Danger Girl by J Scott Campbell is the tale of a group of hot looking female super spies. When it first came out the comic, along with Joe Maduriea’s Battlechasers, was a big deal and prices went soaring until the bottom dropped out of the market.
It was a fun read with inspiration taken from numerous sources. Mind you Campbell could sure draw some nice looking ladies and weird looking bad guys so that always helped.
Now the comic could be heading to the big screen after being in development hell for a long time.
Producer Adrian Askarieh, who is also working on Kane and Lynch, Leonardo da Vinci and the Soldiers of Forever and Hack/Slash, spoke to the LA Times about the Danger Girl film.
I would describe it as “Kill Bill” meets “Raiders of the Lost Ark” with the “team” element of “Mission: Impossible.” I would say to the uninitiated that the book is a smart, hip, fun and beautifully drawn love letter to the best action/adventure movies of the last 30 years. It is the story of a lost girl who, through this incredibly kick-ass adventure, finds her destiny, comes of age and helps save the world. What’s interesting is that our director, Todd Lincoln, who will also be executive producer on the project, my producing partner on this, Daniel Alter and myself were all independently huge fans of the book. When the opportunity arose to do this together and to work closely with creator J. Scott Campbell, we couldn’t resist because of that “tip of the hat” sensibility the book so effectively embodies. It is truly an iconic property which for a while (before “Watchmen” and “300” were turned into movies) was the best known non-Marvel/DC comic book out there.
It sounds as if they are trying to distance themselves from the high camp of the recent Charlie’s Angels movies.
First of all, we are taking these characters very seriously; a kind of “Batman Begins” approach, if you will. Also, Todd has a very interesting aesthetic approach to this project, which will actually inform the tone of the storytelling and the movie as a whole. Without giving too much away, he wants to use the technology similar to that used in “Avatar” to bring Campbell’s characters and world to life and yet, at the same time, have the audience fully recognize and be emotionally invested in the actors playing those characters.
His approach, in both the look and the tone for “Danger Girl,” is what I call the anti-“Charlie’s Angels” and feels more like next-step progression from what I hear Zack Snyder is doing with “Sucker Punch,” visually speaking.
Now I don’t think he is saying it will be motion capture performances for the main characters, but rather a stylised 3D world, but you never know.
The kind of feel they are going for sits well with me.
Well, that was a very big part of the interest for myself, Daniel and Todd in doing this particular project. We miss the tone of movies like “Raiders” and “Goldfinger” and also love the ferocity of films such as “Kill Bill” and “300” and even “Kick-Ass,” which I have seen and absolutely love. Those movies were all serious and fun at the same time. For the audience, feeling the jeopardy for a character should not be mutually exclusive with having a fun ride with the movie itself. That’s exactly what we want to accomplish with “Danger Girl.” And as I said before, Todd’s unique vision for the way he wants to shoot and construct the movie takes all of that to the next level. He envisions a hyper-stylized, hyper-action action film, but with a heart and with characters you care about.
Danger Girl could translate to the big screen rather well. It would need a killer script though as it could fall into a great big pile of cheese.
The big question is who would you like to see play Abbey Chase and the rest of the Danger Girl team?
Been a while since there has been any movement on the new Heavy Metal sci-fi anthology animated movie. Now author Neal Asher (check out my interview with him) has some more info on who will be directing and writing the various sections for the film – some top directors involved. I wonder if Cameron’s would have any ties to the Avatar universe?
Pre-release Information – A $50 million budget 3D CG animated movie based on the magazine. This probably won’t have any stories from the first 1981 movie, however like the first one, it will feature around seven or eight different stories. Each segment will be directed by a different person. The title to this movie hasn’t been chosen yet. This current title is just a placeholder.
Main Crew:
Executive Producer – David Fincher and James Cameron
Producer – Kevin Eastman and Tim Miller
Director – David Fincher (1 segment)
Director – James Cameron (1 segment)
Director – Zack Snyder (1 segment, a story that Kevin Eastman wrote)
Director – Gore Verbinski (1 segment)
Director – Mark Osborne (1 segment, a comedy with Jack Black)
Director – Tim Miller (1 segment)
Director – Jeff Fowler (1 segment)
Director – Kevin Eastman (tentatively 1 segment)
Director – Guillermo del Toro (tentatively 1 segment)
Director – Rob Zombie (tentatively 1 segment)
Writer – Marc Laidlaw (1 segment)
Writer – Steve Niles (1 segment)
Writer – Joe Haldeman (1 segment)
Writer – Neal Asher (1 segment)
Writer – Kevin Eastman (1 segment, a story that Zack Snyder will direct)
? – Jack Black (a comedy segment that Mark Osborne will direct. No details on how he’s involved, but most likely will be an actor)
? – Jhonen Vasquez (no details on how he’s involved, but most likely will be a writer)
Which of the writers and directors excites you the most?
Acclaimed filmmaker Zack Snyder makes his animation debut with the fantasy family adventure “Guardians of Ga’Hoole,” based on the beloved books by Kathryn Lasky. The film follows Soren, a young owl enthralled by his father’s epic stories of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole, a mythic band of winged warriors who had fought a great battle to save all of owlkind from the evil Pure Ones. While Soren dreams of someday joining his heroes, his older brother, Kludd, scoffs at the notion, and yearns to hunt, fly and steal his father’s favor from his younger sibling. But Kludd’s jealousy has terrible consequences–causing both owlets to fall from their treetop home and right into the talons of the Pure Ones. Now it is up to Soren to make a daring escape with the help of other brave young owls. Together they soar across the sea and through the mist to find the Great Tree, home of the legendary Guardians of Ga’Hoole–Soren’s only hope of defeating the Pure Ones and saving the owl kingdoms.
Matthew Goode has been busy since starring as Ozymandias in Zack Snyder’s Watchmen. The 31 year old actor starred in A Single Man with Colin Firth that is loved by the critics, he’s about to be seen with Amy Adams in the romantic comedy Leap Year and he is also in Ricky Gervais’ Cemetery Junction.
It also turns out that he recently auditioned for the role of Bilbo Baggins in Guillermo del Toro’s adaption of The Hobbit. Something which the 6ft 2 actor found quite funny when speaking to The Telegraph.
Now he’s a father, Goode doesn’t even like travelling that much. But just before we met, he’d auditioned for the role of Bilbo Baggins in Guillermo del Toro’s two-part film of The Hobbit. As he is the first to admit, he’s not an obvious choice – ‘Look at the size of me for Christ’s sake!’ If he got the part, he would, he says, find it almost impossible to refuse – despite the fact that it would involve him spending several months in New Zealand.
No word on how he got on at the audition or who else has been looked at. Still wondering when we’ll get some more info on who’ll be in it and playing what. Also it is currently down for a 2011 release but that could be pushed back to 2012.
UPDATE: Warren Ellis kindly took the time to write in the comments that he would not be involved in this in any way. I think this could well be the feeling of many comic book professionals. END OF LINE
The always excellent Bleeding Cool have some worrying news. A Watchmen sequel might be in the works.
Back in the day DC Comics President Paul Levitz had stopped any Watchmen 2 projects. He felt that this would go against Watchmen creator’s Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons hopes for the story. This was quite cool of Levitz as Moore had a huge break-up with DC Comics and Paul Levitz.
Then things changed as things do and Paul Levitz left DC Comics. Dan DiDio, DC’s Senior Vice President, stepped in and decided to prove that Watchmen 2 is a viable project and something that can be done. He wants to do “multiple prequel comic miniseries and spinoff ongoing projects.”
Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons still have to be offered first refusal before any of these new titles could be published. They most likely won’t want to take on these jobs and it looks like DiDio has actually been looking for writers. If there are comics there could well be another film.
I say thee nay! Watchmen was a standalone classic and anything else is just going to get on people’s nerves. Mind you if they go prequel then that may not be so bad, especially if Grant Morrison or Warren Ellis were involved. Garth Ennis doing a Rorschach prequel could be great. I still think it stinks though.
Would you want some more Watchmen comics? Who would you want to write them and what characters would you want to see in it? Would you want other DC heroes to appear in the comics?
This is the first look at some footage for the adaption of the Andy Diggle and Jock comic book, The Losers. It is one of those EW teaser of a teaser trailer thing they do.
Directed by Sylvian White the film adaptation stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan (last seen in the comic book world as The Comedian in Zack Snyder’s Watchmen), Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Columbus Short, Holt McCallany, Oscar Jaenada, Jason Patric, and Peter Macdissi.
An explosive tale of double cross and revenge, “The Losers” centers upon the members of an elite U.S. Special Forces unit sent into the Bolivian jungle on a search and destroy mission. The team–Clay, Jensen, Roque, Pooch and Cougar–find themselves the target of a lethal betrayal instigated from inside by a powerful enemy known only as Max. Presumed dead, the group makes plans to even the score when they’re joined by the mysterious Aisha, a beautiful operative with her own agenda. Working together, they must remain deep undercover while tracking the heavily-guarded Max, a ruthless man bent on embroiling the world in a new high-tech global war.
Neill Blomkamp and Duncan Jones had great debuts with District 9 and Moon. Sam Rockwell acted his socks off in the latter. There was animated loveliness with Up, Ponyo, Fantastic Mr Fox and Coraline, but ugliness with Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Planet 51 and Monsters vs Aliens.
J J Abrams beamed new life into the excellent Star Trek.
There was old school horror in the shape of Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell and brilliant horror comedy in the wonderful Zombieland (it had the best cameo of the year). Dario Argento’s Giallo wasn’t sure if it was a horror or a comedy.
Comic book movies didn’t quite so well this year. X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Zack Snyder’s Watchmen – I enjoyed them both though despite their flaws.
War movies hit the big time again. Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker gave us an intense take on the war in Iraq and Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds changed history for the better. That’s a bingo!
There were toy and book adaption disappointments in the shape of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra and Twilight: New Moon raked in the cash despite not being very good. Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones had mixed reviews.
Joaquin Phoenix lost the plot or is playing the long con when he quit acting to become a rap star and James Franco started an artistic endeavour by appearing on General Hospital.
Both Dragonball Evolution and Streetfighter adaptions had poor finishing moves at the box office. Terminator Salvation brought us our first proper glimpse at Sam Worthington, but left many cold and Ben Foster chased through the darkness in Pandorum. The Stath did it again in Crank: High Voltage and blaxsploitation returned with Black Dynamite fighting The Man.
The Perfect Getaway had a few twists and turns from the norm and The Cove opened my eyes to the slaughter of dolphins.
Chaos reigned in Lars Von Triers’ Antichrist. Bruce Willis went plastic in Surrogates. Gerard Butler was a Gamer and a Law Abiding Citizen. George Clooney was Up in the Air after The Men Who Stare At Goats. The Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man and Colin Firth as A Single Man confused a few while Carey Mulligan had An Education that many adored, but left me disappointed. Johnny Depp and Christian Bale were Public Enemies and Viggo Mortenson began a long walk down The Road. Audrey Tautou showed us Coco avant Chanel.
Spike Jonze sailed to Where the Wild Things Are, Richard Kelly opened The Box and The Hangover gave a headache to no-one. Clint Eastwood made Invictus. Jeff Bridges had a Crazy Heart while Terry Gilliam and Heath Ledger took us to The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Nicolas Cage began a slow climb to redemption with the aid of his lucky crack pipe in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince brought us ever closer to the end.
An Orphan scared us, In the Loop made us laugh at the political shenanigans, Paranormal Activity scared us, (500) Days of Summer and Adventureland made us happy in a sad way, World’s Greatest Dad reminded us how good Robin Williams could be while Old Dogs reminded us how bad Robin Williams could be. sin Nombre and Thirst were two of the many excellent foreign language films released and Jim Jarmusch showed us The Limits of Control.
Behind all of these other films has been the rumbling spectre of James Cameron’s Avatar. All year it has been waiting and watching and only now are we about to see whether it was all worth it (current reviews seem to say this is a great big hell yes!)
So many films watched but so many more missed. The way it has always been and always will.
That does mean that there are still many wonderful moments to be watched or to take us by surprise when we turn the channel late one night and an unexpected film has just begun – often films you would never normally watch but you end up thoroughly enjoying….and I don’t mean a bit of blue for the Dads!
I suppose that is one of the great things about movies. You will never be able to watch them all and you wouldn’t want to. We don’t all watch the same ones yet that means we all have fresh takes on each others favourite films. They can bring us together or lead to intense arguments. Did Han did shoot first?
Most of all, for the 90 minutes or more they are on, a movie takes us away to another place. Not always a nice place, but it is a break from the real world no matter what. Bad, good or wonderful they are all groovy and bring us all together.
As for me I have had some wonderful moments related to film – I got to speak to Marion Cotillard, Johnny Depp, Duncan Jones and David Sullivan. The site moved over to WordPress and has been going from strength to strength since then – thanks to everyone for taking the time to stop by and have a look.
The Live for Films Movie Club began and is still going to help share cool movies you may have missed (thanks to those on the Forum for sorting all that out).
Live for Films researcher and reporter Pamela Fruendt went along to Tim Burton’s art exhibition at New Yorks Museum of Modern Art. Many people contributed reviews for favourite horror films during Halloween including author Michael Marshall Smith (he reviewed Halloween) and director Andrew Barker (he reviewed Blood Feast).
My Wife enjoyed getting parcels full of DVDs and Posters addressed to Live for Films and I just had a ball doing what I do and have been constantly surprised that so many people seem to dig what I dig, you dig?
For what it is worth my top 10 films of 2009 in no particular order and considering the fact I have yet to see such films as Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Up, The Road and many more are:
Moon
Zombieland
Star Trek
Watchmen
District 9
The Cove
Coraline
Drag Me to Hell
Public Enemies
Inglourious Basterds
What have been your highs and lows in films for 2009? What great films have I forgotten and what should I have watched? What films do you wish you have not watched and what film did you see many time? What surprised you? What made you laugh, cry or hurl?
Now we have 2010 to look forward to. Apparantly, according to Dave Bowman, it will be full of stars.
The Los Angeles Times have a great article about the forthcoming crop of films based on tales from Ancient Greece – The Clash of the Titans, Percy Jacksons and the Olympians to name but two.
They also spoke with Frank Miller about his follow-up feature to 300, the Zack Snyder-directed adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel about King Leonidas and his doomed army of Spartans. It was a huge success and since then there have been rumours of sequel and/or prequels.
Miller said the follow-up is now titled Xerxes, and is set about 10 years before the events of 300. “It’s the battle of Marathon through my lens,” Miller said Wednesday. “I’ve finished the plot and I’m getting started on the artwork.”
Miller said he is not surprised Greece is resurgent in Hollywood. “Every generation returns to ancient Greece because, well, the stories are so damn good,” said the artist, who also directed last year’s The Spirit.
Miller said that during his research trips to Greece he realized that the myth and history overlap begins to blur, which adds to the storytelling allure. “The fact and the myth are inseparable and, believe me, when you go sailing for a while in the Aegean Sea, you start believing in Poseidon.”
There you have it. Straight from the creator’s mouth. 300 prequel is good to go and sounds very interesting. Will Zack Snyder or Gerard Butler return? Do you want to see a prequel?
Sam Neill, Geoffrey Rush, Hugo Weaving and David Wenham will topline the voice cast of Animal Logic’s 3D animated feature, “Guardians of Ga’hoole,” according to Heat Vision.
The big-budget fantasy film, in production in Sydney and directed by Zack Snyder, also will feature the voices of Aussie actors Emily Barclay, Abbie Cornish, Emilie de Ravin, Ryan Kwanten and Jay Laga’aia, as well as English actors Miriam Margolyes, Helen Mirren and Jim Sturgess.
The animated film is an adaptation of the 14 book bestselling kids series by author Kathryn Lasky and illustrator Richard Cowdry and follows Soren, a young owl enthralled by his father’s epic stories of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole, a mythic band of winged warriors who had fought a great battle to save all of owlkind from the evil Pure Ones.
The film is due for release in Australia on 9th December next year.
This is the version of the film I have been waiting for. It has Tales of the Black Freighter added into the film making it even closer to the original graphic novel.
Warner Bros. will release the 5-disc DVD ($43.87) and 4-disc Blu-ray ($59.99) editions of Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut on 3rd November for a limited time with apparantly only 70,000 units being produced. However, I am sure they’ll end up making more.
DVD Details:
Disc 1:
• Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut Film (215 minutes)
• Audio Commentary with Zack Snyder and Dave Gibbons
Disc 2: Over 3 Hours of Special Features
• The Phenomenon: The Comic that Changed Comics
• Real Super Heroes, Real Vigilantes
• Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World
• Watchmen: Video Journals
• My Chemical Romance Desolation Row
• Under The Hood
• Story Within A Story: The Books of Watchmen
Disc 3: Digital Copy of the Theatrical Version
Disc 4 and 5: Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comics
Blu-Ray Details:
Disc 1:
• Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut Film
• Audio Commentary with Zack Snyder and Dave Gibbons
Disc 2: Over 3 Hours of Special Features
• The Phenomenon: The Comic that Changed Comics
• Real Super Heroes, Real Vigilantes
• Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World
• Watchmen: Video Journals
• My Chemical Romance Desolation Row
• Under The Hood
• Story Within A Story: The Books of Watchmen
Disc 3: Digital Copy of the Theatrical Version
Disc 4: Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comics
BD-Live
Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut, is out on 3rd November2009. Will you be buying it?
Danger Girl by J Scott Campbell is the tale of a group of hot looking female super spies. When it first came out the comic, along with Joe Maduriea’s Battlechasers, was a big deal and prices went soaring until the bottom dropped out of the market.
This is the version of the film I have been waiting for. It has Tales of the Black Freighter added into the film making it even closer to the original graphic novel.
Live for Films 