The forth Pirates of the Caribbean saga must have proved to be a rewarding creative experience for star Johnny Depp and newcomer to the series, Nine director Rob Marshall. Both are attached to the remake of 1934 comedy-mystery, The Thin Man.

The Wrap is reporting that the actor will play the part of Nick Charles, a former detective who embarks a murder mystery case for fun, alongside his wife. The female lead is yet to be cast (wonder how far down the list Angelia Jolie sits?), but this remake will be co-produced by Depp, with script-writing duties going to Jerry Stahl – the famous hedonist 80’s TV scribe who has since cleaned up his act and has gone on to work on CSI and contributed to the script for Bad Boys 2.

According to the site, the film has already been pencilled in for a 2013 release. Will they have time to fit another ‘Pirates’ film in before then?

They’re going to need a bigger boat for Rob Marshall’s entry into the Pirates of the Caribbean series as the fourth film, subtitled On Stranger Tides, has two more crewmates.

Joining Johnny Depp for the next POTC film is British actor Sam Calflin, whose previous roles are comprised of two TV series The Pillars of the Earth and The Lost Future, and director Marshall and Producer Jerry Bruckheimer plucked Claflin to star as a youthful missionary going by the name of Philip and looks certain to be an Orlando Bloom substitute.

Also a recent addition to the cast is French actress Astrid Bergès-Frisbey who is set to play a mermaid in the film, potentially cavorting around the fountain of youth (if that’s still on the cards for the fourth film) and this will be her first English-speaking role.

The film is scheduled to go into production this summer, filming in Hawaii, Los Angeles and here in London.

Ok. We thought the news that Penelope Cruz was to jump aboard the good ship Black Pearl for the fourth film in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was a surprise, that’s nothing to the latest bit of casting to hit the interweb.

Ian McShane, the lovable rogue from BBC’s Lovejoy series, and known to US fans as the foul mouthed Al Swearengen from Deadwood, has been tipped to play Blackbeard in the new Pirates movie.

THR are reporting the story and it has rejuvenated my interest in the fourth film, that and the news from Collider today that Keira Knightly and Orlando Bloom won’t be in the next film.

How the Fountain of Youth will fit in amongst Blackbeard, Penelope Cruz’s foil to Captain Jack Sparrow, I have no idea, but I’m actually looking forward to this one now.

Yesterday word got out that Penelope Cruz would jump into the bear pit of Lars Von Trier’s next, Melancholia.

Now we’re hearing that she in talks to play opposite Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow in the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film, subtitled On Stranger Tides, a move which would reunite her with Nine director Rob Marshall.

Heat Vision had the story, which seems to have disappeared in the meantime (either my browser is broken or it was a mistake…), and there’s no more detail on who Cruz might play, but she is expected to be Sparrow’s equal (which means there really is no more news here).

Here’s hoping they give Cruz something a little more interesting to do than affect an outrageous accent and throw mild crazies at the drop of a three cornered hat – but then again, that would make her a true equal to Depp’s character.

PotC 4: On Stranger Tides is sailing for a May 2011 release.

Most of the cast of were out in force last night at the World Premiere of Rob Marshall’s latest movie, Nine. Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman and Dame Judi Dench, 4 of the seven leading ladies from the movie were all in attendance in London’s Leicester Square and all looked fabulous (no matter what the Daily Mail say about Nicole Kidman’s outfit!). Daniel Day-Lewis, the lead male in the movie (who also gets to work with Fergie, Sophie Loren, Marion Cotillard – poor chap!) plays director Guido Contini struggles to find harmony in his professional and personal lives, as he engages in dramatic relationships with his wife, his mistress, his muse, his agent, and his mother.

Nine is out 18th December and looks fantastic with big songs, a wonderful cast and a great director in the form of Rob Marshall. I’ve put some more photos which are from the Daily Mail below. Head over to the Mail website to check out the rest.

The Weinstein Company have released the third and most likely last trailer for Rob Mashall’s Nine has been released and it’s probably the best one so far telling us a little more about the story and showing us much more from the main cast which includes Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren.

Nine is scheduled for release 18th December so it’s a great one to go to over the Christmas period. You can watch the new trailer in HD on Apple.

With the release of Rob Marshall’s ‘Nine’ drawing ever close (18th December), three new posters have been released for the movie which stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren.

From the look of the posters, it seems The Weinstein Company who are producing the movie have done their best to get hearts rates up using the ultra sexy cast to promote the movie in the best way they know how. Apparently another poster will be released today but in the meantime, you can check out the three below by clicking to enlarge.

I know that one of the posters has come from Cinematical. I’ve not tracked down the original source of the other two as yet.

No sooner than I post the news that Rob Marshall will be directing Pirates 4, a new trailer has been released on Yahoo for his Marshall’s new movie, Nine which stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren. It’s set to hit cinemas 25th November which is now getting closer.

This new trailer has a song sung by Kate Hudson over the top of it and gives us our first sense of what the soundtrack may be like. It sounds awesome and although I don’t normally like this kind of movie, I’m very much looking looking forward to this one.

Check it out below or head over to Yahoo to view in HD.

Over the last few years, animated family movies have begun to embrace increasingly adult themes and storylines. Led by Pixar, they began by including more grown-up jokes in movies aimed at children, attempting to increase box office figures by making movies that parents could get some enjoyment out of alongside their kids.
 
Then last year, Pixar picked it up a level with WALL-E. Dealing with themes of loneliness and gluttony, and taking a look at the way mankind has treated this planet, Adults arguably enjoyed it more than the younger audience. Then this years Up dealt with missed love and lost youth in a poignant story of an Septuagenarian making one last journey. Now, Shane Acker’s 9 has come along to further the trend of using animated film to explore adult ideas.
 
When i first read about 9, i felt like i should know the director. After all, when a director’s name is included with the title of the film, like John Carpenter’s The Thing, it immediately gives the film an illusion of a big event. 9, however, is Acker’s first feature, so why the name? The answer lies in the proliferation of nine titled movies this year, which include the film Nine based on the musical, and District 9.
 
This 9 started off as a short film, an animated film school project of Acker’s which took four years to complete. The quality of the animation and an exciting storyline meant the film was brought to the attention of producer Jim Lemley, who immediately fell in love with it, and showed his complete faith in Acker’s vision by commissioning a feature length version. Directors Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov jumped aboard as co-producers. And now, four years later, it hits the big screen.
 
Though it isn’t stated as such, 9 appears to be set on Earth after an alternative history World War II. I can state this with a reasonable amount of confidence based on the abandoned period weaponry, and the brilliantly put together war propaganda film clips we are shown in the middle of the movie. The titular 9 is a small robotic being, clothed in sackcloth who suddenly awakes in a derelict building. He picks up a strange object, then opens a huge window to survey his surroundings. What he sees is an apocalyptic wasteland, a large city with big buildings reduced to rubble.
 
The only sign of life he sees is another small robot of his ilk, who turns out to be number 2. He discovers there are another seven more like him, but before 2 can tell him more they are attacked, and his new-found friend is taken away by a robotic beast. 9 must seek the others 2 spoke of, so that together they can track down the metallic monster, and liberate their captured brethren. The feature-length 9 is very much an extension of the short. The structure and plot is very similar, a couple of scenes are almost an exact copy. The biggest difference is that there was no dialogue in the original short, with the characters communicating everything through their actions.
 
From the outset, the animation of the world of 9 is truly breathtaking. The graphic styling is wonderfully mature, and hugely distinctive. The numbered beings, far from being cute, have a fantastic steam punk look, with their mechanical parts and basic stitched coverings. These graphic images give a real sense of atmosphere, with great use of perspective for background and foreground settings. The post-apocalyptic world is beautifully realised, and chillingly authentic. The remains of the man versus machine war are clearly evident.
 
It’s a shame we don’t see more of the world that existed before mankind was wiped out. In just a few minutes of historical film footage, Acker has created a vision of the struggle between mankind and their own creations far more compelling than Terminator Salvation managed in two hours. The action sequences are one of the best things about 9. Good use is made of the oversize environment around the stitch punk protagonists. The action is fast, exciting and very well choreographed. Each of the Numbers uses their unique skills to great effect.
 
This isn’t a perfect film however. The storyline, and the characters are a little two-dimensional (excuse the pun). Each of them has their particular trait, the strong one, the wise one, the warrior, but not much more is explored other than that. As the story is effectively that of human created mechanical beings against each other, it’s a little hard to relate to the heroes of the story. With the human race wiped out, do we really care if a small group of mechanical beings wins or loses a post-apocalyptic battle against another group? These issues are addressed somewhat in the anti-climatic conclusion, but it would have been better to have been drip-fed more of this information earlier in the story, allowing us to empathise more with these characters.
 
Less forgivable is the thread of the main character, number 9 himself. The hero is supposed to be likeable, but 9 is the cause of a lot of the disasters that beset the little survivalists, and you can’t help but think at times that they were better off before he turned up. It also doesn’t help that he is voiced by the whiny sounds of Frodo Baggins, Elijah Wood. Better are the voice talent’s of John C. Reilly as 5, the loyal everyman with a big heart, and Christopher Plummer as the authoritive and cautious leader, 1. Support is provided by Jennifer Connelly, Martin Landau, Crispin Glover and Fred Tatasciore.
 
Overall, a good start from Shane Acker. Great animation, in a brilliantly designed world. I’m genuinely interested to see what comes next from Acker. A prequel maybe, charting the more interesting human against machine war? Personally, i’d love to see a Shane Acker animated adaptation of H G Wells War of the Worlds. Now that idea, i’d give a perfect 10.

9 is released this Friday 30th October.

Bazmann

Yahoo / The Weinstein Company have debuted a great little behind the scenes look at Rob Marshall’s ‘Nine’. The footage shows Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren prepare for their song-and-dance numbers. I’ve embedded it below or head over to Yahoo to view in HD.

This movie does look like it’s going to be a real show both in it’s artistic content and in the fact it’s a movie based on the stage. Rob Marshall (Chicago) directs and although I’m not usually a big fan of musicals like this one, it does look excellent.

Check it out at a cinema near you on Christmas Day.

Here’s the Japanese poster from upcoming musical, directed by Rob Marshall. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, the cast is simply astounding and includes Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren. Between them they’ve been nominated for 17 Academy Awards with 7 Awards being won. It’s nice to see a poster with an image that hasn’t been rehashed fro images that we’ve already seen. As far as I’m aware, it’s the first time it’s been released.

I’ve previously posted the trailer and images for the movie which hits UK cinemas 25th November. Marshall has previously brought us Chicago and is going to direct Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth in the “˜Pirates’ franchise.

Click the poster to enlarge and follow the links in this post and related articles below to view other images.

9 and Nine, two different movies but both look I’m very much looking forward to seeing. This post is about ‘Nine’, a movie based on the Broadway musical of the same name written by Federico Fellini and Ennio Flaiano. This movie has a cast which gives it very high expectations. The calibre of the movie is so high that it’s cast has a total of 17 Oscar nominations between them with a whopping seven wins.

The cast includes Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman and Sophia Loren. I’ve previously posted the trailer and images for the movie which hits UK cinemas 25th November. It’s directed by Rob Marshall who has previously brought us Chicago and is going to direct Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth in the ‘Pirates’ franchise. I’ve embedded the images below, some of which we’ve seen before but there’s quite a few new ones too which you can click on to enlarge.

Synopsis: “NINE” is a vibrant and provocative musical that follows the life of world famous film director Guido Contini (Daniel Day-Lewis) as he reaches a creative and personal crisis of epic proportion, while balancing the numerous women in his life including his wife (Marion Cotillard), his mistress (Penelope Cruz), his film star muse (Nicole Kidman), his confidant and costume designer (Judi Dench), an American fashion journalist (Kate Hudson), the whore from his youth (Fergie) and his mother (Sophia Loren). The original 1982 Broadway production of “NINE,” with music and lyrics by Maury Yeston, won five Tony Awards including Best Musical.

Yesterday I posted a few new images from Clash of the Titans which looked spectacular. Today, we’ve got a couple more from that movie including the first shots of Neeson as Zeus. EW.com also have images from Ironman 2, Nine, 2012, Did You Hear About the Morgans, Glee, The Lovely Bones and  Date Night which stars Steve Carrell. I’ve embedded them all below which you can click to enlarge.

The shot of Neeson give us a look at what we can expect from the head of the god. The caption added on EW’s website by director, Louis Leterrier is great – showing that every now and again, England can have a hot sunny day!:

[We had] the hottest week in England this summer, but Liam was such a trouper. He never complained. He always had little fans blowing in his face but he never said, “˜I want to take off this armor.’ He stayed in character as Zeus.”