Ridley Scott Will Direct Alien 5

Ridley Scott Will Direct Alien 5
All other priorities are rescinded
Source: Variety

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Variety's story is more concerned that the screenplay is being written by Jon Spaihts, but the headline and the one-line explanation are enough to make us run around the room with glee: Ridley Scott is now attached to Alien 5 as director.

Commercials director Carl Erik Rinsch was originally reported to be the Scott Brothers' choice to helm, with their Scott Free Productions, well, producing. But there's no mention of Rinsch this morning. Were Fox unconvinced? Or did Ridley start getting more interested the more involved he became?

Whatever the circumstances, what does seem to be officially confirmed now (rather than just rumoured and hoped for) is that the film is a prequel to the 1979 original, presumably dealing with the events that led the elephant-faced Space Jockey and his croissant-shaped ship to crash on Giger World.

Spaihts' pitch to Fox and Scott Free was apparently enthusiastically received. Well clearly, since he got the job. We'd hope Fox and the Scotts reaction wasn't "meh, that'll do". Prolifically busy all of a sudden, Spaihts is also involved with Shadow 19, Passengers,The Darkest Hour, Children of Mars, and George and the Dragon. But the Alien prequel will be his highest profile gig yet.

Hard to imagine a higher, really...

Source: EmpireOnline

Fantastic Mr Fox Trailer Online

Fantastic Mr Fox Trailer Online
Clooney and Streep get foxier.
Source: Yahoo Movies

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The trailer for Fantastic Mr. Fox has gone live on Yahoo, and while it's a big grainy it's our first real taster of what we can expect from the stop-motion adaptation of the classic Roald Dahl's children's book. And our initial reaction? The voice work's great; the rest may take a little getting used to.

The book sees Mr Fox butt heads (not literally) with three local farmers, the nasty Boggis, Bunce and Bean, who are determined to catch him but only end up blowing his tail off. As the farmers try to dig up the Foxs' burrow, Mr Fox and his family lead a motley band of tunnelling animals after the farmers' food supply.

By the looks of this trailer, the movie's story has changed things up somewhat for the screen, but George Clooney's Mr Fox still seems like the confident, devil-may-care character we all remember. The rest of the voice cast includes Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Willem Dafoe, so you can bet it sounds good, while the animation has a very retro feel that we suspect we might get to like about 10 or 15 minutes after the film starts.

Fantastic Mr. Fox is out on October 23 in the UK, but to read more between now and then pick up the new issue of Empire magazine, which profiles the film in more depth.

Source: EmpireOnline

Exclusive: Cameron Plans Titanic 3D

Exclusive: Cameron Plans Titanic 3D
And maybe Terminator 2: 3D as well!

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When we talked to James Cameron last week at Comic-Con (more from Cameron here) we asked about his love of 3D, and he told us that he's not just using it for new films like Avatar, but also planning to 3D-ify old classics like Titanic.

Said the King of the World, "We're going to do Titanic in 3-D! We've already done a 90 second clip of it and it's phenomenal and gorgeous, so that's going to be the project for next year. It's a conversion of it, not native photography; we can't go back."

But that's not all. We asked if he was considering the treatment on any of his other classics like Aliens, and Cameron said, "You know, we've thought about Terminator 2, which could be fun because I think that's a film that stands the test of time for me. I think that Aliens was a really good film in its time, but visually it doesn't quite hold up; we've kind of evolved beyond that now. I mean, for me it doesn't. Terminator 2, I think, is the cusp of where it still holds up, through now. True Lies, I don't think so; it doesn't feel right to me. Titanic absolutely, slam dunk! I want to see it!"

If this is indeed Cameron's project for next year, expect to see it in 2011 at the earliest, we'd have thought, or perhaps late 2012 for the 15th anniversary of its original release. Biggest 3D movie ever? Well, almost certainly - at least until they three-dimensionalise Gone with the Wind.

Source: EmpireOnline

Exclusive: The September Issue Poster

Exclusive: The September Issue Poster
Gird your loins - Wintour is on her way

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If you thought Meryl Streep was a hard task-master in The Devil Wears Prada, then witness the original and best Editor-In-Chief Anna Wintour, as she guides Vogue to its important September Issue.

We have the exclusive poster for the movie, which takes a look at the staff of the world's most influential style bible as it puts together it's Autumn/Winter preview. Audiences are propelled to the front row at fashion week, getting an insight into the untouchable glamour of the industry.

Check out The September Issue in cinemas on September 11.

Source: EmpireOnline

Howard Eclipses Rachelle Lefevre

Howard Eclipses Rachelle Lefevre
Bryce to star as Victoria in Twilight 3
Source: Variety

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Usually, when Twilight fans start screaming, it’s because Robert Pattinson has waved an unruly follicle in their general direction, but today they’re screaming for another reason: namely, the news that Rachelle Lefevre, who plays evil vampire Victoria in the franchise, has had to bow out of the third Twilight movie, Eclipse.

But if those screams were tinged with despair, the news that Bryce Dallas Howard has been drafted in to replace Lefevre should alleviate that somewhat.

Howard is fast becoming Hollywood’s equivalent of Liverpool legend, David Fairclough, a ginger-haired supersub called upon to replace original selections. Just this summer, after all, she starred in Terminator Salvation as Kate Connor, a role first played by Claire Danes in Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines.

As Twihards know, Victoria’s role is significantly expanded in Eclipse, with the flame-haired vamp the sinister force behind an army of newly-created bloodsuckers, out to put the hurt on Pattinson’s Edward and Kristen Stewart’s Bella.

However, before any suggestions are made that Lefevre was replaced by studio bosses anxious about her ability to pull off a larger part (stop sniggering at the back!), it would seem that that old chestnut, the scheduling conflict, put paid to the 30 year-old’s Twilight tenure. Quite what the conflict was with, though, remains unclear at this time.

So, now Howard steps in, and we’re sure she’ll do a bang-up job. In fact, this could be her version of David Fairclough’s winner against St. Etienne in the 1977 European Cup quarter-finals.

Filming on Eclipse starts next month, with a release date of June 30, 2010 set in stone.

Source: EmpireOnline

Exclusive: First Line Of The Hobbit

Exclusive: First Line Of The Hobbit
Hear it from Peter Jackson

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We caught up with Peter Jackson at Comic-Con and collared him on progress with The Hobbit which, although still awaiting official greenlighting and casting, is only a few weeks from having its first script draft signed, sealed and delivered.

So could he tell us what the first line of dialogue in part 1 of The Hobbit would be? Yes, he could. "The film begins in very much the same way as the book begins," says Jackson. In case you haven't consigned the entire book to memory, that means the first words uttered by James McAvoy/Michael Sheen/Daniel Radcliffe/A.N.Other's Bilbo will be "Good morning!"

OK, a morsel of the final script it may be, but it'll keep us going until that casting news comes through. Watch the chat in full here, where you'll also get the low-down on the thrilling, Jackson-produced aliens-in-Joburg sci-fi District 9. Click here, meanwhile, for all of the Empire team's round-the-clock Comic-Con coverage.

Source: EmpireOnline

Charlize Theron Is Florence of Arabia

Charlize Theron Is Florence of Arabia
Fighting for equal rights in satire
Source: Variety

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Charlize Theron is developing a film version of Christopher Buckley's Florence of Arabia, a comic satire about the Middle East. That may sound like a contradiction in terms, and certainly we suspect that this one could be controversial, but it does have potential.

The story concerns Florence Farfaletti, Deputy to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near East Affairs in the US State Department. A friend of hers who is married to an Arabian prince (of the fiction state of Wasabia) is executed on flimsy, sexist charges, and Florence conceives a plan to tackle women's rights in the Middle East - or at least the fictional Wasabia.

Based in the neighbouring, and more liberal, state of Matar, she and a crack team that includes a hit man, a PR guy and a gay Foreign Service officer try to shake things up via the medium of television.

Theron is developing the project with plans to star in it, with Death At A Funeral's Dean Craig writing the script.

Source: EmpireOnline

Exclusive: New Expendables Shot

Exclusive: New Expendables Shot
See Rourke tattooing Stallone

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Feeling less than totally manly? Worried that your testosterone level may have fallen below 99.9% body mass? Well, worry no more, because here to boost your levels of sheer unadulterated he-ness is a new pictures from The Expendables, featuring not just Sylvester Stallone but also Mickey Rourke.

Yes, the two muscly monsters are caught here in what we're saying is one of the quieter moments in the film (well, there aren't any visible explosions happening, which we're guessing is as quiet as it gets), as Rourke's arms dealer and part-time tattooist Tool inks Stallone's Barney Ross with the skull and raven tattoo we've already seen on posters.


















The Expendables is out in April 2010, but to find out more in the meantime pick up the new copy of Empire magazine.

Source: EmpireOnline

Exclusive New Prince Of Persia Images

Exclusive New Prince Of Persia Images
Sands Of Time is slippery when wet

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It isn't just us mere mortals getting soggy this rainy Monday morning, as these new shots from Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time prove.

Getting a little bit carried away trying to cool down in the arid Middle Eastern sun, our Prince Dastan, played by the brooding Jake Gyllenhaal, along with the sultry Princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton) are shown here drenched from head to foot, and then escaping on horseback still soaking wet.

We also have shots from on set, with director Mike Newell sizing up his subjects and super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer watching on.

Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, also stars Sir Ben Kingsley doing his best Evil Sultan as the coniving Nizam, as well as Toby 'Dead Man's Shoes' Kebbel and Alfred 'Doc Ock' Molina. The film is due on our decidedly unsunny shores on May 28 2010.

Source: EmpireOnline

New Sherlock Holmes Poster

New Sherlock Holmes Poster
Rachel McAdams brings the glamour

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One of Comic-Con's many joys was the release of a third Sherlock Holmes poster showing Rachel McAdams come-hithering as Victorian femme fatale Irene Adler and boasting the film's US release date (it's out in the UK a day later on Boxing Day).

The high-haired Adler accompanies the similarly fog-stained promos of Holmes and Watson and shows the adventuress in one of her more velvetine guises.

McAdams told Empire that we can expect her character's relationship with the titular sleuth to be a little, well, punchy. "They're very antagonistic, even though they have real affection and respect for one another. They seem to be on opposite sides of the law, a little bit."

There's a double-dose of McAdams on the horizon with much-delayed romance The Time Traveler's Wife reaching our screens next month. For lots more on Sherlock Holmes pick up a copy of Empire's September issue.

Source: EmpireOnline

First Shutter Island Poster Revealed

First Shutter Island Poster Revealed
Leonardo DiCaprio looks worried
Source: Yahoo! Movies

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Pretty sure we'd be looking perturbed too if we were going to work on an insane asylum island, but Leonardo Di Caprio is certainly showing the strain in this brand new poster from Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island.

The supernatural thriller is flagged up with the tag-line "someone is missing" - making reference to the fact that in tracking the patients a threatening secret is unveiled by DiCaprio's character Teddy Daniels.

Click the image above for larger version on Yahoo! Movies

The film also stars Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo and Michelle Williams. Shutter Island is in cinemas on October 9.

Source: EmpireOnline

Exclusive: The Hurt Locker UK Poster

Exclusive: The Hurt Locker UK Poster
This is gonna hurt

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Empire has this exclusive UK poster for fantastic new war drama The Hurt Locker.

Directed by Kathryn 'Point Break' Bigelow, it follows an elite bomb disposal unit tasked with disarming explosives during war-zone crossfire.

New sergeant, James (played by 28 Weeks Later's Jeremy Renner), dices with death on a daily basis and feeling no fear, begins to engage his subordinate officers Sanborn and Eldridge (Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty), in an almost suicidal game of urban combat.





















The Hurt Locker hits UK cinemas from August 28.

Source: EmpireOnline

New Art From A Nightmare On Elm Street

New Art From A Nightmare On Elm Street
Witness the all new Freddy Krueger
Source: IGN

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Scratchy, scratchy. Get ready for a shuddering scrape of claws, because Freddy Krueger is back and this time Watchman Jackie Earle Haley is picking up the fiendish fedora for the brand new and up-to-date A Nightmare On Elm Street.

We have brand new shots of Freddy in all his glory, haunting the mean streets of Elm under the cover of darkness and leaving his mark on the alley-way walls.

Click the image above for larger version on MySpace

Also online is a brand new poster - face mostly obscured, leaving room for a revolting reveal when A Nightmare On Elm Street creeps into cinemas on April 16 2010.

Click the image above for larger version on IGN

Source: EmpireOnline

Comic-Con: Brand New Book Of Eli Poster

Comic-Con: Brand New Book Of Eli Poster
Could Denzel be any cooler?

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Also on our travels, we have found a glorious blown up poster for The Book Of Eli, and you have to admit that Denzel Washington has safely abandoned the bespectacled serious-civvie look he assumed for Pelham 123 in favour of a much meaner, leaner, and yet somehow crumpled look.

The Book Of Eli, directed by the Hughes brothers is yet another of this year's wave of post apocalyptic thriller, sees Washington as the protector of said sacred book, which ever-the-bad-guy Gary Oldman is out to nick from under his nose.

The movie also stars Michael Gambon, Mila Kunis, and Rome's Ray Stevenson is out on January 15 2010.

Source: EmpireOnline

Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Clips

Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus Clips
Inside the wonderful world of Gilliam
Source: Yahoo! Movies

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This is London as you have never seen it before - through the eyes of visionary director Terry Gilliam, in The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus.

Click here to watch the three brand new clips from the film.

The seemingly ill-fated movie has finally come to pass, following the addition of three very different actors - Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell - to the cast originally headed up by Heath Ledger.

Heath features in the first of these clips, called "Can You Put A Price On Dreams". Here we see Ledger's Tony touting Doctor Parnassus' wonderous imaginarium to the disbelieving public.

Second, we see "Sweet Sixteen" - where urchin-faced model-turned-actress Lily Cole discusses her age with the scamp who wants to elope with her, first off saying she is twelve, until finally revealing she is "sweet sixteen."

And last of the clips sees Cole's Valentina with Parnassus himself (played by Christopher Plummer), as he recounts a disturbing and fantastical memory from his youth - transporting us back to a magical land of snow.

The Imaginarium of Doctor ParnassusT is due in cinemas on October 16.

Source: EmpireOnline

Zemeckis On Roger Rabbit Sequel

Zemeckis On Roger Rabbit Sequel
Exclusive: Characters won't be 3D!

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Robert Zemeckis was at Comic-Con today to introduce footage from his next film A Christmas Carol, but he took time out to answer a quick question on a possible Who Framed Roger Rabbit sequel.

Said the director, “I can neither confirm nor deny [that that's happening]. But I will tell you this: if that ever does happen, so everyone doesn’t have to worry, the 2D animated characters from the original movie will remain 2D. They will not be dimensionalised, but who knows? There might be other 3D stuff. That’ll be down the road.”

Reading between the lines we take it to mean that the film itself could be in 3D but that the toons themselves would feature as 2D characters, a technique that could prove extremely effective onscreen. Will it ever happen? Who knows but we're holding out hope. More from Comic-Con as we get it.

Source: EmpireOnline

New Whiteout Trailer Online

New Whiteout Trailer Online
Kate Beckinsale's Pitch White
Source: IGN

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And now here's Mrs Wiseman, in a new trailer for somewhat-delayed Antarctic thriller Whiteout.

As reported previously, the film is produced by Joel Silver's Dark Castle Entertainment and directed by Dominic Sena, who made Gone in 60 Seconds and Swordfish. It involves the first ever murders in Antarctica, perpetrated by a mysterious, dark and unstoppable force. Maybe it's that lunatic penguin from Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World.

It's based on a graphic novel published by indie house Oni Press and written by Greg Rucka, who has also worked for both Marvel and DC on Spider-Man and Batman, among others. In comic form it has a sequel, Whiteout: Melt, and a further instalment, Whiteout: Thaw, is planned for later in the year. Trilogy! Franchise!

The new trailer doesn't do much to dispel the suspicion that this is a mash up of The X-Files, 30 Days of Night, Pitch Black and The Thing. But the last trailer barely featured Beckinsale at all, and this one shows her in the shower, so it's all good.

Source: EmpireOnline

New Shot From District 9

New Shot From District 9
South African sci-fi pulls out big guns
Source: USA Today

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Fresh photos from Comic-con seem to be flooding in on a minutely basis, but one which certainly caught our eye this afternoon is this still from South African sci-fi flick District 9.

Neill Blomkamp's feature looks to be the new Cloverfield in it's leftfield-turned-blockbuster scope and shakey-hand-cam production. That and the fact that it is presented to the world by none other than shaggy-haired Hobbit-helmer Peter Jackson.

Click the image above for more on USA Today

The new shot shows alien-infested agent Wikus, played by David Arquette-alike Sharlto Copley. And accompanying him is one serious weapon, which would put Hellboy's Big Baby to shame.

District 9 hits cinemas on September 4.

Source: EmpireOnline

Exclusive: Funny People Clip

Exclusive: Funny People Clip
Leslie Mann faces off with Eric Bana

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If you thought that Judd Apatow had exhausted every way to make us chortle, he has just thought up a new one - making his wife impersonate Eric Bana in this exclusive clip from Funny People.

Unfortunately for us, the lovely Leslie Mann didn't have to don a green muscle suit or grow a handlebar moustache - but she does give us a fair few laughs out loud as she instead opts to take the big man down with an uproarious attempt at his Aussie accent.

"Rub and tug," anyone?

Funny People, starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill, alongside Mann and Bana, is in cinemas from August 28.

Source: EmpireOnline

Exclusive: Just Another Love Story Clip

Exclusive: Just Another Love Story Clip
Tense scene from the Danish thriller

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It should quickly become apparent that this is not Just Another Love Story as the title would suggest. This Danish crime drama about assumed identity, memory loss and infidelity also looks to take a darker turn as this exclusive clip reveals.

Starring Anders W. Berthelsen and Rebecka Hemse, Just Another Love Story follows a normal guy, Jonas (Berthelsen), who becomes embroiled in the confusing web of lies of an amnesiac victim of an accident he witnessed. Assuming the identity of the boyfriend she has no memory of, Jonas becomes Sebastian in the eyes of her concerned family and falls in love with Julia for real. But there is a more sinister undertone to the affair as the reality of her accident comes back to haunt them both.

Just Another Love Story is due in the UK on July 24.

Source: EmpireOnline

Brand New Iron Man 2 Shots

Brand New Iron Man 2 Shots
See Black Widow and leather clad Stark
Source: USA Today

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Wearing the customised leather of a man so rich, he could put his stamp on the cow before it has even left the womb, Tony Stark is back in this brand new Iron Man 2 still, and it looks like he might be ready to tear the place up even more than before.

The shot, which shows Stark - played by Robert Downey Jr. for those who have been encased in metal suits for the last few years - doing his best intense face, having got himself into a bit of a scrape, judging by the annihilated, flaming race track left behind him.

Click the image above for more on USA Today

Another set of film stills give us a first look at Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff (or the Black Widow as she is fondly known) doing a little bit of reconnaissance work in what looks to be Stark's office.

Click the image above for more on Yahoo! Movies

Iron Man 2 reunites RDJ and Gwyneth Paltrow, who returns as Pepper Potts, as well as introducing the new Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes - Mr Don Cheadle. As well as Johansson, other new co-stars for this instalment include Mickey Rourke as metal-clad Russian villain Ivan Vanko (a.k.a. Whiplash), Moon man Sam Rockwell as Justin 'Not-To-Be-Confused-With-MC' Hammer and Kate Mara of Shooter 'fame' as Bethany Cabe.

Iron Man 2, once again directed by Jon Favreau, is due in cinemas May 7 2010.

Source: EmpireOnline

Cage & Diaz To Join Green Hornet?

Cage & Diaz To Join Green Hornet?
They're in talks anyway
Source: Variety

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Nicolas Cage and Cameron Diaz are in talks to join Michel Gondry's The Green Hornet, with Seth Rogen starring. What's more, the move would see Cage signing on for bad-guy duties, which is usually more fun than his hero roles.

The film sees Rogen play newspaper publisher Britt Reid by day, masked hero Green Hornet by night (think Rupert Murdoch, and then totally the opposite), and would have Cage playing the principal gangster bad guy - criminal mastermind Mr X, we're guessing.

Diaz is reportedly set to play a reporter and love interest, which we're guessing makes her a new character, as the two main women in the series are Reid's secretary Lenore Case and 'Clicker' Binny, a photographer.

Even though Stephen Chow, who was set to play Kato, has left the film, shooting is still due to start this autumn for release next summer. Gondry's directing from a script that Rogen wrote with writing buddy Evan Goldberg, so expect both weird and funny.

Source: EmpireOnline

Morgan Freeman Goes Red

Morgan Freeman Goes Red
Joins Bruce Willis in spy thriller
Source: Variety

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Morgan Freeman, lately in South Africa playing Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood's Invictus, has signed up for something a little more action-packed next, with the news that he's going to star opposite Bruce Willis in spy thriller Red.

Based on the graphic novel by Warren Ellis, Red is the story of retired CIA operative Paul Moses (Willis), who's now living quietly following a career where he was sent around the world on all manner of 'wet' work. When a new CIA Director learns about what Paul did back in the day, he panics and sends assassins to remove the ex-agent once and for all, just to be sure that no one ever finds out what happened.

It's not clear yet what role Freeman would play, but given that the script by Erich and Jon Hoeber apparently includes a 'getting-the-old-gang-back-together-to-fight-back thread, we're guessing that Freeman may be a former ally. Either that, or he's the principal bad guy.

The film doesn't have a director yet, but with these names attached, watch out for this one to move forward quickly.

Source: EmpireOnline

I Love You Phillip Morris Trailer

I Love You Phillip Morris Trailer
Carrey and McGregor courting controversy
Source: CHUD

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Following the brilliantly off-kilter, Norman Rockwell, everything-is-normal poster, this French trailer for I Love You Phillip Morris, starring Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, has been released via Europacorp (and comes to us via Jim Carrey's website and the awesome CHUD).

For those who haven't been following the saga so far (or who didn't catch our previous story before it mysteriously vanished into the ether), the film, based on a true story, features Carrey as Steven Jay Russell, a married cop who turned con-artist to fund his secret gay lifestyle, fell in love with cellmate Phillip Morris (McGregor) in jail, and racked up an impressive hundred-year-plus sentence due to his multiple escape attempts. Hidden in the poster is the line "this really happened. It really did."

Written and produced by the team behind Bad Santa, the film caused panic among potential American distributors due to its strong gay content (Variety described a "real ride-'em-cowboy" sex scene in the first ten minutes) and was re-edited several times before picking up some decent notices at Cannes and finding a home with Consolidated Pictures Group.

The trailer aims for broad comedy (slapstick escape sequences, Bruno-type outfits) but there are glimpses in there of some quieter emotional moments that suggest this might gradually drop the laughs as it progresses.

Whatever, it's going to annoy a lot of people. Hoorah! We'll finally get to see Carrey and McGregor going at it early next year.

Source: EmpireOnline

Stuart Gordon Heads For The Borderland

Stuart Gordon Heads For The Borderland
Reanimator director eyes Hodgeson novel
Source: Bloody Disgusting

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Horror maestro Stuart Gordon is eyeing William Hope Hodgeson's classic horror novel The House on the Borderland as his next project, according to Bloody Disgusting.

Hodgeson's creepy tale, first published in 1908, straddles 19th Century and modern horror. It takes place in 1877 in an Irish fishing village, and sees two friends holidaying in a house that borders another dimension, and has pig-like monsters lurking around in the cellar.

It had a strong influence on Lovecraft, so it's no surprise that it would interest Gordon, who has practically built a career around film adaptations of dear old morose HP: the Reanimator series; From Beyond; Dagon; Castle Freak; and Dreams in the Witch House from the Masters of Horror series. He was recently attached to The Thing on the Doorstep, but that seems to have dropped off the radar.

A Borderland film could find itself on rather similar territory to the recently announced Don't Be Afraid of the Dark remake. But Gordon often hits problems getting his projects mounted, so the point may be rather moot. What happened to his projected Reanimator sequel with Herbert West operating on the US president, we should like to know? Watch this space...

Source: EmpireOnline

More Master And Commander?

More Master And Commander?
Crowe keen to play Aubrey again
Source: USA Today

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He said as much to our good selves in an interview a couple of months ago, but Russell Crowe has once again talked up the possibility of returning to the seafaring world of Master and Commander.

Crowe first played Patrick O'Brien's Captain Jack Aubrey, the protagonist of twenty novels, in 2003, when Peter Weir's Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World was released to critical approval, reasonable box office and ten Oscar nominations.

The film contained elements of three of the original novels: the two namechecked in the franchise-starter title, plus the chase around Cape Horn from Desolation Island. That still leaves a good eighteen and a half novels ripe for movie attention however, and USA Today reports Crowe confirming that a script based on 1986's The Reverse of the Medal has been completed.

The Reverse of the Medal is the eleventh in the sequence of novels, and sees Aubrey gambling his dodgy finances on a peace treaty with France, being struck off the Naval list, and registering the HMS Surprise as a private man-of-war.

Most of the cast are still under contract for two more films, but negotiations are said to be in the early stages, with "a long way to go" according to Crowe. No official green light or start-date for the time being then.

Peter Weir told the Seattle Times in 2005: "I think a sequel is most unlikely. While it did well-ish at the box office, it didn't generate that kind of monstrous, rapid income that provokes a sequel." We hope he's proved wrong.

Source: EmpireOnline

First Look At Scarlett's Black Widow

First Look At Scarlett's Black Widow
Iron Man 2 shot reveals new look
Source: EW.com

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Well here's an exciting development: Entertainment Weekly has unveiled its new cover, with the first glimpse of Scarlett Johansson as Iron Man 2's Black Widow - and they've got a shot of her in action inside.

Mrs Reynolds is of course best known as a platinum blonde, but here she has - gasp! - red hair. That's assuming that any of you gentlemen noticed her hair colour while you were assessing the fit of her leather catsuit, of course.

Click the image above for more on EW.com

The film's out on May 7, 2010, and there'll be lots more coverage of it in future issues of Empire. In the meantime, check out EW here.

Source: EmpireOnline

Exclusive: New Triangle Trailer

Exclusive: New Triangle Trailer
Scary stuff aboard ship

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It's been getting a lot of buzz since it first screened, it's the opening film at Frightfest next month and it's set to scare our socks off. Now we have the new Triangle trailer for your viewing pleasure, so prepare for some serious creeps.

The film sees Melissa George's Jess and friends out sailing in the Atlantic when a storm blows up and capsizes them. They are picked up by a liner that appears to be deserted, but...well, watch the trailer. We don't want to risk giving too much away in a film that looks to take some interesting twists and turns.

Triangle is out on October 16, and is directed by Creep and Severance's Chris Smith. And as if this exclusive trailer weren't enough, we've got an exclusive interview with Chris Smith all about Triangle. We're spoiling you, we really are.

Source: EmpireOnline

Exclusive: Duncan Jones Talks Mute

Exclusive: Duncan Jones Talks Mute
Director on his homage to Blade Runner

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With his excellent sci-fi Moon out this week, debutant director Duncan Jones gave us a few titbits on the project that's likely to be his sophomore effort, the Philip K. Dick-tinged sci-fi Mute.

Mute, which tells the story of a bartender who is abducted while searching for his missing girlfriend, promises to be Jones' tribute to Blade Runner, albeit with a look and feel all of its own. "There’s a connection with Blade Runner, but I’ve got some ideas that’ll give it its own signature character. It's set in a future Berlin which may look like a German version of Blade Runner’s Los Angeles, but with a European sensibility."

The Ridley Scott masterpiece was, of course, set in 2019, but Jones is loth to give a year for his dystopian Berlin. "I’m not sure I’m going to give a particular year because that almost cuts the foundation out of the film's believability. Rather than having people think, “I don’t think that’ll happen in 50 years or 100 years”, I’m going to say, “This is a possible future…”.

One date that is relatively safe to mention is early 2010 which is when Jones hopes to start principal photography on Mute. For more from the director in the meantime, check out our recent video interview here or click here for his pick of his five favourite sci-fi movies. Or, even better still, go see Moon (out on Friday 17 July). Heck, just do all of the above. You won't regret it.

Source: EmpireOnline

Willem Dafoe Of Mars

Willem Dafoe Of Mars
He's Tars Tarkas in Disney's sci-fi epic
Source: Variety

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Willem Dafoe is going green again – he’s joined the cast of Andrew Stanton’s John Carter Of Mars, playing a green-skinned Martian warrior.

However, this is no bad guy repeat for the former Green Goblin – this time around, he’s on the side of the angels; his Tars Tarkas, leader of the multi-limbed Thark, teams up with Taylor Kitsch’s eponymous hero, a Civil War soldier who is mysteriously transported to the Red Planet, and finds himself in the middle of an even bigger conflict.

The four-limbed Tars, unique amongst his generally savage people for being able to appreciate the little things in life, like art and love, should provide a heck of a showcase for Dafoe, although it’s not yet known whether the actor will be donning make-up, or a rubber suit, or if he’ll be squeezing into a mo-cap suit.

Stanton co-wrote, with Mark Andrews, and directing the epic Disney flick, based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ series of novels. Filming starts next year, with the release coming in 2012.

Source: EmpireOnline

Half-Blood Prince Breaks Records Already

Half-Blood Prince Breaks Records Already
Midnight openings may be best ever
Source: Variety

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is barely out of the box-office gate and it's already broken records. Its 12.01 midnight screenings in the US took in a whopping $22.2million dollars, making it a record-breaker for that sort of opening.

Yes, that's considerably ahead of either The Dark Knight's $18m, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith's $17m or Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's $16m. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix also opened in midnight slots in 2007, taking $12m and going on to gross $139.7m in its first five-days. If Half-Blood Prince continues to outperform its predecessor to that extent, this could be the biggest opening weekend of all time by quite a margin.

Source: EmpireOnline

Ferrell Still King Dork

Ferrell Still King Dork
Long-gestating comedy gets director
Source: Hollywood Reporter

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Will Ferrell and his producing partner Adam McKay have been trying to get King Dork up and running since 2006. But, according to the Hollywood Reporter, they now have a new studio - Sony - and may have found a director in Seth Gordon.

Based on a teen novel by Frank Portman, King Dork involves school misfit Tom Henderson, the mysterious death of his father, and the life-changing discovery of a copy of Catcher in the Rye. It's a comedy. A dark one, we're guessing.

Gordon's recent CV includes the brilliant documentary The King of Kong and the underwhelming Four Christmases. But if FC serves as a slightly misfiring prototype for a successful comedy that has edgy discomfort as one of its constituent parts, it'll be all to the good.

Source: EmpireOnline

Patrick Dempsey Racing In The Rain

Patrick Dempsey Racing In The Rain
McDreamy drives Garth Stein adaptation
Source: Variety

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Universal have picked up the rights to Garth Stein's novel The Art of Racing in the Rain, according to Variety, with Patrick Dempsey confirmed to star.

The novel concerns racecar driver Denny Swift, and the lessons he picks up along life's highway. The twist is that those lessons are narrated to us and filtered by his dog, Enzo.

Dempsey (Dr "McDreamy" Shepherd on Grey's Anatomy) is, we've been surprised to learn, a professional racing driver in real life, with his own team and a deal with Mazda. No surprise that he's enthusiastically behind this project then: he'll be co-producing.

And the film is being executive produced by Starbucks Entertainment. Yes, as in coffee. Starbucks are making films now?

Source: EmpireOnline

Whip It! Trailer Online

Whip It! Trailer Online
Juno on rollerskates
Source: Yahoo

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We showed you some stills a few days ago, but now here's the full trailer for Drew Barrymore's Whip It!, starring Ellen Page,

The plot, as previously reported, sees Page as spunky heroine Bliss Cavendar, who tires of entering her mother's beauty pageants and gets into roller derbies instead (an American contact sport kind of like Rollerball, but with rollerskates instead of the motorbikes and chainsaws).

Page stars alongside Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, Marcia Gay Harden, Kristen Wiig, and Jimmy Fallon. The US release date is October 9th.

Source: EmpireOnline

Teaser For Percy Jackson

Teaser For Percy Jackson
Elevator shenanigans give little away
Source: Moviefone

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One day, Harry Potter will finish. With that in mind, Fox have kickstarted their hoped-for Percy Jackson franchise early. They even have Chris Columbus (The Philosopher's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets) on hand as director. Here's the teaser trailer.

The books (five so far, plus peripheral bits and pieces) by Rick Riordan are reliable boys' own adventures mashing up Clash of the Titans style Greek mythology and derring-do with a contemporary American setting, racing along and filling that Potter shaped hole in your reading habits. They're not Rowling level blockbusters yet, but they're solid performers alongside the likes of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider books.

As a series opener, the movie obviously needs a clunky title, so, in full, we give you Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. It stars relative newcomer Logan Lerman as Percy (he was pretty good as Christian Bale's son in 3:10 to Yuma) and has one of those fantasy casts bulked up by reliable Brits; in this case Steve Coogan, Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean (of course) and Ray Winston.

We found ourselves half expecting a voice to go "Zuuuuuuullll" at the big reveal when he emerged from the elevator, but what the hey. The film's due out on February 12, 2010.

Source: EmpireOnline

Brand New Trailer For Despicable Me

Brand New Trailer For Despicable Me
Watch out for your national landmarks!
Source: Yahoo Movies

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Universal, you really are really spoiling us. Because despite still being a fairly long-term prospect, they have honed, rendered and perfected a whole two and a half minute scene from Despicable Me and released it as a trailer so we can sample just what we'll be getting next year.

With a cast covering some of comedy's biggest and brightest talents - including Steve Carell as the said despicable one, named Gru; Jason Segel; SNL funny girl Kristen Wiig; Will Arnett; the ubiquitous Russell Brand; Flight of the Conchords very own Hipopopatmus Jemaine Clement, 30 Rock country boy Jack McBrayer and the grandmama of cool Julie Andrews.

Check out the brand new Despicable Me trailer here

The film follows Gru, an evil genius masterminding the biggest heist in history - to steal the moon. His wicked ways go unchecked as he plots and schemes from his lair, until one day he meets his match - in three little orphan girls, named Margo, Edith and Agnes, who just want him as their dad.

Despicable Me - for which there has just been an official site launched - won't hit cinemas until July 9 2010, but it looks like it should be well worth the wait.

Source: EmpireOnline

Brosnan Stars In The Hunter

Brosnan Stars In The Hunter
With Clarkson, Moore & Tucci directing
Source: Variety

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Pierce Brosnan, Julianne Moore and Patricia Clarkson have signed on to star, Stanley Tucci's written the script and will direct, and Steve Buscemi's executive-producing: it's like half our favourite Hollywood types all got together onThe Hunter just to make our day.

The indie comedy drama's set among the "aristocracy" of New York's Upper Westchester County (yes, near Xavier's School for the Gifted). Curiously, it's described as a coming-of-age story for Brosnan's middle-aged character, who has to cope with the disintegration of his once-charmed life.

Tucci's previous behind-the-camera credits most notably include Big Night, but he's also got Blind Date, which stars Clarkson, coming up. The whole thing's being produced by Brosnan's Irish Dreamtime and Tucci and Buscemi's Olive Productions. On paper it all sounds promising; let's hope it's as good as the people involved.

Source: EmpireOnline

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the Back to School Savings

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Exclusive: New Alice In Wonderland Pic

Exclusive: New Alice In Wonderland Pic
See the White Queen - with dormouse?

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Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is surely one of the best fits of director to subject matter ever, and a film that looks to be both weird and, of course, wonderful. So it's with delight and delirium that we bring you a new picture of Anne Hathaway's White Queen from the film, talking to a rodent who looks to our untrained eyes like the Dormouse.

The White Queen doesn't appear in the book Alice in Wonderland, appearing in the sequel Through The Looking Glass as a chess piece instead. While she's largely on Alice's side, she's not the most useful or reliable ally ever, and since she seems to live her life backwards (screaming before she's injured etc) she's a little odd, to say the least. Although whether anyone will notice in this company remains to be seen.


























Here are further hi-res stills of Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham-Carter's barmy looking Red Queen, and Mia Wasikowska as Alice herself.























































































Alice In Wonderland is out on March 12, 2010 in the UK.

Source: EmpireOnline

Natalie Portman Joins Thor Cast

Natalie Portman Joins TThor Cast
The nurse who loved the Norse
Source: Hollywood Reporter

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Natalie Portman has been confirmed as part of Kenneth Branagh's Thor ensemble, alongside Chris Hemsworth as the Mighty one, and Tom Hiddleston as God of Mischief Loki.

Portman will play Jane Foster who, in the cast of Stan Lee and Joe Sinnott's original comic, was a nurse who fell in love with her doctor colleague, unaware that he was secretly a Norse deity.

Marvel's Kevin Feige told The Hollywood Reporter that Jane "is the human lead, so to speak, who helps ground the film in reality. We spend a lot of time amongst the other realms of the Nine Worlds of the Thor mythology and she's our human anchor to that."

All well and good, and, by the bristling beard of Wotan, it's always a pleasure to see Padme. But we hope beyond hope that this doesn't indicate that the script will be using Donald Blake, Thor's "mortal aspect", a doctor who becomes Thor by banging his walking stick on the ground.

The script apparently sees Thor banished to Earth from Asgard by the all-father Odin as a punishment for re-starting an ancient war. A disguise would be one thing, but Blake would surely be a grave error. Practically the first thing Walt Simonson did on his classic run on the comics during the 80s was ditch the physician once and for all.

Mark Millar's template from The Ultimates would seem a sensible direction, and one that would fit well with the other Ultimates-influenced Marvel movies (Iron Man, Hulk 2.0, Sam J's Nick Fury). Millar paints him as a buff Nordic counter-culture guru with his own agenda and no respect for the USA or The Avengers, capable of unleashing his hammer of the gods Mjolnir to awesome effect, but equally happy to slack off and get drunk or mount a protest against the WTO. Chris Hemsworth even looks a bit like Ultimates Thor, to the right photographer.

Whatever, we'll find out how Marvel's trickiest prospect turned out in May 2011. Portman will start work with Sir Ken after shooting Daren Aaronofsky's The Black Swan.

Source: EmpireOnline

New Photos & Poster For Orphan

New Photos & Poster For Orphan
Exclusive: Sneak peek at upcoming horror

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Full of the joys of summer? Tough: we're still going to scare you witless with the new UK poster, and some exclusive new stills, from Jaume Collet-Serra's Orphan, due out here on August 7.

It's the story of a couple - played by Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard - who lose their baby and decide to adopt a 9 year-old girl, only to get more than they bargained for. From these pictures, it should have been immediately obvious that she's evil (we're assuming) but hey! Some people never learn.

The film's out on August 7 here: you can watch the trailer here.

Source: EmpireOnline

Funny People Red Band Trailer Online

Funny People Red Band Trailer Online
With added naughty bits
Source: Slashfilm

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Judd Apatow's Funny People boasts enough comic talent to organise its own Red Nose Day, but judging by the new and highly entertaining uncensored trailer, now up on Slashfilm, it'd be a joyously post-watershed affair with knob gags galore.

Whisper it quietly, but something serious is afoot in Apatown though: like the polite(r) version released back in February, the trailer's rude bits are shot through with a lingering sense of regret, suggesting that this could be a more contemplative comedy than Apatow's two previous directorial efforts, Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin. After all, Funny People sees Adam Sandler play movie star George Simmons who's forced to re-evaluate his life when he's diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Heavy stuff, but with Apatow cohorts Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann and Jonah Hill involved, as well as newcomers the RZA and Jason Schwartzman, Funny People looks like doing exactly what it says on the tin. And look out for Eric Bana stealing the show as the most awesomely bogan Aussie since Warney.

Source: EmpireOnline

District 9 Full Trailer Online

District 9 Full Trailer Online
Access finally granted
Source: Apple

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The full trailer for Neil Blomkamp and Peter Jackson's District 9 has finally arrived at Yahoo.

Anticipation is hotting up, following the clever viral marketing campaign and the one-sheet from earlier this week. Everyone's nicely aware of the concept by now - aliens landing in South Africa and ghettoised in the district of the title - but this is our most detailed glimpse so far of how that concept is going to pan out on film.

We knew about the documentary approach from the teaser trailer (also up at Yahoo) but the full clip gives a pretty good idea of the scale of the action too, with a lot of quick shots of firefights between ground troops and what look like giant mechanoids. Which makes for the third humanity-versus-robots rumble this summer, after Terminator: Salvation and Transformers: ROFL (sorry, ROTF).

The UK release date is September 4th, and there will be full coverage in Empire issue 243, on sale July 30th.

Source: EmpireOnline

Is Dodgeball 2 Happening?

Is Dodgeball 2 Happening?
Stiller waylays Lance Armstrong
Source: Yahoo

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Buried in a story about the Tour de France at Yahoo Sport is the suggestion that Ben Stiller is attempting to sign Lance Armstrong up for "a proposed sequel to Dodgeball".

Armstrong has a cameo in the original, in which he lays a guilt trip on Vince Vaughn that persuades him to get back on the court.

Armstrong was late signing in for yesterday's racing, and cheerfully blamed Stiller. Yahoo's story claims that Dodgeball 2 will bear a strong cycling influence; that George Hincaple will replace Vince Vaughn; and that Jens Voigt will take Chuck Norris' role.

This is presumably cycling humour. Ho ho, eh readers?

Source: EmpireOnline

Michael Moore's New Film Gets A Name And it's...

Michael Moore's New Film Gets A Name
And it's...
Source: Variety

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The man behind Sicko and Fahrenheit 9/11 once again has his sights trained on the rich and powerful, and this time Michael Moore will be turning his scattergun on global capitalism, in the freshly monikered Capitalism: A Love Story.

The film focuses on "the disastrous impact that corporate dominance and out-of-control profit motives have on the lives of Americans and citizens of the world", making this something akin to a Roland Emmerich movie, except people lose their homes and have lives turned upside down without anything actually exploding (except the derivatives market, eh?!).

Moore asked for Wall Street whistleblowers to step forward and discuss the current crisis and how it came about, but we're sure he'll get in some general asides in what sounds like a return to his Roger & Me roots. He says that this film "has it all -- lust, passion, romance and 14,000 jobs being eliminated every day" making it "the perfect date movie".

We somehow doubt it'll be a patch on the daddy of the genre, Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room, but we should see later this year. Captitalism: A Love Story has an October 2 release date in the States, and with luck we'll see it here shortly after that.

Source: EmpireOnline

Julianne Moore Is Not Hillary Clinton

Julianne Moore Is Not Hillary Clinton
She leaves The Special Relationship
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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They’re dropping like flies over at The Special Relationship, the BBC/HBO film that tracks the Tony Blair/George W. Bush partnership.

A couple of weeks ago, Peter Morgan – who had been set to make his directorial debut from his own script – departed the project to be replaced by Richard Loncraine, and now Julianne Moore has had to pull out of playing Hillary Clinton, due to a prior commitment.

As with Morgan, a replacement has been found quickly, with the ever-excellent Hope Davis joining Michael Sheen, playing Blair for the third time, Dennis Quaid, playing Bush for the second time if you count American Dreamz (and not many people do), and Helen McCrory, playing Cherie Blair for the first time.

As much as we admire Moore, we can’t help but feel that Davis may be a better physical fit for the role – and, really, there’s a cigarette paper’s width between the two actresses in terms of their talent. The Special Relationship remains keenly anticipated.

Shooting starts on the film – the unofficial follow-up to The Deal and The Queen – in London on July 20.

Source: EmpireOnline

Will Smith Up For The City That Sailed

Will Smith Up For The City That Sailed
Whimsical drama from Francis Lawrence
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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Will Smith is set to reteam with his I Am Legend director, Francis Lawrence on The City That Sailed.

Thankfully, there’ll be no appalling, movie-souring CG mutants this time, but as with their Richard Matheson adaptation, the island of Manhattan will play a major part; this time, by breaking away from the United States and floating away across the Atlantic.

No, it’s not a disaster movie (although we’re sure Roland Emmerich is kicking himself for not thinking of that first), but a whimsical fantasy about a New York street magician (Smith) whose daughter lives thousands of miles away, in England.

When she finds a room full of magic candles in a lighthouse (just go with it, it’s that kind of movie), the little girl wishes that her dad could be with her – and rather than stump up for a couple of plane tickets, or even a handy teleportation device for Smith, the candle’s magic power causes Manhattan to go on a little trip…

The film is written by Andrew Niccol, who has dabbled with the high-concept throughout his career (he wrote The Truman Show and S1m0ne), and has been kicking around at Fox since 2006, until Lawrence and Smith got their hands on it.

And it sounds promising. As flawed as the last half of I Am Legend was, the first part carried an emotional depth rare for a blockbuster, while his visuals are mightily impressive. And this should be the type of warm and fuzzy material that Smith can do in his sleep.

But don’t get too carried away – the project is merely in development for Lawrence to direct. It’s more likely that his next film will actually be either The World Without Us, or Water For Elephants. We’ll keep you posted.

Source: EmpireOnline

Cameron Diaz To Join Green Hornet?

Cameron Diaz To Join Green Hornet?
Actress in talks for Gondry/Rogen flick
Source: EW

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According to those lovely folks over at EW, Cameron Diaz is in talks to play the female lead in Michel Gondry’s superhero flick, The Green Hornet.

Negotiations are at a very early stage, apparently, but it seems that Diaz is set to star alongside Seth Rogen, as newspaper publisher-by-day, masked crimefighter-by-night Britt Reid, and Stephen Chow, as his sidekick, Kato.

It’s not even known which character Diaz would play, but the obvious candidate would be Lenore ‘Casey’ Case, Reid’s secretary. Of course, that might put the relationship in Tony Stark/Pepper Potts territory which, given that Iron Man 2 is also scheduled for next summer, might be something that Rogen, his co-writer Evan Goldberg and Gondry wish to avoid.

If Diaz does sign on, it’ll bring her career full circle, in a way. After all, she exploded onto the scene in that red dress fifteen years ago in The Mask, another flick based on an unheralded superhero property. Either way, her casting adds another intriguing element to a film that promises to be utterly barmy and brilliant.

Shooting on The Green Hornet starts soon, with the film set for a July 9, 2010 release.

Source: EmpireOnline

First Glimpse At New Dan Brown Book

First Glimpse At New Dan Brown Book
What we can glean from The Lost Symbol
Source: Random House

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Random House has released pics of the UK edition of Dan Brown's new novel The Lost Symbol, and, if the cover is anything to go by, we can safely surmise that the movie will be set in Washington D.C. and see Harvard symbolist/plot-summariser Robert Langdon on the trail of a Masonic mystery.

OK, so we kinda knew that: the book has been shrouded in mystery but Brown has revealed that The Lost Symbol will be the first Langdon novel to be set on US soil and would "explore the hidden history of our nation's capital" - but it's worth mentioning again. The fact that (a) the first two books/films weren't much good, and (b) National Treasure has already covered the same ground that this third book/probable-film will (apparently) tread won't stop the Langdon juggernaut heading to a multiplex near you in the near(ish) future.

The franchise has grossed $1.2 billion worldwide so far, so the decision to greenlight the third movie as soon as the book was announced probably didn't take very long. And the likelihood is that it won't take Ron Howard or Tom Hanks too long to sign up either. As Howard told Empire recently: "I enjoyed making Angels And Demons, and I know Tom did too. I'd be very curious to read the next novel."

Which leaves one big question: what will Robert Langdon's hairdresser russle up for part three? Our money's on a Barry Venison.

Source: EmpireOnline

Randall Wallace To Rewrite Captain Nemo

Randall Wallace To Rewrite Captain Nemo
20,000 Leagues revamp for Braveheart guy
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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Here’s a good sign that Disney’s McG-directed reboot of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea is heading in the right direction: a new writer has already been brought on board.

Randall Wallace, the writer of Braveheart (good), We Were Soldiers (bad) and Pearl Harbor (oh God), has replaced the original scribes, Bill Marsilii and Justin Marks, on the big-budget action-adventure Captain Nemo: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea.

Nemo, of course, is the shadowy anti-hero who captains the massive submarine, the Nautilus, and drives two of Verne’s books, 20,000 Leagues… and its sequel, The Mysterious Island, in which he is revealed to be an Indian prince. It’s not yet known if Wallace and Disney will retain Nemo’s Indian heritage for the new movie, but we’re not overly optimistic.

Whatever his take on the material, Wallace had better get a move on. He starts filming on his next directorial project, Secretariat, in late September, and needs to finish Captain Nemo: 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea before then. If he doesn’t, it raises the thrilling prospect of the movie being the first blockbuster in history to finish mid-sentence.

Source: EmpireOnline

Camp Rock 2 Starts Production

Camp Rock 2 Starts Production
Like, OMG! So! Exciting!
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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It's almost a year ago that we saw Camp Rock, so it's with a sense of great relief that we can tell you that its sequel, the imaginatively titled Camp Rock 2, is set to go into production this summer. What's more, original stars Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers* are returning for the film.

Subtitled The Final Jam, the film purports to have "a plot that borrows from Shakespeare". Y'see, when returning stars Lovato and Nick, Joe and Kevin Jonas return to Camp Rock, they discover that many of the students and instructors have defected to the new Camp Star nearby. Egads!

Hip-hop star Matthew "Mdot" Finley is the star performer at the rival camp, and challenges our heroes to a musical showdown. Meanwhile, however, fellow Star camper and daughter-of-the-camp-leader Dana (classical pianist Chloe Bridges) is falling for Nick Jonas in a Romeo and Juliet stylee. Yes, that's the "borrowed from Shakespeare" bit you were waiting for. We were hoping for Titus Andronicus, but them's the breaks.

Can they find true love despite their musical differences? Will returning castmembers Meaghan Jette Martin, Maria Canals-Barrera, Alyson Stoner and Daniel Fathers get anything to do other than wearing bright colours and smiling a lot? Is it likely that the fans would notice if they did? Don't worry though: we're sure that Mitchie (Lovato) and Shane (J. Jonas) are still holding hands as ever.

The TV film will screen on the Disney Channel next year, from director Paul Hoen. Expect it to be huge.

*If you are a teenage girl, please pause for an "EEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" here

Source: EmpireOnline

I Love You Phillip Morris Poster

I Love You Phillip Morris Poster
It's yellow
Source: Collider

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At first glance it's just a picture of a smiley Jim Carrey, wearing a perfectly respectable tie and carrying a perfectly respectable briefcase. But there's something decidedly off-kilter about this poster for I Love You Phillip Morris, which co-stars Ewan MGregor. Maybe it's just funnier the more you know about the movie.

If you've been following the saga, you'll know that the film, by the writer/director team behind Bad Santa, is the story of a married cop from Texas (Carrey's Steven Russell) who comes out of the closet and then turns conman to fund his new flamboyant lifestyle. Eventually imprisoned, he falls in love with his cellmate, McGregor's titular Morris.

It's a true story (the eagle-eyed Collider have spotted "this happened. It really did." in the poster's small print). Russell ended up with a jail sentence of more than a hundred years after repeated escape attempts.

But the film, the gay content of which is apparently rather strong (Variety describes a "spectacular ride-'em-cowboy sex scene" in the first ten minutes), caused something of a panic among potential distributors, causing numerous jittery recuts. At one point it even looked as if the film would be buried straight-to-DVD in the States.

Reasonable word-of-mouth from Sundance helped though, and the film was in (crowded) competition for this year's Camera D'or at Cannes. Consolidated Pictures eventually picked up distribution, and we'll finally see Jim and Ewan going at it early next year.

And back to that poster, which we're really starting to love. An all-American Norman Rockwell image for a film that bits of the American establishment already hated and feared months before its release. Priceless.

Source: EmpireOnline

Ong-Bak 2 Trailer

Ong-Bak 2 Trailer
For our French-speaking readers
Source: FilmDrunk

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Kicking, punching, dodging crocodiles, more punching and back-flipping off elephants. That's right, Tony Jaa is back with another dose of Muay Thai madness in Ong-Bak 2 and you can get a dose of it here over at FilmDrunk.

Not a sequel in the strictest sense, Ong-Bak 2 is set in Ancient Thailand and stars Jaa as Tien, the son of a murdered nobleman who embarks on a quest for vengeance with the help of a posse of shit-kicking brigands and the odd helpfully positioned elephant.

The path of this martial arts actioner to the screen has been far from smooth, with Jaa having a breakdown midway through the shoot and disappearing into the jungle for two months. The Thai director/star/fighting machine bounced back though (literally, if the trailer's water buffalo stunt is anything to go by) and Ong-Bak 2 looks like it might just match the 2003 original's madcap genius.

Ong-Bak 2 is out across Europe on July 22.

Source: EmpireOnline

Trailer For [.REC] 2 Online

Trailer For [.REC] 2 Online
Same directors, same story?
Source: Rope of Silicon

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[.REC] was an entertainingly supernasty Spanish zombie rabies flick, about a group of firemen and residents (and a TV crew) quarantined in a block of flats. The American remake, Quarantine, was the same, but a bit slower.

And here's [.REC] 2, once again directed by Jaume Balaguero and Paco Plaza. Picking up a few hours after the end of the original, there's nothing in this trailer that looks entirely different to what we've seen before. We've got the military rather than the fire department, but other than that...

However, [SPOILER if you haven't seen the first film] there is scope for exploring that attic, and the frankly mental Catholic Vatican Possession Virus plot thread that was rather altered for the Americanisation. Horror is often best unexplained, but if we're going back to those flats, we hope we get upstairs sooner rather than later.

And we're calling on your translation services again. The trailer's tagline is "se acabo la comedia". Is that "the comedy is over"?!

Source: EmpireOnline

Dog Shampoo

Dog Shampoo

Summer is around the corner. It means trouble for our dog, Jake and a headache for us as well. He can’t stay out in the sun for a long time. Otherwise, he will stink real bad. You can’t believe how much he would scratch his ears and lick his feet. His hair will start falling. Ah, it’s always a problem. No matter how many times you’ll give him a bath, he’s still stinky beyond belief. He certainly is not an outdoor dog. And it’s too bad because he really loved playing outside and chasing bunnies in the yard.


We had experimented a few different shampoos but to no effect. We probably haven’t tried the best one yet. We have heard that Dinovite shampoos are excellent solution for our dilemma. I think it’s time for Jake to have a new, long lasting smell. Yes, I’m talking about getting rid of Jakes’ stinky odor especially during summer. Ah, it should stop.

Actually, DogOSuds has a lot of benefits. It lathers well and rinse so easy. Plus, it contains 100% pure, therapeutic grade essential oils that have natural, healing properties. The Gentle soothing shampoo will work good for Jake’s sensitive skin. It is also a natural flea deterrent, no chemicals, no perfumes, no fillers. It’s intended not to irritate or dry the dog's skin! It definitely works great to remove the dog’s stinky smell. If you’re like us, check out this dog shampoo that I’m talking about.

New Carriers Trailer Online

New Carriers Trailer Online
Captain Kirk fightin' zombies?
Source: Trailer Addict

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It's been sitting on the shelf for a couple of years, which is not usually a good sign, but the disease / paranoia / horror / thriller Carriers actually looks rather good, based on this new trailer.

The premise is all laid out pretty thoroughly in the trailer, which sees four friends, including Star Trek's Chris Pine and, er, Coyote Ugly's Piper Perabo, on the run to safety after an apocalyptic plague sweeps the world. With clearly laid-out rules for survival, the quartet think they've got things figured out - until it becomes clear that their methods are not infallible, and that the danger may be worse than they thought.

A cynic might think that this was shelved until the release of Star Trek made Pine a star, but in any case we're encouraged by this new trailer (we missed an earlier, similar one that came out on a busier news day). It's got a September 4 release date in the US: barring the swine flu epidemic destroying civilisation, hopefully we'll see it here after that.

Source: EmpireOnline

Ryan Reynolds Talks Deadpool

Ryan Reynolds Talks Deadpool
Exclusive: Wade will break fourth wall

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Ryan Reynolds was in London to promote The Proposal last night and in between rom-com patter and general charm, he gave us an update on his eagerly-awaited Deadpool spin-off. There's a double dose of good news for fans of the Marvel mercenary. Reynolds says Deadpool will breach the fourth wall: “Break the fourth wall? Oh yeah, he’s got to. I want to see him break the Great Wall."

Confirming what he recently told HitFix, Reynolds emphasised that he and 20th Century Fox were working to ensure that Deadpool close sticks as closely as possible to the Marvel comic-book: “The studio's working on a script and trying to find a director. The main goal is to make sure it stays close to the source material."

So does Reynolds feel under pressure from fanboys? “I’m one of them. I’ve always been a fan, at least for the last eight or nine years. I feel a bit of validation because I knew going into Wolverine that there’s a huge fanbase for this and I don’t think anyone else did."

SPOILER: One thing the annoyingly charming and funny leading man wouldn't go into was the little matter of that decapitation: “That we won’t speak of." So perhaps they haven't nailed the thorny problem of reattaching his head, unsewing his mouth and generally undoing the entire last act of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Still, it's comforting to know that the one name so far attached to the project is a die-hard fanboy, and we're currently basking in beautiful visions of a cross between Blade (without the vampires) and Ferris Bueller's Day Off (the bits where he talks to the audience): please don't burst our bubble.

Source: EmpireOnline

Exclusive: Bullock Was Never Expendable

Exclusive: Bullock Was Never Expendable
There's always Expendables 2...

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Sandra Bullock is back in the spotlight this month, playing the evil boss to Ryan Reynolds loveable publishing assistant in The Proposal. But what Empire really wanted know at last night's gala screening at the Mayfair Hotel was whatever happened to her supposed role in Sylvester Stallone's uber-action-fest The Expendables. And it seems that Sandra wasn't muscle-bound enough to make Sly's crew, as she certainly didn't get the memo: “I don’t know where that came from. I never read the script, I didn’t even know what the script was about. But now that I know what it’s about, I’m excited for him.”

It seems that plotting a return to action, a la Speed, isn't an easy job, although she would like to skirt explosions once more: “Absolutely, but finding a good one is not easy."

So Bullock is committed to comedy for the moment, with crossword-puzzler-com All About Steve up next, followed by another string of laffers in the next year. The Proposal is out on July 22.

Note to Bullock: get a few tats like hubby Jesse James, and you might just make The Expendables 2.

Source: EmpireOnline

Has The A-Team Found Its B.A. Baracus?

Has The A-Team Found Its B.A. Baracus?
The Game rumoured to be up for the role
Source: Blackfilm

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Blackfilm.com is saying that rapper-turned-actor, The Game, is at the front of the queue to play B.A. Baracus in The A-Team movie.

Despite a lack of quotes in their story, the website says that they heard the news from a “very highly reliable source in the entertainment industry.” So that’s alright, then. But we’re inclined to believe them on this – after all, Common, the front-runner for the role, may have ruled himself out of the running to don Mr. T’s gold chains, by taking a role in the new Queen Latifah film, Just Right.

With filming on The A-Team set to start in August, director Joe Carnahan needs to find his B.A., and his Howling Mad Murdock, in the next couple of weeks. And The Game could be an interesting choice.

As an actor, he’s only got a few credits under his belt, but he was pretty menacing and intimidating – two qualities that any actor needs to play a man who goes by the name, Bad Attitude – in Street Kings. He may also have the lightness of touch to play a man who, thanks to his aversion to flying and fondness for punchy one-liners, isn’t your average muscle-bound tough guy.

But then again, The Game may not be the guy, with Blackfilm also suggesting that Ice Cube (wrong wrong wrong) and mixed martial artist, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson are in the frame. In case you’d missed it, Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper have already been cast, as team leader Hannibal Smith and right-hand man, Templeton ‘Faceman’ Peck.

So, if this pans out, is it a good choice, readers? Who would you like to see play B.A.?

Source: EmpireOnline