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Fans weren't sure what to think when Paramount decided to hire Justin Bieber: Never Say Never and Step Up 3D director Jon Chu for their sequel to 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Armed with a script from Zombieland screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, Chu's work on G.I. Joe: Retaliation was recently unveiled in the form of a first trailer, a Super Bowl spot and an international trailer, all of which show that the new director seems to have done better with the material than Rise of Cobra director Stephen Sommers.
The biggest difference between the two directors is that Chu is a self-professed "fan" of G.I. Joe, while Sommers (reportedly) wasn't. While speaking to Moviefone at the American International Toy Fair, Chu agreed that it wasn't easy taking over a sequel from a non-fan.
It's hard, but I think everybody felt like we wanted to do a sort of re-attitude toward the movie. And that's part of the tradition of G.I. Joe, that it reinvents itself every several years. So it's sort of inline with what had been done, you know, whether it was in the cartoon or if they changed the theme song to another theme song. To me, all of those different transitions are what makes G.I. Joe so great.
more about Retaliation >> Posted 02.16.12 by Ryan -
For those of you who have always wanted a 3-D big screen adaptation of The Three Musketeers from the director of Resident Evil: Afterlife, your time has almost come. For those of you a little skeptical, several new preview clips have been released to convince you that Paul W.S. Anderson hasn't destroyed author Alexandre Dumas' classic story.
Anderson has promised that his Three Musketeers is "exactly the story of The Three Musketeers" but told "in a slightly different way", and will still see a young D'Artagnan (Logan Lerman) head to Paris to meet up with the Three Musketeers — Athos(Matthew Macfayden), Porthos (Ray Stevenson), and Aramis (Luke Evans). Together, they will band together to bring down the evil Cardinal Richelieu (Christoph Waltz). Just, in 3-D and featuring giant sailing ships attached to hot-air balloons that have battles in the sky with cannons. You know, "exactly the story of The Three Musketeers."
watch the clips >> Posted 10.07.11 by Ryan -
The casting for Paramount's G.I. Joe 2 has mostly concentrated on the new members of the Joe team, but the sequel has finally cast its first new villain.
THR reports Ray Stevenson (Thor, Punisher: War Zone) has been cast as the mercenary Firefly, a ninja master, saboteur, and explosives expert that works for Cobra. Lee Byung-hun is returning from 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra as Cobra's other resident ninja, Storm Shadow, though, it's possible that Storm Shadow isn't a villain in the movie. In the Marvel comic books, Firefly is partly responsible for killing the Hard Master, who trained Storm Shadow and Snake Eyes (Ray Park), and the two characters team up to take down Firefly and the other conspirators. While there's no confirmation that this storyline exists in the script from Zombieland screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura did say that the sequel would appeal to ninja fans.
More about G.I. Joe 2 Posted 07.09.11 by Ryan -
With the release of Thor about a week away, the promotional blitz for the comic book adaptation is at a fever pitch. SuperHeroHype has found a Japanese trailer for the movie which offers new footage, and offers more looks at Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano as Hogun the Grim.
Most of the trailer takes place on Earth, after Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has been cast out of Asgard. Hemsworth recently told Movieline how important the Earth scenes were to ground the fantasy elements of Thor.
I think when you have this sort of powerful guy who thinks he’s a god and comes from another universe and he’s thrown into Earth and is not quite as entitled as he thought, it’s a great chance for comic relief. And it certainly helps ground it, it makes him seem human, and that was a challenge — to humanize these gods and make them relatable to people, whether it be with the hook of comedy or whether it be just really finding the truth in the scenes. Working it out like, OK, this is a scene between a father and a son, or a brother to brother. We’re not just playing gods.
watch the videos >> Posted 04.29.11 by Ryan -
More than two dozen new still images from director Kenneth Branagh's Thor, the big screen 3-D adaptation of Marvel Comics' classic character created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Larry Lieber, have appeared online. Though the quality of the images is not the greatest (hey, clean your scanner!), the batch does include several shots of individual characters not previously seen outside of the trailers like Joshua Dallas as Frandral the Dashing and Ray Stevenson as Volstagg the Valiant, two-thirds of Thor's (Chris Hemsworth) comrades-in-arms, The Warrior's Three (Tadanobu Asano as Hogun the Grim would be the third).
more about Thor >> Posted 03.17.11 by BrentJS -
Ray Stevenson (HBO's Rome) began his association with Marvel characters by taking over the role of the Punisher for 2008's Punisher: War Zone, which was released by Lionsgate and not Marvel Studios and earned a mere $10 million in worldwide box office. Stevenson entered into the Marvel fold as portly Asgardian warrior Volstagg in director Kenneth Branagh's upcoming adaptation of Thor. Stevenson told The Playlist that he will likely show up in future Thor sequels.
I’ve got a three picture deal. My agent said, people won’t recognize you. And I said, I don’t give a damn! Who else is gonna give me a chance to put a big fatsuit on and ham it up? And I said to Ken Branagh, I was nervous, and he said, you can’t be too loud! So I said fine, I’ll dip my toe into the river of ham. And he said, trust me, I’ve swam in that river many times. You enjoy that!
what about the punisher? >> Posted 03.09.11 by Ryan -
Continuing a standard she set while working on Resident Evil: Afterlife, Milla Jovovich is using her Twitter account to update fans while working on the upcoming adaptation of The Three Musketeers that her husband, Paul W.S. Anderson, is writing and directing. Jovovich tweeted a photo of herself in full period costume, as well as other photos from the Bavarian location, including a castle, and the castle grounds.
Apparently, Jovovich also did a little acting.
Hey every1! What a fun day on "3M"! Orlando [Bloom], Mat[t]hew [Macfayden], Ray [Stevenson], Luke [Evans] n I doing our 1st scene together! We did a version of "let's get physical"!
The Three Musketeers opens in 3-D on October 14, 2011, and also stars Logan Lerman, Mads Mikkelssen, and Christoph Waltz.
Posted 09.23.10 by Ryan -
Director Paul W.S. Anderson's career will be making sharp turn for his next feature, that being an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers. The movie will be the first foray into literature for the director of Death Race and the upcoming Resident Evil: Afterlife. The director has promised a contemporary movie that will be "rich in eye-popping action, romance, and adventure" and will also be shot in 3-D, much like Afterlife. With production to begin this September, around the same time as Afterlife's opening, Anderson has finally put together his cast.
Guess who landed a big role? >> Posted 05.12.10 by Ryan -
Marvel Studios has finally released an official plot synopsis for director Kenneth Branagh's Thor, the live-action adaptation of the classic Marvel Comic book. Though previous reports seemed to indicate that the majority of the movie would take place on the extra-dimensional realm of Asgard, which Thor and the other Norse gods call home, from the synopsis it appears that most of the action will actually be taking place on earth.
Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the epic adventure, Thor, which spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and is forced to live among humans. A beautiful, young scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), has a profound effect on Thor, as she ultimately becomes his first love. It's while here on Earth that Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.
While many comic book fans would probably prefer it if the majority of the movie took place in Asgard, having the movie take place predominantly on earth is a necessary step toward linking Thor with the other Marvel Studios movies — The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, The First Avenger: Captain America — leading up to the super-team movie, The Avengers. In the Marvel Comics series, Thor is a founding member of The Avengers, which is first formed to deal with the threat of the Hulk, who is being manipulated by Thor's step-brother, Loki.
Thor also stars Jaimie Alexander as Sif, Joshua Dallas as Fandral, Ray Stevenson as Volstagg, Tadanobu Asano as Hogun, and Tom Hiddleston as the villainous Loki.
Posted 03.10.10 by BrentJS -
When Punisher: War Zone's Ray Stevenson was cast as portly Asgardian warrior Volstagg in Thor, the question was how Kenneth Branagh and company were going to handle the weight discrepancy. Stevenson told Empire that a solution has been discovered: a fat suit.
It's fantastic. I've tried the suit on, and what they've done is kind of sex him up: he's sort of slimmer but rounder. He's got every bit of that Falstaffian verve and vigour, and a bit of a beer gut to suggest that enormous appetite, but he's not the sort of Weeble-shaped figure he is in the comics. He's Falstaff with muscles. I've got this amazing foam-injected undersuit that flexes with me. I can't wait!
Thor is currently in rehearsals and starts production in mid-January.
Posted 12.11.09 by Ryan