Bolt Movie Trailer
Disney has released the trailer for Bolt. Does anyone else find it ironic that an Elvis Presley song is used in the trailer for a movie in which Lilo & Stitch director Chris Sanders was removed as director? I talked about the controversy behind this project last week, if you haven’t had a chance, check it out here.
I’ll admit that because of the backstory, it’s hard for me to be accept Disney’s reworking of Sander’s original designs. But aside from the groan inducing trick opening, the movie doest look all that bad. Sure, the characters and situations don’t look nearly as interesting or as original as Sander’s designs, but it also doesn’t look as generic as past Disney efforts. Plus releasing the film in 3D at least guarantees a fun theatrical experience. Could it be the John Lasseter effect? I’d be interested to hear the opinions of readers who didn’t feel an attachment to Sander’s American Dog concept art. What do you think?
For super-dog Bolt (voiced by John Travolta), every day is filled with adventure, danger and intrigue – at least until the cameras stop rolling. When the canine star of a hit TV show is accidentally shipped from his Hollywood soundstage to New York City, he begins his biggest adventure yet – a cross-country journey through the real world. Armed only with the delusions that all his amazing feats and powers are real, and with the help of two unlikely traveling companions – a jaded, abandoned housecat named Mittens (voiced by Susie Essman), and TV-obsessed hamster in a plastic ball named Rhino – Bolt discovers he doesn’t need superpowers to be a hero. Miley Cyrus (“Hannah Montana”) brings her vocal talents to the role of Penny, Bolt’s human co-star on the television series.
Watch the trailer in High Definition on Yahoo. Bolt will hit theaters on November 26th, 2008 in Disney Digital 3-D™
Quote: Nolan Compares TDK’s Joker to the Shark in Jaws
The latest issue of WiReD Magazine has an article on The Dark Knight. The article mainly deals with the technical side of things such as CG and IMAX projection, but RopesofSilicon directed me to this one shiny quote:
The director wasn’t interested in plumbing the murky origins of the Joker himself - the Clown Prince is more a Loki-like force of chaos. “He’s like the shark in Jaws,” Nolan explains. “The Joker cuts through the film, he’s incredibly important, but he’s not a guy with a backstory. He’s a wild card.”
The Joker is like the shark in Jaws? Nolan sure knows all the right things to say to get us excited.
Naomi Angered by "Golliwog Supermodel" Taunt
You probably know that Naomi Campbell pled guilty yesterday to assaulting police officers after a mid-air disturbance on British Airways. If you missed it, get all the details in our news story here.
But here’s some backstory from Britain’s Sky News (via gossip guy Perez). Yes, Naomi admits she was wrong, but she has more to say about why she went off:
“I was called a racial name on that flight. And that was part of my reaction. Again, nothing to do with the police but yes from British Airways. I was called a golliwog supermodel, I don’t think that’s really fair, do you?’ Would you like it if someone turned round and called you a golliwog supermodel?
“I mean, I’m proud to be a black woman, I’m proud to be British, I’m proud of the job that I do, but I did not call anyone names of color, of their race. And, you know, I’ve had to leave all of that out of court…because at the end of the day the real problem was, I took my upset and my, the end of my wrath came out on the police, which was wrong.”
The airline denies Campbell’s suggestion that any such slurs were slung:
“BA does not accept any allegations of racism. We are proud of our diversity. We have strict policies concerning dignity at work and have long-standing training programs on diversity and inclusion.”
In other words, Naomi, kiss those frequent flyer miles good-bye.
Valderrama cast in comedy The Emancipation of Ernesto
“This is the first script I’ve read that made me excited to come back to TV,” said the actor about his latest project. The actor is Wilmer Valderrama; the project is a Fox comedy pilot called The Emancipation of Ernesto.
Wilmer, who is best-known from his eight seasons on That ’70s Show — a supporting player on the Fox mainstay — will be front and center on this new one-hour, single camera comedy. He’s Ernesto, and Ernesto is a quirky character.
The show is citing two 1979 films — for starters — as reminiscent of The Emancipation of Ernesto: Steve Martin’s The Jerk, as well as Chauncey Gardiner, the Peter Seller’s character in Being There. Why? Well, it’s the Ernesto character.
He’s sort of an innocent dolt who is thrust into the world on a quest. He is looking for his father and the love of his life, and searches Los Angeles, unprepared and oblivious to the realities and issues in modern L.A. Somehow, things always work out for Ernesto.
Emily Kapnek has written the script, and according to Susan Levinson, Senior VP for Fox development, “The writing jumped off the page; it has a really unique original tone. It was a mix of real emotion with hard comedy. She has crafted a character we have never seen before.” We may have never seen this before, but it was Levinson who said it reminded her of Being There and even suggested a bit of Forrest Gump in there. Have we left any other innocent dolts out?
Thanks to Valderrama’s success with Fox on That ’70s Show, the one hour pilot has been greenlighted. Ernesto’s backstory has him brought up in a Mexican prison, before landing a job at a Twinkie factory. It’s there that the pilot commences. Like other recent fanciful — and successful — TV comedies, My Name Is Earl and Pushing Daisies, Ernesto will included voiceover narration.
If The Emancipation of Ernesto is as good as described, Fox could be looking for it to appear in earnest, i.e. as a series, in early 2009.