Eli Roth and The RZA Developing The Man With the Iron Fist
Buried in this Billboard chat with The RZA is the first announcement of a new project he’s working on with horror poster boy and David Copperfield doppleganger Eli Roth…
“RZA has developed a martial arts film with Hollywood pal Eli Roth called The Man with the Iron Fist, which he says has “the blessing” of his ‘teacher,’ Quentin Tarantino…”
These three guys! Let’s hope video from Tarantino’s “blessing” surfaces on the DVD. Common sense would dictate that The Man With the Iron Fist is categorically unrelated to Marvel’s kung-fu fighting character of the same name. Roth is a longtime fan of chopsockey; maybe he’ll cast friend Matthew Helms, a 19-year-old martial artist and actor who played the lovely “Pan Cake Dennis” in his Cabin Fever? Here’s the ridic clip.
We reported previously that RZA has completed a collaboration with Hans Zimmer on the score to Babylon A.D. And for the Wu-literate, RZA says that he may finally, finally get around to editing and releasing his Bobby Digital blaxploitation movie, which focuses on the “science lab origins” of his neoghetto alter-ego, a violent playboy who wears a $1 party mask, drives ‘rraris and makes no sense.
via RZA RSS aka Playlist
Rose McGowan to Wield Red Sonja’s Sword
Rose McGowan has been the go-go dancer with the machine-gun leg, and now she’s going to be the She-Devil With a Sword.
The titian-haired former Charmed star has signed on to play the titular mythical comic book hero in Red Sonja, to be produced by fiancé Robert Rodriguez and directed by Highland: Endgame helmer Douglas Aarniokoski, Millennium Films and Nu Images announced Friday.
“This is an amazing property and film for our company,” studio exec Avi Lerner said. “Working with the talented Robert Rodriguez, having Rose McGowan as Red Sonja and Douglas Aarniokoski directing is a fantastic combination. We could not be happier.”
The action flick will find Red Sonja, a Marvel character who first appeared as she is now in the Conan the Barbarian series, seeking vengeance against the evildoers that destroyed her family and then realizing it has fallen upon her and her kickass ways to save her Soviet-area land of Hyrkania from the sorcerer Kulan Gath.
Red Sonja was first brought to the big screen, B-movie-style, in 1985, with Brigitte Nielsen as the title warrior and Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Conan-esque Lord Kalidor.
McGowan, who most recently starred in both parts of the Quentin Tarantino-Rodriguez double-feature Grindhouse, appeared in a range of darkly funny films before settling down as Shannen Doherty’s replacement on Charmed, including Scream, Jawbreaker and Monkeybone.
The 34-year-old actress also currently cohosts The Essentials on Turner Classic Movies.
Shooting on Red Sonja is expected to kick off in October. Millennium and Nu Images are currently scouting locations in Michigan and other U.S. spots.
NSFW: Not Quite Hollywood Movie Trailer
History books say that Australia was founded by criminals, crabs and derelicts, so why shouldn’t the land’s cinema reflect such ribald and humble beginnings? The new documentary, Not Quite Hollywood, takes a look at ’70s/’80s “Ozploitation” (what a sweet word) from the eyes of endless players (Jamie Lee Curtis, George Miller, George Lazenby) and admirers—yeah, you just knew that Quentin Tarantino would be available to tell you how it be and how it used to be. When it comes to docs like this (btw: you must Netflix Z-Channel!), QT’s that lone guy in the theater whenever you walk in 25-mins early.
The NQH trailer overfloweth with priceless Fango-gasm gore, supple eroticism, and the always lovely Stacy Keach saying “rape” and pontificating about his and Curtis’s 1981 hitchhiker thriller gem Roadgames. I’ve seen a lot of B-movies, but I’m not sure just how much altered-state Aussie celluloid has floated through my brain over the years. Off the bat, I’d recommend seeing Peter’s Weir’s mindfuck, The Last Wave, and recommend knowing about (but not seeing) the only killer feral pig movie, Razorback—sounds great, I know, but it plays like a neverending Duran Duran video. Also: you pretty much see all of the feral pig footage in that entire film in this trailer. All in all, this is a colorful-looking doc from sometime director Mark Hartley. Film history, for your health.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD MOVIE TRAILER.
Beatty Buddies Roast, Honor Warren
It wasn’t just politics as usual at the American Film Institute’s tribute to Warren Beatty. Though, it was a little of that.
A laundry list of stars and politiciansincluding wife Annette Bening, sister Shirley MacLaine, Robert Downey Jr., Halle Berry, Dustin Hoffman, Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Quentin Tarantino, Bill Clinton, a pretaped John McCain and a post-Lakers-game Jack Nicholsonturned up for the 36th annual AFI Lifetime Achievement lovefest in Los Angeles Thursday night.
And while the ceremony itself may sound staid, the comments dished out were decidedly not…
Jane Fonda: “I thought he was gay. He was so cute, and all his men friends were gay, and brilliant. He had a way of collecting really brilliant gay men friends. And he liked to play piano in a piano barI mean, what were the odds he was straight? Shows you how dumb I was.”
Halle Berry: “There was the usual discussion with the studio if there should be a scene to spice up [Bulworth]if somebody should go topless. But I have to say, to Warren’s credit, he put his foot down and insisted on keeping his shorts on for the entire movie.”
Dustin Hoffman, on His Costarring Roles in Ishtar and Dick Tracy: “It’s ironic that I’m here for the movies-that-bombed portion of the evening…Ishtar shall rise again!”
Hoffman, on Beatty’s Initially Absent Lakers-Watching BFF, Jack Nicholson: “Rumor has it that he was going to try to combine the two. Rumor also has it that he might have been sitting courtside in a tuxedo.”
A Fashionably Late Nicholson: “[Beatty] has received eight times as many awards as he’s made pictures. You get all these honors because of your passion and your dedication to excellence. This is why I’m crazy about your work.”
Bill Clinton: “Over all these decades, you have shared with us, as moviegoers, this insatiable hunger for life. That’s what I think about when I think of you.”
Warren Beatty: “I was a liberal when it was fashionable, I was a liberal when it was unfashionable, and I’m a liberal when it’s coming back into style.”
Beatty on Bening: “I love my profession because it’s introduced me to the person who’s given me the most important thing of all, which is her love and the love of our four children…Annette. I can thank the movies for leading me to you.”
The 36th Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Warren Beatty, honoring the 47-year career of the 71-year-old star, airs June 25 on USA.