Category: Movies

Simon Pegg is Scotty in Star Trek XI

Simon Pegg

It is now official. After months of speculation about who would play the role of the Scotsman it has been announced that comedian Simon Pegg is to take the role.

Pegg is famous for his projects in the United Kingdom including the movies Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead. He is also known for the Channel 4 comedy series Spaced. Casting Pegg in Star Trek is a courageous move by J.J. Abrams as the fan favorite for the role was Stargate Atlantis’ own fake Scottish accent actor Paul McGillion who played Dr. Carson Beckett in the show.

The worrying aspect about this particular bit of casting comes from two fronts.

1) Could they be casting actors now who are more bankable due to negative remarks about the previously cast unknown actors?

2) Could J.J. Abrams decision to cast Simon Pegg not be based on his fitting the role but due to the Director/Producer’s own personal emotions on Pegg?

The reason the second question has come up is because of his previous decisions to cast actors he has worked with before instead of new faces. A few examples are below.

Mentioned he had wanted to work with Ricky Gervais and Simon Pegg publicly due to liking their comedy. Simon Pegg was then brought in to play a role in Mission Impossible 3 after Gervais dropped out and now he is in Star Trek. J.J. Abrams also used actors from Alias in Lost such as the airplane’s pilot in the Lost pilot episode.

It could be he has a good eye for talent or there could be another reason. Speculation aside it is safe to say that he knows more about Simon Pegg’s abilities than us as he has seen Pegg’s Scotty casting audition and we have not.

Let’s hope it all goes well and a good movie is made for the fans of the original series.

Hitman IS going to be R-Rated

Hitman the Movie

The rumour mills worked overtime yesterday, to bring in some phoney news about the Hitman movie being watered down for a PG-13 release. Looks like it was all lies. We’ve got news (or rather, confirmation) that Hitman is heading straight for an R-rating and will not compromise on gore, violence and all that stuff.

Director Xavier Gens is still on the project and is apparently confused as to why the rumours wanted him out of the project. Thank the lord for this news. I was under the impression that just once they make a good video game-movie and blam, they censor it out. Let’s hope we’re getting all that blood and gore we wanted.

Eric Bana joins Star Trek XI

Eric Bana

As the search continues to find the cast for Star Trek XI the newest casting announcement is that Eric Bana (The Hulk, Munich) is set to play the villain Nero.

Set for a November start date the studio still needs to cast a young James T. Kirk and Scotty for the J.J. Abrams (Lost) directed project.

While adding the first bankable big name actor to the roster will work in Paramount’s favor as far as box office numbers are concerned we will have to wait until the films release on Christmas Day 2008 to see if Bana is a right fit for the Star Trek universe.

Bana joins the already announced cast members Anton Yelchin, Zoe Saldana, Zachary Quinto (Heroes) and Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek: TOS).

McG and Vin Diesel in Terminator 4?

Vin Diesel posing

Some of the latest news tells us that McG, famous for directing Charlie’s Angels and Stay Alive is in talks for directing Terminator 4. Doesn’t sound like a bad choice to me, at least if you consider the likes of well, Boll. Production on T4 has certainly sped up, though – the script arrived last week and since the movie is pre-strike, we should expect production to start ASAP.

Another piece of news says that Vin Diesel is rumoured to be in talks to play the terminator this time around. At least no one will complain about his acting, that way. Come to think of it – he’d make a fantastic Terminator!

As for the story itself, it has been confirmed that Terminator 4 will carry on from the story of Terminator 3 – the apocalypse has taken place and now John Connor has to form an army of rebels against the evil Skynet. I like the way the Terminator movies take place in two time frames, heh.

Who’ll make the cut? How will the movie fare? You can only discuss and comment right now. We’ll wait for the movie, though.

[Via Snarkerati]

My Red Camera Experience

Red Camera

If you’re not in the film industry, you may not have heard about the most advanced video camera in the world. Thanks to the Digital Cinema Society, I had the privilege of getting an in-depth look at what makes the Red camera tick.

First off, what makes this camera special is that it records in 4K. This is the same resolution that 35mm records on – a resolution higher than High Definition. Currently there are only 50 Red cameras in the world. At the event we were looking at #30.

Continue reading “My Red Camera Experience”

Lucas: Indy 4 will be as good as Indy 1 (“Phantom Menace” fears heightened)

George Lucas!

VH1 managed to get close to George Lucas, who decided to spill some beans about his upcoming movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Now, expectations for this movie are big, not only because Indiana Jones is returning after a long hiatus, but because fans saw what happens to a successful franchise when it is “continued” some 20 years later. Yeah, Jar Jar Binks happens.

Like before, Indy will be chasing an important historical/legendary artifact – which, if you haven’t guessed already, will be the Crystal Skull this time around. Lucas promises that crystal skulls are mighty powerful, more so than the puny Sankara Stones or the Holy Grail (pfft, who wants immortality?). “I think this is actually better, it’s up there with the Ark of the Covenant.” says Lucas. We sure hope so.

The crystal skulls are an actually existing phenomena, however. Unlike the Ark of the Covenant, though – the Crystal skulls have been ascribed all sorts of powers (including the overthrow of Microsoft), but which one will make it to the film?

“There’s several different kinds of skulls, several different kinds of theories, several myths that are surrounding them,” Lucas said, clearly delighted by his secret knowledge. “So, you just have to put all the pieces together, look it up and figure out which one it is. Or just wait until the movie comes out, which is so much easier.”

Now, getting from the movie’s content, will go to the movie itself. It’s shaping up for a release on May 22nd next year and damn, is that a classic Lucasfilms date! The movie is tonally most similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark, and will be just as good, if Lucas is to be trusted. Let’s hope he is. And for God’s sake, let’s hope Jar Jar Binks isn’t in it.

[Via Firstshowing.net]