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My heart is, and always will be, yours.
The Life of Lee >> Posted 12.13.12 by Chris -
Which of this year's directors deserve the industry’s highest honor?
No one was too surprised when French director Michel Hazanavicius and his (mostly) silent film The Artist practically swept the Academy Awards last year or when British director Tom Hooper's The King's Speech did the same the year before. This year, however, there are no "sure thing" movies, with several being heralded as "brilliant," "masterful," and "the best movie of the year" by critics...until the next great movie comes along.
Several Oscar-winning directors — including two-time Best Director winner Steven Spielberg (Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan) and Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to win Best Director — are among this year's contenders, but they are up against stiff competition from upstart indie directors who helped to make this one of the best years for independent movies in recent memory and the genre movie directors who gave us superheroes, wizards and time travelers as compelling as the special effects that blew our minds. We won't know which directors the Academy will nominate until the middle of January, but we want to know who you, the moviegoers, think deserves the industry's highest honor.
Top 10 Most Oscar-Worthy Directors of 2012 >>
Posted 12.12.12 by BrentJS -
Which Director is Strongest With the Force?
Like many Star Wars fans, it took us a while to process the news that the creator and caretaker of the greatest sci-fi epic of all time, George Lucas, had sold Lucasfilm Ltd. to Disney. And, as if that news wasn't momentous enough, Disney concurrently announced that plans were already underway for an all-new Star Wars movie, a sequel to the original trilogy that would likely be the first movie in a new trilogy.
Minds thoroughly blown, we started to think about the future of the franchise. Jar Jar Binks and Hayden Christensen's horrible acting had really hurt the prequel trilogy and Lucas' constant meddling with the original trilogy tested our faith in ol' grey beard even further. With Lucas out of the picture, could the franchise regain its former glory?
In the days following the announcement, it was revealed that Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine) had been hired to write the screenplay for Star Wars: Episode VII, while rumors continue to swirl that Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class) is in the running to direct. Do you think that Vaughn is the right man for the job or would you like to see J.J. Abrams (Star Trek), Jon Favreau (Cowboys & Aliens) or someone else direct? Who do you think has the vision to chart the course of the future of the Star Wars franchise?
Rate the Top 10 Best Directors To Helm Star Wars: Episode VII >>
Posted 11.13.12 by BrentJS -
Break out the Kleenex.
Those that have read Yann Martel’s international best seller know that the big screen adaptation of Life of Pi has the potential to be as harrowing of an inspirational experience as its literary counterpart. The new, international trailer only seems to offer more evidence that director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) has delivered on that promise. Life of Pi is set to premiere this weekend at the New York Film Festival before opening in wide release in November. While made up of footage largely taken from the movie's first trailer, the latest trailer starts with the adult Pi (Irrfan Khan), who is interviewed by a young writer (Rafe Spall, replacing Tobey Maguire) and begins to narrate his own story of his younger self (played by Suraj Sharma), who survives a disaster at sea only to find himself sharing a lifeboat with a vicious Bengal tiger. The latest trailer may be a bit more emotionally charged than the first, however, especially for those that can't help but be swooned by Coldplay's "Paradise" playing in the background.
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watch the trailer and see why Maguire was replaced >> Posted 09.25.12 by Ryan -
The upcoming adaptation of Life of Pi recently debuted an impressive first trailer in preparation for its fall release, though those in New York will be able to see the movie a few months early, as the The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced that the movie will make its world premiere as the Opening Night Gala presentation for the upcoming 50th New York Film Festival. The Festival opens on Sept. 28 and runs through Oct. 14.
"I am both delighted and honored to be back at the New York Film Festival with Life of Pi," said director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain), whose drama The Ice Storm was the Opening Night Gala selection in 1997. "I have the deepest respect for [Film Society of Lincoln Center Selection Committee Chair & Program Director] Richard Peña and his team and to be selected by them as the Opening Night Film for the 50th Anniversary is extremely gratifying. I am also excited because this is my hometown, and to be unveiling this film that I am so proud of here is a real pleasure."
Based on author Yann Martel’s international best seller, Life of Pi a young man (Suraj Sharma) who survives a disaster at sea and is marooned on a lifeboat with with a fearsome Bengal tiger, the ship's only other survivor. The book has sold more than seven million copies.
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First slice of Pi is bound to leave fans of the book hungry for more.
Director Ang Lee has proven himself adept at turning written work into successful, visually appealing movies. Sense and Sensiblity, Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon were all originally written works which were adapted to the screen and directed by Lee. All were successful at the box office, greatly admired by critics, and the recipients of prestigious awards. From the looks of this first trailer for Life of Pi, the Oscar-winning director has done it again.
Though Yann Martel’s novel was an international best seller, the fact that it has little dialogue, most of the action takes place on a tiny boat, and it is stuffed with symbolism and allegory made it an unlikely candidate to be turned into a really watchable movie. With the stunning visuals in this slice of Lee’s Pi, it makes sense that the rumor mill is already churning about the movie being a possible Oscar contender.
watch the trailer >> Posted 07.25.12 by Mandy -
The Los Angeles Film Critics Association cast its votes for the best movies of the "aughties," and in the end, it was David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. that came out on top, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The organization made the following statement in announcing its decision:
Lynch's film stands as both a cautionary tale and a mascot for the triumph ofart and personal vision in an industry that, from where we sit, often seems actively devoted to the suppression of both.
Mulholland Dr. stars Laura Elena Harring as an upscale LA woman who suffers from amnesia after a car accident. She meets Naomi Watts (in her breakout role), an ingenue trying to break into Hollywood, and the two set about trying to solve the mystery of the accident. The movie also features Justin Theroux as a director whose project is sabotaged by big-studio producers.
The movie both glamorizes and satirizes Hollywood, often in the same moment, and the tone runs the gamut from absurd hilarity to outright horror. It's a rhapsodic celebration of the history of movies on one hand, and yet at the same time a ruthlessly bitter denunciation of industry evils. Perfect territory for Lynch, whose very success depended partly on Hollywood capital and partly on his ability to keep his distance from it.
Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood was second on the critics' list, followed by Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of theSpotless Mind and Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain. Other contenders included Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away, and Alfonso Cuarón's Y tu mamá también.
Posted 01.13.10 by reelz -
After the box office disappointment of his last movie, Taking Woodstock, director Ang Lee is apparently looking to adapt an award-winning novel from Canada next. Averaging one feature every two years since The Hulk in 2003, Lee said that his next project "is two years ahead," but he told Digital Spy that he has a story in mind.
I think I'm going to do Life of Pi. A little boy adrift at sea with a tiger. It's a hard one to crack.
Written by Yann Martel and originally published in 2001, Life of Pi tells the story of Piscine "Pi" Molitor Patel, a young Indian boy stranded on a boat in the Pacific Ocean with a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena and a Bengal tiger named "Richard Parker." The British edition of Life of Pi won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction the year after its release, and M. Night Shyamalan (The Happening), Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men), and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (A Very Long Engagement) have all been attached to direct the adaptation at one point or another in the past. Lee said that he hasn't done any casting yet, but he is currently working on a draft of the script.
I think I've cracked the structure of the movie and I'll figure out how to do it later. How exactly I'm going to do it, I don't know!
Posted 11.03.09 by BrentJS -
The LA Times caught up with Louis Leterrier on the set of his upcoming Clash of the Titans, where The Incredible Hulk director talked about The Avengers and the upcoming Marvel movies. The French director revealed that he wants to make another Marvel movie, but Leterrier seemed uncommitted to making The Incredible Hulk 2.
Well, so far, no. I am contracted to do one more film with Marvel so when I'm done here with [Titans] I will go back to say to them, "Guys you need me? Is there something I can do?"
Leterrier explained that making The Incredible Hulk took its toll on him.
Hulk was such a challenge. It was to reboot something and follow [the Ang Lee-directed 2003 Hulk] movie that was absolutely adored by part of the fan population and then absolutely hated by another part. It was complicated for me. I wasn't sure what to do with that history. I did my Hulk but it was not easy. If I do another Hulk film it will always be compared to the Ang Leething, and my first one … if I come back I'd love to do another superhero, something different that I can really put my touch on.
So if Leterrier isn't willing to direct the next Incredible Hulk, what movie would he want to direct?
I would love to do the Avengers film. I'd love to work with Marvel again. I loved working with them. I like [Marvel President of Production] Kevin Feige, he's a good guy and a fan. I love him. I feel really good at Marvelbecause they are people my age who are obsessed with movies and comic books. We talk about the same things. And they are not the nerd army — they like when you change something [away from Marvel canon] if there's a good reason, they're open to new things. Kevin is smart about movies and he takes risks. I would work with him tomorrow. But it has to be the right project.
But directing The Avengers isn't all Leterrier wants. He outlined a much larger dream for The Avengers that surely had Feige and his fellow Marvel executives talking.
I'll tell you my real dream: To work with [First Avenger: Captain America director] Joe Johnston and [Thor director] Kenneth Branagh and Jon Favreau and make like a triptych. We do four movies. We release them one a month for the summer. Or even every two weeks or three weeks. And the whole summer would be Avengers summer. So we do it the way they make television shows. One story arc but told in installments by different directors. So all of the directors that touch part of the Avengers world would do a part; wecould make the movies shorter, maybe less than an hour and a half, and we use the same sets and save Marvel money. I would love to sit around a table with all of them a kick around the story. That's my dream.
Posted 08.11.09 by Ryan -
Variety reports that Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain will be heading to the stage of the New York City Opera. According to Variety, Charles Wuorinen has been commissioned to adapt Annie Proulx's short story in preparation for a release during the 2013 opera season.
Posted 06.09.08 by reelz