Sunday, January 25, 2009

Who Influenced Hathaway?


(Jack Chuck / Corbis Outline)


In a lengthy interview (click here to read the entire article), Anne Hathaway mentioned one person who inspired her acting as the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland (among numerous other topics):

“...when I was getting ready for Alice in Wonderland I watched a lot of Greta Garbo’s silent movies. She’s insane.”


She also spoke about her co-star Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton:

“If Johnny Depp has a twin brother, send him over,” laughs Anne Hathaway. “I’ll marry that guy right away.”

“Honestly, Johnny’s everything you’d want him to be, and more, while Tim is one of my favourite filmmakers. He has been since I started watching his films as a child. Working with him on a fairy tale is like being invited into this sandbox to play around.”

Sheen: Not the Chesire Cat

Michael Sheen sets the record straight in this brief video interview: he will be in Alice in Wonderland, but he will not be playing the role of the Chesire Cat.


Thursday, January 22, 2009

Hathaway Talks About "Wonderland"



In an interview in Italy for Bride Wars, Anne Hathaway had more enthusiastic remarks about the making of Alice in Wonderland:

I play the White Queen – Hathaway said - I filmed this past fall. I worked for two weeks. I had an absolute ball. I was very lucky I had a couple of weeks to create this character. The thing about Tim is that whenever you are working with an auteur like that, your limits for the character are the limits for their imagination and in the case of Tim Burton there are no limits to his imagination. It was wonderful living in a very creative word everyday, it was odd I have never done full greenscreen before: there was a room four times the size of this room, with ceilings they go three times as high and it’s all green. You feel like you live in a kind of ant colony… a very green one. That was strange… but it was just new. I loved working with Johnny Depp . And Mia, the girl who plays Alice – people are gonna love her portrayal, she is a very exciting young actress… I loved it. I just loved playing my character”.

Burton's Official Website Back


A small update, but it looks like Tim Burton's official website is finally up and running again after a few years of silence.

No new updates have been posted, but you can sign up for e-mail notifications for future official news.

"Frankenweenie" Updates


John August (Getty Images photo)


It has been many months since we last heard anything about the upcoming stop-motion animated feature length remake of Tim Burton's Frankenweenie. But finally, more information has surfaced.

The film is clearly still in pre-production. John August (who wrote the scripts for other Burton movies) will be writing the screenplay. Allison Abbate, a producer on Corpse Bride and other animated films, will still produce Frankenweenie alongside Burton, and Disney producer Don Hahn will serve as an executive producer. Many other artists and crew members from Corpse Bride will be involved. Frankenweenie will also be shot in black and white at this point, like the original short film.

Burton has wanted to adapt his original 1984 live-action short Frankenweenie since it was first made nearly 25 years ago. From the looks of it, that will eventually become a reality. Frankenweenie is aiming for a release in Disney Digital 3D in participating theaters in 2011.

Thursday, January 08, 2009

Burton's "Batman" Movies on Blu-Ray in March



Tim Burton's two Batman movies -- Batman and Batman Returns -- and Joel Schumacher's two additions to the franchise will be released on Blu-ray disc in the "Batman - The Motion Picture Anthology 1989-1997" collection on March 10th, 2009.

The movies will only available on Blu-ray disc in this collection (at this point in time), selling at $129.95. The five-disc set will also come with with a digital copy of Batman, which will enable viewers to watch the 1989 blockbuster in standard edition on a PC or iPod.

The special features look to be the same as those found in the special edition DVD release of these movies from a few years ago, packed with deleted scenes, profiles, commentary tracks from the directors, documentaries, music videos, and much more. (More details to come in future press releases).

DVDTown.com also stated that "these four movies will also be available on DVD as Singles ($12.97 SRP) and 2-Disc Special Editions ($26.99 SRP) on February 10, and as a Collection ($79.92 SRP) on March 10."

More information to come in the near future!

Burton and Bonham Carter in Vogue Photoshoot

In case you didn't see them, here are pictures from the crazy and surreal Vogue UK photoshoot, "Tales of the Unexpected," by Tim Walker. These photos featuring Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter were published in the December 2008 issue of Vogue UK. There looks to be some Charlie and the Chocolate Factory influence in the perplexing and charming mix of photographs.

To see larger versions of the pictures, click on the thumbnails below. Pictures from helena-world.com and stylefrizz.com.










Monday, January 05, 2009

Pat Hingle, 1924-2009




Pat Hingle, who played the role of Commissioner Gordon in 1989's Batman died on Saturday night in his home in Carolina Beach, North Carolina. He was 84, and had been battling leukaemia for two years.

Hingle, an actor for decades, was also in Batman Returns, and the two Joel Schumacher sequels in the franchise. Hingle and Michael Gough were the only two actors to have reprised their roles in the four movies.