Films – Page 55 – ÜberSciFiGeek

Igor

Igor — In Theaters September 19th (US) and October 17th (UK)

In a land of mad scientists and diabolical inventions, what do you do when you’re born with a hunch on your back?

You become an Igor.

A hilarious twist on the classic monster movie, Igor tells the story of one Igor who’s sick of being a lowly lab assistant with a Yes Master’s degree and dreams of becoming a scientist. When his cruel master kicks the bucket a week before the annual Evil Science Fair, Igor finally gets his chance.

With the help of two of his experimental creations — Brain, a brain in a jar who’s a little light on brains, and Scamper, a cynical bunny brought back from being road kill, Igor embarks on building the most evil invention of all time, a huge, ferocious monster. Unfortunately, instead of turning out evil, the monster turns out as Eva, a giant aspiring actress who wouldn’t hurt a fly.

Just when the load on his back can’t get any heavier, Igor and his band of monstrous misfits uncover an evil plot that threatens their world. Now, they must fight to save it and prove that heroes come in all shapes and sizes.

Featuring the voice talents of John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Jennifer Coolidge, Arsenio Hall, Sean Hayes, Eddie Izzard, Jay Leno, James Lipton, Molly Shannon and Christian Slater, Igor is the must-see family comedy of the fall.

The Art of WALL-E

The Three Laws of Robotics, made famous by Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot, are:

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

The mechanical creatures that populate the world of WALL-E suggest a fourth law: “A robot must be so cute as to merit its own deluxe art book.”

The Art of WALL-E by Tim Hauser is that book. The latest offering in the Pixar “The Art of…” series — which includes The Art of Monsters, Inc., The Art of Finding Nemo, The Art of The Incredibles, The Art of Cars, and The Art of Ratatouille — this volume is a definite must-have for art enthusiasts of all ages, whether you’re a fan of Pixar and WALL-E or just animation art and robots in general.

Designed as a companion piece to the film, and featuring a wide variety of media — pencil, markers, pastels, charcoal, and more — rendered by the talented team of Pixar artists, The Art of WALL-E showcases the highlights of the conceptual art created during production of WALL-E. The beautifully reproduced images, including preliminary sketches, character studies, storyboards, and colorscripts, are interspersed with anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories from a variety of people who worked on the film, providing revealing insights into the incredible work necessary to bring the completely imagined, futuristic world of WALL-E to life. The nostalgically retro feel of the art is reminiscent of the 1960s style of The Jetsons, whose lovable robotic housekeeper, Rosie the Robot Maid, appears to be an inspiration for the design of WALL-E and his friends.

Order now at Amazon.com:
The Art of WALL-E

The Art of WALL-E is distributed by Chronicle Books (International/US) and Raincoast Books (Canada).

Felicia Day and Sandeep Parikh talk about The Guild, Dr. Horrible, and The Legend of Neil at San Diego Comic-Con

At San Diego Comic-Con last month, some of the panels and events I was able to attend included Stan Lee, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Sanctuary, Stargate Worlds, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate: Continuum, Wendy Pini, Ben 10, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Emily the Strange. Of all the lines I stood in, and the excited crowds I huddled with, though, none outnumbered or had longer waits than the big screen premiere of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

The screening was scheduled to begin at 10:45 PM on Friday, and by 4:30 PM there were already lines wrapping like a figure eight through the con halls and out onto the balcony steps. After a very, very long wait, and two additional screenings (without the cast) being added to the lineup earlier in the night, I was fortunate to be able to get into that amazing show. Everyone in attendance laughed together, cheered together, and sang together. The standing ovation at the end just went on and on as Joss Whedon and the cast made their bows to the audience.

The huge success of both The Guild and Dr. Horrible kept Felicia Day extremely busy all weekend (she and the rest of The Guild cast hung out at the California Browncoats booth) but she and her The Guild costar Sandeep Parikh took the time to sit with me and talk about The Guild, The Legend of Neil, and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. I’d like to send a special thank-you out to Vincent Caso (Bladezz in The Guild) for coming over to say hello as well! Due to technical difficulties, we don’t have the video yet, but fortunately we had a digital audio recorder going. Eventually, we’ll have the video available, as well as photos from the interview. In the meantime, you can listen to the interview online or download it here: Felicia Day and Sandeep Parikh at Comic-Con 2008.

The Dark Crystal Statues

Dark Horse Comics, in partnership with MINDstyle, is releasing a series of statues based on The Dark Crystal: The Dark Crystal Castle, The Landstrider, and uRac. The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth fan artist, Laszlo Borka, who created The Skeksis Castle 12 Inch Prop Replica, has also sculpted a Skeksis Statue which will be released by MINDstyle in 2009, and is currently working on a Skeksis Emperor Scepter replica.

Felicia Day’s “Horrible” Experience

Felicia Day as Penny in "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog"

Multi-talented actress Felicia Day was already recognizable for her work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer before she created the smash hit Internet series, The Guild. Now, she’s teamed up with Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly) to present another Internet event, Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. She’s costarring along with Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Desperate Housewives) and Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother, Harold & Kumar, Starship Troopers) in this Whedon family project that will be premiering exclusively on the Internet beginning Tuesday, July 15th. Felicia took some time out of her very busy schedule to answer a few questions about Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

ÜberSciFiGeek (ÜSFG) How did you get involved in the Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog project?

Felicia Day (FD) I had seen Joss on the strike lines a few times and he had mentioned the idea of a supervillain musical to me, perhaps made for the Internet. I thought that was the coolest idea I’d ever heard, A few months later he emailed me and it said, “Can you sing?” You can imagine I was a little taken aback, it’s not a question you hear every day!

(ÜSFG) With a name like Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, one of the first questions that come to mind is, “Does Felicia sing?”

(FD) Yes! I did musical theatre all my life, mostly as a dancer but I had singing parts as well. I moved around a lot so theatre kind of kept my childhood together. Throughout college I took lessons from a professor at UT Austin, Jess Walters.

(ÜSFG) Did you enjoy singing in Dr. Horrible? Have you been in any sort of musical production before, and would you like to be in more of them?

(FD) OMG, singing in Horrible was fun and intimidating! Neil’s voice is amazing, so singing opposite him was nerve-wracking, but as soon as we were done, I wanted to do more! I did a LOT of musicals as a teen and again during college, like Into the Woods and Fantasticks, Oklahoma, you name it. Since moving to LA I’ve had a few jobs singing, a part in Warm Springs, a few plays. It’s not my career but I do enjoy it and would love to do more of it in the future!

(ÜSFG) Was Dr. Horrible always conceived of as a musical, or did that come about only when Joss Whedon learned that you, Neil Patrick Harris, and Nathan Fillion have singing voices?

(FD) I can’t speak for him, but I know when he floated the idea on the strike line to me, it was always connected to the word “musical”. Joss has an amazing passion for music and musicals. His knowledge in the area blows me away. I love the idea of Joss, Jed, Zach and Maurissa getting together and writing this amazing script together and creating songs together, what a cool process!

(ÜSFG) Having worked with Joss Whedon on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, what was it like working with him again? How was it different and how was it similar?

(FD) The Dr. Horrible set was a lot more informal than being on a professional TV set. There was a sense from everyone this was driven by passion and enthusiasm rather than being a “job”. It felt way more like indie productions I’ve done. Of course the quality of production and the expertise of the cast and crew was equal to being on Buffy, because Joss attracts the best at what they do. There were stunt people on both sets : )

(ÜSFG) Captain Hammer has an online comic — will Penny also have an online exclusive? With your background as a gamer, perhaps a mini online game?

(FD) I don’t know anything about that end of it, but that would be cool! Float that idea out there! To be honest I don’t know if Penny is a gamer. I would think she’s more of a knitter or a baker.

(ÜSFG) You’ve produced a lot of Internet content now. How is it different as an actor and/or producer for the Internet than it is for television or film?

(FD) It’s night and day. When you have a huge professional set and 50 people working on it, everyone does only their job, and they do it at the height of their expertise. Internet content is much more blurry as far as those lines go. One day you’ll be producer, the next an actor, the next craft service. It’s necessary because there’s no money to pay people with most the time. But the great thing is you don’t have layers of people to interfere with your vision as a creator, and I think more and more, professionals will discover that to be an attractive area to play in.

(ÜSFG) If Dr. Horrible does well, is another film or related project planned?

(FD) You would have to ask Joss. I would love to play Penny again, in whatever capacity!

(ÜSFG) Your character, Penny, isn’t a superhero or supervillain like Captain Hammer and Dr. Horrible, but if you had to choose a superpower to have in your real life, what would it be and why?

(FD) Gosh, that’s hard. I think invisibility. I like to eavesdrop. I used to only play rogues in games so I could sneak in and steal things from the NPCs : ) I don’t do that in real life, btw.

(ÜSFG) Penny falls for Captain Hammer, at least initially. Who would you, as yourself, get a crush on — Dr. Horrible or Captain Hammer?

(FD) I’d have to say Dr. Horrible. He’s definitely the wounded type, and I would love to try to heal that in him. Hammer is hot, but I don’t go for guys who like to look at themselves in the mirror a lot ; )

The best way you can help us say thank-you to Felicia is to help spread the word! You can learn more about Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog at drhorrible.com. Act one of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog will be premiering online on Tuesday, July 15th. Act two will go up on Thursday, July 17th. Act three will go up on Saturday, July 19th. All three acts will be online until midnight on Sunday, July 20th. Also, if you are planning on attending San Diego Comic-Con, stop by the Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog panel on Friday. Felicia and the rest of the cast of The Guild will also be at the California Browncoats booth signing copies of The Guild DVDs throughout the event. Stop by and say hello!

ElfQuest: The Movie

by Borys Kit, from The Hollywood Reporter:

ElfQuest, the cult comic by Wendy and Richard Pini, is heading to the big screen courtesy of Warners Bros. and Rawson Thurber.

Thurber will write, direct and produce the feature, whose format is undetermined.

The original comic, which the Pinis initially self-published starting in 1978, followed a tribe of elves known as the Wolfriders in their attempts to survive and link with other dispersed elves on an Earth-like planet with two moons while on the lookout for tribes of humans and trolls, both of which acted as allies and enemies.

The series — which at certain points in its history was published by both Marvel and DC Comics — attracted a more mature audience as it went along, with scenes of battles and sexuality that were intense for that time.

Hollywood has long tried to adapt the series, and several attempts at an animated series or feature have been made over the years.

Courtenay Valenti is overseeing for Warners.

CAA-repped Thurber, a commercials director, broke through into features with the 2004 Ben Stiller hit “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.” He also wrote and directed “The Mysteries of Pittsburgh,” an adaptation of the Michael Chabon novel.

The Pinis are repped by RWSH and Hansen Literary.

Wendy Words — July 9, 2008: The Zwoot’s Out of the Bag!

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog:

The story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.

Starring Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer, Felicia Day as Penny, and a cast of dozens!

Directed by Joss Whedon

Written by Joss Whedon, Zack Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen and Jed Whedon

Music by Joss Whedon and Jed Whedon

Lyrics by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen

Score and Orchestration by Jed Whedon

A LETTER FROM JOSS WHEDON

Dear Friends,

At last the time has come to reveal to you our Master Plan. BEWARE! Those with weak hearts should log off lest they be terrified by the twisted genius of our schemes! Also pregnant women and the elderly should consider reading only certain sentences. Do not mix with other blogs. Do not operate heavy machinery while reading this blog. You must be this tall to read. ‘Kay?

It is time for us to change the face of Show Business as we know it. You know the old adage, “It’s Show Business — not Show Friends”? Well now it’s Show Friends. We did that. To Show Business. To show Show Business we mean business. (Also, there are now other businesses like it.)

ONE WEEK ONLY! AN INTERNET MINISERIES EVENT!

“Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” will be streamed, LIVE (that part’s not true), FREE (sadly, that part is) right on Drhorrible.com, in mid-July. Specifically:

ACT ONE (Wheee!) will go up Tuesday July 15th.

ACT TWO (OMG!) will go up Thursday July 17th.

ACT THREE (Denouement!) will go up Saturday July 19th.

All acts will stay up until midnight Sunday July 20th. Then they will vanish into the night, like a phantom (but not THE Phantom — that’s still playing. Like, everywhere.)

And now to answers a few Frequently (soon to be) Asked Questions:

1) Why, Joss? Why? Why now, why free, why us?

Once upon a time, all the writers in the forest got very mad with the Forest Kings and declared a work-stoppage. The forest creatures were all sad; the mushrooms did not dance, the elderberries gave no juice for the festival wines, and the Teamsters were kinda pissed. (They were very polite about it, though.) During this work-stoppage, many writers tried to form partnerships for outside funding to create new work that circumvented the Forest King system.

Frustrated with the lack of movement on that front, I finally decided to do something very ambitious, very exciting, very mid-life-crisisy. Aided only by everyone I had worked with, was related to or had ever met, I single-handedly created this unique little epic. A supervillain musical, of which, as we all know, there are far too few.

The idea was to make it on the fly, on the cheap — but to make it. To turn out a really thrilling, professionalish piece of entertainment specifically for the internet. To show how much could be done with very little. To show the world there is another way. To give the public (and in particular you guys) something for all your support and patience. And to make a lot of silly jokes. Actually, that sentence probably should have come first.

2) What happens when it goes away? Does it go to a happy farm for always like Fluffy did when mommy was crying and the neighbor kept washing his fender?

No, Dr Horrible will live on. We intend to make it available for download soon after it’s published. This would be for a nominal fee, which we’re hoping people will embrace instead of getting all piratey. We have big dreams, people, and one of them is paying our crew.

And somewhat later, we will put the complete short epic out on DVD — with the finest and bravest extras in all the land. We’ll go into greater detail about that at Comiccon, but we’re changing the face of Show Friendliness a second time with that crazy DVD.

3) Joss, you are so kind, and generous, and your forehead is like, huge, like SCARY, like I think I can see Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint hanging off it… what can WE do to help this musical extravanganza?

What you always do, peeps! What you’re already doing. Spread the word. Rock some banners, widgets, diggs… let people know who wouldn’t ordinarily know. It wouldn’t hurt if this really was an event. Good for the business, good for the community — communitIES: Hollywood, internet, artists around the world, comic-book fans, musical fans (and even the rather vocal community of people who hate both but will still dig on this). Proving we can turn Dr Horrible into a viable economic proposition as well as an awesome goof will only inspire more people to lay themselves out in the same way. It’s time for the dissemination of the artistic process. Create more for less. You are the ones that can make that happen.

Wow. I had no idea how important you guys were. I’m a little afraid of you.

4) Joss, do you ever answer a question simply or coherently?

Shledzguohn?

There’ll be more questions, and more long, long answers, but for now I’m just excited that we’re actually making this happen. We (and a lot of other people — gushing to commence soon) worked very hard on the show and we hope/think you guys will be pleased.

Until July 15th , I remain, yours truly, -j, of the firm j, j, m & z.