Saw VII May Not Be The Last

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This Halloween will see the end of the Saw franchise…at least in its current incarnation. After seven long years and seven films the final chapter, Saw VII, will be released in 3D. Recently, co-writer Patrick Melton mentioned, during an interview with Demon FM, that the franchise was coming to an end sooner than expected. Apparently, there was going to be a Saw set in outer space and another one where Jigsaw goes back to medieval times and tortures heretics.

Okay I made that up, but at one point the series did threaten to go on for ever and ever. Demon FM have sent me over a link to a phone interview with Saw actress Betsy Russell in which she confirms Melton’s news, but is remains open to the possibility that the series could continue at some future point. Russell said:

“This has been a really great ride and when they first started out they saw this has being a trilogy, then the audience responded and they decided to put out Saw every single year. They never stop working around the clock. The producers and writers want to take a break. But never say never in movieland.”

Discussing what the new one is shaping up to be, Russell is very excited and thinks it may be the ultimate torture porn film. Why not go out with a bang?

“The new one is looking unbelievable. I’ve seen a lot of the stuff played back in 3D, and it looks really, really cool.”

Is Russell toying with audiences like a cat with a mouse or like Jigsaw with one of his ridiculously over-elaborate traps? Maybe Saw will return…one day.

Tim Burton To Produce Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

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Literary mash-ups are the new publishing sensation. Whether they’re anything other than a mildly amusing joke is up for debate. We’ve already had Pride and Prejudice And Zombies (David O. Russell is to direct with Natalie Portman starring) and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. Now it looks as if Seth Grahame-Smith looks is having Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter turned into a movie. Will John Wilkes Booth be worked into the unfolding drama in an attempt at some fantasy historical revisionism meets the horror genre? After all, Abe was shot down in a theatre and entered history as one of four US presidents to be assassinated.

The word on the street, via Heat Vision Blog, is Tim Burton is teaming up with Timur Bekmambetov to produce the title. They last joined forces on Shane Acker’s 9. Grahame-Smith’s new effort sees ‘Honest’ Abe Lincoln taking revenge on the blood-sucking fiends that kill his mother, whilst campaigning for president and his decisions during the American civil war. All sounds very silly…and dare I say, not very good? What ever happened to Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln picture? Wasn’t Liam Neeson meant to be doing it?

The project is still in the early development stage and so far no studio is attached to bring it to life. Burton nor Bekmambetov will be directing it. Expect more on this project in the coming months.

Tom Hooper On Done In 60 Seconds, The King’s Speech And James Bond

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Tom Hooper is a very busy and popular man at the moment. With his latest film The King’s Speech imperially crushing all competition and heading towards accumulating more awards than you could squeeze onto all the mantelpieces in Buckingham Palace – everyone wants a piece of him. And it’s not hard to see why. Obviously his success is driving the heightened interest, but he is also an absolute pleasure to talk to.

I was fortunate enough to swipe twenty minutes of round table style interview action with him, in a swanky little bar in the depths of Sanctum Soho. Tom was there to principally talk about the Jameson Empire Done in 60 Seconds competition, of which he is head judge, but fear not – I also found out what his favorite Bond movie is. If you haven’t heard of JEDI 60 secs, as I have just christened it, it’s been going a few years now and basically… well I’ll let the loquacious Mr Hooper tell you.

“The idea is that anyone can enter, it’s for amateur film makers, it’s a maximum of sixty seconds and the idea is you get to do a pastiche or an homage to your favorite film. So, last year the winner was a hilarious Top Gun, sixty second spoof, which made a lot of humor about the homo-erotic undertones of Top Gun – which I think is a spoof that was needed to be done.”

Done in 60 Seconds

So why did he want to get involved?

TH – One of my backgrounds was in commercials directing. There’s a great generation of film makers that have come out of that, like Tony and Ridley Scott. Always I enjoy doing commercials because of the discipline, telling a story in sixty seconds, or in thirty seconds, is incredibly good for a film maker as it forces you to think about the clarity of every shot. That’s an incredibly important skill for any film maker.

How did he get started making short films?

TH – In judging this competition, I’ve thought a lot about the extraordinary irony of the evolution I’ve witnessed within my life time. I started at the age of twelve, making films with a clockwork, Bolex camera, where the clockwork would run out after thirty seconds, so the maximum shot length was thirty seconds. I could only afford a hundred feet of Kodachrome reversal film, which cost about twenty-five quid, and you had to send off for two weeks to be processed. I could only make silent movies, because sound was too expensive and complicated. So I would make silent movies and run the camera slow, to try and squeeze out about four minutes. NOW, the phone in my pocket has a camera, with sync sound, every computer is pre-loaded with editing software and so film making has had this extraordinary democratization. Anyone can have a go – you don’t need to understand light meters or film speeds and stocks. So what’s great about the competition is anyone can have a go.

FilmShaft: So as head judge who else is on the panel with you and do you have final say?

TH – It’ll be announced closer to the time, but I get the casting vote. See, as a director the idea of a democratic jury is quite hard!

What’s so good about film competitions?

TH – When I was young, making films, I would enter any competition that there was. With my third film “Bomber Jacket” I was runner-up in some BBC young film makers competition. I think the thing about competitions is it gives you a deadline. The tricky thing with film making is it can drift. Even with The King’s Speech, that happened when it did because Geoffrey Rush was doing a play and we HAD to shoot it in a window, or it would have just knocked on and knocked on. Competitions inspire people to get on with it.

How should you decide on what to do?

TH – Everyone’s got a favorite film. Sometimes you can get paralyzed by having too much choice. But once you say do a pastiche of your favorite film, it makes it more contained as an idea. When I was making my first short film my mum gave me really good advice. She said “Don’t get caught up on the idea that you have to do your master work at thirteen. Do something silly, do something as an exercise”. So I made a film about a dog that keeps running away, called “Runaway Dog”. It was a silly, flippant movie but I was released by being told “just go out and have some fun with it”.

Spoofing Cinema

How would he do The Damned United or The King’s Speech in sixty seconds?

TH – I would take a minute of the trailer.

FilmShaft: You cheat!

TH – I would have thought The King’s Speech is quite easily spoof-able, so I fully expect someone spoofing it next year.

FilmShaft: If you were allowed to enter, but not to do one of your own films, what film you do?

TH – Well, I have in my life, spoofed The Godfather. We were staying with some American friends, when I was a teenager. I decided to do quite an involved spoof with, you know, cotton wool in the cheeks and everything. I still think that’s a great one to do.

FilmShaft: Is it on YouTube?

TH – Hahaha. Actually, I haven’t put any of this on YouTube. Maybe I should…

FilmShaft: What specifically directorial advice do you have for anyone that wants to enter?

TH – In the digital age shooting is free. So don’t be afraid to shoot a lot. Some of the best film makers in the world now shoot a tremendous amount to get the moment they want. Know what you’re trying to say, are you sending up a character or are you seriously purveying a character? Just have a go. You’ll only find out if you’re a good director by doing it. If you want to be a director, get on with it and make films.

On The King’s Speech

Is it true that the Queen Mother gave her blessing for The King’s Speech to be made, but not in her lifetime?

TH – The story is that the writer, who had a severe stammer as a child, used to listen to the King on the radio as a child, during the war. His parents used to say “if the King of England can cope, then there’s hope for you David”. So when he grew up he wrote the story. When it came time to make the film he wrote to the palace. The Queen wrote back and said “please, not in my lifetime. These events are still too painful. So David waited, little realizing she’d live to 186!

In The King’s Speech his main character has problems talking and in The Damned United, Clough perhaps talks too much. What draws you to these flawed characters?

TH – I like characters on the extreme edge. I think they are more interesting to play and direct. I think they attract better actors. I think traditional Hollywood films are about battling an external evil – the Darth Vader. But I’m more interested in stories where there aren’t necessarily any bad guys and the conflict is internal.

And finally… Bond, James Bond

Is it true that he has an interest in making a Bond film, and what does he think he’d bring to the franchise?

TH – I’d like to bring the wit back to James Bond. I think it’s… to reboot it inspired by the edginess of the Bourne films has been brilliant for it, but I think what I’m good at is that combination of humor, emotion and suspense. I think that there’s a risk of taking Bond too seriously. Thanks guys.

(We all get up to leave) FilmShaft: So what’s your favorite Bond movie?

TH – I think it’s the one where the big ship swallows submarines…

FilmShaft: The Spy Who Loved Me.

TH – Yeah, that’s the big one from my childhood. The weird thing about those films is the adult in me is like “I’m not sure it’s the right thing”. But the kid in me thinks there is no higher honor, what could be better?