Ridley Scott - Prequels and Sequels

First of all sorry for the lack of updates.

Now onward !

One of my all time favourite directors Ridley Scott recently announced he was to revisit one of his greatest films to date, Blade Runner. At the time of the announcement he didn't let on if the planned project was to be a sequel or a prequel, and most people were surprised to hear that Scott was going to revisit Philip K Dick's universe at all as Dick never wrote a follow up to his novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", to which Scott's film was based.

Scott has now confirmed that the project will be a sequel and is close to finding a writer. From that nugget of information its probably safe to say that we won't be seeing anything on screen for at least a couple of years yet then. The 73yr old Director also confirmed that Harrison Ford would not be reprising his role as Rick Deckard. No surprise there as its no secret that Ford did not get on well with Scott during filming of the original Blade Runner.

So will this be any good ? 

Is Ridley Scott messing with perfection and risking what George Lucas did with the Star Wars prequels ?

Well the answer is Yes and No to both questions. Scott is one of the best directors in the business and has more that proved his status with films such as Alien, Bladerunner, Gladiator, Legend and American Gangster but the trouble is he has also missed the mark on more than one occasion with films like G I Jane and Kingdom of Heaven. I am also surprised that he wants to revisit one of his original titles at all. Up until now he has avoided directing any sequels to his own films (he wasn't tempted to return for Aliens and instead passed the baton to James Cameron) and this news has surprised a lot of people, especially as its hot on the heels of his return to the Alien franchise......more below

All in all I have a lot of faith that Ridley will get it right. Blade Runner was panned on its original release and, like The Shawshank Redemption, found its home in the Home Video Market. From there it slowly gained a cult following and is now regarded as not only one of the best Sci-Fi films of all time but one of the best films ever, topping many critics lists. Scott has a lot to live up to but at least he is revisiting his own baby and not trying to re-imagine somebody else's past creation. Time will of course tell and I will keep you updated with any further news as it comes.

As I mentioned before Scott is also returning to the Alien franchise.....in a manner of sorts.

Prometheus has just finished filming and is currently in the early stages of post production.

The plot follows a team of explorers as they discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race. 

It was originally intended as a prequel to Ridley Scott's Alien, but Scott decided to turn it into an original film with Noomi Rapace (who was already set to star in the prequel) still in the cast as one of five main characters. Some time later however it was confirmed that while the movie will take place in the same universe as Alien, and greatly reference that movie, it will, for the bigger part, be an original movie and not a direct prequel. 

With a screenplay by Damon Lindelof (Lost) and a cast including Charlize Theron, Idris Elba (Luther), Rafe Spall and Guy Pearce I think this is looking promising and I hope to bring you a trailer within the next couple of months.

TinTin Full Length Trailer

What do you get if you take the directing skills of 'Jaws', 'Jurassic Park', and 'Saving Private Ryan', mix it with the producers of 'Lord of the Rings' and 'King Kong' and then combine it with the writers behind 'Sherlock', 'Attack the Block' and 'Hot Fuzz' and 'Shaun of the Dead' ?????

Well the answer is The Adventures of "TinTin: The Secret of the Unicorn", a new performance capture film from Director Steven Spielberg and Producer Peter Jackson. The film stars Jamie Bell as Herge's famous explorer with Andy Serkis as 'Captain Haddock' and Simon Pegg & Nick Frost as 'Thomson & Thompson'.

The movie combines the three stories 'The Crab With The Golden Claws', 'The Secret Of The Unicorn' and 'Red Rackham's Treasure' and will focus on TinTin's first encounter with Captain Haddock and the discovery of instructions as to the whereabouts of a sunken ship and, of course, lots of treasure.

Filming took place in just over 30 days, starting at the end of January 2009 which sounds quick but that is the beauty of performance capture, its nice and speedy due to not having to set up lights etc. Its only afterwards the hard work really starts in post production. Weta Digital (Avatar) will be providing the mammoth amount of CGI required whilst king of the movie themes, John Williams will be providing the score. 

The film will be the first in a trilogy of films with the second being directed by Peter Jackson and the third being co-directed by both Steven and Peter. It's scheduled for release in Decmber 2011 and I think this will be the start of a great trilogy !

We featured the teaser trailer a few weeks ago but here now for your pleasure is the full length international trailer.

A Hobbit Round-up

It seems as if there is some new Hobbit news as each day passes so here is a quick round-up in case you didn't already know

 Saoirse Ronan

First...the rumour(s)....Saoirse Ronan (Lovely Bones, Hana) is rumoured to be playing Itaril. I reckon there is some weight to this rumour. Saoirse has already proved to be a fine young actress with a brilliant performance in the Lovely Bones and you could tell from the making of diaries on the LB Blu Ray bonus disc that she has a good relationship with Peter Jackson.

Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies, The Fall has been cast as Thranduil. I love Lee Pace's work. Pushing Daisies was cancelled well before it's time and I don't think I have seen Lee in anything of any worth, since so this is good news.

Lee Pace

Rob Kazinsky was cast as Fili in the Hobbit but has been forced to leave due to health reasons. Rob is best known in the UK for his role as Sean in the soap EastEnders. The role of Fili has now been given to Kiwi actor  Dean O'Gorman.

Dean O'Gorman

Andy Serkis has been named as Second Unit Director alongside his role as Gollum. This is no surprise as Andy has been a long term collaborator with Peter Jackson since The Fellowship of the Ring and he was also Dramatic Director for the Video Game 'Heavenly Sword'. You only have to look at the behind the scenes extras on the LOTR extended edition DVD's and witness the amount of input Andy had for the character of Gollum to see why Peter Jackson has given Andy this role.

Andy Serkis

Peter Jackson has revealed that The Hobbit will be filmed @ 48 frames per second which is double that of normal productions. This basically means a much, much sharper image. Plus the movie is being shot in 3D so it should be one of the best looking movies ever released.

Lastly.....another rumour doing the rounds is that Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Paul) might make a cameo in The Hobbit. There were on the Hobbiton set whilst film filming TinTin (another Peter Jackson project) so I think it's unlikely you will see them on screen but you never know........

Double Vision for the Hobbit

Well the rumours are without a doubt true. Both of the Hobbit films will be filmed in 3D. Ian McKellen confirmed that Director of Photography Andrew Lesnie (long term collaborator of Peter Jackson and DOP for all three LOTR films) has been doing some lens tests during costume fittings with Martin Freeman.

I have to say this is exciting news. To see the wonders of Middle Earth in 3D will be something to behold and I am really glad it's being shot in 3D rather than a conversion. Andrew Lesnie is one of the best in the business and I am confident he will do a wonderful job in creating Hobbiton and all the other Hobbit locations in 3D. Just a note though Andrew.........in the dark scenes can you brighten it up just a little bit??? - Those glasses don't help much in the dark scenes.....something I am sure The Hobbit will have a lot of !

Bofur and Gandalf (James Nesbitt and Ian McKellen)

Photo courtesy of Ian McKellen

New Pirates Trailer - Johnny Depp Doll & 4 New Posters

Disney have recently released the latest trailer for "Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides" and I have to say it looks great. Don't get me wrong, I loved the previous trailers but they were a little too Depp heavy to get a real feel for the film itself but this one gives us it in spades.

On Stranger Tides will be released in 3D and thankfully it was actually shot in 3D and it won't be an awful conversion (see Clash of the the Titans) and I was lucky to see one of the first trailers in 3D and it looks like this could be one of the best 3D films released yet....even better than Avatar perhaps ?

To see the some superb one sheet posters and a strangely clean Captain Jack Sparrow/Authentic looking Johnny Depp doll continue reading after the jump