I think people are underestimating Diary of the Dead and setting their expectations way too low. Which, in a weird way, is probably a very good thing. I was sent some stills and, after a bit of digging, discovered that they probably originated at Fangoria. Enjoy them.
I'm currently watching Popworld in which they are playing Mark Ronson and Lily Allen's cover of Oh My God by The Kaiser Chiefs. The video is a flagrant rip off of Who Framed Roger Rabbit but, to be frank, nowhere nearly as good. It might be designed as an homage, it could be taken as an insult.
- Jeffrey Wells quoted J J Abrams directly on the whole Cloverfield issue, but then altered his post a little. Abrams became re-identified an anonymous person in Abrams' team, and a quick find-and-replace turned all of the first person "I"s in the piece to "he"s. Sometimes with comedic effect: "he've", for example. Tee hee.
- Incidentally, Abrams cannibalised Felicity for the idea of Cloverfield. The episode Docuventary was shot in a similar style, using all of the camcorder gimmickery.
- What's more, there's a new picture on the 1-18-08 site, time stamped five minutes before the first.
- A good chunk of the Comic-Con schedule has been unveiled. Max Brooks and George Romero having a chat? A programme of Pixar shorts - no doubt to unveil the DVD? The Golden Compass piggybacking on Shoot 'Em Up? Josss Whedon with 'a few surprises'? Yes, yes, yes and yes.
- A brilliant piece on Pixar designer Jason Deamer is up at the CG Society site.
- Yahoo have a slideshow of four new Fred Claus posters. I swear I can see little Jimmy Krankie in two of them.
- There's more one-set video from Indiana Jones IV doing the rounds, plus a few spoilers and spoiler clarifications.
- According to Coca-Cola (yep), European cinemas are suffering from very high staff turnovers. Anybody want me to manage their cinema for them? Or work in their programming department? I could be persuaded.
- The Haiti film industry is booming.
And now Fergie is singing on a commerical. Eurgh.
Welcome to Tuesday morning, GMT and an act of Movie Minesweeping as procrastination.
- AintItCool have published a very heartening statement from George Romero. Romero who, I have to admit, was critically missing from my list of 100 directors. Shame on me.
- According to the LA Daily News quite an astonishing list of lookylikeys is being sought for Snyder's Watchmen: Nixon, Kissinger, H R Haldeman, Ted Koppel, John McLaughlin, Annie Liebovitz, Lennon and Ono, Castro, Einstein, Norman Rockwell, JFK and Jackie, Warhol, Mao Tze Tung and Larry King.
- Has an upcoming location for the Indiana Jones IV shoot been discovered? Well, it seems likely - but, er... so what? It's not a very telling detail at all.
- An alarming little piece of a Google-owned corporate blog kicked off a furore this weekend. The post criticised Michael Moore's Sicko at the same time as encouraging health care companies to buy targeted ads that would ambush Google users searching for details on the film. This was quite clearly against Google's desired reputation as a neutral information outlet - and after a whole heap of fuss, the author of the post had to issue a retraction. Her politics aside (they're obviously very different from my own) I think she's done something very bad here and a simple retraction just isn't enough. Frankly, I'd like to see her fired.
- Magnolia have revealed their launch strategies for cheap 'indie comedies' Cashback and Closing Escrow.
- Disney Animator and Director Art Stevens has died, aged 92.
- The offical Saw IV synopsis and cast list have been unveiled. I've heard rumours that Saw V is to be the last and that it has been, broadly at least, been plotted already - and in a way that will wrap up the whole shebang quite conclusively. I'm asking around and will report any findings worth sharing.
- So, Kylie Minogue is to appear in the Christmas Dr. Who and that's been all over the news here for twelve hours or so - but less high-profile was the casting of Keeley Hawes in Ashes to Ashes, the Life on Mars sequel. I gave a pretty detailed break down of the show's premise a couple of months back and it sounds from that description that Ms. Hawes will play DCI Alex Drake.
- There's a casting call out for the young girl lead in Nowhereland.
- There are more Resident Evil: Extinction pictures doing the rounds.
- Maddy Gaiman has announced a December 2008 release date for the Hellboy 2 DVD. Bless.
- We don't know for sure that The Mayor of Castro Street is to come before Superman Returns Again, but it does seem fairly likely.
- Young @ Heart played on TV here last year - now it's getting a US theatrical release. It's a documentary about a bunch of old folk singing pop songs. It wasn't very good, but I absolutely loved it.
- The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has declined Oliver Stones offer to make a doucumentary about him. The President's media advisor said "It is right that this person is considered part of the opposition in the U.S., but opposition in the US is a part of the Great Satan".
- Brian Hill is to turn this weekend's Live Earth event into a feature for Jeff Skoll's Participant Productions.
- Dana Delaney might turn up in Desperate Housewives - finally, after a string of offers stretching back before the show went into production. Previously, they wanted her for Bree but (obviously) she passed on that one... so, how about Bree's 'Conservative Republican' sister? Seems like she might bite.
Horror-Movies are reporting May reshoots are on the cards for George Romero's Diary of the Dead. Don't take this as a sign of weakness (though many inevitably will) - Romero's not let us down yet. Not with zombies, anyhow.
Poor Joe Hill, everybody wants to name his father when they discuss him. So I won't. I'm not really a fan of his dad's books... though they have been turned into some great films over the years. DePalma, Kubrick and Rob Reiner - twice - have all done sterling jobs in hadling Joe's dad's stuff, Romero and Darabont made pretty good second-tier efforts too.
Now the signs are looking great for the first adaptation of a book from junior, as Neil Jordan has signed a deal to direct and script. It's a ghost story about a rockstar who buys a haunted suiton e-bay. The title suggests a certain rock star, but I've not read the book, so I honestly don't know.
I have read about the ghost's tendency towards possession however: he takes control of a car radio, a ouija board and - brilliantly - the electric voicebox of a laryngectomy patient. Spooky.
There are plenty of excerpts on Hill's website, but I think I'll check out the local library's copy instead.
No news if Jordan will tackle this before A Killing on Carnival Row for sure, but I'd expect this to come later as the script appears to be further from being ready.
Michael Felsher has told Fangoria all about his plans for the UK R2 Creepshow DVD due before Halloween this year. Sorry, my American friends.
There's a commentary track from Romero and Savini; a deleted scene in which Ted Danson's severed hand comes after Leslie Nielsen; a retrospective documentary featuring many of the film's contributors.
Felsher also reveals his plans for a documentary on Faces of Death - the original, I assume - and his involvement in the Diary of the Dead DVD. All good stuff.
Alias and Lost's J J Abrams appears to have signed on for the next Star Trek film; Babylon 5's J Michael Straczynksi is scripting the big-screen adaptation of Max Brooks' World War Z. My money's on the latter being the better film, providing they get a half-way decent director.
And not just because it has zombies in.
Hey - what do you reckon the chances of Romero being offered the big studio pay cheque might be? It almost happened with Resident Evil, after all.
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