“Mythologies aren’t created for the purpose of telling history, they’re created for the purpose of trying to devise some form of identity for people.” On the eve of Terence Malick’s highly-awaited The New World (out Christmas Day), the NYT‘s Steve Chagollan briefly assesses portrayals of Pocahontas in film. (Via Dangerous Meta.)
Category: Directors
Apes in the News.
“‘A few people have already asked me why we’re taking twice as long to tell essentially the same story,’ says the director. ‘And I don’t really know. We’ve been asking that ourselves. I’m going to have to come up with a better answer.'” Newsweek‘s Devin Gordon sizes up PJ’s King Kong, and he seems to really like it: Jackson “proved once again that he might be the only guy whose films are worth getting on a plane and flying halfway around the planet to see.”
Suburban Warrior.
After Good Night & Good Luck and Syriana, how can George Clooney continue his hot streak? Easy…direct a Coen brothers script. Upon wrapping Stephen Soderbergh’s The Good German, Clooney will take a swing at Suburbicon, a Coen project that’s been in mothballs.
He’s Deranged.
Ground Control to Major Tom: So Michael Caine won’t be Nikola Tesla in Chris Nolan’s The Prestige (also with Christian Bale & Hugh Jackman)…That’s part’s gone to the inimitable David Bowie, who’s been basically out of the film scene since Basquiat in 1996. Now that’s fun casting.
Finest Work-Kong.
Dark Horizons procures a number of very fetching King Kong stills…some might be considered minor spoilers, if for some reason you don’t already know the basic outlines of the tale.
IV for V.
Remember, remember, the…17th of March? Guy Fawkes teams up with St. Patrick this year as the ad blitz begins for the rescheduled V for Vendetta. Here’s one of four new teaser posters, with the rest to be released sometime today. Update: The others are here, here and here.
Reel Around the Fountain
Big doings for fans of heady sci-fi: We’ve only seen the very creepy screensaver so far, but finally the powers-that-be have released this brief, mind-bending teaser for Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain, starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz (formerly Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett…this Fountain‘s been a long time coming. It was supposed to be a 2002 release.)
A thin grey line.
Seen tonight with Jarhead: The trailer for Steven Spielberg’s Munich, with Eric Bana, Geoffrey Rush, and Daniel Craig, on the aftermath of, and Israeli response to, the murders at the 1972 Olympics. From this brief clip, it looks to be a very timely meditation on means and ends in the war on terror.
Tilting at Windmills (Again).
“It’s got to the point that I think I just have to get it out of my system. Everyone’s been asking me questions about it, so just to shut everybody up I’ve got to make a film.” By way of Quiddity, Terry Gilliam, fresh off The Brothers Grimm and Tideland, may try to give The Man Who Killed Don Quixote another go. And word is, Depp’s still on board.
Ann’s money’s on the ape.
“And the beast looked upon the face of beauty, and it stayed its hand from killing, and from that day it was as one dead.” KongisKing has the long-awaited new trailer for King Kong, albeit a lousy version. It looks good, but unless you’re a major fan, I might content myself with the behind the scenes sampler for a few hours until a nice large Quicktime version is released. Update: Now, that‘s more like it…large and in charge.