I’m the first to admit that remakes are rarely, if ever, a good idea. We can hardly claim, as a culture, that we prize originality over all else. We’re gluttons for the good stuff. Like movies based on 1980s cartoons? We’ll make more! Y’all like vampires in love? Have all the lovey dovey vampires you can handle! Imitation is a-okay, but giving us the exact same thing? That’s how you piss an audience off.
A remake is just a reflection of something the audience already loves, not a straight reproduction. That’s a hurdle many of 2010’s biggest movies are facing. The first six months of next year are chock full of marquee remakes, releases that are bound to stoke fan ire when they fail to meet expectations. I, however, have a solution for the makers of these films: Kanye West. Just look at his VMA outburst! Give the man a bit part in these five films, and he’ll reassure the audience that they’re not alone in their preferred choice.
Hit the jump to see where Kanye would fit best. Read more...
There isn't a Russell Crowe movie that I won't watch. I confess to not only owning "A Good Year" but watching it multiple times simply because I occasionally need a trip to the French wine-country with a stern Australian. I've already pre-bought my ticket to Ridley Scott's "Robin Hood," and now I can check the calender days off for Crowe's latest, "The Next Three Days."
According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Days" actually has Crowe taking a break from Universal and his director friend Scott. The actor will team up with Paul Haggis ("Crash") and Lionsgate for this remake of the 2008 French thriller "Pour Elle." Read more...
As I told you all last week, The Dailies are back. So let's hop right in, shall we? Today on Hollywood's Internets, the following news didn't quite make it into MTV Movies Blog's coverage space:
-- Ridley Scott's "Robin Hood" has found its King Richard. And look out! He's an evil general bent on twisting soldiers into superhuman monstrosities! Danny Huston, who was last seen playing William Stryker in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," will presumably grant the outlaw Robin (Russell Crowe) a pardon when he returns from the Third Crusade as Richard the Lionheart. (THR) Read more...
Contributed by Christopher Campbell
Ridley Scott just added another cast member to his untitled Robin Hood film, which has already begun shooting, and which had seemed to be fully employed as of the last casting news late last month. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Oscar-winning actor William Hurt joins as the historical figure William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, a legendary knight and statesman most renowned for his reputation as the greatest jouster of his time.
Despite the character’s tournament-winning legacy, however, it’s doubtful Hurt will appear in chain mail, brandishing a lance in contest. By the time of the Robin Hood story, William Marshal was in his late 40s, had married into nobility and was serving King Richard as a member of the ruling class. Fans of jousting will have to instead settle with “A Knight’s Tale,” starring Heath Ledger in a role said to be based on Marshal. Read more...
By Josh Wigler
Originally titled "Nottingham," director Ridley Scott's upcoming "Robin Hood" adaptation was previously rumored to star Russell Crowe as both Robin Hood and the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham. While there's still no official word on the Sheriff's casting, a new press release reveals a ton of other information about the film.
According to the announcement, Crowe and the previously revealed Cate Blanchett (Maid Marian) and Alan Doyle (Allan Adayle) will be joined by Scott Grimes, Kevin Durand and Academy Award-winner Vanessa Redgrave. The movie is said to focus on Robin Hood and his merry men as they "protect their country from slipping into bloody civil war." Read more...
By Lindsay Wallace
Recently, it was announced that Alan Doyle -- lead singer of the popular Canadian band Great Big Sea -- had been cast as Allen a-Dale in Ridley Scott's upcoming "Robin Hood" film. We caught up with the frontman soon after, and Doyle was ready to dish on his new role. The film is set to star Russell Crowe as Robin Hood and Cate Blanchett as Lady Marion.
Doyle's character, Allen a-Dale, is one of the Merry Men in the Robin Hood story. "He's a troubadour," exclaimed Doyle. "He's an Irish lute playing balladeer. He's an artist who loves to sing a song. With two or three other guys, Allen a -Dale is one of the Merry Men who's followed Robin Hood for a long time and hopes to continue to do so. Yes, I will be playing the lute in the film." Read more...
Last week MTV News caught up with Ridley Scott, who finally revealed just what was going on with "Nottingham" -- it was now "Robin Hood" with Russell Crowe as the titular archer. Now Robin has found his lady love, as Variety reports that Maid Marian is to be played by the lovely Cate Blanchett.
Scott already told us that his "Robin Hood" would be a fairly traditional one, and the new plot details reveal that it will be an original story that follows the historical period a little closer than Kevin Costner did. The noble Robin of Loxley is abandoned as a child, and finds refuge with the common people of Nottingham. But his abandonment leaves him unwilling to trust in others, until he meets a strong, independent woman named Marian. Read more...
When I caught up with the legendary Ridley Scott last week, I was there to discuss his “Alien” character Ellen Ripley being named one of our “Top 10 Movie Badasses of All Time ."
While I was there, however, I couldn’t resist running over a few other key projects that could become his next classic. “I am in a constant stage of development,” he told me in a conference room of his Scott Free Productions office. “I am liable to do ‘Gucci.’ I am liable to do a thing called ‘Child 44,’ and I am doing ‘Robin Hood’ next.”
That statement is notable, not only in that those first two projects are moving forward, but that “Nottingham” has now officially been renamed to reflect its lead character. “Oh yes, I think we are just going to call it ‘Robin Hood’,” Scott revealed. “We start in almost 2 months.” Read more...
How do you find an actor of Russell Crowe's caliber to play against him? Well, Ridley Scott seems to have found the answer: let the Oscar winner play both roles! That's right, in one of the odder casting ideas in at least a few days (it just so happens this news comes in the same week Johnny Depp signed on to play Tonto), Crowe is going to play both the sheriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood himself in Ridley Scott's upcoming flick, "Nottingham."
The news comes straight from the helmer himself, with Scott revealing "He's playing both!" exclusively to MTV News during an interview for his new film "Body of Lies," which co-stars Crowe. While Scott held additional details close to his chest -- saying they would take too long to describe -- he did exclaim that Crowe's dual roles would be "a good old clever adjustment of characters. One becomes the other. It changes." Read more...
