MOVIE NEWS
THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM
Edgar Ramirex (Domino, right) has been cast as the villain Paz for the third Jason
Bourne movie, directed by Peter Greengrass (United 93) for release on 8
August 2007. In the third movie, Bourne will hunt down his past in order to
find a future, travelling from Moscow, Paris, Madrid and London, to Tangier
and New York... to find the real Jason Bourne.
BLOOD VAMPIRE
Director Ronny Yu (Freddy Vs Jason) will helm a live-action adaptation of
hit anime Blood Vampire, starring South Korean actress Jin Ji-hyun. The
film, retitled Vampire, has a budget of $30 million and concerns a vampire
employed by the US government to hunt demons in post-WWII Japan. Shooting in
China stars next March 2008.
HIS DARK MATERIALS
Author Philip Pullman is increasingly impressed with the casting for the
movie versions of his three children's books. So far the project has secured
the talents of Dakota Blue Richards (Lyra), Nicole Kidman (Miss Coulter),
Daniel Craig (Lord Asriel) and Eva Green (Serafina), and can now add Sam Elliot (Hulk)
as daring aeronaut Lee Scoresby.
Pullman: "The film of The Golden Compass is progressing very well. I spent
yesterday at the studios in Shepperton, meeting some of the cast, including
Sam Elliott, who's playing Lee Scoresby. Sam's resemblance to the Lee in my
mind is just astonishing. His Lee has all the presence, the experience, the
battered integrity, the humour, and the courage of the aeronaut who first
walked into my story thirteen years ago."
"I can't imagine a better cast, and the sets and costumes are just
astounding. They were filming the scene where Lyra approaches Iorek Byrnison
at the gyptian camp and asks him to take her to the village near the lake,
because the alethiometer has told her that there's something she needs to
see there. Dakota had to speak to the empty air, because Iorek, of course,
is being constructed pixel by pixel in a computer somewhere; but his voice
is provided by Nonso Anozie, and a better bear you'd have to go a long way
to find."
The trilogy concerns a young girl called Lyra who encounters parallel
worlds, talking bears and witches in an epic story that caused controversy
because of its religious content.
IRON MAN
Robert Downey Jr (right) is set to star as billionaire inventor Tony Stark (aka Iron
Man), in the new superhero movie from director Jon Favreau (Zathura).
Speaking about the role, Downey Jr said: "The suit for Iron Man is so
complex and does so much stuff that except for once or twice or from the
chest up, I'm not required to do all that much. What I will do is a lot of
motion capture so that the movement isn't just some random stunt guy. A lot
of time I look at CGI and I'm like 'What's the reference for this? This
looks like a cartoon reference not a person.' So I said I want to do all the
motion capture work, which is like eight months after finishing shooting,
but as much as it as I can do, I will."
"I went after [the role] like a greyhound after a rabbit. I loved
Marvel and Iron Man to me is the goods. To tell you the God's honest truth, I'd thrown them
all away for Sgt. Rock, because I really grew up on Hogan's Heroes, Sgt.
Rock. I'm still addicted to the History Channel and the Military Channel is
my thing, but Tony's the best because I could never be Sgt. Rock. He's a
little bigger and more butch and has a cigar, I don't see it. Tony's a
perfect fit for me, and if I was ever going to do this type of thing, I
thought, you know, like early '40s. Great, because when you hang up your
'macho hat' and start directing or doing other stuff, it's not an
embarrassment to be doing this in your late '40s still if we wind up doing
three of them."
Iron Man is scheduled for release on 2 May 2008.
THE INCREDIBLE HULK
The sequel to Ang Lee's Hulk, directed by Louis Leterrier (Transporter 2),
from a script by Zak Penn (X-Men III), is set to arrive in cinemas on 27
June 2008. It is very unlikely that any of the original stars will return,
despite contractual obligations, due to the original film's lukewarm
success.
MAD MAX 4
Director George Miller is still keen to do a fourth Mad Max movie, although
original star Mel Gibson is increasingly unlikely to be involved. Miller has
confirmed: "We were about three months off shooting [Mad Max 4] when the
Iraqi war came and the American dollar collapsed against the Australian
dollar so we lost our budget. Also, we couldn't get the container ships out
because of security and stuff."
"Though I think there will be another Mad Max; the time has gone where Mel
can be in it. I think the last opportunity was about four years ago and you
know the character's lean and hungry. He was twenty one when he first played
Mad Max and he's now in his fifties. Also I think he's much more interested
in what's happening behind camera than in front. It needs a lean and hungry
actor and he's not into acting so much anymore and I think he just loves
producing, writing and directing. But I think if fates allow there will be
another Mad Max though it is certainly two films away for me, but the time's
gone when Mel can run around the wasteland anymore."
WANTED
Morgan Freeman is set to star alongside rising British hot property James
McAvoy, for Wanted – a sci-fi action movie that will mark the
English-language debut of Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov. Wanted is
based on a series of graphic novels by Mark Millar, about a man (McAvoy) who
discovers that his long-lost father is an assassin. After his dad is
murdered, the son is recruited into a covert organization of killers and
trained to follow in his father's footsteps. Freeman will play Sloan, the
lead assassin who trains McAvoy.
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