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Confirmed: D.J. Caruso to Direct Preacher

Krystal Clark — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:53:16 +0000

After over a year of speculation, D.J. Caruso has personally confirmed what we’ve all suspected. He will direct the big screen adaptation of Preacher. The director confirmed the news on his official Twitter page, therefore we got it straight from the horses mouth. Fanboys rejoice! A dark and gritty adaptation is on the way.

Caruso wrote on Twitter, “My deal just closed on Preacher. Going back to the dark side and pretty fucking pumped!” He’s pumped and so are we! Preacher was published by Vertigo Comics from 1995-2000 and it centered on a down-and-out preacher named Jesse Custer, who became possessed by a supernatural being called Genesis that destroyed his congregation and everything in its path.

Given immense powers, the preacher teamed with an old girlfriend and a hard-drinking Irish vampire and set out on a journey across America to find God — who apparently had abandoned his duties in heaven — and hold him accountable for his negligence.

Now that the film has a helmer, it’s time to shift focus to the cast. Who could play the three main roles? We would call Colin Farrell as the Irish vampire, but he’s already playing a member of the undead in the upcoming Fright Night remake.

What do you think of Caruso directing Preacher? Who do you think should star?

I Am Number Four: Movie Review

Krystal Clark — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 01:30:30 +0000

D.J. Caruso knows a thing or two about finding and cultivating young talent. In 2007, he picked a fresh from Disney Shia Labeouf to headline his Rear Window homage Disturbia, which sent him on a path to super stardom. Now four years later he’s doing the same with British actor Alex Pettyfer who stars as the title character in his sci-fi action flick I Am Number Four. Check out our review…

The Players:

Director: D.J. Caruso
Screenwriters: Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, Marti Noxon, James Frey and Jobie Hughes (novel)
Cast: Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant, Dianna Agron, Callan McAuliffe, Kevin Durand, Jake Abel, Teresa Palmer
Cinematography By: Guillermo Navarro
Original Music By: Trevor Rabin

The Plot:

I Am Number Four centers on a teenage alien named John, who along with his guardian Henri (Olyphant) travel across the country to avoid capture by enemies from their home planet. John desperately tries to fit in and have a normal life but his involvement with a girl named Sarah (Agron) could blow his cover and endanger both their lives.

The Good:

Timothy Olyphant: None of the characters in this film have any real substance and Olyphant’s Henri is the closest we get to someone likable. The role was previously supposed to go to Sharlto Copley, but Olyphant was definitely the better choice. Not every actor can take cheesy dialogue (more on that below) and make it somewhat tolerable.
The Action: The best part of I Am Number Four is the last 15 minutes when there’s nothing but nonstop action. Caruso did a great job of directing those scenes because there’s a lot going on but you can actually see what each person is doing. The fights are actually comprehensible. The CGI looks pretty good and the fight choreography is great.

The Bad:

The Dialogue: One word: horrible! There are some truly horrific monologues given in this movie. There are several voice over scenes that are supposed to explain who they are, where they come from, and the threat looming over them. Unfortunately, it’s a boggled mess that goes in one ear and out the other. You just catch that John and Henri are good aliens, and the tall, ugly ones are not. Also, Pettyfer and Agron have some scenes filled with corny declarations of love, while Palmer’s character only seems to speak in taglines. Everything that comes out of her mouth is a quip.
Dianna Agron: Cue Alfred Hitchock’s soft-focus and place it on Sarah. She is a one dimensional indie girl, who’s into photography and wants to escape the clutches of her small town home. That’s it. She has nothing else to offer. Everything always comes back to her and her photography, which also isn’t that interesting.
Product Placement: I really wanted to check and see if Apple or Steve Jobs had an executive producer credit on this movie. Both Henri and John had iPhones and they used them ALL THE TIME. They were constantly calling and text messaging each other. The iPhone should appear on the cast list because it got more screentime than some of the actors.
The Editing: There are a lot of continuity issues in this film. There are several sequences where people go from point A to C, and they never explain what happened to B. Sometimes that can work and as a viewer you can piece together how someone got to where they were, but that isn’t the case here. It looks like the editor took out chunks of shots to save time and it’s extremely obvious.

Overall:

I Am Number Four has great action and that’s pretty much it. You have to sit through an hour of bad dialogue and plot holes before you get to the good stuff, but it’s well worth it.

Rating: 7.5/10

I Am Number Four opens in theaters everywhere on February 18th.

Photo Gallery:

Trailer:

Do you plan on seeing I Am Number Four this weekend?

I Am Number Four Origins Featurette

Krystal Clark — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 19:51:08 +0000

DreamWorks Pictures has just released a new featurette in promotion of their upcoming film, I Am Number Four. It’s a sci-fi action flick directed by DJ Caruso, who previously helmed Eagle Eye and Disturbia. After watching the video you get one message loud and clear, these kids want to be normal. They’re aliens, they’re good looking, and they want to be left alone. Too bad that’s not going to happen. Take a look…

In the film, an extraordinary young man, John Smith (Alex Pettyfer), is a fugitive on the run from ruthless enemies sent to destroy him. Changing his identity, moving from town to town with his guardian Henri, John is always the new kid with no ties to his past. In the small Ohio town he now calls home, John encounters unexpected, life-changing events — his first love, powerful new abilities and a connection to the others who share his incredible destiny.

It looks like we can look forward to another film that covers pretty people with ugly problems. Don’t you love movies like this?

I Am Number Four opens in theaters on February 18, 2011.

What do you think of the I Am Number Four featurette? Are you excited about the film?

DJ Caruso To Direct I Am Number Four

Krystal Clark — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:56:18 +0000

It’s been a long time since we’ve heard anything about the film adaptation of I Am Number Four. The last time we checked, Michael Bay was set to produce and possibly direct the sci-fi film, but according to THR that’s not the case. DJ Caruso, the man behind Eagle Eye and Disturbia will take on directing duties instead.

Even though Caruso will be behind the camera, Bay is still on board as one of the producers. I Am Number Four is based on the James Frey book of the same name, and yes it’s the same James Frey who got called out for embellishing stories in his memoir. I Am Number Four is a young adult, science fiction novel that centers on “a group of nine aliens who escaped their home planet just before it was annihilated by a rival species. Hiding out on Earth, the title character disguises himself as a human high schooler, only to discover he is being hunted still by his planet’s enemy.”

What’s interesting about this deal is the fact that the book hasn’t been released yet. Harper-Collins will publish it this fall and expect it to be the first in a series of six novels. That means if the first movie is successful we could have a whole franchise on our hands similar to Harry Potter. The story sounds decent, and Caruso is an OK director, but anything that comes from James Frey’s mind worries me.

What do you think about DJ Caruso directing I Am Number Four?

Chris Pine and DJ Caruso Make Money

Krystal Clark — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:59:58 +0000

Gasp! Could this be news of a DJ Caruso film that won’t feature Shia Labeouf front and center? According to Variety, Caruso will team up with Captain Kirk, I mean Chris Pine for his next film entitled, The Art of Making Money. Both the director and actor are in negotiations with Paramount Studios to work on the upcoming drama.

The Art of Making Money centers on Art Williams, the alias for a Chicago man who rose from petty theft to become a master counterfeiter. The story for the film is based on a 2005 article published in Rolling Stone Magazine by Jason Kersten, who went on to turn it into a book of the same name. If all goes well, Pine will star as the lead, with Caruso behind the camera.

The screenplay was written by Frank Baldwin, and the film will be produced by Brian Robbins, Sharla Sumpter, and Brad Weston. It looks like in between Star Trek sequels, Pine wants to try his hand a few dramatic pieces. He’s already set to star opposite Denzel Washington in the Tony Scott film, Unstoppable. As for Caruso, I wonder how Shia’s going to feel about this?

What do you think of Chris Pine teaming up with DJ Caruso for The Art of Making Money?

Shia Labeouf Still Interested in Y: The Last Man?

Krystal Clark — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:30:00 +0000

Hollywood is definitely the land of never say never. So many people let out a sigh of relief when word spread that actor Shia Labeouf was no longer interested in starring in DJ Caruso‘s live action adaptation of Y: The Last Man. He stated that the series’ lead character Yorick was too similar to Sam Witwicky from Transformers. He cited his desire to do something different as his reason for backing away from the project. That was then, and this is now. Someone must have spiked his cereal, because now he’s saying that there’s still a possibility that he’ll star in the film after all.

According to an interview that Labeouf gave over at Collider, he could “absolutely” see himself headlining the project a few years down the line.

Shia: …..Vaughn and Ellsworth and DJ are writing the script now. The script is not ready to be shot. DJ is making a different movie right now. He’s making “Jack and the Beanstalk”. There’s just other things going on with DJ and I wouldn’t want to make the movie with anybody else because he loves it like I do. But I don’t think Vaughn is trying to give it to anybody else. I think that it is something that’s very realistic, it’s just not in the pipe for the next year.

It appears that they’re set on him doing the film regardless of his or our personal feelings about it. I’m not the least bit surprised that he did a complete 180 so quickly. That’s his publicist at work. I can understand him not wanting to be a one trick pony, but he might as well take these types of risks while he’s young. It’s easier to forgive a 23 year old for their career mistakes, than a 53 year old who should know better.

How do you feel about Shia changing his tune? Do you want him to star in Y: The Last Man?

Shia Labeouf says No to Y: The Last Man

Laura Aguirre — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:00:55 +0000

Apparently, Transformers star Shia LaBeouf doesn’t want to keep playing the ordinary guy stuck in an extraordinary situation, as he told Wizard magazine.

It was rumored that LaBeouf would play the lead role of Yorick Brown in D.J. Caruso and Carl Ellsworth‘s film adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra’s Y: The Last Man. But LaBeouf feels that Brown is too similar to his “Transformers” role of Sam Witwicky.

In Y: The Last Man, Brown is a young man who, due to a plague that kills nearly all the males on the planet, is the last man on earth.

If LaBeouf were to take on the lead role of Brown, he would be reuniting with D.J. Caruso who also directed him in Eagle Eye and Disturbia. But, it seems that LaBeouf is looking for a different type of character to play and who could blame him? Most of his more famous lead roles have featured him as the everyday hero with an attractive girl on his side.

So if you expected to see LaBeouf running around like a wild man to become the neighborhood hero or planet’s saviour, the young star told Wizard that he is not willing to do [that] movie, and then added that he may be too old to play Brown when the time finally came around.

That also being said, I can’t picture him in a independent art film with a lots of dialogue. Can you?

ScreenCrave.com » D.J. Caruso

Confirmed: D.J. Caruso to Direct Preacher

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I Am Number Four: Movie Review

The Players:

The Plot:

The Good:

The Bad:

Overall:

Rating: 7.5/10

Photo Gallery:

Trailer:

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