Old SchoolMTV Movies Blog

'Potter' Flashback: Watch Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson & Rupert Grint's First Screen Test

Posted 6/8/11 2:43 pm EST by Terri Schwartz in News, old school, Video

Can it really be only 37 days until "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" hits theaters? With the end of "Potter" in sight, it's the perfect time to start looking back at the beginning of the franchise. And, to us, any day is a good day to look at the young stars in their earliest days in this epic franchise.

Fortunately the perfect solution to our nostalgia has been found. Video of the very first "Potter" screen test between Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint has hit the web, and it's everything that we could have hoped it would be, and maybe even a little more.

Let the cuteness ensue.

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Remembering Douglas Adams: Five Reasons We Love 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy'

Posted 5/11/11 12:09 pm EST by Terri Schwartz in Commentary, Five Reasons, old school

Grab your copies of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and share a moment of silence with us, because today marks the 10th anniversary of the death of author Douglas Adams.

With his quirky sense of humor combined with a unique take on life in outer space, Adams remains on our list of all-time favorite science fiction novelists. In honor of his memory, we've decided to take a look back at Hollywood's best attempt to bring his best-selling book to the big screen: the 2005 adaptation of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

Though it's not a universally adored adaptation -- though there's something appropriate to that fact -- we'd be lying if we said we didn't appreciate the effort involved with "Hitchhiker." After the jump, we'll tell you everything we loved about that movie, from saving "The Hobbit" to making Alan Rickman cute and cuddly.

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'Moulin Rouge' Alternate Opening Scene Features Ewan McGregor Singing Cat Stevens' 'Father & Son'

Posted 5/2/11 5:22 pm EST by Josh Wigler in Behind The Scenes, old school, Video

Earlier this afternoon, we celebrated ten years of "Moulin Rouge" alongside some of the musical masterpiece's most prominent players, including director Baz Luhrmann and stars Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman. But the fun doesn't end with our live-stream — we also have a deleted scene from "Moulin Rouge" for your viewing pleasure.

It's a very significant, substantial deleted scene, too: an alternate opening for "Moulin Rouge" that would have featured McGregor as Christian singing a unique rendition of Cat Stevens "Father & Son" — a scene that Luhrmann and his team were forced to abandon when Stevens raised concerns with the use of his song.

"Of all the things ten years ago that was the most difficult in the process of making 'Moulin Rouge' … came when we'd done a lot of work on an alternate opening to the film," the director reveals in this behind-the-scenes footage.

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'Harry Potter': Remembering Those Who Died At The Battle Of Hogwarts Thirteen Years Ago Today

Posted 5/2/11 1:16 pm EST by Josh Wigler in Commentary, old school, Second Take

In "Harry Potter" mythology, today (May 2) marks the 13th anniversary of The Battle of Hogwarts, the historic day where the forces of good and evil collided and fought for the fate of magic-users and muggles everywhere.

It's a bittersweet occasion for several reasons. On the one hand, the Battle of Hogwarts — spoiler alert if you haven't read the books — marked the end of He Who Must Not Be Named's reign. It was also a fantastic reading experience for "Potter" fans. But even though our heroes emerged victorious, the Battle of Hogwarts claimed the lives of several fan-favorite characters as well, adding no small amount of tragedy to the otherwise triumphant day.

We're honoring the fallen "Potter" heroes who died during the Battle of Hogwarts after the jump — and though it should go without saying, there are spoilers ahead.

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'Fast Five' Flashback: Vin Diesel And Paul Walker Back In The Drivers Seat For 'Fast & Furious'

Posted 4/28/11 1:33 pm EST by Chris Arrant in Commentary, old school

Fast & Furious With a slate of midnight screenings planned in some cities, we’re less than twenty-four hours from the American debut of “Fast Five.” And as the starting pistol is readied, we’re in the final stretch as we cover the fourth movie in the franchise: “Fast & Furious.”

After two sequels and eight years, “The Fast and the Furious” franchise went from the West Coast to the East Coast – and then onto the Pacific Rim – but it was now time to come back home. This fourth film, simply titled “Fast & Furious,” saw the first full-scale reunion of the original cast since the original in 2001: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster. Although the previous two films carried on the franchise, this fourth outing was the first real sequel to the story the street gang set up in the first place.

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Arnold Schwarzenegger Is Back For 'Terminator 5,' But How About Revisiting These Five Iconic Characters?

Posted 4/27/11 5:15 pm EST by MTV Movies Team in Casting Call, Commentary, old school

Terminator by Matt Marquez

How do you follow up eight years as a U.S. governor? If you're Arnold Schwarzenegger, you go back to doing what you love –– being humanity's favorite killing machine.

That's right, the ex-Governator is returning to the "Terminator" role that helped make him a big action star and John Connor's number one buddy. Though Arnold's big screen comeback still doesn't have a script or a studio, "Fast Five" director Justin Lin has already called dibs on the project's driver's seat.

The Terminator would be a great action-packed role for Schwarzenegger to revisit –– and who doesn't want to see humanity saved from the machines again? –– but we humbly submit these other five roles for Arnold to consider revisiting in the meantime.

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'Fast Five' Flashback: 'Tokyo Drift' Introduces 'Furious' Director Justin Lin To The Series

Posted 4/27/11 3:20 pm EST by Chris Arrant in Commentary, old school

With just two days until the starting pistol is fired for the U.S. release of “Fast Five,” we enter day 3 of our week-long look back at the films that came before. Today we turn to the most exotic and unusual addition to the franchise: “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” featuring an all-new main cast and scenes primarily filmed overseas.

For the third installment of “The Fast And the Furious” franchise, the filmmakers broke away from the pack and relocated the series to the Tokyo streets that gave them the Asian-import cars from the original film. Just as Vin Diesel dropped out of the second film, his founding co-star Paul Walker opted out of this third film and pushed producer Neal H. Moritz to find a completely new cast to rebuild the franchise. For that he turned to noted independent actor Lucas Black, who became known for both his acting chops and Alabama accent in films like “Sling Blade,” “Friday Night Lights” and “Jarhead.” For directing this primarily Tokyo-based production, Moritz turned to Asian-American filmmaker Justin Lin, known at the time for his 2002 crime-drama “Better Luck Tomorrow.”

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'Fast Five' Flashback: Diesel Out, Tyrese In For '2 Fast 2 Furious'

Posted 4/26/11 2:25 pm EST by Chris Arrant in Commentary, old school

With the release of “Fast Five” only four days away, we turn now to the first fruits of the runaway success of “The Fast and the Furious” franchise – the sequel, “2 Fast 2 Furious”.

After the success of “The Fast and the Furious” in 2001, producers were quick to put the pedal to the medal on a follow-up. Although several members of the original cast walked away from a sequel, the producers pulled together a potent blend of original stars and talented newcomers to the franchise to turn this franchise’s sprint into a marathon.

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'Fast Five' Flashback: Vin Diesel Puts The Pedal To The Medal In 'The Fast And The Furious'

Posted 4/25/11 3:15 pm EST by Chris Arrant in Commentary, old school

Cast shot With this Friday’s release of "Fast Five" barreling towards us, MTV Movies Blog is taking the time to look in the rearview at the four films that paved the way. First up, the movie that started it all.

There have been a host of car racing movies that came before "The Fast and the Furious," but its debut in 2001 saw the rise of the sub-genre’s biggest and most popular franchise ever. Described as “gritty and gratifying” by Variety, the Rob Cohen-directed film cemented the popularity of Vin Diesel after his role in "Pitch Black" the previous year and used an ensemble cast composed of young Hollywood’s biggest stars of the time. Although American car racing movies had long relied on the horsepower of homegrown ‘muscle’ cars, “The Fast and the Furious” super-charged its debut by relying primarily on vehicles from the Asian import scene that had become staples of car culture since the mid-80s but had never been depicted in a mainstream U.S. film before.

In “The Fast and the Furious,” Domenic Toretto (Diesel) is heading up a street gang that the authorities believe is responsible for a string of high-speed truck hijackings. After putting undercover cop Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker) into the mix to land on Toretto’s crew, he comes to know Toretto’s real story while falling for his younger sister, Mia (Jordana Brewster). Although he eventually breaks his cover, O’Connor comes to the rescue of the Torettos when they're fingered for the crimes of a more reprehensible street gang and their activities.

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'Scream 4': How Wes Craven's New Nightmare Will Reflect On A Decade Of Horror

Posted 4/15/11 9:00 am EST by Jeremy Gordon in Commentary, Deep Dive, old school

It might be simplistic to say that the horror genre has fractured since the "Scream" franchise last appeared on screen in 2000, but not wholly inaccurate. In the eleven years since Wes Craven's original trilogy hit the screens, screamers of all kinds have filled our need for things that go bump in the night.

Today, the franchise returns in the form of "Scream 4," which brings much of the film's original cast back for a new adventure. Good filmmakers are always thinking of new things, as Craven explained to us last week, and "Scream 4" promises new commentary on the genre he helped to popularize. Here's a taste of how his genre of choice has changed since we last saw Ghostface, and how "Scream 4" fits into the new "mainstream" tradition.

Tags Scream 4

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