If anything this summer qualifies as an event film, this is it. Not because it’s the biggest and most bombastic or because it’s going to sell the most toys. Because it defines what an event film is in the first place.

An unknown exciting commodity from people you can count on. Steven Spielberg practically invented the summer movie season, or rather at least perfected it. J.J. Abrams knows exactly what strings to pull and how to effectively tease his products to the point of making them unmissable. And personally I love the track records of both of these dudes.

Super 8. An old school event flick. Is it an alien? A monster? Some sort of experiment gone bad? All of the above?

Who cares? The bottom line is that we have a flick about to arrive that features kids in peril, something mysterious laying siege on a town, authorities laying down the rhetoric, lens flares, and many possibilities for movie magic.

You want to be there, and if you read this site and live in one of the cities below we’re going to try and get you there early and for free. Because we love most of you. Watch the trailer and then follow the rules below:

Pay attention to RED.

So, using the link that corresponds to your city (it’s important that you use the link as it creates a subject line I can filter in my email), follow these three very simple instructions and if chosen you’ll get a code to print a pass for you to see the flick early:

1. FACEBOOK LIKE this article and then on your Facebook book page say in the description “I want to see this early thanks to the folks at CHUD.com (Cinematic Happenings Under Development)!”. If you don’t have Facebook, use Twitter. If you have neither, your staunch ways override common sense. I’m not judging you, but this makes the world go ’round.

2. Hop on over to GUY.com’s Facebook page and LIKE it. If you’ve already done it, just share a link on your Facebook page of a recent article.

3. Regardless of what city you’re in, help corral a group of Chewers or potential Chewers to get passes as well. In some of the cities we rarely do we often have trouble rousing folks. Share the thing with 5 folks you live in your town. We need the support, and I’d bet you’d rather have people you like sitting in there with you than strangers who smell funny and got their tickets from some other outlet.

Simple. Now, have at it and good luck! I’ll be sending out codes this coming Sunday.

Atlanta
Regal Atlantic Station

Birmingham
Rave Lee Branch

Charleston
Regal Palmetto Grande

Charlotte
Regal Stonecrest

Chattanooga
Rave East Ridge

Greensboro
Grande Theatre-Four Seasons

Greenville (SC)
Great Escape Simpsonville

Knoxville
Regal Pinnacle

Memphis
Malco Paradiso

Mobile
Hollywood Stadium 18

Raleigh
Carmike 15

Generally speaking, I don’t like doing interviews over the phone. Especially short interviews. They’re impersonal enough as is, without the added hurry of a time crunch. But I jumped at the chance to talk, however briefly and impersonally, with John Carpenter. The man is a flat out living legend, and one of the best genre filmmakers cinema has ever seen. How could I not talk to him? Even if we ended up having a completely inane conversation that was little more than promotional lip service for The Ward, his first new theatrical directorial effort in a decade. I was fine with that. Honestly, I was just happy to get him on the phone. So it was all icing when Carpenter turned out to be an utter delight to talk with, not only willing to answer some of my stupider questions, but seemingly eager to do so. I suspected I might be pleasantly surprised when the conversation began with Carpenter asking me a question.

Oh, and if you don’t know who John Carpenter is, you should leave CHUD immediately. Educate yourself. We’ll greet you with a warm embrace upon your return. I’d like to help you out, but CHUD isn’t a remedial education site. Giving your special needs extra attention wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the readers.

Onwards!

John Carpenter: Hey man, how’s it going?

Josh: Oh, not too shabby.

Carpenter: Where are you?

Josh: Where am I?

Carpenter: Yeah.

Josh: Hollywood.

Carpenter: Yes! That’s what I’m talking about.

Josh: How about yourself?

Carpenter: Same place, dude.

Josh: Well, alright. Just a couple Hollywood players, shooting the shit. I guess let’s start with the most obvious question. Aside from some Master of Horror episodes, you’ve been out of the directing game for a full decade now. I have to assume that various projects floated your way during your sabbatical — what was it about The Ward that finally lured you back into the system?

Carpenter: Yes, I did occasionally get a script. But a lot of them were just awful. After I made the two Showtime episodes of Masters of Horror, I thought, well that was nice. I could go back for more. Cause I had a good time. It would be nice to have some fun again. Then The Ward came along; I read it; it needed a little bit of work, but the story kind of did what I was interested in doing. A low budget film with a small cast — a ghost story, in a mental institution, and I thought, well on its face this could be really interesting. So that was the basic draw.

Josh: The vast majority of your movies have a very strong Western vibe, and you are clearly influenced by the Western genre. Do you have any interest in making an outright Western?

Carpenter: Oh, sure. Yeah. I’m actually working on a little Gothic Western right now.

Josh: Is that something you’re comfortable talking about here?

Carpenter: It isn’t set up yet. It’s still being written. You never know about the future in this business, so I don’t know if I’ll end up doing it or not, but it’s an interesting idea. I think I could do something with it. I’d love to make a Western!

Josh: What’s the basic premise of the film?

Carpenter: Well it’s based on a true story. Takes place in 1871. Just go on-line and look up the Bloody Benders. [The basic gist is about a family who run a remote inn, where they prey upon wealthy travelers, robbing and murdering them.]

Josh: Unfortunately, many of the American DVDs for your films don’t contain an audio commentary from you. I realize you have no control over such things, but have you ever considered recording some commentaries yourself and making them available on iTunes?

Carpenter: (legitimately intrigued) I had never thought about that. That’s a great idea! That would work?

Josh: Yeah, people would just download it, drop it onto their iPod or whatever, then listen to it while watching the DVD.

Carpenter: That’s all there is to it?

Josh: Ha. I don’t know all the ins and outs, but basically, yeah. I definitely think there is at least a small market for such a thing.

Carpenter: Well one thing I would have to overcome, is my huge proclivity towards being incredibly lazy.

Josh: I can certainly related to that. So how – and I’m trying to phrase this so it doesn’t sound like an insult, which it really isn’t meant to be – but how much would you say your time away from directing was caused by this laziness? By a desire to just be living your life and playing video games?

Carpenter: That is the very secret of my existence. It is so definitely true. See, I realized that I wasn’t having any fun. I was working too hard. And I thought, this is ridiculous! Why am I doing that? I’m an old guy now.

Josh: I’d say you put in your time. You paid your dues.

Carpenter: Exactly right. Why can’t I have some fun?

Josh: You’ve gone on the record before, regarding your love of video games. Are there any games that you’ve played that made you stop and think, “Man, this would make a great movie.”

Carpenter: Dead Space. BioShock. Both would make great movies.

Josh: Your son Cody has been dabbling in music. Does he have any aspirations involving making movies?

Carpenter: You know, I’m not sure. He might. He was teaching in Japan for a while. He’s now returned. Thank god he returned before the earthquake hit. Right now he’s taking it easy. I might work with him again. He and I play music for our own fun; getting together once a week to record something.

Josh: Were you at all tempted to do music for The Ward?

Carpenter: That’s real work. That is hard work. You gotta realize, if you develop a script, then you go into pre-production, then production, and then you edit for six to eight months, and then you’re going to go into the recording studio to do music? All these young geniuses out there, they can do it. Not me.

Josh: You feel that’s a younger man’s game?

Carpenter: My friend, the world is a younger man’s game.

Josh: Speaking of younger days — any chance of you reteaming with Mr. Kurt Russell any time soon?

Carpenter: Well, he’s so rich now I don’t think he needs to work with me anymore.

Josh: Awwww…

Carpenter: We’ve talked about it. Given the right circumstances, and the material, if we agree on it. Yeah.

Josh: So with this much time away from a full feature-length production, was jumping back in the director’s chair like riding a bike? Or did you have to get back up to speed? Has anything changed, from your perspective?

Carpenter: The basics of moviemaking, of cinematic storytelling, haven’t really changed. The studio system perfected it in the 30’s. You have a camera, a cast, a crew, lights, you’re on a location or you’re in a sound stage. Night or day. And the director just says, “Let’s make a scene.” And that hasn’t changed. What’s changed a lot is the technology now available. Technology has come a long way since the early days. And the studios are owned by different kinds of folks now. So some of the motivations to make movies are different than they were in the old days. A lot of that has changed. And the audience has changed a great deal because of all the cable channels, and the Internet, and phones that show you movies; all this stuff. It’s amazing.

Josh: Did you have fun this time? Now that you took a break?

Carpenter: Yes, very much so.

Josh: Have you been reborn? Are you eager to make another one? Or are you eager to have some more time off again?

Carpenter: Oh, I never think I have too much time off. Believe me. I love having time off. Right now I’m obsessed with the NBA basketball finals. Even though my Lakers did not do that well. And of course I’m pimping The Ward. Plus I have several projects in development, and what that means is that either it is being written or money is trying to be raised for it.

Josh: So. Let’s close this out with a real meaty question… Five game suspension for Andrew Bynum; too tough, or not tough enough?

Carpenter: I think that’s about right. That was the cheapest of cheap shots. I mean, just cheap. You don’t have to do that. Big guys, you don’t ever take down little guys. I know he was frustrated, just tired of that guard driving in past everybody and laying it in. I understand that. But you don’t have to hit him with a forearm. So I think it is probably about right. It was a cheap, cheap shot.

In news that will surprise only sillies, The Hangover 3 is already in the works via a script go-ahead from Warner Brothers to scribe Craig Mazin. The screenwriter will begin working on a follow up to the record-breaking sequel, which has grossed $200m dollars already.

Currently these are just “talks,” but shit’s gonna happen. Believe it.

As THR points out, what’s funny is that it actually took WB longer to get this going than they did Part II, as the sequel script was ordered before the first film even came out. You could have never guessed this franchise would be worth so much goddamned money in a pitch, but once the studio did they hit it hard.

Mazin worked with Phillips and Scott Armstrong for the second film, and may again for the third at some point, but for the moment he is taking lead on this screenplay. Both Mazin and Phillips have discussed the idea of a sequel ad nauseum during promotion for Hangover 2, with Mazin even throwing out a hypothetical ending to the entire franchise to Devin at BadassDigest.

I think the third movie ends with Doug staring at a row of crosses in a graveyard. It’s everyone – his wife, his family is dead, everybody from the first movie is dead. Somebody shows up and tells him his dog is dead.

That’s a cute joke and all, but I really do hope it’s reasonably close to what will end up being the ending to the trilogy. It’s hard to get excited for a sequel to a film I only kind of liked, but as I said in our video review, I’m actually interested in a Hangover sequel that goes dark and plays for keeps. The grunginess of the location and the nastiness of a few events in The Hangover 2 indicate Phillips and co. have the potential to let out that kind of darkness, but with the franchise breaking all records and being given license to come to a close, I pray Phillips goes full force.

How amazing would that be if the films wrapped up with a truly dark capper that unleashed irreparable physical and mental damage on these characters in a fully psychopathic and morally bankrupt manner? Imagine a blockbuster-scaled rug-puller, like Seth Rogan’s unexpectedly twisted turn in Observe & Report. I could be down with that. Of course, it should also go without saying that they need to get a couple of new jokes while they’re at it.

Dicks and grime and raunch have paid off so far, so I encourage Phillips to dig deep in his black soul and for Warner Brother to empower him to do so. Hell, if all the reports of on-set nastiness and disagreements are true, that may be the only way to get Galafianakis back- let him go really nuts.

Also, Warner Brothers, maybe get all your copyright ducks in a row this time out.

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Is it just me, or does Jesse Plemons resemble a slightly softer, perpetually confused Matt Damon? I’m pretty sure I’ve got that one on the money, especially watching his performance in Observe & Report, but it’s also true that he could make a very passable PS Hoffman spawn. Paul Thomas Anderson clearly thinks so, as he’s hired the Friday Night Lights actor to join his currently untitled and modified project as the son of Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s magnetic post-war cult leader character.

Along with Jesse the cast has also grown with the inclusion of David Warshofsky, whose throat Daniel Plainview threatened to cut open in There Will Be Blood. Variety, who broke the casting news, apprently didn’t find out who Washofsky will be playing.

Plemons reminds me a bit Paul Dano, in that he is a young and distinctive actor that carries an inherent air of impetuousness, or perhaps plain ole goofiness. It’s those oddly warm, beady little eyes. Ultimately, it’s hard to fully take them seriously. I’ll be intrigued to see what Anderson does with him.

Who knows how large either role will be, or what part they play in a still very vague narrative, but they’re both lucky dudes for having been cast at all.

More when we hear it.

(via /Film)

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The Harry Potter twitter feed has been trickling out character posters for the second part of the final Harry Potter film for some time now, and it’s about time we round them up, now that every major character has a nice close-up out there in the world…

There’s a big blatant focus on the whole “done, it’s over, the end, no fooling, gone for good” aspect of this release, and Warner Brothers likely has their fingers crossed for an appropriately inflated return for that reason. I’ll be very intrigued to see how well Harry does this time out, and if this cultural event will translate into a small bump, or a small explosion. It will also be interesting to see how the 3D returns figure in, as fans decide whether to shell out clams to see the wizard in a dimenion he’s never  inhabited before (at least, never for the entire duration of the film, and boy were those early IMAX conversions garbage for Order of the Phoenix…). Pirates 4 and Kung Fu Panda 2 saw lower-than-normal 3D returns, so this might end up being a strong indication that, at the very least, audiences are not interested in established franchises being fucked with. Transformers will also have something to say on that subject.

Let us know what you think of the images in the comments or on the boards. I have to give a big congrats to Matthew Lewis for aging into quite a badass looking MF Neville. He might have the most legitimately threatening look of any character in these posters. The series of posters itself is nothing special, but it does well enough at the very simple job of exciting me for Part II. I think the second half was well set-up to be a triumphant conclusion to the cinematic series, and I’m eager to see that promise fulfilled.

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You should. He turned 81 today.  If not for the universe (pick your belief system) aligning just right on this very day we wouldn’t have one of the gruffest, baddest and most iconic men in movie history.

You owe him a massive debt of pop culture.   Frankly, we need about 81 more years of him in order to balance out the bad stuff that seeps in, such as the glittery vampires and the overly waxed action heroes.

Hoist a beer to him (Eastwood’s preferred poison, I believe) and watch one of his movies tonight. Any one of them. And wish him a happy birthday, punk.

I hope the interesting Tim Burton is still in there somewhere, I really do. I can’t help but laugh though, when he lets some shit like this slip out of his mouth when talking about Johnny Depp to The Wrap…

“…we’ve always taken the tack of not working together just to work together. It’s got to be the right part, the right movie, all of that sort of thing.”

Right on, Mr. Burton.

Dark Shadows will of course be the eighth Burton flick to star Johnny Depp (and the seventh consecutive film to include Helena Bonham Carter), and it has already started filming- but apparently not in 3D. When asked, the filmmaker expressed an extremely reasonable opinion towards the format-

“I have no plans for that. I loved doing “Alice” in 3D.  “Freankeweenie,” gonna do that in 3D. There’s people like, “Everything’s gonna be in 3D,” or “I hate 3D!”  I think people should have a choice. I don’t think it should be forced on anybody. At the same time, it’s great, some of it. It’s like “Yes or no!?  3D!  Yes or no?!”  It’s like, well, you know, come on, whatever, some yes, some no.”

The only bad news here is that if the studio forces his hand, a conversion would be necessary. Of course, if you believe word around town, apparently 3D is dead and buried with the lower 3D returns of the last two sequel releases (Panda and Pirates both had less than 50% of their gross come from 3D- pack your bags now!), so there’s no real reason to fear studio pressure for such a thing. Regardless, it’s always good to know a filmmaker has been empowered with the choice to use a tool, rather than the directive to do so.

The director also spoke on the tone of the film, an issue that Elisabeth has expressed concern with, and apparently Burton hasn’t entirely figured it out yet himself.

“It’s been hard to kind of come here because I’m just starting, and it’s a weird tone and it’s a lot of actors and, you know, we’re not starting with the simple stuff; we’re sort of getting right in there. You like to kind of sneak up on it a little bit, but this one we just kind of slammed right into it.”

That’s kind of an easy statement to jump on and wax cynically about a director not understanding the film he’s making before he starts rolling, but anyone who has made a film or learned enough about the process to truly understand it would also know that this is the case with many good, great, or even classic films. You don’t always know what you have until you have it. However, it’s hard not to be concerned (insofar as I’d ever be concerned about a Burton film) that he doesn’t have a handle on the tone simply because that is such an important part of this piece.  There’s a delicate balance to strike between camp, darkness, humor, and drama with a film like this. From me that comes simply from reading the synopsis of the film without having any familiarity with the show, so I can only image the fear it puts in the heart of an actual fan.

Again, I hope the interesting filmmaker still lies within Burton, and routine casting choices aside, maybe this twist on his wheelhouse will bring it out. Not counting on it, but maybe…

There’s more to read in that interview above, especially if you have any interest in Burton’s fine art showings.

Any Dark Shadows fans paying attention? What kind of tone do you think this thing needs to strike to have any chance at being worthwhile?

(via Latino Review)

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When Will Smith’s name came up for Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, another name was hanging around the “hopeful” list: Leonardo DiCaprio.    I didn’t mention it at the time, because the Smith story felt more important.  He allegedly had the script, and DiCaprio was just a name on Tarantino’s list, where he’d been since ducking out of Inglourious Basterds.

Now DiCaprio is coming up a topic in his own right. Jeff Goldsmith tweeted today that DiCaprio will be the villainous slave owner Calvin Candie in Unchained.   Goldsmith seems to have the inside track on Tarantino’s casting, and was the first to mention Smith’s name in conjunction with the project.

DiCaprio has an incredibly full slate, though.   It’s possible this rumor goes the way of his playing Hans Landa, and dies in the land of schedule conflict.  I certainly hope he tackles it, though.    I’d like to see him chew some  scenery, and shrug off fedoras and grieving widowers for a time.

All rumors of Idris Elba, however, are strictly fan based due to Elba tweeting that he was meeting with a controversial director for a controversial part.  Lots of people made a Tarantino connection, but it could be a lot of directors. Maybe it’s Lars von Trier!

Let the impatience for firm news commence…now.

Not exactly news, but season 4 of Breaking Bad (which I consider the finest show on television) premieres on July 17th, and is set to have 13 episodes of Los Pollos Hermanos goodness.

What’s new, though, is this nifty launch trailer and AMC official press release of said date posted by TV By The Numbers.  I don’t believe there is any new footage, nor are the voiceovers anything other than recycled bits from season 3, but it doesn’t matter…because it gets me in the mood to watch Walter and Jesse sling more meth and take on Gus and the cartel.  If you haven’t seen the show, now would be a great time to catch up, because it’s fantastic with a capital Fucking Amazing.

Also, if you haven’t seen it already, take a look at Nick’s excellent sitdown with the man himself, Bryan Cranston, from a few months back:

This sort of blinked past the holiday weekend radar yesterday.  I certainly hope you were outside, enjoying sunshine and barbeque, and this will be news. If not, I’m sorry…but some of our guys were flogging away on original pieces, so check those out!

Yesterday, It’s On the Grid announced that a Hawkman movie was in development. Producers Adrian Askarieh, Gregory Noveck and Will Hacknerand are overseeing it for Warner Bros, and are  in need of a few good screenwriters.

The idea that a Hawkman movie is in development isn’t too much of a surprise. Warner Bros wants to mine the DC stable as thoroughly as Marvel is mining theirs, and Hawkman is a dude, which makes him way more marketable than Wonder Woman.

What is a surprise is the approach they’re taking.  Let me just reproduce the logline in full:

Part INDIANA JONES/DA VINCI CODE, part GHOST tentpole about the fictional superhero that appears in D.C. Comic books. He used archaic weaponry and large, artificial wings attached to a harness made of the Nth metal that allows flight. Most incarnations of Hawkman work closely with a partner/romantic interest named Hawkgirl or Hawkwoman in his fight against supervillains. Based on the DC comic.

Because when you think Hawkman, you think Indiana Jones and his milquetoast imitators!   Yes, Carter Hall was an archeologist who liberated items from a museum for his crime-fighting, but the similarity is slight. The emphasis has always been on his being the reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian prince…who was then retconned into an alien … who was then retconned into an Egyptian prince who was exposed to the alien Nth metal, forcing him into a constant cycle of reincarnation.

But hey, completely snubbing a character’s real origin and abilities worked beautifully for Jonah Hex. Do that again!

To be fair, this is still in early, early stages of development and it’s a logline designed to be punchy.  And Indiana Jones has become a shorthand for archeologist, leading to permanent depression in those sturdy academics who spend their lives on pot shards.

[via The Playlist and Badass Digest]