It's Tuesday here at Hero Complex and we find ourselves muttering those sublime words penned by Walt Whitman (or was it Stan Lee?): "O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up — for you the flag is flung — for you the bugle trills..." We're pretty sure Whitman wasn't writing about Reb Brown (in photo, right) the former boxer and USC ballplayer who brought Captain America to life (sorta) on TV back in 1979. Who will will carry the shield next? That seems to be one everyone's mind...
...and there's no "Captain America" director or star attached yet (or at least not publicly) but there's plenty of eager discourse on the matter both here and here... [Film School Rejects and Screen Rant]
Hero Complex brought you an exclusive, in-depth piece yesterday on the future of Stan Winston Effects, the storied special-effects house founded by the late, great wizard of Hollywood. Now Gina McIntyre, who writes about horror for the H.C., brings us a chat with Greg Nicotero, another master of movie mayhem and the executive producer of a new documentary about the artistry of horror that airs tonight on Starz.
If your DVD library contains multiple copies of the "Evil Dead" films, this one's for you. The documentary “Starz Inside: Fantastic Flesh” features interviews with the makeup artists responsible for creating some of the most gruesome moments in horror cinema: Dick Smith, Tom Savini, Rick Baker, Rob Bottin and Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero of KNB EFX, the Van Nuys-based shop that, during its 20 years in business, has amassed a lengthy list of credits that includes “Army of Darkness,” “Kill Bill Vols. 1 and 2,” "Sin City," “Grindhouse” and “The Chronicles of Narnia” films, among others.
According to Nicotero, the idea was to showcase the history of great effects work, dating to the pioneering work of Jack Pierce in the 1930s -– he was the man who transformed Boris Karloff into Frankenstein’s monster. The hour-long documentary includes on-camera appearances not only from the effects mavens themselves, but also the writers, directors and actors responsible for landmark genre films. Nicotero describes the roster as a “who’s who of genre filmmaking” -- George Romero, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Joe Dante, Simon Pegg and Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.
Berkeley Breathed is putting his penguin on ice. The 51-year-old cartoonist said he will pull the plug on his comic-strip career and “Opus” after Nov. 2.
In an e-mail to the Los Angeles Times, the 51-year-old Breathed wrote, “30 years of cartooning to end. I’m destroying the village to save it. Opus would inevitably become a ranting mouthpiece in the coming wicked days, and I respect the other parts of him too much to see that happen. The Michael Moore part of me would kill the part of him that was important to his fans.”
"Opus," a 5-year-old Sunday comic with a madcap political bent, stars the pudgy penguin from Breathed’s classic “Bloom County” strip. It will end just before the presidential election.
It's Monday morning and we feel like we could smoke rings around Captain Marvel. The cover on the right is from one from the vault, a 1946 issue with a memorable C.C. Beck cover. The story inside is called "Captain Marvel Gets Promoted!" Yes, that's right, sailor, please address him as Rear Admiral Marvel from now on.
(Note: There's also a tidbit here about the "Green Lantern" film project, check after the jump.)
The creature creators at Stan Winston Studio specialize in Hollywood miracles -- they brought dinosaurs to life for "Jurassic Park" and turned metal men into movie history with "Iron Man" and "TheTerminator" -- but their next trick will be their toughest. The illustrious special-effects shop will try to hold on to its history even as it sheds its late founder's name and abandons his storied workshop.
Stan Winston, (at right) a four-time Oscar winner, died in June in Malibu at age 62 after a seven-year battle with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow. He was universally eulogized as one of the true wizards of Hollywood. "The entertainment industry has lost a genius," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said at the time, "and I lost one of my best friends." Steven Spielberg and James Cameron spoke at the funeral, and across Hollywood there was reflection on what made Winston and his shop so special. "He came to special effects from a background of acting, which informed everything," director Jon Favreau said. "It was always about performance, not just puppetry."
Winston became a brand name in Hollywood decades ago (he won his first Emmy in 1973) and his namesake studio in Van Nuys became an industry landmark with its collection of aliens, robots and magical beasties. But now, just months after his death, neither Winston's name nor his workshop will be part of the day-to-day life of the company he left behind. All the latex masks and robotic critters have been crated up or already moved to a new facility in San Fernando that is much more modern but also far less charming.
Stan Winston Studio will also give up the ghost by changing its name to Legacy Effects, a somewhat ironic moniker for a company that seems to be pushing away so much of its history. I recently dropped by Winston's maze-like old workshop, which sits on a gritty industrial stretch of Valjean Avenue in Van Nuys, and got a tour before most of its treasures were boxed up. Everywhere you looked there was movie history, both famous (there's a mottled, undead version of Tom Cruise from "Interview With the Vampire" standing in one corner) and nearly forgotten (it took me a long minute to recognize one of the robots from the 1981 Andy Kaufman movie "Heartbeeps" -- but that film did earn Winston his first Oscar nomination).
The real treasure of the company, though, is its talent, not its heirlooms. That's the main reason behind the name change. John Rosengrant, who started working with Winston on the set of "The Terminator" (1984), said that he and the three other partners who will lead the company forward all value the studio's towering tradition, but have decided it would be best to take a step out of its considerable shadow.
"This was not an easy decision," Rosengrant told me. "When Stan died we lost a friend, a mentor, a teacher, an inspiration -- the whole gamut. Everything he did and everything he represented, it's ingrained in us. It would be hard to do anything but 'the Stan way.' "
That's why no one was surprised when, in the days after the company's founder's death, one of Rosengrant's partners told Ain't it Cool News, the popular fanboy website, that the business would be renamed the Winston Effects Group. It seemed fitting and natural. But that name didn't stick for long. Instead, the partners informed the Winston family that they would rename the company. "We did receive the blessing of Stan's widow, Karen, but I'm sure there was mixed emotions for the family. I know there was mixed emotions for us."
NeilGaiman is on a nine-city book tour in support of his new tome, "TheGraveyardBook," and at each stop he is reading from a different chapter. Each reading is being recorded on video and posted at Gaiman's website so, if you enjoy the lilt of his south England accent, you can have him recite the whole tale for you.
On Monday (Oct. 6) he will be in Santa Monica at Lincoln Middle School at 1501 California Ave. at 7 p.m. in an event sponsored by Barnes & Noble. (Call 310-260-9110 for more details.) Gaiman will read the beginning of Chapter 7. For other dates on the tour, check here. Gaiman will not be signing books, but pre-signed copies will be on sale at the event.
I've seen the "Sandman" and "Stardust" scribe at the microphone before and, as you would suspect from his brilliant body of work, he's a sparkling speaker. Try to make it by if you can.
Roger Eberthas a quirky piece that popped up this week on his website. Turns out he went to see a special screening of "The Godfather" at Kinowerks in Chicago and ran into the Wachowski Brothers.
Kinowerks' post-production sound, editing and screening facilities are state-of-the-art. The screening room has big reclining chairs. Who walked in but Andy and Larry Wachowski and their S.O.s. They're zillionaires after the "Matrix" trilogy, but they looked like guys who had spent way too much time playing "Speed Racer" before making it into a movie. Nice people. Friendly. No Hollywood attitude. The blogosphere paints them as mysterious recluses, which may add to the legend but doesn't match the reality.
I'm guessing that Ebert never read Peter Wilkinson's 2006 article in Rolling Stone about Larry Wachowski, which adds considerably to the legend of "TheMatrix" mastermind. Anyway, there's no great revelation in the Ebert piece, it's just a casual encounter between some very passionate students of film. Here's a part with Larry waxing on about "2001: A Space Odyssey":
"I've always been fascinated by films that draw you visually into the picture," he said. "I first experienced that when I was taken as a kid to see Kubrick's '2001.' I told my dad, 'That black box is the key to everything! What do you think it means?' My dad said, 'Maybe it's the consciousness of God.' I went back and was even more deeply drawn into it."
He said if there was one film that inspired the visual look they were trying to create in the "Matrix" films, it was "2001." And digital technology allowed them to hold perfect focus as Willis had inspired them to do. His brother was still talking about "The Godfather" with JamesMcTeigue, also at the screening. He directed "V for Vendetta" (2005), which the brothers wrote and produced. It joined "The Matrix" in IMDb's list of the 250 top films of all time. The Wachowskis are producing McTeigue's "NinjaAssassin," now in post-production at Kinowerks.
"Yeah, we're resurrecting the 'Ninja' craze," Larry said.
I'd love to see the Wachowski brothers find some grand new epic tale to tell, something as complelling, stylish and unique as that first "Matrix" film. I'm guessing, though, that if that ever does happen it won't involve ninjas or the Mach Five.
-- Geoff Boucher
Photo: Anne Moss, Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski on the set of "The Matrix" in 1999 Credit: Jasin Bowland, courtesy of Warner Bros and Village Roadshow
Every month when the warehouse storage bill comes, I tell my wife that all those boxes of old comic books I'm keeping should be thought of as a great investment. And right on cue, she rolls her eyes and reminds me that all those boxes aren't worth anything unless I sell them.
Harrumph.
Well, now the Wall Street Journal, that bastion of investment culture, says I was actually ahead of the market curve all those years ago when I sealed my gorgeous copy of "Fantasic Four" No. 48 up inside a Mylar bag:
Mark Craddock, manager of Comic Book World, in Florence, Ky., says stock-market investors also are turning to superheroes. "There's kind of a buying frenzy" in vintage comic books, he says.
The "Silver Age Comic Book Pricing Index" of 32 frequently traded '60s comics, was up 14.2% in the 18 months ending in July, while the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index was down 11% in the same period. Mark Haspel, president of Certified Guaranty Co. in Sarasota, Fla., which grades comic books, often for investors, says it's on track to handle 200,000 books this year, up from 150,000 in 2007.
"Spiderman is going to be here in 20 years -- he's not going away," Mr. Haspel says.
That's an excerpt from an article by Jennifer Levitz on all the quirky investments that are gaining traction amid these bruising seasons on Wall Street. All of you deep-pocket corporations looking for a place to put your money, I have a full run of "West Coast Avengers" taking up waaaay too much space, it's yours if the money is right.
Harrison Ford said Friday that momentum is building for a fifth movie in the "Indiana Jones" franchise and that George Lucas is already cooking up a suitable plot for a heroic senior citizen with a penchant for whips and fedoras.
"It's crazy but great," the 66-year-old Ford said. "George is in think mode right now."
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" grossed $318 million in the U.S. alone and $770 million worldwide and is expected to be powerhouse seller on DVD and Blu-Ray when it arrives in stores Oct. 14. It was a film that many people in Hollywood assumed would never be made considering the difficulty in finding the right time and the right script to reunite Ford, Lucas and franchise director Steven Spielberg after the 1989 hit "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."
Now, though, the latest success and the fact that the franchise's old machinery was revived has Ford thinking a fifth movie is not only a viable idea, but an attractive one.
"It's automatic, really, we did well with the last one and with that having done well and been a positive experience, it's not surprising that some people want to do it again," Ford said.
I asked Ford who specifically is stirring up the idea of another revival, whether it was Lucas, Spielberg or the star himself? "Really, it comes from the ethos, from the ether. It's natural. It's a way of nature, of course, success breed opportunities ... also we don't stay as closely in contact as have in the last year, that's part of it."
We all wanted to be superheroes when we grew up. The closest I got? Well, I am a mild-mannered reporter working for a great metropolitan newspaper ... I've always been more Kent than Kal-El.
Anyway, now there's a website called MakeMeSuper and, well, it could more precisely be called MakeMeRidiculous. And that's just what I did, with this photo right here as evidence. At the site, with a few very easy steps (and for free) you can slap your own face atop the shoulders of a male or female superhero. You get your own two-minute music video with a customized theme song and a few giggles. You can also e-mail the finished product to your friends, family and arch-enemies. I sent a version of my heroic video to my wife and now, well, I'm just sitting back waiting for her to call and tell me how marvelous I look. She should be calling any minute. Hmmm. It's been a while now. She must be watching it over and over and over.
Anyway If you're truly obsessed with your glorious image in tights, you can even purchase a personalized coffee mug, mouse pad or deck of cards. Is this a great country or what?
The site is the handiwork of EVB San Francisco, known for the similar viral "Elf Yourself" campaign for Office Max. They have done the "Make Me Super" site for KODAK Gallery.
SPOILER ALERT: If you don't want to know anything about "Watchmen" before you go see it next March, don't read this post.
I saw about 20 minutes of footage from the "unfilmable" film on Wednesday and I'm very happy to report that Zack Snyder has a found a way to make "Watchmen" truly watchable.
The most pressing question in all of the fanboy universe right now is whether Snyder's adaptation of the landmark 1986 comics epic "Watchmen" will deliver a classic finally realized or a merely bad idea pursued too long. Alan Moore, who wrote the original graphic novel, has been steadfast in mocking the basic notion of making a movie out of his sprawling, layered and uniquely structured tale and, to be sure, the story uses many devices (such as a secondary story presented as a book-within-a-book) that defy translation in any mainstream film, but does that mean that the core story of the graphic novel itself cannot be taken to the screen in an artistically and commercially viable film?
The true answer to that question will come in March with the release of the film. But I can tell you that, judging by the footage I saw on Wednesday, Snyder has approached the source material so deftly and with such acute understanding, that this adaptation is absolutely a worthwhile endeavor.
Snyder, who as a public speaker is enthusiastic and charmingly scattered, chatted a bit before the screening and in the small room of journalists, Hollywood types and selected fan press, you could sense a real surge of excitement when the lights dimmed.
For so many people (myself included), the first "Watchmen" reading experience all those years ago was a pivot-point in our pop-culture lives and, for better or worse, seeing it come to life on a screen is a stirring occasion.
Yesterday, Variety reported on the CW's development of "The Graysons," a new series about the life of Dick "DJ" Grayson in the days before he became Batman's sidekick, Robin.
The series will be executive-produced by "Smallville" showrunners Brian Peterson and Kelly Souders and "Terminator: Salvation" director, McG. According to the article, it will deal with DJ Grayson's first loves and rivals and the network sees it as a potential replacement for "Smallville," which followed the life of Clark Kent before he adopted the Superman persona.
While it's wrong to write off a series before the pilot has even been shot, I can't help but harbor my doubts about its premise. In all my years of reading Batman comics, I've never been interested in Dick Grayson's life before his parents died and Bruce Wayne became his mentor. It would be like looking at Bruce Wayne's childhood before his parents were killed. What's the point? He's just another kid.
"Smallville" was different, because even though Clark wasn't wearing the big red-and-blue Superman suit in his teenage years, he was still an alien from the planet Krypton with super powers. Even Bruce Wayne in his years spent in training would be interesting to see (as Christopher Nolan proved in the opening scenes of "Batman Begins"). But Robin is barely interesting as a sidekick, let alone a sidekick without the hero.
Sidekicks have had their own series before. Hawkeye's buddy Trapper John went from "M*A*S*H" to "Trapper John M.D.," Rhoda broke out from "Mary Tyler Moore" to get her own show and without "Cheers" there would be no "Frasier." But the essential difference between those shows and this one is that we followed the sidekicks we'd learned to love, we didn't see them before they got interesting. Who really wants to see Frasier in his married life to Lilith? Or Dr. Watson during his army years, before he met up with Sherlock Holmes? Or Tonto when he was just a brave?*
"Star Wars" fans still seem upset by the realization that Anakin Skywalker wasn't nearly as interesting a character as Darth Vader. Did they really expect otherwise? And with all due respect to the success of "Smallville," is it possible that their premise, however well-intentioned, is fundamentally flawed?
Chris Lee writes about Hollywood and pop culture for the Los Angeles Times and, through the years, he has spent a ludicrous amount of money on sneakers. He just sent over this post on some heroic new shoes.
It was as inevitable as the Hulk and Iron Man winding up in a MarvelStudios-produced movie together: that comic book geeks and athletic footwear fetishists known as “sneakerheads” would one day bond over shared cultural arcana.
This week marks the release of a trio of limited edition DC Super Hero Shoes, available at Limited Soles courtesy of sneaker purveyor ACI International. The cost: $110 a pop, each shoe’s look copped from the chunky-soled styling of Nike’s iconic Air Force 1 basketball shoe.
Respectively commemorating Batman, the Joker and Superman, the collectors’ edition kicks are a vibrantly-hued, small batch affair you’re not going to find at your local Foot Locker.
ACI International produced only 1,938 pairs of the Superman shoe (in homage to the year the Man of Steel’s debut issue was released), 1,939 of the Batman and 1,940 of the Joker’s model –- each individually numbered and encased in the kind of custom packaging that sneaker snobs make a primary talking point.
As well, each pair comes kitted-out with enough comic-specific details to make fanboys swoon: the words “BRUCE” and “WAYNE” on the heels of the Batman shoe, an embossed silhouette of Metropolis (with the obligatory Daily Planet logo) on the heel basket of the Kryptonian model and a purple caricature of the Joker on the tongue of the criminal clown’s shoe.
Of course Adidas beat ACI International to the fanboy punch earlier this year, releasing Hellboy-themed limited edition sneakers tied to the release of director Guillermo del Toro’s “Hellboy: The Golden Army” in June. Working in conjunction with the movie distributor Universal, Dark Horse Comics and original Hellboy comic book artist Mike Mignola, Adidas Originals produced two comic-inspired sneakers: the Forum Mid-Golden Army (which boasted an image of actor Ron Perlman as the demonic anti-hero on its outsole) and the Stan Mid-Hellboy (which came with a mini-comic, three extra footbeds and something called “lace jewels”).
And back in April, the custom designer Flawless Victory reworked a pair of Nike Vandals with images of Spider-Man’s nemesis Venom. “The disgusting details of Venom including his sharp teeth and overabundance of saliva show the designer’s skill with small touches,” noted the blog myairshoes.com.
David Strick's Hollywood Backlot has some great new galleries featuring shots from the set of "Dexter" and "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles." If you haven't checked out Strick's impressive archive of stars and filmmakers photographed as they work, it's well worth a visit.
Thor is a Norse god, so I always liked to imagine that he talked like a big, bellowing version of the Swedish Chef, but in Marvel Comics, of course, the God of Thunder has always sounded more like a Shakespearean actor portraying one of the brawnier members of the Danish court from "Hamlet."
Maybe that turned out to be a selling point; Marvel Studios is now trying to lock in (or, according to some sources, already has locked in) Kenneth Branagh to direct a film adaptation of Thor's comics tale. Variety has a story about "negoitations" being underway but I doubt that Marvel Studios, still a very young and reputation-sensitive enterprise, would let this news out to circulate unless it was close to inking the deal.
I think it's a great choice if does happen. I think "Dead Again," "Hamlet" and "Frankenstein" proved the Shakespearean veteran to be a natural storyteller and one with a flair for keeping characters vivid and believable in the midst of sweeping tales.
Plenty of television comedy stars have hung with Spider-Man, but Stephen Colbert may be the first to swing with him.
Colbert, the master parodist of Comedy Central, shares an eight-page adventure with the world-famous web-slinger in issue No. 573 of "The Amazing Spider-Man," on sale Oct. 15. The folks at Marvel sent over a page from the story and while I can't quite tell what's going on, it's pretty clear that Colbert actually takes to the rooftops of Manhattan with the arachnid hero.
Colbert and his name have been popping up a lot in Marvel pages lately (perhaps too much, actually), following the January announcement by the company's editor-in-chief Joe Quesada that Colbert's faux campaign for president in our world would be mirrored by a genuine bid for the White House within the Marvel universe. The references have been scattered in different issues (a cameo here, a campaign poster there, some T-shirts, etc.) but nothing quite as dramatic as this.
Marvel has always been open to daffy gimmicks like this -- hey this is the company built by Stan Lee, after all.
For instance, 30 years ago, "Saturday Night Live" was all the rage so, in the October 1978 issue of "Marvel Team-Up," Spider-Man met up with John Belushi and six other Not Ready for Prime-Time Players (Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Bill Murray, Laraine Newman and Gilda Radner) for a deliriously cheesy adventure. On the cover, Belushi is in samurai mode, but he looks vaguely like Anne Ramsey from "Throw Momma from the Train."
The "plot" has Peter Parker attending an "SNL" broadcast on the same night the evil Silver Samurai comes looking for a ring of great value that has accidentally ended up in the possession of Belushi (yes, that's right, he's basically Ringo Starr in "Help!").
The best moments in the story: Morris dressed up as Thor and the late Radner wondering to herself at one point, "Hm, what's that noise from Belushi's dressing room?" And I'm guessing that on most Saturday nights on the real set, that was a loaded question...
Here's your chance to get the latest scoop on the "Iron Man" sequel straight from director Jon Favreau or, if you prefer, this is a golden opportunity to spook him with your encyclopedic knowledge of his screen work in "Swingers" and "Rudy."
Either way, the filmmaker who brought you the summer's most fun super-hero movie (as well as the sublime "Elf" and the grieviously underrated "Zathura") will join us here for a live chat on Wednesday (Oct. 1), the day after the release of "Iron Man" on DVD from Paramount Home Entertainment. The chat will start at 11 a.m.local time here in Los Angeles.
If you can't join us Tuesday, feel free to post a question here in the comments section and we'll try to ask some from there as well.
-- Geoff Boucher
April 2008 photo of Jon Favreau by Ringo H. W. Chu\Los Angeles Times
Bill Murray has been a groundskeeper, a businessman in Tokyo, and a ghostbuster (and will be one again), but now he's campaigning for a new role: mayor. In "City of Ember," Bill plays the mayor of an underground city, a character who's funny and out for himself. The Oscar nominee has been out promoting the film and recently made a surprise visit to the the Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, to the delight of fans.
The marketing folks behind "City of Ember" earlier transported some of the press to Comic-Con on a train, actually the Tioga Pass, a 1950s former Canadian National "presidents car" and the Overland Trail, a 1940s former Southern Pacific club lounge car (with barbershop -- thanks Conductor Bill). It was very cool. This time, they've hatched a site and video touting the ex-'SNL'er as the right candidate to lead the city against the darkness. It seems to fit in with this politically-charged environment.
Growing up, Geoff Boucher always wanted to be a mild-mannered reporter working for a major metropolitan newspaper....or maybe a wookiee. He came to the Los Angeles Times in 1991 and, after years covering crime and local politics, he switched to the Hollywood beat covering film and music. Now he's the paper's go-to geek.
Also contributing:
The Legion of Super-Bloggers here at the Hero Complex includes Jevon Phillips, a Times staffer who specializes in our favorite television shows, especially "Heroes" and the frakking brilliant "Battlestar Galactica;" Denise Martin, another Times staffer, who has an undying passion for "Twlight" and anyone ever enrolled at Hogwarts; Gina McIntyre, a Times editor who learned her craft by watching too many slasher films; and Christie St. Martin from Funny Pages 2.0, who was recently voted geek queen of the Internet. Congrats Christie!
It's Tuesday here at Hero Complex and we find ourselves muttering those sublime words penned by Walt Whitman (or was it Stan Lee?): "O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; Rise up — for you the flag is flung — for you the bugle trills..." We're pretty sure Whitman wasn't writing about Reb Brown (in photo, right) the former boxer and USC ballplayer who brought Captain America to life (sorta) on TV back in 1979. Who will will carry the shield next? That seems to be one everyone's mind ...
Neil Gaiman
The series will be executive-produced by "Smallville" showrunners Brian Peterson and Kelly Souders and "Terminator: Salvation" director, McG. According to the article, it will deal with DJ Grayson's first loves and rivals and the network sees it as a potential replacement for "Smallville," which followed the life of Clark Kent before he adopted the Superman persona.
