LawrenceKasdan Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Finding out how your favorite movies came to be is generally very rewarding and educational. You seek out The Seven Samurai, and thank the film gods that a robotic shark failed to work. At the very least, you can win trivia contests by knowing what Rosebud was, and impress your friends by telling them who was originally cast as Aragorn.

And then there's the stuff you wish you had never known. This week, you may have been one of the Indy fans who eagerly downloaded the Raiders of the Lost Ark transcript, where George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Lawrence Kasdan hashed out ideas for one of the greatest film characters of all time. Cool stuff. Useful if you aim to write books or movies someday. Then I read this bit about Marion and Indy, and their ideas for their early love affair gone wrong:

GL: I was thinking that this old guy could have been his mentor. He could have known this little girl when she was just a kid. Had an affair with her when she was eleven.

LK: And he was forty-two.

GL: He hasn't seen her in twelve years. Now she's twenty-two. It's a real strange relationship.

SS: She had better be older than twenty-two.

Is there room in Hollywood for more than one giant robot franchise? Well, Warner Bros. certainly seems to think so. The long-gestating feature film version of the classic anime Robotech isn't dead in the water yet -- and to prove it, WB has hired two new writers to give the script another polish. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Alfred Gough and Miles Millar have signed to write the live-action adaption.

Robotech originally aired during the '80s in North America (and was compiled from three different series' released in Japan); the film is being described as "A sprawling sci-fi epic" and takes place in a not-too-distant future where humans have developed giant robots from an alien technology. When another invasion looms, mankind hops in their giant robots to fend off the alien hoard, and the fate of the human race is left in the hands of two young pilots. Tobey Maguire will still produce, but it remains to be seen if Maguire will star -- and at the rate this project is moving, Maguire is going to be in his 40's by the time this film hits theaters.

Gough and Millar aren't the first writers to take a stab at the anime classic. Back in June, we reported that Lawrence Kasdan was drafting a script, but the project seemed to stall after that. According to THR, Warners is keen to get the film into production, and the hiring of Millar and Gough could give the film a needed boost of "geek cred" since both worked on Spider Man 2 and The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, as well as a stint writing for Smallville.

It looks like it could be some time before Robotech finally makes its way to the big screen, but here's your chance to sound off on whether you would actually want to see it on the big screen ...

I love when stuff like this happens: Armageddon vs. Deep Impact. 1492: Conquest of Paradise vs. Christopher Columbus: The Discovery. Umm, Vice Versa vs. Like Father Like Son. You know what I mean: When two very similar movies from two very different movie studios hit the theaters at just about the same time. And according to Variety, it looks to be happening again, this time with a pair of Greek Mythology-type movies. Of all things. We get none of 'em for two decades and then all of a sudden everyone wants to bang one out. It's good news for me, though. I love this stuff.

In one corner we have WB's Clash of the Titans remake, which will be directed by Louis Leterrier and written by Lawrence Kasdan. We all know a bit about Clash of the Titans, or at least I hope we do, so let's focus on the other corner: Here we have the very intriguing War of Gods, which Relativity Media is prepping for Tarsem Singh to direct. According to Variety, it's "a mythological tale set in war-torn Ancient Greece, as the young warrior prince Theseus leads his men in a battle against evil that will see the gods fighting with soldiers against demons and titans." Whoa. Yes, please.

Both flicks are looking to use the 300-style approach to bring their ancient worlds and creatures to life, both aim to start production before the end of the year, and both will probably make a whole lot of money. I mean seriously: We need more epics about Greek Mythology. Call me a nerd, but those stories are freaking cool!

How do you jump from one of New York's best-loved insightful film blogs to a L.A.-based weblog better known for bite than brain? What's it like to blog the Oscars for Vanity Fair? What will it take to have big-studio publicity recognize the online world? And what are some of the standout films and special selections at this year's Los Angeles Film Festival? Joining us this week live from one of L.A's most hallowed cultural institutions -- The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf -- to talk about all these topics and more is Stu VanAirsdale, Senior Editor at Defamer and the founder of The Reeler. Cinematical's podcast is now available through iTunes; you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:



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Despite a resume full of fantasy and action flicks, Lawrence Kasdan will forever be synonymous with 'Boomer' movies like The Big Chill and Grand Canyon. But, this is the man who wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark and Return of the Jedi, so it's not like a script about giant robots and alien invasions is that big of a stretch. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Kasdan has signed to write the script for a live-action adaptation of the Japanese anime, Robotech, for Warner Bros.

The story of Robotech centered on a not-too-distant future where mankind has discovered alien technology called 'protoculture' on a deserted South Pacific island. Using the tech to build giant robots (well, what else would you do with it?), humanity is forced to fend off alien invasions looking to steal a little of that 'protoculture' for their very own.

Robotech marks Kasdan's second big fantasy project this year, after being tapped to write a remake of the 80's fantasy flop, Clash of the Titans. It's still early days for Robotech, but WB seems eager to fill up their fantasy slate for the coming year, so stay tuned to Cinematical for any updates that come our way.

A while ago, we received the super-awesome news that Clash of the Titans was being remade. Yes, I'm being sarcastic. So Travis Beacham wrote the first stab. Then, Lawrence Kasdan came along for a re-write. It looks like the Big Chill writer's script is the winner, and with no extensive rewrites planned, the next step was finding someone to helm this sucker. That honor, according to Variety, has been given to Steve Norrington. I'm torn. I still don't want this movie remade, but this could actually work, at least a little.

See, Norrington is the man behind Blade. That's a decent movie -- fun, vampy, and popular enough to spawn a few sequels. However, he's also the guy behind The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. It was the last film he hopped into the directorial chair for, and it was pretty craptacular. Considering the fact that it wasn't meant to be bad, perhaps this could be a blessing for the film -- no matter how serious they aim to make it, maybe it will still be bad and thus keep some sort of spark of the original.

One can hope, but it could also possibly be a stunning achievement that bears little resemblance to the original, or more realistically, something that Titans fans are disappointed with. We'll find out soon enough -- production is scheduled to begin some time next year. So, that means that the next step is picking Harry Hamlin's replacement. Any ideas?

In a case of truly uninspired filmmaking, Lawrence Kasdan is going to write a remake of the beloved, 1981 truly, terribly, wonderfully classic Clash of the Titans. Travis Beacham, who co-wrote A Killing on Carnival Row with Neil Jordan, wrote a draft for the film, and now the Mumford man is taking over to script the feature. Kasdan is the guy who long ago brought us The Empire Strikes Back and Raiders of the Lost Ark, before jumping into The Big Chill and The Bodyguard, and last writing the questionable Dreamcatcher.

No, no, NO! This has to be the stupidest movie move that I've encountered in a while -- since we had the completely pointless Psycho re-do. Remake the Brady's and make fun of them. Empower Charlie's Angels to be even tougher. Make a new Ocean's 12 for the next generation. However, do not rob Harry Hamlin's shining achievement in film, and one of the best goofy films we've got out there. Clash of the Titans is a cult classic partially because of out-dated special effects. Take away Hamlin and amp up the effects and what do you have? You've got the story of Zeus' son, Perseus. You might as well just make a new re-telling of the Greek legend instead of a remake of this specific film. Besides, you can't beat casting the epic Laurence Olivier, or the late, great Burgess Meredith. Step away from the project, Mr. Kasdan. Bubo doesn't want you to touch him.

To be honest, I think when most people heard that Mischa Barton had left The OC, everyone was waiting for her career to take the inevitable nosedive. I'm guessing being lumped in with the Paris Hilton and Brandon Davis party crowd probably didn't help much in the respectability department either. There had been rumors that Mischa's character had been killed off due to her bad-mouthing of the show and general naughty behavior. Well, it's all water under the bridge now since the teen soap has gotten the axe, and Barton has managed to set up several film roles for 2007.

Variety reports that Barton is set to star in the indie drama Don't Fade Away for first-time director Luke Kasdan (nephew of famed writer-director Lawrence Kasdan). Kasdan's drama stars Ryan Kwanten and Barton as a Manhattan couple that are forced to deal with a father's illness. Rounding out the cast is the unlikely combination of Ja Rule and Beau Bridges. Since I never consistently watched The OC and I've tried to remain blissfully ignorant when it comes to the "Kiddie Table" of Hollywood gossip, I'll have to wait to see if Barton can transform herself into a leading lady ... or whether High School drama and hair tossing are the sum total of her talents.

[via Movie Web]

Sure, the phrase Femme Fatale is a little overused and and her modern descendants are pretty weak, but how can you not love a bad girl? Kathleen Turner in Body Heat was one of the last good femme fatale performances -- Lena Olin and Linda Fiorentino might be two other highlights. Rarely do movie makers really let these characters be as mean and as smart as their classic predecessors without making them into borderline psychopaths.

Warner Bros. has released a "deluxe" edition of Lawrence Kasdan's Body Heat on DVD; written and directed by Kasdan, it was his attempt to make Double Indemnity. Oddly enough, George Lucas was an uncredited producer on the film -- remember when he used to make movies with actual people in them? The film starred Kathleen Turner and William Hurt and was a bit of a shocker when it hit theaters due to some "enthusiastic" sex scenes between the two stars. Other than that, it has your typical noir plot: pretty lady with a rich husband and the not-so-bright everyman who gets caught up in her scheme. The movie was a respectable homage but really didn't break any new ground; Kathleen Turner was good, but Barbara Stanwyck is better.

[via Yahoo! Movies]