Author: Craig Zablo
Almost Time for Tampa
The show is always a blast. If you’re a long-time ZONE reader, then you’ve heard me speak about the show many times before. If you’re new to these parts, then click HERE and you’ll get a preview of the fun.
Hope to see some of you at the show. I’ll be the guy looking for Stallone sketches!
"Smokin’ Aces" and Frank Miller
On another note, there’ s nice little interview
Root for the Bad Guy… Again
Screenwriter, Brian Helgeland, hot of the success of “LA Confidential” wanted to direct. Pairing him with Mel Gibson on “Payback” seemed a natural. Things went well until late into filming when either Gibson, the studio or both decided that Gibson’s character needed to be more likeable and the film needed more action.
Helgeland disagreed. Guess who won out?
Yep, Gibson and the studio. So Mel went behind the camera and filmed some additional scenes and the tone of the movie changed.
As I said, “Payback” is one of my favorite Mel Gibson movies… but I always thought it would be cool to see Brian Helgeland’s vision. Perhaps, it too, would be one of my favorites.
According to Harry at Ain’t It Cool News, we’ll soon find out! “Payback: Straight Up – The Director’s Cut” is comming out in a few months. And unlike some “director’s cuts” where a few minutes of footage [that wasn’t good enough to make the original release!] is added, this is going to be a complete overhaul. It will be Helgeland’s vision .
And I can’t wait to see it!
Hellboy vs the Universal Monsters
Universal has acquired the rights to Hellboy. Guillermo del Toro [who co-wrote and directed the first Hellboy movie] and Mike Mignola [creator, writer and artist of Hellboy] are excited about the prospects of not only a sequel [or two] to the 2004 movie, but the fact that a Hellboy movie could now feature some of the classic Universal monsters! That’s right, Frankenstein, the Wolfman, Dracula, the Creature from the Black Lagoon and more!!
Mignola and del Toro have discussed the possibilities. Here’s a couple of quotes from del Toro: “I must say that I’m having a great experience right now at Universal, because I find that their understanding of Hellboy as a possibility is so great… My hope is that if everything goes well and we continue [the franchise], Hellboy can start fighting the Universal monsters! I would love to see that.”
So would I. For the full article, click HERE.
Sammy Terry Anyone?
One of the things that I love about YouTube.com is that you can find video of almost anything. I was surprised when I found a classic pro wrestling match between “Pretty Boy” Bobby Heenan [accompanied to the ring by Blackjacks Mulligan and Lanza] and “Cowboy” Bob Ellis.
I’m really surprised that some network doesn’t have a weekend horror movie double feature hosted by someone like Sammy. My guess is that if kids didn’t tune in, there’d still be a good-size audience of folks like me!