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VOTD: ‘Battleship’ Director Peter Berg Tells Israeli Reporter To Join The Army, Angrily Curses Iran

Laura Aguirre — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:18:25 +0000

Battleship director Peter Berg has no problem expressing his feelings about war. In a recent interview for the movie, Berg went on a rant about the political situation in the Middle East and grilled a 25-year-old Israeli reporter for his lack of military service. It was awkward. Check out the video below.

Before questioning the young reporter’s history of military service, Berg took some time to talk about his concerns over Israel’s future. He went on an f-bomb tirade, and only stopped to mention the film once. He also took a brief moment to call Rihanna a “great actress.”

Somehow Berg turned the tables on the reporter, Danino Holt, and started asking the questions. He was shocked to find out that Holt hadn’t served in the Israeli army yet since it’s a requirement for the country’s citizens. Holt tried to avoid the question, but not before Berg called him a “draft dodger” and “motherf***er”. Check out the video below:

According to Gawker, Holt’s reason for not joining the military is because he was exempted due to health problems, but that probably wouldn’t have made a difference to Berg, who seemed pretty passionate about the issue. Let’s just hope that this interview doesn’t come back to haunt him or the release of Battleship. If the movie doesn’t make big bucks in the Middle East, we’ll know why.

What do you think of Berg’s outburst?

New ‘Battleship’ Clip Features Jokes, Booze, And Unnatural Tans

Travis Woods — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:23:34 +0000

Oh, Battleship. The “hey-this-is-just-how-Michael-Bay-makes-‘em-right?” potential blockbuster has the unfortunate duty of opening in the wake of The Avengers’ May release, and features a Transformers-like premise without any actual Transformers, just keeps dropping new clips and ads, and yet still looks like a bland rehash of everything from Pearl Harbor to Battle: Los Angeles. Today, we’ve got a new clip featuring a bar-hopping Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker and Alexander Skarsgard. Let the unnaturally orange skin tones begin!

The film, directed by Peter Berg, is the story of how the U.S. Navy must do battle with invading aliens from an Earth-like planet, and is an adaptation of the Hasbro naval combat game that featured neither invading aliens nor any other Earth-like planets. So go figure that out.

In the film, it’s up to a group of bizarrely young and attractive naval officers to defend planet Earth against the conquest of the extraterrestrials, armed only with naval ships and catch phrases such “B-9!” and “A-17!” and “YOU SUNK MY BATTLESHIP!” (ok, I can’t guarantee that last part about the catch phrases is true). But yeah: big naval battleships and some alien space ships, lots of orange skin, copious CGI, and a bunch of things going boom-boom. For those of you needing a Michael Bay fix this summer, this is as good as it’s gonna get for you.

Get More: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

What do you think of the clip?

Source: Coming Soon

Peter Berg Says Hancock 2 a Matter of When

Damon Houx — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:34:37 +0000

2008′s Hancock, which made over $600 Million globally, was Will Smith‘s last huge hit. Since then he made Seven Pounds and has mostly been involved in Men in Black 3, which will eventually hit theaters this May. There was talk of a Hancock sequel around the time of the film’s release, but no real movement. Director Peter Berg has chimed in now at comicbookmovie.com, and said it’s a question of getting everyone together, but that it will eventually happen.

They say Smith is the last movie star. They say that because he’s been great at picking winners, and has made his more arty/Oscar-centric films box office hits (well, except for Seven Pounds, which still made money). But 2008 is a long time in movie terms, and Men in Black 3 looks like a dud. He’s following that with an M. Night Shyamalan film, a director who’s been in an artistic and box office slump since 2002′s Signs. From the sounds of it Hancock 2 wouldn’t be ready to go until at least 2014. The money might be there because of the first film’s success, but it’s also the same company that’s putting out Men in Black 3. If that bombs, it could kill Hancock 2 along with it.

On top of that Berg’s got Battleship this summer. That could be a franchise-starter and push Berg into more sequels, or tank big time – I don’t know if there’s an in-between with it. Perhaps both are viewing Hancock 2 as their safety net and if both have a bad summer, expect the sequel to come together right quick.

Do you want a Hancock 2?

New Battleship Trailer offers a Plot

Damon Houx — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 19:45:50 +0000

2012′s summer is going to be interesting as many of the big films look like they might not work. Men in Black III is going for another round of re-shoots, and there are a lot of other question marks, as well. Now we have the full trailer for Peter Berg‘s Battleship - which on paper looks dicey – but it’s got scale and a story now. Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Rhiana, Brooklyn Decker and Alexander Skarsgard star. The film is set to open May 18. Check it out…

The best thing to say about the new trailer is that now we’ve got a story. Kitsch’s character is put in charge, and you don’t have to think of Star Trek to recognize this as a fun but dusty old trope. Model-turned-actress Brooklyn Decker (her name sounds like a slang term for something incredibly filthy) does not appear to have much chops, but from the gadgets of the villains to their full-body Halo suits, this looks about 20% less dumb than it did before.

Okay, it’s a stupid premise, and it’s great that they’re selling the Hasboro connection to Transformers (really?), but it’s got Jesse Plemons, who played Landry on Friday Night Lights, and who remains one of the great TV geek characters. As long as there is escalation and some actual chess-type strategy involved, this Battleship could be good stupid fun. Fingers crossed.

What Board Game should they adapt next?

Battleship Trailer goes Boom

Damon Houx — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:57:26 +0000

It’s hard to know what to make of Battleship – the movie – even after the trailer. And that’s because it’s hard to call the board game (from which the film is derived) plot driven. It involves calling out numbers, which leads to hits and misses. Here there’s an intergalactic threat, and battleships. No on ei is currently calling out anything resembling numbers, but you know someone’s going to say it, someone’s got to say “you’ve sunk my battleship.” Peter Berg directs Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgard, Taylor Kitsch and Brooklyn Decker, and the teaser’s here now. Check it out…

This looks part Independence Day, but maybe a little Pearl Harborish. Post World War II saw a boom in films about war boats, but partly because location shooting is so temperamental, there haven’t been that many over the last twenty years. You also have submarine movies, but so many of those revolve around claustrophobia.

This must be the set up, but it doesn’t feel like there’s much meat here. There’s a love interest, and some back story (Berg is good with characters, so the first act shouldn’t be too painful, though Brooklyn Decker is still a model first), and then an alien attack. If it follows the board game, it could be a cat and mouse game, but nothing in the trailer suggests as much. So it’s still a weird film. But the footage looks good and the actors are likeable. Maybe once we get a sense that there is a story here, it could be more appealing. Word is that there were groans when the trailer showed at preview screenings of Cowboys and Aliens.

Did this sink your interest in Battleship?

Dune Reboot Dead

Damon Houx — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 22:24:48 +0000

After four years and at least two attached directors, the attempt to bring Dune – Frank Hebert’s science fiction classic (and first of a series) – to the big screen again have crumbled, reports Deadline Hollywood. Both Peter Berg and Pierre Morel were attached to direct during the course of development. Deadline’s story features a hopeful producer, and (at least) a $100 Million dollar plus price tag for the film. The film was in development at Paramount, and is now looking for a new production house.

For the first filmed version, Dune was to be directed by Alejandro (El Topo) Jodorowsky for producer Dino De Laurentiis, but in the 1980′s the project moved to Ridley Scott and then finally David Lynch, who did the film instead of Return of the Jedi. With all of the backstory and messianic implications, the finished film turned out beautiful but hard to follow – so much so there was a booklet distributed at some screenings to help clarify the characters and their relationships.

The film has since gained a cult following, but the narrative seemed impenetrable in a feature-length narrative. Such may be why Lynch’s footage was turned into a mini-series (albeit done without his consent) for later television broadcasts, and a TV mini-series was made of the material in 2000 for the-then Sci Fi Channel. Other than being shot by the legendary cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, it is not all that notable, but did lead to a sequel mini-series, “Children of Dune.”

The appeal of the source material is that it’s a rich science fiction universe, and generated numbers of sequel books, meaning that if the first film worked it would be easy to get going on the next. And the studios are currently very invested in the franchise business. The problem is that the story of Dune is a hard to condense, and in the four years since this got started the industry has had more heat in comic books than in Science Fiction and Fantasy – with a number of would-be Tolkein-type films dying at the box office.

The other problem is that it’s near-impossible to do this sort of film on the cheap. From space adventure to gigantic worms, the story of Dune is cut from a very large cloth, and there’s no point in doing it without that scale. Berg may have been solid, passionate choice, but the second Pierre Morel got attached the project was doomed. Nothing against Morel, but he was coming in after Taken, which made a lot of money but was a fluke (as his next film attested).

We may yet see Dune again on the big screen, but it would take a deeply interested party with a strong vision, and someone who can command a budget.

Is Dune dead, or just waiting for another go?

Taylor Kitsch Cast in Peter Berg’s Battleship

Krystal Clark — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:29:44 +0000

Sam Worthington should watch his back because Canadian actor Taylor Kitsch is slowly but surely moving in on his action hero turf. Last year he starred in the coveted role of Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he’s currently shooting the Disney flick John Carter of Mars, and now he’s about to sink your Battleship!

According to THR, Kitsch has been hired as the lead in Peter Berg’s big screen adaptation of the Hasbro board game. He’ll play a Naval commander named Alex Hopper, described as “wildly spirited” and “a great seaman but a lousy politician.” Before he came along plenty of actors were rumored to be attached to this project including The Hurt Locker’s Jeremy Renner and at one point Robert Pattinson. Neither of them made a solid commitment so the part’s going to the guy who plays Tim Riggins on NBC’s “Friday Night Lights.” You know the super-senior who’s 20 years old and in the 12th grade? Our lives are now in his hands.

The screenplay for Battleship was written by Jon and Erich Hoeber and “sees an international fleet come together to battle a water-bound armada of otherworldly origin.” That means they’re going to be fighting aliens at some point, a new plot device that a lot of fans don’t want. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do about it so just sit back and pray that Berg’s final product is somewhat watchable.

It looks like the next few years will be all about Kitsch, the guy who got his start with bit parts in John Tucker Must Die and Snakes on a Plane (yeah, I remember you in that, ‘Surfer Guy number 1′) with these two headlining projects. Let the insanity begin!

What do you think of Taylor Kitsch landing the lead in Battleship? Who else should they have considered?

Peter Berg Talks Battleship, Aliens, and More

Krystal Clark — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 19:27:53 +0000

It’s already been confirmed that there will be a live action adaptation of the popular board game Battleship. Many people including myself have been reluctant from the start, so Universal sent a group of journalists to the high seas alongside director Peter Berg to get the inside scoop on what their trying to pull off.

One of the biggest questions regarding the adaptation has to do with the villain of choice. We’ve heard that aliens will be the baddies in the film, a thought that confused the majority of us, but Berg claims that his decision to go extraterrestrial isn’t as random as you think.

“The idea of a film where America goes to war against China, or a movie where America goes to war against England or Australia or Japan, one of the countries that has a credible navy, felt like it would border on some kind of jingoistic American military exercise I couldn’t get my head around. I liked the idea of something larger than life and the challenge it presented.”

The director’s vision for the film doesn’t stop there. He told the studio in the very beginning that he wanted to go big or go home.

“I think the first thing was that I asked them if they were going to go after this and be put in an arena where we would compete with films like ‘District 9′, like ‘War of the Worlds’, like ‘The Abyss’. We needed the resources and right now that generally leads to ILM. They do the best work. They’ve got the best designers. They’re really smart guys. That was our first hire. We’ve got great designers at ILM and these guys are so scientific and so logic oriented and they’re the ultimate nerd scholars. These guys geek out harder than anyone…like we’re trying to do. These guys can pull this off to the very high standards.”

It’s very easy to get caught up in the technological aspect of this film, but what about the story? Aliens will be the villains but what else? So far the movie sounds like an expensive, sci-fi war epic that could be found on the SyFy Channel on a Saturday night.

He spoke a little about how the board game would actually play a role in the plot, which it should since its the source material. He talked about the infamous screens that are going to be used to identify foreign vessels when their in your vicinity.

This is a key set in the film. you put this screen on, it’s very easy to imagine this as a much more sophisticated Battleship screen from the board game. What they’re doing with this screen is identifying threats or identifying objects whether it be in the air, on the sea or underwater. Much the same way you would try to identify or locate your enemy in the game. You’re trying to find an enemy over here (at one station) and over here you’re killing an enemy. It’s very simple. they’ve got a bunch of ways to find and a bunch of ways to kill. But basically, the fundamental core principles of the game, are very easy to expand in a very easy, badass, very intelligent way when you see how these guys do what they do.

He certainly has his work cut out for him and is adamant that this Battleship movie will be a lot better than we expect. Only time will tell if the film is good or not, so my skepticism still stands. What about yours?

What do you think of Peter Berg’s vision for Battleship?

Source: Latino Review

Peter Berg’s Battleship Adaptation Will Have Aliens!

Krystal Clark — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:33:21 +0000

First off all, why are we making a movie based on the board game Battleship? The news has been out for a while, and just when you think you can settle into the ridiculousness that is this adaptation something else comes along that’s even more disturbing. According to the folks over at Latino Review a break has been made in the plot of the upcoming Peter Berg film and it’s so outlandish yet still predictable.

For the most part, no one had any idea as to how Berg and company would adapt this board game for the big screen. There were some basic ideas about war and ships but who would be the villains? That’s where this latest development comes in, we’re hearing that the bad guys in question will be ALIENS! That’s right, extraterrestrials of the ET/Alien vs Predator kind.

How does the story go from the high seas to space? Perhaps the military needs to find a way to fight off an invasion on their turf? Or maybe these are water based aliens who need the slippery stuff to survive like the squid like monster in The Faculty? Either way, this is not making the film look any better. If anything it makes me want to claw my eyes out in frustration.

Production on Battleship begins next spring, so between now and then lets hope there are some developments regarding the story that can debunk this idea. The film is scheduled to hit theaters on August 5, 2011.

What do you think of aliens in the Battleship movie?

Peter Berg NOT Directing Dune

Krystal Clark — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:25:17 +0000

Do you feel the shock waves flowing through the geek kingdom right now? I do, and their all stemming from the reports that director Peter Berg has dropped out of the highly anticipated remake of Dune. The film has been in development for a very long time, and there haven’t been that many production updates since it’s announcement a while ago. With Berg off the case, who will they get to take over a film of this magnitude?

According to Chud (via Pajiba), with Berg out the studio is actively looking for his replacement. Even though this news may came as a surprise to some of us, Paramount seems to be prepared. They already have an idea of who they want to take over the reigns in Peter’s absence.

“They’re looking for a director who can put the movie together for under $175 million, which sounds manageable, but they don’t want anything resembling the crap effects of the ‘84 film, and they want a director who already has a preexisting passion for the novel and is enthusiastic about the project.”

Two directors have popped up in the midst of all of this, and oddly enough they have the same first name. Neill Blomkamp and Neil Marshall have been cited as possible replacements, but Marshall may have the leg up because he was actually sent a copy of the script earlier this month. He’s a favorite of the producers, but the biggest obstacle in the way of him directing this film is his lack of blockbuster clout. The Decent doesn’t really do it for Paramount.

The bottom line is, Dune has hit a rough patch and it might be awhile before we see it in theaters. My biggest question is, why do we have to make this movie again? Could this be a sign that maybe this is a bad idea?

What do you think of Peter Berg leaving Dune? Who should be his replacement?

Shawn Levy Goes For Real Steel

Krystal Clark — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:35:08 +0000

Director Shawn Levy, who is best known for his work on the Night at the Museum franchise, has got a new gig. According to Yahoo, Levy has snagged the project Real Steel out of the hands of fellow director Peter Berg. Berg was initially set to helm the film, but decided to move on leaving the position open for Levy. What is Real Steel exactly? It sounds like the bastardization of Transformers mixed with the Rock’em Sock’em toys, but it’s not.

Real Steel is a futuristic tale set in a world where human boxing has been outlawed, and the only form of the sport allowed includes robots. They can be operated from outside the ring by remote control by players, who in this case are a father and son team trying to win the Bot Boxing Championship.

The film is backed by DreamWorks who bought the property back in 2003. Earlier this summer there was word that Peter Berg was interested in directing, but he decided to focus on other projects that he had in development.

The premise for this film sounds very 1980′s. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of eighties action films, but this doesn’t sit right with me. This is one of those extreme cases where I need to see some concept art or something to give me a visual of what they’re going for. This will be a hard one to sell in my eyes.

What do you think about Shawn Levy directing Real Steel?

Will Smith and Charlize Theron Confirmed for Hancock 2

Krystal Clark — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:50:00 +0000

Shortly after two writers were hired to pen the script for Hancock 2, director Peter Berg has confirmed the film’s main cast. Over at MTV, they recently spoke to Berg about the sequel and whether or not all the original stars would make a return. Will Smith’s appearance is a given, and at this point so is Charlize Theron‘s, so Jason Bateman can’t be too far behind can he?

When Peter Berg spoke to MTV while at the Toronto International Film Festival, he was asked about Smith and Theron’s return for the next film, and he responded with “Everybody’s going to come back for a sequel.” This news lines up with a few earlier statements Theron made about her possible return to the movie from last September. She said that she would be happy to reprise her role in another film if everyone else was also on board.

When we interviewed Jason Bateman a couple of weeks ago, he weighed in on his possible return to the franchise as well.

I think anytime Will does a movie, there’s not only going to be a sequel, but it’s a franchise. Listen, if I’m invited I’ll be there, but I know it’s something that they’ve talked about since day one.

So a confirmation from Bateman might not be far behind.

SPOILER ALERT…

If you’ve seen the first Hancock, you know that Smith and Theron’s characters are both powerful gods. The biggest plot point that’s been revealed for the upcoming sequel is the appearance of a third god, who will interact with the two. According to Berg they already have an actor in mind to play that character, but he won’t reveal who it is.

Hancock was an OK movie in my book, but I’ve seen everyone involved with the film do better. It’s obviously being used as a massive franchise piece for the studio, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a third or even fourth film popped up in the near future.

What do you think about the return of Will and Charlize for Hancock 2?

ScreenCrave.com » peter berg

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