People haven’t been too hot on the Benicio Del Toro/Anthony Hopkins Wolfman movie, probably because it began by changing directors, later dropped Danny Elfman as composer and hired someone else, and most recently brought in two new editors to recut it. That much studio meddling is usually a bad sign. According to Benicio’s Playboy interview, the main difference between Mark Romanek’s vision and new director Joe Johnston’s was that in Romanek’s, the Wolfman was a conflicted character, whereas in Johnston’s he’s more of a good guy with a terrible curse like in the old Lon Chaney Jr. version.
Anyway, it opens in February and this is the latest international trailer and poster. It still looks good to me. I mean, not shirtless-ethnic-temptation-wolves-battle-the-sparkling-vampires-of-white-virtue good, but still, pretty decent.
Thor is Marvel’s latest comic book movie project, but it’s sort of a weird one, because it involves Norse mythology and it’s being directed by Kenneth Branagh, who has a major boner for Shakespeare. And it just got weirder because Tony Hopkins (can I call him Tony? how come no one calls him Tony?) has been cast as Odin, Thor’s father. From THR:
The movie’s story sees the god of thunder Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions re-ignite an ancient war. As punishment, Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans. Once here, he learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends dark forces of Asgard to invade Earth. Chris Hemsworth is Thor and the cast includes Tom Hiddleston and Natalie Portman among others.
Anthony Hopkins, Kenneth Branagh — sources say it may be difficult to insure a film with this much gravitas. Also, I think Natalie Portman is dangerously miscast as a love interest for the Norse God of Thunder.
THOR: “Behold! Let us feast upon this lion I have slaughtered!”
PORTMAN: “Um, I’m a vegetarian? Oh hey, you have to check out this study I was just reading about in the New Yorker that says marriages last longer when the man helps with the house work.”
(The cold-activated bottle means it’s ready to fire!)
After the jump, you can watch the second trailer for Wolfman, starring Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, and Hugo Weaving; directed by Joe Johnston, who replaced Mark Romanek early in production. Johnston (Hidalgo, Jumanji, The Rocketeer, Jurassic Park III) is known as a guy who’s strong on visual effects and maybe not so strong on story. The trailer seems to take the same approach, and looks pretty badass, even if Benicio Del Toro looks less wolf-like in his Wolfman makeup than he does in regular life.
In their ongoing quest to market a promising film badly, Universal decided to release the new trailer for The Wolf Man exactly one hour after the Avatar trailer was scheduled to be released. The trailer is below (HQ copy here), and a whole slew of new images are available at LatinoReview.
The Wolf Man stars Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, and Hugo Weaving, the triumvirate known in some circles (read: nowhere) as Scowly, Scary, and Forehead. The first director (Mark Romanek) dropped out and was replaced by Joe Johnston (Hidalgo, Jumanji), known in most circles as “Who?”.
Ever wanted to see Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, and Hugo Weaving work with the director of Hidalgo and Jumanji? Yeah, me neither, but fuck you, here’s some Wolf Man footage from Comic Con (opening April 2009).
I don’t get what’s up with his claws. Wolves don’t have claws. Wolves have paws with little fingernails that at worst might scratch up your hardwood. This looks more like a bear man than a wolf man. I saw a movie about a bear man once. It had this really hairy gay guy doing unspeakable things to the well-hung high school quarterback. But I have to admit, it was terrifying.
