JANUARY, 28


DARK SHADOWS

Romance / Horror

The Cast: James Franco, Daniel Craig, Blair Brown, Zoe Saldana, Malcolm McDowell, Briana Evigan, Jared Padalecki, Marley Shelton, Preston Bailey

The Director: Nick Cassavetes
The Screenwriter: Matt Kubrick

The Plot:

As the credits roll the camera pans over the ocean leading to waves crashing on a beach. The credits continue as mysterious music plays and pans over head of the town of collinsport. High ontop of a hill over looking the sea is a mansion where the collins family live. The richest people in the town. They own the biggest business in town a factory. The family consists of Elisabeth Collins Stoddard (B.Brown) who heads over the family a tough woman whose husband left her years ago, Roger Collins (D.Craig), her brother and his son David Collins (P.Bailey) a 10 year old boy, and Carolyn Stoddard (B.Evigan), a teenager who is sometimes rebellious and is looking for love. Victoria (M.Shelton) lives with the family, a beatiful young woman who plays governess and helps teach the young David Collins.

Willie Loomis (J.Padalecki) is a drifter that has been working and living on the estate for the past few months and has become fascinated by the legendary family jewels that have been rumored to be hidden away on the estate. He is often at odds with Roger and they hate each other. Roger can never understand why Elisabeth keeps him around. Willie promises that when he finds the jewels that he will split with what he deserves. Roger wants him to stop believing in myths and fairy tales and just do the job the family pays him to. Carolyn loves going out and dancing with the boys and having as much fun as possible living off the family wealth.

One night Willie is intent on finding the family secret and learns where he belives it is hidden. His search takes him to the family masoleum and hidden away is a secret tomb. After opening the passage way and turning on his flashlight he finds a coffin sealed with chains. He uses a crowbar to break them off one at a time. As the last chain falls Willie opens it which slowly creaks open but just as he opens it a wrinkled hand bursts up and grabs him by the neck.

Willie screams in terror when he sees what lays within, a wrinkled old man aged hundreds of years. The mans eyes glow red as he sinks his fangs into his neck. Willie keels over still alive but lays on the floor wounded. The man climbs out of the coffin slowly and the audience slowly sees him turn into a man 30 some years of age, he is still a bit feral looking the thurst for blood has overpowered him.

Meanwhile a few hours later a girl is shown being attacked in a park by the man that was in the coffin as he drinks her blood. Meanwhile Carolyn has been out dancing all night and she is walking towards her car getting ready to go back home. She gets in the drivers seat and starts the car. All of a sudden a hand busts through her car window and grabs her by the throat and she lets out a loud scream.

Early in the morning the family is called into the hospital and visit Carolyn who has survived her attack. They learn from the police that another girl wasn't so lucky they believe a serial killer is on the loose. Elizabeth tells the cops that Willie has been missing all night.

That night a man arrives at the collins family estate and knocks on the door. He introduces himself as Barnabas Collins (J.Franco), a cousin from England he meets the whole family including Victoria Winters who he quickly becomes enamoured with.

Dr. Julia Hoffman (Z.Saldana) becomes Carolyn's doctor, a woman who can be sometimes hard but also caring. As Barnabas integrates himself into the family, the strange attacks continue happen all around the town, the new family member also gives Willie an alibi saying he's been with him the whole time.

Barnabas eventually moves onto the estate living in the old house with Willie as his caretaker. Really Willie is being forced to work for Barnabas at first but the two soon become somewhat friends. The audience will also learn about Barnabas, he's a person that hates what he becomes. He's been cursed with this existence. Willie though will become increasingly concerned when Victoria and Barnabas begin a relationship with each other.

Meanwhile Dr. Julia has been doing some work of her own and when she accidently sees that Barnabas casts no reflection in the mirror, she confronts the vampire barging into his house. She tells him about the strange infection she found in Barnabas' saliva. She cured Carolyn's infection and she believes that she can cure Barnabas of his vampirism. She also tells Barnabas that Carolyn doesn't remember anything about the attack. Julia only sees Barnabas as an experiment. Barnabas starts to believe that this is his way out and he will be able to live a normal life and can have a real relationship with Ms. Victoria.

As the months pass Barnabas is eventually able to walk out in direct sunlight thanks to Julia's experiements. They are quickly falling in love and they love to be around each other. One day Barnabas shows Willie a picture of Josette and believes that Victoria is her reincarnation. He tells him about a curse that was placed on him and Josette died as a result. He believes that one day Victoria will be his bride.

Meanwhile Julia has began to fall in love with Barnabas and decides to put a hold on the experiment giving him fake shots that don't do anything. Barnabas has been going without blood and with the experiments halted slowly starts changing back into an old man when he is in sunlight. When Julia tells him about it and she believes Victoria is a threat to the experiments, Barnabas attacks her, grabbing her by the shoulders and he sinks his fangs into her neck and sucks her blood dry. He lets her body fall to the floor and he looks up and begins screaming.

One night Barnabas sinks his fangs into Victoria's neck and kidnaps her. Out of hope that he will one day be human again Barnabas tells Willie that they will leave Collinwood with Victoria and he will make Vicki his vampire bride.

One night while they make their escape, David spies on them and soon reports back to his dad about what he had seen. As the days pass, Roger soon begins investigating Barnabas Collins. He even hires Professor Stokes (M.McDowell) and they soon begin to believe that Barnabas is the family secret. They also believe that he is actually a vampire as crazy as it might seem. But he must be dealt with because he is the one behind all the attacks in the city.

As the movie races towards it's conclusion Roger and Professor Stokes confront Barnabas at an old church who is still planning on making Victoria his bride. During the confrontation, Willie is killed by Barnabas when he tries to save Victoria from becoming his bride. Roger and Professor Stokes are also killed. It is Victoria who manages to stake Barnabas through his chest.

As Barnabas dies, he begins to weep about all the deaths he has caused and Victoria holds him before as he dies. She weeps to and kisses him.


Stark’s Comment:
A different kind of movie. A gothic story. It feels as if Edgar Allan Poe was resurrected to write this screenplay and Vincent Price is ready to show up from the shadows. No idea of how this artsy proposal will work in box office, but I must applaud its originality.

Behind The Scenes:
-This movie is the big screen version of a cult tv series aired from 1966 to 1971.
-Out of CMP, Tim Burton is going to make his own adaptation of the tv series with Johnny Depp starring it.
-Joel Schumacher was going to be the director of this movie. In fact, he took control of the project during all its pre-production phase. But he finally abandoned the project and Nick Casavettes replaced him.
-Nick Casavettes has only directed one movie before for CMP, the flopped comedy ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’.
-The movie has been shot using a special cinematography that dilutes colors to create a darker atmosphere and making the movie look old and close to black and white at some moments.

THE SHOW

Comedy / Satire

The Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Nicole Kidman, Chloe Moretz, Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, Paul Giamatti, Maggie Gyllenhaal

The Director: Jason Reitman
The Screenwriter: James Bradley

The Plot:

Evelyn (C.Moretz), 11, suffers a terrible accident. While taking a walk with her mother, she falls through a well into an abandoned mine. She gets trapped in an inaccessible cave, a few hundred meters below surface and stones fall after her collapsing any possible exit.. She is ok but she can hardly move and she cannot be even seen from the outside. Soon, a rescue team arrives to help her and a local tv broadcast a news report about it.

But the news about Evelyn’s drama soon runs like the wind. All national tv channels arrive to the well to cover the news. The rescue team has contacted Evelyn. They can provide her food and water. They also send her a laptop with a webcam. And as soon as all tv channels broadcast the sweet face of Evelyn talking to the camera and telling how she feels, it is like a collective hysteria. The whole nation stays tuned to their televisions wanting to know about her. The whole nation loves sweet Evelyn. Outside the well, a huge crowd of policemen, National Guard, firemen, doctors, psychologists and of course dozens of journalists displays. A rescue operation is designed but it seems like it won’t be possible to reach Evelyn before a couple of weeks as it is very difficult to remove the stones.

During the next days, while Evelyn stays trapped a few hundred meters below, the story follows a group of characters:

- Lynn Dempsey (Nicole Kidman): she is an ambitious tv journalist from FBC Channel, a national broadcast television. She reports live on location any news about the situation. The dramatic way she makes her news reports soon turns her in the favorite narrator of what’s going on. She breaks all records of audiences when she interviews Evelyn through her webcam worldwide live.

-Adam Benson (Robert De Niro): President of FBC Channel. He soon realizes that all news report about Evelyn break audiences records. They even make better numbers than any reality show ever. Also, all kind of foreign tv channels want to buy him the rights of FBC’s images and Dempsey’s moving reports. FBC is making an amazing benefit with the drama.

-Billy Saunder (Paul Giamatti): He is the mayor of the nearest village to the well. His poor and small village is making such a wonderful business with all the people arriving. Restaurants, hotels and even souvenirs shops are generating profits like never before.

-Randall Becker (Tom Hanks): the Governor of the State. He personally visits the well and when Dempsey interviews him there the whole world can see how he sheds a tear, moved by the situation. His popularity suddenly rises to the sky as he pretends to be personally leading the rescue operative. He is planning to run for President.

-Amy (Maggie Gyllenhaal), Evelyn’s mother: she is a single woman. She is going through serious economic problems. She has a weak personality and never was a particularly good mother. Now, she becomes as popular as Evelyn and you can see her going from one tv set to another to talk about the situation (getting very well paid for each interview, by the way).

-Jake Carter (Ryan Reynolds): he is a young and brilliant geologist and engineer that directs the rescue team. He designs a special excavator that is expected to reach Evelyn’s position so she can be taken out.

The story shows how Evelyn’s drama grows to become the biggest show ever on tv, a kind of worldwide social phenomenon and a wonderful business for many different people. Audiences all over the world love to watch Evelyn talking to her webcam.

Lynn Dempsey becomes the most popular journalist of America. Her boss, Benson, negotiates worldwide the selling of many of his tv shows as a package together with Evelyn’s images. Saunder is also making nice business at his village. Becker keeps taking political advantage of the crisis in terms of popularity. Even Evelyn’s mother discovers the nice feeling that is being in the public eye as the most beloved mother in America and turning from a country girl into a media star.

Lynn Dempsey and Jake share many hours at the well. First, they become friends. Later, Lynn seduces Jake and they end up making love at their motel…

The only problem comes when Jake announces than in a couple of days the excavator will have opened a way to take Evelyn out…

Governor Becker and Adam Benson have a secret meeting. Becker tells Benson his plan: he wants to make the official announcement about him running for President right when Evelyn is taken out and he welcomes her outside the well. There, he will give Dempsey an exclusive interview to make the announcement. But he needs a few more days to keep increasing his popularity and organizing his campaign… Benson also admits that he is making a fortune with the story and he would like the situation to last a bit more.

Saunder also meets Governor Becker. Saunder asks him if it is possible to keep Evelyn down there only a few more days, as the restaurants, hotels and shops of the village would be very much benefit.

We can even see how Amy feels a bit disappointed when she realizes that her days as a tv star can be close to an end…

Benson travels to see Lynn Dempsey at the village. He tells Dempsey that she should increase the drama in her reports. Dempsey should say that she has the feeling that Evelyn is losing her health and might be close to death even though that’s not true. That will raise audiences even more. At first, Dempsey is reluctant to exaggerate the drama to those extremes… until Benson offers her a new and wonderful contract that will triple her salary and maybe her own tv show.

Finally, Governor Becker meets Jake. Carefully, Governor Becker mentions Jake if it would be possible to go a bit slower with the excavator. Maybe the final rescue could take five or six days instead of only two…

As Jake meets Saunder and Benson and both insinuate the same thing as Governor Becker and he also notices how Dempsey has increased the dramatic tone of her reports, he realizes what’s going on…

Jake rejects to play their game.

So Benson orders Lynn Dempsey to mention in her reports that maybe Jake’s rescue plan won’t work and so he could be replaced as the leader of the rescue team. Lynn Dempsey feels she is selling her soul and feels remorse but the prize is so high that she accepts to calumniate Jake on tv. Jake just cannot believe her betrayal.

Jake decides to denounce all the pressure upon him. He denounces the Governor, the mayor and also FBC Channel’s pressure. It’s a huge scandal. And audiences keep rising…

To clean his image, Governor Becker is photographed embracing Amy. FBC Channel organizes a TV marathon to raise funds for Evelyn. Lynn Dempsey and Evelyn sing a song together live on tv using Evelyn’s webcam. Jake’s denounce is presented on tv as the weird reaction of a frustrated man that does not know how to rescue Evelyn alive…

Finally, the excavator opens the way out in only two days and Evelyn is finally rescued. The Governor is waiting her outside. He happily announces in an interview with Lynn Dempsey that he plans to run for President and the bravery of Evelyn will inspire his campaign. Benson is so pleased as FBC’s images of Evelyn coming out reach the highest audiences in TV’s history (even more than the first step on the Moon). Mayor Saunder announces that Amy will use the funds collected to open a beautiful little hotel in the village that will be known as ‘Evelyn’s Well’.

All the scandals denounced by Jake are instantly forgotten as if nothing ever happened and everyone takes what they wanted.

At the end, Jake is alone at the well, getting ready to leave the place when Lynn Dempsey comes to him. She asks him to forgive her. She says: ‘It wasn’t personal. It was only show business’. Jake shows her his middle finger up and leaves.


Stark’s Comment:
This movie develops a great premise: how a tragedy can be turned into a big show and a profitable business. Personally, I think this is a great and appealing movie. Really hope it works in box office.

Behind The Scenes:
-James Bradley has stated that the idea for this movie came to him when watching on tv the rescue operations to save the Chilean miners trapped for months in their mine.
-Jason Reitman only previous work in CMP was the romantic movie ‘Together Apart’ back in Season 7.
-Bradley considered Scarlet Johansson for the character played by Nicole Kidman. Finally, he decided that the actress to play that character had to be older than Reynolds.
-Most of the talents in the cast have worked before in Bradley’s movies: Reynolds (‘Crossovers’), De Niro (‘The Toymaker’ and ‘American Tabloid’), Hanks (‘American Tabloid’), Gyllenhaal (‘Celebutantes’ and ‘Tender Is The Night’) and, of course, Paul Giamatti, who has made 6 movies with Bradley before.

SAVAGE STREETS

Action

The Cast: Kristen Stewart, Jaimie Alexander, Ariel Gade, Diego Luna, Shawn Ashmore, Victor Rasuk, Matt Dallas. Cameo by Linda Blair.

The Director: Marcus Nispel
The Screenwriters: Joey Stark & Matt Kubrick
The Producer: Midnight Movies

The Plot:

Brenda (Kristen Stewart) and Francine (Jaimie Alexander) are not new at the streets of Bronx. They like to cruise with their other girl friends on week-end’s nights and mess around with the guys from the street gangs. They are as sexy as tough and know how to manage the situations.

One night, as she insists her so much, Brenda accepts to take her younger sister, Heather (Ariel Gade), with her. Heather is deaf. As they are outside a bar, Heather innocently wanders into the path of a car, which sees her but doesn’t slow down. Heather is violently hit by the vehicle but she gets to stand up with no more than bruises.

The car stops, and its occupants are no stranger to Brenda. They're "The Scars", a gang of mid-level dope dealers. Behind the wheel is Fargo (Diego Luna), leader Jake (Shawn Ashmore) is in the passenger seat, Red (Victor Rasuk) is in the back seat, and Vince (Matt Dallas), the gang's meek and weak-willed "pet" sits next to Red.

Rather than get an apology, Brenda instead gets propositioned for sex and drugs by Jake. Then the gang takes off. Later, on their way back home, Brenda and her friends see the Scars' empty vehicle parked in an alley. The girls jump in the car and take off. The guys arrive just to see the girls driving away and shouting obscenities to them as they drive off. They will later find the car in a nearby alley with garbage strewn inside.

Next Monday, the gang arrives at Vince's school to close a drug deal and while there, Red spots Heather among the crowd and suggests to Jake getting revenge for the car-trashing incident.

As Heather is waiting in the gym for Brenda to take her home, Red sneaks into the gym. He talks to Heather and manages to gain her trust. He then tries to forcibly kiss her. She breaks away from him and tries to flee, but the other gang members have all the gym entrances covered. Jake tells them to leave the girl but all his gang mates ignore him so he finally joins them. They drag the helpless girl to one of the locker rooms where they take turns at raping her. Jake, not wanting to take any chances with the local police, kicks Heather in the side of the head. The unresponsive and bloodied girl is then left in the locker room.

Brenda returns from one of her routine Principal's office visits to the gym to collect her sister, and finds her gone. The girls spread out to search for her, and a hysterical Francine charges into the gym from the locker rooms screaming for Brenda, having made the grisly discovery.

Heather is rushed to the hospital, where she is listed in critical condition. Brenda is sure that it was The Scars who did it although there are no witnesses.

A couple of weeks later, Brenda and Francine go to a bar looking for the Scars. They are looking for revenge. The Scars are at the bar but even before they can get to them a fight breaks out between the Scars and another gang. And while Jake is delivering a beating to one of his rivals, Francine sticks Jake in the back with a switchblade. Jake gets up and lunges towards Francine, but she is out of reach by this time.

A few days later, the Scars confront Francine on a bridge as she's walking home. Francine spits in Jake's face, and he lifts her up over his head and throws her off the bridge railing and to her death. Vince, who already feels remorse for what they did to Heather, can’t stand that anymore. He runs from the gang, expressing his hatred of Jake and the rest of them. He runs to Heather's hospital bedside and tries to apologize to the comatose girl for his actions, but Brenda runs him off.

Brenda, knowing that Francine is missing, fears the worst and decides it's time to take action. Dressing in a leather suit and armed with a switchblade, bear traps and crossbow, she takes off from her home. Before she leaves, her mother (Linda Blair) asks her where she’s going and she just answers: ‘I have some laundry to do’.

Brenda's first stop is at Vince's house. She sees him packing to run. At knifepoint, Vince tells Brenda that Francine is dead and that he couldn't do anything to stop it. She spares Vince' life after he tells her where to find the gang.

Knowing that his fate is doomed if he doesn't run, Vince goes to work and gets a loan from his boss, telling her he'll be back after things cool down. What Vince doesn't know is that Jake is parked in the alley with his headlights dimmed, waiting for Vince. Jake is afraid that Vince could go to the Police to confess their crimes. So Jake speeds towards him, knocking him in the air and onto the pavement, killing him.

Meanwhile, Brenda is waiting for Fargo and Red as they return to their "home" in a warehouse. She confronts them and coerces them inside, despite Red's sense that something's wrong if she's not afraid of them. Fargo proceeds ahead with Red behind him. Fargo eventually finds Brenda, and tells her what he's going to do to her once he gets his hands on her. Brenda responds by launching a crossbow arrow into his throat. Moments later, Red finds Fargo's body, and also Brenda waiting for him. Brenda doesn't launch another arrow, as the bear traps take care of Red as he falls upon them.

Jake finally returns to the warehouse, pounding on the door for Fargo and Red to raise it. Not getting a response, he raises the overhead door and sees the two strung-up bodies of his fallen gangmates. Brenda's voice calls off from a distance, telling him he's next. Jake pulls out a pistol and fires it in every direction, hoping one of the bullets will hit her. Brenda responds by launching an arrow into both of his thighs.

Jake stumbles towards the warehouse gate, but Brenda has a snare trap in wait, suspending him upside down by his ankles. After stringing him up, she tells him his death is not going to be quick. Jake manages to distract her long enough to grab the gate's door and pull it towards her, knocking her in the head and to the ground. He manages to free himself and climb on top of her, but she frees herself and escapes to another warehouse full of paints and solvents. Armed with a can of the solvent, she manages to squirt Jake with the can's contents as he tries to strangle her. She pulls a cigarette lighter out and sets him on fire. Jake burns while desperate screams come out from his throat.

Brenda calmly walks away from the warehouse.

Nobody has seen her at the crime scene.

Weeks later, Brenda and her friends, including a fully-recovered Heather, go to Francine's gravesite. Heather reads her sister’s lips as she tells her: ‘Everything will be fine now’.


Stark’s Comment:
I am still wondering why my brother Joey had the wild idea of making a remake of that movie… Well, anyway, it is the big chance for Kristen Stewart to lead a cast for the first time in CMP. And she is popular enough thanks to ‘Twilight’ to make this one work decently at box office, no matter the ‘R’ rating due to its extremely violent sequences.

Behind The Scenes:
-‘Savage Streets’ was a movie released in 1984. Some critics officially declared it as ‘one of the worst movies of the 1980s’.
-Linda Blair, the girl from ‘The Exorcist’, starred the original movie. Matt Kubrick decided to invite her to make a cameo in this new version playing Kristen’s mother.
-Ariel Gade replaced the originally considered Saoirse Ronan. The producers considered that Ronan looks too grow up to play the young sister of Kristen.
-In this version, Stark and Kubrick has put the accent in action and have lowered down the explicit sex sequences from the original.
-The ending of the movie has been changed. In the original ‘Savage Streets’, it was implied that Kristen’s character would be arrested and would pay for her violent actions. In this one, there are no witnesses of Kristen’s actions and she can go back home with no major problem.
-This is the third screenplay co-written by Stark and Kubrick after ‘Wild Cards: Battle Of The Rox’ and ‘Silver Sable and the Ultimate Alliance’.


MODERN WARFARE: Chad Taylor has adapted this popular console game for this big screen version that pretends to be a top budget show mixing war and politics. Peter Berg – whose only previous work for CMP was Dawson Edwards’ debut, the flopped thriller ‘The Killing Run’ – will be behind the cameras. Tony Scott is going to produce the movie. And two big names will lead the all-men cast: Christian Bale – in his 14th work for CMP – and Daniel Day-Lewis, past Season GMA nominee for his work in ‘Game Of Truth’.

A MURDER OF CROWS: Tough guys, betrayal and crimes are the ingredients of the story chosen by Richard Franzwa to make his debut as movie director. To develope this action thriller he has teamed up with no other than Sean Penn, not seen in CMP since ‘A Jazz Tale’. Penn will be the producer of the movie and will also play a minor role in it. The starring couple is going to be played by two GMA nominees: Harvey Keitel, returning to CMP after his personal success with ‘Fictitious Images’, and Mickey Rourke, heard past Season in the flopped animated feature ‘Toons’.

THE RESPECTED: This movie is going to mean the return to work of a big star that has gone through serious health problems lately. Yes, Michael Douglas is ready to work again and that’s great news! Tom Wilkinson is returning to the saga playing the father of Robert Pattinson again. Jonathan Demme is directing this third installment of this series written by Chad Taylor.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES: If Tim Burton is directing, who’ll be in the cast for sure? Yes, no other than Johnny Depp. Depp will play the lead male character of the story, Natalie Portman’s love interest. Depp is having a busy Season: he has starred ‘Noon’ and he is now finishing his work in ‘The Respected’ before joining this shootage. Also in this movie, two stars already seen fighting each other past Season in ‘Justice League 2’ playing Lex Luthor and Superman, will meet here again: Joseph Fiennes and Henry Cavill, both playing British gentlemen with love interests in the Bennett sisters.

MIRROR’S EDGE: Mila Kunis will try to have better luck with this action movie than the one she had with her CMP’s debut in ‘Houstatlantavegas’. She is going to play Megan Fox’s sister. Billy Bob Thornton also joins this cast after being seen past Season in the acclaimed ‘Turn Of A Friendly Card’. This console game adaptation written by Steve Connors is being directed by Doug Liman.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO HOLDEN CAULFIELD?: Green light for this very interesting story written by Josh Collins about the peculiar relationship between a wannabe writer and a literature star. This movie will mean the long awaited return to CMP of director Wes Anderson. Anderson became a big name for the Studio during its first Seasons, when he directed the three so called fables written by James Bradley ‘Bill and the Rocket Man’, ‘Fools Game’ and ‘Man In The Mirror’, all of them awarded and acclaimed movies. After that, Anderson disappeared from the CMP’s scene until now.

DEEP SILENCE 3: Two first names to add to the cast of this production together with the lead star of this franchise, Jessica Alba. Channing Tatum is back after his debut in CMP with ‘Sunshine On Lonely Street’. And Lara Belmont returns too after her work in the acclaimed Matt Kubrick’s movie ‘Legends Of The West’. Lara replaces Olivia Wilde, who refused the offer to play a supporting role in this movie, while Tatum is replacing Sam Worthington, who could not be in this movie due to his commitment with other CMP’s production coming up.

LITTLE MISS DOLLFACE: Talents to play the dads and brothers of the contestants in the beauty pageant showed in this Christopher Guest’s mockumentary: Jeffrey Wright, not seen in CMP since ‘Storm At Home’, and Eugene Levy are the dads and Jimmy Bennett – who has worked before with Josh Collins in ‘Babes In Toyland’, ‘A Man Called Dan’ and ‘The Lovers Stages’ – plays a brother, while the CMP’s debutante Fred Willard plays the pageant host.

ATHENA: Two villains to add to the cast of this historical epic adventure. Ciaran Hinds, seen in ‘Superman: Last Son’, plays Hades, the king of the dark territories known as the Underworld. And Joaquin Phoenix plays Hephaestus, the mean half-brother of Athena and Heracles. Phoenix will have to go through complex make up sessions as his character is a particularly ugly one-eyed man. Phoenix had not been seen in CMP since the flopped ‘Goldmine Killers’.

LOVE LOST: Michael Cera goes on in his struggle to gain prestige after critics were so hard on him with his CMP’s comedies like ‘Lyin’ Wish’ or ‘Guitar Hero’. After his work in ‘Turn Of A Friendly Card’, he has accepted to play a minor role again in this sentimental drama written by Dawson Edwards and directed by James Mangold. James Gandolfini, seen for the last time in CMP in the failed ‘Secret Sins’, will play here Cera’s boss at a supermarket.


JAMES BRADLEY – ‘THE SHOW’

James Bradley is not one of the most active writers in CMP. He takes his time from one movie to the next. But he is having a specially busy Season now. He has already released ‘Queens’, another one of his acclaimed comedies. And soon two more movies written by him will be coming up, ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’ and ‘Athena’. But before that, he releases this week ‘The Show’, another comedy, more acid and satiric than what he usually writes. We have talked with him about all this.

1.Where did the idea for ‘The Show’ came from?

‘The Show’ is an exaggerated picture of the times we are living. Or maybe it is not that exaggerated. Nowadays, the media rule the world. And we live in the times of reality shows. Everything can be turned into a show, even the drama of a girl trapped in a well. Do you remember the drama of those Chilean miners broadcasted worldwide? Fictional stories are not enough for audiences anymore as audiences are greedy for emotional stories. They want real drama, real pain and suffering. It’s crazy. Pretty often, audiences forget that there are real people involved and they just follow the news as if it was a tv movie or something. And other people take advantage of that without any scruple. That’s what this movie tries to both denounce and laugh at.

2. Your comedies are frequently based on very original ideas. Where do you take those ideas from?

I don’t know. I read once that you can only write a good story if you have a good concept as starting point. And a concept won’t be good if it cannot be summarized in only a few words. I respect that rule. My starting point is always a brief concept. ‘An ordinary girl poses for ‘Playboy’ magazine’. That’s the concept of ‘Nude!’. Or ‘two famous actresses try to ruin each other’s life’ for ‘Queens’. Or ‘a girl falls in a well and it becomes a worldwide show’ for ‘The Show’. If I have that short concept and I like it, I know the story will flow. If not, I know the story won’t work.

3.The cast of ‘The Show’ is full of talents you have previously worked with. It seems like you have a kind of stable squad of talents to put up your casts.

Not really. It is not something as deliberated as it may seem. It just comes out that way most of the times. I am looking for someone to play a character and suddenly a name pops up: ¡Paul Giamatti! He always fits so well with some of my characters. It’s like Kate Winslet. When I begun writing for CMP, I never planned to work so often with her but she keeps showing up in my movies because she always looks perfect for many of the characters I write. I love having people like Robert De Niro, Ryan Reynolds, Tom Hanks, Scarlet Johansson or Maggie Gyllenhaal in my movies. So, in an inevitable way, they come to my mind once and again when putting up the casts. But, most of the times, I first write the character and then comes the talent. Not always. But that’s the way I usually work.

4. Comedies are working much better at box office lately in CMP and that is something that must encourage you to keep on writing them…

I have always known that comedies and dramas are not meant to become blockbusters in CMP. But I have always been pretty lucky at box office with them. From time to time, my movies have failed at box office but most of the time my numbers are good enough. Anyway, I am conscious that my movies will hardly ever be on those top lists CMP makes… I can live with that as long as people keep enjoying the stories I write.

5.Tell us something about ‘Athena’, that big project you have co-written with Joey Stark…

You said it: it’s really big! Joey and I have created what I call an ‘Alternative History’… I mean, we have written a historical movie based on events that never happened. We have taken the Greek mythology and turned its Gods and Goddesses into human characters and then we have built up a false History. But it’s a great adventure show! I am very happy to be writing with Joey again after ‘The Funeral Drum’. I think it’s going to be a spectacular movie…


MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL

She may not be one of the top female stars in CMP. But she is developing a solid career in the Studio that reaches this week her seventh job with ‘The Show’, her return to CMP after six Seasons away. All of her movies for the Studio have made net gains so far. And while she still waits for the big role that definitely turns her into a major CMP’s star, we have decided to take a look this week at her successful career in the Studio.


THE WOMEN CLUB
Season 1
Mimi Leder / Brian Kelley
B.O.: 165 / N.G.: 145
Maggie made her debut in CMP the very first Season of the Studio with this comedy about three women that decide to team up to make men pay for all the pain they cause. Sandra Bullock (also producer of the movie) and Reese Witherspoon were the other members of this women club and box office very much supported their will to make justice in men-women relationships.

ROBOTECH 3
Season 4
Michael Bay / Matt Kubrick
B.O.: 85 / N.G.: 74
Voice-only work in the third and last installment of this animated franchise. The movie wasn’t as successful as its predecessors and Bay and Kubrick decided not to keep developing new installments of the series as they had initially planned.

PARODY OF ARTS
Season 5
David Mamet / Marcus Trax
B.O.: 71 mill. / N.G.: 46 mill.
This was one of the comedies developed by the legendary CMP’s team formed by David Mamet, Marcus Trax and Johnny Depp. Maggie played a minor role as a member of a troupe of actors during the 1960s. The movie got critical acclamation and a Best Picture and Best Director nods at the GMA.

CELEBUTANTES
Season 7
James Bradley / James Bradley
B.O.: 49 mill. / N.G.: 68 mill.
Maggie joined the cast of Bradley’s debut as movie director. It was a comedy about the life of Hollywood’s babes ala Paris Hilton. Maggie played the press agent of the lead character, played by Michelle Trachtenberg, the daughter of a famous actor that wants to be a star and, in the meantime, never misses a Hollywood’s party and a heavy drink.

FORTUNE CITY
Season 7
Lawrence Kasdan / Marcus Trax
B.O.: 32 mill. / N.G.: 0.2 mill.
Westerns have never been lucky at CMP. This one was saved from net losses for only 200.000 bucks. Maggie played here a good-hearted prostitute that falls in love with the lead character, played by Edward Norton.

TENDER IS THE NIGHT
Season 10
Martin Scorsese / James Bradley
B.O.: 101 mill. / N.G.: 85 mill.
James Bradley chose Maggie again to be in the cast of this adaptation of the classic Scott Fitzgerald’s novel. Maggie played a supporting role in this glamorous production starred by Angelina Jolie, Daniel Day-Lewis and Scarlet Johansson. The movie made a much better box office than expected for a classic drama like this.

THE SHOW
Season 16
Jason Reitman / James Bradley
Awaiting release
After six Seasons away, it’s been Bradley again who has taken Maggie back to CMP. She plays the simple minded mother of Chloe Moretz, a woman dazzled by her sudden fame when her daughter gets trapped in a well. It’s good to have you back, Maggie!


Kristen Stewart finally gets a leading role in a CMP’s movie after playing quite a few supporting ones with ‘Savage Streets’. Kristen plays in it a street girl ready to face a whole gang. Meeting the release of the movie, she has made a promotional photo session for ‘Vanity Fair’ with a completely different look from how she will be seen in it. Here is Kristen like you’ve never seen her before!



Now it’s official. Harry Stark has been considering it for quite a long time. But he has finally taken a decision. At the next GMA Edition there will be a new and special award category: the Full Moon for a Special Achievement. This award will recognize talents that have made a special contribution to CMP’s world in any way. It won’t be voted like the rest of the categories and there won’t be nominees. CMP’s Executive Board will directly choose who gets the award. But any CMP’s author can propose Harry Stark privately any candidate (writer, director, actor, actress…) they consider that deserves this special recognition and the reason why.

A few months ago, Matt Kubrick announced the creation of ‘Midnight Movies The Edge’, a special division of his production company. This division would develop animated movies to be released directly on DVD. We had never heard again of this project since then. But now, Harry Stark has announced that the first production developed under this label will see the light next Season. It will be an animated horror movie with the promising title of ‘Demon Hunter’.

Some times, movie stars have a different status in and out of CMP. I mean, some stars may not be as big out of CMP as what they are in CMP’s world. Olivia Wilde is one of those cases (somebody mentioned here the multi-awarded Emile Hirsh?). Olivia is developing a great career in CMP, including her two nominations at the GMA for her latest work for the Studio, ‘Game Of Truth’ (a flop at box office, by the way). That’s why some talents do not accept anymore in CMP offers that they would probably accept out of the Studio. Olivia has just rejected the offer to be in ‘Deep Silence 3’. The reason? Playing a supporting role in the third installment of a saga has not been considered by Olivia as an offer good enough for a twice GMA nominee like she is. Ego. That’s what it is all about after all…

Dawson Edwards has finally ready the third installment of ‘Wonder Woman’. Cobie Smulders will play again the character and Zhang Yimou will probably direct the movie again. But green light for it will have to wait. As usual, these sagas have to be coordinated with the releases of the Justice League movies. So, as ‘Justice League 3’ will be released on Season 17, we might have to wait until no sooner than Season 18 to see again Wonder Woman in her own franchise.

Meanwhile, there’s another superhero coming up to CMP (are there still superheroes not seen in a CMP’s movie?). The very active D.R.Cobb will also join the list of CMP’s writers interested in having their own superhero franchise (and that list, as you know, includes almost every CMP’s writer). The one chosen by Cobb is no other than Green Arrow, from DC Comics. It is not known yet if this superhero will finally join the CMP’s superhero squad in Season 17 or in Season 18.