I’ll never forget the first time I saw Napoleon Dynamite. It was in a Montreal movie theater in the old Forum building (currently featured in the Queen IMAX doc Queen Rock Montreal). The film had only been out a few weeks but had already started becoming a cult hit following its Sundance premiere. I remember it being a matinee on a weekday, and I was stunned when I saw several audience members wearing identical “Vote for Pedro” t-shirts. I knew from the reviews that it was a reference to the movie, and it was then that I had an accurate idea of just how deep the Napoleon Dynamite cult was going.
And folks – that was TWENTY years ago! Crazy isn’t it? But yes, Napoleon Dynamite has been a thing since 2004, with it grossing $44 million on a $400,000 budget, and it’s known as being one of the best-selling DVDs of all time, in addition to the marketing bonanza it became thanks to the merchandising. Being one of the biggest cult hits to come out of the Sundance Film Festival, it was appropriate that the fest celebrated the film’s 20th with a gala screening, and I was thrilled to be invited to participate in the press line. While director Jared Hess wasn’t there due to him shooting the Jason Momoa video game adaptation Minecraft, I got to speak to most of the other folks from the film, including the iconic Pedro, Efren Ramirez, who gave JoBlo a big shout-out, and Napoleon Dynamite himself, the great Jon Heder.
Check out the interviews above, and big thanks to former JoBlo.com Editor-in-Chief Paul Shirey, my former erstwhile partner on who you can catch on his own Arctic Ninja Network, for helping me with the shooting.
Do you think Napoleon Dynamite holds up after twenty years? Let us know in the comments.
Charles Band’s company Full Moon has been delivering wild, crazy, entertaining films for almost thirty-five years now – and on the latest episode of his YouTube series Full Moon Universe, Band has revealed that 2024 is going to be another big year for them, as they’re launching a new production label called Pulp Noir with a slate of ten films. The plan being that all ten of those movies are going to be filmed by the end of this year.
Here’s how Band explained it: “I’ve been thinking recently about how to create a new brand of movies. Movies that are still deep in the sci-fi, fantasy, mainly horror sub-genre, and do it differently than what we’ve been doing with Full Moon. So I thought it was time to make a series of features that would be darker, edgier. (There are) a lot of concepts I’ve wanted to make over the years that now, with help from some of the new technology, AI, there are things we can do that we were not able to do and worlds we can go into. For instance, back in the ‘90s I made a few movies, one of them was called Meridian. Today you would call that a paranormal romance, and Meridian is one of those films that has really stood the test of time. People loved it. Some of those kind of movies, no one can find anymore, no one’s really making them, aside from the real shocking, bloody, crazy twisted films, which we actually have not been making for many years here at Full Moon. Probably the only movie I’ve made in in recent memory that fits into that category is Castle Freak and Castle Freak is one of the better films, I know people enjoy watching it. So I wanted to come up with a sub-label that would feature movies like that again; a harder, edgier slate of films. The title Pulp Noir kind of sums it all up. Then it was time to go through all the hundreds of ideas that I’ve worked on for years that haven’t been made and select ten that would represent this new sort of sub-genre of filmmaking.“
Pulp Noir’s first slate of films consists of: Quadrant, Death Streamer, Subscriber, Subhuman, Bad CGI Werewolves! (sort of a companion piece to Full Moon’s recent release Bad CGI Gator), Zombie Hotel, Surprise Party, the paranormal romance The Lost Girl’s Private Diary, Svengali 2024, and Hourglass. Concept art for all of these films can be seen in the Full Moon Universe video embedded below.
The first Pulp Noir movie will go into production later this month, with others following basically at a “one a month” pace through the rest of 2024. To help ensure these productions will go smoothly, Full Moon has also set up a Patreon account where fans can subscribe and show their support for the company. There are multiple tiers to choose from, with incentives including access to new episodes of Band’s podcast Full Moon Freakshow, Blu-rays, Tiny Terror action figures, a subscription to Delirium magazine, a shirt, a hoodie, etc. Fans who subscribe to the highest tier will also receive an executive producer credit on Pulp Noir movies during their subscription.
I’ve been a fan of Full Moon since I was a kid, so I’m always excited to see new projects coming from the company. Pulp Noir sounds like a lot of fun to me.
What do you think of Full Moon’s Pulp Noir plans? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Many people often blasphemously (and hilariously) joke around that Morgan Freeman is God. Not only because of his pitch perfect casting as God but also due to his smooth, defining and, yes, god-like is Morgan Freeman’s voice that one can’t picture penguins or parts of nature or, yes, God, without hearing the man. One reason could be that we’ve only ever really known Morgan Freeman as an older actor, not striking a chord with mainstream audiences until he was in his 50s.
Soon enough his skills, screen presences and voice had Hollywood calling every time they needed a kind wise grandfather types or a grizzled vet from either side of the the law or any type of narration in any type of film. That persona has marked him as a welcome figure throughout modern cinema – despite the nearly constant cash grabs that pad out the unfortunate bulk of his filmography. There were some major controversies surrounded this man for sure, but he has been given a bit of a pass… the public seems to have quickly forgiven the man who became the widely accepted ultimate Hollywood earthly depiction of God.
But to truly understand what happened to Morgan Freeman, we go back to the beginning. And the beginning began when he was born on June 1st, 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee.
After serving in the US Air Force and a successful off and on Broadway career, Freeman joined children’s show The Electric Company in 1971, playing characters like Easy Reader, DJ Mel Mounds and Count Dracula. After leaving – and some small, sometimes uncredited roles on the big screen and in TV movies – Freeman landed his debut movie, playing a prisoner in Brubaker (1980) which would led to his breakout: 1987’s Street Smart, playing a pimp to his first Oscar nomination and being declared by famed critic Pauline Kael was one of the best actors working.
After turning up as a drug counselor in 1988’s Clean and Sober, Freeman became a true household name through a trio of movies that closed out his decade: a Civil War sergeant major who climbs through the ranks and stakes his position in Glory; a car driver person – a character he played on stage – in Driving Miss Daisy (to an Oscar nod and Golden Globe win) and real-life principal Joe Louis Clark in Lean On Me. Morgan Freeman was a household name…at 52. But he would be playing retired characters – that is, old people roles – just a few years later, namely 1992’s Unforgiven. Blooming late may have benefited Freeman. To most, there is no young Morgan Freeman. There is only one image of him and so only one sound
and all of it embodies a trusted and soothing figure, a sort of grandfatherly persona. Really, it’s no wonder he would be named one of the most trustworthy celebrities.
Here is a man who came on the scene as deep, calm and confident, just like his voice. As the decade turned, he voiced Frederick Douglass in The Civil War (1990), introducing what would become his trademark role: that of narrator. Whether guiding us through the cosmos or through global conflicts or through penguins’ journeys through the Antarctic or through traffic (he leant his voice to the Waze app), Freeman was the most reliable voice in all of the documentary medium. Spielberg recognized this earlier on with War of the Worlds (2005) in what retrospectively feels like a spoof of his voicework. The guy was even trusted with voicing Neil f*cking Armstrong! And there’s a reason, as scientific studies found that he has a “positive association” with culture. He had become omnipresent. Look, the guy played God and no one took issue with it. As far as that goes, he once said, “I said at the start, I think we invented God. So if I believe in God, and I do, it’s because I think I’m God.” So there! He would take on the role of God in 2003’s Bruce Almighty and its 2007 sequel Evan Almighty.
From there, Morgan Freeman started adhering to the following: “A good story and an interesting character is all I am looking for.” With that, he hit the ‘90s with flops (1990’s The Bonfire of the Vanities) and clear favorites (Azeem in 1991’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves). Followed by the co-led The Shawshank Redemption (1994) to yet another Oscar nod; as Red (also the narrator, his first doing so in a feature narrative), he was the soul of the film, the guide who taught audiences what hope really meant. More mainstream fare like Outbreak and Se7en (both 1995), in the latter playing yet another man on the verge of retirement, followed, as did 1996’s Chain Reaction and Moll Flanders. In 1997, Freeman took diverse roles in Amistad (some of Freeman’s ancestors were actually slaves) and Kiss the Girls as Alex Cross, later reprising him for 2001’s Along Came a Spider.
By the end of the decade and beginning of the 21st century, it was like you couldn’t enter a theater without seeing – and hearing – Morgan Freeman. 1999 saw two disaster movies in Deep impact (fittingly playing the President) and Hard Rain, while he tried out the rare comedy with 2000’s Nurse Betty, action flick The Sum of All Fears (2002), legal thriller High Crimes (2002), Stephen King adaptation Dreamcatcher (2003), drama Levity (2003), crime thriller Guilty by Association (2003), and paycheck casher The Big Bounce (2004).
That same year, Morgan Freeman co-starred in the film that would finally win him his first Academy Award, playing a former boxer and, yes, giver of sage advice, in Million Dollar Baby (2004). He was greeted with a standing ovation, earned not just for the performance but his reputation in the industry. But Freeman would fall into what so many do, although they’re usually much younger: the post-Oscar slump, which he never really gets credit for. There have been worthwhile turns, like Lucius Fox in Christopher Nolan’s BATMAN trilogy, and people dug Red (2010) and he would land one more Oscar nomination for Invictus (2009), playing Nelson Mandela in a rare turn as a real-life figure (he, forgettably to many, played Malcolm X in a 1981 TV movie). But those movies, and even legitimately memorable works like Gone Baby Gone (2007) were few and far between at that point.
For somebody who couldn’t afford it early in his late-blossoming career, Morgan Freeman was signing on for a lot of padding, with a lot of actioners and thrillers, cluttered with throwaways and only a handful of which you could name. Remember 2005’s Unleashed or Edison or the next year’s The Contract? Probably not, but you no doubt remember Lucky Number Slevin and 10 Items or Less (2006). What about Thick as Thieves (2009) or Oblivion (2013) and LastKnights (2015)? Certainly not over Wanted (2008), Now You See Me (2012) and the Has Fallen flicks (2013, 2016, 2019). And then there’s The Lego Movie, Transcendence, Lucy and 5 Flights Up, all from the same year (2014) – a sure sign someone is doing it for the check. And closing out the decade with Momentum (2015), Ted 2 (2015) for some reason, along with comedies Going in Style and Just Getting Started (both 2017) and The Poison Rose (2019), which holds a whopping 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. And what purpose did it have for him to narrate The Love Guru (2008), Conan the Barbarian (2011) and Alpha (2017)?
Freeman, too, would appear in plenty of movies that were either lightwork or excuses to work with others (but still forgettable): 2007’s The Bucket List with Jack, 2009’s The Maiden Heist, family movie Dolphin Tale (2011) and its sequel (2014), the Rob Reiner dud The Magic of Belle Isle (2012), and the movie that felt like could have just been a culmination of his career, the septuagenarian-heavy Last Vegas (2013). Really, at this point, we’re just listing movies. But most of what Freeman’s post-Oscar filmography is, having been in more than four dozen movies in just 20 years. He had cashed in, with only the true glimmer of his formidable talents actually presented on the screen. He was getting by on his name – which he filed for trademark in 2004 – and, yes, voice.
But he could. He was, after all, a legend in the field, becoming a Kennedy Center honoree (2008) and being given the lifetime achievement awards from both the AFI (2011) and SAG (2017). But it may be safe to say that, had they not been bestowed at those times, he would have never received any, no matter his impact on the movie community…
In 2018, eight women came forward alleging sexual harassment and misconduct, going back to at least 2012’s NowYou See Me. Again, this was the guy named one of the most trustworthy celebrities! In a token attempt to cover it, Freeman issued a statement that bore no responsibility: “I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy. I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected — that was never my intent.” More controversial sexual matters would be brought up in 2015 following the murder of his step-granddaughter, E’Dena Hines, who he allegedly sexually abused – there were even rumors of the two planning to marry. Hines’ death would be later tied to Freeman by the killer’s family, saying the actor was indirectly to blame for the scandal.
And yet he prevailed through all of it. He just has those grandfather qualities to audiences, so much so that the allegations didn’t really phase him like it had so many before him. Admittedly, you’d be hard-pressed to come up with a genuinely familiar movie he has done since: The Comeback Trail (2020), Vanquish (2021), Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021), Paradise Highway (2022), The Minute You Wake Up Dead (2022), The Ritual Killer (2023), A Good Person (2023) (which he’s actually great in), 57 Seconds (2023), the TV series Special Ops: Lioness…But, as we made the case of, that’s not entirely unexpected – there were bills to pay.
Morgan Freeman was truly introduced to audiences when he was in his early ‘50s, when most actors were either solidified as stars, relics of themselves or had given up entirely on their dream of making it big. That he would win an Oscar wasn’t a surprise; that he continued to be a mainstay, though, is pretty incredible. We all recognize that face and that voice; hey, we even have the science to back up why. The non-stop narrations in movies, television and even theme parks (taking over Hall of President duties from 2009-2017) do push him into self-parody territory. But even we have to admit, we’d be damn honored if he had narrated this video!
At long last, Eddie Murphy is set to reprise his role as street-smart cop Axel Foley in the fourth instalment of the Beverly Hills Cop franchise, which is set to hit Netflix this summer. But, it isn’t easy being a middle aged action star. It’s been nearly thirty years since we last saw Eddie Murphy as Axel Foley, and in a recent interview with People Magazine he admitted that the shoot was a “rough one”.“I did Axel Foley when I was in my 20s. I am not in my 20s anymore,” he said. At any rate, Murphy won’t be the only aged actor from the original to show up, with many of the classic Beverly Hills Cop cast members are set to join him in Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley. Here’s everything we know about Beverly Hills Cop 4!
Who’s making it?
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley is written by Will Beall, who wrote Gangster Squad, Aquaman and worked on Zack Snyder’s Justice League. While his credits lean more heavily into action than comedy, Beall was also one of the scribes behind the TV show Castle, which has the right vibe for the franchise. The film is being directed by Mark Malloy, a famed commercial director who is making his directorial debut. He replaced Bad Boys For Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who left the project to direct the now-shelved Batgirl. Jerry Bruckheimer is again producing, with him not being involved in the third film.
What Beverly Hills Cop cast members are returning?
The Beverly Hills Cop cast originally included Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser and Ronny Cox, all of whom returned for Beverly Hills Cop 2. Of the four, only Judge Reinhold returned for the third film. Bronson Pinchot, who memorably played Serge, the museum gallery worker in the first movie, returned for the third film but sat out the second. It looks like this fourth film in the Beverly Hills Cop franchise is leaning heavily into nostalgia, with Judge Reinhold back as Billy Rosewood, John Ashton as his partner, John Taggart, Paul Reiser as Axel’s Detroit partner, Jeffrey Friedman, and Bronson Pinchot returning as Serge. Ronny Cox, so far, seems to be sitting this one out. Despite being eighty-four, Cox is still active, with him having recently appeared in Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos. He also contributed a vocal performance to the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy.
Most of Murphy’s Beverly Hills Cop cast members have stayed busy since the last time they shared the screen with Axel Foley. Reinhold had a supporting role in the Santa Clause franchise and has also been seen in movies like Four Christmases and a Wedding, Bad Grandmas, and the underrated horror film The Hollow. He also reprised the role of Billy Rosewood in an unsuccessful Beverly Hills Cop TV series pilot that Barry Sonnenfeld directed back in 2013 with Brandon T. Jackson taking the lead as Axel’s son Aaron Foley.
Ashton’s recent credits include Death in Texas, American Christmas, My Little Baby, The Last Big Save, and Uncle John. Reiser has been seen on The Boys and multiple episodes of Stranger Things, and got to revive his 1990s sitcom Mad About You (co-starring Helen Hunt) for a new season in 2019. Pinchot’s recent notable credits include episodes of Ray Donovan, A Million Little Things, Lodge 49, and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
The only core member from the first film, other than Cox, who’s not returning is Lisa Eilbacher as Axel’s friend Jenny Summers, but she never returned for any of the sequels either. Elibacher seems to have retired way back in 1995, as she has no screen credits since then.
Who else is in it?
The supporting cast is pretty stacked with an impressive array of names. Rising star Taylour Page plays Axel Foley’s daughter, who, in the trailers, is attacked by a hang of corrupt cops led by Kavin Bacon, who seems to be playing the villain. Seeking revenge and wanting to protect his daughter, after making his way to Beverly Hills, Axel runs afoul of the cop assigned to the case, played by Joseph-Gordon Levitt, although, as the trailer suggests, they eventually put aside their differences and team up to take out the bad guys. The heat is on!
Gordon-Levitt has earned a lot of respect and positive attention for his performances over the years, following his six season, 139 episode run on the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun with films like Mysterious Skin, The Lookout, 500 Days of Summer, Hesher, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Premium Rush, Looper, Lincoln, Don Jon, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, The Walk, The Night Before, Snowden, The Trail of the Chicago 7, and yes, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Paige made her screen debut as a dancer in 2008’s High School Musical 3, and has since been seen in the likes of Touched, Ballers, Jean of the Joneses, Hit the Floor, White Boy Rick, Zola, and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
Kevin Bacon… well, who doesn’t know who he is? He’s the actor who has been so prolific and has been in so many high profile projects, they created the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game to prove any other actor can be linked to him in just six steps. Here’s a fun bit of trivia: in 1984, Bacon starred in the hit film Footloose, which was the seventh highest grossing film to be released that year. The film that sits at #1 on that list: the first Beverly Hills Cop.
Who’s doing the music?
Now, this is exciting. According to the IMDB and Wikipedia, none other than Harold Faltermeyer is back to do the score. This is terrific news, as the third film infamously dropped Faltermeyer’s synth to give us a fully orchestral version of Axel F, which fans of the series despised. Faltermeyer also recently contributed to the Top Gun: Maverick score (alongside Hans Zimmer and Lady Gaga).
Just how popular are the Beverly Hills Cop movies?
The Beverly Hills Cop series totally blew up the box office in the eighties. Everyone loved Eddie Murphy’s streetwise Detroit cop, Axel Foley, who made his way to Beverly Hills to investigate his buddy’s murder. Along the way he form an unlikely friendship with some white cops who, initially, arrest him for being thrown out a window, but eventually become his allies and newfound best friends, to the extent that when one of them is shot in the second movie, Axel returns to seek vengeance. The first film made $234 million in North America alone, making it the top-grossing film of 1984 (it beat Ghostbusters). Taken for inflation, that’s about $677 million in 2023 dollars. The sequel, Beverly Hills Cop 2, was another hit for Paramount Pictures (who put out most of Eddie’s 80s movies), making over $153 million domestically. However, the third film was a notorious flop, only earning $42 million. Over the years, there have been numerous efforts made to get Eddie Murphy to reprise the character, with him even showing up in a CBS pilot that focused on the character’s son, who was played by Tropic Thunder’s Brandon T. Jackson, which has never seen the light of day.
What will Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley be rated?
Now, that’s a good question. Murphy toned down his sequel to Coming to America in order to appeal to a family audience, but there hasn’t been any talk of him doing the same with Beverly Hills Cop. Certainly, Murphy has no qualms about still acting in edgy stuff, with him having famously starred in the raunchy Dolemite is My Name not too long ago, in addition to the R-rated You People. Fans are hoping this is rated R. With Eddie Murphy doing the PG-rated Candy Cane Lane this Christmas, hopefully he’ll get the family friendly vibe out of his system and bring back the smash-mouthed Axel F we all remember. To note, all of the Beverly Hills Cop movies, even 3, have been rated-R.
When will it come out?
Word on the street is that this film is supposedly testing through the roof, so Netflix did the smart thing and gave it a big summer 2024 release. Indeed, the movie is set to officially bow on July 3rd, 2024 on the streamer.
Are you excited for Beverly Hills Cop 4? Let us know in the comments!
Jim Carrey had expressed his desire for possible retirement last year, which made all the 90s kids really feel their childhood slipping away. The famously rubber-faced comedian stated he’s felt like he’s “done enough” in the movie world, which can be understandable given how much he gives into his performances and the various kinds of projects he’s tried his hand at. Carrey would emphasize his point by stating, “I’m being fairly serious, yeah. If the angels bring some sort of script that’s written in gold ink that says to me that it’s going to be really important for people to see, I might continue down the road but I’m taking a break.”
Perhaps this means that the script for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is truly remarkable since Variety is now reporting that Carrey is set to return as Dr. Robotnik for the third entry in the video game franchise. While the buzz for the first Sonic the Hedgehog was marred by the famously mocked design of the CGI Sonic character, the studio gave him a makeover after a delay and the movie would actually become a great success. Sonic and Sonic 2 would earn a combined total of $870.8 million at the worldwide box office. The second film introduced the Knuckles character, who is voiced by Idris Elba, and Paramount plans to give the red speedster his own spin-off as well.
The official Sonic movie social media account has also recently dropped this teaser video announcement. The post reads, “You all thought I was gone, but I’ve just been underground. What you’ve seen from me is only a #shadow of things to come…”
You all thought I was gone, but I’ve just been underground. What you’ve seen from me is only a #shadow of things to come… pic.twitter.com/3W9Rh728Tt
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 would feature a seemingly conclusive end for Robotnik, but a post-credits scene would give a future sequel some wiggle room just in case Carrey would decide to return. The third movie is planning to expand the hedgehog roll call with the introduction of another popular character from the Sega video games, Shadow the Hedgehog. The film’s social media teased the look of Shadow with a peek at his design.
Jeff Fowler, who directed the first two installments in the series, will be returning as the director of the newest entry. Neal H. Moritz, Toby Ascher, Toru Nakahara and Hitoshi Okuno will produce the film, which is scheduled to open in theaters on December 20, 2024.
Released in 2009, director James Cameron’s film Avatar became the first movie to officially gross more than $2 billion. Then it took him thirteen years to get a sequel into theatres, so it wasn’t clear if the follow-up was going to be able to replicate that success. But then, sure enough, Avatar: The Way of Water also grossed more than $2 billion, paving the way for not only Avatar 3 (which is scheduled to reach theatres on December 19, 2025) but also Avatar 4 and Avatar 5 – which will be released on December 21, 2029 and December 19, 2031, respectively. What we know about the future sequels so far is that Avatar 3 will introduce villainous Na’vi known as the Ash People, Avatar 4 will “go nuts in a good way“ (following a six year time jump), and Avatar 5 will involve a journey to Earth. If things keep going this well as the franchise continues, we might even get Avatar6 and 7. Work is continuing on the sequels, but franchise star Zoë Saldaña was able to clear a moment to talk to Collider about what’s to come, describing the Avatar films as Cameron’s legacy project.
During an interview with Saldaña, Collider’s Steve Weintraub mentioned that Cameron, producer Jon Landau, and her fellow franchise star Sam Worthington have all teased Avatar 3 to him and have said that Avatar 4 gets crazy. So he asked her to tease the sequels as well. She replied, “It’s going to be amazing. Avatar 3, it’s going to be amazing, and Avatar 4 and 5, it just gets crazy. It’s true. It really does. He’s blown our mind. This is his legacy project. We all thought it was Titanic, and it turned out that Avatar is his legacy, and for us to be a part of something so groundbreaking and trailblazing, it’s like it’s a legacy for us, too. So I’m excited to go back. We go back to work next week, so I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone.“
What do you think of the Avatar franchise being James Cameron’s legacy project? Are you looking forward to parts 3, 4, and 5 (and possibly 6 and 7)? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
Alien and Aliens are two of the most highly respected and beloved sci-fi horror films ever made… and all of the films that have followed have either been divisive in one way or another, or just flat-out poorly received. One of the least popular entries in the franchise is the 1997 installment Alien: Resurrection (watch it HERE), which put some fans off with its wild and weird tone and its crazy ideas. Decades down the line, Alien: Resurrection director Jean-Pierre Jeunet is currently doing the press rounds to promote a theatrical re-release of his very popular 2001 romantic comedy Amélie, and JoBlo’s own Tyler Nichols took the opportunity to ask him about the making of his Alien sequel. Here’s how it went:
Tyler Nichols: I’m also a big horror fan, so I have to ask you about your work on Alien: Resurrection. Because I still think of the underwater sequence whenever I get into any water. So what was it like to take on such a massive science fiction world?
Jean-Pierre Jeunet: Ah, it was… at the very beginning, I thought they will fire me after two weeks because I didn’t speak English at that time. You know, I had a translator all the time. They gave me the freedom, believe me or not, I think today it couldn’t be possible. But at this time they gave me almost total freedom. Of course it wasn’t easy because on set it was all every day: ‘It’s too expensive. You have to cut. You have to go faster!’ You know, it’s kind of a bizarre, weird role. At the end, I was very happy and I made an arty movie. I read that a lot of American people hate my face because they [say it’s too] European, you know, too much humor and I’m pretty happy about that. But thank you. They let me make a personal movie. Matthew Kassovitz, the actor of Amélie (and Alien: Resurrection), he told me when he saw Alien. He told me, ‘This is a Jean Pierre Jeunet movie but with aliens inside.’ But 20th Century Fox were very courageous to give the freedom to a beginner–almost a beginner director without speaking English.
It’s good to know Jeunet has a positive outlook on the whole thing, because I have always enjoyed Alien: Resurrection‘s blend of sci-fi horror elements with a crazy, comic book adventure tone.
Scripted by Joss Whedon, the film has the following synopsis: The saga continues 200 years after Ripley sacrificed herself for the sake of humanity. Her erstwhile employers long gone, this time it is the military that resurrects the one-woman killing machine through genetic cloning to extract the alien from within her… but during the process, her DNA is fused with the Queen. Then the aliens escape. Now Ripley must decide where her allegiance lies.
Sigourney Weaver reprises the role of Ripley and is joined in the cast by Winona Ryder, Dominique Pinon, Ron Perlman, Gary Dourdan, Michael Wincott, Kim Flowers, Dan Hedaya, J.E. Freeman, Brad Dourif, Raymond Cruz, and Leland Orser.
What do you think of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Alien: Resurrection? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
As we enter a new month, our YouTube Channel, JoBlo Horror, has surpassed the 500,000-subscriber mark! Hitting this milestone is not an easy feat, but because of all of you wonderful horror fans out there, you made it happen. JoBlo Horror is, of course, home to all the latest horror movie trailers, celebrity interviews and clips, but we don’t stop there (we are horror fans ourselves, after all)! Several times a day, we post classic clips, trailers, and behind-the-scenes videos from our favorite horror films over the decades, maybe even some you have forgotten about. We’re talking movies like The Wraith, The Lost Boys, Bad Moon, and Slither to all-time classics such as The Terminator, Predator, and Child’s Play.
But wait, there’s more!
On the JoBlo Horror Channel, you will also find original content and exclusive celebrity interviews, with episodes dropping throughout the week. Our line-up of original programming includes shows like Show Me the Sequel, Horror Hall of Fame, Deadly Duos, and Scary Studies.
We here at JoBlo love horror and want to celebrate the genre all celebrate the genre all year long. We are BEYOND PROUD of hitting this milestone and want to thank each and every one of you subscribers out there who want to celebrate horror with us. As Stu Macher once said, “It’s a scream, baby!” Are you not a subscriber yet and love horror just as much as we do? Head over to our channel and hit that subscribe button. While you’re at it, stab the little notification bell right next to it to be notified when all our content drops.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you to all of you gorehounds out there for keeping us going. And in return, we promise to continue to deliver all the gory bits.
JoBlo.com recently launched a new weekly documentary series called 80s Horror Memories, where each year of the 1980s has five episodes dedicated to it. Looking back at 1980, we discussed Maniac, Dressed to Kill,Alligator, Friday the 13th, The Shining, Prom Night, and The Fog. The second five episodes were a journey through 1981, covering The Funhouse, The Burning, Friday the 13th Part 2,My Bloody Valentine, Halloween II, The Evil Dead, The Howling, and An American Werewolf in London, as well as the careers of horror hosts Elvira and Joe Bob Briggs. The next five were, of course, all about movies that came out in 1982: Conan the Barbarian, The Thing, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, and Poltergeist, with an examination of the short-lived 3-D boom along the way. For 1983, we talked about a trio of Stephen King adaptations, Jaws 3-D, Sleepaway Camp, the rise of TV horror anthologies, and Psycho II. For 1984, we covered the creation of the PG-13 rating, The Terminator, Gremlins, Ghostbusters, and A Nightmare on Elm Street. Our trip through 1985 included Teen Wolf, Re-Animator, A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy’s RevengeFriday the 13th: A New Beginning, Fright Night, Lifeforce, Day of the Dead, and The Return of the Living Dead. For 1986, we covered David Cronenberg’s The Fly, the horror comedies that were released during the year (including Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Aliens, the connection between horror movies and heavy metal, and David Lynch’s Blue Velvet. Now we’ve reached 1987, and we got our journey through this year started with looks at Clive Barker’s Hellraiser and Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop. Next up is the Arnold Schwarzenegger vs. a space alien classic Predator! You can hear all about it in the embed above.
New episodes of 80s Horror Memories are released through the YouTube channel JoBlo Horror Originals every Friday.
Here’s the info on 80s Horror Memories: It’s been over 40 years since the decade that shaped the horror movie industry began and having lived through most of those years personally, we at JoBlo/Arrow in the Head have decided to create a 10-part documentary series in which not only cover every nook and cranny of the biggest horror themes from 1980 to 1989 but also what was happening in the world at the time. Join us as we walk down Horror Memory Lane!
And here’s the info on this particular episode: The Predator is one of the most iconic movie monsters ever created, but is the movie more than just a sci-fi actioner, or is it simply machismo brawn over brains? Well, let’s head into the jungle and find out here on 80s Horror Memories.
This episode of 80s Horror Memories was written by Adam Walton, narrated by Tyler Nichols, edited by Adam Walton, produced by Berge Garabedian and John Fallon, co-produced by Mike Conway, and executive produced by Berge Garabedian. The score was provided by Shawn Knippelberg. Special Guests: Matt Winston of Stan Winston Studios and Patrick Lussier (Drive Angry).
Let us know what you thought of this episode, plus share some of your own ’80s horror memories by leaving a comment!
Two of the previous episodes of 80s Horror Memories can be seen below. To see more of our shows, head over to the JoBlo Horror Originals channel – and subscribe while you’re at it!
Lucy Fry (the Wolf Creek TV series), Madeline Brewer (The Handmaid’s Tale), Sheryl Lee (Twin Peaks), and comedian Matt Rife (Natural Selection) lead the cast of the psychological horror film I Live Here Now, which recently made its way through production with first-time feature director Julie Pacino at the helm. Utopia represents the worldwide rights to the project, and Screen Daily reports that they’ll be launching distribution sales at the European Film Market, which will be held during the 74th Berlin International Film Festival later this month.
I Live Here Now sees Fry taking on the role of a woman who finds herself trapped in a remote hotel where the violent echoes of her past come alive, blurring the lines between her darkest nightmares and the waking world.
In addition to Wolf Creek, Fry’s credits include Vampire Academy, Mr. Church, 11.22.63, The Darkness, Bright, Night Teeth, She’s Missing, Last Looks, and Godfather of Harlem.
Pacino provided the following statement: “I am thrilled to unveil this deeply personal project with Utopia. I Live Here Now explores fear and discomfort through the eyes of a woman who has been conditioned by societal restraints to disconnect from her own body. I hope this movie can create a unifying experience and entertain anyone who watches it. It’s a wild ride and I can’t wait to share it.“
Marie Zeniter, Utopia’s head of sales, added: “Utopia is excited to bring a promising new filmmaker to EFM and is proud to support female directors in the genre space. I Live Here Now operates on so many levels. It’s sexy, dangerous, has a great cast and is incredibly topical.“
That’s all we know about I Live Here Now at this point, but Screen Daily did unveil a first look image that shows Lucy Fry’s character, and you can check that out at the bottom of this article.
Pacino assembled a strong cast for the film, so I look forward to seeing how it has turned out. Does I Live Here Now sound interesting to you? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.
