Image Credit: Nicola Dove
Which raunchy comedy concerning a quartet of male friends and their alcohol-fueled misadventures in a warm foreign country grossed $71m when it was released in the U.K. last year? Surprisingly, the answer is not The Hangover Part II—which garnered a comparatively meager $53m—but The Inbetweeners Movie, a big screen spin-off of a U.K. sitcom about four hapless teenagers.
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We haven’t heard much from Monty Python comedy team member Graham Chapman recently. Although, as directors Bill Jones and Ben Timlett point out in the production notes for their new animated Chapman biopic A Liar’s Autobiography, that’s mostly because the troubled funnyman has been dead since 1989.
Before his demise, however, Chapman recorded an audio version of his memoirs — also called A Liar’s Autobiography — and will thus be heard in the film alongside the freshly recorded voices of his fellow Pythons Terry Jones, John Cleese, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam.
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Michael Clarke Duncan, who received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in 1999′s The Green Mile, has died, EW confirms. He was 54.
The actor, who most recently played Leo Nox on Fox’s Bones spin-off The Finder, suffered a heart attack in July that kept him in the intensive care unit for over a month.
The 6 -foot-4 Duncan made a name for himself by playing roles that called for someone of his massive size — like bodyguards and bouncers. His role in 1998′s Armageddon was among his first exposure to mainstream audiences, who quickly fell in love with Duncan’s charming demeanor. He went on to appear in The Green Mile as death row inmate/healer John Coffey, the role that earned him his Oscar nomination. He also appeared in The Whole Nine Yards, Sin City, Daredevil, and many television shows, including Chuck and The Finder.
A statement from his rep is below:
Michael Clarke Duncan passed away this morning in Los Angeles, said his fiancée, Reverend Omarosa Manigault. The Oscar-nominated actor suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered. Manigault is grateful for all of your prayers and asks for privacy at this time. Celebrations of his life, both private and public, will be announced at a later date.
A day after widespread reports that ABC green lit a television series pilot about the top secret S.H.I.E.L.D. organization featured in Joss Whedon’s The Avengers, Whedon has confirmed he’s on board to at least consult on it, though he won’t be the showrunner.
“The S.H.I.E.L.D. show kind of dropped in my lap, and I love working in TV,” Whedon told EW.com on Thursday, without revealing any more details. “I get to really build a show with people I really trust and love. What we’re building is entirely autonomous from The Avengers. It’s gotta be a show that works for people who haven’t seen the Marvel movies. It will please Marvel fans, I think.”
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Image Credit: Zade Rosenthal
Joss Whedon will suit up once more to write and direct the sequel to The Avengers, EW has confirmed.
UPDATE, 4:30 p.m. PT: Marvel Studios has released the following statement: “Joss Whedon has signed an exclusive deal with Marvel Studios for film and television through the end of June 2015. As part of that deal, Whedon will write and direct Marvel’s The Avengers 2 as well as help develop a new live action series for Marvel Television at ABC. He will also contribute creatively to the next phase of Marvel’s cinematic universe.”
Earlier on Tuesday, during a conference call about Disney’s quarterly earnings, Disney chairman Bob Iger revealed that Whedon would return for the second installment of the film that has grossed nearly $1.5 billion worldwide since opening just over three months ago. Iger also said Whedon is working on a live-action TV series based in the Marvel universe for ABC, but had no further details. READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Ron Phillips
Anne Hathaway, President Obama thinks you are the cat’s meow.
At a big-ticket fundraiser at Harvey Weinstein’s Connecticut home Monday, Obama singled out Hathaway’s performance in The Dark Knight Rises while speaking to donors who paid close to $36,000 a plate. Catwoman was among those in attendance, as was Jerry Springer and Aaron Sorkin, according to the New York Times.
“She’s spectacular,” the President said of Hathaway. “And I did get a chance to see Batman. And she was the best thing in it. That’s just my personal opinion.”
Obama also had kind words for Sorkin by saying the creator of HBO’s The Newsroom “writes the way every Democrat in Washington wished they spoke.” The President also showed some love to Joanne Woodward, the widow of the late Paul Newman, by saying, “Joanne and Paul were not only I think what was best about American film but also just embodied the American spirit in so many ways.”
Weinstein called Obama “the Paul Newman of American presidents.”
Hathaway and Sorkin served as the fundraiser’s co-hosts.
According to tradition, a “Cockney” is a someone who was born within earshot of the bells of London’s historic St Mary-le-Bow church. Meanwhile, a “zombie” — at least since George A. Romero’s undead classic Night of the Living Dead — is a revived corpse who enjoys luncheoning on the innards of the still-breathing. Put them together and what do you get? That’s right, a revived corpse who was born within the sound of “Bow bells.” And the new British horror comedy Cockneys vs Zombies, which stars Michelle Ryan (the Bionic Woman revival), Alan Ford (Snatch), Honor Blackman (Goldfinger, cult TV show The Avengers), and the-largely-unknown-in-America-but-absolutely-awesome Richard Briers.
Inevitably, comparisons will be made between Cockneys vs Zombies — which receives its U.S. debut at this September’s Fantastic Fest — and Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead, a high-water mark of the Londoners-versus-undead-lurchers genre. And it is worth pointing out that Briers’ costar in the long-running ’80s Brit-com Ever Decreasing Circles, Penelope Wilton, played Simon Pegg’s mum in Shaun. (The pair’s fellow Ever Decreasing cast member Peter Egan should feel free to start rehearsing the line “I’ve been bitten by a blinkin’ zombie!” round about…now.) On the other hand, the new red-band Cockneys trailer does make it look like a (foul-mouthed and gore-drenched) hoot.
Take a “butcher’s” (Cockney rhyming slang: “butcher’s hook”/”look”) and see if you agree.
Read more:
‘You’ve Been Trumped’ documentary director talks about taking on The Donald
‘Dredd 3D,’ ‘Room 237,’ and ‘Cockneys vs Zombies,’ to play at Austin’s Fantastic Fest
‘Cheers’ legend George Wendt returns to the New York stage with… ‘Re-Animator: The Musical’
Image Credit: 20th Century Fox
Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Super 8, and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 may have been skunked when it came time to hand out Academy Awards, but they cleaned up but good at the Saturn Awards, which honor the best in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. At a ceremony Thursday night in Burbank, Calif., Rise of the Planet of the Apes won Best Science Fiction Film, as well as Best Supporting Actor (for Andy Serkis’ motion capture performance as the sentient ape Caesar), and Best Visual Effects. Super 8‘s director (J.J. Abrams), composer (Michael Giacchino), and young star (Joel Courtney) all earned Saturn trophies. And the final Harry Potter film took home the Best Fantasy Film Award.
In the television category, Fringe won best network TV show, Breaking Bad best syndicated or cable TV show, and The Walking Dead best TV presentation (a category for anything lasting 10 episodes or less). Director and actor Frank Oz, and actor James Remar both won Life Career Awards; writer-director Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods) won the Filmmakers Showcase Award; and The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman won the first ever Innovator Award. (Check out a full list of the awards at the end of this story.) READ FULL STORY »
Image Credit: Ron Phillips
When Matthew Modine calls The Dark Knight Rises the “most insane film that I’ve ever been involved with,” that’s really saying something. After all, this is the same man who did a famously lengthy tour of duty with Stanley Kubrick to complete the seminal 1987 war film, Full Metal Jacket, an exhausting odyssey that lacked a scripted ending until the final stages of production. When Modine describes Christopher Nolan’s sprawling new Batman epic in such terms, however, he’s not referring to such chaos, but the sheer scope, the stirring action, and the swirling winds of philosophical and political commentary that are howling through Batman’s cape, Catwoman’s spandex, and Bane’s mask.
Modine, too, plays an important role in the proceedings. As Deputy Commissioner Foley, he represents a misguided Gotham City that has turned its back on what is important during a time of relative peace. Like the rest of the police force — except Commissioner Gordon — he’s hungry to capture Batman for all the wrong reasons, and when Bane finally grabs the city by the throat, he’s not prepared. READ FULL STORY »
Walt Disney Studios Animation
The animated arcade adventure Wreck-It Ralph has already added characters from Q*bert, Paperboy, Pac-Man, Street Fighter, and Sonic the Hedgehog to its cast.
Now the feature film from Walt Disney Studios Animation has added stars from Modern Family, The Office, 24, and the Disney Channel to fill-out the list of supporting players.
