edgar wright Tagged Articles at Cinematical

If you're on Twitter, you already know that it's a drug. It's like a big get-together where you can talk to hundreds of people without committing yourself too seriously and before you know it ... poof ... you've just spent three hours talking about your summer reading. I've made a concerted effort to not let it overtake my life and I've generally succeeded.

But one aspect of Twitter that I find so pathetically alluring is the celebrity follow. Now, my time on Cinematical has already introduced me to a lot of Big Names, and while it's always fun and exciting to meet someone you like onscreen, it's often just work. Often, it's awkward work. I say that not to brag or play down the experience, but to stress that chasing celebrities just isn't my thing. Except on Twitter.

Twitter is like this shadowy, secret party where Hollywood's creme de la creme are eating, drinking, laughing, and filming, and they're coyly letting you watch. They casually drop names and TwitPics, and there's something about it that's so alluring once paired with a timestamp. The most recent example (and the one @scotteweinberg dared me to write about) was this Tweet from @F_Gary_Gray, director of the upcoming Law Abiding Citizen:

Sometimes movie stories are just too good to be true. A few days ago, Scott Weinberg brought us the delicious rumor that Edgar Wright's Ant-Man could be the first product to come of Pixar and Marvel having sweet access to each other.

Unfortunately, it is not to be. Wright set the record straight on CHUD, squashing the rumors, but giving fans hope that he might team up with Pixar for something, someday: "The news that Pixar is involved is not wholly accurate and a little premature to comment on. I love Pixar's work more than anyone and indeed would love to collaborate with them. I'm not sure though that they would want to do a 'shrinking' film as a Pixar animation -- since Toy Story and A Bug's Life already cover this territory to some extent. Am guessing that someone just speculated on the 'bug' angle and tried to put two and two together. My spin on Ant Man is very different than a straight superhero origin -- and very much live action."

But lest you think this means Ant-Man languishes in scriptwriting or pre-production, not so. "I am still attached to Ant Man and indeed am still working on a second draft with Joe Cornish. That had to take a back seat while I worked on Scott Pilgrim, but am keen to get back into it once I get into post. I just spoke to Kevin Feige for the first time since I wrapped and we are meeting this week to discuss the next phase." Hopefully, the next phase involves our antennaed friend accompanying Thor and Captain America to the big screen very, very soon.

Every time we get a new Hulk, Spider-Man, Iron Man, or Fantastic Four flick, tons of new articles hit the wire about how Marvel has big plans for Thor, Captain America, and ... Ant-Man. It's probably because Ant-Man isn't quite as popular as those other guys that we don't feel any geekish urgency towards an Ant-Man movie, but ... heck, at least Ant-Man has had a finished draft for a while now. And that's more than you could say about ol' Thor, right?

Plus it should be noted that said draft comes from one Edgar Wright, yep, the co-writer and director of great comedic entertainments like Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz. Find me a movie geek who wouldn't want to see a Marvel hero as filtered through the lenses of Wright and his loyal team!

But now that the massive Disney + Marvel deal is in place, we're hearing a few buzzings (from Entertainment Weekly and BleedingCool.com) that Ant-Man could maybe, possibly, sometime down the road ... become a Pixar feature? Keep in mind that this is simply geek-friendly speculation, and that even if Edgar Wright DID combine his skills with Pixar, well, the flick wouldn't be ready for about four years. Check out the piece at BC.com right here and then share your thoughts below. Me? I think it's a perfect fit: The Pixar team working on something with a strange and colorful history -- along with a movie-geek filmmaker who is all about delivering the fun.

That cheeky Edgar Wright has been teasing Scott Pilgrim vs. The World fans with blurry photos of stand-ins on the set of the movie, and yesterday he posted a video blog from the first day of the movie shoot.

"I'm doing this photo blog throughout the whole production, and this morning I decided to take a picture at 8 o'clock in the morning of the crew so then we can contrast it, see their happy, smiling faces at 8 o'clock in the morning on the first day of the shoot, compared to whatever time we wrap on the last day of the shoot... We'll see who's left."

Rather ominous yet adorable. I think it's the accent.

The video shows the actors getting pumped up for the first day despite the early hour, except for Michael Cera, who is strumming a guitar and asks how many days are left on the shoot with a poker face.

"During the shoot, can you just tell me when you're on me so I can suck in?" Wright asks, and then proceeds to demonstrate his good and bad posture.

It's a neat way to engage fans, and, of course, drum up some viral buzz for the movie. It's interesting to see how the studios and directors are using Twitter to interact with fans, but the video blog is more fun to watch and share.

Tune in at the official website for the movie.

When the guy who programs the Midnight Madness slate at the Toronto Film Festival gets excited about a new event, you can bet that it's going to be something pretty geek-tastic. So last night I got an email from Mr. Colin Geddes and here's what he was so psyched about: They gave writer / director / movie nerd Edgar Wright a chance to program a mini-festival of his very own, and the man delivered a week's full of evening screenings that any flick geek would have a ball with.

Of course the event (called The Wright Stuff) will open with the unbeatable double feature of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, but as the week goes on, attendees will be able to savor one-two punches like The Warriors and The Wanderers; Shaolin Soccer and Riki-Oh; and Drunken Master 2 with an as-yet-unannounced but undoubtedly ass-kickin' martial arts movie. (Plus, dang, they're showing The Brood on the big screen!) Oh, and one evening will offer a very nifty Spaced marathon. And if you're wondering what makes a guy like Edgar Wright qualified to program his own mini-festival, I suggest you sit in on those Spaced, Shaun, and Fuzz screenings -- because this is a filmmaker who bleeds flick love like nobody's business.

A full press release for the event is included after the jump, and our readers might like to know that our own Monika B. lives RIGHT NEAR that movie theater, so perhaps you should be nice and ask for a couch to crash upon. And hey, here's a report on a similar event that Mr. Wright hosted in L.A. a few years back. Heh, "Mr. Wright." Hear that, ladies?

I guess the best place to start would be from the beginning.

See, filmmaker Edgar Wright has been steadily photo-blogging his exploits on the set of his potentially (probably?) awesome Scott Pilgrim adaptation, revealing casting decisions by having his actors conceal their faces with portraits of their respective characters.

With a wink and nudge, Cinematical then 'exclusively revealed' that its own Elisabeth Rappe had been cast as the new face of Lara Croft in the upcoming Tomb Raider sequel/reboot.

Well, in a twist of meta-blog-a-go-go proportions, it appears that Wright himself has stepped up for the role, as indicated by this most recent casting announcement blitz-o-rama-tacular.

In a prepared statement, Rappe had the following to say: "I was genuinely looking forward to playing Lara Croft. I had put in hours of physical training, had the required plastic surgery, and had performed numerous sexual favors in order to secure the role. However, if the studio is looking to go in another direction, I understand. I wish Mr. Wright well -- I know he has better legs than I do, and I have no doubt he'll make a fantastic Tomb Raider."

Your move, Ed.

UPDATED -- There's a new "mystery" image that hit the Internet today, and is in the gallery below. Your guess as to who it might be ... but ours is Jason Schwartzman, although who he is playing is for better Pilgrim fans than me to guess at.

It's just as well my head cold prevented me from posting the latest Scott Pilgrim glimpse, because now you get two characters for the price of one. Happy Wednesday!

Directly from Edgar Wright's blog is the man we've all waited for -- Michael Cera as Scott Pilgrim himself. My heart skipped a little beat to see his jacket so faithfully replicated. It's really the little things that count.

Next up is Chris Evans as Lucas Lee, the second of Ramona Flowers' evil exes. He's a pro-skateboarder turned movie star and full of swagger. It's casting perfection.




If that's not enough Scott Pilgrim to tide you over until the next photo, CHUD's Devin Faraci caught up with Bryan Lee O'Malley to talk about the series so far, and the upcoming film. Cera's controversial casting was the last question on the table, and O'Malley laughed off the criticism. "I'm pretty sure he can do it. People have really different ideas of what Scott is like. A lot of people see Scott as being really, really cool and really handsome ... and I don't know about that. There was a good quote on the CHUD forum the other day where somebody was taking these people to task. He said, 'Scott is a guy who cries when his roommate saves over his Final Fantasy game - you don't think his voice cracks from time to time?' Me and Edgar and Michael [Bacall] the writer, we don't see Scott as being a hero-like idol. We don't see him as Zac Efron or whatever. Nobody ever suggested anybody else to play Scott. I think Michael Cera is going to do a f---ing awesome job." I don't know if that will lesson the fears of fans (sound off, William Goss), but there you have it ... and nightmares of Zac Efron in the jacket to boot.