frank marshall Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Mere days after Shia LaBeouf gleefully announced that Steven Spielberg had "cracked" the story for Indiana Jones 5 comes another confirmation that it'll rear its ugly head. Empire Online caught up with Indiana Jones' longtime producer, Frank Marshall, who didn't go so far as to green-light it, but revealed that they'll start hashing out ideas before too long.

"It's really about the script," said Marshall. "Once we see that, we'll see. We're not going to wait another 20 years. We'd all love to make another one. I'm anxious to hear the idea!" But he quickly added that he really didn't know what Spielberg was cooking. "Until there's a script, nothing's definite. I haven't heard the idea." (He should ask LaBeouf. I bet he knows.) Marshall also confirmed that Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford were equally eager to return for a fifth outing. "Yeah. We had a great time making the last one and, as Harrison said, we need to make this one soon. We're not getting any younger."

While talk is talk, and plans vanish, bear in mind that they were already chattering about a fifth outing before Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hit theaters, and were still dreaming of it after, despite the negative reviews and fan backlash. I have no doubt it'll happen regardless of what the fans say or think. When it does, that shrieking sound you hear? That'll be the death cry of my fangirl soul ... and I'm sure it won't be the only lament visited upon the heavens.

With every movie of the '80s and '90s being dusted off and revisited, a return to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is not only unsurprising, but probably inevitable. MTV News caught up with Robert Zemeckis, who revealed that he was seriously considering a return to Toontown. "I'll tell you what is buzzing around in my head now that we have the ability - the digital tools, performance capture - I'm starting to think about Roger Rabbit."

Of course, Zemeckis couldn't provide any further details. Two years ago, Frank Marshall told MTV that a sequel was still kicking around, and that all that had prevented it was the lack of digital technology. "It came pretty close. We shot a test. We had a script. But unfortunately, we didn't have computer generated animation quite yet -- it was just too expensive." Because Roger Rabbit would be in the entire movie as opposed to only about 48 minutes of animation, it was impossible to do at the time. Obviously, technology has updated to the point that an entire Roger Rabbit movie could be done with CG and clearly, Zemeckis would love to use his motion capture on the big, goofy bunny ... and can you imagine what they'd do with Jessica Rabbit to top Angelina Jolie as Grendel's Mom? I'm a little creeped out just thinking about that.

A Roger Rabbit sequel isn't a bad idea, but as with so many of these properties, it just feels like the ship has sailed. New technology should mean new stories, not just a return to 1988. I imagine I'm alone in that, and everyone else is dying for more Roger Rabbit even after 20 years. But will you like him as well if he's a dead-eyed motion capture and not a lovable toon?

Empire has snagged this new photo from Indiana Jones and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which I believe is the first to show the entire dysfunctional Jones family (minus Papa Jones, of course) heading out for battle together. Holding a bazooka in the middle is our old pal Indy (Harrison Ford), with Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) to his right and Mutt Williams, aka Indy Jr. (Shia LaBeouf) to his left. The photo comes as part of Empire's latest issue, which also features a pretty badass pic of Hellboy (there's a sequel for that coming too!) on its cover.

Empire spoke with producer Frank Marshall, who told them Spielberg is "pretty much done with editing" and that they're now entering "the phase with John Williams where he starts scoring the movie. He's really writing now and then we'll start scoring in February." Additionally, they also asked Marshall where this installment fits in to the rest of the series, to which he replied: "I would say it's closest to the third one (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). It's all adults. I mean, you have the sidekick in Shia (LaBeouf), but you don't have a Short Round and I think the banter between the characters is as fun as it was in the third movie." Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull arrives in theaters on May 22.

It seems a safe bet that any sort of sequel to Who Framed Roger Rabbit would be a pretty big hit, but back when the filmmakers were originally thinking about the idea, the concepts just seemed too expensive (and difficult) to tackle. But now with today's CGI magic, it wouldn't be all that tough to get a Roger Rabbit sequel off the ground ... provided you have a solid screenplay, of course.

Don't get too excited just yet, toon-fans, because the sequel certainly isn't about to get rolling anytime soon. But the MTV Movies Blog did just talk to producer Frank Marshall about the possibility of Roger's return, and the guy certainly didn't seem averse to it: "For the first time ever, Marshall also revealed details of the plot of "Roger Rabbit 2," and if you thought Toontown was a trip, you should have seen where they were sending Roger next. "New York!" Marshall enthused of the setting for the second film." (Click here for the full piece.)

The conversation closed with Marshall playfully promising to get in touch with the Pixar boys regarding Roger Rabbit 2, but hey, stranger things have happened.

One flies, one runs and the other whips:

For a film that hasn't released anything official in weeks, we all love to talk about Justice League of America. I'm convinced I'll enjoy writing about this film more than I'll enjoy watching it. So the AFI awards were held in Australia the other night, and Moviehole reports JLA director George Miller was in attendance to NOT talk about Justice League. Well, that's not entirely the case -- he did say the film was still very much on track, with filming to begin early next year. So ... where's the greenlight? Additionally, Miller said the film will have a different name when it goes before cameras. A different name? How do you make a Justice League film and not use the words 'Justice League' in the title? Either Miller was alluding to a fake title being used in order to hide the production (a la Rory's First Kiss, aka The Dark Knight), or he's out of his f**king mind. You make the call.

Will there be another Bourne film? A fourth installment? Ya know, the one where Jason Bourne forgets ... his house keys! Coming Soon sat down with producer Frank Marshall, who was fairly optimistic when asked about a fourth Bourne flick. He says, "There were only three books written. I know they've written a fourth but it wasn't written by Ludlum. Look, we would love to continue the franchise. We just need a great story, and we're not going to do it unless we have a great story, but we are working on coming up with one, and Matt said to me, 'Look, you hand me a great script, I'm in.' Unfortunately, we're not able to do any writing at the moment, but we're all thinking about it." Here's my question: Why would they need a fourth book from Ludlum? It's not like the first three were ever taken into consideration.

Finally, in another interview with Frank Marshall over at MTV (the man is sleeping around with every movie site, it appears), he finally revealed who Cate Blanchett and Ray Winstone will be playing in this summer's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Do you wanna know? Do you really wanna know? Okay, here goes: As far as Blanchett's character, Marshall said she's "playing the villainess in Indiana Jones" and that she "makes a great villain." We all knew she was the villain, but there's your confirmation. And Winstone? Marshall described his character, Mac, as "a sort of cross between villain Belloq and friend Sallah. He plays an archaeologist competitor to Indy. Friend and competitor." Also confirmed was Jim Broadbent's character, who will play a "Yale colleague of Dr. Jones that sort of replaces Marcus Brody." Myself? I'll be playing the guy who cannot wait to see this freaking thing.

Other than ComicCon stuff, it has been awhile since we got a new video from LucasFilm at IndianaJones.com. The last one, right before the Con was a really disappointing look at the international buzz for Indiana Jones IV. Then, of course, we got the confirmation that Karen Allen would be returning as Marion Ravenwood. In her introduction at ComicCon, there was mention of the family being reunited -- I took this to mean it was official that Indiana (Harrison Ford), Marion and Indy Jr. (Shia LaBeouf) were a family in the sequel. So, I saw the title of LucasFilm's latest video, "Reuniting the Family," and figured it would give further proof that the Joneses would be a happy unit. That was obviously stupid of me. How could I believe they'd give any story info away that easily?

The video is actually a montage of scenes from Raiders, Temple of Doom and Last Crusade, inter-cut with interviews about the reunion of the family behind the camera. Featured is Ford, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy. And as if to really annoy me, the video features too much Kate Capshaw and Alison Doody and not enough Allen. It even starts off with a tease of Marion saying, "Indiana Jones. Always knew someday you'd come walking back through my door." Then Spielberg comes on and says, "I'm excited about making Indy 4, if for no other reason than to get a reunion with our original family." Another thing that made me sad: all the footage of John Rhys-Davies (nothing against Ray Winstone, but I'm really going to miss Sallah).

Maybe one day -- before Memorial Day, 2008, perhaps? -- we will find out the whole deal behind Marion's return to the franchise. By then we will hopefully also have a real title and maybe some confirmation that this movie is indeed a full-circle-back to the plot of Raiders of the Lost Ark. But in the meantime, let's keep watching these hype-making videos that give us nothing new. It's better than twiddling our thumbs for the next nine and a half months, I guess.

Picture this: Indiana Jones races through the Outback chasing a bad guy while riding atop a kangaroo! Can you see it? Okay, maybe I'm taking it a bit too far, but producer Frank Marshall told Australia's Herald Sun that filming Indiana Jones 4 in the land down under is a definite possibility. Since it's his job to get this damn picture made already, if he can do it better and for less money in Australia, then you bet your ass they'll be shooting there.

Indy in the outback? Could be interesting. Marshall also alluded to a timeline for the story. He said that the fourth installment will take place approximately a decade after Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, making it about 1948-50. As far as when the actual film will begin production, it appears as if everyone is now in agreement with the screenplay after David Koepp turned in a polished draft of Jeff Nathanson's script. So that's good, right? However, we still need to wait for Steven Spielberg to return from his one-year sabbatical before the ball can really get rolling. Well, I guess we've got casting, title and plot rumors to keep us busy until then. Damn you Spielberg - stop snoozing and go make us a movie!

Most people, the kind who don't mind the occasional big budget popcorn flick anyway, had good things to say about Jurassic Park when it came out in 1993. The sequels, however, didn't impress quite as much. I can agree that The Lost World took the franchise to puzzling levels of goofiness, but I think the series redeemed itself somewhat with the third installment. It wasn't perfect, and the raptors by that point conveniently switched from intelligent to dimwitted as arbitrarily as Homer Simpson, but at least some elements of realism were brought back and the kitsch of the previous episode was tastefully discarded.

The lesson, perhaps, is that you can never go back. Michael Crichton is an intelligent man, but he's far too left-brained to write a truly compelling story. This made Jurassic Park the perfect vehicle for Spielberg, as he could take the best elements of Crichton's tale of  science vs. nature and flesh it out into the mega blockbuster it became.

So what of Jurassic Park IV? Producer Frank Marshall says the script has been written and production will begin next year. Nothing is really known about the script, though it's been rumored the story will focus heavily on the character of Lex, the granddaughter of the billionaire investor, John Hammond (Sir Richard Attenborough), who funded the park. It is doubtful, however, that Ariana Richards, who played Lex in the original movie, will reprise her role. I don't see how the series can duplicate the original movie at this point, and I don't think it should try to. Jurassic Park III was a step away from The Lost World, and it was a wise step to take. If the fourth installment continues on that path, so much the better.

By the time this whole Indy 4 nonsense is all said and done, I think I'm going to compile a list of all quotes spoken by Harrison Ford, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Frank Marshall. Once I have them all laid out on some industrial role of construction paper, I believe I will travel to a wide open field and burn them...while laughing maniacally towards the moon and screaming, "Damn you Indiana Jones!"

Okay, now that I've exposed my troubled side, Harrison Ford recently spoke with Moviehole and divulged more information regarding some of his upcoming projects. First off, how about the stuff he's not working on? According to Ford,  “Godspeed is gone, that was a space project with James Cameron." The ambitious sci-fi pic was to tell of an evil that invades a space station and threatens to kill everything. Next up for Ford was supposed to be Manhunt, a story about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Ford says, "That would seem to be next”.  “[There’s] a bunch of other things that have come to fruition...recently." Hmm, sounds to me like someone is unofficially telling us that Indy 4 is heating up.

On another Indy note, Steven Spielberg finally went on record the other day by telling someone in Israel that he's "about to make Indiana Jones 4, which is, as far as I am concerned, the sweet dessert I could give those who had to chow down on the bitter herbs that I've used in Munich. There you have it - Indy 4 is officially still kind of officially happening soon...we think.

If it were up to Frank Marshall, Jason Bourne would never learn who he really is. According to the producer, when it's all said and done, we may be in store for a total of five Bourne-related films...although it appears Matt Damon has everything to do with that decision.

Speaking with MTV, Marshall admitted, "it's kinda up to Matt Damon." On how far the franchise could go, he says, "Maybe to five [films]...At some point, he's gotta find out who he is." Says who? The way I see it, Jason Bourne could be the next James Bond.

Currently, The Bourne Ultimatum is preparing to begin production later this summer with a tentative release one year later in 2007. After that, Marshall said that writers will be brought on to come up with storylines that will continue the series. I'm curious to see, once we're away from the books, whether or not this franchise will self-destruct. What do you think?

[via Coming Soon]