LUCIDMEDIA

Coming Soon from New York Comic Con

Written by Adam A. Donaldson Monday, 09 February 2009 16:35

Wonder Woman

“You’re here tonight to celebrate the thing they said would never happen – a Wonder Woman movie,” said Gregory Noveck Senior Vice-President of Creative Affairs at DC Comics.

As I noted in my blog, watching Wonder Woman, the new animated movie from DC and Warner Bros., the mind reeled at the simplicity and wondered why the producers of the live-action feature seem so incapable of getting their act together. Producer Bruce Timm, screenwriter Michael Jelenic and director Lauren Montgomery came out following the screening to accept the unbridled enthusiasm of the crowd. Or as one fan yelled to Timm, “We’re not worthy!”

And the movie was, indeed, very well done. (Again for the full review, read this week’s Lucid Comics.) “She’s a truly interesting character,” said Timm of the Amazonian princess, “and easier to do than Superman or Batman because they’re so defined by what’s come before.”

The only thing that had really come before, aside from the comics, was the classic Wonder Woman TV show from the 70s starring Lynda Carter. Timm said that they wanted to acknowledge the past, but take the concept seriously. So unfortunately Jelenic’s idea to do the heavy metal version of the show’s theme music was out. As was any inclination to make the character “really, really ultra girlie,” with flying unicorns and the like. Or as Montgomery says, “I give someone a sword, I want them to cut someone with it.”

For the characters, Montgomery and her team not only had to walk the fine line of making the Amazons warriors while keeping their femininity, but they had to try and avoid the trap of turning them into man-eaters. A lot of success in this regard came from the definition of the relationship between Wonder Woman and Air Force pilot Capt. Steve Trevor. Once the production had cast Nathan Fillion (famous for playing that other Captain, Malcolm Reynolds of Serenity fame), they knew the right direction they could take with the character’s dynamics.

For Montgomery, who for the first time was handling directing duties solo on a feature animated film, being the one to bring Wonder Woman to life was a dream come true. “It was a girl movie, and I’ve been waiting for that forever,” she said of the opportunity. You, the people who were not privy to the comic con screening, can decide for yourselves when the DVD comes out on standard and Blu-Ray formats on March 3rd.

Watchmen

Is there anyone better to help guide us through the world of the cinematic version of Watchmen than Dave Gibbons? Well Alan Moore, I suppose. But the odds that convertioneers would ever see Moore on stage publicly acknowledging, let alone endorsing, a film based on one of his graphic novels is slim to none, and slim just left town. Nonetheless, Gibbons had us offer a round of applause for Moore, but despite the fervour and adulation about his masterwork’s big screen adaptation, I have to ask: Would he appreciate it?

Gibbons though says he understands Moore’s feelings, as he explained in response to one fan’s question: Is Alan Moore bat $#!t crazy? Only in Hollywood terms, he explained. Moore has refused to endorse or denounce any project based on his properties, as well as not accepting any residual cheques from the films in question. In the money-matters world of Hollywood that is crazy, observes Gibbons. The illustrator further recalled back in the 90s when Terry Gilliam was attached to the film, and his wife’s reaction saying “The Monty Python man’s going to make a movie about your comic. It’s going to be funny.”

One surprising revelation from Gibbons was his opinion that Watchmen – aside from the fact of its standalone, storytelling excellence – might have also had a negative impact on the medium too. Coupled with Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, which came out the same year, the success of both graphic novels made publishers and editors think that success in comics meant going dark. “We loved superheroes, but what we were doing was updating them,” said Gibbons, who added that he and Moore were once looking at doing Captain Marvel as a follow-up. Some of those ideas ended up in Moore’s run on the Extreme Comics version of Supreme.

Friday the 13th

This panel didn’t offer as much new footage as Watchmen, perhaps due to the fact its opening in less than a week. But what was shown though offered some insight into what the tone and feeling of the new film will be. Granted these areas have never been weakest point for the production company that previously brought us the remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Amityville Horror and The Hitcher. In other words, as one fan put it when he asked, “Why do we need a 12th Jason film?”

This query seemed to garner as many sounds of polite agreement as it did boos. Producers Brad Fuller and Andrew Forum spun the same old arguments why a new Friday is always a good idea because each filmmaker and cast of actors puts their own spin on the legend, but the question was perfectly valid, and got to the heart of something probably everyone in that room thought at one time or another: do we need another film where Jason chases down and kills teenagers doing morally questionable things while alone in the woods?

I’m not sure I know the answer to that one since I’m as guilty as anyone for supporting the franchise; I do own all the Jason movies in one form of home entertainment media or the other. (Yes, I still have VHS. I have a feeling they’re going to come around again like vinyl.) Regardless, what little of Jason I did see had me intrigued. Much has been made about the “running” Jason, an upgrade from the nearly immovable variation of the character of films prior. Fortunately, actor Derek Mears has the build to be both physically imposing standing still, but athletic looking enough to be graceful and slick in movement without looking out of place. I guess we’ll see when Friday the 13th opens on Friday the 13th. Sigh.

Terminator: Salvation

Interest was high in matters concerning Terminator this past week, not because of something concerning the movie, but because of an audio file of a supposed red-faced rant by Christian Bale at the movie’s Director of Photography, Shane Hurlbut. Naturally, no director worth his salt would talk about this unfortunate affair that’s more a matter for PR than the filmmaker. McG though is no ordinary director. He did address it saying that what was a bad day on the set was blown out of portion, before going on to have a little bit of fun with the affair by playing along with a fan.

Never one to not try a stunt, McG called Christian Bale’s house during the panel so that the star could hear fan reaction. Good plan, but McG and the crowd had to settle for Bale’s wife instead. The director addressed a lot of what fans had on their minds right off the bat. First, he didn’t get the blessings of Jim Cameron, but he did get an open mind. And of Cameron’s Avatar McG says the so-called King of the World has “re-invented the wheel. Get your hopes really high for this one.”

Secondly, Danny Elfman is doing the score after plans for a Gustavo Santaolalla and Thom Yorke collaboration broke down. He talked to Brad Fiedel, who scored the first two films, about coming aboard for Salvation, but the composer is apparently busy building a surfer commune in Mexico. Thirdly, it was McG’s intention right off the bat to approach the late, great Stan Winston about building practical robot effects for the movie and create a true sense of realism on set. This extended past the robots effects to production design as he consulted scientists about what a post-nuclear holocaust Earth would really look like.

As for the story, McG said imagine if you sneaked into Nazi Germany and discovered several nuclear-tipped V2 rockets. This is thematically similar to what SkyNet’s planning in Salvation, but instead of rockets, it’s the T-800. As for the characters, he said it’s a story of “Becoming.” John Conner (Bale) finds himself up against a former Marine General who’s leading the resistance, and they both have radically different ideas about how the war should be fought and won. The story is also about Kyle Reese and how he learns the meaning of sacrifice; how when the time came to volunteer for a suicide mission, he’s the one that raised his hand and volunteers.

John and Kyle form two legs on the core Terminator triangle, said McG. That third leg belongs to Sarah Conner, and McG made this point when someone asked about Linda Hamilton’s potential involvement in the film. But before getting all elegant with geometric metaphors, the director was straining to avoid doing some explaining. “By not answering that question, I might be ruining some of the fun,” he said before continuing.

Up

It’s hard to believe that Disney and Pixar have made 10 films together, but that’s what Up represents. The story is about Carl Fredrickson, a tired, bitter old man that wants to be left alone. So his only alternative is to tether his house to a million or so helium-filled balloons, take off to the open skies and head for South America. Too bad Russell, a Wilderness Explorer (read: Boy Scout), is trying to earn his last, required merit badge for helping the elderly, resulting him being an accidental stowaway on the house’s porch. It’s a story of friendship and family as only Pixar can devise as the old guy and the kid face challenges in making the last leg of their fantastic voyage with no help from a weird-looking giant bird and a talking dog.

The five clips presented by producer Jonas Rivera and director Pete Docter offer a compelling look at a film that seems odd in the pieces, but I’m sure makes perfect sense when seen all together. Docter says that Up started with the basic idea of escape centred around a bitter, old man character. Pixar, he says, is a director-driven studio where filmmakers come up with the stories and vet them thoroughly to get the it just right. Docter said that the team on any Pixar film ask themselves one question in production: “What are you, the audience, going to take home with you?”

It’s also worth nothing that this is Pixar’s first film done in Disney Digital 3-D. The 3-D process didn’t really affect how the movie was made, but it’s another tool in the studio’s art kit. And they’ll need all those tools because Pixar has its busiest production slate yet, including the release of 3-D versions of Toy Story 1 & 2 later this year, and the third Toy Story coming out in 2010. As for Up, about 500 convention-goers were able to see a rough cut of the first half later on Saturday night. Consider the buzz begun.

Summit Entertainment

The panel for Summit Entertainment was the least well-attended, but it had some interesting offerings just the same. The first, and perhaps the biggest, film presented was the upcoming Alex Proyas thriller starring Nicolas Cage, Knowing. It’s the story about a man that finds a list of numbers in a time capsule that has the date and location of every significant disaster of the last 50 years on it, including some that haven’t happened yet. Proyas introduced the new footage via video message, saying that the final version of the clips weren’t quite complete. But what was shown looked pretty good to me: the plane crash and train crash sequences that have been shown in the two previous trailers. They’re big action sequences too, very bold and very effective. I can now say easily that I’m looking forward to seeing how the rest of the film turns out.

Next was The Hurt Locker, the new film from Kathryn Bigelow that got rolling on the festival circuit in Toronto, and has been steadily collecting a lot of buzz ever since. It’s a film set in the Iraq War, but it’s not an Iraq War movie per se. The main character, Staff Sergeant William James (Jeremy Renner) is a kind of adrenaline junkie whose job as a member of the EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal) unit is to disarm bombs in the midst of rough urban combat. The 10-minute clip shown perfectly established not just James, but his other unit members, Sgt. JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldrige (Brian Geraghty).

Renner was present at the panel and described how he trained for the part, which included wearing the 100 lbs bomb disposal suit in the midst of 40-plus degree (that’s Celsius) heat. He worked with members of an actually EOD unit to “learn the rules, so that I wouldn’t break them.” He also learned how everything was an effort in the suit through that training, which includes picking up paper clips and doing math problems. And he gained appreciation for the job as a “cat-and-mouse” like chess match. As for the film itself, it looks incredible; filled with action, suspense and a few surprises. According to Renner, the film looks like it’ll be opening in theatres everywhere this coming August.

Finally, it was Astro Boy’s turn in the spotlight. There wasn’t a lot to see, probably due to the fact that the film is still nine months away from completion. First, some concept drawings were shown featuring the various weapons that Astro Boy has at his disposal including his arm cannons, rocket feet and, yes, the butt cannon. Art of the new Metro City was also displayed and in this film it’ll be a floating metropolis complete with a Mt. Fuji-like formation at one end. The final bits of art showed Astro Boy flying around the city at day and at night. And that segued nicely into the completed, three-minute clip of the title character’s first flight and the discovery of his rocket feet. The music was a sub, but it fit nicely for the mood that the images created. It’s a bright, shiny world, this Astro Boy, as it evokes the classic anime, while doing something that looks really, quite different. You can see the images from Comic Con yourself at IGN.com.

Dollhouse

This panel was easily the hottest ticket at New York Comic Con; the line was already long when the show opened on Sunday. Given the pedigree, it’s easy to see why Dollhouse is so popular because it’s the latest show from Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Serenity. It also stars Eliza Dushku (Faith on Buffy) and Tahmoh Penikett (Helo from Battlestar Galactica). The series is about a secret organization that keeps a group of young people basically imprisoned in a classified facility. They’re only let out when hired for a mission, which involves having an entirely new personality downloaded into their brains, turning them into whatever they’re required to be for the client; whether it be a bodyguard or a dinner companion.

Pretty much the entirety of the first act, of the first episode, was shown and I can say handily that it’s unlike anything Whedon’s done before. Think Alias as done by David Cronenberg and you may get the inherent creepiness behind the concept. It starts with Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams) convincing – or coercing – a young woman (Dushku), who obviously looks strung out in a drug-related manner, to sign an agreement to come work for her. Cut to a pair of motorcycles driving through the city streets, and that same, troubled young woman is now bright and cheerful and enjoying a night out with a handsome man. After a night of dancing, she seems compelled to go outside to a waiting van, which drives her back to a facility for “treatment.” After sitting in high tech chair, one personality is removed and replace by another one: Echo.

Penikett wasn’t shown in the clip, but he was in attendance. The actor formally known as Helo plays an FBI agent put in charge of tracking down the “Dollhouse.” Whedon said in the panel that the character of Ballard at first seems like Gabriel Byrne in Miller’s Crossing, consistently getting beat up as he goes about his business. Naturally the character grows, added Whedon, as he starts to get closer to Echo, and learning the true nature of this conspiracy, over the course of the first season. Whedon joked that Ballard’s suffering stems from the fact that Penikett’s Battlestar character let the traitorous Gaius Baltar on Galactica in the original miniseries.

The creator went on to say that this new series presented a number of challenges for him as a writer. Being rather well known as a feminist, he said that it’s hard to make something that could misconstrued by half the people watching as a misogynist fantasy. He’s also struggled to get handle on the story and its characters, which is the root of some of the rumours of problems with the production. But Whedon says that they have nothing to do with the network, who’s been nothing but supportive of Dollhouse, the complete opposite of his experience with Firefly. The episodes will air in order, as intended. Whedon added that episodes four and six hold special significance with the final four of the season being the series’ best yet. Dollhouse premieres this Friday.

Fringe

First, the surprisingly full-house crowd at the Fringe panel were treated to an exclusive recap of the series so far. Executive Producer Jeff Pinker, along with the entire cast – Anna Torv (Agent Dunham), Joshua Jackson (Peter Bishop),Kirk Avecedo (Agent Francis), John Noble (Walter), Lance Reddick (Broyles), Jasika Nicole (Astrid) and Blair Brown (Nina Sharp) – were on hand to talk about the series and answer questions. Two things were certain coming out of that panel: Jackson can’t escape the ghost of Mighty Ducks and Noble was apparently typecast to play absent-minded scientist Walter Bishop.

Aside from the clues I offered my blog from the event, Pinker added that careful viewers should look for hidden clues in every episode that hint at developments in the next, while the icons at the end of every act are part of a code that reveals an answer to one of the mysteries. Coming up on Tuesday’s episode, the first act of which was shown, is the return of the enigmatic Mr. Jones (played by Jared Harris) as he uses what seems to be transporter technology to escape from his German prison cell. Some side effects are hinted at, but of course in the world of Fringe that’s implied in the first place. In the meantime, Pinker says that everything is part of The Pattern, so take nothing for granted. And to the guy that yelled “triple deek” to Jackson, I think he’s suffered enough; that movie is almost 20 years old.