On the eve of Martin Scorsese’s Boardwalk Empire — premiering this Sunday — HBO shows off some of the goods in its 2011 hopper: Tom McCarthy’s adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, with Sean Bean, Peter Dinklage, Charles Dance, and Lena Headey, and Todd Haynes’ five-part take on James Cain’s Mildred Pearce, with Kate Winslet, Guy Pearce, and Evan Rachel Wood. I already did the re-up a month ago — looking forward to catching up with Treme — but I’m glad to see HBO plans to keep ’em coming.
Category: Television
Zombie Land.
Best brush up on those Thriller moves, y’all: AMC and Frank Darabont’s adaption of Robert Kirkland’s’ The Walking Dead gets a 4-minute trailer and a start date: Sunday, October 31st.
Letters from a Birmingham Trek Convention.
“[W]hen I told Dr. King I was leaving the show, I never got to tell him why, because he said, ‘You can’t.’ He explained to me just what I’ve just said. ‘Here you are on the command crew in the 23rd century, fourth in command, while we’re marching in the streets for equality.’” Nichelle Nichols, a.k.a. Lt. Uhura, relates the story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Trekkie.
The Sweet Hereafter.
“‘I have never worked for Harvey Weinstein,’ Chaykin told the Toronto Star in 2007. ‘And now I think maybe I never will.‘” A Wolfe rests: Veteran Canadian character actor Maury Chaykin, 1949-2010. “‘He was one of our greatest actors,’ [Mark] McKinney said. ‘Maury’s an actor of unparalleled gifts. You cannot learn what he had in spades.’“
Heroes to Zeroes.
I thought this was interesting. Long-time readers may remember that back in the day, I wrote a few posts about the TV show Heroes pretty blatantly ripping off Watchmen and the X-Men “Days of Future Past” storylines, which was all the more annoying because showrunner Tim Kring claimed to never read comics. So, anyway, a representative from Carnival Comics found those old posts and sent along this info about the lawsuit they’ve recently filed against NBC and Heroes for plagiarism (from Season 4, which begs the question: If you pretty clearly plagiarize from someone, and yet nobody in America actually watches your final product, does it still count as plagiarism?) I must say, particularly in light of the earlier grifts, the PDF in question is rather damning.
Sliding Kicks, Sliding Doors.
I thought Amores Perros and Babel were meh and 21 Grams was laugh-out-loud terrible. But now I too have a favorite Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu film: “Write the Future, this really great World Cup 2010 ad, featuring, among others, Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Fabio Cannavaro, Franck Ribery, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Patrice Evra, Gerard Pique, Ronaldinho, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Thiago Silva. Yes, y’all, the world’s greatest sporting event is right around the corner…
Birds of a Feather.
“Could I offer one piece of serious advice?…Start thinking now about you want your legacy to be.” Having made peace with The Queen, Tony Blair (Michael Sheen once more) now contends with President Bill and First Lady Hillary Clinton (Dennis Quaid and Hope Davis respectively) in this brief teaser for Richard Loncraine’s The Special Relationship, written by Peter Morgan. (This is the fifth Morgan/Sheen collaboration after The Deal, The Queen, Frost/Nixon, and The Damned United.) With this, Treme, The Pacific, Song of Ice and Fire, and Boardwalk Empire, the reasons for re-subscribing to HBO seem to be mounting.
The Thespian, the Fantasist, and the Siren.
“[T]here isn’t any such thing as a bad day. Yes, bad things happen. But any day that I’m still here, able to feel and think and share things with people, then how could that possibly be a bad day?” Lynn Redgrave, 1943-2010
“‘He’s going to be remembered as the most renowned fantasy illustrator of the 20th Century,’ Pistella said.” Frank Frazetta, 1928-2010.
“‘The whole thing that made me a star was the war,’ Ms. Horne said in the 1990 interview. ‘Of course the black guys couldn’t put Betty Grable’s picture in their footlockers. But they could put mine.” Lena Horne, 1917-2010.
I See Dead People.
I haven’t been keeping up on this lately, but casting has been filling out for Frank Darabont’s adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s zombie-epic The Walking Dead, starting this October on AMC. Joining the shamble are Andrew Lincoln (as Rick Grimes), Sarah Wayne Callies (Lori), Jon Bernthal (Shane), Jeffrey DeMunn (likely Dale), Steven Yuen (Glenn) and, the most recognizable face, Laurie Holden — nee X-Files‘ Maria Covarrubias — as Andrea.
In very related news, please do keep in mind that May is Zombie Awareness Month. “Supporters of Zombie Awareness Month wear a gray ribbon to signify the undead shadows that lurk behind our modern light of day. From May 1 through May 31, Zombie Research Society Members and friends take this small step to acknowledge the coming danger.” Awareness!
The Power of their Source? The Crystal.
Once more, they will replenish themselves…(omg this is the best). First announced in 2005, the much-anticipated Power of the Dark Crystal is finally out of development hell with a brand-new pair of directors, the Spierig brothers, recently of Daybreakers. I’m all for it. Hey Tron and Clash of the Titans are back in 2010, so why the heck not? Let’s complete the trifecta…in 3D.
Update: The Spierigs speak: “To be honest, the first film is, when I was young, pretty scary stuff. This will certainly have scary elements to it. It’s not a horror film by any means, its just got a really solid mythology and solid idea.“