The UBS Evening Movie News 03.20.08
Posted by George H. Sirois on 03.20.2008
The “MTV Reads UBS” Edition…
Welcome everyone to the latest edition of The UBS Evening Movie News. I'm George H. Sirois, and I'm sure you've all heard the tragic news about writer/director Anthony Minghella. All of us at 411 express our sympathies to his family and friends. But Mr. Furious did a great job bringing us up to date on this yesterday, so instead I'll be focusing on the passing of another great talent. Considering whom it is, and the love I have for one of his major works, I might as well make it this week's…
TOP STORY
Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who co-wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey, and won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday, an aide said. He was 90.
Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s, died at 1:30 a.m. in his adopted home of Sri Lanka after suffering breathing problems, aide Rohan De Silva said.
Co-author with Stanley Kubrick of Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey, Clarke was regarded as far more than a science fiction writer.
He was credited with the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality. Geosynchronous orbits, which keep satellites in a fixed position relative to the ground, are called Clarke orbits.
He joined American broadcaster Walter Cronkite as commentator on the U.S. Apollo moonshots in the late 1960s.
Clarke's non-fiction volumes on space travel and his explorations of the Great Barrier Reef and Indian Ocean earned him respect in the world of science, and in 1976 he became an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
But it was his writing that shot him to his greatest fame and that gave him the greatest fulfillment.
"Sometimes I am asked how I would like to be remembered," Clarke said recently. "I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these I would like to be remembered as a writer."
From 1950, he began a prolific output of both fiction and non-fiction, sometimes publishing three books in a year. He published his best-selling "3001: The Final Odyssey" when he was 79.
Some of his best-known books are "Childhood's End," 1953; "The City and The Stars," 1956, "The Nine Billion Names of God," 1967; "Rendezvous with Rama," 1973; "Imperial Earth," 1975; and "The Songs of Distant Earth," 1986.
When Clarke and Kubrick got together to develop a movie about space, they used as basic ideas several of Clarke's shorter pieces, including "The Sentinel," written in 1948, and "Encounter in the Dawn." As work progressed on the screenplay, Clarke also wrote a novel of the story. He followed it up with "2010," "2061," and "3001: The Final Odyssey."
In 1989, two decades after the Apollo 11 moon landings, Clarke wrote: "2001 was written in an age which now lies beyond one of the great divides in human history; we are sundered from it forever by the moment when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out on to the Sea of Tranquility. Now history and fiction have become inexorably intertwined."
Clarke won the Nebula Award of the Science Fiction Writers of America in 1972, 1974 and 1979; the Hugo Award of the World Science Fiction Convention in 1974 and 1980, and in 1986 became Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America. He was awarded the CBE in 1989.
Born in Minehead, western England, on Dec. 16, 1917, the son of a farmer, Arthur Charles Clark became addicted to science fiction after buying his first copies of the pulp magazine "Amazing Stories" at Woolworth's. He read English writers H.G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon and began writing for his school magazine in his teens.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Clarke once said he did not regret having never followed his novels into space, adding that he had arranged to have DNA from strands of his hair sent into orbit.
"One day, some super civilization may encounter this relic from the vanished species and I may exist in another time," he said. "Move over, Stephen King."
Talk about a full life this man led. With all of the contributions he had made – in both science and science-fiction – Clarke was the perfect embodiment of the potential that both fields can reach, and he was also a great middleman between the two. Just like when Paddy Chayefsky wrote about news programs becoming tabloid fodder and Vince McMahon installed a skycam on wires during his football games, Clarke came up with some incredibly innovative ideas that soon found their way into the mainstream.
One of the cooler special features I've ever seen on a DVD is on the original 2001: A Space Odyssey disc. (Not sure if it's on the 2-disc re-release, but I'll check it out when I get home tonight.) Right before the premiere of the Kubrick classic, Clarke is doing a Q&A with various members of the press and each reporter has an incredibly thoughtful question for him about the potential for mankind's future and what kind of technology can be developed in that time.
It helps that Clarke had the credentials by then to be taken this seriously as a science-fiction author, but in today's era of "super new" fluff journalism (whoever at E! came up with the phrase "super new" for their new show episodes needs to get stabbed in the eyes), neither Clarke nor someone of his caliber would be treated by the media with that kind of respect. Maybe since Clarke was such an innovative man, it's only a matter of time before the media starts pulling focus away from such wastes of space like the Kardashian family and more to the true creative forces in the industry.
Credit: Associated Press
SYBIL THE SOOTHSAYER
DVD NEWS
Universal Home Entertainment has finally unveiled full details about their upcoming DVD release of Charlie Wilson's War, the Oscar-nominated film starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
The film will arrive on DVD as a full frame and a widescreen version with Dolby Digital audio tracks. Two bonus features will be included on the disc, the Featurette "The Making Of Charlie Wilson's War" and the Profile Featurette "Who Is Charlie Wilson?" which gives viewers a look at the real Charlie Wilson. On this featurette, there are also interviews with Charlie Wilson, Joanne Herring, Tom Hanks, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and director Mike Nichols.
Charlie Wilson's War will be in stores on April 22 for $29.98.
If true stories featuring Hollywood elite isn't your thing, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment will be releasing a Double Feature DVD in April of their classics Mannequin and Mannequin 2: On The Move.
Now, I know what you're thinking. What kind of extras will there be? None, but the movies should be good enough. After all, it is two movies featuring Hollywood Mondrone ("Whooo! Doesn't it just SING?!" That's right, I quoted Mannequin! Fear me!) Anyway, the DVD hits stores on April 15 for only $14.98.
Now here's a movie I'm really looking forward to owning. Back in 1983, John Badham (a director who should be getting more credit these days) helmed a film starring an up-and-coming young actor named Matthew Broderick, WarGames. And now that the film's hit the 25-year mark (Jesus, I feel old), MGM will celebrate with a two-disc 25th Anniversary DVD this June.
The special features still have yet to be announced, but the retail price is only $14.98, and like I said before, it's going to be a two-disc set, so it's gotta have SOME good features on it. (I doubt they would release one bare-bones disc widescreen and one bare-bones standard. That'd be just mean.) Look for it in stores on June 10th.
Credit: DVDReview.com
MOVIE TRAILER OF THE WEEK: The Incredible Hulk
JIM WEBBING AND HIS IT'S-THE-HONEST-TRUTH-DEPARTMENT
If at first you don't succeed, try try again and again and again and again…: Peter Berg is attached to direct a big-screen adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi novel "Dune" for Paramount Pictures.
Kevin Misher, who spent the past year obtaining the book rights from the Herbert estate, will produce via his Par-based shingle.
Herbert's 1965 novel is a sweeping, futuristic tale set on the remote desert planet Arrakis, which produces the interstellar empire's sole source of the spice Melange -- used for distant space travel. An empire-wide power struggle ensues over the control of the spice.
Berg would be the latest helmer to take a crack at the property, which spawned a 1984 David Lynch film as well as a 2000 Sci Fi Channel miniseries starring William Hurt.
New Amsterdam's Richard Rubenstein, who produced Sci-Fi's "Dune" and sequel "Children of Dune," is also producing alongside Sarah Aubrey of Film 44, Berg's production banner. John Harrison and Mike Messina exec produce.
The project is out to writers, with the producers looking for a faithful adaptation of the Hugo- and Nebula Award-winning book. The filmmakers consider its theme of finite ecological resources particularly timely.
Paramount envisions the project as a tentpole film.
Berg and Misher enjoy strong ties dating back to Misher's executive days at Universal Pictures. Misher also produced Berg's second directorial outing, "The Rundown."
Actor-turned-helmer Berg most recently directed the upcoming Will Smith starrer "Hancock." His directing credits include "The Kingdom" and "Friday Night Lights."
Back in the late 90s, writer Michael Sauter wrote the book with a fairly straight-forward title, "The Worst Movies of All Time." He listed the 1984 film Dune as one of them, and he gave a perfectly good reason why he included it in his list. I'll have to para-phrase since I can't find my copy now, but he basically said that as popular that this Frank Herbert epic has been ever since its first printing, it is also an incredibly complex story that couldn't be compressed to the length of one film and make sense at the same time.
Sure enough, that was the fate of the film. Too much was cut out, fans were alienated and non-fans were confused. It took over fifteen years for the proper treatment to be given to the story when the Sci-Fi Channel's mini-series was produced, so here's my question for Paramount: what do you guys hope to achieve by doing it again???
The '84 movie proved that you can't do a story like this in one shot. The mini-series proved that it will work a lot better if you give it the running time it requires. So what makes you think you'll get another one-shot movie right? Because you'll have a bigger budget??
Gotta love this business.
Credit: Hollywoodreporter.com
They were going to call it Mark VII, but that was taken: Virginia Madsen and producing partner Karly Meola have launched production shingle Title IX Prods.
Slate of projects includes the documentary "I Know a Woman Like That," which focuses on the lives of extraordinary women between the ages of 64 and 94. Madsen's mother, Emmy-winning filmmaker Elaine Madsen, is directing the project, which is in post-production.
Other projects in development include "Gothika" scribe Sebastian Gutierrez's adaptation of Martha O'Connor's debut novel "The Bitch Posse" and a remake of the 1984 Virginia Madsen starrer "Electric Dreams."
Shingle is named after the 1972 law giving women equal opportunity to participate in activities that receive federal funding. "In a way, we're saying let the girls play," Madsen said. "I started acting at 18. After all these years, I know a lot about the business. I know how movies are made. Now is the time that I can help newcomers in a way that I've been helped in the industry."
Added Meola: "(We) have the intention to be both dynamic and inventive in the way we choose to tell stories. We sincerely hope to generate strong messages and perspective on people and relationships."
Madsen will next be seen in the IFC comedy "Diminished Capacity." She also stars in Gold Circle Films and Lionsgate's forthcoming supernatural thriller "The Haunting in Connecticut."
If you got the very random and very obscure reference at the top of this one, consider me impressed.
Anyway, I've always been a fan of Virginia Madsen and was happy to see her finally get the role that would get her an Oscar nomination when she was in Sideways. (The Merlot scene is a shoe-in for a future SA 101 column.) So it's good to see her jumping into the seemingly never-ending world of production companies started by actors.
While I wish her luck with this endeavor, she could have done a better job getting a screenwriter than Gutierrez. The Big Bounce was… eh. Gothika was an atrocity of a film that lives in infamy among my friends to this day. But at the same time, the man had a hand in writing Snakes on a Plane and he's currently with Carla Gugino, so I'm sure he not only gets a pass from me, but much respect from the rest of the 411 crew.
Credit: Variety.com
FILM MUSIC NEWS
* Williams Conducts American Youth Symphony March 23; David Newman Appointed President of Organization
* April 13 Concert to Feature Bear McCreary's "Galactica" Scores
* Library, Composers and Network Exec Compose NBC Theme
* California Legislator Proposes Taxing Music, Other Downloads
* The Scoreboard: Hundreds of Composers and Their Projects
* Signings and Projects: Alexandre Desplat, Michael Wandmacher, More
* The Chart Doctor - by Ron Hess - "Music Prep Strategies, Part 4: Words Ain't Cheap"
* Music Technology and You - by Peter Lawrence Alexander - "Storm Drum 2 - Part 1: Installation and Setup"
* Soundtrack Review - by Daniel Schweiger - "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Paul Cantelon
* CURRENT FILM & TV MUSIC JOB LISTINGS From The Film Music Network
So the call was put out to you guys to provide some new girls for the Photo News Brief, and a couple of you came through. One guy will have his selection shown either next week or the week after (thanks Todd!), but first we have a submission by an old friend of mine who is also a long-time 411 reader, Rob Duffy aka DJStealth (one of the best DJ's in the NYC area)!
Rob's pick for this week is Arelis Cole, an up-and-coming model whose most recent shoot was photographed by Felix Natal, Jr., who has recently worked with Ice T's wife Coco and Vida Guerra. Not a bad place to start, right? So here she is for your viewing pleasure, and we here at the UBS… well, it's only me here so I wish her the best of luck.
Arelis has a MySpace page as well, and that can be found HERE! Tell her The UBS sent you.
See how it works, guys? You send me your pick, I put her up here, you get the credit and everyone's happy. So keep ‘em coming!
So now I'm convinced that MTV reads The UBS Evening Movie News. Don't believe me? Well, remember all that praise I heaped upon them for their Jackass 24-Hour Takeover a couple weeks ago? The next weekend, what do they show on MTV2? The Jackass 24-Hour Takeover! And why would they do that? Obviously, because they read the report – and your feedback! – about how good it was, and they wanted to make sure that more people saw it.
And now it seems that they're picking up on another idea I discussed a few months before that. The September 20th edition had my suggestion that movies bring back the serials. It would be a piece of a short film that would play before the trailers. Here's what I said way back when…
I'm sure you guys remember those short films sponsored by BMW (I think it was them) and posted on their web site? Those films were done by some very talented directors, so what would be the harm of taking those little stories and doing something like that on the big screen?
Well, it turns out that MTV's picked up on the concept of collaborating with a sponsor to create short films, and on March 24, you'll be able to see it for yourself. At 10pm during an episode of "The Hills," Dove Go Fresh will present "Fresh Takes," a micro-series starring Alicia Keys. Yes, there's a new term to learn in the industry: micro-series. These will short films playing as one continuing story during all of the commercial breaks for "The Hills."
Now, does this report make me some standard MTV shill telling you to watch the show? No. I'm not going to tell you to watch a show that I can probably last about 10 seconds with before I grab the remote. But I am glad to see that a sponsor is willing to go through with something like this.
When I heard that this was happening, I was happy to see that minds think alike. (I'd say "great minds," but this is MTV we're talking about.) And I was also reminded of a toy commercial campaign from 1985, for the Sectaurs action figures. You remember them, right? "Warriors of Symbion?" Well, during an airing of The Muppet Movie, 10 different commercials for Sectaurs were put together as one continuing story. Here's one of the chapters that I found on YouTube…
Mind you, the micro-series that will be playing with "The Hills" won't include action figures flying giant bugs, but hey, this is a hell of a step forward in finding new ways to tell new stories. And I'm always up for that, so Dove and MTV get a thumbs up from me.
As for actually watching the episode, you guys are on your own.
And that's a wrap for Chapter 57 of The UBS Evening News. I'm George H. Sirois, and I'll see you next week!
Posted By: wrong choice (Guest) on March 20, 2008 at 01:40 AM
1. Thanks for the Sectaurs commercial! haven't seen (or thought about) those in years.
2. Re: wrong choice...the lady isn't ugly per se, but your asinine comment sure is!
Posted By: Ultimate Gene (Registered) on March 20, 2008 at 09:27 AM
to Wrong Choice:
You lost.
Posted By: Guest#9606 (Guest) on March 20, 2008 at 10:19 AM
And she could stand to hit the gym.
Posted By: Satan (Guest) on March 20, 2008 at 10:40 AM
I guess Anthony Minghella's death was not big news in the film community or anything.
Posted By: Guest#7264 (Guest) on March 20, 2008 at 10:42 AM
Now your loving up on the chubby chicks. I guess fat girls need love too, they just don't need their picture taken.
Posted By: what the hell (Guest) on March 20, 2008 at 10:59 AM
chick is not fat! she is bangin! I'd much rather be with a woman like her than one of these nicole ritchie stick figures that look like little boys with make up on
Posted By: guest guest (Guest) on March 20, 2008 at 01:18 PM
chick is not fat! she is bangin! I'd much rather be with a woman like her than
one of these nicole ritchie stick figures that look like little boys with make
up on
Posted By: guest guest (Guest) on March 20, 2008 at 01:18 PM
Man I can not agree more. That girl is fine. Go to her MySpace and look at some more pics of her. She is fine. All the dudes who say that she's ugly must be into those girls with no meat on their bones.
Posted By: Bobby (Guest) on April 07, 2008 at 03:51 PM
