Alex Proyas has a host of options in front him following last month’s release of his new Nicholas Cage film "Knowing." In addition to tinkering with Dracula’s origin story in "Dracula: Year 0," the "I, Robot" and "Dark City" director has his eye on John Christopher's classic sci-fi trilogy "The Tripods."
"I actually read it at the age that the characters in the story were, which is about twelve," Proyas told MTV News. "It really struck a nerve with me."
The series of novels, which began with 1968's "The Pool of Fire" and went on to be produced as a TV series in the 1980s by the BBC, follows a human resistance movement under the tyranny of an alien conquest. With three core books and a prequel volume to pull stories from, there is potential for a film franchise to emerge. Read more...
When it comes to the year 2009 in genre movies, there are the massively hyped, insanely anticipated (“Watchmen,” “Avatar”), the eagerly awaited (“Terminator Salvation,” “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”), the “Eh, maybe I’ll check it out” yawners (“G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra,” “The Wolfman”). And then there are those flicks that somehow slip through the movie geek blogosphere while making nary a peep.
I’d put Alex Proyas’ sci-fi thriller “Knowing” (out March 20) in that last category. Why exactly that is, I can’t say. Maybe because his last film, “I, Robot,” was pretty disappointing. Maybe because “Knowing”’s star, Nicolas Cage, has made a bunch of recent genre stinkers (“Next,” “Ghost Rider") and we don’t expect much from him anymore. Maybe all anyone cares about these days are films based on existing entertainment properties. Read more...
Alex Proyas will be the first to admit that his film “Dark City,” which fizzled at the box office, took years to find its audience on DVD. Since its release in 1998, though, his story about a nightmare reality faced by an amnesiac trapped in a strange city has absorbed a cult following. Now, the director behind “Knowing” and “I, Robot” may actually get a chance to make a sequel.
“I always thought it would be intriguing to have Rufus [Sewell], who was the hero in the first one, be the bad guy,” Proyas told MTV News. “He should turn nasty because he’s got unlimited power. That’s something I’d like to explore.”
The ideas have surfaced since he originally wrote “Dark City.” Read more...
Did "Dark City" rock your world (I swear that's my last "Rock of Love" reference in this blog) as much as it did mine? Well if it did then you'll understand why it took me about a nanosecond to say yes when the gang at Summit asked if I was interested in moderating an event with director Alex Proyas.
This guy's got the chops. "Dark City," "The Crow," hell even "I, Robot" was kick-ass entertainment in my opinion (yeah I know it's not for Asimov purists but come on...). Proyas' latest is a creepy as hell Nic Cage thriller called "Knowing." I got a chance to see it last week and it delivers more than enough jolts to make you scream for your mommy and beg for mercy. Oh and it's got an ending that'll leave plenty of room for conversation afterwards.
So come on out to the Apple Store in Soho Tuesday night (7PM) in New York if you can. It'll be you, me, and Mr. Proyas. I'll have questions. You'll have questions. Hopefully he'll have a few answers. Come on over! Here athe details on the location.
With "Twilight" attracting mobs of new vampire fans to theaters and bookshelves right now, it makes plenty of sense that Alex Proyas would want to jump onto his Dracula origin project -- "Dracula Year Zero" -- while ticket-buyers are biting. Right now, all that the "I, Robot" director needs is a lead actor.
"There’s this kind of discourse between casting and budget and trying to find the sweet spot in between," Proyas told MTV News. The filmmaker, whose latest movie "Knowing" comes out this month, speculated that "Dracula Year Zero" would be next on his docket with one word: "Probably." Read more...
Nicolas Cage’s next movie, “Knowing,” is about a man who digs up a 50-year-old time capsule, inside of which is a piece of paper that seems to accurately predict every single world disaster, up to and including Armageddon itself.
In what bizarrely different, strange new world could this be even remotely real? In ours apparently, if director Alex Proyas is to be believed.
“It’s not supernatural,” Proyas said of the flick’s set-up. “It’s a science-fiction movie. I can’t really say more than that because it’s part of the surprise and fun of seeing the move. But we moved completely away from mythical prophecy foretelling of the future. It’s really grounded in a version of science that we believe holds water.” Read more...
It’s the buzzword of 2008, and if I’ve heard it once this summer from a director I’ve heard it 100 times: “I want to make my origin story/comic book movie/space adventure/gay cowboy love story more realistic. Think ‘The Dark Knight.’” All fine and good, but just how realistic is too realistic for a character like Dracula?
It’s a fine line for director Alex Proyas, who is currently prepping his next movie “Dracula: Year Zero,” a story that he told us “sort of the origin tale that mixes [the historical] Prince Vlad of Transylvania with sort of [fictionalized] Bram Stoker [take]" (also find out why Proyas will never direct a Silver Surfer movie here).
Draculas, and vampires in general, are known, of course, for some pretty unrealistic things: being able to transform into bats, for instance, or aversion to garlic, or a lack of a reflection in mirrors, or giant fangs. Read more...
