Tag Archives: Quentin Tarantino

Movie News & Opinions

Robert Rodriguez to Direct ‘Machete’ Sequel Entitled ‘Machete Kills’

Leave a comment

In 2010, critics and audiences alike ooh’d and aah’d at Machete, a character Danny Trejo had been playing since 2001’s Spy Kids. Finally garnering his own movie, Machete was a definite success for writer/director Robert Rodriguez, who shot the film in the neo-grindhouse format that was made popular (again) by 2007’s Grindhouse, a collaborative double feature by Robert Rodriguez, who did the first film, Planet Terror, and Quentin Tarantino, who did the second film, Death Proof.

In between the movies were fake, or supposedly fake, previews of upcoming films, one of the films being Machete. Others included Hobo with a Shotgun, which has since been made into a film, as well as Don’t, Thanksgiving, and Werewolf Women of the SS. Reports of production for Thanksgiving, which is being directed by Hostel creator Eli Roth, were recently confirmed and is set to release sometime in either 2012 or 2013. The first spawn of the original Grindhouse, though, was Machete, and the sleeper hit of Spring 2010 is getting a sequel entitled Machete Kills.

Rodriguez is working with producer Alexander Rodnyansky from AR films, and the sequel is the first in a planned trilogy, with the hopes that Trejo will reprise his role for the upcoming two films. Rodriguez says, “The fan response to the Machete character has been fanatical since his first appearance…Machete is truly a super hero and Machete Kills will be bigger and more ambitious than the first time.” He also has hopes that the surviving characters of the first film will make the decision to return again for the next two sequels.

Kyle Ward has written the first draft of the script, which is set to be developed by Robert and Marcel Rodriguez. The film is a Quick Draw Production with production by Aaron Kaufman and Iliana Nikolic, and Sergei Bespalov and Rick Schwartz. Production is slated to begin in April of this year.

Not much is known about the plot thus far, but Deadline.com released a report stating: “The new film finds Machete recruited by the U.S. Government for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man. Machete must battle his way through Mexico to take down a madman cartel leader and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war across the planet with a weapon in space. Machete takes on an army in an effort to dismantle a plan for global anarchy.”

If Machete Kills is anything like the original, count me in.

Movie News & Opinions

Pulp Fiction in Chronological Order, Does It Really Make A Difference?

Leave a comment

In 1994, Quentin Tarantino released a low-budget action pic, entitled Pulp Fiction. His second feature after Reservoir Dogs, this was the film that solidified Tarantino as the newest face of independent cinema. The most interesting part about it though, was besides including some of the best dialogue in a movie ever, as well as John Travolta’s career revitalizing role, the story is also told out-of-order. The movie is rather a series of connected vignettes as opposed to a linear story.

Continue reading Pulp Fiction in Chronological Order, Does It Really Make A Difference? →

Movie News & Opinions

The RZA and Sacha Baron Cohen Join the Cast of Tarantino’s ‘Django Unchained’

Leave a comment

Quentin Tarantino’s newest project, Django Unchained, which is set to release on Christmas Day 2012, has gone through some cast changes (most notably Kevin Costner to Kurt Russell which I’m extremely thankful for), as well as some unexpected casting (Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Christoph Waltz, Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, and James Remar are also names seen in the cast list, but the newest additions are by far the most surprising.

Former Wu-Tang member Robert Diggs, better known as RZA, has been cast as Thaddeus, a role that hasn’t had much news released about it. As well as that, Sacha Baron Cohen has been cast as Scotty, a role that also hasn’t had much disclosure. In fact, the entire film itself has thus far been kept under wraps relatively well, considering you haven’t read the PDF version of the script floating around the internet.

Be as skeptical as you want, but The RZA can act. Surprisingly well, I might add. Besides doing some of the soundtrack for the Kill Bill films, RZA’s face has been popping up in numerous projects like Coffee and Cigarettes, Funny People, American Gangster, Repo Men, Due Date, The Next Three Days, and most recently, A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas. He’s known for being a scene-stealer, and there’s a good chance he’ll fulfill that duty in Django.

As far as Sacha Baron Cohen, we all know and love him from films like Borat, Bruno, Talladega Nights, the Madagascar movies, and Sweeney Todd. He’ll soon be starring in a new film called The Dictator (not to be confused as a remake of the 1940 Charlie Chaplin film, The Great Dictator), which will be directed by Borat/Bruno director, Larry Charles. Cohen will also be portraying Freddie Mercury in an upcoming and unnamed Queen biopic.

 

 

 

As for participating in Django, Cohen is a special kind of actor. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if he’s in a movie, the role was most likely written for him, so seeing him in a Tarantino film leads me to think that his role will be not only extremely interesting, but hovering around genius. I trust both Cohen and Tarantino when it comes to successfully making great films, so there’s no reason that a collaboration between the two won’t be explosive.

Tarantino is known for his offbeat but almost always-successful casting, and with stars of this caliber, there’s no doubt in my mind that Django Unchained will be one of the best films of 2012.

 

Movie News & Opinions

Django Unchained: Kurt Russell to Replace Kevin Costner in Tarantino’s Latest

1 Comment

Back in July we talked about Django Unchained and how Kevin Costner was set to appear. And that was accurate until recently when he dropped out and was upgraded to replaced by Kurt Russell. Russell of course worked with QT before when he played ‘Stuntman Mike’ back in 2007…

So Russell will play ‘Ace’ the sadistic whipmaster on DiCaprio’s plantation. Sound good to me. While I have nothing against Costner, I am more of a Russell fan. I mean come on –The Thing, Big Trouble in Little China, Tombstone, Escape from New York...guy is a badass.

As far as the movie – Django Unchained – this is as stoked as I’ve been about a QT movie since walking out of Kill Bill and knowing I still had another 6 months till the 2nd part came out…

Movie News & Opinions

Tarantino’s ‘Django Unchained’ – DiCaprio, Foxx, & Costner

Leave a comment

Back in May I told you about the next Tarantino movie – Django Unchained. At that time it was believed that Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) was already locked in, and that it was rumored that star of the original movie Django – Franco Nero, would also be asked to take part. In addition, everyone just assumed that Sam Jackson would appear in his 6th Tarantino scripted movie.

Well as the production has rounded out, we’ve gotten some more names, the biggest of which was probably Leonardo DiCaprio. For the last month or so rumors have circled around DiCaprio being pegged to play the film’s villain – Calvin Candie…

“a charming but ruthless proprietor of Candyland, a despicable club and plantation in Mississippi where female slaves are exploited as sex objects and males are pitted against each other in “mandingo” style death matches. Candie is a slave’s worst nightmare and the freed slave Django must cross him in order to reclaim his wife.”
– Deadline

And while Leo’s name is attached to this all over the place, as far as I can figure, it isn’t actually official yet. If it does happen though, I think DiCaprio would be great. I’d love to see him in a villain role, and he has a real desire to work with the best directors in the industry with all the Scorsese movies in recent years, and Christopher Nolan’s Inception last summer. This guy is, in my opinion, one of the top actors in Hollywood today. As DeNiro, Pacino, Hackman, and Hoffman all ease into ‘Grandpa Roles’, the next generation of great actors is really starting to emerge, and Leo is at the forefront. However, like I said, he’s not confirmed yet to my knowledge.

Another big name QT was trying to wrangle in for the project was Mr. Blockbuster himself – Will Smith. This was the focus of our article in May, and now we’ve got an answer from the Fresh Prince: No. 

So, once Will Smith (against the advice of everyone) turned down the lead in Quentin Tarantino’s newest movie, the search for ‘Django’ began anew. With Smith out, QT reportedly talked to Idris Elba, Terrence Howard, and Chris Tucker all before ultimately offering the role to Smith’s Ali co-star; Jamie Foxx, who has accepted.

Foxx is coming off of an extremely entertaining role in Horrible Bosses (which was awesome), where he played a character named ‘Motherf#*ker Jones’ and will now play a freed slave out for revenge. This should prove to be Foxx’s most talked about  role of since Ray.

In addition to Jamie Foxx, it’s recently been announced that Kevin Costner will also join the cast. That means that Costner should be slated for a huge year in 2012 between this and his role as Pa Kent in Man of Steel. According to Deadline, Costner will play ‘Ace Woody’, the wicked plantation underboss who trains slaves to fight to the death.

Jamie Foxx’s Ray co-star Kerry Washington has also been tapped to appear as Django’s wife, and the motivation for his entire drive in the movie.

In addition, if you can believe the “always dependable” IMDb, Treat Williams (who we mentioned back in May) and Keith Carradine are both in the running to be included as well. Carradine is of course the younger brother of David Carradine, who was best known to QT fans as ‘Bill’. Now, while I’m pretty impartial towards Williams (even though I loved ‘Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead’), I really liked Carradine in his run on Dexter and I think he’d be a really under-rated addition to what’s shaping up to be one of the best casts of 2012…

So, what do you think? Excited or what?

Movie News & Opinions

Tarantino’s Spaghetti Western “Django Unchained” to Star…Will Smith?

1 Comment

I think it can go without saying, I’m a Quentin Tarantino fan. Not only am I a fan of his films overall, but of the writing style, the way they’re shot, and way they pay homage to what came before them. Tarantino simply put, is my favorite film-maker. Every few years we are treated to something new from him. Now, it seems that the follow-up to his mega-hit Inglourious Basterds is around the corner, and it will be called Django Unchained.

Inspired by the 1966 spaghetti western Django. The film was considered one of the most violent in history up until that point so it seems an obvious choice for Tarantino. The original movie dealt with a gunslinger who enters a town at war. The KKK is feuding with a Mexican gang, and Django gets caught in the middle.

Taratino’s movie will take the western theme, but it will be earlier, post-civil war era. It will tell the story of a former slave named Django who is trained by a German Bounty Hunter, and tries to free his wife from an evil plantation owner.

In no real surprise, it seems that Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterd‘s Hans Landa) will play the German Bounty Hunter, though not yet official. In another real shocker, Tarantino staple Samuel L. Jackson appears set for some screen-time as well. Also rumored is that the star of the original film, Franco Nero (aka Gen. Ramon Esperanza in Die Hard 2), will be involved in some capacity, but it’s not yet known as whom. We reported a while back that Treat Williams has apparently turned down roles in both The Dark Knight Rises and this movie to do some TV cop show. Good call Treat.

Now, as far as the casting of Django himself – over the weekend there were rumors galore that Will Smith seems to be the front-runner and Tarantino’s choice for the title character. Smith however is a product. And he markets himself very carefully, so it’s unclear if he’ll accept a role this…gritty.

This is from The Hollywood Reporter:

Sources prepped for those meetings say Tarantino would like Smith to star in the film, the script for which has been making the rounds in recent days to wide acclaim. No official offer has been made to Smith, and any deal would of course be subject to working out financials, which might be difficult given Smith’s status as one of Hollywood’s few sure-thing stars.  

Indeed, though Smith has been out of multiplexes since 2008’s Seven Pounds, he is still considered among the top two or three box-office draws worldwide. 

Smith is being teed up for the title role of Django, a freed slave who seeks to reunite with his slave wife, a journey that will see him team with a German bounty hunter to take down an evil plantation owner.

Tarantino wrote the bounty hunter part with Waltz in mind, according to insiders. The German ends up training Django and helping him seek his wife.

Jackson would play the house slave to the bad guy, Monsieur Calvin Candie. The slave is an expert manipulator and will face off with Django. 

Smith and his reps have received the screenplay, which could be a hot potato due to the themes of racism and the liberal use of the N-word. It’s unclear whether Smith has read the script yet. The actor manages his image very carefully, but the part is heroic and could be iconic. And let’s not forget that Denzel Washington won his two Oscars playing characters who used the N-word.

The movie is slated for a 2012 release, and while I think he would be good in it, weather or not The Fresh Prince Will Smith joins the cast won’t affect my decision to see it. I can already tell you I will be in the theater opening night next year…