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 ]
Given author Stephenie Meyer’s close connection to Summit’s Twilight films (she came onboard to produce the final two films), the vampire saga has retained a firm sense of authenticity even as scripter Melissa Rosenberg has tweaked and added details to translate Meyer’s vision for the big screen. But a new EW Breaking Dawn Part 2 preview teases a “pretty big shock” for fans expecting stark faithfulness to the series-ender. What could be more shocking than the all-out vampire/werewolf/baby-loving party that already is Breaking Dawn ? According to EW , who has a slew of new Breaking Dawn Part 2 images including the above look at Kristen Stewart and Rob Pattinson in happier, more undead times, Rosenberg changed plot elements in the film’s last act that had Pattinson going, “What?” (Seriously. That’s what he says he said.) The good news is, Rosenberg didn’t act alone; she and Meyer supposedly conjured this maybe-huge, probably not-so-earth-shattering deviation together: Even devoted readers of Meyer’s books are in for a pretty big shock in the final third of the film, when the plot strays from the last novel in a sequence dreamed up by Meyer and longtime screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg one night over dinner. “When I first read the script, I got to that part and was like, ‘What?'” Pattinson says. “And then I had to go back a page.” Still, even those averse to change will be more than satisfied, and probably thrilled, by how the series ends. The actors certainly are. Says Pattinson, “It does it a serious justice.” The bad news (for now) is, fans have no idea how major or minor said change is. Since much of Breaking Dawn the novel is spent rallying for an epic final showdown between Edward and Bella’s army of vampire friends and family and the insidious Italian coven fronted by Michael Sheen, there’s a good chance the tweak is related to the X-Men: The Last Stand -like standoff between the two opposing enemies. Then again, since that standoff also happens to be rather anticlimactic — it’s the reason I never thought the book could be adapted easily to the screen — any injection of some new dramatic advancement would be welcome. But hey, who knows? Maybe it’s something as simple as a flashforward to Jacob and Renesmee’s happy future together, which isn’t weird at all . [ EW via CinemaBlend ]
U.K. born actor Bob Hoskins said Wednesday he is retiring following a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease. A representative announced the actor’s retirement. His career spanned four decades, most recently appearing in Snow White and the Huntsman . “Bob Hoskins wishes to announce that he will be retiring from acting, following his diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease last autumn,” his representative said in a statement. “He wishes to thank all the great and brilliant people he has worked with over the years, and all of his fans who have supported him during a wonderful career. Bob is now looking forward to his retirement with his family, and would greatly appreciate that his privacy be respected at this time.” Hoskins received a Best Actor Oscar-nomination in 1987 for his starring role in Neil Jordan’s crime-drama Mona Lisa . He won the BAFTA and a Golden Globe nomination for that role in addition to wins ranging from Cannes to the Boston Society of Film Critics and the European Film Awards. He also received nods the following year for his role in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and later for parts in Made in Dagenham (2010), Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005), Twenty Four Seven (1997) and The Street (2006). He also appeared in Hook (1991), Brazil (1985) and Enemy at the Gates (2001). [ Which is your favorite Bob Hoskins film? ] [Source: Hollywood Reporter ]
After much speculation, the Venice Film Festival officially said Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master will join the event’s Competition as its 18th title. Organizers of the 69th annual event taking place August 29th to September 8th, added four more titles in all Wednesday to the festival’s roster. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams and Laura Dern, the 1950s-set drama that has been dubbed Anderson’s “Scientology movie.” The feature follows the relationship between a charismatic intellectual (aka, “the Master), whose faith-based group begins to gain a following in America, and a young drifter who becomes his right-hand man. Also joining the Venice Film Festival lineup out of competition (with descriptions provided by the festival): Como voglio che say il mio future? (To Know My Future?) by Ermanno Olmi and Maurizio Zaccaro (Special Screening) – The film offers a significant cross section of the expectations, hopes, disappointments and fears of young people today. Convitto Falcone (Collateral Event) by Pasquale Scimeca – The film is dedicated to Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino on the 20th anniversaries of their death, but it also remembers the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Pio La Torre, of Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, and many others. The story is set in the present day, and the plot centers on young people who must come to terms with their sense of justice, even in their small everyday gestures. Du Hase es Versprochen (Forgotten) the feature-length directorial debut of German director Alex Schmidt. The Midnight Horror centers on two childhood friends, Hanna (Mina Tander) and Clarissa (Laura de Boer) who meet after 25 years. They decide to return together to an island where they had once spent their vacations, but they will be haunted by the ghosts of the past.
After much speculation, the Venice Film Festival officially said Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master will join the event’s Competition as its 18th title. Organizers of the 69th annual event taking place August 29th to September 8th, added four more titles in all Wednesday to the festival’s roster. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams and Laura Dern, the 1950s-set drama that has been dubbed Anderson’s “Scientology movie.” The feature follows the relationship between a charismatic intellectual (aka, “the Master), whose faith-based group begins to gain a following in America, and a young drifter who becomes his right-hand man. Also joining the Venice Film Festival lineup out of competition (with descriptions provided by the festival): Como voglio che say il mio future? (To Know My Future?) by Ermanno Olmi and Maurizio Zaccaro (Special Screening) – The film offers a significant cross section of the expectations, hopes, disappointments and fears of young people today. Convitto Falcone (Collateral Event) by Pasquale Scimeca – The film is dedicated to Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino on the 20th anniversaries of their death, but it also remembers the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Pio La Torre, of Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa, and many others. The story is set in the present day, and the plot centers on young people who must come to terms with their sense of justice, even in their small everyday gestures. Du Hase es Versprochen (Forgotten) the feature-length directorial debut of German director Alex Schmidt. The Midnight Horror centers on two childhood friends, Hanna (Mina Tander) and Clarissa (Laura de Boer) who meet after 25 years. They decide to return together to an island where they had once spent their vacations, but they will be haunted by the ghosts of the past.
Author, playwright, politician Gore Vidal died at his home in the Hollywood Hills due to complications stemming from pneumonia, A.P. reports . His nephew said he had been sick for “quite a while” and had been living alone in the home when he passed away Tuesday. Vidal is remembered as one of the giants of the literary world as well as one of its first television-era celebrities. He was a prolific and argumentative writer, political commentator, novelist, essayist and screenwriter. He also acted on occasion, making a cameo appearance in Federico Fellini’s 1972 film Roma and in Tim Robbins’ 1992 political satire Bob Roberts . He voiced animated versions of himself in The Simpsons and Family Guy and appeared as himself in artist Francesco Vezzoli’s Trailer for the Reemake of Gore Vidal’s Caligula , a piece that was included in the 2005 Venice Biennale. Although Vidal wrote or contributed (in some cases, without attribution) to 14 screenplays, he is often remembered for his involvement in the controversial and problem-plagued Caligula , Penthouse founder Bob Guccione’s attempt to make a high-brow porn film. The film, which was directed by Tinto Brass, depicted the decadent rise and fall of the Roman Emperor, who was played by Malcolm McDowell. The movie also starred Teresa Ann Savoy, Helen Mirren, Peter O’Toole and John Gielgud and is considered the first major motion picture to combine both stars and scenes of pornography. Still a cult curiosity — and still banned in some countries — the film was originally titled Gore Vidal’s Caligula but the finished film bore so little resemblance to the writer’s script that he distanced himself from the picture and his name was removed from the title writer’s name was removed from the title in order to resolve a lawsuit Vidal filed against Guccione. Vidal was also an uncredited contributor to the 1959 epic Ben-Hur (the screenplay is credited to Karl Tunberg). In the 1995 documentary The Celluloid Closet , Vidal claimed the film contained homoerotic subtext, explaining that he had persuaded director William Wyler to direct actor Stephen Boyd as if he were a spurned homosexual lover. Charlton Heston later denied Vidal had much influence in the project. More recently, Vidal wrote the television movie Billy the Kid , which starred Val Kilmer, and the mini-series Lincoln . His play The Best Man is currently running on Broadway. He also twice ran for political office unsuccessfully. Despite his multimedia success, Vidal will be best remembered for his novels and essays. He published his first Williwaw when he was 20 years-old (the first of 26) in 1946 and followed it up with In a Yellow Wood the following year. His third novel, The City and the Pillar (1948) began a life-long quarrel with conservatives who took exception to the book’s open portrayal of homosexuality. His United States Essays, 1952-1992 won him a National Book Award in 1993, but he received relatively few honors considering the extent and reach of his writings, which also included Myra Breckinridge 1968, Duluth (1983) and Lincoln 1984. His fight with the political right infamously came to a head during the 1968 U.S. presidential campaign when Vidal and the late conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr tangled on national television. During a heated appearance on ABC News, Vidal dubbed Buckley a “proto-crypto-Nazi” and the furious National Review founder responded by calling Vidal, “you queer.” The two men continued to bash each other’s brains out in the pages of Harold Hayes’ Esquire — a showdown that eventually resulted in the two men suing each other for libel. During the 2000s, Vidal was the outspoken critic of another conservative force, the George W. Bush administration, which he accused of having expansionist policies. [Source: A.P. , Wikipedia ]
ABC’s Denver affiliate has acquired and released the first image of James Holmes, the 24-year-old suspect in the shooting attack that left 12 dead and 50 injured this morning at an Aurora, Colorado, multiplex. Local police, meanwhile, have encountered a series of booby traps complicating their investigation of Holmes’s apartment. As a result, authorities are taking significant precautions as they proceed: Police say the apartment of the suspect in a mass shooting at a Denver area movie theater is booby trapped, so they’ve evacuated five surrounding buildings. Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates says bomb technicians are determining how to disarm flammable or explosive material in the third-floor apartment. “We could be here for hours or we could be here for days,” said Oates. Oates says pictures from inside the apartment are fairly disturbing and the devices look to be sophisticated. Developing… Oh, and for the record: James Holmes is not “Jim Holmes” from the Colorado Tea Party. Nice one, GMA .
Any re-hash of Beetlejuice will have to include Michael Keaton, Tim Burton who directed the 1988 original that also starred Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara has said. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter writer Seth Grahame-Smith, who is currently penning a script for the Beetlejuice sequel said in May that he’s spoken with both Burton and Keaton about the proposed follow-up. In Beetlejuice , Keaton played the ghost in the film, which went on to gross nearly $74 million in the U.S. and cost about $13 million at the time to make. “I think he would be willing to do it. He would have to be [in] it,” Tim Burton told MTV News at Comic-Con where he was promoting his new stop-motion pic “Frankenweenie.” “He was great as that character. I think it’s a way to unleash your inner whatever. I bet you he would get right back into it.” Continuing, Burton added, “I’m finishing this, and then I need to [revisit ‘Beetlejuice 2’].” Grahame-Smith told a crowd in Austin, TX back in May via Aint It Cool News “It’s one of the things I’m producing at Warner Bros and it’s one of the things I’m supposed to write…I met with Michael Keaton and Tim Burton about it and they said the same thing, ‘if you come up with a story that’s worthy of us actually doing this for real and not something that’s about cashing in or forcing a reboot down someone’s throats, then we’ll think about it.” He also said he has his own restrictions for proceeding with the possible second Beetlejuice : “If it’s not something we all get super-excited about then why do it…” He said he told the studio it “can’t be a reboot or remake.” The project would have to be in his words, “a straight, pure sequel. If it’s 27 years after the first movie, then 27 years will have transpired in the next movie.” An animated Beetlejuice series ran from 1989 to 1992 first on ABC and then Fox, loosely based on the 1988 film that Burton developed and executive produced. [Source: MTV News , Aint It Cool News via http://www.digitalspy.com/movies/news/a394412/tim-burton-michael-keaton-would-need-to-be-in-beetlejuice-2.html]
At least one gunman opened fire at a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises early Friday morning in Aurora, Colorado, injuring as many as twenty people. An early report from local radio station 850 KOA cites witness reports that a shooter, possibly wearing a mask, opened fire and set off tear gas during a shoot-out scene in the film. Various reports cite at least ten people dead, although details are still emerging with at least one suspect in custody . Developing… UPDATE: NBC News ( @NBCNews ) and AP ( @AP ) report 14 people are dead, with 50 others wounded in the attack. UPDATE: Video purported to show the scene at the Aurora Century 16 following the shooting has hit YouTube (below). Be warned – it’s unverified (although at least one fan in full Batman costume can be seen) and contains footage of an apparently bloodied cinemagoer exiting the theater. UPDATE: Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates shared details of the shooting via press conference : The violence erupted about 12:30 a.m. MDT as the gunman stood at the front of one of the Century 16 theaters at the Aurora Mall. “Witnesses tell us he released some sort of canister. They heard a hissing sound and some gas emerged and the gunman opened fire,” Oates said at a news conference. One suspect is in custody and there’s no evidence of any additional shooters, Oates said. [ KOA , Reuters , MSNBC ]
Recalling his early years mixed with Sixties feminists and Black Panthers, filmmaker John Waters again charmed and amped an audience at the start of Outfest late last week where he received the Los Angeles LGBT film festival’s 2012 Achievement Award. Never one to bore or to deliver a saccharine tale, he implored the audience to take a “Act Bad” and to use humor as a way of social dissent. He told a cheering audience to hail fashion insults outside the homes of anti-gay politicians and told budding filmmakers that if a studio says your story is “too gay,” then to get your “gay screenplay friends and go back to the studios and yell out the grosses of all their hetero-flops.” He talks about being a Yippie (‘to get laid’) in the ’60s and a hilarious chant in London at a protest against the pope. The 30th edition of Outfest runs through July 22nd in L.A.
