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Interview: Will Smith Talks ‘MIB III,’ Coming Back To The Screen, And Future Projects

Laura Aguirre — Thu, 24 May 2012 18:14:48 +0000

Will Smith might just be the biggest movie star there is. His TV show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, made him a household name, and before his three-year hiatus he made a decade’s worth of blockbusters. Now, he’s back as Agent J in Men In Black 3. We recently got the chance to talk to Mr. Smith. He told us what he learned during his time away, why he chose to revisit the MIB franchise, and shared details about some of his future projects.

Check out our interview with Will Smith…

Your act got to be a little more serious this time around. How was that?

Did you see my acting transition? Look, I think that the surprise at the end of the movie was the thing that got everybody excited to want to make this movie. It was a little bit beyond just getting together and having some fun. It was an interesting way to tie up the series and get you all the way back to the beginning. I like that people are surprised. No one really sees that coming. Well, some people see it coming, those amongst us that are so far ahead, but it was beautiful to come back together after so many years. And even the new guy, Josh Brolin, was able to deliver on the same energy that people are used to experiencing in these movies.

Describe your chemistry with Tommy Lee Jones and how you translated it to get that same effect with Josh Brolin?

That’s what was crazy because that was all Josh Brolin. As actors, when you’re in a scene, it’s like a tennis match. You’re going back and forth. Me and Josh have very different chemistry than me and Tommy Lee Jones. And what you do as an actor is you try to find the lanes and develop the chemistry. So I was expecting to make an adjustment from Tommy Lee Jones to Josh Brolin, but Josh studied Tommy so thoroughly that it was almost identical, like just the way that the interactions were. It was absolutely stunning and it’s crazy because you don’t even notice how good his acting is because it’s so good. It feels like you’re watching Tommy Lee Jones. You don’t know that’s Josh Brolin. People thought that Tommy did the voice for the Josh Brolin character. That’s how thoroughly Josh delivered it.

Were you surprised that the story was slightly more serious this time?

Look, we’re all ten years older from the second movie and different things are important to us in our lives. We’re growing and you want to have the same kind of dumb, the same kind of silly that the first two movies had. There’s an appreciation of the silly that the comedy delivers, but it was really important for us to also have some meat to chew on and create something. Toy Story 3 did a really great job of advancing it, but also creating the underlying depth. So if you’re going into the third part of something, it was really important to deliver emotionally.

Why did you want to revisit this franchise?

The idea of a secret government organization that polices alien activity on and off planet Earth, is so unique. You don’t say that this movie is just like Men In Black. There’s nothing that’s just like Men In Black. You can look at other movies and compare them to things, but Men In Black is a very distinct, very unique thing. It’s difficult to have a fantasy comedy that works on that level. They tend to feel not smart or there is something in the DNA when it’s those two things that sort of dissipates. So for me, I was excited about the degree of difficulty. Also, I haven’t worked in three years, so I wanted to put on some shoes that I knew fit. [Laughs]

You’ve been producing though. Is it a totally different creative exercise when you produce a film that you’re not in?

I’ve been producing with the kids and with [wife] Jada [Pinkett-Smith]. I think it’s where I’m most natural, at my most natural lane. I think that the wide view of seeing everything that’s going on, and helping, and pulling people in comes very natural to me. But when you stay away from acting for a while, it’s like a muscle. You get out there and you look stupid, so it’s like you got to warm up a little bit and I’ve been away from it. The time was well-spent. There is a little bit of a blend.

I learned a lot of valuable lessons on The Karate Kid. Working on a remake is interesting in that you start with hindsight, right, so that was an interesting thing. You can spell out and see the patterns of why people cheer in a movie theater much more clearly and you get to experiment with your idea. So for me, that was very informative. And just coming back to Men In Black 3 felt like home.

Can you talk about coming back? What’s changed in the last few years?

Well, it’s a thing that I’ve been paying attention to for a lot of years. I was in Australia in 1990 with Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Bruce Willis and they were opening Planet Hollywood. So I was out there while I was just in my first year of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air. I’m down there, I’m like, ‘Yo, this is crazy.’ So they’re sitting around and I go in there and I’m sitting there with those guys and Arnold sits there and he says to me, ‘Young man, I want you to know, you cannot be a movie star only in the United States. You’re only a movie star if they know you around the world.’ Right? And then, Bruce talked about it for a little and I was like, ‘All right.’

So they put that idea into my mind very clearly and then, from that point, that’s when I started making it a point to open new markets. We went into Russia with I, Robot, we went into Brazil, and the idea is that you create that around the world and that’s when you hold a movie star. There used to be a time where you could just have hit movies in the United States, but that’s not the case anymore. And as you can see, the world of cinema is opening up even more, so to me, it’s just about taking those laps around the world to maintain that.

Is it surreal that some of the younger generations are recognizing your early work?

You know what’s crazy for me is that The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air is the biggest thing I’ve ever done. Like when I go around, I’m the Fresh Prince everywhere in the world. People scream, ‘El Principe!’ It’s just amazing how that television show, and it was really sort of a stroke of luck, it’s because of the amount of outlets for the show that a nine-year old kid thinks it’s new. A nine year-old kid in Moscow watching the Fresh Prince thinks it’s brand new, so when I show up, it’s as if it’s brand new. So The Fresh Prince has been a huge gift for me in that sense.

Do your kids ever give you grief for some of your earlier work?

Jaden can’t figure out how people thought it was OK for me to wear the clothes I was wearing on Fresh Prince. That’s his thing. He was like, ‘Dude, that shouldn’t even be on TV.’ Willow gets it and understands. But with the kids in the house, it’s really great for me because they help me stay aware. They help me stay current, and follow trends and things like that. Even the idea of something as simple as Instagram is an entirely new outlet. It’s like the fans are consuming entertainment differently and if you miss on that, you turn into a dinosaur really quickly.

What, personally, did you learn from your time off?

It was just that, I was a child of Dallas, so I’ve dreamed about this life my entire life, right? So on Dallas, they had South Fork, the property had a name. And Sue Ellen would come to breakfast and J.R. was there and it was like the whole family and everybody worked the family business. That was my vision of my family. But I’m actually surprised that other people got their own vision. Like Willow made a huge hit record, “Whip My Hair”, then she cut her hair off. It’s like, ‘Hey! What are you doing?’ So it was like, for me, the last three years of seeing just how much everybody has their own opinion and everybody has their own ideas and everybody has their own lives that may or may not fit in my Sue Ellen vision.

What’s your favorite gadget from Men In Black III?

It has to be the time dial. Somebody needs to come up with a Time Jump app. That idea, I’ve always loved time travel. And I started, because of this movie, to actually dive into it and thinking about it and talking about it. I realized, for black people, you don’t want to do too much jumping into the past. Right now is the best it’s ever been. It was like, yeah, maybe the time dial, if can go forward with it, that would be a great thing. [Laughs]

This is your first 3D movie. How was your experience with this new technology and what did you think of the final product?

Well, my first concern with being in 3D was my ears, because I could see these things pretty much taking over the whole of the screen. But when I first saw and they were cool and it was like “Alright.” They didn’t have me looking like satellite dishes. But then, with special effects now you can see anything. There’s no limitations with special effects. In the last five or six years, there’s no limitation of what you can see on screen anymore.

It’s funny, because the same thing happened with the music business. When the music business went to digital, when you can do anything, when you can record anything, a number of tracks, as soon as it exploded, it has a weird opposite effect where it gets worse for a while, which is really strange. It’s like as soon as you get all the tools to do anything, all of a sudden, now the movies aren’t as good, and it’s like “how the hell does that happen?”

So I think we’re about to turn that corner with the 3D specifically and Men In Black. I think what [director] Barry [Sonnenfeld] did was he found the balance of not throwing things at the audience. The 3D is the screen and back, which he went for depth, which makes it more pleasing to the eye. He decided to go with the conversion. We tried to work with the actual 3D cameras, but he went with the conversion and I think it just gives you a greater opportunity to dial it in and make it more pleasurable.

How was it filming in New York?

Anytime you shoot in New York, it’s always hectic because New York actually becomes a character in the movie. But that’s an important part of the Men In Black series. We were back there, I think we shot four months in New York and then the rest was on the streets and some of the stuff was on stage.

Can you tell us anything about Uptown Saturday Night?

Uptown. Well, me and Denzel [Washington], we’re working on it, trying to get it together. That would be a great thing, considering the material has to be right to deserve all that manpower. We would try to figure it out as we got into it and see who’s more comfortable doing what. Because when I first asked Denzel, he was like, ‘I’m not funny, man.’ And I’m saying like, ‘That was funny, that you said that.’ So he was a little concerned about the comedy and I’m like, ‘Man, come on. It’s going to be fantastic.’

If you could go back in time and change the success of anything, what would it be?

The thing that I have learned in my extensive study of time travel is that if you change one thing, you change everything. So I am absolutely ecstatic about where my life is right now. I wouldn’t mess with anything. Everything I’ve experienced, everything that’s gone right or wrong in my mind has turned out to be alright. So I feel like that’s the nature of energy. I get to decide whether it’s right or wrong or good or bad. My life, as I sit here today, is absolutely perfect, so I’m messing with nothing.

Is another Bad Boys a possibility?

I love making those movies. It’s Miami, it’s the tight T-shirt, and fast cars and it’s just at this point in my career though, the material has to be right. Just because it’s a popcorn movie doesn’t mean it doesn’t have something to say. And that to me, that’s hugely important. I’m 43 and I’m probably looking at seven more years where I can run and jump a little bit and then I’m going butt and gut for the rest of my career.

Do you think you’ll do SNL anytime soon? What do you think of Jay Pharoah’s impression of you?

I met him a few months ago. He’s got Denzel down. He doesn’t exactly have me perfect. I should spend some time with him so he can get me just perfect. I’ve never done SNL, we have to figure that out. The timing’s never been perfect for that. I’ll go on there and I hear everybody say it’s great and it’s a tough week that’s fantastic. But I’ve never done it. Maybe, we’ll see, next flick.

Do you ever think that there’s a generation of kids who know you best as Willow and Jaden’s dad?

In Philly, the kids were like, ‘Mr. Willow! Mr. Willow!’ [Laughs]

Do you think it’s important to attract a younger generation?

It was very important for me, having been away that long to come back in a way that was comfortable for me, and to come back with a project that was kid-friendly. And that was something that Eddie Murphy had said to me a few years ago. He said, ‘Man, if you’re lucky enough to be in this business, every 20 years, you got to go back and get the kids. Go get the kids every 20 years.” With Dr. Dolittle and The Klumps and everything and the idea of maturing and then you go back and drop something.

And what’s great for me is that target audience is in my house, so I get the scene-by-scene, screenplay-by-screenplay, run it by the judges. Jaden is probably the one of my kids who looks at me like I’m meat, like, ‘I’m coming for you. You just have no idea. He’s looking across the dinner table at me. Jaden is extremely competitive. I tell him all the time, ‘You know what, son, listen, I’m going to teach you everything I know and you’re going to work hard and you’ll be the second biggest movie star in the world.’ [Laughs]

Men In Black III opens Friday, May 25th.

Men In Black 3: Movie Review

Laura Aguirre — Tue, 22 May 2012 19:37:31 +0000

Men In Black 3 has become a blockbuster underdog, mainly because it’s the movie no one was asking for, and has to overcome a lot of bad buzz about re-shoots. It’s been 10 years since we last saw Will Smith‘s Agent J and Tommy Lee Jones‘ Agent K monitor alien activity on Earth, and the new film offers a time travel twist which introduces Josh Brolin as the new K, placing Jones in the back seat. Does MIB3 have what it takes to overcome being a little outdated and a “troubled production?”

Find out in our review of MIB3…

The Players:

Directors: Barry Sonnenfeld
Writers: Etan Cohen, David Koepp, Jeff Nathanson, Michael Soccio
Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin
Cinematography: Bill Pope

The Plot:

When Agent K’s (Jones) life and the fate of the planet are put at risk, Agent J (Smith) takes it upon himself to travel back in time to right the wrongs of the future. J seeks help in an unfamiliar era, teaming up with young K (Brolin) to save his partner, the agency, and the future of humankind.

The Good:

Josh Brolin As Young K: MIB3 took a risk by breaking up an iconic duo and replacing Jones with Brolin – though everything suggested that Jones’ was one of the stars of the film, his performance is basically reduced to a cameo. But the movie doesn’t suffer because of it as Brolin gives a pitch-perfect performance as young Agent K. His impersonation of Jones is uncanny but entirely his own. He displays a softer side of the character, playing K as a charming and optimistic fellow instead of the world-weary cynic of the last two films. His chemistry with Smith comes easy, and both actors play off each other well.
Time Travel: Smith’s Agent J travels back in time to the Mad Men era (or at least that’s the film’s most obvious touchstone), and it’s where the movie really takes off. The 60′s section of the film offers the film’s best moments, including a trip to Andy Warhol’s The Factory where Bill Hader gives us his best Warhol, and a surprisingly lighthearted moment of period racism when Smith’s K gets pulled over for being a black man in a fancy car. In the past we also meet a sweet and likable alien named Griffin, played by Boardwalk Empire‘s Michael Stuhlbarg. He’s a pivotal part of K and J’s mission to save the world, and gives the movie a needed spoonful of quirk.
Visuals: Visually, the film is amazing. It’s a bright, colorful and full of spectacle. And the 3D actually serves a narrative purpose – including visual jokes. In one particular funny scene, we see Nicole Scherzinger carrying a wobbling two-layer cake, intercut with closeups of her vibrating buttocks that kills. But like a lot of 3-D, these scenes are at the beginning of the movie and by the third act the 3-D isn’t as noticable.

The Bad:

Weak Bad Guy: The main troublemaker, Boris the Animal, is played by Flight of the Conchords actor/musician Jemaine Clement and he’s transformed into an unrecognizable, disgusting creature (courtesy of the amazing make-up artist Rick Baker). And though he looks great, he doesn’t really make for a memorable villain. There’s nothing beyond the make-up. He’s a plot point, and little more.
Not Memorable Enough To Make A Stink: MIB3 is better than expected, but not only is it coming 10 years late, but it’s not a movie anyone was asking to see. And once you see it, it’s hard to find the motivation for it other than “Seemingly Viable Franchise.” At this point getting the band back together isn’t enough to justify buying a ticket.

Overall:

MIB3 is better than you’d think, all things. The performances, visuals and a few of the jokes make it painless. But one does not expect to call a franchise tentpole blockbuster “diverting” (at best). And in the competitive summer marketplace, it’s just not good enough.

Rating: 6.5/10

Men In Black 3 opens in theaters Friday, May 25, 2012.

Photo Gallery:

Trailer:

Are you excited for Men In Black 3?

‘Men in Black III’ Featurette Re-Introduces The Franchise

Damon Houx — Thu, 10 May 2012 18:10:22 +0000

We’re heading toward the Memorial Day weekend, and though The Avengers is still setting records (and may continue to), Men in Black III is the big picture of that holiday weekend, which sells Will Smith‘s agent J losing his partner K (Tommy Lee Jones) and traveling back in time to work with a younger version of his partner (Josh Brolin). Check out the new featurette…

The word we’ve been hearing about the film – which junketed last week – is much better than one might expect for this troubled production. It seems the reshoots they had and the work that went into them eventually made something that was moderately enjoyable. We’re pleasantly surprised by this revelation. But that’s more inside baseball; the bigger question is if regular audiences will line up for the sequel, which comes a couple of years after the fact and follows a sequel that virtually nobody liked.

This definitely offers Will Smith doing his best to act boyish and high-energy charming, and the joke of seeing Brolin doing Jones may be enough to keep his performance engaging. Director Barry Sonnenfeld says that Brolin’s chemistry with Smith is just about the same as Smith’s chemistry with Tommy Lee Jones, which is good, we guess. The movie opens May 25, and then all will be revealed.

Have you heard the Pitbull song? (It’s bad)

‘Men In Black III’ Official Trailer Shows More Josh Brolin, More Will Smith Shtick

Travis Woods — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:56:47 +0000

While we saw a trailer for the upcoming Men in Black III last December, it felt more like a teaser, seeing as how it was a quickie trailer for an incomplete film with a troubled production and, at the time, apparently no written ending. Now, we get a more polished trailer for the entirely unnecessary sequel, which finds Will Smith traveling back in time to save Tommy Lee Jones, whose younger self is portrayed by Josh Brolin. While there is plenty of Will Smith hamming it up, Brolin’s impression of Jones is moderately smirk-worth. Check it out after the jump.

Well, there you have it. Lots of 1960s clichés—the film is apparently taking the Austin Powers approach to time travel—with Will Smith literally using the word shiznit, because apparently Will Smith using circa-1995 slang terms is still viewed as somehow fresh and funny, right guys?

That said, Josh Brolin’s impersonation of Tommy Lee Jones is amusing; however, after two and a half hours, it seems like a one-note joke that would get more than a little old by the end. But hey, it’s a 3-D Will Smith summer movie in which he fights aliens, so it’ll probably do millions of dollars of business, and we’ll have to put up with this shiznit for several sequels to come.

What do you think of the trailer?

Men in Black III Has New Stills, Raises Questions About Hollywood’s Future

Damon Houx — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:28:13 +0000

What if they made a $300 Million dollar film and no one came? What if that film makes $100 Million domestically or less? Men in Black III is sure to have been extra expensive, with a protracted shooting schedule, multiple reshoots, and the biggest star in the world in Will Smith. It’s also a sequel that no one wanted, and from the evidence of the multiple reshoots, a film that was started before they even had their film. Check out some stills from the troubled shoot (via Empire)….

For film fans, we’ve seen movie budgets balloon up to unreasonable heights where a standard tentpole release can cost anywhere from $150 – if it’s done cheap – to $300 Million plus. The grand champion of this is Avatar, which was rumored to cost a half a billion. As I’ve said before The Hunt for Red October cost $30 Million in 1990, and there’s no way you could do that movie now for under $100 Million. In that way Avatar – being the lightning rod for inflated budgets – is much like The Sound of Music in the 1960′s. That film was wildly successful and led to a number of hugely expensive musicals that ended up killing studios interest in musicals. Isn’t that where we are?

So, back to Men in Black III. The film comes out May 25 for Memorial Day. There appears to be no buzz expect from people like myself who are curious if anyone wants it, and curious if it’s a complete disaster. Perhaps this is on my mind because John Carter opens in two weeks, and it cost a lot of money and will probably never make that money back. How many disasters can Hollywood weather? And what will it say when a film can make $100 Million and be considered a bomb?

Anyway, look at these pictures:

Are you excited for the return of the Men in Black?

Warner Brothers Wants I Am Legend Sequel

Damon Houx — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:25:02 +0000

It’s fair game to spoil a five year old movie, right? 2007′s I Am Legend ends with the reveal that Will Smith’s character was a ghost the whole time. Or he dies. Something like that. You would think that would make it harder to do I Am Legend: Again, or I Am Legender, or 2 Am Legend. But – as Deadline is reporting – they’re going back for more. The reason? $584 Million worldwide gross.

Smith is currently unattached, but Warner Brothers has paid Akiva Goldsman and Overbrook Entertainment to start working on a follow up or prequel. As Smith is essential to the mix, it seems likely that it would have to be some sort of prequel, but since it’s science fiction, they could come up with any number of reasons to bring Smith back.

Smith is going to be in a weird position shortly . Though 2008′s Seven Pounds was a modest money-maker, it was his first stumble, and he hasn’t made a film since. His first film in four years is this summer’s Men in Black III, which was a troubled production and is a follow up to a ten-year-old film no one really liked, and his next project is directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who hasn’t had a blockbuster since 2002′s Signs. They say that Smith is our last movie star, but both those projects could be disasters. Perhaps he will make a second Legend, which – at this rate – wouldn’t hit theaters until late 2013 at the earliest. Seems like a long wait to go back to the well, and by then it’s hard to say if audiences will be as high on Smith as they once were.

What’s your Favorite Will Smith performance?

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?

Men in Black 3 Trailer Offers One Joke

Damon Houx — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 17:41:51 +0000

Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, and Josh Brolin…as Tommy Lee Jones? That’s the set up from the Men in Black 3 teaser trailer, one that seems to be there to refresh viewers on the world of the Men in Black. Though the rough outline of the plot has been known for a while, this gives a sense of what the film is about, with newcomer Emma Thompson telling the viewers that Jones’s K character has been dead for forty years. Check out the teaser…

It’s a short tease, and one that offers exactly one joke in its running time (at least if you’re not familiar with the premise of the series), but that joke (Brolin’s Jones impression) may be enough to get people interested in seeing the film.

This is a weird teaser in that it’s not very clean – there’s a whole lot of set up for essentially one joke. The movies have been funny, and this covers a lot of back story – perhaps because it’s been a decade since the last picture means that they have to reorient a new generation to the series. And perhaps also with the recently announced reshoots the studio isn’t entirely sure what’s going to be in the finished film. But they do suggest some scale, and that we’re going to see some period detail. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll be some laughs along the way. The film is set to open May 25, 2012.

Are you ready for more Men in Black?

‘Men In Black III’ To Feature Retro Aliens… In 3D (Of Course)

Travis Woods — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 19:14:13 +0000

Despite the cavalcade of production snafus that have befallen the wildly unnecessary Men In Black III—really, do we need another one?—from Alec Baldwin bailing on the production to massive filming delays to the growing sense that the entire production is simply an outgrowth of Will Smith’s increasingly egomaniacal self love, it looks like Men in Black III is still happening. And now details about the aliens featured in the film have begun to slip.

According to Coming Soon, half of the film will take place in the mid 1960’s—thanks to some nifty time travel knocking Will Smith’s character back in time to team up with Tommy Lee Jones’ younger self—and will thus feature some retro extraterrestrials, so says the film’s makeup effects designer, Rick Baker (via ShockTillYouDrop.com):

“The thing that’s cool is there is a time travel element [to the story],” he says, “Where I had fun is that we go back to the Men in Black headquarters of the ’60s. The first thing I said is that we should have retro aliens, not aliens of 2012. More based on B-movies of the ’50s and ’60s. So, a lot of the aliens are based on that. Space suits with fishbowl helmets and ray guns.”

The 3D film (of course) is set to hit theaters on May 25, 2012.

What do you think of the Men in Black III news?

Will Smith Teams with M. Night Shyamalan to Make Science Fiction Film

Damon Houx — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:00:06 +0000

If there’s one thing to say about M. Night Shyamalan‘s career, he’s failed up. Columbia Pictures announced today that Will Smith – the biggest and perhaps only real movie star left in America – will team with Shyamalan to produce and star in a science-fiction film. Also starring: Smith’s son Jaden. Jaden had been rumored for the script before - and the project is currently known as One Thousand AE, but Will Smith’s presence takes this to a new level.

Will Smith – as an A lister – has made very few missteps and has been able to launch properties like Hancock that need star power in an industry that has very few high wattage talents. Unfortunately, Smith is also involved in Men In Black 3, which – at this point – has to be written off as a debacle, and/or will be at the very best not as terrible as it might have been. Currently the film is still trying to move forward after having done a couple weeks of principle photography, but the film was shut down because no one is happy with the script.

But as Men in Black 3 is ultimately a disaster in the offing, such makes his decision to work with M. Night Shyamalan all the more confusing. Shyamalan was once a guaranteed performer and audience favorite, but since Signs his grosses and cinematic prowess has all but collapsed. The Last Airbender was one of last year’s worst films, and was so terrible that Paramount did a rush-job last minute 3-D conversion to help salvage the film’s domestic box office.It would be one thing if this was his sole “off” film, but Shyamalan has not been making good or all that commercially viable films for nearly a decade – let’s say The Village got over on goodwill. Since then a film he produced (Devil) had a trailer that was known to get audiences groaning at the mere mention of his name.

Perhaps the script is magic and this will relaunch his career, or perhaps this will be the end for both Smith’s rule at the box office, and Shyamalan’s career, period.

Did you see Lady in the Water or The Happening?

‘Glee’ Creator Ryan Murphy Backs Out Of Will Smith’s ‘Annie’ Remake

Travis Woods — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 17:01:55 +0000

Well, it appears that the mash-up of pop-cultural elements so horrible and cringe-worthy that their unification could potentially result in The End Of All Things isn’t going to happen after all– according to Deadline, Glee creator Ryan Murphy will not be directing Willow Smith in a Will Smith-produced remake of Annie (comments wall, I await your onslaught–just make it quick).

It looks like Murphy has just been too busy lately trying to bully and berate every hesitant rock band in world to join his unholy union of a capella pop song covers or else he’ll make sure that everyone in world knows how evil and mean and jerky they are for not wanting to sell their music to his TV show, because that’s the only way anyone will ever hear their music, you guys, so really Murphy’s doing them a favor by publicly demanding their music and then shaming the bands for not giving him the songs.

So what does this mean for the Smithified version of Annie? Well, it means we’re safe for a little while longer, but stay vigilant: they’ve already struck us with a wholly unnecessary remake of the Karate Kid—a wholly unnecessary remake of Annie (replete with a “Whip My Hair” singalong!) cannot be far behind. Stay strong, friends.

What do you think of the Annie news?

Alec Baldwin Ditches Troubled Men in Black III, Heads to Rock of Ages

Damon Houx — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 21:50:50 +0000

One of the greatest books on film is easily Julie Salamon’s The Devil’s Candy, which chronicled every bad turn Brian De Palma’s adaptation of Bonfire of the Vanities took. At this point, one hopes there’s an author on set of Men in Black III, as there’s undoubtedly a great story to be told about its production. Having hired a new writer mid-shoot, and having delayed production again recently, the film took another hit when Alec Baldwin told Vulture Monday he had to drop out, but was moving on to the Adam Shankman-directed, Tom Cruise-starring musical Rock of Ages.

Alec Baldwin is one of the leads on “30 Rock,” and so his dropping out isn’t necessarily a slight against the beleaguered third film in the Men in Black franchise. Likely “scheduling conflicts” is not PR talk in this case as Baldwin is surely locked in to certain dates for his television show. And if Baldwin announced that he was out of Men in Black III, this is something that the filmmakers knew about prior to his announcement.

But still, it’s hard not to wonder what’s going on with the third film with all these public production problems. Even though the second film was viewed as a misfire by virtually everyone involved it also made over $400 Million worldwide, and Will Smith is still one of the world’s biggest movie stars, so if the third film recaptured the magic of the first film, surely all would be forgiven. But the third film seems a victim of franchise filmmaking, where a studio wants a picture for a certain period of the year and wants to make a release date above all else. And though a third film had been rumored and likely work-shopped shortly after the second film was released in 2002, it seems that they have yet to be happy with the material.

The Sydney Pollack film Tootsie was considered a tortuous production, as there were a number of writers brought on board, with few making star Dustin Hoffman happy. But now the film is considered a classic, so there’s evidence the film could be saved. With the public scrutiny that comes with this film’s troubled production its makers must be covered in flop sweat.

Adam Shankman’s adaptation of the broadway play Rock of Ages is supposed to shoot this summer, with Cruise, Baldwin, Mary J. Blige, and Julianh Hough currently attached.

Did Alec Baldwin choose the right movie?

ScreenCrave.com » will smith

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