BillPaxton Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I was a 10-year-old girl when I first stumbled across a book about a vampire rock star, but from that moment on, I have always had a thing for the plasma-challenged. I've gone on to read everything from Penny Dreadfuls to Poppy Z. Brite, and to this day I will always watch a vampire movie, no matter how bad -- and there are no shortage of those. But there are some good ones, too, and one of my favorites is Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark. I have plenty of reasons for respecting Bigelow's work (whose new -- and excellent -- film The Hurt Locker opens on June 26th), because let's face it -- there aren't very many female directors, especially female 'action' directors -- and thanks to her vampire-Western hybrid, I'm willing to give her a bit of slack for her lesser flicks. So to anyone out there who thinks girls can only do 'hearts and flowers' on the big screen, just watch the scene after the jump and tell me if you still feel the same way.

But back to vampires: ever since Dracula first stepped off the Demeter and into London society, vampires have usually been frock-coated aristocratic types, but not these guys. Bigelow's vamps are more Hell's Angels than love-starved dandies, and unlike a certain vampire who shall go unnamed, have no qualms about being the bad guy. I do like to think of myself as a connoisseur of all things 'vamp', and I have to say, this scene is a doozey. In less than 10 minutes this group manages to clean out an entire redneck bar, and it ain't pretty. But then again, that's why I love it. In the end I prefer my vampires to be a little more bloodthirsty and a little less sensitive, don't you?

After the jump: Near Dark fun facts and the Scene We (I) Love...

Maybe because Halloween is just around the corner, Hollywood has vampires on the brain. Over the last couple of weeks, it seems like any "fang-related" property is getting the green light. So just days after news of a possible Fright Night remake, another cult favorite is going to suffer the same fate -- the bad news for me is that it is one of my favorites. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Sam Bayer has been hired to direct a remake of the 1987 "Vampire Western", Near Dark. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, the original film starred Adrian Pasdar (Heroes) as a young man who is seduced by a girl into a gang of vampires led by Lance Henriksen. Rounding out the gang were Henriksen's former Aliens cast-mates Bill Paxton and Jeanette Goldstein.

Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes will be producing the flick and Disturbia scribe Christopher B. Landon will be in charge of the rewrite. In an interview with JoBlo.com back in January, Dark's original writer, Eric Red, said that he had written a sequel but, "...the obstacles to a "NEAR DARK" prequel or sequel were similar to a proper "HITCHER" sequel. Rights issues. And crooked producer incompetence...". I guess Bay and company found a way to work it out, but opted to just do a straight remake instead. Bayer is a music video and commercial director, and has made videos for everyone from Nirvana to Justin Timberlake. Near Dark will be his first attempt at a feature film. So even if I try and look at this objectively, I can't help but think that the odds of topping the original are pretty slim.

One of the only cool things about the first AVP: Alien vs. Predator was that Lance Henriksen co-starred. Of course, he didn't play "Bishop", his beloved android character from Aliens (or even Bishop II), but it was still a nice touch to have him in there. That is why it's disappointing to hear that none of the past Alien or Predator actors will be appearing in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. In an interview with the MTV Movies Blog, AVP2 co-directors Colin and Greg Strause revealed that they attempted to cast some surprise guests, but were unfortunately unable to do so. The brothers wouldn't name names, but said that one person sought after was too expensive -- even for a cameo? -- and another "shockingly" blew them off. Funny, because aside from Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Bill Paxton and Ian Holm, I can't imagine many of the Alien series players being too high profile that they couldn't do a fun little throwback appearance. Maybe the Strause Brothers were aiming too high, but surely they could have even made attempts for Charles S. Dutton, Ron Perlman, Veronica Cartwright, Tom Skerritt or even Paul Reiser, not to mention tons of others. And what about Carl Weathers, for the Predator way around? After seeing his recurring role in Arrested Development, I believe he would have been up for such an idea.

The Strause Brothers also discussed with MTV the title, although they didn't even mention the lame "Requiem" part. They only said that Fox is currently not into numbering their sequels and that the pluralization of "Alien" is directly referencing James Cameron's Aliens. Other highlights from the interview (as pointed out by Movieweb) include an acknowledgment that the studio -- not just the Strauses -- thought the first AVP was a disappointment for fans and that the R rating is a response to that (Colin: "I mean, we chest-burst a little kid!"), a discussion of the Alien/Predator hybrid (aka "The Predalien") and a hint that the duo want to do another sequel set in space. MTV Movies Blog has also been sharing some exclusive fight-scene photos from the upcoming sequel (out this Christmas) that are pretty neat.

You didn't think that massive list of movies was all that SXSW 2007 had to offer, did you? Well that's just plain old silly. If you know anything at all about the South by Southwest Film Festival, you know that the programmers love to throw in a few juicy surprises from time to time. And here's the first batch of special additions:

• Thanks in large part to AICN, D.J. Caruso's Disturbia will join Scott Frank's The Lookout as part of the opening night festivities. And while the Disturbia trailer might not look all that promising, I do feel that Caruso's The Salton Sea and Two for the Money are pretty underrated flicks. Plus it was written by the guy who penned Red Eye, and that was a pretty fun little matinee.

• Producer / director / character actor supreme Bill Paxton will be holding a Q&A panel discussion! Awesome! I'll try not to geek out all over the place when people start asking him about Aliens, Near Dark, One False Move or Frailty.

• Another new panel has been announced. It'll be called "Ready for Primetime: TV Comedy Today" -- and get this line-up: Al Jean (The Simpsons), Rob Corddry (The Daily Show) and Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy). OK, so it's TV and not movies. Still sounds pretty awesome.

In addition to the fleshing out of the panels and a few new title adds, the SXSW programmers just announced all the short films that will be playing the fest next month. Needless to say, Cinematical will be on the ground in Austin come March 9th. Jette and I live down here, so it's not like it's an inconvenience.

Could I be any more excited about James Cameron's Avatar? Typically I'm too cynical to have high expectations about any film in the works, but as I mentioned last week, this isn't just any film. Now, thanks to some rumors being discussed on AICN, my anticipation has risen even higher. It seems that Cameron regular Michael Biehn may have a role in the movie, and there's also a good chance that Sigourney Weaver is attached, as well.

At least Weaver can be confirmed as being linked to either Avatar or Cameron's other in-the-works project Battle Angel. She appeared on the Canal+ talk show Le Grand Journal yesterday to promote Snow Cake, but also slipped in the news that the Alien films were done (or at least her involvement with them) and that she is reuniting with Cameron for a new sci-fi picture. I don't understand French very well, but I watched the show and could make out the gist of Weaver's dialogue. Unfortunately, she didn't name the movie, and so I'll just have to hope she meant Avatar.

Director (and former Mrs. Jim Cameron) Kathryn Bigelow has had a rather uneven career in her twenty-odd years in Hollywood, but always managed to keep working and bring some pretty interesting projects to the screen. Now, according to Production Weekly, she is setting her sites on the Iraq war with her newly announced film, The Hurt Locker.

The film, which Bigelow co-wrote with war reporter-turned-screenwriter Mark Boal, tells the story of an elite bomb disposal unit and its exploits during the gulf war. This is not completely new territory for Bigelow, having directed other testosterone-heavy projects like Point Break, with Patrick Swayze and a pre-Neo Keanu Reeves, K-19: The Widowmaker, with Harrison Ford and Peter Sarsgaard and the near-perfect Near Dark with Bill Paxton and Lance Henricksen. These past films should give her a pretty good handle on what it takes to tackle this latest story.

The Hurt Locker has already begun pre-production with shooting scheduled to start in March. No word yet on a release date or cast but, as always, I'm going to make some suggestions: Let's get Bigelow vets Patrick Swayze, Lance Henriksen and Bill Paxton together to fill key roles in this project. I think they would make part of a pretty kick-ass bomb disposal team.

Think about it: Henriksen as the grizzled veteran who's seen it all, Swayze as the guy on the edge with only a few days left before he can go home to his family and Paxton as the guy who's wound just a little-too-tight for bomb disposal. Throw in a few young up-and-comers like Emile Hirsch and/or Chad Michael Murry and you might have something there. Sadly, from the description of the movie, it doesn't sound like there's a role for Jenette Goldstein in there anywhere, but I can hope. What do you think of my casting ideas?

There's not a single frame in James Cameron's Aliens that I don't love. (OK, there's ONE scene from the director's cut that really irks me (it has to do with hamsters), but why nitpick?) I love the music, the sound effects, the script, the brilliant (practical!) effects, the pace, the tone, the mood ... Hell, I could probably watch this movie four times a year and never get sick of the thing. (And get this: I think the original Alien is even better!)

Fresh off of The Terminator, James Cameron employed a powerful new weapon for his first big-budget* flick, and that weapon was The Ensemble. After only a few short scenes you could identify the players: By-the-book Lt. Gorman, oily company man Carter Burke, quietly creepy "synthetic" Bishop, tough-as-nails Vasquez, cigar-chompin' Sgt. Apone, and the quietly noble Corporal Hicks. Toss this crew behind Sigourney Weaver's Ripley and a little girl called Newt, and you've got yourself one helluva platoon. Having read the Alan Dean Foster Aliens novelization, I even know the difference between Ferro, Dietrich, Crowe, Spunkmeyer and Wierzbowski! (* Produced in 1985, Aliens cost less than $20 million to create. Think about that.)

Ah yes, I did forget someone. Good ol' Private Hudson. He starts out as your typical alpha male, a swaggering braggart with more guts than brains ... but when the mayhem gets underway, Bill Paxton's Pvt. Hudson becomes a stand-in for you, the viewer. He whines and blusters and cries and complains as the endless waves of aliens come storming in; he basically does what you or I would do in the exact same situation: Misery, denial, plain old panic. But Paxton, a damn solid actor even twenty years ago, knew how dangerously close this character came to being plain old obnoxious, so he brings an eye-rolling, quick-tempered bravado to the role -- and almost manages to steal the whole damn movie.

OK, the true-blue horror geeks can generally deal with it when you remake something like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, because everyone knows that flick, but when it comes to titles like, say, Near Dark -- we tend to get pretty protective. (It's sorta like you and that one band you loved -- years before everyone else loved 'em.) Word out of all the different horror sites (well, the three I trust, anyway) is that not only will there be a new rendition of Kathryn Bigelow & Eric Red's brilliant cult classic Near Dark, but a screenwriter has already been hired for the gig.

The good news is that Matt Venne, the guy who just turned in his screenplay for White Noise 2, seems to have his head screwed on where Near Dark Redux is concerned. As quoted at Fango, Venne says "there are images in the original film and in Eric Red and Kathryn Bigelow’s screenplay that are absolutely beautiful. Completely dreamy and captivating. Pure poetry. It’s an incredible project, and I’m honored to be writing it."

Near Dark, for those who haven't had the pleasure, is a blisteringly cool Southern-fried vampire noir from 1987 that was written by Eric (The Hitcher) Red and directed by Kathryn (Point Break) Bigelow. Although the flick features strong performances from Adrian Pasdar as one unlucky lad and Tim Thomerson as his devoted pop, the three blood-soaked standouts had just gotten done working together in Aliens. As a devilishly evil trio of bloodsuckers, Lance Henriksen, Jenette Goldstein, and Bill Paxton are just perfect together. And yes, Netflix has it.