According to NY Times , The Hobbit has finally been green-lighted with Peter Jackson as Director (duh)!
All the usual suspects are rumored to be in the movie, e.g. Cate Blanchett is Galadriel.
Who will paly Bilbo though? Rumors place the honor at Martin Freemen’s feet.
I’m definitely looking forward to it. It looks like it will be in two parts (says IMDB).
Michael Rubin, an author of books on Mac and editing, has decided to give away his Droidmaker book for free!
The book describes in detail the development of nonlinear editing (NLE) and computer graphics. The book is written from his perspective of working with Lucasfilm and Pixar.
I think this could be a valuable tool for independent filmmakers too, after all, the cost of doing computer effects has been falling steadily.
Indiana Jones 4 is still in production but now it has an official title. In case you’re wondering what it is… you haven’t read the title. OK, official title will be Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Although I find the title a bit long, you gotta love a descriptive title like that. Oh yeah, for those who loved Karen Allen in the Raiders, she’s back.
Following Michael Mann’s lead, David Fincher has decided to shoot Zodiac with a digital camera.
It seems the Viper FilmStream camera has been the camera of choice, while Sony F900 is being relegated to low-budget, horror movie status.
Another contender for being THE camera for studio filmmakers (RED camera) is still in development, so the competition is not exactly fierce.
Here’s some thoughs from the DP, Harris Savides:
The fluctuating nature of the technology means that most filmmakers still have to fight to shoot their films on HD. Directors like Steven Soderbergh and Robert Rodriguez can get away with HD because they keep their budgets down. But once budgets start rising to $100 million, or tent-pole status, the resistance is much fiercer.
And more from Savides, this time re: Fincher:
He’s amazing. I don’t think anybody could’ve done it this way. David had to figure it out on his own, and then present it to the studio. He had to do smaller projects, commercials. He’d been using the Viper, got really used to it. So by the time I stepped in he had gotten the Viper integrated and he’d figured out how to make the camera work. When I got there, 90 percent of the problems had been ironed out. I was just part of the creative solution.
Thank God Harrison Ford is back.
I saw The Fugitive on TV last night and I realized how much I missed Harrison Ford. I almost wanted to go to Amazon and get the Indy trilogy (again, this time as DVDs).
Anyway, personal drama aside, Fox News reports that production on Indiana Jones 4 commences on June 18. The script is done but I’m not sure about the cast. None of the actors on the IMDB roster appear to be more than rumors at this point: Natalie Portman, Shia LeBeouf, Sean Connery, John Rhys-Davies, and Karen Allen.
The movie will release probably in 2008. From a certain (cynical) perspective, it seems this year is the year of the Threes (Shrek 3, Spiderman 3, Pirates 3) and 2008 could be the year of the Fours (Rambo 4 expected in early 2008).
Anne Walk at LoadedPun put a note on their blog about FilmDailies. Much appreciated.
I love this line:
So far, there are a good number of camera reviews for those looking to buy a high end camera. They are beautiful and so very beyond my scope.
No one called camera reviews beautiful before 