MacGruber heading to the big screen.

Another Saturday Night Live skit has found its way to the big screen. According to Production Weekly, Jorma Taccone (Lonely Island, Land of the Lost) will direct the MacGruber film.

Ryan Phillippe and Val Kilmer are in talks to star in the spoof of MacGyver.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Will Forte and Kristen Wiig are reprising their roles from the skits for the Paramount and Relativity Media production.

The MacGruber sketches starred Forte as MacGyver's son with Wiig as an assistant who always find themselves, along with that week's guest star, in a control room with a ticking bomb about to go off. MacGruber gets sidelined by personal issues, and the bomb goes off.

Forte and Taccone wrote the parodies with John Solomon. The trio wrote the feature script, which takes the story in a completely different direction from the skits yet remains strangely familiar: The legendary, much decorated MacGruber is pulled out of retirement as a monk in Ecuador by a colonel, who needs him once more to fight on behalf of his country. This time the mission involves going up against the evil Cunth, who has a nuclear warhead; the mission is personal because Cunth killed MacGruber's bride.

The movie version would see Phillippe playing Piper, an Army officer forced to pair up with a reluctant MacGruber. Kilmer would be Cunth.

MacGruber movie is fast-tracked and at this stage looks like it could make it to the screen before a MacGyver movie, which is in development at New Line.

Production will begin next month in New Mexico.

I was a fan of McGyver, but never saw much of MacGruber. Are you excited to see a MacGruber film? Will it work? Cunth! What a name.

Here is what Richard Dean Anderson thinks of the character.

Source: MovieWeb

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The Steam Experiment Trailer

A former professor (Kilmer) concocts a brutal experiment in order to get the word out on the effects of global warming. By trapping six people in an urban Turkish bathhouse, he vows to overheat his hostages unless his global-warming hypothesis is published on the front page of his local paper.

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UPDATED: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans - Trailer for Werner Herzog's new film starring Cage

More Cage action. Watch him shout, point and look confused.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is the new Werner Herzog film that continues from Harvey Keitel's version. Apparantly it is not a remake.

Judging by this trailer they haven't really any idea what they wanted to do with the film. All in all it looks a bit of a mess.

It stars Nic Cage, Val Kilmer, Eva Mendes and, wait for it, Xzibit.

Remember, Nic Cage and Eva Mendes last starred together in Ghost Rider.

Cage's best acting role before this was posted recently (you have to watch it), but this may take first place.

Update: The video should now work again

What did you think of that? Will The Sorcerer's Apprentice or Kick-Ass finally lift the bad film curse that Nic Cage seems to currently be under?

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I'm Your Huckleberry

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Swine Flu - The symptoms to watch out for

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Streets of Blood - Teaser Trailer - Val Kilmer, 50 Cent and Sharon Stone....Good or bad?

A police officer's partner has died during Hurricane Katrina, but he later discovers that his partner may have been murdered. An investigation follows, taking the officer and his new partner into the depths of the criminal underworld.

Directed by Charles Winkler and starring Val Kilmer, 50 Cent, Sharon Stone


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XIII - News on the Val Kilmer, Stephen Dorff mini-series

The controversial Belgian comic book “XIII” by Jean Van Hamme and William Vance is coming to American television in February, courtesy of Prodigy Pictures and Cipango. The four-hour television miniseries starring Stephen Dorff as the amnesiac assassin code named XIII will be broadcast on NBC February 8 and 15. Val Kilmer also appears as the Mongoose, an agent of a secret organization staging a coup from within the American government. CBR News spoke with producer Jay Firestone of Prodigy Pictures about bringing the renowned comic book to TV.

"It's a bit ‘Bourne Identity,’ it's a bit ‘Manchurian Candidate,’" Firestone told CBR. The television miniseries begins with the assassination of Sally Sheridan, the first female president of the United States. A man tattooed with the roman numeral XIII appears to have pulled the trigger, but he has no memory of this event or anything else about his life. On the run from both the U.S. government and those behind the conspiracy of which he may or may not be a part, XIII must uncover the truth about his own identity to save America from a much greater threat.

The television version of "XIII" is co-produced by Firestone's Prodigy Pictures, which is based in Canada, and Cipango, a French company. The series premiered in France late last year. "The French love American stories," Firestone said. "There's actually a trend more and more toward American stories being more successful in Europe. There were a few years there where countries wanted domestic programming, and were doing very domestic shows, but were not getting the audiences that top American shows did. In this case, we had a combination of the two: we had a well-known Belgian story but with an American storyline.

"We brought in some writers and producers who had worked on a lot of American shows, ‘CSI,’ and ‘24,’ and sort of knew the genre, and they all got inspired by it, as well. We spent a couple years developing a great script, and once we had that we had everybody excited."
As with any adaptation from one medium to another, Firestone and his team found themselves changing some aspects of the original comic book story to fit the four-hour miniseries format. One notable change, though, was casting the American president, whose assassination kicks off the story. In the comics, the President was a man. In the “XIII” TV miniseries, the President is a woman. With the recent inauguration of America's first African-American president, it may be easy to forget that very recently it would have seemed more likely that the country would instead be marking the election of its first female commander-in-chief. But Firestone said that while many aspects of "XIII" do reflect the current political culture, the inclusion of a female president was merely a matter of "updating the concept.” "We just thought it was a fun idea," the producer said.

Firestone did note, though, that "XIII" fits very well with the current international attention on the American political stage, and with a lot of perceptions about the country's standing in the world. "It's incredibly timely. A lot of people actually believe that things that are significant elements of our story are actually going on. We're not speculating on whether they're true or not," he laughed. "But a lot of people believe it."

CBR have lots more on this along with many photos.

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The Thaw - Val Kilmer and co v ice age parasite in The Thing...I mean The Thaw

Quiet Earth spotted this one.

A deadly prehistoric parasite is released when a Woolly Mammoth is discovered in a melting ice cap. Faced with a potentially global epidemic, four ecology students must destroy the parasite before it reaches the rest of civilization. One-by-one they are infected and one-by-one they turn on each other. Soon the survivors are left with only one choice - to make the ultimate sacrifice and burn everything to the ground... including themselves.

Sounds a little like the dilemma the people had in John Carpenter's The Thing - plus lots of the visuals have a similar quality (which is no bad thing as long as it is done well. The Thaw stars Val Kilmer, Steph Song, and Kyle Schmid and is set to be released sometime this year.

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XIII coming to the small screen - Will it be Bourne-lite?

MTV have the news: NBC has announced this morning that they will be adapting the classic Belgian political thriller, “XIII” for a two-part television mini-series, scheduled to air February 8 and 15. The television event will pack a powerhouse of geek-credible actors, including former Batman Val Kilmer, Stephen Dorff from “Blade,” Stephen McHattie from “Watchmen” and Jessalyn Gilsig from “Heroes.”

“XIII” follows the adventures of an amnesiac assassin, who is being hunted down for questioning in the murder of the first female President of the United States. There have been several attempts by American publishers to adapt the comic stateside — most recently by the Dabel Bros. and Marvel — but none have been as successful as the popular video game adaptation

XIII was created by Van Hamme, but I only know it through the game which was pretty cool and had great cell shaded graphics. The basic plot has always reminded me of the Bourne scenario (guy wakes up on a beach with no memory, realises he can beat the crap out of pretty much anyone and he has a XIII tattoo) so this could well end up with a Bourne kind of vibe to it. This is no bad thing for a TV show in my opinion. Will we get fat Kilmer or thin Kilmer for the show? Which one of the actors mentioned will play the assassin? Also will it be set in the 60s like the comic or have a modern day setting?

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Val Kilmer to be a chubby Governor!

Actor Val Kilmer is turning to Hollywood pal Arnold Schwarzenegger for advice about politics - he wants to become a U.S. state governor.

The Batman Forever star, 48, is serious about running for office in New Mexico - where he owns a huge ranch - and is hoping to get some tips about the stresses of the job from movie action man-turned-Governor of California Schwarzenegger.

Kilmer says, "I plan to sit down with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I'm approaching this as a serious endeavour. But being famous as an actor is one thing - they take no prisoners in politics."

He also appears to be following the waist line of The Doors Jim Morrison.
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Official Descriptions for first 3 episodes of Knight Rider series

Episode 1.01 - A Knight In Shining Armour
IN THE SERIES PREMIERE, MIKE’S NEW MISSION BRINGS HIM FACE TO FACE WITH PEOPLE FROM A PAST HE DOES NOT REMEMBER–
Mike (Justin Bruening) and KITT (voiced by Val Kilmer) are assigned a seemingly easy package delivery – until they realize the package is actually a man with vital top secret code decryption built into his DNA. The mission gets complicated when the enemies, including a mysterious woman (guest star Paula Garces, “The Shield”), seem to know a great deal about Mike and a past he can’t recall. Deanna Russo, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Paul Campbell, Yancey Arias and Bruce Davison star. Smith Cho recurs.
Show Cast: Justin Bruening, Deanna Russo, Bruce Davison, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Val Kilmer, Paul Campbell, Yancey Arias

Episode 1.02 - Journey to the End of the Knight
MIKE MUST INFILTRATE A RACING GANG WITH THE HELP OF AN OLD ARMY BUDDY – Mike (Justin Bruening) reunites with a former Army buddy (guest star Johnny Messner, “The O.C.”) to bring down a drag racing gang that is smuggling weapons overseas. Sarah (Deanna Russo) joins Mike and KITT (voiced by Val Kilmer) on this dangerous undercover mission, much to her father’s (Bruce Davison) dismay. Paul Campbell and Yancey Arias star. Smith Cho recurs.
Show Cast: Justin Bruening, Deanna Russo, Bruce Davison, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Val Kilmer, Paul Campbell, Yancey Arias

Episode 1.03 - Knight Fever
KITT MAY HAVE MET HIS MATCH WHEN HE FALLS VICTIM TO A DESTRUCTIVE COMPUTER VIRUS– Mike (Justin Bruening) must stop the spread of a computer virus that threatens a total global meltdown. The job gets much harder when KITT (voiced by Val Kilmer) is infected. Meanwhile, Mike’s jealousy begins to show when Sarah (Deanna Russo) reconnects with an old flame (guest star Jeffrey Pierce, “The Nine”), who may be the key to solving the latest mission. Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Paul Campbell, Yancey Arias and Bruce Davison star. Smith Cho recurs.
Show Cast: Justin Bruening, Deanna Russo, Bruce Davison, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, Val Kilmer, Paul Campbell, Yancey Arias

Can't believe they took until episode 3 to use the title, Knight Fever! Anyone seen any of the new Knight Rider series? What do you think of it? Is Val Kilmer cool as KITT? Is the car any good and do the plots work or are they all just excuses to fit the car into the story?
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K.I.T.T.'s Cave from Knight Rider

I know it is not a movie (there was a feature pilot though), but I was a fan of the original Knight Rider. Here is a photo of K.I.T.T.s lab / cave from the forthcoming series. SCI FI have news on the series.

In the center of the set, on a rotating metal platform, sits the $75,000 2008 Ford Mustang GT500KR itself. When K.I.T.T.'s ready to go, it revs up and speeds down a tunnel inside a soundstage. "They don't let me drive it very much, but I get to sit in it, and it's pretty comfortable," admitted star Justin Bruening, who plays Mike Tracer, the ex-soldier who is the human companion to the super-intelligent talking car voiced by Val Kilmer. (Tracer acquires the codename "Michael Knight" in the show's first episode.)

The computers in the K.I.T.T. Cave are inspired in part by futurists at Microsoft, executive producer Gary Scott Thompson said. "We met with their technology people to see what they have coming up, and we were surprised that we were actually coming up with ideas that they weren't going to be doing for another 10 or 20 years or so. But we used some of their ideas." Among the high-tech gadgetry: tables that that can download information from a telephone or computer set on top of them and computers that can manipulate images at the flick of a finger.

On the day of SCI FI Wire's visit, the "attack car" version of K.I.T.T. sat outside the studio. It's the armored, battle-ready version of the Mustang into which the regular K.I.T.T. morphs.

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Bad Lieutenent Remake - Who's In?

The genius filmmaker that is Werner Herzog (Rescue Dawn, Encounters at the End of the World, and the brilliant Grizzly Man) is doing a sort of remake of the 1992 movie, Bad Lieutenent. It's going to have Nicholas Cage as the Harvey Keitel character and will also star Eva Mendes, Val Kilmer and Xzibit who'll play a bad guy called Big Fade.

The full title will be Bad Lieutenent: Port of Call New Orleans (which is a bit of a mouthful). Herzog reckons it will be more of a ongoing story as opposed to an out and out remake. He goes on to say, ""There's an interesting screenplay, [and] it's a very, very dark story. It's great because it seems to reflect a side of the collective psyche — sometimes there are just good times for film noir."

Nicholas Cage has had a bit of a crappy run with his last few movies. I'm trying to think of the last one of his I really enjoyed and it's going to have to be either Matchstick Men (although he was his usual collection of ticks and shouting, but that was also the character he was playing) or National Treasure. Plus Bangkok Dangerous just has a stupid name! I wonder if his performance is tied into the length of his hair, kind of like a negative Samson?

The original Harvey Keitel movie was dirty and messed up in a good way. I'm curious to see which way this one will go. Production is scheduled to begin later this summer for an expected 2009 release.