From Cannes comes the news that Jan de Bont, last seen behind the camera of Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (and currently filming Stopping Power), is going to be filming a sequel to Kathryn Bigelow's 1991 film.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the sequel will be given the poetic title Point Break: Indo, and will be based somewhere in Asia. It will take place 20 years after the original, which you will remember ended with the disappearance of Bodhi, Patrick Swayze's character.
No word on the plot, or if any of the original characters will appear, though the script is being penned by the same scribe, W. Peter Iliff. (We reported this last year, actually.) I think it's safe to assume it will be the same characters; what sense would a sequel make if it was about another gang of criminal surfers? (Actually, IESB says there is another band of criminal surfers, and they're called -- gulp -- The Bush Administration. Um, yay?) And what of the actors? Will someone manage get Keanu Reeves to reprise his lead role? So many questions, none of them good.
Just when you think there is no film they can resurrect for a sequel. I'm at a loss. Why can't they make more Russian mafia movies instead of resurrecting surfing criminals? Oddly, the lingering question in my mind is how Danny Butterman will react to the news, and how this movie really should have come out before all that nastiness in Sandford. Then I would know if he preferred it to the original and could rest easy.
It's not very often that the "credits line" in a movie poster will cause you to look twice, but I was both curious and intrigued when I read that David Ayer, Kurt Wimmer and James Ellroy were collaborating on a movie called Street Kings. Ayer is a prolific screenwriter who digs cop stories (he wrote Dark Blue, Training Day, S.W.A.T., and The Fast and the Furious) and recently directed his debut effort: the seriously underrated Harsh Times. Kurt Wimmer, on the other end of the genre spectrum, is the writer / director of sci-fi flicks like Equilibrium and Ultraviolet. And James Ellroy? A very respected novelist making his screenwriting debut. (His works have spawned movies like L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia.) And weirdly enough, although Street Kings is very similiar in theme and content to Ayer's earlier works, he's not credited as a screenwriter. Just Ellroy and Wimmer.
Anyway, I thought it was pretty interesting, but that was before I spelled it all out in a large paragraph. Now I just realize it was a cheap way to kick off a review of a film I don't really have a whole lot to say about. As yet another tale of dirty criminals and even dirtier cops, Street Kings works well enough, albeit strictly in a "been there, seen that" sort of way. (Heck, if you've seen Training Day then you've already seen much of what this new film has to offer.) It's a well-constructed piece filled with colorful actors doing fine work -- but much of Street Kings offers that weird vibe that occurs when someone's in the middle of telling a joke you've already heard two or three times: The new presenter might be a fine joke-teller, but as a listener you're left with little response but to smile and nod politely.
What happens when men in blue, sworn to protect and to serve, fly out of control? If we're lucky, we get a good movie out of it. If we're really lucky, we get a larger than life character to cheer and to fear. Are you feeling lucky, punk?
Keanu Reaves, of all people, will follow in the steel-toed shoes of some of cinema's finest as a cop who goes on an avenging rampage in David Ayer's Street Kings, which opens tomorrow. That made me reflect on my favorite out of control cinematic cops, men in blue who break free from the laws of god and man. Let us know who we missed in the comments section. But be nice, or we'll track you down and crack you over the head with a night stick.
Clint is so cool as Harry Callahan that he can just glare at bad guys and they give themselves up. Dirty Harry never met a criminal he couldn't beat up, a sergeant he couldn't hate, or a partner he couldn't get killed. He can't help it: he married justice a long time ago and the blind old bat won't leave him alone until he takes out the garbage. Don't even think about getting in his way: he solved the Zodiac killings in 102 minutes! Dirty Harry paved the way for several sequels and countless gruff, lone wolf outlaw police detectives.
It has been a long, long time since former Cinematical EIC Karina Longworth wrote aboutCatherine Zeta-Jones being cast as Lana Turner in Stompanato. So long, in fact, that I was only a mere commenter at the time, with hopes and dreams of becoming a Cinematical blogger (yes, that was me commenting on her post). And, more importantly, so long that I was pretty sure the project had either disappeared or at least lost its stars, which included Keanu Reeves as Turner's gangster boyfriend Johnny Stompanato. Well, according to The New Zealand Herald, Zeta-Jones is still on board, though the script is also still in development. Also, I've discovered that Reeves did indeed drop out of the film. And I've decided to assume that Adrian Lyne is no longer directing (though maybe he is).
I'm especially excited about this film because I recently read Turner's autobiography, Lana: The Lady, the Legend, the Truth, and finally learned all I needed to know about the Stompanato scandal. For those unfamiliar, I'll keep it simple: Turner, who was married like a million times, had a gangster boyfriend named Johnny Stompanato. Only she didn't know he was a gangster. She didn't even know his name in the beginning. But he was abusive and obsessive and was badly affecting her career, so one day she stabbed him. Oh, wait, that was her teenage daughter, Cheryl, who done it. Yet many people have alleged that Turner was the actual murderer (still in self-defense, of course).
Anyway, one thing I remember from her autobiography is that she wrote about being asked who would play her in a biopic. She didn't say Catherine Zeta-Jones. Actually, she claimed the woman hadn't been born yet. At the time of the claim, Zeta-Jones had already been born. So much for Turner's ability to see the future.
The good folks over at Fox Searchlight have just sent us the new poster for Street Kings (click on the image for a larger version), starring Keanu Reeves as a cop who, following the death of his wife, finds himself framed for a murder he didn't commit. In order to clear his name, he'll have to up against a cop culture he's been a part of his entire career. And he'll do it without help from steroids. Take that Clemens! The first trailer debuted a couple days ago, and the film also stars Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Common, Chris Evans, The Game and Jay Mohr. It's gritty, it's directed by David Ayer and it arrives in theaters on April 11. For more on Street Kings, head on over to the film's official site (which is in teaser mode right now, and will be updated with all sorts of goodies as the release date draws near).
In two weeks, they've changed the title from The Night Watchmen to Street Kings, we got a look at the film's first images and now Yahoo has debuted the trailer. My first reaction to the trailer was that it looks a lot like Training Day, which is an obvious reaction seeing as director David Ayer also penned that film. Here, Keanu Reeves stars as a cop "who plays by his own rules," but when he's accused of a crime he did not commit --coupled with the death of his wife -- our nasty cop must go up against an entire force full of guys just like him.
I'm not so sure how I feel about Keanu Reeves playing a badass cop. The trailer itself primarily focuses on this angle, instead of introducing the actual story, and so you'll probably walk away saying to yourself, "Wait, how is this different from Training Day?" There's rap music, there's gun fights, there's lines like, "I'm gonna ask him a few questions ... and then I'm gonna kill him" and there's that gritty Los Angeles feel that David Ayer is so attached to. So check out the trailer and let us know what you think; Street Kings also stars Forest Whitaker, Chris Evans, Hugh Laurie and Common, and it arrives in theaters on April 11.
Since news hit this week that The Night Watchman starring Keanu Reeves had changed its name to Street Kings (apparently to avoid folks confusing it with Zack Snyder's Watchmen), why not use this time in the spotlight to release the first stills from the film? And yup, that's exactly what's happened. IMDB has the first couple stills up on their Street Kings page, and we've included another photo that showed up over at Empire earlier today. You can see one up top, and the other two after the jump.
Street Kings follows one unlucky cop (Reeves) who, following the death of his wife, is framed for a murder he did not commit. Thus, he sets out to clear his name (and blame everything on a man with one arm?), and in the process he'll learn some disturbing things about the people he works with. The film also stars folks like Forest Whitaker, Chris Evans, Naomie Harris, Hugh Laurie, Jay Mohr and Common. Directed by David Ayer (who likes to bring the gritty), Street Kings is due out on April 11. Check out the other two photos after the jump ...
You might remember that back in October, a new project started to gear up called The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. Based on Arthur Miller offspring Rebecca Miller's upcoming novel (that she adapted and will direct), the pic will focus on "a dutiful wife whose husband falls for a younger woman, freeing her to explore her buried sensuality and leading to a very quiet nervous breakdown."
I was ouching just at the thought of sensual exploration leading to a nervous breakdown, but now I have two reasons: along with the added cast just posted by The Hollywood Reporter, it's been confirmed that Robin Wright Penn is the wife, and Winona Ryder is the younger woman. For frak's sake, there's only a handful of years between the two women. Are they planning to age Wright Penn, or do they just think she looks that much older?
Anyway, adding to the tasty cast is Keanu Reeves, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Alan Arkin, and Monica Bellucci. Arkin will, of course, play the husband who leaves Wright Penn in the dust, and Bellucci will play his first wife -- so he's a dude who loves those May-December romances. Gyllenhaal will get the honor of appearing in flashbacks as Pippa Lee's "diet pill-addicted mother." Julianne Moore is some "lesbian novelist." And finally, Reeves gets to explore Wright Penn's sexuality. Now it all makes sense -- fool around with Keanu and you'll go crazy!
Once everyone finishes up their current gigs, production will kick into gear this April in Connecticut.
So while I seriously doubt that most people were actually going to confuse the crime drama, The Night Watchman with Zack Snyder's Watchmen at the box office, the similarity in titles probably wasn't helping much in the marketing department. It looks like someone at Fox Searchlight thought the same thing and Slashfilm is now reporting that the studio has decided it was time for a name change. The title of James Ellroy's The Night Watchman will now be known as Street Kings. Frankly, neither of these titles are 'rocking my world,' but at least now it's going to clear up a lot of confusion.
Street Kings stars Keanu Reeves as Tom Ludlow; an LA cop who has recently lost his wife. With his life already in shambles, it gets even worse when he is framed for a murder and his abandoned by his fellow boys in blue. Ellroy wrote the script along with John Ridley (U Turn and Three Kings) and David Ayer (writer for Training Day) is at the helm. The cast also includes Forest Whitaker as Reeves' supervisor, Amaury Nolasco (Prison Break) and TV's infamous Dr. House, better known as Hugh Laurie, will play another cop on the force.
Filming began back in July and we got our first look at Reeves in his 'blues' when Erik brought us over 20 photos of the actor hard at work on the set. The flick is now in post production, so I guess Fox figured that it was now or never if they were planning on a change -- and personally I think they made the right decision. Street Kings arrives in theaters this spring.
You better start getting used to a new Smith family member showing up in huge, big-budgeted flicks. The Hollywood Reporter tells us that Jaden Smith (who plays Will Smith's son in real life) has signed on to co-star in the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still for 20th Century Fox. And yes, he'll be doing so without Pops in the scenes with him, as we saw last year when both Smith family members starred opposite one another in The Pursuit of Happyness. This time, Jaden Smith will play the 8-year-old stepson of scientist Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly). HR confirms that Kathy Bates and Jon Hamm will also star off a script written by David Scarpa, while Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) directs.
The Day the Earth Stood Still is a remake of the 1951 flick carrying the same name, and it revolves around an alien who arrives on Earth with a giant robot to learn about the planet and spread a message. In a part that suits him more than perfectly, Keanu Reeves will be playing the alien (who goes by the name of Klaatu), while Connelly will play the woman who first comes into contact with the extraterrestrial. As HR points out, "Smith's Jacob and stepmother Helen get caught up in Klaatu's mission, coming to understand the ramifications of his being a self-described "friend to the Earth." Fox will shovel this one out on December 12, making it this year's big flick to see while struggling to afford Christmas presents. Anyone else think Keanu Reeves is actually an alien in real life? Dude is so ... odd. Perfect role for him, and I'm looking forward to this one.
The Hollywood Reporterannounced that Jon Hamm, star of *HBO'sMad Men, has signed for a role in the update of the sci-fi classic. Hamm plays Don Draper on the series about the heyday of the advertising business. Hamm will join Keanu Reeves as the alien Klaatu, and Jennifer Connolly will play a research scientist. According to THR, Hamm will play "Dr. Granier, a NASA official who recruits Helen (Connelly) for the scientific team investigating an alien's arrival on Earth". For those of you out there who aren't familiar with the 1951 classic, it centers on an alien and his giant robot friend who land on earth to chastise man about their violent ways. They bring a simple message to earthlings, "Live in peace or be destroyed". Of course, we don't listen and it all goes downhill from there. Variety had reported that the film was going to get a little modernizing in both the story and the FX department, saying, "The 1951 film's premise, a response to the rise of the Cold War after WWII, is being updated, and the film will use advances in visual effects."
News of the remake first surfaced back in February, and the jury is still out on whether Keanu Reeves is the right choice as the harbinger of earthly doom. Scott had brought us the news back in April that Scott Derrikson had been hired for the remake and that Last Castle scribe David Scarpa is in charge of the script. The production is expected to be an expensive affair and locations have already been scouted in Vancouver for the lengthy shoot. Hamm is currently filming Boy in The Box with Josh Lucas while Mad Men is on break. The Day the Earth Stood Still is set for release on December 12th, 2008.
The producers of the upcoming horror-thriller Born-- the team includes Clive Barker and Guillermo del Toro, among others -- have reached out to Bloody-disgusting.com to clear up rumors that the cast that was locked back in June had dropped out of the project and torpedoed its prospects for getting made. Well, the rumors were partially right -- Jennifer Connelly has flown the coop, presumably because of a scheduling conflict with her next big payday, The Day the Earth Stood Still, opposite Keanu Reeves. Her husband, Paul Bettany, is still on board with the project, though, so take heart. The producers also told BD the film is currently prepping for a February start date, although there was no mention of what actress has stepped in to take Connelly's place. Seems like they'd already have that taken care of, if the film is indeed ready to roll.
Born is being directed by Daniel Simpson, whose only prior credits are two short films, and the story revolves around a couple who settle down in an English town to raise their family only to find their "perfect life" shaken up when the husband's claymation art starts to come to life and terrorize them in some way. The film was written by Simpson, along with Barker and Paul Kaye, and was originally supposed to go back in August. Very little info on the delay had leaked out until now. Connelly is currently in pre-production for Earth, stepping into the role of Helen that was previously played by Patricia Neal in the 1951 original. Stay tuned for further developments.
Wait, they still cast Jennifer Connelly in non-melodramatic roles? According to Variety, the actress has signed on for the remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. She will take on the part of "Helen Benson", the character originally played by Patricia Neal (who hopefully will be able to make a cameo), and as she does in every film, the Oscar-winning Connelly will likely emote way too much. Sure, she's fine for a lot of serious dramas, but when it comes to sci-fi/comic book movies, she hasn't really fit the part since Labyrinth, and even then she was a bit too pouty. Of course, she may seem more chipper in this remake, as she'll be acting opposite Mr. Serious himself, Keanu Reeves. As we learned long ago, Reeves will be portraying the alien Klaatu. Variety also reports that Kathy Bates may co-star in the movie, but doesn't mention the role she'd play.
I guess in some ways The Day the Earth Stood Still is a sci-fi melodrama, and Neal herself emoted plenty. In fact, she looked like she was going to start screaming and/or bawling in nearly every scene I recall. But then, she doesn't actually cry when you expect her to. She almost acts like more of a robot than Gort. And this should be fine, since aside from emoting, Connelly is good at looking drowsy and a bit empty. Anyway, I can't imagine the remake is going to have the same serious tone as the original. Hollywood just doesn't make movies like that anymore. Certainly the redo will not have Bernard Hermann's iconic music or Leo Tover's beautiful black and white cinematography to give it the same atmosphere. As we've told you previously, the new version is being directed by Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose) and has been written, according to Variety, by novelist Ryne Douglas Pearson (Simple Simon which became the movie Mercury Rising) and David Scarpa (The Last Castle), who penned a rewrite. The remake begins shooting in Vancouver next month.
When fans first heard news of a remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still; reactions were mixed. Now, Dark Horizons is reporting that 20th Century Fox will be pushing the release date back to December 12th, 2008 -- which is probably just a coincidence. The remake stars Keanu Reeves as the humanoid alien who comes to Earth along with his giant robot to warn its leaders of the dire consequences of dragging their petty conflicts into space. As to be expected; mankind is less than receptive to the news, and plenty of explosions ensue. The 1951 film was considered a reflection of society's fears about the Cold War and nuclear annihilation, and is currently shares a spot among some of the best sci-fi films of all time. So of course for the remake, the political allusions will be getting an update as well.
It's being directed by relative newcomer Scott Derrickson and David Scarpa has been signed to re-write the script. Now for the bad news: individually, these guys have made some sub-parflicks in the past. Originally slated for May 9th, 2008, speculations about the delay have ranged from bad time management to the studio being afraid to pit Earth against WB's Speed Racer. Instead, Fox will now be forced to go head-to-head with the Dan Brown adaptation Angels and Demons -- which, in my opinion, might be the safer bet if Fox is going for box office dominance. Reeves is wrapping up the James Ellroy scripted The Night Watchman, so he appears to be free and clear to start work on Earth. The new release date has not been confirmed yet by Fox, so stay tuned.
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