Movies
Warner Bros. Finds Their ‘Jonah Hex’ Replacement
After the previous chaos that nearly halted the progress of the film, Warner Bros. Pictures have officially found a replacement to get behind the camera for their adaptation of the comic book Jonah Hex. Replacing Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank) is Jimmy Hayward, who directed the animated HORTON HEARS A WHO!. You can read all about it inside.
Jimmy Hayward, who directed the animated “Horton Hears a Who!” will make his live-action debut with “Jonah Hex,” the Warner Bros. western based on the DC Comics character.
Josh Brolin is attached to star in the film, which previously had Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (“Crank”) on board as directors. The duo, who also wrote the script, bowed out over creative differences in November. The studio, which hopes to put the movie into production in March or April, went on a fast-track search, putting together a short list that included such names as Andy Fickman and McG before narrowing it down to Hayward.
The character of Hex, known for having the right side of his face disfigured and wearing a Confederate army uniform, was a rough-and-tumble gunslinger and part-time bounty hunter whose adventures always ended in blood. One incarnation of his comic book series saw the Western genre combined with supernatural elements, and it’s this aspect that was featured in Neveldine and Taylor’s script. The studio will likely keep the script, though it’s expected that Hayward will put his stamp on it.
Andrew Lazar’s Mad Chance and Akiva Goldsman’s Weed Road are producing.
Hayward, repped by UTA and manager Jason Grode, began his career as an animator on the Canadian TV series “ReBoot” before becoming a member of the Pixar family, where he worked on such films as “Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life,” “Toy Story 2,” “Monsters, Inc.” and “Finding Nemo.” He also was involved in Fox and Blue Sky’s animated film “Robots.”
Hayward made his directorial debut with 2008’s “Horton,” which grossed $154.5 million at the domestic boxoffice.
Described as “Ted meets ET,” David Mikalson’s raunchy comedy Goblin is being brought to life over at A24, and Will Forte (“The Four Seasons”) is now in talks to star.
Deadline first reported the news this afternoon.
Kenneth Branagh has been cast to voice the titular Goblin in the upcoming A24 movie, with the character said to be “green-colored” as well as “anatomically correct.”
Skyler Gisondo (Superman) is reportedly playing the Goblin’s human best friend.
The mysterious project sounds a bit like films including A Gnome Named Gnorm and more recently, Frankie Freako, though it’s important to note that it’s not billed as a horror movie.
Deadline details, “After [Mikalson] hatched the idea to make an outrageous buddy comedy about a goblin, using a practical puppet and operating outside the Hollywood system, his script quickly got him a rep team. While others might have eyed the raunchy comedy as a writing sample or planned to wait to see the micro-budget version Mikalson has been directing in Kentucky, A24 jumped all over it. The hot indie essentially has agreed to finance a full feature.”
“There was a lot of interest, but A24 came with what Mikalson really wanted, after spending all his money crafting the puppet title character: they acquired the movie and agreed to let him make it with a significantly increased budget than what he had left after creating the anatomically correct title character,” Deadline’s report goes on to explain.
What does the titular Goblin actually look like? Well, a cake that Mikalson had whipped up for his reps might give us our first look at what to expect. Deadline explains the photo you’ll see down below, “Take a look at the cake he commissioned with Marc Gravelle at Cake Art in West Hollywood, to present to his reps as thanks for making his dream come true.”
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