Coventry Telegraph - The Geek Files

Anna Paquin on True Blood vs Twilight - and returning to the X-Men

2009-07-06T16:34:20Z

VAMPIRE TV series True Blood has been the subject of many comparisons with the Twilight books and films.

Anna Paquin, who stars in True Blood as telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse, recently made the distinction that her show was very much aimed at an adult audience. I then took a look at the similarities and differences between True Blood and Twilight.

She's now added to the debate, in a new interview with AOL Television.

The 26-year-old Oscar winner said: "It seems kind of funny...just because two things happen to end up being released around the same time, it's not like we all got together beforehand and had a chat about how we're going to make sure vampires had a comeback.

"But from the way people ask about it, you'd think that we'd all had sort of a sit-down. But it's coincidence, really."

She also spoke further about whether she would like to play Rogue again in the X-Men franchise: "It depends on if they ask me back. Conceptually, yeah, obviously it would depend what I was going to get to do.

"I mean, I'd like to be part of something more vaguely resembling action. There are a lot of options as far as that character, taking on other people's powers and then getting to be part of action, and I didn't really do any of that.

"Don't get me wrong - I love doing those movies. But that was not the focus of my character, and if I was going to do more of it I would really like to get to kick some ass."

Torchwood: Children of Earth brings home the world's atrocities

2009-07-06T15:59:35Z

THE new Torchwood: Children of Earth miniseries starting tonight on BBC1 will bring real-world terror to the Doctor Who spin-off, says creator and writer Russell T Davies.

Davies said: "Underneath the sci-fi and the aliens there's something very relevant to the world, I hope.

"The way we sit in the West and watch footage of atrocities in different countries and imagine it's all so far away, and so impossible here - which is a nice, comfy lie we tell ourselves. That was the heart of it.

"I wanted to tell a story in which civilisation snaps, in which we turn on ourselves, in which nothing is safe. Plenty of people live like that on this planet. In this story, it's Britain's turn."

And he explained why he had put the world's children at the heart of the story: "They just touch a nerve. A threat to our children gets a primal reaction out of all of us.

"But beyond that, I think we can be scared of our kids, too.That they can seem unknowable, unreachable - that's why a gang of young hoodies can seem more unnerving than an adult gang of thugs."

Viewers are assured that they don't need to have watched the show before to follow what's going on.

Davies said: "There are fleeting references to the past but, from the moment it starts, we're telling a brand-new story. It's been deliberately written so that no-one will be lost - and, at the same time, the faithful viewer will discover so much more about the members of the Torchwood team. There are plenty of rewards for the long-term fan."

He added: "This whole story tears Torchwood down and then watches them rebuild, but always questioning them, asking what sort of heroes they are, how far will they go? And what's the difference between a freedom fighter and a terrorist?

"As the alien threat gets bigger, so Torchwood's humanity is exposed, and threatened, and celebrated, too. And their lives are on the line - none of them are safe.

"The size of this story, and the scale of it - spread across more than 40 years of history - means that we needed something bigger, a threat with real intelligence, a race with different protocols and standards.

"We have to see the government engage in genuine diplomatic relations with an alien species. You watch those scenes thinking: 'That's what it would really be like.'"

Torchwood: Children of Earth is one story told in five episodes over five days, beginning at 9pm tonight on BBC1 in the UK. Three episodes were written bv Davies and two by John Fay.

In the USA, it begins on July 20 on BBC America.

The Crow: New film not a remake of Brandon Lee classic

2009-07-06T15:33:39Z

A NEW film adaptation of The Crow comic book will feature a completely new version of the goth avenger, it's been reported.

Director Stephen Norrington is relaunching the franchise, which was previously adapted into a 1984 film starring Brandon Lee.

It was followed by three film sequels - The Crow: City of Angels in 1996, The Crow: Salvation in 2000, and The Crow: Wicked Prayer in 2005 - and a TV series called The Crow: Stairway to Heaven in 1998.

The first film was a critical and commercial success and has become a cult classic, earning a place in film legend because its star Lee died, at the age of 28, in a tragic gun accident on set. The three sequels were all flops, with the last two going straight to video.

According to Mania.com, the new movie will not focus on creator James O'Barr's original Crow, Eric Draven, a rock musician who is murdered trying to rescue his girlfriend from thugs and returns from the dead a year later to exact vengeance.

It will instead be "an all-new take on the mythology of resurrection and revenge."

Norrington is preparing to deliver his script later this month and it's reported that the story is "very different from the original - a whole new story about a whole new character."

Thirteen different people so far have taken on the Crow persona in the various comics, movies and novels.

Norrington had earlier told Variety: "Whereas [Alex] Proyas' original was gloriously gothic and stylised, the new movie will be realistic, hard-edged and mysterious, almost documentary-style."

Sin City 2 will be a prequel, says Alexis Bledel

2009-07-06T13:10:35Z

ALEXIS BLEDEL, who played blue-eyed prostitute Becky in Sin City, says the next film will be a prequel.

The first film, in 2005, was an amalgam of three stories in Frank Miller's film noir graphic novel series and was a critical and commercial success.

Bledel, 27, told MTV: "Someone told us yesterday that there's a script. Apparently, [I'm] back because it's a prequel. [I'm] supposed to die in the first one. But you don't see it, so maybe she doesn't."

Director Robert Rodriguez has said the next film would combine the Sin City comic book tale A Dame To Kill For with brand-new storylines by Miller.

A Dame To Kill For is set before and during the events in the first movie, which ties in with Bledel saying the next film is a prequel.

The lead character in A Dame to Kill For is the femme fatale Ava Lord, with Angelina Jolie, Rose McGowan and Salma Hayek all linked to the role. The aim is to start filming Sin City 2 next year.

Resident Evil 4: New film's title and release date revealed

2009-07-06T11:17:22Z

A FOURTH instalment in the Resident Evil film franchise is being developed by Sony.

Although 2007's third movie was billed as the final chapter, it left doors open for a follow-up and last year writer/producer Paul W.S. Anderson (who directed the first adventure) confirmed he was working on another film.

Horror site Shock Till You Drop reports that the next film will be called Resident Evil: Afterlife and is set for release on September 17, 2010.

The site believes lead character Alice, played by Milla Jovovich, is likely to return and speculates that the character and her clones, as seen at the end of the third film, are likely to be shown seeking revenge on the Umbrella Corporation in Tokyo.

The movies are based on the popular video games. The first film was released in 2002, with Resident Evil: Apocalypse coming out in 2004 and Resident Evil: Extinction in 2007.

Video game developer Capcom has also made two unrelated computer-animated films, Biohazard 4D Executer in 2000 and Resident Evil: Degeneration released in 2008.

Made on relatively small budgets averaging $43million per movie, the series has brought in decent box office returns despite being bashed by critics and having a mixed response from fans of the original games.

Stan Lee will have cameo roles in Venom spin-off and Iron Man 2

2009-07-06T09:14:46Z

MARVEL'S former president and chairman Stan Lee has a habit of popping up in film adaptations of the company's comic book characters.

And it's now been confirmed that Lee, 86, will have a cameo in the Venom spin-off based on the comic book villain and set for release in 2012.

The character debuted on screen in Spider-Man 3 after an extraterrestrial black goo arrived on Earth in a meteorite and bonded with human host Eddie Brock. In the comics, other people have also merged with the symbiotic life-form.

The spin-off is being written by Zombieland scribes Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese.

Reese told Superhero Hype: "Stan Lee is in it. I feel like that's the one thing we can say. He does appear in our script, and we're very specific about where he is and why. May he live forever. Let's hope he's in many movies to come."

Lee will also appear in Iron Man 2, says Collider. According to Nuke The Fridge, he will reportedly play talk show host Larry King who will interview Tony Stark on TV about his new black Iron Man suit.

Previously, Stan Lee played a hot dog vendor in X-Men; a man who saves a girl from falling debris when the Green Goblin attacks at a street fair in Spider-Man; a man saved from being hit by a car in Daredevil; a security guard at Bruce Banner's lab in Ang Lee's Hulk movie; a pedestrian who saves a passer-by from danger when Doctor Octopus attacks in Spider-Man 2; and postman Willie Lumpkin in Fantastic Four.

He was a resident whose garden hose water was sent upwards by the power of a young Jean Grey in X-Men: The Last Stand; a man in Times Square in Spider-Man 3 where he tells Peter Parker "You know, I guess one person can make a difference"; and he was turned away from the wedding of Reed Richards and Susan Storm in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

He appears as himself in Iron Man, where Tony Stark mistakes him for Hugh Hefner, while in The Incredible Hulk he is an uncredited citizen who dies after consuming a soft drink contaminated with Bruce Banner's blood.

Lee co-created Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, X-Men, Thor, Hulk, Daredevil, Doctor Strange and many others during his time at Marvel Comics.

He was not involved with the creation of Venom, who first appeared in 1984 and was invented by writer David Michelinie and artist Mike Zeck.

Brandon Routh out of Superman film franchise

2009-07-05T23:01:48Z

BRANDON ROUTH, who played the lead role in Bryan Singer's 2006 film Superman Returns, has admitted that his contract to reprise the role in a follow-up has now expired.

It's yet another piece of kryptonite in the coffin of Singer's proposed sequel, which had been provisionally called Man of Steel.

For some time, Singer's involvement with another Superman movie has been unlikely although Routh remained the studio's favoured choice for the role in any future film.

It was speculated that the next film would be a reboot - an entirely fresh start ignoring Superman Returns - but retaining Routh in the role of the hero.

But now, three years after the first film, the actor's studio deal has lapsed.

Speaking to Portuguese site Omelette, Brandon Routh said: "The terms of the contract expired. But if they call me again, I'd go back to the character without thinking twice."

On the question of what's happening to the Superman franchise, he added: "I'm sure there is movement [on Superman] at Warner Bros but everything is still uncertain. Really, I do not know anything."

Routh believes the character deserves another chance at success, as with Batman. He agreed with the site that it was an "injustice" that the Batman franchise was given a further opportunity on the big screen after the lower-than-expected opening of Batman Begins and had gone on on to deliver the "absurdly lucrative" blockbuster The Dark Knight.

And he spoke on where he thought Superman Returns had gone wrong: "I think it is missing some fight scenes. It's curious, but while I was filming I noticed I spent the whole movie being beaten up and didn't really have the chance to fight back."

Well, I agree with Routh that additional physical action might have given the film more commercial success, but it would not have solved all the problems. The main issue with fans was the characterisation of Superman as someone who would disappear from earth for five years without telling the woman with whom he must have been having an intimate relationship.

Meanwhile, Singer sounded more uncertain than ever over Superman in his most recent interview, as I reported exclusively online, but he did seem keen to return to the X-Men, where his movies were far more successful and well-received.

Routh's involvement with comic book movies continues in other capacities. The 29-year-old plays supernatural private investigator Dylan Dog in Dead of Night, based on the Italian horror comic.

It was rumoured to be going straight to DVD until Platinum Studios' Dan Forcey told Think McFly Think that they were "contractually obligated and guaranteed a theatrical release of at least 1,100 screens" and "couldn't do direct-to-DVD if we wanted to." The film is set to come out later this year.

Routh is also in Scott Pilgrim vs The World, due out in 2010 and based on the Oni Press graphic novel Scott Pilgrim Volume 1: Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life, written by Bryan Lee O'Malley. The lead character, played by Michael Cera, must defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil ex-boyfriends in order to win her heart. Routh plays Todd Ingram, the third ex-boyfriend.

Source: Omelette (with direct translation via Google translate and adjustments by a Portuguese-speaking friend).

300 star Gerard Butler could return for sequel

2009-07-05T14:31:55Z

GERARD BUTLER could be brought back to star in the sequel to Spartan war epic 300, in which his character King Leonidas died.

That's what producer Mark Canton seems to be hinting in the latest update on the project.

Director Zack Snyder's 2007 film was based on a graphic novel by Frank Miller about the Battle of Thermopylae, in which Leonidas and his 300 Spartan soldiers fought to the death against millions of Persians led by Xerxes The Great in 480BC.

Asked if the original cast were ruled out of the next film, Canton told MTV: "Never assume anything. It'll be what it'll be. But if we really do it, in this case, we have a visionary creator and a visionary filmmaker."

He added: "Things are always looking good with 300, it's a blessing and a gift. Zack's a genius, and no matter where you go it's the one movie that people around the world seem to somewhat identify with the most. We're thrilled for [a sequel]; it'll be a blast. There's a new Blu-Ray coming out all over again shortly, so that's great. It's like the gift that never stops giving.

"[The key to the sequel] is about getting it right, you know. Frank is a perfectionist, and so is Zack. And I think they set the bar pretty high."

The original movie was narrated by Dilios (David Wenham) who was telling Leonidas' heroic story to inspire troops at the Battle of Plataea. The next film is said to be focusing on this later battle, which took place a year after Leonidas' death.

A follow-up film to 300 was confirmed by director Zack Snyder last October, even though Gerard Butler had earlier expressed doubts about any sequel or prequel ideas.

Snyder more recently said the sequel would be on "crazier steroids", implying it would be on a grander scale than the original.

As far as I can tell, Leonidas could figure in the story only if it was a historical prequel leading up to his final battle, or if it's a fantasy sequel in which he miraculously survived for some new, entirely fictional adventure. Otherwise, Butler could return to play another character in the Battle of Plataea.

Some have said they should drop the 300 sequel/prequel idea altogether and use the same technology to bring to life some other historical, mythical or fantasy story.

Twilight producers reveal spin-off possibilities

2009-07-05T01:00:21Z

ALL FOUR of Stephenie Meyer's vampire romance novels in the Twilight series have been immensely popular and the film adaptations, starring Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, are generating phenomenal interest too.

Following the box office success of Twilight, the second film, New Moon, comes out in November. Filming on Eclipse begins on August 17 and production on Breaking Dawn is set to start straight after that.

The only limitation on the franchise is the amount of material available. All that's left is the unfinished fifth novel, Midnight Sun.

As I reported earlier, Meyer stopped working on it when it was leaked online though she says she may return to it in a couple of years.

So what could come next? One answer could be extending the life of the series through spin-offs.

Twilight producers Wyck Godfrey, Greg Mooradian and Guy Oseary were asked about the idea when they received the Film of Vision Award in Beverly Hills.

Radaronline spoke to the trio and asked if there was any chance of a spin-off focusing on the Volturi - the vampire coven who live in Italy and impose the laws of their kind.

Mooradian did not reject the suggestion but said they were open to possibilities as long as the franchise remained popular.

He said: "Stay tuned. I think if our movies do as well as the first did all possibilities are out there. But right now we need to finish what we have and finish Stephenie's vision as best we can and then let's see where the audience demands us to go from there."

In New Moon, the Volturi include Charlie Bewley as Demetri, Jamie Campbell Bower as Caius, Daniel Cudmore as Felix and Christopher Heyerdahl as Marcus, all Volturi enforcers.

Dakota Fanning plays Jane, a high-ranking and powerful Volturi member and Cameron Bright is Alec, her brother. Noot Seear plays Volturi member Heidi. Michael Sheen (pictured) plays Aro, the Volturi leader.

Do you think a Volturi spin-off, or any other Twilight spin-off, is a good idea? Should it be a movie (or series of movies) or a TV show?

Source: Radaronline via Filmshaft.

Volturi fan art at top courtesy of Grodansnagel on Deviant Art.

Exclusive: Torchwood actor on epic new story and possible Season 4

2009-07-04T12:11:10Z

KAI OWEN has promised epic excitement is in store for viewers of next week's Torchwood miniseries.

The actor, who plays Rhys Williams in the Doctor Who spin-off, is a key part of Torchwood: Children of Earth, the third season of the show. It's a single story told over five nights starting on Monday.

He told us: "It's a tale of Torchwood on the run, the government want Torchwood wiped out as part of a cover-up over an alien visit.

"As husband of lead girl Gwen Cooper (played by Eve Myles, pictured here with Kai) I'm right in the thick of it all. They want Gwen dead and me dead as well."

For Kai and the other cast members - including John Barrowman and Gareth David-Lloyd - the miniseries format was quite a change for the show, which has also moved from BBC2 to BBC1.

Barrowman had earlier said he felt the reduced number of episodes felt like punishment.

But Kai was more positive about the experience.

He said: "I loved doing the first and second seasons. This one is one big story arc over five one-hour episodes - it's epic and so exciting.

"It's a wonderful job and I love playing Rhys. It's always changing and very exciting. We have previously filmed longer series over about seven months, so this was a change but it was great to do and really dramatic."

Kai, 33, is next in Welsh language soap Pobol Y Cwm and will also be off to the Torchwood convention Chicago Tardis in November.

And he added that there are plans afoot for a Season 4.

He said: "I believe the show's creator Russell T Davies has planned the storyline for Season 4 if this one performs well.

"If there is another one next year, it would probably follow the same format.

"Torchwood is very popular - in the US even more so than Doctor Who - and I am 100 per cent confident another one will go ahead."

Davies had earlier told journalists at a preview screening that a fourth season is "ready to go" but is entirely dependent on how the third performs, according to Den of Geek.

The showrunner also said that he would be willing to do Torchwood for the next 10 years and wanted more crossovers with parent show Doctor Who.

John Barrowman told Sci Fi Wire that he and Davies would be happy to carry on with five-episode story arcs, but would like to do two or three such stories to create a full-length season.

The miniseries will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 27, just one week after it starts airing on BBC America on July 20.

Robin Hood axed: An arrow into the heart of Saturday night TV

2009-07-03T18:50:26Z

ROBIN HOOD came to a sticky end on the BBC last weekend, succumbing to a poison-tipped dagger.

But he may as well have been beaten to death with a tennis racquet.

The finale of the third season had been shunted from BBC1 to BBC2 to make way for Andy Murray's overrunning game at Wimbledon.

As a result, the drama went out with a whimper, attracting just 2.2million viewers, an all-time low for the programme.

The BBC today confirmed it will not commission a fourth season of the show, which starred Jonas Armstrong as the legendary outlaw.

A spokesman said: "With the death of Robin, we feel that the show has reached its natural conclusion."

Armstrong had announced his intention to quit the show before the 13-episode third season was screened, saying: "It's been a great thrill, a great ride, but you can't play one part forever."

The hero met his end in a dramatic finale in which archenemies the Sheriff of Nottingham (Keith Allen) and Guy of Gisbourne (Richard Armitage) were also killed off. Allen had also previously said he would not return for a further series.

The first episode of Season One, in 2006, attracted a Saturday teatime audience of 8.6 million. But ratings fell and pushing the finale on to BBC2 proved the fatal blow.

It's also a blow for Saturday night TV, which is now dominated by talentless talent shows and unreal reality shows following the demise of other dramas including ITV's Demons, axed after one season, and Primeval, cancelled after three.

The BBC, ever notorious for meddling with schedules (as anyone who ever tried to watch The X-Files with any regularity will attest) didn't do itself any favours.

It had originally planned to continue the show without Armstrong. A spokeswoman had said: "Jonas leaving the show doesn't mean the end of Robin Hood. Robin Hood is more than a man - he is a hero and a legend - so how the legacy unfolds after he leaves is in itself mysterious and is guaranteed to make fans desperate to find out what happens next."

Former EastEnders actor Rob Kazinsky was rumoured to be replacing Armstrong in the title role.

Robin Hood previously appeared on TV in Robin of Sherwood (known as Robin Hood in the USA). That also lasted three seasons, from 1984 to 1986, with Michael Praed in the title role for the first two and Jason Connery starring in the final outing.

A new big-screen Robin Hood movie directed by Ridley Scott and starring Russell Crowe is in production and is set for release on May 14, 2010.

Transformers vs Megan Fox: The franchise starts to rust

2009-07-03T15:58:38Z

THE new Transformers movie contains more metal than many a junkyard - and most critics have been left wishing that's where the franchise ends up.

For the press reviewers, the movie was a mind-numbing mayhem of metal machines and wooden actors, with the humans just as robotic as any of the CGI creations clanking across the screen.

Much of the critics' withering abuse was levelled at Hollywood hottie Megan Fox.

She has claimed that director Michael Bay failed to make full use of her acting skills - and he has hit back by saying she is being ridiculous.

A third movie is planned but with Bay also saying he needs a break, is the rust starting to appear on the Transformers franchise?

As I reported earlier, the critics particularly blasted the acting, with the Mirror saying: "As far as acting goes, LaBeouf is reliably dreadful, while Fox wears little more than cut-off jeans and a pout."

The Guardian was also harsh: "The cherry on this cake of direness is the performance of Megan Fox, playing LaBeouf's sultry girlfriend - a performer so poutingly wooden she makes Jordan look like Liv Ullmann. You'll get better acting and superior entertainment at a monster truck rally."

And the Daily Mail almost choked on its own bile: "No one in this is any good, but the most woefully inept actor is Megan Fox, who wears the same wet-lipped, open-mouthed, vacant expression whether she is in mortal danger, expressing undying love for our hero, or hot-wiring a car.

"Mr Bay is especially fond of frontal shots of her running away from enormous explosions in a tight halter-neck top, while her breasts wobble from side to side in very slow motion."

So what explanation does Ms Fox have for all this?

Asked by Entertainment Weekly what percentage of her acting range people had seen so far, she said: "Seven per cent. On the new one, I tried. But unless you're a seasoned veteran, working with Michael Bay is not about an acting experience."

On the question of a third instalment, she said: "Sure. I mean, I can't s**t on this movie because it did give me a career and open all these doors for me. But I don't want to blow smoke up people's ass. People are well aware that this is not a movie about acting. And once you realise that, it becomes almost fun because you can be in the moment and go, 'All right, I know that when he calls Action! I'm either going to be running or screaming, or both.' "

And she added, in a hint that she is starting to tire of the series: "If I'm still making Transformers five years from now, I might not be so über-excited."

In a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly's Hollywood Insider, she was asked if it's true that Bay is more interested in explosions and special effects than his actors, and responded: "That's true. He thinks it's funny to put his actors through Navy Seal boot camp to make a movie. And it's not even necessary for the job! It amuses him."

Bay, however, did not seem to be amused by her comments.

He today told the Wall Street Journal: "Well, that's Megan Fox for you. She says some very ridiculous things because she's 23 years old and she still has a lot of growing to do. You roll your eyes when you see statements like that and think, 'Okay Megan, you can do whatever you want. I got it.' But I 100 per cent disagree with her.

"Nick Cage wasn't a big actor when I cast him, nor was Ben Affleck before I put him in Armageddon. Shia LaBeouf wasn't a big movie star before he did Transformers - and then he exploded. Not to mention Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, from Bad Boys.

"Nobody in the world knew about Megan Fox until I found her and put her in Transformers. I like to think that I've had some luck in building actors' careers with my films."

But is he that happy with the finished results of all those explosions, mechanical carnage and shaking cameras? Bay had recently made comments that were taken to mean he was quitting the Transformers franchise, though he later clarified that he just wants a break.

He elaborated further to the Wall Street Journal: "I just want to take some time off. It's been almost three years that I've devoted myself entirely to this world of robots.

"At some point, enough is enough - and I literally carried this movie on my back. I only finished it in the last week. It was a tough movie for me to finish - especially with the writers strike, the possible SAG (actors) strike. At one point, we were the only union movie in America shooting - Hollywood was so messed up from those two events."

He doesn't seem overly excited about doing another Transformers movie: "I don't know who [would] want to take on my shoes with this franchise. We might just take a year down."

In the meantime, he is keen to try something else: "I've been talking to some big actors right now about something that is totally different. A small dark comedy, a true story, with actors just acting, no effects. I'm done with effects movies for now. When you do a movie like Transformers, it can feel like you're doing three movies at once - which is tiring."

Of course, money talks in Tinseltown and the staggering success of Transformers - so far taking $491million globally, despite being pummelled by critics - more or less guarantees a sequel.

In fact, Paramount and DreamWorks greenlit a third big-screen adventure in March, naming July 1, 2011 as the release date.

But it does sound - judging from the weariness of Bay, Fox, and the critics - that the franchise has a serious case of metal fatigue.

So what next after Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen? A new director, new writers, no more Ms Fox? Or will the box office success mean that the studio sees it as far from fallen?

Director and story revealed for Predators revamp

2009-07-02T22:06:44Z

PRODUCER Robert Rodriguez today confirmed he has hired Vacancy director Nimrod Antal to take the reins on the new film in the Predator series.

Rodriguez told Ain't It Cool News that the 20th Century Fox project, entitled Predators, would be a reinvention of the franchise using as its basis a draft script he had written in 1994. He will make the film at his Troublemaker Studios in Texas.

Antal (pictured), an American filmmaker of Hungarian descent, directed the award-winning 2003 film Kontroll, a Hungarian comedy thriller set on Budapest's Metro (underground rail system).

His first US production was the 2007 horror thriller Vacancy starring Luke Wilson and Kate Beckinsale, and he has also directed the crime thriller Armored due out in September.

Rodriguez said he was a big fan of Antal's filmmaking style and went on to explain what Predators would be about.

He said it "involves a very intense group of people stranded on a Predator planet discovering unspeakable horrors (that are not always from outside their group). So like the original movie, the title does have a double meaning.

"Aliens was a different take on the Alien idea, and an original movie in it's own right, and that's what we want to do with this."

He added: "We really want to go with a character-driven action movie, because that's what we all remember about the original Predator, and we want to take it even further with this.

"The original Predators script was large scale, because as a writer I didn't have to worry about how it would be made.

"I didn't care it was 1994, and that the majority of the movie wasn't even technically possible at the time.

"As far as I was concerned, that was going to be the filmmaker's job. I just had to write a cool script.

"Well, now it's come back to haunt me, but good news is that a lot of this (and a hell of a lot more) is doable today. We'll have to be cutting edge to pull it off, but that's what makes it exciting for us, and will be the challenge in bringing this to screaming life."

Latino Review had earlier said that there were seven directors, including Neil Marshall, on the short list for the Predators film and that Nimrod Antal was top of the list.

Horror site Bloody-Disgusting had reported last month that Marshall, whose credits include Dog Soldiers, The Descent, Doomsday and the upcoming Centurion, was close to signing for the project.

Clifton Collins Jr 'not involved in Thor movie'

2009-07-02T09:34:51Z

STAR TREK actor Clifton Collins Jr has revealed that he has NOT been cast in the upcoming Thor movie following confirmed meetings with director Kenneth Branagh.

Collins, 38, who appeared in Capote, Crank: High Voltage and most recently as the Romulan second-in-command Ayel in the new Star Trek movie, had said in May, via his Twitter page, that he was studying for a possible role in the movie.

The actor met Branagh in June to discuss an undisclosed role in the film, which is due out in May 20, 2010 and is based on Marvel's comic book version of the Norse thunder god.

But he now tells The Deadbolt it didn't work out and he is not involved with the movie.

"I have nothing to do with that piece", he told the site. "That was a long time ago. I wasn't really getting into it, I was just preparing stuff.

"It's a fantastic director, a great piece, but I have absolutely nothing to do with it."

He said he was unable to reveal which Thor character he had been interested in playing.

Simon Pegg: Star Trek sequel will be out in 18 months

2009-07-01T23:26:28Z

BRITISH actor Simon Pegg, who plays engineer Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott in the new Star Trek movie, says the sequel will be out in 18 months.

Speaking to Zoo magazine, he said: "I know the writers are busy thinking about it. I don't really know anything about the story, or if I'm in a bigger role, but I'd imagine we'll be back this time next year.

"That's not official, but I reckon it's probably about 18 months away from being in the cinema."

The 39-year-old actor said that although he found Hollywood a friendly place, he wouldn't live there.

He said: "It's very easy to knock Los Angeles because it is very image-driven, but it is also a very friendly place in most areas. If I was in LA right now, I'd be down at the King's Head in Santa Monica, sipping a few beers.

"There is a cool British community, but I wouldn't want to go and live over there - my family and friends are all still in North London."

Star Trek writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman spoke earlier about their thoughts on the next film and director J.J. Abrams recently said the possibilities were wide open.

Source: Zoo magazine via Breaking News