James Wan Tagged Articles at Cinematical

In the same way that higher-profile actors are jumping on the video game ship sans shame, so too are movie writers like Wanted's Chris Morgan. Morgan has signed up for a rather daunting task – working as the story director for the massive and practically holy sci-fi series The Wheel of Time by the late Robert Jordan.

Variety reports that this job entails "overseeing the writing on the titles, working with executive producers and writers to help develop story arcs and helping to digest the book series' 10,000 pages and over 1,700 characters."

(Of course, Morgan and the other two screenplay writers, Derek Haas and Michael Brandt, were taken to task by fans for not sticking to the original comic book story all that much. However, compared to comic book purists, the wrath of Robert Jordan fans can be deadly. Or so I hear.)

Morgan isn't the only screenwriter who has dipped his toes into the pixellated pool. Saw director James Wan is one of the writers for the Saw video game, which surprisingly got some good gamer feedback from its preview at SDCC. And David McKenna, who wrote American History X, Get Carter, Blow, and Bully, wrote Scarface: The World is Yours, which got generally mixed reviews.

The dead have risen from the grave! If you're a Castlevania fan who thought you weren't going to be subjected to a big-screen version of your beloved game, think again. In the midst of the news frenzy coming out of SDCC, Bloody Disgusting got the chance to speak with Saw co-creator James Wan, and he confirmed that he has just signed to direct the video game adaptation for producer Paul W.S. Anderson. Wan tells BD, "I'm very fresh on this project, so its early stages and I'm still trying to work things out, but the producers love my vision for it"

The Castlevania video game franchise mainly centered on a war between the vampire hunting family known as the Belmonts and the big bad blood-sucker himself, Dracula. The game is one of Konami's biggest titles, and was considered one of the best action-platform games around. But as we were soon to find out, it wasn't going to be an easy transition from the console to the big screen.

If you haven't been keeping track, (and who could blame you) here's a brief history on the troubled flick: the announcement of a feature film Castlevania first came about in 2007, but over the next two years little ground had been made. For starters, there were personnel changes and then there was the double-whammy known as rewrites. The last anyone had even heard from the project was that Sylvain White (Stomp The Yard) had reportedly been hired to direct. But then the writer's strike hit and the project ran into a brick wall -- but that was then, and this is now.

After the jump: find out what Wan has planned for the Belmonts...

From Troma to indie superheroes to to cartoon adaptations to big-time monster-fests, James Gunn is a filmmaker I like to keep an eye on from time to time. I find his Slither to be a supremely entertaining mixture of comedy and horror, his The Specials a very funny little comedy (at least a whole lot funnier than the similar Mystery Men), and his Tromeo & Juliet the finest thing ever produced by Lloyd Kaufman's Troma team. And while director Zack Snyder did a great job on the Dawn of the Dead remake, let's not forget who penned the adaptation: Gunn did it. Basically, if I had the skills required to write and direct movies, they'd probably look a lot like James Gunn's flicks -- only with more nudity. (Oh, and check out LolliLove some time. Funny little film.)

So when we got a late call during Comic-Con asking us if we'd like to do a brief sit-down with Jimmy Gunn, I said "Heck, yeah. That guy's a nut." (That was literally what I said. Ask Erik.) And since I'd actually met James once before, it was much more laid-back than your typical interview. James Gunn is sort of like a grown-up child, which I mean as a compliment, and that always makes an interview a bit more entertaining. Plus he has great taste in schlock.

We're always hearing about the collision of video games and the movies: how video games have become more cinematic and how movies have become more like video games. And it seems like someone is always trying to figure out how to adapt a video game into a movie; Jessica Barnes just told us about a script review for Paul W.S. Anderson's Castlevania, for example. We hear less often about filmmakers making the leap, unless it's an adaptation of a big budget tentpole.

All that to preface the news that Saw director James Wan has made a trailer for the upcoming science fiction / horror game Dead Space, due out on multiple platforms in late October. Dread Central has the evocative trailer for the game about alien hostiles, dead passengers, and a desperate fight to survive. Evidently Wan didn't shoot any original footage for the trailer; he simply cut together an intriguing series of scenes that make it plain what the game is about.

Dead Space will come out just in time to compete with Saw V, which carries Wan's name as executive producer, and continues his string of death-related titles (Dead Silence, which was fair to middling, and Death Sentence, a very solid, pulpy vigilante flick with Kevin Bacon that was unfairly ignored). Wan and Leigh Whannell have also been linked to Brash Entertainment's development of a video game based on Saw.

A revenge thriller is a tough animal to tame. Go too far in one direction and you're practically advocating vigilante behavior -- but if you err on the safe side your drama begins to feel like a flaccid little network flick. Third-time director James Wan (Saw, Dead Silence) deserves some hearty praise for trying to balance hard-edged escapism with some surprisingly ambiguous social commentary -- even if the two approaches sometimes mix as well as oil and vinegar. But "more than half a brain" is what this dark-hued action thriller has to offer, and nowadays that's just enough to get excited about. (Had the flick been full-bore bloodthirstiness, I suspect it would have gotten really tiresome after about 25 minutes or so.)

Fortunately Mr. Wan also has Kevin Bacon in the lead role -- as an All-American dad who seeks revenge on the brutal drug gang members who murdered his son -- and if ever a genre movie hinged on a lead performance, it's Death Sentence. Bacon is able to be "the perfect dad" without being too sappy or cloying; he has no trouble creating a character who's being gradually sucked down the tubes; and once Bacon gets down to the very end of his rope -- he has no problem selling himself as a desperate shell who simply wants some justice revenge ... ok, both.

While Kevin Bacon was absent from the Death Sentence breakfast, we did manage to corral Garrett Hedlund over eggs and ... bacon. He talked to us about starring in the movie, his relationships with co-stars Kevin Bacon and John Goodman, how he grew up with guns, and shooting very long action sequences with a lit cigarette in his mouth.

Garrett Hedlund isn't a household name just yet, but you've probably seen him on the big screen at Patrocles in Troy. He played the brash, young cousin of Achilles (Brad Pitt), and is somewhat of a chameleon. He's also been in Friday Night Lights, Eragon, and Four Brothers. With a shaved head and tribal neck tattoos in Death Sentence, he's looking to extend that streak. Click on his picture for the audio interview and read the highlights below.

• He plays Billy Darly, the son of Bones Darly (John Goodman) and is the older brother of Joe Darly (Matt O'Leary).
• He leads a gang of thugs who run a meth lab in an abandoned insane asylum. Sounds like a nice place.
• There is a great scene between John Goodman and Kevin Bacon in the movie, where John realizes that Kevin Bacon is after his son ... who in turn had killed Kevin's son.
• He's worked with everyone from Brad Pitt, to Terrence Howard, to Billy Bob Thornton, but his dad was most impressed when he told him he was working with John Goodman. "He finally feels proud of me."
• "I don't care for working with actors that just come in and read the lines and pretend that the character is them, instead of them the character. A lot of people think that they're the one to bank off of, as their personality as a celebrity. They feel that people just want to see them. Where I like trying to do something different with each role."
• They did extensive research for the role by gathering as a "gang" at strip clubs and bars, and calling each other by their gang names.
• "I had my rifle permit when I was eleven, kids couldn't wait to deer hunt ... even girls. I grew up with an environment of guns. I've always used them, and always learned how to be safe with them. If I did something like pointing the gun at the sun or did anything stupid with it, I'd get slapped in the back of the head."

With "geek" stuff like comics, sci-fi, and horror taking over the mainstream, ComicCon has become one of the biggest film events of the year. The studios really take it seriously, and this should be an excellent week for major film announcements. Today, the fairly new studio Fox Atomic, an offshoot of Fox targeting the 17-24 demographic, announced what festival goers can expect from them this year. It looks like their biggest push is for the upcoming revenge thriller Death Sentence. There will be an online sweepstakes to win a 1969 Ford Mustang featured in the film, starting when ComicCon opens its doors tomorrow. If you can't make it to the festival you can enter at the official movie website, http://deathsentencemovie.com, up until the film is released on August 31st. Death Sentence stars Kevin Bacon as a man out to avenge his son's death, and co-stars John Goodman and Kelly Preston. James Wan (Saw) directed. Bacon, co-star Garrett Hedlund and Wan will be signing autographs at ComicCon this Saturday at 3PM.

Also, be on the lookout for a contest to win a Fender Stratocaster guitar signed by the cast of the upcoming comedy The Rocker. You can read more about that movie here and here, it tells "the story of a failed, over-the-hill drummer who is given a second chance at fame." Rainn Wilson plays the drummer and Christina Applegate will be his love interest. Only in the movies, folks! Fox Atomic is understandably putting a big focus on their graphic novel publishing arm at ComicCon as well. Signings and giveaways are scheduled for Joe Harris and Stuart Moore's The Nightmare Factory, due out on September 4th, as well as their film-based graphic novels -- 28 Days Later: The Aftermath by Steve Niles and The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. It looks like just about all of the artists and authors will be in attendance. We've got all sorts of ComicCon news, announcements, and goodness coming your way from San Diego (which, of course, is German for "whale's vagina") all this week and through the weekend, so stick around and stay classy.

I wasn't crazy about the last poster that was released for the upcoming Death Sentence, but this latest one -- a ComicCon exclusive -- more than makes up for that big red canvas with a little Kevin Bacon in the center. What's up with that poster, anyway? So odd. Check out the new poster to the right of your screen (click on it for a larger version over at /Film). This one is a whole lot better; not only has Bacon grown in size, but it's got this great disturbing vibe to it (those old Death Wish and Reservoir Dogs posters immediately came to mind). And if it does sort of remind some of Death Wish, that's because the movie is based off a novel by Death Wish author Brian Garfield. Thus, some of the same elements are present, although the story goes in a slightly different direction.

Another reason to look forward to Death Sentence (which also recently released a trailer) is that James Wan directed the flick. Wan, as you know, helmed the first Saw film, but didn't do so well with his latest, Dead Silence. Wan is great at establishing an unsettling mood, while slowly rising the tension. Unlike some of his other projects, he's got a great lead actor this time in Bacon, and a decent supporting cast in Kelly Preston, John Goodman and Aisha Taylor. Essentially, the story centers on a nice, suburban guy (Bacon) who, after witnessing his son's murder, decides to personally hunt down those responsible ... while they subsequently hunt him. And although the premise feels familiar, I have a good feeling about this one. Bacon scares me when he's angry, and I've been waiting for Wan to deliver a thriller that's on par with the stuff he gave us in the first Saw film. My fingers are crossed that Death Sentence is it. Look for the flick to hit theaters on August 31.

His first flick out of the gate was a smash hit. His second ... not so much. But young moviemaker James Wan is back for a third trip in the director's chair, and the resulting flick is Fox's Death Sentence, which is scheduled for release on August 31. At first I thought it was basically a Death Wish rehash, but it definitely looks like there might be a little Straw Dogs in there too... Then again, the IMDb tells us that Death Sentence is based on a novel by Brian Garfield ... as was the entire Death Wish series.

Based on this brand-new trailer (which comes on the heels of this new poster), the story looks pretty simple: Normal Joe's teenage son gets killed in a convenience store robbery, but the killer gets off and goes free. One act of bloodthirsty revenge then transforms into a man vs. street gang battle that's sure to get pretty nasty. Or maybe I'm just so big a Kevin Bacon fan that I'll give anything he does a break. (Actually, after The Air Up There and Trapped, the guy's certainly not infallible, but the guy's got a pretty strong track record overall.)

Adapted for the screen by first-timer Ian Jeffers (nope, not Leigh Whannell, although the Saw screenwriter does have a supporting role in the film), Death Sentence also stars John Goodman, Kelly Preston and a distressingly hairless (but still gorgeous) Aisha Tyler. I'm not much of a big prognosticator on the box office, but this one could turn out to be a solid double off the wall for Mr. Wan and Fox. These revenge flicks seem to do pretty well -- sometimes.

The classic Universal logo -- the one with the aeroplane circumnavigating the globe -- opens the studio's newest horror film, Dead Silence. It's a clever way to tell the audience "Look, you're not about to get your typical quick-cut hack & slash fest here. Despite the fact that Dead Silence is the second feature film from the man who directed Saw, we think you should try and settle into an 'old-school chiller' vibe with this one." And it's true: For much of Dead Silence's brief but deliberately-paced running time, the flick feels a lot like something that would have hit the screens back in 1952. (Or maybe whittled down into an episode of The Twlight Zone.) Whether or not the younger Saw maniacs will actually appreciate this diversion from formula remains to be seen, but as a guy who's just young enough to dig Saw, but certainly old enough to remember my black and white "creature double feature" TV marathons, I found just enough to enjoy in this one.

Ryan Kwanten plays Jamie Ashen, a young husband who loses his wife during a fairly chilling prologue. Basically, a creepy old ventriloquist's dummy is left on the Ashens' doorstep, Jamie heads out to get some Chinese food, and returns to find his pretty young wife ... in a really unpleasant state. This tragic event, combined with some insensitive accusations from police detective Lipton (Donnie Wahlberg), inspires poor Jamie to hit the road and revisit his withered old hometown of Raven's Fair. It's there he comes across his estranged old dad (Bob Gunton), a hot new stepmother (Amber Valletta), a terrified mortician (Michael Fairman) and his strangely off-kilter wife (Joan Heney).