In Contention

Tag: comics-to-film

  • Ryan Reynolds cast in ‘Green Lantern’

    Green LanternIt all started with a recent Hollywood Reporter piece claiming that Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds and Justin Timberlake (WTF) were up for the lead role in WB’s “The Green Lantern” (a script I’ve had for a while but preferred to satisfy the inner geek in me by reading the Geoff Johns saga in full, leading up to this summer’s “Blackest Night” event).

    Of those three, with a gun to my head, I’d prefer Bradley Cooper, which was tossed into the mix by a Drew McWeeny report a few weeks back.  I love Timberlake and actually think he’s a fine actor, but I don’t buy him as a cock-sure-test-pilot-turned-intergalactic-police-officer, do you?

    But according to this Michael Fleming scoop at Variety’s new industry blog BF Deal Memo, the news strangely being dumped at the end of the week and the start of the weekend, it seems Warner Bros. is going with Ryan Reynolds.  Ugh.

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  • Original ‘Batman’ producer looks back

    Michael UslanOn Tuesday we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Tim Burton’s “Batman” around these parts with a personal retrospective.  There are a number of similar remembrances around the web, many of them linked in that entry, but one guy who really deserves a “huzzah” this week is film producer, pop culture professor and all around comic book geek Michael Uslan.

    Uslan, as he notes in this interview piece with Batman On Film’s Bill Ramey, is actually celebrating his 30th anniversary where “Batman” is considered this year.  After all, he toiled through the Hollywood system to see his vision of the character to the screen for 10 years before anyone would take him, and the Caped Crusader, seriously.

    20 years later, of course, the rest is history.  Uslan exchanges a number of anecdotes with Ramey, specifically the marketing frenzy around the film that would really only be topped by “The Dark Knight” 19 years later.  One memory in particular, an intersection of commerce and political struggle, was particularly amazing, I thought.

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  • Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’ — 20 years later

    BatmanThere is a reason I am such an embarrassingly devoted Batman fan.

    It’s not because I’m a life-long comic book reader.  That came later.  And it’s not because I grew up watching reruns of the old ABC television series.  Though I certainly did.  It’s because Tim Burton’s “Batman,” released in theaters 20 years ago today, was the first movie that truly owned my anticipatory faculties as a child.  It was the first film that lit my movie-going fire, a designation saved for “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones” and “E.T.” a generation prior and perhaps “Jurassic Park” and Harrison Ford’s actioners a generation later.

    In the simplest of terms, I wouldn’t be a film obsessive if it weren’t for “Batman.”  I owe it so much.

    For me, the film was an event not to be missed.  I remember watching the commercials flood prime time television: the howling of a Batwing circling a Gothic cathedral, the quips of an actor I knew from comedy somehow tapped to play a brooding character of purpose, “Where does he get those wonderful toys?,” etc.

    The Anton Furst-designed logo was everywhere, seared into immortality by any production that happened to film in Times Square in the summer of 1989, decorating untold numbers of hats and T-shirts, the winged image an absolute specter hanging over the march to June 23.

    And then, finally, the release.

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  • Nolan out for third Batman? Who could step in?

    Christopher NolanBill Ramey over at Batman on Film has posted a rather disconcerting report this morning regarding the status of Christopher Nolan’s involvement with a third film in the lucrative Batman franchise.  The info, which is hardly concrete, comes from one of the numerous Bat-related sources Ramey has acquired over 12 years of focusing his site on the development of these films.

    Ramey hedges his bets and writes what we all know, that “it is far from a given” that Nolan will return for another go.  But he offers a few bullet-pointed reasons from his source that certainly make a lot of sense.  Among them, says Ramey’s guy, “the death of Heath Ledger rocked Mr. Nolan hard,” and the project is back to square one with a virtually non-existent story due to the initial planned inclusion of the Joker in the third film.

    It has been reported that Warner Bros. has a shortlist of preferred directors to step in should Nolan decide to walk away from the director’s chair.  The studio is going forward on this whether he is or not, we can all be sure of that.  “Watchmen” director Zack Snyder was one of those names, but Snyder’s people told Ramey he has no interest in tackling the project (thank God).  But if not Nolan, then who?

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  • First look at Josh Brolin as ‘Jonah Hex’

    You probably know we’ve been following the upcoming adaptation of DC Comics’ “Jonah Hex” pretty closely around these parts.  It’s the intersection of westerns and comic books.  How could I not be all over that?  Then again, despite having each of the 40-some issues of the recently re-booted “Jonah Hex” comics series, I’ve only read one or two.  Maybe I should dig into those things.

    Anyway, courtesy of I’m Not Obsessed today (via Cinematical), on the heels of some ooh-la-la shots of Megan Fox that landed a few weeks ago, we finally have our first look at Josh Brolin as the title character.  Check it out (one more image after the jump):

    Josh Brolin in Jonah Hex

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  • Deadpool will get his own movie and ‘Green Lantern’ might have its star

    Deadpool“X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE” SPOILERS THROUGHOUT THIS POST.  YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.

    If you saw “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” over the weekend, then you know this is most certainly not what comic fans know as Deadpool.  I don’t know what the hell it was, to be honest, but then again, Ryan Reynolds wasn’t the guy playing…it.  Scott Adkins from “The Bourne Ultimatum” was credited as Weapon XI, so there are outs.

    Well, the race to spin off from the spin-off first has ended with Rob Liefeld’s creation getting the solo Hollywood treatment.  The Hollywood Reporter gives us the following, with MAJOR “Wolverine” SPOILERS (via Liefeld’s Twitter page):

    Reynolds is attached to reprise the character for what for now is simply being called “Deadpool.” Lauren Shuler Donner and Marvel Studios would act as producers.

    Deadpool is known as “the merc with a mouth,” a character that under Reynolds lived up to his billing in “Wolverine” until the end, when the movie deviated from the comic book persona, imbuing him with several superpowers and sewing his mouth shut.

    It is understood that Reynolds would regain the ability to mouth off, with the movie going back to the roots of the character known for his slapstick tone and propensity to break the fourth wall. The character also was disfigured in “Wolverine,” though it’s unclear at this time how much the studio would want to mess with Reynolds’ handsome mug.

    The project is out to writers.

    Fox considered a “Deadpool” spinoff early in “Wolverine’s” development process, which is why it cast Reynolds. The actor was brought back in the month before the movie’s release to shoot one of two “Easter egg” scenes that appeared after the end credits. The scene showed Deadpool alive, though when last audiences saw him, he appeared to be dead.

    …which, of course, takes none of the “outs” into the scenario, so who knows what the hell is going on.  One thing is for sure: this is a project destined to lose money if the production budget gets too out of hand.  “Elektra” numbers, maybe.  Unless the film gets some supporting character help.  The general audience doesn’t know Deadpool from a circus acrobat, after all.

    Sigh…

    (Also in comic casting news, it looks like Bradley Cooper, from “The Hangover” and television’s “Alias,” is being seriously considered for the lead role in “The Green Lantern.”)

  • REVIEW: “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (**)

    X-Men Origins: WolverineAfter weeks of bad press following an unanticipated work print leak and rampant speculation that the film was likely to be D.O.A., both financially and creatively, the best thing one can say about “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” is that it wasn’t as awful as expected.  But positivity hits a brick wall after that concession.

    In a genre that only seems to spark when filmmakers come at the material from a place of passion, Gavin Hood’s prequel to Fox’s “X-Men” franchise comes across like an anonymous, factory-assembled piece of corporate product with no personality and no thematic virtue.

    What it lacks in quality it doesn’t exactly make up for in spectacle, and while it is more centered on character than story, it nevertheless skims the surface where that is concerned.  A film that might have had something for everyone nearly offers nothing for no one.

    Hugh Jackman dons the too-tight jeans and adamantium talons for the fourth time in nine years as James Logan, a hyper-healing mutant with a shady (and lengthy) past.  Screenwriters David Benioff and Skip Woods borrow and manipulate Marvel’s “Origin” mini-series at will, especially in the early portions of the film, to give a vague point of entry that neither gives the audience a nuanced portrait of the character nor Jackman the proper material in which to invest himself.

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  • Bored?

    I figured I’d come home tonight and throw in the “X-Men” Blu-ray trilogy as “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (which I saw this afternoon) makes for a nice lead-in to the series.  For no reason whatsoever, I’m thinking I’ll live Tweet the proceedings, so if you’re bored and/or have no life like yours truly, feel free to keep up.  Just put in “X2.”

  • Gaiman: Cast David Bowie as the Joker in ‘The Dark Knight Returns’

    I forgot to mention this in the item below regarding that Wired piece featuring Neil Gaiman and the current goings-on in the comic world.  The subject of “unfilmable” comics came up, with “Watchmen” having landed in March and Gaiman’s own “Sandman” at the top of such a list for some fans.

    Regarding Frank Miller’s “The Dark Knight Returns” — which has, as always, been bandied about as a potential film project in the wake of “The Dark Knight,” some have speculated for “Watchmen” helmer Sack Snyder — Gaiman notes, in passing, a fascinating casting proposition that would frankly be kind of awesome:

    I was reading photostats of Watchmen that Alan would hand me months before they hit the stands, and I would puzzle over everything, putting it all together in my head. That’s a different thing than Dark Knight Returns, where the details of the story are more malleable and simple. Batman comes out of retirement. Cute Robin arrives on the scene. Joker kills himself. Is Batman dead or not? He’s not. There’s not much to unpack. If someone cast David Bowie, as he is now, as the Joker, I think The Dark Knight Returns is doable.

    Alright, someone, somewhere.  Let’s make this happen.  (Although Tim Curry would probably be better.)

    (from left) David Bowie and the Joker from The Dark Knight Returns

  • Troubling details of Nolan’s ‘Shadow of the Bat’ revealed

    Cover of Batman: Shadow of the Bat #1I really don’t know what to say about this.  I understand Christopher Nolan is a progressive artist, a guy who understands both the necessity of shunning convention and the idea that what one may expect isn’t always the best solution.  He’s proven it time and again with the films in his re-booted Batman franchise, starting at the top with a story that involved a villain largely unknown to the masses.  He brought in Heath Ledger in a move some thought a bit too outside-the-box, and boy were they wrong.

    But bringing Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher on as creative producing figures?  Having the gall to cast Carrey as the Riddler again (even though I’m strangely okay with sticking to the one-major-villain-per-film paradigm)?  I’d follow Nolan to the ends of the earth, but even I can’t go along with his creative reasoning here, which sounds like the whims of a mad man.  I mean, I dig the title (which a lot of us saw coming).  It’s a nice nod to an extinct series of books.  But the rest of it…I just…

    From Variety:

    Warner Brothers’ Batman franchise will take a third bow in the summer of 2012.

    “Shadow of the Bat,” the sequel to 2008’s “The Dark Knight,” will introduce quiz-master villain the Riddler to audiences for a third time after the character appeared in the 1960s television series and 1995’s “Batman Forever.”  Funny man Jim Carrey has been tapped to reprise the role in “Shadow,” while helmers Joel Schumacher and Tim Burton, the filmmakers behind the Caped Crusader’s first theatrical franchise, have been brought on as consultants to the production, which director Christopher Nolan says will be his final take on Gotham City.

    “I felt it novel to tie this third and final chapter to the character’s roots on the screen,” Nolan said.  “Tim and Joel had two completely different visions of the Batman, visions that contrast vastly with my own.  But I don’t feel that negates the possibility of a creative convergence.  Batman is more than the ideas of one person, of one team of artists.  He is the result of seven decades of pop culture influence and innovation.”

    WB is eying a May 2012 release date for the film to coincide with the 73rd anniversary of Batman’s first comic book appearance in 1939.

    Nolan begins shooting his latest film, “Inception,” with Leonardo DiCaprio later this year for a 2010 release.

    Read the full story here.  I need to go off into a corner somewhere and think hard about this.

  • Hollywood uses the comic book rack for added buzz

    Cover of Star Trek: Mirror ImagesI’ve kind of been expecting a piece along these lines for quite a while now.  Every time I go into my local comic book store (guilty), I see some series lining the shelves based on either a film or television show, sometimes in form of a prequel.  I generally refrain from picking up, say, “C.S.I.” or “Fringe,” but that “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” prequel book has me somewhat interested.

    Here’s the opening few graphs from Scott Bowles’s piece:

    Having plundered comic books for decades, Hollywood is giving a little back.  Studios are increasingly turning their properties over to illustrators and writers before movies are released to generate Internet chatter, early fans and anticipation within the all-important comic-book community.

    The latest comic comes from Push, the sci-fi thriller starring Chris Evans and Dakota Fanning that opens Friday. Wildstorm, a division of DC Comics, has created a six-issue series that fleshes out the movie’s plot about expats with supernatural powers.

    And a magazine rack-full of other movies are here or on the way.

    Bowles then goes on to rattle off a multitude of examples, from “G.I. Joe” to “Terminator Salvation” and everything in between.  I’ve always felt there was a great opportunity with this kind of concentrated cross-medium promotion.  Of course, some viewers aren’t interested in comic books, and that’s fine, but what’s wrong with an amplified experience?  To boot:

    “It’s a great way to flesh out back stories and create references for the movie,” says Hank Kanalz, Wildstorm’s general manager. “You can watch the movie without reading the comic book. But you’ll have a better experience if you do.”

    Interestingly enough, last summer’s blockbuster “The Dark Knight” didn’t come with the usual comic adaptation.

    Check out the full story at USA Today.

  • Speaking of Bat fans

    I have to give props to Bill Ramey, better know as “Jett,” and the hard work he’s been putting into Batman On Film for well over a decade now.  This is the kind of fan Christopher Nolan and company set out to apease to a certain extent when they marched into this franchise less than 10 years removed from its own crashing and burning at the hands of Joel Schumacher.  Those were choppy waters, but now the sea is calm.  And Bill keeps doing his thing.  Check out his 2008 year-in-review piece for all the Bat highlights of the year.  It’s a nice bit of reminiscence to say the least.

  • CONTEST: Win a hardcover “Art of ‘The Dark Knight’” companion book by showing off your Bat obsession!

    (I meant to have this up yesterday but I totally forgot.  My bad.)

    Thanks everyone for participating in the “Benjamin Button” contest from Monday.  I’ll be sifting through all those haiku entries to surmise a winner over the weekend.  Today, however, you all have a shot at winning a copy of “The Dark Knight: Featuring Production Art and the Full Shooting Script,” one hell of a dazzling hardcover collectible that you’d better believe is on MY shelf.  (Check out the Amazon page here.)

    I’ve got one to giveaway, however, so let’s have another contest!

    This one is going to require a little more effort on the part of the readership.  Here’s your chance to show me how much of a Bat fan you really are.  Send us a photo demonstrating your Bat-fanaticism — decked to the nines in Bat regalia, perhaps, or simply surrounded by all of your Bat paraphernalia.  And of course, you don’t have to have some big Bat collection to prove your fandom.  The more creative the better.  Something that simply tells me, “Woah, this person is into the Bat.”  Go all out — you only live once.

    Send all entries to ktapley@incontention.com.  We’ll post the winning pic here next week.  Have at it!

    (And check back tomorrow for our final contest of the week, featuring “WALL-E” goodies!)

    Cover of The Dark Knight: Featuring Production Art and the Full Shooting Script

  • ‘Dark Knight’ dude?

    Okay, every time this Wendy’s “3conomics” commercial runs, I get distracted for a minute because I SWEAR the guy on the left is the lunatic Harvey Dent abducts after the mayor’s funeral service in “The Dark Knight.”  You know, “His name is Shiff.  Thomas.  A paranoid schizophrenic admitted to Arkham. The kind of mind The Joker attracts.”  That guy.  Am I crazy?

  • Is ‘Dark Knight’ an original screenplay?

    Or is this Bob Verini article in the latest issue of Script Magazine just desperately in need of a fact checker?  Normally I wouldn’t bring it up, but crazy stuff like this happens all the time.  Clearly, it’s a case of “based on characters created by,” etc.  But there tends to be a lot of discussion on how much material was original to the piece, and I think it’s fair to say that, while a number of the situations in the film recall installments such as “The Long Halloween” and even “Batman” #1, the Nolan brothers did a great job of manifesting circumstances for their narrative.

    I’ve made some calls, haven’t heard back yet.  My guess is it’s a mistake.  But while we’re talking about it, I can’t help but think Eric Roth’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin BUtton” is so much more an original screenplay than a piece adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story.  I’ve been wondering what might happen with that at the WGA all year long.

    Anyway, I’m somewhat out of pocket today and tomorrow.  Guy should be popping back in from vacation to keep the train rolling before long.  If I don’t make it back here beforehand, everyone have a happy and safe new year.

  • A couple of Bat bites for the geeks

    (from left) Heath Ledger and Ritchie Coster in The Dark KnightPerusing Bill Ramey’s Batman-on-Film website today (a must-read for any Bat-fan), I cam across two interesting nuggets regarding Christopher Nolan’s franchise.

    The first was actually a link to this Backstage piece from Halley Bondy, kind of a question and answer session with “The Dark Knight” producer (and Nolan’s wife) Emma Thomas strictly focused on Heath Ledger.  Here’s a bit about buzz of a posthumous Oscar for the actor:

    It would definitely be a triumph for us if Heath wins an Oscar. Obviously things have changed in that he’s not here, but nothing has changed in that we hope he’s going to be recognized for his work. I think Heath really enjoyed what he did on the film, so I don’t think awards are that big of a deal for him. Knowing that he was doing something great was, I think, enough. We certainly told him how great he was, so I hope he knew it.

    The second item was an original piece of reporting from a Batman-on-Film reader regarding the five deaths connected to Harvey Dent at the end of “The Dark Knight,” something I, frankly, have never thought about before.  From a recent screening and Q&A session:

    Big fan of the site. Just to give you some feedback on the event, I..asked…‘Towards the end of the film, Com. Gordon mentions covering up 5 deaths in relation to Harvey Dent. Who are these 5 people, including the 2 cops?’ Mr. Nolan’s response was ‘I will answer this question. Just not today.’ Which I must admit was amusing and frustrating at the same time.”

    Hmmm…

  • Campaigning posthumously for Oscar…where’s the beef?

    Heath Ledger in The Dark KnightI read this Rachel Abramowitz story concerning the pitfalls of campaigning for a posthumous Oscar nomination on behalf of Heath Ledger twice.  Packed with anonymous sources (until 42 West’s Cynthia Swartz pops up at the end with some insight on hawking Massimo Troisi 13 years ago), it really is a brick-wall story.  Nothing gleaned, nothing of substance conveyed.

    Dare I say it, I would have killed it.  Not because of the subject, and Abramowitz does what she can at the whims of her sources, but because it doesn’t carry the weight it might have if certain parties had taken their heads out of the sand.

    At this point, I think it’s a bit ridiculous for Warner brass and campaigners to stay off the record for this stuff.  It’s understandable in certain cases and I get it, you don’t want to come across as taking advantage of Ledger’s death.  But other than idiot Terry Gilliam, I don’t think anyone really thinks that is happening or has happened.  It’s been a classy ride, and as Abramowitz notes, the studio “was deft in its initial marketing push for ‘The Dark Knight,’ for the campaign neither hid Ledger’s presence nor overly hyped it.”

    This could have been an insightful story with names in the mix, giving a real face to the realities of attempting to ensure a sort of prosperity for Ledger’s work through campaigning it for awards.  The most interesting point comes at the end of the article, when Abramowitz is forced to quote from the paper’s geek blog Hero Complex (from a Geoff Boucher interview with Christopher Nolan).  But otherwise, it’s just a lot of hot air and it really gets under my skin.

    The true infuriating quote, however, has to be this doosey from some moronic competitor (who we can only hope represents either a marginal Hollywood opinion or, at the very least, is indicative of nothing more than behind-the-scenes smearing that takes hold this time of year):

    “Until we wake up one day and we no longer are making any good movies — dramas — then the academy will not go this route, unless it’s outrageously different . . . . This picture is not so different from the first one. It’s still the Batman story. He wears a hat with ears, a cape that can fly.”

    I’ve been repressing my inner Bat-geek for some time this year, trying to keep an even keel, combatting the hyperbole when I can.  Because let’s face it, praise for “The Dark Knight” got out of hand this year.  But more and more, as I read stuff like this, as I talk to publicists whose antagonistic banter you can see through like crystal — oh yeah, believe me, there are people trying to take this thing down because it rightfully scares them — more and more I’m finding it necessary to beat the drum.

  • Grassroots ‘Dark Knight’ campaign

    Heath Ledger in The Dark KnightOne of the true joys for me this season has been watching Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” take on so much relevance and achieve such a higher state of purpose than a piece of entertainment.  Leaving awards aside for the moment, to see this character I’ve loved for so many years finally reach a sort of pinnacle, it is both beautiful and a bit of testimony, testimony to the potential a “throw-away” genre such as this holds, potential recognized in the geek culture for decades, making its way to the surface of traditional media through dedicated and restless souls in recent times…finally.

    This grassroots campaign for the film gets all of that and more.  The site, DarkCampaign.com, sports a sleek design that invites the casual Internet reader to dive back in and remember that this is still one of the most powerful films of the year.  The site features a five-minute video (embedded below), splashing many of the critical huzzahs across the canvas of the film.  These guys must have gotten hold of a guild screener or something because there are a lot of scenes utilized that you certainly never saw on a trailer.

    This is all the more interesting to me right now given that as of this afternoon, I have buckled and placed “The Dark Knight” into my predicted five Best Picture nominees.  With films falling out left and right, this one is still standing and still resonates.  Maybe I was wrong.  Oscar column still to come.

    Their mission statement, in part:

    Films like this only come along once in a lifetime…And yet it has an uphill battle ahead of it for Academy Awards nomination chances.  But why?  Well because Academy voters love tradition.  All 78 years of it. Tradition says that movies based on comic book characters do not get nominated for awards.  Summer Blockbusters?  Not likely. Sequels?  Definitely not.  So what this campaign aims to do is help turn the tide on those long odds…get out there and spread the word and don’t let a chance at making history for The Dark Knight pass by.

    And the video: