Cinematical

Rallying the Troops for 'Jennifer's Body'

Jenni Miller — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 09:03:00 EST

Filed under: Comedy, Horror, New Releases, Fandom, Fox Atomic

A few weeks ago, I asked "Will Chicks Dig Jennifer's Body?" and the responses were mixed. Unfortunately for fans of the movie (like myself), its opening weekend box office results were equally mixed, with JB bringing in $6.8M, putting it in fifth place, right behind the execrable and boring Love Happens.

Plenty of people have immediately written off the movie because they loathe Diablo Cody or Megan Fox. Fox is an especially contentious figure among women because she's young, she's hot, and she's as eager to be "exploited" by the Hollywood machine as she is to give it the middle finger. And Diablo Cody, well... As the talented and smart Karyn Kusama, director of Jennifer's Body said in an interview with Cinematical's Todd Gilchrist, "I feel like the issue of [Cody's] voice being strong and people having a problem with it is very interesting to me because I think there are plenty of writers whose work generates that discussion. I have just never heard Quentin Tarantino or David Mamet or Shane Black be called a whore in people's blogs; I am shocked sometimes by the vitriol."

The cycle of slavering adoration and vicious backlash Cody has been the subject of since she was the Next Big Thing with her book Candy Girl makes my head spin, and if I were her, I'd have hocked my Oscar and headed for the hills long ago. But she hasn't, and thank goodness for that because Jennifer's Body is the coolest, weirdest thing to happen to women in horror (and the women who love horror) in a long time.

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Interview: 'Jennifer's Body' Director Karyn Kusama (Part Two)

Todd Gilchrist — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:45:00 EST

Filed under: Horror, Interviews, Fox Atomic

READ: Karyn Kusama Interview: Part One

Just by virtue of her gender, Karyn Kusama is considered a feminist director; while the subject matter of her three films has certainly revolved around strong and interesting women, however, their stories certainly transcend the condescending and reductive designation of being called "women's movies." This is especially true of her latest, Jennifer's Body, which is an examination of teenage female sexuality that should certainly have considerable mainstream (i.e. male) appeal thanks to the person playing the body in question, Megan Fox.

Cinematical recently sat down with Kusama to talk about her career, the themes that have run recurrent in her movies, the impact of studio politics and feedback on her films, and how much she thinks her gender plays a role in career and the creative choices she makes. (Make sure to check out Part One of this interview, where she discusses her collaborations with Megan Fox and Diablo Cody, and gives fans a first-person account of the film's infamous make-out session between Fox and co-star Amanda Seyfried.)

Cinematical: Were there any specific elements of the different relationships, both personally and socially, in the film that you knew you wanted to explore or examine? There's the interaction of the two girls with one another, and Jennifer with her victims, but there's also the idea of this being a sort of monstrous version of teenage girls exploring their sexuality.

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Interview: 'Jennifer's Body' Director Karyn Kusama (Part One)

Todd Gilchrist — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:32:00 EST

Filed under: Interviews, Fox Atomic

There's a sort of amazing nexus of visibility that Jennifer's Body is enjoying as it moves towards its opening day: men and women alike are obsessed with any- and everything Megan Fox does, and critics and audiences are curious to see how successfully Diablo Cody will follow-up her Oscar-winning script for Juno. Meanwhile, director Karyn Kusama bears the burden not only of shepherding the result of their efforts and the test for those expectations into theaters, but is in herself in search of a project that can both fulfill and overcome the preconceptions of viewers familiar with her two previous films, the acclaimed independent film Girlfight and the decidedly less-acclaimed studio opus Aeon Flux.

Cinematical recently sat down with Kusama for an epic conversation about her latest film, Jennifer's Body. In addition to discussing the project's origins and inspirations, she talked about tapping into expectations without acquiescing to them, examined the high-profile careers of her collaborators, and offered a few insights into her own creative process. (Check back tomorrow for part two, which further delves into her own feelings about the film's themes and her execution of its ideas.)

Cinematical: How did you process Diablo's writing style when you were directing and maybe even editing? Because she was kind of an unknown quantity when you started working on this but now she obviously has a style that polarizes audiences.

Continue reading Interview: 'Jennifer's Body' Director Karyn Kusama (Part One)

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TIFF Review: Jennifer's Body

Todd Gilchrist — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:05:00 EST

Filed under: Horror, Toronto International Film Festival, Fox Atomic

What is Jennifer's Body, and what is it supposed to be about? I don't know, and the film doesn't seem to, either: It's not really a horror movie, because those are usually scary. Nor is it smart or self-aware enough to be a treatise on teenage girls or male fears of female sexuality. And it's not even a swing-for-the-fences, spectacular enough failure to be a death knell or even deconstruction of the severely limited appeal of either its star, Megan Fox, or its screenwriter, Diablo Cody. Jennifer's Body substitutes hipster credibility for emotional currency, confuses pop-psychology insight with substantive social commentary, and measures terror on a scale that ranges from the word boo to a dead spider; in short, Jennifer's Body just does not work.

Fox plays Jennifer, a sexpot alpha female who mercilessly presides over the boys in her high school, but only has affection for her childhood friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried). After the two of them narrowly escape a fire while attending the concert of an up-and-coming band, Jennifer takes off to parts unknown in the lead singer's tour van, only to turn up later that night ravenously hungry in Needy's kitchen, covered in blood and God knows what else. It turns out that Jennifer has been mysteriously turned into a literal man-eater, and subsequently decides that her male classmates will serve as a more than suitable smorgasbord for her feasting pleasure. But when the homicidal homecoming queen decides that Needy's boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons) is next on the menu, her mousy friend musters all of her own inner strength and decides to take Jennifer down a peg or two, even if it comes at the expense of their friendship, or even their lives.

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Red-Band 'Jennifer's Body' Trailer Answers All Of Your Prayers

Elisabeth Rappe — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:03:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Comedy, Horror, Independent, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Thrillers, Newsstand, Movie Marketing, Fox Atomic, Trailers and Clips

You no longer have to wait until Bruno to catch a glimpse of Jennifer's Body a.k.a that Megan Fox horror movie where she might show her boobs! ShockTillYouDrop has a red-band trailer directly from the Body team of Karyn Kusama, Diablo Cody, and Jason Reitman. According to the filmmakers, this is the trailer that truly captures what the film is all about: "Fox is putting a trailer of Jennifer's Body in front of Bruno this Friday. Great, right? Only problem is it's not our trailer. It's kind of a straight horror preview and while we're sure it'll appeal to many of you, we wanted to make sure you guys got to see our cut ... Lets call it the "filmmaker's cut". We think it captures the comedy and scares of the horror films we grew up on - a kind of nostalgia for when horror films were fun. Can't wait to show you the whole film ... In the meantime, here's the red band trailer we wanted our fans to see."

And you know what? It's a pretty awesome trailer. I was neither here nor there about the film, but this looks like a hell of a lot of fun ...

Head to The Horror Squad for the red-banded fun

Gallery: Megan Fox

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Review: 12 Rounds

Peter Martin — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 21:02:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Theatrical Reviews, Fox Atomic

Poor New Orleans! As if the real-life horrors of Hurricane Katrina and the broken levees weren't bad enough, now the beautiful city must suffer from the devastation wrought by Danny Fisher, played by ~~former~~ * WWE wrestler / entertainer John Cena in 12 Rounds, the latest train wreck from director Renny Harlin. "Damn the property damage! I'm going to save my girlfriend, whatever the cost!" is a noble sentiment, especially when you don't have to pay the bills.

Danny isn't really responsible for the carnage he causes, of course, even though he politely apologizes whenever he crashes into other people's vehicles or accidentally kills people. (Cena furrows his brow and turns his smile upside down, just so you know he's not happy with himself.) The real blame lies with Miles Jackson, who is seeking revenge on Danny for the death of his girlfriend. Jackson is described as an international arms dealer, but he spends much more time blowing things up and changing SIM cards in cell phones than any actual dealing of arms.

Aidan Gillen, who was superb as a cagey, ambitious, well-intentioned politician in The Wire, has much less to play with here, but it's fun to watch him try to juice up the role of an exceptionally-nasty master criminal with absolutely no scruples or second thoughts. He provides one of the few true pleasures in 12 Rounds, which should be a lot more fun than it is. Instead of embracing its loonier plot elements -- a fire engine crashing across town, a ticking time bomb on a public bus, an out-of-control street car -- 12 Rounds insists on playing it straight as a sober drama, ending up as Speed without the flirtations or thrills.

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Review: Miss March

Jeffrey M. Anderson — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 14:02:00 EST

Filed under: Comedy, New Releases, Theatrical Reviews, New in Theaters, Fox Searchlight, Fox Atomic

Up until yesterday I was having trouble keeping track of all the movies that were contenders for the worst of 2009, and I couldn't decide which one topped the list. Now my head is clear of such decisions. I've seen Miss March. In the film, high school boy Eugene (Zach Cregger) practices abstinence but reluctantly agrees to sleep with his girlfriend Cindi (Raquel Alessi) on prom night. Before he can seal the deal he falls down some stairs and goes into a coma. When he wakes up four years later, Cindi is the new Playboy Centerfold. So he and his idiot best friend Tucker (Trevor Moore) take a road trip to the Playboy Mansion to find her.

How they're friends is one of the movie's greatest mysteries, aside from, you know, the one about how it ever got made. These two morons react to everything with bug eyes and jaws agape, sometimes comically screaming and sometimes not. Cregger is a self-righteous, hypocrite prig, and Moore does a barrel-scraping Jim Carrey impersonation that comes much closer to Jim Varney; he even makes those old "Strip-O-Rama" comedians look elegant and refined. (These two cretins are the co-creators of a TV show called "The Whitest Kids U Know," which I am proud to say I have not seen.)

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Cinematical Seven: Most Pointlessly Disgusting Scenes

William Goss — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:20:00 EST

Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Horror, Sony, Universal, 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight, Cinematical Seven, Remakes and Sequels, Fox Atomic, Picturehouse

I can think of at least three movies in the coming two weeks that feature scenes that are strikingly out of tone with the film they're a respective part of and yet seemingly included as a means of getting people to tell their loved ones how ridiculous Bit X in Movie Y is. And so today's Cinematical Seven list will be an arbitrary, far from ultimate compilation of the most distractingly disgusting and supremely superfluous parts in recent movies. Sure, most of these are comedies, and yes, most of them seem to have been released from the year 2000 on, and as always, we welcome your comments below. Just make sure they're not too gross.

(Speaking of which, NSFW clips follow after the jump.)

Continue reading Cinematical Seven: Most Pointlessly Disgusting Scenes

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Kids Find Themselves Subjected to 'Sex' Instead of 'High School'

William Goss — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 09:32:00 EST

Filed under: Comedy, Horror, Music & Musicals, Disney, Exhibition, Family Films, Remakes and Sequels, Fox Atomic

In Utah -- the state so pure that some theaters owners refuse to show the relatively tame Zack and Miri Make a Porno but haven't given Saw V a second glance -- one theater moved their audience for the weekend's #1 movie, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, into a larger auditorium that had been showing the raunchy Sex Drive ... and promptly continued to do so once the lights went down.

This isn't a terribly uncommon mistake to be made. Just last year, a Long Island multiplex exposed children to the gruesome opening of The Hills Have Eyes 2 instead of The Last Mimzy, and back in 2005, I found myself attending a Saturday night sneak of Zathura in a theater where The Fog proceeded to begin instead. (Childless and intrepid as I ~~was~~ am, it took my fetching a manager to correct the situation, not any of the number of vocally concerned parents in the surprisingly full house.)

(No, please, it was nothing.)

I just hope that some giddy HSM3 fan let loose with "Go, Wildcats!" regardless. They wouldn't have been too far off...

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Will "Pierre" be Lucky for Jason Reitman and Jim Carrey?

James Rocchi — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:02:00 EST

Filed under: Comedy, Casting, Celebrities and Controversy, Scripts, Distribution, Fox Atomic

It's a familiar tale: Hitch a falling star to a rising talent ... and see what happens. This week's iteration comes in the form of a Variety story that sees Juno director Jason Reitman teaming with Jim Carrey on a new comedy titled Pierre Pierre. The film -- budgeted at a fairly-modest $13 million -- is pitched as the tale of a "self-indulgent French nihilist who transports a stolen painting from Paris to London." In his heyday -- Ace Ventura, The Truman Show, Liar, Liar -- Carrey's salary alone would have exceeded the proposed budget of Pierre Pierre; however, as any viewer of The Majestic, The Number 23 or Fun with Dick and Jane can tell you, those bright days are far in the past.

Pierre, Pierre is going to be released under the Fox Atomic specialty banner, and also features a script from first-time writers Edwin Cannistraci and Frederick Seton. I guess the question I'm pondering is which Jim Carrey will show up -- the tired, makeup-coated hack of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events or the more interested, more invested Carrey of The Truman Show and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind? And does new talent Reitman have the skills, and vision, to coax the latter kind of performance out of an actor many consider a fading funnyman?

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Alexis Bledel Gets Not Only a Lover, but Mr. Mom and Carol Burnett Too!

Monika Bartyzel — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 18:32:00 EST

Filed under: Comedy, Casting, Fox Atomic

Well, Gilmore Girl and Traveling Pants star Alexis Bledel no longer has a Ticket to Ride. Instead, an early name change has her getting into The Post-Grad Survival Guide for Fox Atomic's upcoming comedy, and the supporting cast is falling into place. The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Zach Gilford, one of the stars of the television series Friday Night Lights is in final negotiations to play Rory's love interest. Also joining the cast -- Michael Keaton, Carol Burnett, and Rodrigo Santoro (300). Man, I hope this is decent, just to get a chance to see Keaton and Burnett -- hopefully together.

Bledel stars as a girl named Ryden Malby, who has just graduated from college and has "to move back home with her eccentric family while trying to find a job, meet the right guy, and figure out where her life is headed." Santoro is going to play an infomercial director and neighbor who becomes Ryden's friend and confidant, but there is no word on who Keaton and Burnett will play. Considering the eccentric family angle, I'm hoping for some sort of dad and grandma deal -- Carol would be perfect as Alexis' grandmother. As for the neighbor, will Ryden find a lucrative future in the infomercial biz, peddling special fryers, rotisseries, and weight loss products? The possibilities!

Filming will begin on the project this Monday in Los Angeles, under the directorial eye of Vicky Jenson -- director of Shrek and Shark Tale. It'll be interesting to see what she makes of this live action comedy, but really, I'm just psyched for Carol.

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Alexis Bledel's Got a 'Ticket to Ride'

Monika Bartyzel — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 19:32:00 EST

Filed under: Comedy, Casting, Scripts, Fox Atomic

For seven years, she was the smartie of Stars Hollow sharing rapid-fire words and pop culture references with her young mom. She dealt with the kooky denizens there, then with the fiery rage of fellow students at Chilton, and then she even lived with them at Yale. But those days are over and Alexis Bledel has to look beyond her Gilmore Girls years. She's already shot the next film in the series about those magic pants that can fit anyone, and has now signed on for her first starring role since the hit show wrapped. As Variety reports, Bledel's got a Ticket to Ride -- and it isn't some sort of feel-good family movie about a girl and her horse, or bike, or whatever she's riding. It's Fox Atomic's upcoming college comedy from Shark Tale helmer Vicky Jenson.

Written by Kelly Fremon, Ticket stars Bledel as Ryden Malby, in a film that will thrust her into fresh, new, and exciting territory. It's about "a college grad who is forced to move back into her childhood home with her eccentric family while she attempts to find a job, the right guy, and some direction in her life." Okay, so really it's nothing new at all. As Rory, she's had lots of experience with eccentric friends and family, and suffering the woes of job-finding, guy-finding, and picking a path. But at least we know she can handle the material. With a $15 million budget, the film will begin shooting next month.

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Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody Reteam for 'Jennifer's Body'

Jessica Barnes — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 11:32:00 EST

Filed under: Comedy, Horror, Deals, Fox Atomic

When she is not off fighting injustice during the writer's strike, there is no doubt that Diablo Cody has plenty of work to do in the coming year. The Hollywood Reporter announced that Cody will re-team with Juno director Jason Reitman for the supernatural comedy, Jennifer's Body. Reitman will be producing the flick along with his partner Dan Dubiecki for Fox Atomic, who told THR that "We're here because Diablo's voice and our voice align."

Back in October, Erik had reported that Megan Fox (the dream girl of pubescent boys everywhere) had signed for the lead in the teen comedy - and just as a side note, am I only one who thinks Fox looks like a little old for high school? Fox will star as a small-town Minnesota cheerleader who starts killing local boys after she becomes possessed by a demon. So if that wasn't weird enough, then "Her 'plain Jane' best friend must kill her, and then escape from a correctional facility to go after the Satan-worshiping rock band responsible for the transformation." Cody herself describes the script as "Juno but with cannibalism and evisceration." I don't know about you, but that description alone has sold me on the film.

Reitman and Dubiecki seem eager to have Cody on board, telling THR, "We want to make unusual films, and anything that turns a genre on its ear interests Dan and I. And if you look at 'Bonzai,' 'Juno' and 'Jennifer's Body,' they bring a new voice to genres people are very aware of." Jennifer's Body is set to start shooting later this year and is aiming for a 2009 release.

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Megan Fox is the Girl from Hell!

Erik Davis — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 10:02:00 EST

Filed under: Thrillers, Casting, Deals, Fandom, Scripts, Newsstand, Fox Atomic

First off, on behalf of all the teenage boys out there, I'd like to raise my glass and officially congratulate Megan Fox on finally landing another role. Mazel Tov! The Transformers hottie has signed on to star in Jennifer's Body, written by the extremely hot (and I'm talking hot like she's very busy lately) Diablo Cody (Juno). The Hollywood Reporter tells us Fox Atomic pre-emptively picked up Cody's spec script last week, Fox is in negotiations to star and Mason Novick is onboard to produce. While all you dudes out there might be itching to see Fox back up on the big screen, minds might change once I tell you what this sucker is about.

Apparently, they're describing this one as "similar in tone to Heathers and Beetlejuice," and it will revolve around a cheerleader (Fox) who, at some point during her perfect life, becomes possessed and begins killing boys. Ouch. At that point, her best friend must find a way to stop her. As of right now the best friend has not been cast, but Atomic really wants to get this one out before a possible strike takes place. Since Cody's scripts so far fall into a comedic category, it should be interesting to see what the gal does with a thriller. Funnily enough, as hot as Cody is (Juno has lots of buzz coming off the fest circuit, she adapted How to Lose Friends and Alienate People, and set up the female-driven comedy Girly Style at Universal), none of her films have arrived in theaters yet. But trust me, once they do, we'll all know exactly who Diablo Cody is. And if you'd like to get to know her a little better now, check out Cinematical's recent interview with the scribe.

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Fox Atomic Orders a 'Wake Up Call'

Monika Bartyzel — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 13:02:00 EST

Filed under: Comedy, Deals, Scripts, Newsstand, Fox Atomic

New screenwriter Justin Ware is just rolling in the successful pitches and writing gigs these days. He's the pen behind American Summer, the comedy I told you about in February. Remember the oh-so-charming premise? A pool cleaner (Matthew Lillard) slacks around cleaning the pools of the rich while his parents think he's going to school at Harvard. When his apartment is fumigated, he moves into an empty mansion and pimps out an escort he knows. That production just wrapped, and he already has three other projects in the works -- Adrenaline, Amazing Girls, and Handymen.

Now The Hollywood Reporter has posted the next project added to his ever-growing list -- an original comedy pitch called Wake Up Call, which will be produced by Smallville creators Al Gough and Miles Millar. Unfortunately, they say almost nothing about the plot, other than describing it as "a high-concept comedy along the lines of Wedding Crashers." Does that mean a similar wedding-crashing premise, or just the general idea? Perhaps the flick will focus on some guys who don't crash weddings, but instead randomly give wake-up calls to people in the neighborhood? Or people who make the wake up calls at a hotel. Or maybe some dudes who need a wake up call about their stagnant lives. Considering the writer and the title, what's your best guess?

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Fox Atomic Loves 'The Average American Male'

Erik Davis — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 16:32:00 EST

Filed under: Comedy, Romance, Deals, Newsstand, Fox Atomic

I already love the sound of this movie because, essentially, it's the story of my life (circa three years ago). And, for some odd reason, Fox Atomic seems to think my life is worthy of the big-screen treatment, as they've gone out and picked up the novel The Average American Male by Chad Kultgen, a former Weekly World News writer. Here's how The Hollywood Reporter describes the story: "Average's" unnamed narrator is a man in his late 20s who hangs out with his friends and girlfriend, plays video games and holds an insignificant job. He reveals to readers his racy thoughts on his girlfriend, watching porn, his disgust with people in general and that he should either live life alone or bite the marriage bullet." It's freaky how similar my life was to the one of this so-called "unnamed narrator," although I was never much of a porn fan. And I don't know who this Chad Kultgen guy is, which means there's no way this book was based on me. Or was it, Chaaaad???

The fascinating part of this story is that interest in the book rose considerably after publisher Harper Perennial produced three one-minute videos promoting it on YouTube. Each one got increasingly more popular, and with more than one million views, book sales went up. For those of you interested in watching said videos (which do contain some harsh, sexually-explicit language -- just so you're warned), you can check them out here, here and here. I found them to be pretty damn funny (especially that third one), and they should serve as a message to those aspirings looking to get your self-published project a little buzz. Go to YouTube! And be creative! Betty Thomas (John Tucker Must Die) has hopped onboard to produce, as well as possibly direct, and there's currently no word on who they're thinking about casting as The Average American Male. Heck, I'll do it!

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Fox Picks Up 'Harvey and Marky: A True Story of Friendship and Betrayal'

Jessica Barnes — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:32:00 EST

Filed under: Comedy, Deals, Scripts, Fox Atomic

If you're not a fan of the style of comedy popularized by people like Seth Rogan and Judd Apatow, it's probably not going to be a good year in comedy for you. Variety reports that Fox Atomic has purchased the comedy pitch Harvey and Marky: A True Story of Friendship and Betrayal. Jarrad Paul and Andy Mogel are behind the script, and "the story revolves around childhood friends who hit a crossroads in their relationship when the shy Marky gets a girlfriend and becomes more independent. This devastates the very domineering Harvey, who in turn hires a fake girlfriend to compete with his old friend" -- If nothing else, at least this film has a few parts for the girls to play; since most comedies lately aren't known for their inclusion of the opposite sex.

The comedy duo has been making some deals with Warner Bros. for the comedy property Himelfarb, and they have also been hired for production work on the Jim Carrey comedy Yes Man for Warners, starting production this October. Paul began his career as an actor, and has worked on everything from Beverly Hills 90210 to the *~~college crisis~~ flick Kicking and Screaming. Paul started writing in 1998; his first (and only)credit was on two episodes of Stargate SG-1, so who knows how good his comedy skills are. The same goes for Mogel, who worked as a grip once back in 1997, and will make his feature debut with Harvey and Marky. Luckily, on board to produce the buddy comedy are Peter Principato and Paul Young. Young and Principato were the production team behind the Reno 911 flick , the upcoming Will Arnett comedy Space Invader, and another Jim Carrey flick, Me Time -- so at least they have some experience when it comes to cranking out comedies for the boys.

*Correction: Jarrad Paul appeared in the 2005 soccer comedy with Will Ferrell.

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Andrew Currie to Direct Will Arnett's 'Space Invader'

Jessica Barnes — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 19:33:00 EST

Filed under: Comedy, Deals, Fox Atomic

Despite the fact that I find the 'comedy styling' of Will Arnett pretty hilarious, I just think that most directors don't know quite what to do with him. I mean, it's not like he can keep doing Will Ferrell sports comedies forever. So here's hoping that Andrew Currie has figured out how to make the most of Arnett's particular style of smarm. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that Arnett's latest project (and there are plenty of them), Space Invader, has just secured Currie to direct. Currie was responsible for the Zombie laffer Fido back in 2006, so he has some experience with slightly "out-there" comedy. The story was inspired by the recent astronaut scandal, the "NASA Love Triangle". At this point I'm just wondering how they are going to work in the diaper jokes.

The script was written by Mike Lisbe and Nate Reger. The first-time screenwriters have mainly worked in TV, although the bad news is they were responsible for Just Shoot Me. Arnett is producing Invaders for Fox Atomic and seems to be keeping busy by creating his own starring vehicles -- Ryan's exclusive about Matchbreaker is just the latest of a series of deals for the comedian. Arnett has also just sold a pitch to Paramount with Dax Shephard about two hot tub salesmen in Japan, called Get em' Wet. Invader stars Arnett as "Doug Huggins, the son of a NASA legend, who is terrified of flying. When Huggins learns that his girlfriend, a rising aeronautic star, has been chosen to fly to the International Space Station with Stamp, a spaceman who is God's gift to space travel, he must overcome his fears and travel to space to win her back." Probably not the strongest concept, but hey, it's better than that "two guys in a hot tub" idea, don't ya think?

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Comic-Con: The Bacon With Kevin Bacon 'Death Sentence' Breakfast

Kevin Kelly — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:01:00 EST

Filed under: Action, Thrillers, Comic/Superhero/Geek, ComicCon, Fox Atomic

Click for larger version. That's a faux Kevin Bacon / Kelly Preston family photo!

Okay, seriously ... that title isn't a joke. Fox Atomic invited us to have "Bacon with Kevin Bacon" at Comic-Con for a movie he's in called Death Sentence. Granted, putting those together in the same sentence makes it appear worse than the Bataan Death March, but it was actually a lot more pleasant. Although a more apt title would have been "Bacon Without Kevin Bacon," because he wasn't at the breakfast. We did manage to catch up with him later, though.

We were treated to the promised bacon (along with other breakfast acoutrements) and some footage from Death Sentence. Kevin Bacon stars as Nick Hume, your average, boring, subarbanite "nerd" (as Bacon calls him) whose life changes dramatically when he witnesses his son being murdered. After that, things click into revenge mode, and before long Bacon is a badass, hunting down the gang who did him wrong. However, it's not like a switch gets flipped and he's instantly a commando. He slowly builds from hockey dad to serial killer, although by the end of the footage we saw, he has a shaved head and is a fairly expert hand with a shotgun.

Continue reading Comic-Con: The Bacon With Kevin Bacon 'Death Sentence' Breakfast

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Fox Atomic Rolls Out ComicCon Plans

Patrick Walsh — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 17:31:00 EST

Filed under: Comic/Superhero/Geek, ComicCon, Fox Atomic

With "geek" stuff like comics, sci-fi, and horror taking over the mainstream, ComicCon has become one of the biggest film events of the year. The studios really take it seriously, and this should be an excellent week for major film announcements. Today, the fairly new studio Fox Atomic, an offshoot of Fox targeting the 17-24 demographic, announced what festival goers can expect from them this year. It looks like their biggest push is for the upcoming revenge thriller Death Sentence. There will be an online sweepstakes to win a 1969 Ford Mustang featured in the film, starting when ComicCon opens its doors tomorrow. If you can't make it to the festival you can enter at the official movie website, http://deathsentencemovie.com, up until the film is released on August 31st. Death Sentence stars Kevin Bacon as a man out to avenge his son's death, and co-stars John Goodman and Kelly Preston. James Wan (Saw) directed. Bacon, co-star Garrett Hedlund and Wan will be signing autographs at ComicCon this Saturday at 3PM.

Also, be on the lookout for a contest to win a Fender Stratocaster guitar signed by the cast of the upcoming comedy The Rocker. You can read more about that movie here and here, it tells "the story of a failed, over-the-hill drummer who is given a second chance at fame." Rainn Wilson plays the drummer and Christina Applegate will be his love interest. Only in the movies, folks! Fox Atomic is understandably putting a big focus on their graphic novel publishing arm at ComicCon as well. Signings and giveaways are scheduled for Joe Harris and Stuart Moore's The Nightmare Factory, due out on September 4th, as well as their film-based graphic novels -- 28 Days Later: The Aftermath by Steve Niles and The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning by Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray. It looks like just about all of the artists and authors will be in attendance. We've got all sorts of ComicCon news, announcements, and goodness coming your way from San Diego (which, of course, is German for "whale's vagina") all this week and through the weekend, so stick around and stay classy.

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