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"9-1-1, what's your emergency?"
Halle Berry seems to be appearing in more genre movies of late, including this year's sci-fi epic Cloud Atlas and the straight-to-DVD, shark thriller Dark Tide, and will stay in the thriller genre for the upcoming The Call.
The first trailer for the movie has just been released, revealing Berry as a 911 operator who accepts a call from an abducted girl (Abigail Breslin), who may be the victim of a serial killer that Berry has history with.
calling all trailers Saturdays 10:00a ET / 7:00a PT
watch the trailer >> Posted 01.14.13 by Ryan -
Earlier this month, Harrison Ford was targeted for the adaptation of Ender's Game, based on the 1985 novel by Orson Scott Card. Coming from the sci-fi/Western mash-up of Cowboys and Aliens, it would seem that Ford would want to stay away from yet another sci-fi movie, as the actor's resume likes to switch genres from project to project. But with Ford being cast in the Jackie Robinson biopic 42, Ender's Game seemed like a good possibility, and finally it's official.
THR reports that Ford has signed on to play Colonel Hyrum Graff, Commander of Training for the International Fleet. In Ender's Game, humanity has been decimated by an insect-like alien race, with the government enlisting gifted children into battle school to train them to aid in the fight against the invaders. Bullied Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield, Hugo) masters a zero-gravity, laser-tag game and Graff sees his potential for saving humanity. Abigail Breslin has also been cast as Ender's sister.
Ender's Game is looking at a February production start under the direction of Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), who also adapted the script. Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) was previously cast as Petra Arkanian, Ender's most trusted ally, with Ben Kingsley (Hugo, Ghandi) playing Mazer Rackham, Ender's mentor. Brendan Meyer (Spooky Buddies) will play one of Ender's bullying classmates. Ender's Game is scheduled for release on March 15, 2013.
Four actors join Linda lovelace biopic >> Posted 12.22.11 by Ryan -
After testing and considering over 30 actresses for the lead role of Katniss Everdeen in the upcoming adaptation of The Hunger Games, Lionsgate is looking to cast Jennifer Lawrence (Best Actress Oscar nominee for Winter's Bone) in the part.
a frontrunner with no offer? >> Posted 03.12.11 by Ryan -
The role of Katniss Everdeen in the upcoming adaptation of The Hunger Games has become the coveted role for young actresses in Hollywood, and they're in luck, since almost every actress is up for the part. Based on the book of the same name by Suzanne Collins, Katniss is a teenager in a dystopian future where teens are forced into a televised competitions called "The Hunger Games" where the contestants are forced to fight to the death.
30 Actresses Are in the Casting Mix >> Posted 03.04.11 by Ryan -
Zombieland took first place at the box office last weekend with its blend of comedy and zombie-killing action. While a zombie movie at #1 is still a surprise, what's more surprising is that Zombieland is the first movie Ruben Fleischer has ever directed. Creativity asked Fleischer how a first-time director, who wasn't much of a zombie fan, ended up directing a movie like Zombieland.
I started out as an assistant to a director on two movies, Miguel Arteta. The movies I worked on were Chuck and Buck and The Good Girl. I didn't even know I wanted to be a director until I started working with Miguel. I just needed a job and it just turned out I really liked being on set and he was a great mentor. When I started trying to become a director, I started shooting low budget short films, 50-dollar music videos, making my own stuff. That eventually led to commercials. The goal I guess was ultimately to do a feature, but I wasn't in a position to do features, and since I wasn't a writer, I wasn't going to write my own movie that I was going to try and make, so I had to just keep working until I could realistically be considered for a film.
I had an agent and a while ago I was attached to direct this other movie at Paramount called Psycho Funky Chimp, which was a really funny, funny script, but Paramount basically just decided they were never going to make it so I had to start looking for other opportunities and I read Zombieland and loved it and went very aggressively after it.
Since Zombieland was still a TV pilot script at that point, Fleischer got the job by adding an ending.
Because it was a TV show, it didn't conclude in a very satisfying way. It was naturally meant to lead to the second episode. So basically I pitched the idea of having it go to an amusement park as the place the little kid character wants to go, which would give it a destination for the movie to have, and I also knew it would be a really cool place to have a giant zombie battle.
Fleischer admits that a huge part of Zombieland's success came from the cast, which assembled pretty quickly after Woody Harrelson was convinced to appear.
Definitely, Woody was first. I definitely had to convince him to be involved. I think he was a little reluctant about doing a zombie movie, but I put together a big visual presentation to show him what I had planned, and that was enough for him to sign on. It was print, but basically reference points for who I thought his character was like, the landscape. I really was thinking about this movie a lot in the terms of a western, like Sergio Leone, so I allowed him to see it was just not a straightforward zombie movie, but it could be something bigger and better. Once we got Woody on board, it was a lot easier to get everyone else.
Once on the set, Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg couldn't stop improvising.
We definitely did improv, both Jesse and Woody are amazing improvisers. It was really fun, once we got the script to let them just go and see what they came up with and they're both so talented that a lot of the lines that get laughs are improvised ones. I was a little nervous at first working with that level of guys, but they made it very easy for me and were open to doing whatever we needed to do. They were everything you could ask for, it was aweseome. And Abigail Breslin was incredible, like the most talented young woman in the world.
So after scoring a number one comedy, what's next for Fleischer? A possible pilot and loads more commercials. What, no blockbuster movie projects?
Hopefully at the end of the year consider another feature film, but I really want to go after commercials hard.
So far no word on Zombieland 2, but if the movie enjoys continued success, it Fleischer won't be working on commercials for very much longer.
Posted 10.09.09 by Ryan -
The promotional campaign for Zombieland is taking a cue from its athletic, running zombies with a sprint towards its October 2 release date. A new batch of photos have been unearthed, this time showing more varied zombie attacks and less of the zombie clown that appears in the movie. Instead, a spoiler clip of Jesse Eisenberg and the zombie clown going head-to-head can be seen below.
A second clip on MySpace, this one red-band, shows Woody Harrelson and Eisenberg's initial meeting with Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin.
A third Zombieland clip shows a fake newscast about the zombie outbreak, and may be just a viral video rather than a clip from the actual movie:
Lastly, Eisenberg and Harrelson are back to offer even more tips on how to survive Zombieland.
For those zombie fans foaming at the mouth to see Zombieland, cash for a Zombieland movie ticket can be gained by purchasing Sony's Horror Unleashed titles on DVD. With an in-store purchase of zombie classic Night of the Creeps, or other horror titles like Zombie Strippers, Fright Night, Hostel and more, $10 cash is awarded in Zombieland movie cash.
Posted 09.24.09 by Ryan -
The upcoming zombie comedy Zombieland follows an unlikely pair, Jesse Eisenberg's frightened Columbus and Woody Harrelson's gung-ho zombie slayer Tallahassee, as they drive cross country trying to stay alive in the wake of a zombie apocalypse. FirstShowing spoke with screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick and learned that the movie had a peculiar beginning, as Reese explained how Zombieland started out as a TV pilot:
That's indeed why we wrote it, because we looked at the landscape and there had been a lot of zombie movies, but there had never been a zombie television show. And so we thought very mercenarily, wouldn't it be cool to see zombies on TV? And it was ironic that now we're headed into theaters where we weren't sure we wanted to go at the beginning, but now we're thrilled to be there.
It took the blessing of a legendary horror director to start them on the path to making Zombieland a movie, says Wernick:
We sat in a room right at the onset of that with John Carpenter and he had read the hour long version, our pilot version, and absolutely loved it. I remember him sitting there saying — [producer Gavin Polone] said, "Well, what would you do with it?" And he said, "I'd go shoot it." And I thought, "Oh my god, how incredible!" Such an icon and he loved the script and we were so excited.
Now Zombieland is hitting theaters with a big cast, especially for a zombie movie, that includes Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin alongside Harrelson and Eisenberg, and even some big name cameos have been rumored from Matthew McConaughey and Bill Murray. Neither writer would announce who will be making a cameo, though they did say who will not.
The cameo was re-written "about 10 or 15 times" in an attempt to bring a celebrity to the project, with a wish list that included Joe Pesci, Mark Hamill, The Rock, Jean-Claude Van Damme, even Bill Clinton. Eventually, when no one would agree to appear in the movie, the writers asked Harrelson to make the call that helped them land "the best person of all" for a cameo Reese described as a "pretty crucial role." Wernick says the role will be "at least five to ten minutes of the movie,." Whoever it is, Reese says the celebrity is "better than any of the other names by far and the only reason we didn't go to him first or go to him earlier is because we thought we would never, ever, ever, ever, ever be able to get him."
Besides being a zombie movie with well-known actors and celebrity cameos, Zombieland sets itself apart from other zombie movies in other ways as well. Reese says the movie is a blending of genres:
It's a road movie, it's a buddy movie, it's an action-comedy.
Wernick also described it as a "romantic comedy" as well. Don't worry, horror fans, it's also still a zombie movie, but one that won't be the standard, run-of-the-mill, zombie flick:
I think the challenge when you're dealing with a genre that people know a lot about is to be able to tell it in a compelling new way. We didn't want to start with a General coming on TV and saying everybody stay in your houses and seeing scenes of riots in the streets and horses rearing up and balls of flame and all those things. So instead we jumped right into it and we used this device called the "47 Rules for Surviving Zombieland" to help drive the beginning of the movie. And you don't even have to meet the lead character right away. You learn some of his strategies before you even meet him. It's just a different way to go about it and I think we were encouraged to do that because the genre was so well known.
Some of the "Rules" have been displayed in a few clips that include tips on weapons and techniques that will keep yourself alive in a world filled with zombies.
Posted 08.20.09 by Ryan -
Columbia Pictures revealed the poster for Zombieland, the upcoming comedy with Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland), Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), and Emma Stone (Superbad) — and a possible cameo from Matthew McConaughey. For a zombie movie, it has a surprising amount of Hollywood talent, especially with a first-time director in Ruben Fleischer.
Harrelson explained to ShockTilYouDrop that his involvement in the movie started with the script, written by former reality TV writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick:
No, I never thought about [being in a zombie movie] honestly until I saw and read the script. I thought the script was phenomenal. And then I met Reuben and really liked him and I thought this guy is a go-getter. He's really going to make a terrific movie and so far I'm really impressed with him.
Early buzz on Zombieland has been very positive. A script review praised Zombieland, saying the movie "has all the potential to be a terrific comedy that just happens to involve zombies the way The Blues Brothers is a terrific comedy that just happens to be a car chase movie, or the original Caddyshack was a terrific comedy that masqueraded itself as a sports movie."
That's pretty high praise. Particularly for a zombie movie.
Posted 07.16.09 by Ryan -
When we first saw that My Sister's Keeper was scheduled for a summer release, we couldn't help but wonder why? For anyone not familiar with the Jodi Picoult book that inspired the movie, the plot centers on a young girl conceived to help her older sister fight cancer, who then grows tired of the treatment regimen and sues her parents ... and it gets even more depressing from there.
All in all, not your standard summer blockbuster fare.
But it got us thinking, sometimes you just need to shed a few. However, if that's your motivation this weekend, you might want to stay at home with Terms of Endearment, Sophie's Choice, Life Is Beautiful, or another familial tear-jerker instead. Don't believe us? Check out these critics' reviews.
"There's crying and vomiting aplenty ... and audiences may be forgiven the urge to respond in kind."
— Justin Chang, Variety
"What an agonizing, misguided, maudlin mess!"
—Susan Granger, SSG Syndicate
"...offers a couple of twists, one of them crucial and the other cruelly unnecessary and melodramatic. Actually, the crucial twist is steeped in weepy melodrama, too, right down to the bone."
— Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
"My Sister's Keeper isn't worth the weeping."
— Claudia Puig, USA TODAY
Posted 06.26.09 by reelz -
The trailer for Zombieland premieres today before showings of Year One, which, considering Year One's early reviews, could be a bad thing for the horror comedy starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, and Emma Stone.
The trailer is already available online, and while it looks terrific, it features none of the rumored cameos from Bill Murray and, possibly, Matthew McConaughey. Zombieland make-up artist Tony Gardner started the McConaughey rumor months ago by telling MTV: "I think Matthew McConaughey has a cameo."
McConaughey's publicist denied it, saying, "[We do not know] anything about this project. Nor do we know anything about his involvement in a project such as the one you mentioned.” Abigail Breslin was suspiciously curt on whether the Texan surfer will show up: "Oh...I...yeah. I can't say. You have to wait and see it."
October 9 is a long ways off, Abigail. Until then, enjoy Zombieland's first official, and McConaughey-less, trailer:
Posted 06.19.09 by Ryan