christian slater Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Who says you can't go home again? Winona Ryder says that a sequel to 1988's Heathers is definitely on its way -- "swear to God"!!! She told Empire Magazine: "Whatever you hear, there is a sequel in the works. I swear to God ... For some reason the writer Dan Waters and director Michael Lehmann don't want to talk about it. I've been wanting to do a sequel forever. There is a story, and Christian [Slater] has agreed to come back as a kind of Obi-Wan character."

If those words sound familiar, it's because they're almost exactly the same words she uttered nearly three years ago: "It takes place in Washington and Christian Slater agreed to come back and make an Obi-Wan-type appearance. It's very funny." Last fall, Slater expressed his interest in a sequel: "I would do it in a heartbeat. I would totally love to do that character again."

The Obi-Wan references would seem to indicate that Slater's character, J.D., could return as Obi-Wan did in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Twenty years on, Ryder and Slater are still a very appealing pair, so the question returns to Daniel Waters and Michael Lehmann, without whom a sequel would be a pointless, tawdry affair. Lehmann has been busy directing TV shows (True Blood, Big Love, Californication). Most recently, Waters wrote and directed the well-received Sex and Death 101, in which Ryder appeared. What can they do to make Heathers 2 better than Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo?

[ Via US Magazine. ]

Greetings and salutations! I bring the following news to you with an air of excitement, and a huge warning of caution:

Christian Slater, otherwise known as the sexy, seductive, and utterly unstable Jason Dean, is eager to go back to the Heathers fold. While talking up his new NBC show My Own Worst Enemy with AOL TV, Slater spoke about returning to Sherwood, Ohio and said:

"Yeah, sometimes I see Winona and she's like, 'Are you ready to do Heathers 2?' And I'm like, 'Sure!' I would do it in a heartbeat. I would totally love to do that character again -- J.D. We'd have to have a scene in there where's he's watching The Shining or something, you know? We'd have to see that he's collected all of Nicholson's movies. Just to really make sense of it all. [Laughs] That would be like a dream come true for me. So we'll see -- if they want to put something together, I'd be thrilled."

Why the caution? Well, Winona has been dying to do it for years (I remember reading rumors about it all the way back in the 90s), and there was all that talk about the sequel being a reality two years ago. We saw how far that got. But maybe some things have changed -- the way Slater is talking about this, you'd think he's itching for more than just an "Obi-Wan-type appearance."

I don't know about anyone else, but I thought that was a pretty exceptional summer, as far as good, entertaining movies went. I've seen summers in which almost every movie seemed mediocre and not one standout ever emerged (2000 and 2006, for example). But this year, there were at least five standouts and at least five more really good movies. Call me crazy, but I caught up with Speed Racer on DVD this week, and even that one didn't seem so bad. (Sure, it's no Iron Man. I think it probably plays better on the small screen, although I did have trouble with the length and with the annoying Spritle character.) And, of course, we saw a lot of stars at their best this summer: Robert Downey Jr., Heath Ledger, Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Ben Stiller, James Franco, Meryl Streep, Penelope Cruz, etc. Good times! It was all so exciting that I nearly forgot about some of my other favorite stars.

It's weird. You can get caught up in the ebb and flow of this business and it may not occur to you that, say, Neve Campbell hasn't been around lately. I miss her. I interviewed her in early 2004, just after Robert Altman's The Company came out. That was a masterful film, a great piece of work, on which Neve had writing and producing credits. It looked like she was really going places: from there, she was poised to play the great silent film star Louise Brooks in a biopic. I saw her again in James Toback's twisted When Will I Be Loved, which I liked more than just about anyone else.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive final poster for Igor (click image to enlarge), who just looks like the most adorable little awkward hunchback I've ever seen. With a voice cast that includes folks like John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, Eddie Izzard, Christian Slater ... and, well, look at the poster for a complete rundown ... Igor centers on that dude in purple right there -- the hunch-backed assistant to an evil scientist who has dreams of winning the Evil Science Fair and becoming a Mad Scientist too. (And some kids wanna be doctors and lawyers -- screw that!)

Igor arrives in theaters on September 19, and it really does look like a lot of fun. Go check out the trailer after the jump; it's kinda like Young Frankenstein meets Tim Burton meets a CGI flick you won't mind spending a few bucks on. Pull the switch!

I wonder ... how do you meet the super thieves and spies? How do these cinematic guys always find the people with deep, dark secrets, or law-breaking wild sides? Variety reports that Christian Slater and Cuba Gooding Jr. are starring in a new action comedy called Lies & Illusions, which will be directed by Tibor Takacs. (Will it be able to match the wonder, humor, and intrigue that is Kuffs?!) Sarah Ann Schultz, Christa Campbell, Al Madrigal, and Lochlyn Munro have also signed on to star.

The script, written by Eric James, focuses on "a novelist being hunted by a spy who believes the writer holds millions of dollars in diamonds stolen by his dead fiancee." But it's more than just that. According to IMDb, the writer is "torn between two lovers," and also, "A book editor from New York becomes obsessed with the author of a violent novel. She soon learns secrets about his past." Seeing that Slater gets a first and last name -- Wes Wilson, and Cuba only gets "Isaac," I assume that Slater is the writer, and Cuba is the spy. But I don't see how the editor fits into all of this.

IMDb says that it's now in post, but Variety says the film began shooting this week in Spokane.

I was beginning to think that the big-screen adaptation of Dolan's Cadillac had once again slid into development hell. First there was Kevin Bacon and Sylvester Stallone. Then, last February, Dennis Hopper was in talks to play the mob boss, and production was going to begin that Spring. Now, we've got a new cast and a new start date.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that Christian Slater, Wes Bentley, and Emmanuelle Vaugier will star in the feature, which is being whipped up by Film Bridge International. This is, most definitely, not a cast I would have thought of. Dolan's Cadillac is a thriller about a man (Bentley) who is distraught when his school teacher wife (Vaugier) is murdered. She has seen a mobster, Jimmy Dolan (Slater), kill someone in the desert, and before she can testify against him, she is murdered. The widower then plans to get revenge on the Las Vegas mobster and his silver Caddy.

To think that I thought Eminem and Hayden Christiansen were an odd match. How on earth do you get from Hopper to Slater? I'm sad to say that this sounds like a desperate rush job now. I love Slater, and have really enjoyed Bentley, but this feels so very second-string. The new production start date: May 14.

Siblings dealing with their dying father trumped a man who can only move one eyelid in a box office battle between two award-worthy independent films. On the face of it, just because of their subject matter, neither would seem likely to draw big crowds, but excellent critical response and festival buzz appear to have paid off.

The Savages opened last Wednesday in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles and earned a very good $38,250 per screen, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman star as the siblings, with Philip Bosco as their father; Tamara Jenkins directed. Cinematical's Kim Voynar wrote: "There are no easy answers in dealing with aging and dying parents, and Jenkins doesn't try to give us one; she simply takes us into the story of her fascinating characters, and the integrity with which she handles it makes it ring true throughout."

The "one eyelid" movie, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, opened at three locations in New York and Los Angeles; weekend receipts reflect a strong per-screen average of $25,100. When he saw it at Cannes, our own James Rocchi said he found himself "on the edge of tears more than a few times ... [it's] a movie well worth seeing, with images and lessons that strike with power and don't let go."

Four other indies opened in one or two theaters in New York and/or Los Angeles, and Leonard Klady at Movie City News has their estimated per-screen earnings: Jessica Yu's doc Protagonist ($4,920; read Christopher Campbell's review); Miles Brandman's "darkly comic" Sex and Breakfast ($3,850), Robert Stone's doc Oswald's Ghost ($1,830; read my review), and Francesco Lucente's drama Badland ($1,220).

At least four other indies also opened, but financial results have not yet surfaced: ice hockey bio-pic The Rocket, prison escape thriller Chronicle of an Escape, foodie/lesbian romantic comedy Nina's Heavenly Delights and Christian Slater-starrer He Was a Quiet Man.

Having finished the immigration drama Crossing Over, which will come out this December in time for the last-minute Oscar push, Ashley Judd is getting ready to get depressed for her next film. Variety has reported that the actress is going to star in a drama called Helen, which will head into production next month, and is being made by Egoli Tossell Film and Insight Film Studios. Sandra Nettelbeck, who wrote and directed Mostly Martha and Sergeant Pepper, will wear both hats again for this production. The film is about "a music professor and mother who suffers from a deep, debilitating depression. Her family tries to help her, but no one can relate to her pain other than a young female student who knows depression all too well." So, Judd is bummed, but there's no word on who will help her through her struggle.

It's surprising -- as big as Ashley Judd's name is, she's definitely not one of those actresses with oodles of credits to her name. After starting her cinematic career with the terribly (yet pretty enjoyable) Kuffs, you know, that Christian Slater cop movie, she's averaged a few a year, which has slowed down lately. After a busy 2002, she's starred in Twisted and De-Lovely in 2004, Come Early Morning last year, and now Bug and Crossing Over this year. Now if we could only hear more about her Dame Alyce Kyteler adaptation...

Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be.
The future's not ours to see...

Almost two decades have ticked by since Heathers quietly slid onto the big screen. The years have been kind to the film, and while it never made a big splash while projected for darkened theaters, it has become a cult legend that few films can even think to touch. Premiering in 1989, Heathers was the perfect, ironic final chapter to the decade of John Hughes, big hair and cheery optimism.

Winona Ryder stars as Veronica Sawyer, a young woman who had forsaken her unpopular friend Betty Finn (note the names) to join a popular triumvirate clique of Heathers – the red Heather Chandler, the green Heather Duke and the yellow Heather McNamara. She's displeased with the actions of her new circle, yet yields to the demands of their red-themed leader – that is, until she becomes mesmerized by the dark clothed, attitude-laden new kid named Jason Dean (Christian Slater).

One night, Veronica heads out with Heather Chandler to a frat party. She gets sick and soon the girls are in a bitter, cursing fight. Veronica finally stands her ground against her bossy friend, and Heather vows: "Monday morning, you're history." As Veronica later stews over the argument in her bedroom, J.D. pops up in the window, helping to turn her rage into old-fashioned revenge. The next morning they head to Heather's house to give her a hangover cure -- J.D. is itching for the fatal, chemical solution, while Veronica just wants Heather to have the same puke-filled embarrassing situation that she suffered.

There may not be a Sopranos movie in the pipeline, but that doesn't mean Hollywood has officially whacked the Mafia. The LA Times reports that someone has finally landed the rights to produce a biopic on the life and times of infamous gangster, Lucky Luciano. Throughout the years, several Hollywood studios have tried to snag the rights away from Luciano's family, who have been reluctant to give them up. But now, producer Joseph Isgro (Hoffa) has somehow managed to land the goods, and he claims to have already approached a "specific A-list actor" to play the lead role. He's also said to be "wooing several actors from The Sopranos to join the cast." Considered the father of modern organized crime, Luciano was named one of the 20 most influential builders and titans of the 20th century. But he also helped orchestrate a number of gangland killings, as well as a massive international heroin operation, along the way.

According to Isgro (who's repeatedly denied his own ties to the Mafia), the film will cover all of Luciano's life, but focus mainly on his time in prison and the period after he received a presidential pardon for using the Mafia to help the government during World War II. Apart from actors, Isgro has also interviewed potential writers and directors; one of which is Charles Matthau, son of Walter Matthau. Currently, New Line is in talks to distribute. I'm not sure who they're going after to play Luciano -- hopefully it's not Christian Slater, who played the man in the 1991 flick Mobsters. There are a number of actors who could pull off the role; I guess it depends on whether they're willing to age-up a younger actor or age-down an older one. If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say Alec Baldwin might be a good fit. What do you think?