X-Men 3 Online - Articles on X3

[danoyse]

I like Ricky Gervais...but I have to admit, I like the American version of "The Office" better.

[Storm22]

No, hes a pompous prick who's head is shoved so far up his arse that the doctors had to tear him a new one.

He isnt funny, its everyone else around him who's funny. He cant do stand up to save his life and after watching that episode of the simpsons he wrote i felt like getting into a bath of warm water and disemboweling myself.

That is how much i hate ricky gervais :down

He may not be the best stand up comedian but there's no denying "The Office" was great and that's largely due to him! Also "Extras" has some great moments of comedy. I'd hardly call him pompous either but each to their own I suppose.

[Aiden]

I hate Ricky Gervais but love Will Ferrell

[WorthyStevens]

http://img288.imageshack.us/img288/7987/rebecca0ad.png
http://img288.imageshack.us/img288/2290/anna4sh.png
http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/1866/halle7uv.png
http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/3884/famke0ry.png
http://img288.imageshack.us/img288/456/ellen1nf.png

moviefone.com

[narrows101]

For a change of pace -

http://www.gay.com/entertainment/article.html?sernum=1253

[oneteen]

Don't this this has been posted.
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3549/untitled7ty.jpg

[berzerko89]

nice find! ;)

[TNC9852002]

Wait...Extra's having and X-Men exclusive on Monday?! :eek:

-TNC

[Celestio]

No, hes a pompous prick who's head is shoved so far up his arse that the doctors had to tear him a new one.

He isnt funny, its everyone else around him who's funny. He cant do stand up to save his life and after watching that episode of the simpsons he wrote i felt like getting into a bath of warm water and disemboweling myself.

That is how much i hate ricky gervais :down

Agreed, I used to dislike him, but I hate him even more now.

He felt he was too big a star to be given an award by Noel Edmonds. Apparently Noel isn't 'famous enough' to give him an award.

:down:o

[Avalanche]

Agreed, I used to dislike him, but I hate him even more now.

He felt he was too big a star to be given an award by Noel Edmonds. Apparently Noel isn't 'famous enough' to give him an award.

:down:o
Well, Noel annoys me too, but not nearly as much as Ricky. Guess I'm not a fan of him either.

[Celestio]

Well, Noel annoys me too, but not nearly as much as Ricky. Guess I'm not a fan of him either.

Yes but when you're getting an award, you don't complain about who is giving it you. :down

[berzerko89]

anna looks weird in that photo. ;)

[oneteen]

Wait...Extra's having and X-Men exclusive on Monday?! :eek:

-TNC
Yes indeedy. I saw it on a commercial yesterday while Kimmel was on a commercial.

[aaron]

rhymes with fat woman lol

[Aiden]

http://img430.imageshack.us/img430/9269/msn9bq.png

From my MSN 8.0 BETA

[Advanced Dark]

FILM



Hollywood’s gay summer (Gay)
Super bulges, Streep as the ‘Devil’ and high-flying snakes hit the screen

By BRIAN MOYLAN
Friday, May 05, 2006


FOR THOSE WHO just can’t beat the heat, the best place to escape is your local cineplex. The theaters are always cool, the popcorn is fresh and, this year, those Hollywood big budget movies promise to be gay, gay, gay.

The action starts off with a bang — actually a giant wave — on May 12, when "Poseidon," a remake of the camp classic "The Poseidon Adventure" washes onto the big screen. Like the 1972 original, the movie follows a group of passengers trying to escape a capsized cruise ship after it’s been toppled by a wave. In this version, a father (Kurt Russell) and daughter ("Phantom of the Opera’s" Emmy Rossum) are joined by a suicidal gay man (Richard Dreyfuss), among others.

"The Da Vinci Code" has been burning up the bestseller list forever, and now it’s time for the movie version to crack the code to success on May 19. Along for the ride is gay actor Ian McKellen who plays British historian Sir Leigh Teabing.

The following week, on May 26, McKellen makes his third appearance in the "X-Men" movie franchise in "X-Men: The Last Stand," which also features gay favorites Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry as super-powered do-gooders. Joining up with the team is Kelsey Grammar (TV’s Frasier Crane) as the furry Beast, but left out is gay director Bryan Singer, who helmed the first two installments. Taking over is Brett Ratner.

SINGER LEFT TO start production on "Superman Returns" which is trying to re-launch the franchise into the cinematic stratosphere with sexy newcomer Brandon Routh as the hero and Kevin Spacey as villain Lex Luthor. The gay buzz on this film took off earlier this year when rumors starting flying that studio execs were worried that Routh’s super bulge in his tights was too big and distracting.

Taking flight June 30, the movie picks up where past Superman movies have left off and has the Man of Steel returning to Metropolis after five years in the vast reaches of space.

The same weekend, Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway (whose hair stole the show in "Brokeback Mountain") star as a *****y fashion editor and her cowed assistant in "The Devil Wears Prada," the go-to movie for evil queens that skewers the oh-so-fabulous Vogue editor Anna Wintour.

On June 28, the much-delayed big-screen version of "Strangers With Candy" finally comes out. Based on the 2001 Comedy Central series that’s like an after school special gone awry, Amy Sedaris plays Jerry Blank and Stephen Colbert plays her not-very-closeted teacher. Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick also have cameos.

Also in June, Lily Tomlin and Lindsay Lohan are part of an ensemble cast in Robert Altman’s "A Prairie Home Companion" on June 9. On June 2, "Best in Show’s" John Michael Higgins takes on the tired role of the girl’s best gay friend in the Jennifer Aniston/Vince Vaughn romantic comedy "The Break Up." Let’s hope the rest of the movie isn’t as formulaic.

EVERYONE CAN
take a breather in July, when the only big gay release is Sundance darling "Little Miss Sunshine." This story about a wacky clan racing the titular character cross country to enter a beauty pageant features a suicidal gay academic with a Proust fixation (Steve Carell) along for the ride on July 28.

August’s big comedy, "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" has NASCAR in its sights on Aug. 4. Will Ferrell plays Bobby, the king of the pro racing circuit, who is about to lose his crown to upstart gay French driver Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen, who plays gay Bruno and others on HBO’s "Da Ali G Show").

The same day Sundance’s other darling "Quinceañera," about coming of age and gay gentrification in a Latino Los Angeles neighborhood, comes out. Gay director Wash Westmoreland hasn’t gotten this much attention since he directed gay porn classics like "The Hole."

Aug. 18’s much buzzed about "Snakes on a Plane" not only features gay flight attendants, but also sexy Bobby Canavale, the veteran of several gay roles and gay-themed productions.

Gay "Tales of the City" novelist Armistead Maupin got his old friend Robin Williams to star in the adaptation of his novel "The Night Listener," arriving in theaters Aug. 18, about a radio host who forms a friendship with a young AIDS patient (Rory Culkin) who may or may not have been abused by his birth parents.

AS USUAL, THERE ARE a bunch of smaller gay-themed movies that may or may not make it to a theater near you or may be coming out at different dates.

May brings lesbian actress Cynthia Nixon as a grieving mother in the comedy "One Last Thing."

Gay film festival favorite and Reel Affirmations selection "The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green" gets a wider release in June, appropriately enough.

Who knows whether the title of Spanish "Queens" refers to the gay grooms-to-be in this comedy or their five mothers. This marriage flick is appropriately walking down the aisle in June.

All those who are into a good sports story will love "The Heart of the Game," a documentary about a girl’s basketball team and its star player, who has a hard time getting it together on the court.

While July is short on big gay movies, it’s surely going to have plenty of small ones. "Poster Boy," about a gay activist’s romance with a conservative senator’s son, "The House of Adam," where a gay man with a closeted cop lover clashes with rural religious fanatics, "Time to Leave," a ‘50s-style melodrama about a dying gay man and "The Bridesmaid," a woman who makes her lovers sleep with members of the same sex before sleeping with her, all premiere that month.

Interesting take on things. LOL

[WorthyStevens]

What is your most anticipated movie of the summer?

23.5% Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
23.0% X-Men: The Last Stand
17.2% Da Vinci Code
14.7% Superman Returns
5.1% Mission: Impossible III
3.8% Cars
3.8% Snakes on a Plane
3.4% Other
2.7% Miami Vice
2.2% Poseidon
0.6% The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

3,018 users polled.


http://boxofficemojo.com/polls/?page=viewpoll&id=333&p=.htm

[Aiden]

Cool news. Beaten by 0.5%

[Celestial]

New interview with Patrick Stewart at Empireonline (http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=18710).
He talks about the possibility of X4.

[Emma718]

^ good interview :)

[LEX]

“When it comes to it you can never say it’s the last because a lot of it is about economic drive. The first two films were among the most successful films ever, if the third would continues that theme, I would imagine there’s a strong possibility that within a short while a fourth one might be in the planning.”


:up:

[narrows101]

Poor Hugh!

http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/sho-sunday-movies07.html

'X-Men: The Last Stand' (May 26)

They're back -- Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman, Ian McKellen and Rebecca Romijn as mutant misfit superheroes. In this installment, they find a cure that will make them normal, but is normal really that good of an idea when there is all that trouble in the world that needs fixing? Original director Bryan Singer has defected to direct "Superman," so "Rush Hour" helmer Brett Ratner takes over.


Inside scoop: The first two films were so successful a third was a given, although producers are quick to say the title doesn't mean this is the last of the films. "I could honestly see it going on forever," says Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman, who insists it was just another day at the office. "You put on the fur, look at yourself in the mirror and feel your powers." The only bad part? "Wearing the harness for some of the stunts where we're in the air just kills your privates," he says.


Looking forward to: Kelsey Grammer abandons his head case Frasier to become Beast, a guy with blue skin and an attitude.

[narrows101]

http://comics.ign.com/articles/705/705361p1.html

Top Ten X-Babes
Counting down the lovely ladies who wear X and little else.

May 5, 2006 - It's X-Men month at IGN Comics, in honor of the upcoming release of X-Men: The Last Stand. It also happens to be E3 next week. Yes, the biggest videogame convention of the year runs smack dab through our celebration of all things X. For those not in the know, the governing body of E3 has sworn to crack down on the ever-popular booth babes. For this reason, we decided to give you some cheesecake for the weekend. You may see fewer booth babes in IGN's E3 coverage, but at least you can imagine the ten finest ladies of X if they were to be showcasing games.

There were plenty of lovely ladies to choose from. It wasn't all about looks. Personality counts, no really. Check our picks and then tell us your top ten (http://comics.ign.com/email.html). Who knows, we may post your superior selection for all the world to enjoy.

[Storm22]

Dunno if this has been posted....

http://www.totalfilm.com/features/tf_gets_insider_info_on_x-men_3

TF gets insider info on X-Men 3
John Bruno, visual effects supervisor on X3, tells TF what it's really like working with Brett Ratner
04 May 2006 4:00pm


It’s not long after 9am and as the Friday traffic slips past a busy coffee shop in LA, totalfilm.com strains to hear the man who gave Wolverine his claws. John Bruno, visual effects supervisor, shouldn’t really be here but frankly, he’s just too nice. Taking time out from working on the final shots of X-Men: The Last Stand to suck back a latte and give us the juice from the set of a flick that can only be described as ‘anxiously anticipated.’ So, is he pleased that by talking to us he can pinch a quick break?

“I don’t mind.” See, too nice. “Today’s just so important, the international version is done today, no matter what.” He says with a mixed look of relief and pride.

No stranger to the blockbuster, Bruno’s colourful career kicked off as an animation supervisor on Poltergeist in 1982. Since then, he’s cashed cheques for his contributions on Ghostbusters, Batman Returns, Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Alien Vs Predator. However, Bruno admits that various chops and changes at the helm of X3 - franchise director Bryan Singer departed for Superman Returns, Layer Cake lenser Matthew Vaughn then jumped ship after only a few weeks before the studio signed up Rush Hour helmer Brett Ratner, much to the fanboys disgust - ate through precious production time meaning the production was certainly a one-off experience.

“I had to write a thesis on the visual effects for this movie, can you believe that?” Bruno throws his arms wide. “I’ve never had to do that before but with so little time, I couldn’t show the producers anything so I had to tell them what I was going to do. That’s not normally part of the job description but we’re never normally this rushed.”

Bruno boarded the project last April and was surprised to hear he only had a year to turn it all around.

“It would have been much harder if we’d had to start from scratch but obviously we used the first films as a reference for what we wanted to do and we spoke with the writers to see how the characters would be influenced in this movie.”

A few weeks into pre-production and the effects team were sweating over the lycra-tight timeframe, “I really wasn’t sure we’d physically be able to do it, that was quite daunting,” he admits. “The first approach was to try to do as much in-camera as possible and don’t reinvent the wheel. Mystique was done by the group that had worked on the character in the previous movies, we had new characters but we tried to maintain the parity between all three films – they had to look like they were done by the same people and nothing could be shockingly different.”

At the point of signing to the project there was no script, just a basic outline but even that was incomplete. “What we did have was the bridge sequence, so I started with that.” The bridge sequence being the stunning shots that dominate the closing scenes of the X3 trailer, all snapping cables and falling cars. “We had a 60 ft long section in miniature that I think was the first part and we shot that in-camera at the proper time of day.” John says, checking off the sequences in his memory.

“Then we built the rest on the computer and then we built a full-size mock-up of the Golden Gate Bridge - 200 ft long, 100ft wide - and shot it at night but it was meant to be dusk, sunset. So they brought in a bunch of airport landing lights to fake the sun and we shot it in the rain.” Quite something then? “Oh yes. When you see it, it looks stunning, you won’t be able to tell it’s not real. We also built Alcatraz prison yard with a full section of bridge and another full section with people and cars all over it.”

In an era when real stunts and set pieces are enjoying a resurgence over CGI, director Brett Ratner was keen to film as much of the action as possible, turning to computer wizardry only when completely necessary.

“Brett wanted to do as much in-camera as possible and as a result, it’s pretty spectacular and satisfying for someone in my role. So when you see Angel flying, that is done on location and we just animated wings onto him. There’s this spectacular sequence where he jumps out of a window and he’s a hundred feet in the air, it’s the real actor. Halle Berry was shot in the same way. Halle did all her own action and so did Hugh Jackman.”

Drawing him onto the subject of Ratner’s controversial appointment, Bruno is blatantly honest in his initial concerns. “Everybody says this guy is really demanding but Brett was a whole lot of fun,” he says with a smile. “In the beginning he said to me ‘look, I don’t know a lot about special effects, you do so I’m going to concentrate on personalities and characters.’ He always wanted to make sure that the visual effects are extensions of the character, which is exactly what we did.”

The helmer's generous spirit filtered through the project and Bruno recalls how a painful night-shoot was made all the more enjoyable by a certain Brit thesp.

“We were on an evening shoot on the Alcatraz set and Brett was talking through the standard director instructions, ‘Something’s happening to the left, okay now look right…’ then Ian McKellan said, ‘Do you mind if I do that?’ So he took the script and read two pages of description. It was like he was standing there reading Shakespeare, it was fantastic. Here we all were, three in the morning, frozen solid and everybody was just mesmerised by Ian reading this description! It was so good, we had him do it again just for laughs. It’ll probably end up on the DVD.”

After he’s finished his coffee, John Bruno heads back to the lot to watch as the final pieces of the X-Men 3 jigsaw are slotted into place. He seems very calm considering the movie opens in less than a month. “It’s right to the wire,” he says. “But I’ve seen almost all the movie twice now and trust me, it’s pretty spectacular.”

We do trust him, he bought the coffee. What a nice guy.

[TNC9852002]

Dammit...Why didn't he say anything about the running time if he's seen almost the whole movie twice?.. :mad:

:p

-TNC

[Storm22]

What caught my attention was...

...the international version is done today, no matter what.

Does he mean it's finished editing wise or FX wise or both? Hmmm.

[narrows101]

http://movies.msn.com/movies/dishdiva/x3?GT1=7701

"X" Marks the Spot

Dish Diva visits the Vancouver, B.C., set of "X-Men: The Last Stand"

By Taylor Johnson
MSN Movies
May 4, 2006

One sunny day in Los Angeles, I got a call beckoning me to visit the set of "X-Men: The Last Stand," which was shooting in Vancouver, B.C. The voicemail said to bring warm clothing. The warmest clothing I had on me was my security blanket: a cashmere sweater. I met our cameraperson in Vancouver, where it was cold -- the kind of cold that would keep even a diehard skier off the slopes at Whistler, B.C. I assumed we would shoot indoors and therefore would be fine without a scarf, coat, hat or gloves. Wrong. Our call time was 11p.m. and we expected to wrap at 4 a.m.

At midnight, I found myself standing on a slippery wet mountain. Buckled asphalt with twisted metal and wrecked cars surrounded me. It was zero degrees, and I was with the cast and crew of "X-Men: The Last Stand" on a giant set outside watching our breath freeze in midair. To my right, Famke Janssen (in blinding red hair as Jean Grey) was about to begin her violent scene. Her dog, Licorice, was at her feet in a warm coat made by Janssen herself. Nearby, director Brett Ratner ("Red Dragon," "Rush Hour") watched with delighted glee as the planned fireballs exploded.

Over a cup of hot cranberry cider, I talked with Hugh Jackman, who was just heading in to get his hair and makeup done. Maybe it was the freezing winds blowing or maybe it was Jackman's blinding-white teeth reflecting the twinkling lights from Halle Berry's trailer, but, yes, Jackman is as dreamy as he seems on screen.

Being a believer in the theory that seeing is better than hearing about the stars, watch our behind-the-scenes on-set interviews with Jackman, Janssen and Ratner and get an insider's look at the upcoming "X-Men: The Last Stand." Then later this month, visit MSN Movies for our exclusive video interviews with the cast when we catch up with them in a sunny and warm exotic top secret location.

[flavio_lebeau]

is this interview new? please tell me, because i saw it in the cover of a Brazilian newspaper...there's also a Hugh Jackman one, so if its a new article i might translate it.



39 years old, Halle Berry doesnt hide the anxiety of seeing her character onscreen once again. The actress, who has diabetes type 2 and gets envolved in works to ensoul society about the disease and get founds to research, is single at the moment and says that she would love to have a family. This interview was given in her apartment in New York, in a gap between the filming of her new movie with Bruce Willis.

What's Storm's role in this film and how much development will we see on the character this time?
I have a more evident role, but i would be exaggerating if i said the movie concentrates on Storm. Its still a movie about X-men and with a huge cast. There are plenty of new characters. Storm appears more on screen and with more meaning, because she has an identified point of view. She has an opinion and you can understand who she really is. Before, when she expressed, she used to sound empty and ambiguous. Now you understand who she is and where she comes from.

So who is she, what kind of woman is Storm?
I think Storm is a really strong woman who has ethics, moral and fibre. She's a warrior who fights for what she believes, she says what she thinks, even if it doesnt represent the point of the majority. She ends up facing Wolverine, which is very impressing.

What were your challenges on this movie?
I felt very bad for many days, because i had to spin a lot and i found out that my digestive system isnt all that great.

Why do you believe there is so much excitement over the X-men movies?
Everybody can relate to the film's subject. Everybody has felt a little isolated and will always feel so in some way, i think. It doesnt matter if you are white or black or pink, you can relate to that. Everybody has been judged unfairly, epecially for things that are out of your control. To me, as a woman and as a woman of colour, i can understand deep inside what it is like. So, i think this brought me an approximation to people.

As an Oscar winner and one of the most respected actress of the world, is it still easy to identify with common people?
Well, you know what? Everyday i wake up with my dark skin - and it doesnt matter how much money i have, how many movies i make, how many awards i have in my shelf, everyday i have a clear conscience that i am a woman of colour, and there is still some discrimination. This doesnt change. Any money in this world will. What changes is the conscience of people, but have we got there? I dont think we live in a society where racism simply doesnt exist. But i think it is possible for things to get a step ahead. I believe that, someday, colour and race wont make a diference. I hope im here to live this.

what is your criteria to choose roles nowadays, and do you feel a responsability of making films that at the same time inspire and bring fun?
i really feel a responsability in a larger scale, but i also have a lot of conscience that i have a responsability with myself. Everytime i make a movie, i take a new risk and i face the challenge.

[WorthyStevens]

http://joblo.com/index.php?id=11290

LOTS OF X3 TV SPOTS

by Omar Aviles

There have been a ton of TV spots released for X-MEN: THE LAST STAND recently and, fortunately for us, they've all turned up on YouTube (how did the world cope before YouTube?) (via The Movie Blog) They do have some SPOILER material so if you'd like to remain virginal on all things X3 then you probably shouldn't click HERE, HERE, HERE or HERE. Let me just say, however, that they are worth getting ever so slightly spoiled because they kick unholy ass. But wait, there's more. Famke Janssen recently stopped by "Jimmy Kimmel" and showed a short clip, which you can find over HERE and a Portuguese game show, for some inexplicable reason, recently premiered a clip of Angel trying to be "cured" by his father. Check that out over HERE (the clip is in the first few minutes - the rest is Portuguese people doing wacky things). The SPOILER alert applies to the latter two clips as well. X3 opens May 26th.

[flavio_lebeau]

they keep saying its a Portuguese show :rolleyes:

[Retroman]

Work has started on the X3 dvd.

Groove Tracks Heard On Film Marketing Materials

What do Cinderella Man, The Island, The Chronicles of Narnia, , Hostile and Saw II have in common? Their trailers feature tracks from Groove Addicts' trailer scoring series tracks. Selections from both Full Tilt and Trailer Tools are heating up the trailer world. And Groove Addicts Production Music tracks are heard on blockbuster trailers for Memoirs of a Geisha, (Mind Benders) and Yours Mine and Ours (Ignite.)
Movies aren't the only genre getting the Groove. A track from Full Tilt was featured on Fantastic Four's recent internet campaign. Groove Addicts placed selections from the Audio Network library on the X Men 3 DVD plus an ABC Fall Lineup promotional campaign highlighting hot shows.
Source:http://grooveaddicts.com/newsletter/

[Iceman]

Retro - how do you find all this stuff?

:up:

[LEX]

Retro - how do you find all this stuff?

:up:
It's Retro. Retro knows all.

[Retroman]

Retro - how do you find all this stuff?

:up:
I borrowed cerebro. This explains why it's not appearing in the Last Stand;)

[LEX]

But I thought Cerebro is only for tracking/killing mutants and humans. :p

[Retroman]

But I thought Cerebro is only for tracking/killing mutants and humans. :p
I altered it with the help of some 'brothers'.:o

[YAVANNA]

I found this in my post today, what do you think?

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c292/ramcibella/X-Men/Cosas%20Varias%20Para%20Postear/post.jpg

[TNC9852002]

Yeah, I got an e-mail like that too..

-TNC

[narrows101]

http://movies.go.com/jeannewolf?columnid=829985

The Buzz
By Jeanne Wolf

Wolverine Gets Frisky … Ouch!

I'm here to tell you that when Wolverine gets up close and personal with a fellow female mutant (you don't really expect me to reveal who it is, do you?) in X-Men: The Last Stand, his claws don't get in the way or spoil the passion. But they sure come in handy during the rest of the film, when Wolverine and other mutants discover that a cure may make them all human. As they struggle with the possibility of losing their unique powers, mutant leaders Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) face off in a war to end all wars.

What this means for Wolverine is that he gets smacked around by just about every baddie, from Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones) to Dark Phoenix (Famke Janssen). The man behind the fur, Hugh Jackman, reveals that he's sort of gotten used to fighting back with 9-inch claws.

"It's easier than the first film, when I nicked a few people," he says. "Now, when I swipe past someone's face, it's all done with CGI because I guess nobody trusts me. They didn't want to risk the rest of their cast. Actually, this time you'll see less slicing and dicing and more mano-a-mano fighting, which was brilliantly choreographed. I liked the change of pace, except for all those hours I had to spend in the gym training."

Jackman cheerfully admits that his first appearance as Wolverine five years ago gave him a chance to claw his way to the top. "I was a bum from Australia," he kids. "I was nobody, and I was way too tall for the role. But I was cheap, I mean, what can you say? It worked out so well. I never would have made it to Broadway to win a Tony for The Man From Oz without that career boost from X-Men."

Hugh Jackman, X-MEN: The Last Stand, Twentieth Century Fox Jackman still remembers the defining moment: when he realized he was going to be an X-Men action figure. "I went to Toys 'R' Us to get it myself, because part of the fun is buying your own action figure," he says. "I think the scary thing is that nowadays, they really resemble you. At least, that's the way I felt when I saw the Wolverine doll. Sometimes I look at it and it scares me for another reason, because I know what I did with action figures as a kid. I'd make them do the splits, rip their heads off, swap their arms and shove them in the freezer. I just hope there's not any kids sticking pins into Wolverine."

Jackman, who's currently negotiating a big-screen X-Men spinoff with Wolverine as the star, grins at the thought that he might be wearing those claws for a long time. "I'll certainly need a lot more makeup," he says. "Right now, I get away with an hour and a half, but give me a few years, and I'll need practically a whole day, like Mystique."

[WorthyStevens]

7 min. X3 preview

May 11, 2006
Omar Aviles

Not sure why Dell is suddenly getting an exclusive seven minute preview of X-MEN: THE LAST STAND but at midnight tonight, they'll be premiering the brand-spanking new footage. Let's hope to God that no one says "Dude, you're getting a Dell!" and if they do, let's hope they're talking to Wolverine when they say it so that when they say "Dude, you're get…", Wolverine sends three razor sharp adamantium claws through their gut and says "No, I'm not." Click on "Wheels" below to check out the site and make sure to go back at midnight to see seven minutes of X3 goodness. X3 opens May 26th.

http://joblo.com/index.php?id=11315

[Celestial]

The tv screen in Xavier's office has the Dell logo.

[WorthyStevens]

moviefone.com

X3 is Moviefone's top requested movie:

http://img78.imageshack.us/img78/562/moviefone9aa.jpg

[narrows101]

http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/0605/11/index.htm

COMING FRIDAY X-Men: The Last Stand press event in New York City -- and much more!!!

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND UPDATE

Patrick Stewart, who returns as Professor Xavier in X-Men: The Last Stand, said the third film is the most ambitious of the three.

"This film is richer from start to finish," Stewart said. "It''ll get you worked up -- and it should! It has an intriguing hook that gets you involved immediately and emotionally with the characters."

In other X-Men: The Last Stand notes:

* Vinnie Jones on playing Juggernaut: "Juggernaut is a mercenary, a fighting machine. He's a member of the Brotherhood but doesn't necessarily share Magneto's intense interest in abolishing the cure. He just lives for battles."

* Fox has released its digital press kit to The Continuum, including numerous new photos. Click on the thumbnails below for larger images.

The image above shows Brotherhood members Juggernaut (Vinnie Jones), Kid Omega (Ken Leung), Magneto (Ian McKellen), Multiple Man (Eric Dane), Callisto (Dania Ramirez), Pyro (Aaron Standford), Arclight (Omahyra) and Jean Grey (Famke Janssen).

[narrows101]

http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_8674.html

Xmen 3 The Last Stand : A Detailed Look

[LMason]

Great Halle Berry interview
http://www.blackfilm.com/20060505/features/halleberry2.shtml

[narrows101]

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/philly/entertainment/gossip/14588917.htm?source=rss&channel=philly_gossip

X-tra, X-tra, read all about it!
There are so many people in "X-Men: The Last Stand," the nuggets from press day last week keep a comin'.


• Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) said "The Last Stand" gag reel is one of the funniest he's ever seen.


"If you ever see the gag reel, which, actually, you will never see, Kelsey [Grammer, who plays Beast] figures very prominently in it as does Ian McKellen [Magneto]. But there's some stuff that would pretty much ruin the franchise if it ever got out there."

[Storm22]

It's SO annoying the way they don't put the gag reel on the DVDs!!:rolleyes:

[Aiden]

Hugh-"Haha, James is screwed once again!!!"

Cut to James crying in corner

:(

[LMason]

McKellen's Kevin and Bean interview
http://www.ianmckellen.org/060502kb.mp3

[WorthyStevens]

It's not an article... but I found it online nonetheless. :D

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/310/myspace2rv.jpg

[irishmike]

Not sure if this has been posted already...

X-Men 3 may not be the Last Stand, hints Berry:

http://www.eecho.ie/news/bstory.asp?j=225993624&p=zz5994496&n=225994502

[DarknessOfDeath]

whats gets me is this... one source says that halle is done with x-men, hugh said "this is the last one of the trilogy", Famke said this is it for her...

when... other sources say ... well read the article above^^^

I don't get it... one source is always saying the opposite of what the other source is saying. it bugs me and makes me want to believe it...and part of me doesn't.

[narrows101]

whats gets me is this... one source says that halle is done with x-men, hugh said "this is the last one of the trilogy", Famke said this is it for her...

when... other sources say ... well read the article above^^^

I don't get it... one source is always saying the opposite of what the other source is saying. it bugs me and makes me want to believe it...and part of me doesn't.
It's probably because they never tell you the whole conversation and everything is taken out of context. Hugh said it was the last "of the trilogy" and others just said it's "the last one" - maybe they do mean "the trilogy" but just leave that part out. Time will tell.

[DarknessOfDeath]

Famke said she would like to come back... but meh... I'm keeping my hopes down. Still, I'd like to see her in a future x-men movie...X-men5? eh... Madelyne Pryor :o

[LMason]

Ian is blogging from Cannes
http://www.mckellan.com/cinema/davinci/journal/index.htm

[Advanced Dark]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/columns/grove.jsp

May 17, 2006


Missing one-two punch from 'X3,' 'Da Vinci,' 'Hedge'

By Martin A. Grove

Powerful prelude: Although the one-two pre-summer punch Hollywood was hoping for didn't materialize with "M: I 3" and "Poseidon," there's one on the boxoffice horizon now with Friday's (19) "The Da Vinci Code" and "Over the Hedge" and Memorial Day weekend's "X-Men: The Last Stand."

Sony's "Code," fueled by superstar Tom Hanks, Oscar winning director Ron Howard and the global controversy over Dan Brown's book about what may or may not have happened in the early days of Christianity, opens Friday (19) and, according to insiders, "is tracking through the roof." DreamWorks and Paramount's "Hedge," also opening Friday, has a dependable core audience in families who flock to computer animated movies. 20th Century Fox and Marvel Enterprises' "X3" will be driven by its comic book roots and two earlier blockbuster episodes. Moreover, it arrives in theaters May 26, the Friday leading into Memorial Day weekend. Together they should make the second half of May a powerful prelude to the summer.

In particular, thanks to its Memorial Day weekend opening Fox's "X3" looms as the boxoffice heavyweight Hollywood's been hoping for. It's the only wide May release that's on a holiday weekend launch pad, a factor that typically makes a big difference in grossing potential. The kind of numbers it takes to impress Hollywood's media and Wall Street observers these days generally aren't generated on non-holiday pre-summer opening weekends (although insiders are expecting hefty grosses this weekend from "Da Vinci").

"X3" looks like it has everything it takes to muster muscular ticket sales. It's a franchise with comic book origins and unlike "M:I 3" it's following closely enough on the heels of its series' second episode -- which opened May 2, 2003 to $86.5 million. "X2" went on to do nearly $215 million domestically and about $191.5 million abroad or nearly $406.5 million worldwide.

Directed by Brett Ratner, "X3" was produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter, who produced the first two episodes together, and was written by Simon Kinberg ("Mr. and Mrs. Smith") & Zak Penn ("X2: X-Men United"). It was executive produced by Marvel Studios chairman and CEO Avi Arad, Marvel Comics chairman emeritus Stan Lee, Marvel Studios production president Kevin Feige and John Palmero, who's partnered with "X-Men" star Hugh Jackman in Seed Productions.

Back on board for "X3" are the first two installments' stars -- Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Halle Berry (Storm), Ian McKellen (Magneto), Patrick Stewart (Xavier), Famke Janssen (Jean Grey), Anna Paquin (Rogue), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique), James Marsden (Cyclops) and Shawn Ashmore (Iceman). Returning from "X2" are Aaron Stanford (Pyro) and Daniel Cudmore (Colossus). The new film's cast also includes Kelsey Grammer as a mutant geneticist who after experimenting on himself sprouts blue fur (Beast).

To focus on the making of "X3" I was happy to catch up with co-screenwriter Simon Kinberg, who I spoke to here last summer about his first produced screenplay, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." Written while he was still in film school at Columbia University, Kinberg pitched that project unsuccessfully all over Hollywood. He finally sold it to the foreign sales company Summit Entertainment through whom New Regency Pictures then became involved in producing it for release via Fox. Directed by Doug Liman ("The Bourne Identity"), "Smith" wound up starring the super-hot Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who came aboard after Nicole Kidman dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. After opening last June 10 to $50.3 million, it went on to gross over $186 million domestically and nearly $292 million internationally for a global cume of over $478 million.

"We were all very blessed," Kinberg said about "Smith's" success. "People really responded to the movie and a lot of us are working together again and are hoping for the same kind of success."

What effect did "Smith" working so well have on Kinberg's career? "It does things on different levels," he replied. "Emotionally as a writer -- because most of us writers are fairly insecure neurotic people -- it certainly makes you just a tiny bit less insecure. Especially because 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' was an original script and an original concept that pretty much every studio had passed on at least once, there was a level of validation that came with the commercial success of the movie. And professionally it certainly put me in a different place in terms of the hierarchy of the Hollywood studio system. People, I guess, believed I could write a movie that would appeal to a broad audience. And before 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' I'd really never written a movie that had been produced, let alone one that had been produced and found success in the world. So it put me in a different place professionally."

Asked how he became involved in writing the third film in the "X-Men" franchise, Kinberg explained, "I came on to 'X3' in September or October of 2004. When Bryan Singer left the movie to work on 'Superman Returns' he took his writers with him so there was no director and no writer and no script for 'X3.' The studio called me because we had worked together on 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' and we'd (also) worked together on 'Fantastic Four' (directed by Tim Story and starring Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis and Julian McMahon). I'd worked with the Marvel guys and with 20th Century Fox on 'Fantastic Four' and we'd just finished that movie. They called me once Bryan left and asked if I had interest in writing 'X3.'

"Marvel -- Avi Arad and Kevin Feige -- knew that I had interest (in the franchise) because, actually, in the first meeting I ever had with Marvel about four or five years ago when I was still in film school they asked me what my dream project would be and I told them that my dream of all dreams would be to write an 'X-Men' movie. They called me and said, 'I think we're going to make your dreams come true.' So I came on to the movie in the fall of 2004 and shockingly nine months later we were shooting the film."

The speed at which things moved didn't really surprise him: "When I came on to the movie I knew they would happen quickly because the studio had put a flag down in the summer of 2006 for the release of the movie. I don't know if at the time they knew it was going to be Memorial Day weekend, but they certainly knew that it was going to be the summer of 2006. Very quickly, as happens with these summer movies, they found what they thought was the best date for the film." It's a good indication of "X3's" perceived strength that no other studio is going up against it with a wide opening.

Clearly, there were some big differences between "X3" and "Smith." "It was very different in a number of ways," he noted. "It's different tonally. Obviously, 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' is a more comedic and a little more hyper real movie than 'X-Men' despite the fact that 'X-Men' has mutants with superpowers and 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' has real people. Mr. and Mrs. Smith operate on a slightly hyper-real, at the very least, plane whereas (with) 'X-Men' the tone that Bryan Singer created for this franchise is a very realistic tone, a very grounded tone. So that's different. And, obviously, 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' is a two-hander. There are two characters in the movie. There are some supporting players, but almost every single scene has Brad in it or Angie in it versus 'X-Men' where you have 12 to 15 real substantive characters you need to service over the span of a two hour story. And to me the big challenge of writing an 'X-Men' movie was servicing all those characters and servicing all those separate subplots and not losing any of the strands."

Looking back at the writing process, he told me, "What I did first was I worked with the studio and with Marvel on crafting a take for the movie. We all knew that this was going to be the Dark Phoenix story because Bryan set it up at the end of 'X2.' It also happens to be my favorite of the 'X-Men' runs in the comic book history. So I was especially excited to deal with the Dark Phoenix saga. It's the story of Jean Grey, Famke Janssen's character, coming back from the dead imbued with far greater powers than she'd ever had -- and powers that she, herself, cannot control. And it's really about her friends the X-Men -- essentially, her family -- having to come to terms with the fact that their oldest, dearest friend may not be what she once was and having to deal with the potential that she may be evil.

"So what you have that I've never really seen in a superhero movie before is one of your heroes coming back as a potential villain. It was unique when it was created in the comic book 20 or 30 years ago and I do think it remains unique in terms of movie franchises now. In the comic book Jean Grey comes back as this intergalactic, planet destroying creature. And, obviously, the tone and the universe that Bryan created in the franchise doesn't really allow for intergalactic, interplanetary warfare. It's a very human and earthbound franchise. So the challenge was finding a way to articulate the Phoenix saga in this realistic context."

As things worked out, Kinberg co-wrote the film with Zak Penn, whose credits include "X2," "Behind Enemy Lines" and "Last Action Hero," his first script that he sold at the age of 23. "What ended up happening, which was certainly a unique process for me and one that turned out to be pretty wonderful, was that while I was writing my first draft the studio decided (to hire an additional writer) because the movie was really hurdling toward production," Kinberg said. "What they and a lot of other studios do now with their big movies, especially when they have a release date (they must meet), is hire a writer to write simultaneously a separate draft of the movie.

"They hired Zak to write a different draft of 'X3,' the idea being that they would eventually combine what they would determine to be the best aspects of both scripts into one script. They'd done that on 'Fantastic Four.' I know that a lot of other studios have done that, especially with their sequels. When you have an established franchise with established characters and an established tone you can get different writers to write separate screenplays and you can conceivably combine them because they're working on the same template."

Things, however, worked out quite differently with "X3." "What happened in this case was that Zak and I contacted each other," he said, "and sat down to meet, saying, 'Instead of actually writing two separate drafts why don't we see if our sensibilities and our writing styles are similar enough or complimentary enough to, literally, work together?' And inside of the first five minutes of meeting Zak I knew that would be the best way to proceed (because) our sensibilities are so similar when it comes to this universe and this particular Phoenix story. And also because he's an incredibly collaborative guy and I just thought it would be a whole lot of fun to work with, essentially, a writing partner, which I'd never done before. So we did.

"Because the movie was moving so quickly, it was only advantageous to have a partner to write faster (and) that is what happened. Zak and I really co-wrote the screenplay. Our credit on the film is not the word 'and,' but an ampersand like a writing team. And the thing that in addition to the idea of taking on a writing partner that was unique for a movie of this scope when it comes to a sequel and a precious franchise to a studio was that we would really be the only writers on the movie. (With) most of these big summer tentpoles that are coming out, when you look at the title page of the script there are eight, 10 or 12 writers. And that was certainly true of a couple other movies I worked on. But on this movie it was really Zak and I."

The fact that Kinberg and Penn were there from start to finish, he added, is something he believes "really helped the movie. Matthew Vaughn was the first director hired to direct 'X3' (after Singer left). He worked on the movie for a couple of months. He worked closely with Zak and I on the script and then he left the movie for personal reasons. And then Brett Ratner was hired. Really, I think the best continuity in the process was Zak and me because we lost one director and another director came on a month and a half before shooting started. So I think we were pretty valuable in terms of having a shorthand and a fluency with the script that a director who hadn't been able to live with it as long as we had could (not yet have)."

As for how working with a writing partnered differed from working solo, Kinberg observed, "I found all the way that it's different (and) more advantageous in the sense that I had a sounding board that I never had before. The way that Zak and I worked was that we would outline every scene together. Then we'd split the scenes up and we'd go off and write on our own. Then we would trade scenes and revise or discuss each other's scenes and just keep going with that process. We would constantly be writing or rewriting each other, so much so that I can't tell you who wrote what piece of dialogue in the film. So having a sounding board was unique and also having an ally in development, preproduction and production is valuable for a writer. Usually the writer is in some ways the last voice heard and when you have somebody standing next to you you're just a little bit louder."

Did they work face to face or by e-mail? "We worked both (ways)," he replied. "When we were in production I would say we worked more by e-mail because one of us would be up in Vancouver a lot of the time and one would be here in Los Angeles. We tried to maintain a fairly constant presence on the set (with) one of us or the other, which we managed to do."

When I mentioned to him that Lauren Shuler Donner had told me about how they shot for six weeks at night in terrible freezing rain in Vancouver, Kinberg agreed, "That was pretty brutal. I have to say I think I suffered that a little more than Zak did. There was about a month to a month and a half of shooting outdoors nights (for) the finale of the movie. It's huge in scope -- a massive battle sequence -- and needed a month and a half of shooting. And stupidly we had set it outdoors at night. When you write in a script EXT. ALCATRAZ - NIGHT you don't feel the pain of the rain. And then suddenly when you're out there and it's night and it's Vancouver in November, you're hating yourself for not having written DAY. I suffered through that. I suffered many colds. It was pretty brutal.

"But the truth of this movie is, and Lauren alluded to it, that the people who were making the movie from top to bottom -- from the movie stars, the director, the producers down to the people who had worked on the first two movies, whether it be craft service or the gaffers -- are so enamored of this franchise that, truly, there's so little if any ego on the set of this movie. Despite the freezing rain, despite the long nights, despite the difficulty of the shoot, it was a real pleasure to come to every day."

Kinberg emphasized that he's found on movie sets that the way people behave is influenced from the top down: "And Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Ian McKellen, Famke Janssen, Patrick Stewart -- they're just really good people, genuinely. And there is a summer camp vibe to making these movies. It feels very egalitarian and very enthusiastic. And Bret brought a lot of that (to the film), too. One of the many things that Bret brings to a movie is boundless energy and enthusiasm. And even when we were shooting 14 hours in the rain, Bret was never complaining. Bret was never looking for a way out. He really was soldiering through and he was really leading through example with that enthusiasm and with that energy that's really infectious."

I asked him about whether writing a movie that from the get-go is meant to be a big high profile project affects how he works and whether he rejects ideas as not being big enough for such a big scale film. "No, actually," he replied. "I tend to find my problem is that I come up with ideas that are physically and practically too big and that I have to scale down, partly because I grew up watching these kind of movies and grew up on comic books. In comic books it costs nothing -- just a little bit of extra ink -- to move the Golden Gate Bridge. In a movie, it's millions and millions of dollars. So I tend to dream and write pretty big, but I approach it not from that side. I approach it from the smaller side. I approach it from the side of character.

"One of the things that really appealed to me about writing 'X3,' which was (also) the thing that always enthralled me about writing 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith,' is that it's a very character driven movie. 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' was really just about a marriage in crisis -- executed through bullets and bombs and car chases. But at the core of it it was really about two people trying to make their marriage work. And really the only conversation we ever had with Brad and Angie and Doug Liman was, 'How is every scene in this movie, whether they be in a car chase or a conversation, servicing the marriage?'"

In "X3," he went on, "as in the first two movies (in the franchise) we really focused on character. I'm very proud to say there are a surprising number of sit-down dramatic dialogue scenes in this big superhero summer movie. So we really approached the film from the standpoint of, 'What do these characters want? How do we continue and complete the relationships that are set up in the first two movies? And what is emotionally at stake in the film?' One of the reasons why the Dark Phoenix story was so rich in the comic and, I hope, close to as rich in the film is how complicated emotionally the story is for the characters -- how complicated it is to have to deal with a friend of yours losing control (and) how difficult the decision is to keep trying or give up on someone you love.

"We really approached the Phoenix story from that standpoint -- from the standpoint of, 'What if you had a friend who was losing themselves to drugs or losing themselves to any addiction or losing themselves to insanity?' In this case, it manifests as losing herself to superpowers, but the metaphor of that is rich and could be expressed in a lot of different ways. One of the things that Bryan did brilliantly in the first two movies and that we absolutely tried to do in this film was use mutancy as a metaphor for just being different. Whether that be being gay or Jewish or black or female or whatever it is, that metaphor is one of the reasons why the comic book had such a broad audience and why the films have as well."

The other plotline in "X3," Kinberg added, "is about a 'cure' for mutancy. Obviously, that is very loaded politically. If you think about people still thinking that there could be a cure for homosexuality. That was a metaphor we were conscious of as we were writing the script and as we were shooting the movie. And I think it's one of the reasons that a lot of the actors in the film were excited by the script. They saw that it could be politically charged. It could say things about the world rather than just be a movie that blows things up in the middle of the summer."

continued...

[Advanced Dark]

...continued from last post...

When I talk to directors about directing, I told Kinberg, I typically ask them about the greatest challenges they faced during production. Reworking that question to ask about the challenges screenwriters face, Kinberg commented, "Not the freezing rain! I think the biggest challenge for writers working in the studio system is to both protect what they think is precious in their script and be open enough to compromise and negotiate their vision of the movie. Because at the end of the day, the screenwriter is not the final author of the film. It is a tricky negotiation to both fight valiantly to the death sometimes for the things you know are necessary to make the movie good and be able to let go of the things that you may love, but are not necessary or critical to the film.

"And knowing the things that are the lifeblood of the movie and the things that are just your favorite little darlings is tough. Having that critical perspective is in some ways the biggest challenge of being a screenwriter. I've been lucky to be able to be on the sets of movies I've written, which is very lucky. But even so, I'm still not the final author of that scene. So part of the challenge for a screenwriter is caring about what you write deeply and desperately and yet also being open to compromise and collaboration. It's a very different challenge than being a novelist or even being a journalist, to some extent."

Another key challenge to him as a writer, he noted, "is that with every movie I think I learn how to be a better listener. I think it's really critical for screenwriters to be good listeners because usually the actors understand the characters as well if not better than you do as a writer because they actually have to inhabit those characters. They really are seeing the movie from that character's point of view. When I write I try to see every scene from every character's point of view, but I'm not living in the shoes of that character in the same way that an actor is. One thing that I've found in being around sets is the more I spend time with actors (and) the more I talk with the actors about the characters, the richer the characters become. That is a different process than sitting in my pajamas at home in the middle of the night writing the script. It's a much more interactive process.

"I think I became a writer because the interactivity is something that I'm not quite as good at as (I am at) sitting in my pajamas in the middle of the night writing. So learning the craft of collaboration has been a challenge and has been very rewarding for me. When I look at 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' I can see Brad and Angie and Vince Vaughn's input in every single scene. There are so many wonderful little moments in that movie that are things that we either discovered in rehearsal or in discussion or literally the actors just created the day of shooting. And it creates a greater texture for the movie. I'm very proud of the script of that film, but I'm prouder of the movie because I think the movie has more texture in it than the screenplay did. And I think that has everything to do with the actors and with Doug Liman."

Kinberg and Liman, by the way, are continuing their successful collaboration. "I'm starting a movie with Doug Liman in about a month and a half," he said. "It's called 'Jumper.' I'm producing it and am in the process of rewriting it. It is to superhero movies what 'Bourne Identity' was to the James Bond movies. It is a superhero movie about a teenage boy who discovers he has the power to teleport. But it in a sense deconstructs a lot of the rules and the cliches of superhero movies. Doug is someone who, I think, loves working in genre films, but only because he likes to unravel a genre. He likes finding the humanity inside the genre and playing with all of the conceits in the constructs. So this is really just a movie that's a coming of age film about a boy in an abusive home who has to learn to deal with his past and grow up. But it's told with the metaphor of this crazy superpower.

"I find it very exciting to work with Doug because he is someone who is so tireless with challenging genres in a way that I think James Cameron did and still does. Doug is a very different kind of director. Doug is really all about, 'What is the human story that I can tell on this massive stage?' He, as much as anyone I've ever worked with, really pushes me to think through character (and) to say, 'What is this movie about fundamentally and emotionally? And now let's find a way to express that with huge visuals and big action sequences, but let's make sure that the visuals and action sequences are simply expressing that human story. So 'Jumper' is this story about a kid who can teleport and yet we never talk much about the action sequences and the superpower. We really talk about, 'Emotionally, where is this kid at any point in the story?' We're going to shoot that in a couple months and the plan is for it to come out next summer (from) New Regency, which produced 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith.' 20th Century Fox is distributing it."

Filmmaker flashbacks: From July 10, 1987's column: "If Paramount were an air force academy, producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer would be the school's top guns. Their four blockbusters since 1983 have grossed over $632 million domestically for the 75 year old studio, leaving no doubt that they would easily be voted its most valuable filmmaking players.

"Simpson and Bruckheimer's current hit, 'Beverly Hills Cop II'_is a safe bet to be this summer's and probably 1987's top grossing film_'The only thing we can attribute our success to is our love of movies,' Simpson told me earlier this week. 'The truth of the matter is that Jerry and I make movies that we personally want to see. We never try and second-guess the audience. We never try and take into consideration time period -- be it summer or Christmas or fall or February_'

"Simpson and Bruckheimer agree that Paramount is a special place under chairman Frank Mancuso and his team of key players -- including motion picture group president Ned Tanen, production president Dawn Steel, distribution and marketing president Barry London and worldwide marketing president Sid Ganis.

"'For us it's been a very creative atmosphere to work in and to make the kinds of pictures we like to make,' observes Bruckheimer. 'They're certainly big fans of total entertainment, which is what we do. It makes our life very easy here. And they certainly are very supportive of the concepts we come up with and the kind of films we make. They're supportive all the way through the filmmaking process.'"

Update: "Beverly Hills Cop II" wound up grossing $153.7 million domestically, which made it the top film of the summer of 1987 and the year's third biggest movie.

[N_z0]

Sorry to take this snippet from your post Advanced, but this just made me LOL:

RE: DVC

according to insiders, "is tracking through the roof."

I'm pretty sure I also heard an insider say this about KingKong before it's release. :)

[DarknessOfDeath]

Cool. interesting read.

[Advanced Dark]

DVC will have a solid opening weekend but not 75 million like box office sites might suggest. No way. Over the Hedge will take many of the adults away with their kids. It's not a Holiday weekend where there's as much time to see both. If DVC code makes 60 million they should feel lucky.

[MattC]

Interview with Chris Claremont:
http://www.thexverse.com/interviews/404.shtml

[Axl Rose]

Not sure if this has been posted already...

X-Men 3 may not be the Last Stand, hints Berry:

http://www.eecho.ie/news/bstory.asp?j=225993624&p=zz5994496&n=225994502

Awesome :up:

[narrows101]

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1531992/05172006/story.jhtml?rsspartner=rssYahooNewscrawler

http://filmjournal.com/filmjournal/features/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002502856&imw=Y&imw=Y

[LMason]

McKellen's Kevin and Bean interview
http://www.ianmckellen.org/060502kb.mp3

I only gave you the 2nd part. Here's the 1st part: mms://kroq.wmod.llnwd.net/a168/o1/kbaudio/sir_ian_mckellen_1.asf

[LMason]

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/64006.htm

LADIES WHO PUNCH
SURE, THEY'RE GORGEOUS, BUT THE X-WOMEN TAKE GIRL POWER SERIOUSLY

May 21, 2006 -- Women and comic books have not, historically, been the best of friends.
That could have something to do with the fact that most mainstream female comics characters are relegated to the dual role of faithful girlfriend and kidnapping victim.

Not so with the "X-Men" movies, which have always come out about even in the male-female mutant superhero ratio.

But the trilogy's final chapter, "X-Men: The Last Stand" goes even further, buffing up its existing female characters and throwing in a handful of new bad-ass babes.

And the actresses behind the mutant makeup couldn't be happier about that.

"It's so exceptional to have an equal amount of strong, interesting women's parts," says Famke Janssen, who plays the telepathic Dr. Jean Gray in all three films. "In Hollywood in general, but especially in the genre of comic-book movies."

Janssen's character leaps to the top of the superhero power structure in this film, surpassing even her mentor, Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and his nemesis, the metal-melding Magneto (Ian McKellan).



Making a major comeback from the last film (considering that at the end of that one, she died), Jean Gray is resurrected as the Phoenix, an incomprehensibly powerful mutant who is guided not by her human impulses but by her deity-like will to dominate.

"In terms of powerful women, I guess you can't get more powerful than that!" says Janssen, who shares a long-awaited steamy scene with Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) when she first arrives back at Xavier's School for Gifted Children.

"He loves her, he has a little bit of a weakness for her," says Jackman, whose character is forcefully seduced by Jean's dark side. "It's a little too freaky for him, ultimately - but my guess is Wolverine kind of likes the backscratching."

Wolverine may have his hands full with the Phoenix, but she's only one of many wildly dangerous women in "X3."

Halle Berry - whose starring role in "Catwoman," though critically shredded, makes her the only actress to play two female superheroes in recent memory - reprises her role as Storm, the white-haired mutant who can control the weather.

This time around, Berry twice takes on another slinky female mutant, Callisto (Dania Ramirez) in knock-down, drag-out street fights. And getting physical, says the actress, may be her favorite part of the job.

"I love that part of making the movies - the action, the combat, the fighting," she says. "I was a gymnast when I was younger, so it allows me to do all those things I loved as a kid."

Berry even did her own stunt work on a shot that sees her character spinning into the air like a top, doing 25 revolutions in only a few seconds. Though Berry had to pop Dramamine to pull it off, she stuck to her guns: "Nobody's going to believe Halle did it," says director Brett Ratner, "but she did."

Reprising her role as Rogue, the mutant with the toxic touch, Anna Paquin says her character is faced with the toughest choice of her life: whether or not to take the "cure," a shot that purports to change mutants into regular humans.

"It might be ideal to say 'No, stay strong, be yourself,' but it's so easy for someone who's not suffering to say that," she observes. "And I think that's something that happens a lot - someone who's not affected preaching their ideals to someone else."

"I think the idea of the cure crystallizes what ["X3"] is all about," adds Jackman. "If you had the chance to change whatever it is about you that makes life difficult, would you take it?"

But Rogue doesn't just sit in the corner agonizing over her decision, Paquin is quick to point out - she's out on the battlefield alongside Wolverine, Storm and co.

"I think it's really awesome to show women in that light, fighting alongside the men and being just as tough; being able to take a good beating and deliver one," she says.

Anyone who's seen "Hard Candy" will know that actress Ellen Page has no problem playing tough (in that film, her teenage character feigns innocence to trap and torture a pedophile). As mutant Kitty Pryde, Page has the power to walk through walls - as well as to distract Rogue's boyfriend, Iceman (Shawn Ashmore).

Then there's Mystique (Rebecca Romijn), the vengeful shape-shifter held captive by the government, which foolishly believes it can build prisons strong enough to keep her and her leader, Magneto, apart.

Joining Magneto's band of rebel mutants are several streetwise women (all wear head-to-toe black leather). They include Arclight (Omahyra), who has the power to create a shockwave with a clap of her hands, and Storm's adversary Callisto, who possesses superhuman senses and speed.

The charms of the X-Women were not lost on newcomer Ben Foster; the "Six Feet Under" actor joins the cast as Warren Worthington III, a tormented young man who becomes the flying mutant Angel.

Surrounded by so many beautiful, ferocious female characters, his reaction was a simple one, he says:

"Girls kick ass!"

[Advanced Dark]

Boston Globe on X3:

http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2006/05/21/brett_ratner_brings_his_energy_to_the_x_men_saga/

Page 1:

Brett Ratner brings his energy to the 'X-Men' saga

By Christopher Wallenberg, Globe Correspondent | May 21, 2006
NEW YORK -- Brett Ratner, director of ''X-Men: The Last Stand," may have a well-chronicled reputation as a ladies' man, including a budding friendship with a certain Hollywood starlet who's a fixture in the gossip rags, but it seems there's only one woman the 37-year-old, cherub-faced party boy will drop everything for: his mom.

When Ratner's cellphone rings during a Manhattan press event for the latest ''X-Men" movie, he doesn't hesitate to answer it -- even if he's surrounded by a handful of journalists with tape recorders in hand.
''Mom, I'm doing an interview right now. . . . I've got to go. . . . I love you. . . . Call me later." He closes the phone. ''Sorry about that," he says to the amused throng, who clearly get a kick out of the exchange and want to know if Ratner's mom always phones while he's working.
''Oh, all the time. My mom calls me 10 times a day. . . . I can't escape [her]," he says, with a loving smile.
Today, we're seeing the soft side of Ratner, a guy who seems to generate as much ink for his romantic escapades as he does for his films. Ratner has dated a bevy of famous beauties, including tennis star Serena Williams and Romanian model Alina Puscau, his reported current girlfriend.
Of course, on this day Ratner declines to discuss his love life or the Page Six rumors concerning Lindsay Lohan (Ratner maintains they're ''just friends"). He's here to talk about ''The Last Stand," which opens Friday.
For a man with his reputation, Ratner isn't what you'd expect in person. Short and stocky, and sporting de rigueur facial scruff and a Hollywood tan, the sharp-dressed director is a whirlwind. Chewing ice and fidgeting in his seat, he is affable and easygoing, if a bit distracted, as he talks about taking over one of the industry's signature superhero franchises.
Although he created the wildly popular ''Rush Hour" films starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, Ratner faced several considerable challenges when he signed on to direct the climactic final installment of ''X-Men." First, he was taking the reins from original''X-Men" director Bryan Singer, who left in 2004 to helm ''Superman" (a film that Ratner had previously been slated to direct). Most dauntingly, Ratner was grabbing the wheel in midstream, just eight weeks before production was set to commence. Yet he says that things went smoothly and that he wasn't concerned about putting his own stamp on the series.
'' did a brilliant job of establishing the tone of the first two," Ratner says. ''So I wanted to keep it consistent, to make a movie that fit into the trilogy, so that there was a symmetry. . . . My focus was on the emotional arcs of these characters."Continued... (http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2006/05/21/brett_ratner_brings_his_energy_to_the_x_men_saga?p age=2)

What most attracted Ratner was the chance to tackle the comic's ''Dark Phoenix" saga, in which the split personality of a reborn Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) emerges, unleashing her psychic powers in a devastating manner. There was also Zak Penn and Simon Kinberg's metaphor-rich story, in which a ''cure" for mutancy is developed, sparking anger within the mutant population.
Although the central metaphor of ''X-Men" -- mutants as society's minorities -- had been explored in the first two installments, the theme perhaps resonates most provocatively in ''The Last Stand."
''All these people who have been outcasts and rejects from humanity for their entire lives, they now have a choice," says Aaron Stanford, the Westford native who plays bad-boy flame thrower Pyro. ''They can either remain unique as themselves -- and persecuted. Or they can take this cure and they can fit in with everybody else but essentially lose who they are."
While both Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen), a Holocaust survivor, adamantly oppose the cure, otherX-Men aren't sure where they stand. Those include furry, blue-hued newcomer Beast (Kelsey Grammer), a favorite of fans of the comics, as well as Rogue (Anna Paquin), whose ability to absorb other mutants' powers make her a danger to anyone she touches.
''Here's a young girl who will never be able to have children, kiss somebody, hold hands with somebody, touch a child. So it's completely understandable that she might want to be free of [her powers]," explains Hugh Jackman (Wolverine).
While the themes and character developments in the script had the cast excited about ''Last Stand," many were apprehensive about losing Singer. Yet the actors seem to agree that Ratner was a great choice to continue the series, and they laud him for bringing passion and a tireless work ethic to the set.
''He's a massive, frenetic bundle of energy. I've never seen anything like it," says Stanford. ''During these long nights of shooting, everyone would start to lose steam. So Brett would leap out from behind the camera and start turning on dance tunes and demand that everyone dance the jig with him, or something equally ridiculous."
Ratner says that his relentless energy stems from a hunger to make movies and to succeed at what he's doing. ''I want to win," he says. ''But I also love what I do. . . . And if you love what you do, who wouldn't have the energy and the passion for it? It's the only thing I know how to do."
Ratner's passion was first sparked as an 8-year-old growing up in Miami Beach when he began making short home movies. By 16, he had enrolled in New York University's film school, where he made the short ''Whatever Happened to Mason Reese," about the former child actor, earning him awards and some money from Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. After college, Ratner showed the film to record label honcho Russell Simmons, who helped launch Ratner's career as a music video director. When he was only 26, his first feature film, ''Money Talks," starring Tucker and Charlie Sheen, became an unexpected hit. He went on to create the ''Rush Hour" franchise and direct a handful of features, including the 2002 ''Silence of the Lambs" prequel, ''Red Dragon."
With a career that's been more notable for its flashy action flicks than art-house projects, Ratner acknowledges the catcalls from some quarters that he's good at managing big-budget spectacles but is far from a visionary auteur. He seems to take the criticism in stride, however.
''There are very few filmmakers in the world who can do a movie like ['X-Men'] -- maybe only a handful. So while I have it in me to make these big movies, I'm going to do it. . . . I want to reach as many people as possible, especially if it's a movie that has a message and that people really care about. That's why I make movies -- to tell stories. And there's no better feeling than having people line up outside the theater for your movie."
As for his ladies' man reputation, Ratner admits to his fondness for the fairer sex. ''I appreciate women. But my focus is my work," he says. ''I'm a serious filmmaker. I think, eat, sleep, breathe, and dream film every day. And the people who I work with know it. So whatever is [written] in the tabloids, you can't really take seriously. That's not the real me."http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/File-Based_Image_Resource/dingbat_story_end_icon.gif
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.


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Page 2:

Brett Ratner brings his energy to the 'X-Men' saga
By Christopher Wallenberg, Globe Correspondent |
May 21, 2006

NEW YORK -- Brett Ratner, director of ''X-Men: The Last Stand," may have a well-chronicled reputation as a ladies' man, including a budding friendship with a certain Hollywood starlet who's a fixture in the gossip rags, but it seems there's only one woman the 37-year-old, cherub-faced party boy will drop everything for: his mom.

When Ratner's cellphone rings during a Manhattan press event for the latest ''X-Men" movie, he doesn't hesitate to answer it -- even if he's surrounded by a handful of journalists with tape recorders in hand.

''Mom, I'm doing an interview right now. . . . I've got to go. . . . I love you. . . . Call me later." He closes the phone. ''Sorry about that," he says to the amused throng, who clearly get a kick out of the exchange and want to know if Ratner's mom always phones while he's working.

''Oh, all the time. My mom calls me 10 times a day. . . . I can't escape [her]," he says, with a loving smile.

Today, we're seeing the soft side of Ratner, a guy who seems to generate as much ink for his romantic escapades as he does for his films. Ratner has dated a bevy of famous beauties, including tennis star Serena Williams and Romanian model Alina Puscau, his reported current girlfriend.

Of course, on this day Ratner declines to discuss his love life or the Page Six rumors concerning Lindsay Lohan (Ratner maintains they're ''just friends"). He's here to talk about ''The Last Stand," which opens Friday.

For a man with his reputation, Ratner isn't what you'd expect in person. Short and stocky, and sporting de rigueur facial scruff and a Hollywood tan, the sharp-dressed director is a whirlwind. Chewing ice and fidgeting in his seat, he is affable and easygoing, if a bit distracted, as he talks about taking over one of the industry's signature superhero franchises.

Although he created the wildly popular ''Rush Hour" films starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, Ratner faced several considerable challenges when he signed on to direct the climactic final installment of ''X-Men." First, he was taking the reins from original''X-Men" director Bryan Singer, who left in 2004 to helm ''Superman" (a film that Ratner had previously been slated to direct). Most dauntingly, Ratner was grabbing the wheel in midstream, just eight weeks before production was set to commence. Yet he says that things went smoothly and that he wasn't concerned about putting his own stamp on the series.

''[Bryan] did a brilliant job of establishing the tone of the first two," Ratner says. ''So I wanted to keep it consistent, to make a movie that fit into the trilogy, so that there was a symmetry. . . . My focus was on the emotional arcs of these characters."

Page 2 of 2 --What most attracted Ratner was the chance to tackle the comic's ''Dark Phoenix" saga, in which the split personality of a reborn Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) emerges, unleashing her psychic powers in a devastating manner. There was also Zak Penn and Simon Kinberg's metaphor-rich story, in which a ''cure" for mutancy is developed, sparking anger within the mutant population.

Although the central metaphor of ''X-Men" -- mutants as society's minorities -- had been explored in the first two installments, the theme perhaps resonates most provocatively in ''The Last Stand."

''All these people who have been outcasts and rejects from humanity for their entire lives, they now have a choice," says Aaron Stanford, the Westford native who plays bad-boy flame thrower Pyro. ''They can either remain unique as themselves -- and persecuted. Or they can take this cure and they can fit in with everybody else but essentially lose who they are."

While both Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen), a Holocaust survivor, adamantly oppose the cure, otherX-Men aren't sure where they stand. Those include furry, blue-hued newcomer Beast (Kelsey Grammer), a favorite of fans of the comics, as well as Rogue (Anna Paquin), whose ability to absorb other mutants' powers make her a danger to anyone she touches.

''Here's a young girl who will never be able to have children, kiss somebody, hold hands with somebody, touch a child. So it's completely understandable that she might want to be free of [her powers]," explains Hugh Jackman (Wolverine).

While the themes and character developments in the script had the cast excited about ''Last Stand," many were apprehensive about losing Singer. Yet the actors seem to agree that Ratner was a great choice to continue the series, and they laud him for bringing passion and a tireless work ethic to the set.

''He's a massive, frenetic bundle of energy. I've never seen anything like it," says Stanford. ''During these long nights of shooting, everyone would start to lose steam. So Brett would leap out from behind the camera and start turning on dance tunes and demand that everyone dance the jig with him, or something equally ridiculous."

Ratner says that his relentless energy stems from a hunger to make movies and to succeed at what he's doing. ''I want to win," he says. ''But I also love what I do. . . . And if you love what you do, who wouldn't have the energy and the passion for it? It's the only thing I know how to do."

Ratner's passion was first sparked as an 8-year-old growing up in Miami Beach when he began making short home movies. By 16, he had enrolled in New York University's film school, where he made the short ''Whatever Happened to Mason Reese," about the former child actor, earning him awards and some money from Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. After college, Ratner showed the film to record label honcho Russell Simmons, who helped launch Ratner's career as a music video director. When he was only 26, his first feature film, ''Money Talks," starring Tucker and Charlie Sheen, became an unexpected hit. He went on to create the ''Rush Hour" franchise and direct a handful of features, including the 2002 ''Silence of the Lambs" prequel, ''Red Dragon."

With a career that's been more notable for its flashy action flicks than art-house projects, Ratner acknowledges the catcalls from some quarters that he's good at managing big-budget spectacles but is far from a visionary auteur. He seems to take the criticism in stride, however.

''There are very few filmmakers in the world who can do a movie like ['X-Men'] -- maybe only a handful. So while I have it in me to make these big movies, I'm going to do it. . . . I want to reach as many people as possible, especially if it's a movie that has a message and that people really care about. That's why I make movies -- to tell stories. And there's no better feeling than having people line up outside the theater for your movie."

As for his ladies' man reputation, Ratner admits to his fondness for the fairer sex. ''I appreciate women. But my focus is my work," he says. ''I'm a serious filmmaker. I think, eat, sleep, breathe, and dream film every day. And the people who I work with know it. So whatever is [written] in the tabloids, you can't really take seriously. That's not the real me."

© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.

[narrows101]

http://www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print.php?url=http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/64008.htm

THE AMBIGUOUSLY POLITICAL MUTANTS

By SARA STEWART
May 21, 2006 -- When is a mutant not just a mutant? Pretty much since the beginning of the X-Men comics series, back in 1963.

"The original comic books were a corollary of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.," says Hugh Jackman, who plays Logan/Wolverine in the film trilogy.

In early "X-Men" comics, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, Professor Charles Xavier's idealism bore similarities to King's, while Magneto's militant mutant-power vision was akin to that of Malcolm X, the black-power activist.

Since then, there have been countless social metaphors attributed to the comic series that depicts mutants discriminated against by humans. Anti-mutant prejudice has been interpreted as racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, even McCarthy-era anti-communism.

In "X-Men: The Last Stand," most of those comparisons hold up, underscored by the introduction of a government-sponsored vaccine that saps mutants of their powers - the point being to make them "normal" members of society.

"There's nothing to cure," says Halle Berry's character, Storm, in the film. "There's nothing wrong with any of us."

The relevance to real-world issues is not lost on the "X-Men" actors, who've all spent time considering the various interpretations of the mutant struggle.

"I think it's never been more necessary," says Patrick Stewart, who plays Xavier. "We seem to be going through a period in which intolerance - often cleverly disguised as something else - is becoming once more very prevalent.

"And it's terrific," he continues, "to see a big blockbuster studio movie that isn't just sidelining these issues, but that they lie at the center of every major scene in this movie."

"We all think about it," says Berry. "Ian McKellan is very vocal about his homosexuality. I'm African-American, so I'm the voice of that position.

Hugh, coming from Australia, is a foreigner. We all have things that are our 'mutations' in life, that make us not as accepted."

"What if you had a child who was born deaf, and you had the technology to cure it - would you give it to your child?" says Jackman. "I probably would. But many deaf people would say, 'We're proud to be deaf.'"

"I'm sure everyone has a different take on it," Famke Janssen (Jean Gray) says. "I would hope we could all celebrate our differences. But obviously that's much easier for me to say than someone who might have a . . ."
"Might not be so hot," James Marsden (Cyclops) interjects, with a laugh.

[narrows101]

http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2006/05/21/brett_ratner_brings_his_energy_to_the_x_men_saga/

Brett Ratner brings his energy to the 'X-Men' saga

By Christopher Wallenberg, Globe Correspondent | May 21, 2006
NEW YORK -- Brett Ratner, director of ''X-Men: The Last Stand," may have a well-chronicled reputation as a ladies' man, including a budding friendship with a certain Hollywood starlet who's a fixture in the gossip rags, but it seems there's only one woman the 37-year-old, cherub-faced party boy will drop everything for: his mom.

When Ratner's cellphone rings during a Manhattan press event for the latest ''X-Men" movie, he doesn't hesitate to answer it -- even if he's surrounded by a handful of journalists with tape recorders in hand.

''Mom, I'm doing an interview right now. . . . I've got to go. . . . I love you. . . . Call me later." He closes the phone. ''Sorry about that," he says to the amused throng, who clearly get a kick out of the exchange and want to know if Ratner's mom always phones while he's working.

''Oh, all the time. My mom calls me 10 times a day. . . . I can't escape [her]," he says, with a loving smile.

Today, we're seeing the soft side of Ratner, a guy who seems to generate as much ink for his romantic escapades as he does for his films. Ratner has dated a bevy of famous beauties, including tennis star Serena Williams and Romanian model Alina Puscau, his reported current girlfriend.

Of course, on this day Ratner declines to discuss his love life or the Page Six rumors concerning Lindsay Lohan (Ratner maintains they're ''just friends"). He's here to talk about ''The Last Stand," which opens Friday.

For a man with his reputation, Ratner isn't what you'd expect in person. Short and stocky, and sporting de rigueur facial scruff and a Hollywood tan, the sharp-dressed director is a whirlwind. Chewing ice and fidgeting in his seat, he is affable and easygoing, if a bit distracted, as he talks about taking over one of the industry's signature superhero franchises.

Although he created the wildly popular ''Rush Hour" films starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, Ratner faced several considerable challenges when he signed on to direct the climactic final installment of ''X-Men." First, he was taking the reins from original''X-Men" director Bryan Singer, who left in 2004 to helm ''Superman" (a film that Ratner had previously been slated to direct). Most dauntingly, Ratner was grabbing the wheel in midstream, just eight weeks before production was set to commence. Yet he says that things went smoothly and that he wasn't concerned about putting his own stamp on the series.

''[Bryan] did a brilliant job of establishing the tone of the first two," Ratner says. ''So I wanted to keep it consistent, to make a movie that fit into the trilogy, so that there was a symmetry. . . . My focus was on the emotional arcs of these characters."

What most attracted Ratner was the chance to tackle the comic's ''Dark Phoenix" saga, in which the split personality of a reborn Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) emerges, unleashing her psychic powers in a devastating manner. There was also Zak Penn and Simon Kinberg's metaphor-rich story, in which a ''cure" for mutancy is developed, sparking anger within the mutant population.

Although the central metaphor of ''X-Men" -- mutants as society's minorities -- had been explored in the first two installments, the theme perhaps resonates most provocatively in ''The Last Stand."

''All these people who have been outcasts and rejects from humanity for their entire lives, they now have a choice," says Aaron Stanford, the Westford native who plays bad-boy flame thrower Pyro. ''They can either remain unique as themselves -- and persecuted. Or they can take this cure and they can fit in with everybody else but essentially lose who they are."

While both Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen), a Holocaust survivor, adamantly oppose the cure, otherX-Men aren't sure where they stand. Those include furry, blue-hued newcomer Beast (Kelsey Grammer), a favorite of fans of the comics, as well as Rogue (Anna Paquin), whose ability to absorb other mutants' powers make her a danger to anyone she touches.

''Here's a young girl who will never be able to have children, kiss somebody, hold hands with somebody, touch a child. So it's completely understandable that she might want to be free of [her powers]," explains Hugh Jackman (Wolverine).

While the themes and character developments in the script had the cast excited about ''Last Stand," many were apprehensive about losing Singer. Yet the actors seem to agree that Ratner was a great choice to continue the series, and they laud him for bringing passion and a tireless work ethic to the set.

''He's a massive, frenetic bundle of energy. I've never seen anything like it," says Stanford. ''During these long nights of shooting, everyone would start to lose steam. So Brett would leap out from behind the camera and start turning on dance tunes and demand that everyone dance the jig with him, or something equally ridiculous."

Ratner says that his relentless energy stems from a hunger to make movies and to succeed at what he's doing. ''I want to win," he says. ''But I also love what I do. . . . And if you love what you do, who wouldn't have the energy and the passion for it? It's the only thing I know how to do."

Ratner's passion was first sparked as an 8-year-old growing up in Miami Beach when he began making short home movies. By 16, he had enrolled in New York University's film school, where he made the short ''Whatever Happened to Mason Reese," about the former child actor, earning him awards and some money from Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment.

After college, Ratner showed the film to record label honcho Russell Simmons, who helped launch Ratner's career as a music video director. When he was only 26, his first feature film, ''Money Talks," starring Tucker and Charlie Sheen, became an unexpected hit. He went on to create the ''Rush Hour" franchise and direct a handful of features, including the 2002 ''Silence of the Lambs" prequel, ''Red Dragon."

With a career that's been more notable for its flashy action flicks than art-house projects, Ratner acknowledges the catcalls from some quarters that he's good at managing big-budget spectacles but is far from a visionary auteur. He seems to take the criticism in stride, however.

''There are very few filmmakers in the world who can do a movie like ['X-Men'] -- maybe only a handful. So while I have it in me to make these big movies, I'm going to do it. . . . I want to reach as many people as possible, especially if it's a movie that has a message and that people really care about. That's why I make movies -- to tell stories. And there's no better feeling than having people line up outside the theater for your movie."

As for his ladies' man reputation, Ratner admits to his fondness for the fairer sex. ''I appreciate women. But my focus is my work," he says. ''I'm a serious filmmaker. I think, eat, sleep, breathe, and dream film every day. And the people who I work with know it. So whatever is [written] in the tabloids, you can't really take seriously. That's not the real me."

[narrows101]

Are they quoting anyone from here? :)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/14623269.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_entertainment

Nerds seek revenge before it even opens
BY RENE RODRIGUEZ

Forget movie critics. There may be no more unforgiving, opinionated and passionate film audience than the one in cyberspace -- the fans, the obsessives and the self-proclaimed geeks who hang out in Internet discussion forums commenting on every casting decision, every script rewrite and every shred of pre-release advertising material for movies that haven't even been made yet.

And X-Men: The Last Stand -- the third installment in the acclaimed mutant-superhero franchise, which opens Friday -- has come under closer scrutiny than most. As anyone familiar with the comic books will happily tell you, this is not just another X-Men movie. This is the story of the resuscitation of telepath Jean Grey (played by Famke Janssen), who died at the end of the second X-Men film, and her transformation into Dark Phoenix, a mutant so powerful she is capable of destroying entire planets.

Originally published in the 1980s, the Dark Phoenix saga is one of the most revered story arcs in comic book history -- a complex, operatic and ultimately tragic tale that had long-reaching repercussions in the X-Men universe. To say that the anticipation for the movie is high does not begin to describe it.

But so is the skepticism. When Bryan Singer, who directed the first two X-Men films, announced he was abandoning the franchise to make Superman Returns, he was replaced by Matthew Vaughn, a veteran producer who had directed only one movie, the British gangster thriller Layer Cake.

ENTER RATNER
Then Vaughn, too, left the film -- only nine weeks before shooting was scheduled to begin -- and was replaced by Brett Ratner, whose résumé (Rush Hour, Red Dragon, Family Man, After the Sunset) apparently did not meet the standards of the X-Men fan base.

One typical posting reacting to the Ratner hire on aintitcoolnews.com, the online nexus for film geeks around the world: ``The good news is, at least after X3 we won't have to worry about anyone ever desecrating the X-Men again, because this can only be a bullet to the head of the entire concept of an X-Men movie.''

Ratner (who ironically was scheduled to direct Superman Returns before Singer signed on), knows all about the online vitriol leveled at him.

''I'm hated probably more than most,'' he says. ``Harry Knowles [webmaster of aintitcoolnews.com] turned against me the minute I decided to do Superman. Suddenly, I was the Antichrist. But I can't let that stuff bother me. Bryan Singer warned me. He told me, `Whatever you do, don't read the Internet. They said the same s - -t about me. I'm a fan of your movies, and I can't wait to see your version of it.'

``And so I purposely didn't read that stuff when I was making the movie, because it would have messed with my head.''

Instead, Ratner, 37, forged ahead with the biggest and most complicated film of his career. Although he had little hands-on experience with the extensive special-effects work an X-Men movie requires, Ratner says the six months he spent preparing Superman Returns taught him more than he realized.

''In that process of prepping Superman, I worked with animatics and visual effects supervisors and artists, so I had an idea of how it works,'' he says.
Ratner, who admits he never read the X-Men comics but was a fan of the TV cartoon series, says he knew better than to tinker with the tone Singer had set in the previous two films.

``I wasn't trying to put my mark on the series. I wanted to make a movie like The Return of the King and how that fits into the rest of The Lord of the Rings. I'm trying to be part of a trilogy.''

Although The Last Stand introduces some new faces to the ever-growing mutant roster (including Kelsey Grammer as the furry blue Beast and Ben Foster as the winged Angel), the bulk of the film centers on veteran X-Men (Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, Halle Berry's Storm, Ian McKellen's Magneto and Patrick Stewart's Xavier), whose characters were already well established.

Ratner says he did ask for some structural changes to the script, written by Simon Kinberg and Zak Penn, such as moving a giant setpiece atop the Golden Gate Bridge from the middle of the film to the end, giving the story a more spectacular finale.

MAINTAINING MOMENTUM
But Ratner, a Miami native who keeps a home in Miami Beach, says his main goal was to maintain the momentum of the series.

''When I started prepping the movie, I realized that I didn't really know the comic,'' he says ``I knew the cartoon, which is similar. But Bryan's interpretation of it was amazing. His casting choices, Magneto's helmet, how he made everything work in the reality-based world . . . he's a genius. I concentrated on how to deal with Dark Phoenix. She's blowing up planets. How am I gonna make this work? I just took a cue from how Bryan made his choices with the other characters and how he brought them down to Earth.''

WAIT AND SEE
Ultimately, fan reaction to X-Men: The Last Stand will have less to do with Ratner's direction than with the script, which shakes up the mutant universe far more drastically than the previous two films and departs sharply from the comic-book storyline (including the death of more than one major character). And although the film's title implies this is the final X-Men film, viewers who sit through the end credits will be rewarded with a brief scene that reveals there's nothing final about this stand.

Even on the Internet, the anti-Ratner rhetoric has started giving way to a wait-and-see attitude.

''Brett Ratner has not kicked your dog, so back the hell off already!'' reads one post.

''People are crying over a flavor that they have yet to taste,'' says another.

The X-Men argument will be definitively settled next weekend -- just in time for the Superman Returns debate to take over. Who is this Brandon Routh guy, anyway?

[WorthyStevens]

Vote for how much you think X3 will make next weekend.

http://www.joblo.com/index.php?id=11419

[LMason]

Solid Zak Penn and Simon Kinberg interview at CHUD:
http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=interviews&id=6738

[xwolverine2]

49million is my vote

[Storm22]

Solid Zak Penn and Simon Kinberg interview at CHUD:
http://www.chud.com/index.php?type=interviews&id=6738

Excellent interview!! I think EVERYONE in this forum should read this!

[DarknessOfDeath]

Hmmmm .... excellent interview indeed.

[xwolverine2]

:eek: :eek: :eek: RATNER IS FROM MIAMI!!?!?!?!:eek: :eek: :eek:

YAY!!!!:eek: ... a fellow floridian!!!!

[LMason]

http://www.blackfilm.com/20060519/index.shtml THey've updated their site. Now the following interviews appear:
Halle Berry
Director Brett Ratner
Hugh Jackman
Aaron Stanford and Dania Ramirez
Ben Foster, Anna Paquin, and Shawn Ashmore
Bill Duke

[WorthyStevens]

http://www.leesmovieinfo.net/Predictions.php

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/2562/predict0oq.jpg

[WorthyStevens]

http://img67.imageshack.us/img67/91/predict28yp.jpg

http://www.boxofficereport.com/wbon/forecast.shtml

[Angamb]

nice! Let's hope it.

[narrows101]

http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2006-05-24-xmen-ratner_x.htm?csp=34

Franchise's fans reverse stand on new director

LOS ANGELES — Upon handing the reins of the X-Men franchise to Brett Ratner last year, director Bryan Singer had one piece of advice for his friend.

Don't look at the Ain't It Cool News website.

"Bryan told me that I was going to be attacked the moment word got out that I was directing the next X-Men movie," Ratner says. "And he was right."

Although Ratner had directed several commercial hits, including Rush Hour and Red Dragon, AintItCool.com and other movie fan sites dismissed Ratner as a Hollywood hack and proclaimed the beloved comic-book franchise dead.

But a funny thing happened on the way to this year's summer movie season. X-Men: The Last Stand, opening Friday, somehow became a must-see film for Internet and comic fans again.

According to an online survey by Yahoo, X-Men received more than 40,000 votes as the most anticipated film of May. The Da Vinci Code was second with about 19,500 votes.

"There's definitely been a change of heart," says Gitesh Pandya of boxofficeguru.com. "X-Men has to be a contender for the biggest movie of the summer."

Even Ratner concedes he's a little surprised by the about-face.
"When Bryan decided to do Superman Returns (June 30), I knew it was going to be an uphill climb. But a lot of stuff came together that gave us momentum again."

Not the least of which were an intriguing story line, strong trailers and the return of nearly the entire X-Men cast that helped power the first two films to more than $372 million domestically.

"We have always treated this as more than a movie," says Hugh Jackman, who returns with co-stars Halle Berry, Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. "We became kind of a family through all this, so we decided to say goodbye together with one last movie."

Whether it's actually the last installment, though, is the newest debate on the Internet. The film, which revolves around a cure for mutation and ends in an all-out war between the superheroes, offers a few scenes that suggest the franchise could live on — including a surprise scene at the end of the movie's credits.

Ratner isn't saying whether it's the end for X-Men or not. He's just relieved the debate has shifted from his skills as a filmmaker to the movie itself.
"I understand why people went on the offensive," Ratner says. "Nobody likes to see change in the things they love. I'm just glad the movie will get the chance to do the talking. That's all you should be judged on, anyway."

[narrows101]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/film/jackman-takes-a-stand/2006/05/25/1148524796309.html

It's all systems action in the latest X-Men film, writes David Michael.

GATHERED for press duties at the Cannes Film Festival, all is not well in the X-Men camp. In a villa in the hills overlooking the town, the demands of the 12 cast members' personal publicists are adding to the studio publicist's logistical nightmare of scheduling interviews.

Anna Paquin's publicist pulls her from a photoshoot with Halle Berry and Famke Janssen, as she isn't getting the required attention from the photographer; Ian McKellen, leaning against a pillar, is grumbling about the delay to proceedings; and even Janssen's black Boston terrier, Licorice, is in full diva mode, whining for attention.

The scene is at odds with the frequently offered message in the final X-Men film: that teamwork can conquer adversity.

Hugh Jackman, though, is rather enjoying himself. Entertaining a group of French journalists, the 37-year-old actor is animatedly re-enacting an encounter with Clint Eastwood, with whom his short-tempered character, Wolverine, has been compared.

"I was at this Warner Bros luncheon where they trotted out all the people who had been in Warner Bros movies," says Jackman of the meeting five years ago.

"We had to stand there in order and Clint was behind me. As we went to walk off, I turned around to Clint and said, 'Hi, Mr Eastwood, it's Hugh Jackman. It's funny that you should be here, as in this movie X-Men a few people have been saying I look a little bit like you'. He just looked at me and said, 'You're holding up the line, kid'."

If Eastwood's persona is the opposite of the affable Jackman, Eastwood's fingerprints are all over the character of Wolverine. Jackman repeatedly viewed Dirty Harry, A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly to help shape Wolverine.

In X-Men: The Last Stand, there is little time, however, for Wolverine's Eastwood-esque cigars and surly one-liners. With action director Brett Ratner (Rush Hour) taking the reins from Bryan Singer, the third and final act of the X-Men franchise has its action quota noticeably amped up. As the body count mounts and fresh plots are needed for the tombstones of his X-Men colleagues, the film soon revolves around Jackman's character.
Fittingly, with the curtain now closed on the X-Men, the inevitable spin-off Wolverine film is well under way. While most actors create production companies for tax write-off purposes, Jackman has set up Seed Productions to co-produce the film with 20th Century Fox.

"We're two drafts into it, so it's well under way," says Jackman.
"It's probably going to be a prequel. In the movies he's evolved a lot, so I think we need to go back to his origins. There's a lot in the character that hasn't been told, there really is. I don't need to do it contractually, or because of the money."

As well as his own projects, the production company will help develop directorial projects for his wife Deborra-Lee Furness, who has enjoyed her own premiere in Cannes this year, appearing in Ray Lawrence's Jindabyne.
"I always believed as an actor you should be proactive," says Jackman.
"When I first graduated from drama school, me and my friend Simon Lyndon had a theatre company together because I never liked the idea of being a victim sitting by the phone waiting for a call."

But Jackman need not worry. Before he sharpens his claws once more for Wolverine, he will appear in Woody Allen's next film, Scoop, and his biggest lead role in The Fountain.

The diplomatic force amid the mayhem of the X-Men press junket, Jackman doesn't flinch when asked if he had any reservations about replacing Brad Pitt in The Fountain, in light of the ill feeling in his home country about the production being uprooted from Australia to the US after Pitt pulled out.
"I never thought about that," says Jackman.

"It doesn't make me heartless; I obviously had nothing to do with the original production. It's probably the greatest opportunity I've had on film and it's an extraordinary movie.

"I don't think anybody in the (original) crew would wish, just because they got burnt, it would never happen."
X-Men: The Last Stand is now showing.

[Electrix]

Not really an article but its internet/article based.

If you click the link and scroll down to the bottom there is a 'supertrailer'. Its a combination of all 3 films and I thought it was good.

http://www.itv.com/page.asp?partid=4750

[LEX]

Not really an article but its internet/article based.

If you click the link and scroll down to the bottom there is a 'supertrailer'. Its a combination of all 3 films and I thought it was good.

http://www.itv.com/page.asp?partid=4750
Wow, I liked it. Nicely spotted, Electrix. Didn't really like the fast-tempo music during the X3 trailer, though.

Anyway...that reminds me! Gotta watch X1 and X2 again. :up:

[flavio_lebeau]

Summer-Movie Body Count
Every week, check our tally of how many big-screen characters have kicked the bucket in various violent ways by Eric Kohn


The grand total of big-screen deaths this season, through May 26:

4,250 *

Films included this week:

X-MEN: THE LAST STAND
How'd they die? A casualty breakdown:
CAR PASSENGERS CRUSHED BY MAGNETO 26
NECKS BROKEN 1
BURNED BY PYRO 1
EVISCERATED BY DARK PHOENIX 101
STABBED BY WOLVERINE 2
FALLING 1
SHOT 30
KILLED BY X-MEN IN EPIC MUTANT BATTLE 40
IMPALED 1
STRUCK BY LIGHTNING 1
Total 206




http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1200249_1_0_,00.html

nice bit of old useless info :p