hannibal Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Vin Diesel Directing 'Fast and Furious' Prequel
Filed under: Action », Universal », Movie Marketing », Remakes and Sequels »
Were you out there feeling like there were still just too many unanswered questions in The Fast and the Furious franchise? Okay, probably not, because that's like asking for CliffsNotes for an episode of The Hills. But, I guess somebody out there felt there was some explaining to do, because Coming Soon reports that Vin Diesel (who plays muscle car driver extraordinaire, Dominic Torretto) will be directing a 20-minute prequel to the upcoming Fast and Furious.There aren't many details on the short, but starring alongside Diesel will be Michelle Rodriguez, who will reprise her role as Letty, and Sung Kang will also be returning as Han. Diesel did not provide any details about the story for the short, but for those of you who are well versed in the world of Fast and Furious, you can probably guess that it will act as a tie-in to bring together the events of the second and third films.
I'll admit I was surprised to discover that Diesel has already directed before. Mainly they were other short films, but back in 1997, he wrote, directed, and starred in Strays, a drama about hustlers, and of course, there are still those long-standing rumors about Diesel directing his own Hannibal (not the cannibal) feature. Nobody knows for sure where the Fast and Furious prequel will appear first, but the obvious choice would be online. There is also a chance that to drum up a little business Universal will premiere it on TV, or as an extra on the DVD. One thing is for sure, unless Justin Lin has the running time of Fast and Furious down to 70 minutes, I doubt we'll be seeing it in theaters.
Fast and Furious is scheduled to open on June 5th, 2009.
Discuss: When Characters Are Recast
Filed under: Casting », Fandom », James Bond », Harry Potter », Remakes and Sequels »
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This summer may be confusing to some less blog-literate moviegoers thanks to two recast roles. In both The Dark Knight and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, a prominent character is played by a new actress. In the former sequel, "Rachel Dawes" will be played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, replacing Katie Holmes, who had the role in Batman Begins. In the latter, "Eveyln Carnahan O'Connell" will be played by Maria Bello, subbing for Rachel Weisz, who appeared in both The Mummy and The Mummy Returns.
This certainly isn't the first time characters have been recast with different actors, and over at The Onion, the A.V. Club has listed 20 such memorably jarring switcheroos, which they're calling The Darrin Effect (after the famous character replacement on TV's Bewitched), in television and film. Surely everyone recalls when Sarah Chalke took over the part of "Becky" on Roseanne; the writers even occasionally even slipped in some reflexive jokes about it. And let's not forget the glaring problem of recasting Jodie Foster's Oscar-winning role of "Clarice Starling" -- Julianne Moore played the part in Hannibal. Or the tragic yet surprisingly respectable replacement of Michael Gambon for a deceased Richard Harris in the Harry Potter movies.
Quickhits: Duchovny Joins the Fire, Pabst Nails Heart-Shaped Box and Diesel Caught Filming Hannibal
Filed under: Thrillers », Casting », Mystery & Suspense », Warner Brothers », RumorMonger », Scripts », DIY/Filmmaking », Newsstand »
Odds and ends from Thursday:
- Ah, there's nothing like playing a dead guy in a film. David Duchovny has signed on to play Halle Berry's deceased husband in Things We Lost in the Fire. Also starring in the film will be Benicio Del Toro as Duchovny's troubled best friend who Berry invites to come live with her family after hubby's death. Now, this is where someone like me would expect Del Toro to get all sick and twisted on the Berry household, however, based on the description it appears he helps the family move on and eventually turn their lives around. Duchovny's character will only appear in flashbacks. God, I hate flashbacks -- but that's an entirely different post.
- Talk about talent that runs in the family, Joe Hill (son of horror guru Steven King) has sold the rights to his upcoming novel, Heart-Shaped Box, to Warner Brothers who, in turn, brought on Tom Pabst to adapt it for the big screen. Akiva Goldsman will be producing this supernatural thriller about a rock star who collects occult artifacts. After bidding online for a ghost (not sure how one does that, but okay), said ghost leads him to the deep South where he must confront his past in order to escape the evil forces haunting his every move.
- Well well well -- it appears we finally figured out why Vin Diesel abruptly jumped ship and bailed on the film Black Water Transit. It appears the actor was spotted in the Dominican Republic where, apparently, he was wrapping up filming on his dream project, Hannibal. Wait, last we heard, Hannibal was potentially moving forward with production locations being scouted, but nothing was official ... yet. So, in three months, you mean to tell me this puppy is fully cast and just about done shooting? Can't be. Not possible. Perhaps, they're almost done filming one of many locations, but there's no way the film could get this far without anyone knowing about it. Heck, IMDB doesn't even have the thing in pre-production yet -- what gives?
Diesel's Hannibal Lives?
Filed under: Action », Drama », RumorMonger », Newsstand »
Back in the heady days of xXx, Vin
Diesel frequently told the press that he was about to start shooting Hannibal, a movie he would both direct and star in, based on Ross
Leckie's (really poorly-reviewed) fictionalized
memoir of that elephant guy from Carthage. Needless to say, it didn't happen. Still, every couple of years Diesel
tells somebody that his pet project is on the verge of production; the press can be forgiven for adopting a
wait-and-see approach in the face of his latest claim that work really is about to begin.This time, though, there actually does seem to be movement on the project: the AP reported this week that Diesel has chosen locations in California, the Dominican Republic (where the movie will shoot for a month), and Spain, and Diesel himself has been talking about his post-Find Me Guilty time spent "scouting for elephants...that are of worth." (Casting calls apparently went out on elephant message boards world-wide, and the great creatures traveled from far and wide to be seen by Diesel and his crew, hoping for that one chance at stardom.) There are also some unsettling rumors that Diesel wants to shoot the film in Punic, "a dialect of Phoenician...that hasn't been spoken in 2,000 years," but those sound more like big talk than anything else, and are probably best ignored until we see actual cameras and crew at one of these supposed locations.
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Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
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Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
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