I think thats the job of a director, to funnel all the creativity into one centralized point of being.”
– Peter Jackson
As a horror nut I first discovered Peter Jackson when Dead Alive was released on VHS tape back in the early 90s. After viewing that first film I knew Jackson was destined to become one of the great filmmakers. I immediately saw his other works such as the Oscar nominated Heavenly Creatures and Meet the Feebles. When his first Hollywood film, The Frighteners, was going to be released I thought that the entire world was going to discover him then. But I was dead wrong because that film tanked. But as everyone knows, Jackson beat the odds and created a near perfect movie trilogy with the Lord of The Rings films.
Now Jackson is releasing his interpretation of the movie King Kong. He has kept the film set in the 1930s and cast Naomi Watts as Ann Darrow, Jack Black as a crazed filmmaker and Adrien Brody as the screenwriter whose jungle script takes them to deadly Skull Island. With King Kong, Jackson has created a spectacle that may change the world almost as much as the original Kong did back in 1933.
A new trailer for The Avengers came out today, and a new official movie poster has been released. The movie hits theatres on May 4, and will launch the summer superhero season.
There has been a lot of talk about Ryan Reynolds reprising either of his super powered rolls as the Green Lantern or Deadpool. While promoting his upcoming movie Safe House, Reynolds gave us some more insight on both projects. Deadpool is a work in progress, and Reynolds thinks the script is fantastic. Thankfully, he mentioned the new script has nothing to do with the Wolverine movie. The main concern is getting the producers to cut a check for a rated R superhero movie. As far as Green Lantern, Reynolds knows nothing of plans to do a sequel after the horribly received first film, but he did immediately turn the conversation back to how awesome a rated R Deadpool movie would be.
A new member has been added to the cast of The Walking Dead. David Morrissey has been cast as the Governor on the show. The Governor is the dreadful leader of another group of survivors and will be a regular next season. The third season has also been expanded to sixteen episodes.
To go along with the first photos from the set of Star Trek 2, a behind the scenes video has hit the web showing Spock getting the shit beaten out of him by Benedict Cumberbatch’s character over and over again. While we still don’t know who Cumberbatch is, it’s clear he is a villain able to overpower Spock – which is no easy feat.
Despite the years of backlash and ridicule Star Wars: The Phantom Menace has received since its release in 1999, it is now on its way to being the 10th highest grossing film ever worldwide. Due to the fact the 3D version sales are being added directly onto the original movies sales (a cheap move if you ask me), The Phantom Menace has been gradually climbing the charts since its extra dimensional release. If it makes just $1.5 million more it will overtake The Dark Knight, which currently hold the #10 spot.
While Star Wars is cheating its way into the record book, The Hunger Games has legitimately broken the record for most advance tickets sold a full month before its release. With a major following growing to match that of Harry Potter or other such fan backed literature, we can only hope The Hunger Games will take the spotlight away from the Twilight series.
The first official trailer for The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra animated series has been released. It takes place seventy years after the events of Avatar: The Last Airbender and follows the adventures of the new Avatar, Korra. The trailer still doesn’t give a firm release date, but it does say coming soon.
After the incredibly successful Black & White sequels to the Pokémon game series, Nintendo has now announced two more sequels currently titled, Black & White 2. This is an odd move for the Pokémon games as their past sequels have always been titled after different colors on different islands. This may mean these are the first Pokémon games to directly sequel previous games (if we don’t count offshoots like Yellow, Crystal, etc.) and if they keep the title, it will be the first to have a number moniker in the title. The game is scheduled to release in Japan in June 2012 and here in August 2012.
“I’ve been in a lot of comedies and nothing makes me laugh as much as what me and my friends come up with when were stoned and farting around in our apartments.”
– Jack Black
Jack Black is about ready to pop as a major movie star. He of course has his previous hit, School of Rock, but the release of Peter Jackson’s reinterpretation of King Kong should send Black into the stratosphere. Black has nearly as much screen time as Academy Award nominee Naomi Watts.
Jack Black first came to notice as a character actor in such films as The Jackal, Mars Attacks! and The Cable Guy. But he is best known as one half, with Kyle Gass, of the humorous rock band Tenacious D, who had three legendary episodes on HBO and is set to release their first feature film next year.
“I live at a very manic level when I’m working and when I’m home it’s a very peaceful world.”
– Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey is of course known as one of the funniest people on the planet. He first came to fame doing nutty features like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask. In recent years he has really expanded his repertoire with movies such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.
His latest picture, Fun with Dick and Jane, is a return to form because it is pure wacky nuttiness. Dick (Jim Carrey) and Jane (Téa Leoni) are in love and living the American dream. But then the company Dick works for becomes involved in an Enron-like scandal and he is confronted with the prospect of losing everything. Now Dick and Jane are forced to steal to get it all back.
The decision Hollywood made a few months ago to remake Buffy the Vampire Slayer without series creator Joss Whedon was met with more than just a little venom from the fans that followed and supported the series for seven seasons and a continuing run into the comic book world.
It appears that some of those voices were heard after first time writer Whit Anderson was hired to write a script, and upon further review, the producers behind the project were thoroughly unimpressed with what he came up with; The Los Angeles Times reports the script was “was rejected completely.”
The project is now on hold awaiting a new writer, but it may end up getting shelved all together after the fans of the Buffy-verse revolted against the idea of a movie remake without its creator’s involvement.
Some of the actors who made up a big part of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series for seven years were also soundly against the idea of a movie remake sans Whedon. Especially considering most of them are still young enough to reprise roles in some kind of movie, if Whedon ever decided to make a go of it.
“Without Joss’s participation it is likely to be almost as good as the original film,” said James Marsters, who portrayed Spike during the hit series’ run when speaking to SuicideGirls. “Cause at least Joss wrote that one.”
The original Buffy the Vampire Slayer film –– which starred Kristy Swanson, Luke Perry, Rutger Hauer, and Paul ‘Pee-Wee Herman’ Reubens –– was released in 1992 and was a critical disaster. However, it became a bit of a cult hit among science fiction fans.
Whedon wrote the original film and created all the characters, but the Hollywood machine twisted, turned, and trounced on his ideas throughout the making of it, and the result is what ended up being released.
The film’s ultimate failure is what put Whedon back into creative mode to bring Buffy and her cohorts back, this time to the small screen. The show ran for seven years and has continued to be one of the most popular and talked about shows in the science fiction fan realm, and even hit syndication.
“I don’t think it’s Buffy without Joss Whedon,” said Mark Metcalf, who portrayed ‘The Master’ throughout the first season and several other appearances during the show’s seven season run. “He was the source of it, originally, even before the movie. It was his idea and the series came about because he wasn’t happy with what they did with the movie.”
Marsters and Metcalf are just two of the players from the Buffy TV universe that didn’t seem to be on board for a remade movie, and despite their best efforts Hollywood seems to have come to that realization as well.
Metcalf may have summed it up best when speaking about the potential project, if it ever does get completed.
“I won’t go see it,” Metcalf stated.
Buffy or no Buffy, Whedon has obviously kept busy. He wrote and directed the big budget superhero film The Avengers which hits theaters this summer and is expected to be one of the year’s biggest films.
“Making movies is the best film school for me.” – Ang Lee
Few filmmakers can make a movie about two cowboys falling in love in 1963, like Brokeback Mountain, and have it be considered Academy Award material. But certainly Ang Lee is in a class by himself.
He first gained notice in America with his Father Knows Best trilogy of The Wedding Banquet, Pushing Hands, and Eat Drink Man Woman. Later he gained monstrous international acclaim with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won four. After that he ventured into big budget studio films with The Hulk.
After that film didn’t do as well as anticipated, Lee went back to lower budgeted filmmaking with Brokeback Mountain. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger (see SG interview) as two ranchhands who have a passionate love affair over 20 years to the detriment of their families.
This Sunday (Feb 26) on SuicideGirls Radio we have an outrageously awesome and bodaciously badass music lineup. SG Radio hosts Nicole Powers (SG’s Managing Editor) and Lacey Conner (our resident recovering reality TV star from VH1′s Rock of Love and Charm School) will be joined in-studio by industrial-pop princess Porcelain Black, wax ‘n’ Webslinger 4th Pyramid, and raucous hip-hop reprobate Mickey Avalon.
Tune in to the world’s leading naked radio show for two hours of totally awesome tunes and extreme conversation – and don’t let yo momma listen in!
Got questions? Then dial our studio hotline digits this Sunday between 10 PM and midnight PST: 323-900-6012
And follow us on Twitter because we like cyberstalkers.
_About Porcelain Black
“Everything that I do is a mix of light and dark,” says Porcelain Black. “The contrast represents my music, my hair, my personality.” Fusing hard-hitting rock roots with the sticky, pulsating beats of 2101 label head and producer RedOne (Usher, U2, Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias, Pitbull, Lady Gaga), Black has created a sound she likens to the would-be offspring of Marilyn Manson and Britney Spears. “It’s industrial, dark, danceable pop,” she says. “Bad ass and positive.”
While visiting RedOne’s studio in November 2009 Black’s vibe and epic vocals made an instant impact. “I wanted to sign her on the spot,” RedOne recalls. “She reminded me of Joan Jett. She’s got it all: the attitude, the talent, the look. She can scream and do things with her voice that nobody can do. She is uncompromising in pursuing her own creative vision. She’s taking everything that’s old and making it futuristic and bringing rock and roll back in her own way.”
Now, signed to 2101 Records via a joint venture with Universal Republic Records, Black has just released her second single, “Naughty Naughty.” The song follows her successful first single “This Is What Rock N Roll Looks Like” Feat. Lil Wayne. Both tracks fuse roaring guitars with thunderous dance-pop, a vibe maintained throughout most of her daring, not-yet-titled debut. “Rock & roll is about attitude,” says the heavily tattooed singer, who was once asked by Courtney Love to sing backup when the alt rocker found her on MySpace under Porcelain and the Tramps. “We’re the kids that belong to the night, but just because you’re a badass doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. Rock & roll is about embracing people.”
4th Pyramid is a MC/Producer/Songwriter from Toronto, Canada. Coming up the ranks as a producer and engineer, 4th Pyramid has quietly stacked credits for the Black Eyed Peas, members of Wu-Tang Clan, MF Doom, and Pete Rock, while licensing his own tunes with Sprite, Scion, and various feature films. Pyramid is also one-half of the DJ/production team The Sheen Bros, along with Cosmo Baker, and together the duo released their 2011 EP through Scion’s A/V label. In December 2011, Pyramid launched his own imprint, Silk Ivory, a boutique label that was quickly signed to Universal Music. 4th Pyramid will release his debut solo album, The Pyramid Scheme, on March 6, 2012.
Mickey Avalon’s back-story begins on the streets of Hollywood, California. Raised by his heroin-addicted father, he began selling pot at a young age, a trade he acquired from his mother. In an attempt to clean up his act, Mickey converted to Orthodox Judaism in his late teens, an effort that didn’t last due to constant family tragedy.
After the deaths of both his father and sister, Mickey decided that he wanted more out of life. Having hit rock bottom after the breakup of his marriage, Avalon moved from Portland back to Los Angeles, and chose to make one final attempt to clean up his act. Shortly after his return, Mickey was befriended by ex-MTV VJ Simon Rex (aka Dirt Nasty), who encouraged Avalon to pursue his passion of hip-hop and even collaborated with him on some tracks. At the time, Avalon was staying in a sober living facility and had a strict curfew, so Dirt Nasty began passing out Mickey’s demo at Hollywood clubs, which helped Mickey develop a following among fans of the Los Angeles nightclub scene.
As Mickey’s popularity grew, he began to sell out clubs throughout California with his legendary live show. Soon after Interscope Records took notice of the guerilla promotions tactics and signed Avalon to the label. Through Interscope, Avalon released his now classic self-titled debut album, which showcased his unique rhyming style and indulgent lyrics. Inspired by his experiences on the streets with drugs and prostitution, the raw honesty of his songs immediately resonated with audiences. Fan favorites “Jane Fonda,” “Mr. Right” and “My Dick” quickly spread across the internet and mainstream radio, turning Mickey Avalon into a household name.
After years spent confined by industry red tape, Mickey Avalon has returned with a brand new album Loaded, which takes fans on a journey through the seedy streets of Hollywood. It is the soundtrack to one the most debauched tales of rock & roll. Filled with excess and exploding with sexual energy, Avalon’s music embraces decadence and celebrates its hedonistic glory. Mickey Avalon simply appeals to voyeuristic side of all of us that want to indulge, let loose and get Loaded.
