Sylvester Stallone spoke out about the death of a stuntman while filming his latest action sequel The Expendables 2 , which opens this weekend in the U.S., saying the incident was “very hard.” Kum Liu died last October while the pic was in production in Bulgaria, while another stuntman Nuo Sun was seriously injured. “The stunt team took it very, very hard and shut down for quite a while,” the 66-year-old told reporters while promoting the movie in London, the BBC said . “It’s happened twice before on films I’ve been on and it’s never easy.” The accident took place during the filming of an explosion on an inflatable boat on Lake Ognyanova in Bulgaria. Stallone’s promotion of Expendables 2 comes on the heels of the tragic death of his son Sage in July at 36. Kun Liu’s parents are currently seeking to reap an unspecified amount from the feature’s production companies Millennium Films and Nu Image as well as stunt coordinator Chad Stahelski. Also starring Arnold Schwarzenegger , Bruce Willis, Liam Hemsworth and Dolph Lundgren, Expendables 2 , the pic centers on a revenge mission when one of the Expendables is murdered in what should have been an easy job. They head into enemy territory against a back drop of an unexpected threat. Jean-Claude Van Damme plays the villain. Now back to full-time film star, Arnold Schwarzenegger said the previous installment of Expendables , in which he made a short appearance while still serving as governor of California when it came out in 2010, was “impossible to top” but the latest is in fact, “bigger and better.” [ Source: BBC ]
Whovians, rejoice! A Doctor Who movie is in the works, reports the BBC, commissioned to celebrate the long-running sci-fi series in time for its 50th anniversary. Entitled An Adventure in Space and Time , the 90-minute drama will travel back through the decades to revisit the history of the beloved show and its creation in the early 1960s. “This is the story of how an unlikely set of brilliant people created a true television original,” said writer Mark Gatiss of the TV film, which is slated to arrive next year. Two Doctor Who movies were made in the ’60s — Doctor Who and the Daleks (1965) and Doctor Who: Daleks’ Invasion Earth 2150 A.D. (1966) — while a few years back frequent Harry Potter helmer David Yates was developing his own take on the franchise intended for the big screen. This one-off 50th anniversary Doctor Who movie is more an ode to the franchise itself. “The story of Doctor Who is the story of television — so it’s fitting in the anniversary year that we make our most important journey back in time to see how the TARDIS was launched,” said series exec producer Steven Moffat. An air date has not been announced, but the very first episode of Doctor Who debuted on November 23, 1963 so I’d imagine we’re looking at a similar fall timeframe for the film’s debut. Set your TARDIS accordingly. [ BBC ]
Also in Thursday’s round-up of news briefs, Tim Robbins is set to take on the director role after long absence. Montreal’s genre event the Fantasia Film Festival hands out its awards. And Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal honored at European film event. The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Take That, George Michael Tipped As Olympics Closing Acts Sunday’s Closing Ceremony at the London Olympics will feature over 4,100 performers including a massive showing of Britain’s musical headliners. Among the performers who will apparently play are The Who, Paul McCartney, Elton John, the Rolling Stones, George Michael, Paul Weller, the Spice Girls, Adele, Ray Davies, Liam Gallagher, Annie Lennox, Madness, the Pet Shop Boys, Take That, Muse, One Direction and members of Queen, Deadline reports . Shia LaBeouf Eyes Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac Nymphomaniac revolves around the erotic pursuits of a woman, played by Charlotte Gainsbourg, from her youth to 50 as recounted by her husband, played by Stellan Skarsgard. Details about his possible role are still to be determined, THR reports . Tim Robbins to Direct City of Lies After directing three films in the ’90s including Dead Man Walking (1995), Tim Robbins has signed on to direct Endgame Entertainment’s City of Lies about two spies who fall in love while on separate spying mission in Prague, THR reports . Doomsday Book and Toad Road Take Top Fantasia Film Festival Prizes Montreal’s genre event, the Fantasia International Film Festival awarded Kim Jee-woon and Yim Pil-sung’s Doomsday Book its Cheval Noir Award for Best Film, while Jason Banker’s Toad Road took nods for Best Director and Best Actor for James Davidson. Yeon Sang Ho’s The King of Pigs won the Satoshi Kon Award for Achievement in Animation and a special mention from the First Feature Jury, Indiewire reports . Gael Garcia Bernal Honored at Locarno Film Festival “I think I still have a lot of room to grow,” Garcia Bernal told the crowd of more than 8,000 in the Piazza Grande. “Perhaps not in terms of height, but in terms of experience.” Garcia Bernal is one of the youngest honorees to receive the festival’s Excellence Award at 33, BBC reports .
“Why don’t people send this stuff to me?!” Bryan Singer cries through laughter, watching YouTube parodies of his films, including X-Men , The Usual Suspects , and Jack the Giant Killer . It’s kind of adorable. Welcome to the internet, Bryan Singer! (Fun, but I do wonder why the folks at What’s Trending don’t show Singer any Superman Returns and Valkryie parodies. Because, oh yes, they do exist.) [ What’s Trending ]
Also in Friday afternoon’s round-up of news briefs, Will Ferrell joins a new comedy. WWE champ gets back in front of the camera and a court in Beijing sends a group of execs from a VOD site to prison in one of the harshest sentences ever. Ted Beats The Dark Knight Rises Abroad The foul-mouthed creation by Seth MacFarlane and starring Mark Wahlberg is open in 10 overseas territories and scored number one in almost all of them. It’s international cume is $54.5 million in 20 territories and it’s still set to debut in 38 more, Deadline reports . Will Ferrell Gets an Internship He joins Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Rose Byrne in the project directed by Shawn Levy and written by Vaughn. The story revolves around two men in their early 40s who are layer off and try to reinvent themselves as interns at an Internet company that is run by managers in their 20s. Variety reports . Randy Orton Back in the Ring for 12 Rounds: Reloaded The three-time WWE World Heavyweight champion will star in the follow-up of the action franchise. He’ll play an emergency medical technician who’s being pursued by a vigilante threatening his family, Deadline reports . WWII Pic About Epic Battle In the Works A film about the battle for Monte Cassino – one of the most bitterly-fought land campaigns of World War II – is being made to coincide with the battle’s 70th anniversary. 200,000 soldiers participated from 30 countries with 55,000 allied troops and 20,000 German troops injured or killed. John Irvin will direct, BBC reports . Beijing Court Send 6 VOD Execs to Prison China has issued its harshest penalties for online streaming of copyright infringed material on execs from OpenV.com, which attracted daily traffic of more than 55 million page views, 40 million video view and 8 million unique visitors. A large chunk of what it offered involved copyright infringed content, Screen Daily reports .
Later this year, Sherlyn Chopra will become the first Indian woman to pose naked in Playboy . Cause for celebratory erections, right? Not for everyone. With the 28-year old brunette reportedly suggesting the idea herself to the magazine, Chopra is coming under major fire in her native country for the upcoming reveal. One Twitter user has described the occasional Bollywood actress as “repulsive,” while an Indian columnist named Gayatri Sankar writes of her : “At a time when innocent women across the nation from Gujarat to Guwahati have been subjected to sexual abuse and humiliation, one wonders if Sherlyn Chopra’s pictures wound a woman’s integrity.” Chopra, however, wonders no such thing. She tells BBC Hindi that the nation’s youth “is racing towards liberalization, and that’s why being unconventional in your choices is no longer a taboo” and she even says she may next move into the porn industry. Chopra posed for her spread at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles and sounds like the world’s biggest Hugh Hefner fan. “I am thinking of making him my idol because he lives his life on his terms and conditions,” she said. Sounds like someone is angling to be girlfriend number 6,079.
Nowadays the Olympic Games ‘ opening ceremony is masterminded by a big time movie director. Beijing 2008 commenced with the vision of Zhang Yimou ( Ju Dou , Raise the Red Lantern , House of Flying Daggers ) and in London this year the reins — excuse me, the rings — have been handed to Danny Boyle , with a British history theme. But what if the Games themselves took inspiration from Boyle’s filmography — like, say Trainspotting , 28 Days Later , and 127 Hours ? According to the BBC , Boyle’s opener will be a reproduction of the British countryside representing British history with over 10,000 voulunteers and even more costumes and props. It will open with a reading of a passage from Shakespeare’s Tempest and will also include maypoles, a 23 ton bell and a moshpit. (Really!) Color me intrigued enough to actually watch primetime network television for the first time since I got Hulu+ on my iPad. It’s also got me wondering what would happen if the IOC just handed EVERYTHING over to Danny Boyle. Were that the case, perhaps he’d let elements from his filmography influence not just the pomp and circumstance, but the games themselves. Picture this: – Traditional Olympic fanfare is replaced with Iggy Pop’s “Lust For Life” – Leonardo DiCaprio, hopped up on party drugs, is unleashed to wander through the “Beach Rave” segment of the Opening Ceremony – Rock climbing has very much been scratched as an Olympic event – To boost times in track events, all runners will be chased by rage virus-infected undead ghouls – The longjump to be made extra poignant by taking place in the cold vacuum of space to the music of John Murphy and Underworld – Living arrangements at the Olympic Village to involve a lot of mocking interviews by other roommates – Athletes will win their gold medals by exploiting a number of coincidentally corresponding life lessons. Poignant flashbacks to play along on jumbotron. Got any Boyle-isms to add? Follow Jordan Hoffman on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
And the nominees are NOT…. Emmy Award Nominations Leave Out Actors And Actresses Of Color Another year, another Emmy Award Nomination snub. ‘Scandal’ actress Kerry Washington and late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel recently announced this year’s nominees for the 2012 Emmy Awards……and guess what? Yep, the Hollyweird blackout continues. Although several television shows that include cast members of color including 30 Rock, Luther Boardwalk Empire, Saturday Night Live, Game of Thrones and Modern Family received a large amount of Emmy nominations, most of these cast members failed to make the cut. Earlier today, Scandal star Kerry Washington and Jimmy Kimmel announced the 2012 Emmy nominations. This year, a few of our favorite black actors have a reason to celebrate. Idris Elba received a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Mini-series or Movie for his role as John Luther on BBC America’s psychological crime series Luther. On the show, Elba portrays and embattled detective with a dark side. The show itself was also nominated for Outstanding Mini-series or Movie. Don Cheadle was nominated for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role on House of Lies, and Giancarlo Esposito received a nomination for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his role on Breaking Bad. Maya Rudolph picked up a nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy series for her hosting gig on Saturday Night Live. Aside from Rudolph, no other black actresses were nominated for an Emmy Award in a major category. SMH. How exactly does the highest paid actress on television not even receive a nomination?? We’re confused. Source
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 ]
Fans of E.L. James’ erotic bestseller 50 Shades of Grey have been fantasy-casting their perfect Christian Grey for months, arguing over whether this actor or that actor would best embody the BDSM-addicted rich playboy hero in the forthcoming film adaptation. But one enterprising academic has cobbled together the perfect Christian Grey with the help of police technology — a little Brad Pitt here, a dash of McDreamy there — morphing together the features of various leading men. The result: Kinda creepy! University of Central Lancashire’s (UCLan) Dr Faye Skelton employed image-generating software to “create” the first image of womankind’s perfect Christian Grey, using a radio poll of a tiny sampling of fans of the novel. Among this Christian’s features, taken from their suggested dream actors: Patrick Dempsey’s eyes, Brad Pitt’s jawline, Chris Hemsworth’s nose, and, um, Val Kilmer’s lips. Needless to say, this 12-woman focus group might have been a bit too narrow a selection… “While we don’t want to intrude on anyone’s fantasies, based on a small sample of women, this is the image of Christian Grey they have in their heads when reading the novels,” Skelton said (via the BBC). “Personally, I think he’s quite handsome — although everyone’s interpretation will be different.” Neat trick, but way off-base to begin with — almost all of the celebrity sex symbols whose features went into this bizarre face-mash are too old to play Christian Grey, anyway. It doesn’t just make sense to fantasy-cast just any piece of hunky Hollywood man meat for the role; it makes even less sense to mush together the noses and ears and hairlines of random hot dudes and think that will equal hotness squared. I guess this faux Christian isn’t terrible-looking – he looks like any bro you’d see at the gym, though I keep fixating on his various face parts and thinking about who they belong to. Is this the vision of godlike man-beauty you envision introducing Anastasia Steele to a world of kink and psycho-sexual dramarama? Not so much. Besides: What woman is that into Val Kilmer ‘s lips? [ BBC , Daily Mail ]
