I loved "Red Dawn" as a kid, and in the section of my brain where I'm eternally an eight-year-old watching sci-fi re-runs on a crappy TV in the basement rec room, I still do. I'm just not sure it's held up so well over the years. Great story – the Soviets invade Middle America, Patrick Swayze and his friends fight back – but by today's standards, the action feels a little soft, the special effects kind of cheesy.
Which is why I'm pumped to see "Red Dawn" getting the remake treatment: big Hollywood budget, same great story, albeit with Communist China joining in as antagonists. Similarly, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, who signed onto the project a few weeks ago, has fond memories of the original and looks forward to what modern moviemaking magic can bring to the equation. Read more...
Anybody who is watching "Watchmen" actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan's career will surely tell you the same thing -- the man's keeping busy. Already filming "The Losers" and hoping for a role in "Lobo," Morgan will soon sign on the dotted line for yet another well-known franchise.
According to Variety, Morgan is nearly set to star in "Red Dawn," the modern update of the 1984 classic. The new version is directed by Dan Bradley from a screenplay by Carl Ellsworth and Jeremy Passmore.
The new "Red Dawn" focuses on a group of teenagers that form a guerrilla resistance against Chinese and Russian soldiers that have invaded the United States. Morgan is set to play the leader of a U.S. Special Forces team that discovers the teenage freedom fighters.
Aside from Morgan, "Red Dawn" stars "Star Trek" actor Chris Hemsworth and "The Wackness" lead Josh Peck as Jed and Matt Eckert, the two brothers previously played by Patrick Swayze and Charlie Sheen in the first film. The on-screen collision of Hemsworth and Morgan represents a clash of different comic book properties -- Hemsworth is starring in "Thor" for Marvel, while Morgan's already featured in the aforementioned "Watchmen" and "The Losers."
Personally, I kind of wish that Morgan was playing Jed and Matt's father, a role that "Lost" actor Brett Cullen is allegedly playing. Morgan's portrayed the rough-and-tough type before, so his turn as a Special Forces commando feels a bit typecast in my opinion.
Then again, he's played the fatherly type on "Supernatural" and "Weeds," as well. I guess I just want to hear Morgan shout "Avenge me!!!" when "Red Dawn" hits theaters next year. Is that so wrong?
Does Morgan's casting make you more interested in "Red Dawn," or would you rather him play a different character in the film? Are you nervous at the prospect of the remake? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter!
Playing the most vicious man in "Watchmen" just might have influenced Jeffrey Dean Morgan's dark side. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Morgan has signed on to star opposite Hilary Swank in "The Resident."
As we reported earlier, Swank will play a young doctor who finds the perfect loft apartment, but begins to feel a little creeped out in her new home. It turns out she's not alone, and that her handsome and charming landlord is spying on her. He's become obsessed with her, and begins stalking her in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game which can only end badly. Read more...
There's an old showbiz saying that goes, "Dying is easy, comedy is hard." True enough… unless you're Jeffrey Dean Morgan.
"I keep dying!" the "Watchmen" star laughed. "I need to find different ways to die."
Morgan gets to try, try again in the just completed ‘Shanghai," he told MTV News, where (spoiler warning if this is 1988), the action of the film, like that in "Watchmen," is set into motion by his character's death.
"I play [John Cusack's] best friend and, again, the movie kind of hinges on my death. I seem to die of a lot of stuff," the genial 42-year-old said of his character in the period drama. Read more...
