Bruce Campbell wasn’t kidding. On Saturday, I interviewed the actor, who starred in and produced the original The Evil Dead trilogy with Sam Raimi and is now producing a remake, and he told me that Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez’s reinterpretation is “dead serious.” Unlike Raimi’s movies, which mixed the director’s distinct style of humor with groundbreaking (literally) horror, Campbell says the remake is a “full-on old-school horror movie with make-up effects.” And lots of blood and gore judging from this stomach-turning trailer that leaked from NY Comic-Con.
Don’t be put off by the initial graininess of the footage, the focus gets fixed and the camera is quite steady which makes me suspect that this is just a smart example of guerrilla marketing. (I wouldn’t have posted it otherwise.) In either case, the trailer certainly makes a compelling case for horror and gore fans to see the movie. There’s lots of blood, scenes of people removing infected limbs with kitchen and garden power tools and one particularly memorable shot of a young possessed woman slicing her tongue down the middle. (I guess she wants to speak with forked tongue…ba-dump-bump!)
The trailer also suggests that Alvarez has adopted Raimi’s technique of shooting scenes from the perspective of the fast-moving evil forces that invade and infect the group of pretty-but-unfortunate souls who find the Book of the Dead in an isolated cabin. Prepare to scream, like the crowd members do at the beginning of the clip.
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In a sea of lumpy Spandex, half-assed Harry Potter costumes and face paint, Bruce Campbell set quite a sartorial standard at New York Comic-Con on Saturday. The square-jawed actor — who’s currently seen in the USA Network cable TV series Burn Notice but built a hardcore following by playing the character of Ash in Sam Raimi’s groundbreaking 1980s The Evil Dead comic-horror trilogy — wore a beacon-like red tuxedo jacket and complementary black-and-red patent leather shoes.
The colorfully candid Campbell was on hand at the Javits Center to draw attention to the remake of Evil Dead that he, Raimi and Rob Tapert are producing. (The three were producers of the original films as well.) Set for an April 12, 2013 release by Columbia Pictures’ Screen Gems division, Evil Dead will mark the feature debut of Uruguayan commercial producer Fede Alvarez and feature young cast that includes Jane Levy (Suburgatory) and Jessica Lucas (Cloverfield). The screenwriters include Raimi and hyper-stylist Diablo Cody (Juno).
Like the original, the remake is about a group of young friends in a remote cabin who discover The Book of the Dead and, one by one, succumb to its evil. But, as Campbell tells Movieline, the comparisons end there. Read on to find out how the movies will differ, what Campbell really thinks of basketball shorts, actress Jane Levy’s performance, CAA agents and George Lucas’ decision to tweak his Star Wars movies. And if you haven’t seen Panic Attack!, the short film that got Alvaraez the Evil Dead job, it’s posted below.
Movieline: Those shoes are something else. Do you own them or did you rent them?
Campbell: These are mine, baby.
They’re beautiful.
It’s Comic-Con. C’mon, let’s step it up! I’m trying to encourage other people who go to Comic-Con: Put on…
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Years before Dorothy Gale plopped down in Oz right on top of that mean old stripey-footed wicked witch, a man — not just any man, but James Franco — accidentally found himself in the magical land, blown into a world of Technicolor whirlygigs and CG fairies by Sam Raimi. I mean, by a tornado. But as Raimi (along with surprise guests Michelle Williams and Mila Kunis) explained to the crowded Hall H audience Thursday at Comic-Con, his Oz won’t have that much to do with the 1939 classic; for starters, those ruby slippers? Nowhere to be found.
“It’s the story of a selfish man. A bit of a lothario, a bit of a cad, not a great guy at first,” explained Raimi of the fame and fortune-hungry Oscar Diggs (Franco), the small-time magician at the center of the Oz prequel. After landing in Oz and meeting three witches — Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams) — Diggs uses his illusionist skills to pass himself off as a long-fabled wizard. As in THE wizard. Of Oz.
The script (credited to writers Mitchell Kapner and David Lindsay-Abaire) culls information directly from L. Frank Baum’s Oz books, but because of rights issues the ruby slippers made famous by Judy Garland could not be reprised in Oz. Not only that, the film won’t feature the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, or the Cowardly Lion.
No matter; Raimi’s got plenty else to keep you occupied, even if the first teaser (see below) is a tad underwhelming. Snatches of action and looks at the glam trio of witches feel Raimi-esque, and yet the entire thing feels as if the Evil Dead director were let loose with a few too many green screens…
Full Story »Comic-book movies can be many things — ridiculous, entertaining, stupendously dull – but very rarely are they erotic. I’m not talking about the garden-variety sexually neutral charge thrown off by a fit actor, man or woman, who happens to look good in a latex suit. Even in the best comic-book movies, made by filmmakers who know what they’re doing — people like Sam Raimi, Bryan Singer, Guillermo del Toro and Jon Favreau — sex is often treated as a mild embarrassment, a thing that just doesn’t mix well with action inspired by comic-book panels. And so amid all the questions about whether or not the Spider-Man franchise ought to have been rebooted just 10 years after Raimi kicked off his own spin on it, maybe the real question to ask of Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man is — when it comes to sexual chemistry, why can’t more comic-book movies be like this one?
Depending on your expectations, The Amazing Spider-Man — based, of course, on the characters created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko — is probably not as good as you hoped or as bad as you feared. The plot is fairly standard: The movie opens with the typical traumatic childhood event — in this case, the young Spider-Man-to-be Peter Parker is hastily left behind by his parents (Campbell Scott and Embeth Davidtz) who must flee, somewhere, to safety. Peter is left in the care of his Uncle Ben and Aunt May (Martin Sheen and Sally Field), and before we know it, he’s grown into Andrew Garfield — his Peter is an awkward and only mildly sullen teenager who tries to ride his skateboard through the halls of his school (a no-no) and who harbors a not-so-secret crush on the most adorable science nerd…
Where have we heard this before: MGM is moving forward with its planned remake of of the 1982 horror classic Poltergeist, this time with Sam Raimi co-producing and his Oz: The Great and Powerful screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire contributing the latest script. Some wailing and gnashing has ensued around the Web, but let’s just calm down — we’re only a year and a half behind the scheduled release date of the previous remake they threatened. Sounds like a high priority!
The beleaguered studio has long included Poltergeist among its list of post-bankruptcy remake prospects, with director Vadim Perelman (House of Sand and Fog) previously attached to direct a do-over written by Juliet Snowden and Stiles White (Knowing). That version surfaced almost four years ago. Meanwhile, according to THR, the latest would have Raimi producing (but not directing) alongside Nathan Kahane, Roy Lee and Robert Tapert. And that’s… it. That is literally all the information anyone has about an unwanted remake taxiing down the MGM runway behind such sluggish studio jets as RoboCop and Carrie.
So let me just say it again: Relax! Plugging Raimi’s name into a project these days virtually ensures at least a few years of development hell, and the infamously accursed Poltergeist production legend should take care of scuttling the rest. Go back to dreading Short Circuit, already.
[THR]
Can’t wait for Sam Raimi’s star-studded, mega-budget Oz: The Great and Powerful? How about a low-budget, modern-day twist on the L. Frank Baum classic featuring Dorothy as a children’s book author (and Kansas transplant, natch) in Manhattan and co-starring Lance Henriksen, Billy Boyd and Christopher Lloyd? Oh. Well anyway, here’s the latest on Dorothy and the Witches of Oz, the erstwhile little-seen mini-series that by all appearances this weekend should become a little-seen theatrical release.
Writer-director Leigh Scott’s film reportedly has one of the more roundabout broadcast/distribution records of any recent movie (save for Margaret, perhaps), but will finally come to theaters Friday. By “theaters,” I mean “four venues in Arizona,” with three more to follow Feb. 24 in Kansas and Kentucky. The film itself, meanwhile, appears pretty deeply NYC-centric — because no one’s ever imposed that twist on the Oz legend before:
It does kind of look better than This Means War, right? And in “glorious 2D”! Well-played, team. Arizona, you are in luck!
[via Big Hollywood]
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Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead reboot, which begins filming in New Zealand this spring, has found a new star to fill the shoes of original Ash Bruce Campbell, so to speak: 22-year-old British-born actress Lily Collins, who’ll next be seen playing Snow White to Julia Roberts’ evil queen in Tarsem’s fairytale adaptation Mirror Mirror. Let that sink in, Evil Deadites… deep breaths… now hit the jump for more details.
According to Bloody Disgusting, Collins — last glimpsed, rather unfortunately, looking lovely on the lam with Taylor Lautner in Abduction — will lead a cast of five pretty young things who hole up in a cabin in the woods with a Book of the Dead. BD reports that Collins’ character Mia is a rebooted version of Ash; after a recent struggle with drugs, she and her pals head to the woods so she can detox but, of course, demonic possessions muck up the retreat.
On board to direct is Fede Alvarez, discovered by Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures after his Uruguayan sci-fi short Panic Attack earned him notice, with a screenplay co-written by Rodo Sayagues and Diablo Cody. So while Raimi and Campbell are onboard as producers, this Evil Dead will be created by voices new to the franchise, clearly aimed at a new generation of fans. In which case, are you ready for a new lady Ash — one who’s as fair than them all?
The Evil Dead reboot is set to hit theaters on April 12, 2013.
• We’ve Discovered Who Plays The Lead In ‘The Evil Dead’ Remake — Meet The New Ash! [Bloody Disgusting]
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When it was announced that Sony was going forward with a reboot of the Spider-Man franchise so soon after director Sam Raimi placed his mark on Peter Parker, many eyebrows were raised at the timing. After all, Spider-Man 3 came out in 2007, a mere four summers ago — it’s not like people are clamoring for reboots of other 2007 blockbusters like Ocean’s 13 or Live Free or Die Hard. (Or maybe they are?) Regardless, we’re here now, and The Amazing Spider-Man is scheduled to hit theaters next summer. Does the new teaser offer anything that Raimi’s Spider-Man films did not?
Kinda? Campbell Scott as Peter Parker’s leaving father is a new touch, and replacing Mary Jane with Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone) is nice, but the rest of the two-minute teaser for director Marc Webb’s Spidey incarnation plays things relatively origin-y. It looks cool, no doubt — that final, first-person rooftop jaunt will play particular badass in 3-D — it just looks awfully familiar. Following a summer of origin stories — Thor, X-Men: First Class, Green Lantern and the coming Captain America: First Avenger — will audiences tire of the tropes when Andrew Garfield goes through them next July?
VERDICT: With great power comes great responsibility.
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Talk of a fourth Evil Dead movie/Evil Dead remake has been around for a while, with little solid proof that the indie horror franchise would actually see new life. Until now: Following an online report that editor Bob Murawski was heading to Detroit to start working on the project, Bruce Campbell — Ash himself — has Tweeted confirmation that the project is on its way to fruition.
Responding to a skeptical fan, Campbell (whose new Twitter account, @GroovyBruce, was verified by his official website) Tweeted the following:
“Believe in the remake, dawg! The project is real. In the works. Cool as hell. Scary as hell.”
The original Evil Dead debuted 30 years ago, spawned sequels Evil Dead II and Army of Darkness, and was adapted into a stage musical. Director Sam Raimi, who’s busy with Oz: The Great and Powerful, will be on board producing; Campbell previously hinted that he may have a role in the film (“I will be one of the producers and possibly play the milk man”).
Meanwhile, Bloody Disgusting reports that Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez has landed in the director’s chair. Back in 2009, Alvarez signed with Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures based on the strength of his low-budget YouTube hit short, Panic Attack!
[via DreadCentral, @GroovyBruce, BloodyDisgusting]
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Literally, actually. If you live in the Michigan area, are over 18 years old, and a clown, you can e-mail in your resume for consideration to become an extra in Oz: The Great and Powerful. The production advises that you “include a picture of you not in clown mode” with your note, which actually doubles as good advice for everyday life as well. The James Franco-led film starts shooting this summer. [Michigan Acting via Coming Soon]
