Larry Ratliff

Arrr, McShane drifting to 'Pirates' sequel

Ian McShane as swearin' Al Swearengen in "Deadwood."  (Courtesy:  historyfanatic.today.com)

It's true what you've heard in this space about big-screen -- and in this case, little screen -- villains turning out to be the nicest guys in person.

That's why I'm happy to report that British actor Ian McShane, who groveled gloriously in the bad-guy mire as the near-barbaric brothel owner on HBO's "Deadwood," looks to be close to signing on to play the pirate Blackbeard in the next "Pirates of the Caribbean" adventure.

Subtitled "On Stranger Tides," this will be the fourth installment in the popular comic-adventures fronted by Johnny Depp, a modern-day pirate if ever there was one. 

If you're counting, especially if you're a Disney bean counter, three sequels ain't bad for a tent-pole franchise based on a theme park ride.

From this aisle seat, I'll be looking forward to what McShane, an actor that a Hollywood Reporter post reminds us has been acting since the '70s, will do with the swashbuckling role.

I had the pleasure of interviewing McShane in New York a few years back when he portrayed the journalist ghost in Woody Allen's "Scoop."

He talked about the movie a little, as actors facing the movie junket press must.  What I remember most, though, are highly entertaining stories McShane (one of the most personable actors I've ever met) volunteered about hanging out with Old Guard actors from across the pond; most notably, drinking excursions with the late, great Richard Burton.

The movie I'd really like to see is McShane, all alone on stage and sitting on a stool, telling stories about the glorious wild old days (or, more specifically, nights).

I'm not sure how the MPAA would rate such a thing, but I'd be the first in line to buy a ticket.  

'Avatar' sinks 'Titanic' as new king of the world

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoé Saldana) bring two worlds together in "Avatar." 

(20th Century Fox)

Who says lightning (in a bottle) doesn't strike twice at the same place.

It would be difficult to convince filmmaker James Cameron of that this week. "Avatar," Cameron's futuristic sci-fi spectacle epic overcame "Titanic," Cameron's 1997 historical drama, to become "the biggest grossing film of all time," according to an article posted on the Hollywood Reporter Web site and other sources.

The numbers are, in a word, staggering.

Just $2 million shy of "Titanic's" $1.843 billion after the weekend, "Avatar" took over on Monday.  Brandon Gray, posting on the Box Office Mojo Web site, says the worldwide total for Cameron's latest is $1.859 billion.  It breaks down as an amazing $555 million domestic and another $1.304 billion foreign.

That's not bad for an epic tale of love between an ex-Marine (Sam Worthington) and a blue-skinned, 10-foot-tall other-worldly beauty with a tail and a fierce snarl (Zoë Saldana).

Spidey gets a 'Batman,' 'Star Trek'-like re-boot

Ultimate Spider-Man (Courtesy:  IGN.com)

When you're out of ideas for your cash cow movie franchise and the budget and star salaries begin to climb into the stratosphere, there's only one thing to do:

Re-boot.

Perhaps using the "Batman" and "Star Trek" franchises as a model, Sony announced Tuesday that "(500) Days of Summer" helmer Marc Webb will hop in the director's chair for the next, reportedly scaled-down "Spider-Man" adventure.

Here it is again; the dreaded "re-imagined" project.  I must admit it worked well enough with "Batman" and "Star Trek."  But they both re-emerged on the movie franchise landscape with budgets worthy of the massive endeavors they had grown into.

According to Borys Kit, posting his Risky Business blog on the Hollywood Reporter Web site, the plan for the new "Spider-Man" is a budget "in the $80 million range and feature a cast of relative unknowns."

Sony, which scrapped the Sam Raimi/Tobey Maguire "Spider-Man 4" project just over a week ago, mentions nothing about scaling back or potential cast members in its official announcement.  Just kudos about Webb and the fact that the new thrust will take Peter Parker back to high school:

"We wanted someone who could capture the awe of being in Peter's shoes so the audience could experience his sense of discovery while giving real heart to the emotion, anxiety and recklessness of that age and coupling all of that with the adrenaline of Spider-Man's adventure."

Kit's Hollywood Reporter article says "the touchstone for the new movie will not be the 1960s comics, which were the inspiration behind the movies by Raimi."  This time, the bedrock of the Spidey stories will be inspired by the "Ultimate Spider-Man" comics of the past decade.

No matter how Webb's vision turns out, this about-face in the "Spider-Man" movie franchise will delay the next flick a year.  Raimi was struggling to get his third sequel into theaters next summer.

The "Spider-Man Whatever" re-boot isn't scheduled to hit movie screens until the summer of 2012.

'Spidey 4' caught up in a tangled script web

(Courtesy:  Columbia Pictures)

If you've already marked May 11, 2011 on your calendar to catch the fourth big-screen "Spider-Man" extravaganza, you may have to look for something else to occupy your time that day.

According to an article posted on the Hollywood Reporter Web site and other sources, "Sony and director Sam Raimi are at loggerheads over which direction to go with the villains."

It sounds very much like an impasse that could delay this spring's production launch and, of course, the May 2011 release date.  The good news, anxious Spidey fans, is that you have a little time to pencil something else in for May 11 next year.

According to the Hollywood Reporter article, Raimi, who has been in the director's chair for all three previous Spidey adventures, wants the Vulture as the primary antagonist for the third sequel.

The movie studio is said to be pushing for another villain and a romantic sub-plot involving a burglar dubbed the Black Cat.

'Scuse me, but I have a question.  Is a third sequel really necessary?

Yes and no.  No from an artistic viewpoint, especially since the franchise's visionary leader can't see eye-to-eye with studio suits over Spider-Man's rival and a sub-plot or two.

But yes, oh YES, when it comes to bottom-line Hollywood economics.  The Spidey franchise is a runaway money-making machine.

Methinks if Raimi rages against the machine too much, even the creative genius behind the comic book-to-big screen transformation could become a victim himself going up against the multi-billion dollar revenue machine.

Heath Ledger's final cinematic hurrah

Heath Ledger as Tony and model Lily Cole as Valentina in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus."  (Courtesy:  Sony Pictures Classics)

If you thought "The Dark Knight," which won a posthumous supporting actor Academy Award for Heath Ledger as The Joker earlier this year, was the late Australian actor's final film, you would be mistaken.

The mysterious 28-year-old Perth, Australia native was somewhere between a third and halfway through work on Terry Gilliam's fantastical morality tale "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" when he died of an overdose of prescription medicine on Jan. 22, 2008.

Ledger's untimely death hit me harder than some celebrity deaths.  I interviewed the "Brokeback Mountain" co-star on several occasions.  Most recently, we sat down for lunch to discuss Ledger's heroin-addiction drama "Candy" at the Four Seasons Hotel during the Toronto Film Festival in 2006.

With more than a little help from Ledger's friends Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law, Gilliam was able to complete "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," which opens Jan. 8 in many markets.  (Check local listings.)

It was far from an easy task, however.  Jonathan Crow, posting a story on the Yahoo! Web site, sat down with Gilliam recently to discuss the imaginative method Gilliam used to complete a film without its star.

Click here to read the Yahoo! piece.

'Ava'-tardies at office, school on Friday?

A Na'vi warrior races into battle on a panther-like creature in "Avatar."  (20th Century Fox)

Yes parents, it's that time again.

Your movie-fan teens are pressing hard for permission to spend tomorrow's wee morning hours at the local movie house watching James Cameron's other-world space fantasy "Avatar."

I'm not about to tell you whether or not to say "yes."  That's your department.  All I'm saying is that if you OK the kids for a wildly inventive, technically spectacular epic movie thrill ride, just know that "Avatar" rolls through the projector for just over two hours and a half.

Let's do the math here, Mom or Dad.  Let's say that "Avatar" begins just after midnight at precisely 12:01 or 12:05, which it probably won't.  That means you'll be picking up the non-drivers a little before 3 a.m. Friday.

That's the downside, of course.  Now for the upside.  If you're going to be up anyway, you might as well tag along.

Although my review won't hit this Web site until a couple of minutes past midnight tonight (I won't be up.  Thank God for automation!), I can say this.   You'll be skipping sleep for one of the Top 3 movies of 2009.

And, of course, there's the usual over-hype and hoopla factor for a movie event like this.  Carl DiOrio, writing on The Hollywood Reporter Web site, reports that "Avatar" may have cost as much as $300 million to produce. And that's without all the marketing costs.

What does Oscar-winning filmmaker Cameron ("Titanic") think about all the focus on the film's cost?

"I don't think that means jack *#@&," he told the Hollywood Reporter.

Click here to read the complete report. 

Full 'Moon' lets the 'dogs' out tonight

Oh, snap.  Vampire Edward (Robert Pattinson), left, discovers werewolf Jacob (Taylor Lautner) making a pass at Bella (Kristen Stewart) in "New Moon." (Summit Entertainment)

Forget the fact that the actual moon will barely be a sliver in the sky tonight.

The "Twilight" sequel "New Moon" rises full at midnight in what is likely to be a frenzied theater near you.

In fact, a golden full moon is the first image eager "Twilight" fans will see.

Of course "New Moon" is the follow-up to last year's romance novel-like approach to a tale of a moody high school girl named Bella who's smitten and almost bitten by a milk-faced vampire that's apparently so bored that he trolls the high school cafeteria for chicks.

Excuse me, but what's a vampire doing even out during daylight hours?

Oh, never mind.  That's a battle that can't be won.

So here we and semi-frantic screaming "Twilight" fans go for Round 2.

Look for a sulking lovers triangle this time.  Bella's (Kristen Stewart) affections are torn between sworn enemies; Edward (Robert Pattinson) the vampire and Jacob (Taylor Lautner), the cute-as-a-button werewolf.

According to a post on the Hollywood Reporter Web site, "The Twilight Saga:  New Moon" is expected to suck in about $85 million during its first weekend at over 4,000 locations.  And that includes 3,500 showings a click past midnight tonight.

"Online ticketers said the Summit Entertainment sequel has run up the biggest advance sales of any film in history, with sellouts ensured for many showtimes throughout the weekend," the Hollywood Reporter article states. 

  

  

What say you, Jones, Smith; back in 'Black'?

Tommy Lee Jones gunning for space aliens in "Men in Black II."  (Columbia Pictures)

According to reports bouncing around the World Wide Web, Columbia Pictures is forging ahead with plans for a third installment of "Men in Black."

 

Will Smith back for more?  (Columbia Pictures)

An article posted on Variety on-line says Columbia has chosen screenwriter Etan Cohen ("Tropic Thunder") to write the follow-up to the goofy, alien-busting fan favorite sci-fi comic adventures of 1997 and 2002.

"There are no deals in place for the franchise's stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, though it's unlikely that Col would greenlight the project without the duo's involvement," the Variety article says.

Also, The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Biz Blog says that Barry Sonnenfeld, who directed the first two adventures, is in for No. III.

So far, at least, no one at Columbia wants to speak publically about the fate of the "Men in Black" franchise, according to several published sources.  When something like this begins to bubble in media reports, it's likely that something's going on.

There's no denying that Jones, San Antonio's resident Best Actor Oscar winner, and Smith, who always excels in over-the-top comic adventures, had some electric chemistry shooting between them in the first two installments.

So what say you, guys?  There's bound to be a new batch of odd-shaped space aliens that need to be, you know, blown away real good. 

Weitz up: Taking a 'Twilight New Moon' walk

 

(Left to right) Kristen Stewart, Chris Weitz, 1st  AD Mike Topoozian and make-up artist Robin Matthews on the "New Moon" set.  (Summit Entertainment)

Tween screams won't be limited to Halloween this year.

The Nov. 20 release date of "The Twilight Saga:  New Moon" looms ever closer.  There's some good news for frenzied fans waiting with baited breath for the second installment of Stephenie Meyer's young vampire romancer.

Director Chris Weitz, who took over the "Twilight" sequel when Texan Catherine Hardwicke was removed from the project, is finally speaking out about taking over the popular novel-to-big screen franchise.

As Borys Kit points out in the Q&A interview posted on the Hollywood Reporter Web site, "The man behind 'American Pie' and 'About a Boy' wasn't the obvious choice to take on 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon.'"

Weitz likes to genre hop, however.  That probably had more than a little to do with the writer-director of "The Golden Compass," a lackluster fantasy at best, hopping in the director's chair for the "Twilight" sequel.

Click here to read Kit's Chris Weitz interview. 

EW's wild Friday night in 'Zombieland'

 
Woody Harrelson gunning down the undead in "Zombieland."  (Columbia Pictures)

What a great idea.

Entertainment Weekly's Nicole Sperling spent last Friday night (Oct. 2) hanging out with the stars, director and screenwriters of the monster action-comedy "Zombieland" as they cruised Los Angeles movie houses checking out the flick's attendance on opening night.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't expect "zombie slayer" Harrelson, who dispatches the walking dead with a banjo at least once, to go along for the ride.

Harrelson did, though, at least until they encountered an almost empty auditorium with "Zombieland" lighting up the screen.  Co-star Jesse Eisenberg stuck it out the entire evening, though.

Nicole Sperling's innovative and insightful tag-along story begins at one of Hollywood's largest movie houses:

"8:30 pm Mann Grauman’s Chinese Theater

"The cavernous 1,400 seat theater is about halfway full. Eisenberg leans up against the back wall of theater watching his character Columbus explain that one of their crazy plans wasn’t his but belonged to his traveling companion Tallahassee (Harrelson). 'I’m just kind of a Sancho Panza character,' says Columbus. The line gets a couple of chuckles. Eisenberg shrugs his shoulders in (director Ruben) Fleischer’s direction."

Click here to check out the entire EW article.