Film at Eleven

Here’s something I didn’t know. Lord of War which starred Nicolas Cage as an international arms dealer was made with the collaberation of Amnesty International.

Now Cage has gone a step further and donated $2m (£1.1m) to the charity to help former child soldiers bu providing rehabilitation shelters, medical services and psychological and reintegration services.

Cage has been working with Amnesty International USA - which estimates that 300,000 children, some as young as seven, are involved in armed conflicts worldwide - for two years.

In a video statement filmed by the actor, he said: “Think about the nine months it took for your child to be born; think about all the care you put into teaching him how to cross the street and look both ways, or to read a book, or to simply have good manners.

“Then imagine a warlord dropping a gun into his hand and forcing him to kill someone. He’s eight years old. He hasn’t kissed a girl yet or fallen in love, but he’s killed a man. What does that do to a child’s mind?

“Sounds like a nightmare? It’s reality for some families.”

I’m still not happy about the Wicker Man remake, though.

Proving that there really is nothing new in fiction, Cinema Blend (via) is reporting that 20th Century Fox have bought the rights to to the Scott Westerfeld novel Uglies.

Uglies is a futuristic story that takes typical teen anxieties (pimples, self-loathing) and spikes them with a fantasy twist. In the tale, kids are called “Uglies” until they reach 16 and get surgery to become the attractive “Pretties”, who then move into the fancy part of town. Trouble hits for one precocious teen that may be denied the surgery, unless she spies on a friend who skipped the operation and joined the rebels.

Maybe it’s just me, but when I read that description the first words to come to mind were Acción mutante.

Ever heard of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit? You will.

Oswald was the popular character that Walt Disney created for Universal before he fell out with the studio. Universal kept the rights to the character and continued to make Oswald cartoons, but they weren’t as good, were much less popular and Universal eventually gave up on the character in 1943. In the meantime Disney created Mickey Mouse and the rest is history.

Now, a team led by Pixar’s John Lasseter has bought the rights to Oswald and are planning to make a series of shorts and a feature length film with the character.

Rutger Hauer has signed up to star in The Magic Flute in which he playes a musicologist who has to train a mysterious diva in the ways of the flute.

The film is currently shooting in Canada.

Gerard Butler is in talks to play a vampire hunting priest in an adaptation of Min-Woo Hyung comic book series, Priest.

In Priest, Butler’s character ignores church authorities to set off on a mission to save his niece from a band of renegade vampires with the help of a young sheriff and a priestess.

This is the second vampire film to be greenlighted by Sony recently - the other being 30 Days of Night which is set to star Josh Hartnett.

I’m all for more vampire films. My only concern is that Priest is to be directed by Andrew Douglas, who is best known for the remake of The Amityville Horror.

Zack Snyder was attached to the ongoing attempt to film Alan Moore’s Watchmen back in March. Now the film has taken another small step to realisation with the arrival of a writer - Alex Tse whose previous credits amount to… Sucker Free City.

On one hand, the fact that a writer has been attached is a hopeful sign that the film might actually be made. But I’m far from convinced that someone with only one TV movie under his belt is the right person to turn this thing into a script.

(via Cinematical)

Lovecraftian horror comedy, LovecraCked! is to at the Two Boots Pioneer Theatre in in New York on July 24th.

Weapon-wielding psychopaths, evil temptresses, creatures from beyond, forces of the unknown, zombie sex… and a journalist without a clue.

With tongue planted firmly in cheek, our story follows the exploits of a bumbling investigative journalist as he struggles to deduce the truth behind the author H.P. Lovecraft and his mysterious past. Along the way, twisted tales play out, pulling him deeper into the mysterious world of the author. Will the journalist finally prevail or will he end up without a clue as usual? One thing’s for sure: the truth is out there… he’s just not entirely sure where.

WATCH! The exploits of a very bad investigative journalist!

WATCH! As he struggles to discover the truth behind Lovecraft and his mysterious past!

WATCH! Hilarious and horrific tales!

Tickets are available here.

Alex Proyas recently had this to say about a possible sequel to the excellent Dark City:

DC was hardly a smash hit at the box office so it is unlikely, if a sequel was made, they’d give me a huge budget to work with. So don’t worry too much about that! I am more and more interested in the idea of a sequel, and who knows, after the special edition comes out, with everyone’s support behind it, a sequel… maybe who knows… but I’ve already said too much.

This does, of course, come with absolutely no guarantees. But if we can get a sequel made simply by buying the special edition DVD, go buy it!

(via Filmstalker)

The internet-driven word-of-mouth campaign for Snakes on a Plane continues with the news that Captain Ahab is the winner of the official soundtrack contest with Snakes On The Brain.

Runners up were Louden Swain with Here Come the Snakes.

Luc Besson is to produce an adaptation of Tonino Benacquista’s mob novel Malavita, with Sopranos staff writer Michael Caleo set to provide the screenplay.

Malavita follows an American mob boss who’s spirited away to France under the witness protection programme. Soon after arriving in a small, quiet town, he starts getting back into his old ways and trying to run the place, much to the annoyance of the FBI.

“The book focused more on the fish-out-of-water tale, but the movie will focus more on the manhunt for Giovanni Manzoni (the main character), and how he rose through the ranks to become who he is,” Caleo told Variety.

No director is attached as yet, but the film is to be shot half in English and half in French - with subtitles as appropriate.