Variety (via /Film) have confirmed that Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) will star in Joe Carnahan’s thriller The Grey. Carnahan’s blockbuster adaptation A-Team, set to be released on June 11, also stars Cooper, so there is hopefully a promising director/actor relationship forming there. /Film reports The Grey’s synopsis as follows:
The story is about a group of Alaska pipeline workers who crash land while flying back into civilization after being remote for a few months. The survivors begin to be hunted by a pack of rogue wolves.
Carnahan co-wrote the film along with Ian Jeffers, with Ridley and Tony Scott’s Scott Free set to produce. Variety reports that the film is being made for $34 million,. With such limited information, I’m not ready to get overly-excited for this film, although the quick re-teaming of Carnahan and Cooper is certainly something worth noting.
Which upcoming Carnahan/Cooper film are you more excited for: The A-Team or The Grey?
As the recently lukewarm/disappointing The Taking of Pelham 123 fizzles further and further into the box office night, Fox continues to struggle to find a suitable budget for Scott’s next project, a runaway train thriller entitled Unstoppable, set to star Denzel Washinton and Chris “Captain Kirk” Pine, accoring to Variety.
Although it’s still set for a 2010 summer release, the film has yet to be green lit, and the the prices of Washington and Scott remain high while Pine’s has obviously shot up due to his deserved Star Trek success.
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is an unnecessary film that pales in comparison to the excellent 1974 film and yet it still manages to mildly entertain. Tony Scott delivers his usual shtick of overstylizing and placing characters in preposterously contrived situations, but here, he actually makes some of those aspects work.
The film follows Walter Garber, a subway dispatcher who’s average day turns bad after the hijacking of a subway train. The train has been taken under control by Ryder who has a pack of armed gun men with him. Garber soon makes contact with Ryder who puts up a ransom on the passengers. If Ryder doesn’t get the money he requests in an hours time he will soon kill one passenger by the minute. Garber must continue to buy more time as he keeps a cat and mouse game going with Ryder over a radio.
Getting to interview Duncan Jones for his upcoming film Moon was quite a joy. Last month I posted a part of that interview where he gave details on what Ridley Scott thought of Moon, the Blu-Ray release, the release of Clint Mansell’s beautiful score, and he also talked about his possible next science fiction film Mute. Jones showed me some beautiful concept art that Gavin Rothery did for Mute and he also showed me a short video that he previewed to Terry Gilliam, you can find my write up on that footage on the part of that interview. Here’s what else he had to say about his truly excellent film. Moon opens up in New York and Los Angeles on June 12th. Again, I still cant stress enough how great of a film it is and it must be seen in theaters.
So what was the experience of showing the film at Sundance like?
Duncan Jones: It was an incredibly nerve racking experience, because we had shown the film to about thirty people who were all involved with the film so no one else had really seen it. Then all of the sudden our first screening is in-front of thirteen-hundred people. My dad was there, my family was there, the cast and crew who there. It was terrifying (laughing). Sony Classics had been sniffing around the film, but hadn’t made any decisions about distributing the film. They basically wanted to see what the Sundance reaction was going to be. So it felt like everything was relying on this one screening. It was terrifying.
Tony Scott is out promoting his upcoming film The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 and he recently spoke to Rotten Tomatoes where he gave some updates on his planned remake of the cult classic The Warriors. Scott said, “I’m not doing a straight remake…I’m using the same basic story. It’s really still 10 guys stuck at point B and they need to get back to point A. But I’m going to set it in Los Angeles and it’s going to be a kind of study of gang culture in LA today.”
Collider recently caught up with Tony Scott at The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 junket where he confirmed that an Alien prequel is in motion. He also confirmed that commercial director Carl Rinsch will be directing. It was previously speculated that Ridley Scott was going to go back to do a prequel, but that is no longer the case.
You are entering the Back Stage. The following is a round-up of smaller film news around the web this week. These stories aren’t quite big enough to garner a full post, but worthy checking out.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt Cast in Christopher Nolan’s Inception [THR]
Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko, Southland Tales) has posted a new update on his blog, and gave a bunch of updates on his new film The Box:
* WB is releasing the film on October 30, 2009. The release date has been shuffling around a bit, but this is common with studios, and everyone feels like this is the best date for the film
* The film is completely finished. Principal photography was completed in March 2008, and it was officially delivered to WB right before Christmas 2008. A March 2009 release was briefly considered, but a Fall 2009 release was always a better fit.
* We shot in Massachusetts and Virginia. The film takes place predominantly in Virginia, 1976.
* The running time is 1 hour 55 minutes long including end credits.
* The film was digitally photographed using the Panavision Genesis camera. In my audio commentary on Tony Scott’s Domino, I mentioned that I would never shoot a 1970s period piece using a digital camera. My position on this changed when I saw David Fincher’s extraordinary Zodiac. It can be done.
* There is more than 300 visual effects shots, which required eight months of post-production. The digital work-flow of the Genesis was essential to completing these visual effects properly.
* Win Butler, Regine Chassagne (of Arcade Fire) and Owen Pallett (Final Fantasy, frequent collaborator with Arcade Fire) recorded more than 80 minutes of score for the film.
* Here is a list of artists whose songs appear in the film: GRATEFUL DEAD, DEREK & THE DOMINOS, WILSON PICKETT, THE MARSHALL TUCKER BAND, SCOTT WALKER
* The official website for the film is www.thebox-movie.com – it will unveil sometime this summer.
* This is my most personal film to date, and I’m very proud of how it turned out.
MySpace Trailer Park has debuted a new trailer for Tony Scott’s The Taking of Pelham 123 starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta. Check it out below or in HD on YouTube:
EW is reporting that Tony Scott’s (Domino) may have his next project set up after The Taking of Pelham 123, its called Unstoppable. Its being described as an action movie on a train, and if Scott can get a cast together quick enough then Unstoppable will be his next film. The story follows a rail company that tries frantically to stop an unmanned, half-mile-long runaway freight train carrying enough combustible liquids and poisonous gas to wipe out a nearby city. Scott is set to work with screenwriter Mark Bomback (Live Free or Die Hard, Race to Witch Mountain) to get the picture in shape to be shot later this year.
