Photo by Cindy Titus As a writer, film programmer, and movie-nerd-of-all-trades, Kier-La Janisse has honed her skills with Vancouver’s CineMuerte Film Festival (1999-2005) and Big Smash! Music-on-Film Festival (both of which she founded), Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse , and Montreal’s POPMontreal festival, Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies , and Fantasia International Film Festival , just to name a few. Kier-la’s film knowledge can’t be beat (and she’s a generally rad lady to boot), so we were thrilled she took the time to talk to us while working as the editor-in-chief of Spectacular Optical , the FIFF’s official online magazine. More after the jump!
Or is he just effing with us? While doing press for his upcoming Dredd , Karl Urban seemed to let slip the identity of Benedict Cumberbatch ‘s Star Trek 2 character. Was he telling the truth or not? Right now, there is evidence for both sides. First, some background. 1. J.J. Abrams ‘ own origin story is based around his grandfather gifting him with a “Mystery Box.” It is, therefore, wonderfully ironic that he should be the current quarterback of the entire Star Trek franchise, a massive shared universe whose rabid fans are obsessive, meticulous and savvy enough to translate Shakespeare into its made-up language. Excuse me, one of its made-up languages. As a result, we still don’t know the name of the villain in the forthcoming Star Trek sequel. 2. Many years ago it leaked that Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci had delivered a script wherein Gary Mitchell – Captain Kirk’s Starfleet Academy chum turned ESP-monster from the early Trek episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before” – would be the heavy. I personally heard this from a guy who was inside and had some intel. 3. The rumor goes that Abrams didn’t like this script and sent everyone back to the drawing board. A Gary Mitchell storyline in the “new universe” Star Trek comics (that only mouthbreathers like I read) appears, effectively “putting that story to use.” Then we started hearing that Khan Noonien Singh – you know, the guy from KHAAAAAAAN – was going to be the baddie. A casting offer to Benicio Del Toro seemed to confirm this – even though Khan is supposed to be a Sikh, not Hispanic, but only hardcore dweebs like to bring this up. 4. Benedict Cumberbatch (pictured above) is cast. He doesn’t look like a genetically enhanced poet-warrior. (But, really, who is to say?) It is accepted by most people that he is playing Khan. Then Simon Pegg says “ No Khan .” Fair enough. 5. Now today’s news. Karl Urban, in yapping about the upcoming Dredd , lets this slip to SFX : “[Benedict Cumberbatch’s] awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary.” Wow, so it was Gary all along? Open and shut, right? But wait! 6. Just a few weeks back, Roberto Orci gave a list of Star Trek characters that are NOT in the film . Among them: Gary Mitchell. Here’s the thing. Normally, a gaffe from an actor during a press day is a great way to squeeze info out of someone. They are tired and they can’t remember what’s already out there and what is being held for strategic marketing reveals. (These are called SMRs in Hollywood.) (No they’re not, I just made that up.) However, I think Urban might be throwing a red herring on purpose. I had the good fortune to shmooze with the guy once – at the very genre-friendly Fantastic Fest in Austin. He was pitching Red , but we got to discussing Star Trek and “The Nrrd Life” in general and he struck me as someone who really got it. If ever there was a guy who’d be so on board to screw with the heads of fanboys, it’d be him. Luckily, Urban will be moderating the Masters of the Web panel at next week’s San Diego Comic-Con , and you can rest assured the online press (our own Jen Yamato among them) will put the screws to him. Personally, I think having Gary Mitchell is cooler than having Khan, but I’d prefer if the Trek brain trust were, you know, boldly going where no man had gone before. In a remake-happy culture, that may be too much to ask for. Anyway, here’s Captain Kirk and Gary Mitchell fighting on Delta Vega. Sally Kellerman and her creepy contact lenses can only look on. [ SFX ]
Also in Friday morning’s news round up, it looks like the next round of Hunger Games cast is shaping up. Psychological thriller Gut gets a digital distribution home and perhaps not exactly film-direct news, but the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from the FCC over that Janet Jackson “wardrobe malfunction” back in 2004… Frankenweenie Will Open Fantastic Fest The world premiere of Tim Burton’s latest will launch the annual genre-heavy Fantastic Fest September 20th in Austin, TX. The Disney film revolves around a boy who “unexpectedly losing his beloved dog Sparky, young Victor harnesses the power of science to bring his best friend back to life-with just a few minor adjustments. He tries to hide his home-sewn creation, but when Sparky gets out, Victor’s fellow students, teachers and the entire town all learn that getting a new “leash on life” can be monstrous.” Around the ‘net… Ted and Magic Mike Launch with $2M-plus Midnights Ted debuted at $2.625M from midnight screenings at 1,090 theaters, while stripper show Magic Mike grossed $2.050M from one show at midnight in 1,100 theaters, Deadline reports . Hunger Games Sequel Eyes Zoe Aggeliki for Key Role Newcomer Zoe Aggeliki appears to have won out for the central role of Johanna Mason, an ax-welding winner of a past Hunger Games who will appear in Lionsgate’s sequel The Hunger Games Catching Fire , Deadline reports . Cinetic Gets Gut for North America Digital distribution rights for psychological thriller Gut have been nabbed by Cinetic Rights Management. The feature revolves around a deteriorating friendship of two best friends when one gets ahold of an anonymous video that quickly threatens to dismantle everything around them, binding the two friends together with its ugly secret, Variety reports . Supreme Court Won’t Hear ‘Wardrobe Malfunction’ Appeal The U.S. high court will not consider reinstating the government’s $550K fine on CBS for Janet Jackson’s infamous breast flash during the 2004 Super Bowl. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had appealed, AP reports .
They show tits on primetime TV in Denmark, so when the Danes want to make an outrageously offensive comedy, they’ve really got to go for the jugular (or the brown eye, as the case may be). As we reported in our Fantastic Fest coverage last fall, Klown: The Movie makes The Hangover look like a Disney flick, and it’s much funnier to boot. Drafthouse Films is bringing Klown to America this summer, so before the planned Danny McBride remake, check out this raunchy red-band trailer featuring one of the most awkward threesome scenes in cinema history. Step up your game, Todd Phillips. The Danes have arrived.
Did you ever think to yourself, what if Keanu Reeves in Speed wasn’t on a bus careening through Santa Monica at the behest of a madman but sitting at a piano giving the concert of his life under pain of certain death? No? Well, that’s why you, my friend, do not have a movie deal with Elijah Wood in place to star as said pianist. A classical thriller, they’ll call it! More on Eugenio Mira’s Grand Piano after the jump. According to THR , Mira’s indie thriller trades on a concept as high as it is brilliantly simple: “The story concerns a once-great concert pianist who suffers from stage fright and comes back to perform after a five-year hiatus. Just when he’s about to play the first bar, he notices somebody has written a threatening note on his music sheet. He’s now forced to play his best concert ever to save his life as well as his wife’s.” “Think Speed at a piano.” Oh, I’m thinking it. And now that I’ve thought it, I’m thinking Speed at a number of other locations. Speed at the post office! Speed at the dry cleaner! Speed on a Zamboni! Speed on a boat! (Oh, wait .) Grand Piano will be written by Damien Chazelle ( Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench , The Last Exorcism 2 ); Rodrigo Cortes, who directed Ryan Reynolds in a box in Buried , along with Buried producer Adrian Guerra, will produce. Director Mira previously made the genre entries The Birthday and Agnosia and appears in Cortes’ Red Lights , but you may also recognize him from this infamous 2010 Fantastic Fest karaoke video in which he, RZA, and future Grand Piano star Wood sing along to the sounds of the Black Eyed Peas. If that’s not an auspicious start to a fruitful film collaboration, I don’t know what is. [ THR ]
Fantastic Fest wrapped up last night in Austin, and after a full week of cramming our eyeballs full of movies 12 hours a day, we’re pooped. The last few days of the fest still held some surprises, like the premiere of Paranormal Activity 3 at a much-hyped midnight secret screening (though House of the Devil director Ti West gave PA3 a serious run for its ghost-story money with The Innkeepers , starring Sara Paxton , the following night). Closing night also saw the world premiere of the documentary Comic-Con, Episode 4: A Fan’s Hope , spiced up by a cavalcade of spandex-clad cosplay girls. More after the jump!
Today at Fantastic Fest , Movieline got its hands on a VHS tape labeled “September 1988,” packaged in an unmarked manila envelope. Perhaps (probably) not coincidentally, the date corresponds to recently released footage from Paranormal Activity 3 , the forthcoming found footage prequel about spooky goings-on in the lives of a family haunted by unseen forces. Could this have something to do with tomorrow’s hotly anticipated secret screening?
Because there’s a chance fellow Hobbit Elijah Wood is going to cream him in the boxing ring tonight, let’s take a moment to give props to Fantastic Fest guest Dominic Monaghan , who threw down some Vanilla Ice in yesterday’s karaoke rap contest. With his A’s cap pulled down low ( Moneyball shout out!), Monaghan showed the room that this was clearly not his first time spitting lyrics like, “If there was a problem/Yo I’ll solve it/Check out the hook while my DJ revolves it.” At least it wasn’t “You All Everybody!”
October is just around the corner, and with it comes creeping the annual avalanche of horror flicks that are rushed into theaters in time for Halloween. Horror films have always featured copious nudity, but a lot has changed since the days of Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama (1988). Case in point: The Human Centipede 2 , whose director Tom Six says in a new interview with The New York Times : ” I see porno films, of course, and I like them, I have no problem with that at all. And there have been so many horror films, and that’s all torture and misery. That’s the genre. I kind of like that they combine it. I think my film is a torture porn with European art sauce or something. ” After an enthusiastic premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin last night, IFC Films has acquired the movie for distribution in the US (the British Film Classification Board refused to give it a rating, essentially banning it in the UK) and is rushing it into theaters on October 7 . Six promises that Human Centipede 2 will show everything that the surprisingly restrained The Human Centipede (2009) merely implied. The original did contain nudity from Ashley C. Williams and Ashlynn Yennie , and if you look closely at the official poster, you’ll see that spinal cord is made out of shapely seat meat. We don’t have a confirmed nudity report for this flick yet, but this is one of those movies that either you really want to see or you really, really don’t. So if you do, you’re probably in for a nude night at the movies-if you can keep your lunch down, anyway…. Get the scoop on more upcoming horror nudes after the jump!
I keep listening to club diva Luciana’s new single, “I’m Still Hot” to make sure my ears aren’t deceiving me — yes, that is featured performer Betty White squeaking, “I’m still hot!” and “I left my Emmys in my beatbox!” and “I will get you sweaty because I’m the big Betty!” over the pounding thumps. Dear lord. At she didn’t namedrop You Again . Listen to the 89-year-old legend croon like Ke$ha after the jump.
