20th Century Fox has unveiled a new action-filled trailer for the upcoming comedy movie Let’s Be Cops starring New Girls‘ Jake Johnson and Damon Wayans Jr. The new trailer earns its red band (not safe for kids and definitely not safe to watch while at work) rating due to language and drug use. Directed by Luke Greenfield, the cast also includes Rob Riggle, Nina Dobrev, James D’Arcy and Andy Garcia.
Let’s Be Cops will open in theaters on August 13, 2014.
The Let’s Be Cops Plot:
It’s the ultimate buddy cop movie except for one thing: they’re not cops. When two struggling pals dress as police officers for a costume party, they become neighborhood sensations. But when these newly-minted “heroes” get tangled in a real life web of mobsters and dirty detectives, they must put their fake badges on the line.
Walt Disney Studios and DreamWorks have announced the release dates of Steven Spielberg’s next two projects. Spielberg will first get behind the camera to direct a Cold War spy thriller before turning his attention to The BFG based on the Roald Dahl book.
The studios have set an October 16, 2015 release date for the Cold War film and a July 1, 2016 release date for The BFG.
Spielberg’s untitled Cold War film will reunite the director with his frequent collaborator Tom Hanks. Spielberg directed Hanks in The Terminal, Catch Me If You Can, and Saving Private Ryan, and the award-winning pair have also worked together as executive producers on projects including Band of Brothers.
In Spielberg’s upcoming film based on a true story, Hanks will play James Donovan, an attorney sent by the CIA on a near-impossible mission to obtain the release of an American U-2 pilot. Matt Charman came up with the original story and the Coen Brothers have drafted the most recent version of the script.
Melissa Mathison (ET) adapted Dahl’s The BFG for the screen. Frank Marshall will produce the film and Michael Siegel and John Madden will executive produce. The book was published in 1982 and was made into an animated TV movie back in 1989. The plot involves “a lovable, dream-hunting giant and Sophie, the little girl who first spots him through the window of the orphanage where she lives.”
“The BFG has enchanted families and their children for more than three decades. We are honored that the Roald Dahl estate has entrusted us with this classic story,” said Spielberg back when the deal was first announced in April 2014.
“We are delighted that Steven Spielberg will bring his inventive genius to directing the story of The BFG and that Roald Dahl’s beloved story and characters will be brought to the screen in 2016 – a year when we will be celebrating 100 years since Roald Dahl’s birth!,” stated the Roald Dahl Literary Estate in the official press release.
Dominic Purcell stars as an aging boxer who has to undertake one final important fight in the dramatic thriller A Fighting Man coming to DVD on June 17, 2014. Written and directed by Damian Lee, A Fighting Man marks the second collaboration between Lee and Purcell, who previously teamed up on the action film Breakout.
In support of A Fighting Man‘s release, Purcell took time out of his busy schedule to discuss preparing for the role, why audiences embrace boxing movies, and his co-stars.
Dominic Purcell A Fighting Man Interview
This is your second time working with director Damian Lee. What is it about him that made you want to collaborate again?
Dominic Purcell: “Intelligence. Damian is a very profoundly intelligent guy. He’s incredibly well-read. I think he has a real profundity about him and that’s always a recipe for potential great storytelling. On top that, we really get on well together. We’re collaborating on a number of projects at the moment. You know, it just made sense to keep working with him.”
Did you know immediately during the first film that this was going to be lasting artistic relationship?
Dominic Purcell: “I suspected so and we got along so well. Damian is a Canadian director who is entrenched in the financial funding bodies in Canada. He gets movies made. He’s not a talker; if he says he’s going to get it done, he gets it done. And that’s always very refreshing to find someone who can actually get stuff done and more so if you actually happen to like the individual.”
Is it the type of relationship where you really felt free on the set to give your own input and know it’s going to be accepted and used?
Dominic Purcell: “Oh, absolutely. I mean, there’s great respect between us. The creative collaboration between us is wonderful. We both speak our minds and he allows me to put my input in and, obviously, he puts his input in and we have great disagreements about things. The best part of the process is coming out with good results.”
Do you enjoy working with a director who’s also the writer?
Dominic Purcell: “Yeah. For me, with a writer/director you get a sense of, ‘Okay, this guy knows exactly what he wants.’ It makes my role as an actor a lot easier because I’m operating within guidelines that I trust.”
But do you ever find that they’re a little more precious with their words? Or have you not encountered that?
Dominic Purcell: “No, I haven’t really encountered that because these guys know that I’m going to be hands-on and I want input into what I’m doing as well, and they’re always very accommodating with that. And Damian is the same. If he thinks things are not working or I think things are not working, we just get rid of it and we come up with something better on the day.”
Was it more physically, emotionally, or mentally challenging to get into this particular character? He’s kind of messed up.
Dominic Purcell: “Yes, he is. It’s a dark movie. I remember the first time coming out of there going, ‘Wow! That’s just so heavy,’ You know scene after scene, beating after beating…that’s just like one sledgehammer after another. Emotionally – it wasn’t really taxing emotionally. Physically, certainly.
I spent months, nine months actually, training for that and then I had to put on close to 30-40 pounds of bulk. That was a nightmare. Then on top of putting on the weight, I had to train. So physically I would say it was much more taxing.”
Is it difficult for you to put on and take off that much weight? Can you gain and lose pretty easily?
Dominic Purcell: “I can lose weight quick and I can put it on pretty quick as well. You know after A Fighting Man because a lot of the bulk I’m carrying is muscle, it took me four months, five months for that muscle to kind of get back to, ‘Okay, I’m starting to look like a normal individual again.’ [Laughing] They called me ‘Neck and Back’ on set because my back blew up, my ass blew up, my thighs blew up. I walk around at a comfortable 185 and for that movie I was 225-230. It was kind of shocking just seeing myself that big and seeing the size of my head. It was like a giant watermelon. When you eat as much food as I was eating, that’s just what happens.”
Boxing’s a popular sport but I have to confess I don’t really enjoy watching men beat each other up. However, I like boxing movies. Why do you think people who don’t like boxing are drawn to boxing movies?
Dominic Purcell: “Well, I think boxing is a metaphor for life. You see the ebbs and flows of a fight, just like we do in life. We’re all fighting to survive and to get ahead in this world, and I think people, on a subconscious level, can relate to what’s going on in the ring with, in a metaphoric sense, with what’s going on in their own lives.
And then there’s the other scientific point of view that we were all at one point cavemen and it’s in our DNA to hunt, kill and gather. Fighting is a very primal instinct and it’s in our DNA to survive.”
You have a boxing background?
Dominic Purcell: “I used to box a lot when I was a kid. I stopped when I was about 13 and then I didn’t take it up until this movie again. So it took a while for me to get back into the swing of things. I spent nine months training and I realized that, ‘Gee, I’ve been out of the game so long I’ve forgotten everything.’ It took me a good six months into training to start feeling comfortable in the ring. You know, getting in the ring with other guys and training with them.
I’ve always been a fight fan. I’ve never stopped watching boxing on TV. I just have never gone back in the ring. But now after this fight I’ve since fallen in love again with it.
You may have noticed Freddie Roach was in the film and he and I have since become good friends and I go to his Wild Card [Boxing Club] a couple times a week, and I just really enjoy the environment of a boxing gym. The best way to describe it for me is the Wild Card is like a giant stag meeting. I mean, what’s more masculine than talking shit with your friends and getting your head punched in? [Laughing] I always come back from training feeling very refreshed and rejuvenated and calm, which is a good thing.”
This is kind of a weird question but you’re a good-looking guy and you’re an actor who makes a living with his face. Aren’t you worried at all about messing that up?
Dominic Purcell: [Laughing] “I wear protective helmets so there’s no chance of me breaking my face. And the guys that I spar with are real boxers and they’re friends so they take it easy on me while they let me pound the crap out of them.”
You’ve got an impressive assortment of co-stars in this film, and in particular, your scenes with James Caan are terrific. Can you talk about working with him?
Dominic Purcell: “Yeah. Jimmy’s such a wonderful guy. I must say I was so honored to…you know, you hear a lot of actors say this when they work with legends, but it truly is an experience working with someone that you’ve seen in so many movies. He was in The Godfather, for God’s sake.
But what I noticed working opposite Jimmy is that he’s so real and raw. When he acts, it’s not acting. It’s just so earthy and grounded. During a couple of times when he and I would work where I actually kind of came out of character and I was watching him as a fan. I had to keep checking myself and remember, ‘You’re in this game as well. You’ve got to start putting your acting helmet on as well.'”
Is there someone you’ve worked with in your career who has really upped your game so much so that you take what you learn from that person and incorporate it in your acting?
Dominic Purcell: “Yeah. Certainly, Jimmy was a guy that I knew I had to be on point and really smart about what I was doing. You know, I’ve worked with legends including Robert De Niro, John Cusack…so when you work with these guys it just elevates you. The intensity, the nerve, the anxiety that builds when you’re about to go on set and work with these individuals just gets your senses so attuned. So that certainly does elevate your abilities, I think.”
Can you say anything about the projects you’re doing in the future with Damian?
Dominic Purcell: “We’re working on a thing called Abraham right now. A father/son profoundly deeper version of Rambo, if you will. My son has suffered Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and he’s involved in a friendly fire incident. His platoon gets wiped out and he’s already on the brink and he just snaps and starts taking out the bureaucracy behind the cover-up in the incident. He goes AWOL, disappears into the forest and starts popping these guys out. I happen to have been an ex-Commando SEAL who trained my son and they ask me to go in and get him. So there’s that moralistic question of, ‘Well, if I go in and get him something may happen,’ and it does set up that whole thing about Abraham and God where God told Abraham to kill his son. So that’s one thing we’re doing together.
I have another thing at the end of the year called I Am America. Not with Damian, with someone else. It’s another deeply repressive, religious-themed film. Well, I wouldn’t say it’s a religious-themed film but it certainly has those elements where I’m playing a radical, right-wing, religious evangelical guy who believes, literally, in the Bible and puts all his beliefs onto his children and his children start rebelling against it and it becomes quite violent. So, yeah, I’ve got two heavy films at the end of the year. I’m about to go off and do a nice genre action piece with Danny Glover and Jason Patric. So things are okay. Things are going well.
I also have a movie coming out called Turkey Shoot, an Australian remake of a film that happened to be Quentin Tarantino’s favorite film. And Quentin, in a very small way, contributed with the financing for this Aussie independent film. I’m excited about that as well.”
Universal Pictures has unveiled this first international poster for the upcoming thriller Dracula Untold starring Luke Evans as the iconic vampire. Coming to theaters on October 17, 2014, Dracula Untold was directed by Gary Shore and stars Evans, Sarah Gadon, Diarmaid Murtagh, Dominic Cooper, and Samantha Barks.
The film is an origin story about the man who became Dracula.
The latest clip from What If finds Daniel Radcliffe being securely placed into the ‘friend zone’ with Zoe Kazan. What If was directed by Michael Dowse and also features Adam Driver, Rafe Spall, Megan Park, Mackenzie Davis, and Oona Chaplin.
What If opens in theaters on August 8, 2014.
The Plot:
What If is the story of medical school dropout Wallace (Daniel Radcliffe), who’s been repeatedly burned by bad relationships. So while everyone around him, including his roommate Allan (Adam Driver) seems to be finding the perfect partner (Mackenzie Davis), Wallace decides to put his love life on hold. It is then that he meets Chantry (Zoe Kazan) an animator who lives with her longtime boyfriend Ben (Rafe Spall). Wallace and Chantry form an instant connection, striking up a close friendship. Still, there is no denying the chemistry between them, leading the pair to wonder, what if the love of your life is actually your best friend?
Those angry birds will take a break from attacking pigs and instead will venture into the world of transforming robots with Angry Birds Transformers. Hasbro and Rovio Entertainment just announced the upcoming Angry Birds Transformers mash-up will be available soon in multiple forms, including a mobile game.
“We’re really excited to combine the iconic Transformers universe with the quirky world of Angry Birds,” said Blanca Juti, Chief Marketing Officer of Rovio. “This mash-up is going to appeal to both those who grew up with the brand in the ’80s, as well as fans of the brand today. People are going to love it!”
“Angry Birds Transformers provides fans worldwide with a fun, new story and characters and innovative ways, like our TELEPODS platform, for consumers to engage with the brand,” said John Frascotti, Chief Marketing Officer at Hasbro. “We’ve collaborated with Rovio to create opportunities for kids and families to experience Autobirds and Deceptihogs across multiple formats and entertainment platforms for a completely immersive branded experience.”
Angry Birds Transformers is just the latest in a line of Angry Bird versions to cross over into the movie world. Rovio’s previously released Angry Birds Star Wars as well as Angry Birds Rio editions.
Mattel and Netflix are teaming up on the animated series Ever After High, a new original series inspired by the Mattel franchise. Netflix is targeting an early 2015 premiere of the 12 episode series aimed at a younger audience. They’ll introduce the new fairytale series with Ever After High Spring Unsprung movie before.
“The engaging and magical storylines of Ever After High make it a great addition to our growing slate of original kids programming,” said Ted Sarandos, Chief Content Officer for Netflix. “Mattel has a track record of making high quality animated programs and we’re excited to extend our relationship, bringing our members the enchanting world of Ever After High.”
“Today’s kids want to watch their favorite characters anywhere and everywhere they are. Netflix is the perfect home for developing and expanding the already enchanting world of Ever After High,” said Michael Riley, Vice President Franchise Development and Content Distribution at Mattel. “We’re excited to be working with Netflix and for the show to be a part of its growing portfolio of original kids programming.”
The Ever After High Plot:
Classic fairytales have been flipped on their crown! Ever After High(TM tells the page-turning story of the teenage sons and daughters of well-known fairytale legends. From Apple White(TM) (daughter of Snow White) to Raven Queen(TM) (daughter of the Evil Queen), Ever After High(TM) features creative, original storylines and characters brought to life in innovative ways.
From entertainment and animated webisodes, to detailed fashion dolls, best-selling books, a mesmerizing interactive music video, spellbinding consumer products, and more these fairytale teens will share their stories of courage and confidence with fans as they discover the story of one’s life is not written in permanent ink.
GKIDS has acquired the North American rights to The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness, the documentary that allows the world a behind the scenes look at Studio Ghibli. Mami Sunada (Death of a Japanese Salesman) directed the film which features acclaimed filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki and provides extraordinary access to the critically acclaimed director and Studio Ghibli.
The Plot:
Granted near-unfettered access to the notoriously insular Studio Ghibli, director Mami Sunada follows the three men who are the lifeblood of Ghibli – the eminent director Hayao Miyazaki, the producer Toshio Suzuki, and the elusive and influential “other director” Isao Takahata – over the course of a year as the studio rushes to complete two films, Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises and Takahata’s The Tale of The Princess Kaguya. The result is a rare “fly on the wall” look at the inner workings of one of the world’s most celebrated animation studios, and an insight into the dreams, passion and singular dedication of these remarkable creators.
Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill graduate from undercover in high school to undercover in college for the 21 Jump Street sequel, 22 Jump Street, now playing in theaters. But aside from the age of the students, the basic set-up from the 2012 comedy remains the same.
Tatum and Hill once again have the bromance thing going on, and the comedy is once again raunchy and R-rated. And, yes, it does leave room for a sequel, or two, or three, or four…
Chatting about the new movie, Tatum discussed the film’s tongue-in-cheek humor, improv, and discovering the funny in specific scenes in this interview courtesy of Columbia Pictures.
The Plot:
After making their way through high school (twice), big changes are in store for officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) when they go deep undercover at a local college. But when Jenko meets a kindred spirit on the football team, and Schmidt infiltrates the bohemian art major scene, they begin to question their partnership. Now they don’t have to just crack the case – they have to figure out if they can have a mature relationship. If these two overgrown adolescents can grow from freshmen into real men, college might be the best thing that ever happened to them.
Maisie Williams and Rory McCann in 'Game of Thrones' season four episode 10 (Photo: Helen Sloan/Courtesy of HBO)
Prior to the start of season four of HBO’s Game of Thrones, Kit Harington told me in our interview (after I confessed that Jon Snow is my favorite character) that season four would feature more deaths, more fighting, and more action scenes than any previous seasons. “It’s the most expensive season we’ve ever done. One episode in particular is massive in scale and scope. And I loved it. It was my favorite season on paper and I can’t wait for people to see it, actually. I’m terribly nervous because it was a big season for Jon Snow,” explained Harington. And now that episode nine has aired, we all know exactly what Harington was so excited about.
With just one final episode left in season four, Harington, writer George R.R. Martin, and director Neil Marshall examine the events of episode nine which found Jon Snow and his fellow members of the Night’s Watch defending the Wall at all costs. The episode featured well-staged fight scenes as well as an incredible 360 crane shot.
The Plot of Season Four’s Finale:
Episode #40: “The Children” (season finale)
Debut: SUNDAY, JUNE 15 (9:00-10:05 p.m.)
Other HBO playdates: June 15 (10:15 p.m., midnight, 1:40 a.m.), 16 (11:15 p.m.), 17 (9:00 p.m., 11:15 p.m.), 18 (12:30 a.m.), 19 (10:00 p.m.), 20 (8:45 p.m.) and 21 (10:15 p.m.)
HBO2 playdate: June 16 (8:30 p.m.)
An unexpected arrival north of the Wall changes circumstances. Dany (Emilia Clarke) is forced to face harsh realities. Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) learns more of his destiny. Tyrion sees the truth of his situation.
Written by David Benioff & D. B. Weiss; directed by Alex Graves.
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