Movies – Page 3 – Geeking Out About.com

Paul W.S. Anderson’s Three Musketeers to take the world by storm (updated!)

Posted on 23 May 2010 by admin 3 Comments

Just a week after the 2010 Festival de Cannes started, a clear heavy-weight has emerged between the two new versions of The Three Musketeers in pre-production. The winner is Summit Entertainment and director Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil, Death Race), whose version with the following stars attached will also be filmed in 3D:

Logan Lerman (D’artagnan, the young newbie): The star of Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Lerman was also one of the leads in ill-fated WB series “Jack & Bobby.”
Matthew Macfadyen (Athos, the moody leader): The Robin Hood star had to correct the initial reports that he was going to be playing Aramis.
Luke Evans (Aramis, the man of God): After playing the role of the god Apollo in The Clash of the Titans, he’ll be returning to Greek mythology land for Immortals.
Ray Stevenson (Porthos, the jovial gourmand): Having appeared in The Book of Eli, his next summer movie appearance will be in the comedy The Other Guys.

On the antagonist’s side, we’ll have Christoph Waltz (Cardinal Richelieu, the main schemer), Mads Mikkelsen (Rochefort, D’Artagnan’s main rival at arms), Milla Jovovich (Milady de Winter, the Cardinal’s spy), and a rumored Orlando Bloom (the Duke of Buckingham, who actually comes off as much more sympathetic in the original French novel than an Englishman should be). Also in negotiations to join the cast is Juno Temple, (Greenberg, Dirty Girl who will play the queen of France.

Having been hailed as “the jewel in the Cannes crown this year” with “all the elements we needed” by Summit International’s president David Garrett, The Hollywood Reporter noted that Garrett and his team were able to broker deals to have the $80 million picture shown in the U.K., Canada, Spain, and Latin America. Summit will distribute in the U.S., and co-producer Constantin will distribute for Germany.

The loser is Warner Bros. who by confirming Fair Game director Doug Liman’s involvement in their own version in the beginning of the month started this arms race, but no cast has yet to be announced. Perhaps the only things that the WB version has going for it right now is that it aims to be a Sherlock Holmes-esque re-imagining of the tale and that it’s got Doug Freaking Liman as its director.

And yes, I’ll admit that one of the first versions of this story that I saw on screen was the 1993 Disney version which featured a smirking Charlie Sheen as Aramis, but I think I’ll veer away from the rest of the movie blogosphere community by also stating that my personal favorite version of the Musketeers is actually the 1998 ones played by Gabriel Byrne, John Malkovich, Jeremy Irons, and Gerard Depardieu because of their gravitas.

Filming on both of these productions will begin in the fall.

Updated on 5/23: Orlando Bloom’s involvement has been officially confirmed, according to The Hollywood Reporter‘s Heat Vision blog. Most interesting quote from the article about the Duke of Buckingham: “[He is] so cool that you can chop him into cubes and serve with vodka.” Also confirmed is the involvement is British actor James Cordon (The History Boys), who will play D’Artangnan’s faithful servant Planchet.

Running down the Cannes news

Posted on 17 May 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

We here at GeekingOutAbout.com are not at the 2010 Festival de Cannes but that’s not going to stop us from bringing you the news about which films are being picked up for international distribution and which films to keep your eye on:

Hanna: Saoirse Ronan (The Lovely Bones) stars as a teenage assassin in a film that is currently in its last month of filming and will also star Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett. Producers Focus Features are retaining the distribution rights in North America, the U.K., and others while Sony Pictures Worldwide will be able to release it in other countries in continental Europe and Asia. (Source: The Hollywood Reporter)
Passengers: Keanu Reeves will star in this Morgan Creek and Universal picture as the mechanic on a colony ship who awakens 100 years too soon and has to endure the slower-than-light speed trip all alone… except for some robots with personalities and a woman he eventually awakens because he starts to go stir-crazy who have yet to be cast. Being flogged around the festival as “Adam in Eve in space,” the film picked up deals to be shown in Italy—where director Gabriele Muccino (Seven Pounds) is from— and Germany via Medusa and TeleMunchen, respectively. (Source: The Hollywood Reporter)
Hanyo: South Korean Jeon Do-Youn stars in this remake of a classic 1960 film—which you can stream online here—about a maid who has a relationship with her employer, an Alan Sugar/Donald Trump/Mr. Big-type. In contention for the Palme d’Or, the remake turns the relationship on its end from the original by having the maid be less of a harpy and more of a sympathetic justice-seeker.

The festival ends on May 23.

More “news” about BlackStar Warrior?

Posted on 16 May 2010 by admin 3 Comments

At first, I was dubious at the thought or idea that floating out in the ether somewhere is a blaxploitation version of Star Wars, but I quickly forgot about the whole concept—until my YouTube subscription alert mentioned that the second part of the documentary was online:

Going back to the LandoIstheMan.com blog, I found this blog entry which explained that Alan, the blog’s author, has a friend who created a movie poster featuring Lando Calrissian as the star of a spinoff Star Wars movie called Lando, and it was this action that started the whole thing:

[Alan’s artist friend] Matt decided it would be fun to dig around and explore the rumblings about this supposed 1980’s Blaxploitation film that takes place in the Star Wars universe. After uncovering some tantalizing evidence he thought Marcus might be telling the truth.

I’m totally calling shenanigans on this, because it all smacks of “friend of a friend” business; and yet, subsequent posts on the blog suggest that this Alan guy totally believes it’s real. Also? He’s got consistent pictures of his family on the blog, including candid vacation shots, and I don’t think anyone would do that to their kids on a hoax website… would they?

I’m going to try and get to the bottom of this, because I have to admit, if is fake, it’s really well done.

Trisha’s Take: Micmacs à tire-larigot review

Posted on 14 May 2010 by admin 1 Comment

Micmacs à tire-larigot (aka Non-stop madness)

Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring Dany Boon, André Dussollier, Nicolas Marié, Julie Ferrier, and more
Rated R for some sexuality and brief violence

When I was in the eighth grade, I was given the chance to either take a first year of Spanish at my school or to take a first year in French at the high school across the street from where I lived and where I’d eventually attend.

Impractical youngster that I was in Southern California, I chose French and for five years I was one of the more fluent speakers in my class, going as far as to win the silver medal my senior year of high school at French camp. Those classes were where I first saw or heard of classic French films like Jean de Florette, Le retour de Martin Guerre, and Au revoir les enfants (which apparently was an inspiration for Reservoir Dogs), and I thoroughly enjoyed them. Yes, even Les compères.

Alas, my ear for the language has diminished, but that still doesn’t mean that I’m not about to turn down the chance to see a movie by perhaps one of France’s great directors of the modern era.

Even before it made its debut at the 2009 Toronto Film Festival, Micmacs à tire-larigot was picked up by Sony Pictures Classics for a U.S. release, and it’s no small wonder why.

Just as in director Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s first major hit Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain, whimsy abounds in Micmacs in the form of a motley crew of homeless misfits who are tasked by the main character Bazil (played by Dany Boon) to help him seek his justice upon the arms dealers who were responsible for the death of his father and who supplied the bullet which lodged in his brain during a drive-by gone wrong where he was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

That there’s a lot of grim scenes depicting the actual shooting or the fact that the first five minutes of the movie start with watching Bazil’s father accidentally trigger a landmine he was tasked to clear could be perhaps a continuation of the themes in A Very Long Engagement.

And yet, I couldn’t stop thinking about “Leverage” while watching this movie because what unfolds after we meet the happy band of misfits (including such heavy-weight French and French-speaking actors as Jean-Pierre Marielle, Yolande Moreau, and long-time Jeunet-collaborator Dominique Pinon) is a series of heists featuring cobbled-together tools and a female contortionist.

Of course, each misfit has a quirky note about them that gives them their “speciality” and makes them integral to the smooth workings of the plans. Of course something goes wrong, and the crew has to work together to get Boon back once he’s been captured by the bad guys (who are played with such scene-eating relish by André Dussollier and Nicolas Marié that I feared there wouldn’t be a set left by the end of the movie).

If you’re looking for deep insights into why war exists, you’re not going to find them here. In fact, the movie could almost be a rejection of war, war-mongering, and the industries that help perpetuate the cycles of violence–but that’s just me trying to reach for a deeper meaning in a movie that really doesn’t need one.

I enjoyed every performance greatly, especially lead actor Boon’s. He portrayed well Bazil’s pride upon learning that he’s lost his job and apartment after being in the hospital for so long after the shooting, and I loved watching the bits where he had to do any bit of pantomime. I’ll admit that just like Bazil, I was flummoxed when Julie Ferrier’s tirade came out of the blue, but I don’t think that’s a function of her being a poor actor but perhaps a function of there not being enough room in the script to show her character’s changing feelings towards him.

In short, if you’re looking for a good, satisfying, and fun heist/revenge movie, you should definitely find Micmacs at your local theater.

Micmacs is going into limited release in the U.S. on May 28, but if you’re really that anxious, you could import the R2 DVD and contribute to the French GDP at the same time!

Ghost to get remake… in Japan?

Posted on 13 May 2010 by admin 1 Comment

Though I am quick to enjoy a good “nerd rage” on the idea of yet another remake or readaptation being announced, I do have to say that the news that there will be a remake of the Patrick Swayze/Demi Moore 1990s hit Ghost is making me just a little bit giddy–because it’s going to be in Japanese.

From Cinema Today.jp and Nippon Cinema.com—and our friends at Japanator.com—comes the news that Paramount Pictures Japan and Shochiku have handed over the reins of the Japanese remake to live-action drama director Taro Otani (“Gokusen”), and it sounds like they’re fast-tracking it, too with shooting to begin this June with a release in the fall. Taking on the Swayze role will be Korean actor Song Seung Hun while Japanese actress Nanako Matsushima will be stepping into Moore’s shoes.

No word on whether or not producer Takashige Ichise (The Grudge) will be getting an Okinawan-style comedian to play the Whoopi Goldberg role.

Anna Faris gives new leading man her Number

Posted on 12 May 2010 by admin 1 Comment

Once off-track due to a problem in lead actor scheduling, the Anna Faris comedic vehicle What’s Your Number? may be back in the pipeline, thanks to Dave Annable. In a Hollywood Reporter exclusive, Borys Kit noted that the “Brothers and Sisters” star was in negotiations to start opposite Faris as her dream guy.

The synopsis of the film goes like this: “Number centers on a woman (Faris) who treks through her sexual past to find Mr. Right, exploring the idea of sexual quotas and whether such numbers matter.”

Number is adapted from Karyn Bosnak’s 20 Times a Lady by screenwriters Gabrielle Allan and Jennifer Crittenden; Mark Mylod is the director. Also in the cast and previously announced are Joel McHale (“The Soup,” “Community”) who will be playing Faris’ boss, whom she sleeps with and which encounter kicks off the entire search.

As a woman, I find it very difficult to “bring teh funny” as it were, and any time someone laughs at anything I say or write, it always gives me a little thrill. That’s why I really appreciate female comic actresses like Anna Faris because she’s able to be funny and pretty at the same time in movies that while aren’t my typical cup of tea, I’m not going to outright dismiss because one should always be open to the possibility of enjoying something outside one’s comfort zone.

Also, in doing research for this article, I think I’ve fallen in love a little with novelist Karyn Bosnak, whose blog entry about Joel McHale’s addition to the cast you can find here and contains this enthusiastic endorsement of the leading lady:

As for Anna Faris… Now, I’m not just saying this to kiss ass, and if she was only so-so during the reading I would gush about how cute she is (which she is—she’s petite and gorgeous), but my God… she is so freaking talented. With all due respect to the amazing supporting cast, Anna Faris could be in this movie alone talking to plants and it would still be freaking awesome. I mean, she owns this character and drives this script. Like, anyone could read it aloud and it would be funny. But when Anna reads it, she brings an element to it that you just can’t write. It’s like magic. She’s like magic.

For Bosnak’s sake, I really hope that this movie does well, and not just because she’s a fellow New Yorker transplant.

Sir Anthony Hopkins to play a baddie in Arabian Nights

Posted on 10 May 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

In an exclusive from Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter‘s Heat Vision blog, Anthony Hopkins is in final negotiations to play the villain in The Arabian Nights.

Hopkins’ role will be that of “Pharotu, an evil sorcerer who killed Sinbad’s love, a mermaid, and is looking to amass more magic for himself.” And since previously announced star Liam Hemsworth will not be playing Sinbad, this makes me wonder if the plot of this movie will feature numerous villains, one for each member of the Hitchhiker Heroes.

At our monthly midnight screening series at the Landmark Sunshine in New York City, two of the other GeekingOutAbout.com writers and I were talking about what happens when novels are adapted into movies and the old chestnut about how short stories make the best movie adaptations (Minority Report, Stand By Me).

I firmly believe that it’s just as tough to adapt mythology into a movie, and its $432 million worldwide gross aside, Clash of the Titans—and its original—is only enjoyable as a movie if you completely turn off your brain when it comes to everything you know about the original source material.

Which makes it hard for us geeks to enjoy a movie sometimes, but hey… there are some prices that are okay to pay.

Related Posts: Liam Hemsworth to join Arabian Nights

Trailer Watch: Inception first official trailer

Posted on 9 May 2010 by admin 1 Comment

Well, I think I can officially say that director Christopher Nolan is off his rocker. Just take a look at the below and see if you don’t agree with me.

Here’s a more detailed synopsis of what you just saw:

Acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan directs an international cast in an original sci-fi actioner that travels around the globe and into the intimate and infinite world of dreams. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb’s rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible—inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming. This summer, your mind is the scene of the crime.

I have to say that now that we know a little more about Inception, I really wish that we didn’t. I groaned the instant I heard Leonardo DiCaprio’s character say that he was doing “one last job,” and I also may have gagged a little when it flashed to a scene of him being emotional while cradling Marion Cotillard, presumably an ex-wife or a former lover.

At the same time, though, the visuals look amazing and I think I’m in love with the idea of being able to use your dreams against you. We’ve already seen in Minority Report how the future can be manipulated, now your subconscious? Really chilling.

Starring DiCaprio, Cotillard, Ellen Page, and Cillian Murphy, Inception will be in theaters in the U.S. on July 16.

Quick Cuts: 20th Century Fox to make prequel about “damn dirty” Apes, and other stories

Posted on 7 May 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

Just in case you weren’t convinced that New Zealand’s WETA Digital was the go-to SFX house these days, 20th Century Fox will be using them to produce all of the genetically altered-primates in CGI for their film Rise of the Apes, a prequel to the classic sci-fi movie series which was begun by 1968’s Planet of the Apes. The movie will be directed by Rupert Wyatt (The Escapist) from a script by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver (The Relic), and will be released in the U.S. on June 24, 2011. (Source: The Hollywood Reporter)
Dashing my hopes for a female-powered view on Captain America, British actor Toby Jones has entered the final round of negotiations to become the movie’s second villain, Arnim Zola. He’ll join Hugo Weaving’s Red Skull as Chris Evans’ antagonists, and I think I’m starting to see how the storyline’s shaping up and will end with Cap on ice and Zola in a robot suit. (Source: The Hollywood Reporter‘s Heat Vision blog)
Finally, if you’ve ever wanted to see all of Metropolis, the sci-fi silent film by Fritz Lang that inspired Blade Runner amongst others, head on over to the Film Forum in New York City today where they will be showing the film in its original complete version for the first time to audiences since its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in 1927. Hidden away in a private film archive in Buenos Aires, we have Argentine film archivists Fernando Peña and Paula Félix-Didier to thank for rescuing the movie from the bureaucratic red tape. The most interesting quote from the story?

“It’s no longer a science-fiction film,” said Martin Koerber, a German film archivist and historian who supervised the latest restoration and the earlier one in 2001. “The balance of the story has been given back. It’s now a film that encompasses many genres, an epic about conflicts that are ages old. The science-fiction disguise is now very, very thin.”

Additional screenings in other cities and a DVD will follow later this year. (Source: The New York Times)

Trailer Watch: “Illegal” Machete first trailer

Posted on 6 May 2010 by admin 4 Comments

Boosted from the fine folks at Ain’t It Cool News.com comes what Machete director Robert Rodriguez is calling his “illegal” trailer, and is the first official look at the plot to the film.

I love, love, love the casting of this movie because in addition to Danny Trejo being just badass in general, Michelle Rodriguez gets to kick ass with dual pistols, Jessica Alba gets to be Hispanic, Cheech Marin dual wields shotguns in a priest’s frock, and then you’ve got the “evil” white guys played by none other than Robert DeNiro, Jeff Fahey, and Lindsay Lohan…

God, if loving “Mexsploitation” is bad, then tie me up and call me a piñata!

Jim Henson Co. to return to the world of the Gelflings in sequel to Dark Crystal

Posted on 5 May 2010 by admin 3 Comments

If you’re a geek of a certain age, then you definitely remember the movie your parents may have taken you to where someone who sounded like Gonzo attacked an elf. (Whoops, spoilers?)

That movie was called The Dark Crystal, and as a young girl, I was confused by it because some of the voices I loved on “The Muppet Show” were coming out of bodies that were hunched over, vulture-shaped, and decidedly not silly or chicken-loving.

It wasn’t until I began my “geek awakening” in my teens that I learned that the Jim Henson Co. created the movie in 1982 to showcase their talents as puppeteers and legitimate storytellers, and would do again in 1986 with Labyrinth, and again in 1999 with “Farscape.”

It’s enough to make me wonder why puppeteers are so darn touchy about their craft.

Anyhow, the folks at the Jim Henson Co. are at it again, for Pip Bulbeck at The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the news that Daybreakers directors Peter and Michael Speirig will be heading up a sequel to that original 1980s film to be called Power of the Dark Crystal.

Partnered in the production will be Australian company Omnilab Media who have had their hands and wallets into such productions as Where the Wild Things Are and the upcoming Tomorrow, When the War Began. They’re bringing their own special effects house Illoura to the party, and giving them the control of the CGI elements.

The plot of the story, written by Australian Craig Pearce (Moulin Rouge!, Charlie St. Cloud) from an original script by Annette Duffy and David Odell, will go like this:

Set hundreds of years after the events of the first movie when the world has once again fallen into darkness, Power of the Dark Crystal follows the adventures of a mysterious girl made of fire who, together with a Gelfling outcast, steals a shard of the legendary crystal in an attempt to reignite the dying sun that exists at the center of the planet.

That kinda has me confused, because my quick refresher trip to Wikipedia noted that there were three suns which while in conjunction created the event which restored peace and harmony to the Crystal planet; now there’s a fourth sun inside the middle of the planet? I guess it’s just something I’ll have to overlook if I want to see Gelflings again (and I do).

No word yet on exactly when production will commence.

Sam Rockwell joins cast of Cowboys and Aliens

Posted on 4 May 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

In an exclusive report on The Hollywood Reporter‘s Heat Vision blog, Borys Kit revealed that Sam Rockwell will be playing a beefed up role in the live-action adaptation of Cowboys and Aliens, directed by Jon Favreau.

The story about the part he’s going to be playing is pretty interesting, too. See, Favreau also directed a little movie called Iron Man 2, in which Rockwell is playing one of the antagonists. The instant that he and the Cowboys writers learned that Rockwell was interested in playing the barkeep Doc, they instantly changed the role from being a big heavy-set dude to being someone a little more Rockwell-shaped and changed the character’s personality and motivation a little bit as well.

Already cast in the movie are Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde and Harrison Ford; filming starts in June.

Summit Entertainment to manage The Impossible with Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor

Posted on 3 May 2010 by admin Leave a Comment

It seems as if Summit Entertainment has a lot of faith in Naomi Watts these days, for not long after it purchased the rights to one film with with her in it, the studio decided to pick up another.

According to Gregg Kilday at The Hollywood Reporter, the latest buy was for a film called The Impossible, which will star Watts and Ewan McGregor in a story that’s based on some real-life events that took place during the 2004 tsunami that hit Thailand. The film will be directed by Juan Antonio Bayona from a script by Sergio G. Sánchez for two Spanish companies, Apaches Entertainment and Telecino Cinema, who are acting as co-producers.

Looking around at the various websites who also reported on this news, it doesn’t look like anyone from Summit, Apaches, or Telecino wants anyone to know exactly what the film will be about because there isn’t a more detailed synopsis available, not even over at Deadline Hollywood.

Filming will begin in August in Alicante, Spain before moving to Thailand in October; hopefully, we’ll have more concrete news by then.

Trisha’s Take: How do you make a Miyazaki film more profitable?

Posted on 15 March 2009 by admin Leave a Comment

ponyocliffsea There really isn’t much meat to this old story Variety posted about the U.S. production team of Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, but there’s an interesting tidbit in there that I’ll get to in a bit.

Joining previously announced producers Frank Marshall (the fourth Indy movie, the upcoming The Last Airbender) and Kathleen Kennedy (Persepolis, Tintin) is Pixar president John Lasseter, and was it honestly a surprise that he’d be involved?

In November 2008, the English voice cast was announced with such names as Cate Blanchett, Liam Neeson, and Noah Lindsey Cyrus—the eight-year old sister to Miley Cyrus and my pick for the lead character of Ponyo (since IMDB doesn’t have that info yet).

What is interesting is the second paragraph of the Variety article, which contains this line from writer Mark Schilling:

The goal is to boost both the number of screens and the box office take beyond [Studio] Ghibli’s record for a U.S. release set by Spirited Away, the [Hayao] Miyazaki toon that earned a little more than $10 million on 714 screens in 2002 and 2003.

However, as much of a Miyazaki fan as I am, I think that goal is doomed to failure.

I’ve been an anime and animation fan for quite some time, and I have always thought that one of the common problems of the medium is that while fans can appreciate the art and artistry of a film like Persepolis or Steamboy, the general public has traditionally thought that any movie that was animated was going to be a movie for children—and the box office numbers have reflected this.

Back when I was writing for Anime Insider, I remember we did an article on the comparative box office grosses for the top 10 anime films that have been released in the U.S. Unfortunately, I can’t find that article right now—and besides, it would be five years old—but I did find something similar online that was written for the Associated Content website (a sort of clearing house for freelance writers to get noticed).

North Carolina screenwriting graduate student Will Wright took a look at the 15 highest grossing anime films of all time, and he discovered that out of the top five anime films, the first four slots were taken up by kiddie franchises Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! and Spirited Away has the fifth slot.

When you click through to the Box Office Mojo page, though, you notice that figure of “a little over $10 million” represents only 3.7% of the total gross that Spirited Away achieved. In contrast, Pokemon: The First Movie (which I did see, and yes, I did enjoy it at the time) has a domestic gross of over $85 million which represents 52.4% of its total gross.

Kinda makes that $10 million dollar figure for an Academy Award winning movie look kinda paltry, doesn’t it?

Here where I live in the U.S., we have made some great strides towards creating cel or cel-like animation that audiences other than children can enjoy, but those strides have been almost entirely in the sitcom form, lead by “The Simpsons” and continued by “King of the Hill,” “Family Guy” and even “Drawn Together.”

The only animated show I can think of in the last 20 years that is sophisticated enough to be more than just a sitcom was “The Boondocks,” but that’s not very surprising considering its source material was the left-leaning, politically-minded comic strip by Aaron McGruder. Other people will probably chime in and say that “Avatar: The Last Airbender” is a show that adults can (and do) enjoy, but I’m actually not counting it in my list because it’s a show aimed squarely at the kid audience.

The bottom line is, the mainstream U.S. audience still isn’t there enough to get behind a cel-animated film that isn’t by Disney, which is something that even Disney knows because the last time they made a full-length one was 2004’s Home on the Range which grossed only $50 million on a estimated budget of $110 million. And to get that Disney-like audience might require a whole bunch of changes that would piss off the already existing fanbase.

In any case, I’m definitely waiting to see what Lasseter has up his sleeve and praying that it will be enough to help justify the idea of re-introducing 2D animation back into our film lexicon.

So what’s Leonardo DiCaprio’s career up to these days?

Posted on 12 November 2008 by admin 7 Comments

leonardo-dicaprio Ever since he got his first Oscar nomination for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? way back in 1994, Leonardo DiCaprio has been trying to let the world know that he’s a serious actor, despite his teen-idol friendly looks. The industry has rewarded him several times with meaty roles in films like Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York, The Aviator and The Departed, Stephen Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, and Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road—for which he’s catching some Oscar buzz again.

That’s not all that Leonardo’s up to, though. MTV’s Splashpage blog caught up with DiCaprio in the U.K. and asked him questions about his production house Appian Way’s progress on two of the biggest geek horses in its stable, the Akira movie and the Ninja Scroll movie (as previously noted here at Geeking Out About).

“We’re waiting for the final draft of the script [for Akira],” DiCaprio told MTV. “I’m a big fan of Japanese anime — that and another project called Ninja Scroll we’re trying to get developed and made into a movie, and I know there a lot of loyal fans out there of the project and die-hard fans, so we’re going to try to do the best job we possibly can and we’re not going to make the movie until the script is in the right shape.”

Add that those two facts to the previously reported mention that DiCaprio is willing to give up his teen idol crown to Zac Efron, and I think you can see the questions that are starting to form in my mind.

Will the mainstream media stop referring to him as a teen idol or former teen idol? Can he successfully escape his image as the baby-faced boy from “Growing Pains” and Titanic, to finally get the part that wins him that Best Actor award? Does being able to choose (or get chosen for) good productions by great directors automatically mean you’ll be a great producer yourself?

This is a new corner for the actor’s life to turn, and I cannot wait to see the results.

Category: Movies