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Jeremy Renner in The Bourne Legacy Teaser Trailer

Damon Houx — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:13:10 +0000

Jeremy Renner stars in the spin-off/reboot of the Bourne franchise The Bourne Legacy, and now we’re getting a look at how director Tony Gilroy is handling the reset button in the film’s first trailer. With that title it means that Matt Damon‘s Jason Bourne is going to hover over the film – though it’s hard to say for how long of the running time. Check out the teaser…

They brought back Joan Allen, Scott Glenn, David Strathairn and Albert Finney from the last couple movies, and upped their game by adding Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton into the mix, with up and comer Oscar Isaac also joining the ranks. You’re going to be seeing a lot of Isaac soon. Currently a chameleon, he appeared in Sucker Punch and Drive, and is the lead in the latest Coen Brothers movie.

I like the teaser, though I wonder how long we’re going to have to spend watching the franchise get rebooted. The trailer tells us that Renner’s character is a lot like Bourne but better. The problem is that every single film in the franchise pointed out that Bourne wasn’t the only super awesome agent, so I don’t know how long you have to explain that. As long as the action delivers and we don’t have to spend an hour being told all the same things over again, we’re on board. The film opens August 3, and here’s the poster art:

What do you want out of a Matt Damon-free Bourne movie?

D23: Live Action Round-Up – The Muppets Wins, John Carter Stumbles and Oz: The Great and Powerful introduces itself!

Damon Houx — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 23:08:03 +0000

Though The Odd Life of Timothy Green and the nature film Chimpanzee had trailers shown (and Jennifer Garner talked briefly about Green), the majority of attention for Disney’s live Actions films at D23 went to The Muppets and John Carter. The Muppets went over like gangbusters, while Carter just busted. There was also a brief presentation on Oz: The Great and Powerful, which just started shooting. Our report follows.

John Carter

John Carter‘s presentation began with director Andrew Stanton fumbling his way through a teleprompter, talking about how he and the writers loved the books when they were younger. Then they brought out stars Taylor Kitsch, Willem Dafoe and Lynn Collins to talk about the film, and though Kitsch spoke passionattely about his enthusiasm for the project, Collins came off as a blank, and Dafoe was relegated to talking about how he did his part (as a motion captured nine foot tall, four-armed martian) on stilts. The first clip showed John Carter (Kitsch) during his first day on Mars, and his first experience with Dafoe’s Tars Tarkas as they try to understand each other. Perhaps the desert settings make it a little colder, but there was no sense of wonder there as a CGI creation and a guy in a desert who can jump really high try to communicate for the first time.

The second clip was probably the best as Carter is captured, put in a semi-prison and then meets a martain dog who wants to play with him. The dog has a large head and mouth and can run real fast. Again, the problem with the footage so far is that everything is a little too familiar. The dog looks like when the Dog in The Mask puts on the Mask.
In the third clip, Carter is with Dejah Thoris (Collins), and she gives him a magical trinket that has the power to transport him back to Earth. The two have a lovers argument as she wants him to stay and fight, and then at the end of the footage Dominic West shows up (and immediately made it seem like The Wire vs. Friday Night Lights) and Carter seems gone. The problem with this clip is that if this is a scene with the hero and the leading lady at ninety minute mark of the film, him leaving is not really dramatic, because he can’t. He’s the hero of the piece (hence the title).
The last clip had Carter and Tarkas in an arena facing off against a giant four armed ape. Yes, everyone in the auditorium started thinking “hey this is like Attack of the Clones” at the same time.
With the third clip having no great context, and the rest looking like familiar empty spectacle, the footage didn’t win over many converts. There was no hint at the pulp origins of the material, nor and it didn’t seem very propulsive – the model would seem to be Raiders of the Lost Ark, but with a dour hero, perhaps they’re going The Dark Knight/”moody” route. There might be a good movie in there, but when Stanton said that the teaser trailer suggested the tone of the film, well watch it and see if that gets you excited.

The Muppets

The Muppets brought out Jason Segel, Kermit and Miss Piggy to talk about the film. Though their antics were kept short (and Piggy arriving to “Born to be Wild” wasn’t a great joke), they showed two scenes from the film, and both were great. The first had Segel, along with a new muppet named Walter, and Amy Adams arriving at Kermit’s place, where Kermit has become a recluse. After running into an electric fence, Kermit takes them in, and in his house we meet Kermit’s stuck-in-the-80′s robot, who is designed a little like Wall*E, but also the robot in Rocky IV as it offers the guests the options of Tab or New Coke.
The second clip shows the Muppets cleaning up the Muppet theater in a musical number staged to Starship’s “We Built This City,” and they couldn’t have found a more winning sequence to highlight. The Swedish Chef, the Muppet band (Animal!) and many other regulars make an appearance as they clean in a montage of funny bits (the chickens dust with their rumps, old food gets blow-torched, etc.) If you love the muppets, it looks liek they got the tone right, irreverent, but childish.

Oz: The Great and Powerful

Oz: The Great and Powerful just started shooting in Detroit, but Sam Raimi gave a personal introduction via video, and a featurette played, with interviews with James Franco, Zach Braff and the film’s witches Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams, and Rachel Weisz. AS this is just going, the interviews with vacuous. Everyone followed the standard interview procedures of talking about how great it was, and right at the end there seemed to be a shot from the film – in black and white and 1.33:1 – that is meant to mimic the 1939 Wizard of Oz. The stills shown of the storyboards and conceptual art seemed familiar to the ’39 version, but of a greater (and CGI enhanced) scale. It also reminded a little of Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland. At this stage, it’s hard to know how it will turn out.

What of these films do you most want to see?

The Dark Knight Rises Shortlist of Actresses Revealed

Krystal Clark — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 22:02:38 +0000

Warner Bros and Christopher Nolan are still on the lookout for the female lead in the upcoming Batman sequel, The Dark Knight Rises. Last week, we revealed that Charlize Theron, Vera Farmiga, and Kacie Thomas were all potential candidates for two roles: Julie Madison and Sarah Essen. Today Deadline is reporting that the competition just got a little stiffer thanks to the group of talented actresses placed on the new shortlist. Take a look…

Even though the roles of Julie and Sarah haven’t been confirmed to be in the script, Deadline’s sources say that two female characters will appear in the film. One of them will be a love interest for Bruce Wayne and the other will be a villain. The actresses in the running are Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts, Blake Lively, Natalie Portman, Anne Hathaway and Keira Knightley.

Just looking at these 6 names, we can honestly say that we don’t want Lively or Knightley anywhere near this movie. Lively needs to stick with Green Lantern, and Knightly just doesn’t seem like the right fit for Christian Bale. The other four would be interesting additions. If they want to stick with the girl next door vibe they should pick Hathaway, who could easily fill the void left by Maggie Gyllenhaal in the last film.

As for the villainess role, do we smell Catwoman or Harlequin on the horizon? It would make sense for the Joker’s right hand woman to appear in the sequel and avenge him in some way. Portman could pull that role off easily. As for Catwoman, Weisz and Watts seem like great choices.

Those are our guesses, what do you think? Who should play what?

Ben Affleck Replaces Christian Bale in Terrence Malick Film

Krystal Clark — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:34:47 +0000

Back in February, we learned that Terrence Malick was working on a new untitled project that was described as a “powerful and moving love story.” At the time Christian Bale was set to star in one of the lead roles along with Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko, and Javier Bardem and now according to a report from The Wrap, Bale is out and Ben Affleck is in.

Sources close to the project claim that Bale is no longer on board and that Affleck has taken his place. The film is scheduled to start production the first week of October in Oklahoma. There are rumors that Affleck might play a fisherman in the movie but other than that, nothing else has been said about the characters or storyline. On the plus side, we’ve learned that Oscar winner Rachel Weisz has signed on to co-star in the the feature, which was confirmed by her publicist.

There are a lot of grade-A actors involved with this film, which makes us even more interested in it. But we shouldn’t be surprised by all the secrecy considering the director. Malick is extremely talented but he’s somewhat of a recluse. He’s only directed a handful of of films during his career including Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, and The New World, which co-starred Bale.

What do you think of Affleck taking over Bale’s role? Is he a good pick?

Darren Aronofsky to Direct Rachel Weisz in Jackie Kennedy Biopic

Krystal Clark — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:50:18 +0000

Darren Aronofsky and his Oscar winning fiancee Rachel Weisz are teaming up for a big screen project called Jackie. It centers on the former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and the days immediately following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. A while ago it was rumored that Steven Spielberg was producing the script as a telefilm for HBO but he’s actually not involved in anyway.

The script for Jackie was written by Noah Oppenheim and has been a hot commodity over at the CAA office ever since it was picked up a month ago. The agency is currently shopping it around to various studios trying to find it a home. On the flip side, Aronofsky is already on board to direct and produce the film and with Weisz in the lead they shouldn’t have a problem catching any studio’s eye.

The story of Jackie “catalogs the four days between JFK’s assassination and his burial, showing the beloved Jackie at both her most vulnerable and her most graceful.” This sounds like Oscar worthy material for everyone involved. Perhaps this could be another critical masterpiece that can finally get Aronofsky a well deserved award. Seriously, we’re still fuming over the blatant disregard for 2000′s Requiem for a Dream. What was up with that Academy?

The premise of Jackie does sound intriguing and it will be interesting to see Weisz dressed from head to toe as Mrs. Kennedy in her signature 1960′s wardrobe. She’s a strong actress so she can definitely pull it off and with Aronofsky’s direction this is a match made in cinematic heaven.

Do you think Rachel Weisz can pull off playing the former Mrs. Kennedy? Who else could you see in the role?

Source: EW

Is Rachel Weisz The Next James Bond Villain?

Krystal Clark — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:03:30 +0000

An interesting rumor has been circulating regarding Oscar winner Rachel Weisz and the long running James Bond franchise. According to Cinemablend we could be looking at the latest leading lady in the series, but she won’t come on board as just eye candy, she’ll be the villain! Dun, dun, dun, dun!!

Weisz has expressed interest in tackling a role in the series before, she even joked that she wouldn’t mind being a Bond girl, but wouldn’t it be awesome if she went even further? Sources are stating that she’s up to star as one of the few female Bond villains to ever take center stage in the franchise. The character she’d play would be the “the head of Quantum, the secret organization responsible for all the bad guy activity in the last two films.”

Wouldn’t it be interesting to discover that an attractive woman has been the source of all of Bond’s pain over the past few years? Another reason this rumor has gained so much momentum has to do with Weisz’ off screen relationship with star Daniel Craig and newly appointed director Sam Mendes. She’s said to be close friends with both, and is even appearing opposite Craig in the upcoming film, Dream House.

Weisz is a very talented actress and I think she has the sex appeal and the intelligence to pull off a Bond villain. She could really put the hero in his place and that would be exciting to watch because it’s rarely ever done. This is a rumor that I hope carries a lot of weight.

Do you think Weisz could play a Bond villain? Are you ready to see another female foe in the Bond series?

Hollywood Celebs Weisz, Law, Knightley Nominated for Olivier Awards

Mali Elfman — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:18:38 +0000

We get so used to see Hollywood stars like Rachel Weisz, Jude Law, Keira Knightley on the big screen that sometimes we forget that they actually take their acting abilities and apply them… on stage! Seems like they’re doing well because all of the above mentioned celebs along with James Earl Jones and Melanie Chisholm aka Mel C of the Spice Girls, were among the nominees listed for Britain’s Laurence Olivier theater awards.

The Oliviers are equivalent to Broadway’s Tonys, they honor achievements in London theater, musicals, dance and opera and as one could imagine are quite prestigious!

All the actors have been shortlisted for their roles in class plays: Jones is nominated for best actor for “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” Law got himself a ticket for “Hamlet.” Weisz for “A Streetcar Named Desire” while Knightley is nominated in the supporting actress category for”The Misanthrope.” All of those are somewhat expected, the real odd one out is Melanie Chisholm who has been nominated for best actress in a musical, “Blood Brothers.” Sadly I haven’t seen it so I can’t judge. Sounds interesting though!

The nominees were announced today, check out the full list before. The winners will be announced March 21.

Best actress

Gillian Anderson for A Doll’s House at the Donmar
Lorraine Burroughs for The Mountaintop at Trafalgar Studios 1
Imelda Staunton for Entertaining Mr Sloane at Trafalgar Studios 1
Juliet Stevenson for Duet for One at the Almeida and Vaudeville
Rachel Weisz for A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar

Best actor

James Earl Jones for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Novello
Jude Law for Hamlet, Donmar at Wyndham’s
James McAvoy for Three Days of Rain at the Apollo
Mark Rylance for Jerusalem at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
Ken Stott for A View from the Bridge at the Duke of York’s
Samuel West for Enron at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward

Best actress in a supporting role

Hayley Atwell for A View From the Bridge at the Duke of York’s
Michelle Dockery for Burnt by the Sun at the Lyttelton
Alexandra Gilbreath for Twelfth Night at the Duke of York’s
Keira Knightley for The Misanthrope at the Comedy
Rachael Stirling for The Priory at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court
Ruth Wilson for A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar

Best actor in a supporting role

Mackenzie Crook for Jerusalem at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
Rory Kinnear for Burnt by the Sun at the Lyttelton
Tim Pigott-Smith for Enron at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward
Eddie Redmayne for Red at the Donmar

Best new play

Enron by Lucy Prebble at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward
Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
The Mountaintop by Katori Hall at Trafalgar Studios 1
Red by John Logan at the Donmar Warehouse

Best new comedy

Calendar Girls by Tim Firth at the Noel Coward
England People Very Nice by Richard Bean at the Olivier
Parlour Song by Jez Butterworth at the Almeida
The Priory by Michael Wynne at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court

Best musical revival

Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun at the Young Vic
Hello Dolly! at the Open Air
A Little Night Music at the Garrick
Lionel Bart’s Oliver! at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

Best new musical

Dreamboats and Petticoats book by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran at the Savoy
Priscilla Queen of the Desert – the Musical book by Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott, based on the Latent Image/Specific Films motion picture distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc at the Palace
Spring Awakening music by Duncan Sheik, book and lyrics by Steven Sater, at the Novello
Sister Act music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater, book by Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner at the London Palladium

Best entertainment

Arturo Brachetti: Change Written and directed by Sean Foley, original concept by Serge Denoncourt, based on the repertoire of Arturo Brachetti at the Garrick
Derren Brown: Enigma written by Derren Brown and Andy Nyman at the Adelphi
Morecambe by Tim Whitnall at the Duchess

Best actress in a musical or entertainment

Melanie C for Blood Brothers at the Phoenix
Patina Miller for Sister Act at the London Palladium
Samantha Spiro for Hello Dolly! at the Open Air
Hannah Waddingham for A Little Night Music at the Garrick
Charlotte Wakefield for Spring Awakening at the Novello

Best actor in a musical or entertainment

Rowan Atkinson for Oliver! at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Aneurin Barnard for Spring Awakening at the Novello
Bob Golding for Morecambe at the Duchess
Alexander Hanson for A Little Night Music at the Garrick
Tony Sheldon for Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – The Musical at the Palace

Best supporting performance in a musical or entertainment

Sheila Hancock for Sister Act at the London Palladium
Maureen Lipman for A Little Night Music at the Garrick
Kelly Price for A Little Night Music at the Garrick
Iwan Rheon for Spring Awakening at the Novello

Best director

Rupert Goold for Enron at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward
Michael Grandage for Hamlet, Donmar at Wyndham’s
Lindsay Posner for A View from the Bridge at the Duke of York’s
Ian Rickson for Jerusalem at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
Bijan Sheibani for Our Class at the Cottesloe

Best revival

Arcadia directed by David Leveaux at the Duke of York’s
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof directed by Debbie Allen at the Novello
The Misanthrope directed by Thea Sharrock at the Comedy
A Streetcar Named Desire directed by Rob Ashford at the Donmar Warehouse
A View from the Bridge directed by Lindsay Posner at the Duke of York’s
Three Days of Rain directed by Jamie Lloyd at the Apollo

Best theatre choreographer

Matthew Bourne for Oliver! at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
Bill T Jones for Spring Awakening at the Novello
Anthony Van Laast for Sister Act at the London Palladium
Stephen Mear for Hello Dolly! at the Open Air

Best lighting design

Burnt by the Sun designed by Mark Henderson at the Lyttelton
Enron designed by Mark Henderson at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward
Spring Awakening designed by Kevin Adams at the Novello
Three Days of Rain designed by Jon Clark at the Apollo

Best set design

England People Very Nice designed by Mark Thompson with animation by Pete Bishop
Enron designed by Anthony Ward at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Noel Coward
Jerusalem designed by Ultz at the Jerwood Theatre Downstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
Red designed by Christopher Oram at the Donmar Warehouse

Best costume design

Hello Dolly! designed by Peter McKintosh at the Open Air
Madame de Sade designed by Christopher Oram, Donmar at Wyndham’s
The Misanthrope designed by Amy Roberts at the Comedy
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert – The Musical designed by Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner at the Palace

Best sound design

Every Good Boy Deserves Favour designed by Christopher Shutt at the Olivier
Jerusalem designed by Ian Dickinson for Autograph at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs at the Royal Court and now at the Apollo
Mother Courage and her Children designed by Andrew Bruce and Nick Lidster for Autograph at the Olivier
Spring Awakening designed by Brian Ronan at the Novello

The audience award for most popular show

Billy Elliot music by Elton John, books and lyrics by Lee Hall at the Victoria Palace
The Phantom of the Opera music and book by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart, book and additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe at His Majesty’s
War Horse based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, adapted by Nick Stafford at the New London
We Will Rock You based on the songs of Queen, by Ben Elton in collaboration with Brian May and Roger Taylor at the Dominion
Wicked music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Winnie Holzman at the Apollo Victoria

Outstanding achievement in an affiliate theatre

Soho Theatre/Tiata Fahodzi, for Iya Ile (The First Wife)
The Tricycle Theatre, for The Great Game
The Royal Court for Cock at the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs

Best new opera production

The Royal Opera’s Der Fliegende Hollander at the Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera’s Lulu at the Royal Opera House
English National Opera’s Peter Grimes at the London Coliseum
The Royal Opera’s Tristan und Isolde at the Royal Opera House

Outstanding achievement in opera

Anja Kampe for her performance in Royal Opera’s Der Fliegende Hollander at the Royal Opera House
Stuart Skelton for his performance in English National Opera’s Peter Grimes at the London Coliseum
Nina Steme for her performance in the Royal Opera’s Tristan und Isolde at the Royal Opera House
Michael Volle for his performances in the Royal Opera’s Lulu and Tristan and Isolde at the Royal Opera House
Best new dance production
Russell Maliphant’s Afterlight at Sadler’s Wells
Birmingham Royal Ballet’s E=MC2 at Sadler’s Wells
Goldberg: The Brandstrup Rojo Project, ROH2 at the Royal Opera House
Rambert Dance Company’s A Linha Curva at Sadler’s Wells
Fabulous Beast Dance’s The Rite of Spring at the London Coliseum

Outstanding achievement in dance

Colin Dunne for his performance in Out of Time at The Pit
Michael Hulls for his lighting designs for Russell Maliphant’s Two:Four:Ten at the London Coliseum; and for Russell Maliphant’s Afterlight and for Ex Machina & Sylvie Guillem’s Eonnagata at Sadler’s Wells
Rambert Dance Company for an outstanding year of new work

Interview: The Dark Side of Lovely Bones

Mali Elfman — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:33:48 +0000

What makes The Lovely Bones so special is its extremely disturbing and yet oddly beautiful tone. The only way to get to heaven is through death, and in the case of Susie Salmon, played by Saoirse Ronan, it’s a brutal passage. The film involves a rape and murder of a child, by a man who seems to be evil for no good reason. Peter Jackson, Stanley Tucci, Rachel Weisz, Mark Wahlberg and Ronan all stepped onto the project weary about the subject matter but optimistic about how the could represent the light that shines through the dark….

What were the challenges when adapting this? I understand that there was a lot of stuff shot that wasn’t in the book….

Peter Jackson: Any film that I’ve done usually shoots scenes that don’t end up in the final cut but in my mind there’s no such thing as a perfect adaptation of a book. The master work is the book. Alice Sebold’s novel is “The Lovely Bones,” that is the work that has got everything in it, every character, every subplot and that’s the way you should experience the story as its more pure form. A film adaptation of any book, especially “The Lovely Bones,” is only ever going to be a souvenir, it’s going to be like an impression of aspects of the book. So to me, to adapt a book is not a question of making a carbon copy, it’s impossible. To include everything, the film would be five or six hours long. It’s a personal impression. Basically Philippa Boyens, Fran Walsh, and myself, the three of us wrote the screenplay, and we read the book, we responded to aspects of the book, especially the emotional themes, the comforting value of the book and things it had to say about the afterlife and that aspect of it, which is very personal to anybody. That’s what we responded to and our adaptation is just elements of the book restructured following our instincts and our tastes. So to me no adaptation can ever be perfect, it’s impossible. You don’t make a movie for the fans of the book, you just can’t do that.

One of the things that makes the movie work is how eerily threatening Mr. Harvey is thanks to the amazing performance by Stanely Tucci who despite all his experience had some difficulties with the role. The first step for him was his physical transformation which included some freaky looking contact lenses which some people thought made him look slightly inhuman…

Stanley Tucci: What contact lenses? No, it was not to make him look slightly inhuman. I guess you thought he did. I didn’t feel that my eyes were the eyes that should be the eyes of this guy an I believe he also needed to be I suppose quintessentially American looking. So skin tone was changed, and hair was added, and the eyes seemed to be appropriate for him. I think that if you look at the scene with Mike Imperioli, where he comes in and starts asking me questions, I think the eyes there, what I’m hoping is that they look sort of normal. I think in those close ups, in certain close ups, like the reflection in the mirror when he’s sitting in his car, then the eyes take on a different quality because of the way it’s lit and because of my horrible thoughts behind them.

You were so creepy.

Tucci: (Joking) Did you like the eyes?

You’ve done so many kinds of different parts and I was wondering if this one was particularly hard to drop at the end of the day?

Tucci: It was hard in every respect. I have kids and I can’t really read anything or watch anything about kids getting harmed or I don’t like things about serial killers. There’s so much serial killer information out there, documentaries constantly, so it;s very hard too stop. A lot of it’s very gratuitous, almost pornographic, the reason it’s being shown. But this was not that. This was a beautiful story about an exploration of loss. Pete, Fran and Phil and the long conversations we had before we started working together, I felt very safe with them. I felt there would be nothing here that would be gratuitous and that we were going to create a person together in Mr. Harvey that was a real person. The more real he is, the more subtle he is, the more terrifying he is, the more banal he is, the more terrifying he is. At the beginning, it was very hard to leave it at the end of the day, to drop it particularly when you’re fresh off your research, and the research was repulsive. But eventually, once you understand who he is, and you find him, for me, then I could drop him at the end of the day. I will say without a question, it was the most difficult thing I have ever done as an actor. I look forward to going into the makeup trailer and taking everything off and having a martini at the end of everyday. At the beginning of everyday too.

Dealing with the dark issues in the novel were easier for some than others…

Rachel: As an actor, you have to imagine all sorts of things. I imagined I was a young woman in 1970, I imagined I was American. You imagine beautiful things, you imagine ugly things, that’s my job. I just don’t think in that way that something is too dark or problematic to go into. When I immerse myself in something, I’ve learnt to come out of it. I’m a mother in real life, I can’t be going to my kids in a state of despair, it’s a skill you might need to learn to juggle. Stories since the beginning of time, bad things happen in stories. Oedipus killed his dad and had sex with his mom, bad stuff happens in stories since the beginning of time and there’s nothing new about it. I guess the uplifting theme of the book and the film, to me is that life is a treasure, and precious, and a miracle and this film made me want to go and hug my son tighter when I get home. It’s hard to remember life is a miracle often, which here’s hoping I don’t forget that.

One of the people who was most effected was the muscle behind the film, Mark Wahlberg….

Mark: Well, my biggest reason for wanting to be a part of this was Peter Jackson. I wasn’t all that thrilled with the subject matter because I have a beautiful little girl and two beautiful boys. I don’t have the God given talent that Rachel has to just snap into it and have these floods of emotion coming out and then turn it all off. So I basically had to live in that head space for the entire time…. I would go home and just grab my daughter and hold her and I would start crying, and she would say daddy what’s wrong with you, she just wanted to play. I would try to talk to her about taking care of herself, and not talking to strangers, she was three at the time. But thankfully I had another movie to go into that was different so I was able to kind of shake that after a while.

When it came down to it, it was Stanley Tucci’s evil smirk and Peter Jackson’s decisions on what to show and what not to show that gave the film it’s “creepy” factor. Although things are alluded to nothing is ever shown and for good reason…

Jackson: There are artistic reasons, moral reasons, practical reasons. The film is about a teenager who is murdered and she goes into an afterlife, and we experience her “in-between.” We wanted to make a film that teenagers could watch. Fran and I have a daughter who is very similar to Susie’s age and we wanted Katey to be able to see this film. There’s a lot of positive aspects of this film and it’s not something that I wanted to shield our daughter from so it was important for us not to go into an R-rated territory at all. Also, I never regarded the movie as being a film about a murder, yet if we shot any aspect of that particular sequence in any way, then it would stigmatize the film. Movies are such a powerful medium with the music and the effects and acting and performance, the everything, the lighting, the camera work, that show a 14 year old girl being murdered in any wave, no matter how briefly, it would completely swing the balance of the movie, and it would frankly make it a film that I wouldn’t want to watch. I would have no interest in seeing that depicted on film.

Every movie I make is a film that I want to see. It’s very important, I make movies that I know I would enjoy seeing in the cinema that would not be one of them. The movie that we did make, we wanted it to become something that was like a crime mystery of what happens when you’re in this world of the subconscious, the world of the afterlife and Susie has to deal with the mystery of what happened to her and there’s a positive aspect to it in the sense that she’s immortal, there is no such thing as death. All of those aspects and themes are were what interested us, not the murder. I’ve shot some pretty extreme things in my time with bad taste, and meet the feables and reindeer. There’s a certain style and sense of humor I believe you can do to get away with that. But to do anything that depicted violence towards especially a young a person that was serious, to me, I would have no interest in filming, it would all be repulsive. So there was a variety of reasons. We felt very determined from the beginning that the film should be PG 13.

Tucci: Before we were shooting, we talked about that and how far we should go. There were pieces in the script initially that were a little more graphic but I think that’s an exploration of where this movie could go, what you really needed. In our conversations, we all agreed. I said, we don’t need to see this do we, and he said no, no, there’s no way we’re going to see it, we don’t need to see it. Somebody did an interview this morning and said a lot of people were upset that they don’t see the rape and the killing. I find that amazing. I don’t get that.

Jackson: How much murder and killing do you need to see to be satisfied? How much to make somebody happy?

Tucci: Obviously a lot. I think anyone who is disappointed in that regard should just go on the internet, they’ll find a lot of stuff like that. It’s so much more interesting what Peter did to me . He left it to the audiences imagination. Our imaginations of rape and murder are much greater what anyone could ever put on film, that’s the beauty of it.

Jackson: One of the things that we did, which is different to the novel in the way we’ve restructured the screenplay is we have her fleeing from her murder and we really like that aspect of sort of the way the story was told. At the point that her spirit becomes disconnected from her body, she’s running, she’s running across that field, she’s running into the streets, she’s running home and Susie doesn’t know what has happened to her, she’s literally confused. Now she finds herself in the in between, which is essentially the world of dream, of subconscious, of this confused state, she has to start to put the pieces together like a mystery. That dictated very strongly that seeing any form of murder was not something that we wanted to do because of the way we restructured the story so that she herself is confused and has to put the pieces together as the story goes on.

Apparently when it was time to shoot, it was easy for the one person, the victim. Saoirse Ronan not only did a brilliant job at portraying the wide ranges of emotions that the character called for, but she also handled the scene like a pro and let Stanley do the worrying…

Saoirse Ronan: Well, for me there was always one scene that stuck out that I got very emotional with and I was drowned in the scene for quite a long time. It was the barely field scene at the end of the movie when Mr. Harvey’s victims come to take Susie to heaven. That’s one of my favorite scenes in the film and it was definitely my favorite scene to shoot as well. It was very emotional and touching. I think we did it for a day, maybe even more. I think everyone on set felt the same way, we we’re all very touched. I always remember shooting that.

Check out The Lovely Bones in theaters December 11th.

The Lovely Bones Theatrical Poster

Krystal Clark — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 19:00:34 +0000

A poster has been released for Peter Jackson‘s upcoming drama, The Lovely Bones. The film stars Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz as parents grieving over the death of their young teenage daughter. The cast also includes several Oscar winners and nominees such as Susan Sarandon and Saoirse Ronan.

Take a look at the poster’s debut…

The Lovely Bones will also co-star Stanley Tucci as the murdering neighbor, who is behind the death of Ronan’s character. The film is based off the novel by Alice Sebold, and has been in the making for a few years. Originally there were rumors that Ryan Gosling was set to star in the role of the mourning father, but due to creative differences he left the project. I’m happy he made that decision, because I would not buy him as the parent of a teenager.

The film hits theaters in limited release on December 11th, and nationwide on January 15, 2010.

What do you think of the poster for Jackson’s The Lovely Bones?

Source: Empire

The Lovely Bones Behind the Scenes Footage

Krystal Clark — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:00:25 +0000

A new behind the scenes featurette has been released for Peter Jackson‘s upcoming film, The Lovely Bones. Last week the first trailer debuted and now we get to see all the hard work that went into making the adaptation. During the video, Jackson gives an interview describing his interest in the original book, and his desire to transfer it onscreen. You also hear from actors Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz on their roles as heartbroken parents, while co-stars Michael Imperioli and Stanley Tucci also speak about thier involvement in the film.

Check out the video after the jump.

This really looks like it’s going to be a beautiful film. Not just visually, but narratively I think it will blow audiences away.

What do you think of the behind the scenes look at The Lovely Bones?

Official The Lovely Bones Trailer

Krystal Clark — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:50:22 +0000

An exclusive trailer has finally been released for Peter Jackson‘s adaptation of the popular novel, The Lovely Bones. The film stars Saoirse Ronan as a teenage girl who is brutally raped and murdered by her neighbor (Stanley Tucci). In the wake of her death she watches her family from heaven as they deal with their loss. Her parents will be played by Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz, and her grandmother by Susan Sarandon. The film is adapted from the Alice Sebold book of the same name.

Check out the trailer after the jump!

What do you think of the first trailer for The Lovely Bones?

First Look at Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones

Krystal Clark — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:48:26 +0000

Today, Entertainment Tonight will be debuting an exclusive look at Peter Jackson‘s much anticipated film, The Lovely Bones. The film stars Saoirse Ronan as a young teenage girl who is brutally raped and murdered by her neighbor (Stanley Tucci). In the wake of her death she watches her family from heaven as they deal with their loss. Her parents will be played by Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz, and her grandmother by Susan Sarandon. The film is adapted from the Alice Sebold book of the same name.

Check out the footage after the jump!

What do you think of your first glimpse of The Lovely Bones?

ScreenCrave.com » Rachel Weisz

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