I always thought what made the original RoboCop so affecting was the transition of Alex Murphy from family man and upstanding cop to firing-squad target to crime-fighting machine to vulnerable yet indestructible emo-robot hybrid. It made for an ingeniously subtle arc against which to project the rest of Paul Verhoeven’s pulpy, gory social satire, and Peter Weller’s performance — essentially three performances layered atop and influencing each other — provided the foundation on which the film has held up for a quarter-century. So I don’t know what to make of… this , from RoboCop remake star Joel Kinnaman (via MTV ): RoboCop is going to be a lot more human. The first movie is one of my favorite movies. I love it. Of course, Verhoeven has that very special tone, and it’s not going to have that tone. It’s a re-imagination of it. There’s a lot of stuff from the original. There are some details and throwbacks, but this version is a much better acting piece, for Alex Murphy and especially when he is RoboCop. It’s much more challenging. It’s not going to be jaw action. They’re still working on the suit and how it’s going to look, but the visor is going to be see-through. You’re going to see his eyes. I mean, OK? If only Weller had had a more “challenging” role in 1987! Think of how much better RoboCop would have turned out. Moreover — giving Kinnaman and director José Padilha the benefit of the doubt, even — what’s the upside of giving Murphy’s remade face away before the big third-act reveal? Wasn’t the point not that we “see his eyes,” but that we see through his eyes — everything from domestic flashbacks to Clarence Boddicker spitting on his mask? Which then forces us to reconcile the human with the robot, especially once those eyes are revealed? I’m pulling for this movie, I swear, but this just seems like a fundamental misunderstanding of character. This is the leading man we’re talking about! I’ll take “details and throwbacks,” sure, but don’t leave out the heart and soul. [ MTV via AICN ] Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
He’s painted cinematic landscapes of psychosexual kink ( The Cell ), childhood fantasy ( The Fall ), and ancient Greek 3-D abs ( Immortals ), but in this week’s Mirror Mirror director Tarsem takes a turn into uncharted territory: The family-friendly fairytale. Turning his attentions to the story of Snow White , Tarsem creates another visually rich fantasyland of imagination — and gives the fabled princess a post-modern streak to boot — with the help of the late Oscar-winning costume designer and longtime collaborator Eiko Ishioka ( Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters , Bram Stoker’s Dracula , Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark ), who passed away in January at the age of 73. In an exclusive chat, Tarsem takes Movieline through his work with Ishioka and the whimsical, inventive, and utterly imaginative designs of Mirror Mirror that comprise their final collaboration on film. GALLERY: Tarsem on Eiko Ishioka and the Fairytale Look of Mirror Mirror Head over to the Mirror Mirror Gallery here for Tarsem’s notes on the costumes, design, and visual inspirations for Mirror Mirror , or scroll down for additional thoughts as Tarsem discusses his relationship with Ishioka, his approach to the Snow White mythology, and his plans to take a break from heavily visual storytelling with his next project. ON HIS LONGTIME COLLABORATION WITH EIKO ISHIOKA Tarsem says he was looking for a break from his heavily visual films when he decided to take on Mirror Mirror for the chance to work one last time with Ishioka, who succumbed to cancer only months after production wrapped. “On a personal level I did not want to do more than three visual films,” he said, “but the reason that really pushed it together was that I knew that Eiko did not have more than a year to go. She did not have more than a movie left in her. I said, okay, let’s do a visual film. Eiko’s kind of like me, unfortunately – she has only two gears, full speed or off, and I just knew that she wanted to work.” ON THE IMPORTANCE OF MAKING SNOW WHITE A HEROINE CAPABLE OF SAVING HERSELF Tarsem’s Snow White (played by Lily Collins ) springs into action as a swashbuckling bandit princess in Mirror Mirror’s post-modern take — a far cry from the original Disney animation. Tarsem sought to make a family film that simultaneously rejected the “damsel in distress” angle. “I had done three R-rated movies and thought I wanted to do a family film,” he said. “Everyone asked me again and again if I wanted to do a gritty, R-rated Snow White and I said no! The original story, as beloved as it is, is a ten-minute story. It’s just about vanity. I’d never seen the original animation until about a month ago, and I thought I would like to have a different take on it.” ON THE OTHER SNOW WHITE MOVIE, SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN Tarsem had to scrap plans to release Mirror Mirror in 3-D in order to get into theaters ahead of the competition — Rupert Sanders’ action adventure Snow White and the Huntsman , starring Kristen Stewart . “We had to come out first because we are a smaller movie than the big, grand action-adventure,” Tarsem explained. “It’s always easier to sell those on a trailer. I said, ‘We have to come first.’ They could afford to come second, but we couldn’t afford to come second.” ON HIS NEXT MOVIE — A ‘NON-VISUAL’ PROJECT “By that I don’t mean handheld, gritty, running around stuff — it’s not going to be Law & Order – but a contemporary tale. The film I’m going towards right now is a very simple drone attack from the perspective of the guys who fly the planes that are actually flying in Africa, but they do it from a little container in the desert. It’s a drone attack, so what are the politics involved in saying, ‘Go ahead and do this’ and just watching the collateral damage of when you can give a go-ahead and when you cannot, and how the same act feels completely different on the ground than for the people in the sky who come and knock them out? It’s what right now I’m gearing towards, but anything that’s interesting right now that isn’t fantasy oriented, a tale that isn’t completely designed, is what I want to do. This is the closest I’m to it right now and I’m going to go for it.” GALLERY: Tarsem on Eiko Ishioka and the Fairytale Look of Mirror Mirror Mirror Mirror is in theaters Friday. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
Again with this “teaser for a trailer” business. If you cannot wait until Sunday to get a glimpse of the actual trailer for Len Wiseman’s Total Recall remake, here are thirty seconds of Colin Farrell driving flying cars and jumping off of balconies and Kate Beckinsale looking hot. I’m still holding out for evidence that Wiseman kept the three-boobed lady in his version, which will determine if this rehash of the 1990 sci-fi gem gets my ticket dollars or not. I mean, at least the ridiculously short 15-second Breaking Dawn Part 2 teaser trailer teaser had pecs and hands and Edward Cullen and stuff. Show me the alien boobs, Wiseman! The full trailer will air on ABC on Sunday during the first half of the Celtics-Heat game before an extended version debuts online at Apple. The official synopsis for Total Recall — “inspired anew” by Philip K. Dick’s source short story: Total Recall is an action thriller about reality and memory, inspired anew by the famous short story “We Can Remember It For You Wholesale” by Philip K. Dick. Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he’s got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) whom he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life – real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police – controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston) – there is no one Quaid can trust, except possibly a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) working for the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy). The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate. The film is directed by Len Wiseman. The screenplay is by Kurt Wimmer and Mark Bomback and the screen story is by Ronald Shusett & Dan O’Bannon and Jon Povill. The producers are Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe. [via Collider ] Total Recall hits theaters August 3.
The visionary, Oscar-winning director of The Abyss , Titanic and Avatar went to the planet’s deepest spot , and all we got were these lousy clips from the bottom of the sea. Don’t fret, however! There is much, much more where James Cameron’s preliminary submarine footage came from. For now, let the director/explorer fill you in on what he witnessed, right down to shrinking windows under 16,000 pounds of pressure per square inch. [via First Showing ]
