DerekMears Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I don't ask for autographs, I don't send fan letters, and I certainly don't wait around in front of hotels or press lines -- but I do get to attend some verrrrry geeky movie events, I do have a few very cool friends, and (get this) I'm a pretty friendly and sincere guy. So sometimes I get cool snapshots. Call it a hobby inspired by the time I did a (very brief) Sundance interview with the monolithic James Woods and walked away without a photo with one of my actor-heroes. (Despite the fact that I had a perfectly good camera in my pocket.) Plus I work for a cool movie blog, which means I can get photos like these and actually call it ... work! (muffled giggles)

My gracious thanks to everyone in and behind the photos. And my apologies to everyone else for my always looking so bald, sweaty, and tired. (You only see pictures of me when I'm exhausted. Plus I'm just plain old goofy looking, so save your comments.)

My biggest disappointment of the Comic-Con weekend was not being able to stick around for the Friday the 13th panel. (Turns out Davis could have stayed for it, seeing as his flight back to NYC was delayed by about six hours, but that's a different type of horror story.) Since we know it's one of the hotter flicks being buzzed about at the convention's final day -- and, um, it's a movie I just like writing about -- we turn to ShockTillYouDrop for their blow-by-blow breakdown of the event.

My favorite nuggets include:

• The idea that, while the actors and producers are obviously up for a sequel if the fans agree, they intend to make their Friday remake a "stand-alone" entry. Which is always cool when you're doing a Part 1, if you ask me.
• No goofy cameos from previous cast members.
• Jason will be a bit cleverer this time around, perhaps setting a few traps instead of just lumbering around and practically teleporting from cabin to cabin.
• It will be PG-13 in theaters and then Unrated on DVD. (Dude, I'm kidding.)

For the full run-down (and a peek at the first poster), check out Shock's coverage right here.

OK, I know what you're going to say before you even say it: "Dude, it's a big guy in a hockey mask. Don't exactly need a snapshot to envision a big guy in a hockey mask." And that's a fair comment, but I work for this blog and weekends are really slow so here we go:

Our first look at the new Jason Voorhees! A big bulky guy in torn clothes and a hockey mask: Yep! Snark aside, the big guy looks pretty solid. No silly changes or anything, although his NECK sure does look sort of extra-thick. It's the close-up shot of horror-dom's supreme stalker that the fans want to see, but I'm quite a bit more impressed by the "far off" shot. The lake is a grungy shade of green and the shadows are trickling through the forest quite creatively. Anyway, the new Jason will be played by Derek Mears, who's played more crazies, creeps and killers than just about anyone.

The pics come from a recent EW article that Erik covered right here, but it took the hardcore horror fans to get a bigger shot of the serial stalker. Expect a lot more Friday freakiness once Comic-Con starts next week. And if director Marcus Nispel can do as good as job as he did with the Texas Chainsaw remake, that'll be good enough for me. (Yes, I quite like the Chainsaw remake. A hell of a lot more than any of the TCM sequels, anyway.) The next Friday the 13th arrives in February of next year.

[ Thanks: BD.com ]

Earlier this week, we learned that Jason Voorhees will be wearing both the burlap sack and the iconic hockey mask in the new Friday the 13th remake (or is it technically a remake of the first three movies?). Now, in honor of today being 2008's only Friday the 13th, MTV (one of the new film's co-producers) also shares a report from the set of the movie. They don't have anything as interesting to tell us as IESB.net did with the headgear news, but they do have video coverage, which you can watch above.

Any fan of the franchise should be excited after watching this footage. We get to see a hot young actress (Amanda Righetti) running through the woods, a dilapidated cabin, a sign telling us its Camp Crystal Lake and an overlong view of the hockey mask prop. That's almost all the ingredients needed for a Friday the 13th movie (it sounds so easy to do, right?). Oh, and finally we get to see the actor portraying Jason (Derek Mears) wearing ... a t-shirt and no make-up.

A few years back I was lucky enough to spend a few days on the set of The Hills Have Eyes 2. I hate to say that I thought the final product was pretty ... meh, but the 2.5 days I spent on the set in Morocco were something pretty special. Among the many actors, stuntpeople, FX technicians and general crew members I met, one of the very coolest was a giant guy called Derek Mears. Everyone on the set was very nice, but Mears was the one who made sure to invite the "horror geek press" back to his hotel lounge so we could have a few beers and give the guy the scoop on American sports, recent horror movies, new video games, comic books, etc. (The man had been cooped up in Ouarzazate for a few months by this point.)

Anyway, Derek was a sincerely gracious dude (and he DID make for a pretty creepy freakin' mutant in Hills 2), so I'm happy to share the news (via BD.com) that he's landed the role of mad slasher Jason Voorhees in Platinum Dunes' upcoming remake of Friday the 13th. So while you might not recognize the face, you've probably seen some of Derek's work in flcks like Cursed, Zathura, Men in Black 2, and The Haunted Mansion. (Plus a whole lotta TV work.) Odds are you won't see a whole lot more of Mears once he dons the legendary hockey mask -- but the Jason character has always been played by a huge, likeable lug, and I think Mears fits the bill quite nicely. Plus he's really freakin' huge, and that's a big plus. The new Friday is due early next year.