Father Geek here with the newest issue of Latin-AICN. This week we have another juicy report on Guillermo del Toro's BLADE 2, plus our Coffin Joe comes thru in a big way with lots of South American film news, despite spending all his spare time rock'n in Rio...
Kirby Kagar here...
Found some of this on Reddwarf.co.uk, the official RD site. Don't know if you've heard this or not. Certainly looks good for BLADE 2, though. Danny John-Jules is a talented showman, dancer and actor who has previously appeared in parts in "Labyrinth" (the voice of a "firey"), "Little Shop of Horrors" (one of the doo-wop guys at the bus stop) and "Lock Stock + 2 Smoking Barrels", as well as a number of west-end shows and TV sit-coms. read + enjoy.......
Danny John-Jules signs up for Blade 2 Having suffered behind the pointed teeth of the Cat since Red Dwarf was first let out of the bag (geddit?), Danny John-Jules has recently signed up for the sequel to the smash hit vampire action flick Blade.
Blade 2: Bloodlust will again feature Wesley Snipes as the half-man, half-vampire out for revenge. The plot apparently centres around a group of mutated vampires who will even feed off their own kind - thus threatening both the human and vampire populations, resulting in some strange alliances, and twisted plot developments.
The motion picture will be directed by Mexican Director Guillermo del Toro, who has already scared the pants off audiences worldwide with his multible award winning Cronos - the tale of a kind of immortal vampiric clockwork insect - and the Mira Sorvino sewers of New York sci-fi chiller Mimic. Director Del Toro just finished his EL ESPINAZO DEL DIABLO (Devil's Backbone) which he was shooting outside Madrid, Spain. It's a gothic thriller of sorts set around the time of the Spanish Civil War in a haunted (?) school for troubled youths. It stars Javier Bardem, Iñigo Garcés, Federico Luppi, Marisa Paredes, Fernando Tielve, Ana Torrent, y Irene Visedo. Del Toro was also the Producer of Un Embrujo in 1998. He also produced in 1985 Doña Herlinda y su hijo.
Danny is just a part of the largely European flavour the film is taking (an attempt to cut down on the cost of importing garlic, perhaps?). Aside from Director del Toro, Alien: Resurrection's and City of Lost Children's multi-lingual Ron Pearlman and Britain's own Luke 'Bros' Goss are also slated to appear alongside Snipes and Kris Kristofferson, who reprises his role of Whistler... even though he was killed off in the first movie.
Shooting of the $55 million movie begins in the Czech Republic's Prague Studios in the Spring.
Kirby Kagar
Father Geek back again. Here's a great report from Coffin Joe, even though he's at Rio's Rock Festival instead of at the Sao Paulo Offices of Latin-AICN...
Hey Father Geek , everyone , Coffin Joe here and as you read this I´m still in Rio , having some fun at the Rock in Rio festival . Now let´s get to this week´s stuff , shall we ? Here we go :
-Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro , who won the best actor award at the last BrasÃlia Brazilian Film Festival for his role as a troubled young man in the movie " Bicho de Sete Cabeças " , is in the cast of Walter Salles´ Central Station ) latest film " Broken April " , which has a tentative release date of September 2001 , here in Brazil at least .
-I got a cool little scoop this week from a friend of mine who´s working on a documentary about the Carandiru prison here in São Paulo ( the largest in Latin America ) . He told me that the crew of their documentary will probably be shooting their stuff there at the same time director Hector Babenco ( Kiss of the Spider Woman , Pixote ) and his guys are shooting some footage for his new movie " Estação Carandiru " , based on the book by doctor Drauzio Varella .
Today ( Monday , January 15th ) the newspaper " O Estado de São Paulo " ran an article by journalist Ubiratan Brasil that clarified other aspects of the movie and its production . Most of the movie will be shot on sets that experienced production/set designer Clóvis Bueno ( Orfeu , Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum ) is building . Other parts of the movie will be shot at an abandoned mental hospital here in São paulo , and at the PresÃdio do Hipódromo , a prison where Babenco shot scenes for " Kiss of the Spider Woman " many years ago .
The cast will have 18 main actors , and none have been filled as of this moment . It´s a strong possibility that Babenco will have Polish composer Zbgniew Preisner , who worked with him on " At in Play in the Fields of the Lord " and " Foolish Heart " , as the man who scores the film . An interesting bit of information is that Babenco followed the development of the book , when Varella was writing it , because doctor Varella was one of the people who witnessed Babenco´s 15 year battle against cancer .
The article is huge and has interviews with Babenco and Varella , plus pictures ( which I´ll try to scan for you when I get back to São Paulo ) of them in front of the Carandiru prison .
-Diogo Picchi , actor and host of the Brazilian edition of the E! Entertainment Television show " Coming Attractions " , has a tiny appearance in Cameron Crowe´s movie " Almost Famous " .
-The Brazilian heavy metal rockers of Sepultura are working on yet another soundtrack ( they already did the music for the movie " No Coração dos Deuses " ) . This time around the music is for the flick " Bellini e a Esfinge " , a crime film , based on the book of the same name , written by guitar player Tony Belloto of another Brazilian rock group ( Titãs ) , who´s married to the one of the actresses of the movie , the stunning Malu Mader . The E! Entertainment Television channel did a behind the scenes special on the movie , which stars Fábio Assunção in the lead role , as Bellini .
-Well here´s the mandatory Coffin Joe plug of the week : the old crazy bastard is featured in a track called " Prenúncio " in Sepultura´s 1998 album " Against " . There´s a little problem though for you , the American fans . This track is only available in either the Brazilian edition of the album or other international versions ( all of which you can get at Amazon as imports ) .
-Here´s some stuff I read in the February issue of Starlog 2001 ( #283 ) that looked interesting to sci-fi fans and Isaac Asimov fans ( like me ) : Asimov´s novel " Caves of Steel " is going to become a movie . The writer on the project is James Vanderbilt and the director interested in the film is Simon West , who´s doing " Tomb Raider " now . Sounds cool .
-I managed to get a few stills from the movie " Turbulence " ( " Estorvo " in Portuguese ) which debuted in Cannes last year and has been featured in a number of film fests since , even winning some awards .
-The Sundance Film Festival is coming and Brazil will be represented at Mr.Redford´s big indie fest by four films : " Me, You , Them " ( directed by Andrucha Waddington ) , " Possible Loves " ( directed by Sandra Werneck and starring Murilo BenÃcio from " Woman on Top " ) , and get ready folks ´cause the MAN will be there in two films . Who´s the MAN , you ask me ? COFFIN JOE you idiots . Yeah , you heard me right Coffin Joe´s classic " At Midnight I´ll take your Soul " , shown in its full uncut glory , and a documentary about him called " Coffin Joe - The Strange World of José Mojica Marins " , directed by the two guys who also wrote his biography , André Barcinski and Ivan Finotti . Both films about Coffin Joe will have only one screening each so get your tickets ´cause it´s gonna be awesome .
Next week I´ll have a review of Maria de Medeiros´ first film , " Capitães de Abril " , and I´ll tell you all about Rock in Rio . Ok ? That´s it I´m done fellas .
Coffin Joe says : bye .
