DECEMBER, 16


THE QUESTION: DARK TOMORROW

Action / Superhero

The Cast: Ryan Gosling, Christina Hendricks, John Malkovich, Jason Isaacs, Kyle Chandler, Peter Stormare, Kevin Pollack

The Director: Duncan Jones
The Screenwriter: D.R. Cobb
The Producer: Zack Snyder

The Plot:

The head of Hub City's illegal gambling operation, Volk (Peter Stormare), is retiring. He manages to survive an attempt on his life, and tries to make a deal with Mayor Wesley Fermin (John Malkovich), who is surprisingly still in office. Mayor Fermin shows up to the meeting drunk, and Volk refuses to do his business with Myra Connelly Fermin (Christina Hendricks), who is still married to the Mayor. Myra, desperate for help, turns to freelance reporter Vic Sage (Ryan Gosling) to try to get access to Volk. Myra confides in Sage that she's doing everything she can to hold the city together. He asks her about their relationship, and she tells him that her marriage may be a forced sham, but she still respects the vows.

The man who funded the first assassination attempt on Volk plans to do things right the second time, and hires three out-of-town gunmen. Volk refuses to talk to Sage, and threatens him with death if he attempts the interview. Across town, the crime boss who hired the hitmen finds out where Volk is and plans to accompany the hitmen to kill Volk personally. Volk, goes about his business, deciding to spend the day with a prostitute.

This time, Sage shows up as the Question looking for Volk at the Savoy Hotel. He climbs the fire escape and, as he approaches Volk's window, a whip crashes through the glass and grips the Question's throat. The Question assures him that he is not an enemy. Volk grants the Question the interview and gives him the history of his life. His mother was a gypsy traveling through Germany. He was wounded and orphaned, and raised by Bavarian wolves. Volk says he'd planned to inform on his corrupt competitors until he saw that Mayor Fermin was also corrupt, and weak.

The hired killers lurk in the hallways of the hotel. Volk tells the Question to go, but the Question opts to stay and help. Volk takes out one of the hitmen and a henchman with a rope dart, and the Question fights the other who comes in through the fire escape. After knocking the killer's weapon away, the Question watches his opponent lower into a martial arts stance. The Question makes short work of him. The last killer takes a look around at his fallen colleagues, and decides to bail, leaving the crime boss on his own. The crime boss fires into the room with an Uzi, but Volk uses his whip to steal the gun away. As Volk chokes him, the crime boss pulls a pistol from his pocket and fires into Volk's torso. The crime boss falls down dead, and Volk stumbles away injured before dying himself.

The Question checks his watch from a rooftop as he looks down on a drug deal below. A midnight meeting between some drug dealers and Izzy O'Toole (Kyle Chandler), chief of detectives, starts with a briefcase containing $20,000 and a kilo of cocaine. As they make the switch, Izzy pulls his police revolver out and the men's hands go up. One of the men, behind Izzy, brings his own gun up. The Question strips the gun away and takes down the rest of the gang. Izzy wants to know why the Question is following him. The Question states that it's a matter of curiosity. He wanted to know what Izzy was going to do.

Sage talks to Myra at the KBEL station, where she tells him that she plans to run for mayor. They begin a secret affair. While leaving the station after a rendezvous in the editing room with Myra, he hears word that a bridge is about to collapse. He races there. While the cops do nothing, Vic risks his life to save a boy on the edge. In spite of his efforts and receiving help from a stranger, the boy dies.

Myra discovers that a report had been submitted warning that the bridge was unsafe. She tries to fire the bureaucrat who ignored the report, but union rules protect him. After her failure to get the man fired, Myra officially announces her candidacy for mayor. The press rakes her over the coals for the existence of an illegitimate child and her string of past lovers, including Sage.

Izzy O'Toole has gotten the Hub City police department on his back, as he has slowly been cleaning up the department and flushing out dirty cops. The police are not too fond of their buddies getting fired, but the press supports him. The Question asks O'Toole to endorse Myra's mayoral campaign. As the Question, he shadows her political opponent, Royal Dinsmore (Jason Isaacs), in the hopes of finding evidence supporting rumors that he has with links to organized crime. He fails to find any concrete evidence.

As Election Day comes, Sage discovers a connection tying Dinsmore to rigged voting machines. He calls a judge to get a court injunction to stop the vote-counting machines from being used, but the judge is in the pay of Dinsmore, and denies Sage's request. After hearing of Sage's discovery, Dinsmore sends a biker gang to kill Sage. The reporter changes into the Question to deal with his attackers.

Myra comes home from work to find Wesley about to shoot himself. She stops him, and later at a press conference disavows any connection to her husband. She is torn apart by the media for the timing. Wesley Fermin watches the conference at home, calling his wife a "commie bitch," before turning off the television in anger. After the conference, Myra tells her make-up artist that she intends to put Fermin in detox and get a divorce after the election.

Dinsmore and his campaign manager send more gang members out to bribe homeless people into voting for Dinsmore, as well as intimidate and beat up potential voters for Myra. Vic hears of people being beaten in the streets and leaves the station mid-broadcast. He is torn between doing his job to tell the truth or acting to prevent Dinsmore from winning the election. As he leaves the station, the weatherman issues a tornado warning on the air. Sage chooses to take action as the Question.

He hospitalizes a few of the thugs out on the streets, then uses the news broadcast to spread the rumor that they overdosed from bad drugs. The gang had been given a drug supply for helping Dinsmore, and when they hear of the overdoses, they turn on their employer, leaving the streets safe for voters. Sage goes to get a statement from the candidate. His first stop is to Dinsmore's campaign headquarters. He arrives just as the gang is about to burn the crooked politician alive. Sage steps in as the Question, but is soon overpowered by the gang and doused in gasoline.

Fermin accuses Myra of being a defeatist and a faithless communist. She gives him an acidic reply, after which Fermin leaves the house with his pistol. The large tornado makes a beeline for Hub City.

The Question and Dinsmore are only saved from being burned alive by the fury of the tornado as it hits Hub City hard. The gang panics as it first touches down, and a motorcycle rips through a window, taking out their leader. While Vic battles the storm, Myra and her staff take refuge in the basement of City Hall. At KBEL, the transmitter quits functioning. The weatherman hysterically steps out into the storm to yell out warnings to the citizens, but is swept away into the telephone wires.

Sage survives the storm and awakens the next morning feeling refreshed. He learns that Myra lost the election by a single vote. He curses himself because he forgot to vote, as his vote could have at least tied the election. Sage goes out to get a statement from the loser, but Myra is unavailable. He then seeks out Dinsmore. He only finds him when Dinsmore's dead body is pulled from river. With Dinsmore dead, Myra becomes the duly elected mayor of Hub City. As she gives her acceptance speech, the former Mayor Wesley Fermin arrives and shoots her in the stomach.

With the devastation left by the tornado and without a mayor, as Myra is in serious condition, Hub City falls into turmoil.

A couple of two-bit street hoods rob a liquor store then flee to the top floor of a building where they take a young couple hostage. In the meantime, Wesley Fermin takes refuge with one of his biggest campaign supporters, Sundert (Kevin Pollack). Sundert offers the drunken former mayor reassurance that he did the right thing by shooting Myra.

Sage leaves the station to sulk and search for Fermin. He tracks down Sundert, but Fermin has already left to the site of the police stand-off with the liquor store robbers. Fermin charges the robbers, killing both, but dying from return fire.

Two days later, Sage goes to the hospital to visit Myra. Her gunshot wounds are healing, but she's in a coma. Hearing a commotion on the roof, he rushes up as the Question to see what's going on. He finds some thugs dangling a man from the edge of the building. He tells them that if they drop the man, they'll follow his body down. Not heeding the warning, the thugs drop their victim. The Question disarms them, but a kick sends one teetering over the edge. The Question considers not helping him back up, but eventually does, telling the thug not to thank him. Upset over the victim’s death and Myra’s condition, Sage takes a picture of Myra to a building top where he meditates on it. While he meditates, she wakes from her coma.


Stark’s Comment:
Considering the support the first movie of this franchise got after its release, I presume that the fans of the character have grown so much with time and that will turn this sequel into a much bigger success than the first movie.

Behind The Scenes:
-‘The Question’ made 56 million at box office and net gains of 21 millions. It got 4 nominations at the Golden Moon Awards: Most Wanted Sequel, Villain (Ray Winstone), Actor (Ryan Gosling) and Picture (Zack Snyder, producer). It won the Most Wanted Sequel award.
-David Slade, director of ‘The Question’, abandoned the pre-production of this sequel when he was offered to direct ‘Alan Wake’. Duncan Jones replaced him.
-This is the second movie directed by Duncan Jones for CMP after ‘Thrust From Skyline’.
-After ‘The Question’ and before this one, Ryan Gosling has also worked with D.R. Cobb this Season in ‘Survivor’.
-Kyle Chandler refused the offer to be in ‘Grand Theft Auto II’ to work in this movie.
-John Malkovich and Christina Hendricks were also seen in ‘The Question’.
-D.R. Cobb has already written a third installment of this saga.

NETWORK

Drama

The Cast: David Strathairn, Hillary Swank, Mark Ruffalo, Richard Gere, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Lea Michele

The Director: David O. Russell
The Screenwriter: Chad Taylor

The Plot:

The UBS Evening News has plummeted in ratings. They’re fourth in the ratings (behind NBC,ABC,CBS), and considered a joke in the industry. Once regarded as one of the best in the nation, Howard Woods (D.Strathairn), the main news anchor, is unable to bring in the following he once did. In the opening scene, he reminisces about his old glory days with a few of his drinking buddies, including his show runner Max Schumacher (R.Gere). On air the next day, Howard says that he will be leaving the show after 30 years at the network. He confesses that ratings have driven him into a depression, his life is useless, and that he will blow his brains in a weeks time.

Network executives and technicians carry on their conversations, assuming things are going as planned. Young intern Victoria (L.Michele) notices, and notifies the guys multiple times. Finally Max notices and so does Vice President of the network, Frank Johnson (M.Ruffalo). People rush in get Howard off of the set, while the cameras are rolling.

The CCA, and their head Russell Shephard (P.S.Seymour-Hoffman), had recently bought UBS Systems, and decides to fire Howard immediately. But this hit’s a sour spot for Max, who feels the need to help his friend. He pleads in front of the board, who decide to give Howard one last show, for an apology and a farewell. “I’m not going to run a whore house network, Max.” Russell says.“Well that’s just what you bought, a whore house network. Howard needs this.” Max replies.

The next day, he is on the air. “Yesterday, I said I would blow my brains out on national television. The reason behind that is, I’m sick of telling you people all of this bullshit.”

Technicians race to get him off air, as he used one of the words forbidden from television. But Russell steps in and says “Keep him on. If he wants to go out this way, let him.”

The following morning, Diana Kerr (H.Swank), the Head of Programming, gets the ratings in. She races to her boss, Frank, to show him the good news. They saw an increase in all markets, especially New York and Los Angeles, which really helps them out. She tells him that because he said bullshit, that people are going to tune in again, and the ratings will keep increasing. Max, who is in hot water over letting Max back on the air to say bullshit, says no immediately saying he doesn’t want his best friend exposed. Frank then apologizes, and tells Max he’s been fired, and that he will go with Diana’s plan.

At every desk, near every watercooler, people are talking about this decision. Diana wants to take an aggressive approach to programming. Victoria gives her a list of potential projects, including live robberies filmed by a terrorist group led by the Great Ahmed Khan. Frank becomes increasingly nervous about his decision to back up Diana, as he knows his job is on the line. Howard comes on air the next day, and preaches about social injustice. He preaches for the people mistreated by society, to open up their windows and yell “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!” The ratings come back so good, that Diana decides to branch of a new show, named “The Howard Woods Show”.

After the show is on for a few weeks, it becomes the highest rated show in the nation. Diana becomes excited, while feeling power hungry, and starts to date Max, whom is much older. Frank is loving the position he’s in, as the show is going great, and he is very high on Russell’s list. But once Howard starts preaching about the Arabs, their radical leader Ahmed Khan and the CCA, his ratings slip and the audiences begin to get bored.

Diana becomes worried and breaks up with Max. Frank fears his relationship with Russell, but soon finds out what Russell really wants. He wants Howard to continue to send his own message on the air, and so they let him. But the ratings continue to drop. Diana becomes annoyed very quickly with Howard on air, so she tries to find a replacement, but notices that no one can match him.

And so Diana, Frank, and a few other executives sit down in the boardroom to talk about future endeavors. Frank tells them that they don’t have enough money to buyout Howard’s new contract, so Diana suggests they assassinate him on air. She says it will be a boost in ratings, and also help them out in their current situation. Some people in the room oppose of it, but stay quiet. The next day on the Howard Woods Show, Howard is introduced and walks out on stage. As soon as he does, two gunmen stand up in the crowd, and shoot him in the head and heart.

The movie ends with a shot of four television sets, one with each channel on it. We see the live reports come in of his death. And then the narrator says “And this was the story of Howard Woods. The first man to be killed because he had bad ratings.”


Stark’s Comment:
Uncertain release. It’s a quality drama with a quality cast. But we all know that does not automatically mean good numbers at box office.

Behind The Scenes:
-This is the remake of a film from 1976 directed by Sidney Lumet. The original movie won 4 Academy Awards: Best Actor (Peter Finch, who died before winning this ward), Best Actress (Faye Dunaway), Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Screenplay.
-David Strathairn has won GMAs with his two latest works for the Studio: Best Actor for ‘Otto Rahn’ and past Season’s Best Supporting Actor for ‘Jonestown’.
-Some of the members of the cast have worked with Chad Taylor before: David Strathairn (‘Booster Gold’) Mark Ruffalo (‘The Lonely Polygamist’, ‘Grand Theft Auto II’), Philip Seymour Hoffman (‘The Sky Is Grey’) and Lea Michele (‘The Resurrected’ and ‘The Respected’).
-David O. Russell has never directed a CMP movie before.

BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING

Thriller / Mystery

The Cast: Mila Kunis, Dominic Cooper, Robert De Niro, Melissa Leo, Jimmi Simpson

The Director: Rodrigo Cortes
The Screenwriter: Dwight Gallo

The Plot:

Ann Lake (M. Kunis) has left her abusive husband and moved to Philadelphia with her five-year-old daughter Felicia, who she calls Bunny. She chose Philadelphia in order to be near her journalist brother Steven (D. Cooper). Ann enrolls Bunny in a private school for kindergarten and leaves to go run some errands.

That afternoon, Ann returns to the school to pick Bunny up, but Bunny isn't there and nobody remembers even seeing her. Ann starts to interrogate the school secretary, who doesn't remember anything. Steven then arrives and further badgers the secretary.

Soon Detective Newhouse (R. De Niro) arrives to investigate the matter. He talks with all the parties involved, including: Ann's landlord, Horatio Wilson (J. Simpson), who lets himself into Ann's new apartment as he pleases to go through her underwear; and the school principal Ada Ford (M. Leo), who collects recordings of children having nightmares. Ada tells Newhouse that she thinks there is something unusual about Ann's brother. While being questioned, Steven asks hostile towards Newhouse, and threatens to create a public scandal unless the police hurry up and find Bunny.

Steven tells the police that all of Bunny's belongings were stolen in a mysterious burglary earlier that day. Ada Ford reports to Newhouse that they had not received a tuition check for Bunny Lake. Newhouse suggests that Ann Lake may be unwell and that Bunny may not exist, infuriating Steven, who goes on an angry rant, during which he mentions that Ann named Bunny after her childhood imaginary friend. This leads Newhouse to suspect that Ann's daughter Bunny, may just be her imaginary friend.

Ann sets out to find clues that her daughter really exists. She suddenly remembers that she had taken Bunny's favorite doll in to be repaired. She tells Steven that she's going to the doll store and sets off towards the store in a cab to get the doll back, hoping that it would be enough evidence to prove that Bunny exists. Ann arrives at the doll store, which is closed, but the back door is unlocked and Ann enters. Inside the store is the owner, who is surprised to see Ann. She explains that she needs the doll right away, and he finds it for her.

It turns out that Steven followed Ann to the store. Ann gives her brother the doll and goes back inside to pay the store owner. Once she's back inside, Steven sets fire to the doll. When Ann gets back outside and sees what Steven has done she is shocked. Steven then hits Ann with a tire iron, knocking her out. Steven then checks Ann into a hospital, claiming that she hit her head at home. Ann however manages to escape and hijacks a car in order to follow Steven.

She sees Steven stop, and retrieve Bunny from the trunk of his car. Seeing that Steven is about to kill Bunny, Ann runs up and distracts Steven by calling him 'Stevie' and attempting to engage him in games from their childhood.

Steven reveals to Ann that he feels that Bunny has been an intrusion upon their relationship. He wants to kill Bunny so that it will be just him and Ann like it was when they were kids. Bunny and Ann begin to run away from Steven. He chases after them along the road, when Newhouse arrives. He asks Steven to surrender, but Steven charges at him with a knife. Newhouse shoots Steven in the shoulder and arrests him. Newhouse had finally tracked down record of Bunny’s existence after contacting Ann’s ex-husband. Ann and Bunny watch as Steven is taken off in a police car, and Newhouse apologizes to Ann for not believing her.


Stark’s Comment:
Shall we avoid this time the curse of the thrillers? Hope so. After the unfair behavior of audiences with ‘Atlas Shrugged’ and ‘The Alamogordo’, Dwight Gallo very much deserves his first box office’s success.

Behind The Scenes:
-This is the remake of a British film from 1965 directed by Otto Preminger and starred by Laurence Olivier and Carol Lynley, based on a novel by Merriam Modell.
-Rodrigo Cortes took the director seat when Mark Pellington chose directing ‘Survivor’ instead of this movie.
-Mila Kunis has already been seen this Season in the acclaimed comedy ‘Original Colonies’. This is the first time she plays a lead role in a CMP film.
-Dominic Cooper makes his CMP debut with this movie.


Y: THE LAST MAN: More actresses joining the cast of this movie where Shia LaBeouf plays the only male character to be seen on screen. The Israeli actress Ayelet Zurer, seen out of CMP in films like ‘Angels & Demonds’, makes her debut in CMP with this film. Adrianne Palicki, seen past Season in ‘Island Of The Dead’, also joins the cast. And it is said that we will keep watching her in future CMP’s films as she has quite a few offers waiting for her. And also in this cast we’ll see Alicia Witt, whose only previous work for the Studio took place quite a few Seasons ago with the failed ‘Metal Gear Solid’. Francis Lawrence is directing this movie written by D.R. Cobb and produced by JJ Abrams.

CATCHING FIRE: A couple of Seasons ago, Chad Taylor adapted and Marc Forster directed ‘Hunger Games’, the Suzanne Collins’ bestselling book. The film worked nicely at box office, making 116 millions. Now, the sequel of ‘Hunger Games’ has been greenlighted to be released next Season. Forster and Taylor are back and, together with them, we will also see again some talents already seen in the first movie, like Emma Watson, Hunter Parish, Nathan Fillion, Andrew Garfield and Jay Baruchel.

BLACKWATER: Garrett Dillahunt, who made his CMP’s debut past week with ‘The Alamogordo’, is called to become a regular in the Studio, as he has quite a few projects waiting for him. The first one is this thriller directed by Andrew Dominik, written by Dwight Gallo and starred by Leonardo DiCaprio. Also in this film we’ll see Rainn Wilson. Wilson has also made her CMP debut only a couple of weeks ago in Rob Zombie’s ‘Jungle Of The Dead’.

AKIRA: Green light for this top budget fantasy production. ‘Akira’ is a legendary manga comic book and also an anime Japanese film based on it from 1988. Many people consider it one of the most iconic anime films ever. Now, Yuri Redding has decided to face the challenge of making a live action movie based on the same manga. Steven Spielberg, whose last work for the Studio was producing ‘The Goonies II’, is going to produce too this very ambitious film. Francis Lawrence, now directing ‘Y: The Last Man’, will go on with his brand new CMP’s career directing also this one. And the actor chosen to lead the cast is also a recent addition to CMP’s world: no other than Mr. Tarzan himself, Taylor Kitsch. The film will be released in Season 20.

IMAGINE: Freida Pinto, only seen before in CMP playing one of the lovers of Harry Flashman in ‘Flashman and the Mountain of Light’, returns to the Studio to play Chad Taylor’s dream girl in this movie. Freida does not speak a single world during the whole movie but she becomes the obsession of the lead character, played by Chad Taylor himself. Remember that Taylor not only stars the movie but also he has written the screenplay, he is directing it and he is the composer of the original soundtrack in this more than personal project for him.

THANK YOU & GOODBYE: Robert Downey Jr. has accepted to play a minor role as a sinister villain in this story about a media scandal being directed by Tom Hanks and written by James Bradley. Downey Jr. has stated that he liked the story so much when he read the screenplay that he wanted to be in it no matter the importance of his character. He has only worked with James Bradley once before in the flopped musical ‘Piece Of My Heart’. Karl Urban, seen past Season in the failed ‘Island Of The Dead’, has also joined this cast.

BACK TO BROOKLYN: Guy Ritchie is directing this violent story written by Dawson Edwards and starred by Matt Damon taking place in the criminal mob scene of New York. And the cast includes talents like Chazz Palminteri, playing once more a mafia boss, same way he has already done this Season in ‘Bad Family’ and same way he already did before with Edwards in ‘Gaspipe’; John Leguizamo, not seen in CMP since ‘Vixen’; Chris Evans, seen past Season in the blockbuster ‘First Flight’; Forest Whitaker, whose latest acting work in CMP was ‘Alabama’ and best known in the Studio for being one of the voices of the ‘F-Zero’ saga, also written by Edwards; and Michael Gambon, who makes his debut in CMP with this movie.

THE PRESIDENTIAL DATE: Initially planned to be released this Season, this film will finally see the light in Season 20. Steve Connors takes a rest from his console games adaptations to try a completely different genre: a romantic comedy. This story about a love triangle between the US President, his best friend and a school teacher will have two very popular stars in CMP as starring couple: Steve Carell and Cobie Smulders. For Carell, this will be his fourth consecutive work with Steve Connors after ‘The Revengers’, ‘Fantasy World’ and ‘The Undercoverss’, all of them big box office’s success. And Cobie Smulders has defined this movie in a recent interview as ‘a holiday from playing Wonder Woman’. Ivan Reitman, not seen in CMP since he directed many Seasons ago ‘Lieutenant USA and his Warm Steel Gang 2’, also starred by Steve Carell, finally returns to the Studio to direct this one.

ALADDIN: This epic fantasy adventure written by John Malone and being directed by Tarsem Singh had to go through different casting changes during its pre-production phase. Philip Quast, never seen before in a CMP movie, replaced Anthony Hopkins when Hopkins rejected to play again another epic minor character after being Zeus in ‘God Of War’. Thandie Newton, only seen before in CMP back in Season 1 in ‘Dark’, joined the cast to replace Zoe Saldana, who rejected this offer as she preferred to be in ‘Y: The Last Man’. And German actress Antje Traue joined this cast to make her CMP debut making a cameo and replacing no other than Angelina Jolie. Alden Ehrenreich, who made his debut in CMP past week starring another Malone’s film, ‘Flicker’, also stars this one playing Aladdin himself.

HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING: Frank Oz is directing this big screen adaptation written by Josh Collins of the legendary Broadway musical. Kristen Bell, only seen before in CMP in the comedy also written by Collins ‘Check, Please’, will be in the movie. Eddie Murphy, not seen in CMP since he played a minor role in the acclaimed ‘A Jazz Tale’ has also accepted to play a minor role here. And Steve Buscemi will play not one but two characters in the film. It is a tradition in this musical that the same actor plays the characters of Mr. Twimble and Wally Womper. So Josh Collins has decided to respect the tradition and Buscemi will be playing the two of them.


D.R.COBB
‘THE QUESTION: DARK TOMORROW’

Although he’s only been around for three Seasons, it seems like D.R. Cobb already is a veteran in CMP. He has become one of the most active screenwriters in the Studio and he is behind some of the films that have made a biggest impact during the latest Seasons, from the Best Picture GMA Winner ‘Jonestown’ to cult movies like ‘The Question’. This week, CMP releases the sequel of this superhero movie, the only movie of this genre to have been nominated for the Best Picture GMA. And we have talked with Cobb about this release among other things.

1.The first question is almost obliged when talking about a sequel: what's new in this movie compared to the first one?

Everything is escalated to a breaking point. The city is literally and figuratively crumbling. In terms of scale it is definitely a bigger movie, but still manages to maintain the grittiness and realism that made the first special. Duncan Jones also has a different directorial style than David Slade which might change a few things, although Slade set the look for the series.

2.After the amazing success of 'The Caped Crusader', is it still possible to make an impact on audiences with another superhero movie?

I think so. It all depends on the character and the tone. You obviously can't out Batman a Batman movie so you have to bring something different to the table. As long as the movie is good and isn't something we've all seen a million times I think that an impact can still be made.

3.'The Question' didn't make the box office expected but it was a critical success and it also succeeded at the Golden Moon Awards. Do you expect that this franchise will stay as a cult saga or will this sequel be the definitive launching of the franchise in terms of box office's success?

I believe that 'Dark Tomorrow' will be The Question's coming out party as a box office draw. But I'm not really worried about that too much. I want it to make more than the first. All that matters to me is that is does well enough to get Stark to greenlight the next Question movie.

4.You have had two releases acclaimed by critics this Season, 'Survivor' and 'Suspiria'... How do you feel about how these movies finally turned out?

I couldn't be happier with how 'Survivor' turned out. I'm still surprised by how well it worked at the box office. It's one of my favorite movies that I've done and will probably remain so. I don't want to sound cocky, but I expect to see Gosling's name come GMA season for his work in it. I'm also pleased with 'Suspiria' not only because the critics really understood what I was going for, but because the audience actually showed up for it.

5.You are also releasing soon 'Y: The Last Man'. What can you tell us about this project?

Well, it's really the first part of a very big movie. I don't consider the series to be a trilogy, but rather a three-part movie. And I will say that it was very difficult to cast the lead role of Yorick. It's one of the harder roles I've had to cast, but I think Shia LaBeouf is up to the challenge. And of course JJ Abrams is producing and he has experience with science fiction that can only benefit the production. It's really cool to have two of the movies I'm most proud of coming out back-to-back.


DAVID STRATHAIRN

David Strathairn, lead star of this week’s release ‘Network’, does not have a long career in CMP. But his name has become a synonymous of acting quality. And he attracts awards as a magnet. Winner of two GMAs, his prestige in CMP’s world is up in the sky right now. Watching his name in the cast list of a film, instantly makes you think that there’s something interesting going on… This week, we take a look at his short but quality filmography in the Studio, full of awards winner films.

AMERICAN TABLOID
Martin Scorsese / James Bradley
B.O.: 62 / N.G.: 53
It took 12 Seasons before David Strathairn finally showed up for the first time in a CMP movie. Finally, he made his debut in the Studio playing no other than Edgar J. Hoover in this acclaimed adaptation of James Ellroy’s book. He joined a top-notch cast including big names like Bruce Willis, Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro, Matt Damon, John Travolta and Christian Bale. The film got 9 nominations at the GMA back in Season 12 and finally won 4 statues, including Best Picture and Best Director.

BOOSTER GOLD
JJ Abrams / Chad Taylor
B.O.: 69 / N.G.: 75
Strathairn’s second work for the Studio was this forgotten superhero movie. Chad Michael Murray played the peculiar hero of the story and, although the production involved two big names like Abrams and Taylor, it just didn’t work out as expected. No doubt, it is the least interesting work from Strathairn in CMP. But, paradoxically, it is also his biggest box office’s success in his career in the Studio.

NUDE!
James Bradley / James Bradley
B.O.: 32 / N.G.: 36
Bradley called Strathairn again to play Ellen Page’s father in this funny comedy about an ordinary girl who becomes the cover of Playboy magazine. Box office was pretty poor but critics acclaimed this film, still considered as one of the best comedies ever released by the Studio. It got 5 nominations at Season 13’s GMA Edition and it won at the Best Original Concept and the Best Actress (Ellen Page) categories.

OTTO RAHN
Werner Herzog / Matt Kubrick
B.O.: 36 / N.G.: 3
This biopic about the German anthropologist Otto Rahn meant his first lead role and the definitive rise to stardom for Strathairn in CMP. Steven Spielberg was the producer of the film. And the pattern of Strathairn’s career in CMP was back: weak box office, critical acclaim and strong presence at the Golden Moon Awards. This one got 7 nominations. David Strathairn won the Best Actor GMA. And it also won at the Best Adaptation and the Best Villain (Kevin Spacey) categories back in Season 15.

JONESTOWN
Oliver Stone / D.R.Cobb
B.O.: 23 / N.L.: 1
Past Season, Strathairn could be seen again in one of the biggest events of the Season. The story of the so called Peoples Temple made a big impact on critics and GMA’s voters. Sadly, it didn’t make the same impact on audiences. The movie made a minor net loss of only 1 million, becoming the first and only box office’s flop so far in Strathairn’s career in CMP. Again, a film with Strathairn in it became one of the main candidates at the GMA. It got 6 nominations and it finally became one of the most awarded movies in CMP’s history with 5 statues, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor and Best Villain for Josh Brolin. Strathairn won his second GMA, this time as Best Supporting Actor.


We all know she has an exuberant and voluptuous sex appeal. But just in case any of us has forgotten it (if that’s possible), here is Christina Hendricks, star of this week’s release ‘The Question: Dark Tomorrow’, at the cover of ‘Premiere’ magazine to remind it. Also, find inside an interesting interview with David Strathairn talking about the job of acting.



‘Perennis’, the first project of the new screenwriter Matthew Lee, has turned into one of the most complex projects ever in CMP’s history. As I wrote before, this fantasy adventure with dwarfs and elves was initially offered to Peter Jackson to direct it. Lee had put up a top-notch cast for the film. But when Jackson decided he was not interested in directing the film (rumors say that he was not satisfied with the screenplay), most of those stars also abandoned it. Because of that, Harry Stark decided to postpone the green light of the project (initially planned to be released during the first weeks of Season 20). After that, and trying to save this project some way, Stark and Lee agreed to make a deep change in the concept: the film would not be anymore a live action movie but a ‘performance capture’ animated movie, using the same technique than Spielberg’s ‘The Adventures Of Tintin’. Once decided this, the next problem was finding a new director and a new cast. Well, my latest news about this complex project is that Lee already has a new director and a cast proposal. Now, it will all depend on the new talents chosen if they accept or not the job. Right now, the filming of this movie has been delayed but it is still expected that it will be ready for release some time during the last weeks of next Season.

Not every pitch that arrives to Harry Stark’s office is automatically greenlighted. The latest screenplay rejected by Stark has been the second story written by Michael Banno. Remember him? Banno has only released one movie before in CMP: the zombies film ‘Viral’ (yes, that movie with Topher Grace and a zombie hippo). Banno’s latest pitch was an action movie titled ‘The Peace-Giver’. But, after a long time considering it, Stark has finally decided that the Studio won’t develop that production. Stark has considered that the story did not reach the minimum quality standards required to be greenlighted. Banno has been demanded to rewrite the screenplay but, right now, nobody at CMP’s offices knows if he will or not.

And more negative news… Ridley Scott has rejected the offer to direct the new ‘Star Trek’ movie written by Ben Goldey. Although the ‘official’ reason is that he is already working in another upcoming production, the ‘unofficial’ one is that Scott wasn’t interested in getting involved in a franchise that he considers definitely dead after the latest ‘Star Trek’ film made by JJ Abrams out of CMP. The second choice to take the director seat was John McTiernan. But I’ve been told that in this case it was Harry Stark personally who considered that McTiernan wasn’t the right choice for this kind of movie. So right now, Goldey is looking for a new director for this project.

More negative news? Yes, Sir. My confidential sources at CMP tell me that closing the casts for next Season’s movies is being pretty messy. Talents and directors rejecting offers, talents and directors too demanded (specially those movie legends (??) like Ian McShane, Derek Luke or Joshua Jackson…) and other problems are requiring many casting changes (something that always annoys so much CMP’s authors). At CMP’s offices everyone is working so hard trying to have all casts ready and all projects closed and ready for green light for the next Season. Such a stressing task.

And I end up this week’s negative column with good news. At least for Rebecca Hall. The story here is that Joey Stark had been looking for some time for a British actress to co-star with Ewan McGregor his next ‘Dr. Jones’ movie. Joey had big doubts about what actress to choose. Until he watched ‘Alan Wake’. There was Rebecca making her CMP debut. And, as soon as he watched her on screen, the decision was taken: she was the one. One job takes to the next and now Rebecca’s agent already has in his desk Stark’s offer to be in the new adventure of Indy’s father.