jeezbee

Steven Zeitchik has an article about Hollywood’s intentions of remaking a recent Swedish success in English. It seems that Warner Bros. is currently in the lead to land the English-language remake rights and have Zac in mind to headline and produce the crime thriller. Obviously nothing is final but it doesn’t sound too bad. Check out the entire article:

Studios seek to snag Swedish sizzler ‘Snabba’

EXCLUSIVE: Unless you’re a particularly voracious cineaste, you’ve probably never heard of “Snabba Cash,” a piece of Stockholm-set, Swedish-language noir that was all the rage at the Berlin Film Festival this year (although it is fun to say the title aloud).

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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.

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Amazing news! Zac closed a first-look production deal with Warner Bros. Here are the details from Mike Fleming at Deadline (18 February 2010):

Zac Efron Makes Overall Deal At Warner Bros; Studio Also Finalizing Deals With Robert Downey Jr And Affleck/Damon

UPDATE: Warner Bros has been as stingy as any major on handing out overall production deals to actors in recent years. But I’ve learned the studio has just given a first look 2-year deal to Zac Efron. And Warner Bros plans to buy pitches, spec scripts, and books for Efron and his still unformed company to develop as star vehicles. His manager, Alchemy Entertainment’s Jason Barrett, will be an exec producer on the projects. […]

Zac scored two new projects. The Hollywoodreporter and Deadline are reporting that Zac signed up to Fire, a Universal spy triller and an untitled BTTF-like project at the WB to headline and exec produce. Here are the full articles:

From Heat Vision @ The Hollywoodreporter (27 January 2010).

Zac Efron to star in spy thriller from Marvel scribe Brian Michael Bendis

Universal is on “Fire.”

The studio has picked up the rights to the graphic novel by Brian Michael Bendis. Zac Efron is attached to star and will exec produce with his manager, Jason Barrett.

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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.

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Zac has recently signed up for new project, a thriller; the plot is unfortunately kept under wraps. He will headline the project which is written by Leslie Dixon. Zac will also executive produce. Here are a few more details…

Official press release from Mandate Pictures (23 June 2009):

ZAC EFRON AND LESLIE DIXON TAKE A THRILL RIDE WITH MANDATE PICTURES

LOS ANGELES, CA, June 23, 2009– Coming off of the success of 17 Again and having established himself as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after young stars, Zac Efron has signed on to star in an untitled thriller project for Mandate Pictures. The original project is being written by veteran scribe Leslie Dixon (Freaky Friday, The Thomas Crown Affair), who solidified her relationship with Zac after their hit, Hairspray. The plot, which is being held closely under wraps, has been described as a sexy thriller.

Frequent Mandate collaborator Greg Shapiro of Kingsgate Films (The Hurt Locker, the Harold and Kumar franchise), Jason Barrett (17 Again), and Leslie Dixon will produce the film with Zac Efron and Mandate’s Nathan Kahane executive producing. Nicole Brown will oversee the project for Mandate. […]

Variety has an interesting article about Framestore, a leading F/X company, which has started producing movies now as well. One of the first pics in question is Me and Orson Welles. The article mentions that Framestore does not only invest in the movie as executive producer but also provides it’s technical expertise – providing technology which is normally not available to lower budget movies.

This of course make me wonder what special effects we will get to see in M&OW. Having read the book there are not many scenes which I would imagine fx would be used – the sprinkler scene comes to mind but other than that…; on the other hand, I don’t know anything about filming a movie so there are probably many situations where the movie could benefit. Here’s the article:

F/X house going into producing
Framestore backing Linklater ‘Orson Welles’

Fresh from winning its first Oscar for the armored bears and icy wastes of “The Golden Compass,” U.K. visual effects house Framestore CFC is dipping its toe into film production in its own right.

The company’s new Framestore Features arm is backing Richard Linklater’s “Me and Orson Welles,” currently shooting on the Isle of Man, a coming-of-ager set in 1930s Broadway starring Zac Efron; Chris Smith’s supernatural thriller “Triangle,” set to roll next month in Australia; and a slate of five genre movies from new Northern Irish outfit Generator Entertainment, starting with Paddy Breathnach’s “Red Mist.”

Framestore is investing in the movies as an exec producer — but more importantly, it is providing its technical expertise to open up creative horizons for filmmakers operating at budget levels where state-of-the-art f/x are not usually an option.

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