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Actor Ian McKellen has played a variety of roles in his long career, but two of his most iconic have been the mutant leader Magneto in the X-Men trilogy and the wise wizard Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. McKellen is reprising the role of Gandalf in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again, the upcoming, two-part prequel to The Lord of the Rings, and it's hard to imagine anyone else in the role (thankfully, we don't have to for now). However, during an interview the December issue of Empire (via New Zealand Herald), however, McKellen revealed that he initially turned down the role of Gandalf.
At the time I was about to play Magneto in the X-Men film in Toronto. I was already committed to that ... and it meant I couldn't get to New Zealand in time. So I had to tell [writer-director-producer] Peter [Jackson] I could no longer do Gandalf.
How did mckellen end up as Gandalf? >> Posted 11.12.11 by Ryan -
2006's The Departed was, at the time, the third collaboration between director Martin Scorsese and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. The movie, a remake of the Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs, won Academy Awards for both Scorsese and screenwriter William Monahan.
Since The Departed, the actor and director have also worked on last year's Shutter Island, and the pair are looking to reunite for a fifth time with a remake of the gritty, 1974 drama The Gambler. Deadline reports that Monahan is writing the script for Paramount for Scorsese with DiCaprio now attached to star. The original starred James Caan as a professor whose addiction to gambling gets the better of him and flees to Las Vegas to escape the mob.
While fans of The Departed have to be pleased at the potential of a re-teaming between the movie's screenwriter, director and star of the original movie, there is one person who isn't happy about the remake at all: The Gambler screenwriter James Toback. Toback sent Deadline a message outlining his displeasure over the remake, which no one had bothered to tell him about.
toback not pleased with the "rudeness" of the remake >> Posted 08.29.11 by Ryan -
Unique Features has bought the rights to film the YA werewolf romance novel Shiver, which is penned by author Maggie Stiefvater. Shiver was first published in August, and was an instant hit on the New York Times bestseller list, spending several weeks at the #1 spot.
Shiver tells the story of Grace and Sam, two teenagers whose lives are linked by werewolves in a nearby forest. Grace was bitten by a wolf when she was younger and was saved by a mysterious boy -- Sam. Sam turns out to be a werewolf, who changes from human to wolf when the weather gets cold enough. Add in an inevitable love story, intense stares, and a bucket load of teenage angst, and you have a new Twilight for the werewolf crowd.
Unique Features producer Bob Shaye, who bought the rights with partner Michael Lynne, said of the story, "I'm not the biggest werewolf or vampire fan, but the author has a strong take on a young adult sensibility. It's also a sexy love story that isn't too over the top." With the producers responsible for Lord of the Rings and Blade behind the project, what could possibly go wrong? We're not sure if the movie world needs any more supernatural melodrama, but we're more than happy to be proven wrong.
Posted 10.03.09 by reelz -
The Mortal Instruments, a young adult trilogy of books penned by former Harry Potter fan-fic writer Cassandra Clare, is rumored to be the next book-to-movie adaptation slated to hit Hollywood.
Hot on the heels of Twilight's worldwide success, numerous YA supernatural series are being snapped up faster than they're being written. Sci Fi Wire is reporting that former New Line executives Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne have a number of new projects in development, among them The Mortal Instruments.
The trilogy is all about downworlders (vampires, demons, warlocks, and faeries) and sword-wielding teen-aged shadowhunters (human-angel hybrid protectors). When 15-year-old fiery-haired Clary stumbles into this deadly New York world, and the first closely guarded mortal instrument goes missing, a years-old war is resurrected.
Have you had enough of vampires and demons yet, or do you think there's life left in the genre? One thing's for sure, Clare has a huge following. If the movie does go ahead, it could be like Twilight all over again.
Posted 06.20.09 by reelz