jeezbee

Brian Michael Bendis gave an interview to IGN Comics and they also talked about his new project Fire and how it came together.

IGN Comics: So one of the more shocking news items related to you – that somehow wasn’t related to Ares being disemboweled – was you driving around with Zac Efron. I know my whole office was talking about it – “Like, what the hell?” It’s interesting, when I go into a store I see Jinx, I see Powers… I don’t see Fire…

Bendis: Fire actually sells really well, perhaps because it’s cheaper. That’s why I remastered it, because I was selling a lot of these and it was an earlier work. I don’t think at this stage in my career, as people are buying what I’d consider to be fairly polished works… I did this in college, and I want it to resemble something more professional. So I had it remastered at Image, and I’m happy I did that. I hate to tell you how old the book is, that’s how old it is… Zac Efron was something like four years old or something. –laughs- But it’s constantly been in print this whole time. And every time I get back the accruals for the quarter I’m like “Really! Okay!” –laughs- It’s just odd and funny.

[…]

Screen Daily reported on 18 June 2009 that CinemaNX partnered with the theather chain Vue Entertainment and will release some of their movies directly through the chain bypassing a traditional distributor in the UK. The first movie using this model will be Me and Orson Welles.

In the meantime the release date has been set for 4 December 2009 in the UK and the plan is to release the film to 150-200 screens.

Just to show how wide the release is, here are three other numbers to compare:

• 17 Again was released in 407 theaters
• HSM3 was in 485 theaters
• Hairspray was in 358 theaters

So, while it’s not as wide as the Zac’s previous movies, it’s still a substantial release. Actually, it has  fantastic reach considering that it is an indie and not a highly publicized studio release.

[…]

USA Today has a new article about HSM3 in today’s edition (7 July 2008). Additionally, a second report with Corbin Blue also has a few tidbits.

Here’s what we learn in the article – WARNING Spoilers:

• 45-day shooting schedule; it might have been tight and long days but they succeeded
• Production values went up but are still in line with the previous look-and-feel of high school
• Budget is bigger for HSM3 compared to the previous two (the article say they don’t know how much; IMDb says it’s $33 mil which seems realistic)
• The finale is a big dance-and-song number on the football field – it’s the graduation scene
• The movie includes a over-the-top number for Sharpay. It’s a dream sequence, in which she envisions herself and twin brother Ryan (Grabeel) as superstars. The song for it is I Want It All. In that number Troy plays a crazed fan at a movie premiere for Sharpay and is dressed in a T-shirt with Sharpay’s image silk-screened on the front and has a big red heart tattoo on his bicep with an “SE” (for Sharpay Evans) in its center. The number has 4 minutes screentime and took 3 days to shoot.
• Troy and Chad have a big musical number The Boys Are Back. The number is in the junkyard where their characters spent a lot of their childhood pretending to be pirates and ninjas. It’s a whole fantasy about them being kids again. For the flashback scenes, child actors were cast to play young Chad and Troy — with the junior Chad donning a wig resembling Bleu’s trademark locks.
• Corbin’s dad will also play Chad’s dad in HSM3

And here is the full article: […]

I still have to do some catching up on “M&OW” but thought I’ll post at least the new stuff so I won’t get further behind.

There is a new article in The Providence (7 July 2008) with James Tupper which has a reasonable part about Me and Orson Welles. Here are the relevant sections:

[…]

IoM Today published an article on 6 March 2008 about “Me and Orson Welles” based on the press conference I’ve been posting about the other day. Mostly a recap of the video; it doesn’t contain a lot of new info but it confirms that filming will take place in PineWood (only) after they wrap in IoM and then move on to NYC. And they have the big stage play this Sunday with 570 extras in the audience. It does have some interesting information about how the Gaiety theatre works well as double for the Mercury.

Zac Efron – what’s all the fuss about?

By ANGELA GREGORY

UNLESS you’re a girl under the age of 17, or a parent, it’s entirely possible you had no idea who Zac Efron or what High School Musical was until the past couple of weeks.

[…]

Comingsoon.net posted a fantastic article from a “17” set visit today (31 January 2008). It contains info about the project and they talked to Adam Shankman, Jennifer Gibgot (both producers) and Zac.

Here is the article:

Set Visit: Zac Efron’s Seventeen Again

Plucked from the “High School Musical” group, Zac Efron has emerged as one of the biggest actors in Hollywood right now.

And it’s his work in Hairspray with Adam Shankman that he’s getting even a larger teen-icon status. That’s because before they were even done shooting that movie, Adam decided to develop another movie specifically for Zac – Seventeen Again.

[…]