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Sunday, February 24, 2013

Deus Ex: Human Revolution Is a 'Cyberpunk Movie' Says Writer C. Robert Cargill

Feb 20, 2013 by Brian Gallagher
Writer C. Robert Cargill calls Deus Ex: Human Revolution a 'cyberpunk' movie Writer C. Robert Cargill calls Deus Ex: Human Revolution a 'cyberpunk' movieBack in November, CBS Films confirmed that Sinister director Scott Derrickson will direct the video game adaptation Deus Ex: Human Revolution from a script he co-wrote with C. Robert Cargill. The project is based on Square Enix's successful video game of the same name, although screenwriter C. Robert Cargill recently made it clear that they are trying to ditch the stigma of a video game adaptation. Here's what the writer had to say, revealing they intend to make more of a "cyberpunk" movie. "Yeah, the chief philosophy is we're not making a video game movie, we're making a cyberpunk movie. We've taken a look at what's worked in video games and what hasn't, and really what we've broken down is what we think the audience really wants, [what] the audience that loves Deus Ex is going to want to see out of a Deus Ex movie. And it's not a rehashing of the game. What they want to see is, they want to see elements of the game that they love, but they want to see things that they hadn't quite seen in the game, that the game didn't allow them to see. So it's really allowed us to expand upon the things that happened in the game, and the game has such a great cinematic story to begin with that those elements are very easy to extract. But really, at its core, we just keep telling each other, 'We're not making a video game movie, we're making a cyberpunk movie.' And Scott and I are such big cyberpunk fans from way back in the day that that just really charges us up. Because that's what's so great about Deus Ex to begin with, is it really gets cyberpunk. I Eidos Montreal really understood the nature of cyberpunk and made 'the' cyberpunk game, and it is just fantastic, and we've just had a great time adapting it."

Director Scott Derrickson also revealed that they recently turned in a draft of their script to the studio, which has been positively received.

"Deus Ex is moving like a rocket. We've turned in a draft of that that everyone seems excited about, and we're very excited about that, and we've got a number of other projects that haven't really been announced that have a lot of momentum also. It's Hollywood, though. I've been doing this a long time, and you just never know what will come together when. There's so many moving parts that have to come together for a movie to get made."

C. Robert Cargill revealed that they are inspired by movies that push the envelope, such as District 9, Looper, and Inception.

"We're trying to break out. We're looking at movies like District 9, Looper, and Inception. Those are the molds of what we've been doing. Let's push this and do something new with concepts people love, but tell a story that they've never seen before, that just melts their brain. And that is just hyperkinetic and smart and just hits all the right buttons that genre audiences want to see. That's what we've gunned for. We haven't tried to build it around Johnny Mnemonic or New Rose Hotel."

Scott Derrickson added that there is a higher degree of difficulty with this project, since there hasn't been a truly great "cyberpunk" movie yet.

"Yeah, cyberpunk is difficult. There's a reason we haven't had a great cyberpunk movie yet. There's a reason why a sci-fi movie as great as Neuromancer has never made it to the screen. I do think there's a new wave coming, and not just because the technology and the effects are up to speed, but I think that there's a sensibility to cyberpunk that the movies are catching up with. That's kind of how we feel. We feel like the science fiction, the reason why we reference Inception, Looper and District 9 was that they were all movies that took certain familiar science fiction methodologies and turned them upside-down and brought a grounded realism to them. Time travel, aliens arriving on Earth, going into the dream world... Those are all things that you've seen a dozen bad versions of, and it dozen decent versions of that. But no one, until those three films, no one had gone into filmmaking from a grounded, realistic point of view and made something with a fresh aesthetic. And I think that there was a little bit of the Blade Runner curse, a little bit of The Matrix curse, where you've got these movies that touch on cyberpunk elements that aren't really cyberpunk films but they are so iconic, and so insurmountable. They're perfect films in their own ways, [but] no one has been able to break free of that, or no one has broken free of that, and tried to go at it completely fresh. I think that we're going to see a wave of them, I predict. I think that cyberpunk is going to break out. There's going to be a new kind of science fiction film, and it will be cyberpunk, and it will be amazing."

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is in development . The film is directed by Scott Derrickson.



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Ari Graynor Joins the Bad Teacher Adaptation for CBS

Feb 19, 2013 by Brian Gallagher
Ari Graynor signs on to star in CBS' Bad Teacher pilot Ari Graynor signs on to star in CBS' Bad Teacher pilotCBS has found its foul-mouthed teacher for their upcoming Bad Teacher comedy pilot. Ari Graynor has signed on to star in the role originated by Cameron Diaz in the hit 2011 movie Bad Teacher. We first reported on the project back in October when CBS ordered the single-camera pilot.

Ari Graynor will play Meredith Davis, a crass and sexy divorcee who takes a job as a teacher to make ends meet. The plot will divert slightly from the movie, where Cameron Diaz's Elizabeth Halsey was already a teacher who was ready to leave her job and marry a rich man, before she is dumped and forced to go back to work. David Alan Grier also stars in the pilot as Meredith's boss, Principal Carl Gaines.

Community and Happy Endings writer Hilary Winston wrote the pilot script and will executive produce, alongside Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, the writing team behind the comedy feature.

Ari Graynor previously portrayed the sister of Anna Torv's Olivia Dunham on the Fox series Fringe. She has also starred in films such as What's Your Number?, The Sitter, Celeste and Jesse Forever, and For a Good Time, Call....


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EXCLUSIVE: Kenny Loggins Talks Top Gun 3D and the Lasting Power of Danger Zone

Feb 20, 2013 by B. Alan Orange
We fly into the Danger Zone with Kenny Loggins We fly into the Danger Zone with Kenny LogginsLate director Tony Scott reinvented the action movie with his 1986 classic Top Gun, which remained at the top of the box office charts for an unprecedented four months. This romantic thriller ushered in an era of MTV-style filmmaking, with its quick-cuts, non-stop action, and its chart-topping soundtrack loaded with number one hits. Its obvious that Top Gun wouldn't have been half as cool without singles such as 'Danger Zone', 'Take My Breath Away', 'Heaven in Your Eyes', and 'Playing with the Boys' helping to push forth the narrative. In fact, Tom Cruise's career defining hit is as much remembered for these songs as it is anything else.

Fully restored and converted, Top Gun 3D hit IMAX theaters for a one-week limited run last weekend, and now, the Blu-ray has come home to roost. To celebrate this newly immersive release of the ageless classic, we caught up with renowned 80s songsmith Kenny Loggins, who contributed two number one singles to the soundtrack, with the defining song 'Danger Zone' and the party hit 'Playing with the Boys'. Kenny Loggins took us through some of the history of the song, and revealed that it was originally supposed to be preformed by Toto.

Can you even imagine a world where Toto was on the Top Gun soundtrack? We can't either. Here is our conversation with the top gun of movie soundtracks himself, Mr. Kenny Loggins!

Danger Zone was not a song you wrote or composed. They brought you in after the fact. How did you wind up with the track, and how was it decided that this would be the title track for Top Gun?

Kenny Loggins: As I have it, and I may be wrong with this...I was in the studio, and I had written a track for the movie called 'Playing with the Boys'... I heard from my A&R man at Columbia that they needed a singer. The story I heard, and I've been told this isn't true...But Toto had been offered the job of being the band to do Danger Zone. For some reason the lawyers couldn't agree on it, so it fell out. There was definitely some other act or band ahead of me, and it fell out. I just happened to be in the studio, and they needed a singer right away. I dropped what I was doing and went in, and the next day we cut the vocal.

Do you look back fondly on the song some twenty years removed from it? Do you still like to play Danger Zone, or do you even care if you never hear it again?

Kenny Loggins: It turned into one of the biggest songs of my career, so I do still sing it in concert. People love it! I didn't expect that song to be the type of song that would hold up for almost thirty years. At the time, it seemed like a pretty simple piece of rock and roll. I just really wanted an up tempo thing for my show, and I thought it would be fun to have a movie song. It would kick the show in gear, and it sure did.

It seems like it would have been a completely different song if Toto had done it. It wouldn't even be the same movie...

Kenny Loggins: Who knows? Georgio produced the record, so it would have just had a totally different singer. We don't know what the hang-up was, though, so maybe they wanted to reproduce the song so that they could all play on it. That would be a logical thing to ask for. But Georgio was in charge of the music on that movie. And he recorded all of it.

Playing with the Boys was also released as a single, and that turned into a substantial hit too, right?

Kenny Loggins: I don't think it was a big hit. It was a marginal hit.

My brother played that soundtrack on a non-stop loop the summer of 1986. In my mind, all of the songs on this record were gargantuan hits. It's all I heard for six months.

Kenny Loggins: Wow!

What about the B side on the Danger Zone single, 'I'm Gong to Do it Right'. How did that become the flip side to this hit record?

Kenny Loggins: That was a song from my own solo album that I was working on. I thought, if the A side does well, then I should have something on the B-side that would get carried by it.

Tony Scott actually shot the music video for Danger Zone. That doesn't happen too often in terms of a music video for a movie. What was that experience like?

Kenny Loggins: Yeah, that didn't happen very often back then. I was very excited about the fact that Tony Scott was directing the music video. I was looking forward to seeing what he did with that. And it was a lot of fun. He made things very comfortable. And because it was Tony Scott, you trusted the hell out of it. Whatever he wanted, you were going to do. The aviator sunglasses became part of my deal for many years because of that.

How much input did you have in creating that video? Were you artistically involved with that, or was this an instance where you came to set, and Tony had everything he wanted already laid out?

Kenny Loggins: Absolutely, he knew what he was gong to do with it. He knew the wardrobe he wanted me in. I brought some choices, but he had a very clear picture of where he wanted this to go. Because he was sewing scenes from the movie into it.

Was there any talk of converting the music video into 3D for the Blu-ray release?

Kenny Loggins: I never heard any discussions like that.

Does that idea appeal to you?

Kenny Loggins: Yeah, absolutely. That would be really fun.

What is your take on Top Gun in 3D? Are you a fan of the movie? Are you excited to see a 3D version of it?

Kenny Loggins: I'm looking forward to seeing it, yeah. It's like a moment in time for me. It's like a family album. That they converted it into 3D? I think that is a brilliant idea, and it should do really well. A lot of that footage in there? I think it all still holds up. Its still one of the most rented movies of all time.

And one of the highest sellers, if I'm not mistaken. Now, with the advent of 3D technology, and moving forward with your own new music, do you plan on utilizing 3D in presenting the visual aspect of your work somewhere down the road, as maybe a video component?

Kenny Loggins: No, that is financially impossible...

No, way! You can go down to the Best Buy and get your own 3D camera, and it looks great, if you know how to shoot on it...

Kenny Loggins: (Laughs) That is great! I didn't know that! Anything is possible then...

Maybe I'll take the one we have down in our studio and bootleg the next Kenny Loggins concert in 3D.

Kenny Loggins: Ok.

I actually don't know how you feel about bootlegs of your concerts. I don't know where musicians and artists stand on that anymore...

Kenny Loggins: I think bootlegging concerts is great. You know, now it's all about Youtube.

Back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, you were well known for your music work in movies. Does that aspect of the business just not interest you anymore? Have you gotten offers, and just not chosen to participate? When will we hear another classic Kenny Loggins song in a movie?

Kenny Loggins: I haven't really pursued that. I have been off doing other things, so I haven't focused on that. I would love it if it came along. It's just not that time yet. I have a new band called Blue Sky Riders, and we just came out with a new album a couple of weeks ago. I would love to be able to apply some of the new music to a movie, if one came along. There are a few very cinematic pieces on the album. But, you know, that takes a lot of blind luck.

From what I understand, you are in Los Angeles, and your band is in Nashville. How does that work?

Kenny Loggins: We have to get together every time. I either fly to Nashville, or they fly to Santa Barbara. We make it work. It's a long distance love affair.

How did your background in movie music influence the pieces you are working on with Blue Sky Riders?

Kenny Loggins: I wish I could tell you that it has, but I just write what feels right to me. I haven't thought in terms of writing for movies in a long time. It's a different process. When I am writing for my own album, I am writing more introspectively. I am writing about things that matter to me. When I write for a movie...You are handed the scene, and you have to find the emotion in that scene, and you enhance that emotion. You don't want to underscore whatever emotion is happening before that moment in the movie. It's a very different style of writing.

Before Tony Scott passed away, he was planning a Top Gun sequel with Tom Cruise. If that actually moves forward at some point in the future, would you be interested in contributing a song?

Kenny Loggins: I'd be open to it. Rumors abound. There were rumors for years about Footloose. The last thing I heard was, "It's not going to happen." Then the next thing I see is it debuts. You never know. Music? We're the last ones to know what is going on.

Top Gun 3D is available now on Blu-ray.

Top Gun 3D was released February 8th, 2013 and stars Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards, Tom Skerritt, Michael Ironside, John Stockwell, Barry Tubb. The film is directed by Tony Scott.



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J.J. Abrams Says Star Trek Into Darkness Klingons Are Different from the Previous Klingons

Feb 19, 2013 by Brian Gallagher
Star Trek Into Darkness to feature adversarial Klingons, according to J.J. Abrams Star Trek Into Darkness to feature adversarial Klingons, according to J.J. AbramsBefore J.J. Abrams gets to work on Star Wars: Episode VII, the filmmaker will roll out what will surely be one of this year's biggest box office hits, Star Trek Into Darkness. The director recently spoke about the addition of the Klingons to this highly-anticipated sequel, who were initially set to appear in 2009's Star Trek before the scene was cut. "Their role in this is definitely adversarial, and you'll see how that plays out. You don't need to know any preexisting stories to watch this film. We had shot some stuff that had Klingons in [our first Star Trek film], and we cut the scene. It's a deleted scene on the DVD. But they're back in this one."

Another new addition in this highly-anticipated follow-up is Carol Marcus, portrayed by Alice Eve, a character who has been rumored to be a love interest of Chris Pine's Captain Kirk. While the director wouldn't confirm or deny whether or not sparks will fly between Kirk and Marcus, he revealed that a romance will not come at the expense of the overall story.

"He meets her fairly early on and again she plays a science officer, she's someone who is a part of the adventure. I think Chris is right, because it's very much an action adventure movie and once that gets going it's a difficult thing to park the story and say, 'Let's do a romantic interlude.' Her role is important, she wouldn't be in the movie otherwise."

Star Trek Into Darkness comes to theaters May 17th, 2013 and stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Karl Urban, Chris Pine, Alice Eve, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin. The film is directed by J.J. Abrams.


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Will the Skywalker-Solo Kids Be at the Center of Star Wars: Episode VII?

Feb 19, 2013 by B. Alan Orange
the Skywalker-Solo Children rumored to be the focus of Star Wars: Episode VII the Skywalker-Solo Children rumored to be the focus of Star Wars: Episode VIITake this news with a cautious step. It comes from someone who sounds more like they are speculating on Star Wars: Episode VII storylines than actually presenting confirmed facts from a reliable source. Respected entertainment journalist Roger Friedman, reporting for Showbiz 411, doesn't make it clear where this latest information is coming from, and it sounds like all the things we've already overheard online ever since the news of a new Star Wars trilogy was released.

Last week, it was announced, but never confirmed by Disney and Lucasfilm, that Harrison Ford is returning as Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode VII. Soon thereafter, many fans began asking, "What about Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia?"

Well, Roger Friedman doesn't want you to worry. He says that both actors are returning as well, and that Star Wars: Episode VII will focus on the Skywalker-Solo children. He also claims that C3PO and R2D2 are returning, unchanged.

Here are his comments.

"It's some time in the future. Han, Princess Leia (with a presumably better hairstyle), and Luke Skywalker will be a lot older. Their children will be the new main characters. R2-D2 and C-3PO will be unchanged, I would guess. since they are not human. But suffice to say, the three main actors are definitely coming back."

if this news is correct, Han, Leia, and Luke will not be at the forefront of this new adventure, but they won't be turning in small cameos either. They will be deeply involved in the plot, serving as secondary characters.

Many of the extended universe storylines, in both comic book form and in the novels, revolve around the Skywalker-Solo children. Han and Leia have three kids, twins Jacen and Jaina, and Anakin, who were all trained as Jedi Knights. Jacen turned to the dark side and became Darth Caedus. Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade Skywalker have a boy Ben, named after Obi Wan, who grows up to be an investigator and eventually follows his father into seclusion.

It was previously announced that none of the existing novels or comic books would be used as part of the new trilogy. At the current age of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, and Carrie Fisher, their on-screen children would have to be in their late teens to early twenties, at their youngest, and that is being generous. This gives the new trilogy the same gap of time between the original trilogy as the prequel trilogy. That leaves a lot of room for stand-alone movies in this universe.

Of course, none of this has been confirmed by Lucasfilm and Disney, with the source being rather susceptible. This sounds more like an old man culling rumors from preexisting news stories more than actual facts, as Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill's involvement has been in the news since the new movie was announced. And it has long been speculated that this upcoming trilogy would revolve around the Skywalker-Solo children. Will we get the existing children that we already know? Or will these characters be rewritten?

Star Wars: Episode VII comes to theaters in 2015 and stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew.


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Ender's Game Battle School Army Logos Are Revealed

Gavin Hood's adaptation of Orson Scott Card's sci-fi novel Ender's Game has unveiled a photo featuring the logos for Battle School's Rat Army, Asp Army, Salamander Army and Dragon Army. Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley, Abigail Breslin and Asa Butterfield star in this adaptation, which is set 70 years after a devastating alien war. An unusually gifted child is sent to an advanced military school in space to prepare for a future invasion. Take a look.

Ender's Game Battle School Army Logos

Ender's Game comes to theaters November 1st, 2013 and stars Harrison Ford, Abigail Breslin, Hailee Steinfeld, Asa Butterfield, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, Moises Arias, Jimmy Pinchak. The film is directed by Gavin Hood.


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Saturday, February 23, 2013

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Makes an Appearance on the The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Set

Feb 20, 2013 by Brian Gallagher
To keep track of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 while its in production, all you need to do is follow director Marc Webb on Twitter. The filmmaker has been posting new photos and videos from the set nearly every day, and this blustery Wednesday afternoon is no exception. A bizarre collage of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt has appeared on the set, but we've been given no hints about its origin or meaning. Check it out for yourself, and see if you can decipher the hidden messages held within. What do FDR and Spider-Man have in common? Will Peter Parker be confined to a wheelchair for a spell? Is Barry Bostwick or Bill Murray making a cameo? We just don't know.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Set Photo 6

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 comes to theaters May 2nd, 2014 and stars Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx, Shailene Woodley, Sally Field, Dane DeHaan, Andrew Garfield, Martin Sheen, Felicity Jones. The film is directed by Marc Webb.


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