Archive for the ‘Religious’ Category
Filed under: Paramount, Family Films, Religious
Adam and Eve have appeared as characters in countless movies, but they typically have to share the big screen with other figures from the Book of Genesis, such as Noah and Abraham. This may not be the case with a new Biblical epic called In The Beginning, which Deadline Hollywood reports is now in the works via Paramount and Journey to the Center of the Earth producer Cary Granat. Oh, and here’s why it could very well surpass The Passion of the Christ as the top-grossing (not taking into counting inflation adjustments) Biblical adaptation of all time: it’s going to be 3D!
I’m assuming that much of the 3D spectacle will involve the first five days of Creation, before Adam and Eve’s arrival. With a narration probably from Morgan Freeman, we’ll witness God’s introduction of light and life, which will hopefully look as great as the 3D Pandora does in Avatar, even if there won’t be any floating mountains or DayGlo plants. Then the film will apparently focus on the story of the asp and the apple and original sin in the Garden of Eden. All in all this will be a $30 million effects-heavy movie with cinema magic supplied by the digital fx company that worked on Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium and The Spy Next Door.
Filed under: Thrillers, Casting, Deals, Religious
It was back in December of 2007 when we learned that New Line was going to exorcism school. The studio had grabbed the rights to The Rite, “the true story of an American priest who studied at an exorcism school in Italy.” While the lead has not been cast yet, The Hollywood Reporter’s Heat Vision Blog reports that Anthony Hopkins will co-star as “a priest who is an expert in exorcisms and whose methods are not necessarily traditional.” Talk about bang-on perfect and creepy casting.
The back story: journalist Matt Baglio got to shadow a young priest going through the exorcism school and training with a senior exorcist (enter Hopkins), where he got to experience exorcisms, some of which will be explored in the film. The flushed-out, inspirational summary for the thriller says The Rite will focus on “a disillusioned American seminary student who attends exorcism school at the Vatican and ultimately finds his faith through encounters with demonic forces.” Nothing like a little head-spinnage to help a lad rediscover his faith.
Three years later, I still can’t wrap my head around the idea of exorcism school and am dying to see more. Unfortunately, Mikael Hafstrom is directing, which could make this like 1408, or like the so terribly abysmal Derailed. Let’s hope it’s more like the former, and that they grab a great lead to help things along. Who do you think should star alongside Hopkins?
Filed under: Drama, Newmarket, Theatrical Reviews, Toronto International Film Festival, Religious
When the Charles Darwin biopic, Creation, failed to find Stateside distribution after opening last fall’s Toronto International Film Festival, a producer chalked it up to its controversial subject matter. Now that the film has in fact found its way to a limited release here, the content speaks for itself as a muddled tale of both a grief-stricken parent and an anguished genius. Generally, it is more concerned with Darwin dwelling on the past instead of dealing with the future, and only controversial in the sense that it nearly marginalizes the 1859 publication of his On the Origin of Species with so much surrounding melodrama.
Filed under: Action, Horror, Sony, RumorMonger, Scripts, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Comic/Superhero/Geek, Remakes and Sequels, Religious, Western
Now that Nicolas Cage is enjoying some kind of pop-cult-popularity (witness his Colorforms and his Everyman website), Ghost Rider 2 may actually be better received than its predecessor. It may be seen as some kind of art, and not a film no one was asking for.
It’s still coming, by the way. Collider caught up with producer Mike De Luca, who confirmed that they were still working with David S. Goyer’s script, and that the film had a working title of Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. “We have an outline that David wrote that kind of adapts his 2001 script into today’s times with incorporating kind of an original idea of Nic’s that Goyer thought added to the mix in good way –that we all thought added to the mix in a good way –that gets Ghost Rider into a bigger arena to kind of apply our story in.” The outline has just been delivered, so it’s all still in a holding pattern. De Luca then confirmed that original idea of Cage’s was to take the movie to Europe. “The idea was because Ghost Rider is a unique blend of theology and action, and the character deals with the kind of battle of good vs. evil in a theological sense, that Europe you could avail yourself of a lot of religious sites … and a history of theology as a setting that isn’t available in the U.S. We wanted to kind of signal that we’re as different from the first movie just because we want to be fresh and new as you can get in terms of getting away from southwestern kind of pseudo-western thing.”
In addition to dumping the Western angle, Johnny Blaze will also lose his cinematic love interest, as De Luca confirmed that Eva Mendes won’t return. While they hope to begin shooting this year, they’re still looking for a director and hoping Goyer might be able to make room to take the job. If that falls through, may I suggest Werner Herzog? It would feel so right.
Filed under: Action, Drama, Foreign Language, Independent, Religious, Cinematical Indie, War
Everyone in Hollywood just wants to direct, but when it comes to visual effects artists becoming full-fledged filmmakers, the results aren’t always great. Among those who’ve made the transition, for better or worse, are Joe Johnston (Jurassic Park III), Eric Brevig (Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D), Colin and Greg Strause (Aliens vs. Predator – Requiem) and Neil Blomkamp (District 9).
Joining them now is Dean Wright, Oscar-nominated for effects work on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and a veteran artist who had a hand in Titanic, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Kangaroo Jack and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Wright, who got some of his directing experience handling the second unit filming for The Return of the King, is already at work on a Jesus biopic called Kingdom Come, slated for release in 2010. And now, according to Variety, he’s already set up his follow-up, another epic, titled Cristiada.
Continue reading Hollywood FX Artist to Direct Mexico’s Biggest Film Ever
Filed under: Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Religious
When Stephenie Meyer took on vampires, she put a good, wholesome, Mormon twist on things. The vamps sparkle, wear preppie clothes, have a big family, and suffer through months of pent-up sexual tension and tight-jaws while waiting until marriage to have the sex. It’s not the usual vampiric ways — not by a long shot. So, when angels — the symbols of light and purity — enter the teen romance world, will they then go dark?
You bet! The Hollywood Reporter posts that Disney has bought the rights to a new young adult novel by Lauren Kate called Fallen. Another classic teen romance of girl torn between two sexy options, the book is the first part of a four-book series that centers on “an alienated girl torn between two charismatic young men, unaware that they are fallen angels who have battled over her for centuries.” As THR notes, this is the new trend with other titles like Hush, Hush also dipping into the world of angels.
In that case, what’s next? It looks like YA writers are looking for any sort of supernatural, super-power, immortal beings to thrust into the world of tumultuous teen female yearnings. Mermen? Zombies? Aliens? Soothsayers? Astral Projections? Monks? Immortal Ninjas?
Filed under: Casting, RumorMonger, Scripts, Religious
Rejoice! It’s time for Paul Thomas Anderson and Philip Seymour Hoffman to work together again. After Sydney, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch Drunk Love, Variety reports that the two are teaming up for a new feature about a man who creates his own religion. But don’t celebrate too much — this news is still in the early stages. Anderson is said to be planning to submit a finished script to Universal, who will then decide whether or not they will greenlight it (um, yes please). AND, the trade couldn’t get comment from the studio, or either man’s reps.
But here’s what we do know. Should this go into production, there will be a $35 million price tag with Hoffman finally getting center stage playing “the Master” (as in master of ceremonies), a charismatic man who starts “a faith-based organization” in the 1950s. He teams up with a twentysomething drifter named Freddie who becomes his “lieutenant” until the kid finds himself questioning the faith he’s gotten himself involved in.
For those of you foaming at the mouth at the thought of a Scientology/Mormon critique, hold on. Variety says: “The drama does not so much scrutinize self-started churches like Scientology or the Mormons, as much as it explores the need to believe in a higher power, the choice of which one to embrace and the point at which a belief system graduates into a religion.” Nevertheless, it’s about time PTA let PSH grab the full reigns of his vision. Let’s hope the whole thing comes to fruition.
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, New Line, Celebrities and Controversy, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Religious, Fan Rant
Now rolling in New Moon millions, Chris Weitz is being more open about his troubles with New Line and The Golden Compass, a film that sank one studio and sent him into a tailspin. Rumors abounded as to what went wrong on that film, and as recently as last week, New York’s Page Six was claiming that residual stress was causing him to leave the industry.
Weitz denied any such thing to Variety, and announced he was leaving the world of the supernatural behind with his next film, The Gardener. The film centers around a hard working Mexican gardener and his efforts to protect his son, and Weitz will be making it alongside his new best friends forever, Summit Entertainment. His new friendship enabled him to take a parting shot at New Line. Weitz praises Summit and Stephenie Meyer for trusting him with New Moon, an experience that was the polar opposite of the debacle that was The Golden Compass.
Weitz claims that New Line didn’t trust him to handle the content of the book, that the film was taken from him in editing. Heavy-handed hacking resulted in losing nearly 30 minutes of footage from the film, and neatly exercised the edgy thrust of Phillip Pullman’s book. “It was an utter violation of my status as a director and the worst thing that has happened to me professionally … I was treated badly, it was almost like they never read the books. They seemed frightened of offending the right.” Out of loyalty to the cast and crew, Weitz said he “bit through my tongue” when Compass was released.
As a fan of Pullman’s His Dark Materials series, I’d love to see all that missing footage to see if it could salvage Weitz’s film, and if New Line really neutered it.
Go below the jump for the rest
Continue reading Chris Weitz Blames New Line For ‘The Golden Compass’ — Do You?
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Newsstand, Politics, Religious
Normally, we don’t run stories about the personal lives and religious beliefs of celebrities. The exception to the rule is when they have some kind of impact (positive or negative) on a film or a career. So when Paul Haggis gives the finger to the Church of Scientology, we have to run it. As Haggis himself admits, “I am fully aware that some of my friends may choose to no longer associate with me, or in some cases work with me.”
According to Village Voice, Haggis has been a member of the Church of Scientology for 35 years. But he found himself questioning its practices and beliefs, particularly after its San Diego branch openly sponsored California’s anti-gay Proposition 8. Haggis asked Scientology’s spokesman, Tommy Davis, to denounce the branch. Davis skirted the issue, and Haggis went on the offensive with a confrontational letter that has made its way online on Mark Rathburn’s anti-Scientology blog. “The church’s refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of no other word. Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent.”
The church’s bigotry encouraged Haggis to do a little digging, and he found an online interview with Davis, who claimed that the Church doesn’t force its members to cease contact with anyone who forsakes the religion, or openly criticizes it. “I was shocked. We all know this policy exists. I didn’t have to search for verification – I didn’t have to look any further than my own home.” Haggis’ wife was ordered to “disconnect” from her parents because they resigned from the church.
Continued below the jump…
Filed under: Action, Deals, Scripts, 20th Century Fox, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Religious, War
Before our generation comes to a close, all of ancient history and mythology will have been filmed through a Zack Snyder / Frank Miller lens. Variety reports that the next ancient text to get the green-screened sepia treatment is the tale of Moses. Yes, Ten Commandments Moses.
20th Century Fox and its new big dog, Peter Chernin, have snapped up a pitch to retell “Let my people go!” in 300 fashion, and put Adam Cooper and Bill Collage to work penning a script. You might not remember their names now, but they’re also pairing up with Timur Bekmambetov to remake the story of Moby Dick in a 300 “graphic novel style.” Variety notes that all the elements you know and love from the story of Moses will be there (the Red Sea, the plague of locusts, the golden calf) but they will also incorporate “brand new elements” drawn from Midrashic sources. I wonder if they’ll also find a way to include the scene with Zipporah rescues their son from the Lord by circumcising him? Because they could do some slow motion blood splatter with that.
Being an irreligious sort, I find the idea silly instead of offensive but it’s possible that a lot of moviegoers could find this very disrespectful to their faith. Will it spur on copycat projects? Will other studios go “Why didn’t we think of the Bible?”, abandon Greek texts, and start producing 300 versions of Maccabees? Judges? 1 and 2 Kings? There’s a lot of gory tales just waiting to be revamped with green screen.
