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Very little is known at this time about Elysium, writer-director Neill Blomkamp's highly-anticipated follow-up to his 2009 feature debut, District 9, a sci-fi movie with heavy sociopolitical connotations that proved both a critical success—an impressive four Academy Award nominations— and a box office smash. We know that it is a "violent, very violent and very unique" sci-fi movie set in the future and that it will contain a similar blend of action and sociopolitical themes as District 9, but nothing else about the plot has been revealed. In fact, if it wasn't for sporadic cast announcements, it would be difficult to even tell that Elysium is actually in pre-production right now.
The latest addition to the cast is Brazilian actress Alice Braga, who joins Sharlto Copley, Matt Damon, William Fichtner, two-time Academy Award-winner Jodie Foster and fellow Brazilian Wagner Moura. Braga's character was not revealed, but that's par for the course with this project. So far, it has only been revealed that Moura will play the villain and that Foster will play "a head of state on an alien planet." Elysium is slated to open March 8, 2013.
Posted 05.30.11 by BrentJS -
The nationwide opening of Predators is today and, though the alien hunter has appeared in one sequel; two team-up movies with the Aliens franchise; and countless comic books and video games, for many fans this movie is the long-awaited sequel to the one true vision of the character, director John McTiernan's 1987 Predator.
Predators ignores Predator 2, which moved the action from the jungles of South America to near-future Los Angeles, a decision that producer Robert Rodriguez said that 20th Century Fox had already made way back in 1995 when they originally contracted him to write the movie. In a recent interview with Collider, Rodriguez and director Nimród Antal discuss the importance of the jungle environment to the movie and the casting of Adrien Brody and Alice Braga as butt-kicking killers stranded on a planet designed by the Predators for hunting humans.
Read more of the interview with rodriguez and antal >> Posted 07.09.10 by BrentJS -
The upcoming Predators, a direct sequel to 1987's Predator, returns to the jungle. However, this time the humans are on the predators' home turf. In case you've missed some or all of the "spotlight" clips that have been released, we've compiled them all into a single look at the characters who find themselves on the alien planet/game preserve.
See all 5 Predator featurettes Posted 06.22.10 by reelz -
Robert Rodriguez came up with the idea for Predators over 15 years ago, prior to directing 1995's Desperado. He only serves as a producer on Predators, with the director's chair going to Nimrod Antal (Armored).
The movie, created as a direct sequel to 1987's Predator, takes another ensemble cast of bad-asses (Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Laurence Fishburne, and Rodriguez regular Danny Trejo) to duke it out with the ultimate alien hunters, this time on a planet doubling as a game preserve. The latest TV spot informs fans as to the story of the long-awaited sequel.
Watch the new TV spot >> Posted 06.21.10 by Ryan -
The first TV spot for director Nimród Antal's Predators recently aired and it includes some awesome new footage of the predators looking oh-so-menacing. It also features a snippet of a pack of crazy predator bloodhounds streaking through the forest. Produced by Robert Rodriguez, Predators is a direct sequel to Predator (ignoring Predator 2), returning the action to a jungle setting, though this time the humans are on the predators' home turf. Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Topher Grace, Laurence Fishburne, and Rodriguez regular Danny Trejo star.
Posted 06.13.10 by BrentJS -
When filmmaker Robert Rodriguez was hired by Fox to revitalize the Predator franchise—first as a writer and later as a producer—he said that he he wanted to go back to the conventions of the original movie, but update it for a modern audience. The jungle setting of Guatemala became a jungle planet that serves as a "game preserve" for the alien hunters, and Arnold Schwarzenegger and his beefy cast were replaced by a group of warriors with more realistic physiques. Hello, Adrien Brody! In a new series of Predators featurettes, Rodriguez introduces three of the stars of the movie and gives a brief profile of their characters and tactics.
watch the Predators featurettes >> Posted 04.22.10 by BrentJS -
A behind-the-scenes featurette wasn't the only Predators-related material to come from the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival. io9 got a sneak peek of the trailer for the movie and attended a press conference where Adrien Brody defended his casting as the protagonist mercenary, Royce.
I know I'm not the obvious choice, I get that. I probably wouldn't have even been on the studio's list, even near the bottom. I put on 25 pounds for this role, but that wasn't the point — they didn't hire me to be a body-builder. I approached this with the kind of level of focus I would approach any of the roles that I've been given an opportunity to play... I think my intention, and the intention of hiring me to play Royce, was to delve into the kind of flawed tragic hero and not this kind of typical ... overtly physically imposing character... I did put on a substantial amount of muscle mass for the role, and the physical training was a big part of building to that character, [but it was also important] to prepare psychologically. We shot in Hawaii, and we shot in thousands of acres of tropical rainforest, and I had gotten permission from the owners of the estate to stay in the property... I didn't stay in a hotel... [Instead,] I isolated myself... My nightly ritual was poring over survival manuals and military and paramilitary training books. I was reading Sun Tzu. I was studying meditation. I was on a very strict diet. I wasn't drinking. I wasn't eating sugar. I wasn't having sex. I had to kind of go there, for me, because this was a tremendous opportunity.
Director Nimród Antal claims that Predators will maintain a horror element, by "trying to keep the monster in the shadows, more than throwing him in your face off the bat." Producer and writer Robert Rodriguez said that Fox allowed them to do what they wanted, telling Rodriguez, "We want you to protect this movie from us. We want you to go down there and do it your own way."
Making the movie their "own way" still could include a PG-13 rating, however. Predators actress Alice Braga told Bloody-Disgusting that she thinks Fox will try to for a PG-13 rating, even though she's not sure how Antal can pull it off.
I don't know that, I think they might try to do PG-13, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure, I hope not actually. You know what, I think they [might] not [be able to do it PG-13] because there are some dark scenes in it, like the other films. So I think it's going to be R. But going back to [a previous] question about editing, we never know what's going to happen. But it looks really dark and really nice. I think, I had fun.
Posted 03.18.10 by Ryan -
A first-look at the Robert Rodriguez-scripted Predators sequel is now available, courtesy of a few behind-the-scenes photographs that were leaked on the forums of fansite AVPgalaxy.net.
The photos — which reveal Adrien Brody, Oleg Taktarov, Alice Braga, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, and Rodriguez on the set of the Nimrod Antal-directed movie — seem to be taken by Taktarov's phone, considering the hazy quality of the photos and the frequency of Taktarov posing with other cast members. To see a few of the photos without digging through forum posts, head here.
In related Predators news, a recent interview with Louis Ozawa Changchien, who plays the character of former yakuza agent Hanzo in the movie, revealed to Gigazine some details about the mysterious role that Laurence Fishburne will playing.
We were nagging them everyday like "Is Fishburne really coming?" but all of us were excited to find out indeed he is. There were many rumours at first, like it will be Bruce Willis, Jean-Claude Van Damme, or even Arnold Schwarzenegger, but I'm glad Laurence was casted in the end. It's a really interesting role, quite different from Morpheus [in The Matrix]. A bit shady, crazy, surviving on his own, kind of a ratty character. His character managed to survive 10 years on the alien's planet living in a cave.
Changchien did not reveal if Fishburne's role meant that there will be no cameo for Schwarzenegger.
Posted 01.18.10 by Ryan -
Adrien Brody has been cast in Predators, the sequel to Predator being written and produced by Robert Rodriguez and directed by Nimrod Antal, and THR reports he won't be alone.
Joining Brody will be Alice Braga (I Am Legend), Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Walton Goggins (The Shield), UFC fighter Oleg Taktarov, and Danny Trejo, who was the first Predators cast member to be revealed. Topher Grace is also in negotiations to join the cast.
According to a recent script review, Brody will play Royce, a man kidnapped and brought to a Predator planet to join an international gang of ruthless criminals and thugs who must survive being hunted by a group of Predators. Trejo will play Cuchillo, a Mexican enforcer with "twin Uzis strapped to his back." Braga will play the sniper-toting, French-speaking Isabelle, while Taktarov will play former Russian special ops agent Nikolai. Goggins will play Stans, a former San Quintin prisoner who is the "loose cannon" of the group, and Ali will play Mombasa, a member of the African Sierra Leone death squad who is not afraid to die. Should Grace officially join the cast, he will play Edwin, an unassuming accountant-type who is one of the FBI's most wanted serial killers. The only role left to cast is Hanzo, a Japanese yakuza enforcer.
Predators begins shooting next month in Hawaii, with a scheduled release date of opens July 9, 2010.
Posted 10.07.09 by Ryan