The Random - Catch up edition - Astro Boy, Captain Marvel, Piranha 3D, Iron Man 2, The Hobbit, Sex and the City, Galactica, Observe and Report,

John Cleese is developing a stage musical of his classic 80's comedy A Fish Called Wanda with his daughter Camilla. They're hoping to have it finished in the next two to three years and debut it in San Diego with the hope of the production continuing on to Broadway and the West End..." (full details)

Fans spent hundreds and thousands on everything from water bottles to model ships used on the set of Battlestar Galactica at an online auction over the weekend... (full details)

"My idea is to have someone like Britney Spears move to New York as my cousin or niece and Carrie would show her the ropes" says Sarah Jessica Parker of her plans for a 'Sex and the City' sequel... (full details)

Unlike the original, Ian McKellen says that the upcoming AMC mini-series remake of 'The Prisoner' will answer all your burning questions by the time it comes to an end... (full details)

"I would love to. I would be available. I would do anything for Peter and I would do anything for Guillermo. Of course there is the writing challenge" says Dominic Monaghan about starring in The Hobbit... (full details)

UPDATED: "Last I heard, Brett was leaning away from Conan. This can obviously change at any time, since I don’t think anything is official either way. I’m a little constrained from talking about Conan for reasons I hope I never have to write about" says "Conan" screenwriter Dirk Blackman (not producer Avi Lerner as I previously posted)...(full details)

Andy Serkis says that shooting on the first Tintin film directed by Steven Spielberg is scheduled to begin next week... (full details)

The upcoming CG animated Astro Boy film was almost a victim of the recession... (full details)

Access Hollywood have the first post-screening exclusive interview with the last of the 'Final Five' Cylons from Battlestar Galactica who was revealed on Friday night. Don't click unless you're aware of who it turned out to be..." (full details)

Sam Rockwell confirms talk that he's playing the character of Justin Hammer in the upcoming Iron Man sequel... (full details)

Alexandre Aja is adamant he will begin shooting the remake of Joe Dante's Piranha 3D this year after a slight delay from last Fall. He also indicates the fish themselves will look different visually - "Like Gremlins not all of the piranha will be the same"... (full details)

Despite reports of its death, producer Michael Uslan says the Shazam movie is still alive and kicking "I will only say one thing — and all I will do is quote Samuel Clemens to you. This is direct from Captain Marvel himself: 'The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated'"... (full details)

Also, despite reports of its death, producer Lynn Hendee says the Ender's Game movie is still alive and kicking and insists the "project is not dead". She told The LA Times the other week that "[Card] was not interested in a ‘tough-hero action film’ and refuses to condescend to green-screen Hollywood. Card imagines a ‘film where the human relationships are absolutely essential — an honest presentation of the story.’"..." (full details)

Twentieth Century Fox is holding an online casting call to find a bright, precocious and appealing young actor, age 10-13, for the lead role of Greg Heffley in the film version of the New York Times bestseller Diary of a Wimpky Kid. Candidates are invited to visit IAmtheWimpyKid.com to learn more about the project – and to upload their audition videos... (full details)

Sony Pictures has picked up the North American rights to Blood and Bone. The film follows former convict Michael Jai White as man who gets into the world of underground fighting. His one goal is to fulfill the promise of a friend who died... (full details)

Summit Entertainment has picked up rights to Gayle Forman's young adult novel If I Stay. The story follows a young musician and her rocker boyfriend who get caught up in a tragic car wreck..." (full details)

Seth Rogen comedy Observe and Report will have its world premiere at the SXSW festival on March 16th, nearly a full month before its general release on April 10th. Rogen plays an egocentric mall cop who tries to impress a perfume girl (Anna Faris) by catching a mall flasher before the whacked out local police detective (Ray Liotta)...(full details)

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Visit to the set of The Day the Earth Stood Still

Ammon of JoBlo was lucky enough to have a visit to the production offices and set of The Day The Earth Stood Still remake.

Among other things he got to have a look at lots of productions sketches and photos and he had a chat with production designer David Brisbin, special effects team Jeff Okun and Tom Boland, and practical effects maestro Todd Masters (of MastersFX). Here are some cool things about the film he found out (spoilers ahead

- The space ship is an Orb--and there are multiple Orbs that land in different locations all around the globe, including the desert, the ocean, the swamp, and the forest--each Orb has a different purpose.
- The Orbs change color, based on Klaatu’s mood--when angry, the Orb is red, when calm, the Orb is blue.
- The Orbs arrive throughout different times in history--we are shown the arrivals of the Orbs throughout time before the arrival in Central Park.
- Helen (Jennifer Connolly) is an Ethnobiologist (and not a lonely housewife) in this version.
- The film is environmentally conscience--Klaatu comes to Earth to warn us to stop polluting and take better care of our planet (instead of warning us to stop using Atomic Weapons).
- The color palette director Derrickson wanted to use for the film’s overall pallet featured lots of blues and greens--similar to the colors of the original's theatrical poster (below).
- WETA is doing most of the post-production special effects.
- There are HUNDREDS of special effects shots.
- Derrickson believes that when it comes to effects, if you can shoot it, you should.
- There are a few stages to Klaatu’s organic space suite: the first stage, the suite is translucent; the second stage, the suite is solid; the third stage, you can see the inner being inside the suite; the fourth stage is the dissection of the suit; the final stage is the transition stage, when Klaatu (looking like Keanu) emerges.
- The transformation scene when Klaatu turns into a human--is shot in a similar manner as the werewolf transformation in AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON.
- Gort is somewhere between 25 and 35 feet tall.

He was then shown a rough of the opening scene and described it as:

The Orb approaches through space (like the landing of PREDATOR), and slowly floats down in the middle of New York City’s Central Park. Shortly after ‘landing’ (it’s floating a few feet off the ground, as it’s a giant ball of light and energy), the Orb is surrounded by police and military units--all approaching with guns drawn, taking aim and ready to fire. Snipers arrive on the rooftops of the buildings surrounding Central Park, taking aim and putting the Orb in their crosshairs. The light of the Orb narrows and focuses at the base, where a humanoid figure of light emerges, walking towards the surrounding barricade. This is Klaatu, in his translucent space suite. Helen (the Ethnobiologist, rocking a full body de-tox suite) is the first one to greet Klaatu as he emerges. A second later, a random shot by a trigger happy gunman is heard, and Klaatu is hit in the chest – blood splatters all over the front of Helen’s suite and across her face shield. Helen stands there in shock for a second, then the stomping sound of screeching metal and robotic footsteps comes from within the Orb and a shadow emerges…

All sounds pretty cool and I am now definitely looking forward to seeing this film when it comes out. I do like the idea of the orbs appearing throughout different time periods although I'm not sure how that is going to work in the story. Very intriguing. Also looks as if we will get to see a giant Gort kick some military ass. Who's with me?

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The Random

Transformers 2 - Actress Megan Fox talked to MTV about rewrites on the script and plans for the sequel. "As big as the first movie was, this is 10 times as big, 10 times as many set pieces, explosions, and acrobatic stunts," she said. "Shia and I make out a little bit; I don’t know if anyone wants to see that. You know, we’ve been having script meetings, and we’ve been reworking the script, because they wrote it fast because of the writer’s strike. And, we’ve just been going through and trying to do some character stuff for Shia and myself in the middle of this crazy world that they’re in." What's Fox's direction from Michael Bay? "His main note to me is just to look hot; so I try my best."

WatchmenComicMovie.com works on re-bunking some rumors still floating around about the project.

Actor Max Thierot talks about the plot details of Wes Craven's "25/8" which deals with multiple people with multiple personalities.

Seems that due to a legal settlement, Rockstar Games isn't allowed to make a feature film based on their mega-hit video game series "Grand Theft Auto" as that title is owned by Fox Atomic who've been developing a remake of the 1977 Ron Howard directed film of the same name.

Clive Barker's not happy about Lionsgate's treatment of the film version of his "Midnight Meat Train" story and talks about what you can do to complain.

Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer have just started their "contractually obligated" rewrite of the "Conan the Barbarian" remake script.

John Cleese and his daughter Camilla are penning a musical adaptation of his much acclaimed and very popular heist comedy "A Fish Called Wanda".