Fury of the Phoenix: Famke Janssen blasts X-Men: The Last Stand

From:
By David Bentley

ACTRESS Famke Janssen has spoken out and says her character Phoenix received poor treatment in the 2006 superhero movie X-Men: The Last Stand.

The 42-year-old former supermodel said she fought with the film-makers to give the character more development but they didn't do the story the way she wanted.

In the X-Men movies, Famke played Jean Grey, a mutant telepath/telekinetic who sacrificed herself to save her team-mates at the end of the second film.

But Jean had not died - she returned in the third movie where it was revealed that her powers had previously been restricted to moderate levels by her mentor Professor Xavier, using mind-blocks which had now broken down. A second personality had developed behind the mental blocks, simmering with resentment at being caged - it took over and she became the super-powerful, unstable and destructive Phoenix. At the end of the movie, she allowed Wolverine to kill her before she destroyed everything.

The story is one of Marvel's most classic comicbook tales - a tale of corruption by absolute power and of ultimate sacrifice. But it was told differently in the films (notably with the death and absence of Cyclops) and, in the third movie, it shared the screen with two other stories - the cure for mutation, and Magneto's villainous activities escalating to public terrorism and war.

Many fans online were unhappy - first the material was changed from the comics and then, to make matters worse, that altered storyline had to compete with other plots within a film that was just 1hr 44minutes long. If it had been better developed, the changes from the comicbooks would no doubt have been more forgivable.

Now, two years after X-Men: The Last Stand was released, Netherlands-born Famke Janssen (it's pronounced fam-kuh yan-sin), has said she was not happy with the Phoenix treatment either.

Famke, who was also in medical drama Nip/Tuck and was the deadly Xenia in Bond movie GoldenEye, told Indianapolis Entertainment's website: "I know how important the Phoenix Saga is to the fans, and I don't think it was addressed properly. It's such a great storyline."

She spoke about the issue in more depth at The Film Experience website. She said: "When I did the first one [X-Men film] people kept saying 'Jean Grey turns into the Phoenix!' So I looked into the story and thought 'Oh wow, I hope one day they're doing it.' They didn't do it the way I would've liked to have them do it. "

Agreeing that there were too many subplots, she explained: "The way it works is that some people get paid a lot of money on those movies and I'm not one of them. And they need to give them as much screentime as possible. That's really how it works.

"And I kept fighting it, too. I said 'Look, you set up the character like that in the beginning of the film. You have her kill Patrick Stewart's character. You have her kill her own fiancé in the film. And then where do you take it? You've got to follow it through. You can't just leave it dangling there.' But they did."

"People I know who really like the X-Men comic books really love that [Phoenix] story arc. It felt to me like a missed opportunity. People ask 'Are they going to come back and do it and I say, no that's now done. It was done in that way."

She had told Radio Free Entertainment during the build-up to the film's release: "I think that Phoenix is not just purely evil. She was in the comicbooks at some point, but the way the writers created her and how we all sort of talked about her was that she was torn with her powers taking over and trying to control them at the same time, so it was a little bit more schizophrenic in that.

"You want to make sure that you stay true to what the comic lovers are expecting of you...In this one, because we take a lot of liberties, and my character changes a lot, we go out on a limb and we hope that this is something that the fans will still like and look forward to.

"I talked to the writers a lot about the ending of the film, wanting to make sure that it was clear that [Jean] wasn't taking a side between Magneto or the X-Men, and that it was a constant struggle in her head. But you know, if this had been a movie just about the Phoenix, we would have had a lot more time to explore all the different avenues that you can explore for that. But given the fact that there are so many characters in the X-Men, and we have to do justice to every single one of their storylines, we have to use broader strokes in that case, and you have to hope that it's clear."

Her comments came as the website of film artist Adrien van Viersen revealed dramatically epic storyboards (see top picture) for her character which were never filmed. These show the power of Phoenix destroying San Francisco in a grand climax. Other Phoenix scenes were filmed but cut and can be seen in a large section of deleted material on the DVD release for the film.

X-Men fans such as myself are hoping for an extended edition of the film to reinstate some of this deleted material and create a more powerful and satisfying movie. Perhaps Fox will release one when the trilogy comes out on Blu-ray, which will probably be timed to coincide with the release of the Wolverine prequel.

After all, Daredevil got an improved Director's Cut, Fantastic Four got an improved Extended Edition, longer versions of the 80s Supergirl movie have been released, Oliver Stone re-released historical epic Alexander as a Director's Cut and then again as a Final Cut, the Definitive Edition of Kingdom of Heaven included another 45 minutes not in the original release, and there are five versions of Ridley Scott's sci-fi classic BladeRunner (now all brought together in an Ultimate Collector's box). However, neither Elektra nor Ghost Rider were improved by extended editions.

Beast Suffers Heart Attack

From:

Dr. Frasier Crane in real-life medical emergency.
by IGN Stars

June 2, 2008 - Yahoo! reports that actor Kelsey Grammer, best known to audiences as Dr. Frasier Crane, suffered a heart attack over the weekend, according to his publicist.

According to Yahoo!'s article, Grammer, 53, experienced chest pains on Saturday morning while paddle-boarding with his wife, Camille, off the Kona coast of Hawaii's Big Island, where they have a second home, spokesman Stan Rosenfield told Reuters.

The actor was immediately taken to an area hospital, where "it was determined that he had a mild heart attack," Rosenfield added. As of press time, the actor is resting and expects to be released from the hospital later in the week.

The medical emergency comes just three weeks after his FOX sitcom, Back to You, was cancelled. The actor, most recently seen on the big screen as "Beast" in X3, will return to the small screen once again, playing the patriarch of a wealthy family in ABC's new comedy pilot, "Roman's Empire."

Action-packed fun for screen hunks Hugh and Brad's little ones.

From: HelloMagazine.com

While he's known for playing X-Men tough guy Wolverine, Hugh Jackman seemed to have taken inspiration from a different cartoon superhero recently when it came to playtime with his children, eight-year-old Oscar and little Ava, who turns three next month.

The Aussie actor transformed the giggling youngsters into Superman, swooping them through the air for a 'flight' during a fun-filled afternoon in his Sydney hometown. The trio were dressed in their best for lunch at the city's upmarket Royal Yacht Club with mum Deborra-Lee Furness. Fear of dishevelling their smart togs didn't get in the way the action-packed antics, though.

Hugh, 39, isn't the only Hollywood father on daddy duty lately. While mum Angelina Jolie relaxes in their villa in the south of France ahead of the birth of their twins, Brad Pitt took his elder son Maddox, six, to check out the high-speed action at the races in Italy.

Doting Brad apparently made the four-hour trip to the motorcycle grand prix in the Mugello region near Florence after seeing the spiky haired youngster's excitement while watching the Monaco race the week before on TV.

Wolverine And The X-Men Posters!

From:

Marvel have revealed some new posters for the upcoming cartoon Wolverine and the X-Men.

Wolverine And The X-Men is set to premiere on BBC2 Saturday, August 2nd, 2008. Each episode will then repeat on the following Wednesday at 4:30pm, beginning on August 6th, 2008.

Liberation Entertainment has also set a November 3rd, 2008 release date for the first Wolverine & The X-Men DVD release date, just in time for the holiday season.

Ian McKellen answers e-mails

Ian McKellen has answered e-mails from his fans.
Check it out here.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Wraps Principal Photography

From: SuperHeroFlix

The Hugh Jackman starring X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which serves as a prequel to the X-Men trilogy of films, has just wrapped their principal photography, which had been taking place in Australia and New Zealand. Our friends at IESB.net were told by Marvel Entertainment's Kevin Feige that shooting has finishes in Australia, and there are only a few weeks left of filming on the second unit shots.

According to early reports, X-Men Origins: Wolverine will share a tone with the gritty 1970s style action-films, which will make it an odd pairing with the X-Men movies.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine explores Wolverine's early days, before joining the X-Men. The film will cover Logan's early life, and his involvement with the mysterious Weapon X program. The film stars Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Dominic Monaghan, Danny Huston, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch, will.i.am, Daniel Henney, Scott Adkins and Lynn Collins. X-Men Origins: Wolverine is due to arrive in theatres in 2009.

Hugh up for auction

From: TheDaily.com.au
By Blythe Seinor

Fancy lunch with Hugh Jackman? Dream on, right?

Wrong. The star of Wolverine has offered a day of his time as an auction prize in a Noosa Anglican Church fundraiser, which will raise money towards building an orphanage in Nepal.

The winning bidder will be flown to Sydney where they will visit the set of Hugh’s new movie. They will receive a framed and signed photograph of Hugh, have their picture taken with him, and will also get to have lunch at Fox Studios with the Boy From Oz himself.

Parishioner Graeme Marlow was able to sign the star up for the event, since they have been mates since primary school.

“We’re best mates, yeah,” Graeme said.

“Jacko’s always very obliging in supporting us with any of the charity work that we do.”

Graeme said his old Knox Grammar School buddy, who he catches up with about once or twice a year, was a truly genuine person.

“He’s exactly as he comes across, he’s a champion bloke.

“He’s very humble and I don’t think I’ve heard a bad word about him.”

Graeme said the cause of the fundraiser was close to Hugh’s heart, since he and his wife Deborra-Lee Furness had adopted two children of their own.

Hugh will be unable to attend the fundraiser at Ricky’s in Noosa this Wednesday because of filming commitments, but he has pre-recorded a video message for the evening.

“We so wished to be there to help raise much-needed funding. However, I’m filming and I’ve gotta save the world from bad guys with my claws,” Hugh joked.

Five Noosa teenagers will travel to Nepal at their own expense to work with orphans in their school holidays, and Hugh had a piece of advice for them in his video message.

“Make sure whatever you learn you come back and teach all of us,” Hugh said.

Auctioneer David Garwood from Remax Noosa said he expected a lot of enthusiastic bidding for Hugh Jackman.

“This is something really special, you can’t just go and buy a day with Hugh,” he said.

The project to build an orphanage is sponsored by the Noosa Anglican Church, which has already raised $40,000 to purchase land. The fundraising night is already sold out.

How Hugh said no to soap on a rope

From:

Hugh Jackman thanks his lucky stars he never took a job on Neighbours 15 years ago. "It would have been detrimental to my career as an actor," Jackman admitted to PS yesterday, fresh from the hair and make-up chair on the set of his new action sci-fi thriller Wolverine.

Jackman hosted the 21st birthday party last night for the Actors Centre Australia in Surry Hills, one of the few self-funded acting schools in the country. "After I studied communications and listened to my journalism teacher, Wendy Bacon, talk about doing death knocks I was somewhat disillusioned about becoming a reporter … I had always thought about acting … I auditioned for ACA and got in, but it was going to cost me $3500, which I didn't have … but my grandmother had just passed away and left me the exact amount of $3500 … I took it as a sign from Nan."

These days Jackman commands multimillion-dollar pay cheques, but admits that studying for one year at the actors centre "ignited the passion for acting" within him. Jackman was offered a role on Neighbours after graduation in 1992 , but opted to continue studying his craft at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Perth.

"While I would have learned a lot about handling press and camera technique on Neighbours,
I kept asking myself would it help me audition for the Royal Shakespeare Company or the STC … and I had to admit it probably wouldn't."

Jackman said he and his family, fellow thespian and wife Deborra-Lee Furness and kids Oscar and Aida, will happily remain in Sydney until the end of the year, with work on Baz Luhrmann's epic Australia continuing for some time before its release in November.

"I have never seen such dedication and so much attention to detail working a film. It has been the best experience of my acting life so far," said Jackman, who plays Nicole Kidman's cattle-droving love interest.

As for Kidman: "She's a phenomenal actress … kissing her was the easiest part."

Strong dollar a threat to films, Jackman says

From: News.com.au
By Vicky Roach

HUGH Jackman says he probably wouldn't have got the green light to shoot X-Men Origins: Wolverine in Sydney in the current economic climate.

"It would have been very hard," the actor-producer said as a strong Australian dollar took a heavy toll on the local industry, deterring overseas productions.

Jackman is particularly concerned about crew members, many of whom he worked with on the back-to-back big-budget productions Australia and Wolverine.

"The crews we have are world class. Without consistent work, the industry will falter," he said.

Veteran grip Ray Brown, who among a string of other projects worked on all three Matrix films, said the situation was "desperate".

When the plug was pulled on George Miller's Justice League: Mortal because it failed to qualify for the 40 per cent tax rebate awarded to films with significant Australian content, 1200 jobs and a year's work were lost, Brown said.

After three weeks work on thriller Knowing, he has nothing to go to.

What happens when a toad gets hit by lightning?

It’s common knowledge that Joss Whedon was brought in to do a pass over on the screenplay for the X-Men film. It may also be common knowledge that his draft of the script was pretty much chucked because, as the telling of it goes, the studio only wanted him to spice it up with the odd witticism here and there rather than do a complete revision of the draft.

[MORE]

Guillemots: 'Falling Out of Reach'

From: DigitalSpy.com

By Simon Reynolds

Chances are you've heard all about Sir Ian McKellen's starring role in the video for this new Guillemots single. The burning question: is the song any good? Well, if McKellen were comparing the track to his film work, it would rocket past Last Action Hero and head straight towards X-Men 2 greatness. A complete u-turn from the stomping disco of last single 'Get Over It', 'Falling Out of Reach' begins as a stripped-down acoustic ballad and blossoms into an epic, gorgeous summer tear-jerker about two people disconnecting.

Lyrically, the song tends to rely on the rhyming dictionary ("they're trying to make you compromise, this fire burning in your eyes"), but the key is in the delivery - Dangerfield sings earnestly and from the heart. Guillemots even manage to weave whistling into proceedings without making it sound terrible! As beautiful a song as you're likely to hear all year, 'Falling Out of Reach' makes it two out of two great singles from Guillemots' Red album.

Check out the vid.

Thomson gives Dailies a Cutting Edge on 'Wolverine' movie

From:

From a press release:
Leading Australian post house Cutting Edge is delivering high quality dailies on the 20th Century Fox feature Wolverine to both sides of the Pacific, thanks to the Thomson Grass Valley™ Bones Dailies workflow tools from Thomson (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS). Although the film is being shot in Australia studio executives in Los Angeles are kept up to date via Bones Dailies software.

Designed from the ground up for managing rushes on a movie project, Bones Dailies controls the Spirit DataCine® for film scanning at up to 4k resolution. In HD or 2k the Spirit under Bones Dailies control can ingest material at up to 25% faster than real time. It synchronizes the picture with sound and, in conjunction with other Bones components, it allows a color correction pass with the metadata captured using the ASC color decision list (CDL) format to form the basis of the final grade later in the post cycle. Bones Dailies is able to output in standard definition or HD up to HDCAM SR 10 bit 4:4:4 quality.

In January 2008, Cutting Edge installed two Bones Dailies systems as part of a major upgrade of their post production facilities in Sydney and Brisbane. Only days after installation, Bones Dailies was put into action on the feature film Wolverine for 20th Century Fox. "Fox Post was keen to see how Bones Dailies could save time in editorial and improve the quality of the material viewed by both the production and the executives at Fox in LA" said John Lee, president and founder of Cutting Edge.

"At the end of a session, fully logged and synchronized dailies are ready to be played out from Bones within 10 minutes of the final lab roll being captured, with Bones performing logging and sound syncing on one roll at the same time as the colorist is grading the next," said Lee. "This is a huge savings in time and effort on the part of the editorial team, who are given DNxHD media and full metadata immediately after our first Bones playout pass. With Bones Dailies we have been able to create a set of deliverables that have never been possible before due to time or technical restrictions with the equipment."

Bones Dailies divides the workflow of making dailies into five logical processes: audio ingest and logging, image ingest and logging, sound synchronization, color grading, and finally playout for multiple deliverables. On Wolverine Cutting Edge was asked to make two different versions of each day's dailies: a "print all" version for editorial and production, and a "circle takes only" version for the studio executives in LA. Without Bones Dailies, creating the second version would have meant loading the print all version into a nonlinear editor, cutting the select takes and conforming the edit back out to tape. With Bones Dailies this time-consuming stage, which would have needed more equipment and reduced the image quality of the deliverable, has been eliminated.

"Thanks to Bones Dailies, Cutting Edge was able to create a first generation HDCAM SR circle takes only tape to send to the studio with synchronized audio, specific burn-ins, masking and watermarks" said Aaron Downing, Post Executive for Fox.

"Movie makers should be allowed to concentrate on their creativity, and their technology should support they way they want to work not dictate workflows," said Jeff Rosica, Senior Vice President of Thomson's Broadcast & Professional Solutions within the Systems division. "It is very clear from the example of Cutting Edge's work on Wolverine that Bones Dailies is a huge boost to productivity.

Bones Dailies can operate as a single seat system on locally attached storage or as a multiple seat system on a shared access SAN. It uses specific algorithms developed inside Thomson's Corporate Research Division for automatic detection processing of audio slate closures during ingest of each Lab Roll. Bones Dailies can also perform the color correction. It uses non-destructive color correction techniques - GPU powered - according to the ASC's CDL grading schema, or as an alternative way of working you can use an external color correction device to 'bake in' a grade during image ingest.

New enhancements to Bones Dailies launched at NAB2008 include scaling between 2k and 4k resolution files, and burn-in displays of timecode, keycode and other metadata. Thanks to a co-operative development between Thomson and Digital Rapids, Bones Dailies can now be used to deliver dailies at any resolution over IP circuits to anywhere in the world.

For more information, follow the link.

Hugh Jackman's Wolverine wrap

From:

APPROPRIATELY for a Wolverine wrap party, there was plenty of hair on display.

Hugh Jackman, clad in neck to toe in a pimp's fur coat, set the scene for the over-the-top '70s inspired party for his big flick last night.

His wife Deborra-Lee Furness was dressed like one of his working girls.

Packing out the Piano Room and taking over half of Trademark, the 600 guests including actors.

Liev Schreiber and Hugh's wife Deborra-Lee Furness were wigged out in '70s afros and Olivia Newton-John glitter bands for the night.

Downing Wolverine cocktails and fish and chips, the party raged well into the morning. Orchestrated by Sydney's newest party guru Amanda Archer the budget for the night was rumoured to be around $50,000.

Entertainment included drag star Courtney Act who performed a version of Xanadu. Jackman in a short speech thanked the cast and crew, saying they were the "best ever''.

He made special mention of acclaimed cinematographer Don McAlpine, who was celebrating his wedding anniversary.

Production on Wolverine will continue until the end of June. All outdoor filming has completed, with only in-studio shots to go.

More than 600 cast and crew partied, including key cast Will.I.Am, Danny Houston, and Taylor Kitsch.

Local actors at the party included Aaron Jeffreys, Peta Wilson and Asher Keddie.

"This is a party to celebrate months of hard work. Hugh and I are incredibly grateful to the cast and crew,'' said executive producer John Palermo, decked out in bell bottoms, paying homage to the late choreographer Bob Fosse.

"We have fortunately been able to provide jobs for 450 crew members, 50 Australian actors and 1500 extras.''

The party included performances from no less than five young local artists, including Kyla Sexton, Anthea White and female impersonator Courtney Act, singing classic '70s numbers.

Jackman may return to Broadway

From: Daily India

NEW YORK, May 22 (UPI) -- Australian actor Hugh Jackman reportedly is considering returning to Broadway in a stage adaptation of the 1954 Judy Garland-James Mason movie "A Star is Born."

Jackman, who is best known for his "X-Men" films, won a Tony Award for his work in the Broadway musical "The Boy From Oz."

The New York Post said Jackman is considering returning to the New York stage to play Mason's character Norman Maine, an alcoholic movie star whose career is on the decline.

The new musical is to feature the movie's Harold Arlen-Ira Gershwin songs, including "The Man That Got Away" and the "Born in a Trunk" medley -- "Swanee," "I'll Get By" and "Melancholy Baby," the Post said.

The show could open on Broadway in 2009 or 2010, following a workshop production this year.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International

From: Knoxville News Sentinel.
By SAMANTHA CRITCHELL.

A fantasy costume by Thierry Mugler is displayed in the Mutant Body Gallery at the Metropolitan Museum of Art during the "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy" exhibit.

Photos by stephen chernin/associated press

The costume worn by Rebecca Romijn in "X-Men, The Last Stand" is one of about 60 ensembles in the costume exhibit

NEW YORK - Newsflash: A cadre of superheroes has invaded one of Gotham's top cultural institutions, bringing swaths of bright color, pop graphics and an everyman theme to the hallowed halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Have no fear, though. Their mission is friendly.

Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and hero-of-the-hour Iron Man have been employed by the Costume Institute to illustrate the parallel worlds occupied by fantastical creatures with superpowers and creative fashion designers who dress mere mortals - or at least the stars including George Clooney and Julia Roberts expected at the Met Monday night.

Sound like a stretch? There's no Plastic Man ploy at play.

"Superheroes are about issues of the body, identity and transformation, about acting your fantasies and transforming yourself into anyone or anything you want to be," said Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton. "Those are all the things at the heart of fashion."

"Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy" begins with an examination of Superman, the first modern superhero when he appeared on the page in 1938. He stood for all things good and patriotic during a time when the American public was trying to shake off the Depression while also watching what was happening in Europe in the days leading up to World War II.

Thanks to an old smoke-and-mirrors trick used by Victorian-era magicians, Superman is presented to museumgoers as both Clark Kent (in a 1950s Brooks Brothers suit) and the Man of Steel in the 1978 film costume worn by Christopher Reeve.

Then there are the anti-heroes of the 1970s and '80s, such as the Punisher and Ghost Rider. Bolton points to them as successful metaphors for the conflicted and flawed characters prevalent in the dark side of the contemporary world.

If Superman is the ultimate graphic body, with a physique inspired by circus strongmen, a costume that came from acrobats and an "S" emblem that has become a positive icon and a textbook lesson in branding, the Punisher represents the postmodern body - flaming skulls and all.

That look resonated with designers such as Alexander McQueen, Walter Van Beirendonck, John Galliano and Thierry Mugler, all of whom have embraced the Goth, grunge and biker styles. He thinks fashion could be headed down the dark road again, and that was a factor in the timing of this exhibit.

Bolton, an admitted Spider-Man fan from childhood, first wanted to marry superheroes and style in an exhibit about five years ago, but, he says, it was the wrong moment in fashion as the "in look" was soft and ladylike.

"We're now returning to an aggressive femininity and the highly sexualized fashion of the 1980s," Bolton said.

Anyone looking for sexy has to go no farther than the Catwoman section of the exhibit. In addition to Michelle Pfeiffer's remarkably slim black catsuit from 1992's "Batman Returns," there are real-world examples of dominatrix-style outfits by Mugler and Dolce & Gabbana.

One of the most stunning couture pieces in the exhibit belongs with mutant creatures such as the X-Men: A rainbow-colored Mugler gown that morphs from a birdlike top to an amphibian's corset and then mermaid hem.

But Superman and Spider-Man have had the strongest influence on mainstream style. In the vignettes dedicated to each, there are not only the costumes that made these characters famous in film, there are clothes that mimic their spirit. For Superman, there is Moschino's M-logo gown with complementary red cape, while there are several spiderweb dress silhouettes by Mugler, Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier, Julien Macdonald and Giorgio Armani.

Armani is the sponsor and honorary chair of the exhibit and of the accompanying fundraising gala. He acknowledged through an interpreter at a preview Monday that he was surprised to be involved in an exhibit that veered so far from the wearable fashion he is known for.

It's also a departure for the Costume Institute, which in recent years has highlighted the works of designers Coco Chanel and Paul Poiret and examined the historical use of animal prints and goddess gowns.

Calling it a "spectacular show," Armani tipped his hat to experimental designers. "I was wondering, 'Are these pieces part of a collection? Did these guys have the guts to show these on the runways?' "

Armani also complimented the works of the cartoonists from the first half of the 20th century, noting that it's their vision of the future that has become the world of today.

"Superheroes" runs through Sept. 1.