Movies
Comic-Con ’11: Full Report from the Shocking Robert Rodriguez Panel!
The one-man film crew – Robert Rodriguez – is set to be busier than Guillermo del Toro after announcing a slate of new projects in Hall H at the San Diego Comic Con this afternoon.
Danny Trejo’s bad-ass Mexican mercenary Machete is set to return to the big screen, with Rodriguez confirming they have began pre-production for sequels Machete Kills and Machete Kills Again, while Rodriguez also revealed he’ll be working on the adaptation of “Heavy Metal.” All will be revealed inside!
“It’s probably to some surprise or no surprise, because you guys really supported Machete,” Rodriguez said.
“‘Machete’ will kill and kill again because of what you’ve done.
“At least definitely the second one, which we’re going straight in to.”
Rodriguez said although they’re a way off from starting work on ‘Machete Kills Again,’ the film will be out of this universe – literally.
“I can’t wait to do part three because it is a space opera and there will be Machete with space babes.
“‘Machete Kills Again’ . . .in space.
“To see a bad ass Mexican in space is really rare, especially in science fiction.”
After years of rumours and false starts, Rodriguez said he and Frank Miller have begun work on ‘Sin City 2.’ In fact, Rodriguez said they hope to start filming as soon as the end of the year.
“Frank (Miller) has written a script for ‘Sin City 2’ and it’s called A Dame To Kill For,” he said.
“The script is fantastic, we’re still working on it and there’s this scenario where we could start shooting it before the end of the year.
“This is the closest we’ve ever been to making it happen.
“It will be the same format (as ‘Sin City’) of three stories and a wrap around.
“One of the stories (in particular) has a fantastic title; The Long Bad Night so you can just imagine where that’s going.
“It’s a completely new, original story. You can’t find it in a book.”
Rodriguez said he will make the ‘Sin City’ sequel in 3D because he has “an idea for how that technology can be used in a way that it hasn’t been before.” ‘The From Dusk Till Dawn’ filmmaker said he welcomed a smaller studio presence at this year’s Comic Con because it would give the event a chance to “get back to its roots and back to the art.”
Rodriguez announced three more “very artist driven” projects that he and his team would be developing under his new company Quick Draw Studios. Already the creative force and owner behind Troublemaker Studios, Rodriguez said the new company allowed him to skip the studio system.
“This company I started as a film production entity to develop, produce, finance and green light our own movies, much like a studio would do except we do it ourselves,” he said.
“It’s a kind of a freedom that didn’t exist before.”
His first films under Quick Draw will be a film adaptation of adult fantasy magazine ‘Heavy Metal,’ which David Fincher was originally attached to. Rodriquez said the film will follow a similar format to ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Sin City.’
Continuing with his artist influenced slate, he will be adapting films of fantasy and science fiction artist Frank Frazetta’s works ‘Fire and Ice’ and ‘Death Dealer.’
Rodriquez previewed some early pre-production art for Fire and Ice and said its been a goal of his to bring Frazetta’s work to the big screen for a long time. Frazetta, best known for his iconic art of ‘Conan,’ ‘John Carter Of Mars’ and ‘Tarzan,’ passed away at 82 last year and his son Billy Frazetta joined Rodriguez on the panel to talk about the projects and a new museum they’re opening in Austin, Texas in Frazetta’s memory.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
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