LynnCollins Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I was slightly disappointed with the initial casting of John Carter of Mars, but as Andrew Stanton keeps bringing the wonderful with every addition to the roster, I just have to trust him when it comes to his choice of Taylor Kitsch. But Stanton is sending more impressive talent to Mars, as according to The Hollywood Reporter, James Purefoy, Thomas Haden Church, and Mark Strong have joined the cast.

Purefoy will be playing Kantos Kan, the captain of the Xavarian, the grand flagship of Helium. Carter meets him in the prisons of Warhoon, and they're forced to battle in a gladitorial match. They become allies as only former gladiators can, and Kan assists him on his quest to save Mars / Barsoom. I found it difficult to picture the secondary characters in Princess of Mars, so I feel lame in saying "Purefoy is perfect as Kan!" but he'll fit the part of a seasoned naval captain. He'll be quite dashing, even. (Actually, I think Purefoy would have made a good Carter.)

Church will be playing Tal Hajus, who THR calls "a vicious Thark warrior who is determined to become king." In the books, he's a Jabba the Hut type who lusts after Princess Dejah Thoris, and is happily ensconced as a leader, so this might be one of the first big changes you'll see in the story. It would probably make things a lot more interesting to have Church play him as a capable bastard than a slobby wreck.

Read more over at SciFi Squad

If it wasn't for Andrew Stanton at the helm of John Carter of Mars, I think the interest might completely bottom out with its casting. ComingSoon had the scoop via Twitter that Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins were set to star, and the rumor became reality in The Hollywood Reporter.

Kitsch will be playing the titular Carter, a Civil War veteran who is transported (via astral projection, leaving his lifeless body behind) to Mars. There he meets the lovely Martian princess Dejah Thoris, wins her hand, rediscovers his own humanity, and rescues Mars. The film is tipped to begin filming in 2010, and they've been scouting Utah for Martian locations.

When Stanton discussed the project earlier this year, he mentioned they wanted an unknown despite the fact Hugh Jackman was tipped as a fan favorite. How odd then that they've managed to recast 2/4 of Jackman's X-Men Origins: Wolverine. THR notes that Jon Hamm and Josh Duhamel also tested for the part, and while I've got nothing against Kitsch (I'm not going to hold Gambit against him), I really wish they had chosen Hamm. An ex-Confederate needs a bit of age and weariness to him instead of being a fresh faced up and comer ... but then again, a lot of Civil War soldiers were ridiculously young when they enlisted, so perhaps Kitsch can play it as disillusioned and old-before-his-time. One can hope ...

In the early 1980s I was an "X-Men" fanatic, eagerly devouring every comic book I could get my hands on. But my favorite, and it remains my favorite to this day, was a 1982 four-issue mini-series written by Chris Claremont, drawn by Frank Miller and devoted exclusively to Wolverine. In it, Wolvie goes to Japan to find out what happened to his true love Mariko. He's a magnificent warrior and he understands Japan's ancient codes and rules but also understands his own raging animal instincts and his need to abandon the rules. He constantly battles these two sides, and in one sublime image, after a fight, he smoothes the disturbed pebbles in a Zen garden, making the connection between chaos and order.

Sadly, there's nothing in the new X-Men Origins: Wolverine even remotely as good or as interesting as that one image. This Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) no longer struggles between his two sides. He's smack dab on the side of good, and beholden to the unwritten Hollywood rule, which says that no hero can kill anyone in cold blood (only in self-defense, or in response to senseless acts of cruelty and violence). Sure, he can rage and howl from time to time, but he must pull back at the last second -- to set a good example for the kiddies, I guess. To spur him to action, the film brutally dispatches everyone who's nice to him, from his kind-hearted father/guardian in the opening flashback to the sweet farmer couple that gives him refuge, to his own sweetheart Kayla Silverfox (Lynn Collins). So there's some bad foreshadowing for you: if you help an old lady across the street or tell a romantic story about the moon, you're toast.

Here it is, the final X-Men Origins: Wolverine trailer you will ever see, courtesy of USA Today. There's some new character shots too, and all is collected here for your viewing pleasure. Unfortunately, the trailer embed ridiculously tiny, so you'll want to play it full screen for all the explosive, SNIKT-y goodness.

The final trailer isn't radically different than the first one, except that it's bigger, louder, gives a lot a way and yet manages to be more confusing. There's more Deadpool (who goes from Ryan Reynolds to the freaky man glimpsed in the action figure) and more Cyclops. I am completely thrown as to how young Scott Summers fits in, and this trailer really makes it seem as though the entire plot revolves around him. I'm at a loss. But I am happy to see there's hints that Logan's choices may not have been so very free. Still ... Cyclops?!

If you don't like it, blame Hugh Jackman, who's taking full responsibility for this film as its producer: "[I wanted] to own up to the responsibility of this character. I wanted to put myself into this movie in every way possible. This is the movie that I've seen in my head for a long time." He's also determined to make the character badass again, because he just doesn't care for the way he's been portrayed so far. "I'm not mad about it, but I thought he had gotten a bit soft. I thought we had gotten away from the essence of who Wolverine really is: a bad (dude) who wants to live his own life." Who knew it was so chock full of mutant friends ... ?



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Prior to her film's premiere at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, writer-director Tracey Hecht found time to answer a few questions about her film and her process for Cinematical. Life in Flight stars Patrick Wilson as a successful architect with the "perfect family" who, after a chance encounter with a young urban designer (Lynn Collins), begins to second guess his entire life. We published our review of Life in Flight this morning, where Joel had the following to say regarding Hecht's direction: "Hecht does a nice job invoking a sense of place in Life in Flight; she must know New York well, because she shows or mentions aspects of it that most visitors just never see, like the birds that fly out over the BQE. The visuals suggest a filmmaker who not only is in love with New York, but insisted on making sure there was no doubt that the film was made there instead of somewhere in Toronto."

Cinematical: You previously said you wanted to make a film about fear. Seeing as this is your feature debut as a director, I imagine making this film brought about a certain fear from within you?

Tracey Hecht: Yes, definitely. But I'm less afraid when I'm doing something than when I'm waiting to do it. So I think the leading up to making the movie was worse for me. Once I was actually in there, I really had a amazing time.

Cinematical: What do you think people are most afraid of these days?

TH: Oh, wow, I have no idea. I imagine that list is long. But I think the trick is to really find and know what it is inside of you that makes you afraid, and not let yourself just project your fears out onto other things.

Life in Flight should prove to any aspiring screenwriter that you don't necessarily have to have an original story in order to get a screenplay made. In the film, which debuted at Tribeca on Sunday, first-time writer / director Tracey Hecht tells the tale of a man who's supposedly living the good life, but it's not the one he wants. And it takes meeting a young, vivacious woman for him to fully realize it.

Heard that story before? Sure you have, probably dozens of times. You've seen it in goofy romantic comedies from The Seven-Year Itch to Joe Versus the Volcano as well as "indie" dramas like Garden State. But good writing and acting always trumps originality of story, and Life in Flight has both, though there's still room for improvement.