Friday, December 30, 2011

Video: Wahlberg on "Apes," Clubbing with Burton



In a video interview with MTV, Mark Wahlberg discusses working on the 2001 Tim Burton version of Planet of the Apes. He acknowledges that the film wasn't a critical success, but explains that the Burton himself wasn't in a very comfortable position. Regardless, Wahlberg says it was the most fun he has had on a film set.

Wahlberg also talked about going to a club with his director. "I have no better time on any movie than I had working with Tim," Wahlberg recently told MTV. "I had the most amazing time with Tim. I run to be on the set with him. We were doing reshoots, and he came out with me to Paris. We're in the club. Tim was in the club, man. Tim was in the club. Then he'd be drawing people, and all of his caricatures looked the same. He'd be drawing people in the club."

New "Frankenweenie" Photo

Stitch Kingdom has provided a new high-resolution still from Frankenweenie. Click the image below to see a larger version:

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

New "Frankenweenie" Set Photos



Shock Till You Drop visited Three Mill Studios in London to see how production is coming on the upcoming Tim Burton stop-motion film, Frankenweenie. Click the photos for high-resolution versions.

"Tim always wanted to make it into a feature and into an animated feature," explains producer Allison Abbate, "We had to open the story up a little bit. Pretty much, the whole first act is like the short. We meet Victor and his beloved dog, Sparky. There's a terrible car accident tragedy and the dog gets killed. Of course Victor, being a clever guy, figures out how to reincarnate him. Where the story diverges is that Victor is now desperate to keep his dog a secret. He doesn't really know if what he's done is a great thing. He doesn't tell his parents and he doesn't tell his school friends... Of course, the other kids at school get wind of it and kind of want in."



Art director Tim Browning also spoke with Shock Till You Drop to discuss the creation of many of the sets in the film, which are located in Victor’s hometown of New Holland, California.


"[Our setting] is a California suburb sometime between 1965 and 1975," says Browning. "There's no real specific date but, from a design point of view, you approach it much the same as any other period drama. You do the research and try to find all the details of the architecture. Of course, on a project like this we have the luxury of making everything and having complete control. In live action, you have to rely very heavily on locations, purchased props and hired props. Here, you make every single thing."



Browning also discussed the lead canine character.


"He's one of the principal characters," explains Browning, "and in real life he would be sort of bull terrier sized. He needs to be manageable... Our adult puppets are about 50 cm high whereas on 'Corpse Bride' they were more like 25 to 30."


The other aspect of the sets that's instantly striking is that they merge color and black and white. Though the film is being shot for the latter, some elements of puppet-making are simply easier to come by in color and others are designed to make use of the contrast.


"Back in the old days, set painting was geared towards black and white photography," continues Browning, "and it became a whole new challenge when color came in. We're re-creating techniques from the '40s and '50s that this film is homaging."

You can learn more about the film at the original link. But watch out for a few SPOILERS.


Frankenweenie will be released in theaters on October 5th, 2012.

Friday, December 16, 2011

"Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" Teaser Posters

IGN.com has revealed two teaser posters for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. Click that previous link for high-resolution versions of the posters.



Monday, December 05, 2011

Video: Helena Bonham Carter: "Dark Shadows" Will Be "Impossible to Sell"



MTV News recently got a few words about Dark Shadows from Helena Bonham Carter. The actress said that the film will be "very original," "uncategorizable," and "impossible to sell, frankly." And that's part of the reason that it's a passion project for her director and partner, Tim Burton.

"This is a thing he raced home to see when he was about age 10, so it's returning to his childhood roots of what he loved watching," Bonham Carter said of the original Dark Shadows television series. "It's actually a really bad, hilariously bad soap opera, and because it's so bad, he felt he had to make a hugely expensive movie."

Bonham Carter also talked about the supporting role that she plays, the character of Dr. Julia Hoffman. "I mean, she's an alcoholic psychiatrist, so I hadn't played that before. And she's got a secret. They all have secrets. It's all about people who have secrets," she teased.

"It's going to be unlike [anything], I think. It's dangerous to say that. But it's very original and it's kind of uncategorizable. It's going to be impossible to sell, frankly, because it's just so ... it's a soap opera, but it's very, very subtle. I don't know. We'll see. It's a ghost story, but then it's an unhappy vampire story, it's a mixture of so many different things and a real ensemble piece. Hopefully it will be funny. I don't know," she said.

Dark Shadows will be released in theaters on May 11th, 2012.

Jane Goldman Scripting ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children’



Jane Goldman, the screenwriter of Stardust, Kick-Ass, and X-Men: First Class, is in talks to write the script for the feature film version of Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children, the Ransom Riggs novel that Chernin Entertainment is producing, reports Deadline.com. Tim Burton is circling the project as a potential director, but it has not been confirmed that he will helm the project yet. The film is being made by 20th Century Fox.