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Albert Brooks Was Forced To Turn Down Burt Reynolds' Role In 'Boogie Nights' Because Of Scheduling

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • November 1, 2011 1:24 AM
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  • 3 Comments
'Drive' Star Also Passed On 'Big,' 'Dead Poets Society' And 'Pretty Woman'Of the many things that have made a comeback in 2011 -- Wilson Phillips, high-waisted pants, the street protest -- perhaps the happiest is the resurgence of Albert Brooks. Mostly absent from screens in the past decade, bar a vocal turn in Pixar's masterpiece "Finding Nemo," and his directorial flop "Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World," Brooks returned with an acclaimed book, "2030: The Real Story of What Happened to America," took to Twitter and instantly became the funniest thing on it, and played, against type, mobster Bernie Rose in Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive," a performance that looks likely to take him to the Oscars.
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More: Films, Actors, Paul Thomas Anderson, '90s Films, Albert Brooks

Despite 3D 'Titantic' Re-Release, James Cameron Says He Doesn't Have The "Revisionist Gene"

  • By Todd Gilchrist
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  • October 29, 2011 12:08 PM
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  • 0 Comments
On Friday morning, writer-director James Cameron and producer Jon Landau hosted a screening of footage from the upcoming 3D rerelease of “Titanic,” Cameron’s 1997 Academy Award winner and box office record-setter. After screening 18 minutes or so of the film, which was painstakingly converted into 3D over a 60-week period, Cameron and Landau fielded questions from the audience and discussed the expansion of 3D into both the future and the past of the moviemaking industry.
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More: Films, Film Studios, '90s Films, 20th Century Fox, Titanic

Trailer For 'Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace 3D' A Reminder Of How Disappointed You Were

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • October 25, 2011 5:38 AM
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  • 10 Comments
You know those light sabres that are like double light sabres? That's probably the only cool thing we remember from the otherwise pretty bad "Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace," George Lucas' long-awaited space political drama prequel to his "Star Wars" trilogy. It made approximately five bajillion Saturn dollars, or whatever monetary system Scrooge McLucas uses to count his riches, and now it's coming back. IN 3D. So if you thought Jar Jar Binks was offensively annoying the first time around, you ain't seen nothing yet.
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More: Films, '90s Films, Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace

George Sluizer To Finish River Phoenix's Last Film 'Dark Blood'; Joaquin Phoenix To Do Voice-Over?

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • October 19, 2011 4:21 AM
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  • 2 Comments
Update: The Phoenix family have released a statement denying Sluzier's word that they were participating in getting "Dark Blood" finished saying, "Despite George Sluizer’s claim that he has been communicating with River Phoenix’s family in regard to releasing River’s last film, Joaquin Phoenix and his family have not been in communication with the director nor will they participate in any way.” So if Sluzier wants to finish the movie, he'll have to do with the help of River's family.
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More: Films, Actors, Vintage Actors, '90s Films, Joaquin Phoenix, Dark Blood, River Phoenix

Fans Give George Lucas $84 Million Worth Of Reasons To Keep Messing With 'Star Wars'

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • September 23, 2011 12:56 PM
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  • 13 Comments
Films Become Fastest-Ever Selling Blu-RaysFandom can be a wonderful thing, but, particularly now in the Twitter-lynch-mob age, it can be easy to rile fans up and get them to turn on those whom they used to love. Witness the outcry after the "Lost" finale -- barely a day goes by without co-creator Damon Lindelof getting shit from someone about it. And few fan-bases are more vociferous than the "Star Wars" lot. George Lucas' series turned the children of the 1970s, and so many since, on to cinema and science-fiction in a big way, and the prequels were perhaps the most anticipated films ever. Of course, they turned out to be a pale shadow of their predecessors, and ever since, Lucas' stock has shrunk steadily with those who once worshipped him.
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More: Films, '90s Films, Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace

Empire Big Screen '11: First Footage From James Cameron's 'Titanic 3D' Unspools

  • By Oliver Lyttelton
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  • August 12, 2011 1:04 AM
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  • 0 Comments
Film Will Also Get 2D Re-releaseFox has long been the least popular studio in the geek world; despite being the home of "Star Wars," "Avatar" and the "X-Men" series, its bosses, and in particular head honcho Tom Rothman, have been seen as interference-happy, thanks to the botched likes of "Elektra," "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" and "The Day The Earth Stood Still." But having uncharacteristically put their faith in filmmaker-led takes on big franchises twice this summer, with "X-Men: First Class" and "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," and being rewarded by audiences and critics alike for their trouble, does this mark a turning point for the studio's standing?
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More: Films, '90s Films, Titanic

Guillermo Del Toro's 'Mimic' Getting A Director's Cut BluRay Release With 7 More Minutes Of Footage

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • July 11, 2011 6:59 AM
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  • 2 Comments
While Guillermo Del Toro is still no stranger to facing hurdles in getting his films made -- his participation in "The Hobbit" was stalled out by the endless financial woes of MGM and more recently, his R-rated take of "At The Mountains Of Madness" was killed by a nervous Universal -- those are probably cakewalks between dealing with Bob Weinstein on his sophomore feature film "Mimic."
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More: Films, Guillermo del Toro, '90s Films, Mimic

It Was A War For Cast & Crew: 16 Things You Need To Know About Terrence Malick's 'The Thin Red Line'

  • By Rodrigo Perez
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  • June 17, 2011 8:54 AM
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  • 25 Comments
In late ’98/early ‘99, on the eve of the release of “The Thin Red Line,” two major events were concurrently taking place, each threatening to consume one another but both feeding the anticipation around them (the film was given a limited release in December, followed by wide release in January). One was "The Thin Red Line" itself -- Terrence Malick's first new film in 20 years, an approximately $52 million dollar war film backed by Fox 2000 (a shingle housed under 20th Century Fox) -- and the other the hallowed return of Malick the director, believed to be lost in the wilderness, driving cabs in Paris, selling T-shirts on Les Champs-Élysées or whatever fictional rumor pleases you most.
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More: Films, Terrence Malick, '90s Films, The Thin Red Line

Michael Powell Realized The Awesomeness Of Martin Scorsese's 'Goodfellas' Before Anyone Else

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • June 16, 2011 9:02 AM
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  • 9 Comments
If the name Michael Powell doesn't mean anything to you, stop reading now and line up your Netflix queue with the some of the films he did with Emeric Pressburger, including "The Red Shoes," "I Know Where I'm Going!" and "A Matter of Life and Death," and then get back to us. But as Martin Scorsese fans already know, his connection with the filmmaker runs deep. He was a good friend of the legendary filmmaker, introducing him to editor Thelma Schoonmaker whom Powell would later marry. But Scorsese was a longtime admirer of the director and it turns out, he sent him an early draft of "Goodfellas" (back when it shared the title of the book it was based on "Wise Guys") to see what he thought. And likely before anyone else had their input, Powell knew it was a winner.
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More: Films, '90s Films, GoodFellas

Harvey Weinstein Keeps Hope Alive, Says He Still Wants To Do A 'Rounders' Sequel

  • By Kevin Jagernauth
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  • June 6, 2011 6:51 AM
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  • 3 Comments
Talk about a sequel for "Rounders" seems to have been around forever, and while movement hasn't really happened at all on a followup to the 1998 film, the prospect of one is still very real. The last time we heard about the possibility of a sequel was late last year when the Weinsteins made a deal with the new owners of their old label, Miramax, to help develop new movies based on a big portion of their back catalog (other films mentioned included “Shakespeare in Love,” “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” “Copland,” “From Dusk Till Dawn,” “Swingers,” “Clerks,” “Shall We Dance” and “The Amityville Horror”). And really, we didn't expect to hear anything else but Harvey Weinstein has tossed it back in the ring.
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More: Films, Producers, '90s Films, Rounders, Harvey Weinstein

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