The Screening Room

This AP story on the new Indiana Jones flick premiering in Cannes this weekend seriously buries the lede.

While the article mostly focuses on the layer of secrecy around Crystal Skull -- you'd think Spielberg would have learned his lesson after this backfired so badly on A.I., but whatever -- the writer also delves into why it took so long for the new movie to get made:

In its earliest incarnation, Lucas proposed an all-out alien flick called "Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men From Mars." Spielberg and Ford didn't like that idea, and it took more than a decade of wrangling to come up with a story all three could live with.

Just let that sink in.

Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men from Mars

I think the question is no longer how Lucas managed to screw up the Star Wars prequels so badly, but how he managed to not screw up the original three films.

Sheesh.

She's back (Paramount Pictures)

Karen Allen returns to Indiana Jones land next Thursday. She's happy to be back for the ride, as well she should be; Raiders of the Lost Ark was the biggest hit of her career. But, as she told me last week, it's not the only movie that gets her stopped in the grocery store.

"I get recognized for Starman a lot," she says. Certainly Raiders. And Animal House still, even though it was 30 years ago. That film will not stop celebrating itself. And Scrooged because it's on every year at Christmas now, and people see it year after year and it stays in people's minds."

Check out Guidelive.com this Sunday for more on Karen Allen and her Crystal Skull experience.

David Mamet seems like a tough customer. He certainly writes like one. But Chiwetel Ejiofor, the star of Mr. Mamet's Redbelt, says the Man's Man of theater and film is actually kinda...soft?

"I found him really easy - a really nice, really pleasant guy to spend time with," Ejiofor told me recently. "He's very big-hearted. I don't know if I was really expecting that actually, to find him so soft. His writing has a real edge to it, so I always thought of his demeanor as a bit prickly, having never met him. Spending time with him I realized that there's a slight touch-in-cheek quality to his writing, and people don't really recognize it until you meet him. He's a very funny man."

Read much more about Ejiofor and Redbelt this Friday at Guidelive.com.

Steven Soderbergh is set to make his second feature for Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner's 2929 Entertainment. The first, Bubble, painted a sufficiently creepy love triangle amongst workers at a doll factory. The new joint is called The Girlfriend Experience. Like Bubble, it will be released simultaneously in theaters, on DVD, and on HDNet. Read the Variety story here.

What does winning the Audience Choice Award at Texas Frightmare Weekend get you these days? A nice little run at the five local Studio Movie Grills. Dallas filmmaker Anthony Brownrigg picked up a small distributor, Kurv Entertainment, for his dark comedy Red Victoria, and now he's looking to gauge further audience interest. The screenings run May 4-8, at the various SMGs, and, glory be, they're free. Get all the info at the official Website here.

Vampire fans, take heed: Filming is underway for the big screen adaptation of Stephanie Meyer's popular teen novel, Twilight. As of now, it's slated to open Dec. 12.

Vampires aren't supposed to see the light of day. But the sun keeps shining on the set of Twilight, an adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's popular teen vampire-mortal love story.

It may be classified as teen, as any horror reader knows, good vampire fiction is hard to come by. I'll admit I haven't read it yet, but it's about #6 on my Big Stack of Books to Read.

Here's one for the roundball junkies: Adam "MCA" Yauch has made a basketball documentary called Gunnin' For That #1 Spot. The films zooms in on 24 of the top high school players (now in college) as they hoop it up at Harlem's legendary Rucker Park in 2006. Featured ballers include UCLA's Kevin Love, Arizona's Jerryd Bayless and K-State's Michael Beasley. I'm optimistic; Spot will be released by the new Oscilloscope Pictures, a company started by my boy David Fenkel. Fenkel used to be at Think Films, and he knows from hoops. Spot will hit theaters this summer. Lace 'em up. And peep the press release below.

If you missed the great animated film Persepolis and subtitles challenge your faculties, you're in luck. A dubbed version is rolling into theaters this weekend. I'm not sure if this sublime look at growing up in the Iran and Europe of the '70s and '80s would have made my Top Ten in a dubbed version - dubbed foreign films make my skin crawl - but hey, different strokes.

Beware if you have a chimp in your movie: PETA is watching. In the last week I've received two E-blasts from the animal rights organization, one concerning the new documentary Circus Rosaire (just played at AFI-Dallas; check the earlier post here), the other condemning the upcoming adaptation of the anime TV icon Speed Racer (which I'm tempted to condemn just because of its live-action format, but I digress).

Keep reading for the full text of PETA's Speed lament.

Check out Nancy Churnin's roundup of summer movies that might be of interest to kids and teens here. It ran as part of Guide's Parents' Guide to Summer (and, hey, while you're there you can check out listings for more than 200 camps and activities for the youngsters).

What summer movie are you most looking forward to?

Oh, Apple.com/trailers, what would we do without you?

Apple has an exclusive clip from the delighfully geektastic Iron Man, which opens May 2.

Watch "Run Before You Can Walk."

Awards season is done. Let's get on to summer movie season with its adventure and ear-shattering explosions.

Here's something wacky: a non-AFI blog item. I just got back from talking to one of my favorite actors, Chiwetel Ejiofor. He's exuded intelligence and range in Dirty Pretty Things, Talk to Me and American Gangster, among others, and now he's in David Mamet's upcoming Jiu-Jitsu film, Redbelt. The strongest impression from a 30-minute chat: This is a very international dude.

LOS ANGELES — The truth about The X-Files sequel — some of it, anyway — is now out there.

The X-Files creator Chris Carter, writer Frank Spotnitz and other crew members gathered Wednesday to discuss the TV series — and declassify some information about the upcoming film.

Read more from the Associated Press.

/film offers links to two bootleg trailers

In case any cine-Potterheads missed the news, Warner Bros. and producer David Heyman have announced that the movie version of the seventh and final Harry Potter book, Deathly Hallows, will be split into a two-part film release.

DH1 is set for November 2010 and DH2 for May 2011. David Yates, director of both Order of the Phoenix and the now-in-production Half-Blood Prince, will helm Deathly Hallows as well.

Texas-born screenwriter Steve Kloves tells the Baltimore Sun that he's on board with the plan: "As for Deathly Hallows, I intuited -- almost from the first moments I began reading it and certainly once I'd finished -- that to realize the story in a single film was going to be a tall order."

Javier Bardem starred in one of 2007's best films (No Country for Old Men) and one of its worst. Mr. Bardem's Love in the Time of Cholera got no love at the box office, disappearing quickly from multiplexes after its November 2007 release. To see it is to know why.

Fans of films gone hilariously awry (you know who you are) won't want to miss this one, which lands on DVD today. Based on Nobel Prize winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez's epic novel, Love tells the story of Florentino and Fermina, whose attraction for each other goes unrequited for decades.

The book is tragic, romantic, poetic and moving. The movie is a showcase for stiff acting, bad makeup jobs, funny fashion choices (authentic though they may be) and many scenes to snicker over. Enjoy! Enjoy!

As promised, here's a little more on my Martin Scorsese interview Saturday. We talked mostly about his new Stones movie, Shine a Light, which opens April 4. If you're a fan of Scorsese's music flicks, this one is more of a Last Waltz-style concert movie than a No Direction Home study of Dylan.

Near the end of the interview I told him I was a fan of his doc A Personal Journey With Martin Scorsese Through American Movies. He immediately lamented that his press schedule was causing him to miss a rep screening of Bigger Than Life, a Nicholas Ray/James Mason film that was playing up the street in New York and is featured in Personal Journey. Classic Scorsese: He's rather be watching a movie - even one that he's seen a million times - than doing anything else. Except, possibly, making a movie.

We'll have much more Marty as his film's opening date approaches.

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So tomorrow afternoon I'm supposed to chat with one Martin Scorsese on the phone. To get an idea of where this rates on my "giggling like a schoolgirl" meter, picture Bob Sturm hanging out with Brett Favre. The only other time I've had idol-worship nervousness was before I talked to Clint. Pray for me.

His Martyness' new movie, the Rolling Stones doc Shine a Light, opens April 4.

Paramount

According to Bloody-Disgusting.com, director Uwe Boll has announced that he will release his newest film Postal, on the same weekend as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to "go out and destroy Indiana Jones in the Box Office."

Riiiiiiight. Good luck with that, Uwe.

Mr. Boll has brought us many box office blockbusters, such as Alone in the Dark ($8 mil worldwide), BloodRayne ($2 mil worldwide) and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (about $5 mil). Of course, those three films combined cost an estimated $105 million to make.

So what do you think: Is Indy really in any danger on May 23? Are you going to skip the crowds at Crystal Skull for Postal? And how DOES Uwe Boll keep getting funding for new films?

Iron Man Exclusive Trailer

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Of course, so did The Phantom Menace, but I'm trying to stay optimistic here.

For those of you salivating over the possible details of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, you need only wait until Thursday for more info. The first trailer of the film will air on Good Morning America and then will be available at Indianajones.com. And if you are catching one of the four new releases in theaters that night, you've also got a shot of seeing it on the big screen.

According to Variety (by way of /film), we just may see more of the mysterious Cloverfield on screen:

Matt Reeves is in early talks with Paramount to direct a "Cloverfield" sequel, and he has also made a deal with GreeneStreet Films to direct "The Invisible Woman." (Read more)

I'm torn. As much as I enjoyed the original (and plan to see it again and perhaps again), can they really sustain the momentum of the original? Most of the draw for seeing Cloverfield was the "OMG what was that?" factor, which is gone. And do we face another instance of 28 Days Later vs. 28 Weeks Later? Does the new version lose what made the original so cool?

So, early days yet, but what do you think? Would you fork out to see the sequel? Would you prefer a prequel? What would it take to get you back in the seats for Cloverfield 2?

Rambo's back and ready for more action - 20 years after his last on-screen appearance. First Die Hard's John McClane came back last summer, followed by Indiana Jones this summer, both after 19 years, and let's not forget Rocky Balboa. When is it too much? Are you rejoicing to see the heroes of your youth back on the big screen? Or is it to time to pass the torch to the next cast of characters?

IVER HEATH, England — Quantum of Solace is the title of the
new James Bond film, the 22nd Bond adventure.

Read more.

Also, have you gotten used to Daniel Craig as Agent 007?

Fellow fanboy (fanperson? fan...atic?) Dave Hiott points out this rather shaky look at the Star Trek XI Teaser trailer:

Moviefone has come out with a list of the 38 most anticipated films of 2008 (why 38? your guess is as good as mine). But it is a list that gets my blood pumping a bit for this year. The top 10 are:
10) Star Trek XI (Dec. 25)
9) The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (May 16)
8) Hancock (Will Smith superhero movie out July 2)
7) Speed Racer (May 9)
6) Sex and the City (May 30)
5) Iron Man (Comic book movie starring Robert Downey Jr. May 2)
5) Bond 22 (real name pending, hopefully before its Nov. 7 release)
3) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Nov. 21)
2) The Dark Knight (July 18)
1) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (May 22)
For the compelte list, head over to here.
I'd say they picked most of the well-known biggies for 08, and there's no way anything out scores Indiana Jones on the anticipation meter.

Denzel Washington in The Weinstein Company's The Great Debaters

To judge a book by its cover (or a movie by its trailer), I'd definitely give it my $8 — and not just to keep from seeing its opening day competitor, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem.

According to IMDb.com, this will be Mr. Washington's 45th movie role. So talk: Which of those 45 roles did you like best? Or are you a rebel and want to vote for his days on St. Elsewhere?