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8 articles from 2008

20 July 2008 12:06 PM, PDT | From TwitchFilm.net | See recent Twitch news

Along with the lineage that can be traced from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008) back to Paul Leni’s The Man Who Laughs (1928) is the latter’s indelible imprint upon Brian DePalma’s 2006 neo-noir The Black Dahlia, based on James Ellroy’s novel, where mutilation reclaims its destructive thrust as an expressive mask of life’s inequitable if not inevitable horrors.

To synopsize briefly, in The Man Who Laughs—the filmic adaptation of Victor Hugo’s 1869 novel—Gwynplaine (Conrad Veidt), the son of a noble father who has displeased King James II, is turned over to a surgeon, Dr. Hardquannone (George Siegman), associated with a band of ostracized and feared gypsies, the Comprachicos (literally “child-buyers"), for proper punishment: a facial mutilation which leaves him with a permanent and ghastly rictus grin. As a title card states, the King condemns him “to laugh forever at his fool of a father.

Michael Guillen

15 July 2008 4:06 PM, PDT | From ifc.com | See recent IFC news

By Aaron Hillis

In the mere decade he's been filling movie screens, 30-year-old actor Josh Hartnett has already worked in both mega-budget studio flicks ("Pearl Harbor," "Hollywood Homicide") and with auteurs like Sofia Coppola ("The Virgin Suicides"), Robert Rodriguez ("The Faculty," "Sin City") and Brian De Palma ("The Black Dahlia"). Maintaining his stance with one foot in Hollywood, the other currently leaning more heavily in Indiewood, Hartnett's latest . which he also co-produced . is a time warp back to New York during the summer of 2001. Only marginally a pre-9/11 film, director Austin Chick's "August" is an implosive study in hubris set against the backdrop of the dot-com economic meltdown. Hartnett plays Tom Sterling, a narcissistic millionaire CEO who is far more concerned with his materialistic rock star image than he is for Landshark, the sinking ship of a company that he began with his brother Joshua (Adam Scott). Hartnett chatted with me about the film,

Aaron Hillis

4 June 2008 10:32 AM, PDT | From iconsoffright.com | See recent Icons of Fright news

The Hollywood Reporter posted a story this morning that director Brian DePalma has signed on to helm The Boston Stranglers, an adaptation of Susan Kelly's nonfiction book "The Boston Stranglers: The Public Conviction of Albert DeSalvo and the True Story of Eleven Shocking Murders." The screenplay was written by Alan Rosen. Gale Anne Hurd's Valhalla Motion Pictures is producing.

The article continues, "De Palma similarly plumbed real-life-derived atrocities in "Casualties of War," "Redacted" and "The Black Dahlia."

The Strangler case continues to stir debate. Many question whether Albert DeSalvo -- a publicity hound who confessed to the murders and was later stabbed to death while incarcerated on unrelated charges -- was the actual killer.

The murders were the basis of a 1968 movie that starred Tony Curtis as DeSalvo and Henry Fonda as the detective pursuing him. That version was based on an earlier book by Gerold Frank. Several

4 June 2008 4:02 AM, PDT | From Digitalspy | See recent digitalspy news

Brian De Palma has signed on to direct The Boston Strangers, says The Hollywood Reporter. Based on Susan Kelly's non-fiction book The Boston Stranglers: The Public Conviction Of Albert DeSalvo And The True Story Of Eleven Shocking Murders, the film charts the murders attributed to an infamous Boston serial killer in the '60s. Alan Rosen will pen the film's screenplay (more)

By Simon Reynolds

3 June 2008 11:55 PM, PDT | From bloody-disgusting.com | See recent Bloody-Disgusting.com news

Brian De Palma is making a return to our beloved genre as the "Scarface" director has signed on to helm The Boston Stranglers for producer Gale Anne Hurd's Valhalla Motion Pictures, according to the Hollywood Reporters. The film is adapted by Alan Rosen ("Head of the Class") from Susan Kelly's nonfiction book "The Boston Stranglers: The Public Conviction of Albert DeSalvo and the True Story of Eleven Shocking Murders." The thriller will detail the early-'60s Beantown killings and their controversial resolution. The Strangler case continues to stir debate. Many question whether Albert DeSalvo -- a publicity hound who confessed to the murders and was later stabbed to death while incarcerated on unrelated charges -- was the actual killer.

7 March 2008 8:04 AM, PST | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Director Brian De Palma has credited cult classic Easy Rider with paving the way for maverick movie-makers like himself, Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese to revitalise an ailing Hollywood film industry.

The Scarface director admits the studio system was on the verge of collapse before Dennis Hopper's 1969 classic restored film bosses' faith in the finance-generating power of movies.

And De Palma is convinced he - along with fellow directors Spielberg, Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola - would have been resigned to a career in independent movie-making if Easy Rider hadn't scored such unexpected box office success.

He tells Britain's Empire magazine, "The whole studio system was breaking down then. We were making these independent movies that got us some recognition. And then Easy Rider came out and made a lot of money, and the people in the system thought that we knew something that nobody else did, and then we got the opportunity to make movies within the system."

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7 March 2008 3:12 AM, PST | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Director Brian De Palma has hit back at critics who deem his habit of casting women in victim roles degrading, insisting it's harder for audiences to sympathise with men in distress.

During the 1980s, the moviemaker was often targetted by enraged equality activists for never creating heroic roles for women, instead hiring actresses to play femme fatales and murder victims.

However, De Palma has blasted accusations of misogyny - he simply picks women to be his movie's ill-fated characters because they're much better at conveying vulnerability.

He tells Britain's Empire magazine, "Women are more sympathetic creatures in jeopardy, plus they're more interesting to photograph. I'd rather photograph a woman walking around with a candelabra than a guy. It's as simple as that.

"Somebody once said that the history of cinema was made photographing women, and I think one could truthfully say that."

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6 March 2008 11:02 AM, PST | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Director Brian De Palma has attacked the U.S. government and the media for fooling the American public into believing the Iraq war has the full support of the armed forces fighting there.

The movie-maker - whose new film Redacted has sparked controversy in the U.S. for its anti-war stance - is furious at American officials for generating pro-war propaganda at the expense of the true facts.

He tells British magazine Empire, "The mainstream media doesn't show it (the war) at all. So we don't see the picture, we don't see reporters covering what's actually going on.

"So we buy all the spin that comes from the Pentagon. To actually suggest that the soldiers are uncomfortable, angry and resentful is heresy."

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8 articles from 2008