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Archive for July, 2008The Dark Knight Movie PhotosThursday, July 31st, 2008The Dark KnightThursday, July 31st, 2008
THE DARK KNIGHT Director: Christopher Nolan CAST: Christian Bale … Bruce Wayne / Batman SYNOPSIS: The follow-up to the action hit “Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight” reunites director Christopher Nolan and star Christian Bale, who reprises the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in his continuing war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to destroy organized crime in Gotham for good. The triumvirate proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a rising criminal mastermind known as the Joker, who thrusts Gotham into anarchy and forces the Dark Knight ever closer to crossing the fine line between hero and vigilante. Academy Award nominee Heath Ledger (”Brokeback Mountain”) stars as arch-villain The Joker, and Aaron Eckhart plays District Attorney Harvey Dent. Maggie Gyllenhaal joins the cast in the role of Rachel Dawes. Returning from “Batman Begins” are Gary Oldman as Lieutenant Jim Gordon; Oscar winner Michael Caine (”The Cider House Rules”) as Alfred; and Oscar winner Morgan Freeman (”Million Dollar Baby”) as Lucius Fox. Warner Bros. Pictures presents, in association with Legendary Pictures, a Syncopy Production, a Christopher Nolan film, “The Dark Knight.” Nolan directed the film from a screenplay written by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer. Charles Roven, Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan are the producers, with Benjamin Melniker, Michael E. Uslan, Kevin De La Noy and Thomas Tull serving as executive producers. “The Dark Knight” is based upon characters appearing in comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by Bob Kane. TRIVIA: Matt Damon was Christopher Nolan’s first choice for the role of Harvey Dent but turned it down. Before Aaron Eckhart was cast in the part, other actors considered included Hugh Jackman, Ryan Phillippe, Liev Schreiber and Josh Lucas. As a joke, one bat suit was made with nipples, as in Batman & Robin (1997). It was presented to Christian Bale as the real bat suit, but he knew instantly it was a joke, having seen a few design pictures during preproduction. He did pose for some publicity photos in the “nipple” suit. This is the first Batman film to not have “Batman” in the title. There are many references in the film to the seminal Frank Miller mid-80s comic, “The Dark Knight Returns,” which many credit with reviving Batman as a character with a darker tone. For example: the title itself; the chorus provided by the talking heads on TV discussing whether Batman is a menace; the recurring idea that Batman and the Joker are mirrors of each other; the Batman imitators who dress up to fight crime; and a specific incident and line of dialogue: the cop who is grabbed by a prisoner (in the comics, the Mutant Leader, in the movie, the Joker) and shouts “It’s my own damn fault,” as he urges the other cops to shoot. Similarly, the idea that Jim Gordon is the only honest cop in a corrupt force is developed in Frank Miller’s “Batman: Year One” which provided much of the inspiration for the tone and plot of Batman Begins (2005). Christopher Nolan has a son named Rory, for whom the working title of the film (”Rory’s First Kiss”) was named. Robin Williams, Lachy Hulme, Paul Bettany, and Adrien Brody all expressed interest for the role of the Joker before Heath Ledger was cast. When asked, “Why Heath Ledger as the Joker?” Christopher Nolan said, “Because he’s fearless.” Dwight Yoakam turned down two roles in this movie. Originally he was offered the part of a cop; then he was offered to play a banker who had dealings with the Joker (Heath Ledger). Yoakam passed on both roles because he was working on a Buck Owens tribute album. Turning down a salary estimated at between $1 million and $2 million (an increase over the roughly $1 million she was believed to have earned for Batman Begins (2005)) Katie Holmes chose not to reprise her role as Rachel Dawes. This was due to what was described as ’scheduling conflicts’. Before Maggie Gyllenhaal replaced Katie Holmes in the role of Rachel Dawes, both Rachel McAdams and Emily Blunt were rumored for the part. While filming on the streets of Chicago in April 2007, the filming was carried out under the fake movie title “Rory’s First Kiss”. Fliers regarding the filming carried this fake title, complete with a fake “RFK” logo for the movie and an address for the film’s production offices. One of the extra’s military uniforms has the name “Philo” on it, after the film’s extras casting director, Joan Philo. On Thanksgiving weekend, 2007, fake four-page tabloid-size “Gotham Times” newspapers were distributed at various public events. Headlined “City at War - Batman Saves Entire Family”, every article teased events in the film, and everything in the handout was geared toward the film, including the weather (”Gloomy and overcast…”) and advertisements for Gotham National Bank, the Gotham Girl Guides and recruitment for the Gotham Police Department. To prepare for his role as the Joker, Heath Ledger lived alone in a hotel room for a month, formulating the character’s psychology, posture and voice (the last one he found most difficult to do). He started a diary, in which he wrote the Joker’s thoughts and feelings to guide himself during his performance. He was also given Alan Moore’s comic “Batman: The Killing Joke” and “Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth” to read. Ledger also took inspiration from A Clockwork Orange (1971)’s Alex and Sid Vicious. Director Christopher Nolan and co-writers Jonathan Nolan and David S. Goyer decided not to explore the origins of the Joker in order to portray the character as “absolute.” Christopher Nolan cites the film Heat (1995) as a major influence on this movie. William Fichtner played in Heat and in the scene in The Dark Knight that was obviously inspired by Heat. Christopher Nolan shot part of the film in the IMAX format. Nolan had wanted to shoot in IMAX for 15 years, and even now wishes he could have shot the entire film in IMAX, as he felt “if you could take an IMAX camera to Mt. Everest or outer space, you could use it in a feature movie.” Nolan shot in IMAX four major action sequences and quiet dramatic scenes which he thought would be visually fascinating. Off-duty Chicago Police Officers along with Officers from Elyria OH, Hammond IN, Buffalo Grove IL and Joliet IL played Gotham Police officer extras. Elaborate, interactive marketing campaigns were launched in the months leading up to the release of this film. One of these was an event at the 2007 San Diego Comic-con called “Why So Serious”, which involved fans following clues hidden around the city. The legions of Joker-painted fans ended up congregating in the street across from the convention center, where one of their numbers was welcomed into a black Escalade (with Gotham license plates) that had just pulled up. After a moment the fan started screaming and the SUV sped away. Later that day, a “Gotham City newspaper” was circulated reporting that a man believed to be the Joker was found beaten to death. Included were “crime scene photos” of the fan who had gotten into the Escalade, and a mention that he was found with a playing card in his hand, on which was scribbled “See you in December.” The Gotham license plates are modeled directly off of those of the state of Illinois. Heath Ledger’s sudden death on January 22, 2008 prompted immediate speculation as to the state of this film. Late the same day, Warner Bros. released a statement declaring that Ledger had completed all his scenes and post-production work, thus making the Joker the actor’s final completed appearance in a film. While in the nurse uniform, The Joker’s name badge says Matilda. This is the name of Heath Ledger’s daughter. It’s Sir Michael Caine’s opinion that Heath Ledger beat the odds and topped Jack Nicholson’s Joker from Batman (1989): “Jack was like a clown figure, benign but wicked, maybe a killer old uncle. He could be funny and make you laugh. Heath’s gone in a completely different direction to Jack, he’s like a really scary psychopath. He’s a lovely guy and his Joker is going to be a hell of a revelation in this picture.” Caine bases this belief on a scene where the Joker pays a visit to Bruce Wayne’s penthouse. He’d never met Ledger before, so when Ledger arrived and performed he gave Caine such a fright he forgot his lines. Aaron Eckhart described his portrayal of Harvey Dent as simultaneously coming from and being apart from the same world as Batman (Dent is the white knight of Gotham, as opposed to the Dark Knight). His challenge was “looking for the similarities and the tension between the two; to find what’s similar to Batman and then what’s opposite to him.” Eckhart prepared for his role by studying split personalities. Bruce Wayne develops and wears a new Batsuit in the film. This Batsuit was an improvement on the outfit from Batman Begins (2005), and made Christian Bale more comfortable and agile in his performance. It was constructed from 200 unique pieces of rubber, fibreglass, metallic mesh, and nylon (producing an impression of sophisticated technology), with elastic banding added for tightening the costume to fit Bale. The gauntlets had their razors made retractable and able to be fired. The suit’s cowl was based on a motorcycle helmet and separated from the neck piece, allowing Bale to move his head left/right/up/down, and comes equipped with white eye lenses for when Batman turns on Bat-sonar. The Joker make-up was composed of three pieces of stamped silicone, which took less than an hour to apply to Heath Ledger on each day of shooting. Ledger described it as “new technology which is much quicker to apply than regular prosthetics”; he felt he was not wearing any make-up at all. Costume designer Lindy Hemming based the Joker’s look around his personality, in which “he doesn’t care about himself at all.” Hemming was inspired by countercultural pop culture artists like Pete Doherty, Iggy Pop, and Sid Vicious. She avoided his design being vagrant, but made it scruffier and grungier, therefore making his movements slightly twitchier and edgier. An explosion was filmed at the Battersea Power Station in London. The fireball created calls from panic-stricken local residents, who assumed a terrorist attack had occurred at the out-of-use Station. Nestor Carbonell who plays the Mayor in The Dark Knight coincidentally also played “Bat Manuel”, a parody of Batman, in the comic-based live action “The Tick” (2001) TV series. The Batman Comic Books “The Long Halloween”, “The Killing Joke”, “The Man Who Laughs” and the first two comics to feature the Joker character served as an influence on the film’s storyline. Jerry Robinson, one of the original creators of the Joker back in 1940, was hired as a consultant on the film (the Joker is to be portrayed according to his first two appearances in the comics, which Robinson was involved in). His “Batman” co-creator Bob Kane had earlier been hired as a consultant for Batman (1989). David S. Goyer and Christopher Nolan collaborated on the story of the film. The script itself was written by Nolan and his brother Jonathon. After watching The Dark Knight, Goyer stated “I can’t believe my name is on a movie this good”. Aaron Eckhart enjoyed wearing the Two-Face makeup and warned: “When you look at him, you should get sick to your stomach. It’s like you would feel if you met someone whose face had pretty much been ripped off or burned off with acid. There are fans on the Internet who have drawn versions of what they think it looks like, and I can tell you this: They’re thinking small. Chris has gone way farther than people think.” The “Batman” theme is heard only twice in the film, as Composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard decided that a heroic theme that a viewer could hum would ignore the complexity and darkness of the character. Hearing the tune only twice would create what Zimmer calls “a musical foreshadowing.” Composer James Newton Howard composed an elegant and beautiful score for Harvey Dent, which would serve as a jarring contrast to Two-Face’s persona. The actor who plays the older gentleman that confronts the Joker at the party thrown by Bruce Wayne for Harvey Dent is Vermont senior senator Patrick Leahy. Mr. Leahy is a huge Batman fan and arranged an early showing of the movie on July 12th as a fund-raiser for the children’s section of the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in Montpelier, Vermont, the state’s capital. He has also appeared in Batman & Robin (1997) and on an episode of “Batman” (1992). Had the biggest three-day opening weekend of all time with $158 million beating Spider-Man 3 (2007). Set a new record for the biggest opening-day gross at the box office with $66.4 million. Former record holder was Spider-Man 3 (2007). Set a weekend box-office record for IMAX venues with $6.2 mil. Former record holder was Spider-Man 3 (2007). Set a new mark for money earned in midnight showings when it grossed $18.5 million. Former record holder was Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005). Holds the record for reaching the $200 million mark the fastest, after only 5 days. Holds the record for reaching the $300 million mark the fastest, after only 10 days. Former record holder was Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006). The film was delivered to some theaters under the name “Oliver’s Army”. While filming both the bank and Police Department scenes at the Post Office, an unrelated fire broke out in a top floor mechanical room and many onlookers believed that the smoke and fire was related to the filming. Just as it was when filming Batman Begins (2005), director Christopher Nolan oversaw every shot himself as there was no second unit. Made more money than Batman Begins (2005) entire domestic run in only 6 days of release. Cameo: [Stuntman Buster Reeves] Christian Bale’s main stunt double plays the ONLY non-masked Joker thug. He appears in the trailer of the Joker’s semi-truck, as he hands The Joker his weapons as he fires them at the Police transport. He then rides in the passenger seat of the cab of the truck as The Joker drives. The nine-minute suite composed for the Joker is based around two notes, D and C. Interestingly enough, Batman’s comic book company (who also produces the film) is DC Comics. The Mummy Returns Movie PhotosWednesday, July 30th, 2008The Mummy ReturnsWednesday, July 30th, 2008
THE MUMMY RETURNS Director: Stephen Sommers CAST: Brendan Fraser… Richard ‘Rick’ O’Connell SYNOPSIS: Set in 1933, 8 years after the events of the first film, Rick O’Connell (Fraser) and Evelyn (Weisz), are now married and living in London, where they are raising their son Alex. In the British Museum nearby, the corpse of Imhotep (Vosloo) is resurrected by a cult led by the reincarnation of his lover, Anck-Su-Namun (Velazquez). To fulfill his goal of immortality and world domination, Imhotep seeks to resurrect and slay the Scorpion King (Johnson) to gain control of his undefeatable army. Imhotep needs the bracelet of Anubis to locate and raise the Scorpion King, and unfortunately for Rick and Evelyn, Alex has put on the bracelet and can’t take it off. He’s kidnapped by Imhotep, and race is on to rescue him and prevent both Imhotep and the Scorpion King from taking over the world. TRIVIA: Additional cliffs had to be digitally added to the “Tidal Wave” scene in order to mask hundreds of spectators watching the production. The building used for the outside of the British Museum is not the real British Museum; it’s University College London. The Museum was unavailable as it was undergoing external reconstruction and was covered in scaffolding. The interiors of the O’Connells’ house were filmed in the Shepperton Studios offices used by Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. This film was the first time London’s Tower Bridge was ever closed for filming, for to do so is like closing the 405 freeway in Los Angeles. They were allowed to close it for 20 minutes at a time, but the resulting traffic jam after the first time brought threats of arrest from Scotland Yard and a reduced closing time of 10 minutes. Alex knocks over the columns in the same way his mother knocked over the bookcases in The Mummy (1999). When Alex (Freddie Boath) is reading from the Book of the Dead, he has trouble translating a hieroglyph of a stork. His Uncle Jonathan (’John Hannah’ ) reminds Alex what the symbol means. In The Mummy (1999), Jonathan needed help from Evie translating the same symbol. The dialog is almost exactly the same as the first film, and in both movies, the person helping the translator with the last word, is fighting with Anck-su-namun while they speak (Evie in the first film, and Jonathan in the second). Despite fighting his character (The Scorpion King) in the finale, at the time of release Brendan Fraser had not met The Rock ‘Dwayne Johnson’ . The title does not appear at the beginning of this film. The title finally is given at the end of the picture, after the headlining credits but before main credits roll. The character Izzy is named after director Stephen Sommers’ dog. The voice of the Scorpion King, at the end of the film, was dubbed by Brazilian rock singer Max Cavalera. Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr) is the only person in the film who refers to Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) as “the Creature”. Rachel Weisz’s character Nerfertiri was originally called Nefertiti but the producers felt that people would make “boob” jokes about the name so it was changed to that of another Egyptian queen. The battle sequence in the O’Connell manor was originally supposed to be set in a casino owned by Jonathan, but budget constraints meant that a house was substituted. Brendan Fraser wanted the O’Connell family to live in an apartment, but they ended up living in a house so that it could be used for the big battle scene (see above). The house used as the O’Connells’ mansion appeared as part of the library in the The Mummy (1999). When Evelyn is first seen brushing off a wall, the figures on the wall behind her are of two females fighting with sais. This is a depiction of her as Nefertiri fighting Anck Su Namun in front of the Pharaoh. The O’Connell’s mansion was the same mansion used for filming in The Omen (1976) ‘Dwayne Johnson’ ’s only spoken lines are in Ancient Egyptian Loosely translated, ‘Dwayne Johnson’ ’s line “Haku Machente” means “It’s hot as hell.” In the scene where they enter the room full of gold, one of the statues in the back of the room is a life-sized Oscar statue that is partially obscured by other items. This sequel was greenlit by Universal the morning after The Mummy (1999) opened in May 1999. The designs on Anuk Su Namun’s sleeves on her dress look exactly like her body paint in her previous life. In the original script, when Rick asks Izzy, “Where’s your airplane?” Izzy responds that he lost it in a poker game. The two men guarding the Bracelet of Anubis in Evy’s vision in the tomb are brothers in real life. The hand prints in the train’s bathroom are from Director Stephen Sommers’s hands. In order to keep his smooth hairless look, Arnold Vosloo had his entire body shaved twice a day. Originally, he tried waxing but couldn’t stand the pain. When the O’Connells run out of the museum after Rick rescues Evie, there are four mummy guards chasing them. However, in the ensuing bus battle scene, only three are killed. According to the original script, the fourth was supposed to attack Alex after the bus had come to a stop. However, director Stephen Sommers decided to cut the scene, figuring that the audience had had enough of the mummy battle and wanted to get on with the story. A log bridge falls into a ravine with several Pygmies on it. One Pygmie runs one way across the falling bridge to get off of it, and then runs back the other way. After realizing he can’t escape, he straddles the log and waves his hand in the air like Major Kong (Slim Pickens) atop the bomb in Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). Brendan Fraser tore a spinal disk, cracked a rib, and injured his knees during production. Dwayne Johnson suffered from food poisoning and sunstroke. Director Cameo: ['Stephen Sommers (I)' ] Sitting in the bathtub at Izzy’s place. The Mummy Movie PhotosWednesday, July 30th, 2008 |
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