Tag: Cinema

Thandi Rice & Mr. Not-so-Fantastic.

The first family set, Oliver Stone’s W picks up some Dubya admin hangers-on: namely, Thandie Newton as Condi Rice and Ioan Gruffudd as Tony Blair. Those are both solid. “Among the key “W” roles yet to be cast are those of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Karl Rove.“

Kael’thas called. He wants his look back.

It’s the Burning Legion vs. the forces of Tempest Keep, with the U.S. of A. caught in the middle, in the full trailer for Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Looks like a healthy dollop of summer fun, if nothing else.

Clowning Around (the world).

If you’ll remember, I posted last week that viral promotion for The Dark Knight would bring back the Clown Prince of Crime for April Fool’s Day. Well, whatever happens tomorrow — and word is it might be the final trailer, although, again, it’s April Fool’s, so who knows — it seems the Joker has set up shop here, at the “Clown Travel Agency.” Tune in tomorrow, folks. Same bat-time, same bat-channel.

Update: Apparently, DA candidate Harvey Dent has been swiftboated by the “Concerned Citizens for a Better Gotham” (a.k.a. some disgruntled cops), and he’ll be holding a press conference tomorrow at 3pm to address the charges made in the ad. This sounds like a prime moment for Joker/trailer-related shenanigans.

Update 2: Never mind tomorrow: The trailer seems to have leaked, and it’s a beaut. (Ok, sorry. I couldn’t help myself…just getting in the April Fool’s mood a day early.) At any rate, more Dark Knight info as it comes.

Update 3: And they’re off: Looks like Step 1 is a worldwide scavenger hunt…apparently to acquire Joker bowling balls and cellphones. The bowling balls have phone numbers and code words attached — presumably that’s Phase 2. Update 4: With all the balls doled out around the globe, the next stop is this Acme Security Systems site…where everyone’s getting “server is too busy” screens of death. April Fool’s! Update 5: For those who did manage to get through, they got a call from Commissioner Gordon, but no obvious link to a trailer or anything. (You can hear it here.) No more updates here unless something big happens (but, if you wanted to play along, this wiki overview of the growing Dark Knight ARG is a good place to start, and most of the spinoff sites have been found via The Gotham Times or the Jokerfied version.)

Update 6: Some spoilerish stills of the Joker appear at a French site. Check ’em out before they disappear.

Passing the Torch (and Whip).

Henry Jones, Jr. imparts a life lesson in a new TV spot for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. A lot of the overlap with the teaser here, but worth a look for the opening exchange.

The face in the misty light.

Dubya gets his damsel: Elizabeth Banks will play Laura Bush in Oliver Stone’s forthcoming W, with Josh Brolin in the title role. W starts shooting next month in Shreveport. As a admirer of Stone’s Nixon, I for one am looking forward to the finished product.

Update: Here comes 41. Stone casts James Cromwell and Ellen Burstyn as George H.W. and Barbara Bush respectively.

McKellen the White. | Dent-Worthington Heats Up.

“Encouragingly, Peter and Fran Walsh have told me they couldn’t imagine The Hobbit without their original Gandalf. Their confidence hasn’t yet been confirmed by the director Guillermo del Toro but I am keeping my diary free for 2009!” Grey Havens be damned, Ian McKellen reports he’s likely returning as Gandalf for The Hobbit (well, if he and producer Peter Jackson have anything to say about it, and they probably will.) Update: More good news: Composer Howard Shore is back as well.

Also in movie news, the viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight is picking up again. As you may remember, a slew of new Gotham-related sites appeared last December. Now, more have arrived, of a distinctly Harvey Dent bent: A new edition of The Gotham Times, Dana Worthington for DA (a.k.a. Harvey Dent’s opposition), Maiden Avenue Report (Gotham’s Drudge, it seems), Citizens for Batman, St. Swithuns Church, and Gotham Cable News are all now online, along with the Dent campaign site linked to the other day. Also, apparently the original marketing plan was always to shift from the Joker to Harvey Dent, so this rollout hasn’t necessarily been affected by the loss of Ledger. (That being said, viral text messages seem to indicate the Clown Prince of Crime will pop up yet again before April Fool’s Day.)

The Great Debate: Minotaur v. Centaur.

By way of my bro, Underground Online queries numerous celebrities and luminaries on the most pressing issue of our time: Who would win in a fight between a minotaur with a trident and a centaur with a crossbow? Those weighing in on the debate include David McCullough, Ridley Scott, Helen Mirren, Ed Harris, Marc Singer, and the Battlestar and Wire crews. I was asked before being shown the site, and you can count me in the centaur camp. Screw the dice: If this is happening outdoors and not in close quarters, ranged cavalry > heavy infantry (although admittedly there’s something to be said for the existential Nolte thesis.)

Thomas meets the Thompson Twins.

“An executive who worked with Sangster in Los Angeles recently told me: ‘Thomas seems to be the one. He was just great, but I’m not certain if anything has been finalised yet.‘” Spielberg and PJ look to have found their Tintin, and it’s Thomas Sangster, formerly of Love, Actually (but I’ll try not to hold it against him.) He joins Andy Serkis as Captain Haddock and…hey, it’s mocap…can we get Berk as Snowy/Milou?

A Man for All Seasons.

“Sir John Gielgud admired Mr. Scofield’s stillness and sense of mystery, describing him as ‘a sphinx with a secret.’ Peter Hall, who directed Mr. Scofield’s acclaimed Salieri in Peter Shaffer’s ‘Amadeus’ in London in 1979, said that as a young man Mr. Scofield brought ‘a sulfurous passion, an entirely new note’ to the stage, and that there was always a tremendous tension beneath the surface, ‘like a volcano erupting.‘” Paul Scofield, 1922-2008.