William Atherton Tagged Articles at Cinematical

So there I was on the Twitter, conversing with a few friends and rambling aimlessly about some movie minutiae that was hopping through my head. One of those Tweets was this one, and it prompted an immediate response from several Twitter pals ... and Erik Davis. He insisted that my admiration for character actor William Atherton would make for an appropriate edition of "Villains We Love," and here's why: Mr. Atherton is at his best when he's playing a smug, smarmy, officious authority figure who exists mainly to give a movie's hero something fun to play off of.

Case in point: Val Kimer vs. William Atherton in Real Genius. Bill Murray vs. William Atherton in Ghostbusters. Bruce Willis (and Bonnie Bedelia) vs. William Atherton in Die Hard and Die Hard 2. Pauly Shore vs. William Atherton in Bio-Dome. Certainly no one-trick pony (you also know this actor from The Sugarland Express, The Day of the Locust, and The Last Samurai), but the man's just great at playing a snooty villainous bastard. For those who require some evidence, I refer you to the post-jump territory.

More on Atherton: To find out which giant TV show he'll be guest starring on during its final season, head over to SciFi Squad.

The boys are officially back ... but, sadly, they'll only be in videogame form for now. According to Variety, Vivendi Games has struck a deal to turn Ghostbusters into a videogame franchise, with the first title set to hit streets in the fall of 2008. All four Ghostbusters -- Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Bill Murray and Harold Ramis -- have signed off their voice and likeness rights, while Aykroyd and Ramis will write a story for the game that takes place in the early '90s, following Ghostbusters II. For fans of the movie franchise (and, seriously, who's not a fan?), this could potentially be very cool. Aykroyd has been trying to get a Ghostbusters III off the ground for a long time now; at one point, he was considering a CGI flick to continue the story without having to ask a bunch of old timers to strap on the proton packs for another live-action go-round.

With a videogame version, we'll still see the story Aykroyd had planned for a third installment (I believe one version involved NYC opening up to reveal a hell-ish underground), only we'll get to play along too. Apart from the four original cast members, William Atherton, Brian Doyle and Annie Potts will also be involved. No word on Rick Moranis or Sigourney Weaver just yet. I know some of you will be bummed out by this, but I'm totally up for it -- so long as they create a cool multi-player gaming experience. Just last night, my friend and I were talking about how much fun those old multi-player games were; the kind where you and a friend could sit down in the same space, control different characters and fight your way through a universe together. The last great multi-player game, in my opinion, was Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. If they can create something on par with that (only add a whole lot of Bill Murray dialogue), then they've already sold one game ... to me. What do you think?

Every once in a while you come across a bit of movie news that makes you think, "They're kidding, right"? Well, this is one of those times. According to a report on Virgin.net, Val Kilmer has signed on to make the sequel to the 1985 comedy Real Genius.

If you haven't seen it, then I can't really say you are missing anything. The story follows a freewheeling genius (Kilmer) and his uptight sidekick who get duped into creating a weapon for the government by none other than '80s villainous staple, William Atherton. The whole thing plays like a time capsule, and I really don't remember the '80s as being quite that lame, but the proof is all there on film. Kilmer claimed that he signed on to revive his character from the first film in hopes of broadening his career horizons to include more comedy roles. Kilmer has a flair for comedy, as he proved in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and even Top Secret (a personal guilty pleasure), but was the world really crying out for a sequel to this particular flick?

There aren't many details on the production yet, and a shooting schedule hasn't even been announced. You have to wonder if maybe Kilmer is trying to drum up a little publicity for himself ... either that or the salad dressing idea isn't selling like he thought it would.

[via G4-The Feed]