brett ratner Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Obviously, when you think of Brett Ratner, the chubby fratboy who made the Rush Hour films and tried to ruin the X-Men franchise, you also think of Michael Jackson. They were like peas in a pod, those two! And on this somber day of mourning we ran across this clip of B-Rat and M.J. car-dancing to an R. Kelly song. Because why not?

(Actually, while Ratner has directed music videos for Mariah Carey, Jessica Simpson, and others, he and Jackson never collaborated on anything. I don't know why they were friends. They probably just liked going out to strip clubs and picking up women together. Anyway, here's the clip. Enjoy.)




[Via BuzzFeed.]

Conan the Barbarian has a director, and it isn't Brett Ratner. That's the story according to CHUD, who reports that horror director Marcus Nispel has signed on the dotted line, and will direct the remake / reimagining for Lionsgate.

Remakes are familiar territory for Nispel, who has helmed our latest versions of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th. I haven't seen either (though I am sure Scott Weinberg will rectify that soon), but I know they were heavy on the gore and action. With Outlander writers Dirk Blackman and Howard McCain giving the script a rewrite last year, I think you can picture just what Nispel and Lionsgate are aiming for ... lots of pulpy, bloody, R-rated action. While I'll hold out some hope for character development, I'll take comfort in the fact that the Barbarian's sword will meet flesh and bone with a suitable level of blood and crunch.

Now we'll have to see who lands the role (Devin Faraci is hearing that they'll go with an unknown), and whether Ratner left his fingerprints all over the project, as has been rumored every time he was on again, off again with it. But hey, it looks like Conan will make it to the theater before Red Sonja and Thulsa Doom do, which is how it should be.

Before you start twitching and shaking uncontrollably at the thought of Brett Ratner remaking Back to the Future, that's not what's going on here ... thank god. Instead, Variety tells us Ratner is teaming with James Toback and producer Robert Evans on a biopic about the rise and fall of the innovative car designer John DeLorean, whose car is most widely remembered as being used as a time machine in the Back to the Future trilogy.

Oh yes, if you're not a child of the 80s or a car nut, you probably have no idea who John Delorean is or that the Delorean automobile was named after an actual dude ... and that his story is interesting enough to spawn not one biopic, not two biopics, but three freakin' biopics!. The second film, which doesn't seem to have quite the star power as the first, involves producers David Permut and Steven Lee Jones, who are working off the life rights of Delorean's longtime attorney, Mayer Morganroth. The third teams Time Inc. Studios and XYZ Films on a biopic that will come from old magazine articles.

So what's so fascinating about John DeLorean other than the fact that you can turn his car into a time machine by adding a flux capacitor? Well, turns out the guy was busted by the FBI back in 1982 on charges of drug trafficking in an apparent attempt to raise funds for his damaged company, which later went bankrupt that same year. However, DeLorean defended himself in court and won by claiming the FBI tried to set him up. Ratner will direct the film with Toback writing the script, which, from the looks of it, will be very pro DeLorean and simply tell the rise-and-fall story of a great entrepreneur who beat the system, but lost his dream in the process.

Poor Bryan Singer. He may have X-Men and X2 under his belt, but a lot of fans will never forgive him for selling out the mutants in favor of Superman ... and we won't go into the Superman thing again.

But Singer is sorry. Very sorry. In fact, he told Total Film that he made a terrible mistake and that he regretted not directing X3 "before I was watching it, during watching it, after watching it." (Join the club, Singer.) He was quick to amend his longing with praise for a little praise for Brett Ratner, though. "It's weird for me to watch it, because I'm so close to the universe. And also Brett is a good friend of mine. But, of course, I would love to return to that universe." How to return is a problem now that the series has devolved into spin-offs and prequels, and he's understandably reluctant to return through one of the avenues open to him: a Magneto origin story. "The only thing that concerns me about Magneto is that if the prequel were to follow the track I used in X-Men, which is Magneto's history in the concentration camp, then I've lived in that world. Apt Pupil, X-Men and now Valkyrie ... I've lived in that Nazi universe for quite a while. I just might need to take a little break before I do something like that."

Ever since director Brett Ratner accidentally said something along the lines of making a Beverly Hills Cop 4 the kids can all enjoy, folks everywhere cried bloody murder -- afraid this latest installment in the action-comedy franchise would go PG-13 ... or, gasp, PG! But lately all those involved are dancing to a new, much darker tune, and it would appear the sequel will try its best to imitate the heart, soul and badassery of the original ... that is, according to co-writer Michael Brandt.

In an interview with Cine Fools, Brandt talks about the new Bev Cop 4 and the different drafts they've gone through, as well as how one of his older scripts, Dying Day, was re-tooled to ultimately become Beverly Hills Cop 4. On that original script, Brandt notes, "It was kind of a buddy cop thing set in LA with buddy FBI agents- but it wasn't jokey at all, it was pretty hardcore. Everybody died in the end and it was the kind of movie/script that everybody who read it really liked but nobody was ever going to make.. Too dark. And [Paramount] said they would like to turn Dying Day into Beverly Hills Cop 4." Everyone dies? Really? Does that mean Axel Foley may finally meet his demise?

Brandt does say that since then they've "gotten farther and farther away from our original script," and these days I can't see a studio killing off a franchise character just in case Eddie Murphy can still play Axel when he's 90. So don't freak out yet. Good news is the sequel will play it rough and dirty, and so long as Ratner doesn't completely muck it up, this is one R-rated cop flick I'm really looking forward to. You?

Uh, my name is Johnny Wish-Wishbone. Johnny Wishbone. And I am a psychic from the island of St. Croix. Yes, I am psychic from the island of St. Croix .. and you can follow me on Twitter.

[via Moviehole]

The Internet's favorite punching bag, Brett Ratner, has found his passion project. According to Variety, he's set to direct Rob Liefield's series Youngblood for Reliance Big Entertainment and Julia Roberts' shingle, Red Om Films.

Says Ratner: "Most of the great graphic novels are gone, and Youngblood is one of the few comicbooks left with tentpole potential. It was a real personal passion project for me, and a lot of people wanted [it], but the amazing thing about the guys at Reliance is the speed with which they're able to move."

I can't claim to be a comic book expert by any stretch of the imagination -- but when the great graphic novels are bandied about, I'm pretty sure that Youngblood is never among them. (Even if Alan Moore did pen some of it.) Maybe there's a circle where it beats out Watchmen, but I've never encountered it. Now, if there's a discussion of worst or most forgettable superhero comics, that's probably where you'd find Youngblood.

The series centers on a group of superheroes who are co-opted by the government, and treated like celebrities. A poor man's X-Men / Avengers kind of thing. That said, you can be of two minds about this deal: You can share the general lament that so much money will be wasted on something so lousy. Or you can be glad that Youngblood is Ratner's passion project, and not one of the "great graphic novels." I'll leave you to contemplate how easily it could have been that other book Alan Moore wrote.

Last we heard from the Farrelly camp, the brothers were cooking up a re-launch of the Three Stooges. Now, in a bit less aggravating news: One of them, Peter Farrelly, is getting into the trend of cooking up a myriad of shorts for one feature -- a la Paris je T'aime. The Hollywood Reporter posts that Farrelly and Charles Wessler are teaming up with Liberty Media to create a comedy-centric mix that could hold as many as 24 shorts.

What names are attached thus far? None, other than Farrelly, who will direct not one, but two shorts. Beyond him, the infamous Brett Ratner, Todd Phillips (Old School), Mike Judge (Office Space), and Blades of Glory directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck are all in talks to write and/or direct. The plan is to score "other actors and directors from across the film world, even some not known for comedy." So far, no city-centric or overriding theme has been given.

Some of the names are good, but some -- *cough* Ratner *cough* -- aren't the first names I'd think of in the world of comedy, which makes me wonder what sort of film they're going for. The plus of the Paris and New York collections is the diversity. So, I can only hope that means we'll get not only stateside names like Tina Fey and Christopher Guest, but also some Guy Maddin, Patrice Leconte, Terry Gilliam, Gurinder Chadha...

Who do you want to see involved?

I guess when two out of three films in a franchise are an absolute blast to watch, you kinda try to get behind the odds that a fourth installment will fall somewhere in the middle between awesome and please don't let me see that again ... ever. After watching Beverly Hills Cop 3, I almost filed a police report convinced the filmmakers had committed some sort of crime against humanity. Now, with the next one, you'd think folks would have learned from earlier mistakes. Well, the fact that Brett Ratner is directing hasn't exactly bolstered anticipation -- but maybe the script is good ...

Speaking of, Latino Review managed to snag a draft of Beverly Hills Cop 4 (one they claim "the studio loves, but Eddie Murphy is not too keen on"), and they've slapped a C+ grade on it. Based on their description (which includes spoilers, so watch out), the flick looks to be a combination of the original Beverly Hills Cop and Hitch, with Axel Foley (Murphy) trying to figure out who killed one of his friends, all while helping his new, fat partner score with some girl he has a crush on. LR says it's a "pretty standard police corruption story", and it feels "like the writers took an Arnold Schwarzenegger script they had lying around and changed the details to make it a Beverly Hills Cop movie. There's no fun in it."

Good news is the script will probably change before a final product is shoveled into theaters. What do you think a fourth Beverly Hills Cop movie needs in order to be successful with fans of the series?

Seems our site, along with practically everyone else online, was a bit premature in declaring Brett Ratner director of the new Conan reboot. The original Hollywood Reporter article is what first threw folks off, since it claimed Ratner was committed to Conan, then changed their tune to say he's simply in "final negotiations." But even so, there's still a long way to go on the project, which, right now, is in the early stages of development. On whether or not Ratner will actually sign on, producer Avi Lerner (who sent out the original press release announcing Ratner's involvement) told The Los Angeles Times that they "still have a few obstacles. Brett is only committed if we agree on a budget, on how to do the special effects and exactly where we'd shoot the film."

Ratner, on the other hand, is pretty peeved news leaked out this early in the game. He says, "Let me make this very clear: I am not doing Conan now. This is totally premature. For now, Conan is only a development deal. I have a deal at Paramount and I'm doing Beverly Hills Cop first, no matter what. Avi shouldn't be telling you or anyone else in the press what I'm doing." Talk about getting off on the right foot.

Meanwhile, in happy-go-lucky land, Lerner says they're "looking for a younger Arnold Schwarzenegger" for the part of Conan; someone they "could sign to a three-or-four-picture deal." As to whether the Governor would take a role, Lerner claims he offered Ahnold $1 million to do a one-day cameo, but didn't get a 'yes' just yet. Schwarzenegger did say to "Wait two years for me -- I'll be coming back." Well, I guess we know who'll be showing up in the next Terminator flick, right?

Brett Ratner seems like a perfect fit for Beverly Hills Cop 4: a director nobody likes making a sequel nobody wants. It was announced back in May that he was taking on the project, with Eddie Murphy and an R-rated approach intact despite rumors to the contrary on both counts. But now, with a BHC 4 script still unfinished, Ratner is looking at something to work on in the meantime -- a reboot of Conan the Barbarian.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ratner is thisclose to signing a deal to direct a hard-R-rated Conan, with a 2010 release in mind. The screenplay is by Joshua Oppenheimer and Thomas Dean Donnelly, who also wrote Sahara and A Sound of Thunder and based their Conan script on the original stories from the 1930s. (Yes, that's when Conan was created. No, he wasn't an ancient mythological character.) THR notes that Oppenheimer and Donnelly are "doing a quick polish" of their work "to incorporate some of Ratner's ideas." That doesn't bode well -- but then again, neither does hiring the guys who wrote Sahara and A Sound of Thunder.

On the other hand, the original Conan stories weren't exactly high literature. They were pulpy, cheesy, and goofy. The first Conan movie, Conan the Barbarian, which helped launch the career of a certain U.S. governor, wasn't very faithful to those stories, but it was successful in its own right. The sequel, Conan the Destroyer, was jokier and went for a softer rating, thus dooming the franchise after only two entries. A loud, explosive, over-the-top, ridiculous reboot might be just what the character needs -- in which case Ratner is definitely the man for the job.

Oh, and Ratner still intends to direct BHC 4, too, only now it will be after Conan. That means for the next couple years, Ratner will be too busy to interfere with anymore superhero franchises, which will help a lot of comic-book geeks sleep easier.