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Not every filmmaker despises the MPAA, it seems. Making the press rounds in support of the DVD release of Hostel Part II, director Eli Roth stopped by the ReelzChannel studio last week for an illuminating chat in which he discussed, among other things, his true feelings about those infamous arbiters of film ratings.
"Here's the big myth about the MPAA: They're not bad guys," the 'torture porn' auteur revealed to Errol Barnett of Dailies. "They're great and I love them. I've had such a great experience with the MPAA."
"Nobody sees it from my perspective," Roth added. "The MPAA is like, 'Look, we get it. It's Hostel II; it's not Happy Feet II. We know that when people go to see this, they want to see the gore. We're gonna try and get as much of it through as possible, but here's areas where we know parents are gonna freak out.'"
Apparently, "graphic severing of male genitalia" isn't one of those areas.
Finally, someone's looking out for the children.
Posted 10.23.07 by reelz -
Toby Wilkins (Splinter) has signed on to direct The Grudge 3, taking over for Takashi Shimizu who directed the Grudge sequel. The Grudge 3 will be produced by Sam Raimi.
The writers for Superman Returns (i.e., Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris) will not be returning to to write the sequel, Superman: The Man of Steel. Director Bryan Singer is still expected to come back. The studio is now auditioning other writers to figure out where they are going to go with their Superman franchise.
And finally, 300 edged out the competition to win the People's Choice Award at the Hollywood Film Awards this weekend. Does this mean 300 is going to get an Oscar nomination? Probably not. But it does confirm its place as a fan favorite.
Sources: Variety, Awards Daily.
Posted 10.23.07 by reelz -
The love affair between Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio will continue in 2008 with Shutter Island, a 1954-set drama about a U.S. Marshall investigating the disappearance of a murderess who escaped from a mental hospital.
Presuming the deal goes through, DiCaprio will star and Scorsese will direct. The two have already worked together three times before--on The Departed, The Aviator, and Gangs of New York.
Shutter Island is being adapted by Laeta Kalogridis (Alexander) from the novel by Dennis Lehane--who also wrote the novels upon which the acclamied Mystic River and Gone, Baby, Gone (now in theaters) were based. Sounds like a recipe for success to us.
Source: Variety.
Posted 10.23.07 by reelz -
Hungry for some torture porn? Can't wait until Saw IV opens on Friday? Then let Eli Roth's gory opus Hostel Part II, which debuts on DVD today, be the methadone to your Saw heroin. Also arriving in stores is Kevin Costner's cerebral serial killer flick Mr. Brooks, the first movie to succesfully exploit all of the irksome qualities of inexplicably popular comedian Dane Cook.
Our pick for this week is the decidedly less sinister Disney animated family flick Meet the Robinsons, featuring those adorably non-threatening Jonas Brothers.
Posted 10.23.07 by reelz -
The Best Supporting Actor category has some very worthy contenders this year, and we'd just like to take this opportunity to add one more for thought.
Alfred Molina absolutely steals the show as Richard Gere's sensitive, sweaty sidekick in The Hoax.
True, Gere has been getting some buzz for his performance as the man who nearly succeeded in faking a Howard Hughes autobiography, but we think Molina should be on your radar as well.
Posted 10.22.07 by reelz -
Perusing the top-rated headlines on Digg.com this morning, I came across a story that was receiving a lot of hits, or Diggs or Karma or whatever they are calling it - something about news of Matt Damon returning for a fourth Bourne movie.
The story came from website slashfilm.com, whose source was reported to be Agence France Presse in Tokyo. Yahoo! News also reported on this non-story.
Reading through the story provided further proof of the notoriously short attention span of American movie fans.
The quote from Damon reads: "If Paul Greengrass, maybe years down the road, was interested in doing another one, then I would do it, too," Damon said.
Reading this, the quote seemed quite familiar, so I returned to the transcript from Damon's Four Seasons Press Conference in July, attended by Reelz.com, where Damon said "I love the character, and if Paul Greengrass calls me in ten years and says, "Now we can do it, because it's been ten years and I have a way to bring him back. Then there's a world in which I can go, 'Yeah, absolutely.' We could get the band back together if there was a great idea behind it..."
Were Bourne fans not paying attention to Damon's interviews promoting the third movie this summer or does the fact that he repeated the same spiel three months later make it "news worthy?"
By the way, Christopher Lloyd says Back to the Future 4 "could happen," Harold Ramis believes Ghostbusters 3 is a possibility and I hear that Brazillian Job movie might just come together.
Posted 10.22.07 by reelz -
NPR got movie music maverick Danny Elfman up to name some of his favorite flicks. If you like the classics, you and Score-king Mr. Elfman may have something in common. Check out his list of faves here.
Posted 10.22.07 by reelz -
According to Variety, all is not well in the land of Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones.
Actor Ryan Gosling, who was to play the role of grieving father Jack Salmon, dropped out on Friday--after gaining 20 lbs and growing a beard for the movie, which begins shooting today in Pennsylvania. Mark Wahlberg stepped over the weekend to take his place.
Gosling's 11th hour decision is being attributed to 'creative differences.' That does not sound good.
Posted 10.22.07 by reelz