tagged w/ Gore Verbinski
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A review of the incredibly bizarre and fantastically creative animated adventure Rango directed by Gore Verbinski and featuring the voice of Johnny Depp. The film his theaters tomorrow, March 4th.A review of the incredibly bizarre and fantastically creative animated adventure Rango... more
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A happy medium between animation and live action
The blurring of lines between the genres has created opportunities for directors, cinematographers and others to transfer their skills.
A scene from "Rango," a spaghetti western-like tale set in a desert town overrun by bandits. Director Gore Verbinski had his principal actors, led by Johnny Depp and fellow cast members that include Harry Dean Stanton, Abigail Breslin and Ray Winstone, act out key scenes. (Courtesy of Paramount Pictures)
By Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times
January 2, 2011
PART ONE...
When Gore Verbinski was directing his upcoming movie, "Rango," a spaghetti western-like tale set in a desert town overrun by bandits, he did what he typically does: have his principal actors, led by Johnny Depp and fellow cast members that include Harry Dean Stanton, Abigail Breslin and Ray Winstone, act out key scenes.
The actors wore western costumes — Depp sported a giant cowboy hat and bandana and Winstone packed a sidearm. They had the usual array of props, including whiskey glasses and sawhorses, on a stage at Universal that also featured a saloon with a 40-foot-long wooden bar and the requisite swinging doors and even a chuckwagon.
This wasn't a run-through for another one of Verbinski's big-budget live- action movies. It was all done as part of a 20-day shoot to capture the voice tracks for his first animated film, "Rango," about a chameleon — played by Depp — with an identity crisis.
In animated movies, actors usually voice the lines of their characters in a recording booth. But Verbinski figured he'd draw out more lively dialogue if the actors physically performed their scenes onstage — just like on a live action set. "It was just like rehearsing a high school play," said Verbinski, best known for directing the first three "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. "Why give up on what we do in live action?"
With the extensive use of computer-generated animation, or CG, in movies such as the "Pirates" franchise, "Avatar" and "Alice in Wonderland," the lines are blurring between live-action and animated pictures in a way that Walt Disney himself could have scarcely imagined. That has created opportunities for directors, cinematographers and even production designers to transfer their skills from one medium to another.
"As live-action filmmaking, in terms of its process and tools, comes closer and closer to the way we've always made our animated movies, the crossover has been made much easier for filmmakers,'' said Bill Damaschke, co-president of production for Glendale-based DreamWorks Animation. "It's probably exploded over the last two or three years."
In a sign of that crossover, DreamWorks Animation recently partnered with Guillermo del Toro, director of such dark fantasy films as "Pan's Labyrinth" and such supernatural action movies as "Hellboy." Del Toro spends at least two days each week at DreamWorks, where he is writing and directing his first animated feature, "Trollhunters," a story about kids experiencing growing pains in a magical world.
"It's almost an irresistible medium to play in,'' said Del Toro. "I'm a filmmaker who is interested in truth and not reality, and I think there is great emotional truth and power to be found in animation."
Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson, two of Hollywood's biggest names, are making two films based on the popular graphic novel series "Tintin" that combine 3-D performance-capture technology and computer animation. Spielberg is directing the first, "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn," due in late 2011; Jackson will direct the second (a third film is also a possibility).
The migration is going both ways. Brad Bird, who has worked almost exclusively in animation with such movies as "Ratatouille" and "The Incredibles," is directing "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol," the fourth in the series and a live-action movie if there ever was one.
CONTINUED...A happy medium between animation and live action
The blurring of lines between the... more
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Since The Anticipatron can't hold all the trailers that come out each week, we've got a few extra for you here. From a scary family of criminals to a chameleon just trying to stay alive, Rotten Tomatoes host Brett Erlich presents Mini Trailer Time:
In "Animal Kingdom," seventeen-year-old Josh loses his mother and has to move in with extended family, only to become increasingly wound up in their illegal plots. Guy Pearce and his sweet mustache star as a detective focused on saving Josh from this new fate.
Next up, we have Gore Verbinski's "Rango." Johnny Depp stars at the voice of Rango in this animated Nickeloden film about a chameleon turned unlikely hero to a small town in the Wild West.
Both Timothy Oliphant and Abigail Breslin help round out the cast of Verbinski's first film since "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." It's a nod to the 1967 television series, "Rango," about a bumbling Texas Ranger, although instead of just being a deluded hopeful, the animated chameleon is (maybe unsurprisingly) a thespian just looking for an audience. What he gets is a hard lesson in method acting.
Since The Anticipatron can't hold all the trailers that come out each week,... more
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Good morning! We're kind of remote today while most of the team is in New York for Internet Week. In fact, you could even say we're waiting for the cable guy who's late and keeping us from the office. That said! Today's Important News!
There's a Where's Waldo? movie in production. First strike. [Current]
Gore Verbinski reportedly wants to leave the Bioshock adaptation. So, game over. [Current]
James Cameron reveals our first glimpse at Avatar will be in the video game? Bwuh? [Current]
Sam Worthington in costume for Clash of the Titans. [Current]
Kevin B. Lee and Mike D'Angelo live-blog 25th Hour. [Shooting Down Pictures]
-John LichmanGood morning! We're kind of remote today while most of the team is in New York... more
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A year has past since Gore Verbinski signed up to direct BioShock, but it now looks as if he will not be directing the video game movie.
Whilst speaking to the LA Times, Verbinski stated, "The bottom line is it has to shoot out of the States for budget reasons, and my schedule may be prohibitive. There's a great script and a really interesting cast. It really comes down to the financial model now. Big movies are just not being shot in the States. I'm weighing whether I can physically go the U.K. or Australia or one of those other places with a tax rebate for a year-and-a-half."
A huge amount of fans of the game believe that Verbinski is the guy for the job after his success of turn a theme-park ride bin Disney into the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. If he does stay with the project a lot of people believe he could bring the best computer game film and remove the curse of films such as Tomb Raider and DOOM.A year has past since Gore Verbinski signed up to direct BioShock, but it now looks as... more
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