sylvain white Tagged Articles at Cinematical

We all want to meet The Losers, especially with the studio who can seemingly do no wrong (aka Warner Bros) financing the whole thing. It has already has a heck of a cast and though it has kicked off filming in Puerto Rico, they've found time to add one more: Jason Patric, who Variety reports is playing the mysterious and villainous Max. Max is the one who turns a bunch of black ops badasses into the Losers who are out for vengeance, and there's no doubt Patric can lend some gravitas to the role.

Unfortunately, Variety and Patric felt the need to sour the sweet news up. The press-shy Patric sat down with with Mike Fleming in order to explain just how an actor of his caliber ends up playing a mere comic book villain. These days, it's apparently neccessary to "slum it" to keep working. Fleming laments the neccessity, noting "You know that geek validation has become a serious thing when actor's actor Jason Patric agrees to play his first real villain role in his first comic book movie."

When Warner Bros first announced they were green-lighting an adaptation of DC/Vertigo series The Losers with Sylvain White directing, it elicited only a minor flicker of interest out of me. It's a not a lost series, per say, but it's not one that a lot of people have read and enthused about.

The plotline is like any action movie you've ever seen: A Special Forces team that's betrayed by its handler, left for dead, and who regroup to seek revenge. Dubbing themselves "The Losers," they seek to remove their names off a CIA death list, and to work against a massive conspiracy involving their handler, "Max."

But now! Now it has a very respectable cast! According to The Hollywood Reporter, Idris Elba and Zoe Saldana are being recruited into the Special Forces. Elba will be playing Roque, the scarred second-in-command, an icy fellow who is motivated purely by money. Saldana will play Aisha, whose both a loose cannon and a cold-blooded killer who leaves a trail of corpses behind her. They'll join Jeffery Dean Morgan, who must have enjoyed Watchmen so much that he'll do anything DC/Warner Bros related. He'll be playing Clay, the meticulous leader.

There's still a few Losers to be cast, and color me curious as to who else the script (penned by Peter Berg and James Vanderbilt) can attract. Sure, it could be cartoony and crappy but I have a weird trust in Mogan, Elba and Saldana, and I think it's going to be worth following from this point on. Mea culpa, Warner Bros.

So remember back in 2007 when no one could understand why Warner Bros. had chosen to hire Tim Story (Taxi) to direct a feature film version of Vertigo's The Losers? Well, it looks like WB might have come to the same conclusion as we did because Variety reports that Story has now been replaced by Sylvain White. Personally, I haven't been able to wrap my head around either of WB's choices for the comic book flick. It is nothing against either one of these guys, but keep in mind that White directed Stomp the Yard and I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer .

The Losers was originally a DC title about a group of WWII bad-a**es, but in 2003, Andy Diggle revived the title with a few minor changes for Vertigo. The 'new' Losers still centered on a Special Forces team, but the story was now set in the 1990's with the team reporting to the C.I.A. and a mysterious handler known as Max. When the team is betrayed by Max during a dangerous operation and left for dead, the group reunites for revenge.

White has already been setting up some other 'fan boy friendly' projects for 2009, and even though he won't be heading to Castlevania any time soon, there is still his adaptation of Frank Miller's Ronin for WB, and the futuristic thriller Static for Columbia Pictures. James Vanderbilt (Wolverine, Spiderman 4) has already completed the Losers script for Warner Bros, and even though the jury might still out on White's skills, at least Vanderbilt has enough comic book cred for the both of them.

Let's just keep our fingers crossed that White has left his mall sensibilities behind him for good, because I don't think I could take a teen version of The Losers -- could you?

Much like the characters in the best-selling game, Castlevania is the movie that will not die. So far the film has undergone personnel changes and became one of the many causalities of the writers strike; but you can't keep a so-so idea down, and it looks like the project is up and running again. Talk of the film has surfaced again now that a script review for Paul W.S. Anderson's screenplay has appeared over at CC2K -- But I should warn you, it's not looking good.

Early previews on Kotaku, described the script as the story of an, "adult Trevor Belmont who, with his fellow "battle-hardened" brother Christopher, is ordered by his king-through man of god Lucius-to dispatch you-know-who." But, according to CC2K's tipster, the latest incarnation of the story is more of a rip-off of Bram Stoker's Dracula with very few similarities to the Belmonts that fans know and love.

Originally, Anderson was going to direct as well as handle the script, but as we all know, he later dropped the project to work on Death Race. Enter Sylvain White (Stomp the Yard) to take over directing duties, and who is still committed to the project despite the lack of a solid start date.

Having never played the games, I can't say I'm all that worried about the changes Anderson has potentially made to the Castlevania 'canon'. But I know that fans probably feel a little differently; so get it all off your chest, believe me, you'll feel better.

[Thanks: Ain't It Cool News]

Since most people expect don't expect much from video game flicks, it can't come as much as a surprise that the big screen version of Castlevania has already been sent back to the drawing board. Back in 2005, Paul W.S. Anderson had signed on to write and direct, and up until January 2007 he was still committed to the project; promising a spring start date for production. But the lure of Anderson's next project, Death Race, must have been strong, since he dropped Castlevania to work on it full time.

Bloody Disgusting is reporting that Rogue Pictures has hired Ian Jeffers to completely re-work the script and Sylvain White to helm the flick. White was the director behind the straight-to-video horror I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, and the teen dance flick Stomp The Yard. Jeffers is relative newcomer, and Death Sentence was his screen writing debut.

For those not familiar with the best-selling Konami game series, Castlevania focused on The Belmonts, a family sworn to protect the human race from Dracula. The game has evolved over the years, but the producer for the film, Jeremy Bolt, told IGN back in June that the film has "a fair amount of references. We always try to give the fans something that respects their love of the game but also give them something completely new. So we've added a whole new spin to Castlevania". According to Bloody Disgusting, the addition of Jeffers means that Anderson's original script for the project has probably been scrapped -- which might come as a relief to die-hard fans out there. Castlevania is set for release in late 2008.

Yes, there is more news on Castlevania. Like it or loathe it, the adaptation keeps moving forward! The latest news is that Sylvain White, the guy behind Stomp the Yard, has signed onto to direct the live-action film. This makes things interesting. Is it a good move? Perhaps. White found success with Stomp, but he also helmed Trois 3: The Escort. The guys behind Castlevania seem to be hopeful -- White gets seven-figures for the job, which shoots in South Africa and Romania in the late fall. The script, which was penned by W. S. Anderson, is about the clash between Vlad the Impaler (Dracula, people!) and the Belmont family, who have "unleashed the original vampire" and must fight to defeat him. White says: "Most of the vampire films have been present or set in the future, from Blade to Underworld, and I was attracted by the chance to make a dark, epic period movie that almost has an anime feel to it."

The directorial chair was originally Anderson's, but he stepped down to re-make Death Race 2000. It's just as well, he can't be the name behind every single old-school Nintendo game. Beyond his Castlevania script, he's also got Spy Hunter in pre-production, and I wouldn't be surprised if something like Zelda or Ghost and Goblins followed. My dream is for an interactive Track and Field -- where the movie has you maniacally hitting on those damned little buttons until your fingers blister, just to get your guy across the finish line (unless you had that great controller with the turbo button). If only technology would catch up...

Details are pretty slim at this point, but it looks like Warner Bros. (elated and loaded after what 300 did at the box office) has just locked up the rights to another well regarded Frank Miller property. The studio has hired director Sylvain White to helm a movie version of Miller's "Ronin," which is the story of a bona-fide samurai who prowls the streets of 2064 searching for evildoers and battling a magical sword-wielding demon. Sounds pretty good to me...

...only ... Sylvain White? Really? The guy who made Stomp the Yard, Trois 3: The Escort and I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer? Really? OK, I guess the WB executives know something that I don't. (Well, something beyond the fact that Sylvain White won't cost as much as an established action director.) Not trying to savage the guy, but ... really? From Stomp the Yard to an action-packed Frank Miller adaptation? OK then.

Odds are we'll also have to contend with a title change, since "Ronin" is already fairly well-known as a John Frankenheimer crime thriller that stars Robert De Niro. My recommendations are: I'll Always Know Who You Decapitated in the Future, Trois 4: The Swordening and Slash the Neck.

Now we've got further news to solidify Guy Ritchie's professional plunge into the crapper. Last year, Martha Fischer posted that the director was slated to re-write and direct the feature, Static, which has been in development for eons over at Original Film (a Sony-based company). Now, what a surprise, Ritchie is out, and Sylvain White has taken over the directorial chair. This could either be a crappy turn for the director, who went from the straight-to-DVD I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer to the popular Stomp the Yard, or a great turn in finally getting this movie out. Either this will be a kink in the director's upward trajectory, or the fresh name needed to get this picture off the ground.

To recap, the film is about a gang leader in L.A. who, along with the help of his gang, has to fight off rival gangs and bad cops to get his butt in the witness chair and testify against some corrupt L.A.P.D. officers. White's thoughts "I am grateful to be working again with the studio that gave me my start," (I assume he means successful film.), "Static offers me the exciting opportunity to paint an innovative near-future youthful reality within a high action-packed framework." It sounds a bit too PR for me, but the guy is still learning. Now we'll have to give the project another year, and see if this actually becomes something, or if the feature continues to cycle through directors and stay firmly planted in Development Hell.

In spite of the casting uncertainty and production rumors surrounding Sin City 2, there doesn't appear to be a shortage of Frank Miller material headed to the big screen. The opening date of 300 is looming closer, and now IESB has posted the news of the latest Miller graphic novel to be chosen for a film adaptation. 300 producer Gianni Nunnari has confirmed that he is already planning his next project -- an adaptation of Miller's Ronin. Ronin is the story of a dishonored 13th century samurai existing in an apocalyptic New York packed with mutants, cannibals, and a reincarnated demon while on a quest for redemption. The story has a little bit of everything; Miller himself has described it as "a superhero, science fiction, samurai drama, urban nightmare, gothic romance."

On board to direct this delicate balance of a movie is the unlikely choice of Sylvian White, whose most memorable credit so far is the teen dance drama Stomp The Yard. In a recent interview with White about the project, he answered the question foremost in the mind of fans -- are they sticking to the original story? White admits that some cuts will be made, saying, "Ronin is very dense and very long, so of course we are going to have to streamline the story to fit it within a movie time frame. " Sin City definitely raised the bar when it comes to comic book films, so hopefully White can keep up.