fact that you did it later in the week when you are busy. I know that this week I have at least one commitment every day from now until Saturday when Christmas is over. Which will be exciting and tiring and fun all at the same time. So many emotions! Time to get some shut eye to power up. Gotta get the battery recharged!

Ask the show’s cult-following, and fans of 21 Jump Street will tell you exactly what they think about the film-remake: Jonah Hill is making a mockery of the show. Kind of harsh, but judging by the lack of television-big screen adaptations, the odds are against him. Complex caught up with the Superbad actor to clarify some things on his spin of the 80’s program:

Yeah, if you look at the opening episode of 21 Jump Street, you see a man looking at a picture of a cop holding a little boy’s hand, and you hear a crazy saxophone solo, and you pan up and it’s Johnny Depp looking at the picture playing the crazy saxophone solo. [Laughs.] We’re not even spoofing the movie. It’s not strictly comedic, either. We’re doing a full-on action movie, blowing shit up.

Still doesn’t sell us.

Hopefully this will be better than the Miami Vice remake (which I actually liked), but the folks that made Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs are in talks to do a 21 Jump Street big screen remake. Looks like they’re pretty f’n serious about this cause Jonah Hill (yups, THAT Jonah Hill) is helping with the script/set to produce it.

Click for some 21 Jump Street action on Hulu.com

To Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the potential directors, I would like to formally submit my name for the role of Harry Truman Ioki. I am Vietnamese and I can grow my hair out. I can also wear blazers and look like a high school student. Please pick me. I’ll start re-watching 21 Jump Street episodes on Hulu now. I’ll be sure to skip the Richard Greco years…

AzN has always been a fan of Dustin Nguyen. He was the first Vietnamese American face I saw on TV and his roles in 21 Jump Street, Seaquest and, uhhhh, VIP are memorable to say the least. That is why I decided to start a series titled “What is Dustin Nguyen Up to These Days?” Or WIDNU2TD for short.

So what IS this baddass Vietnamese American mother-father up to these days you might ask? Some pretty big things. Riding the coattails of The Rebel, the DustMan is an international action movie star now, with movies based outta VN! His next movie? The Legend is Alive (or Huyền Thoại Bất Tử to my yietnamee folks)

The movie’s budget was a ridiculous (for VN) $580,000 production from sophomore director Luu Huynh.

“It’s another action/drama set in contemporary time,” said Dustin in an interview with Visual Communications, an advocacy group for Asian Pacific American media works. “I play a guy who was born a victim of Agent Orange and as a result, has the mental capacity of a ten-year old.”

Action plus commentary on the US’s international policies/war tactics and their effects on Viet Nam? hmmmm, muy interesante!

Stay tuned next time for info on the DustMan’s next big movie: Monk on Fire, his directorial debut.

And don’t forget to check out DustMan’s last movie/Vietnam’s first international hit movie: The Rebel, released in the US by The Weinstein Company’s Dragon Dynasty label (Netflix this ish, man!)

SKFJLSAJFKSJFSAFKS 21 Jump Street is on Hulu.

No more stealthy digging on Youtube.

Just in time for the Johnny Depp indoctrination of my Leprechaun friend, Meeeeeeenal.

The first three seasons of 21 Jump Street are on hulu.com It’s going to be a very merry holiday as I have 66 episodes to get through. I’m loving it.

Johnny Depp et moi

On ne peut pas être  fan que de stars féminines.  Autant j’aime Cameron Diaz autant j’aime Johnny Depp. Même s’il est vrai que l’exercice est plus facile quand il s’agit de s’identifier aux femmes, le contraire s’avère un peu périlleux. Mais on est fan ou on ne l’est pas!

Tout a commencé en 1987. Dès les premiers épisodes de 21 jump Street. Le mauvais garçon de cette série culte arborait dans la vraie vie un look de jeune premier. Ray ban sur le nez, sourire mystérieux. Mais il avait déjà donné la preuve qu’il serait un grand comédien. Un comédien qui s’implique dans ses rôles, qui les habite, un comédien qui joue pour gagner.

Comment je le sais? Une intuition. Un pressentiment de fan. Quelque chose que l’on partage avec un acteur en qui l’on croit.

J’aime Johnny Depp avec ce corps à la fois frêle et athlétique, avec la cigarette en moins tout de même. Les cheveux coupés très courts et cette frange qui ne le quitte pas. Complétement en marge de tous ces body buildés. Il plait dans sa simplicité et son naturel désarmant.

Comment réagit- on en voyant Johnny Depp dans cette chemise à rayures, légèrement ouverte sur ses pectoraux?

Fan toujours! Le langage des vêtements est très instructeur. Il est avide de liberté. Les cheveux ont pris un peu de longueur. Pas trop. Mais libres. Toujours une mèche égarée quelque part. Une chemise un peu grande pour son corps en mutation. Un regard franc et une bouche pleine de mystère.

Si j’ai pu détester les marcel un jour, avec lui tout paraissait à sa place. J’aimais les marcel de Johnny. Parce c’était lui; Ici nous retrouvons ses mèches. Les franges de révolté qui reviennent sans cesse. Il change constamment de look. Malgré le côté négligé, il y a de la recherche. Toujours ces chaînes, permanente contradiction du rebelle en quête de port d’attache. Johnny donnait l’impression du bad boy à la recherche de celle qui saura le dompter. J’adore ses tatouages.

Johnny est une personnalité versatile. Il est en perpétuelle transformation, exhibitioniste dans sa façon de varier son style. Pour une fois je n’adhère pas à celui-ci; mais c’est Johnny: chemise beaucoup trop protectrice. Il me parait inaccessible dans cet ensemble…

Un de ses looks que je préfère c’est le look destroy. Sans doute les années Kate Moss. J’adore cette mèche qui est là, encore et toujours. Oui, joue moi quelque chose de sweet Johnny!

Et si pour me détendre le soir, tu me jouais du piano??

Même si tu m’as effrayée parfois avec ton accoutrement de pirate des caraibes, je reste une fan inconditionnelle.

With love Johnny!!

Toutes les images sont de Cinema fluctuat

I think my 2nd All Freakin Night truly solidified my love for Olympia.  Drinking tepid rum and cokes out of Dasini bottles while leaning forward to throw trash off a 2nd floor balcony, all the time attempting to slur out a quip at a theater screen (as loud as fucking possible), which is playing a movie about space slugs that turn people into zombies; I even turned down taking mushrooms that night.  The funny thing is that there were at least four more movies afterwards.  What I’m trying to expertly transition into is my love for Night of The Creeps.

.

This is one of those movies I always saw sitting up on the rack at the local video/liquor store when I was a kid.  I’d go into the stagnant shop once a week with my Dad to rent a NES game and if I’d been good that week I could maybe get a movie too.  When my Dad would browse the “walk-in closet” sized section of ever so fine spirits (always coming out with rum) I could be found gawking at whatever creepy or crazy VHS caught my eyes.  Some of my favorites that I can still remember today are:  Dead Alive, Evil Dead 2, and Nightmare On Elm Street 3. Of course I was never allowed to rent any of these movies and probably didn’t see most of them until I was 18.  My Mom told me about seeing The Exorcist in theaters when my oldest brother Andrew was a toddler (he just turned 40).  The movie fucked with my Mom so bad that she sped home right when the end credits started to roll, convinced my brother was most likely speaking in tongues and telling the babysitter that his/her mother sucks cocks in Hell (he does love Motorhead).  Anyways, it makes sense that I wasn’t priviliged these gems as a child.

Sci-fi horror is the basis of many of my nightmares growing up.  Once Andrew blossomed into the old brother that wished to enlighten/terrify his uncultured sponge of a sibling, I found – very bluntly – the ingredients to being frightened via film.  Let’s all give a hand for John Carpenter at his cinematic raping of the senses: The Thing. Even to this day I can’t think of a movie that hucks bundles of dynamite at the caveman side of human nature as his remake did.  I know at some point in my youth Andrew threw on what would become a film that rests comfortably in my top ten favorites and I couldn’t shit right for a week.  No joke; my Dad had to sit in on all my bathroom endeavors for a bit because I was afraid of Charles Hannahan’s detached spider fuck-me-I-never-ever-wanna-see-that-thing-whether-in-real-or-fucking-Oz head.

Aliens is right there with The Thing when it comes to a movie that caused me to always run and jump on my bed when it was lights out.  How was I to know there wasn’t a facehugger under the box spring;  didn’t fuck about.  It also spawned my HATE for Paul Reiser even though I know Burke was just a character, but I don’t care.  Every time I watched Mad About You (don’t even ask me why, I don’t even know) I would stare at Reiser and think, “You lied to Ripley and so many good people were killed because of it.  I wish I could have punched you to death before that alien got you… prick.”  Guilty by association:  I hate Helen Hunt too.  Whatever, she sucks.

So when my parents would leave me home alone I’d dig through the pile of copied VHS tapes (my favorite had The Great Mouse Detective, Wayne’s World, and Addams Family on it) and usually end up with Aliens because The Thing disappeared once Andrew left for college.  Between the releases of these two sci-fi horror titans I was missing out on the teen/college equivalent:  Night of The Creeps.

Doofy college freshmen – whose best friend has polio – attempts to take out his dream girl for the formal, but of course zombie jocks/bros who are afflicted with space brain slugs derail the evening.  Solution?  A shotgun, flamethrower, revolver, lawnmower, and Tom Atkins.  I know for a fact I would have grown up to be a better person if I had this movie in my possession as a youngster.  I probably would have been nicer to people with disabilities too, but my parents insisted I play t-ball.  Thus it’s not my fault that I love Christopher Reeves jokes, but Mom and Dad’s.

Horror is the genre that I can’t get tired of and am always willing to watch.  If I wanna have trouble sleeping I’ll put on The Changeling (I’m actually a little uneasy right now just thinking about it) and keep thinking I see something just out of my peripherals.  How about bad people getting exactly what they deserve?  Then it’s Sleepaway Camp, just make sure no one spoils the ending for ya.  What keeps horror fresh is the blending of genres.  I’m trying to stay on the subject of sci-fi horror, but what makes a film watchable over and over again for me is the humor.  Re-Animator is a rare title that I could easily watch every day because it’s funny as shit.  A roommate justifies hiding a dead cat in his mini-fridge because he didn’t wish to leave a sticky note that read “cat dead, details later”.  Dr. West is a gentleman and don’t you forget it.

I’ve heard “splatter comedy” tossed around when talking about movies like Creeps, but The Return of The Living Dead was the first movie to be labeled by this sub-genre to my knowledge.  Without going off the deep end about it, they’re films that use gore and violence – not just funny dialogue – to heighten the comedic qualities as the story pans out.  To someone who isn’t big on horror it can sound perverse that laughter can come from someone being blown up, but with the right line delivered, piece of music used, or sometimes even the lack of both, humor can come spilling out in bloody abundance.

The real appeal in Creeps is writer/director Fred Dekker’s stew of a tale that involves so many aspects in cinema.  You got two buddies who are bumbling around a college campus and all they really want is some lady-loving, which leads to partying.  Apparently getting into a frat gets you laid, so just like any “sex comedy” whacky antics need to ensue; a prank.  The prank brings us to a previous flashback of the cliche 50’s that is familiar as Hell because of old throwback black and whites.  An object jettisoned from an alien craft streaks over make-out point and of course it lands nearby; it MUST be investigated.  It’s a perfect catalyst to the ridiculousness that object – a singular space slug – will cause years later.

Once bursting heads start spurting out legions of wiggly-jiggles that dart across tile floors looking for an open orifice (my God that was fun to type) we need a hero and we get one:  Tom “Thrill Me” Atkins.  His character Detective Ray Cameron easily sits alongside dudes like Reggie, Peter, and Ash at the big boy table for bad asses in horror.  He’s full of one-liners, a fucked up past, and finishes every sentence with a shotgun blast (I’m on a God damn roll).  That’s the issue I have with many hero characters these days, is that they can’t be fun and kooky.  The ones that are a little odd-ball are typically very young characters, but rarely are they the old-timers with age in their face and stories to tell.

And don’t let me forget J.C. played by Steve Marshall (he was also on 21 Jump Street, so you know this guy is big time).  Now I always say he had polio in the movie – even though there’s no mention of it – so maybe I’ll just switch to “handicapped”… even though I wanna say “cripple”.  Having a character with a disability for no good God damn reason does add some realism to a film that is so far passed the limits of normality.  I hate when every actor in a film looks like they just got done tanning in the OC and are on their way to getting frap-a-fucking-chinos at some coffee shop before they zoom off to blow each other while watching Friends. The characters in this movie look like normal to partially awkward people, just like every other random you pass on the street.  Dekker threw in a guy who should easily be a shut-in, but J.C. turns out to be one of the better characters in the movie.  He pushes his buddy Chris (the actor Jason Lively was also on 21 Jump Street; P.I.M.P.) to actually talk to a woman and not be such a pussy that bitches about everything wrong in his life, but actually assists him in fixing all the bullshit.

I don’t think I ever wanna have kids.  I’m already too damn selfish as it is and if I have to fork out cash to some free-loader that can’t even walk or talk; don’t think so.  But if I ever become “responsible” and “stop peeing in the sink” which – God forbid – leads me into parenthood, my kid would get a VHS tape (yup, just because I’m an adult doesn’t mean I’m NOT poor) with three titles on it:  The Thing, Aliens, and Night of the Creeps.  Because isn’t the whole point of having kids so as not to be your parents or do I have that backwards?  I really don’t know.  Well I’m off to get a vasectomy; wish me luck.

September 27, 2009

Dear readers,

I’m working on reviving Ernest’s blog. As the year went on it lost some of its humor and became more of him screaming. Still, if I barely have time to blog here it will be even harder to keep up there. Hang in there, Ernest fans. Speaking of Ernest, the giveaway is like, two months late. Unfortunately my to-do list is always a mile long and unfinished. I’ve been meaning to clean my room for two months as well. Hopefully I’ll get something done this weekend. Seeing as I’m sitting here, blogging, that’s unlikely.

Goodness. I’m attempting to write to my Chinese penpal for the first time, and she’s already blatantly said that she will not “disclose” her name and other information. Way to set up a barrier before we even start talking. Now I have nothing to say to her except a few juvenile questions about hobbies and her favorite movies.

All this Club Retrospect-ing has sparked the return of 21 Jump Street in my brain. It’s a guilty pleasure.

Guilty Pleasures

• 21 Jump Street
• The Pink Panther (2005)
• Mr. Bean’s Holiday
• freaking out because Johnny Depp was five miles away and I missed him – again.

Last night an idea came to me so I got up from bed to write it down. Listened to “Continuum” – it was like a time machine back to late nights in 8th grade. That and “Divinidylle” bring back that feeling.

Gahhh I just started listening to Chet Baker (some simple six degreeing will tell you how I got there). I like this.

Watching the trailer for “Coco Avant Chanel” (looks interesting – also, “An Education”), I thought of how interesting her life was even before she was famous. Then I thought of other biopics like “La Vie en Rose”. and how interesting their lives were even when circumstances weren’t. And I came to this conclusion:

You should live as though you knew someone was going to make a movie about you.

Love,
Katherine

P.S. A dramatic reading of “Boom Boom Pow” will do you good.

Cheers

Time to take a stroll down memory lane. 80’s version. For those of you who can actually remember back to an era of shoulder pads, shoe-boots, suspenders, Lip Smackers, stirrup pants, being a Pepper, Just Saying No and Material Girls. So I was checking out a few entertainment headlines for fun and something “80’s” caught my eye. Of course it was shiny. Now, honestly, I’m just as interested in who’s-dating-who, who’s-dumped-who, who-signed-on-to-a-reality-show-just-for-the-money as the next girl. But then I saw, on AOL, one of my faves: A COUNTDOWN. Who doesn’t love a good-old-fashioned-subjective Best Of? I do. So I read on…and the topic was TV shows. Okay. And here’s what they said  -and so I thought I’d see if you agreed with what America Online had to say about the BEST TV SHOWS OF THE 80′S. And which shows made the top 4? According to this poll, it’s not Murphy Brown, it’s not Bosom Buddies, it’s not 21 Jump Street (no matter how much I wish it were), it’s not Remington Steele, nor Fame (although that’s coming back as a movie), nor even Dynasty (this seems just plain wrong). Even Cagney & Lacey didn’t even crack the top ten. But M* A* S* H, did (thank Heavens), as did St. Elsewhere. And as for the top 4? Here goes.  Now I present the findings to YOU. The question being,  do you agree? Would you award these small screen faves the 80’s top honors? Voice your choice in today’s featured poll…

Which is the best TV show of the 80’s?

1) Thirtysomething

2) Moonlighting

3) Hill Street Blues

4) Cheers

Well if last week was an amazing week for TvontheDVD releases, this week is just the opposite.  All I can say is that we lack in quality, we gain in quantity.

• Booker- The 21 Jump Street spin-off that wasn’t as good as the original, with the Johnny Depp spin-off character that also wasn’t quite as good as the original.
• Californication : The Complete Second Season- Hey Showtime, why no Blu-Ray?  Dexter get’s Blu-Ray, why not Californication?  As self destructive writer Hank Moody, David Duchovny is great at working his way through the women of Southern California and through any dignity he might have left.
• House, M.D. – Season Five- I admit I’ve missed the boat on House.  Right now this is Amazon.com’s best selling DVD.  Wow, that’s huge.  I do know that he walks with a limp.
• Dog The Bounty Hunter: To Seize and Protect- I”m guessing this collection is the best of season 5.
• Lie to Me: Season One
  Lie To Me: Season One [Blu-ray]- I had every intention of watching this show last fall, and I just never got around to it.  I hear it’s great, and it’s coming back for a second season so that says something.
• Life: Season Two
• Nitro Circus: Season One- I really enjoyed this show when it was called Jack-Ass and was funny.
• One Tree Hill: The Complete Sixth Season- Am I the only one amazed when I hear about a show on the WB or the CW and find out they are on season 6?  I didn’t have any idea this show was still on the air.  Obviously I’m not their target demographic.
• Samantha Who?: The Complete Second Season- I really feel like this show was never given a chance.  It was funny and well written.  What a shame it’s gone.
• Scrubs: The Complete Eighth Season- This was supposed to be the season that ended it all.  The Final Season.  It was filmed that way with a wonderful final episode, and then the network decided after it was all said and done that they show should come back.  Rumors about that it will come back, but in a different way with many new cast members and some old ones not returning.
• Smallville: The Complete Eighth Season- This is another one of those WB shows that I didn’t know was still on the air.  Has he turned into Superman yet?
• Sonny with a Chance: Sonny’s Big Break- We will have a review of this and Suite Life on Deck this week.
• The Suite Life on Deck: Anchors Away!- Same as before, but on a boat and with no Ashley Tisdale.
• thirtysomething: The Complete First Season- Wow it has taken a LONG time to get this groundbreaking 80’s show to DVD.  About time.
• Wiseguy: The Complete First Season- What a great show.  I used to come home from high school and watch re-runs of Wiseguy.  Ken Wahl was a bad-ass.

August 22, 2009

Dear readers,

It’s probably very apparent that it’s obsessive fan week here, but bear with me for just a bit more. Or skip ahead to more intelligent ramblings.

Remember Jonah Hill’s planned movie adaptation of “21 Jump Street”? Now Catherine Hardwicke is attached to direct. Prepare for the grossest fangirl abomination yet. I’m not talking about the movie but the resulting aftermath of when “Twilight” fangirls discover “21 Jump Street”. This must be what old Johnny Depp fans felt after PotC when millions of 12-year-olds hit the Johnny Depp bandwagon.

I can’t help that I was one of them – but I tried to avoid being one of the girls that conveniently ignored Vanessa Paradis and their children’s existence and for whom Johnny Depp’s entire filmography consists of “Edward Scissorhands”, PotC, and everything that comes after it.

Aside from my post-obsessive panic (I can see why one cigarette is all it takes – yesterday’s PotC marathon of sorts has put it back to constantly-on-my-mind. It’s amazing how quickly it all comes back), it is massive last-minute cleaning of house before my dad and sisters come back and getting ready for the wedding tonight.

I pulled out my copy of Great American Essays of 2007 this morning and read through a few, reveling in that for once something was difficult to read. You may ask, “What about what you read in school? Isn’t that challenging?” Theoretically, it should have been – Chaucer and Beowulf and Shakespeare and Mark Twain and John Steinbeck. But it wasn’t. Not in the way of making you think, of slowing you down with long words and sentences that run like a winding road.

Blogs are pleasant – but let’s be honest. It’s much more fun when I spell things unconventionally and yell FATTEH than when I write with grammar in mind. But I am grateful, because reading the blogs of some intelligent people has opened my eyes to their favorite writers – writers I never would have encountered otherwise.

What I love about my favorite movies is what I’m looking for in writing. More than just a story and more than being transported into someone else’s life – I want to be given something to think about. I know this is terribly unspecific.

But by no means do I want to be blatantly asked what I think the author is trying to say. These things should be mulled over, like when you drink something but keep it in your mouth to savor the flavors.

It does kill appreciation of the text a little when we are asked to answer twenty questions on symbolism in Of Mice and Men.

Love,
Katherine

P.S. What are some of your favorite written works?

P.P.S. For all the impact the written word has had on my life, I am very unfamiliar with what works are out there. I couldn’t even give you a favorite poem because I haven’t read enough to choose from.

P.P.P.S. My favorite books are The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series (Douglas Adams – and I know it’s more than a series of novels) and the Tom Ripley (Patricia Highsmith) series. It doesn’t hurt that Ripley’s wife is French and they occasionally speak in French with each other.

Rachel Nichols

Rachel Emily Nichols (born January 8, 1980) is an American model turned actress, best known for her portrayal of CIA officer Rachel Gibson on the ABC television series Alias. She’s also starred in several films, including Dumb & Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, The Amityville Horror, The Woods, Star Trek, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

Nichols appeared in various television shows in bit parts. Her first auditioned role, which she won, was that of an orgy-loving restaurant hostess in a 2002 episode of Sex and the City, but later that year she won the role of Jessica, the dogged school-newspaper reporter, in Dumb and Dumberer. She left Columbia midway through her last semester to shoot the picture, but still managed to graduate on time despite the demanding modeling schedule. She wrote two term papers and took the final exam of her undergraduate career just days before shipping all of her things to Atlanta, where Dumberer was being filmed. Although Dumberer was ultimately a flop, the exposure it provided earned Nichols roles in the television series Line of Fire, plus the 2005 horror films, The Amityville Horror, and The Woods.

Buy Star Trek on 3 Disc Blu Ray

In 2004, FOX planned to develop a series vaguely reminiscent of their first hit drama, 21 Jump Street. They enlisted Todd and Glenn Kessler (of Robbery Homicide Division) to create the show, tentatively named The Inside. The Kesslers cast Nichols as a 22-year-old federal agent who impersonates a high-school girl in an undercover operation; they also cast Fastlane’s Peter Facinelli and model Willa Holland, and shot a pilot. The pilot underwhelmed studio execs, though, and FOX brought in Angel writer Tim Minear to re-tool the concept. Minear ended up radically changing the show’s story and purging the entire cast — save for Nichols, who remained the show’s centerpiece. While some sources said that Nichols was kept on because FOX pressured Minear to do so, Minear stood by a different story: “Even if [Nichols] wasn’t already living in this show when I got there I’d have cast her. [She's] a star in the making, I feel. And an unspoiled delight…” he told Variety.

Rachel Nichols in GI Joe

The new concept more closely echoed The Silence of the Lambs than Jump Street, and Nichols’ character had been dramatically altered as well: now she was rookie Special Agent Rebecca Locke, assigned to Los Angeles’ FBI Violent Crimes Unit, an elite group of criminal profilers charged with tracking the city’s most dangerous deviants. Another of Minear’s new wrinkles was that Nichols’ character now had a marked similarity to the back-story of Elizabeth Smart, including a history of suffering, kidnapping, and abuse. The summer 2005 series received mixed reviews and a limited run, though the performances of Nichols (who says she “tested mostly for high school parts” before winning The Inside’s dark lead role) and co-star Peter Coyote received generally favorable marks from critics.

After the failed FOX series, Nichols quickly found work on the ABC series Alias in the fall of 2005. Nichols portrayed Rachel Gibson, a computer expert duped into thinking she works for the CIA, when in fact she is working for a dangerous terrorist organization — a predicament not far removed from that of Sydney Bristow in Alias’ first season. Discovering the truth, Nichols’ character later joins the real CIA and becomes Bristow’s protégé, complete with undercover missions and martial arts scenes, which Nichols had to work hard on to make appear realistic, struggling at first with the stunts. Coincidentally, Alias marked the second series in a row for Nichols in which she portrayed a government agent.

Rachel Nichols in Star Trek

Although ABC announced the cancellation of Alias effective in May 2006, Nichols’ character was created as a possible replacement for series star Jennifer Garner’s Sydney, had the actress chosen to leave the show or scale back her involvement in the series (this, in fact, did begin to occur as the season progressed and Garner’s real-life pregnancy prevented her from taking part in many action sequences). On May 22, 2006, Nichols appeared in Alias’ final episode, “All the Time in the World”.

After starring in two canceled television series in the last calendar year, Nichols turned her attention back to the big screen with two movies in 2007. The first, Resurrecting the Champ, featured Nichols as the assistant to a sportswriter (Josh Hartnett) who finds a former boxing legend (Samuel L. Jackson) living homeless on the streets. The second, P2, marked a return to the horror genre for Nichols, as she portrayed a businesswoman who gets trapped inside a public parking garage with a deranged security guard. In this role, Nichols refused to shoot any type of nudity, including sheer, wet tops. “In place of the nipples there’s clearly a lot of cleavage,” Nichols said in an interview, “so we made a compromise.”

In 2007, Nichols also landed one of the leads in another FOX series — the science fiction drama Them, directed by Jonathan Mostow, although the show ultimately was not picked up by the network. In 2009, Nichols appeared in J. J. Abrams’s Star Trek in which she plays an Orion cadet at Starfleet Academy, and starred in Stephen Sommers’ G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, as Shana “Scarlett” O’Hara.

Source – Wikipedia

By Borys Kit – Hollywood Reporter

 ”Barbarella” is getting a new lease on life courtesy of producer Dino De Laurentiis.

The veteran Italian filmmaker, who turns 90 on Saturday, is developing a remake of his original 1968 sci-fi movie, which immortalized Jane Fonda as a sex symbol.

Australian filmmaker Robert Luketic (“The Ugly Truth”) is attached to direct from a screenplay to be written by Joe Gazzam.

Robert Rodriguez was previously involved with the project, when it was set up at Universal in May 2007, with an eye to making it a vehicle for his girlfriend Rose McGowan. But the studio and director reportedly could not agree on where to shoot. After the parting of ways, a new direction for “Barbarella” was sought.

“Barbarella” centers on a female mercenary who roams the universe of a distant future, undertaking missions that require fearlessness, ingenuity and sensuality. The character debuted in 1962 in a French graphic magazine written and illustrated by Jean-Claude Forest and was known for her sexual escapades. There also was a musical produced in 2004.

The new take on the iconic character will not be campy, though it will keep the sexuality; there will be seductions, but the focus will be on the adventure.

The project is not set up at any studio, though De Laurentiis and his wife Martha plan on shopping it when the script is in shape. Gazzam wrote a movie version of “21 Jump Street.”

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For all the fans: It’s 21 JUMP STREET!! I love 21 Jump Street!! Haha! Well, actually it’s Johnny Depp that I love 10 times more

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From the outset, it was clear that the team’s new philosophy had the potential to benefit not just divorced Swedish bicyclists, but a wide array of the (often lonesome, often depressed, often yearning) population across the globe. It was just a matter of spreading the word. Perhaps a little ahead of their time, Team Gustav saw it as a question of marketing–they needed posters, slogans, and–first and foremost–a catchy term of art for their new discipline. Not being men prone to poetic turns of phrase, this endeavor proved difficult.

To their credit, Team Gustav understood the power of a name. There was no question that the right name would make or break their burgeoning movement. After all, what if, instead of A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway had titled his first novel A Sad Time in Italy? Or what if 21 Jump Street had been called 25 Year-Old Undercover High School Cops? And suppose Cary Grant had stayed with his given name of Archibald Alec Leach? You get the idea, and so did Team Gustav.

As the TGICT continued across the Western reaches of Germany (with Team Gustav in a dead tie for second place with a team of Italian widowers), Pete and the boys toyed with and abandoned several potential titles, including How to Keep on Keeping On, Aerobic Memory Training, Introspective Peace Exercises, The Game of Life, Experience Contextualization for Happiness, and Chess Jammin’.

Even Spartan Pete, generally a man steeped in eloquent phraseology, found the right title eluding him. Every night found Pete pouring over the dictionary, writing down random collections of words from magazine headlines and advertising copy and pasting them to a bulletin board he kept in the team’s tour bus, all to no avail. It was not until the team had a weekend off in the Alsace-Lorraine that Pete came up with a name that–while not as evocative as Dianetics or Sacred Hoops–captured the imagination of his teammates.

Many of our readers may remember the self-help book from 1978 of the same title, written by former Team Gustav member Georg Hultmann, who after his stint as a professional divorced bicyclist, moved to the states and founded a highly profitable hotel art distribution business (and later, a less successful chain of 3-D pornographic movie theaters). The first edition of the book features the dedication “For SP. You taught us chess, and the rest followed.”

Next time: an unexpected event in the Alsace-Lorraine.

He has a new movie out Public Enemies and I’m sure it’ll make him millions of dollars and millions more will see it. 

But I have just one question will Johnny Depp ever get old?

I know that Father Time is better to men than women but somehow he looks younger now than he did back in the 80s! Doesn’t he? Good light and makeup can work wonders..I know but… I’m sure he would deny it but I’m actually starting to believe that Johnny here,  may actually have made that deal with the devil after all.

Brad Pitt

Dünyaca ünlü aktör Brad Pitt’in geçmişten günümüze uzanan parlak kariyerindeki rol aldığı filmleri resimleriyle hatırlamak istermisiniz? 45 yaşında olan aktörün kısaca özgeçmişini de vererek filmlerine geçmek istiyorum. 1963′te Amerika, Missouri’de doğan William Bradley Pitt ailenin en büyük çocuğu olarak dünyaya geldi. Üniversite öncesi okullarda son derece sosyal bir öğrencilik geçirerek golf, yüzme, tenis gibi spor ve müzik etkinliklerine katılmıştır. Missouri Üniversite’sinde gazetecilik bölümünü seçip okumuştur. Okulun bitmesine kısa bir zaman kala okulu bırakmıştır. Neden mezun olmasına çok az kala üniversiteden ayrıldığı sorulduğunda Pitt durumu ”Mezuniyet yaklaştıkça bu korkutucu düşünceyle daha çok yüzleştim. Arkadaşlarım iş bulup meslek sahibi oluyorlardı. Kendimi hazır hissetmiyordum. Ben filmleri seviyordum. Filmler benim için değişik dünyalara açılan kapılardı ve Missouri filmlerin yapıldığı yer değildi. Sonra kafama dank etti ve kendi kendime dedim; Eğer filmler bana gelmiyosa ben onlara giderim!” diye açıklamıştır. Bundan sonra Pitt hayalindeki oyunculuk işini yapabilmek için Los Angeles Kaliforniya’ya yerleşmiş ve orada oyunculuk dersleri almaya başlamıştır. Bir süre sonra filmlerde ve dizilerde küçük roller kapmaya başlayan Pitt, sinema sektörüne ilk adımını atmayı başarmıştır. Kariyerine 21 Jump Street adlı dizide aldığı küçük bir rolle bakmaya başlayalım.

21 Jump Street (1988)

21 Jump Street

Daha önce duymadıysanız şaşırabilirsiniz ama Brad Pitt’in bir bölümünde rol aldığı bu dizide rol arkadaşlarından biri Johnny Depp’ti. Ve bu iki genç oyuncunun birlikte göründükleri ilk ve son yapımdı.

Cutting Class (1989)

Cutting Class

Pitt bu filmde sorunlu bir genci oynuyordu. Filmin öne çıkan oyuncularından biri olduğu ilk yapım denilebilir.

Thelma & Louise (1991)

Thelma & Louise

Brad Pitt’in ilk farkedildiği film olan Thelma ve Louise’de iki özgür kadının yoluna çıkan çekici soyguncu J.D. rolünde oynar. Bu filmdeki kısa ama etkili rolü sayesinde Pitt’e Hollywood’un kapıları açılmıştır.

A River Runs Through It – Bizi Ayıran Nehir (1992)

A River Runs Through It

1920′lerde geçen bu filmde Pitt yine kendi karakterine uygun olan asi genç rolünde oynamıştır.

Kalifornia (1993)

Kalifornia

Bu çok bilinmeyen filmde Pitt, Earl Grayce adında psikopat bir katili başarıyla canlandırıyordu. Pitt’in saçı sakalı karışmış şekilde psikopat bakışlar attığı bu filmdeki performansı görülmeye değer.

True Romance – Çılgın Romantik (1993)

True Romance

Aynı sene oynadığı bir başka filmde bütün gün ot içip, televizyon seyreden bir karakteri kısa ama akılda kalıcı bir performansla canlandırıyordu.

Interview with the Vampire – Vampirle Görüşme (1994)

Interview with the Vampire

Geldik oyuncunun ciddi anlamda kendini gösterdiği Vampirle Görüşme filmine. Yıldızlarla dolu bu filmde Pitt, Tom Cruise , Christian Slater , Antonio Banderas gibi oyuncularla birlikte insancıl vampir Louis rolünde boy gösteriyordu. Vampir kavramına farklı bir bakışla yaklaşan filmde Kirsten Dunst 12 yaşındaki haliyle çocuk oyuncu olarak yer alıyordu.

Legends of the Fall – İhtiras Rüzgarları (1994)

Legends of the Fall

Aynı sene uzun saçlarını kestirmeden rol alan Pitt, masalsı görüntüleri, güzel müzikleri, uzun ve romantik hikayesiyle İhtiras Rüzgarlarında, Tristam adlı karakteri canlandıyordu.

Se7en – Yedi (1995)

Se7en

David Fincher şaheseri bu filmde Pitt, 7 ölümcül günahtan ilham alarak cinayet işleyen katilin peşindeki David Mills adındaki genç ve idealist dedektifi canlandırmıştır. Pitt’in rol arkadaşı da usta aktör Morgan Freeman olmuştur. İzlenmesi gereken filmlerden biri olduğunu söylemeden geçmek istemiyorum.

Twelve Monkeys – 12 Maymun (1995)

Twelve Monkeys

Aynı sene çekilen kült bilimkurgu filmi 12 Maymun’da, Pitt oyunculukta ne kadar başarılı olduğunu kanıtlarcasına akıl hastası Jeffrey Goines rolünde yer almıştır. Ve bu rolüyle Altın Küre En İyi Erkek Oyuncu ödülünü almıştır.

Seven Year in Tibet – Tibet’te Yedi Yıl (1997)

Seven Years in Tibet

Heinrich Harrer adında Avustralyalı dağcının Tibet’te yaşadıklarından sonra geçirdiği ruhsal değişimi anlatan bu film Pitt’in, Çin’e girişinin yasaklanmasına neden olmuştur.

Meet Joe Black (1998)

Meet Joe Black

Uzun ve son derece ağır giden bu filmde Pitt, devamlı takım elbiseyle dolaşan yakışıklı ölüm meleği rolündedir. Romantik – dram türünde olan yapımda oyuncuya usta oyuncu Anthony Hopkins , Claire Forlani gibi isimler eşlik etmiştir.

Fight Club – Dövüş Kulübü (1999)

Fight Club

Yine bir David Fincher şaheseri olan Dövüş Kulübü’nde, kült karakter Tyler Durden’ı canlandırarak yeni bir akımın doğmasında etkili olmuştur. Dövüş Kulübü, oyuncunun başarısını tüm dünyaya kabul ettirdiği film sayılabilir.

Snatch – Kapışma (2000)

Snatch

Bu filmde bozuk aksanı, kaslı vücuduyla arzı endam eden Pitt, çingene boksör Mickey rolünü canlandırır.

Spy Game – Casus Oyunu (2001)

Spy Game

Genç ve yetenekli ajan Tom Bishop rolünde Robert Redford’la birlikte oynamıştır.

Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

Ocean’s Eleven

Geniş ve yıldız dolu kadrosuyla bu eğlenceli soygun filminde Pitt, devamlı yemek yiyen Rusty karakteriyle boy göstermiştir.

Troy (2004)

Troy

Efsanevi Aşil karakterini canlandıran oyuncu 6 ay spor yaparak oluşturduğu Antik Yunan Heykellerini andıran vücuduyla boy göstermiştir.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005)

Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Evli ve aynı zamanda birbirlerini öldürmeye çalışan iki ajanı oynayan Brad Pitt ve Angelina Jolie bu film sayesinde ilişkilerine başlamışlardır.

Babel – Babil (2006)

Babel

Pitt’in artık orta yaşlı olduğunu gösteren filmde oyuncu aile babası Richard Jones rolündeydi.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford – Korkak Robert Ford’un Jesse James Suikastı (2007)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Pitt bu rolle yeniden karizmatik bir dönüş yaptı.

Burn After Reading – Aramızda Casus Var (2008)

burn after reading

Coenler’in filminde Pitt, alıştığımız karizmatik rollerinin aksine sakar ve aptal Chad karakterini başarıyla canlandırıyordu.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Benjamin Button’un Tuhaf Hikayesi (2008)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Yaşlı olarak doğup bebek olarak ölen Benjamin Button’un hikayesini anlatan bu ilginç filmde Pitt, Oscar adaylığı kazandığı oyunculuğuyla harikalar yaratıyordu.

Inglorious Basterds – İsimsiz Kahramanlar (2009)

Inglorious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino’nun çektiği daha vizyona girmeyen bu son filmiyle Pitt, yine olay yaratacak bir yapımda yer alıyor. Bu son filmi şahsen merakla beklediğimi söyleyerek yazıya son veriyorum.

Umarım bu uzun bildirim fazla can sıkıcı olmamıştır. Yazılar dışında fikri ve konsepti aldığım kaynak.