We surprised ourselves by writing a shit-ton of stories over the holidays (sometimes you need to avoid family) and you might have missed many of them. If we do say so ourselves many of them were worth reading or should be in the know about. Here are some highlights you shouldn’t miss.
Geek News:
George Lucas finally signed off on a “Star Wars” musical.
Eddie Murphy insisted that we wouldn’t play the Joker in the next Batman film; but the stupid British hack journo is still sticking to his story.
Fandango released their male and female lists of most anticipated films of 2009 that re-confirmed once again that people are stupid and have zero taste.
Trailers:
There was some marginal political intrigue boasted in the possibly banal, “State Of Play” trailer featuring Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe.
Seth Rogen and Reese Witherspoon voiced the creatures in the animated “Monsters & Aliens trailer.
Anticipated From ’09:
Diablo Cody’s ‘Jennifer’s Body’ received a release date, but Megan Fox’s naked boobies were evidently cut out of the film.
Details and new photos on Stephen Soderbergh’s ‘The Informant’ with Matt Damon emerged.
Faux vintage film posters of the character Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) from Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” were photographed by gawkers in Paris.
David Fincher:
Fincher said the “Fight Club” musical was basically dead in the water and far too expensive.
The director also called the ‘Chef’ movie with Keanu Reeves a “sex comedy,” and he wasn’t kidding, either.
He also talked about the animated “Heavy Metal” project as well and basically said, he’d direct any vignette that wasn’t spoken for by a name director like Zack Snyder or Gore Verbinski.
Lastly, Fincher also said he’s never spoken to Rachel McAdams and some of the casting rumors for the “Torso” project were just rumors.
In related Fincher news, Roger Ebert gave ‘Benjamin Button’ a lukewarm review.
Random News:
Indiewire polled 100 film critics and “Flight of The Red Balloon” was named the top film of 2008 according to the basic math.
A separate poll that Indiwire conducted tracked the Best Undistributed Films of 2008 and our beloved, “The Headless Woman” by Argentinian director Lucrecia Martel topped the list.
Frank Miller quickly signed on for the ‘Buck Rogers’ project before the abysmal ‘Spirit’ reviews decimated his directing career.
The “Che” IFC Roadshow release with both films playing back to back was supposed to run for only a week in New York and L.A., but it proved so popular, the roadshow was extended for another two weeks.
Everything else we covered should still be on The Playlist’s main page.