robin williams Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Someone out there will undoubtedly scream "sacrilegious!" or at least "LAME!", but I've always wanted to see The Incredible Mr. Limpet remade. It's a favorite film of both my parents, and so my sister and I loved it too.

Remake talk has been floating around for years, with everyone from Robin Williams to Jim Carrey being attached to star (I always thought Lee Evans would have been a good pick), and the talents of Mike Judge behind the camera. Now The Hollywood Reporter says that Kevin Lima is the next to try and get it off the ground ... and considering his wonderful work on the live action / animated hybrid of Enchanted, he's a natural fit.

The original Limpet takes place during WWII, and centers on a fish-loving fellow (played by Don Knotts, King of '60s Children Cinema) that is belitted by his wife, and rejected by the armed forces. He falls off a pier and magically turns into an animated fish, and ends up a WWII hero because he can help battle U-Boats and submarines. He also meets a sexy girl named Ladyfish, who picks him up in a "Let's spawn!" scene that undoubtedly left many children asking awkward questions.

It's a cute film, and could really benefit from a beefier story and improved effects. The only downside is that they'll probably update the WW2 setting -- although if they got really clever and set it during the Cold War, I would be very impressed.

Click image below to view full poster

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for Shrink, which premiered at this past Sundance Film Festival to some pretty great buzz. Starring Kevin Spacey, Saffron Burrows, Keke Palmer, Mark Webber, Dallas Roberts and Robin Williams, Shrink follows "a psychiatrist (Spacey) whose boutique L.A. office, A-list clientele and best-selling pop psychology books form a thin layer of respectability over his ruined personal life, insurmountable grief, serious pot problem and a host of other crises," so says James Rocchi, who covered the film for Cinematical during Sundance and interviewed its star, Mr. Kevin Spacey.

Reminiscent of his character from American Beauty, Spacey (as the celebrity shrink-turned-pothead) delivers a performance here that's not to be missed, and the supporting cast takes what could've been another film about annoying egotistical Hollywood types from Los Angeles and turns it into one that's funny, serious, sweet, sincere and a little bit sideways. Definitely worth the watch. Check out the full synopsis after the jump and click below to view the full poster. Shrink hits theaters on July 24.

Oh, what might have been! Alison Lohman gives a terrific performance as the cursed loan officer Christine Brown in Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell, which opens tomorrow. If not for the vagaries of scheduling, though, Ellen Page would have played the lead role. Would Page have been any better? We'll never know, but she joins a long list that inspires thoughts of 'What if ...?'

Once upon a time, we might have seen Leslie Howard as the titular Frankenstein and Bela Lugosi as The Monster. Instead, Colin Clive played the good doctor, Boris Karloff got a jump-start on life, and the rest is horror history. Here are seven more recent examples of actors and actresses who were considered for key roles in great horror films ... and the ones who replaced them, listed in chronological order. [Disclaimer: Based on information provided on IMDb's "trivia" pages, so no guarantees on accuracy.] Better? Worse? You decide.

1. Melanie Griffith / Sissy Spacek (Carrie)

Even though she was in her mid-20s, Spacek looks so young and fragile as Carrie that it's difficult to imagine anyone else in the role. Griffith was 18 or 19 and already had made an impression in Night Moves, The Drowning Pool, and Smile when she auditioned to play the telekinetic high schooler. Conveying Carrie's complexities might have been beyond her still-developing skills at that point. The pic above, left, is from Joyride, released the following year.

Recently, someone and I -- it might've been Weinberg -- were discussing the fact that Magnolia seems to be replacing Lionsgate when it comes to a studio's willingness to put out the seemingly untouchable stuff.

The conversation mostly concerned horror fare, natch, but I suspect that Bobcat Goldthwait's World's Greatest Dad falls particularly well into Magnolia's fold, and they seem to agree, as they're all set to have a video-on-demand premiere before a theatrical run in late August, according to The Wrap.

James Grey's Two Lovers was recently released in a similar manner, and Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience looks to be getting a likewise treatment at the end of this month. So far as I can tell, it's a strategy that works to their favor (that is, until everyone inevitably moves to either New York or Los Angeles). As far as the film itself is concerned, it certainly garnered its share of raves out of Sundance, but its subject matter -- Robin Williams capitalizes on his son's suicide -- had put off distributors until now. Here's hoping that Magnolia can tap into the niche audience for blacker-than-black comedy... right in their own living rooms.

Robin Williams has been busy with his solo show "Weapons of Self-Destruction," lately, but all that came to a halt with news that he must have heart surgery and get an aortic valve replacement.

Whenever we think of the turmoils of age, it usually leads to thoughts of youth, so hearing about Williams' heart troubles, I was immediately catapulted back to Mork & Mindy. What's so great about the show is that in all its '80s cheesiness, it's still darned funny, rather than a show that only retains nostalgia love. That is, of course, due to the wonder that is Williams.

And seeing that he's getting some work done on that ticker of his, I thought it would be nice to rewind back to Mork's call to Orson that dealt with the perks of a job well done, rather than the apathy of shoddy workmanship. Mork says that "nothing speaks as eloquently as a job well done," so let's hope that his heart is speaking eloquently soon.

Plus, the scene also has the rather excellent line: "Come in, your boobtubeness!"

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Before Zack and Miri Make a Porno hit movie theaters, I sat down for an extensive conversation/lunch with writer-director Kevin Smith where we talked all things, well, Kevin Smith. During that conversation (and the subsequent press junkets), Smith stated that he wanted his next film to be the kinda-sorta horror flick Red State, or a sci-fi comedy potentially starring Seth Rogen. Now, however, ERC is reporting that Warner Bros. has signed Smith to direct the comedy A Couple of Dicks (yup, he's leaving The Weinstein Co.!), starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. Additionally, ERC says that Warners has already given the film a January 29, 2010 release date.

But here's the most fascinating part of this whole thing: A Couple of Dicks was not written by Kevin Smith -- instead, it was written by Robb and Marc Cullen, and it was featured on the 2008 Blacklist (which is a not-so-secret list of the year's best unproduced screenplays in town). The brief synopsis listed goes as follows: "Two veteran LAPD detectives attempt to track down a stolen, mint-condition, 1952 baseball card." Originally, Robin Williams was set to star in the comedy back when the Cullen brothers were also directing, but he wound up suing the production company when they pulled out and told him they were no longer making the movie (read more at Variety).

So is the film back on now with Kevin Smith behind the camera? And will Smith rewrite the script to make it more of his own? We've sent a note to Kevin to see if this is all legit and will report back with his response.

You hear it in lots of (usually sad) movies, and I'd say it's probably one of the truest things ever spoken: "There's nothing more tragic than having to bury your own child." But, just for the sake of argument, let's pretend -- for just a second -- that (in one specific case) it wouldn't be the end of the world. As a matter of fact, let's further pretend that the death of a child could somehow lead to several wonderful and life-changing results.

Sick, I know, but that's one of the ideas that runs through the twisted-yet-amusing dark comedy World's Greatest Dad. Written and directed by the consistently unpredictable Bob Goldthwait (he also gave us the similarly strange Shakes the Clown and Stay), and anchored by an unexpectedly strong Robin Williams performance, World's Greatest Dad is indeed about a high school poetry teacher who finds his life blossoming after his son accidentally commits suicide.

In Shrink, screening in the Premiere section at the Sundance Film Festival, Kevin Spacey plays a psychiatrist whose boutique L.A. office, A-list clientele and best-selling pop psychology books form a thin layer of respectability over his ruined personal life, insurmountable grief, serious pot problem and a host of other crises. Spacey developed the film with his Trigger Street production company, with Jonas Pate directing Thomas Moffet's script, and Spacey part of an ensemble cast that includes Robin Williams, Saffron Burrows, Mark Webber, Dallas Roberts and Keke Palmer. I asked Spacey if doing so many scenes revolving on just two people talking is an actor's dream, or an actor's nightmare: "As compared to? Explosions, and cars flying through the air? I think it's an actor's dream, and I also think it's an audience's dream; there's noting quite like being able to go to to a play or the cinema and watch people exchange as human beings, I think."

Spacey spoke with Cinematical about smoking fake weed, how Sundance has changed the movies, how Hollywood eats its young, his voice-over role as the supercomputer GERTY opposite Sam Rockwell in the Sundance selection Moon, and much more.

You can listen to the interview here at Cinematical by clicking below:



You can also download the interview in full right here -- and those of you with RSS Podcast readers can find all of Cinematical's podcast content at this link.

Above: Rainn Wilson lets his hair down for The Rocker.

Fans of Rainn Wilson's offbeat, hilarious and strangely endearing performance as Dwight Schrute on NBC's The Office might expect him to transition into film work with straightforward comedy, and The Rocker confirms that suspicion. However, they might not realize the serious professional motives behind his choice. In the movie, directed by Peter Cattaneo (The Full Grown Monty), Wilson plays a grown-up dolt named Fish with a scary fixation on classic rock. Abandoned by the band Vesuvius in his teens -- before they became a commercial phenomenon -- Fish spends the next twenty years working deadbeat jobs and wishing things happened differently. Naturally, he gets a second chance: When the opportunity rolls around to drum for his nephew's high school, Fish goes for it. Ageism and slapstick humor ensue.

While not exactly a classic, The Rocker proves Wilson has the charisma to carry a movie. The script could use some polishing, but Wilson manages to play a completely dysfunctional human being without ever becoming an annoyance. It's a testament to his skill as an actor with calculated timing. The humor emerges from the naturalism of his performances, which make you believe in the outlandish characters he portrays. In a conversation with Cinematical recently, Wilson elaborated on his particular strategies as his career advances, reminisced about his days as a New York theater actor, and shed some light on a few upcoming projects.

Last month, we learned that Bobcat Goldthwait would direct Robin Williams in a flick called World's Greatest Dad. The best part: While the title sounds like super-sappy fare (besides the Goldthwaite participation), it's actually the story of a high school poetry teacher whose son dies from a "freak masturbation accident." To cover up the "sticky" reason behind the death, the teacher pens a suicide note that becomes super famous, which then leads the dude to visions of stardom and inspires him to pen a whole journal for his deceased kid.

Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, he also gets some action. At some point during this whole ordeal, he has an affair with a fellow teacher named Claire, who will be played by Alexie Gilmore (New Amsterdam). Talk about a prime role for the ol' Mork. These days, most of his films are either heavily familial, or heavily crappy, so now he's not only getting something that could freshen things up, but he gets to do it while canoodling with a 32-year-old.

Please don't let it turn out like Death to Smoochy. I think the world needs some good Robin Williams to revel in.