Mockingbird Lane: The Munsters’ Family Portrait

A while back you may remember that we reported on the return of The Munsters to tv. If you were lucky enough to be at the Q & A session at Comic-Con you will have seen the 4 minute teaser for the new pilot. For all of us that weren’t there here is the first image of the whole Munster clan (also from Comic-Con and via io9). As you can see they are surprisingly…well, ‘normal’.

I must admit to being slightly let down by it. I was hoping for them to look a little more monstery. Jerry O’Connell looks less Herman Munster and more Jerry O’Connell.

However, Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daises creator and producer/writer of Mockingbird Lane) told The Hollywood Reporter that they were still very much monsters:

“The Munsters actually do what monsters do: they eat people and they have to live with the ramifications of being monstrous. It’s like grounding it in a reality because the half-hour was a sitcom, we saw the monsters: they were monsters on the outside and weren’t monsters on the inside. For us, they’re monsters outside and inside, and we get to double our story.”

NBC has ordered additional scripts and a decision on whether to order a full series should come soon. If they do we can expect to see other Universal monsters – including The Phantom of The Opera, The Wolfman and The Creature From The Black Lagoon.

I’m still not sure about all this. It feels like an unnecessary remake. They could just have easily renamed the family and not even pretend that they were remaking The Munsters. I’m still waiting to be convinced.

Hellboy/Ron Perlman is a Good Dude

I figured that it is time to get some good news up in this joint and via the Hollywood Reporter, this is will make you give some thumbs up to some people who step it up in the world. Ron Perlman, Hellboy himself, found out through the ‘Make A Wish Foundation’ that six-year-old Zachary wanted not only to meet Hellboy, but also wanted to become Hellboy as well. The makeup house Spectral Motion, who did the makeup for both Hellboy movies, setup the meeting after hearing the story and pitched it to Perlman, who obviously being awesome, was down for the idea.

So he got in the make up chair for another four hours in order to deliver the kid his wish. He showed up in full regale and Zachary even got the opportunity to sit in the chair as well to get his second part of his wish…Looking at the pictures and seeing obviously what the kid has gone through with his leukemia, I thought this was an amazing thing to do. It is one thing for a kid to be like, yeah I want to be Superman or Spiderman or something where you throw a suit on that you bought for 40 bucks at the Halloween Superstore. It’s another thing to pick a badass hero and then be like, yeah, I want the whole makeup and nine yards. Hats off to this kid for not only picking an awesome wish, but facing his illness and probably being like, I’m Hellboy, you can’t bring me down.

Also Ron Perlman and Spectral Motion – You guys definitely got the gold star for the day.

Movement on Edgar Wright’s ‘Ant-Man’ Movie?

So the Ant-Man movie, I’m hearing mixed reviews all over the shop about this flick. People are excited about the prospect of another Edgar Wright movie, but don’t seem pleased that it’s a film about a guy who talks to ants and shrinks down really small. ‘Ant-Man’ was a founding member of ‘the Avengers’ in the Marvel Universe, and has been through many revamps (the most recent been him taking on the costume and name of his deceased ex-wife and having a strange relationship with a robot that has his dead wife’s memories!).

‘Robocop’ Remake: Sam Jackson Joins Cast and Peter Weller Speaks!

The new Robocop Remake, which is tentatively scheduled for summer 2013, has recently announced some casting news in addition to what we’ve already told you (here and here). Sadly we still have no teasers or trailers. So let’s recap what we know about the film and talk about who’s playing what…

Gary Oldman

Oldman will be playing a new character named Norton, “the scientist who creates RoboCop and finds himself torn between the ideals of the machine trying to rediscover its humanity and the callous needs of a corporation.

We’re looking forward to seeing Gary in a significant role within the Robocop universe, and he will bring, I am sure, some appreciated class to the production (fingers crossed). Gary Oldman cultivated a reputation as a formidable character actor with his most memorable performances in films such as Leon, Sid and Nancy, The Fifth Element, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

What do you mean I don’t look like a scientist that would befriend a mechanical cop?

Samuel L Jackson

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Jackson is set to play a ‘charismatic media mogul’ in the forthcoming remake. This is by far the newest development, and leads us to believe that this reboot may indeed be star-studded. His role was described “A charismatic TV mogul and a powerful force in the Robocop world.” Which was the exact quote, which does leave it a bit vague, but we should be learning more very soon.

And that’s the news muthaf***er!

Joel Kinnaman

As for who is playing our favorite Tin-Can Cop, look no further than Joel Kinnaman off of AMC’s The Killing. He actually isn’t a bad choice for the role and I think picking lesser known stars really work when introducing a remake of Sci-Fi classics. New Detroit sure does rain less than Seattle….

Jose Padilha  (He’s the director)

Jose Padilha had these words to say in an interview with comingsoon.net on his upcoming remake of Robocop:

“‘RoboCop’ the first movie was fantastic,” he told us. “But even if there was no movie, the concept of ‘RoboCop’ is brilliant, first because it lends itself to a lot of social criticism, but also because it poses a question, ‘When do you lose you humanity?’ The way it does that is by replacing body parts with machine parts, and that’s very smart because guess what? It’s going to happen!”

“I have my take on it,” he continued, “And I can tell you this: In the first ‘RoboCop’ when Alex Murphy is shot, gunned down, then you see some hospitals and stuff and then you cut to him as RoboCop. My movie is between those two cuts. How do you make RoboCop? How do you slowly bring a guy to be a robot? How do you actually take humanity out of someone and how do you program a brain, so to speak, and how does that affect an individual?”

But what we really want to know is will there be scenes like this:

Finally the best thing I found on the upcoming remake was an interview response from the original Robocop (Peter Weller) at the Hero Complex Film Festival.

“I couldn’t give a shit,” he said. “I say you know what, god bless them, man. Go make another ‘Robocop.’ I got to tell you this: when I sat there in Dallas three weeks ago to watch this thing, I don’t know. I mean, can they throw a lot of CGI at it and so forth? The morality that’s endemic to the movie that you just watched, it’s hard to replicate.”

I think he has given his blessing, but it kind of sounds like he was being angry drunk. Either way I have never met the man, maybe that’s the way he speaks about everything.

Mission Impossible 5: Definitely on the way

Hold onto your butts, because it looks like M:I 5 is now officially… official I guess. It was pretty much a forgone conclusion but I would think that word directly from the mouth of the current VIACOM CEO, Philippe Dauman, is pretty definitive. Check out the snippet below from The Hollywood Reporter:

Die Hard 5: New Rumors About “John McClane Jr”

So last month we told you about the upcoming 5th installment of the Die Hard franchise – A Good Day to Die Hard, and we had some casting suggestions as to who we’d like to see play McClane’s son. Well now rumors are surfacing about the front-runners for said role, and they appear to have totally ignored me. But that’s fine, I’m gonna go opening night anyhow.

So here are, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the front-runners:

Die Hard 5, which is now called A Good Day to Die Hard, will attempt to find the young man to play Bruce Willis‘ son, with frontrunners Liam Hemsworth, Aaron Paul, and Ben Foster among those who will take part in chemistry reads with Willis, reprising his role of John McClane, on November 12 and 13. (We¹re hearing the part of Hemsworth’s to lose.)

So, they think that Liam Hemsworth (Thor‘s little brother and upcoming star of the Hunger Games) has the role barring a terrible screen test. I have to say, that even though I didn’t name any of these guys on my list, I’d be fine with any of the 3. And while I’m pretty apathetic towards Hemsworth, I actually really like the other 2.

Aaron Paul of course is the co-star of AMC’s Breaking Bad, and I’m a big fan, but my pick of the 3 would be Foster.

Ben Foster, though starting out on the Disney Channel with Flash Forward, he went on to star in action movies like Hostage (with Bruce Willis) and The Mechanic (with Statham). He also has comic geek cred with his roles in The Punisher, X-Men: The Last Stand, and 30 Days of Night. 

Sounds good to me!

 Source: The Hollywood Reporter

Flatliners Remake has a Pulse

Flatliners, the 1990 drama/thriller about medical students who killed themselves and then brought themselves back, and then had to deal with the demons from their past, is being remade.

‘Daredevil’ Reboot Gets a Writer

So the other day I went on a little bit of a rant regarding reboots and my thoughts on their frequent use in Hollywood. So now I might be contradicting myself a little, but if there was ever a movie that desperately needed a reboot, it’s Daredevil.

When it first came out in 2003 I was excited to see one of my all time favorite superheroes brought to the big screen, despite Ben Affleck‘s casting as the titular character. And most (if not all) of the fanbase out there was were pretty disappointed at the stinker presented to us.

DIRT ON DEXTER! – Season 6 to feature Colin Hanks & Mos Def

He is the blood spatter analyst we love to watch murder people. He stabs his way into his victims… and our hearts. Of course, I am talking about DEXTER! That’s right, our favorite serial killer-killer is coming back to Showtime this fall, and is bringing a famous Hollywood son into the mix.

Colin Hanks (Mad Men, The Good Guys), the son of Tom Hanks (Forest Gump, the guy who made BFFs with a Volleyball), is joining the cast of Dexter for Season 6. His character details were kept under tighter wraps than Dexter’s victims up until one website leaked some information. According to TV Somniac, Hanks will be playing Travis, Dexter’s main nemesis: a highly intelligent expert on ancient artifacts who gets linked to a series of grisly murders in Miami.

Tarantino’s Spaghetti Western “Django Unchained” to Star…Will Smith?

I think it can go without saying, I’m a Quentin Tarantino fan. Not only am I a fan of his films overall, but of the writing style, the way they’re shot, and way they pay homage to what came before them. Tarantino simply put, is my favorite film-maker. Every few years we are treated to something new from him. Now, it seems that the follow-up to his mega-hit Inglourious Basterds is around the corner, and it will be called Django Unchained.

Inspired by the 1966 spaghetti western Django. The film was considered one of the most violent in history up until that point so it seems an obvious choice for Tarantino. The original movie dealt with a gunslinger who enters a town at war. The KKK is feuding with a Mexican gang, and Django gets caught in the middle.

Taratino’s movie will take the western theme, but it will be earlier, post-civil war era. It will tell the story of a former slave named Django who is trained by a German Bounty Hunter, and tries to free his wife from an evil plantation owner.

In no real surprise, it seems that Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterd‘s Hans Landa) will play the German Bounty Hunter, though not yet official. In another real shocker, Tarantino staple Samuel L. Jackson appears set for some screen-time as well. Also rumored is that the star of the original film, Franco Nero (aka Gen. Ramon Esperanza in Die Hard 2), will be involved in some capacity, but it’s not yet known as whom. We reported a while back that Treat Williams has apparently turned down roles in both The Dark Knight Rises and this movie to do some TV cop show. Good call Treat.

Now, as far as the casting of Django himself – over the weekend there were rumors galore that Will Smith seems to be the front-runner and Tarantino’s choice for the title character. Smith however is a product. And he markets himself very carefully, so it’s unclear if he’ll accept a role this…gritty.

This is from The Hollywood Reporter:

Sources prepped for those meetings say Tarantino would like Smith to star in the film, the script for which has been making the rounds in recent days to wide acclaim. No official offer has been made to Smith, and any deal would of course be subject to working out financials, which might be difficult given Smith’s status as one of Hollywood’s few sure-thing stars.  

Indeed, though Smith has been out of multiplexes since 2008’s Seven Pounds, he is still considered among the top two or three box-office draws worldwide. 

Smith is being teed up for the title role of Django, a freed slave who seeks to reunite with his slave wife, a journey that will see him team with a German bounty hunter to take down an evil plantation owner.

Tarantino wrote the bounty hunter part with Waltz in mind, according to insiders. The German ends up training Django and helping him seek his wife.

Jackson would play the house slave to the bad guy, Monsieur Calvin Candie. The slave is an expert manipulator and will face off with Django. 

Smith and his reps have received the screenplay, which could be a hot potato due to the themes of racism and the liberal use of the N-word. It’s unclear whether Smith has read the script yet. The actor manages his image very carefully, but the part is heroic and could be iconic. And let’s not forget that Denzel Washington won his two Oscars playing characters who used the N-word.

The movie is slated for a 2012 release, and while I think he would be good in it, weather or not The Fresh Prince Will Smith joins the cast won’t affect my decision to see it. I can already tell you I will be in the theater opening night next year…