Thompson On Hollywood

Watchmen Watch: Crudup's Dr. Manhattan

[Posted by David S. Cohen]
Now that the Watchmen trailer has hit the web, giving us a tantalizing look at the film's visual effects and overall style, here's a tidbit about how those wicked-cool Dr. Manhattan effects were created. Billy Crudup appears in the trailer as Jon Osterman, who becomes a superbeing after a laboratory accident. (Shades of Bruce Banner!) For his post-accident scenes as Dr. Manhattan, Crudup is replaced in the film with a motion-capture CG version of himself. During filming on set, Crudup acted opposite his co-stars, wearing a suit covered in blue LEDs, so he would give off an otherworldly glow in real life, just as Dr. Manhattan does in the movie.

Watchmen's Snyder Reveals Secrets; Legendary's Tull Talks Superman

I'm not going out on a limb to say that the most anticipated presentation at Comic-Con will be Zack Snyder's panel on Warner Bros.' The Watchmen. Remember, 300 exploded out of Comic-Con two years ago.

The trailer hit the Web this week, and the HD version is stunning. I love trailers where you don't know what the hell is going on. Of course afficionados of the Alan Moore comics can identify the origin story of Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) and the shadowy bipolar Rorshact Rorschach, among others.

Snyder himself explains some of his secrets here. UPDATE: And here's EW's Snyder and Alan Moore interviews. And Comic-Con preview.

Today I talked to someone who has seen the movie, Legendary Pictures producer Thomas Tull, who goes 50/50 with Warner Bros. on such films as Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, Superman Returns, 300 and The Lady in the Water (the only film he didn't actually produce). An old Watchmen comics fan, Tull wanted in on the film as soon as Snyder pitched it, even though many people have regarded the complex, layered sci-fi narrative about superheroes who are real as unfilmable. After Tull saw a cut of the movie he told Snyder, "You got it. You nailed it the spirit of it and made it come alive."

"It's a smart visually stunning movie," he told me. Of course he's vested.

He's also vested in making the next Superman installment, which is still years away, come to life. While Bryan Singer has been working on Valkyrie, Tull and the folks at Warners have been listening to various screenwriters pitch their solutions to how to make the next Superman work. "It's an iconic character," says Tull. "After everything that went into the first film, it's important to make sure that nothing is rushed and we come out with a fantastic second film." One thing they all agree on: Superman needs a powerful antagonist, a "worthy opponent," he says.

Coming sooner is Louis Leterrier's follow-up to Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans. And no, Leterrier is not being talked about to direct Superman. "He's laser-focused on Titans," says Tull.

Comic-Con Preview: Twilight's Hardwicke and Spirit's Miller

Comic-Con is coming at the end of the month, and two movies sure to make a splash at the San Diego convention center are Frank Miller's neo-noir The Spirit and Catherine Hardwicke's vampire romance Twilight. I interviewed both directors for my column: Miller says The Spirit is in color, not black and white, and that he colors with emotion. Hardwicke talks about auditioning Robert Pattinson to play the vampire Edward Cullen opposite Kristen Stewart's Bella--- on the bed of her Venice beach pad. Only with those two was there serious heat.

And here's the Comic-Con sked. UPDATE: And here's EW's cover story and backlash to their ultra-glam cover shoot, which alters the appearance of the actors from the movie.

Twilight Hits EW

With Comic-Con around the corner (it's the last week of July in San Diego), Catherine Hardwicke's movie version of Stephenie Meyer's chick lit vampire phenom Twilight, which doesn't open until December but is already on the cover of EW, is one of the movies sure to pop at the biggest movie launch platform I can think of right now. Is there one bigger?

Cannes is one thing. Sundance and Toronto another. But the impact of Comic-Con on the movie marketplace is huge.

Comic-Con Update: Paramount Goes Viral

Paramount Pictures will not be putting on any panels or bringing any stars to Comic-Con this year. They may do some viral stuff. But their big "geek" titles G.I. Joe, J.J. Abrams' Star Trek, Michael Bay's Transformers 2 and M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender won't be released until 2009. Last year Paramount kicked off Iron Man at the Con, which played big there. "The timing was off this year," said one Paramount spokesman.

UPDATE: As Slashfilm points out, Paramount was a major presence at the 2007 Comic-Con, with not only Iron Man but Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Beowulf and Cloverfield.

Cinematical has more info on what the other studios are doing.

UPDATE: Paramount spokesman Mike Vollman just called me to say: "We have a vibrant and exciting schedule of activities planned for Comic-Con." The studio will be unveiling a number of marketing materials on these pics.

Incredible Hulk Will Play

Universal threw an Incredible Hulk premiere Sunday on the lot (which a week later, still had a tinge of smoke in the air). After all the grief and belly-aching about problems behind-the-scenes, Transporter director Louis Leterrier's movie played great at the Amphitheatre, and got thumbs up not only from me, but from 18-year-old Nora and Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart. (Here's Variety's Incredible Hulk Movie Page.)

Edward Norton (who does not take a screenwriting credit) manages to make his tortured scientist-on-the-run sympathetic, not just as a man in love with fellow-scientist Liv Tyler, but as the raging-green Hulk, who seems to have learned a few things this time around from Peter Jackson's King Kong. Hulk (animated by Rhythm & Hues) does the chest-pounding dance on a rainy mountain crag routine--as his soaked lady-love looks on appreciatively, the only person who can reduce his heart-rate--and releases his rage in a satisfying lion-like roar. SPOILER ALERT: He also does gratifying big-scale battle with another gamma-tainted uber-being, The Abomination, played in human form by Tim Roth. Bill Hurt chews up the scenery as the villain of the piece. This time, they got it right.

The Incredible Hulk reveals the hazards of taking your movie to Comic-Con--God Forbid your presentation doesn't go over with fans. Bad Internet buzz killed dogged the first Hulk and threatened this one, too. One producer of Michael Bay's Transformers 2, which is currently filming in Pennsylvania, admitted that he'd just as soon not take anything to the July comic-book convention in San Diego until they have something really fab to show.

Here's the trailer:

Here's Todd McCarthy's review of Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk. He sees the 2008 incarnation on Tuesday; we'll post his Thursday print review on Wednesday night.

Finally, though, ultimate fanboy Harry Knowles' enthusiastic response and advance tracking indicates that Marvel (which made Iron Man, too, which has already grossed $289 million) will score another big opener this weekend: The Incredible Hulk is expected to gross in the same range as the last Hulk and last weekend's Kung Fu Panda: $60 million or so. The tracking is strong with men, as you'd think, and weak with women, who might build on word-of-mouth, because of the Norton/Tyler love story.

As the movie was unspooling, though, I was thinking, "wonder how they'll set up the sequel?" and, "when is Robert Downey, Jr. going to show?" Both of those things do make possible Marvel's planned Avengers movie, which could combine the likes of Giant Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Wolverine and Iron Man, to name a few likely suspects we discussed with Kevin Smith on the way out. He responded to my query about Marvel setting up Avengers with, "you have to be retarded not to think that!"

UPDATE: Here's Cinematical on the reveal of Tony Stark's cameo, which is at the very end of the movie. And Film School Rejects has a Hulk Guide.

DVD Watch: Whedon's Collector Edition Serenity Due 8/21

I saw Joss Whedon at EW's Comic-Con party. I asked him, "What was the nature of Wonder Woman's disfunction in your screenplay?"

"She didn't understand weakness," he answered. "She couldn't understand other people's vulnerability."

"What didn't Warner Bros. like, exactly?"

"I don't know what they didn't like," he said. "It was cool. Comics are what's working for me now."

Whedon's long awaited special collectors edition Serenity DVD is coming out on August 21, packed with all-new bonus content, including:

BONUS FEATURES: -- Approximately 15 Minutes of Deleted Scenes with Commentary by Director Joss Whedon -- Extended Scenes -- Outtakes -- Take A Walk On Serenity: Cast & Crew take us on a special tour of the Serenity space ship. -- The Green Clan: Expose on Cinematographer Jack Green and his team. -- Joss Whedon Introduction: Joss' original introduction of the 2005 film "Serenity." -- We'll have a Fruity Oaty Good Time! The original version of the "Fruity Oaty Bar" commercial. -- Feature Commentary with Director Joss Whedon and Cast Members Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau and Ron Glass. -- Feature Commentary With Director Joss Whedon -- A Filmmaker's Journey: Journey with Joss from script to screen. -- Future History -The Story of the Earth That Was: Instant history lesson of the "last" 500 years. -- Re-Lighting The Firefly: This featurette traces the story of how a canceled television show gained a cult following to become a major feature film. -- What's In a Firefly? See how Zoic visual effects studios helped bring Joss' unique vision to the big screen. -- Session 416: These Internet pieces document a portion of River's participation in a psychological study and her interactions with her therapist.

More press release info and DVD stats on the jump:

Comic-Con: Superbad Trumps Superheroes

[Posted by Peter Debruge]
It’s been 10 years since Variety named Greg Mottola a “director to watch” on the strength of his debut film, Daytrippers. Then he sorta disappeared from the feature scene, resurfacing only now to direct Superbad, the latest comedy from the Judd Apatow stable. “Being gone for 10 years takes the pressure off the sophomore slump,” Mottola told me after “Superbad’s” Friday-night sneak peek at Comic-Con.

But he hasn’t exactly been idle. Mottola fell in with Apatow’s crowd back on Undeclared, directing a few episodes of the show. “It was like comedy boot camp,” he said. “Undeclared” led to directing Arrested Development, which opened the door to “Superbad.” Michael Cera (an Arrested Development star with his own web series) and Jonah Hill play sex-obsessed high-school seniors in a screenplay that “Knocked Up’s” Seth Rogen and longtime friend Evan Goldberg started writing 10 years earlier.

The entire posse — including breakout Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who plays “McLovin” (“This movie is about to destroy this young man’s life,” Apatow joked) — was present at the Comic-Con screening, but Mottola deserves a special mention since I predict he’ll be the unsung hero of this equation (at the post-screening Q&A, the questions went to everyone but him).

Apatow, of course, is on top of the comedy world right now, and the cast are all up-and-comers. But without Mottola’s touch, the comedy wouldn’t play nearly as well. Under his guidance, the movie manages to be sincere without getting sentimental and raunchy without lapsing into the unreal (check out the red-band trailer on Sony’s official site ).

Even the rowdy Comic-Con crowd couldn’t believe they “went there” during a scene that involves some very dirty dancing, but the MPAA went along with it. According to Apatow, “Superbad has the least that’s gotten cut from any movie I’ve ever worked on. We were trying to extend the DVD and there was nothing to extend.” Credit Mottola for making his sophomore outing anything but sophomoric.

Indiana Jones: Comic-Con Live Feed

Here's a clip of the live Comic-Con feed from the set of Indiana Jones 4: this is how Spielberg announced that Karen Allen was returning to the movie, in front of 6000 fans.

Comic-Con: Weta Workshop's Dr. Grordborts

I wandered over to the Weta Workshop booth on the floor. Weta is of course working on the Narnia film Prince Caspian, as well as Peter Jackson's own Lovely Bones and James Cameron's Avatar. Weta Workshop has also created a Dr. Who Collectibles line.

Boffin Greg Broadmore, who is a conceptual designer for Weta, has also worked on Halo and Evangellian, which are now in limbo. But his passion project is Doctor Grordborts' Infallible Aether Oscillators and Rayguns, a line of high end collectible gadgets and gizmos he has assembled that look like antiques made of metal and glass. Richard Taylor, who co-owns Weta Digital with Jackson, has funded the Grordborts project.

Obviously Broadmore has ambitions for this world. A Dr. Grordborts Dark Horse comic book will come out in January, as well as an informercial ad. "I wasn't a writer, but I am now, as well as an illustrator," he said. "Being a conceptual designer is being a writer. There's a logic to everything you design. I'd love to make a movie."

Broadmore has also created a Sears Roebuck style catalogue full of ray guns, death rays and contraptions for adventurers. It's as if he's outfitting Indiana Jones.

Comic-Con: Campbell's Black Diamond Detective Agency

I ran into producer/ Sidney Kimmel Entertainment exec William Horberg (right) on the Con exhibition floor. He introduced me to famed "From Hell" illustrator/graphic novelist Eddie Campbell (left), who was signing books. "From Hell," made into a memorable Hughes brothers movie, basically pays Campbell's bills. He jumped into the western genre with "The Black Diamond Detective Agency," which Horberg initiated years ago as a Charlie Mitchell screenplay at Paramount Pictures. Horberg eventually decided to turn the dormant script into a graphic novel via First Second Books.

It took Campbell more than a year to produce the lavishly illustrated picture novel, which hit bookstores and Comic-Con this month. In it, a violent guy who has renounced violence becomes a wanted man and infiltrates a detective agency. Campbell works with color, even painting over detailed photos of turn-of-the-century Chicago. "They gave me a lot of space," he said. "They let me contribute my own ideas to the script."

At this point, launching a costly Western movie epic is daunting at best, even with CGI technology. "The book world is a second hope for these projects," Horberg said. "As a book exists in pop culture, it can take on new momentum and come to life in the studio world."

Comic-Con Wrap: Iron Man, Marvel, Hulk, Watchmen, Narnia, Golden Compass, Shoot 'Em Up

While Comic-Cons past have heralded the advent of such future blockbusters as 300 and Superman Returns, this year only Jon Favreau’s new Marvel entry starring Robert Downey, Jr. as the mighty Iron Man roused the fan hordes in the 6000-seat Hall H to rise up and give a standing O. The crowds also responded well to Pixar's Wall-E, from Finding Nemo creator Andrew Stanton, about a robot trash compactor left behind on earth, who is being "voiced" by sound wizard Ben Burtt, who created the whistle-language for Star Wars' R2D2.

Many of the big fanboy titles had no footage to show because they were just heading into production, from 300 director Zach Snyder’s The Watchmen, an adaptation of the Alan Moore graphic classic, to Edward Norton’s page-one rewrite of Marvel’s latest iteration of The Hulk. Snyder, Norton and Favreau all promised fans to stay true to the spirit of the source material. "We're not going to make it accessible to teenyboppers for marketing reasons," said Snyder, who is setting “The Watchmen” in the R-rated 80s and drawing his way through the novel, shot by shot. "It doesn't feel PG-13. It makes sense that now it's a period film. It has resonance, it's separated from the Cold War, it's almost cool to go back."

Snyder had hoped to announce his Watchmen cast at the Con, but was scooped by the press by several days. "We have real actors for this movie," he said. "This movie has no stars in it! 300 had no stars in it either. A couple people saw it." The actors will start out young and evolve into old age with the help of CGI, he said. “Technology is on my side.” Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson and Jason Patric didn’t show, but Jackie Earle Haley and Malin Akerman were on hand. The crowd in Hall H applauded when The Hulk producer Gale Ann Hurd assured them that this time--as opposed to Ang Lee’s 2003 Hulk, which did not score a bullseye with fans--The Hulk would remain the same size throughout the film. Marvel’s latest design for The Hulk seemed to play for fans.

Disney’s Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian panel promised a deeper, richer, more action-packed realistic take on the next installment of the fantasy series, which will now unspool at the rate of one a year. (It will be interesting to see how much interest there is in the lesser known books that don't feature the four kids.) Audiences were wowed by an well-paced animatic of the capture of a castle featuring airborne sword fights.

On the other hand, New Line Cinema’s bid for a new fantasy franchise, Chris Weitz’s adaptation of The Golden Compass, starring Nicole Kidman, Dakota Blue Richards and many CG polar bears, yielded a more muted response. Kidman keeps rolling her tongue around something called "the Aletheometer lethiometer." Like Stardust, The Golden Compass features flying ships and witches. But it also looks all too familiar...

While Twentieth Century Fox cancelled its show-and-tell, citing materials that were too hard-R for a family-friendly event (which nonetheless showed plenty of violent, edgy material), the studio did send a convoy of trucks to promote the movie Jumper emblazoned with black-and-white billboards reading “If you were a jumper you’d be home now.”

Short action clips from Shoot ‘Em Up, starring Clive Owen as a Chow Yun Fat-inspired gunfighter toting a baby amid blood-splattering mayhem, played well in Hall H; the full-length movie screened Thursday night to a wide range of reactions. The pic clearly plays best for hard-core action fans with a taste for a taboo-busting, hard-edged R. (A women gives birth during a gun battle; when the baby cries, Owen shoves the infant onto her breast to shut him up. And there's more.) Storyboard-artist-turned director Michael Davis thanked Angry Films for rescuing him from oblivion after 35 screenplays just as he was about to give up his filmmaking career. Owen thanked Davis "for making an original movie in a time of sequels," he said.
Here's Variety's review.

Neil Marshall’s viral thriller Doomsday generated some fan heat, along with Rob Zombie’s reimagining of Halloween, the graphic novel-based 30 Days of Night, a hard-R return to killer vampires who terrorize an isolated town in bleak midwinter, and writer-director Frank Darabont’s reunion with Stephen King on the $17-million “The Mist.” But many other horror titles fell flat, including Warners’ Japanese remake One Missed Call, the conclusion of Paul Anderson's zombie trilogy, Resident Evil: The Extinction, and Silver’s The Invasion, yet another version of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

“Comic-Con elder” Darabont, who started coming to The Con as a teenager in 1973 when it was held for 1000 people at the El Cortez Hotel, had a good time this trip. “Every year it’s gotten crazier and bigger.”

Comic-Con: LAT Writer Boucher Assaulted

I met LAT writer Geoff Boucher at the Warner Animation party. A tall robust strong-looking fellow, Boucher's no slope-shouldered scribe. He could be a football player. And yet he was attacked outside the Convention Center in San Diego and went home with staples in his head.

That said, while the sheer scale of the confab can be overwhelming, as you walk around The Con, the vibe is fairly mellow, even Disneyland-like. These fans are having fun pursuing their faves and raves and filling their super-size Smallville bags with ccollectible loot. I want to thank the guy who put my $2.50 trolley car ticket on his expense account when the ticket machine wouldn't break a $20. The streets of downtown San Diego, well, that's another matter.

Comic-Con: Apatow's Comic Foil

Judd Apatow's Superbad panel was one of the comedy highlights of a very comedic Comic-Con. Here's LAT writer Sheigh Crabtree's take.

While many folks were blogging from The Con, I found it strange that the LAT and EW insisted on editing their bloggers before posting them, with inevitable time delays. The writers were timely, but their posts were not. An edited blog is not a blog, in my view. That said, next year I humbly request a live-posting photographer. We had some terrific shooters at the Con from our online staff, but they didn't get the photos up until after the weekend. I'm going to take a badly needed digital photo course, but still, at one point after Nora left, I was sitting at one panel downloading photos into my laptop, then shooting pictures and taking notes at the same time, not to mention bleary-eyed editing into the wee hours. I have reams of material I have yet to post, because yesterday I was posting other folks' reports (with help from online staffer Erin Maxwell) and writing stories for the daily.

Comic-Con: Fan Gallery

View Fan Photo Gallery: Part One and Part Two.

Many of the fans who ask questions in Hall H are in costume. One interesting moment: Liv Tyler confronted with herself in The Lord of the Rings. She gamely spoke Elfin on request.

And then there are the fans roaming the floor of the great exhibit hall, where some of the outfits have to be seen to be believed. Many geeks also don't believe in deodorant. As Judd Apatow memorably told the room: "Just because you are dressed as a Storm Trooper doesn't mean you can fart at will."

Comic-Con: Pixar's Robot Movie Wall-E and Selick and Gaiman's Coraline

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[Posted by Peter Debruge] Going in to Comic-Con, we published a list of the 10 most anticipated movies being presented in San Diego. Coming out of the convention, the two films I can't wait to see in their entirety were nowhere to be found on our original list (that's the beauty of Comic-Con, really).

First, there's Pixar's next toon, "Wall-E," from "Finding Nemo" director Andrew Stanton. "What if mankind had to evacuate earth and someone forgot to turn the last robot off?" he asked the crowd. "Overpopulation and runaway consumerism literally buried the world in trash." Stranded on a landfill planet, Wall-E is a rusty, 700-year-old trash-compacting robot who excavates the waste for clues about the humans that once lived there. His only companion is a cockroach (good thing Pixar made their last movie about rats — it should help prepare auds for more animated vermin), but it's not long before he's whisked aboard a starship, where he falls in love with a probe droid named Eve who doesn't return his affections.

Stanton shared a significant chunk of footage from the first act of the film and brought out Ben Burtt, the sound designer who brought R2-D2 to life through beeps and whirs. "One of the things I knew from the beginning is that I was not going to have dialogue in the traditional sense," Stanton said. Burtt developed a grammar of sound effects for each character, which the team is recording first (as they do with dialogue) so the artists have a performance from which to animate. "I was basically making 'R2-D2: The Movie,'" Burtt joked.

Comic-Con: Platinum Studios Shines Bright

[Posted by Erin Maxwell]
Platinum Studios founder Scott Mitchell Rosenberg is a force to be reckoned with. Rosenberg first started turning heads when his company, Malibu Comics, produced and distributed a little comic known as "Men in Black." That small indie strip spawned a billion-dollar franchise that made Hollywood take notice.

In 1994, Rosenberg sold Malibu Comics to Marvel, and in 1997, he set up shop with Platinum Studios. Now ten years later, Rosenberg is flying high with fistfuls of projects in development for both TV and film. Platinum Studios holds a peculiar position in the comics game. Unlike its big brother counterparts, Platinum uses its immense collection of characters and acts as both content creator and distributor, thus eliminating the pesky middleman. This gives the studio the upper hand in all development deals and the freedom to wheel and deal for TV and film rights. "I don't think anyone else has a model like us," said Rosenberg. "We don't care if we create it or find it from the outside with first-timers. 'Men in Black' was created by a first timer. Right now, we probably have 60 or 70 feature projects that we are developing."

Comic-Con: Jameson Wants Johansson to Star in Biopic

[Posted by Erin Maxwell]
Not many folks in the adult industry can claim A-list status. Despite the fact that the adult film market is a billion-dollar one, its only recently that H'wood moguls and the beautiful people have begun to acknowledge its presence. Most of this is due to the diligent efforts of Ms. Jenna Jameson.

Recently, the adult film star and New York Times best-selling author teamed with Virgin Comics for her latest endeavor, "Shadow Hunter," which follows the exploits of a risque superhero whose near death experience has her battling the forces of the evil on a daily basis. Making her first appearance at Comic-Con, Jameson talks about her upcoming foray into comics, as well as other mainstream projects in the pipeline:

So, this is your first Comic-Con. Are you excited to be here?
I talked to my friends a lot about it. For the past five or six years, my friends have been signing here and they will call me and say, Jenna, you have to come down here. It's like a world unto itself. And I guess it's really hard to fathom until you experience it. So, I'm pretty excited. Just driving down here to the convention, it's totally different. There were Chewbeccas on the road.

Comic-Con: Bionic Woman 2.0

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[Posted by Erin Maxwell] Faster then a pursuing helicopter, more powerful then a soccer mom's SUV, able to knock down no-good-niks in alleyways with a single punch. It's a supermodel; it's a soap opera; it's NBC's "The Bionic Woman."

The new hour-long drama got its preem at Comic-Con on Saturday as part of the Peacock's push for its upcoming full schedule. Auds were treated to a 30-minute version of the new Jamie Sommers, a 24-year-old bartender, who between taking care of her deaf sister and finding fun time with her hottie doctor boyfriend, has to deal with an unexpected upgrade of new appendages.

Exec producers/scribes David Eick, Jason Smilovic and Glen Morgan were there to answer questions, as well as star Michelle Ryan. "I felt that strong female roles often go to older actresses," said former "EastEnder" Ryan.

"There is a real gap in the market for a strong female lead character. I'm privileged to have the role. "It's a journey of self discovery. It's a woman who finds out who she is as a hero while she discovers who she is as a woman," commented Smilovic.

"It's a story of a woman who is not cut out for this at all. She's learning as she goes along. King of like a female Peter Parker," said Eick.

In a time when many studios are rehashing old hits from the boob tube for the silver screen, the question came up why "The Bionic Woman" didn't go the way of "Dukes of Hazzard." "There is a lot more to explore and it requires the wide angle lens of television," said Smilovic. "There is so much more here than for a two-hour movie."

Considering the fanbase of the original series, there was talk on the panel about O.G. “Bionic Woman” Lindsay Wagner and a possible cameo for the new series. "It's a possibility," said Smilovic. "We are open to all options. But for other characters from the series to return, like Sasquash or those diplomat wives who were brainwashed with their shampoo, probably not."

Comic-Con: Marvel Unveils Iron Man

Word spread through the Con that Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Favreau would sign Iron Man stuff for the fans at 1:30 PM Saturday after the unveiling of the new Iron Man costume (there are two looks in the clips we saw in Hall H, early first stage clunky iron armor and later flying suit, which this one resembles). There was a mob of onlookers as the director, star and FX master Stan Winston posed for photographers. Erin was close to the wooden crate; I was aiming my Nikon at a screen farther away.

[Posted by Erin Maxwell] Things I learned while trying to snap a pic of Iron Man:

1. Sometimes being only five feet tall kinda bites.

2. Most Comic-Con attendees will let you in at the front of the line if you ask nicely.

3. Camera phones can be more reliable than normal cameras.

I would like to thank the nice gentleman who helped me off the floor when the mad rush of Marvel fans knocked me to the ground. Thank you, sir. I have never met a finer man. And yes, I meant it when I said that I liked your outfit. You make that Punisher costume work for you.

Comic-Con: Heroes Packs 'Em In

[Posted by Brian Lowry]
As further proof that this is shaping up as the year of TV at Comic-Con, NBC's Heroes panel Saturday filled a 4,000-seat ballroom and turned hundreds if not thousands away. The show's "Vote Petrelli" buttons - referring to a politician character - appeared to be one of the more popular swag items at the event.

Here's a Heroes Comic-Con Photo Flickr Gallery.

Comic-Con: No One Draws Like Struzan

[Posted by Peter Debruge]
OK, for the last 48 hours, I've been pretending like I'm not really a geek, that the guys in Stormtrooper costumes are the weird ones here at Comic-Con. But yesterday, I found myself clapping loudest on the "Mist" panel for Drew Struzan, poster artist extraordinaire — and yes, that makes me a geek.

Drew's having a good Con. Earlier this week, a friend and I were bemoaning the fact that Hollywood hardly ever uses the guy who designed the iconic hand-painted posters for "Star Wars," "Indiana Jones" and "Goonies" any more. We even decided that many of "Stardust's" marketing woes (Paramount doesn't seem to know how to pitch this incredible 21st-century "Princess Bride" to audiences) would disappear if they would only hire Drew to do their poster.

So imagine our delight when, on Thursday morning, the main goodie at the Paramount panel proved to be an 8-page booklet of Drew Struzan Indiana Jones art. Granted, the most recent painting was dated 2003, but it signifies that — after Harrison Ford, the bullwhip and the fedora — Spielberg and Lucas are bringing back the most important element of the franchise. (The new "Blade Runner" turbo edition will also feature Drew Struzan art.)

And the good news only got better at that panel for "The Mist," where Drew himself shared the dias with director Frank Darabont, actors Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden and Laurie Holden, and creature effects wizards Greg Nicotero and Everett Burell. Lately, Darabont's been the one keeping the Struzan tradition alive (he painted the special-edition DVD covers for "The Shawshank Redemption" and "The Green Mile"), and he arranged for Drew to design an exclusive Comic-Con painting.

Let this be a lesson to Hollywood: Yes, we know PhotoShop can solve all your one-sheet design problems, but nothing can breathe light and life into the very idea of a movie like Drew Struzan.

Comic-Con: Dark Knight Teaser, Scavenger Hunt, Joker Art

The Dark Night director director Chris Nolan is not a Comic-Con regular, nor was Christian Bale able to attend this year. But Warner Bros. wasn't about to pass up an opportunity to grab attention for its latest Batman sequel with the fans.

[Posted by Peter Debruge] Over the years, Comic-Con has trained fans that "Hall H" (the venue's largest room, with 6000+ seats) is the place to get sneak peeks of all their favorite genre movies, but not so for Batman. This year, the WB panel ignored "Dark Knight" altogether, while the real tease unfolded outdoors.

It all started at whysoserious.com, the movie's viral marketing site, with a scavenger-hunt challenge that would require fans on the ground to partner up with friends online to unlock an exclusive Joker photo (seen here) and teaser trailer (watch it).

The trick with Comic-Con, as Warner learned the hard way with "Batman Begins," is that the rabid audience thinks they're entitled to see exclusive footage first, and they get nasty when the filmmakers don't deliver. Come armed with something to show, or don't show up at all — and since Nolan didn't have a clip for the crowd, he dreamed up this scheme instead.

The first clue: a sky-written phone number (800-395-9646) outside the San Diego Convention Center, which sent participants hustling from location to location. As recruits to the Joker's cause, they had their faces painted bone white with hollowed-out eyes and a bright red gash across the mouth.

The details are still hazy, but the bottom line was a chance to see the new teaser released in front of "The Simpsons Movie," as well as a shot of Heath Ledger (as the Joker) holding a knife up to Maggie Gyllenhaal. Worth the trouble? I don't know, but it was a smart way to avoid being attacked for using Hall H to show the same teaser audiences all over the country are seeing today. And if word of mouth is what Comic-Con marketing is all about, this trick certainly delivered.

Here's more on the viral Dark Knight campaign at The Con.

And here's The Dark Knight teaser trailer:

Comic-Con: Snyder on Moore's The Watchmen

[Posted by Marc Graser] Fanboys only want to know one thing when it comes to their favorite properties getting the big-screen treatment: That it's in good hands.

Alan Moore's The Watchmen has languished in development hell for years, so when Zack Snyder ("300") stepped on stage to talk about his plans for the pic at Warner Bros., you could almost hear a loud sigh of relief among geeks when he said it would be a faithful adaptation, down to its '80s setting. "The mistake (Hollywood makes is saying) that the movie knows better," he said. "We have this material. It's amazing. I have the utmost respect for it. I just want to make the best movie I can."

[photo by Nora Chute]

Comic-Con: MacFarlane Talks American Dad

[Posted by Erin Maxwell]
Seth MacFarlane and the cast of "American Dad" took the time to address their fans at Comic-Con with a table reading of in upcoming episode of "The 42-Year-Old Virgin." The group read through the script, which was accented with clips from the episode and a good amount of humor from both the stars of the show and the audience. MacFarlane even handled the hecklers with ease: "You know you're not in your house, right?"

The animated skein began running on Fox in 2005, but it actually first got its start back during the last presidential election. "We hated Bush," said MacFarlane. "It was during the election that Mike (Barker), Matt (Weitzman) and I came up with the concept. It looked like he would win again and we were frustrated."

With "The Simpsons Movie" opening in theaters, auds wondered if either "Family Guy" or "American Dad' was far behind. "We've been talking about it, but the trick is finding the time to do both the series and the movie at the same time. That's why 'The Simpsons Movie' took so long."

MacFarlane began his career at Hanna-Barbera before he took root at Fox with two hit toons. But the beginning of the road began with a simple project he started as a newbie. "The pilot for 'Family Guy' came from a student film I made just to get laughs. For anyone to get laughs. For Fox execs to get laughs."

Comic-Con: Spotlight on Moonlight

[Posted by Erin Maxwell]

Right after the massive WB exhibit of "Whiteout," Joel Silver jetted off to one of the Comic-Con meeting rooms to chat about his upcoming vampire cop show "Moonlight," which will make its fall debut on CBS. With him was the cast of the tongue-in-cheek drama, including star Alex O'Loughlin, who plays vamp-turned-detective Mick St. John.

Part "Remington Steele" and part "Dark Shadows," "Moonlight" is about a ne'er do well who was turned into a creature of the night by his blushing bride on his wedding night 60 years prior to the pilot. He has since turned his nocturnal nature to nighttime activities that help mankind. "He's a reluctant vamp," says O'Loughlin, "He finds a way to use his special skills to help. He's a humanist."
“Each character is balanced. It’s a sophisticated piece,” said O'Loughlin. “It’s based on human problems that we all struggle with.”

"Veronica Mars" fans were also at hand to show their love and devotion for Jason Dohring, who plays 400-year-old yuppie scum on the show.

Also on the panel was Shannyn Sossamon, who plays the lovely bride in question. The Eye drama also stars Sophia Myles ("Doctor Who") as in investigative reporter and Brian J. White ("Stomp the Yard") as her contact on the police force.

Silver chatted with the audience about recreating the vampire mythos, as well as redeveloping the usual crime drama. "This is an unusual way of dealing with a detective story. We are dealing with a man with issues," said Silver. "It's a weird world we are in."

The half-hour talk came to an end, leaving the audience with only a brief intro to the new characters, a teaser trailer and an outline to the upcoming Eye show. What else is to be expected? "We are figuring it out as we go along," said Silver.

Comic-Con: Warners Presents Get Smart, Beckinsale Finally Shows

The Warners panel started off strong with some terrific footage from Get Smart (summer 2008). Director Peter Segal seems to be embracing a Rush-Hour mix of bumbling slapstick character comedy and rousing action. Steve Carell takes on the Don Adams/Inspector Clouseau role as Maxwell Smart, whose phone is in his shoe, while Anne Hathaway plays a chic Agent 99. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (who got a great roar from the crowd in Hall H), plays a new character, Smart's mentor, agent 23. Alan Arkin is the Chief. And the villains are Terence Stamp and Ken Davitian, of Borat fame. Segal hinted at a Mel Brooks cameo. "This is like a another car in the garage next to a classic Corvette," he said.

Carell was shocked that he didn't have to audition for the role, but was offered it outright. "It was one of the most surreal moments of my life," he said. He did get ornery with one long-winded fan in Hall H, though: "We don't have all day!" Carell compares Get Smart to a comedic Bourne Identity. "These people live in a real world, a parallel reality. It's extremely funny but there's a sense of action and jeopardy."

Nicole Kidman sent a pro forma video greeting from the set of Baz Luhrmann's Australia, saying nice things about working with her fellow cast members Daniel Craig, Jeremy Northam and Jackson Bond. The movie is looks like yet another version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, virus-style, with reprogrammed people chasing after healthy ones. (It gets you during REM sleep.) Kidman is fiercely protecting her child.

That movie looked somewhat more intelligent than One Missed Call, based on the 2003 Japanese horror film, Chakushin Ari. Edward Burns and Shannyn Sassomon gamely presented themselves to the crowd. (She was pretty lame up there; isn't it part of the deal to learn how to do PAs?) The film's ad line: "What will it sound like when you die?" Its premise: An evil spirit travels through cell signals. If you get a call and listen to the message, you hear your own death, which takes place in a couple of days. "Each time you get a call," explained Burns, "it's a ticking clock to your own death."

When one fan asked Burns if he was planning a sequel to Confidence, he replied: "Like most of the films I'm in, Confidence died at the boxoffice. That put an end to that sequel." Warners gave out iPhones to the folks who asked questions.

10,000 B.C., the next Big Movie from Roland Emmerich, looks like a loud entertaining romp through the Dark Ages. There's pounding crushing mastodons, among many other things. "See what it's like to discover life death love hate good evil hope triumph betrayal and loss," proclaims the trailer.

Producer Joel Silver and director Dominic Sena waited not so patiently for the arrival of Whiteout star Kate Beckinsale. The movie is based on the Eisner-winning graphic novel by Greg Rucka. Silver eventually stormed off the stage to physically bring the actress onto the dais. She said she'd been stuck behind a freight train. The premise of the movie is that this isolated group of people in a place with no government and no permanent population in the dark of winter where it's 120 below zero discover the first murder in Antarctica.

Sena's trailer was terrific, his people skills, less so--when a little boy asked a question about Beckinsale, Sena started describing her colorfully sexy banter on set, including the word dildo. Not age appropriate!

Silver said he wanted Beckinsale, a star with "action credibility," for the film's lone femme role. "She's smart, she's tough, she gets it. She knows what it takes."

"I still got bruised and beat up," Beckinsale said. "And I liked it."

Sena loved the film's setting, as unpleasant as it was to shoot in Northern Manitoba. "It's an alien, inhospitable, unfriendly environment," he sad. "It asks a lot of you when every time you walk out the door, you take your life in your hands. It's tenfold more exciting than telling a story in a conventional environment."

The filmmakers wrapped principal photography a few weeks ago.

The Wachowskis are beavering away on Speed Racer, Silver said. They want to capture the feel of the old Japanese animation, he said, while taking it to a new place. Emil Hirsch is Speed and Christina Ricci is Trixi. "The races are unbelievable."

Trick R Treat is one WB horror pic that has been pushed back, and I can see why. Anna Paquin is dressed like Little Red Riding Hood and some horrible things are chasing her and various other hapless trick or treaters on Halloween night. Enough already!

I'll do a separate entry on the highlight of the Warners presentation: 300's Zack Snyder talking about his approach to adapting Alan Moore's classic comic The Watchmen for the big screen.

[Photos by Nora Chute]

Comic-Con: Nimoy Returns to Star Trek

Leonard Nimoy will return to J.J. Abrams' Star Trek franchise, reports Variety; Marc Graser covered the Paramount panel on Iron Man, Indiana Jones 4 and Abrams' Cloverfield.

My cohort last year at Comic-Con, Sheigh Crabtree, is now covering The Con for the LAT. I got in Thursday night and will face the teeming hordes at the Convention Center this morning. Getting one's registration in a timely manner...nothing's guaranteed where 150,000 people are concerned.

Comic-Con: Beowulf Footage Unveiled

It kills me that I missed Beowulf yesterday--I got in late Thursday night. I'll be posting coverage all weekend from our Variety team:

[Posted by Peter Debruge]
It’s been a long time since high school, so maybe I’m not remembering “Beowulf” correctly, but the footage touted in four separate screenings at Comic-Con this year implies that (a) Grendel is actually the love child of “corrupt” King Hrothgar (Anthony Hopkins) and a “ruthlessly seductive” demon and (b) when sent to kill Grendel’s mother, Beowulf (Ray Winstone, He-Manned up for your viewing pleasure) gets it on with her instead.

It doesn’t hurt that she’s played by a very naked Angelina Jolie — or the computer-animated, gold-laminated equivalent of the actress, looking more Lara Croft than ever. Banish the primitive, hairy beasts of the Anglo-Saxon epic from your mind. As reimagined by screenwriters Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, Grendel’s mother is a “Species”-like shape-shifter, a sex goddess with a serpent’s tail (see the trailer for yourself).

The footage unveiled at Comic-Con is an enigma, delivering photorealistic characters using director Robert Zemeckis’ “Polar Express”-style performance capture technique. The audience at Thursday’s Paramount panel seemed less than impressed, comparing the look to video games and the “Final Fantasy” movie, although a longer 20-minute clip screened in 3-D went over far better with the fans.

During the Q&A following the demo I attended, one impressed journalist volunteered, “The new ‘Star Trek’ would look great in 3-D,” to which Real D chairman-CEO Michael Lewis enigmatically replied, “Stay tuned.” Could J.J. Abrams’ upcoming “Star Trek” prequel be one of the dozen or so yet-to-be-announced 3-D projects Real D has in the works? “Let’s put it this way,” Lewis said, “it would be foolish for any major release not to be considering the possibility.”

Here's LAT's Beowulf takeout. Other responses to Beowulf are on AICN; here's one overheated AICN fanboy response:

The trailer for Robert Zemeckis' CGI-a-riffic BEOWULF is now online.

Some of it is "Oh...my...GOD!!!!" breathtaking.

Some of it looks like cut scene fodder still in need of TLC.

ALL of the characters look better than the glassy eyed zombies who populated
POLAR EXPRESS - whose technology was built upon to realize this project.
And, this looks a helluva lot better than that goofy Christopher Lambert
movie we got a few years back. (Duh!)

And, when all is said and done, they've CGId an Angelina who (here, at
least) appears every bit as bulge inducing as the real thing. No small
accomplishment there.

Click on Angelinabot's svelte, glistening, beckoning hotness to see for
yourself!!!

UPDATE: Sony Pictures Imageworks is developing three perf capture pics: producer Avi Arad's Maximum Ride, the James Patterson series; Neanderthals, a caveman comedy from Jon Favreau of Iron Man fame; and a mystical epic adventure from perf capture innovator Jerome Chen.