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Reports back from the 2009 Toy Fair in New York offer first looks at the Terminator Salvation, Watchman, and Dragonball Evolution product lines. Check out the picture-filled displays over posted over at MTV. The goodies up for viewing weren't limited to toys though. The Watchmen display included everything from a themed doormat, to a Rorschach ski mask, to "a framed display case featuring The Comedian's dog tags and a pair of guns given to him in 'Watchmen' by US President Richard Nixon."
The one sour note at the Fair was sounded by the Lego representative, who explained that "there are no plans on producing any new Harry Potter sets. With the films getting darker, it has become very hard to produce kid-friendly sets."
Posted 02.17.09 by reelz -
Skynet Research is looking for you. A newly launched promo site for Terminator Salvation, Skynet is now up and fully operational. Purporting to be the organization that will bring on the robot-filled apocalypse, It has put out a call for innovative robotic designs. From the pitch on the site, it is already a bit ambiguous as to whether the researchers or their creations are in charge. The welcoming voice effuses a computer-generated menace, and the proposal is presented as part of "our ever-expanding outreach to human communities all over the world." The reassurance of corporate continuity also has a nicely disturbing double edge:
You can rest assured that Skynet is committed to the present with an eye on what is coming over the horizon. Our revolutionary AI innovations and complex systems management programs are a solid base that you can count on being around today, tomorrow and fifty years from now. Skynet is the future!
Yeah, the future's so bright, you've gotta wear shades.
Posted 02.16.09 by reelz -
Christian Bale has already apologized for his outburst on the set on Terminator Salvation which became an internet sensation. Now director McG has come to his star's defense.
People reports that McG told fans at the recent New York Comic-Con, "The film set is a passionate place, and it happens. It was just sort of a blowup. We let it run its course, and it did."
McG agrees with Bale that the blow up with Director of Photography Shane Hurlbut did not halt the movie's production. "It's a matter of fact that he and Shane are buddies. We finished the movie together. We did some additional photography about a month ago."
But defending Bale was not the only thing McG talked about at the Comic-Con. He also practically confirmed an appearance by Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator Salvation. "The T-800s as we know them look like Arnold. The T-800 plays a big role in this movie. I can't quite tell you how we express that -- Let me just hint at this: I don't want today's Arnold Schwarzenegger."
So, Arnold is digitized in the movie? McG could borrow Benjamin Button's special effects to create a 1984 Arnold, which could be effective and ironic.
Posted 02.10.09 by Ryan -
After making headlines with his angry, expletive-filled rant from the set of Terminator Salvation, Christian Bale called into Los Angeles radio station KROQ to apologize about his fit:
The thing that I really want to stress is I have no confusion whatsoever. I was out of order beyond belief. I was way out of order. I acted like a punk. I regret that. And there is nobody that has heard that tape that is hit harder by it than me. I make no excuses for it. It is inexcusable. And I hope that is absolutely clear.
Bale says he was trying to reach into a crazy place for the scene he was portraying:
On the day that all of this happened, the scene that we were doing, I was trying to show a little of that in-the-blood craziness. And you know what? It went very wrong...I got annoyed. And then what happened? I made it ugly. And that was awful of me. I took it way too far and I completely confused fact and fiction.
Bale says the incident was handled "that day" between himself and the director of photography he screamed at, Shane Hurlbut, with the two working together for another month afterwards. What Bale worries about most is that his outburst will talk audiences out of watching the movie:
Hey, I know a number of people are gonna be thinking they don't want to go see the movie because they think I'm some kind of prima donna or something. It ain't that. Just maybe sometimes I care too much about the movie. Everybody worked so hard on this movie. Please do not allow my one-time lapse in judgment, my incredibly embarrassing meltdown to overshadow this movie.
To hear the entire interview visit the KROQ site.
Posted 02.08.09 by Ryan -
This week, Christian Bale's outburst on the set of Terminator: Salvation has taken the Internet by storm. But where does it rank among the all-time celebrity meltdowns?
We offer a list of our favorites -- from the naked contempt Quentin Tarantino displays an entertainment reporter to director David O. Russell's return attack on Lily Tomlin on the overheated set of I Heart Huckabees to a classy, monumentally devastating takedown by Orson Welles.
To hear them all, see When Actors Attack: Top 10 Celebrity Outbursts.
Posted 02.05.09 by reelz -
What's worse than walking across the set when Christian Bale is engaged in a little professional acting? Substituting bagels for donuts at the craft table. Actually, we can kind of relate to the anger on display in this parody a lot more than we can to the anger on display in the original. After all, how angry should you be allowed to get when you're getting paid millions to play make-believe while being supervised by a grown man named McG? One F-bomb, at most, is really all that's warranted. But not having any donuts available when you're totally in the mood for donuts? Anything short of American Psycho-caliber homicide is justifiable, is it not?
Posted 02.03.09 by reelz -
Wired has posted all sorts of cool concept art from Terminator Salvation , including the full Terminator T-series line up, a death-dealing motorcycle, and a first look at one of the gruesome new "Hydrabots" in action. On top of that, the zine got some choice comments from director McG about the lengths the filmmakers went to to create the authentic look and feel of a post-apocalyptic world.
We talked to the people who monitored Chernobyl about what the world would sound and look and taste and feel like after the bombs have gone off ... Then we got a dead Kodak stock. We baked it in the sun a little bit too long to damage the film ... Add it all up and you get this otherworldly, desolate feeling.
Grim indeed. But don't count the humans out just yet. Check out these new images of a couple of key members of the human Resistance.
Posted 02.03.09 by reelz -
Actor Christian Bale who made mega-stardom as The Dark Knight is known to be a serious thespian. Now, thanks to a 3 1/2 minute audio clip from the set of the new Terminator movie, we know just how intense he can get!
In the tape found here, Bale lets loose a blistering rant where he cussed out director of photography Shane Hurlbut for crossing his line of sight during a scene.
The poor man was subjected to multiple F-bombs, called various names, and threatened with firing. If you aren't interested in tainting your tender ears to the whole tirade, here's a short sample.
I want you off the set! You prick! No, don't just be sorry! Think for one f--king second! What the f--k are you doing? Are you professional or not?
While one can appreciate the dedication to his craft, Bale has been known to be a bit volatile offset as well. He was arrested back in July of 2008, shortly after the release of The Dark Knight for a scuffle with his own mom and sister. He was later cleared of any wrongdoing in the spat, but maybe an anger management class is in order?
Posted 02.03.09 by reelz -
The idea that the end is indeed nigh has become a fixture of the contemporary zeitgeist and one that filmmakers are exploiting to the hilt in upcoming movies from Terminator Salvation to 2012 to Knowing. The director of Knowing, Alex Proyas, recently sat down with the crew of io9 and talked a bit about what made his take on the coming apocalypse different. The basic premise, he says, is "like an urban myth," that someone could have buried information, "like a message in a bottle," with a code that predicts disasters with total accuracy. Laid down in the 1950s and dug up in the present day, the time capsule device also allowed him to play with the idea that the future isn't what it used to be. Unlike the 1950s, where the specter of nuclear armageddon crowded out all other threats, he says, "Now, annihilation could come from so many different directions, it's hard to know which specter of destruction to be scared of." There was also a naive optimism about the future in the '50s that he brings out in a scene where the time capsule is being buried with everyone "talking brightly about the promise of a shining future, with the proverbial flying cars and personal rocket ships." We all know how that turned out.
Posted 01.30.09 by reelz -
With 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea picked as the next movie project for McG, Latino Review reports that the Terminator Salvation director already knows who he wants to cast as Captain Nemo: Will Smith.
"Man I'm trying to get Will Smith to do it, been trying to get a hold of him. I've been wanting to work with him for a long time already. That guy's great," said McG, "The character Nemo in this film is more about obsession, he is obsessed and people tend to forget that when you become so obsessed you end up being the villain."
It would be a nice change of pace for Smith to play a villain instead of being considered one for making Seven Pounds.
Posted 01.15.09 by Ryan