Roland Emmerich, director de la cinta 2012, dejó muy en claro que ésta sería su última cinta dedicada al tema de la destrucción de la humanidad. Recordemos que sus trabajos anteriores incluyen filmes como ID-4, Godzilla y The day after tomorrow. Por esta razón, él declaró que iba a echar toda la carne al asador para despedirse de éste “género”. ¿Lo logró?

2012 es una película que, si bien, cumple con el objetivo de mantener entretenido al público durante las poco más de 2 horas y media de duración, y que para muchos éso ya es lo único que necesitan, sí es importante destacar que deja mucho que desear en otras cuestiones que requieren analizarse. En primer momento, puedo decir que el único y mejor valor que tiene esta cinta son sus efectos especiales, sin duda todos ellos de excelencia, muy bien logrados, no me sorprendería escucharla coronarse victoriosa en la próxima entrega del Oscar para este rubro de efectos, pero fuera de ello, le queda debiendo bastante al público.

Las actuaciones son bastante mediocres. Hay algunos nombres que pesan bastante en el casting como son Danny Glover interpretando el papel que hace 12 años hiciera Morgan Freeman en impacto profundo, el del presidente de los Estados Unidos; Woody Harrelson interpretando a un hippie loco que está seguro de que el fin del mundo sí está próximo y abre su estación de radio pública para dar a conocer la información al respecto (aspecto deficiente tomando en cuenta que, en algún momento de la película, comentan que todo aquel que confirme la teoría del fin del mundo es asesinado); Thandie Newton, a quien recordarán como la pareja sentimental de Tom Cruise en M:I-2, interpretando a la hija del presidente de los Estados Unidos y una experta en arte; John Cusack, como protagonista de la cinta, que hace el papel de un escritor fracasado divorciado que lucha por el amor de sus hijos. Cusack, aunque me cae bien, es de los que menos brilla en toda la película. Siento que este no es su género, como no lo era para Jake Gylenhaal al estelarizar El día después de mañana. De hecho, la gran deficiencia de la cinta es, a mi parecer, el casting, a ninguno de los actores le cree uno lo que está haciendo.

Otro enorme problema en la película es la historia. Si bien, el tema da para mucho, está lleno de clichés y lugares comunes, además de que se nota que Emmerich no aprendió de lo mal que lo trató la crítica cuando hizo ID-4, poniendo un discurso nacionalista forzado del presidente de los Estados Unidos. 2012 está llena de discursos así, aparentemente retóricos y motivacionales, pero que son más falsos que los senos de Sabrina Sabrok. Incluso no termina por comprenderse si algunas referencias que hacen en el guión a otras cintas fatalistas son serias o simplemente una sátira, por ejemplo, podemos ver escenas y diálogos parecidos a Dante’s Peak, Volcano e Impacto Profundo. También hay escenas que son para morirse de la risa, pero que matan la intensidad de un momento dramático, cosa que le hace perder seriedad, tal es el caso de una parodia que hacen a Arnold Schwarzenegger como gobernador de California.

Por último, pero no menos importante, creo que esta cinta es una de las que más he visto que tengan contenido publicitario en su desarrollo. Vaya, no les diré mucho pues lo descubrirán si la ven, pero sí les advierto que el último diálogo de la cinta es un comercial… a ése nivel está este asunto.

Comparando 2012 con los otros trabajos de Emmerich, puedo decir que se queda muy abajo de ID-4, pero tampoco es tan mala como Godzilla. Para ser su despedida de estos filmes -cosa que aún sigo dudando, seguro será como cuando Jet Li dijo que no volvería a hacer cine de artes marciales y acto seguido dejaron de hablarle para actuar-, comete errores de los que pensé, ya habría aprendido. Al menos en ID-4, Will Smith, Bill Pullman y Jeff Goldblum se ve que tienen química en pantalla, aquí ningún actor tiene relación con otro, no se siente, no hay motivo para compadecerse por ninguno o ser admirados.

Buen catálogo de efectos especiales. Mala película.

‘Independence Day 2′ depende de Will Smith

Foto: FOX	Ampliar

LOS ANGELES, 13 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS)

Will Smith es la clave para que Independence Day 2 se convierta en realidad. Según ha revelado el director, Roland Emmerich, que la secuela comience a rodarse depende únicamente de que la Fox llegue a un acuerdo con la estrella más taquillera de la década.

“Dean Devlin -guionista de la cinta original- y yo ya estamos planeando la secuela, ya hemos encontrado algunas ideas que le hemos transmitido a la Fox”, aseguró el director en una entrevista con motivo del estreno de su próxima película, la cinta apocalíptica 2012. Además, Emmerich también reveló que ante las dificultades que ha encontrado la productora para poder hacer frente a las exigencias salariales de Smith, Fox le planteó hacer Independence Day cambiando de protagonista, algo a lo que se negó en redondo.

“Durante las conversaciones que tuvimos, en algún momento la Fox dijo que por qué no hacíamos la película sin Will Smith, pero yo les dije que Will era esencial para nosotros, para la película, y por supuesto para el público”, aseguró el cineasta que, no obstante mantiene la esperanza en que las negociaciones a tres bandas lleguen a buen puerto e Independence Day 2 sea una realidad más pronto que tarde.

“Veremos qué pasa, pero me encantaría hacerlo”, sentenció. Con las cifras en la mano, es evidente que tarde o temprano el acuerdo llegará ya que hablamos de una cinta que costó 75 millones de dólares y recaudó en todo el mundo más de 817 millones.

]]> http://goremasternews.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/2012-director-roland-emmerich-wants-a-sequel-to-independence-day/ Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:14:28 +0000 GoreMaster Special Effects http://goremasternews.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/2012-director-roland-emmerich-wants-a-sequel-to-independence-day/

Roland Emmerich

by Adam Rosenberg – MTV

 ”Independence Day.” Classic blockbuster. It wasn’t “2012″ director Roland Emmerich’s big screen debut, but it’s an epic-scale disaster flick that pulled no punches when it came to trashing the planet Earth. Nothing was safe when those aliens descended in their gigantic, city-spanning UFOs. Who can forget the iconic scene of the White House being blown to smithereens?

Released on July 3, 1996 and starring Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum and Bill Pullman, it’s a bit of a surprise that the popular sci-fi flick has never seen a sequel. According to Emmerich, it’s not for lack of desire. To hear him tell it, in an interview with Latino Review, there’s a “very really good great story, a very cool one.”

So what’s the hold-up? Fox, from the sound of things. Emmerich and his screenwriting partner Dean Devlin refuse to consider returning to the story without Smith on board. It’s really best if you just read Emmerich’s words on the matter, so here you are:

“Dean Devlin and I are still set to make a sequel likely because we’ve found some sort of idea and we approached FOX and FOX has not quite figured out how to incorporate Dean’s and my deal, and Will’s (Smith) deal. Will wants to do it in some sort of a package they can live with. So it’s just been in [negotiations] now since forever, and naturally FOX says ‘Why don’t you do it without Will Smith?’ I said Will is essential for us, for this movie and actually for the audience too. And, so, it’s in limbo and lately the studios are fighting. Like gross players, and Will is a gross player and is probably the only gross player right now who’s worth his gross. So we’ll see what happens. I would love to do it.”

Amazon Specials!

Stargate | Dir: Roland Emmerich | 1994 | 8.5/10

Pay attention, Gateheads. This is where it all began.

In Giza, 1928, a huge ancient metal artifact shaped like a giant ring with strange symbols is uncovered, then fast-forwarding to the present day it’s figured out that the artifact is actually a teleportation device that can take you to another stargate on the “other side of the known universe”.

Before there was Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks, there was Kurt Russell and James Spader playing the same characters as Col. Jack O’Neil (just one L!) and nerdy archaeologist Dr. Daniel Jackson, a bit of a wimpier version of Indiana Jones. Jackson has theories about the pyramids being built by aliens, but he’s laughed at by his collegues at a seminar where he’s finally facing an empty room. Lucky for him, the US Air Force is interested in his theories since they’ve been studying the artifact for years.

One of the funniest parts of the first segment of the film is where Jackson arrives at the military base and embarrasses the other linguists by re-translating the hieroglyphics in the correct way, proving how much of a super-well-learned genius he is. O’Neil is a bit surly in his role as the colonel who has to lead a reconnaissance team through the stargate, along with Jackson, because his son was involved with a fatal accident, and now he feels suicidal enough to proceed with the mission. Once they go through the stargate, they arrive on a desert planet that looks like Tatooine from Star Wars (1977) and run into some friendly locals, but find they were people originally from Earth who were enslaved by the ancient sun-god Ra (Jaye Davidson), who turns out to be an a parasitic alien who drops in from time-to-time to maintain his oppression of this small tribe of people who have been forced to be illiterate for the sake of hiding the truth of who he really is – Leonard Maltin describes him as a Ming the Mercilous type character, I couldn’t have put it better myself.

After some tense chit-chat with the snakey Ra who dresses more flamboyantly than RuPaul, it’s found out that O’Neil has brought a nuke through with him and intends to blow up the stargate if any signs of possible danger are found, hence his suicide mission, but Ra’s not going to have any of that as he rigs it with stargate-minerals to be sent through back to Earth to be blown to the afterlife – this is where the ticking-clock cliche begins. I can understand some of the criticism towards Stargate at this point of the film where it becomes rather standard action movie fare, but since I’m a sucker for action, I don’t think it really suffers because of it.

Stargate was what wormholed Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin into the A-list big leagues if only for a short period in the 1990’s, as a few years later, they struck it really huge with Independence Day (1996), and perhaps grew some big radioactive heads with Godzilla (1998), although I think Stargate has a slight edge over ID4 because of its narrower and more poetic focus on the characters and its overall feel of wondrous adventure that makes it perfect escapism. Even the characters themselves are trying to escape, Jackson isn’t taken seriously by his peers on Earth, so he takes a dive into the unknown to at least prove to himself that he was right, and falls in love with a pretty girl named Sha’uri (Mili Avital) for good measure; and O’Neil has lost his son, so he doesn’t feel like he has anything to live for, so it’s almost like a kamakazi mission to him, but the character Skaara (Alexis Cruz) acts like a surrogate son figure to him, so his will to live is restored.  All up, the characters gain something that drives them forward in the story.

The film is not without its plot holes, and a glaring one that sticks out to me at this moment is when the team has arrived on the planet through the stargate, and Jackson is told to re-open the stargate re-establish contact with Earth, but he says that he can’t because he assumed there’d be symbols engraved somewhere close-by that would have a dial-up address – well what idiot does that? Back on the base when they asked him if he was sure if he could do it, instead of saying he was “positive!” like a douchebag egghead, he should have said they will probably have to do some detective work in order to find the dial-up symbols if they weren’t near the gate. Isn’t that common sense to plan these things better?

Anyhow, Stargate wouldn’t have been half the enjoyable movie it is without the awesome production design by Holger Gross and the Ancient Egyptian-inspired costume and creature design by Patrick Tatopoulos, as well as the thundering score by newcomer David Arnold, which is so bold and thematic, it really takes the film up to the next level – his work on Emmerich’s next two films would be just as extraordinary.

I’d like to consider myself among the oldest and loyalist of Stargate fans because I saw this in the cinemas when it was released, and I remember being really excited about the new TV series Stargate SG-1 that was about to air in 1997, although I was a bit skeptical about the new actors replacing Russell and Spader. Even at the time, I knew those two guys were probably too big to commit to a made-for-cable science fiction series, but what was the deal with MacGyver playing O’Neill (this time with two L’s)? For my own consolation, I did think the blonde was cute. However, I was an open-minded kid, and I grew used to the new actors, and they eventually came to own the characters anyway, which sort of led to the 1994 film becoming a quasi-separate entity in the Stargate continuity.

If die-hard fans of the TV show who haven’t seen the film eventually do get to watch it, I implore you to ignore everything you know and love about the show, since it’s important to approach Stargate as a stand-alone action/sci-fi film that harkens back to the adventure films of old-time cinema, or otherwise, you’ll be picking holes where it’s not necessary, since the series made some strange changes here and there.

Stargate is a 1990’s jewel, but fans of the TV series may regard it as a dated relic, which isn’t fair, since it is the original and one of the best.

Directed By: Roland Emmerich
Written By: Roland Emmerich & Dean Devlin;
Story By: Roland Emmerich & Dean Devlin & Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio
Cinematography By: Ueli Steiger
Editor: Peter Amundson & David Siegel 

CAST: Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Doug Savant, Hank Azaria, Kevin Dunn, Michael Lerner, Harry Shearer, Arabella Field, Vicki Lewis, Nancy Cartwright, Bohdi Elfman, Judy Reyes

This film the last team up of Dean Devlin-Roland Emmerich truly shows the ineptness of the filmmakers. The production is massive as usual. It seems like a movie that wasn’t well thought out and was just built around the monster. I guess in keeping with the classic Godzilla films the thought seems to have been let’s just place some interesting only in new york characters somehow involved with the monsters to keep the audience entertained when the monster isn’t around. 

To prove this fact they cast the last person you would think of as a action hero Matthew Broderick (Who was once Offered Keanu Reeves Role in POINT BREAK) as the lead which seems to be a motif with the filmmakers casting a geeky type actor as the romantic, Smart lead in a primarily action oriented film. They did it with James Spader in STARGATE and Jeff Goldblum in INDEPENDENCE DAY. But matthew is good as a actor as he is a he stretch. They give him a love interest who wants to be a respected journalist yet acts like she is 13 while always sucking on a lollipop. While being sexually harassed by her boss. Which feels like a plot point from a 80’s movie add in a soldier who through his own surprise and ours becomes a military hero masquerading French spies/Scientists. A Brooklyn stereotype cameraman and a mayor and assistant mayor, who are obviously modeled o movie critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert as inept and ineffectual. A not very subtle insult to critics who always give bad reviews to there films. I understand they want to make colorful interesting characters but these are not only ridiculous they are uninteresting, they would still be that way in any other type of genre movie yet. I don’t hate it.

Maybe it’s the size of production that both amazes and interests me. Maybe it’s after a certain point the film becomes so bad it becomes good entertainment. Maybe it’s for the scenes that were clearly ripped off or inspired by JURASSIC PARK (a much better movie by the way) Who knows? But for some reason, I don’t hate this movie. This seems to be a film built around a single idea instead of many

It’s not a complete failure even tough no doubt about it it’s bad. I saw it on opening day at the Lincoln center loews 68^th street theater. I sat in the balcony.

I can’t give it a recommendation but I would say that you should watch it at least once to witness it.

GRADE: D+

image courtesy of TNT

You know the drill: the hacker, the hitter, the grifter, the thief, and the mastermind. Together, they make up the fantastic team behind Leverage, TNT’s drama that recently started up its second season.

Tonight’s episode is especially a big one for the series, where the hitter, Eliot Spencer, is teamed up against Ed Herman (The Ultimate Fighter 3) and Matt Lindland (Ultimate Fighting Championship) as part of “The Tap-Out Job.” When the group tries to stop a corrupt mixed martial arts promoter, things get a little messy. And it’s up to Eliot to save the day.

Needless to say, it’s an episode that you’ll definitely want to check out, especially if you’re a Christian Kane fan.

Last week, I was fortunate enough to sit in on a conference call with Christian Kane himself. He’s a very interesting actor with a diverse set of interests, including acting, music, cooking (rattlesnake steak and purple pizza are his specialties), and more. Luckily enough, I got to ask him a few questions, which I’ve included for your enjoyment below.

Hi. How’re you doing?

I’m so good. How are you doing?

I’m good. So, I have to ask. Now that Mark-Paul Gosselaar has cut his hair in Raising the Bar, you seem to have won the award for Longest Hair on TNT on a guy. How’s it feel to be the last man standing?

No, let’s make–there’s really no mistake about it. I had that award wrapped up before. Mark’s hair was shitty compared to mine. We’re not going to get into that whole thing. Mark’s actually a friend of mine and it–and it’s [funny] because he really enjoyed the long hair, and he had to end up having it cut, and I didn’t. And when we showed up for the upfronts, Mark was like, “This guy gets to have long hair.” You know, he was talking to Michael Wright on TNT [executive vice president, head of programming, TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies (TCM)], and Michael Wright didn’t really have anything to say about it.

But I was always going to win that award, sweetheart. Mark’s hair wasn’t as cool as mine.

So tell me a little bit about your music career. I hear you have a CD coming out.

I don’t have a CD coming out. I have a single coming out . We’re still…in the process of doing the CD. I was with Sony for a while and we did a CD, and then we parted ways with Sony. But Bob Ezrin is producing me, who did all the Kiss albums–you know, he did Kiss for years–Jane’s Addiction, and most importantly, he did Pink Floyd “The Wall.”

And I’m his first country project, man, so on the 22nd, the same day as “The Tap-Out Job,” which is [Wednesday], which is the big MMA fight that I’m in…the single’s going to be released to the public. And I’m just so fortunate that the fans have stuck around this long and waited, God bless them, for this–for this to come out.

[Read more after the jump!]

And so I’m finally going to get into the music, you know what I mean, that I’ve–that I’ve been working on for a long time. And it’s a great song, and I really do believe in it. So, on the 22nd, you’ll be able to get my first single. And hopefully it’ll–you know it’s going to radio–it’s going to be everywhere else. And I’m so very, very excited about that.

[Wednesday] is huge–a huge–a huge day and a huge night for me because it’s–you know–Marc Roskin directed the episode that I’m in with Matt Lintan, UFC veteran. And Ed Herman’s in it, who’s fighting UFC 101, and I get to–I get to fight these guys and it’s going to be a big night for me. And then plus, at the same time, I get to release my single that day, so it’s a…it’s a big week for me.

So one last question: With your music, your show, your lingerie line, and you are doing a voice for the video game “24,” how do you have time to do anything else?

You don’t, but the same time, you know, I still remember that kid in Oklahoma that was praying this was going to happen to him, and so you just kind-of, you know–you don’t think about it. You just–you just really, really–you’re grateful for what the Lord has given you, to be honest with you. And I don’t have time, but you know, I’m one of those guys that has to be moving 90 miles an hour with his hands on fire. If not, then I start losing my mind, and that’s not–that’s not a good place for me. So, it’s a gift. It really is a gift, and so I’m very, very fortunate and blessed to do what I do.

Well, thank you very much, and we all enjoy watching you do what you do!

Thank you so much, sweetheart, and I will see you soon.

Bye.

image courtesy of TNT

Want more? Of course, you do. Here’s a quick rundown of some other things discussed on the conference call with Christian Kane.

On being a part of Leverage–and the writing:

You know, the reason I’m a part of this show is because you get two names like Dean Devlin and John Rogers, and you know, as a little kid growing up in Oklahoma and getting on your hands and knees, and praying that you could be an actor, those are the guys you want to do stuff, because you know John Rogers is an unbelievable writer, and Dean Devlin blows shit up.  So…for a kid growing up, it’s just…it’s a dream to be working with these two cats to be honest with you.

On Eliot’s past:

Eliot’s so violent because I think he didn’t have a family, you know, and now that he’s got this family, it going to be fun to watch him have to go through all these changes and stuff.  And you know Nate–he grew up without a heart, and I think Nate’s instilled a heart in him now, so it’s going to be–it’s going to be a different season, but he’s still going to whoop a lot of ass.

On the writing and development of his character:

Well, you know, John Rogers writes my dialog, and he’s the head writer, and we’ve got some great writers on this show.  And I’m one of those actors that if it’s there on the page, why change it, you know?  We’ve got–we’ve got good writers, and so I trust them.  We do a little adlibbing and stuff like that, but I–as development on the character, it’s really not my place to take that, you know.  Like, Tim [Hutton’s] developing his character, the rest of the actors are developing their character, but you know until they give me something that’s really going to twist this guy, I mean…I’m just going to keep hitting people until they tell me to stop.

On doing his own stunts:

Well, I just got 17 stitches taken out of my forehead, so that wasn’t a fun deal, so the stuff that’s gone wrong.  You know I do–I do all my own stunts and stuff, and the morning after that, I came in with 17 stitches and I put on a baseball cap and did a fight scene that morning first up.  And I thought that that was a real testament to John Rogers and also Dean Devlin for letting me continue to do my own stunts even after something like that happened where you know one of their lead actors has got a fucked up face.  So, there you go.

On his fans–and Angel fame:

…the fact of the matter is that Angel is always going to be Angel.  And you know, I actually talked to Laurie Ennis about this–one of my best friends, my best friend–the other day.  And you know…it’s just like David [Boreanaz].  I mean, how do you go from being Angel to going to Bones?  Do you know what I mean?  You’re always going to be this vampire. But he’s done it so well, he’s transitioned so well, and I think that that’s such a huge, huge compliment, not only to him, but more importantly to the Angel fans.  And so they’re so diehard and they’re so crazy and they’re so psychotic, and I love them to death.  They will–that they can–they can–in their mind, they can see us playing other characters and there’s not a lot of people that can do that.  I mean you know James Van Der Beek is fucked.  He’s always going to be Dawson.

But we got Angel fans, and so Angel’s going to go and…he’s going to be on Bones, he’s going to be Booth…  And I’m just so happy more than anything that they’ve–that they’ve switched channels and come over and followed me as well.  You know, I’ve got the–I’ll say it again–I’ve got the greatest fans in the world, you know, and a lot of them–and most of it has to do with Angel to be honest with you.

On his developing lingerie line, Maverix:

I’m a lingerie fan…I’ve always been.  I think it’s a tough gig to do, but I’m going to do it.  I think that I love women in lingerie.  I really do.  And I used to shop at Victoria’s Secrets, but it’s the–Victoria’s Secrets to me has really become Frederick’s of Hollywood.  There’s no fantasy.  I mean its all fantasy now.  There’s no–there’s no sophistication anymore.  And so I know it sounds weird for an actor to be in this business, but the fact of the matter is is that I did it because I really wanted to bring class and sophistication back into the bedroom.  You know I don’t need to see everything.  I’m going to get there anyway… I really wanted to bring a–like I said–a sophistication back into the bedroom and bring class back into the lingerie line.

…the designer and my–and my business partner, Heather Robinson’s, one of the–one of the best stylists in Nashville.  And as of right now, we’re taking the–we’re taking the role.  We’re giving it to, only to celebrities as of right now to kick the line off.  So, it’s coming. It’s coming very, very soon, but we’re still in the process of developing the business…

And it’s going to be–it’s going to be very, very soon where we launch this.

On food and charities:

I’m a huge Paul Newman fan.  He’s been a–he’s been a fan of mine–I’ve been a fan of his for years, and it’s–I love everything he does.  And God bless him. You know, we lost a great person.  And so since he’s done that, I’ve seen what he does and all my charity stuff usually either goes…to the Susan G. Komen Foundation or, mostly, it goes to the Hole in the Wall Gang.  And so, as long as Paul Newman’s company is doing well, I’m going to keep supporting them and I’m going to let Paul Newman do the food.  And if they ever drop the ball, then I might do something [have his own line].  But me right now you know I just, I buy all Paul Newman’s stuff because it goes back to the kids.

On his training in the martial arts (and Filipino Kali):

I didn’t get into the martial arts because I was wrestler growing up in Oklahoma, and used to be if you were a wrestler, you won the fight.  There was no jiu jitsu, there was no Kali, there was no–you know, there was no–there was no anything else.  I mean people took karate, but I’m a wrestler.  I’m going to take the leg anyway.  If you want to hand it to me, that’s your fault.  So, I didn’t really get into it.  I’m a wrestler.

And so you know my whole thing is on the ground.  And just recently, you know, well in the last 10 years, all this stuff has been coming out.  So, I’ve had to learn some new stuff.  The fact of the matter with Eliot with the Kali is that I wanted to keep the things–I wanted to keep the fights close and hardcore, and I didn’t want to back up, I didn’t want any kick-boxing.  And jiu jitsu is just not that much fun.  I mean jiu jitsu and wrestling is going–you’re going to be on the ground.  That’s wasted television time, you know what I mean?  Because you–to actually do jiu jitsu moves, unless you do it quick, it’s five minutes of television, and they don’t have that much time on the show.

So, I wanted quick, short, fast blows, and Kali just was the way to go with that.  So, I worked with Charlie Brewer, who is the stunt coordinator, the first season, and it was quick.  It’s elbows and it’s knees and it’s also, you know, instead of…blocking a punch and then throwing a punch, Kali is usually blocking and throwing at the same time.  And I thought that was more offensive than playing defense.

And you know I’m a big Jason Bourne fan and this character you know is kind of–kind of written like Jason Bourne and those fights that they use.  That’s why we use 45 shutter on the fight scenes.  It’s got to be quick, it’s got to be precise, and it’s got to be done quick.  And so that what–that what we do.

…I just was a guy that threw a lot of elbows and when Charlie Brewer saw that, he was, like, “You know this is a great idea.”  He was, like, “You know punch, punch, punch,” and I’m, like, “You know if I’m right here, I’m going to throw an elbow or I’m going to throw a knee and I’m just going to take the guy out.”  And he said, “That’s Kali.”  And I was, like, “Well, let’s just use that.”  And so we kind of came up with that whole, with that whole plan, you know.

On mottos and diversity of interests:

I think that I have a good mom and dad, man…my daddy worked hard and we never wanted, but we always you know we strived to get–to get better.  And I think that that’s the whole thing, and I just live. I live my life on two quotes, man you know which is “Ninety percent of life is showing up.”  That’s Woody Allen.  And the other one is “You learn to fight by fighting,” and that’s Bruce Lee.

And it’s –and it’s, you know, it’s not–it doesn’t just have to do with fighting.  You learn to cook by cooking, you learn to sing by singing, you learn to do all this other stuff.  I just–I don’t know.  I’ve been very fortunate in my whole life.  I think it was Ferris Bueller that said it best.  He said, “If you don’t stop and look around every once in awhile, you could miss it.”  And I realize that, you know, this is–this right now where I’m at is the best time in my life, and two weeks ago when I was there, that was the best time in my life.  And people just don’t realize that sometimes and I’ve–and I’ve come to deal with it.  And I just, you know, I love art.

On “The Tap-Out Job” and behind the scenes:

They should–they should get the behind-the-scenes stuff that’s never in because the stuff we do is just, like, unbelievable.  We’re always cracking up.  And it was really hard to shoot that scene [where Eliot uses Hardison and Parker to teach Sophie about fighting].  I think it actually put us behind on the day because we were laughing so hard and because, you know, Aldis [Hodge] kept doing these…you know, Muhammad Ali moves and stuff like that.  And I was–and I had to wait to tell Parker to hit him because I was, like, I had to wait for him to settle down because you know I choreographed this whole thing with Beth [Riesgraf].

And I choreograph a lot of the fights, and so this was–this was one that I was in on.  And I was, like–I was, like, “Beth you know you can’t hit him, so you’ve got to hit him, you know, by the face because obviously we’re not really punching people.”  But he kept moving so much that I was, like, “You’ve got to wait, you’ve got to wait,” and so then, I’m, like, “Now, now punch him.”  And it was…just really, really funny.  And Tim pretends not to watch, but Tim was watching the whole time, and we were–we were cracking up.  It’s a really funny scene.

On his favorite scene from “The Tap-Out Job”:

image courtesy of TNT

At the very end when I’m talking to Gina [Bellman], and Gina, you know, being from England and, you know, she’s a tough girl. But she doesn’t understand the mentality of a fighter. And when she walks up to the ring and she’s talking to me, she doesn’t understand why I’m doing this, and it’s really not for personal gratification.  It’s just because you know that Eliot has to fight.  And there’s a really, really close, close moment there with me and Gina, which you’ve never seen before because we don’t have that much stuff together that I absolutely love.  And it’s probably when I’m in the ring and she comes in towards the end and says, “You know you don’t need to do this,” it’s may be–it’s probably my favorite scene of the whole–this far of the entire show.

There you go! Don’t forget to watch Christian Kane on Leverage Wednesdays on TNT. And catch “The Tap-Out Job” tonight!

Update: Listen Christian Kane’s new single “Let Me Go”! Released today!

Press Release from the Saturn Awards – 6/29/09

It was a stellar evening for “The Dark Knight” as the Christopher Nolan film garnered five Saturn Awards at the 35th Annual Saturn Awards. The film was named Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film. The Warner Bros. release also received awards for Best Writing: Christopher Nolan & Jonathan Nolan, Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger, Best Music: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard, and Best Special Effects.

Also receiving multiple Saturn Awards were “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Iron Man” which won three Saturn Awards apiece.

“Battlestar Galactica” proved to be the most decorated series of the evening with three Saturn Awards including Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series, Best Actor on Television: Edward James Olmos, and Best Actress on Television: Mary McDonnell. “Lost” received the Saturn Award for Best Network Series. Show co-creator, J.J. Abrams accepted the award on stage.

The highlight at the awards ceremony were the special awards presented throughout the evening. Actor Lance Henriksen received the Life Career Award for his strong body of work in film and television. Actor Ed Harris presented the award to Henriksen on stage.

DreamWorks Animation studio head, Jeffrey Katzenberg, was awarded the inaugural Visionary Award for his efforts in advancing 3D film presentation. Top filmmaker Jerry Bruckheimer presented this prestigious award to Mr. Katzenberg at the event.

Genre icon Leonard Nimoy was presented the Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in film and television which covers five decades. Mostly known for his portrayal of the Vulcan, Mr. Spock, Leonard’s accomplishment extend to many more projects including the series, Mission Impossible, Columbo, and the recent show, Fringe. Presenting the award was top filmmaker J.J. Abrams, who recently directed the hit film, Star Trek, for Paramount Pictures.

Many genre leaders were in attendance including: Michael Emerson and Mark Pellegrino (from Lost), Zachary Levi, Justin Hartley, Kevin Feige, Jack Coleman, Cristine Rose and Adrian Pasdar (from Heroes), Scott Porter, Ann Robinson, Sean Faris, Carlos Bernard (24), Kristin Bell, Andrea Roth, Casper Van Dien, Kevin Sorbo, Jim Parsons & Simon Helberg (from The Big Bang Theory), Larry Cohen, Frank Darabont, Greg Cannom, Michael Biehn, Jennifer Carpenter, Dean Devlin, Edward James Olmos, Tom DeSanto, Vince Gilligan, Aaron Paul (from Breaking Bad), James Newton Howard, and Hans Zimmer. This year’s reception was hosted by Entertainment Weekly. The Afterparty was sponsored by Highlander Films.

The 35th Annual Saturn Awards were presented by The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, a non-profit organization created in 1972 to honor, recognize and promote genre entertainment. The Academy was founded by noted film historian, Dr. Donald A. Reed, who passed away in 2001. Robert Holguin currently serves as President of the Academy. Mark Altman is Co-President of the Saturn Awards.

Best Science Fiction Film:
IRON MAN

Best Fantasy Film:
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Best Horror Film:
HELLBOY II: THE GOLDEN ARMY

Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film:
THE DARK KNIGHT

Best Actor:
ROBERT DOWNEY, JR.
(Iron Man)

Best Actress:
ANGELINA JOLIE
(Changeling)

Best Supporting Actor:
HEATH LEDGER
(The Dark Knight)

Best Supporting Actress:
TILDA SWINTON
(The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Best Performance by a Younger Actor:
JADEN CHRISTOPHER SMITH
(The Day the Earth Stood Still)

Best Director:
JON FAVREAU
(Iron Man)

Best Writer:
CHRISTOPHER NOLAN and JONATHAN NOLAN (The Dark Knight)

Best Music:
HANS ZIMMER and JAMES NEWTON HOWARD (The Dark Knight)

Best Costume:
MARY ZOPHRES
(Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull)

Best Make-Up:
GREG CANNOM
(The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

Best Special Effects:
NICK DAVIS, CHRIS CORBOULD, TIMOTHY WEBBER, PAUL J. FRANKLIN
(The Dark Knight)

Best International Film:
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

Best Animated Film:
WALL-E

Best Television Series:
LOST

Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

Best Presentation on Television:
THE LIBRARIAN: THE CURSE OF THE JUDAS CHALICE

Best Actor on Television:
EDWARD JAMES OLMOS
(Battlestar Galactica)

Best Actress on Television:
MARY MCDONNELL
(Battlestar Galactica)

Best Supporting Actor on Television:
ADRIAN PASDAR
(Heroes)

Best Supporting Actress on Televison:
JENNIFER CARPENTER
(Dexter)

Guest Starring Role on Television:
JIMMY SMITS
(Dexter)

Best DVD Release:
JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER

Best DVD Special Edition Release:
STEPHEN KING’S THE MIST (2 disc Special Edition)

Best DVD Classic Film Release:
PSYCHO (Universal Legacy Series)

Best DVD Collection:
THE GODFATHER-THE COPPOLA RESTORATION

Best Series on DVD:
MOONLIGHT

Best Retro Series on DVD:
THE INVADERS

The Life Career Award:
LANCE HENRIKSEN

The Lifetime Achievement Award:
LEONARD NIMOY

The Visionary Award:
JEFFREY KATZENBERG

Atomic testing awakens a deadly creature who the locals refer to as Gojira.

Directed by – Ishiro Honda

Written by – Ishiro Honda, Shigeru Kayama, Takeo Murata

Starring – Akira Takarada, Momoko Kochi, Akihiko Hirata, Takashi Shimura, Fuyuki Murakami, Sachio Sakai, Toranosuke Ogawa, Ren Yamamoto, Miki Hayashi, Takeo Oikawa, Seijiro Onda, Tsuruko Mano, Toyoaki Suzuki, Kokuten Kodo, Kin Sugai

Absolute classic flick and what got me hooked on movies in the first place. Still have fond memories of being at my grandparents on a Sunday and watching some of the old creature features, this being one of the best.

Nuclear testing by the French has mutated one of the local wildlife in the South Pacific. Now it’s headed towards America with one thing in mind but it’s not what you think.

Directed by – Roland Emmerich

Written by – Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio, Dean Devlin, Roland Emmerich

Starring – Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, Maria Pitillo, Hank Azaria, Kevin Dunn, Michael Lerner, Harry Shearer, Arabella Field, Vicki Lewis, Doug Savant, Malcom Danare

Absolute piece of garbage and probably what almost killed Godzilla. Or he would have at least wished to be alone for a little while after this one. Why, oh why can America not do a remake properly. This one is way off the mark from the original and it’s a shame anyone even wanted to do this one.

And the winner, hands down is the original. Wow, I see a pattern happening here. Will a remake ever surpass the original? This is a no brainer really. I guess I could have put Gojira head to head against the American tinkering of the original titled Godzilla: King of the Monsters where they decided to insert Raymond Burr into the flick. Had I done that though and I would have missed the chance to destroy the 98 remake that I had been so excited for when it was first released.

I love Godzilla and have since I was about 4 or 5 so I was understandably excited when I heard of an American remake. Wow, what a disappointment. First of all, what the hell is Godzilla? Is it really necessary to base him off a real animal? He’s freaking Godzilla! He gets pissed off and stomps the crap out of whatever random town he happens to be close by. Who cares if he appears realistic or not. Transformers makes me angry in the same way. (Sorry, couldn’t help but get that shot in.) I’m not even sure that was my biggest problem with the flick. It has this cartoony feel to it throughout with characters shooting each other a slightly comedic look before yelling ‘RUN’ and taking off in some random direction. To top it all off, Godzilla is pregnant(???) and we get to spend the last 20 or 30 minutes of the flick watching Jean Reno and Matthew Broderick run around in circles trying to escape hundreds of Godzilla babies. In the same way that Godzilla stomps through towns, this movie stomped on all the love I had for Godzilla in the first place.

Now the original flick is truly powerful at certain points. There’s nothing comical in the subject matter. An obvious comment on the perils of war and atomic weapons, there was one scene after Godzilla first rampages onto land that takes place in a hospital. A group of children surround their mother who is put onto a stretcher and taken away. Obviously one of the children breaks down and is comforted by Emiko Yamane (Momoko Kochi). It is a truly moving moment in a movie that most people will assume is about a giant monster squishing stuff. That moment alone makes this one better than the remake. Even though the movie is over 50 years old, it still looks pretty good. Godzilla himself was probably more convincing than he is now. I think with the endless string of films featuring Godzilla nowadays, battling one giant creature after another, the message of the film has been lost. Even I had lost sight of the fact that the movie carries a powerful message. In fact I’d venture to say that the monster himself is almost secondary in the plot compared with the images of war that are portrayed.

I don’t think anyone could disagree with me here that the original far surpasses the remake and if they did, I don’t think they’d ever convince me otherwise. It was great for me as a child and it was even more powerful to me as an adult.

Under the marquee – Will

You might have heard that television pilots and series have been leaving Los Angeles for the last few years — A situation that seems to be escalating post writer’s strike.  Now places like Virginia, and New Orleans, places not commonly associated with large scale film and television production have been on the receiving end of television and film studio projects and funding.

Even Oregon is getting into the act.  Oregonlive.com reports that   Portland just scored a television series –  the TNT action/drama series “Leverage”, starring veteran actor Timothy Hutton.  Dean Devlin, he of the summer blockbuster epics “Stargate”, “Independence Day, and “Godzilla” is the producer:

“We started shopping around for who had the best tax incentives and rebates,” he recalls. The choices boiled down to Portland or Vancouver, B.C. “We actually had decided to go to Vancouver when I got a call.” It was Gov. Ted Kulongoski, and his enthusiasm — and the state’s incentive program — that changed Devlin’s mind.

“With the credit crunch going on,” Devlin adds, “advertisers spend less money, which means we get less money for our television shows.”

The article goes on to detail how veteran businesses are supported, and new jobs were created from throwing somewhere in the neighborhood of “$25-$30 million” into the local Oregon/Portland economy.

You can read the report here, at Oregonlive.com.

We’ve had discussions for and against tax incentives here in Hawaii, and amongst ourselves as industry professionals, in all kinds of forums, and at this point, it’s a pretty moot cause — mostly because of our economic situation (i.e. I don’t think anyone can make any persuasive argument for tax breaks — at best it would be just north of nearly impossible).  But maybe we can take a look at how other states are doing things, and plan accordingly, so that when the next opportunity presents itself we can introduce legislation that fits our needs a little better.

One interesting side note — if you get to read the article, read through some of the comments.  Looks like no matter where you go, the arguments are the same, on both sides of the fence.

Jeff Goldblum and Sharon Raiford Bush share a moment at Dean Devlin's Estate

Hollywood mogul Dean Devlin enjoys having family and close friends around for his intimate soirees.  Dean hosted this one at his palatial home where my husband, Grand, and I were invited. 

Grand was one of the stars of the FOX series, “The Visitor.”  Also in attendance were Steve Railsback, John Corbett, Kevin Spacey, Roland Emmerich, among many others.

Last night we saw the Leverage season first season finale and I think this is a great time to get back to saying “I told you so”.  This show held it’s intensity and interest thought the entire season without even taking a noticeably weakest episode.   Another one of the great things about Leverage and TNT is that they understand that making the fans wait (like the torturous network Sci-Fi) is just a mean thing to do.  The cast and crew will be back making Leverage in a mere six weeks which means the writers room is hard at work.  Here’s iFmagazine.com ’s sneak peek at what we can expect.

One thing we’re seeing as the connection between the Internet, fandom and TV shows continue to mix is a lot more behind the scenes stuff which allows us to not only become attached to the actors as people but also the producers, directors and writers who are often times the more interesting people.   Successful shows with successful online fandoms are shows with connected producer/creators with a sense of humor.  Its only working in their favor and in most cases preventing the kind of ‘cottage industry’ that plagues shows with lame creators *cough*heroes*cough*  (I really thought that was going to start to get old but it hasn’t yet)

Viva la Leverage
-DoubleBitch

Show: Leverage
Season: 1
Episode name: The First David Job
Episode number: S01E12
Original air date: 17/02/09
Network: TNT

Plot: The team is close to finding Ian Blackpoole, the same CEO miscreant who refused Nate’s son to be treated and left to die. The team puts together a plan to steal Nate’s former boss’s prized Michelangelo maquette and sell it back to him, but their plan is jeopardized when Nate’s former co-worker shows up unexpectedly.

Director: Dean Devlin
Writer: John Rogers

Release #1: Leverage S01E12 The First David Job HDTV XviD-FQM
Release #2: -

I’ve had very few doubts about TNT’s Leverage from the beginning.  It’s a solid show with a solid premise and a great cast.  When I first watched the pilot I was hooked.  The only thing I was worried about was if the show could keep up such a complex and intense plot week in and week out.   Despite the fact that the number of episodes is still in the single digits and will barely make it out of them this season I think they’ve proven themselves.

In that great article I told you to read last week, Joss Whedon spoke about getting a new series off the ground and while he was talking about Dollhouse, I think it applies perfectly here.

I always hold to the premise that the first six episodes are the first six pilots. … You pitch it with the premise and then you get to all the stuff that you’re really doing it for. … I like the premise, I’m interested in the premise. But it’s the people behind the premise that are ultimately the heart of the show.

We’ve seen the premise not only laid out but twisted and changed and kept interesting.  We’ve also seen more character development than I had ever expected from a show of this kind.  Leverage is action meets comedy plus intelligence and just a pinch of awesome hair. What I’m saying is that if we follow Whedon’s first six pilots trial guideline Leverage has presented itself as a consistent textbook example.

While on the topic of awesome hair Kane pulled off three different looks this week including the Legolas inspired half-back do.  Dean Devlin tells cliqueclack that the mane was all Kane’s idea.

“It’s an evolving thing. It’s so interesting to see how people have reacted to it … his fighting powers come from his hair … opponents are so dazzled by his pretty hair that they don’t see the punch coming….”

Something else Kane’s hair maybe blinds us from is quasi believable cgi of a plane landing.  Let’s take a second to note ironic timing on this.  (I wonder if they would have pulled it if there had been fatalities. ) The concept of this weeks ep was pretty wild but my love for this show has done something shows like say.. Heroes have failed at. It’s pushed me into the realm of believability.  You could drive a hummer up the side of a building and I’d still be okay with it.  My only wish is that they had gone with less.  I believe you that the plane is going down, you don’t have to show me.  I think they could have pulled it off with a lot less ’show’ and a little more tell.

-DoubleBitch

Leverage premiers Sunday night on TNT at 10/9c. I’ve seen this episode, as have many others. TNT went out of their way to leak this show months ago online. Their marketing strategy is above and beyond what the major networks are doing. Its innovative and different. They’re not afraid to change things up and I think it’s going to work.

TNT has been one of the best networks out there in terms of their strategy for their shows. They don’t care about conventional TV ‘rules’ like when a season should and shouldn’t start or sweeps week. They’re listening to their audience, reaching out and it’s working. Unconventional premiere dates have really been working for them so far and they’re dedicated to interesting original scripted content. Finally! I think we’ll see big things from TNT in the next few years, hell we’re seeing big things right now.

Shows like Supernatural depend on their syndicating stations to promote them while TNT holds a $100,000 contest to promote Leverage’s premier that is both pretty awesome and interactive. Web content, a contest and an awesome show? Hell yes.

Web content, pictures, videos and promo videos have been coming out for months. This show has an official street team. The cast has been out doing screening and premiere parties across the united states this past week. I’ve also heard tell of promotional USB drives and Energy Drinks. They’re doing one more thing to help get this show off the ground. Episode 1 will air commercial-free Sunday night at 10 as a special airing and before you have time to forget about it, but long enough for you to talk about it at the water cooler the premiere will air again on Tuesday at 9pm followed directly by the second episode. They know full well you wont be able to get enough. Speaking from experience, I’ve already watched this premiere four times and will be watching it again this week. It’s that good.

The key to why TNT will be successful is that on top of all these things that they’re doing they just have great content with great actors. They’ve produced what I’m quite willing to call two of my most anticipated shows this year and the key is that they believe in their content. They’re going way out on a limb to say ‘This. is. awesome.” They’re proud of what they’ve done and they want to show us why we should watch it and love it with them. Crazy concept.

-DoubleBitch

To kick things off, here is the first movie review I posted to the Media Blitzkrieg website back on April 7th, 2001:

“I’m sure by now that most of you out there have seen the American attempt at Godzilla, Godzilla ’98 (as I call it, to keep it from being confused with the true Godzilla movies).

I have only one question: What the fuck went wrong?

I mean really, what was that incredible piece of shit that I wasted my 5 bucks on (that’s close to what tickets cost back home when it came out)?

The script (the one we didn’t see on the screen) was written by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio. I’ve just finished reading the final draft of this script and IT ROCKS. Honestly, see for yourself (if you can still find the script online).

I think I know what went wrong between the script stage and the screen, I’ll try and break it down for you.

First and foremost, there were problems finding a director. From what I’ve heard, Jan Du Bont was originally going to do it with Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt. He decided not to and took his talent to another big budget, special effects, man versus big fucking unstoppable natural force movie Twister (a movie which I think was fairly decent).

Many other directors were considered until Roland Emmerich came upon the film (y’know, the Independence Day schmuck). He said yeah and that’s when the film went to shit.

And why is that you ask? Hmm, it might have something to do with a guy named Matthew Broderick (Bueller, Bueller, Bueller). Now I have nothing against Broderick (hell, I even liked Inspector Gadget), but what the fuck was he doing in a Godzilla movie? He belongs in comedies and family oriented movies, not big budget action/adventure films (he ain’t no Ahnold ya know).

The rest of the cast was kinda weak too. There were two bright points in the cast; Hank Azaria (Mystery Men,Mad About You, every other voice in The Simpsons), and Jean Reno (Mission Impossible,Leon: The Professional, and most recently Just Visiting). Hank Azaria is great for comic relief. He’s hilarious and is a great voice guy (it’s hard to know what he really sounds like). And Jean Reno is just fucking awesome! He’s a great actor, and he stole every scene from Broderick (“I’m in insurance,” sure ya are).

Whoever reworked the story for Godzilla ‘98 should be taken out into the streets of Japan and stomped by the REAL Godzilla.

What the fuck was all that scientific explanation? We don’t need it you fuckin’ dumbass! It’s a Godzilla movie for chrissakes (science is just a formality in Godzilla, everybody knows that)! AND SINCE WHEN DOES GODZILLA LAY FUCKING EGGS!!!

I can almost imagine the studio when they read that (sniff, sniff, I smell sequel *NOT*).

The original script had so much REAL Godzilla happenings that I’m surprised Toho themselves didn’t grab it up. You definitely need to read this script (script no longer available). It seriously kicks so much ass. There was actually a typical Godzilla story! Imagine that!

The script even had an impressive nod to the original Godzilla (badly dubbed into English by people who have no clue what they’re doing). There is a moment when a man is reporting to his superiors and the audio kicks out, the radio man tries to fix it and creates a delay that makes it look like a badly dubbed tape. Brilliant!

Godzilla ’98 just goes to prove my long standing point that Hollywood ruins movies! Look at our past history folks, for every good movie out of Hollywood’s doors there are 50 or more true pieces of dog shit.

I nearly lost my lunch in Godzilla ‘98 (that’s how bad it sucked), but when I read the script I was ecstatic! I love the script. It rocks. And I’m going to tell Terry Rossio that.

Mr. Rossio, on behalf of the American movie going public I’d like to apologize for the brutal butchering of your beautiful script. It was wrong and should have never happened. I hope you can forgive us and take this essay as a small comfort that not all of us are brain dead morons who allow events like this to pass unaffected.”

The postscript for this diatribe was this:

Join the Anti-bad movie movement!

Under my name, I added this:

(movie goer and public defender of decency)

See the original review here.

That should give you an idea of the negative reviews I am capable of.  I’ll have a positive one for tomorrow.

William, the Movie Nerdfighter

movie goer and public defender of decency

Oldteevee just got a little more like newteevee as cable network TNT announced Blank Slate, a new “microseries” that will debut in September. Variety reports that the 80-minute crime thriller will be chopped up into twenty, four-minute minisodes that will air during primetime.

Blank Slate is about an amnesiac who gets implanted with memories of the recently dead; it’s produced by Dean Devlin (Independence Day) and will star Eric Stoltz. Acura has signed on as a sponsor and will have its cars featured prominently in the minisodes (to get those sneaky commercial fast forwarders).

The show will have an overly-complicated release schedule on the network: It will be spread out over five back-to-back hours of Law & Order over two days, across two consecutive weeks (I know, it’s confusing). But Slate will also be available on TNT.tv and on Acura’s site, where the “microseries” will become a web series.

Other than Acura getting primetime ad time, it’s difficult to see why the show is being released this way. To get the full story, you need to watch the series in order, but who wants to sit (or sift) through hours and hours of Law & Order? It’d be much easier just to watch it online, where you could plow through them all as quickly or leisurely as you like.

This is, however, the latest move by a Turner network to be more like the web. During its upfronts, the company announced that TNT, TBS and TruTV will feature TVinContext ads, which provide relevant ad targeting based on the content of a show.

PROJECTS ANNOUNCED

CBS Films has optioned the romantic comedy spec “Plan B,” by TV scribe Kate Angelo. Plot details are being kept under wraps, but the story is believed to center on a woman who sets out to be artificially inseminated and falls in love. Todd Black, Jake Blumenthal and Steve Tisch are producing through their Escape Artists shingle. Spec sparked a bidding war that involved multiple parties. CBS Films has jumped into the post-WGA strike lit market with resolve. Last month, the nascent company paid $1 million for Dan Fogelman’s untitled boomers-in-Vegas comedy pitch. Angelo has an overall deal at ABC Television Studios and has a pilot in contention at ABC with Julie Bowen attached to star. Angelo’s credits include “Will & Grace” and J.J. Abrams’ “What About Brian.”

Paramount Pictures has preemptively bought “Lost City of Z,” a David Grann manuscript about the search for a lost city in the Amazon, with Brad Pitt to produce the feature adaptation through his Plan B shingle as a potential starring vehicle. Grann’s forthcoming nonfiction book concerns British explorer Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett, who was attempting to find the so-called City of Z when he and his party disappeared in 1925. Over the next 70 years, scores of explorers tried and failed to retrace Fawcett’s path, including a 1996 expedition of Brazilian adventurers. Pitt would play Fawcett. Doubleday is scheduled to publish “Lost City of Z,” an expansion of Grann’s September 2005 article in the New Yorker, in February. When Pitt expressed interest in toplining as well as producing “Lost City of Z,” Paramount moved quickly to buy it. Par previously optioned Grann’s New Yorker article “City of Water.”

Ray Romano is plotting a return to the smallscreen via TNT. Comic thesp has teamed with “Everybody Loves Raymond” scribe-producer Mike Royce to create “Men of a Certain Age,” a comedic one-hour drama in which Romano will also star. In a rare move, TNT is going straight to pilot on the script, which was written outside the normal development process. “Men” will revolve around three men in their 40s, friends since college, who now find themselves going through midlife crises of various sorts. Project is described as akin to “Sideways” in tone.

Chuck Russell is writing to direct “Northern Lights,” an action film set in the field of aerobatics — death-defying stunt flying. Russell is working on a rewrite of a script by David Ellison and Duane Adler; Electric Entertainment’s Dean Devlin is producing with Ellison and his Skydance Prods. banner. Plan is to begin production in Pic will shoot in Shreveport, La., by fall.

Columbia Pictures has preemptively snapped up Matt Bondurant’s upcoming novel “The Wettest County in the World” for Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher to produce through their Red Wagon shingle. John Hillcoat, who’s shooting the bigscreen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy “The Road,” is attached to direct. Based on a true story, “Wettest County in the World” revolves around a moonshine gang operating in the bootlegging capital of America — Franklin County, Va. — during Prohibition.

Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren are toplining Michael Hoffman’s Leo Tolstoy biopic “The Last Station,” which starts shooting April 7 in Germany. They replace previously announced thesps Anthony Hopkins and Meryl Streep in the roles of Tolstoy and his wife, Sofia. Other key cast include James McAvoy and Paul Giamatti. Warner Bros. has picked up German domestic rights to the e13 million ($20 million) project.

PROJECT UPDATES

Martin Scorsese’s Rolling Stones concert documentary “Shine a Light” will be livin’ large. When Paramount Classics opens the film Friday in roughly 270 theaters domestically, 93 of those will be large-format Imax theaters, which bring larger-sized ticket prices. In many markets, the film will be playing exclusively on Imax screens, meaning it won’t be shown in regular theaters. That’s the biggest opening in Imax’s history after “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” which opened simultaneously in 91 Imax screens and in more than 3,000 regular theaters. Film will subsequently open in international Imax locations. An Imax ticket costs more — as does each print of the film — meaning added revenues for the exhib and the studio. In the case of “Shine a Light,” an adult ticket will cost $13, while a kid’s ticket will cost $10.50. The appeal of Imax is its quality of image and sound, according to Scorsese.

Scott Bakula has scored the second lead role opposite Matt Damon in “The Informant,” Steven Soderbergh’s espionage thriller for Warner Independent. Bakula will play Brian Shepherd, an FBI agent who exposes an international price-fixing scheme with the help of biochemist Mark Whitacre (Damon). Project is based on a true story; Scott Burns adapted the book by Kurt Eichenwald. Participant Media and Groundswell are co-producing with WIP. Jennifer Fox and Gregory Jacobs are producing.

Lifetime’s hit drama “Army Wives” has been hit with yet another change of command, as exec producer-showrunner Dee Johnson has left the show. As part of the changeover, Nick Thiel (“Burn Notice”) has joined the show and been handed executive producer stripes. “Army Wives” creator Katherine Fugate, considered the voice of “Army Wives,” remains as an exec producer, along with Mark Gordon. Production has just begun on season two of “Army Wives,” which scored an 18-episode salute after posting Lifetime’s best-ever series ratings in the key adults 18-49 demo last summer. Lifetime and producer ABC Studios wouldn’t comment on reasons behind Johnson’s departure, which was first reported by TV Guide, but the old “creative differences” explanation made the rounds.

ll four theaters skedded to bow Argo Pictures’ controversial documentary “Yasukuni,” about the Japanese shrine that honors war dead including Class A war criminals, on April 12 have cancelled, the distrib announced. One is in Osaka and three are in Tokyo. Another Tokyo theater had already pulled the docu from its schedule. Shot over 10 years by Chinese helmer Li Ying, the docu has become a lightening rod for controversy both in Japan and Asia. Scenes include protests by families of Asian war victims against former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s visits to the shrine. Members of parliament, including those belonging to Koizumi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, have questioned the use of government coin to help finance the pic.

ACQUISITIONS/ FESTIVAL NEWS

Chevolution” the Netflix-backed docu about Alberto Korda’s famously enigmatic photo of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, has been picked up by int’l sales agent Fortissimo Films. Pic, which preems at next month’s Tribeca Film Festival, was financed by Netflix’s original content unit Red Envelope Entertainment. Deal between Red Envelope and Fortissimo sees Hong Kong and Amsterdam-based Fortissimo handle sales in all territories outside North America. Helmed by Trisha Ziff and Luis Lopez, pic will have its market premiere in Cannes in May.

Senator Entertainment has acquired distribution rights in North America, Germany and Spain to the sci-fi thriller “Splice” from writer-director Vincenzo Natali. Film, which stars Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley, revolves around two scientists who undertake illegal genetic experiments and create a new species fusing human and animal DNA. As the pair become global celebrities, the consequences of their accomplishment begin to become apparent.

Cinema Libre has acquired worldwide rights to Glenn Gers’ “disFigured,” which is making its premiere at the AFI Dallas Film Festival this week. The film is about an overweight woman who befriends, through a Fat Acceptance Group, a real estate agent recovering from anorexia. “With Cinema Libre, we hope to work with groups that support awareness of size diversity issues and would like to set up special screenings of the film across the country this summer,” said Gers. Helmer penned the Diane Keaton starrer “Mad Money” and the thriller “Fracture,” starring Anthony Hopkins.

The Tokyo Intl. Anime Fair ended its four-day run on Sunday with a total attendance of 126,622, up 17.55% over last year and a new event record. According to TIAF officials, 24,479 visitors came to the two business days on Thursday and Friday, down slightly from previous years. Meanwhile, 102,143 came to the public days on Saturday and Sunday, up 22.42% year on year. The number of foreign biz visitors rose 12% to 1,055, while media attendance over the four days gained 23% to 1,626. A total of 289 companies and orgs took booths at the Tokyo Big Site event hall, nearly one-fourth of which were non-Japanese. TIAF will hold its next edition from March 18 to 21, 2009.

BUSINESS NEWS

Jennifer Aniston and producing partner Kristin Hahn have formed Echo Films, a company that will start with a first-look deal at Universal Pictures. Aniston and Hahn have already made several project acquisitions, most of which will be developed as star vehicles for Aniston. The studio has just acquired screen rights to Jane Fallon’s British bestseller “Getting Rid of Matthew,” and Aniston and Hahn will produce with Lynda Obst and Marc Rosen. Fallon, a veteran U.K. TV producer who is married to Ricky Gervais, will adapt her novel about a hard-charging publicist whose lusty affair with a married man is ruined by his decision to leave his wife and two children for her. She invents a new persona, befriends the spurned wife and attempts to patch up the marriage up so she can be rid of him. In the process, she develops a thing for his oldest son.

Image Entertainment CEO-prexy Marty Greenwald is handing the reins of the quirky video and production company he founded to longtime lieutenant David Borshell today. Borshell, who had been chief operating officer since 2000, steps up to president with Greenwald’s exit from the exec suite. The company will not fill the CEO post; Greenwald, a colorful character who formed Image after 20 years in the adult video biz, will remain chairman of the board. The shift comes with the start of the publicly traded company’s new fiscal year. It follows several turbulent years for the company, which entered into a merger with BTP, since dissolved, and earlier fended off a hostile takeover bid by Lionsgate.

Benelux film and TV distributor Dutch FilmWorks has launched House of Knowledge Intl., an international sales, licensing and production division. Building on House of Knowledge, the domestic distribution DVD operation for nonfiction that launched in 2002, HKI will focus on mind, wellness and historical factual properties, Dutch FilmWorks CEO Willem Pruijssers announced Monday. HKI’s first slate will be presented at the Mip TV mart, which kicks off in Cannes next Monday. The first slate, split between docu specs and series, strongly emphasizes self-help and new age themes. It is led by “Staya Erusa: Find the Book of Knowledge,” a follow-up to “Staya Erusa: The Begining,” a film on how people can better live up to their expectations. “Book of Kowledge” co-producer Uri Geller will present the docu at Mip TV. The Mip TV slate also features living guide special “The Secret Goes Europe”; 14-part series “The Secret Workshops”; “The Brain Fitness Program”; docu collection “World War II in Word and Motion”; history of armed conflict skein “War Through Times”; dance guide “Jumpstyle”; “Play Poker Like the Pros”; and “Sexual Intelligence.”

Eros Intl. signed TV syndication deals for packages of films with two of the leading Indian global TV networks, Sony Entertainment Television and Sahara Television Network, on Monday. Sahara gets 35 library films including “Hum dil de chuke sanam,” “Devdas” and “Hey Ram.” SET gets 16 new pics from 2007-08 including “Om shanti om” and “Heyy Babyy.” Eros Intl., listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market, is one of India’s leading film and entertainment companies. It has a film library of more than 1,300 titles and releases 25-30 new movies per year. The $6 billion Indian TV sector is growing by 21% annually.

Distrib Kadokawa Pictures plans to expand its theater chain to some 200 screens from its current 106 screens plus three Tokyo Arthouses. Speaking at Friday’s press conference to unveil its 2008-2009 slate Kadokawa prexy Taiichi Inoue said the distrib was shooting for a box office of 5 billion yen ($50 million) this year.

Woody Allen asked a federal court on Monday to strip a clothing company known for its racy ads featuring scantily clad models of at least $10 million for using his image on billboards and on the Internet. In a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the actor and director said he does not endorse commercial products or services in the United States, which makes the May 2007 American Apparel billboards in Hollywood and New York and Web site displays “especially egregious and damaging.” The lawsuit said Allen was not contacted by the company and did not consent to the use of his image, which was taken from one of his movies. American Apparel Inc., which is based in Los Angeles and operates worldwide, did not immediately reply to a telephone message seeking comment Monday. The lawsuit complained of a billboard featuring a frame from “Annie Hall,” a film that won Allen a best director Oscar. The image showed Allen dressed as a Hasidic Jew with a long beard and black hat and Yiddish text meaning “the holy rebbe.” The words “American Apparel” also were on the billboard.

STRIKE NEWS/ LABOR ISSUES

In the wake of Saturday’s decision by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to ditch its longstanding bargaining partnership with SAG on the feature-primetime contract, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers held off Monday on deciding which union it will sit down with first. SAG, which earlier spurned offers to start negotiations in March, now contends it should be first up because it covers all film work and the lion’s share of TV work done by thesps. SAG prexy Alan Rosenberg noted in a message to members that studios want to end the uncertainty over a possible strike, further motivating the AMPTP to start talks as soon as possible as the June 30 contract expiration looms. “We believe the AMPTP will be eager to do so, especially since motion picture start dates are critical,” he said. However, it’s widely expected that the congloms will start talks as early as this week with AFTRA, the smaller of the two unions, on the three primetime shows it covers. And that move should bolster the companies’ leverage once they start negotiations with SAG by making the notion of going on strike less attractive. SAG’s new request for negotiations to begin as soon as possible marks an about-face from the position it took after the majors announced they were ready to go with talks in mid-February. It was previously unwilling to start negotiations until after it had completed its official preparations — despite pressure from high-profile members George Clooney, Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep to start ASAP. SAG had insisted it could not start talks until a joint board meeting approved the joint proposal — an event that had been set for Saturday but was then called off once AFTRA’s board voted to end its negotiating partnership with SAG.

INDUSTRY MOVES

New Line’s Richard Brener is staying on as Toby Emmerich’s right-hand man and has been promoted to prexy of production. Move comes two weeks after Emmerich was appointed president and chief operating officer of the scaled-down mini-major. The 35-year-old Brener joined the company in 1995 as a temp and rose through the ranks to story editor and senior VP. He’s been serving as New Line’s No. 2 production exec after a promotion to senior exec VP-COO in early 2007.

In an effort to sell more shows and formats to U.S. outlets, BBC Worldwide America has streamlined its sales and production operations under the direction of Paul Telegdy, the Beeb exec most responsible for exporting “Dancing With the Stars” to ABC. As BBC Worldwide America exec veep of TV sales and content & production, Telegdy will now oversee TV sales and co-production dealmaking for the Beeb’s U.S. division, as well as production. Previously, the Beeb’s head sales rep for the U.S. had been Candace Carlisle, exec veep of co-productions and sales and a 22-year veteran of the pubcaster.

Casey Patterson has been tapped senior VP for event production and talent development at TV Land and Spike TV — a gig that will put her in regular contact with Hollywood’s movie marketing machine. Newly created gig puts Patterson in charge of the cablers’ efforts to expand programming and marketing opportunities tied to film releases and other high-profile projects. She’ll also oversee event production and talent development for both nets.

James E. Curry has joined the Century City office of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton as partner in the firm’s entertainment and media group. He most recently practiced as a founding partner with White O’Connor Curry, also in Century City. Curry, a trial attorney, specializes in business lawsuits on behalf of entertainment clients, primarily studios and networks. His clients have included Disney, Warner Bros. and Paramount/Viacom.

Struggling vidgame publisher Atari has tapped a respected industry vet as its CEO, signaling that the long-troubled company is attempting to revive its fortunes. Jim Wilson, who most recently headed Sony BMG’s home entertainment unit and was previously exec veep of worldwide studios for Vivendi Universal Games, was named to the position Monday. He’ll work closely with former EA exec David Gardner and Sony exec Phil Harrison, who were recently named CEO and prexy, respectively, of Atari parent company Infogrames.

TECHNOLOGY/ MULTI-PLATFORM CONTENT

The TV biz was looking highly mobile on Monday in advance of the annual CTIA Wireless confab in Las Vegas, with Sony Pictures Television, Fox, NBC Universal and MTV Networks announcing mobile entertainment deals. The mobile entertainment biz is still very much in the experimental phase in the U.S., though some of the majors are starting to harvest coin from mobile content deals in Europe and Asia, where the market is more mature and advanced mobile vid technologies more widespread. Sony Pictures Television made the most ambitious move in unveiling a slate of mobile games and six new and returning Web serials designed as short-form bits ideal for tiny cell phone screens. News Corp.’s Fox Mobile Entertainment wing unveiled the FoxMobile.com portal featuring a slew of content designed to be viewed on mobile devices. Site includes content from Fox Broadcasting Co., FX, Fox Reality Channel, Speed and National Geographic Channel cablers as well as such show-specific franchises as “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy” and “Nip/Tuck.” NBC U tubthumped pacts with AT&T, Verizon and Blackberry maker Research in Motion to distrib the Peacock’s portfolio of more than 60 wireless-friendly websites dedicated to NBC, NBC Sports, USA Network, Bravo, MSNBC and Universal Pictures, among other properties. MTV Networks has teamed with mobile vid provider mywaves to offer its first free mobile ad-supported vid package of clips and customized content from its various cablers.

Geert Wilders’ anti-Islamic film “Fitna” was back on Liveleak.com on Monday three days after the British-based Internet site pulled it following threats to staffers. A statement on the Liveleak site said it had upgraded security for staffers and their families. Liveleak bowed the 15-minute film on Thursday. On Monday, Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen met ambassadors of countries belonging to the Organization of the Islamic Conference to assure them the film did not reflect the opinion of the Dutch government. Prosecutors have yet to decide whether to take action against right-wing pol Wilders for violating hate speech laws in the pic, which U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called “offensively anti-Islamic.” Over the weekend there were protests in Indonesia and Pakistan and calls for a boycott of Dutch products in Jordan and Malaysia.

Walt Disney Japan and Yahoo Monday revealed plans to strengthen their co-operation in the Internet biz. Yahoo will start running the Disney games site banner on its Yahoo Games and Yahoo Kids sites beginning Tuesday. Also, Disney will link to the Yahoo sites on its games site, Disney Games. The object is to join the contents of Disney and Yahoo Japan, enabling users to play the games more easily. The two companies will also co-operate in ad placements on each other’s sites. Disney and Yahoo are already collaborating on mobile service, Disney Mobile, that Disney launched on March 1 with the support of SoftBank Mobile Corp. The new deal expands the target of that partnership to PC users.

Pubcaster Television New Zealand launched digital factual channel TVNZ7 Sunday to boost uptake for the Freeview digital free-to-air platform. The Freeview consortium of broadcasters has added 13 channels since the service launched on May 2. From Wednesday, the Freeview satellite platform will be complemented by a digital terrestrial platform. TVNZ7 joins digital entertainment channel TVNZ6 plus the digital re-broadcast of TVNZ analog channels TV One and TV2; Media Works-owned TV3, high-def TV 3 and C4; Maori TV as well as regional focused Stratos. TVNZ7 features 30% news content, as well as documentaries, current affairs programs and commentary shows.

WEBSITES TO WATCH

http://shine.yahoo.com/

Yahoo aims to shine some light on the underserved adult (25-54) woman demographic with Yahoo Shine. The new destination aggregates original content as well as relevant fare from other sections of Yahoo and offers syndicated material from partners including Conde Nast, Hearst and Rondale. It also provides a glimpse where the new Yahoo is headed, adopting a white-space laden blog format organized around the demo rather than the topic.

http://daisywhitney.com/newmediaminute/

Warner Bros. Television is enlisting the help of video search and targeting firm Digitalsmiths to help manage the video inventory of a new WB video site slated to launch in the coming weeks, reports Daisy Whitney in TVWeek. Digitasmiths provides tools to help visitors find what they’re looking for online and serve ads to the content contextually. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Daisy’s excellent video podcast, New Media Minute. This week she tries to get to the bottom of who’s watching Hulu.

http://video.titantv.com/

Local station website online programming service TitanTV launched a trio of new series recapping the latest episodes of three of the TV’s most popular reality shows – Survivor, America’s Next Top Model and Dancing With the Stars.

SOURCES:

www.variety.com
www.cynopsis.com