Fox brought out some big guns for their panel earlier today and I was lucky enough to grab myself a seat. The first treat was having the panel presented by Damon Lindelof of “Lost” fame. He also just happens to be the screenwriter of PROMETHEUS and an overall solid dude. Let’s just say it was refreshing to get a decent moderator. Speaking of PROMETHEUS, it was up first.
-Charlize Theron was first to hit the stage and told us how she almost didn’t get the role because she was supposed to be shooting MAD MAX. Max was pushed back and the rest is history. Or it will be when the film comes out. You know what I mean, right?
-She describes her character as a “suit”. A cold, frigid woman that is hiding something from anybody that tries to get close to her.
-We are treated to the first footage of the film which is intertwined with set interview with Ridley Scott. There’s a very epic science fiction feel to the film. Gigantic sets with some great stuff from Theron (naked push-ups!), Michael Fassbender, Idris Elba, and Noomi Rapace. Theron shoots somebody with a flame thrower, some sort of alien ooze, and general nail-biting tension. No hint of any ALIEN connection other than some familiar looking interior design.
-Damon and Charlize go out of their way to explain why Ridley Scott isn’t there, even pulling out some Google maps to show exactly where he is in Iceland. Theron calls it bullshit, “it’s only a chopper and four flight away”.
-Suddenly they say he might actually be in the house and proceed to introduce him via video conference.
-Scott is joined by Noomi Rapace and chats live about the film. When asked about the ALIEN connection he says the DNA of the film is there. There’s a question he never answered from the original film and wasn’t addressed by the eventual sequels – it’s that question that is the tie-in to this film and we’ll get to see it in the last three minutes of the movie. I’m thinking Space Jockey might show up.
-Scott loved shooting in Digital 3-D and might never go back.
-He’s not worried about the PG being an issue for the film he want’s to make. He say he always gives himself the option of having an R version at the end of the day thus fundamentally covering his ass.
-Noomi talks about how emotionally draining and physical the filming has been. She says she looks like shit because of it.
-When asked if there is a robot in the film Scott replied “There may be two.”
-Scott then confirmed he is not a replicant and signed off.
-Next up was Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried to talk about their new film, IN TIME. This was the first I had heard about the film and thought they were bring ABE LINCOLN as their third film. They didn’t.
-Director Andrew Niccol was there too and he talked about the film being a “child of GATTACA.
-The film takes place in the 25th century, where the aging process stops at 25 and everybody is then given one more year to live. Time is treated like currency. There is a digital imprint on everybody’s forearm telling them how much time they have to live. Purchasing items takes time away, jobs pay workers in time. The more you have, the more people want it.
-Timberlake is accused of a murder he didn’t commit and ends up on the wrong side of the law (Cillian Murphy) and the outlaws. Also in the film is Olivia Wilde, Johnny Galecki, and Alex Pettyfer.
-The casting for the film was tricky in that they needed actors who could play people who were over a hundred years old, but looked 25.
-The clip they show is pretty good. There’s a huge FUGITIVE feel to the film and the whole “time is money” aspect comes off a lot less cheesy than I thought it might. Timberlake gets a shit-load of time and is on the run for most of the footage.
-The movie comes out on October 28th.
-The last film of the panel was RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. It starts with a clip from South Africa showing a bunch of military fellows screwing around with an ape. They dance around and laugh and eventually hand it a gun. The ape starts shooting at them and clears the area while holding the gun above it’s head in some sort of victory dance.
-Director Rupert Wyatt comes out and basically explains why they decided to go with 100% fake apes. In a film about the mistreatment of the species it felt right to not use actual apes. WETA came on board and really shaped what the film has become.
-He then talked about the brilliance of Andy Serkis and how much the character of Caesar, and the entire film, rested on his shoulders. Which led to…
-Serkis has his own clip showing clips of him fading in and out of motion capture with the ape. Really fascinating stuff here. Everything, right down to his facial movements are transferred over and it looks flawless.
-Serkis says motion capture isn’t it’s own genre but a tool. The only downfall is not having enough imagination.
-Another clip shows the beginning of the end for the apes. First there is a breakfast setting that shows James Franco and John Lithgow eating some eggs. Lithgow, who has Alzheimer’s in the film, is holding his fork wrong and Caesar corrects him. Later we see Lithgow very confused and getting into a parked car in front of his house only to start crashing into the cars around him. When the owner comes out and starts berating him Caesar busts out of the house and attacks.
-The next clip shows the beginning of the ape revolution as Caesar breaks out of his cell and returns to his home. he steals the medication they’ve been giving him and returns to the ape sanctuary to give it to all the other monkeys. The next morning we see all the apes waking up and realizing they’re super smart and they hold a team meeting in the courtyard.
-The film looks pretty decent. There’s a much darker flow to the film than I thought there was going to be. It’s hard not to feel attached to Caesar immediately.
-One last clip shows the meat of the third act where all the apes go……… uh, ape-shit and start destroying the city. One takes a full-on run into a horse, another jumps on to a helicopter, another throws shit. Not actual shit, other shit.
-Serkis then gave an update on THE HOBBIT saying all the Gollum scenes in the film are finished and that he’s now directing the second unit. They’ve shot 60 days and if you want more to watch Peter Jackson’s video blogs, which are great.