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Kick-Ass Character Posters Now Online
6 November 2009 8:08 AM, PST
We’re enormously excited about Kick-Ass, Matthew Vaughn’s balls-out deconstruction of the superhero flick, here at Empire Towers. And the debut of these American posters for the film haven’t changed that one iota.Ever since the news was announced that Vaughn would be adapting (and independently financing) this adaptation of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr’s ultra-violent tale of a young New York teen who becomes a costumed vigilante, there’s been an air of genuine cool about the movie. And the posters, which show only the backs of key characters Kick-Ass, Hit Girl, Big Daddy and Red Mist, standing on top of a New York skyscraper, fits in with that: idiosyncratic and deeply, deeply cool.In case you don’t know, Kick-Ass (Brit newcomer Aaron Johnson) is the hapless teen, Dave Lisewski; Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) is a heroically violent vigilante, training his daughter, Hit Girl (Chloe Moretz, »
Ken Loach Is Looking For Iraq
6 November 2009 7:51 AM, PST
Legendary Brit director Ken Loach may be 73, but he isn't slowing down any - after the success of Looking For Eric, he's already lined up his next movie, Route Irish.Like fellow Brit, Paul Greengrass, Route Irish sees Loach tackle the thorny issue of Iraq, with the title referring to the road between Baghdad Airport and the International Green Zone, and should be a return to harder-hitting fare after the relative whimsy of his Eric Cantona-starring outing.Loach will be working with his longtime writing partner Paul Laverty (who's been the writer for his past nine films now) and will feature, in true Loachian style, two newcomers in the form of Mark Womack and Andrea Lowe. The plot will revolve around two private security contractors working in Baghdad. When one of them dies on 'Route Irish', the other won't accept the official explanation and decides to find out who's really responsible. »
Nakata Wrings The Voice From The Stone
6 November 2009 5:24 AM, PST
Hideo Nakata, the scariest man in Japan, is back to his usual spooky, pant-wetting tricks with the news that he's to direct Voice From the Stone, a supernatural thriller based on an Italian cult classic novel.The plot involves a female psychologist as she starts a case concerning a boy who won't speak - supposedly because of a promise he made to his recently deceased mother not to utter a word until 'her spirit returns'.We're not sure what that means or how exactly your spirit might return (Self-addressed coffin? Shaped as boomerang?) but it has something to do with the psychologist being inhabited by the mother's ghost, someway, somehow.We'll have to find out once the film's released, or buy the novel it was originally based on, which was written for the screen by Mark Wheaton, writer of Friday The 13th and The Messengers. It will be produced by »
New Sherlock Holmes Trailer
6 November 2009 5:18 AM, PST
Despite the hoo-hah and the retakes and the rumours, we're pleased to announce the third version of the Downey Jr. and Law Sherlock Holmes is out today - and it ain't too bad by half guv'nor apples and dogs and bones etc.More banter between the detecting duo has been inserted into the mix, which is pleasingly chucklesome and a very welcome addition, as well as more explosions, gunishment and things flying across rooms. Which, as we all know, might not have appeared in the original tales, but somehow seem to work in this new, arse-kicking, throat-grabbing Holmesian world.Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes is out in cinemas come Boxing Day. »
Ashley Greene To Star In The Apparition
6 November 2009 12:39 AM, PST
Disclaimer: It is a widely-held belief that movie websites, in an attempt to increase traffic, simply and cynically incorporate the words ‘Twilight’ or ‘New Moon’ into news stories, articles and features at least once a day, in the hope of showing up on search engines and thus luring in young, impressionable Twilight fans for a series of hits. Empire is aware of this sordid practice and wishes to distance itself from it. Twilight star Ashley Greene, who can be seen in the upcoming Twilight sequel, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, has signed on to star in The Apparition, a supernatural thriller that will be nothing like Twilight or its sequel, The Twilight Saga: New Moon.Greene, who plays Alice Cullen in the Twilight franchise, will play one half of a young couple haunted by a malevolent spook, as opposed to her role in The Twilight Saga: New Moon, where she »
Isla Fisher May Star In Desperados
6 November 2009 12:29 AM, PST
Ladies! Did you enjoy the raunchy, no-holds-barred, what-will-they-do-next comedy stylings of The Hangover? But, as you were watching Mike Tyson punch out that dude with the beard, were you secretly thinking, ‘Gosh, this is really funny, but what I’d really like to see is a female-oriented version of this envelope-pushing fun, potentially starring Isla Fisher’? If so, then your dreams have come true!For, showing that virtually any comedy idea can get the green light these days if the pitch contains the words, “It’s kinda like The Hangover”, Universal has indeed picked up a spec script called Desperados, with the delightful Fisher circling to star.If she signs on the line that is dotted, the impossibly cute former Home & Away star will play a girl who sends an angry email to her ex when he drops off the radar after having sex. When she then discovers that he »
Bradley Cooper's In A Fields Of His Own
6 November 2009 12:18 AM, PST
Bradley Cooper – he’s so hot right now, Bradley Cooper – has signed on to star in the supernatural thriller, Dark Fields.Cooper will play a struggling New York writer who stumbles upon a pill that allows him to utilise every inch of his brainpower, just like John Travolta in Phenomenon. Unlike Jt, through, Cooper uses his newfound smarts to become rich and famous. But there’s a terrible price to pay, when Cooper discovers that dark forces are chasing him, with a view to evildoing.So the message is simple: hey, kids, don’t do drugs. And, following on from the similar message of The Hangover – in which none of the evening’s shenanigans would have happened had not Cooper and his pals taken some roofies – it’s clear that Cooper is secretly some kind of anti-drug czar, trying to win the hearts and minds of the youth of today. »
Dan Aykroyd To Join Yogi Bear?
5 November 2009 11:26 PM, PST
He's smarter than the average bear, partial to the odd pic-a-nic basket and pals with Boo Boo, and pretty soon he's going to a film star too. That's right, prepare yourself for Yogi Bear: The Movie, a fusion of live action and CGI, that, if Warner Bros. get their way, will see Dan Aykroyd voicing the furry, park-dwellin' felon. Definitely involved in the Jellystone japes is Anna Faris who'll play a documentary-maker that may or may not be modelled on Grizzly Man-era Werner Herzog. Justin Timberlake, meanwhile, is in talks to voice Yogi's bow-tie wearing sidekick Boo Boo.It's a fairly demented sounding proposition but will hopefully be a step up from previous live-action/CG Hanna-Barbera adaptations, not least because there's more of them to come. A lot more. Warners are currently hard at work on a number of Hanna-Barbera properties, including Scooby-Doo 4, Jonny Quest, and the intriguing-sounding Hong Kong Phooey, »
Salt Trailer - Now In English!
5 November 2009 9:25 AM, PST
The trailer for Salt debuted in low-fi Russian a couple of days ago, but here it is in rather spiffing English, making events a good bit more comprehensible for those of us on this side of the former Iron Curtain. Check it out over here on Yahoo!That's Angelina Jolie as Evelyn Salt, a CIA officer implicated in a supposed plot to assassinate the President of the Us. Rather than simply talk things out (which would make a well boring movie) she goes on the run, dyes her hair and generally starts crashing vehicles into anyone who tries to stop her quest to prove her own innocence and save El Prez.The film's directed by Phillip Noyce, who knows his action onions, based on a script by Kurt Wimmer and Brian Helgeland. It also stars Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor. »
New Avatar TV Spot Online
5 November 2009 8:01 AM, PST
Those lovely chaps over at Latino Review have pointed us in the right direction of a brand-new Avatar TV spot that’s just shown up on YouTube.It’s got more glimpses of the military/action side of James Cameron’s sci-fi epic, as human forces deploy – and attempt to destroy – the indigenous life of the planet, Pandora. The action stuff, even in this thirty-second spot, is simply mind-boggling, while the copious amounts of CG just get better and better with each new spot and trailer that hits. Frankly, if you’re not blown away by this, you can stick it up your Ferngully.For more goodness from Jim Cameron’s big brain, watch the new TV spot on YouTube now.Avatar will open in the UK on December 17. »
Jessica Alba In Machete Poster
5 November 2009 1:53 AM, PST
She's been busy for a little while now, off having a baby and dressing up as Dora the Explorer for Halloween, but Jessica Alba is back back back in Machete - and this first poster that Coming Soon found gives us a clue to her look in the film.In the film she plays a Us Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent on the trail of Danny Trejo's Machete, the rogue Federale agent whois on the run after being double-crossed when asked to assassinate a corrupt Senator (Robert De Niro). Also in there are Cheech Marin as a priest, Steven Seagal as a drug-dealer and Michelle Rodriguez as a "saucy taco slinger". Click the image above for the full version on ComingSoon.net The film's currently at the American Film Market, so with luck there'll be more word on a distributor and release date shortly. »
A Single Shot For Michael Fassbender
5 November 2009 12:10 AM, PST
Michael Fassbender – who really should be a much, much bigger star than he is – has signed on to play the lead in the thriller, A Single Shot.Fassbender – so good this year in the hugely contrasting Inglourious Basterds and Fish Tank - will play a poacher on the run from a pair of killers in the film, which will be directed by David Jacobson.Forest Whitaker, William H. Macy and Thomas Haden Church round out the cast, although we’re not yet entirely sure who’s playing the killers.Fassbender is close to making the breakthrough to genuine stardom – word is that he was one of the shortlisted stars on George Miller’s Max Max list for Fury Road – but so far he seems to be targeting leads in lower-budget films, like this and Neil Marshall’s eagerly-awaited Roman flick, Centurion, perhaps as a way of proving that he can carry action films. »
Sony To Adapt Risk Board Game
4 November 2009 11:53 PM, PST
Adding to the recent slew of board game movie adaptations, Sony Pictures have picked up the rights to Risk, Hasbro's strategy game in which players vie for global hegemony by destroying each other's armies and generally hanging around in Greenland.Risk is one adaptation that's come out of leftfield, even considering Hollywood's recent rush to transform everything dice-related into movie properties. Unlike Candyland and Monopoly, the game has no obvious universe or characters, aside from little plastic men with cannon, although it does offer a globally-recognised brand Sony are no doubt keen to exploit.A 'risky' business then? Tssk, says Columbia president Doug Belgrad. "The strategic thinking and the tactical gambles that players must take in the game are what make Risk a classic, thoroughly engaging game. Those elements translated into an action-packed, thrilling story are what will make this a uniquely exciting movie."While our memories of Risk from »
Hawkins And Macy Join Dirty Girl
4 November 2009 11:52 PM, PST
Busy day for William H. Macy. Not only has he signed on to the Michael Fassbender thriller, A Single Shot, but he’s somehow found the time to join the cast of Dirty Girl, an 80s-set coming-of-age road movie from debutante director, Abe Sylvia.Happy-Go-Lucky star Sally Hawkins has also signed on to the movie, marking her first foray into American films, albeit on a Mike Leigh-esque budget level.She’s not the only Brit either, for fast-rising actress, Year One and Cracks star Juno Temple, will ostensibly play the lead. She’s the dirty girl of the title, a sluttish high school student who teams up with an overweight gay teen (Jeremy Dozier) to go on a road trip across California, in the hopes of finding her real father.Lisa Kudrow is also on board the flick, which Sylvia – a Broadway veteran – will direct from his own script. »
Galifianakis Joins Puss In Boots
4 November 2009 11:52 PM, PST
So-hot-right-now comedy star Zack Galifianakis continues to stack films like cordwood, with the news that he's in negotiations to join the cast of Puss In Boots, as unlucky egg Humpty Dumpty.Yes, in a perfect piece of casting the slightly round and weirdly fragile (at least in his Funny or Die series) Galifianakis will play the cracked character who all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't reassemble. Whether he'll be a good egg or a bad egg remains to be seen, with the script by Tom Wheeler and Chris Miller still under wraps.All we do know is that Antonio Banderas is returning as Puss, with Salma Hayek voicing his love interest in a reunion that will probably see fewer bullets flying than in Desperado but hopefully the same levels of chemistry.Puss In Boots is out on November 4, 2011 in the Us; December 16 2011 here in the UK. »
Pierre Morel To Direct Signals
4 November 2009 11:16 PM, PST
Pierre Morel, director of the wonderful guilty pleasure that is Taken, has signed on to direct Signals, a thriller that’s said to be in the same vein as Three Days Of The Condor.It won’t be the Frenchman’s follow-up to the hugely enjoyable Liam Neeson action thriller, which grossed $224 million globally. That’s From Paris With Love, an actioner starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers and John Travolta, which hits early next year.Since Taken took over the world, though, Morel has attached himself to a Tokyo-set thriller for Paramount, and Universal’s Pursuit. Whether Signals has jumped ahead in the queue remains unclear at this time. But the dude clearly has a thing for one-word titles.Richard Potter and Matthew Stravitz wrote the screenplay for Signals, the story of which remains under wraps for now. Media Rights Capital is stumping up the cash for the flick. »
Danny Boyle To Direct 127 Hours
4 November 2009 11:16 PM, PST
Danny Boyle already directed 28 Days Later, but now he's giving himself a shorter time-frame in 127 Hours, the squirm-inducing true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston, some do-it-yourself amputation and one-armed cliff-scaling. Please excuse us a minute while we shudder.Yes, if you were wigged out by Touching the Void, then this is one to thoroughly avoid. Ralston was climbing in Utah in 2003 when a boulder dislodged itself and pinned his lower right arm. He was stuck there for five days, during which time he finished all his water, started drinking his own urine and prepared to meet his maker.Half-delirious and with the arm already dead, he realised he could get free if he lost it. So he broke his own bones and sawed it off with a tool he describes as "what you'd get if you bought a $15 flashlight and got a free multi-use tool" (go ahead and wince »
Anthony Hopkins Is Ernest Hemingway
4 November 2009 11:07 PM, PST
Andy Garcia is prepping Hemingway and Fuentes: a drama about the two decades in Cuba that culminated in Ernest Hemingway's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1952 novel The Old Man and The Sea, the last of his works to be published during his lifetime.Garcia has written the film in cahoots with Hemingway's granddaughter Hilary, and will direct providing he can get the funding together: "Francis Coppola said to me, 'the way you make a movie is, you begin'. We've begun." He'll also star as the titular Gregoria Fuentes: Hemingway's closest friend. The project has been gestating since the 70s, when keen offshore fisherman Garcia began coming into regular contact with anglers who had chased the giant marlin with Hemingway in the 40s and 50s.Anthony Hopkins has agreed to star as Hemingway; a role he's coveted for a while, and one to add to his list of true-lives alongside Richard Nixon and Pablo Picasso. »
All Change Again For Tourist
4 November 2009 10:39 PM, PST
More entries and exits through the permanently revolving door that is The Tourist, which has now lost two directors and two leading men.It started life as a project to be directed by Bharat Nalluri, starring Tom Cruise and Charlize Theron. Then Cruise walked in favour of Knight and Day, and was replaced by Sam Worthington. Nalluri left soon after, as did Theron. Theron was replaced by Angelina Jolie, and Jolie was very keen for Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck to pick up the megaphone.But this morning it emerges that both Worthington and Donnersmarck are now off the film, over "creative differences". With whom, we wonder (not very hard)? Variety suggests that several directors are circling the project, which still seems to be considered a plum gig, rather than the potential trainwreck its pre-production so far suggests. One name they mention in particular is Alfonso Cuaron (Y tu mama tambien, »
Exclusive: New Green Zone Poster
4 November 2009 4:00 AM, PST
It's been a long time coming, but the release date for Paul Greengrass' Green Zone is finally approaching (it's out in March), and here is an exclusive first look at the worldwide one-sheet poster to prove it.While everyone (including us) assumed this was a war movie at first, it's increasingly clear that Greengrass has in fact made something that's closer to an action-thriller, despite being set against the backdrop of the Iraq War. Damon plays Chief Warrant Officer* Roy Miller, who gets increasingly frustrated by the bad intelligence he's been given in the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and starts his own investigation to find out what's going on. Also, according to this tagline, he's "done following orders".And really, as posters for action-thrillers go, this one's got everything you need. It's got Matt Damon, it's got him wearing one of those nifty vests with many useful, »
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