FROM SPLASH PAGE: "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and "Back to the Future" director Robert Zemeckis is certainly no stranger to the art of bringing fantasy fare to life on the big screen, so when we had the chance to chat with him during a press event for "A Christmas Carol," we had to ask: why hasn't he tackled a superhero movie yet?
"I'm a superhero fan, although I actually have never been offered one," Zemeckis told MTV News. "I've never really brought one to someone and said I really want to do this superhero [movie]. Obviously, I love the form, as movies really are the extension of comic books."
Continue reading Robert Zemeckis Explains Why He Hasn't Directed A Superhero Movie (Yet)
For all his embrace of whiz-bang moviemaking technology, Robert Zemeckis remains loyal to his roots: once a Beatlemaniac, always a Beatlemaniac. More than three decades after his directorial debut, the Fab Four-obsessed comedy "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," the man is returning to the same musical territory with a 3-D performance-capture adaptation of the classic cartoon movie, "Yellow Submarine."
Zemeckis wants Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to return to that trippy, underwater territory as well, MTV News has exclusively learned.
"We haven't gotten the word yet on the two surviving Beatles, whether they're interested in doing it or not," the director said during an interview with our own Josh Horowitz. Read more...
FROM MULTIPLAYER: The director of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and the forthcoming "A Christmas Carol" remake is not much of a gamer. Despite the awesome video game based on the "Roger Rabbit" flick, it seems that Robert Zemeckis has never really been very good at video games, despite being very impressed by them.
Continue reading Robert Zemeckis Sucks At Video Games (And He's Fine With It!)
We now know that Robert Zemeckis is playing it old school in at least one respect when it comes to his "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" sequel: the script will be penned by original scribes Jeffrey Price and Peter Seaman.
But with over two decades of moviemaking technology between the release of his first cartoon bunny film and the beginning of creative brainstorming for the second, the question is whether or not Zemeckis will also play it old school when it comes to the look of the film. Will it merge live-action with traditional animation? Or, building on his work on films like "A Christmas Carol" and "Beowulf," will the director introduce motion-capture and 3-D technology into the equation? Read more...
I'm torn on Disney's and Robert Zemeckis's retelling of "A Christmas Carol." One the one hand, eye candy is badass and this is a movie that's full of it. Jim Carrey is also a big selling point, especially with all of that fancy performance capture tech bringing his already-malleable face into the digital realm.
On the other hand, I still feel like we're pretty deep in the uncanny valley with all of this people-as-digital-creations stuff. Then again, the exclusive clip below gives me second thoughts about even that. I'll happily invite Carrey's Scrooge into my nightmares if that's what he's going to be looking like.
Robert Zemeckis, Jim Carrey and Disney join forces this week in what is likely to be the box office-topping release of the performance capture-animated retelling of "A Christmas Carol." Expect the same, old story beats in a fresh new format. And there are plenty of options available for those who crave different degrees of face-meltingly awesome visuals: in addition to vanilla theatrical showings, there are also 3-D and IMAX options!
Those who crave something with a bit more bite have several options to choose from. First is "The Box," from "Donnie Darko" director Richard Kelly. Kelly was kind enough to invest his time in a week-long guest editorship on MTV Movies Blog last week, and he got us very hyped for the "Box" release in the process. The story follows a married couple (Cameron Diaz and James Marsden) who receive a mysterious package in the mail, containing a box equipped with a large red button. A stranger (Frank Langella) shows up to inform them that they'll receive $1 million if they press the button, though a stranger somewhere in the world will be killed as well. Sounds perfectly weird to me and like yet another cult-friendly winner for Kelly. Read more...
FROM MTV.COM: In the spring, and out of nowhere, Robert Zemeckis exclusively revealed to MTV News that new digital tools like performance-capture technology had him buzzing about finally making a sequel to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit." But there's a big difference between being excited about a project and actually moving forward with it.
MTV News has now exclusively learned that Zemeckis is not only pumped to bring the flustered cartoon bunny back to the big screen after 20 years, but that he has commissioned a script. And guess who's writing it? Original scribes Jeffrey Price and Peter Seaman.
Continue reading Exclusive: 'Roger Rabbit' Writers Working On Sequel, Robert Zemeckis Says
We already knew that "Forrest Gump" director Robert Zemeckis was teaming up with Disney to remake or reboot or adapt or do something with this week's Sick Day Stash pick, the Beatles' classic "Yellow Submarine." Well now we know more, fresh from Disney's D23 Expo.
As I -- and basically anyone else who follows this sort of news -- predicted following the initial report, the performance capture-animated feature will be presented in 3-D. The "new voyage to Pepperland" will include all 16 Beatles songs featured in the original film. Sounds an awful lot like it's going to be a (fairly) straight remake of the original, in which The Beatles set off on a voyage to save the undersea kingdom of Pepperland from the nefarious Blue Meanies. I'm honestly not sure whether to feel thrilled or mortified. Read more...
News like this makes me want to cry. Why? How? Does The Beatles' classic psychedelic animated feature "Yellow Submarine" really need a remake? I love and fear the Blue Meanies as much as the next fan, but I'm perfectly satisfied with keeping them firmly rooted in the 1960s, where they were born.
It gets worse too. The deal currently being brokered will put Robert Zemeckis, in partnership with Disney, on the project. Now I've got no problem with Zemeckis in theory. "Back to the Future," "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?," "Romancing the Stone," "Forrest Gump"... the guy definitely had a hand in shaping my love of film. He's all about the performance capture these days however, and I just don't know if my frail mind can take the sight of Blue Meanies as photorealistic CG characters. Read more...
Back in April, Robert Zemeckis lit a stick of movie news dynamite -- Acme brand, of course -- and tossed it our way: 20 years after “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” hit theaters and revolutionized the science and art of cinema special effects, after countless false starts and dashed cartoon dreams, the director was planning a sequel.
“I’ll tell you what is buzzing around in my head now that we have the ability—the digital tools, performance capture—I’m starting to think about 'Roger Rabbit,'" he said at the time. Read more...
