“I’m not punk enough to be steampunk I think.” – Erin Morgenstern
Erin Morgenstern’s first book, The Night Circus, will be released on September 13th. She already has a movie deal in the works. Summit Entertainment bought the film rights to develop a motion picture based on the upcoming publication.
The Night Circus is set in a fantastical circus that magically appears at night. Two magicians battle as they’ve been trained to since childhood, but as they compete they fall in love. Now can’t you imagine some Hollywood megastars brooding it up as those emotionally tormented sorcerers, in lavish circus costumes too?
Morgenstern herself exhibits a unique style fitting for a chronicler of the performing arts. She likes corsets, and the red stripes of the one she wore in San Diego was the only color in her all black ensemble. If you look up her website, you’ll see influences from Stephen King to J.K. Rowling. You’ll also find out she has also painted her own deck of Tarot cards. We sat down with the emerging literary star and soon to be movie star in San Diego.
“We encourage the player to charge into battle.” – Andy Lang
There have been many video games based on Games Workshop’s venerable Warhammer universe, but thus far none save Canadian developer Relic Entertainment and their Dawn of War PC strategy franchise seem able to do it right. Now, with the forthcoming multiplatform third-person action game Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, Relic are trying to make lightning strike twice with a completely different platform and style of game.
Space Marine looks like a mix of Darksiders and Gears of War, with the player taking on the role of one of the titular walking tanks so heavily armored that he doesn’t need any wimpy cover system.
SuicideGirls spoke with Space Marine’s producer Andy Lang about the Warhammer 40,000 [AKA “40K”] universe, Nobs, and what life is like during crunch time for a game developer.
One more of the Serenity crew returns to television. We’ve got Nathan Fillion on Castle, Adam Baldwin on Chuck, Morena Baccarin on V and Homeland, Gina Torres on Suits, and Alan Tudyk as a series regular on ABC’s new comedy Suburgatory. He’ll play Noah Lerner, an old friend of George (Jeremy Sisto) who moves his daughter to the suburbs to take her away from bad influences. Hilarity ensues.
But there is much more to Alan Tudyk than one new show. He has a movie coming out this fall. Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil hits VOD on August 26 and theaters September 30, after years of playing the festival circuit. Tudyk plays Tucker, one of two innocent woodsmen mistaken for a chainsaw killer. He’ll also be seen in the upcoming movie adaptation of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and has voiced several characters in MTV’s animated show Good Vibes.
Will I date I myself if I use the phrase ’We’re not worthy?’ There is almost nothing to be said when introducing SuicideGirls to Terry Gilliam, because at this point if you dont know who he is, I wouldn’t cry if you killed yourself. But for those who dont have the guts to throw themselves off a bridge, Gilliam is the brilliant film auteur behind such classics as Time Bandits, Brazil, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He is also a founding member of the best sketch comedy troupe ever, Monty Pythons Flying Circus. Gilliam’s latest film is the very heavy Tideland, the story of a young girl whose junkie parents die and leave her alone in an empty house only with her imagination.
I got a chance to interview Gilliam when he was in New York City. When we spoke of a possible Python live tour he seemed to imply that we could be seeing some new sketches.
“I have a monstrous imagination.”
– Alejandro Jodorowsky
Chilean born filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky changed the world in 1971 when he released El Topo, a bizarre psychedelic Mexican western. The film became an immediate hit on the burgeoning midnight movie scene. Since then Jodorowsky has done a number of wonderful films, all fascinating and beautiful, such as Holy Mountain, The Rainbow Thief and Santa Sangre. They are all highly personal tales filled with commentary on religion, sex and so much more. Jodorowsky has also done groundbreaking work on comic books with such legendary artists as Moebius, Georges Bess, Juan Gimenez and many more.
Now, after 30 years, Jodorowsky and his distributor Abkco films have settled their differences and finally El Topo and Holy Mountain will be re-released in theaters and enjoy proper DVD releases. I had a chance to talk with Jodorowsky in person on a recent visit to New York City.
“I could bring lunacy and craziness…”
– John Hodgman
My father-in-laws cookies arent as dry as John Hodgmans wit. Currently Hodgman is best known as the bespectacled correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and as the PC to Justin Long’s Mac in a recent series of Apple commercials. But before his television work, Hodgman enjoyed a career as a well respected print humorist for publications like New York Times Magazine and McSweeney’s –a stint which culminated in the hysterical book of lies, The Areas of My Expertise. Hodgman is also a contributor to This American Life, a radio show played nationally. This American Life has now collected some of their best segments onto a CD called This American Life: Stories Of Hope And Fear.
On September 13, Anthrax will return with a new studio album Worship Music, the band’s first release of new material in 8 years. While it may seem like the band has been away for a few years, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Constant touring as well as some mega shows where Anthrax co-headlined along with Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer, means the band has been busy and have never stopped playing music. The new album however welcomes back original vocalist Joey Belladonna, who makes his first appearance on an Anthrax studio album since the 1990 album Persistence of Time.
I caught up with the man most responsible for Anthrax over all these years, Scott Ian, for a phone to preview the new record and to talk about everything that led into its creation.
