The “Creed” Trailer is Here!
The Creed Trailer is Here!
33 Things We Learned From Joe Carnahan’s The Grey Commentary
Rob Hunter and Film School Rejects present 33 Things We Learned From Joe Carnahan’s The Grey Commentary. Here are three four of my favorites…
11. The scene with Ottway waking up in the snow was shot in minus twenty degrees. “See Liam’s face, how red that is, there is no makeup on him,” says Carnahan. “They kept saying ‘you can’t put Liam in the snow, you can’t put Liam in the snow,’ but Liam went in the snow.” Barton says Carnahan and the guys complained so much about how cold it was, but the editing room was probably 75 degrees which was also pretty tough. “There was some days the espresso machine was jammed,” adds Hellmann.
13. Carnahan’s wife told him she thinks Ottway was the lone survivor and the rest were simply facets of his personality. “I thought that was really novel until ten other people, all women, said the same thing to me. I thought my god that’s an interesting little trend.” Barton recalls hearing her say that and thinking “Holy crap, what a great thing to say. We had never thought of that.”
21. The high-pitched howl emanating from the woods as the men scramble to start a fire after being chased by the wolves was actually made by Quentin “Rampage” Jackson. They recorded him and modified it some, but he’s the source.
****SPOILER ALERT****
33. The post-credits shot, a remnant of their attempts to capture Ottway’s fight with the wolves, was included for purely artistic reasons on Carnahan’s part. “It certainly, to me, doesn’t answer any questions,” says Barton, “in a good way.” Carnahan adds that a lot of people don’t seem to realize that’s the back of Neeson’s head resting on the wolf’s slowly breathing form.
Fear Begins Here – “Fear the Walking Dead” Poster
That’s the new poster for Fear the Walking Dead!
If you like it, you might want to check out the bigger version here.
The Secret History of the Batman Movies That Were ALMOST Made
Frank Miller, Joel Schumacher, Paul Dini and other filmmakers discuss details of the Batman films that nearly made it to the big screen in Aaron Couch’s Before ‘Batman Begins’: Secret History of the Movies That Almost Got Made for The Hollywood Reporter.
I’m still holding out hope that someday someone will take Batman: Year One and/or The Dark Knight Returns all the way (and do it/them right).
The 10 Best Monster Movies of All Time
Recently Maane Khatchatourian posted in Variety The 10 Best Monster Movies of All Time.
While I don’t think the list was a great one, I’ll play along. Here’s my ranking (and comments for their choices)…
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Creature from the Black Lagoon – One of my favorite movies of all time. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen Creature from the Black Lagoon, but I always enjoy it! Wondering when it will be updated/rebooted?
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The Thing (1982) – I saw it on it’s original theatrical run. Scary then and scary now.
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Alien – Another one I saw when it was first released. I’ve grown to love it even more over the years.
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King Kong – The original Kong is still King.
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Bride of Frankenstein and Frankenstein – The Godfather II and Godfather of monster movie sequels.
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Jaws – I have a tough time with this one being labeled a monster movie. Jaws is a classic though.
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Jurassic Park – Still the best of the Jurassic Park/World movies.
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The Fly (1958) – “Help me. Help me.” Chilling. Another film that I’ve grown to appreciate more over the years.
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Gremlins – Not a fan.
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Godzilla (1954) – Not a fan of the original Godzilla movies although I watched them enough as a kid with my grandpa.
Frank Miller’s Favorite Things
Frank Miller recently shared his favorite things with the Wall Street Journal.
How cool is it that Frank’s favorite things are not expensive and extravagant? I was a bit surprised that nothing from Sin City made the cut… unless you count the model car.
The Most Popular Fictional Characters from Every State
This map takes a look at The Most Popular Fictional Characters from Every State. Click on the link to see a much bigger map.
There are a couple of surprises for sure, but the fact that Sylvester Stallone plays two of the characters shouldn’t be. Rocky and Rambo are THAT popular.
Source: Bits and Pieces.
15 Fun Facts About “City Slickers”
Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 15 Fun Facts About City Slickers. Here are three of my favorites…
1. JACK PALANCE WAS BILLY CRYSTAL’S ORIGINAL CHOICE TO PLAY CURLY.
When Crystal first came up with the seed of the idea for City Slickers, he immediately thought of Jack Palance as the crusty bad guy with the heart of gold. He thought of him because the first movie he had ever seen was the 1953 movie Shane, where Palance played the bad guy. The actor left a lasting impression on Crystal, who was seven years old at the time of his first movie-going experience. Because his father produced jazz concerts, Billy saw Shane seated on Billie Holiday’s lap.
5. CHARLES BRONSON WAS ANGRY OVER BEING ASKED TO PLAY CURLY.
Jack Palance initially turned down the role of Curly, as he was committed to another project. So Crystal offered the part to Charles Bronson, who was not pleased. He cursed Crystal out because “I’m dead on page 64!” Palance, of course, ended up taking the role (and the rest is history).
6. PALANCE GOT INTO AN ARGUMENT WITH THE DIRECTOR ON THE FIRST DAY OF SHOOTING.
The veteran actor yelled at Ron Underwood over his first direction, but everything went smoothly after that. When Crystal asked what had happened, Palance explained that he always gets nervous on his first day of shooting. Sure enough, Tim Burton told a similar story about Palance snapping at him on his first day of shooting on Batman over how he was told to walk out of a bathroom, with Burton admitting that the incident scared him “to death—I literally saw white and left my body.”
Celebrity Phobias
A phobia is defined as…
…a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational.
Common phobias are a fear of public speaking, spiders, snakes, heights, dogs, thunder or lightening, flying and so on.
Eddie Deezen takes a look a celebrity phobias in his piece, “Hey, What Are You Afraid Of” at Neatorama.
Buster Keaton: First Parkour Athlete?
Are you a parkour fan?
If so, are you also a Buster Keaton fan?
A strong case could be made that Keaton was one of the first inventors of parkour!
14 Deep Facts About “The Hunt for Red October”
Eric D Snider and Mental_Floss present 14 Deep Facts About The Hunt for Red October. Here are three of my favorites…
1. Even though the novel had been a bestseller, nobody wanted to make the movie.
Tom Clancy’s book is a complicated story with a lot of technical jargon, which made Hollywood executives antsy. It also made the movie hard to summarize. “In Hollywood, because of time constraints, very few people in a position to say yes to a project like this read the book,” admitted producer Mace Neufeld. “They generally read the reader’s report. [And] this book doesn’t condense well into two or three pages.” Neufeld got the project off the ground by getting a Paramount executive to read the novel—not just the book report—and see for himself how cinematic it could be.
3. Sean Connery was a last-minute replacement.
The film had been under production for two weeks when word came that Klaus Maria Brandauer (Out of Africa), the Austrian actor who’d been signed to play the rogue Soviet sub commander Marko Ramius, couldn’t do it after all because of a prior commitment. Connery took the part instead, needing only one day for rehearsal. Coincidentally, he and Brandauer had acted together in 1983’s Never Say Never Again and would reunite again for 1990’s The Russia House, which was shot shortly after The Hunt for Red October.
9. Alec Baldwin wanted to return for the sequels but was edged out when Paramount learned they could get Harrison Ford.
It’s complicated, and there are at least two sides to every story, but here’s the gist: While negotiations with Baldwin were still ongoing, Paramount allegedly offered the part to Ford, who was a bigger box office draw and to whom the studio owed money anyway because of a previous project that had fallen through. Baldwin had been dithering over the specifics of his deal, and now a Paramount executive used that indecision to force his hand: either commit right now to an open-ended contract for Patriot Games and whatever came next, or the offer would be withdrawn. Not wanting to give up a chance to appear in A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway, Baldwin left Jack Ryan behind.
15 Things You Should Know About “The Last Supper”
Kristy Puchko and Mental_Floss present 15 Things You Should Know About The Last Supper. Here are three of my favorites…
2. The Last Supper captures a climactic moment.
Everyone knows the painting depicts Jesus’ last meal with his apostles before he was captured and crucified. But more specifically, da Vinci wanted to capture the instant just after Jesus reveals that one of his friends will betray him, complete with reactions of shock and rage from the apostles. In da Vinci’s interpretation, the moment also takes place just before the birth of the Eucharist, with Jesus reaching for the bread and a glass of wine that would be the key symbols of this Christian sacrament.
6. Very few of da Vinci’s original brushstrokes remain.
Although the painting itself was beloved, da Vinci’s tempera-on-stone experiment was a failure. By the early 16th century, the paint had started to flake and decay, and within 50 years, The Last Supper was a ruin of its former glory. Early restoration attempts only made it worse.
Vibrations from Allied bombings during World War II further contributed to the painting’s destruction. Finally, in 1980, a 19-year restoration effort began. The Last Supper was ultimately restored, but it lost much of its original paint along the way.
3. You won’t find it in a museum.
Although The Last Supper is easily one of the world’s most iconic paintings, its permanent home is a convent in Milan, Italy. And moving it would be tricky, to say the least. Da Vinci painted the religious work directly (and fittingly) on the dining hall wall of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie back in 1495.
15 Fun Facts About “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”
Roger Cormier and Mental_Floss present 15 Fun Facts About Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Here are three of my favorites…
1. ANTHONY MICHAEL HALL BELIEVES THAT JOHN HUGHES WANTED HIM TO PLAY FERRIS.
Hall told Vanity Fair that his relationship with the director ended rather abruptly following their work together on Weird Science, and after Hall had begun working with other directors. But he believed that Hughes wrote the roles of Duckie in Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller for him. For his part, Hughes said Broderick was the actor he had in mind when writing the screenplay. Casting directors Janet Hirshenson and Jane Jenkins only seriously considered one other actor for the part: John Cusack.
6. LOVE WAS IN THE AIR.
Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Grey (who played Jeanie, Ferris’ sister) met and got engaged just before the movie’s release. Cindy Pickett and Lyman Ward, who played Ferris’ parents, met on the set of the movie and eventually got married and had two children.
7. BEN STEIN WAS INITIALLY SUPPOSED TO DO HIS LECTURE OFF-CAMERA.
The student extras laughed so hard that Hughes decided to put Stein in front of the camera for his speech on supply-side economics. Stein himself picked the topic after Hughes asked him to speak about something he knew a lot about. Before he became a familiar movie and television presence, Stein—who is also a lawyer—was a speechwriter for Presidents Nixon and Ford.
“The Big Heat” Italian Style
Today we have an Italian poster for one of my favorite noirs – The Big Heat starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Jocelyn Brando and Lee Marvin.
Source: 41 Strange.
Clay Shelburn and Zac Stokes are WalMart Rockstars!
Clay Shelburn (guitar and vocals) and Zac Stokes are WalMart Rockstars!
