Previews and Reviews that are Z's Views
The extremely talented, extremely nice, Gene Gonzales created his take on Sly from “Rocky II” at the last Heroes Convention. Gene is funny, knowledgeable and really nice.
At every show he attends Gene is constantly signing autographs and sketching for fans, so I was happy to find he could fit me!
You can see more of Gene’s work at his blog. Gene is also available for commissions and his prices are very reasonable.
Thanks again Gene!
Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 15 Facts About Clint Eastwood That Will Make Your Day. Here are three of my favorites…
5. HE HAS JAMES COBURN AND CHARLES BRONSON TO THANK FOR GETTING THE LEAD IN A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS.
James Coburn (The Great Escape) wanted $25,000 to star in the movie, which was more than the producers could afford. Charles Bronson might have taken the role if he didn’t think the script was “just about the worst I’d ever seen.” Eastwood agreed to star for $15,000.
7. THE NAME OF HIS PRODUCTION COMPANY COMES FROM HIS AGENT’S BAD ADVICE.
Eastwood’s agent told him that appearing in Leone’s trilogy would be a “bad step” for his career. “Bad step” in Spanish is Malpaso. Since Malpaso Creek is also a body of water located south of Carmel-of-the-Sea, California, where Eastwood makes his home, he named his company Malpaso Productions.
12. HE TURNED DOWN PLAYING JAMES BOND, SUPERMAN, AND JOHN MCCLANE.
After Sean Connery left the 007 franchise, Eastwood was offered the iconic role, but he declined. The president of Warner Bros. asked him to play Superman, but he declined that, too. “I was like, ‘Superman? Nah, nah, that’s not for me,’” Eastwood explained. “Not that there’s anything wrong with it. It’s for somebody, but not me.” Francis Ford Coppola asked him to play Martin Sheen’s character in Apocalypse Now (1979), but he didn’t want to go the Philippines for 16 weeks. Eastwood owned the movie rights to Nothing Lasts Forever, the bookDie Hard (1988) was based on, with the intent to star in the film version.
Jake Rose and Mental_Floss present 12 Facts About The Outsiders That Will Stay Gold. Here are three of my favorites…
1. THE BOOK WAS WRITTEN BY A TEENAGER.
S.E. Hinton was Susan Eloise Hinton, a 15-year-old high school student in Tulsa who had grown bored with the trite plots of books targeted to her demographic. “Mary Jane wants to go to the prom with the football hero … didn’t ring true to my life,” Hinton told The New Yorkerin 2014. So she decided to write a more authentic look at teenage struggles. When she finished, she handed the manuscript to a friend’s mother, who had contacts at a book agent in New York. Editors suggested she go by “S.E.” so readers could infer a male author was responsible for the testosterone-heavy characters. It has sold more than 14 million copies.
4. COPPOLA KEPT THE “GREASERS” AWAY FROM THE “SOCS.”
In The Outsiders, the Curtis boys are part of a clique of “Greasers,” lower-income Tulsa residents in perpetual conflict with the socials, or “Socs,” the sweater-sporting affluent kids. To perpetuate that rift, Coppola divided the actors in Tulsa according to their fictional social status: the Socs got better rooms, more spending money, free room service, and leather-bound scripts.
8. HINTON HAS A CAMEO.
Although Coppola’s production company, Zoetrope, was so low on funds at the time of optioning The Outsiders that they could pay Hinton only $500 of her $5000 rights fee, the author was friendly with the director and agreed to shoot a cameo. Hinton appears in the scene where Dallas (Matt Dillon) is being looked after by a nurse. Hinton also had cameos in other adaptations of her work, including 1983’s Rumble Fish (which Coppola also directed) and 1982’s Tex.
Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 13 Fast Facts About Smokey and the Bandit. Here are three of my favorites…
1. IT WAS BASED ON A REAL COORS BANQUET BEER PROBLEM.
While Needham was in Georgia working as Reynolds’ stunt double in Gator (1976), the driver captain on the set brought some Coors beer from California and brought a couple of cases to Needham’s hotel room. After he noticed that the maid kept stealing the beers from the fridge, he remembered a TIME magazine article from 1974 about how Coors was unavailable east of the Mississippi River, because the beer was not pasteurized and needed constant refrigeration, and couldn’t legally be sold outside of 11 western and southwestern U.S. states. Which made him realize that, “bootlegging Coors would make a good plotline for a movie.”
10. GLEASON ENJOYED “HAMBURGERS” ON SET.
Gleason would often ask his assistant Mal for a “hamburger,” which was code for a glass of bourbon.|
13. ALFRED HITCHCOCK WAS A BIG FAN OF THE FILM.
His daughter Patricia revealed that every Wednesday her father would screen films on the lot in his office. The last one he ever screened was Smokey and the Bandit, his favorite film of his last few years.
In the video below Guillermo del Toro ranks his top five horror films aka the films “that actually scare you.”
What’s interesting to me isn’t the films that Guillermo selected, but the fact that a movie that didn’t scare him as a kid (The Exorcist) is terribly frightening to him as an adult… and Guillermo’s one true life ghost experience in a haunted hotel room.
Art and comic fans will be all over The Art of Jock set for release on September 20, 2016. From the Amazon summary…
The Art of Jock delves into the prolific artist’s catalog, showcasing not only the best of his extensive sketches and published images, but also personal notes from Jock himself that provide insight into the often philosophical inner workings of his creative process. Featuring interviews and quotes from colleagues and long-time collaborators, including Scott Snyder, Alex Garland, and Stephen King…
Want to see more preview art from the book? Check out A Look Inside The Art of Jock Book Release at Mondotees.
I can’t imagine a book that movie fans will want more than Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Notebook.
When Coppola realized that he would direct The Godfather, he re-read Mario Puzo’s novel and made important notations right on the book’s pages. Check out the example below or better yet, click here, to see a full-size version.
The notations would be Coppola’s road map to make The Godfather and he considered them as important as the screenplay. Coppola explains his process and importance of making his Godfather Notebook in the video below.
The Godfather Notebook will reprint Francis Ford Coppola’s notes and annotations on The Godfather novel by Mario Puzo. I can’t wait to get my mits on a copy. “Leave the gun, and take the cannoli… and The Godfather Notebook.”
I met Colin Lawler at last year’s HeroesCon. I liked Colin’s art and enjoyed speaking with him, so getting a sketch was a natural. As you can see above, Colin decided on Demolition Man. What a great addition to my sketch collection!
If you’d like to see more of Colin’s art, you can here.
Peter Stults‘ Movies from an Alternate Universe – movie posters re-imagined how they would look and who would star in them had they been made in a different era.
Peter Stults has created six volumes of re-imagined posters. Today, we have my favorite from the sixth set.
I say again, “Wouldn’t you love to see a book of Stults’ Movies from an Alternative Universe?” Kickstarter, Mr. Stults?
Since this rounds out all the volumes of Peter Stults‘ Movies from an Alternate Universe, here are a few movie/star suggestions:
You can check out all the posters in the first volume here!
The posters in the second set are here.
Volume three is here and four is here.
Peter Stults‘ Movies from an Alternate Universe – movie posters re-imagined how they would look and who would star in them had they been made in a different era.
Peter Stults has created six volumes of re-imagined posters. Today, we have my favorite from the fifth set. Truth be told, I was torn between this one and Brando in Gone Girl.
I say again, “Wouldn’t you love to see a book of Stults’ Movies from an Alternative Universe?”
You can check out all the posters in the first volume here!
The posters in the second set are here.
In Peter Stults‘ Movies from an Alternate Universe, Stults takes movie posters and re-imagines how they would look and who would star in them had they been made in a different era.
Since that post Peter Stults has created six volumes of re-imagined posters. Today, I’ve posted my favorite from the fourth set.
I’ll bet that once you check out the posters in the fourth volume, you’ll be surprised I didn’t pick one of the two Stallone-related posters. I am too, but Stults’ A Dame to Kill For is just so dead-on, it had to be the choice.
Wouldn’t you love to see a book of Stults’ Movies from an Alternative Universe? I would, too.
You can check out all the posters in the first volume here!
The posters in the second set are here.
Volume three is here and four is here.
For those just arriving… a little over four years ago I posted Peter Stults‘ Movies from an Alternate Universe. Stults takes movie posters and re-imagines how they would look and who would star in them had they been made in a different era.
Since that post Peter Stults has created six volumes of re-imagined posters. Today, I’ve posted my favorite from the third set. I love the casting of this one. Dead on.
You can check out all the posters in the first volume here!
The posters in the second set are here.
A little over four years ago I posted Peter Stults‘ Movies from an Alternate Universe. Stults takes movie posters and re-imagines how they would look and who would star in them had they been made in a different era.
Since that post Peter Stults has created six volumes of re-imagined posters. Yesterday we took a look at one of my favorites from the first set. Today, I’ve posted my favorite from the second set. I love this poster [which says a lot since I’m not a big Richard Burton fan].
You can check out all the posters in the first volume here!
The posters in the second set are here.
A little over four years ago I posted Peter Stults‘ Movies from an Alternate Universe. Stults takes movie posters and re-imagines how they would look and who would star in them had they been made in a different era.
Since that post Peter Stults has created six volumes of re-imagined posters. Above is one of my favorites from the first set. You can check out all the posters in the first volume here!
Today we have John Carpenter’s Official Live in Studio performance of the theme to Escape From New York.
