Gods and Monsters

Lynn Redgrave, who passed away this week at age 67, garnered one of her two Oscar acting nominations for playing the disapproving housekeeper of director James Whale (Ian McKellan, also nominated). Bill Condon, who directed, won the Oscar for writing the screenplay.

Love this film to pieces and especially Redgrave's Hannah!

Lynn Redgrave also was brilliant in Bill Condon's Kinsey as the last interview subject.

There won't be any musical numbers - Bill Condon writes message to Twilight fans

I adore Bill Condon, and have since his film Gods and Monsters.  I was a bit surprised that Summit was looking at more than one Oscar nominated director for Breaking Dawn.  I think Bill Condon is a very intriguing choice to direct what will likely be two final films (why kill the cash cow early after all?)  Young fans likely only know him from Dreamgirls, but he started in horror films, (Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh) and Gods and Monsters is a film about the last part of legendary film director Jim Whale's (Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein) life.  Bill Condon won an Oscar for the screen play of Gods and Monsters, and it garnered Oscar acting nominations for Lynn Redgrave and Ian McKellan (who as robbed!).  Any Twilight fan should run out and rent Gods and Monsters, one of my all time favorite films.

I love how Bill Condon starts this note to the fans on Facebook as I am certainly one of those Twilight Moms:

Greetings Twihards, Twifans, Twilight Moms, Team Edward, Team Jacob and Team Switzerland,

I just want to say hello to all of you and let you know that I'm stoked to be getting underway on the adventure of making BREAKING DAWN. As you've probably heard, I've been given a very warm welcome by Stephenie and Team Summit - who are super-focused, as you know, on getting these movies right.

I'm pretty busy bringing myself up to speed on what you already know by heart: I've read BREAKING DAWN twice, rewatched Catherine's and Chris's movies 2-3 times each, have all four CDs playing in my car, and have Catherine's notebook, Mark Cotta Vaz's companion books, and even Volume 1 of the graphic novel here on my desk - a corner of my office is starting to look like Hot Topic. I realize that this barely qualifies me for "newborn" status in the universe you've been living inside for a few years now, but a guy's gotta start somewhere.

Like many of you, I've always been slightly obsessed with vampires, dating back to the prime-time series DARK SHADOWS, which I followed avidly as a kid. But that alone hadn't been enough to get me interested in making a vampire movie, even though my early screenwriting and directing efforts grew out of a great love for horror movies and thrillers. Since making GODS AND MONSTERS thirteen years ago, however, I've been yearning for a return to a story with Gothic overtones.

The wonderful world that Stephenie has created has obviously struck a chord with you, and I don't think it's difficult to see why. For me, her characters are simultaneously timeless, yet very modern. Rooted in a beautiful, real landscape with a great sense of place, Bella, Edward, Jacob, and the rest of the Forks/La Push menagerie, experience emotions that are primal, and universal: desire, despair, jealousy - and it all comes to fruition in BREAKING DAWN. This is a final chapter in the best sense; not just wide in scope and scale, but emotionally charged and intense throughout.

I'm a huge admirer of the already-iconic Kristen, Robert, and Taylor, and wanted to be the one to work with them as they face the challenges of bringing your beloved characters to the end of their journeys. Really, what could be more fun than that?

Please feel free to ask questions in the comments section below, and I'll do my best to answer them. I hope that this will be the first of many occasions I'll get to check in with you as we set to work bringing BREAKING DAWN to the screen. I am excited and grateful to have all of you alongside me for my TWILIGHT journey.

All best,

Bill Condon

P.S. Answer #1: No, there won't be any musical numbers.

New Trailer For The Prisoner (2009)

Ian McKellan is the main reason I am so excited about this. Just a few more weeks till Nov. 15th.

Remake of The Prisoner on AMC

I just read on /Film that AMC is going to air an update of The Prisoner this fall. My husband is a huge fan of the original 1967 British TV series and we own every episode on DVD. I was outraged, until I read that Ian McKellan will play Number Two. NOW, I can't wait, even if Jim Caviezel is Number 6 (wouldn't have been my first choice to replace Patrick McGoohan).

In the original, McGoohan’s Number Six was explicitly an intelligence agent who, upon his unexpected retirement, is kidnapped and sent to a mysterious seaside village/prison where other prisoners and the enigmatic Number Two used unusual methods to toy with his mental state and evaluate what information he holds secret.

Here's the opener of the original classic series:


Just told my sons about this, and my 12 year old said, "You mean that weird TV show with the giant white balls? I didn't understand any of that!"

Russell Brand to become Arthur?

The LA Times and other outlets are buzzing about an Arthur remake. At first I groaned, as who could top Dudley Moore and Liza Minelli (not to mention John Gielguld!). But then I heard that it is being talked about for Russell Brand, and I am totally on board for that! Russell would be perfect.

Bloody brilliant, mate!

It makes total sense for Brand to play the lead role (originally Dudley Moore), a lovable, filthy rich hopeless alcoholic who falls in love with a working-class gal (Liza Minnelli) and doesn’t want to marry the high-society control freak his family has set him up with.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the British comedian is developing the "Arthur" remake for Warner Bros.

The original is old enough to not be familiar to many. Who for Liza's role and the butler? Mabye Anne Hathaway and Ian McKellan? Ian saying "Would you like me to wash your dick?" would have a special resonance, don't you think? LOL

Gandalf is a lock!

Yippee! Sir Ian McKellan has confirmed that he'll be back as Gandalf in the two Hobbit films! As if anyone else would do! From BBC News:

"Yes, it's true," he told Empire magazine. "It's not a part that you turn down. I loved playing Gandalf."

Two Hobbit films are planned for release in 2010 and 2011. They will be prequels to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, directed by Peter Jackson.

Guillermo del Toro has been named as the director of the movies, to be made back-to-back in New Zealand.

"I spoke to Guillermo in the very room that Peter Jackson offered me the part and he confirmed that I would be reprising the role," Sir Ian said.

He also said del Toro would be starting the script in about six weeks after he has finished filming current project, Hellboy 2.

According to studio New Line, the first film will be an adaptation of The Hobbit and the second will be an original story focusing on the 60 years between the book and the beginning of the Rings trilogy.

"As to how it's going to work over two films and what going to happen on screen, well Guillermo has not got down to working out the major details yet - I can tell you it's going to be amazing though," Sir Ian said.