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Joss Whedon Puts in a Bid for the Terminator Franchise!!!

Sean — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:49:19 +0000

In case you haven't heard, the rights to the Terminator franchise are once again going to be up for grabs when they are auctioned off later this month, and a number of studios are said to be interested including Sony, Summit Entertainment and Media Rights Capital. It's unclear what this will mean for the future of the franchise, but apparently big media corporations aren't the only ones hoping to get a chance to repackage and resell the robot apocalypse. Believe it or not, there are a few other interested parties out there, including one... Joss Whedon? In a somewhat humourous and irreverent open letter posted on Whedonesque and Deadline Hollywood, the man behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly and Dollhouse offers up a tidy sum of $10,000 for the franchise, and proceeds to give some of his ideas about what to do with it. As expected, there is at least one reference to his good friend Summer Glau, who appeared in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and must have been part of the inspiration for this little write-up. Oh Joss... must you always be the class clown? I'm not sure what the point of all this is except that he thought it would be a real gas. It seems like he is implying that the Terminator franchise isn't worth very much anymore, but maybe in some sly way he's saying that he really does want to get involved with the next movie? I'm sure the Browncoats are already raving about the possibilities! Bask in the comedic genius of the full letter after the jump.

An Open Letter to the Terminator Owners. From a Very Important Hollywood Mogul Dear Sirs/Ma'ams, I am Joss Whedon, the mastermind behind Titan A.E., Parenthood (not the movie) (or the new series) (or the one where 'hood' was capitalized 'cause it was a pun), and myriad other legendary tales. I have heard through the 'grapevine' that the Terminator franchise is for sale, and I am prepared to make a pre-emptive bid RIGHT NOW to wrap this dealio up. This is not a joke, this is not a scam, this is not available on TV. I will write a check TODAY for $10,000, and viola! Terminator off your hands. No, you didn't miscount. That's four -- FOUR! -- zeroes after that one. That's to show you I mean business. And I mean show business. Nikki Finke says the Terminator concept is played. Well, here's what I have to say to Nikki Finke: you are a fine journalist and please don't ever notice me. The Terminator story is as formative and important in our culture -- and my pretend play -- as any I can think of. It's far from over. And before you Terminator-Owners (I have trouble remembering names) rush to cash that sweet cheque, let me give you a taste of what I could do with that franchise: 1) Terminator... of the Rings! Yeah, what if he time-travelled TOO far... back to when there was dragons and wizards? (I think it was the Dark Ages.) Hasta La Vista, Boramir! Cool, huh? "Now you gonna be Gandalf the Red!" RRRRIP! But then he totally helps, because he's a cyborg and he doesn't give a s#&% about the ring -- it has no power over him! And he can carry it AND Frodo AND Sam AND f@%& up some orcs while he's doing it. This stuff just comes to me. I mean it. (I will also offer $10,000 for the Lord of the Rings franchise). 2) More Glau. Hey. There's a reason they're called "Summer" movies. 3) Can you say... musical? Well don't. Even I know that's an awful idea. 4) Christian Bale's John Connor will get a throat lozenge. This will also help his Batwork (ten grand for that franchise too, btw.) 5) More porn. John Connor never told Kyle Reese this, but his main objective in going to the past was to get some. What if there's a lot of future-babies that have to be made? Cue wah-wah pedal guitar -- and dollar signs! 6) The movies will stop getting less cool. Okay. There's more -- this brain don't quit! (though it has occasionally been fired) -- but I think you get my drift. I really believe the Terminator franchise has only begun to plumb the depths of questioning the human condition during awesome stunts, and I'd like to shepherd it through the next phase. The money is there, but more importantly, the heart is there. But more importantly, money. Think about it. End this bloody bidding war before it begins, and put the Terminator in the hands of someone who watched the first one more than any other movie in college, including "Song of Norway" (no current franchise offer). Sincerely, Joss Whedon.

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Ratner Confident That X-Men 3 Was Awesome. Us Geeks Just Don’t Get It!

Kasper — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:50:25 +0000

Brett Ratner is a real man's man. King of the castle. Pure film gold. Or so he thinks. To the movie die hards, he's "that turd who fucked up the X-Men". To the rest of us, he's just a turd in general. Anyway, that's not what this post is about. No sir. En a recent talk with StarPulse about his various movies over the years, the Ratman defended X-Men: The Last Stand from the major fan backlash that the otherwise commercially succesfull film endured. When the Rat was asked if the comic book demographic were the hardest group to please, he had this to say:

"Absolutely. Bryan Singer gave me the best advice when I was doing "X-Men 3," Bryan is a really good friend of mine. Bryan said, "Whatever you do, do not read the Internet." I'm like, "Why?" He's like, "First of all, they hated on me the whole time I was making 'X-Men' and 'X-Men 2.' They said, 'Gambit should have been the star of the movie'" They're such rabid fans, they're so passionate about their comic book characters that they think that their favorite character should be the star of the movie. Someone might be passionate about Iceman being the star. So, you can't win. Everyone's going to have their own so just stay away from their opinion and do what you feel's best. I kind of made rules for myself. I said to the writers -- Zak Penn and Simon Kinberg -- I only want to put scenes in this movie that exist from actual comic books. That way I protect myself. Even though I protect myself they're still saying, 'Why the f*ck did [he] kill Professor X?' He died in five different comic books! People are crazy. 'Brett Ratner killed Professor X! How dare he do that!' He died in five different comic books and came back!"

The ratmeister certainly doesn't seem to like the comic book nerds any more than they like him because as the interview went on, the tone worsened. The rat acknowledges that although his movie isn't all that smart -- that's what Singer excelled at -- his movie is more fun than Singer's two. I guess that can be argued. He also goes on to claim that all the haters were the ones who ended up making the movie the hit that it was, stating that even though everybody claimed to hate it so much from the get go, they all went to see it anyway. What do you think? Is there sense to what the rat is saying, or is he way off? Are all the comic book people wrong with their hate for Ratner? Shout off in the comments.

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Al Pacino Would Have Sex With You…If You Gave Him A Place To Live.

Greg — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 22:15:44 +0000

According to our friends over at WENN.com , when Al Pacino was a struggling actor in his youth back in Sicily, the future Carlito's Way star traded sex for room and board. Hoo-ah! Back in 1960, he went home to his native land after dropping out of school to pursue his dream of acting. A gossip column in the New York Post said he decided to sell his body to keep a roof over his head. Al Pacino said "At 20, I lived in Sicily by selling the only asset I had - my body. An older woman traded food and housing in return for sex. I woke mornings not really loving myself." Fantastic. What celebrity would you shelter in return for sex? This could be a new weekly poll. Let's keep it clean though, folks.

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Sit Down, Acting! Ryan Gosling Is Focusing On Music.

Greg — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:21:20 +0000

In another story of actors wanting to become musicians or musicians wanting to become actors, here comes the tale of Ryan Gosling and his band Dead Man's Bones. According to Jam!, my favourite cast member of Breaker High has decided to take a few months off from acting and focus on music. I suppose he's earned the chance to do this. With superb acting performances in The Believer and Half Nelson maybe he can translate that into music. If you haven't heard much from his band check this out. Not much in the way of actual music videos from the band, but you can get a good idea of what they're about. I should point out that this isn't indicative of Canadian music, but I'll hand it to him and say that at the very least, it's different. He and partner Zach Shield sing about zombies with broken hearts and other weird stuff. Gosling sings and plays guitar and the band is heading out on tour if you want to catch them live. If Dead Man's Bones isn't your thing, you can look for Gosling back on the big screen as he has two movies in editing. Blue Valentine with Michelle Williams and All Good Things with Kirsten Dunst. By the way, I know you're going to watch that whole episode of Breaker High.

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Roger Avary Gets a Year in Jail for Manslaughter

Sean — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:12:18 +0000

Hey, who says big name Hollywood types always get off easy? Oscar-winning writer/director Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction, Killing Zoe, The Rules of Attraction) has been sentenced to a year in prison this week following his involvement in a 2008 car crash that resulted in the death of a passenger. He was driving home in Southern California at night when he lost control of the car and crashed into a telephone pole at over 100 mph. His wife was ejected from the car and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, while his friend Andreas Zini was killed. Avary also received five years probation after pleading guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter and drunken driving. Granted, Avary is from from a "big name" in Hollywood, and apparently the maximum sentence was 12 years, but either way, he is definitely going to do some hard time. Avary's most recent screenwriting credit was for Robert Zemeckis' Beowulf, which he co-wrote with Neil Gaiman. He also is working on a Return to Castle Wolfenstein movie, and the sequel to Silent Hill.

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Roman Polanski Arrested in Switzerland

Sean — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:40:19 +0000

Late last year, director Roman Polanski had filed a complaint with the Los Angeles Superior Court to have the outstanding charges of sexual misconduct against him dismissed. The charges date back to 1977, when Polanski was accused of luring 13-year-old Samantha Geimer back to Jack Nicholson's house where they had sexual intercourse (although he claimed it was consensual, she was underage and drugged). Polanski fled the U.S. and has lived in France ever since, unable to return under threat of being arrested. Although his request to have the case dismissed was denied, the judge agreed to retry him, if he appeared in court. That never happened. Now, today, it appears that authorities have taken steps to resolve the case once and for all. After arriving in Zurich, Switzerland to attend the Zurich Film Festival, he was arrested. Festival organizers had planned to present Polanski with a lifetime achievement award, but now he is being detained with the possibility of extradition to the United States. Ouch! It seems crazy that the man may now finally face charges after so long. I'm not even saying the charges were undeserved, but after 30 years, people change and the world moves on. What do you think, is Polanski finally getting what was coming to him, or does the U.S. justice system simply have something to prove?

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Adoption Groups Upset Over Upcoming Horror Film Orphan

Sean — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:58:39 +0000

This weekend, Jaume Collet-Serra's horror film Orphan hits theatres, and while it may seem like a story we've seen far too many times before, that is precisely what has a number of special interest groups up in arms. Various adoption and foster care groups in the United States are calling for a boycott of the film, which they feel depicts adopted children in an unflattering light. They are concerned that the portrayal of an "evil" orphan on screen will only reinforce negative stereotypes about the risks and anxieties that parents feel when going through the process of adoption. Does this sound ridiculous or what? I'm always amazed by how many special interest groups there are in the world, and how almost every movie that is released nowadays manages to upset at least one of them. Clearly this is a fictional story and I seriously doubt that anyone would make a connection between this movie and the decision to adopt a child in real life. Still, I guess I can see how some people might be alarmed by the line in the trailer that says, "It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own." I wouldn't be surprised if this line ends up being cut from the movie. A spokesman for Warners also said they are thinking about adding a pro-adoption message at the end of the DVD release of the film. What do you think, is there any validity to these concerns, or is this just another special interest group clamoring for publicity? In case you haven't seen it, I've embedded the trailer after the jump.

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Fact: Quentin Tarantino Can Outcriticize His Critics

Sean — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:08:01 +0000

As the release date for Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds draws near we're starting to see the publicity machine gear up, and plenty of interviews with both QT and Brad Pitt are popping up all over the place. GQ Magazine currently has a great piece on Tarantino where he talks about (among other things) the juicy topic of film criticism. Basterds got a mixed response after its premiere in Cannes, which isn't all that surprising considering the mixed response to his last film, Death Proof as well. But does that really mean anything? Pretty much everyone has an opinion on Tarantino's films, and according to him, they're mostly irrelevant:

"I respect criticism, but I know more about film than most of the people writing about me. Not only that, I'm a better writer than most of the people writing about me. And I can write film criticism better than most of the people writing about me."

Spoken like a true egomaniac. The thing is, after recently watching the documentary Not Quite Hollywood and hearing Tarantino talk at length about Australian exploitation flicks, it's clear to me that he's not exaggerating about this. Sometimes people say that movies like Transformers 2 are critic-proof, because they will make a boatload of money no matter how bad they are. In the case of Tarantino, he's almost saying that his movies are critic-proof because if you don't like them, you just didn't get it. What do you think, is he right about this? Are most film critics (and the general public for that matter) ill-equipped to offer an opinion on his work? Or is he just an arrogant jackass who thinks he's above pleasing the average moviegoer?

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Megan Fox Belatedly Accepts Chubby Fanboy’s Flower Offering

Sean — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:51:20 +0000

You may have seen this amazing photograph making its way around the web last week, and no doubt you thought you knew the whole story behind it. Crazed and delusional fanboy hears that Megan Fox may be single again, offers her a flower in the hopes of winning her heart, only to be denied with a look of disgust. So sad, yet so... believable. Right? Well apparently that's not exactly what happened. Frosty over at Collider asked Megan Fox about the incident in a recent Transformers press interview, and she was more than happy to clear the air. She explains that what you don't realize is there were actually a lot of people and cameras around her at the time. Plus she didn't know he was just a kid. If she had known he was a harmless, sweet little innocent boy, she never would have given him the cold shoulder. In fact, they might even be married right now. It just goes to show that sometimes photographs can lie. Check out the video of the interview with Fox below.

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Harrison Ford is the Highest Paid Actor

Sean — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:23:51 +0000

Every year Forbes puts together a list of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood, and while it's not usually all that insightful or surprising, I suppose it is an indication of what actors are currently given the most value by both studios and moviegoers alike. Of course, it also has a lot to do with the date range they choose to measure, which in this case is June 2008 to June 2009. This gives a distinct advantage to anyone who had two major films released within that timespan. This year, Harrison Ford came out of the woodwork to land the highest total salary with $65 million -- thanks to (what else?) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. That's kind of an anomaly since Ford doesn't have much else to back him up. Adam Sandler and Will Smith, on the other hand, are both used to being on top, and their movies generated $55 million and $45 million respectively. Will Ferrell apparently had one of the biggest drops this year, falling all the way to #20 on the list (and with the disappointing performance of Land of the Lost, it seems that his stock continues to plummet). Check out the full top 20 after the jump. Is there anyone here who seems out of place on this list? 1. Harrison Ford -- $65 million 2. Adam Sandler -- $55 million 3. Will Smith -- $45 million 4. Eddie Murphy -- $40 million 5. Nicolas Cage -- $40 million 6. Tom Hanks --$35 million 7. Tom Cruise -- $30 million 8. Jim Carrey -- $28 million 9. Brad Pitt -- $28 million 10. Johnny Depp -- $27 million 11. George Clooney -- $25 million 12. Russell Crowe -- $20 million 13. Robert Downey Jr. -- $20 million 14. Denzel Washington -- $20 million 15. Vince Vaughn -- $14 million 16. Ben Stiller -- $14 million 17. Seth Rogen -- $12 million 18. Matt Damon -- $11 million 19. Christian Bale -- $10 million 20. Will Ferrell -- $10 million

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David Slade Trash Talked Twilight Before Landing Eclipse Gig?

Sean — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:17:01 +0000

A couple of weeks ago we reported that David Slade (30 Days of Night, Hard Candy) had signed on to direct the third Twilight film, Eclipse. It is certainly a surprising choice, given the franchise's focus on romance rather than gore and violence, but perhaps it is an indication that they are hoping to take things in a slightly different direction. At the time, some people noted that David Slade's Twitter account had mysteriously disappeared in the days prior to the announcement. Now the reason for this has become clear: it seems that Slade had been bad mouthing Twilight just a few months earlier. Although the original tweet has been lost, /Film dug up an interview with Slade from last November where he talks about his thought process when he considered going to see Twilight at the theatre:

"Twilight drunk? No, not even drunk. Twilight on acid? No, not even on acid. Twilight at gun point? Just shoot me."

Now obviously this is getting a lot of Twilight fans riled up, with a lot of people calling him a hypocrite -- and understandably so. Still, there are a couple of things to consider. One is that at the time he hadn't actually seen Twilight, and even though he was poking fun in the interview, he still sounded kind of interested in it. It's possible that he has since seen the first movie, and ended up liking it. The other point that I want to bring up, however, is that if they want to win over the male demographic, maybe it's actually a selling point that they hired someone who was critical of the first film. Maybe this means he will be able to open the franchise up to a whole new audience. Of course, if he also ends up alienating the existing fans, then that would be pretty counterproductive. What do you think? Is David Slade a hypocrite, or is it unfair to hold these comments against him? In other David Slade news, Variety reports that he has also signed on to direct Cold Skin, a psychological thriller set in Antarctica written by Jesus Olmo (28 Weeks Later).

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McG Will Show You His If You Show Him Yours

Wintle — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 03:29:32 +0000

Stop the presses! I've been wrestling with a number of news items all day long, but it wasn't until I read this latest item that I truly felt the urge to comment. In an interview with Details magazine, McG, director of Terminator: Salvation, has challenged Michael Bay, director of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, to a penis-measuring competition. No metaphorical dick swinging for McG. This is a man who wants to see the real deal in all its glory.

"Michael Bay has a big c*ck," he says. Huh? "But I'd like to believe mine is bigger." McG smiles. "If he's up for it, we can both reveal ourselves on the Spartacus steps at Universal and put the question to rest."

Arguably the best part of the above statement is McG's acknowledgment that Michael Bay is totally packing. I wonder if Michael Bay will be up for the challenge. It can't be that hard. When you lay in bed at night, staring at the ceiling trying desperately to fall asleep, who do you imagine has the larger junk, McG or Michael Bay? Choose wisely!

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