ENJOY THE SHOW

Interview: Cormac McCarthy's The Road Director John Hillcoat

Hitting theaters everywhere tomorrow is The Road, adapted from Cormac McCarthy's novel and directed by Australian filmmaker John Hillcoat, of The Proposition previously. I first saw this wonderfully haunting film at the Telluride Film Festival (read my review) and thought it was an impressive and beautifully bleak adaptation. After the screening I caught up with director John Hillcoat to talk with him for a few minutes about the film. We cover topics regarding how tough it was to adapt a novel this bleak, preventing the story from including an explanation, and casting the two roles. This is one of the best interviews I've ever done!

The Weekly Moviegoer - What Are Your Moviegoing Traditions?

The other day a friend was telling me about her Thanksgiving plans, which include the annual post-feast trip to the movies with her parents and siblings. She's an adult, yet she continues to follow this tradition of moviegoing that has been regular practice since she was a kid. And of course she's not a rare grown-up to be holding onto such tradition. Millions of Americans will always follow the first half of their Thanksgiving and Christmas rituals with a visit to the multiplex.

One thing that I love about the sustainability of moviegoing is that it's so rooted in tradition. The holiday

Empire Mag's Badass Iron Man 2 Cover Shot Debuts Online!

Now this is a badass cover shot! Empire has debuted their newest cover containing a never-before-seen shot of Iron Man from Jon Favreau's Iron Man 2. With the trailer on the way, it looks like Paramount may be getting ready to start hyping up the sequel, which is the first movie due out next summer (on May 7th), before this year comes to end. Empire's got a "full Iron Man 2 set report plus behind the scenes photos" in this issue. So if you're not already subscribed, then pick this up when it hits newsstands. As they say: "If you’re not as excited about Stark’s comeback as we are then you’re definitely getting coal in your stocking."

Check This Out: One More Final Poster for The Lovely Bones

The very final official poster for Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones was just debuted by MySpace. It's essentially a more polished version of the beautiful teaser poster but with Saoirse Ronan standing in clear view and a very creepy Stanley Tucci. I've got to wonder, though, will this actually help sell the film? Maybe it's just me, but I can't imagine people walking by this and thinking "oooh, I want to see that" unless they're already familair with the book or are Peter Jackson fans. Who knows? Does this also mean we'll see a new trailer sometime soon, because that first one is a bit old by now. Anyway, check out the poster in full below.

J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot is Bringing Samurai Jack to the Big Screen?

Yea, you read that right. Hidden in an article on the Frederator Films blog (via Screen Rant) was an update about a Samurai Jack movie in development. But it might not be exactly what you're thinking. Years ago, New Line Cinema picked up the rights to Jack to make both an animated movie and a live-action movie, but that all fell apart. Now apparently the rights have ended up in the hands of none other than J.J. Abrams who is developing a feature animated movie that will combine traditional 2D animation with stereoscopic 3D. Sorry, it's not live-action. It's not in production yet, but it does sound like this one will actually happen.

Fox Chairman Has 'No Doubt' That Avatar Will Make a Profit

I already know that this artucke is going to spark some heated debate, so let's just get on with it. Despite claims that James Cameron's Avatar will cost upwards of $500 million total including marketing costs (via New York Times, two weeks ago), Fox says they can still make a profit. Reuters (via SlashFilm) ran an article yesterday with a few select quotes from Fox Filmed Entertainment chairman Jim Gianopulos, who first says that the $500 million estimated cost is "ridiculous." He also adds that that number "has actually no relationship to the actual cost of the movie" and goes on to talk about how they will make a profit on it.

The Goon Animated Movie is Waiting for Fincher to Continue

The Goon is a movie I've been anxious to see ever since the first test shots arrived in March. It's a feature adaptation of Eric Powell's cult comic The Goon about the adventures of a muscle-bound brawler, and his sidekick Franky, who claims to be the primary enforcer for the feared mobster Labrazio, yet often gets tied up in other schemes usually involving the evil zombie gangs under the command of the Nameless Zombie Priest. Although it's already in production, it's "a slow, long process" and apparently they're stuck waiting for David Fincher to finish shooting The Social Network, since he's the big head honcho on the project.

J. Michael Straczynski Provides an Update on Forbidden Planet

You know what project we haven't heard about in a while? That Forbidden Planet remake J. Michael Straczynski was writing for Joel Silver! Let's not forget that rumor from last year that James Cameron was going to direct. But who can we go to for an update? How about J. Michael Straczynski himself! Collider caught up with the screenwriter at the press junket for Ninja Assassin (which he co-wrote) and asked him about a whole bunch of projects he's been working on, but the most interesting updates he gave were for Forbidden Planet. He's talked about it before, but this time was asked how faithful it'll be to the original.

Hugh Jackman Confirmed to Star in Shawn Levy's Real Steel

The freshly funded (with $825 million) DreamWorks has greenlit its first project - Real Steel, which will be directed by Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum) and star Hugh Jackman. You've probably heard about this project before, as we've written about it twice before. Real Steel is a futuristic Rocky-esque story about a father and son who take their human-like 2000-pound robot to the Bot Boxing Championship. It's originally based on a short story by Richard Matheson that was adapted by Dan Gilroy (Freejack, The Fall) in 2005 (that draft was sold to DreamWorks for $850,000) then revised by John Gatins (Hardball, Coach Carter).

Tommy Lee Jones Leaves Lakeshore's Lincoln Lawyer Project

I always hate reporting this kind of news, especially when there isn't a replacement director yet. It all just feels so hopeless. Last month we reported that Tommy Lee Jones would be directing and co-starring in The Lincoln Lawyer, a legal thriller based on Michael Connolly's 2005 novel. However, Variety reports tonight that Jones has left the project "over creative differences on the script." John Romano (Intolerable Cruelty, Nights in Rodanthe) wrote the script, that Lakeshore will hold onto until they can get another director attached, hopefully in time to shoot this next spring. I don't think Jones will be co-starring either.

The Crow Remake is Casting, But Who Should Play Draven?

This is kind of like asking who should play the Joker if Chris Nolan decides to bring him back. We already know that LXG director Stephen Norrington is rebooting Alex Proyas' The Crow, but hasn't cast anyone. Our friends at io9 talked with producer Ryan Kavanaugh who gave them some updates on the project. First he reiterates, "it's not a remake it's literally a relaunch of the franchise." Okay, but is it close to starting? "The Crow is definitely going to happen, we're just getting all the pieces together right now. It's not officially greenlit, but it's going to happen... I think in a couple months we could have the package together for sure."

Interview: Fantastic Mr. Fox Voice Actor Jason Schwartzman

Earlier today I ran an article about my trip to England and visit to Roald Dahl's estate. During that trip across the pond, I met up with and interviewed director Wes Anderson and actor Jason Schwartzman, who voices the character Ash in Fantastic Mr. Fox. Here is my video interview with Schwartzman. There are some awkward moments in this and that's because we were both trying to joke with each other and it was just odd with all the cameras. He's a funny guy so I tried to ask him funny questions about Fantastic Mr. Fox. And at least I got some fun responses out of him. So without further ado, enjoy the interview!