Recently in Behind the Scenes Category

The controversy surrounding Spike Jonze's film version of Where The Wild Things Are continues. As we previously reported, this movie has been experiencing its fair share of troubles. The film is currently set for reshoots and eventual release in late 2009 which really sucks since we've been waiting on this film for quite a while now.

Now Forest Whitaker joins the debate. He of course is one of the A-list actors voicing the wild things and he is coming out in support of Spike Jonze's original film. He and his kids have seen the film and he completely endorses Jonze's vision saying that it's completely appropriate for the kids (which seems to be Warner Brothers' main concern).

Whitaker was recently interviewed by MTV and had this to say:

"I play Ira, he puts the holes in the trees," the Oscar-winner grinned. "I have a wife and kid, and we're the only family unit inside [the land of the Wild Things]. It's a good movie. I saw an early cut of it. I brought my kids to see it, and I was really impressed."

"[The dark scenes] are the point of the movie, and I hope that they maintain that point, because I think children can identify with a character who is upset. ...[Max] rolls by himself, no father figure; this is a single family home...These are real issues that the character deals with, and I hope that [the filmmakers] continue to explore them, because kids need to see that; they need to see that other kids are dealing with it."

I (Justin) grew up reading these books and am a fan of the movies. Looking forward to this one:

"'He was just blown away by his own performance,' (producer Charles)  Roven said. 'He said, `Can I see it again?' So he was really, really thrilled.'"

The New York Times posted this article on their site yesterday. The article talks about something that I think is pretty cool. It's all about a website called Massify  which is basically a way for people with ideas for movies to brainstorm with others and possibly get movies (that otherwise wouldn't have been) made. Very cool I think.

From the article:

"Massify members (membership is free and anyone can join) are offered a platform to promote themselves and whatever current projects they are involved in, and are also eligible to vote on other users' film ideas through online competitions in which members vie for financing and distribution from Massify and its partners."

The site is the brainchild of Kenneth Woo and Brett Icahn whose father, financier Carl C. Icahn, is financing the site isn't totally selfless. They're obviously in it to make some cash by attracting advertisers as their membership increases.

Currently the site is running a competition in partnership with After Dark Films who will make the movie for their 8 Films to Die For series. Once pitch is chosen (by members on the site), they'll then get to vote on the actors and actresses who will compose the cast.

So, is this the next generation of filmmaking or just a passing whim of two guys trying to make a little cash. I guess we'll see.

Wow, this sounds really cool.  So, the guys over at CHUD are reporting some more info about the new Batman film , The Dark Knight. Evidently they have the scoop on Aaron Eckhart's role as Two Face.

According to their source, the film's director Christopher Nolan is taking a really unique approach. He's filming Eckhart twice for each scene - once as the character's "sane" half and once as the insane. They're then blending the two together in post production for a really unique effect. This allows him to stress one of the character's "faces" depending on the feel of the scene.

Pretty sweet right? It's stuff like this that makes me super excited to see this film!

It was announced today and reported by Variety that Time Warner has made the decision to end New Line's run as an independent studio. They will be folded into Warner Brothers as a division but will maintain separate development, marketing, production, distribution, and business affairs.

This news doesn't really come as much surprise give the fact that New Line has had quite a few duds on their hands over the past several years - the most recent of which was The Golden Compass (which I thought was kinda under-rated).

This can't be good for New Line employees. I can't imagine that all of them will be kept on after the transition. This news comes from a memo sent out by studio co-chairmen Bob Shaye and  Michael Lynne who will no longer be with the studio.

Michelle Williams is back in New York City and returning to work today. She's on the set of her new movie Mammoth which costars Gael Garcia Bernal. This seems awfully early for anyone to return to work after the loss of someone so close to them, but maybe jumping back into work will help her get through this obviously difficult time.  

Just released footage from the set of the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace. It went into production last month and is scheduled for release around Thanksgiving this year. Video starts at about :20 seconds in.