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Debbie Reynolds: The Exhibit: All New Collection of Hollywood Treasures

Posted in Auction, Convention/Event, Movies, News on June 30, 2011| 2 Comments »

The following is taken verbatim from The Paley Center for Media:

On the heels of the success of the record-breaking Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Memorabilia Exhibit and Auction earlier this month, The Paley Center for Media announces an all new multimedia exhibition, Debbie Reynolds: The Exhibit, featuring more treasures from Ms. Reynolds’s collection opening July 23 at the Center’s Beverly Hills location.

The new exhibit is scheduled to feature iconic costumes, posters and props from Academy Award–winning film classics including Gone with the Wind, Show Boat, The Yearling and Moulin Rouge, as well as garments worn by a glittering array of legendary icons including Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Carmen Miranda, Doris Day, and many more.

Ms. Reynolds’s fascinating collection will remain on view at the Paley Center throughout the remainder of 2011, and additional classic items, some never before displayed to the public, will be added each month. The exhibit, which will encompass both floors of the Paley Center, will be open to the public. The first floor viewing is available free of charge. Admission to the second floor gallery space will be FREE to Paley Center Members and $6.00 for the general public. Admission tickets will be available at the door.

Visitors of the exhibition will also have access to the Center’s unparalleled media archive featuring over 150,000 programs spanning the history of television, radio, and digital media.

The new exhibit, which will run from July 23 to August 31, 2011, will feature classic and rarely seen film clips related to the items on display and the center will plan a series of special screenings and events to celebrate the many films and stars represented in Ms. Reynolds’s collection.

The initial exhibit, which brought thousands of visitors and international attention to The Paley Center, culminated in the June 18 auction by Profiles in History where Monroe’s iconic white subway dress from The Seven Year Itch sold for a staggering $4.6 million.

You can learn about The Paley Center for Media here.

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Box Office Movies Coming Out in July

Posted in Movies, Music on June 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Based on information provided by the Dark Horizons site and internet research, here are just some of the movies you can expect to see in movie theatres in July:

Larry Crowne
Opens: July 1

After Larry Crowne (Tom Hanks), a middle-aged man, is terminated from his job, he goes back to college, where he unexpectedly forms bonds with his fellow students and a romantic relationship with Mercedes Tainot, a professor (Julia Roberts). The cast also includes Bryan Cranston, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Nia Vardalos.

Monte Carlo
Opens: July 1

Three young girls (Selena Gomez, Katie Cassidy and Leighton Meester), on a dream trip to Paris, sneak into the lobby of a five-star hotel where one of the girls is mistaken for a spoiled British heiress and before they get the chance to reveal their true identities, the girls are wrapped up in a whirlwind of paparazzi, private planes, couture gowns and the glamorous life. The movie also stars Catherine Tate and Cory Monteith.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Opens: July 1

An origin story set in present day San Francisco, where one man’s experiments with genetic engineering leads to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy. The cast includes James Franco, Tom Felton (Harry Potter franchise), Brian Cox, Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Tyler Labine and David Hewlett.

Horrible Bosses
Opens: July 8

Three frustrated friends (Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis) believe their employers are holding them back from their true potential and so they conspire to murder each other’s bosses with unexpected and rather calamitous results. Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx, Colin Farrell and Jennifer Aniston co-star.

One Day
Opens: July 8 (REVISED: This movie has been moved to August 19!)

Emma and Dexter (Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess) meet on the night of their college graduation – July 15th, 1988. She is a working-class girl of principle and ambition. He is a wealthy charmer who dreams that the world will be his playground. We follow them across every July 15th over the next two decades as their friendship ebbs and flows with time and they come to the realisation of what they’re searching for. The cast also includes Romola Garai.

The Zookeeper
Opens: July 8

This live-action film stars Kevin James as Griffin Keyes, the kindhearted caretaker of the Franklin Park Zoo, who is beloved by the animals. However, when Griffin decides to get a more glamorous job with hopes of getting a woman in his life, the animals panic and break their time-honored code of silence and try to teach him the rules of courtship, animal style. The film also stars Rosario Dawson and Leslie Bibb and features the voices of Cher, Nick Nolte, Adam Sandler and Sylvester Stallone.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two
Opens: July 15

Breaking into the Wizarding Bank Gringotts and then Hogwarts itself to destroy two more Horcruxes, our heroic trio find themselves in a final battle with Voldemort and his legions on the grounds of the school. It’s a battle not all will survive.

Lucky
Opens July 15

Colin Hanks stars as a wanna-be serial killer who ends up winning the lottery and pursues his life-long crush. The cast also includes Jeffrey Tambor, Ari Graynor, Mimi Rogers, Tom Amandes and Ann-Margret.

Salvation Boulevard
Opens: July 15

Set in the world of mega-churches in which a former Deadhead-turned-born again-Christian finds himself on the run from fundamentalist members of his mega-church who will do anything to protect their larger-than-life pastor. The cast includes Jennifer Connelly, Marisa Tomei, Pierce Brosnan, Ed Harris and Greg Kinnear.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Opens: July 15

The story revolves around the lifelong friendship of Lily and Snow Flower and their imprisonment by rigid cultural codes of conduct for women in 19th century China. At the same time, their ancestors in modern day Shanghai face their own issues. The cast includes Hugh Jackman and Bingbing Li, Gianna Jun, Vivian Wu and Archie Kao.

Winnie the Pooh
Opens: July 15

In the first big-screen Winnie the Pooh from Disney in 35 years, this all new adventure gathers up Winnie and the gang, Tigger, Rabbit, Piglet, Kanga, Roo and Eeyore for a quest to save Christopher Robin from an imaginary culprit. The film features the voices of Jim Cummings, Craig Ferguson, Tom Kenny and Travis Oates.

The Fields
Opens: July 16

The film focuses on the true story of a pair of police officers who undertook to solve two decades of disappearances and homicides – totaling as many as 60 victims – in the industrial wastelands surrounding the Texan Gulf Coast refineries. The cast includes Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chloe Moretz and Jason Clarke.

Captain America: The First Avenger
Opens: July 22

After being deemed unfit for military service, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero who sets out to stop an evil Nazi scientist who has become a nefarious being called The Red Skull. The film also stars Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Richard Armitage and Stanley Tucci.

Friends with Benefits
Opens: July 22

A young female headhunter in New York convinces a potential recruit to accept a job in the Big Apple. Despite an attraction to each other, both realize they’re everything they’ve been running from in a relationship and decide to see what happens if they leave emotion out of it and keep it strictly physical. The cast includes Justin Timberlake, Mila Kunis, Patricia Clarkson, Jenna Elfman and Bryan Greenberg.

Cowboys & Aliens
Opens: July 29

The film is set in1873 in Arizona Territory where a stranger with no memory of his past stumbles into the hard desert town of Absolution, a town about to experience fear it can scarcely comprehend as the desolate city is attacked by marauders from the sky. Now, the stranger they rejected is their only hope for salvation against the alien force. Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell and Paul Dano star.

Crazy Stupid Love
Opens: July 29

A loving father and husband (Steve Carrell) finds his life unraveling when his wife (Julianne Moore) threatens to divorce him. As a result he hires a slick life coach (Ryan Gosling) to try and help him save his marriage and family. The cast includes Marisa Tomei, Josh Groban and Emma Stone.

The Smurfs
Opens July 29

In this CGI and live-action film, the maladroit sorcerer Gargamel (voiced by Hank Azaria) finally discovers the location of Smurf Village where a chase ensues, ending with six Smurfs (plus Gargamel) getting sucked into a magical portal and winding up in New York City. Neil Patrick Harris and Jayma Mays star.

Movies coming out in August will be posted at the end of September.

Enjoy!

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Pottermore: The Online Experience

Posted in Books, Geekdom, Movies, News, Online Series, Video on June 23, 2011| Leave a Comment »

The following is a verbatim article from Noelene Clark at the LA Times regarding the secretive, yet much buzzed about “Potermore” website from Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling:

Magically minded muggles will be able to experience the “Harry Potter” wizarding world through a new “online reading experience” called “Pottermore,” author J.K. Rowling said Thursday.

The Pottermore website will allow users to journey through the story lines of the books, starting with “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in October, according to a statement from Rowling’s media team.

“It’s the same story with a few crucial additions, the most important of which is you,” Rowling said in her YouTube announcement. “Just as the experience of reading requires that the imaginations of the author and the reader work together to create the story, so Pottermore will be built, in part, by you, the reader. The digital generation will be able to enjoy a safe, unique online reading experience built around the ‘Harry Potter’ books. Pottermore will be the place where fans of any age can share, participate in, and rediscover the stories.”

Rowling’s announcement, which came on Pottermore partner Sony’s website and at a news conference in London as well as on YouTube, came after weeks of speculation about Pottermore, with guesses ranging from a massively multi-player online role-playing game (like World of Warcraft) to a treasure hunt to a sequel.

Though no sequel is on the way, Rowling said the seven “Harry Potter” books would be available for the first time as e-books — in five languages and more on the way — and as audiobooks in an online store on the Pottermore website.

The website will also boast new content that Rowling said she has been “hoarding for years” about the Harry Potter universe.

“The storyline will be brought to life with sumptuous newly-commissioned illustrations and interactive ‘Moments’ through which you can navigate,” the media statement said. “As you move through the chapters, you can read and share exclusive writing from J.K. Rowling, and, just as Harry joins Hogwarts, so can you. You visit Diagon Alley, get sorted into a house, cast spells and mix potions to help your house compete for the House Cup.”

At the news conference at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Rowling also revealed that the website will bring to life the Sorting Hat, which places new users into their Hogwarts houses (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin) according to their characteristics, and Ollivanders Wand Shop, which helps users find the right wand from more than 33,000 possible combinations.

Pottermore will open to all users in October, but fans can register on July 31 — Harry Potter’s birthday — and compete in an online challenge to be in the first million people who will gain early entry into the website. Registration follows the release of ”Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” the final installment in the eight-part movie franchise, which hits theaters July 15.

“I wanted to give something back to the fans that have followed Harry so devotedly over the years, and to bring the stories to a new digital generation,” Rowling said in the statement. “I hope fans and those new to Harry will have as much fun helping to shape Pottermore as I have. Just as I have contributed to the website, everyone else will be able to join in by submitting their own comments, drawings and other content in a safe and friendly environment — Pottermore has been designed as a place to share the stories with your friends as you journey through the site.”

You can see the video from J.K. Rowling where she discusses “Pottermore” here.

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Looking for the Next Twilight and Harry Potter

Posted in Books, Geekdom, Movies on June 13, 2011| 2 Comments »

Back in February, I posted an article that provided a list of books that have been optioned by various movie studios or influential individuals within the industry for adaptation from the written word to film all in the name of trying to find a successor to The Twilight Saga and the Harry Potter series of novels that launched the worldwide phenomenon.

I am back with more books that are being touted by their respective studios as “the next big thing” – that movie adaptation that will bring wealth to the studios, turn their casts into household names and project the creative team onto even bigger projects in the future.

Here, in no particular order, are more books to film that you can anticipate in the near future:

Beautiful Creatures

Over at Warner Bros. they are hoping the novel series “Beautiful Creatures” by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl will do the trick. The novels are set in South Carolina and revolve around Ethan Wate, a high schooler who falls in love with a girl who appears in his dreams. There are currently two books in the planned five-book series on the bookshelves right now – “Beautiful Creatures” and “Beautiful Darkness” with the third book – “Beautiful Chaos” planned for an October 18, 2011 release.

You can learn more about the books here.

The Mortal Instruments

The book series “Mortal Instruments” by Cassandra Clare is being touted by Screen Gems as the hopeful “next big thing” at the box office. The series currently consists of “City of Bones”, “City of Ashes”, “City of Glass” and the recently released “City of Fallen Angels”. There are 6 books planned for the series that follows teenager Clary Fray who discovers she can see supernatural beings that no one else can see, which draws her into the world of the Shadowhunters (teens who kill demons and monsters) and Jace Wayland (one of the Shadowhunters). She also learns that her mother is somehow mysteriously connected to all the strange happenings around her.

The cast already includes new “It” girl Lily Collins (The Blind Side and Priest) as Clary and Jamie Campbell Bower (the TV series Camelot and The Twilight Saga) as Jace.

You can learn more about the books here.

Delirium

Next up is the book “Delirium” by Lauren Oliver, which has been optioned by 20th Century Fox. The book tells the story of Lena Haloway, who lives in a government-managed society in Portland, Maine where her husband and career will be decided once she turns 18 and is cured of deliria (aka love). But, 95 days before her cure, she meets Alex, a confident mysterious young man who makes her heart flutter and her skin turn red-hot. As their romance blossoms, Lena begins to doubt the intentions of those in power, and fears that her world will turn gray should she submit to the procedure. The planed sequel called Pandemonium will be released in March 2012.

You can learn more about the book here.

Pure

Also over at 20th Century Fox, there is the book trilogy “Pure” by Julianna Baggott, which won’t actually be on the bookstands until February 2012. The book chronicles what happens when an apocalyptic event divides the world into two castes – the Pures, who live under a protective dome, and the scarred survivors, who live in an ash-filled wilderness.

You can learn more about the author here.

Divergent

Summit Entertainment – the home of The Twilight Saga – has optioned two different book series. The first is “Divergent” from Veronica Roth and “Warm Bodies” from Isaac Marion.

The Divergent trilogy focuses on Beatrice Prior who lives in a dystopian Chicago where the society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue – Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. A second book in the series is planned for release in May of 2012.

You can learn more about the books here.

Warm Bodies

Meanwhile, “Warm Bodies” is – simply put – The Walking Dead combined with The Twilight Saga. R is a young man with an existential crisis–he is a zombie. He shuffles through an America destroyed by war, social collapse, and the mindless hunger of his undead comrades, but he craves something more than blood and brains. He can speak just a few grunted syllables, but his inner life is deep, full of wonder and longing. He has no memories, no identity, and no pulse, but he has dreams. After experiencing a teenage boy’s memories while consuming his brain, R makes an unexpected choice that begins a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with the victim’s human girlfriend. Julie is a blast of color in the otherwise dreary and gray landscape that surrounds R. His decision to protect her will transform not only R, but his fellow Dead, and perhaps their whole lifeless world.

Actor Nicholas Hoult (About a Boy and X-Men: First Class) has been cast in the lead role with a director already on board; but there is no sequel planned by the author.

You can learn more about the book here.

Earthseed

Next is the “Earthseed” trilogy by Pamela Sargent, which has been picked up by Paramount. Here is the official description of the book: Ship hurtles through space. Deep within its core, it carries the seed of humankind. Launched by the people of a dying Earth over a century ago, its mission is to find a habitable world for the children–fifteen-year-old Zoheret and her shipmates–whom it has created from its genetic banks. To Zoheret and her shipmates, Ship has been mother, father, and loving teacher, preparing them for their biggest challenge: to survive on their own, on an uninhabited planet, without Ship’s protection. Now that day is almost upon them…but are they ready to leave Ship? Ship devises a test. And suddenly, instincts that have been latent for over a hundred years take over. Zoheret watches as friends become strangers–and enemies. Can Zoheret and her companions overcome the biggest obstacle to the survival of the human race–themselves?

The other books in the trilogy include “Farseed” and “Seed Seeker”.  Melissa Rosenberg, the screenwriter for The Twilight Saga is producing and adapting this “Earthseed” trilogy.

You can learn more about the author here.

Legend

Lastly, there is the book “Legend” by Marie Lu, which has been picked up by CBS Films, but doesn’t hit the bookstands until November of this year. The story takes place in a dark future where North America is split into two warring nations; and focuses on 15-year old June, born into an elite family in one of the wealthiest districts who has been groomed for success in the highest military circles and 15-year old day, who is the most wanted criminal in the country, but his motives may not be as malicious as they seem. They have no reason to cross paths, until June’s brother is murdered and Day becomes the prime suspect. After a shocking turn of events, they uncover the truth of what has really brought them together, and the sinister lengths their country will go to keep its secrets.

You can learn more about the book here.

It is anyone’s guess which of these books turned film adaptations or the ones listed here will succeed with the movie-going audience; but did anyone expect The Twilight Saga to take off as it did or anticipate the global domination of Harry Potter? Are you interested in seeing any of these movies when they come out? Or, is there a particular book that you would love to see adapted into a film? Please share.

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The B-Ring Movie with Catherine Bell is “A Go”

Posted in Causes, Fan Effort, Geekdom, Movies, News on June 10, 2011| Leave a Comment »

As referenced in my previous article, actress Catherine Bell (Army Wives) and her director-husband Adam Beason have a movie project in the works called The B-Ring.

According to the Kickstarter website where funds are being raised to help finance the film, the money goal has been reached and the project will move forward.

Congrats to Catherine, Adam and everyone involved in this project!!

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Box Office Movies Coming Out in June

Posted in Movies, News on May 29, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Based on information provided by the Dark Horizons site and internet research, here are just some of the movies you can expect to see in movie theatres in June:

Beginners
Opens: June 3

After his mother’s death, a young man’s elderly father declares he’s gay. Four years later the dad dies of cancer, leaving the man confused about love until a young French woman inspires him to expand his mind and find true intimacy. The cast includes Ewan McGregor, Christopher Plummer, Mélanie Laurent and Goran Visnjic.

Love Wedding Marriage
Opens June 3

Ava (Mandy Moore) is a marriage counselor whose life as a newlywed is turned upside down when she discovers her parents’ happy marriage is unexpectedly headed for divorce. Determined to reconcile her parents on their 30th anniversary surprise party, she will stop at nothing, which plunges her from one compromising situation to another. Kellan Lutz, Jane Seymour and James Brolin co-star.

X-Men: First Class
Opens: June 3

This film charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga and reveals a secret history of famous global events. Before mutants had revealed themselves to the world, and before Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Not archenemies, they were instead at first the closest of friends, working together with other Mutants to prevent nuclear Armageddon. The large cast includes Jennifer Lawrence, Rose Byrne, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, January Jones, Nicholas Hoult, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Edi Gathegi and Ray Wise.

Super 8
Opens: June 10

In the summer of 1979, a group of friends in a small Ohio town witness a catastrophic train crash while making a super 8 movie and soon suspect that it was not an accident. Shortly after, unusual disappearances and inexplicable events begin to take place in town. The cast includes Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, Ron Eldard, Amanda Michalka and Noah Emmerich.

Bad Teacher
Opens: June 17

A comedy centered around a foul-mouthed, junior high teacher (Cameron Diaz) who, after being dumped by her sugar daddy, begins to woo a colleague — a move that pits her against a well-loved teacher (Lucy Punch). The cast also includes Justin Timberlake, Jason Segel and Molly Shannon.

Green Lantern
Opens: June 17

Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is a gifted and cocky test pilot who becomes a Green Lantern, a member of a brotherhood of warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order. Hal must quickly master his new powers and find the courage to overcome his fears in order to defeat a dangerous alien force known as Parallax. Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong and Angela Bassett co-star.

Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Opens: June 17

Jim Carrey stars as a small-town housepainter whose life is turned upside down when he unexpectedly winds up with a brood of penguins. Based on the 1938 book. The movie co-stars Carla Gugino and Angela Landsbury.

A Better Life
Opens June 24

This film tells the story of a Mexican-born gardener (Demian Bichir from Weeds) who tries to keep his teenage son out of the Los Angeles gang world while avoiding possible deportation himself.

Cars 2
Opens: June 24

Racecar Lightning McQueen and tow truck Mater head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. Mater soon gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own, international espionage, after he’s mistaken for a secret agent and recruited for a top-secret spy mission. Voices include Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine and Jason Isaacs.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Opens: June 29

Shia LaBeouf tries in the third installment of this franchise that has Sam (LaBeouf) heading into adulthood just as there’s a space race between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. While Sam continues his alliance with the Transformers and Optimus Prime, there’s a new villain called Shockwave who’s about to rise. The cast also includes model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (taking over for Megan Fox) and return cast Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson (among many others).

Enjoy!

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Check Out This Video: ‘Harry Potter – Through the Pensieve’ Montage

Posted in Geekdom, Movies, News, Video on May 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

For over 10 years now, audiences worldwide have been thrilled by the exciting adventures of Harry Potter and his friends from Hogwarts. That 10 (plus) year legacy will come to an end this summer when part 2 of the final book – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows” is released.

A dedicated fan put this video montage together, celebrating the pop culture phenomenon that has held readers and movie goers – young and old – in delighted rapture for a decade.

The movie opens on July 15. Be there to watch the legacy of Harry Potter come to a close.

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Get On Board for The B-Ring with Catherine Bell

Posted in Fan Effort, Geekdom, Movies, News, Television on May 19, 2011| 1 Comment »

The B-Ring

If you are a fan of actress Catherine Bell (Army Wives and JAG), then you just might want to check out the details on the action-packed movie that she is hoping to get done with her director-husband Adam Beason.

Here are the details on the film straight from Kick Starter (What is Kickstarter, you ask? They are the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world.):

The B-Ring is an exciting female-driven sci-fi action film that harkens back to the great genre movies like Alien and The Terminator. In this story, all the action takes place aboard the All-Nations Endurance, a space freighter on a mission to save the Earth. As Earth’s energy stores drop to near total depletion, a team of the best and brightest were sent to harvest a precious new energy source discovered within the B-Ring of Saturn.

Catherine Bell plays Flight Engineer Roksana O’Neill. When a ruthless band of Marauders hijack the Endurance and (almost) kill the entire crew, she becomes Earth’s only hope for survival. The unsuspecting Bandits don’t know what they have on their hands when Roksana begins picking off their crew one by one. With a hidden skill-set derived from years of Black Ops missions around our shattered planet, Roksana wages her own private war in an effort to save her ship’s precious cargo and ultimately her family back home.

When it seems Roksana finally has the upper hand, the Raiders find another survivor (a young female engineer) and threaten things unimaginable if she doesn’t reveal herself. Now a captive of the murdering Outlaws, it looks as if Roksana will fail her mission…but she has an ally no one knows about. The ship itself. Designed to communicate with her, she uses the technology she created to escape her captors but not before learning who sponsored the bloody takeover.

To learn more about this project and how fans can have a hand in helping with pre-production, please visit their website. Make sure to check out the video at the top of the page too!

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2011 Can’t Stop the Serenity Los Angeles

Posted in Breaking News, Charity Event, Fan Effort, Geekdom, Movies, News, Television, Web Series on May 9, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Attention all California Browncoats!! Mark your calendars for June 25th!

According to the folks at the California Browncoats website you won’t want to miss the 2011 Can’t Stop the Serenity Los Angeles event that is being held that night.

Here is what they have to say about it:

“June 25 is the date you and your friends will want to be at the Harmony Gold Theater in Hollywood. This will be an event to remember. Trust us, you don’t want to miss it!”

You can learn all about the plans here.

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Memories of WonderCon 2011: The Box Office Film Priest

Posted in Convention/Event, Geekdom, Interview, Movies, News, WonderCon on May 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Priest

Last month at the annual Wonder Con in San Francisco the creator, director and some of the cast of the upcoming box office movie Priest – which opens in theatres this Friday, May 13 – gathered to participate in a roundtable interview, sharing their experiences on the film and the creative process involved in bringing the story to life.

The interviews started out with the creator – graphic novelist Min-Woo Hyung – who, flanked by his two interpreters – explained that he “couldn’t believe it when (he) was approached about (hiss novel being made into a movie,” including “it wasn’t real” to him until he saw it firsthand. And while the finished product was different from the novel, which worried him at first, he was relieved when he saw how the film turned out.

The graphic novel Priest, published by Tokyopop is a manhwa – aka a Korean comic – created by Hyung which fuses the Western genre with supernatural horror and dark fantasy themes. It is most notable for its unusual, angular art style. The basic premise of the comic is telling the story of humanity’s battle against 12 fallen angels, spanning three distinct time periods: modern times, the Crusades and the Wild West with the primary focus being on the latter.

Paul Bettany at Wonder Con Photo Credit: Jennifer Schadel

Meanwhile, the film version is set in an alternate world where humanity and vampires have warred for centuries. After the last Vampire War, a veteran Warrior Priest – portrayed by actor Paul Bettany – lives in obscurity with other humans inside one of the Church’s walled cities. But, when his niece – actress Lily Collins – is kidnapped by vampires, he breaks his vows to hunt them down.

For Bettany, the draw to work with director Scott Stewart was strong (as they worked together on the film Legion) and it was a challenge to play a character of such depth and physicality. In regards to the heavy action and fighting involved in the film Bettany said, “it was a really great working experience even (on) the days (where) I got injured”. He further explained that he fell on a de-acceleration line, which was quite painful; but he did “as many stunts as insurance would allow” him to do.

As for relative newcomer Collins – who is the daughter of Genesis front man Phil Collins – it “was daunting to be in a project with such a huge following,” but she rose to the challenge of playing a character (the kidnapped niece of the Warrior Priest) that was specifically created for the movie. It was joked about during the interview that she has been nicknamed “the screamer” because of all the screaming her character does throughout the movie, but she was quick to point out that while she “starts (out) as a damsel in distress, she has Priest blood in her, allowing her to be “kick ass” as the movie draws to a conclusion.

Lily Collins at Wonder Con Photo Credit: Jennifer Schadel

The Warrior Priest is not alone in his hunt for his niece, as he is joined by a former Warrior Priestess – actress Maggie Q from the television series Nikita – and his niece’s boyfriend – actor Cam Gigandet – who is a sheriff of the wasteland outside the Church’s city walls. While Maggie Q was not part of the roundtable, Gigandet was there. He explained that his character is “inexperienced when it comes to fighting vampires” but he and the Priest set out “to save the day”. When asked about being in another vampire film (he starred as James in the worldwide phenomenon film Twilight), he simply stated “everything is different about this project” and that Twilight “has opened so many doors” for him, making him very grateful.

To finish up the interview, director Stewart shared how challenging it was to design a “whole world” from that of the story of Priest and to take a much more “hands-on approach” with storyboarding and working with a large scope, landscape movie. And while he joked that it was “horrible” to work with Bettany again he actually gushed over how Paul has a “contemporary face,” making him a perfect fit to the Priest character.

You can judge for yourself when Priest opens in theatres this Friday, May 13. Check out the film’s official website for more details.

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