Rumour Mill: Stephen Moyer Denies Being Cast As Doctor Doom

  |    by: films

Over the weekend rumours began circulating that True Blood actor, Stephen Moyer was in the running to play Latverian dictator and super villain Doctor Doom in the Fantastic Four remake. Originating on ComicBookMovie, the rumour went thusly:

Another name has now been added to the list, this time it’s True Blood star Stephen Moyer. An offer is currently out for the actor to portray the villainous Victor Von Doom/Doctor Doom. Though it is still unclear exactly how central the character will be in the film, Doom will be showcased as the ruler of Latveria and a master of the mystic arts.

Fan reaction was pretty positive all in all, however during the Emmy Awards Moyer, who attended with wife and True Blood co-star, Anna Paquin, was asked about the casting and quickly debunked all speculation. When questioned the actor claimed he knew nothing about the role at all although he did indicated that he’d be interested in the part. Was Moyer just playing ignorant or has the rumour mill gone into overdrive once more? ComicBookMovie ran with the story without once referencing their original article which started all the speculation:

When asked about the possibility of donning the face metal as Victor Von Doom..

“Isn’t that great? Isn’t that fantastic? I know nothing about it.”

But when asked if he would consider taking on the role of the iconic villain..

“I don’t know, Yeah, maybe. Yeah.”

So there you go. It’s always possible that Moyer is just keeping schtum for some reason but it seems this one won’t be happening. Which is a shame, as much as I have little interest in the reboot, he was a very good choice for Doom!

Take a look at the video below for yourself, what do you think? Personally I think that he’d be a great choice for Doom, who was played in previous installments with extra cheese by Nip/Tuck actor Julian McMahon. But had he really not been approached? Is the actor acting up or does he really know nothing about the part?

Source: MTV, ComicBookMovie.

Film 4 FrightFest 2010 Review: The Dead

  |    by: films

The Ford Brothers may come from the Werner Herzog School of film-making. They didn’t want to just make a zombie film. They wanted to make a zombie film and place it in some of the most inhospitable locales in the world then see what happens: hoping the arduous and inhospitable drama of the production itself gives birth to something unique on screen. So they searched Africa and ended up in Bukina Faso. Where? Exactly.

The Dead could easily be the best-looking film ever made about the cannibalistic hordes. Ever seen a shuffling, silhouetted corpse walking towards a burning red sunset before? It looks eerie. And modern day zombies can leave their running shoes at home because it’s strictly old school walking, moaning and groaning on display (another bonus for purists).

As the director Howard J Ford told me, this production almost killed him… and his brother… and the cast… and crew. In a country rife with corrupt and all sorts of misery, people got paid whether they worked on the film or not. So was The Dead worth the hassle, effort and skirting with death?

While a good, solid piece of zombie apocalypse fun and given a nice road movie narrative, it does tend to fumble on the emotional elements. Not only interested in zombies and survival horror it wants a human drama to unfold between two very different men finding common ground. Only it doesn’t quite work due to the lack of strength and conviction from the actors.

There are times when The Dead wears its b-movie horror heart on its sleeve, coming across like a schlocky 1980s flick which could have been made by Antonio Margheriti. Other times it pays homage to a host of influences from Dawn of the Dead to Lawrence of Arabia to the war photography of Kevin Carter.

This soup of influences and flavour – plus the superb locations – make it a gripping and often, very creepy, experience. The night time scenes hold a highly palpable danger and menace. You’d think people would be safe in the middle of nowhere, but no… the dead rise from their village and go roaming. Even when a character sleeps high up in a tree there’s the sense he’ll wake up in the morning to find an entire horde of zomboids clawing at the bark.

Fittingly for a horror film the gore quota is often high with some delicious special effects including a soldier having his head run over and a zombie having his mashed in by a fire extinguisher. Nice!

The Fords have made a worthy entry into the zombie canon offering something old, something new, something borrowed and something, well, lots of recently blue dead people walking around and feasting on the flesh of the living!

Rating: ?????

US Release: tbc
UK Release: tbc (world premiere 30th August at FrightFest)
Australia Release: tbc

Two New Toy Story 3 Character Posters Online

  |    by: films

Two new character posters have appeared online for Toy Story 3, due in cinemas on 23rd July 2010, once again the film features the returning vocal talents of (among others) Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, John Ratzenberger, Wallace Shawn and newcomers Michael Keaton as “Ken” and Timothy Dalton as “Mr Pricklepants”.

The new posters feature Hamm the Piggy Bank (Ratzenberger) and Rex the Green Dinosaur (Shawn), both can be seen below.

It dawned on me earlier that it’s been ten years since Toy Story 2 hit theaters and apart from making me feel like an ancient relic, it also made me think about how much of a powerhouse Pixar have become in animation since the original film! With runaway hits such as Finding Nemo, Cars and WALL·E the studio have become the undisputed kings of animated cinema. Food for thought eh?

Toy Story 3 is directed by Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo co-director Lee Unkrich.