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Dan Owen reviews

DAN'S   MOVIE   DIGEST

I s s u e   # 3 8

1 1   A p r i l   2 0 0 3

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** MOVIE NEWS **

THE PUNISHER

'Artisan Pictures' and 'Marvel Studios' are pushing ahead with another comic-book adaptation. This time The Punisher is to filmed, written and directed by Jonathan Hensleigh (Armageddon). Production begins this July for a Summer 2004 release.

Unknown actor Thomas Jane (Deep Blue Sea) has the lead role of FBI undercover agent Frank Castle (aka The Punisher), who until now has beat considerable odds. A former Special Forces operative, he is finally moving out of the field and into a desk job - and a normal life with his wife and son.

Then Castle's world is shaken to its core by a nightmare he has longed feared: his family is executed as a repercussion from his final undercover assignment. With unparalleled intensity, ferocious intelligence and fearless actions, Castle seeks to punish the murderers - and finds the one thing he least expected: redemption.

'Marvel' head Avi Arad said: "Although Frank Castle is a tough-as-nails vigilante, he is, at his very core, an extremely tortured soul, a victim of survivor's guilt."

"Thomas Jane, being a character actor, is going to have all he dimension necessary to bring to life the depth of a character who is both the hero and the victim with the physicality of a Super Hero. By signing Thomas, we follow the Marvel tradition of bringing art-house actors in to tackle our complex characters. We are very excited to have him as part of our family."

KING KONG

'The Dominion Post' had an exclusive interview with director Peter Jackson about his next venture - his beloved remake of King Kong. Jackson says the film will have a budget of approximately $200 million and will be shot in Wellington, New Zealand and other "exotic" locations around the area.

Shooting is set to begin mid-2004 with the aim of releasing the film in 2005. Jackson, partner Fran Walsh and screenwriter Philippa Boyens will start work on the script in October. They already wrote a script back in 1997, so it's likely this existing draft will be rewritten to improve it.

Jackson said the Wellington-based production will provide between 1500 and 2000 jobs and make a significant contribution to the local economy. Most of the King Kong crew will be New Zealanders, though Jackson was required by 'Universal' to hire international actors for the bigger acting roles.

Two-thirds of the film is set on the mysterious Skull Island - which is supposed to be somewhere near Sumatra in the story - so location scouts would be looking for a jungle-type location and beaches around the country.

The New York set for movie will be shot in Wellington because filming in the real New York would be too expensive and too difficult to get the right 1930's look.

"We will build somewhere in the Wellington area. We'll just find some flat land and build a big back block set of New York streets and then use our computers to extend the buildings, make the streets longer and the buildings higher. It may just be a field somewhere on someone's farmland."

King Kong and all the dinosaurs will be CGI and employ the breakthrough techniques used to bring Gollum to life.

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BATMAN: THE FRIGHTENING

'Batman On Film' indicates that the hiring of screenwriter David Goyer (Blade II) for 'Warner Brothers' Batman The Frightening project isn't to pen a new script, but to rewrite their existing screenplay - which I reviewed in a previous DMD (read review here).

DIE HARD 4

Bruce Willis and producer Arnold Rifkin have both debunked the spurious rumour of Britney Spears' involvement in the fourth Die Hard movie. Rifkin also spoke with 'About.com' about pre-production on the film.

Apparently they have met with 30 writers who have all had difficulty in providing a strong reasoning for the John McClane character to be "in the wrong place at the wrong time" for a fourth time.

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GHOSTS OF THE ABYSS

'The New York Times' interviewed director James Cameron about his new $13 million 3D-IMAX Titanic documentary Ghosts Of The Abyss recently, and Cameron revealed he has agreed to direct and produce a new 3D movie for '20th Century Fox'.

Cameron said: "We are going to do an experiment with an awful lot of Rupert Murdoch's money". Nobody seems to know exactly what the project will be, bit it will definitely utilize the 3D techniques Cameron has created for Ghosts Of The Abyss.

So, are 3D movies the new vogue? Or should they have been buried after the Jaws 3D debacle? Cameron doesn't seem to think so, and neither does Robert Rodriguez - about to start filming his Spy Kids 3D adventure (see below). So how long will it be before George Lucas announces his decision to re-release all the Star Wars films in three-dimensions...?

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Joel Schumacher responded to PhantomMovie.Com about the fact celebrated actor Michael Crawford will not be involved in his new movie. Crawford, best known as Frank Spencer in the 70's BBC sitcom Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em has always enjoyed support from Phantom fans to star in any eventual movie, having played the character onstage for Andrew Lloyd Webber for years.

But Schumacher insists that "the decision to not use Michael Crawford is Andrew Lloyd Webber's and his alone. All fans and friends of fans of Michael Crawford should please tell that to everyone for me, because this has nothing to do with me. If you care to write to A.L.W, it's the Really Useful Company in London."

THE SILVER SURFER

'The National Post' teased the following information from Vin Diesel - apparently the xXx star would love to take the lead-role in a Silver Surfer movie.

SUPERMAN

'Superman Homepage' reports that director Dominic Sena (Swordfish) is tipped to be Brett Ratner's replacement on the freefalling project. Rumours also suggest that unknown actor Matt Bomer may have signed for the proposed trilogy.

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THUNDERBIRDS

The first in-movie image from Jonathan Frakes' upcoming Thunderbirds movie adaptation has appeared, showing the iconic Lady Penelope's pink car. (see right)

SPY KIDS 3D: GAME OVER

Writer-director Robert Rodriguez spoke to 'About.Com' recently about his second sequel to the immensely (and bafflingly) popular Spy Kids.

"Everybody who's ever been in a Spy Kids movie is back." The movie's proposed 3D effects will also figure into the worldwide releases, not just specialist cinemas. "It'll play in all theatres because I'm using an anaglyph system," confirmed Rodriguez.

"[Ghosts] is a polarized system where you can only see it in a special theatre. I'm using the same cameras but I'm outputting it so it'll be in digital theatres, it'll be in regular movie theatres, you'll have coloured glasses that you get when you buy a ticket and you'll see it in red and cyan".

The eventual DVD release will also utilize the 3D format, but not the VHS release - due to that format's poorer resolution. The movie itself is said to be taking strong references from 80s classics Tron and John Carpenter's Escape From New York

Personally, I've loved Rodriguez' adult filmmaking (El Mariachi, Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn), but have found his Spy Kids franchise quite unappealing, OTT, and dated. That said, this fresh 3D-angle should ensure Game Over does better business in the UK than Island Of Lost Dreams did.