Bruce Robinson’s adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s Rum Diary finally hits theaters October 28th, after beginning filming two years ago. It promises to win Johnny Depp just enough goodwill that you can’t fully hate him when he shows up in the next Bruckheimer turd. I guess I can’t blame him for that. Anyway, today we’ve got 20 new pictures and two new clips, the first starring Amber Heard (HOT LESBIAN ALERT) as Chenault, when she first meets Thompson’s Paul Kemp while skinny dipping.
"Lost boyeeeeeeez..."
When it was announced that Channing Tatum had sold a million-dollar pitch for a gritty reimagining of Peter Pan, it seemed strange for a whole host of reasons, not the least of which being that Peter Pan is a pre-pubescent scamp traditionally played by a girl, and Channing Tatum is a mumbly, 31-year-old whigger with a burned penis. Welcome to Never Neverland Florida, Son! HOO HOO! Anyway, today we’ve got some more details on the project, and long story short, IT TOTALLY MAKES SENSE NOW. [SORRY, THIS STORY IS NOT ACTUALLY ABOUT THE SAME PROJECT, SEE UPDATE BELOW]
Aaron Eckhart and AnnaSophia Robb will star in the dark spin on Peter Pan that was originally set up at New Line as a directing vehicle for Guillermo del Toro.
Ben Hibon will direct the story from a screenplay by Ben Magid in which Eckhart plays Hook, the Captain Hook character reimagined as a tormented former detective on the trail of a childlike kidnapper. Robb, riding high following the solid recent launch of Soul Surfer, will portray Wendy, the lone survivor who leaves an asylum to help in the hunt.
Sean Bean has been cast as Smee, the chief detective and Hook’s only ally on the force. [ScreenDaily]
Remember how the Coen Brothers’ O Brother Where Art Thou was a wacky re-imagining of The Odyssey by Homer? This is… nothing like that. My best guess as to how Hollywood functions these days is that they take a talented parody writer, surgically remove his self-awareness, implant an earnestness chip inside his brain, and make him listen to Drowning Pool on repeat while guys in Affliction shirts scream catchphrases at him. SERIAL KILLERS! CHILD MURDER! DETECTIVES! “Okay okay, I wrote a script, it’s called Sergeant Tom Sawyer: Special Amnesia Unit! Just make it stop!”
UPDATE: I apologize, although it’s listed as the same on IMDB, this is NOT the Channing Tatum Peter Pan project. Apparently there are THREE SEPARATE Peter Pan projects in development. This Law & Order style one outlined above, with Eckhart and Sean Bean; Channing Tatum’s version, called Pan, where Peter Pan and Captain Hook are brothers (either biological or African-American, I’m not sure); and a third which is said to have a Twilight spin. And even with two Peter Pan projects already in development, someone still paid $1 million for Channing Tatum’s version. My mind is blown.
The Johnny Depp-starring adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson’s Rum Diary finished principal photography almost two years ago, and a film with huge star in it sitting on the shelf so long is usually a bad sign. but I posted a reader’s review of in April of 2010, and it sounded pretty positive. So when the hell do we actually get to see it? The answer is soon, provided your idea of “soon” is in October. Here’s the official press release via distributor FilmDistrict, who’s releasing their first two films, Insidious and Soul Surfer, this weekend and the following.
FilmDistrict will release “The Rum Diary,” based on the early Hunter S. Thompson novel that was ultimately published in 1998. It stars Johnny Depp and will be released on October 28, 2011. The film is directed by Bruce Robinson (“Withnail and I”) from his own screenplay and also stars Aaron Eckhart, Amber Heard, Michael Rispoli, Richard Jenkins and Giovanni Ribisi. “The Rum Diary” is produced by Infinitum Nihil, the production company headed by Depp and Christi Dembrowski, along with Graham King and Tim Headington. Anthony Rhulen and Robert Kravis also produce.
“The Rum Diary” tells the increasingly unhinged story of itinerant journalist Paul Kemp (Depp). Tired of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local San Juan newspaper run by the downtrodden editor Lotterman (Jenkins). Adopting the rum-soaked lifestyle of the late ‘50s version of Hemingway’s “The Lost Generation,” Paul soon becomes entangled with a very attractive American woman, Chenault (Heard) and her fiancée Sanderson (Eckhart), a businessman involved in shady property development deals. It is within this world that Kemp ultimately discovers his true voice as a writer and integrity as a man. [CinemaBlend]
I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for this damned movie, and I can’t believe I have to wait… SEVEN MORE MONTHS??!?! My God, it’s an eternity. But what if I’ve PUT AWAY childish things by then?
The cast sees the script for the first time
Battle: Los Angeles. Wow. Someone Wrote That.
The most telling anecdote I can provide about Battle: Los Angeles is that almost every cheese-drenched “dramatic” moment drew raucous laughter from the audience, and trust me, these were no beardy chai sniffers amused by their own detachment. This was a Michael Bay crowd, answering texts during the film and calling each other “f_ggot.” I.e., the target demographic. They weren’t looking for, nor would even probably recognize high art, and even to them, Battle LA‘s earnest attempts at depth were inept to the point of comedy. Can you imagine? That’s like a kindergarten teacher getting clowned by his students. Meanwhile, a less telling anecdote about Battle Los Angeles is that the guy sitting next to me smelled like onions he’d marinated in his own butt.
Hmmm… how much exposition to do here… Aaron Eckhart is a Marine staff sergeant on the eve of his retirement. Aliens invade. Aaron Eckhart is too old for this sh*t. He beats them up and inspires a nation with his heroic chin of valor. Done and done. Battle Los Angeles has been compared many times to Independence Day, for obvious reasons, but there’s one key difference. In Independence Day, we got to know a handful of characters in different places and follow them as their lives became interconnected by DA ALIENZ. In Battlefield LA, we literally get title cards with characters’ names on them like baseball ball cards we’re expected to memorize in the first act. Black Dude With Glasses, starting philosophizer, The Los Angeles People Running from Sh*t. Shoots: right. Screams: towards the Heavens.
After the jump, I’ve got new trailers for Battle: Los Angeles, and Beastly, the “edgy teen drama” about learning not to judge a book by its cover. Beastly stars Alex Pettyfer as Handsome McPopular, a rich high school kid who has it all — money, abs, flowing locks, inexplicable speech-giving opportunities — until one day he pisses off goth witch Mary-Kate Olsen, who turns his eyebrows into Arabic writing. WHO’S GONNA LOVE YOU NOW, FARSI FACE? Hard to say what my favorite part was, because this trailer has everything:
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