f. gary gray Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Review: Law Abiding Citizen
Filed under: Thrillers », New Releases », Theatrical Reviews », New in Theaters »
As a kid I remember reading in either CRACKED or MAD magazine a parody about movie heroes and villains. The story pointed out how, very often, heroes are much ruder and less well behaved than villains. For example, James Bond will burst into an enemy hideout; the villain will remark, "ah... Mr. Bond. Welcome to my humble abode." And Bond will say, "I'm going to take you down, you snake!" That's a crude example, but you get the drift. The new Law Abiding Citizen is like that, all the way through. The hero is a slick, well-dressed sort who is more concerned with his personal advancement than with the well-being of others. The villain is a highly intelligent, highly trained killer who is trying to rid the world of something broken and corrupt. The villain longs for his dead wife and daughter, while the hero neglects his wife and daughter. Whenever they meet, the villain speaks cordially to the hero, and the hero snaps back with a nasty attitude.
I suspect that, at some point, some clever screenwriter -- perhaps credited writer Kurt Wimmer -- intended all this stuff on purpose, like a subversive, twisted version of the usual Hollywood thriller dynamic. But director F. Gary Gray either did not pick this up or has chosen to ignore it, and presents Law Abiding Citizen as a straight-ahead thriller. Likewise, Jamie Foxx, cast as the good guy lawyer, seems to expect his natural charisma to make up for his character's moral center, and his performance comes across as rigid and unsympathetic. As the bad guy, Gerard Butler fares only slightly better, but only because his character is smarter, with more playful dialogue.
Twitter: Bringing You Ever Closer to the Fame Flame
Filed under: Fandom », Tech Stuff »
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:
Continued below the jump
Exclusive: 'Law Abiding Citizen' Poster Premiere
Filed under: Action », Fandom », Movie Marketing », Posters »
Click image below for full poster
Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Law Abiding Citizen, the latest action film from Set It Off and The Italian Job director F. Gary Gray. Starring Jamie Foxx as a jaded public defender who cuts a deal with the murderer of Gerard Butler's wife and child in exchange for a testimony that will fry bigger underworld fish. Not satisfied with the swift indifference of the justice system, Butler then decides to go on a city wide rampage against both the criminals and the complacent bureaucrats that ruined his life.
Only Butler's plan for due justice is more complicated than any of the clueless courtroom regulars can imagine, and it isn't until the titular Law Abiding Citizen intentionally allows himself to be arrested that the full extent of his wrath comes to scale.
If the trailer is any indication, F. Gary Gray's return to action films (after the regretful diversion that was Be Cool) looks to set the bar for revenge films in Hollywood. Not only is the cast great (which includes Leslie Bibb and Josh Stewart in addition to Foxx and Butler), but the sheer breadth of its explosiontastic search for justice - which looks like Die Hard: With a Vengeance swallowed Ransom, Death Sentence, and Se7en - is enough to draw a new line in the vigilante sand.
Law Abiding Citizen hits theaters October 16th from Overture Films.
Gallery: 'Law Abiding Citizen' Poster
'Law Abiding Citizen' Loves Justice, Hates Cars
Filed under: Drama », Thrillers », Mystery & Suspense », Trailers and Clips »
In the same post that saw The Wolf Man bumped back and The Fourth Kind moved forward, we were told that Overture's Law Abiding Citizen would be coming out much sooner than expected -- October 16th of this year, as opposed to March 26th of next year. And if the trailer (embedded after the jump) is any indication, Jigsaw's got good company indeed.Right after Gerard Butler's wife and daughter are murdered, public defender Jamie Foxx cuts one of the criminals a deal at the expense of the other, leaving Butler none too pleased with the outcome of the legal system. So he does what any mild-mannered man would do -- he waits ten years, kills the other criminal, gets himself arrested, and then holds the entire city of Philadelphia hostage with a vague but mounting threat until Foxx cuts him a deal.
I'm all for a good cat-and-mouse game, and if all you wanted from your Fractures and your Primal Fears were a few more explosions, then this might be the movie for you. Just don't wait a decade to make up your mind about how good it was.
Release Date Shuffle: 'Wolf Man' and Matt Damon Banished to 2010
Filed under: Action », Comedy », Drama », Horror », Romance », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Thrillers », Mystery & Suspense », Universal », RumorMonger », Distribution », Remakes and Sequels », War »
Poor, poor Benicio Del Toro. A former resident of last February, last April and this coming November, his take on The Wolf Man has been bumped back to next February now. That's right: for all the re-scheduling and re-shoots, Joe Johnston's version of the classic monster movie has all but lapped itself on the release slate, hoping to serve as R-rated counter-programming on February 12th, 2010 to Valentine's Day fare and maybe rake in the kind of opening weekend that Friday the 13th had this year ($40 million -- albeit followed by a steep 80% drop in attendance).Your Friday Fantasy -- Gerard Butler Chained Down in 'Law Abiding Citizen'
Filed under: Action », Drama », Thrillers », Fandom », Movie Marketing », Images »
Photo removed at request of Overture Films
Here's something for the girls to end their week on. Who doesn't want Gerard Butler chained up in your house -- and by the neck, no less. When I look at it, I like to imagine he's snarling "I am a slave! What possible difference can I make?" Considering the plot of Law Abiding Citizen is something akin to that of Gladiator (a vigilante who is holding all of Philadelphia hostage from his jail cell), I'm not entirely far off.
Despite my fondness for Bud White and Harry Callahan, I'm not entirely up on my prison and penal code ... do they actually chain prisoners in old timey neck manacles like that in any American cities? That seems like something you'd see in Pirates of the Caribbean, not a serious, modern legal / vigilante thriller.
Pirate chains aside, it will be enjoyable to see Butler in something manly and gruff again. The film originally called for him to be the assistant D.A. and Jamie Foxx to play the vigilante bent on avenging his family, but they reversed roles just before filming began. I think that was a good choice for both actors ... especially if they homage Escape From Alcatraz at all. And I think you know which scenes I mean, ladies.
[Thanks to the Gerard Butler Gals for sending this!]
Despite my fondness for Bud White and Harry Callahan, I'm not entirely up on my prison and penal code ... do they actually chain prisoners in old timey neck manacles like that in any American cities? That seems like something you'd see in Pirates of the Caribbean, not a serious, modern legal / vigilante thriller.
Pirate chains aside, it will be enjoyable to see Butler in something manly and gruff again. The film originally called for him to be the assistant D.A. and Jamie Foxx to play the vigilante bent on avenging his family, but they reversed roles just before filming began. I think that was a good choice for both actors ... especially if they homage Escape From Alcatraz at all. And I think you know which scenes I mean, ladies.
[Thanks to the Gerard Butler Gals for sending this!]
F. Gary Gray is the Newest 'Law Abiding Citizen'
Filed under: Action », Independent », Thrillers », Deals », Mystery & Suspense », Celebrities and Controversy », Scripts », Newsstand »
Last week, the upcoming thriller Law Abiding Citizen was embroiled in a bit of drama when its director, Frank Darabont, unexpectedly dropped out seemingly just after it had managed to cast Jamie Foxx. Rumors still abound that the split wasn't a friendly one -- and given that there's been a storyline switch-a-roo, we're not even sure what we'll see onscreen.Well, happily for Citizen, they landed themselves a new director. Variety reports that F. Gary Gray has signed for the enviable job of directing Foxx and Gerard Butler (who is also producing). And while the story still focuses on a vigilante hounding a city and its assistant D.A., the roles have now switched. Foxx is now playing the assistant D.A., and Butler the vigilante, with the film set to shoot in December.
And for a movie about a vigilante, it's leaving an appropriate amount of bodies in its wake. Thanks to the shift in directors, now Eric Bana has been left job less. Gray was all set to direct Armored, the heist thriller that had chased Bana around Star Trek before finally landing him. Oddly, Armored doesn't even get the luxury of a replacement director -- Millenium Films is reporting that Gray's departure has left it dead in the water, a mere week after it had appeared in the trades.
I have an idea! Cast Bana in Law Abiding Citizen as the serial killer who controls the city and Butler's vigilante, combining both script ideas into one film of crazy, blood-splattered fun questioning the nature of justice ... or at least just ending violently in an abandoned warehouse. (By the way, if they need someone to die violently at the hands of justice-dealing Butler, I'm available. Call me!)
Eric Bana in Talks for 'Armored'... Again
Filed under: Action », Thrillers », Casting », Deals »
So you might be wondering what a picture of Eric Bana swigging a beer in a Hulk t-shirt has to do with the remake of a French thriller. Well, the answer I'm afraid is nothing, its just one of my favorite pictures of the Aussie actor -- but back to the business at hand. Variety reports that Millennium Films is currently in talks with Bana to star in their remake of the French thriller, Le Convoyeur (now titled, Armored).The original film was written and directed by Nicolas Boukhrief, but Millennium have their eye on F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job) to take over the remake. The script was also given a re-working by David Ayer (Training Day) and Andrew Kevin Walker. The story centers on a man (presumably to be played by Bana) working for an armored car company who manages to ingratiate himself into a heist planned by his co-workers. But as it turns out, our protagonist has his own motives for weaseling his way into this band of lowlifes.
Bana had originally been set to star in the flick before dropping the project to play Nero in J.J. Abram's Star Trek reboot. So what could have changed his mind? According to Variety, Bana "has a deal negotiated down to what sources described as a $7.5 million paycheck." Not bad for a guy who has yet to really break out as a leading man.
Bana's schedule would appear to be packed for the foreseeable future, including promoting Trek and the romantic weepy, *
*Correction: Bana will star opposite Rachel McAdams in The Time Traveler's Wife.
"Oi, an' You Too, Brett?" Mandalay Options 'Julius'
Filed under: Action », Drama », Independent », Thrillers », Deals », Newsstand », Comic/Superhero/Geek »
That's no typo -- in Antony Johnson's graphic novel Julius, the classic William Shakespeare play gets rewritten into modern, Guy Ritchie London where Julius is shot down by Brett, Cassidy, Dennis, Steve, Lee, and Kostas. And according to The Hollywood Reporter, it's just been optioned by Mandalay Pictures. Julius is the story of a London crime king named Julius, who is worshipped by the public as if he's royalty. His closest fellow gangsters conspire against him and eventually shoot him up. Oops, too late to add a spoiler alert. I imagine that instead of Roman civil war, Julius' death leads to open gang war.
The movie already has its director in F. Gary Gray, and Oni Press, who is becoming ever more omnipotent, will be executive producing via their entertainment shingle, Closed on Mondays.
Oni Press has a five-page preview of the book up for your enjoyment. Reviews praise the dialogue as a mix of Shakespeare and modern British slang, but I can't say that a lot of this shows up in the preview. A "guv'nor" here and there just doesn't sell that to me, and Mark Antony still sounds more like a Shakespearean actor than a London criminal. Perhaps it gets better on page six, but I think I would rather see the real Julius Caesar remade, Master Will's lines intact, by Guy Ritchie or Martin McDonagh. What about you?
F. Gary Gray Helming Other Marvin Gaye Biopic
Filed under: Music & Musicals »
We've known about dueling Marvin Gaye biopics for two years now, but apparently there's a third. Variety reports of a film to be directed by F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job) and scripted by C. Gaby Mitchell (Blood Diamond) simply titled Marvin. It's possible, though, that this is the same film previously reported as D. Stevens' Marvin: The Life Story of Marvin Gaye, which was being written by Greg Guss and Robert Scharrer. The IMDb certainly thinks so.Regardless of Gray's film's origins, his project still has a competitor in Sexual Healing, which will star Law & Order's Jesse L. Martin as Gaye and will co-star and be produced by James Gandolfini. There will be a difference between the two, at least. Sexual Healing only has access to Gaye's post-Motown music, so it will be focused on the singer's later years. Marvin, on the other hand, has finally secured the rights to Gaye's entire music catalog and will cover the man's life from beginning to end, when he was shot by his father in 1984.
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