Action News Round-Up by Dude
On the box office front, there’s no new action movie release this week. We’ll have to wait for Jason Statham vs. David Lo Pan showdown Safe next week. Luc Besson production Lockout should cross $10 million in it’s second weekend, having made a mere $900k this past Friday. If you want some theatrical action that’s not a bloated superhero CGIfest, Lockout, The Raid: Redemption, Safe House and Act of Valour are still playing in select theatres.
A very interesting week in casting news, Robert Rodriguez is chasing Mel Gibson to appear in Machete 2, possibly as the ‘eccentric billionaire arms dealer’, or even better as team mate of Machete. Actress Michelle Williams is also rumoured to be up for a role, (Deadline), while Jessica Alba and Michelle Rodriguez will also be reprising their roles. Bloody Disgusting
Scott Adkins has revealed on his Twitter that he has wrapped filming a role in Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty. The film centres on the hunt and eventual fragging of Osama Bin Laden. The film also stars Jessica Chastain (As Bin Laden?), Joel Edgerton and Mark Strong. Adkins is expected to have a decent sized role and not a throwaway one like in The Bourne Ultimatum and X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Speaking of Adkins, once again on his Twitter, he has confirmed rumours of Expendables 2 reshoots occurring in Bulgaria. Hinting that it may have to do with obtaining more R rated footage for the intended PG-13 film. No word on which other players are currently in Bulgaria. But you can rule out Jason Statham who is alternating his time between filming Hummingbird in London and promoting Safe in the U.S.
That last part was actually a really bad attempt in to segueing to this news. Jason Statham has turned down the opportunity to star in Fast Six. According to Twitch Film Statham couldn’t work out a deal with Universal Studios. Not to mention, playing second fiddle to Paul Walker would be an insult to anyone. Stay tuned to find out who will be filling the Statham sized void in Fast Six.
Oliver Stone’s upcoming action thriller Savages has been rated R for strong brutal and grisly violence, some graphic sexuality, nudity, drug use and language throughout. Sounds like RANT’s Friday nights.
After all these years, Sin City 2 has finally been greenlit (Deadline article above). The film, which will centre on the origins of the Dwight character played by Clive Owen in the first, has been on the backburner since the original’s release in 2005. In an interview with MTV, Robert Rodriguez has stated that Michael Madsen, Rosario Dawson and most importantly, Mickey Rourke will return to reprise their characters.
Some other really cool action movie announcements include Pierre Morrel’s Bastille Day (Deadline). It centres on an American student and a washed up CIA agent teaming to prevent a terrorist attack on Paris. If it’s anything like Pierre Morrel’s other three films, the protagonists will do as much damage to Paris as the bad guy’s they’re trying to stop.
Antoine Fuqua is in talks to direct Olympus Has Fallen. A thriller which can best be described as Die Hard on a White House, centres on a lone Secret Service Agent (a washed up one of course) who must defeat the terrorists that have overtaken the White House.
Thanks to Hollywood Reporter.
The first ten minutes of Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning played at ActionFest. Crave Online has a description here.
Filming of Arnold Schwarzenegger/Sylvester Stallone team up The Tomb is underway. Arnold has tweeted a photo of himself on set with 50 Cent.
G.I. Joe: Retaliation has several news stills and posters. Thanks to Comic Book Movie and Flickering Myth
MTV have exclusive stills from various upcoming summer action flicks including The Bourne Legacy and some obscure movie that may or may not have anything to do with the action genre.
And finally for the pièce de résistance, we have one more new still from the aforementioned obscure movie. One many action fans have been waiting 25 years for.
That’s it for this week. See you at the party, Richter.