Tag: Steven Zeitchik

Is a viable “Deadpool” film finally coming into the crosshairs? Ryan Reynolds has made no secret of his dark ambitions for Marvel’s “Merc with a Mouth”  and now Steve Zeitchik, who writes our must-read sister blog, 24 Frames, says there’s a director on board: According to two people who were briefed on the project but not authorized to talk about it publicly, visual-effects savant Tim Miller is set to come on and make his directorial debut with the movie. Fox could not immediately be reached for comment. Miller knows superheroes, and Fox knows him: The filmmaker worked on effects for the studio’s comic-book films such as “X-Men” and “Daredevil.” More recently, he worked on effects for the visuals-heavy “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.” You can read the whole piece right here. – Geoff Boucher RECENT AND RELATED Feige: Captain America as moral compass ...

To the distress of legions of fans, the Hollywood version of ”The Hunger Games“ is moving on without Saoirse Ronan carrying the bow of hunter-girl Katnisss Everdeen. But don’t fret for the 16-year-old New York native; she has plenty of other pursuits in front of her, including “Hanna,” which reunites her with director Joe Wright, the filmmaker who guided her to an Oscar nomination at age 13 for her performance in his acclaimed film ”Atonement.” Steven Zeitchik, who leads our must-read sister blog 24 Frames, sat down with Ronan and Wright for a lively interview and the lengthy resulting article can be found in the Los Angeles Times Sunday Calendar section. Here’s a quick excerpt from the sprightly conversation… “If Saoirse hadn’t been involved I wouldn’t have given it much attention,” Wright says. “But because she was, I thought I should take it seriously.” The result ...

Los Angeles Times writer Steve Zeitchik gets inside the brain of “Limitless” director Neil Burger… Strolling around Manhattan’s Chinatown and Central Park, where he filmed scenes from his new film “Limitless,” director Neil Burger is reliving his movie’s arc. And his career. Which may not be all that far apart. “I always think about what’s the difference between being tenacious and having an inability to learn from failures,” he says on the warm Saturday in March, reflecting on his checkerboard directing path. “The difference between the homeless guy who wanted to be a great painter and the guy who is a great painter could be anything. It could be something small, like he dropped his keys at the right time and looked up and saw the gallery owner on the street. Or it could be something you never even find ...

Steven Zeitchik weighs in on Christopher Nolan’s  chances in the Oscars race following his Director’s Guild nomination. Here’s an excerpt… The DGA is about an accurate a predictor of the best director category at the Academy Awards as you can get: It’s foretold at least four of the five Oscar nominees in all but two of the past 12 years.  That would seem like great news for those hoping to see “Inception” get some attention in front of the approximately 40 million U.S. television viewers (and many more around the world) at the end of February. To date, Christopher Nolan’s movies have been nominated mostly in technical categories, and he was nominated once as a screenwriter (for “Memento“), but he has never landed a prized best-director slot, a source of irritation for his many fans. This year, the DGA nomination ...

Stephen Sommers was a divisive choice to direct “G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra,” the 2009 movie that became a global hit despite lukewarm reviews (and prompted Sommers to offer some, er, words of his own to critics). Those who were on the fence about the filmmaker can unhook themselves: After reports this summer that Sommers would be returning to direct a planned sequel, it looks like he won’t be doing that after all…. THERE’S MORE, READ THE REST – Steven Zeitchik RECENT AND RELATED TOP 10: The best G.I. Joe vehicle toys of 1980s Snake Eyes talking? Hama says it almost happened Paramount flies the flag for G.I. Joe Darwyn Cooke: “G.I. Joe” toy art was key influence Sgt. Rock film reloads — but won’t be set in WWII Stallone: “Velcro muscles” made me expendable Stallone: “I’m contemplating an ‘Expendables’ sequel” Rampage Jackson’s ...

Some interesting news on the horror front from 24 Frames, our must-read sister blog… Cineastes and hardcore horror fans are already familiar with the French film “Martyrs,” Pascal Laugier’s dark and violent tale centering on two teenage girls who are not what they appear to be. Now broader American audiences could become familiar with the movie too. Producers on the Hollywood remake have just hired a director: Daniel Stamm, the filmmaker behind this summer’s horror hit “The Last Exorcism,” will shape the film for an English-language audience. (Oh, yes, the movie comes from the producers of “Twilight.”) As most horror-crazy types could tell you, Laugier’s 2008 original was a hit in Europe and a cult success here. It tells of Lucie and Anna, orphans who establish a friendship, until one of them inexplicably goes on a murderous rampage to avenge ...

Our sister blog 24 Frames, a must-read for Hollywood scoops, has some insider info on the “Deadpool” director job…  Ryan Reynolds (Jay Clendenin/Los Angeles Times) The story that’s unfolded around who will direct “Deadpool,” the Ryan Reynolds movie based on the Marvel anti-hero, has been almost as colorful as anything that appeared in the comic book itself. Robert Rodriguez was going to helm it, then he wasn’t, then he was, and now he’s not.  But sources familiar with the project say a new name has emerged for the director’s chair, and it’s an unconventional one: Adam Berg, a heretofore little-known Swedish commercial and video director. Berg has never directed a feature before, but he gained plenty of acclaim with  “Carousel,” a stylish short (you can check it out below) made for Philips Electronics that won the prestigious Cannes Lions International ...

Steven Zeitchik, the lead writer of our sister blog 24 Frames digs into “Let Me in” and its undead heritage… In remaking the Swedish vampire cult hit ” Let the Right One In,” Matt Reeves put himself in a position as fraught as Dracula at high noon. Most people had never heard of the source material. And some of those who had — and could help him spread positive word — just wished the project would go away. Why attempt an English-language do-over, they asked, of a recent movie that was pretty much perfect in the first place? “I started writing the script for ‘Let Me In,’ and then ‘Let the Right One In’ got big in the U.S. I thought, ‘Oh no, there’s going to be a lot more focus on this now,’ ” said Reeves, the “Cloverfield” director ...

Steven Zeitchik at 24 Frames — our must-read sister blog — checks in on the chatter about a “Deadpool” film. Here’s an excerpt… It’s been dizzying to follow the will-he-or-won’t-he reports about Robert Rodriguez directing “Deadpool,” the Ryan Reynolds X-Men spinoff. Reports last month that Rodriguez had been offered the director’s chair on “Deadpool” met with a swirl of speculation and/or denials from the filmmaker’s camp as well as studio Fox. (The most anyone would agree to is that Rodriguez had been sent Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick’s script.) But we’re hearing that after a few weeks of dancing, Rodriguez and studio Fox are negotiating… THERE’S MORE, READ THE REST – Steven Zeitchik RECENT AND RELATED Bryan Singer on “First Class”: It’s got to be about Xavier and Magneto James McAvoy will think big as Professor X Was it real? ...

Steven Zeitchik at our sister blog 24 Frames has been following Guillermo del Toro on his path to “Madness.” Here’s an excerpt from the latest dispatch… Guillermo del Toro all but winked at us the other day that he’ll make his adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s 1931 novella “At the Mountains of Madness“ his first movie since things went awry with “The Hobbit. When we asked him in an interview on Friday whether it would indeed be his next film, as we were hearing, he flashed an impish grin and said, “We’ll see.” This morning, sources tipped that “Madness” would indeed be his next movie, and it’s been something of an open secret in Universal circles that this is the one the auteur would go with. Now Deadline is reporting that it is, and, in something of a surprise, that James Cameron will produce, ...