Today's News: Lupita going to the Dark Side?

Here's a newsflash for you, this one more recent than most of late:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/154439/lupita_nyongo_mogelijk_in_star_wars_episode_vii

The term 'rising star' - in this scenario, a blatantly predictable pun which even I could not refrain from using - has fallen more than a few times over the last few weeks in Nyong'o's case, and rightfully so it would appear. This actress is still at the start of her career, but has already won an Oscar and is now up for a role in what is probably the most major, highly anticipated blockbuster event of the next couple of years. Other than a recurring character in a TV show and a side role in a fairly standard action thriller, her on-screen resumé is a notable blank. It's likely we'll be hearing a lot more of her in the future, though she may also be one of those cases that witnessed a quick burst to stardom and an equally swift demise back into obscurity. Wouldn't be a first, even for an Academy Award winner. But let's not assume a worst-case scenario just yet.

Let's see whether she gets the Star Wars part first, which seems likely. After all, thanks to the Oscar there's a lot of sudden hype around her name, and that's what attracts studios these days. Her talks with J.J. Abrams took place prior to the Oscar ceremony, but now that she has won it's safe to say interest in her participation on the next chapter of the Star Wars saga is at a high and the studio is willing to go the extra length to ensure she bites. But like everything Episode VII, the question remains just what she's sinking her teeth in. Rumours abound of course. The strongest indicate she's a villain, and a Sith no less. That means she'll probably be working closely with Adam Driver, who recently was cast as a bad guy too. If there's any truth to these rumours, so far we have baddies aplenty, though the word on the heroes is still spread thin, particularly how they connect with existing characters we've come to love that are apparently up for an old age reprise, like Luke, Leia and Han. It's likely we'll be introduced to a new generation of Jedi learning the ways of the Force from Master Luke, that find themselves at odds with the usual 'anti-Jedi' Sith Lords and the remnant of the Galactic Empire. How these characters relate to each other is still in the clear, and it may not be as much of a family affair as before (face it: Episodes I through VI were all about the Skywalkers, the good and the bad, especially if you subscribe to the theory that Palpatine Force-fathered Anakin). Odds are strong we'll be treated to the offspring of the original heroes, but the villainy will likely originate from elsewhere. I doubt Nyong'o will portray a character related to the Skywalkers (though that thought may spring from the racist inside me). Heck, Nyong'o might not even play a bad girl at all. Such rumours have a tendency to start their own life online and are often revealed to have no basis in reality. Until we hear more concrete details about Episode VII's plot and characters, it's probably better for our sanity to regard every bit of news about this project - and there will undoubtedly be lots of those! - with an appropriately dispassionate grain of salt. 'Lupita Nyong'o might be up for a part in Star Wars', you say? Get back to me when the deal at least is closed, please.

Today's Double News: Lilly and Oldman antsy for blockbuster roles

Here's a few more news items I wrote for MS late last week:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/153611/evangeline_lilly_mogelijk_te_zien_in_ant-man

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/153613/gary_oldman_benaderd_voor_star_wars_episode_vii

Casting rumours abound these days where major tentpole movie franchises are concerned. Basically any news rolling off the Star Wars Episode VII bandwagon concerns casting, while the process of getting new faces aboard the next batch of Marvel movies (Ant-Man and Avengers: Age of Ultron both) also continues on its merry path. I can't say I've been very happy with what I've heard about  Episode VII casting so far. Digging up old fossils like Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, and even Harrison Ford, seems like leeching off the success of the old trilogy instead of paying hommage to those classic films. We don't need to be constantly reminded of the good ol' days of past glory when Star Wars was still honestly good by adding these folks back into the mix, even if it's just mere cameos, which I heard is not the case. Those movies were timeless, but the actors are not. That's the good thing about R2-D2, you don't care who plays him since you don't see the guy in the suit, but that doesn't work for actors whose faces you do see. You can patch them up digitally all you want, but even if they do look like they did thirty years ago, what's the point if you can just come up with new characters to keep things flowing instead of getting stuck in the past. I can understand Abrams' emotional attachment to the old characters, I feel it too, but I would much rather see the story focusing on all new characters, even offspring of those we know, than regurgitate the same old same old ad infinitum. That said, Gary Oldman is a step in the right direction. I have no idea what he'll be playing (nobody does after all), but I've never been disappointed by his performances so far. Of course he can still turn it down, which I doubt he will even though he didn't seem all that eager to talk about it (but that's probably due to doing a tiresome press tour combined with an solemn oath of secrecy about anything Episode VII). Other, less concrete, rumours I also found appealing: good solid actors like Hugo Weaving and Michael Fassbender are certainly most welcome. I just hope they don't give the main role to some kid who can't act if his life depended on it, dragging the overall acting quality through the mud again, as happened on the prequel trilogy. Come to think of it, with the occasional exception, even though we came to love many of these characters, grand acting rarely had anything to do with that (but Episode III's acting was especially feeble, almost taking you out of the movie). Considering Abram's lackluster repertoire, I doubt that's gonna change anytime soon.

Same can be said for Marvel movies, where fun characters and witty dialogue also are not in need of top actors to make for entertaining fare. Evangeline Lilly is a decent enough actress but nothing major, so in many ways she fits right in. And as is the case with Oldman, the question is which character will be hers. I'm hesitant about the rumours of giving Henry Pym a daughter when he never had one in the comics, since Marvel Studios has stuck to comic book lore for the most part so far. However, an emotional bridge between old Dr. Pym (Michael Douglas) and the younger Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) in the shape of a mutual close acquaintaince seems like a good thing to have in terms of building a story around passing the mantle from one Ant-Man to the next. Of course, you don't need a daughter for Pym to do that, but it does make for more personal drama. Even though I like to see the character of Wasp, Pym's long time wife/ex-wife and fellow Avenger, in some shape or another, I doubt the movie will have Lilly's Wasp married to Douglas' old Ant-Man, nor do I see Marvel screwing around with its own legacy by changing such fairly iconic character relationships from their fifty years of Marvel history by suddenly pairing her with Rudd's second Ant-Man. That said, stranger things have happened. Heck, maybe Lilly's will play someone else entirely and all these rumours were just introduced to keep us guessing. That's also an often employed strategy in the casting process of these major blockbuster movies: keep the audience intrigued by telling them about (or even only suggesting) the involvement of top actors without conveying who they're set to play, so all the nerds will start shouting names and options regarding who they could be playing, without any actual clues. And that always means someone's going to get disappointed. But that doesn't mean such actors and actresses won't play interesting characters after all. Even if they're acting isn't on par with the dialogue, action or otherwise simple good fun these movies provide.

Today's News: HBO goes from Westeros to WestWorld

Get ready for a serious MS newsflash!:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/149718/hbo_gaat_westworld_serie_maken

HBO, J.J. Abrams, Jonathan Nolan. One name I do not much care for in this triumvirate, and it will come to no surprise to my dear readers that it's Abrams. The guy has almost singlehandedly caused the abominable degeneration of one classic science fiction franchise and is most likely about to do the same to another. Fortunately in this particular case he's only producing, while Nolan will write and direct. Now that is good news, since it will keep Abrams out of much of the creative loop, while Nolan has already shown himself an outstanding writer on such films as The Dark Knight and The Prestige, as well as on the current TV-drama Person of Interest. No doubt he'll be damned before he lets an intriguing notion like a theme park populated by robot slaves subject to our every base fantasy deteriorate in a bland series of action set-ups moving from one needlessly dynamic sequence to the next without caring about such trivialities like story logic and character development, much less respecting its original source material. Nolan is much too smart to let that happen, so he'll provide a decent counterweight to ensure this show won't be done too much Abrams style (though a fair amount of lens flares will prove unavoidable). And HBO? Perfect choice for this project! Apart from the fabulous quality they always offer in their addictive, delightful original programming, the subject matter suits them well. Imagine all the robot sex and violence we're in for now! And speaking of robots, I don't recall Home Box Office doing a similarly Sci-Fi-ey show before. Seems they're breaking new ground and it will definitely be fascinating to see what a fine series HBO can deliver with a concept like this if it gets past that initial pilot stage (too bad Michael Crichton won't be able to witness it). If only HBO took over that other science fiction franchise from Abrams... Now that would be a Trek worthy of the 21st century!

Today's News: more Star Trek Into Darkness stuff I'm not interested in

Recent news posted on MovieScene by me, myself and I:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/146259/nieuwe_poster_en_tv-spot_star_trek_into_darkness

By now I doubt there's anyone I know that isn't aware of my contempt for the new Star Trek by J.J. Abrams. It's called "Star Trek", but it only bears the name, since in terms of content there's very little that is reminiscent to real Trek. Certainly not the social awareness, the politics, the science, the philosophy and all those other intelligent elements that made Star Trek into the beloved adult science fiction franchise it once was. Abrams' take on it is an overly bombastic and loud CGI-fest filled with lens flares and expensive visual effects to wow audiences (which is ever harder to accomplish, considering contemporary audiences are satiated by the possibilities of digital effects artistry), all the while ignoring what made Trek so special compared to the likes of Star Wars, which is downright science fantasy instead. In fact, Abrams' Trek was much more similar in tone and style to Star Wars than it was to real Trek, which is not so surprising, considering Abrams has never been a Trekkie but has been outed as an avid Star Wars fan on several occasions. Now that he is finally "moving up in the world", set to direct Star Wars Episode VII, I had hoped he would hand the Trek franchise over to someone who does actually care, but unfortunately that doesn'seem likely.

So why do I post news on a movie I have little hope for and would rather not see happen? Integrity. This was news and it had not been posted yet. I had the time to do so and nobody else was doing it. Plus, like it or not, I have some knowledge about this film and the people around it that might come in handy when posting bit of news like this. This will occasionally happen and I can either just accept it or whine about it 'till I look as green as an Orion slaver. I opted for the former. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few (or the one) after all. But I do not expect Abrams to understand such sentiments...