With
Ralph Fiennes'
CORIOLANUS and
Helen Mirren's
THE TEMPEST, Shakespeare is quite popular these days, so it's no wonder that old Willy will go futuristic as well:
HENRY 5 will be a sci-fi thriller with a mind blowing cast including
Michael Caine,
Ray Winstone,
Gerard Depardieu,
Vinnie Jones and
Derek Jacobi, and will incorporate elements from Shakespeare's HENRY IV and HENRY V. It will be set in an age of apocalypse, in a land without a leader, where a dissolute prince finds redemption when
he crushes a rebellion that threatens to destroy his father's kingdom. But upon assuming the throne himself, he immediately engineers a war against a neighboring state to slake his lust for power. Despite his enemy possessing weaponry rendering their forces almost invincible, the newly crowned king seizes a glorious victory from the jaws of defeat by ruthlessness and cunning.
And here's an avalanche of short updates for your pleasure:
Breck Eisner wants
Jeremy Renner as Snake Plissken in his remake of sf action
ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK. Teen star
Zac Efron has been offered the lead role in
AKIRA, Warner Bros' adaptation of the famous futuristic anime.
Judi Dench will have a one minute role in
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES as a noblewoman into whose coach
Johnny Depp will jump during a getaway scene. The reboot of
SPIDERMAN continues to get more and more boring -
Sally Field will be Aunt May while
Martin Sheen will be her husband Uncle Ben.
There will be no Cyclops and no
Hugh Jackman in
X MEN: FIRST CLASS, there will be no General Zod in
Zack Snyder's
SUPERMAN, and there will be no
Betty White in
MEN IN BLACK III. And there will be no
James Cameron in the director's seat for
CLEOPATRA :(
The creators of CHICKEN RUN and WALLACE AND GROMIT are preparing a charming new 3D animated movie
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS which sets out to answer the question of how Santa Claus delivers all his presents in one night.
James McAvoy will give voice to Arthur, the good-natured but clumsy younger son of Santa Claus who seems to be the only member of the family still enamored with the magic of Christmas.
Hugh Laurie will play Arthur's older brother Steve, heir to the
reins, a cool, incredibly capable guy who has given the North Pole high-tech efficiency, military-style precision.
Jim Broadbent plays the big man in red himself who finds himself taking a backseat to the major operation that preparing for Christmas has become.
Bill Nighy will voice the 136-year old Grandsanta, a cranky old codger who hates the modern world and liked Christmas better back in the day.
Imelda Staunton will be Mrs. Santa and
Ashley Jensen will play Bryony, a lowly elf from the Giftwrap Battalion, with an eager-to-please attitude and an obsession with wrapping and bows. The film is out November 2011.
A futuristic Arthur V sounds great! And the new Akira good be good as well. Heard they're setting it in New York instead of Japan.
ReplyDeletewell, I'm not sure an Asian set AKIRA would go well with American audience so they're gonna change that. And yes, futuristic HENRY V does sound great!
ReplyDeleteThis is all such cool information! And thanks for the photo of Zac. You made my Sunday!
ReplyDeletethe new spider-man cast members is a weird choice, although I can see Sally Field doing Aunt May alright.
ReplyDeleteYou can't imagine how super extremely glad I am when James Cameron completely abandons "Cleopatra". It just a really smart choice considering the last 'cleopatra' was a massive box office failure, and apparently cleopatra and 3D don't match to each other :))
ReplyDelete@Julie
ReplyDeleteah, Juls, I'm glad I put a smile on your face with the pics ;)
@Dempsy
it really is weird, it's totally not making me wanna watch the film :(
@Jaccsy
oh, come on, Jaccsy, the old CLEOPATRA was made half a century ago, the new one would be a smash hit if it was made by Cameron, but now .... :( Now, it will really be a flop.
I'm excited about these new Shakespeare adaptations; The Tempest looks very well put together and I'm interested in the concept of a scifi Shakespeare movie :) I hope Henry V keeps the lines of the original too, that would be awesome!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Jamie, I'm also into futuristic and crazy adaptations of Shakespeare's works ;)
ReplyDeleteWow, how horribly depressing most of this news is. I am trying to stay optimistic about the Spiderman reboot but it's getting really tough.
ReplyDeleteThe actual news that interest me most is the fact that I'm going to be seeing Gerard Depardieu in a movie again! I love that guy!
ReplyDeleteCD
@Bryan
ReplyDeletehe he ... yes the middle part of the post is depressive :))
@Clarissa
oh, that's interesting,Clarissa :) We haven't seen him a lot lately but he does act often in French movies.
Henry V sounds super cool.
ReplyDeleteand Zac would fit Akira well (I think).
Zac seems like he would fit pretty much anything and look good in it, even a plain old gunny sack :)
ReplyDeleteThey made a movie of Coriolanus? Did it get an NC-17 rating?
ReplyDeleteNow I'm looking forward to Arthur so I can see how Santa gets his presents delivered in 1 night! :)
ReplyDelete@MJ
ReplyDeleteit's not yet finished. It was shot in Serbia.
@Lisa
yes, yes, that's one of the greatest mysteries in the world :))
Zac is a super cutie.
ReplyDeleteArthur Christmas sounds like my kind of movie.
I'm not into his acting, but Zac definitely is the owner of the most perfect celebrity body :)
ReplyDeleteI like ARTHUR CHRISTMAS as well :)
...Sigh...
ReplyDeleteI must be getting too old. Every remake they try to do just sounds incredibly stupid. Escape from New York? Do they not realize why that film has had such a cult following? You don't try to remake films that can still stand on their own years later. Spider-man reboot, despite incredibly successful movies? No Cyclops in an X-men movie?
Whatever drugs they're smoking in Hollywood ought to be passed out to everyone, so we can stop caring as much as they obviously do.
There was one movie Zac did well in (well in my opinion) but I cant recall the title at this moment. It was the only thing I ever liked him in. It was not a kiddie film, he played a grownup....oh well...I must have alzheimers!
ReplyDeleteWho knows he may grow into a good actor yet. Although it seems anyone with a cute face can make it in Hollywood, which is sad. Acting should be based on talent and not looks, well looks can come in second:)
@Eric
ReplyDeleteah, I'm not sure I will watch an X-MEN movie without my favourite Cyclops :(
Do you know why they are making so many remakes, reboots and vampire movies in Hollywood? Because the new target audience are teens who give the most money to watch movies, and they haven't seen the old films. It is quite sad.
@Avalon
it's like that everywhere, Avalon, not just in the film industry. You need to be gorgeous or have connections if you want to be super successful.
Henry V sounds very intriguing and promises to be pretty decent with the likes of Sir Michael Caine! I hadn't heard of this one yet. I can't wait to learn more!
ReplyDeleteIt is very intriguing. If I remember correctly the project has been mentioned in rumors throughout the previous decade, but it seems they finally managed to start it. I hope it's not just another rumor, it would be great watching a futuristic film with such amazing actors.
ReplyDelete