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Over the weekend, reports surfaced that Eddie Murphy might be tapped to host the 84th Oscar ceremony, and it seemed likely as Murphy's Tower Heist director Brett Ratner would now be producing the broadcast. Ratner made it official by announcing Murphy as the host in a press release revealed by Deadline.
Eddie is a comedic genius, one of the greatest and most influential live performers ever. With his love of movies, history of crafting unforgettable characters and his iconic performances — especially on stage — I know he will bring excitement, spontaneity and tremendous heart to the show [fellow producer] Don [Mischer]and I want to produce in February.
When word got around that Murphy was the possible host, outlets consulted Twitter, where the public response wasn't exactly positive — though perhaps those who found the news negative missed this year's debacle hosted by James Franco and Anne Hathaway. Their names were unsurprisingly missing in Murphy's comments about taking over the Oscars from past hosts.
murphy a "film historian" >> Posted 09.06.11 by Ryan -
In January, The Fighter director David O. Russell began negotiations to take over writing and directing Universal’s adaptation of the Boom! Studios comic book 2 Guns, which had been in development since 2008. With a script in place from TV writer Blake Masters (Brotherhood) and actors Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson attached to star as two undercover agents trying to investigate each other while pulling off a job to steal from the mafia and have no idea about the real identity of the other.
While Wilson eventually left the project, THR reports that Mark Wahlberg is entering into final negotiations to join the movie, which would reunite him with his Fighter director. There's only one problem: Both Russell and Vaughn have dropped out.
new roles for Morgan Freeman and Eddie Murphy >> Posted 08.11.11 by Ryan -
It's easy to feel underwhelmed by the news of another X-Men movie. After all, we'd be more than happy to pretend the last two never happened. Luckily, it seems that the studio agreed with us and stopped moving into the disappointing future of the series and has instead kicked things back into the past. It's not quite a re-boot, it's not quite a spin-off, but X-Men: First Class promises to bring us back to the good old days of X-Men, which we're excited about for the following reasons.
5 Reasons: X-Men: First Class
Posted 06.02.11 by reelz -
Getting someone's hand-me-downs can bruise the ego, but when they're coming from Steven Spielberg, your ego should get a little boost.
Several sites are reporting that Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand, Rush Hour 3) will direct the movie adaption of The 39 Clues, taking the reins from Spielberg. The bestselling kids book series, which also include an online game and card collection, just published its 11th installment.
Apparently, between his presidential biopic Lincoln and The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn, Spielberg couldn't squeeze another potential large movie franchise in his schedule.
What's 39 Clues about? >> Posted 05.10.11 by Chris -
Director Brett Ratner has been attached to an adaptation of Rob Liefeld's comic book Youngblood since February of 2009, and, over a year later, revealed he and writers J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani were hard at work on the screenplay. Six months later, and Ratner is "still working" on Youngblood. Ratner updated MTV on the hold-up.
There were some rights issues. We actually waited for over a year for the rights to these comic books that were made by independent comic books. There was a lot of owners of these comic books and a lot of people were claiming they had the rights. It's taken a long time but I think we've finally cleared the legal part of it.
the "Next X-Men"? >> Posted 11.13.10 by Ryan -
Ben Stiller and Eddie Murphy are getting more help for the growing cast of their upcoming comedy Tower Heist. After the recent additions of Tea Leoni, Gabourey Sidibe, and Michael Pena, director Brett Ratner have added Matthew Broderick and Casey Affleck.
The action comedy sees Stiller as a building manager of a tower residence that rallies his co-workers to get revenge on the Bernie Madoff-esque penthouse resident (Alan Alda) who defrauded the staff of their pensions through a Ponzi scheme. Deadline reports that Broderick will play "Chase Fitzhugh, a Wall Street guy" who also had his fortunes reversed by Alda's character.
Affleck, THR reports, will play Stiller's friend and co-worker who is against the revenge plot and wants to turn in Stiller and his co-conspirators. Judd Hirsch has also joined the movie in an unspecified role.
Production begins on Tower Heist next month in New York.
Posted 10.27.10 by Ryan -
Director Brett Ratner's upcoming comedy Tower Heist is rounding out casting. Last week, news spread that Eddie Murphy joined the cast of the comedy, alongside Ben Stiller and Alan Alda. Stiller will play a manager of an affluent high rise who leads a crew of disgruntled workers in a heist of its penthouse resident (Alda), a Bernie Madoff-esque, Wall Street capitalist who defrauded the staff of their pensions. Murphy will play a safe cracker who joins the team. Now, more actors have been added to the growing, high profile cast.
who's playing what? >> Posted 10.22.10 by Ryan -
After trying to carry comedy bombs like Meet Dave and Imagine That by himself, Eddie Murphy is joining Ben Stiller in the comedy Tower Heist, to be directed by Brett Ratner.
THR reports that Murphy will play a safe-cracker who joins Stiller and a team of building maintenance workers who decide to rob the penthouse resident, a wealthy Wall Street capitalist who defrauded residents of their pensions (Alan Alda). According to the report, Murphy may or may not betray Stiller and his crew.
The script has gone through a variety of writers and cast, at one point starring Murphy and Chris Rock. The latest rewrite of the script comes from Jeff Nathanson (Rush Hour 3). Murphy will also executive produce.
Posted 10.14.10 by Ryan -
In a terrible twist of fate, comic book fans lost on a possibly incredible "what could have been" when director Matthew Vaughn dropped out on the third X-Men movie, X-Men: The Last Stand, two weeks before production began. Director Brett Ratner replaced Vaughn, and the results left disappointed fanboys across the nation in its wake. With Vaughn recently on board to direct the prequel X-Men: First Class, Ratner told MTV that he was pleased with the choice of director.
ratner cool with it even though Vaughn trashed him after X-Men 3 >> Posted 05.19.10 by Ryan -
The cast of director Seth Gordon's upcoming Horrible Bosses is coming together quickly. The comedy will focus on three friends who hate their bosses and plot to kill them. According to THR, Jason Bateman will play one of the friends who holds a positive outlook on his work until he hits rock bottom when he is passed over for a promotion. Charlie Day (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) will also play one of the friends who is always at the wrong place at the wrong time. The third friend will be a womanizer who loses his job after his boss dies and is replaced, but is yet to be cast.
more on the Horrible Bosses cast >> Posted 05.13.10 by Ryan