Archive for August 24th, 2009

DiCaprio, Nolan

Director Christopher Nolan’s newest film Inception, which stars an ensemble cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Tom Hardy and Michael Caine, has a new teaser trailer that has just been released by Yahoo! Movies.

Inception, also written by Nolan, is said to be a complex sci-fi/action film that will play with the minds of audiences (CommingSoon.net).

Commingsoon.net seems to have the best video quality of the teaser, which you can access here.

Inception is set to release July 16, 2010.

Quick Opinion: The complexity and ambition of 2000′s Memento, which put Nolan on the map, is considered by most critics to still be his best film. If Inception is of the same level of intricacy and ingenuity then critics and audiences alike ought to feel satisfied with Nolan’s continuing pursuit to surpass his already impressively documented potential. The real test however, if the film is a success, will come during Oscar season where many of Nolan’s fans believed he got snubbed over 2008′s The Dark Knight.

Carlos Fresnadillo

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, director of 2007’s 28 Weeks Later, has been penciled in to direct the video game adaptation of Bioshock. Universal Studios bought the rights to the story from game producer Two-Take Interactive and have a completed script ready to go, written by John Logan (The Aviator, The Last Samurai).

Gore Verbinski, director of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, was slated to direct but was forced to back out due to budget and schedule complications. Verbinski is set to direct the animated feature Rango starring the voice of ex-pirate Johnny Depp, due to release March 18, 2011 (also written by Logan).

Fresnadillo’s official attachment to Bioshock is contingent on Two-Take’s approval.

Source: Variety, IMDb

For those who have not yet seen the History Channel’s documentary “Star Wars: A Legacy Revealed,” it is perhaps the most comprehensive look on the entire Star Wars saga. The 2 hour long show delves deep into the world’s mythology, religion, philosophy, and social impact in an attempt to articulate the tremendous attribution that the series’ author and director George Lucas owes while simultaneously praising him for creating such a timeless fairy-tale.

The documentary progresses by examining in detail each one of the main characters and what archetypal roles they fill, often resembling Greek gods, mythical beings, or legends of literary fiction. Symbolism has always been thought to be huge in the Star Wars universe, but at last this is a venue which explains symbolism and representationalism in an extremely approachable way. It is an engaging and well thought-out program.

The Emmy Award winning program first premiered back in 2007, but if you haven’t yet seen it and are at all interested in the Star Wars universe it is well worthwhile to look up.

Unfortunately it is not yet available on Netflix, but is available to view online in its entirety on the History Channel’s website. May the force be with you.

Gus Van Sant

Academy Award winning director Gus Van Sant is in talks with Imagine Entertainment and Columbia to take over and direct the screenplay of Restless, written by first-time screenwriter Jason Lew. Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and his daughter Bryce are set to produce.

After being shopped around to Ron Howard (via his daughter Bryce who attended New York University with Lew) and Imagine, the still unfinished script eventually ended up in the hands of Van Sant, whom Grazer believes is a perfect fit for the project. Grazer and Van Sant worked together on 1998’s remake of Psycho.

The story is a “contemporary take on young love” that is planned to be shot for around $15 million in Van Sant’s beloved northwest.

Source: Hollywood Reporter