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Mickey Rourke Speaks Russian for 'Iron Man 2', Trashes 'Spider-Man'

Filed under: Action », Fandom », Newsstand », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »


Above: Mickey Rourke visited a Russian prison to prepare for his role in Iron Man 2

In an new and fascinating interview with Mickey Rourke over at The Guardian, the actor touches upon everything from his days living in a $600-a-month apartment to his comeback role in The Wrestler to losing his entire family to the preparations he had to make for his part in Iron Man 2 to how he really feels about all these superhero movies. One part you Iron Man fans might find interesting was when Rourke talks about having to learn Russian for his role as Tony Stark's nemesis Ivan (aka Whiplash). According to Rourke, he'll be speaking Russian for most of the film.

He says, "I decided to do half my role in Russian, and that's hard because the Russian language doesn't roll off the English-speaking tongue very easily. I spent three hours a day with a teacher, and after two weeks I know four sentences! Let me see, it's sort of like... 'Yezzamee menya... Yezzamee manya obott... Er, nemaboootty menya...'" He later adds the translation: "If someone kills me, don't wake me up, because I'd rather be dead than live in your world." But even though he's co-starring in what is perhaps next year's biggest superhero film, Rourke still isn't too keen on those types of movies. He notes, "I'm not gonna rush out and see the next Batman, I'm not big on formula movies. I don't like all that Spider-Man shit."

On his future projects, Rourke briefly talks about his upcoming role in The Expendables ("Stallone, when I was flat broke and I could hardly pay for a bowl of spaghetti in a restaurant, gave me a couple of weeks on Get Carter, and that paid my f**kin' rent for eight months"), and says he'd like to get Mick Jagger to star opposite him in Larry Clark's Mona Lisa. Check out the entire interview over at The Guardian - it's a fun read.

Discuss: Which Remake/Reboot Are You Looking Forward to The Least

Filed under: Action », Classics », Comedy », Drama », Horror », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Fandom », Remakes and Sequels »

'Short Circuit,' 'Alien,' 'Total Recall'Has this thought ever crossed your mind: 'Boy, The Godfather was awesome. But it needs to be remade as a gangster saga in the hip hop world.' Or: 'The Shawshank Redemption was great, but I want a prequel, with Zac Efron as the Tim Robbins dude in college!' Or: 'Citizen Kane had too much talking -- and no color! I thought my TV was broken. I hope they reboot it with Will Smith as a rich guy who creates a new social networking site, marries a supermodel, and flies to the Moon!'

Has there ever been remake / reboot news that you've warmly greeted? We've groaned about / bitched about a ton of remakes in various stages of development. Just within the last month, we've written about Short Circuit, Alien, Total Recall, The Karate Kid, Scream, Barbarella, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Flight of the Navigator, Footloose, Mona Lisa, The Mechanic, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Also looming out there: Predator, Commando, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Warriors, Tell No One, and District B13, among many others. Next week, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 hits theaters, and later this year Fame, Night of the Demons, A Christmas Carol, The Wolfman, and Brothers will endeavor to obliterate all memory of their original inspirations.

As Elvis Costello once sang, "I used to be disgusted and now I try to be amused." Of all these, I'm least looking forward to Total Recall, but most of these numb me with disinterest. How about you? Can you pick out one that is your absolute, most fury-inducing, 'how dare they' remake / reboot?

Larry Clark is Remaking Neil Jordan's 'Mona Lisa'

Filed under: Drama », Thrillers », Casting », Deals », Remakes and Sequels »

There's this little film made back in 1986 called Mona Lisa. Bob Hoskins starred as George, a man just out of prison who takes a job chauffeuring a high-price call girl named Simone (Cathy Tyson). As first, they're opposites who argue, but then they foster a friendship which leads him to help her out and get embroiled in a mess with the underworld. Michael Caine co-starred as an underworld boss, and Hoskins earned himself his only Oscar nomination.

23 years later, Production Weekly's Twitter feed reports that the film is getting a remake. Mickey Rourke will add another film to his ever-increasing roster and star alongside the radiant Eva Green. That should throw the whole relationship into another dynamic. Hoskins might be able to show the toughness, but he's no ex-wrestler and tough guy of Sin City. The big kicker, however, is the director. Larry Clark, helmer of Kids and Bully, will grab the directorial chair.

I think it's safe to say that this will be his first big production since Bully, but the bigger question: Will the new Mona Lisa have Clarke's trademark sexual shocks (Kids, Ken Park), and is that something you want to see in the world created by Neil Jordan and David Leland? Or does the remake world not matter when Green is sliding into another sexy role?

Fan Made: Superheroes and Celebrities Invade Famous Paintings

Filed under: Fandom », Images »



Our friends over at Worth1000 are always coming up with the strangest photoshop contests, and two of their latest asked readers to have some fun with old, classic paintings. One contest required folks to incorporate their favorite superhero into any piece of fine art (that didn't include Mona Lisa or Norman Rockwell). The other contest, however, was called Modern Renaissance, and it asked users to "put any modern celebrity, actor or popular culture figure as a substitute for the model of a painting or other form of artwork." The image above comes from the superhero photoshop contest, and it shows off Spider-Man in one of Salvador Dali's paintings. Check out a comparison below ...


What you don't see in the new painting is the Spidey villain Doc Ock hanging out in the lower left corner, but luckily we've pieced together a group of our favorites from each contest and have them for you in the galleries below. Let us know which painting(s) you'd happily throw up on your wall.



Time For a Time Bandits Remake?

Filed under: Action », Classics », Comedy », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Fandom », Family Films », Remakes and Sequels »

For anyone who is as big a Terry Gilliam fan as I, the following might need to be read while sitting down. According to Variety, Handmade Films, the production company co-created by George Harrison, is set to remake Time Bandits, which Gilliam made for the company twenty-five years ago. Possibly my first introduction to the fantastic film maker and also to many of the Monty Python cast, the film is very dear to me as both a Gilliam fan and as a child of the '80s. It tells of a young boy who travels through time and space with a group of little people who have stolen a special map from "the Supreme Being" in order to guide them on a tour of events throughout history, robbing from characters as diverse as Agamemnon, Robin Hood and Napoleon along the way.

Without Gilliam's cooperation and without the cast, which originally included Sean Connery, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Ian Holm and the finest bunch of diminutive actors ever, I just can't imagine how good a Time Bandits redo could be, though I will say that if Handmade reuse Gilliam and Palin's script, it won't be too terrible. I'm not that excited about whatever kind of computer effects they might employ, however.

Handmade, now headed by Patrick Meehan with a production arm led by former Nelson Entertainment exec Anthony Rufus-Isaacs, is supposedly looking to remake more of its older films and in addition to Time Bandits is also working on an update of The Long Good Friday, which originally starred Bob Hoskins and Helen Mirren, and a new version of Mona Lisa, which also starred Hoskins, to be directed by Larry Clark.

[via Cinema Blend]
 
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