News for
The Birds (1963) More at IMDbPro »

2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 1999

1-20 of 57 articles from 2009   « Prev | Next »

---

Interviews: Christmas Stars Shine With Mickey Rooney, Ernest Borgnine, Tippi Hedren, Larry Hagman

24 December 2009 6:10 AM, PST | HollywoodChicago.com | See recent HollywoodChicago.com news »

Chicago – On this Christmas Eve, we will bask in the light of sparkling film stars, and honor their legacy. Mickey Rooney, Ernest Borgnine, Tippi Hedren and Larry Hagman met admirers at the Hollywood Celebrities Show.

The older stars are the most fascinating and best attended towards at these type of events. There is a sense of regal elements to their bearing, but at the same time a knowledge that they were possessed in another era, simpler perhaps, but still significant in this time of online and DVD assess to the older canon.

Let us spend time briefly this Christmas Eve with the following legends of film, as HollywoodChicago and the ace of all aces, photographer Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto, connect to the living embodiments of our film history past at the Hollywood Celebrities Show in Rosemont, Illinois.

Mickey Rooney, Film and Box Office Titan for Metro Goldwyn Mayer

The Mickster, »

- adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)

Permalink | Report a problem

---

6 New Clips from Inglourious Basterds DVD & Blu-Ray

10 December 2009 8:40 PM, PST | Fangoria | See recent Fangoria news »

Universal Studios Home Entertainment just sent over a batch of clips from the upcoming DVD/Blu-ray release of Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (available 12/15). The clips (along with a new trailer) show off some of the bonus features to be found on the special edition releases.

Get the full details on the discs and check out the new clips below the jump!

In the first year of the German occupation of France, Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Shosanna narrowly escapes and flees to Paris where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a cinema.

Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish American soldiers to perform swift, shocking acts of retribution. Later known to their enemy as “the Basterds,” Raine's squad joins German actress and undercover »

- no-reply@fangoria.com (James Zahn)

Permalink | Report a problem

---

Iliades To Replace Campbell On 'Birds' Remake

5 December 2009 6:54 AM, PST | AMC - Script to Screen | See recent AMC - Script to Screen news »

Pajiba is reporting that Dennis Iliades ("The Last House on the Left") has apparently replaced Martin Campbell ("Casino Royale," "Goldeneye") in the director's chair for the remake of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds."

Here is what the site says:

But a Universal property like The Birds isn’t going to simply disappear because it lost a big-name director. It just gets kicked down a stair to the next available lower tier director. In this case, that director looks be Dennis Iliades, who brought us the stunningly mediocre remake of The Last House on the Left.

It’s not completely official yet, but Illiades is in the driver’s seat of the $60 million produced movie — he’s driving the new direction of the movie, which, under Campbell’s direction, was geared toward a PG-13 release. Illiades is more interested in amping up the horror and making it an R-rated affair, although at this point, »

- Kellvin Chavez

Permalink | Report a problem

---

Despite Being a Bad Idea, The Birds Remake Moves Forward

4 December 2009 3:19 PM, PST | FilmSchoolRejects.com | See recent FilmSchoolRejects news »

Once upon a time Daphne Du Maurier wrote a neat little short story about birds run amok called The Birds. In 1963 Alfred Hitchcock adapted the short story into a film starring Tippi Hedren. I saw it as a mere sprout when it was on  a small screen, in other words, television and had nightmares. By today's standards some corpses missing their eyeballs is pretty tame stuff, but gore was never Hitchcock's M.O. It then came to pass that Martin Campbell, Casino Royale, was to direct Naomi Watts in a remake. I wonder if she was set to revive the icy cool blond with the blond updo that seemed never to get frazzled on Tippi even as she fled screaming from flocks of belligerent birds. Or was she to be a more down to earth bird plagued heroine. Campbell has now left the project and it looks like Watts has as well. But »

- Robin Ruinsky

Permalink | Report a problem

---

'The Birds' Remake Hires New Director

4 December 2009 12:13 PM, PST | GetTheBigPicture.net | See recent Get The Big Picture news »

The remake of The Birds, which we learned several months ago had hit a brick wall, may have found a way around it. Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, the upcoming Green Lantern) is no longer the director of record, having been replaced by Dennis Iliadis. Campbell is obviously too entrenched in the DC Comics movie to remake Hitch, so the director of the remake of The Last House on the Left has been tipped for the project by Platinum Dunes.

Pajiba filed the report yesterday, adding that Naomi Watts is probably also out of the running now. There was talk for a while that George Clooney would play the Rod Taylor role, but that was always bullroar. There, I said it: Bullroar. Clooney has zero to gain from doing something like this, however, if they were remaking North by Northwest...

I didn't care much for the original Birds, so remaking it affects me not one iota. »

- Colin Boyd

Permalink | Report a problem

---

The Birds Remake Gets The Last House on the Left Director

4 December 2009 6:20 AM, PST | FilmJunk | See recent FilmJunk news »

Some potentially distressing news this week for fans of Alfred Hitchcock. It looks like that long-rumoured remake of The Birds from Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes production company is still happening, despite the fact that the previously attached director Martin Campbell has since left the project for Green Lantern pastures. According to Pajiba [1], a new director is settling into Campbell's place, and that man is Dennis Iliades, who helmed this year's remake of Wes Craven's The Last House on the Left. Now, I actually didn't mind the new version of The Last House on the Left, but the reason I find this news distressing (aside from the fact that they are remaking The Birds!) is the fact that Iliades reportedly wants to amp up the gore and turn the movie into an R-rated horror flick. It is also getting yet another rewrite, having already gone through Scott Derickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, »

- Sean

Permalink | Report a problem

---

New director for remake of Hitchcock classic The Birds

4 December 2009 2:30 AM, PST | The Geek Files | See recent The Geek Files news »

It Looks like the planned remake of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds is about to spread its wings again.

Production company Platinum Dunes - created in 2001 by filmmakers Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form - has been developing a new version for several years as part of its catalogue of horror reimaginings.

In Hitchcock's classic - based on Daphne du Maurier's 1952 novella - birds inexplicably gather and attack in a California town.

Tippi Hedren, star of the film, criticised plans for the remake in 2007, telling MTV: "Why would you do that? Why? I mean, can't we find new stories, new things to do?"

In June this year, producers Form and Fuller admitted to Collider that they were having problems with the idea.

Fuller said at the time: "Birds... What do they do? They peck and poke...so there's not a lot of variety as to what can happen.

"We keep trying, »

- David Bentley

Permalink | Report a problem

---

'The Birds. Remake Gets Helmer

3 December 2009 9:35 PM, PST | CinemaSpy | See recent CinemaSpy news »

How do you make an interesting movie out of killer birds? That’s what the executives at Platinum Dunes have been trying to figure out.

But since it’s ostensibly a remake of The Birds, the Alfred Hitchcock suspense classic, perhaps one way is hiring a director experienced with rehashes?

According to Coventry Telegraph’s The Geek Files, the production company run by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form has hired Dennis Iliadis, director of the recent remake of The Last House on the Left. Iliadis is expected to deliver an R-rated horror film at a budget of approximately $60 million.

Screenwriter Scott Derrickson has already turned in a script, which like the Hitchcock classic, is based on Daphne du Maurier’s 1952 novella about birds that gather and attack in a California town. Billy Ray and Peter Craig are reportedly doing rewrites on it—and maybe that’s a good thing, »

Permalink | Report a problem

---

'The Birds' Remake May Take a Trip to the 'Last House on the Left'

3 December 2009 5:45 PM, PST | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »

Platinum Dunes, the company behind the reboots of Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, and the upcoming Nightmare on Elm Street, announced they were going to revisit Alfred Hitchcock's classic nature-run-amok film The Birds over two years ago. Though little progress has been tracked since then, the bulk of that time span found Casino Royale and Goldeneye director Martin Campbell the main name attached to the helm. And while one could have assumed the lack of visible progress meant the remake had idled at the studio, Pajiba is now reporting that's no longer the case.

According to their source, The Birds is once again looking to get off the ground, only without Campbell in the pilot's seat. They're told that Dennis Iliades is being courted to take over, a move that should divide fans of the original film. On the one hand, Campbell's experience with grand set pieces would »

- Peter Hall

Permalink | Report a problem

---

Martin Campbell Flies from ‘The Birds’ Remake

3 December 2009 5:17 PM, PST | newsinfilm.com | See recent newsinfilm news »

Martin Campbell is through with Universal’s remake of the Alfred Hitchcock classic The Birds.  The Casino Royale director has long been attached to the sacrilegious ideas, but he has signed to make The Green Lantern for Warner Bros and is moving on to bigger and better things.

The good folks at Pajiba have the scoop from the inside, who says Dennis Iliades (Last House on the Left, another remake) is interested in becoming the replacement.

Campbell’s departure was confirmed shortly after by horror site Bloody-Disgusting, but their source denies Iliades’ involvement.  Nothing seems to be signed there while the studio tweaks the script one more time (this makes at least 3 or 4).  I took a peek at an early version of the screenplay and it read like a flock had dive bombed a keyboard.

Naomi Watts has also been attached for years, but with Campbell peacing out she may come to her senses too. »

- Jeff Leins

Permalink | Report a problem

---

Rumor Control: 'The Birds' Remake Begins at the 'Last House on the Left'?

3 December 2009 9:09 AM, PST | bloody-disgusting.com | See recent Bloody-Disgusting.com news »

We've firmed up some unconfirmed news floating around the web last night over at Pajiba. It is 100% true that Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) will Not be directing Universal Pictures' remake of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, although their report that Last House on the Left helmer Dennis Iliades would be replacing him was 100% bogus. Through a few e-mails we learned that Iliades had at once talked to Platinum Dunes producers, but at this time there are no deals on the table or even talks for that matter. The new version would be based on the short story by Daphne Du Maurier, to which Universal owns the rights and which inspired Hitchcock's movie. Tippi Hedren starred in the original thriller about increasingly vicious birds that terrorize a small town. »

Permalink | Report a problem

---

‘The Birds’ Remake Gets A New Director?

3 December 2009 8:49 AM, PST | ScreenRant.com | See recent Screen Rant news »

The last time we reported on the completely unnecessary remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic The Birds, it looked to be dead on the ground, at least for the time being. Sadly, however, it appears the remake is still on its way, and it may have found a new director.

Casino Royale director, Martin Campbell, had been attached up until this point to direct The Birds. However, a little project called Green Lantern came along, and evidently The Birds got brushed to the side and almost forgot about. According to Pajiba, their inside source in The Hollywood Cog says that Campbell is no longer helming the $60 million project, which is set up at Michael Bay’s horror remake-prone production company, Platinum Dunes (the studio responsible for the remakes of A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Amityville Horror, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th, amongst others).

 

However, a project »

- Ross Miller

Permalink | Report a problem

---

Birds Remake Up In The Air

3 December 2009 8:47 AM, PST | FilmShaft.com | See recent FilmShaft.com news »

Hollywood proves yet again the words: sacred and classic translate as: old and remake needed. The man who revitalised the Bond franchise twice (sounds like one of its title) – Martin Campbell – has jumped ship on this re-do of Alfred Hitchcock’s avian horror, The Birds.

Word on the grapevine (according to Pajiba) is that Last House on the Left’s Dennis lliades is circling the project (I will try and get as many bird-related puns in here as possible). Does this Greek filmmaker have a penchant for remakes? Or is it the only work he can get at present. There was a rumour that Naomi Watts was looking at this, but that hardly seems likely now. It gets even worse: Michael Bay is on producing duties.

Hitchcock’s 1963 chiller nested in the pop cultural conscience despite it not being the auteur’s best. Indeed, the first half of the film, »

- Martyn Conterio

Permalink | Report a problem

---

Martin Campbell Off The Birds

2 December 2009 5:55 PM, PST | EmpireOnline | See recent EmpireOnline news »

As he's now far too busy working on Green Lantern, it appears Martin Campbell has decided to drop out of developing Platinum Dunes' planned remake of The Birds.Well, either that or the ghost of Alfred Hitchcock cameoed in one of his dreams to convince him that it was a bad idea. Still, Hitch has yet to make an appearance in the unconscious of Dennis Iliades, who, according to the Pajiba blog, is looking to take over the director's chair.Iliades isn't exactly new to the horror remake genre - just this year, he graced us all with a new version of Last House On The Left. So it appears he's producer Michael Bay's top choice to handle the feathered fiends.This fresh outing for the avian evil hasn't exactly enjoyed an easy flight to the screen - it's been through several writers, including Scott Derickson (The Exorcism Of Emily Rose »

Permalink | Report a problem

---

Free Lecture, Screening to Highlight Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, 12/6

9 November 2009 1:43 PM, PST | BroadwayWorld.com | See recent BroadwayWorld.com news »

The Maltz Jupiter Theatre invites you to look, listen and learn during an evening devoted to the great film director Alfred Hitchcock.

On Dec. 6, the theatre will host a free lecture by film expert Martin Leichter, "Hitchcock: The Mayhem Behind His Movies," about the director's 18th film, The 39 Steps. Leichter will serve as a tour guide to the film, illuminating key points, and telling the audience what to watch for in the 1935 thriller, which will be screened immediately following the lecture.

Nearly 30 years after his death, Hitchcock's name remains synonymous with great film. The silver screen would be decidedly less glittering without such masterpieces as Rebecca, Vertigo, The Birds, Psycho, Rear Window, North by Northwest and The 39 Steps. And who can forget his countless cameos on the big screen, and his droll introductions to his Alfred Hitchcock Presents television series?

In The 39 Steps, Robert Donat plays an innocent man framed »

Permalink | Report a problem

---

Geek Deal: Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece DVD Collection for $54

28 October 2009 9:32 AM, PDT | Slash Film | See recent Slash Film news »

Amazon's Gold Box Deal of the Day is the Alfred Hitchcock Masterpiece DVD Collection for $53.99, 55% off the $120 list price. The collection features "14 of the finest works from the universally acclaimed Master of Suspense come together for the first time in one collection." Packaged in a velvet box, the individual discs inside come four to a case, decorated with original poster art. A 36-page booklet is filled mostly with stills and poster art. As with all the gold box deals, this deal is only good until midnight. The titles include: The Birds; Marnie; Vertigo; Rope; Rear Window; Psycho; The Man Who Knew Too Much; Torn Curtain; Frenzy; Shadow of a Doubt; The Trouble With Harry; Topaz; Saboteur; and Family Plot. Each of the 14 films is supplemented with numerous documentaries, commentaries, and other bonus materials: 14 documentaries; 9 featurettes; Commentaries; Newsreel footage; Production photos, sketches and notes; Storyboards; Theatrical trailers; Masters »

- Peter Sciretta

Permalink | Report a problem

---

50 Influential Scream Queens: Part 2

27 October 2009 10:57 PM, PDT | Fangoria | See recent Fangoria news »

Before I launch into the conclusion of my 50 Influential Scream Queens (read part 1 here), please let me remind you that this list is based upon my personal taste, and my personal taste alone. I didn't poll 100 Fango readers, the Fango staff or any other form of 'industry professionals'. It's all opinion, so if you feel I've wronged a certain actress by excluding them from the list, don't leap to brand the entire Fango crew 'vile'.  I probably just don't personally find their work to be that influential. Either that or I'm just ignorant to their accomplishments!

25. Mia Farrow: Mia's genre work may be a bit limited, but that doesn't change the fact that Rosemary's Baby will forever be regarded as one of the creepiest films in history. Farrow's portrayal of Rosemary Woodhouse is harrowing to say the least, and will always remain (in my mind) one of the best performances the genre has seen. »

- no-reply@fangoria.com (Matt Molgaard)

Permalink | Report a problem

---

Mr. October: Dani Filth

3 October 2009 1:30 PM, PDT | Pretty/Scary | See recent pretty-scary news »

Either you’re a Cradle of Filth fan, or you’re not, but even if you don’t listen to the music of the amazing metal band fronted by Dani Filth (sort of a cross between a musician, an evil warlock, and a British person), you won’t be able to deny Dani’s filthy charm. The dark enforcer of heavy metal and all things darkness has a surprisingly funny side to go along with his incontrovertible sex appeal. In 2003 he voiced the "Dominator" in the feature-length animated film of the same name and starred in the horror film Cradle of Fear. You can hear his collaborative work with Claudio Simonetti and the band Daemonia on the soundtrack of the Argento horror film The Mother of Tears. Now Dani’s latest creation, The Gospel of Filth, is causing us to get our panties in a tizzy. This collection of essays on the occult, »

- Superheidi

Permalink | Report a problem

---

Remaking A Nightmare on Elm Street

28 September 2009 9:45 AM, PDT | SoundOnSight | See recent SoundOnSight news »

The new trailer for director Samuel Bayer and producer Michael Bay's remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street left me thinking these guys think I'm an idiot. And while I have yet to see the movie, I hold out hope that they won't turn another classic into a joke, steering the youth of today away from creepy, original storytelling towards the mire of generic, empty, in-it-for-the-money, crap. Bayer's credits include directing a bunch of videos, and although some of them are those of Iron Maiden and Metallica, that's about the closest he's come to directing horror. The trailer for the new Nightmare has the same feeling as Bay's other remake projects, namely The Amityville Horror and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, both of which turned out to be desecrations of their originals... in my humble opinion. Looks like one saving grace will be the role of Freddy Kruger played by Jackie Earle Haley »

- Melanie Lefebvre

Permalink | Report a problem

---

British Horror Filmmaker Ashley Thorpe Talks About The Hairy Hands

22 September 2009 12:31 AM, PDT | Fangoria | See recent Fangoria news »

If you click here you’ll be able to read the first feature I wrote about visionary UK based filmmaker Ashley Thorpe, an artist whose carefully controlled, creepy and rapturously gothic short films Scayrecrow and The Screaming Skull (which screened at this years NYC Fango Con) really left an impression on me.

The man is a stylist supreme, his weird rotoscope approach matched by his respect for myth and I wasn’t the only one who thought so. Both pictures have gone on to win a multitude of awards and earn a plethora of accolades (you can see them for yourself at Thorpe’s site) and I thought it was high time to play catch up with the man.

See, I’m still convinced this guy is going to be a huge influence in horror for years to come and it appeases my ego to know that I was one »

- no-reply@fangoria.com (Chris Alexander)

Permalink | Report a problem

---

2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 1999

1-20 of 57 articles from 2009   « Prev | Next »

---