We’ve had our fair share of set pics from the set of Gemma Arterton’s new movie, Byzantium and here’s a few more. The difference with these ones however is that she’s covered in blood! The images were taken in Ireland where they’re currently filming instead of the southern shored of England were they were in the previous images of the former Bond Girl.

Byzantium is directed by Neil Jordan and also stars  Saoirse Ronan who plays the pretend-daughter of Gemma in the movie.

Source: ComingSoon

Filming of Neil Jordan’s Byzantium continues on the southern coast of England and more pictures have emerged from the production.

Previously we saw Gemma Arterton in a red dress which went round the internet like the plague (but a good plague) and the images from yesterday’s filming continue the theme of beachbound shenanigans, albeit with a more bloodsucking bent.

Arterton and Saoirse Ronan lead Jordan’s film which is based on Moira Buffini’s play about a mother and daughter who are both vampires. Sam Riley, Daniel Mays and Caleb Landry Jones makes up the rest of the principal cast. Looks nuts. Can’t wait.

The Sun had these first, and there’s an extra pic over at their site which is littered wit punnery of assorted merit.

Here’s the first set photos from the set of Byzantium that show Gemma Arterton filming on a cold beach somewhere in the UK. We were with Gemma on Sunday night along with multitudes of other British film stars at the British Independent Film awards where she looked stunning when presenting an award. She’s maybe not looking quite as stunning in these images but she’s not doing too bad a job considering she’s probably freezing to death!

Byzantium is directed by Neil Jordan and as well as Gemma stars Saoirse Ronan in a movie where the two characters pose as mother and daughter while are in fact vampires!

These photos come from Socialite Life who has plenty more images to gawk at with a tip of the cap to Coming Soon for the heads up.

Click the images to enlarge.

In the past few months, we’ve been getting some excellent images, trailers, posters, and all kinds of great things from the set of two of next year’s biggest fairy tale re-imaginings, Mirror Mirror (until recently known as Tarsem Singh’s As-Yet-Untitled Snow White Project) and Snow White and the Huntsman, led by Lily Collins and Kristen Stewart respectively.

We mustn’t forget, though, that the two Snow White projects aren’t the only big screen adaptations of fairy tale that we can look forward to next year, and we’ve now got the brilliant first image from Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters to share with you, courtesy of EW via Collider.

Hansel And Gretel will star Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton in the leads, both of whom have been very much deservedly rising in the past few years, with a supporting cast that includes Famke Jenssen and Peter Stormare. Norwegian director Tommy Wirkola is making his English language debut helming this, having co-written the script with Dante Harper.

The film sounds like a brilliant take on the original Brothers Grimm tale, with the jumping off point being,

“What kind of adult does a kid become after surviving a trip to a cannibalistic witch’s gingerbread house?”

EW spoke to Arterton about the film, and reading it (you can read it in full here) makes me pretty damn excited for its release next year.

“Folk-tales like this have been told over and over again, changing every time. What’s the constant that your movie picks up?
[Arterton:] They resonate with your fears, that’s how these fairy tales worked. They scared you into behaving. This one in particular is about abandonment and being lost and parents leaving you. The heart of it is that these kids grow up to be bloodthirsty witch hunters. It’s a bit tongue in cheek, really. What would Hansel and Gretel be in 15 years time?

Though it’s comedic, deep down it’s about abused kids becoming kind of hyper-responsible?
But it’s also very, very dark, and bloodthirsty and there’s a lot of cursing. It’s kind of got a [Quentin] Tarantino feel, really.”

Hansel And Gretel: Witch Hunters will hit cinemas in 3D here in the UK 2^nd March next year, which is a date I’m really looking forward to. Without further ado, here’s the great first look at Renner and Arterton looking awesome and ready to hunt some witches. I have a feeling this is going to be brilliant. As usual, click to enlarge.

Caleb Landry Jones (No Country for Old Men) has landed the lead male role in Byzantium.

Jones will star opposite Saoirse Ronan (Hanna) and Gemma Arterton (The Disappearance of Alice Creed) in Neil Jordan’s fantasy-thriller.

Based on Moira Buffini’s acclaimed play, Byzantium centers on a mother and daughter vampire duo who form a deadly pact.

Byzantium will shoot in October for a late 2012 release.

Jones was last seen in X-Men: First Class and has a role in Contraband opposite Kate Beckinsale and Mark Wahlberg.

Source: Variety

Sammy reminisces as a 50-year old, soon to be grandfather, about his own adventures growing up, trying to find his mate, staying alive and avoiding assorted man-made environmental calamities.

*****

A Turtle’s Tale has a certain cute, childish charm. When we first see Sammy as a minutes-old hatchling, trying to climb out of a sandy hole and make his way to the sea, it’s clear that a young audience is in mind here. There are none of the Dreamworks/Pixar “something for all ages” beats, the film choosing instead to skew deliberately 8 and under. There is an environmental message that will bypass the youngsters for the most part (oil slicks, dumped rubbish, piping toxic waste, whaling, deforestation), but it’s as subtle as a sledge-hammer and as likely to cause adults to switch off as attract their sympathies.

The story is so straightforward as to be simplistically dull. Sammy grows up, makes friends, avoids peril, finds  a mate, all to a contemporary pop soundtrack. There’s no real sense of danger, no genuine concern that all will be anything other than happy ever after and it drains the narrative of any life, any propulsive quality. The voice-work is solid enough and clearly some thought has been given to it. Listening to the various players talk about their work during one of the disc’s extras, they clearly enjoyed the experience, which was their first dabble in animation for the most part.

The quality of the CG-work is well below par. Of course the bar has been raised and raised by successive Pixar and Dreamworks efforts, but the Ice Age franchise and Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs have shown you don’t have to be one of the so-called big-hitters to deliver quality animation. It just feels so very amateurish and with the problems already mentioned in other areas, the film adds up to an overall impression of mediocrity. Unless you are very young, or very patient, this may well not be the film for you.

*****

Extras: If you get the Sainsburys-specific special edition, you’ll get interviews with the principals (Dominic Cooper as the eponymous Sammy, Robert Sheehan as his friend Ray, Gemma Arterton as Shelley, John Hurt as a 50-year old Sammy and Kayvan Novak as the very French Fluffy the Cat) in which they discuss their experiences of working in animation for the first time and the afore-mentioned environmental issues. You also get some B-roll footage of them working through their line readings. Hardly sensational stuff, but better than the mere trailer you get on the standard edition.

Film:*½~~~ (1.5/5)

Extras:**~~~ (2/5)

Terence Stamp (Wanted), Gemma Arterton (Tamara Drewe), Vanessa Redgrave (Deep Impact), Christopher Ecclestone (Shallow Grave) and Anne Reid (Hot Fuzz) have all signed on to star in tender comedy Song for Marion.

Set to be directed by acclaimed U.K. filmmaker Paul Andrew Williams (London to Brighton, The Cottage), Song for Marion centers on a grumpy and lonely 72-year-old man (Stamp) who joins an unconventional choir after his wife (Redgrave) dies.

Song for Marion will be produced by Steel Mill Pictures, with E1 Entertainment handling the worldwide sales.

Filming is set to begin later this month in the U.K.

Source: Screen Daily

To mark he release of A Turtle’s Tale on DVD and Blu-ray on 18th July, Optimum Home Entertainment have given us 5 copies of the movie to give away on Double Play which contains both formats!

Optimum Releasing’s A TURTLE’S TALE: SAMMY’S ADVENTURES 3D is an epic global adventure story, an animated family feature made spectacularly real by the latest in 3D technology.  A young sea-turtle’s romantic quest for his first, lost love, a fellow hatchling, born on the same Californian beach, takes him on a marathon voyage across the seven seas, to the furthest corners of the earth.

A spectacular 3D animation of the wonderful adventures of Sammy the sea turtle searching the ocean for his one true love. As he scrambles to the sea shortly after his birth on California beach, sammy finds and loses the love of his life, a pretty hatchling called Shelly. On the epic journey across the oceans, with the help of his best buddy Ray, Sammy dodges every danger in the hope of meeting Shelly again.

To be in with a chance of winning this great movie on Double-Play, simply answer the following question using the form below:

Who voiced the character ‘Snow’ in A Turtle’s Tale?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 18th July at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received
• No cash alternative is available

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

It seems that everywhere you look these days, some studio or publishing company is trying to cash in on the vampire craze that has been steadily sweeping the world for the last few years.  It’s gotten so bad that even long time vamp fans such as myself are ready to see our fanged friends placed on the shelf for a decade or so.  However there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon!

This past week at Cannes, it was announced that writer Moira Buffini’s adaptation of her own stageplay Byzantium is no longer stuck in development limbo! The story itself revolves around two women who mysteriously appear in a small British town.  When Eleanor, the youngest of the two, lets slip that she believes herself and her counterpart Claire to be 200 year old vampires, the townsfolk are quick to dismiss her. But a dark shadow has become cast over the town and people are starting to disappear, leaving some to wonder if there might be some truth to the girl’s claims.

Number 9 films has gone on to reveal the film’s producer, Stephen Woolley, as well as it’s director, Neil Jordan.  These two are no strangers to the vampire genre as they are the same duo that stunned audiences, with their big screen interpretation of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire.  The film’s two stars have also been announced with Disappearance of Alice Creed‘s Gemma Arterton, and Hanna‘s Saoirse Ronan playing the film’s two leading ladies.

When it comes to film adaptations, Ronan is one of the best.  She has already delivered fabulous performances in Atonement, The Lovely Bones, City of Ember, and The Way Back.  She’s even supposedly slated for Peter Jackson’s Hobbit epic as well as Andrew Niccol’s adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s The Host (although I’m still miffed that she wasn’t chosen for the role of Katniss in The Hunger Games!). With that kind of track record, it seems studios can’t go wrong in casting her.

Together this combination of cast and crew appears to be the perfect storm needed to bring credibility back to the vampire genre.  All the right pieces seem to be in place, but we won’t really know how well the project will truly turn out until the film itself is in the can.

American director, Neil LaBute, has cast four of the lead roles for the upcoming film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Crooked House with some of the finest English and Irish actors, Variety reports.

Now signing on to the project are Dame Julie Andrews, Gemma Arterton, Gabriel Byrne, and Matthew Goode, a great mix of classic talent and upcoming stars.

The film is set in 1947 in London. The lead character, Charles Hayward (most likely to be played by Goode) is told by his fiancé, Sophia (most likely Arterton), that the two cannot be wed until the murderer of her grandfather is found. As such, Hayward makes it his business to discover Sophia’s grandfather’s murderer.

Andrews is perhaps most likely to play the role of Sophia’s great-aunt, with Byrne either playing Sophia’s father or uncle. As is natural in Christie’s novels, everyone has a motive, and it is up to Hayward to find the killer before any more lives are taken.

The book has been adapted by the writer of the incredibly popular ITV series, Downton Abbey, Julian Fellowes, and Tim Rose Price. The budget is set at about $20 million, and shooting is set to start this summer here in the UK. With such a stellar cast now attached to the project, there’s even more reason to expect it to be a success, with so much talent in the cast and crew alike.

LaBute has currently been working in London as director of the play, In a Forest, Dark and Deep, starring Matthew Fox (Lost) and Olivia Williams (An Education), which started in March and will run through until the start of June. Hopefully being in London for the past two months has given him a chance to already start thinking in detail about how he’s going to bring the script to life.

The last time we glimpsed the shenanigans on the set of the third Men in Black film we saw newcomer Emma Thompson donning the last suit she’ll ever wear, now we have a look at one of the main stars of the film – Josh Brolin as the younger incarnation of Tommy Lee Jones.

We know that the plot surrounds Will Smith’s Agent J going back in time to visit his counterpart Agent K (Brolin) for some very important reason, and Alice Eve’s Agent Oh, who is played in the present by Emma Thompson.

Jemaine Clement, Nicole Scherzinger are also joining in the fun and were hoping that Barry Sonnenfeld has managed to end up with a decent script this time – I’d like it to involve going back in time to prevent the second Men in Black film from being made. Which probably won’t happen.

Here are the pics, which came via The Playlist from The Daily ‘Mail’.

A series of photos have appeared online showing Gemma Arterton (The Disappearance of Alice Creed) and Jeremy Renner (The Town) on the set of Paramount Pictures’ Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.

Production on the Tommy Wirkola-directed comedy-action film is currently underway in Braunschweig, Germany.

This tale catches up with Hansel (Renner) and Gretel (Arterton) 15 years after their incident involving a gingerbread house, the siblings have evolved into bounty hunters who hunt witches.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters also stars Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare and Ingrid Bolsø Berdal and will be released on March 2, 2012.

Source: Accidental Sexiness

Slightly different audience required for this one I think but if you’ve got kids, it’s perfect for you! nWave Pictures have sent us this new poster and trailer for their new movie, A Turtle Tale: Sammy’s Adventures which is a brand new 3d underwater adventure for kids to take their parents too!

The movie features voices from Dominic Cooper, Gemma Arterton, John Hurt, Kayvan Novak, Robert Sheehan and is directed by Ben Strassen.

Synopsis: A spectacular 3D animation following the wonderful adventures of Sammy the sea turtle (Dominic Cooper, MAMMA MIA) as he searches the ocean for his one true love. Sammy scrambles to the sea shortly after hatching on a beach in California and quickly finds and loses the love of his life, the beautiful Shelly (Gemma Arterton, TAMARA DREWE).

During the epic journey which all turtles accomplish before returning to the beach where they were born, Sammy dodges every possible danger; he battles with piranhas, escapes a fish eagle and searches for a mysterious secret passage, in the hope of meeting Shelly again.

A Turtle Tale: Sammy’s Adventures hits UK cinemas in 3d 25th March with some special preview screenings on March 19th and 20th.

Famke Janssen (X-Men) has been cast as the leader of the witches in Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.

Janssen will star opposite Gemma Arterton (The Disappearance of Alice Creed) and Jeremy Renner (The Town) in Paramount Pictures’ dark action-thriller.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters follows the siblings from the famous fairy tale as adult bounty hunters bent on avenging the incident that traumatized them as children.

Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow) is attached to direct, with production scheduled to commence on March 7 in Berlin, Germany.

Deadline

Gemma Arterton (recently seen as Tamara Drewe) has been cast as the female lead in Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, TheWrap have confirmed.

Arterton will star opposite Jeremy Renner (The Town) in Paramount Pictures’ dark action thriller.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters follows the siblings from the famous fairy tale as adult bounty hunters bent on avenging the incident that traumatized them as children.

Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow) is attached to direct.

Filming is set to commence on March 7 in Berlin, Germany for a late 2011/early 2012 release.

A third Men in Black film was not as inevitable as it would seem with the energy and dry wit of the springy first film giving way to a diluted, misshapen misfire of a sequel. Eight year later however Messrs. Smith and Jones are reuniting with a few new faces for a third trip around the galaxy.

Josh Brolin, Emma Thompson, Alec Baldwin and Betty White jump on board the MIB3 wagon for the next installment of the series which comes complete with a time twisting plot. Set pictures have surfaced from Splash (via ComingSoon) which can be seen below and you can follow the links for more pics.

The 3D picture has a release date of May 25th, 2012.

In other, MIB3 related news, The L.A. Times have an interesting article on the recruiting of Catch Me If You Can screenwriter Jeff Nathanson to kick the script into shape. The Times claim that Nathanson will take Etan Cohen’s draft and concentrate his efforts on the section of the script where the young K (played by Josh Brolin) is visited by Will Smith’s J. On set rewrites are a matter of course for many big budget productions and the report also mentions that the whole shebang will be shut down over Christmas and restart in the new year with the present day scenes being filmed in 2010 and the 1969 scenes will shoot next year.

Two more cast members have come aboard the third Men in Black feature

E! Online are reporting that Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger has just be confirmed, alongside much-loved US comedienne and former Golden Girl, Betty White (who hosted Saturday Night Live this May at the sprightly age of 88!)

Scherzinger has revealed that the name of her character is Lilly and that “She’s like a small villain role. I’m so excited because I get to die. I make an appearance. I say a couple of lines and then I die.”

Thanks for the spoiler Nicole! Bet the makers are glad they chose you for the part now.

Other new cast members who have yet to ruin the film for any potential audience by revealing the fate of their characters are Gemma Arterton, Josh Brolin, and Flight of the Conchords’ Jemaine Clement.

According to Deadline, Noomi Rapace – she with the original Dragon Tattoo – is reportedly in the running to join Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel. With actresses such as Carey Mulligan, Abbie Cornish and Gemma Arterton also touted, it is clear that no decisions have yet been made and talks are still ongoing.

The actress – who has finished filming her last scenes in the Lisbeth Salander role and recently agreed to Robert Downey Jnr. and Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes 2 – is indeed an intriguing contender for the prequel’s Ellen Ripley-esque role.

After purportedly making “a strong impression” on the director, and with shoes like Sigourney Weaver’s left to fill, it may well take a legend to replace the cultural icon that was Weaver’s Ripley.

With the Millenium trilogy behind her and already ripe for remaking, Rapace might just be perfect for The Girl With The Xenomorph Problem.

Icon Home Entertainment have been kind enough to give us three copies of their new movie, The Disappearance of Alice Creed to give away on DVD. The movie stars Gemma Arterton, Eddie Marsan, Martin Compston and is written and directed by J Blakeson. It’s set for release on DVD and Blu-ray Monday 4th October and you can pre-order your copy here.

Synopsis: On a suburban street, two masked men seize a young woman. They bind and gag her and take her to an abandoned, soundproofed apartment. She is Alice Creed, daughter of a millionaire. Her kidnappers, the coldly efficient Vic and his younger accomplice Danny, have worked out a meticulous plan. But Alice is not going to play the perfect victim – she’s not giving in without a fight. In a tense power-play of greed, duplicity and survival we discover that sometimes disappearances can be deceptive…

Full of twists, intrigue and betrayals this British thriller was in the official selection at Toronto and London Film Festivals, with director J Blakeson receiving a ‘Best Newcomer’ nomination at the latter. The film was also nominated for the Raindance Award at the 2009 BIFA awards.

To be in with a chance of winning one of three DVDs, all you have to do is answer the following using the form below:

In which movie did Gemma Arterton recently play the character, Princes Tamina?

The small print:

• This competition is open to the UK only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close Wednesday 6th October at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

Just when you thought it might be safe to let yourself become excited for the Alien prequels again, EW reports that the rumours that Gemma Arterton may star haven’t gone away quite yet.

The actress – she of St. Trinians and Clash of the Titans fame – spoke to the magazine this morning at the Toronto Film Festival. In response to the claims of her representative (that there was “no truth” behind the rumour), Arterton replied:

“The honest truth is that Ridley Scott has approached me to meet with him about something in the next few weeks. He saw Alice Creed and loved it.”

When asked whether the Alien prequels might just be that something, Arterton went on to speculate which role she might actually play in the franchise.

“I’d love to get buff. But maybe I’ll be playing an alien! I wouldn’t mind that, actually. I like dressing up. That’s why I became an actor in the first place.”

There, you had it here second. Following her numerous displays of versatility – St. Trinians 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold, Prince of Persia – Gemma Arterton may follow Tamara Drewe with a role as a xenomorph, albeit one with a mean pout and unwavering British accent.