Also in Monday’s round-up of news briefs, RZA is set to direct two new projects; The Loneliest Planet tops the Specialty Box Office in an otherwise uneventful weekend. And Peter Fonda takes on jury duty.
George Clooney Nabs Daniel Craig, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin for Monuments Men
The WWII drama will be directed by Clooney and will also star John Goodman, Hugh Bonneville and Bob Balaban. The film, co-written by Clooney and Grant Heslov, centers on the final chapter of Germany’s rule, “which came down to the absolute destruction of everything that makes a culture keep its standing, including the lives that are lost and the sacrifices that are made. All of this is in danger of being lost forever as Hitler and the Nazis try to cover the tracks of a murderous regime.” Production will begin March 1st, Deadline reports.
Celebs Tweet Their Hurricane Sandy Moments
Lena Dunham: “My dad re: the hurricane: ‘I have tons of cash and a salad’”; Bette Midler: “Batten down the hatches!! I’m baking macaroons for the duration. Hope it’s over before Hulaween!!!! Eeeeeeekkkk!!”; Lindsay Lohan: “WHY is everyone in SUCH a panic about hurricane (i’m calling it Sally)..? Stop projecting negativity! Think positive and pray for peace.” Kirstie Alley: “Here is the WORLDS biggest HUG to all of you on the EAST coast.. and a truckload of prayers for your safety!!!! ALL LOVE, Kirstie”; More at Access Hollywood.
RZA to Direct Genghis Khan Biopic and Action Thriller No Man’s Land
He is debuting The Man with the Iron Fists Friday and has two more projects waiting in the wings. The Wu-Tang Clan frontman has singed on to direct John Milius’ epic biopic Genghis Khan and also has…
RZA is feeling good about his directorial debut, The Man with the Iron Fists. In this Behind-the-scenes featurette, the Wu-Tang Clan leader says he didn’t think he could top his musical work with the hip-hop group (or as a solo artist), which, he explains, led “to some of the greatest climaxes of my life.” Okay! But after teaming up with “my boy Quentin Tarantino” and Hostel director Eli Roth to “make a fat joint of my own,” RZA proudly proclaims “I have topped it.”
The 43-year-old first-time filmmaker explains that The Man with the Iron Fists is the result of a fascination with kung-fu movies that began when he was 11 years old, and it sounds like he’s got a lot more ideas where this movie came from. He also explains that the movie’s soundtrack of hip hop and classic soul is meant to be integral to moviegoers’ enjoyment of the picture. You can just sit back, smoke one — if you smoke — and let the music flow.
Here’s a preview of what to expect below.
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Hip hop artist RZA can now add “film director” to his already impressive resume. The co-founder of the Wu-Tang Clan completed his first feature, the action pic The Man with the Iron Fists, in which he appears along with Jamie Chung, Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu, Dave Bautista and more. RZA says Comic-Con itself inspired him by “coming across great art and lots of life.” He also gives his take on Quentin Tarantino (RZA scored Kill Bill) who inspired him to make movie set in feudal China. Written by Eli Roth and RZA, the story revolves around a blacksmith who makes weapons for a small village and finds himself having to defend himself and his fellow villagers. Beyond the Trailer host Grace Randolph chats with RZA at Comic-Con who gives insight on how the movie got made and what kind of director he wants to be.
It looks like Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA has learned well from his masters — they being the Hong Kong grindhouse filmmakers of yesteryear whose slicing, dicing martial arts exports clearly influenced more than just the rapper-actor’s musical side, not to mention the reigning icon of modern exploitation cinema culture, Quentin Tarantino. Watch Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu, Pam Grier, Jamie Chung, and RZA himself chop, stab, kick, and fight their way through the bloody first redband trailer for The Man with the Iron Fists!
RZA stars in the film as the eponymous man with the iron fists, a small-town blacksmith in feudal China (the kind of fantasy “feudal China” where RZA can play a local and everyone speaks English) who jumps into action in defense of his village, though the trailer smartly glosses over anything resembling a plot and cuts right to the selling point: This cast, equipped with a plethora of weapons, fighting each other as if in a gloriously lush contemporary Shaw Brothers flick.
In addition to earning a “Presented by Quentin Tarantino” credit, RZA’s kung fu actioner is co-written by Eli Roth, who also produced. But QT and Roth aren’t the only veterans RZA surrounded himself with for his feature directing debut: He’s got Corey Yuen onboard as fight choreographer and Chi Ying Chan (Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame) as DP, along with a host of supporting cast members plucked from the worlds of action and Chinese film, including Dave Bautista, Cung Le, Daniel Wu, Rick Yune, and Gordon Liu.
CG blood squibs too-frequently come off as a silly workaround, so it’ll remain to be seen just how these fight sequences play within the film.…
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