Three new dossiers are up:
The Process Church of The Final Judgement, the 60s cult.
Amber Case, the cyborg anthropologist.
David Cronenberg, the body horror film director.
The Criterion collection has a bunch of David Cronenberg memorabilia on display, including a photo gallery of these props from Dead Ringers: the so called “Instruments for Operating on Mutant Women.”
Also check out this feedback card from a test screening for Videodrome.
(via Justin)
See also: David Cronenberg on Gender
i09 has some interesting back history of Doctor Who and how difficult it was to get the show made:
Also, at the panel, Hussein and William Russell talked about how the first Doctor, William Hartnell, wasn’t just a cantankerous old man — he was also a very traditional Englishman, who wasn’t used to the idea of women working outside the home. And he didn’t know what to make of Hussein, “an East Indian who spoke posh English,” said Hussein. Thus, Hartnell took a lot of convincing that an East Asian man and a young woman were going to be up to their jobs. The first lunch Hussein and Lambert had with Hartnell, he seemed reluctant to take on the role, and they almost gave up. In the end, they decided to have a second lunch with Hartnell, at which it became clear that the actor wanted them to prove their qualifications.
Probably obvious to those who have read the book and seen the movies, but interesting in light of the Skywalker Paradigm, which holds, for example, that Jabba is nobility and not a gangster (he’s referred to as “Lord,” Luke must approach him diplomatically) and that the Jedi do not have supernatural powers, but are just master manipulators and hypnotists (sort of like male Bene Gesserit).
The page includes details on many of the influences on Dune as well, such as General Semantics.
See also:
Sacrifice and Submission: Game of Thrones and the Aesthetics of Fascism
The Yankee (probably not safe for work) is a new serialized online comic by former Arthur Magazine comics editor and Floating World Comics owner Jason Leivian and artist Ian MacEwan (aka Popjellyfish).
“The Yankee is a dumb American. He’s Cosmo Vitelli. He’s Prince Rogers Nelson. He’s a Richard Pryor monologue. Psychedel-economic fiction set in the Nation States of America.”
Damage from Planet Damage asked his “22 major arcana of cyberpunk” who they thought should be cast in a Neuromancer movie. I was honored to be included.
[CASE]
Klint: Joseph Gordon-Levitt Anabelle Cat: I love Cillian Murphy-superb choice and Joseph Gordon-Levitt Matt: An Unknown Rob: As for Case, the only person even slightly close to the target age that I feel could pull it off would be Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I think a lot of that has to do with his role in Brick, which was seriously perfect. M1k3y: Ryan Gosling as Case, if only to see him cyberpunk’d up. But mostly because he’s talented as shit.
Majority verdict? Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Planet Damage: (Warning: some of the sidebar images may be NSFW)
Biopic screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, writer of Milk and the forthcoming J. Edgar, is working on the Barefoot Bandit film about Colton Harris-Moore. Black told Collider:
I’m finishing up The Barefoot Bandit, which is the feature on Colton Harris-Moore. So I’ve been spending a lot of time in Seattle. That’s almost done. And what an amazing kid. There’s so much that people don’t know about him yet. It’s heartbreaking and inspiring. It’s been a very emotional journey for me.
Empire Online reports Grant Morrison is attached a film based on the 2000AD character Rogue Trooper:
With all eyes on the incoming Judge Dredd movie, it makes sense that savvy producers would be looking to legendary British comic 2000AD for further inspiration. Hence the news this morning that a Rogue Trooper film is in development at Sam Worthington’s production company, and that cult comics writer Grant Morrison (Arkham Asylum, Final Crisis, Superman) is at work on the screenplay. [...]
Morrison never wrote for the strip, but did provide copious Future Shocks, Zenith, and a handful of Dredds, so has plenty of 2000AD heritage. The news of a film and of Worthington and Morrison’s involvement is buried in a Daily Record story that mostly concentrates on Dinosaurs vs Aliens, the property that Morrison is currently working on with Barry Sonnenfeld. It’s an aside so sketchy that it doesn’t even come with a Morrison quote to back it up, so whether Worthington is developing the film with a view to personally slapping on the blue paint remains to be seen. We’ll bring you further details as they emerge.
Empire Online: Grant Morrison Writes Rogue Trooper Film
Rogue Trooper has already had a few video game adaptations.
Empire Online ran a short interview with David Cronenberg on what his next projects will be, after Dangerous Method and the film adaptation of Don Delillo’s Cosmopolis.”
There were odd rumblings some time ago of Cronenberg remaking his own version of The Fly. Not strictly true, says the director, but not exactly false either. “Yeah, that was a thing,” he says. “It’s not exactly a remake; it’s sort of a sequel, kinda. I’ve written a script of that but I don’t know if it’s going to really happen. That has to do with Fox…”
Cronenberg also says he’s considering a sequel to Eastern Promises and denies the rumor that he’s directing the English language adaptation of the Spanish movie Timecrimes.
Empire Online: Cronenberg On Eastern Promises 2 And The Fly 3!
Fun post from steelweaver about how Mad Max was inspired by the 1976 oil crisis and has some unsettling parallels with our current situation:
as I remember it, the setting for the first movie in the Mad Max series is a world where oil scarcity has led to economic disaster and the beginning of the breakdown of social order; where, whilst the police and justice systems continue to function, governmental cutbacks have diminished their ability to effectively maintain control; and where, whilst small pockets of civil society remain relatively unchanged (Max lives in a comfortable suburb with his wife and child), increasingly large areas are plagued by criminal gangs of looters.
Just saying…
In fact, the three-movie arc of the Mad Max films is in many ways a beautifully realised totally ridiculous, but excellently costumed, account of the slow breakdown of order (I), followed by total chaos (Road Warrior), followed by the first stages of re-establishing technology, trade and culture (Thunderdrome).
(Via Brainsturbator)
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