JaumeCollet-serra Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Liam Neeson Is An 'Unknown White Male'
Filed under: Action », Thrillers », Casting », Mystery & Suspense », Warner Brothers », Newsstand »
I do believe the entire movie-going world is pleased that Liam Neeson has shed his fondness for soft-spoken mentor roles, and gone completely and utterly badass. Taken seems to have propelled him to the top of the man-crush list, and now he's just racking up fierce fights right and left. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the latest to get a Neeson throwdown is Unknown White Male, a role he was rumored to be circling just a few short weeks ago. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and scripted by Karl Gajdusek, Unknown centers on a a doctor who is enjoying a trip to Berlin with his wife. A car accident leaves him in a coma, and when he wakes up, he discovers he's been replaced in his life by another man. (A lookalike? Or just one of those "I've always been Dr. Smith" switcharoos?) Naturally, this replacement Neeson has sinister intentions, and it's up to the good version to discover just what the hell is going on. Presumably, it will involve much violence on the continent. (I'm beginning to think this Irishman is trying to tell us something about what happens when you travel there.)
Shooting is scheduled to begin this January, fresh on the heels of Clash of the Titans, and The A-Team. I feel compelled to mention that missing from that list is the Lincoln biopic he's done so much research for. I humbly suggest he use it and his new talent for combat to tackle Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
Review: Orphan
Filed under: Horror », Thrillers », New Releases », Mystery & Suspense », Warner Brothers », Theatrical Reviews », Summer Movies »
High-gloss thrillers rarely elicit gales of unintentional laughter. Orphan is so bats*** crazy that it wears you down just enough to accept the lunacy and enjoy the movie for what it is: every parent's worst nightmare, writ large in childish crayon. For more than one reason, adoption advocacy groups can stop worrying. Although it starts off calm and determined, Orphan eventually descends into that weird territory where it might be OK to talk back to the screen.
For the sake of the other patrons in the audience, I don't actually recommend doing so, but it's hard to keep your mouth shut when you see some of the outrageous actions presented on screen. And it's so serious! If every parent frets that one of their children might be a "bad seed," Orphan takes that fear and amplifies it in twisted ways, dramatizing a bad seed gone beyond evil, a character who is gleefully demented and wickedly scheming, far beyond human comprehension in one so little. Yet the opening sequences are so skillfully handled that the film builds up a measure of goodwill, which makes it eminently watchable and keeps it from becoming a complete disaster.
Nearly all of that goodwill is due to the persuasive performances of Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard. As Kate and John, parents of two young children, they are still grieving the loss of a stillborn daughter. After two years, John is ready to move forward and wants to adopt a child; Kate is less certain, but wants to please her long-suffering husband. Enter Esther, who they little suspect is the latest edition of the prototypical 'demon child from hell.'
'Unknown White Male' Soon Set To Be Known
Jaume Collet-Serra has directed three films thus far - the slasher film House of Wax, a slasher film that was marketed largely on the prospect of seeing Paris Hilton die; Goal II: Living The Dream, which answered many of the burning questions left over from the original Goal; and Orphan, starring Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga as adoptive parents who invite an unholy terror into their homes. During the press day for Orphan, which opens Friday nationwide, Collet-Serra indicated he already has his fourth film lined up and ready to go.
"It's coming," Collet-Serra said of Unknown White Male, a thriller that reunites him with his House of Wax and Orphan producer Joel Silver. "It's shooting in the winter in Berlin, and that's a great script. It's a search for identity, which is something that everybody is looking for in their lives, like who they are, so that's a great thing. The premise is just fantastic, the first 15 minutes, a guy waking up from a coma and realizing that he's been replaced by somebody else, I think that's one of the greatest first 15 minutes that I've read."
As for its stars? Collet-Serra declined to offer names, but when a journalist indicated that they'd spoken to Liam Neeson, he replied, "yeah," but added, "I don't have the contract on my desk. We don't really have anybody official yet."
Discuss: Little 'Orphan' Aneurysm
Filed under: Horror », Thrillers », Mystery & Suspense », Warner Brothers », Celebrities and Controversy », Movie Marketing »
Another day, another snafu on the ol' political correctness front. It seems that adoptive parents and adoption agencies are up in arms because of a line in the trailer for Warner Brothers' forthcoming thriller, Orphan: "It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own."A full ABC News report has parents calling for the studio to remove the line from the trailers, which it did, despite the fact that the trailer can only play before other R-rated films. But that's not enough, because apparently, the film itself can be and has been taken as one big campaign playing up the stereotypes and exploiting the fears of adoption.
I can't speak for everyone, but I'd like to think that any potential parent who finds themselves scared off from real-world adoption because of something they saw in a heavily exaggerated movie probably do not have the proper judgment to serve as a parent in the first place. As for the effect that line and the whole premise might have on adopted kids specifically, I really can't speak to that, as I don't know how exposed to the film's marketing they'd be if watching appropriate channels and seeing appropriate movies.
What are your thoughts? Over-reaction? Just right reaction? Or are we simply overdue for this summer's next big controversy?
[Thanks to Shock for the heads-up.]
'House of Wax' Director Gets Medievel on 'Vurdalak'
Filed under: Action », Horror », Games and Game Movies »
Vurdalak, huh? Now there's a term you don't hear too often. Usually when I hear the word I think of Mario Bava's 1963 film I Tre Volti Della Paura (known here in the states as Black Sabbath) in which Boris Karloff played a vurdalak, a vampire that preys only on those it loved most in life. A report in Variety tells us Vurdalak is a "neo-medieval" tale to be produced by Spain's Andres Vicente Gomez and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, whose best-known film is probably the 2005 remake of House of Wax. I haven't seen that flick, but I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the man who directed Paris Hilton's on-screen demise. The film is described as a tale of vengeance between two bloodthirsty warlords. A character named Safet is the only survivor following the mass slaughter of his family at the hands of Prince Verjik. Driven by hate, Safet becomes a living dead vurdalak, which would seem to eliminate the whole preying on his loved ones angle used in the Bava film. Collet-Serra will also serve as screenwriter, and he has already turned in a first draft. The film is being produced through Gomez's RadioPlus, and San Francisco's Massive Black studio has started pre-visualizations and digital design.
Gomez is also very interested in the video game potential of the film. According to the Variety piece, Spanish revenue from theatrical and DVD movies has dropped 5 to 6% because of online piracy, but video game sales have increased by 18% in Spain in 2006 as opposed to the European average of 10%. Hey, if we can kill Paris Hilton in the video game, sign me up!
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