Quickhits: Bond 22 Pushed Back, Landis Directing Jackson Comeback Video and Hebrew Hammer vs. Mel Gibson
Filed under: Action, Comedy, Music & Musicals, Fandom, Distribution, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
Odds and ends from the Friday before a looong weekend:
- After originally setting a release date of May 2, 2008, Columbia Pictures has decided to push Bond 22 (ya know, the one that comes after Casino Royale) back a few months and, instead, debut it on November 7, 2008. The next installment in the James Bond franchise has run into a bit of trouble as of late, what with director Roger Michell quitting the project. No new director has come onboard yet, though Richard Curtis (Love Actually) has been rumored to be penning the script.
- You know it's a wacky Friday when Michael Jackson makes it into Quickhits. The pop star (who was recently acquitted of child molestation charges) is in talks with John Landis (Animal House, The Blues Brothers) to direct his comeback video. While this may seem a bit strange to some of you (for many different reasons), Landis has a history with Jackson, having helmed the videos for Thriller and Black and White. Says Landis, "Michael is a genius. He's obviously an eccentric but he really has a great talent." And that talent is?
- In my wildest dreams, I never imagined a film could be described as a 'Jewish blaxploitation movie.' However, The Hebrew Hammer is just that ... and I loved every minute of it. Thus, I was thrilled to hear writer-director Jonathan Kesselman is planning a sequel and calling it Hebrew Hammer 2: Hammer vs. Hitler. (Ed: Will this come before or after his screen version of Beemer?) After Hammer battled Santa in the original, I think it was pretty obvious who the bad guy in the follow-up would be. Anyway, according to reports, Kesselman has written the recent Mel Gibson "incident" into the script. And, apparently, Gibson dies at the end of said scene. Says Kesselman, "I think if Mel wants to truly extend an olive branch to the Jewish Community as a whole, his on-screen death would go a long way in accomplishing that goal." Hmm, I guess that's one way to look at it.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-03-2006 @ 9:06PM
ihatemovies said...
""Michael is a genius. He's obviously an eccentric but he really has a great talent." And that talent is?"
I take it that you have never heard the Off the Wall album.
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9-03-2006 @ 10:55PM
Alex said...
Thank you, ihatemovies.
Erik, I'm not a Michael Jackson apologist by any stretch of the imagination. Michael Jackson is a freak now and he may very well be a child molester, even if hte courts have cleared him of those charges. He may be the only celebrity more effed-up than Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson put together... but you can't say that he's not talented.
Granted that talent may be waning these last few years but Off the Wall and Thriller alone have earned him unassailable respect as an entertainer... oh, and that singing group he had with his brothers that he fronted when he was like 6... that too.
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9-04-2006 @ 12:33AM
Rich Drees said...
A HEBREW HAMMER sequel makes me happy.
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9-04-2006 @ 1:33AM
Salvia Divinorum Extracts said...
A HEBREW HAMMER sequel is the best idea I've heard today.
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9-04-2006 @ 9:55AM
Thundercross said...
Says Kesselman, "I think if Mel wants to truly extend an olive branch to the Jewish Community as a whole, his on-screen death would go a long way in accomplishing that goal." Hmm, I guess that's one way to look at it.
Um, perhaps for the non-anti-semites. But for the real anti-semites, this could be a bit threatening. I'd rather see the fictionalized Mel live long enough to see the error of his ways.
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9-05-2006 @ 1:56PM
Cath said...
I loved Hebrew Hammer and was sorry it only debuted on TV. Hope this next one gets a theatrical release. Adam Goldberg managed to be both sexy and nebbishy at the same time.
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