‘I’m here today because of [the franchise],’ the director tells MTV News By Kara Warner Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford in “Star Wars” Photo: Lucasfilm
With Skyfall ‘s Daniel Craig seemingly winding down his reign as James Bond, it looks like screenwriter John Logan will be writing off into the sunset alongside him. Deadline reports that the Oscar-nominated Logan ( Gladiator , The Aviator , Hugo ) is writing two connected scripts that will likely see Craig through the last two 007 outings he’s currently signed on for. [ PHOTOS: Prince Charles meets 007 on the Skyfall red carpet ] Like the storylines connecting Casino Royale with the subsequent Quantum of Solace , Bonds 24 and 25 would take Craig through another multiple film dramatic arc, which Bond fans seemed to have loved. And with his Bond increasingly dealing with themes of age and obsolescence, as he does in November’s Skyfall , these two Bond films would presumably see Craig passing the torch to a new agent , or at least closing his chapter of the franchise. Logan, meanwhile, earned his first Bond credit on Skyfall alongside Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. [ Deadline ]
I don’t know when these JENNIFER LAWRENCE big cleavage pics are from….I just know they happend…and since it is Canadian Thanksgiving, you know American Thanksgiving’s horrible neighbor….I figure I’d post them to give thanks to Oscar nominated child stars throwing away a serious acting career by getting type cast as the franchise she signed up for…..because with cheapening a career…comes cheapening herself…and cheapening herself…comes with exposed tits…that make me cum…. Works for me.
Andrew Garfield will be swinging into action again in 2014. The star, along with director Marc Webb, confirmed today that they will return for an Amazing Spider-Man sequel, a project that already has a release date: 5/2/14. In a statement Doug Belgrad, president of Columbia Pictures, praised the returning tandem: “We could not be more confident in the direction we are taking this new Spider-Man storyline and we are tremendously excited to be ramping up production again with Marc at the helm and Andrew continuing on as Peter Parker.” As for Emma Stone , who portrayed Parker’s love interest Gwen Stacy and who is now dating Garfield in real life? She remains in talks and “is expected” to return to the franchise, according to studio sources.
Is there a name more tattered in the annals of big-movie casting choices than George Lazenby ? Notice I say “choice” rather than “mistake,” because for all the static about the admittedly somewhat wooden Lazenby’s shortcomings, he managed to hold his own as the steady center of what James Bond fans have gradually come to recognize as one of the hidden highlights of the series, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service . His filmmaking peers vouch that although inexperienced and not always a day at the beach in terms of temperament, Lazenby was ultimately a pro in his work habits and showed a confidence that enabled him to brazen through a rather daunting succession: replacing the world’s favorite Bond while acting opposite one of the franchise’s most memorable Bond girls. That would be Diana Rigg as Tracy, the daughter of crime boss Draco (played by Gabriele Ferzetti as The Most Interesting Man In the World, 1968-style). “What she needs is a man to dominate her,” Daddy D says of his daughter, but, before we get any comments from readers of The End of Men, be advised that Tracy is more than a match for Bond. And it’s not just because The Avengers goddess Rigg —that’s the classic 1960s UK TV spy series, not the Marvel superhero costume party—is more than a match for Lazenby. It’s because the rather sharp script from one of Ian Fleming’s darker Bond sagas gives the debonair spy license to submit to her charms and depths. As Charles Taylor wrote of Rigg’s Tracy in Salon nearly 15 years ago, “Her presence enhances the whole concept of James Bond. For the first time, Bond has to prove himself worthy of a woman he’s attracted to.” We meet Tracy (aka Countess Teresa) in the pre-credits action when her cardinal-colored Mercury Cougar zooms past Bond’s ride. Although he prevents her suicide in the surf and beats down two thugs who try to grab her, she zooms away, leaving a gaping Lazenby to break the fourth wall and say, “This never happened to the other fella.” [Related: POLL: Vote for Your Favorite Bond Film ] In the making-of featurette that’s found on the Special Editon DVD and in the new 50th-anniversary box set, Lazenby calls that line “A way of breaking the ice,” and he’s right. Director Peter Hunt, who’d been an editor on previous Bond films, explains he decided to accept that Sean Connery’s departure from the role (which would then go on to Roger Moore, et al) was a lurch. So, in order to “get on with it”, he simply asked Lazenby to insert the line, which the model-turned-actor — in his first film role — had been tossing out occasionally on set. It’s a moment not unlike one in the early innings of The Bourne Legacy , when Jeremy Renner , taking over for Matt Damon , is trying to puzzle out his place in the franchise’s deadly world. “You ask too many questions,” says his fellow operative, surely a subtle reminder from writer-director Tony Gilroy that we should simply belt in and take the ride with the new guy. Lazenby’s ride was a turbulent one, thanks in part to his back-seat driving. From the start, the producers of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service had problems calibrating the neophyte’s self-importance: Though he was a tough Aussie who’d been a soldier back home before moving to London in 1963 (where he initially worked as a car salesman), Lazenby groaned about the cold Portugese surf that day he shot the pre-credits surf scene with Rigg. When he had an “I’m the star” snit one night at the Swiss location where the film’s spectacular ski chases were shot, franchise kingpin Cubby Broccoli reminded him that he wasn’t a star until the public decided he was. That was never to be, of course. Director Hunt decided after a frustrating hunt for Connery’s replacement that Lazenby “oozed sexual magnetism”, and Rigg personally signed off on his casting. The film’s cinematographer rather hopefully avers in the making-of short that the filmmakers thought they had found the “ruthlessness of Jack Palance and the charm of Cary Grant” in Lazenby. Alas, the actor’s unfortunate wardrobe in the movie — color-coordinated ensembles, bathrobes and frilly formal shirts — made him look more Austin Powers than James Bond, though a kilt Lazenby wears makes for a good gag. After a girl in a mountaintop harem scrawls her room number in lipstick well up on Lazenby’s left thigh, a henchman for Telly Savalas’ marginally suave Blofeld asks Bond about his physical state following a chopper lift to the cold, mountainous climate. In response, our hero admits to “Just a slight stiffness coming on.”
It’s a big week for the filmmaking Paul Andersons. Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master opened in a handful of cinemas in New York and Los Angeles, and Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil: Retribution in theaters everywhere (in 3D and otherwise). While The Master offers up a immersive, abstract look at an unstable man being courted by the head of a cult-like movement, Resident Evil: Retribution in its own way also departs from the usual narrative confines of moviemaking. It’s the closest thing you’ll find yet to a recreation of a video game sensibility on the big screen — which is in line with the franchise’s source material — and makes for a memorably unsettling if not particularly satisfying viewing experience. Resident Evil: Retribution finds action star (and Anderson spouse) Milla Jovovich returning to play Alice, a former employee turned sworn enemy of the evil Umbrella Corporation. Considering how crazily far and, frankly, nonsensical the story has gotten from its start as the story of a weaponized virus infecting a secret genetic research facility, the film pays surprising attention to the basic premise before skimming over the developments of the more recent installments in an intro sequence. The series’ ability to shuck off its own history is put on display in the initial action scene, which picks up where the last film left off: a slow-motion sequence of explosions and gunfire that runs backwards before lurching forward at full speed to neatly do away with the Arcadia and any other surviving characters on board. Then again, who cares about those guys? The Resident Evil films have clearly become a continuing discombobulated nightmare belonging to Alice and Alice alone. Again and again, she seems to find safety, only to wake up in some new, terrible scenario in which she has to fight for her life. Resident Evil: Retribution takes this idea to its end point by being set in an underwater Umbrella-run base in which different test stages have been built for the company to demonstrate its bioweapons. All-white hallways string together life-size recreations of Times Square, downtown Tokyo, central Moscow and a suburban street. Each houses a scenario in which, at the bidding of the central A.I., swarms of infected humans, ax-wielding mutants or zombie soldiers will be released to attack. Resident Evil: Retribution , in other words, has taken great pains to find a way to have real-life game stages. This sensibility extends to the way the film explains its mission — rendezvous with a rescue team and find a way out — and the way it provides weapons for its characters: armories rise out of the ground, or, in a sequence that demonstrates definite game logic, Alice looks in an abandoned cop car, heads to a nearby bike to take its chain, smashes in the window and adds both her new tool and a gun from the vehicle to her inventory. This is even the case in the way actors from earlier installments in the franchise — Michelle Rodriguez and Oded Fehr — are folded into the film, thanks to Umbrella’s fondness for cloning. A glimpse of multiple versions of Alice in storage also reinforces the idea that if she were to die, she could just respawn and start over. Video games and movies have an uneasy partnership. The first Resident Evil is one of the best of a shaky history of adaptations from console to big screen, but the franchise has skewed toward the sensibility of the former medium rather than the latter in a way that’s unique but tiresome. At its best, Resident Evil: Retribution feels like a series of elaborate cut scenes strung together, but much of the time it’s a reminder of how incredibly unfun it can be to sit around watching someone else play without getting a chance yourself. The film’s extravagant action scenes have not a whiff of consequence to them, and other than Alice, the foremost quality of all of the characters is their disposability. A sequence like the one in which clones of familiar characters are put through an impossible test scenario is genuinely disconcerting in how it shakes up our perceptions of the reality of what’s on screen. But even that becomes a reminder that bringing one of the traditional qualities of a video game protagonist — his or her qualified immortality — to a movie further strips any sense of human investment in the character. Any consistency on screen is entirely stylistic: there are no rules in this universe other than that Alice will battle on, defying gravity and physics and looking fabulous despite the world eternally ending all around her. Follow Alison Willmore on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Robert Pattinson and company gave Twilight Saga fans a look at Breaking Dawn Part 2 during last Thursday’s MTV Video Music Awards, presenting a minute-plus montage of clips from the upcoming blockbuster. And now Summit Entertainment has gone a step further, posting the full-length trailer online from which that footage was taken. It depicts: Bella as a hungry, athletic vampire, taking on a mountain lion, diving off clips and preparing for battle against the Volturi. Lee Pace as Garrett and his shocking first encounter with Casey LaBow’s Kate. Scenes from the epic final battle that will bring this franchise to a close. What are you waiting for? You may never see Pattinson and Kristen Stewart this close ever again! Watch now:
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 ]
Krisen Bell is old, overrated, boring, played out, not the girl I like to have as the hot main character of any movie I’ve seen her in….but the girl I’d like to replace with a hot younger girl with bigger tits to be the main character of movies I’ve seen her in….As far as I’m concerned, she’s just low level, but managed to get a few good hits, even though all her movie roles should be the straight to DVD kind, cuz she’s that kind of girl…even her bikini pics in Esquire are uneventful, even boring…I guess when you’re a teen dream, but pushing 35….shit becomes more of a nightmare….
This is my attempt to lure all one billion Indian people into my trap….I need India as my fan…I need to be hired to make public appearances in their markets…I need my own TV show on India TV…..Using pics of their celebrities in latex who I have never heard of named Deepika….who I’d probably like to get Deepika inside if I had a penis capable of going deep….especially in her latex….especially if it helped me get in with her people….. Jessica Biel was Wet for GQ India…I am pretty sure this are some seriously bootleg, dated, GQ shots of Jessica Biel from 1998, that they just allow their franchise over in India have access to their old database…but she looks good…
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