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photos Archives - Page 2 of 6 - ShowBizCafe.com

Jack Rico

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2011/10/04 at 12:00am

Disney’s ‘John Carter’: Exclusive Sneak Peak Look!

10.4.2011 | By |

Disney's 'John Carter': Exclusive Sneak Peak Look!

Six months before it’s release, Disney has put together an impressive private event to tout its new big 2012 movie ‘John Carter’ which they are banking all the marbles on. I was one of the select few that was invited yesterday to see early footage from the film, as well as props from the actual set and other elements from the production like concept art and life size monster models.

As soon as you walked in, there was a hallway full of set props from the film that were very detailed and accurate from the tales of the Edgar Rice Burroughs 11 series books. There was everything from monster mannequins of Tharks – a tribe of fictional Green Martian warriors on the fictional planet of Barsoom – aircraft sketches and models, clothing, weapons and books from Carter’s home and martian culture.

After the hallway glancing, you entered the screening room where director Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, Wall*E) and his 3 main stars: Taylor Kitsch (The Bang Bang Club, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) who plays John Carter himself, Lynn Collins (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) who will play Princess Dejah Thoris and Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man, Antichrist, Melancholia) who will be the alien Tars Tarkas, were chatting and socializing amongst themselves. About a dozen Disney publicists and execs were everywhere, including an in-house production unit behind me covering the action.

About 10 minutes later, producer Jim Morris took the mic to talk about the difficulties of making ‘John Carter’ in Hollywood and how the many failed attempts at bringing it to the screen where mainly due to a lack of technology. According to Morris, Tom Cruise was at one point attached to star in the mid 80’s, but it fell through. He then introduced Andrew Stanton to an applause from the guests. Stanton began by presenting an educational, historical keynote introduction of John Carter from the early novels to the Marvel comic books to the CGI integration to the selection process of the cast. He then proceeded to unveil the first 5 clips of the movie that the even the cast had not seen until then. Regrettably, we’re not allowed to give a formal written narration of the scenes I saw, but hopefully near release.

After the clips were shown, we were invited to stay for a Q&A with the Stanton and cast, and afterwards we were allowed to mingle with them and ask them questions one on one. I interviewed Stanton and will have that posted some time this week.

Here then are 13 exclusive behind-the-scene pics of the props and items from the private screening that were on display for viewing:

Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe)

‘John Carter’ will be released March 9th, 2012 which happens to be Andrew Stanton’s first live-action film. The pressure is on for him to deliver on what is Disney’s hopeful future franchise.

For those unaware of the plot, ‘John Carter’ is set in the devastated planet Mars where John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), a soldier in the Civil War, is thrust into a mysterious new war with a strange army of Martians , among which are Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). The film is based on the Martian series of American author Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Jack Rico

By

2011/09/16 at 12:00am

Exclusive: First Spanish-language trailer of ‘Dream House’

09.16.2011 | By |

Exclusive: First Spanish-language trailer of 'Dream House'

We just got our hands on the exclusive ‘Dream House’ Spanish language trailer from Universal Studios. You won’t find this video anywhere else except here. The film stars Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz and Naomi Watts in a half-ghost, half-mystery thriller about a family who unknowingly move into a home where several grisly murders were committed…only to find themselves the killer’s next target. Successful publisher Will Atenton (Craig) quit a job in New York City to relocate his wife, Libby (Weisz), and two girls to a quaint New England town. But as they settle into their new life, they discover their perfect home was the murder scene of a mother and her children. And the entire city believes it was at the hands of the husband who survived. When Will investigates the tragedy, his only lead comes from Ann Paterson (Watts), a neighbor who was close to the family that died. As Will and Ann piece together the disturbing puzzle, they discover that the story of the last man to leave Will’s dream house will be just as horrifying to the one who came next.

The buzz around the ‘Dream House’ is rooted in the original trailer that supposedly reveals the twist of the film half way through. But according to an executive producer, the twist shown in the original trailer (which is not shown in the Spanish trailer) is not the main twist of the movie. So is there another one? We’ll all have to wit for the reviews to come in and see.

Dream House will be released September 30th, 2011.

Jack Rico

By

2011/05/19 at 12:00am

James Cameron to re-release ‘Titanic’ in 3D

05.19.2011 | By |

James Cameron to re-release 'Titanic' in 3D

HOLLYWOOD, CA (May 19, 2011) – Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox and Lightstorm Entertainment jointly announced today that James Cameron’s “TITANIC” will be re-released worldwide on April 6, 2012.
 
The release, which marks the 100th anniversary of the Titanic setting sail (April 10th), will present the film in 3D for the first time ever.
 
Written, directed and produced by Cameron, “TITANIC” is the second highest grossing movie of all time. It is one of only three films to have received a record 11 Academy AwardsÒ including Best Picture and Best Director; and launched the careers of stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
 
Called “A spectacular demonstration of what modern technology can contribute to dramatic storytelling” by Variety upon its release in 1997, the long in the works 3D conversion is being overseen by Cameron and his Lightstorm producing partner Jon Landau who produced the hit movie.
 
Said Cameron, “There’s a whole generation that’s never seen ‘TITANIC’ as it was meant to be seen, on the big screen.  And this will be ‘TITANIC’ as you’ve never seen it before, digitally re-mastered at 4K and painstakingly converted to 3D.  With the emotional power intact and the images more powerful than ever, this will be an epic experience for fans and newcomers alike.”
 
“This new presentation of Paramount’s top-grossing film is particularly special because 2012 is the 100th anniversary of our studio. Paramount has had the pleasure of introducing audiences to some of the all-time classics of cinema during that century of moviemaking and we cannot think of a better way to mark the occasion than with this re-release of ‘TITANIC’,” said Brad Grey, Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures.
 
Commented Fox Filmed Entertainment Chairmen and CEOs, Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman: “Our 30-plus year relationship with Jim Cameron and Lightstorm has been enormously rewarding, from ‘Aliens’ to ‘Avatar’, and the global phenomenon of ‘TITANIC’ remains one of the greatest sources of pride in our history.  We are pleased to allow a new generation of audiences to experience the film in its brilliant digital restoration in 3D.”

Jack Rico

By

2011/05/16 at 12:00am

First image of Cameron Diaz in ‘Gambit’

05.16.2011 | By |

First image of Cameron Diaz in 'Gambit'

CANNES (May 15, 2011) – Principal photography began on GAMBIT, starring Academy Award© winner Colin Firth (The King’s Speech), Cameron Diaz (The Green Hornet, There’s Something About Mary), Golden Globe and BAFTA award winner Alan Rickman (Harry Potter Series, Alice In Wonderland) and BAFTA award winner Sir Tom Courtenay (The Golden Compass) in London on May 5th. In addition, Golden Globe winner Stanley Tucci (Julie & Julia) and Academy Award© winner and veteran comedic actress Cloris Leachman have joined the cast.
 
The film is directed by Michael Hoffman (The Last Station) and based on a screenplay written by Academy Award© winners Joel and Ethan Coen (True Grit, No Country for Old Men). Mike Lobell (The Freshman, Honeymoon in Vegas) is producing, alongside Crime Scene Pictures partners Adam Ripp and Rob Paris, who are also financing. Crime Scene Pictures is having an impressive inaugural year. Rizal Risjad and Philip Elway are executive producers.
 
Shooting in London and in New Mexico, the story centers on British art curator Harry Deane (Firth) who devises a finely-crafted scheme to con England’s richest man and avid art collector, Lionel Shabandar, (Rickman) into purchasing a fake Monet painting.  In order to bait his buyer, he recruits a Texas rodeo queen (Diaz) to cross the pond and pose as a woman whose grandfather liberated the painting at the end of WWII.
 
The behind-the-scenes talent is equally stellar. Florian Ballhaus (Red, The Time Traveller’s Wife, The Devil Wears Prada) will serve as Director of Photography. Academy Award© winner Jenny Beavan (The King’s Speech, A Room with a View) will be the Costume Designer. Joining her are Hair and Makeup Chief Christine Blundell, Academy Award© winner for Topsy Turvey, and Production Designer Stuart Craig, a three-time Academy Award© winner (Gandhi, Dangerous Liaisons, The English Patient), who has multiple nominations for his work on the Harry Potter series.
 
FilmNation Entertainment is handling distribution outside of the United States, with CBS Films distributing in the United States. Alliance Films will be distributing the film in Canada, Momentum Pictures in the UK and Aurum Productions in Spain.

Karen Posada

By

2011/05/10 at 12:00am

’30 Minutes or Less’: The Set Visit!

05.10.2011 | By |

'30 Minutes or Less': The Set Visit!

ShowBizCafe.com was very excited to get invited to Grand Rapids, Michigan back in September 2010, where we spent a chunk of the nighttime in a scrap yard seeing the cast of ’30 Minutes or Less’ film a couple of pretty neat scenes. A few of us film junkies were picked up at our hotel by 7pm the day we arrived and were taken to a secret location to see Jesse Eisenberg, Aziz Ansari, Danny McBride, Nick Swardson, Michael Peña and Dilshad Vadsaria making the movie directed by Ruben Fleischer with Ben Stiller as an executive producer.

The action/comedy is set to come out in theaters on August 12, 2011. The plot: Nick (Eisenberg) a pizza delivery guy who has no real goals set for himself in life is forced to get himself together when two small time robbers (McBride & Swardson) make him rob a bank; making Nick realize how much life has to offer. Chet (Ansari) his best friend comically helps him along the way and the final push is given when the love of his life (Vadsaira) is put at risk, in the meantime, Peña is given a task to accomplish from the bad guys themselves. This is a dream team, with Eisenberg’s silly/serious comedy skits, McBride & Swardson’s jokes bouncing from one to the other, Ansari & Peña’s nonchalant crazy behavior and Vadsaria’s beauty this is set to be a good laugh out loud comedy with bits of good action.   

When we arrived on the set we walked to the scrap yard where we got to see the main character, Nick, struggling to keep his cool as a bomb attached to him is about to explode and he’s trying to get the main lady to safety (since she plays the damsel in distress). We hear the bad guys who are dressed in monkey suits (to avoid getting recognized) screaming, cursing and making jokes as poor Nick tries to man up to the situation. Fleischer takes various shots of this scene, from different angles, distances and even let’s the actors play with their own lines to make their own script as they ease into character. In another scene we see a struggle between the bad guys dressed in monkey suits and Michael Peña. It was a cool, clear summer night and the lights on the set cast beautiful shadows off of the mountains of scrap metal set around the lot; there’s even some fake metal deer, computers and funky machinery. We were quiet on set and could see from the camera and a TV set up close to us how the scene plays out. Vadsaira’s screams are loud as are the laughs of McBride & Swardson (the bad guys), Eisenberg’s character breathes nervously and tries to find the right words as cool sweat fills his forehead. We got to interview the entire cast along with the director and the props, visual effects, stunt coordinator and special effects guys. After a great buffet dinner we got to see the coolest thing of all, a flame thrower getting used! It was the first time it was being used on set by Swardson, you must have been able to see that thing from space; that’s how big the flame was. 

Here’s some of the stuff the cast & director got to tell us:

Jesse Eisenberg‘s character is closer to what he was in “Zombieland” than on the “Facebook movie”, although here he looks more grown up and mature. Eisenberg cautiously and kindly approached us as we bombarded him with questions late in the night.

ShowBizCafe (SBC): What was it like working with Ruben(director) once again and how was it compared to Zombieland?

Jesse Eisenberg (JE): It was great! Ruben has a great kind of sense of how to create a comedic movie and not compromise the characters and he does that really well. I mean the tone of the movie is a little bit different from Zombieland  since this is set in more of a real world context, in that movie for my  character was more heightened comedy, here my character is pretty straightforward. The comedy in this is a little less winking to the audience, Zombieland constantly was playing on the absurdity of the real characters whereas this movie is genuinely scary in a real way. The stakes in this movie are legitimately high and the character, at least Aziz and my character are real world characters.   

SBC: can you tell us about the toughest scene to make and about the love story in this film?
JE: Every scene kind of has some challenge logistically. I’m wearing this bomb throughout the whole movie, but as I said, the movie kind of takes place in this very real world setting, so it’s occasionally been challenging  because there’s so much action and there’s also so many things that are comedic elements  in the movie but it’s my job to kind of maintain the emotional honesty. At the risk of being pretentious, that’s my job, so that’s occasionally challenging. The love part,  I’ve been in love with my best friend’s twin sister; I’ve spent the last several years not doing anything important in my life and never taking control of my life so one of the things that the bomb does is allow me to… kind of lights a fire under me so to speak and one of the things I’m inspired to do is to go confess my love to this girl.

SBC: What do you have coming up after this movie?
JE: I’m not sure. I have a lot of publicity engagements(for the Facebook movie, which was coming out then) which last until like October and then I’m trying to do a play in New York City. I write stage plays.

Jesee Eisenberg

The director, Ruben Fleischer, made sure to give us a full run down on what we were seeing, showing us pictures and sketches of the scenes and explaining to us how certain things work; such as the flame thrower and car chases. He also spoke about the freedom he gives actors with their lines and their characters.

SBC: How much liberty do you give the actors and how are you able to control that at a certain point?
RF: We work together, Aziz who is basically the co-star here has helped write some scenes for himself, we worked on them together to try and get a nice voice that suits him, but Nick kind of customs everything to himself. It’s more in the performance than the page I guess. Some scenes are very improv-y, there’s scenes where Danny and Nick  just go off into their own territory; those guys are so funny and they can come up with hilarious sh*t all day long.  When you have really funny people being really funny sometimes it’s hard to control it, but we try and get through it. Nick has a tendency to break more and laugh, Danny it’s really hard to get him to laugh in a scene.

SBC: Besides the entertainment factor, would you like the audience to get something else out o the film?
RF: The theme of the movie is: Jesse plays this pizza delivery guy who just sits on his couch and has let life pass him by, he’s kind of never really done anything and when he’s faced with the circumstances of the bomb he’s forced to prioritize. He essentially has one day to live, so it forces him to get off his ass and do something and also to tell the girl he’s always loved how he feel and finally to be real with his best friend about some sh*t he’s never talked about. it’s really about if you only had one more day to live, what are you going to do with that day and what’ most important to you? More than anything else, that’s what hopefully the audience will take home from this; that life is precious and you have to make the most of it and if you are delivering pizzas, you might want to reevaluate your priorities; unless that’s what you want to do.

Ruben Fleischer

Danny McBride and Nick Swardson make up a necessary component of the film. They seemed to also have formed a tight friendship outside of the film as we interview the two together behind the cameras and they continued to finish each other’s jokes.

SBC: What kind of bad guys are you?
NS: We are almost like dumb and dumber bad guys, we’re not pure evil. We are just bored and don’t know what to do with our lives.
DM: I don’t know, we are motherf*&*ers in this thing. We’re making some bad choices but we have goals and ambitions, you know. Maybe people will root for us, we wanna change the world; we want to create the first tanning salon where guys get…

SBC: Talk to us a little about your improv skits and freedom.
NS: well they let us improvise a lot, we definitely got the scripts as much as we could but we were given free reign to add stuff and whatever. We have to stay in check though, it’s bad because when I look at Danny and when I look at Jesse, and Jesse cracks up and it’s just like I’m susceptible to it.
DM: The cool thing about working with Nick is he isn’t like one of the improvisers, you are just doing like stand up comedy in the scene. We never take it too far off the page, the scene is always what it’s about and we’ll just try to come up with different ways to spit the jokes out.
NS: Yeah, you don’t’ want to be self-indulgent. You want to make sure to stay in character, it’s not just us doing fart jokes in the middle of a drive-by shooting.
DM: That’s not to say that there aren’t.
NS: There are. But, it’s in the context (laughs)

SBC: What brought you to this project and what projects do you guys have coming up? Danny you have a noir detective movie with Jody Hill, when’s that coming out?
DM:
For me it just seemed like a cool project and I liked everyone involved so you just kind of make time for the things you want to do. You know Diliberti and Sullivan, the same guys who wrote L.A.P.I., it’s kind of a throwback to movies like The Long Goodbye and Chinatown, yeah it’s a noir/comedy, Jody and I are both very tired. We’ve had long years. I don’t know what the booking is, but it probably won’t be until next year.

NS: My reason for this project was perfect timing, I just finished a romantic comedy in June so it was perfect timing to jump into something completely different. I have a show coming out in October, a sketch show; so it was a perfect window before doing press for that. The sketch is called Nick Swardson’s Pretend Time, it will be on Comedy Central; just more filth in the airwaves.

We also caught up with the co-star Aziz Ansari; so we continued on with the comedic strike as he spoke to us as he spoke us about his character in this film along with some of his more known characters.

SBC: Tell us about your character in this film and about some of the action you got to be a part of.
AA: Well my character is just a guy whose best friend is given this impossible situation and they have a rough time in the begging because he confessed to being in love with his twin sister and they are forced into this situation when they are robbing a bank together. Jesse did stunt driving and I’m just kind of driving in the car with him, other than that there’s the bank robbery but the stunt driving was fun because I never did anything where I had to be in a car chase and it was pretty cool. They have these rigs that like pull the car and stuff, you know action is very easy it’s a lot of “Ah! Look out!” so it’s fun. It’s the first time I had a stuntman that wasn’t a caucasian stuntman that needed to be painted brown, his name was Neta he’s half Hawaiian and Philipino. 

SBC: What are some of your favorite movies?

AA:  When I was growing up my favorites, the ones that I watched all the time, I mean I watched comedies and stuff but the movies I watched all the time were Die Hard and Terminator 2, like the classic 80’s, 90’s action movies. In this movie there is a thing where these guys like Lethal Weapon a lot…so i brought that out in my personality, so I was like this guy must really be into action movies like Point Break  and Terminator 2 and Die hard, like those are his favorite movies.

SBC: We heard you are working on writing with Danny, can you tell us about that and about the Randy movie?
AA: with his company Rough House and my friend Harris Little, who is a writer on the show Parks and Recreations that I’m on, he’s writing it and I think we are keeping a log-line under wraps for now but I think it will be a lot of fun. Randy…we are working on these three movies for Apatow right now, and one of them is the Randy thing, but the one we’ve been working on the most is this idea about me and another guy playing astronauts who are disgraced and have to go back to the moon to clear their names. We’ve been working on that script, I’m really excited about it. 

Finally, we got to ask Michael Peña on his take on the movie and on his character.

SBC: What’s your character like?

MP: He’s a professional assassin, or at least he thinks he is. Along the movie though it is proven he’s not. a little bit like someone I know from Chicago who’s always in and out of the pen and he loves Scarface, the Good fellas and the Godfather he always talks like them and is always quoting them. He has a partner who is a stripper, she’s the one that basically sets me up with the other bad guys and we have a romantic scene. 

SBC: How have you balanced the comedy and action in the film?
MP: It’s been interesting to me, because when I did Observe and report, like you knew you were doing the comedy and I was kind of the bad guy for that, this one is interesting because you have to do a little bit of drama…some of the scenes are more like drama the other ones you can around with, there’s just some that are drama and some that are comedic.   

Michael Peña

After a long night on set we were greeted off by the viewing of the flame thrower and left the cast to continue working into the wee hours of the morning. We had a chance to explore Grand Rapids the next day and even got to sneak into one of the museums across our hotel. This set visit gave us a pretty intimate look into the making of this film as well as the people involved in it. It definitely has all the ingredients to entertain with it’s action and comedy, we look forward to seeing the outcome.

Jack Rico

By

2011/04/15 at 12:00am

Movie Radio Reviews: ‘Scream 4’, ‘Rio’ and Blurays!

04.15.2011 | By |

Movie Radio Reviews: 'Scream 4', 'Rio' and Blurays!

This week on the Luis Jimenez Radio Show, Jack Rico reviews two new releases: the horror film Scream 4 and 3D animated film, RIO.

Recap: Both are good for everyone.

On DVD and Bluray, this week we talk about the bluray release of: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.

You can listen to our movie segment on The Luis Jimenez Show every Friday at 9:50 AM on Univision Radio, X96.3FM in New York or the World Wide Web by visiting: http://luisjimenezradio.com

The Luis Jimenez Radio Show is also on 97.7 FM Fort Myers, 98.5/101.1/100.3 FM, Boston 890AM, 1400AM Lawrence / Lowell

Click on the left on the video to hear our most recent radio movie reviews.

Mack Chico

By

2011/03/16 at 12:00am

Danny Trejo to star in a movie called ‘Pendejo’

03.16.2011 | By |

Danny Trejo to star in a movie called 'Pendejo'

Danny Trejo has joined the cast of “Pendejo,” a romantic comedy by writer/director Jairaj Walia, of Gr8 Dane Films.

Trejo (“Grindhouse,” “Machete,” “xXx”) plays the role of Pedro, the gangster father of the main character’s love interest, Jenny.

“Pendejo” which the filmmakers translate as “idiot,” but is far more vulgar, is about a spoiled party boy whose wealthy father orders to either take a low-level position at the family company or lose his inheritance.

Walia said that the movie addresses both the Indian and Latin cultures.

The cast includes Raja Fenske (Nickelodeon’s “Unfabulous”), Fernanda Romero (“The Eye”), Laksh Singh (“Little Fockers”), Marissa Caprielian (“Entourage”), Darlene Vazquetelles (“Kings of South Beach”) and Sevier Crespo (“Fast Lane”).

Bob Walia and Kim Walia are producing through Gr8 Dane. Crespo is producing through New Slant Productions.

Jack Rico

By

2011/03/14 at 12:00am

Brody, Cruz get ‘A Matador’s Mistress’ June release

03.14.2011 | By |

Brody, Cruz get 'A Matador’s Mistress' June release

Austin, TX (March 14, 2011)- Nolan A. Gallagher, Founder and CEO of Gravitas Ventures, announced  today the acquisition of Video On Demand (VOD) and digital rights to A Matador’s Mistress, formally known as Manolete, starring Academy Award winning actors Adrien Brody and Penelope Cruz. Gravitas Ventures is licensing the film from Viva Pictures and it will be available On Demand through cable, satellite, telco and online providers in June 2011.
 
“We are thrilled that A Matador’s Mistress will be available nation-wide this summer so that film lovers will have the opportunity to appreciate the fine performances of Adrien Brody and Penelope Cruz” remarked Nolan Gallagher Founder and CEO of Gravitas Ventures.  “Video on Demand is increasingly allowing larger audiences the opportunity to enjoy wider access to well regarded independent films.”
 
A Matador’s Mistress tells the story of Manuel Rodriguez Sanchez (Adrien Brody) – famously known as “Manolete” – the most celebrated matador in Spain. Finding himself always on the road, Manolete spends his life between solitary hotel rooms and the arena. Despite his fame, Manolete is a quiet and reserved man – all of which changes when he meets Lupe Sino (Penelope Cruz), a beautiful and mysterious woman. Directed by Academy Award nominee Menno Meyjes (The Color Purple), the film tells the tale of a tragic romance between a man who flirts with death and a woman in love with life.

“We are confident that no one is better positioned to exploit this epic high-value production on a digital platform.  We look forward to not only this film getting released through Gravitas, but many more star driven films later this year.” Said Victor Elizalde, President Viva Pictures LLC.

Mack Chico

By

2011/02/21 at 12:00am

‘Unknown’ is #1 at the box office

02.21.2011 | By |

'Unknown' is #1 at the box office

Spanish director Jaume Collet-Serra’s new movie “Unknown,” an action thriller starring Liam Neeson conquered the box office this weekend. The film with Diane Kruger and January Jones, debuted in first place with $21.8 million.

In the film, Neeson plays a doctor on a trip to Berlin who wakes up from a taxi crash to discover that another man is living his life and his wife (January Jones) doesn’t recognize him. The police think he’s crazy and assassins are on his tail. His only ally in unraveling the mystery is a taxi driver (Diane Kruger).

In the movie, Neeson believes he is fighting for his identity, an issue that has become very real with the advent of computers. The actor said he fears the computer after having his information stolen in the past.

I Am Number Four” came in second place at the box office with $19.5 million.

In a close third is the animated feature “Gnomeo & Juliet” with a $19.4 million haul for three days. 

Meanwhile, the Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy “Just Go With It,” comes in fourth place. The film made $18.2 million in its second week in release, raising its domestic sum to $60.8 million.

Rounding out the top five is the weekend’s other new wide release is the Martin Lawrence’s comedy “Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son” with $17 million.

The following are three-day studio estimates:

1. Unknown — $21.8 mil
2. I Am Number Four — $19.5 mil
3. Gnomeo & Juliet — $19.4 mil
4. Just Go With It — $18.2 mil
5. Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son — $17.0 mil

Jack Rico

By

2011/02/17 at 12:00am

‘El méxicano’ Guillermo Del Toro to do ‘Pinocchio 3D’

02.17.2011 | By |

'El méxicano' Guillermo Del Toro to do 'Pinocchio 3D'

2011 seems to be the year of Hispanics in Hollywood. With so many new Spaniard and Latin American directors, actors and screenwriters getting play in Hollywood, it’s a good time to speak Spanish in the movie business.

One of the first, and perhaps most revered Mexican directors in the US movie space, Guillermo del Toro, is teaming up with The Jim Henson Company and Pathe to do a 3D stop motion animated adaptation of Pinocchio, according to Deadline.com.

Gris Grimly is set to co-direct with Mark Gustafson, and production will begin later this year.  The concept was conceived by Del Toro, but Matthew Robbins wrote the script.

According to the site, this new version of Pinocchio, made famous by Disney, is aimed at an audience 10 years and up, though it will be a bit scarier.

“There has to be darkness in any fairy tale or children’s narrative work, something the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson and Walt Disney understood,” del Toro said. “We tend to call something Disney-fied, but a lot of people forget how powerfully disturbing the best animated Disney movies are, including those kids being turned into donkeys in Pinocchio. What we’re trying to do is present a Pinocchio that is more faithful to the take that Colodi wrote. That is more surreal and slightly darker than what we’ve seen before.”

For instance: “the Blue Fairy is really a dead girl’s spirit,” del Toro said. “Pinocchio has strange moments of lucid dreaming bordering on hallucinations, with black rabbits. The sperm whale that swallows Pinocchio was actually a giant dogfish, which allows for more classical scale and design. The many mishaps Pinocchio goes through include several near-death close calls, a lot more harrowing moments. The key with this is not making any of it feel gratuitous, because the story is integrated with moments of comedy and beauty. He’s one of the great characters, whose purity and innocence allows him to survive in this bleak landscape of robbers and thugs, emerging from the darkness with his soul intact.”

This isn’t the only thing the gifted Mexican director/producer is working on. Del Toro is about to embark on a project with James Cameron called At the Mountains of Madness, the R-rated $125 million 3D live action adaptation of the HP Lovecraft tale about the discovery by scientists of horrific aliens thawing in Antarctica. The film has Tom Cruise as the star and Del Toro expects to start this by May.

Del Toro has long been a stop motion fan. “I’ve had a special effects house for a decade in Mexico, and we were one of the first stop motion animated houses where a lot of influential animators trained,” he said.

Here are some concept pictures from the new Pinocchio film that Del Toro submitted to the site.

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