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Oh, boy. Here we go again. A year and a half ago seeing Quentin Tarantino proclaim his intention to make a film wouldn’t have meant much. But then came his appearance on a French talk show stage during Cannes ‘08, where he promised to be back a year later with Inglourious Basterds. We all laughed, knowing that he’d been talking about that movie for a decade. Then he actually followed through, and did so with a great film that has become his biggest hit. So now, when Tarantino tells an Italian talk show “the Bride will fight again,” I suppose we have to take him more seriously.
As Hunter said when reporting the Basterds announcement from May ‘08, let’s go to the tape.
In the interview clip below, the Italian host asks Tarantino about a couple of sequel possibilities. He says ‘maybe’ to a Basterds prequel, “uh, no…it’ll never happen” to a Pulp Fiction sequel (sorry, Vega Brothers fans) and then, and this is the important part, says “but you didn’t ask the third thing. Would I ever do a third…a Kill Bill, Volume 3?” The woman looks taken aback, then asks the question. Will you do Kill Bill 3? “Yes!” And the crowd goes wild.
Because he actually prompted the question, I take it a bit more seriously than I would have otherwise. But making the first two films was a grueling challenge for Uma Thurman; would she be willing to do that again? And does this mean a real live-action chapter, or one of the various anime continuations Tarantino has discussed over the last few years? At one point we’d heard that Kill Bill 3 would focus on a pair of surviving Crazy 88s, while a potential fourth film would show off the battle between the daughters of Beatrix Kiddo and Vernita Green. The latter film is the one I’d most like to see.
News arrived over the weekend that Machete himself, Danny Trejo, had joined the cast of Predators, the sci-fi revamp that Robert Rodriguez has been given creative carte blanche to make in hopes of a blockbuster. Well, our pals at Latino Review have read the script by Michael Finch, Alex Litvak, and RR and they declare it, “a 90-page kick-ass sci-fi movie worthy of the original. The script isn’t some lame PG-13 follow-up. It’s a bloody, violent hard-R script.” The script features a multi-culti, motley crew of criminals, “Predator hunting dogs,” and “Predator falcons,” the latter two of which remind me of the Avatar trailer. Spoilerish details to follow…
The main character in the film is a man named Royce, whom LR compare to Steve McQueen in terms of his steely demeanor and tough guy heroics. Royce is abducted by the Predators—they apparently admire a human kill he committed—and is later dropped via parachute onto their jungle planet. There he encounters seven other humans, and not unlike Rodriguez’s From Dusk Til Dawn, it’s a colorful group of derelicts: there’s a Mexican uzi-packing drug cartel enforcer (likely Trejo’s role, ha.); a “Russian bear” with a rotary machine gun; a female sniper who speaks fluent French; a gangster-esque felon who wields a makeshift knife; a black death squad member from Africa; a yakuza named Hanzo; and an unassuming, smallish-type guy who is on the FBI’s most wanted list. (Calling Con Air’s John Malkovich.)
I guess the movie’s unlikely group of humans doesn’t actually know the unofficial name of the alien species they’re visiting, because they soon reach the realization that…they’re being hunted. LR describes the Predators’ home as…
The Predator planet is a game perserve and our eight humans are the game and are hunted by alien Predator dogs, Predator falcons, and the most cool, the Predator that is orchestistrating everything…is a super Predator, think of a normal Predator jacked up on steroids! In the script he is referred to as Black Super Predator.
No discos? LR says the Black Super Predator—no clarification on the “Black,” but this film already sounds like a more grindhouse-y version of the original: Super Rasta?—is joined by two other super P’s. It’s not pretty. The hunted human protagonists eventually encounter another human, a recluse and survivor that resides in a cave, and he alerts them that…humans have been abducted and used for prey for years. Somebody buy that dude with the purple cape on Jerry Springer a beer, he was right all along.
As long as Robert Rodiguez and his protege, Nimród Antel, who is officially credited as the director, don’t rush the production and apply the care, SFX, and detail of Sin City to Predator, I’m all in for this one come next summer. However, while the Predator franchise is definitely a more macho one than Alien, I would still rather see Predators drift into a more serious, sci-fish direction akin to Scott’s original Alien. Perhaps, this will occur down the line if and when Predators brings some box office fire and restores a legacy tarnished by the AVP travesties.
Oh yeah, and LR says there’s room for a cameo by the Governor of California. Danny Glover is too old for that shit. Etc.
The teaser trailer for the new version of A Nightmare on Elm Street has finally been released, and it shows off Jackie Earle Haley in all his pre- and post-burn glory as the new Freddy Krueger.
Those in Hall H for the Warner Bros. presentation at Comic Con this summer saw a teaser very very similar to this one. (Here’s a video reaction, and David’s writeup.) Perhaps even the exact same thing, though I think there are a few small differences and additions. From what I’ve seen so far, the hook here is definitely Haley; I love his screen presence and am curious to see what he can do to make Krueger his own. The makeup is certainly different, as the last shot reveals, and his dialogue shows that the jokey old Krueger is shelved in a dark corner of Platinum Dunes’ basement. (In that respect, not necessarily a bad thing; I could never get into the wisecracking killer Krueger became.)
The rest of the thing, though…what I’m afraid of is that there isn’t much imagination to the dreamscapes. This is a movie about nightmares, dammit, and there’s leeway to do anything at all. Some of the previous films in the Elm Street serious have been silly as hell, but the standouts at least went out on a limb to present some wild, horrific dreams. I hope there’s a lot more here than snow (or ash?) in a bedroom, creepy little Shining girls and a couple of visual callbacks to kills in previous films in the series. Is there anything to match Freddy slicing up a kid’s limbs and then using tendons to puppeteer him to his death? I hope so.
Music video director Samuel Bayer is making his feature debut with this remake. He’s got a long resume working for bands and music labels, but Platinum Dunes producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Form have obviously exerted significant influence, as this definitely bears the visual stamp of all the other Platinum Dunes films.
The Weekly Re-Brew will be covering this year's Calgary International Film Festival. From September 24 - October 4, Ben and Josh will be at the screenings of the most anticipated films, reviewing on location, going behind the scenes and getting reactions from other loyal movie goers. Check back for the films and times they'll be there and you might see your face on The Weekly Re-Brew.
Stay tuned for the special two part episode, and get excited for CIFF!
With Jackie Earl Hailey having officially declawed Robert Englund and become Freddy Krueger for a new and possibly even-more-horrific decade, an extensive documentary on the franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and the series’ tremendous contribution to horror is both relevant and overdue.
Thankfully, the director in charge of the task is Daniel Farrands, who previously helmed last year’s thorough, appreciative, and online-press-friendly Friday the 13th doc, His Name Was Jason. Entitled Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, and due for release in 2010, this time Farrands is directing alongside Andrew Kasch of Dread Central. Today coughs up a nice teaser trailer featuring series staple, Heather Langenkamp—who played Johnny Depp’s gray-haired mourner, Nancy Thompson, in the ‘84 original and two sequels—offering boiler-room narration. No word on the full line-up of non-journo talent involved (Wes Craven et al), but judging by His Name Was Jason, there will be many faces and stories in the mix. A quick search on IMDB shows that a 2006 doc on ANOES had a similar title, so as to avoid any confusion.
According to STYD, the doc will attempt to live up to its title with two-discs and over four hours of bonus material. In fact, Langenkamp has produced and directed a doc of her own, not so quizzically entitled I Am Nancy, that will be included. Cool side note: the production company in charge of Never Sleep Again is called 1428 Films, a hat tip to the address of the iconic house where Nancy set boobie-traps and lured Fred Krueger to his first of many unsuccessful demises.
The actual house has become a landmark and tourist attraction of sorts in Los Angeles, California, located at 1428 North Genesee Avenue. Check out some pics here, including the forever-freaky staircase that Freddy turned to mush. If any of our readers were wondering, I wasn’t invited to partake in the film—what gives?—even though I rocked a puffy-paint Fred Krueger t-shirt every other day in third grade with five pairs of Reebok Pumps. In the spirit of Halloween, I recently changed my twitter background to a pic of it, now butter thin and vintage to the max. Moreover, Peter recently asked on twitter whether real estate values on IRL Elm Streets dropped around the nation during the heyday of the franchise. The house on Genesee did in fact experience a lapse of residence due to this.
If you’re interested in horror and Freddy, I wrote a surprisingly controversial essay comparing him, Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, past, present and future, a while ago. My love of Elm Street runs double deep, and unlike the expectations I have for this doc, I remain extremely skeptical of Platinum Dunes putting their cold-gelled gloves on the franchise. Yeah, even with Jackie Earle Hailey as the pizza-faced serial killer.
When Due Date, the next film from Todd Phillips, was announced, I wasn’t all that interested in seeing the director do another road trip comedy. Then Zach Galifianakis signed on, followed soon by Robert Downey, Jr. Now Michelle Monaghan has taken the film’s female lead role. A Kiss Kiss Bang Bang reunion? Can you say “hell, yeah”?
Monaghan sadly might not have a huge screen presence in the film. Variety reports that she plays the pregnant wife of Downey; the whole point of the film is that he is racing to make it home before she gives birth. Somehow he pulls in a whacko traveling companion, played by Galifianakis. So expect a bunch of shots of her worrying and/or pissed off, maybe a few remote phone calls between her and Downey, then some sort of reunion at the end. Speaking of reunions, can we get a little Val Kilmer in this? One scene?
Really, though, half the reason this isn’t getting lumped in with another casting notes amalgamation is that it is a great chance to evangelize Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. OK, Shane Black’s directorial debut plays a bit like he took his notebook of ideas built up over a decade or more and turned it into a screenplay, but it is also one of the most entertaining, smart and wonderful cop/detective/buddy movies in the past decade. Black gets great stuff out of his trio of leads, Downey, Monaghan and Val Kilmer. No one saw the damn movie when WB released it in 2005, but I think I have yet to meet anyone who’s seen it since and didn’t love it. So if you’re a Kiss Kiss Bang Bang virgin, please, queue it, rent it, love it.
And hey, Due Date might be pretty good, too. The Hangover was a lot of fun (either if you saw it early, or could get over the hype) and I hope Phillips makes this one work, too.
