barry josephson Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Monster movie fans may remember Ryan Schifrin from that Abominable flick he made a few years back. (That's not me knocking the film. It's really called Abominable. And it's pretty good, actually.) But while the wheels continue to turn (fairly slowly) on a sequel to that movie, Schifrin has been busy (with collaborator Larry Hama) on a comic book series called Spooks.

Perhaps aptly described as "Hellboy vs. The Monster Squad meets G.I. Joe," Spooks deals with an elite squad of government soldiers who are called in to battle against the underworld's darkest foes. (And by underworld, I don't mean mafia. I mean hell.) The squad's toughness is put to the test when a super-nasty vampire teams up with a mega-powerful witch -- and they promptly unleash monumental mayhem on Washington D.C.

Producer Barry Josephson has taken a liking to the property, and it looks like he's about to head out and talk to a few screenwriters. Sounds like the Spooks flick might be a little ways off, so feel free to spend some of that free time perusing the source material. And check out Shock for a few more of the early details.

Few people today remember what Nathan Hale is famous for. Even in my home state of Connecticut, where he's officially recognized as our State Hero, he is probably often thought of as just another one of the many Revolutionary War patriots we learned about in high school. Perhaps you have a good enough memory to link him with his most famous quote, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country" (which may have been actually ripped off from a contemporary play)? Well, don't worry if you haven't held on to your history book knowledge; that is what we have Hollywood for. Warner Bros. will be producing a biopic about Hale, based on M. William Phelps' upcoming book "For the Sake of Liberty: America's First Spy."

I'll watch just about any movie set during the American Revolution -- heck, I even enjoy The Patriot -- so I'll be looking forward to this. Even though it's being produced by one of the men responsible for Wild Wild West (Barry Josephson), as long as it features Rebels versus Red Coats, I'm down. I'm actually curious to see how the film depicts Hale's first and only espionage mission, an undercover operation that ended tragically with his hanging. The only versions of the story I've read, which are short, textbook writings, make him seem, in my opinion, to have been an awful spy. After all, his cover was blown and he was found out rather quickly. Phelps' new biography may shed some new light on what actually went down, but regardless, Hale was something of a failure, though a very heroic failure nonetheless. The studio may want to cast an actor who doesn't have a reputation for being a chameleon.

In an interesting twist, the film that was one of the biggest spec sales of 2006 is getting a less-than-famous name to head it. 20th Century Fox was the winner who grabbed Mark Burton's They Came From Upstairs -- about a group of kids in a vacation home in Maine who have to fight aliens that have invaded from the home's upstairs. The British screenwriter is responsible for many of the leading family films to be released over the last few years -- Chicken Run, Madagascar and Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Considering the success that Burton has had so far, it might seem logical that a big name would head the directorial ship. However, Barry Josephson, of 20th Century Fox's Josephson Entertainment, has chosen Thor Freudenthal.

Thor was chosen because of his advertisements for the likes of Ritz and Reebok and for his short noir film, Motel. Apparently his other work had a tone that reminded Josephson of Men in Black. Variety really went in-depth into the producer's picking process, with a lot of justification. In case his film experience isn't enough to sell you, the new director has also worked with children and done some creature design.