Trailer: THE REPORT

Amazon Prime debuted the first trailer today for their upcoming film The Report,  Scott Z. Burns' thriller/expose about torture in the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program in the aftermath of 9/11. Burns is no stranger to the subject of spies and spy agencies, with writing credits on The Bourne Ultimatum (review here), The Informant!, and next year's Bond movie No Time to Die. He also penned an unmade version of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. when Steven Soderbergh was attached to direct. Soderbergh is a producer on The Report, which stars Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Michael C. Hall, Tim Blake Nelson, Corey Stoll, Maura Tierney, and The Americans' Matthew Rhys. The Report premieres in theaters November 15th, and on Prime Video November 29th.

New Spy DVDs Out This Week: Covert, Invisible and Totally Haywire

Despite my attempts to get back on a weekly schedule for this spy DVD round-up, I've gotten way behind again. Lots of truly great spy DVDs came out in April, and I will go back to them very soon. But for now, in another effort to get back on track, I'm skipping ahead to this week, when we have three cool new spy offerings. A good field agent should be covert, invisible, and possibly just a little bit haywire. This week's releases have all three covered.

Steven Soderbergh's long-in-the-works action spy movie Haywire hit DVD and Blu-ray this week, and I truly hope it finds a wider audience at home than it did in theaters, because I really enjoyed this one. MMA fighter Gina Carano makes a star-making debut (thanks largely to Soderbergh, who tailored the entire movie to her talents) as Mallory Kane, a freelance secret agent hung out to dry by her superiors and caught up in an international conspiracy involving private security companies, the CIA, MI6 and Chinese dissidents, among others. The fact that the conspiracy itself doesn't ultimately make a whole lot of sense doesn't matter one iota, because this is not a Tinker, Tailor sort of spy movie. It's an action spy movie, in the school of Bond and Bourne. Actually, despite Soderbergh's citing the early Bond movies as his primary influence, it really plays like a 90s Cynthia Rothrock action movie as envisioned by a first rate director and packed with top shelf talent. And I mean that as a total compliment. Haywire a whole lot of fun, and Soderbergh concocts one action scene after another that you haven't seen before. Co-stars Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas and Antonio Bandaras are all fantastic, but it turns out Carano didn't really need that kind of back-up, because so is she. And unlike some other female action heroes, she's completely believable kicking the asses of men twice her size. The film left me with no reservationst hat Carano could lick all comers in the movie's cast which is no small feat when that cast contains the combined might of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Magneto, Jack Colton, Desparado and a G.I. Joe! The disappointingly scant extras on both versions include the featurettes "Gina Carano: From MMA to Haywire" and "The Men of Haywire" as well as trailers; the Blu-ray also has a digital copy. That's too bad, because I would have really loved to hear a Soderbergh commentary track discussing his spy influences, or seen all the deleted material generated by significant reshoots, or the original ending. Oh well. Retail is $29.95 for the DVD and $39.99 for the Blu-ray, but both are currently available for half that on Amazon right now. Read my full review of the film here.

Also out this week, from Universal, is Covert Affairs - Season Two, a 4-disc, 16-episode DVD set. This USA spy show starring Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham, Kari Matchett and the great Peter Gallagher (though never quite enough of him) got even better in its second season, and one impressive Berlin-set episode made my Best of 2011 list. There are even more actual foreign locations in Season 2, from Istanbul to Paris to Stockholm, and their presence really elevates this series above other spy shows that dress up Burbank as whatever locale that week's script calls for. Like Season One, Covert Affairs: Season Two is packed with bonus material. Extras this time around include deleted and alternate scenes, a gag reel, Piper Perabo's Comic-Con Intro (from last year's panel) and a featurette I'm particularly looking forward to called "Covert Affairs on Location." SRP is $39.98, but the set is nearly half that on Amazon right now!

Finally, this week also brings us the long-awaited and thrice-delayed 1970s spy version of The Invisible Man: The Complete Series starring former Man From U.N.C.L.E. David McCallum and co-starring former Man of the World Craig Stevens. McCallum plays the invisible agent of the private security think tank KLAE, who's also the inventor of the formula that rendered him invisible. The 4-disc DVD set from VEI includes all 13 episodes of the short-lived series and retails for $24.98. If you want to see Illya's Seventies Purdy bob in high definition, however, you may want to hold off. The Blu-ray release has been delayed even longer, but is still in the cards for a release next month at the same price.

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Haywire

DVD Active reports that Steven Soderbergh's 2011 action spy movie Haywire, starring Gina Carano with able support from Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas and Bill Paxton (among others), will hit DVD and Blu-ray from Lionsgate Home Entertainment on May 1. Disappointingly, the only bonus features announced are two featurettes, "Gina Carano: From MMA to Haywire” and “The Men of Haywire." (Oh, and the Blu-ray also includes a digital copy. Yay.) I would have really, really liked to have heard a commentary track from the director. Or seen the Joel McHale-moderated panel he did with Carano, Fassbender and McGregor following the film's premiere at the AFI Film Festival last fall. Oh well. The movie alone is well worth buying, and if you missed this in theaters, I recommend checking it out at home. Not everyone loved it, but I really did. Read my full review here. Retail is $29.95 for the DVD and $39.99 for the BD, but of course both can be pre-ordered for considerably less on Amazon.

Haywire Movie Review

Steven Soderbergh's action-packed, all-star spy movie Haywire opens this weekend, with a stellar cast featuring Gina Carano, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Bandaras, Michael Douglas, Channing Tatum and Bill Paxton. And it's pretty awesome. There are plenty of incredible action sequences sure to please Bourne fans, and Carano is a truly empowered female action star you can really believe could kick the asses of everyone whose ass she kicks in the movie in real life! (I thoroughly enjoyed Colombiana, but did you really believe that the rail-thin Zoe Saldana could win that final fight?) Read my full review of Haywire here. See the movie in theaters this weekend and chime in here with your thoughts.

Movie Review: Haywire (2012)

Watch the First Five Minutes of Haywire Online

Relativity Media has put up the first five minutes of Steven Soderbergh's action-packed spy movie Haywire on Hulu. You can watch it here. Pretty cool, huh? Well, that only gives you a taste of all the action in this movie. And each fight scene is staged and shot differently, keeping things interesting. Haywire is a surprisingly good action movie, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again. Read my review of the film here.

Final Poster For Haywire Revealed

Relativity Media has shared the final 1-sheet image for Steven Soderbergh's upcoming action spy thriller Haywire, starring Gina Carano, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor and Michael Douglas. It sticks with the same general aesthetic we've seen on the U.S. teaser poster (which still features prominently in the campaign, adorning busstops and construction sites throughout L.A.) and the UK quad, but finally gives audiences a decent glimpse at Carano's face. Remember that face, because with this film a new action heroine is born. We'll be seeing more of Gina Carano.

To find out why, read my full review of Haywire here.

Haywire opens nationwide on January 20.

New Haywire Poster

The UK quad for Steven Soderbergh's upcoming aciton-packed spy movie Haywire (courtesy of the Imp Awards) follows the general aesthetic established by the American poster and still doesn't offer a clear glimpse of star Gina Carano's face (for some reason), but it does show the rest of the cast pretty clearly, including red-hot Michael Fassbender.

Haywire opens in North America in January. Read my review of it here.

Tradecraft: Soderbergh Cries Uncle to Warner Bros. on U.N.C.L.E. Feature

Tradecraft: Soderbergh Cries Uncle to Warner Bros. on U.N.C.L.E. Feature

This isn't one bit surprising, and it certainly looked like the direction things were heading with all the trouble Steven Soderbergh had casting a leading man. Now, sadly, The Hollywood Reporter reports that the director has exited Warner Bros.' attempted big screen reboot of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Personally, I see this as bad news. I was excited to see a Soderbergh-directed U.N.C.L.E. movie, and I was really happy that he and his collaborator screenwriter Sott Z. Burns had decided to set their U.N.C.L.E. movie in the Sixties. I really want to see a serious Sixties-set spy movie! It seems unlikely to me that any other director would attempt something so bold, so I fear we've lost that approach with Soderbergh. The whole future of the movie seems up in the air now. Though without Soderbergh, I'm not sure I want to see it happen anyway. (Unless they can attach another really exciting director.) The trade credits The Playlist with breaking the story, and that website has more information on the long chain of events that led to this collapse. I'm sorry I ever doubted the initial George Clooney casting, because at this point a Clooney/Soderbergh pairing seems like it would have been the best scenario. This disappointment is only the latest in a long history of failed attempts to bring The Man From U.N.C.L.E. to the screen. Quentin Tarantino, Matthew Vaughn and David Dobkin had been involved in previous attempts.

What Can Haywire Tell Us About Steven Soderbergh’s Man From U.N.C.L.E. Movie?

What Can Haywire Tell Us About Steven Soderbergh’s Man From U.N.C.L.E. Movie?

Many spy fans will no doubt watch Haywire (review here) as some sort of indicator of what director Steven Soderbergh has up his sleeve for his feature film version of the Sixties spy TV classic The Man From U.N.C.L.E. With this line of thought, we venture immediately into the purely speculative realm… but sometimes rampant speculation is fun, right? My own guess would be that Haywire is not very indicative of what to expect from Soderbergh’s U.N.C.L.E. While the director’s stated affinity for early Bond movies no doubt inspired him in making both films, I’d be surprised if he repeats himself in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  Repetition is one thing that Steven Soderbergh’s career has not been marked by—three Ocean movies notwithstanding. It’s fun to imagine that in the future film historians might look back at The Informant!, Haywire and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. as Soderbergh’s late career (apparently, if he goes through with these cockamamie retirement plans) “spy trilogy.” When they do, I’m willing to bet that The Man From U.N.C.L.E. will be as stylistically different from Haywire as Haywire is from The Informant! While Soderbergh puts his own unique stamp on every action sequence in Haywire, it is clearly a film of the post-Bourne era. (Not stylistically, so much, but in terms of the sheer number of action scenes and how quickly they come.) I suspect that Soderbergh’s U.N.C.L.E. film will unfold at a somewhat more leisurely (though certainly not languid) pace. Although… it would be pretty cool to see a Cold War-set period film deliver the same kind of high-octane action sequences as Haywire, with modern fight choreography, against a Sixties Technicolor backdrop, wouldn’t it? And even more so if the film were shot using Sixties techniques like rear projection and miniatures (a sort of serious take on what Michel Hazanavicius does in the OSS 117 parody films), contrasting starkly with that sort of action? I certainly think so. And there’s some precedence for that approach in Soderbergh’s filmography; The Good German (review here) was shot to approximate the techniques of the 1940s, from its crisp black-and-white cinematography to its distinctive Michael Curtiz-inspired camera movements. Now I think I’ve convinced myself that Haywire-meets-The Good German would be the right approach to present The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in a brand new light, and for the director to do something new, yet still in his wheelhouse... but we’re really no closer to knowing what Soderbergh actually has in mind. Hm. Yes, sometimes rampant speculation is fun! But not very productive, I guess.

America's Next Top Man From U.N.C.L.E.: This Week it's Channing Tatum

America's Next Top Man From U.N.C.L.E.: This Week it's Channing Tatum

The unending Solo Sweepstakes continues this week with a new Napoleon Solo candidate du jour, and, honestly, I'm surprised it's taken this long to come around to this particular contender: Channing Tatum. The reason I would have expected his name to come up earlier is not because I think he'd be perfect for the part (though I have to admit, I can't really grasp what, exactly, the part is, since it's clear by this weird list of candidates that their Napoleon Solo is not the Napoleon Solo I know and love from the TV series), but because Tatum has become something of a regular for director Steven Soderbergh, who's helming the big screen remake of the classic series. So he seemed like something of a logical choice, and now Deadline reports that he's in line for the job. Tatum has a supporting role in Soderbergh's upcoming all-star spy thriller Haywire (read my review here), and he co-stars in the director's next project, Magic Mike, a male stripper drama based on Tatum's own experiences in that profession starring former Alex Rider star Alex Pettyfer. If Tatum is indeed cast as Solo, I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see blond Pettyfer's name come up as a potential Illya Kuryakin—provided he can manage a Russian accent.

At 31, Channing Tatum is at least the same age that Robert Vaughn was when he originated the role of U.N.C.L.E. superspy Napoleon Solo. His biggest action role to date was in G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra. I haven't seen that, and I haven't seen either of his Step Up dance movies. He impressed me, however, with his brief appearance in Michael Mann's Public Enemies, and I think the trailer for 21 Jump Street looks pretty funny. Frankly, I'm less bothered by the notion of him in the role than Bradley Cooper. What he lacks, however, is marquee value. With Channing Tatum toplining and a brand name that means nothing to most under-30 cinemagoers, the pressure will really be on Soderbergh to deliver the goods. And that's not a bad thing, either.

New Trailer For Haywire

New Trailer For Haywire

Relativity Media has released a new, better trailer for Steven Soderbergh's Haywire (movie review here)... that's unfortunately as spoiler-filled as it is awesome. Still, it's not really the sort of movie where spoilers matter all that much. It's all about the action (which clearly the makers of the trailer decided), and this gives viewers a good taste of that. Haywire, starring Gina Carano, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Channing Tatum, Antonio Bandaras and Bill Paxton, opens on January 20.

Movie Review: Haywire (2012)

Movie Review: Haywire (2012)

At Sunday’s world premiere “secret screening” of Haywire at the AFI Festival, Steven Soderbergh was introduced as being full of surprises. I admit to being a little surprised when it was first announced—more than two years and 1,000 posts ago—that the Oscar-winning director of such arthouse staples as Sex, Lies and Videotape, Schizopolis and Kafka and glossy, big budget studio movies as Ocean’s 11, The Good German and Erin Brockovtch would be directing an action movie starring Mixed Martial Arts fighter (and former American Gladiator) Gina Carano—something that doesn’t really fit into either of those categories. A little surprised, anyway… but not much, really. After all, he’d already cast a non-actor in a leading role when he tapped porn star Sasha Grey to topline his indie film The Girlfriend Experience. I just figured he wanted to do something different, and that he would make a fairly straightforward martial arts action movie in the vein of the better Van Damme and Seagal flicks of the early 90s. Where he really surprised me was with the resulting film, which is not a straightforward martial arts action movie, but a sort of arthouse action movie that I honestly believe will satisfy both those disparate viewing demographics rather than alienating either one. Personally, I would have been totally fine had Soderbergh wanted to just do his Colombiana (a movie I really liked), but instead he delivers a film that is to Colombiana and Salt (review here) what The Limey is to more standard revenge-oriented noirs. Haywire is both artistic and highly entertaining at once, delivering some of the best fights I’ve ever seen in a spy movie in a distinctive and unexpected visual style more similar to The Informant! or Solaris than Ocean’s 11.

Soderbergh said at the festival Q&A that he was inspired to cast Carano when he saw her fighting on TV and thought she had something, and at the same time he was inspired to make a spy movie because he loved the early Bonds—particularly From Russia With Love. He put the two ideas together and asked his Limey screenwriter Lem Dobbs to fashion a script that was basically an excuse for Carano to “beat her way through the cast,” as the director put it. Dobbs did his job, crafting a story that finds Carano playing Mallory Kane, the top operative for a private security contractor named Kenneth (Ewan McGregor, sporting the worst movie haircut since Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men). When CIA honcho Michael Douglas and his State Department colleague Antonio Bandaras have assignments they’d rather American agents not be directly associated with, they farm them out to Kenneth’s firm. One such assignment requires Mallory and her team to rescue a Chinese dissident from his captors in Barcelona. Another requires Mallory to jet off to Dublin to reluctantly pose as “eye candy” for a suave freelance British agent named Paul (X-Men: First Class’s Michael Fassbender in what amounts to another convincing filmed audition for the 007 role). When the latter mission goes horribly wrong, Mallory realizes that she was actually set up to take a fall on the former mission, and she embarks to discover who in her own organization or the U.S. government sold her out in Barcelona. This is the appropriately convoluted scenario that enables her to beat her way through the cast. Perhaps I just need a second viewing, but I don’t think the spy plot itself ever totally makes complete sense, but that really doesn’t matter one bit. It serves its purpose, and the audience won’t linger on it because they’ll be too busy taking in the fights and the visuals—and those things are the real point of the film, not the plot.

Soderbergh intentionally surrounded Carano with a first-rate cast (which also includes Bill Paxton, Mathieu Kassovitz, Michael Angarano and Channing Tatum) in order to compensate for her own lack of acting experience, but it turns out he needn’t have gone to such measures as she ably holds her own on screen with these heavy-hitters. Soderbergh is clearly aware of her limitations, and he purposely crafts the movie to downplay them while focusing on her undeniable strengths. Besides the obvious martial arts skills, those strengths include good looks, natural charm and the kind of commanding confidence that only comes from being secure in the knowledge that you could easily beat the crap out of anyone else on set. These beatings come with clockwork regularity, and each one is impressive and memorable in its own right.

Like the Bourne movies, Haywire is a film constructed out of action setpieces, and it moves briskly from one to the next. But unlike the Bourne movies, Soderbergh and Dobbs “unstick” them from their surroundings. The fights don’t quite play out on screen in the order that they’re supposed to actually happen, thanks to a narrative device implementing frequent flashbacks for the first half of the film. Furthermore, each setpiece is given its own distinctive look. This makes the setpieces themselves the pieces of the narrative puzzle, challenging viewers (slightly, anyway; this isn’t a movie that requires a whole lot of thinking) to rearrange them in their heads in order to suss out the plot. The device is pretty brilliant in its simplicity. Rather than asking viewers to keep track of intermittent bursts of exposition mixed with action scenes, the action scenes themselves are the exposition. Sliding each distinctive setpiece into its rightful place in our minds, we decode the narrative as the film progresses. This is the arthouse element of Haywire.

Soderbergh successfully deconstructs the action spy formula at the same time as he celebrates it. The slightly out-of-order sequence of events disassociates the action from the narrative by making the action itself the narrative. It forces the viewer to appreciate the art of the action, and there is plenty of art on display as Carano battles with each of these actors in fast fights that play out in real time, without the distracting fast cuts and shaky camera work that make it easy for so many action stars and stunt doubles to cheat these days. (That From Russia With Love influence Soderbergh cited is on full display, with each encounter recalling Sean Connery’s classic close-quarters smack-down with Robert Shaw.) Further disassociating the action from the narrative (or entwining them, depending on how you look at it), Soderbergh lets David Holmes’s propulsive and near wall-to-wall score (sometimes overly intrusive in the dialogue scenes) take over, dialing down the diagetic sound to almost nothing and doing away with dialogue altogether (again playing to the star’s strengths) as Mallory pursues an enemy agent on foot in a breakneck chase through Barcelona. The approach isn’t entirely original as it echoes, to some degree, what Tom Tykwer did in Run Lola Run, but it’s completely successful.

Another fight is memorable because it plays out in a warm, naturally-lit hotel room reminiscent of the lighting in Soderbergh’s low-key spy comedy The Informant! The action is as naturalistic as the lighting, with Carano demonstrating some very impressive moves. Its brutality is contrasted by the luxurious setting and the fact that both combatants are dressed in elegant evening wear. All of these elements add up to create a fight sequence unlike any you’ve ever seen before. Humor and violence are also juxtaposed to create a satisfying shock—but that in itself is hardly groundbreaking.

My favorite scene is also lit naturally, and finds Mallory on the run from squads of heavily-armed S.W.A.T. officers through the streets and alleys and across the rooftops of Dublin. That kind of chase is familiar—and, these days, almost expected—in a spy movie, but I’ve never seen one taking place on a rainy, overcast day that actually looks like a rainy, overcast day before. Furthermore, I haven’t seen Dublin utilized that way as a location, and the city makes a great backdrop for such a chase. All locations are well-used in Haywire, in fact, from Dublin to Barcelona to New Mexico to a beach that serves as a setting for an On Her Majesty's Secret Service-inspired fight in the surf. While the settings smack of having been chosen based on the local tax incentives, they prove that that’s not at all a bad thing for a spy movie!

The end result is a very accessible action flick that augments its truly impressive combat-based thrills with the sort of arthouse narrative and lighting techniques with which Soderbergh imbued his best indie efforts. It’s like Colombiana crossed with Fay Grim, offering something for everyone… but mostly offering a really good time in the theater. The end certainly leaves things open for a sequel (though not in an annoying way, like Salt), and I, for one, would welcome more adventures of Mallory Kane—especially should Steven Soderbergh be convinced to come out of his weird retirement to direct them. (He certainly has incentive to do so, as he struck a unique deal forgoing his usual upfront salary in favor of an ownership stake in the character shared with the studio. It's a rare arrangement, and essentially the same one the Broccoli family enjoys with MGM for James Bond.) Sequel or not, though, I’d say Gina Carano has a promising new career ahead of her.

Haywire opens wide in North America on January 20, 2012.

Tradecraft: Is Bradley Cooper the New Napoleon Solo?

Tradecraft: Is Bradley Cooper the New Napoleon Solo?

Variety reports that Bradley Cooper is the new frontrunner to play Napoleon Solo in Steven Soderbergh's Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie. The trade reports that Matt Damon and Johnny Depp both passed on the part (to which George Clooney was originally attached), and Cooper's agents worked hard to position him for the part of U.N.C.L.E.'s top agent. The offer is now out to him and he's expected to accept, with shooting set to commence in March before Soderbergh helms his Liberace biopic for HBO. The spy role would bring Cooper's career full-circle, since he first rose to stardom on a spy series playing Will on J.J. Abrams' Alias. I really liked him on Alias, and I was sorry when Will left the show... but, honestly, I can't picture the Hangover star filling Robert Vaughn's shoes as Napoleon Solo. Hm...

Clooney Ankles U.N.C.L.E.; U.N.C.L.E. Incorporates Real World Events

Clooney Ankles U.N.C.L.E.; U.N.C.L.E. Incorporates Real World Events

As previously reported, George Clooney was expected to star in Steven Soderbergh's upcoming big-screen version of the classic Sixties spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E.–presumably as ace U.N.C.L.E. agent Napoleon Solo, the character originated by Robert Vaughn. As fit as Clooney undeniably is, by the time filming starts next year he will be the same age that Vaughn was when he reprised the role in the reunion telefilm The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair (review here)! So perhaps it's for the better that Deadline is reporting today that Clooney "is in the process of withdrawing as the star of Steven Soderbergh’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E." Of course, the big danger in losing Clooney is the risk that the film will fall apart without a bankable lead. Luckily, Soderbergh has good relationships with a lot of actors, so hopefully he can line up someone just as good and maybe a little more age-appropriate. So who else could be Napoleon Solo? Matt Damon? Michael Fassbender? Both have recently worked with Soderbergh. Then there are the stars of Soderbergh's current movie to consider, Channing Tatum and Alex Rider star Alex Pettyfer. They'd sort of fit as Napoleon and Illya... if the script were rewritten to accommodate much younger stars. (Who are actually closer age matches for Vaughn and David McCallum.)

Meanwhile, Cinema Blend reports that this version of U.N.C.L.E. will utilise its previously revealed Sixties setting to incorporate actual historical events into the story. Writer Scott Z. Burns told the website, "All those shows are called, like, 'The Terbuf Affair' or whatever." (Other good examples include "The Moonglow Affair," "The Iowa Scuba Affair" and of course "The My Friend the Gorilla Affair.") "Our affair comes from something that was actually going on in the world at the time." That's intriguing, but I sure hope it's not the Cuban missile crisis, yet again, so soon after it was done in the excellent period spy movie X-Men: First Class! (Also, I would hope that a Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie would be set a few years later than that.) When asked if the film version would pay homage to specific episodes of the series, all Burns could promise was, "I think if people know the show they’ll recognize tiny little things." He also said that the script is done, and was hopeful that casting will begin soon and production could start in the spring. (That was before Clooney dropped his bombshell, though.)

COMIC-CON: Haywire Trailer, Poster and Panel

Really spotty Internet connections kept me from posting timely updates from Comic-Con, but now I'll play catch-up after the fact. One of my favorite panels I attended was for Steven Soderbergh's upcoming spy movie starring mixed martial artist Gina Carano, whose non-acting background is offset by the presence of heavy-hitting, big-time actors like Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor and freshly-minted spy star Michael Fassbender. The trailer clearly seems to be cut around Ms. Carano's dialogue, as she barely speaks in it and doesn't exactly impress when she does, but it doesn't seem like the sort of movie where speaking really counts for much anyway. What she does do very convincingly is fight, and that seems like a more important skill set for as action-heavy a spy movie as Haywire. Furthermore, Carano demonstrated ample charisma in person on the panel. I remember the heady days of the early Nineties when the right combination of fighting ability and charisma could make an action star... and I liked them. Beyond Carano's performance, this trailer delivers some classic spy iconography in atmospheric shots of European cities and streets. It's a sort of spy movie Soderbergh hasn't attempted before, and I'm eager to see what he does with it. On the panel, he confessed that he's a fan of the spy genre, and that should come as little surprise to anyone who's seen his non-traditional espionage films like The Informant! or The Good German. (Unfortunately, nobody asked him about The Man From U.N.C.L.E.)

Besides the trailer, Soderbergh debuted a complete scene from the movie at the con in which Carano fights Fassbender in a hotel room. It's a particularly brutal smack-down, heightened by the fact that they're both in formal wear. It was clear from the clip that Soderbergh's still determined to light his interiors in a dim orange hues (is he just using the fluorescents in the room?), which I find kind of annoying, but it was also clear that Carano's skills will go a long way in convincing moviegoers of her character's black ops background. I kind of feared for Fassbender's life watching those punches land, and had no doubt that she was entirely capable of beating him up. (As it turns out, those fears were justified. Soderbergh shared that one misstep during shooting landed him briefly unconscious.)

Haywire opens in January.

The Spy's Guide to Comic-Con 2011

Here we are again: San Diego Comic-Con International starts tomorrow! And it's packed with spy-related programming this year, right from the very beginning. Here's information on panels spy fans might want to attend, pasted from the official schedule on the official site. (I'd say that the Archer panel was the highlight last year, and would strongly recommend fans of the show to attend that one this time!)

Thursday, July 21

10:00-11:00 Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe— For fans of USA's hit series Burn Notice who've always wanted to know what happened before Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell) teamed up with Michael Weston and Fiona, Comic-Con attendees are invited inside the USA made-for-TV movie Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe, debuting on DVD exclusively at Comic-Con! The Burn Notice prequel chronicles what turned out to be the last military mission of former U.S. Navy SEAL Lieutenant Commander Axe and the expedition that took him from the jungles of Colombia to sunny Miami Beach. Go one-on-one with Bruce Campbell, star of Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe, and Burn Notice creator, writer, and executive producer, Matt Nix. Ballroom 20

11:15-12:15 Covert Affairs— For the first time, TV's sexiest spy show, USA Network's Covert Affairs, comes to Comic-Con! Spend some time with stars Piper Perabo (Annie Walker), Christopher Gorham (Auggie Anderson), Sendhil Ramamurthy(Jai Wilcox), Kari Matchett (Joan Campbell), Anne Dudek (Danielle), and Peter Gallagher (Arthur Campbell). Executive producers Doug Liman, Chris Ord, Matt Corman, and Dave Bartis also join the panel, moderated by the one-and-only Oded Fehr. Fans will get an insider's look into the action-packed world of Covert Affairs. Besides having questions answered about the exciting current season, fans will view exclusive video content featuring a sneak peek at upcoming episodes. There will also be surprise giveaways for audience members! Ballroom 20

4:00-5:00 Archer Screening and Q&A— This animated half-hour comedy revolves around the spy agency known as the International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS) and the lives of its self-involved employees. Series creator Adam Reed (Sealab 2021,Frisky Dingo) and the show's voice-over actors discuss their daunting and enigmatic work of espionage, reconnaissance missions, and undercover surveillances -- which are all actually unmitigated occasions for the ISIS staff to undermine, sabotage, and betray each other for personal gains and prosperity. Panelists include H. Jon Benjamin (Bob's Burgers, Jon Benjamin Has a Van) as the highly skilled yet incredibly vain master spy Sterling Archer; Aisha Tyler (Talk Soup, CSI) as fellow agent provocateur Lana Kane; Chris Parnell (Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock) as the easily intimidated comptroller of ISIS, Cyril Figgis; Judy Greer (Mad Love, Arrested Development) as the loquacious secretary, Cheryl/Carol; Amber Nash (Frisky Dingo,Aqua Teen Hunger Force) as the discordant director of human resources for ISIS, Pam Poovey; and George Coe (Funny People, Curb Your Enthusiasm) as Sterling's elderly and always-exploited butler, Woodhouse. Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront

5:30-7:30 Showtime : Tired of Ordinary Television?— This year at Comic-Con, Showtime saves! The casts and creative forces behind Dexter and Shameless give sneak peeks into the new seasons. And be the first to see an exclusive look at the new Showtime original series Homeland.

Dexter -- See the exclusive world premiere of the new season's trailer, then moderator Ralph Garman (KROQ entertainment reporter) will preside over a revealing interview and Q&A session with the stars and executive producers, including Michael C. Hall (star/executive producer), C. S. Lee (Masuka), David Zayas (Batista) , guest star Colin Hanks (Peter Jackson's King Kong, Roswell), and more. Also appearing are executive producers John Goldwyn, Sara Colleton, Scott Buck, and Manny Coto.

Shameless -- Come party with the cast and creative team behind the hottest new Showtime original series, Shameless. If you thought your family was dysfunctional, wait 'til you meet the Gallaghers. Get the inside scoop on what's in store for the new season as Mike Schneider (TV Guide Los Angeles bureau chief) leads an interview and Q&A with stars William H. Macy (Fargo, Jurassic Park III) and Emmy Rossum (Day After Tomorrow, Dragon Ball: Evolution ), plus more, along with executive producer John Wells (West Wing, ER, Southland).

Homeland -- This fall, the war on terror comes home in the new Showtime original series Homeland from executive producers/writers Howard Gordon (24, The X-Files) and Alex Gansa (24, The X-Files, Numb3rs), starring Claire Danes (Terminator 3), Damian Lewis (Band of Brothers, Life), Mandy Patinkin (The Princess Bride, Criminal Minds), and Morena Baccarin (V, Firefly). Comic-Con favorite Morena Baccarinwill make a special appearance to introduce exclusive footage fromHomeland. Ballroom 20

6:00-7:00 Road to Stumptown— Meet Greg Rucka (Gotham Central) and Matthew Southworth (Spider-Man: The Grim Hunt), the Eisner-nominated creative team behind the innovative new crime title Stumptown. Moderated by comics scholar ProfessorBen Saunders. Room 7AB

8:00-11:00 Hall H and Ballroom 20 Thursday Panel Playback— Didn't get into either Hall H or Ballroom 20 today? We feel your pain! In this three-hour block, Comic-Con rebroadcasts some of the day's popular panels from those two giant rooms. Best of all, those in attendance will get to vote on what they want to see. It's democracy at its finest and it's a second chance to see these panels. (Please note: these playbacks will include only the panel discussions. None of the film clips or footage shown at the live events will be shown.) Room 25ABC [This is a cool new feature of Comic-Con this year. I'll only list it once, but every night you can see the panels from Hall H and Ballroom 20, often impossible to get into, rebroadcast at the end of the day. I like it!]

Friday, July 22

10:00-11:00 Torchwood: Miracle Day— John Barrowman (Doctor Who) and Eve Myles (Doctor Who) join cast members Mekhi Phifer (ER), Bill Pullman (Independence Day), Alexa Havins (All My Children), and Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under), along with writer Jane Espenson (Battlestar Galactica), to discuss the fourth installment of the hit BBC Worldwide show, a Starz Originals co-production, currently airing Friday nights at 10 ET/PT on Starz. Ballroom 20

11:00-12:00 Page One— The opening page of a comic sets up everything that comes after it, for good or ill. Carla Speed McNeil (Finder), Jen Van Meter (Hopeless Savages), Greg Rucka (Stumptown), and moderator Douglas Wolk discuss great first pages of comics and the way they can instantly pull their audience in and establish the tone and themes of a story. Room 32AB

11:45-12:30 Adult Swim: The Venture Bros.— Show creators Jackson Publick andDoc Hammer will screen an early premiere of The Venture Bros. Special -- From the Ladle to the Grave: The Story of Shallow Gravy -- a 15-minute documentary-style animated special (premiering August 28 on Adult Swim), discuss their original series, and answer questions. The panel also features James Urbaniak (Dr. Venture). Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront

12:15-1:15 Relativity Media: Raven and Haywire— Two fantastic films from Relativity Media debut in this Hall H presentation.

Raven -- The film is a gritty thriller in which Edgar Allan Poe joins forces with a young Baltimore detective to hunt down a mad serial killer who's using Poe's own works as the basis for a string of brutal murders. Raven stars John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe, Luke Evans, and Alice Eve and is directed by James McTeigue.

Haywire -- An electrifying tale of espionage and betrayal. A female covert ops specialist who works in the deadly world of international operatives strikes back after discovering she's been double-crossed by someone close to her in the agency. Mixed martial arts superstar Gina Carano makes her feature film -- and Comic-Con -- debut, starring and performing her own high-adrenaline stunts. Also appearing is director Stephen Soderbergh. Hall H

1:00-2:00 Comics Arts Conference Session #7: Focus on David Lloyd— Comic-Con special guest David Lloyd (V for Vendetta, Kickback [James Bond 007: Shattered Helix]) discusses the nature of sequential art and the methods of its production, considering his own methods, and how those methods have changed over time, as well as the creation of comics more generally in various genres and national and historical traditions. He will also look at the teaching of sequential art, both to practitioners and to audiences, discussing his time at the London Cartoon Centre and the Cartoon Classroom project. Kathleen McClancy (Wake Forest University) moderates. Room 26AB

2:30-3:15 Adult Swim: Black Dynamite— Creators and voice talent from the new animated series offer a sneak peek at the show and answer questions. Executive producer Carl Jones (The Boondocks) and director Scott Sanders (Black Dynamite) appear, in addition to writer and star Michael Jai White, voice actors Tommy Davidsonand Kym Whitley, and writer/voice actor Byron Minns, all of whom also starred in the live-action feature film Black Dynamite. The 2009 movie is an outrageous action comedy/spoof that follows ex-CIA agent and full-time ladies' man Black Dynamite, who's out to avenge the death of his brother against kung-fu masters, drug-dealing pimps, and The Man. The Black Dynamite animated series further chronicles the exploits of Black Dynamite and his crew. Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront

Saturday, July 22

10:00-10:45 Chuck Screening and Q&A— Comic-Con fan-favorite Chuck returns with a bang for its farewell panel to celebrate its fifth and final season. Executive producer and co-creator Chris Fedak, along with series stars Zachary Levi (Alvin and the Chipmunks), Yvonne Strahovski (upcoming My Mother's Curse), Joshua Gomez (Without a Trace), Ryan McPartlin, Mark Christopher Lawrence (The Pursuit of Happyness), Vik Sahay (Good Will Hunting), Scott Krinsky (The O.C.) with Sarah Lancaster (The Good Doctor), and Adam Baldwin (Serenity), offer a Q&A with fans and an unforgettable video presentation. Produced by Fake Empire, Wonderland Sound and Vision in association with Warner Bros. Television, Chuck airs Friday at 8:00 ET/PT on NBC, and Chuck: The Complete Fourth Season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD this fall. Ballroom 20

10:00-11:00 Motion Picture and Television Production Designers— In collaboration with a highly skilled art department, the production designer lays out the designs that will guide a small army of decorators, carpenters, sculptors, painters, and artisans of all sorts, to bring into existence those fantastic worlds that fire everyone's imagination. Panelists include moderator John Muto (Terminator 2:3D), Cece DeStefano (Alias), Jim Bissell (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol), Edward Thomas(Torchwood, Dr. Who), and Greg Melton (The Walking Dead). Room 25ABC

11:30-12:30 Spotlight on Steranko— Comic-Con special guest Steranko, the Eisner Hall of Fame-winning writer/illustrator/filmmaker/escape artist, presents a provocative forum featuring his work on Captain America, X-Men, Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Shadow, Indiana Jones and more, including a new series of Batman covers and his groundbreaking graphic novel Red Tide. Moderator J. David Spurlock promises to reveal a new storm of secrets from the Steranko bag of tricks. Room 5AB

1:30-2:30 Spotlight on Peter Kuper— From MAD to World War 3 Illustrated, Comic-Con special guest Peter Kuper (Spy vs. Spy) has for three decades been blowing up spies and politicians and creating graphic novels ranging from Franz Kafka adaptations to autobiographies that would scare Kafka. Get an inside look at how he comes up with Spy vs. Spy ideas and his other idiotic projects! Room 8

5:00-6:00 Charlie's Angels— The cast and creative team from Sony TV's highly anticipated action-packed series Charlie's Angels for ABC -- Annie Ilonzeh (General Hospital), Minka Kelly (Parenthood, Friday Night Lights), Rachael Taylor (Grey's Anatomy), Ramon Rodriguez (The Wire, Daybreak) and executive producers Alfred Gough (Smallville) and Miles Millar (Smallville) come to Comic-Con to discuss their new series. The series is also executive-produced by Drew Barrymore (Charlie's Angels movies), Leonard Goldberg (the original Charlie's Angels), Nancy Juvonen (Charlie's Angels movies), and Marcos Siega (Vampire Diaries, Dexter). Join the cast & producers for a dynamic discussion and Q&A session about what's in store for viewers this fall! Indigo Ballroom, Hilton San Diego Bayfront

6:00-6:45 Nikita Screening and Q&A— Nikita returns to Comic-Con with series starsMaggie Q (Mission: Impossible 3), Shane West (ER), Lyndsy Fonseca (Kick-Ass), and executive producer Craig Silverstein (Bones) for its latest mission: to unveil an exclusive video presentation and reveal classified information from the highly anticipated second season that finds Nikita and Michael on the run with a black box containing the government's darkest secrets. Leading the hunt for them is Alex...and she knows all of Nikita's tricks. What will the Comic-Con Q&A reveal? From Wonderland Sound and Vision in association with Warner Bros. Television, Nikita airs Fridays at 8/7c on The CW. Nikita: The Complete First Season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on August 30. Room 6BCF

6:45-7:30 Person of Interest Pilot Screening and Q&A— A peerless creative team is behind this new white-knuckle action series -- including creator/executive producer Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight) and showrunner/executive producer Greg Plageman (Cold Case) -- about an ex-CIA agent, presumed dead, who partners with a mysterious billionaire to prevent violent crimes in New York City. Join these producers plus stars Jim Caviezel (The Thin Red Line), Michael Emerson (Lost), andTaraji P. Henson (Academy Award nominee, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) for an inside look at one of the most anticipated new shows of the fall season, including an exclusive screening of the pilot episode and Q&A. From Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Bad Robot Productions and Warner Bros. Television, Person of Interest will air Thursdays at 9/8c on CBS. Room 6BCF

7:30-8:30 The Art of the Hollywood Movie Poster— Who are the talented artists Hollywood has tapped for the creation of some of the best movie posters in recent history? Leslie Combemale (film art expert and owner, ArtInsights Animation and Film Art Gallery) moderates a panel of artists who have worked on hundreds of movie posters and movie campaigns, including Andrea Alvin (Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Pinocchio poster artist, wife and artistic partner of late cinema art legend John Alvin), Matthew Peak (Nightmare on Elm Street poster artist, son of famed movie poster artist Bob Peak), Steve Chorney (Labyrinth, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Star Trek), James Goodridge (Inglorious Basterds, Harry Potter), and Lawrence Noble (The Empire Strikes Back 10th Anniversary, Time After Time, Flash Gordon). They will relay stories of the creation of some well-recognized and most appreciated movie posters, discuss the current atmosphere of the world of cinema art, and offer suggestions for artists who wish to take up the craft. This panel will include a short Q&A. Room 8

Sunday, July 24

Not much spy programming on Sunday, as far as I can tell. Take the time to stroll around the dealer floor and find some James Bond posters or Nick Fury back issues! Or check out that cool Doctor Who panel. That's where I'll be Sunday afternoon...

First Official Look At Gina Carano Gone Haywire

Relativity Media has released the first official still from Steven Soderbergh's upcoming action spy movie Haywire, starring MMA fighter Gina Carano in her screen debut backed up by an all-star ensemble including Michael Douglas, Ewan McGregor, Bill Paxton, Antonio Bandaras, Michael Angarano (who I liked in Sky High and The Forbidden Kingdom) and Michael Fassbender (who I loved in X-Men: First Class!). According to the official synopsis, Haywire is "an electrifying tale of espionage and betrayal" in which "a female covert ops specialist (Carano), who works in the deadly world of international operatives, strikes back after discovering she’s been double-crossed by someone close to her in the agency. The film is produced by Gregory Jacobs (Ocean’s Trilogy) and written by Lem Dobbs (The Limey). Soderbergh and Carano will attend the San Diego Comic Con later this month to promote the film and presumably unveil some footage. As reported last month, the film will be released on January 20, 2012.

Haywire Gets a (New) Release Date

This is at least the third release date (and second distributor, and second title) that we've seen mooted for Steven Soderbergh's spy thriller Haywire (which was once called Knockout and scheduled for a January 2011 release from Lionsgate)... but the first one backed up with an actual press release, so let's assume it's for real this time. Relativity Media announced last week that it has retained North American rights to theatrically distribute its action thriller Haywire, directed by Soderbergh and starring MMA fighter Gina Carano. The film is now set for a January 20, 2012 wide release, aiming for the some of the same action movie gold that Taken mined in 2009. Neither the change in studios nor the change in dates reflects on the quality of the picture. Lionsgate was a distribution partner before Relativity structured its own distribution arm, which it naturally wanted to flex given the opportunity; Lionsgate’s Mandate International is still handling foreign rights. As for pushing the film back to next year, that gives Soderbergh the opportunity to promote it during his press tour for Contagion, a great big, star-studded virus thriller with Matt Damon made after Haywire, but set for release before it (now), this fall.

Carano (who was also part of the recent version of American Gladiators) makes her feature film debut, starring and performing her own "high-adrenaline stunts." Since Carano's unproven as a movie star, Soderbergh backed her up with an impressive cast including Ewan McGregor (The Ghost Writer), Channing Tatum (GI Joe: Rise of Cobra), Antonio Banderas (Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever), Bill Paxton (True Lies), Michael Douglas (Shining Through) and newly-minted spy superstar Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class).

The press release offers what I think is the first official synopsis of the film, and I was impressed that they managed to squeeze in "espionage," "betrayal," "covert ops," "international operatives," "double-crossed" and "Agency" in one sentence! Now that's a movie made for me! Observe: "In Haywire, an electrifying tale of espionage and betrayal, a female covert ops specialist (Carano), who works in the deadly world of international operatives, strikes back after discovering she’s been double-crossed by someone close to her in the agency. The film is produced by Gregory Jacobs (Ocean’s Trilogy) and written by Lem Dobbs (The Limey)." Furthermore, they manage to use the word "sophistication" in conjunction with an action movie starring an MMA fighter, in a quote from Relativity’s President of Worldwide Production, Tucker Tooley: “We are honored to be working with Steven Soderbergh on this project. This film is full of amazing action sequences, and with a sophistication only Soderbergh can deliver.”

Soderbergh's next spy assignment is supposedly a feature film version of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. starring George Clooney, but I'll believe it when I actually see it...

Steven Soderbergh Confirms Involvement in Man From U.N.C.L.E. Movie

While talking to the radio show Studio 360 (via Hollywood Reporter), director Steven Soderbergh appeared to confirm his involvement in the feature film version of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  "Liberace [a biopic with Matt Damon] and Man From U.N.C.L.E. are the only two things I'm obligated to do," the director said in a discussion of his much-mooted impending retirement.  (He confirmed that rumor, too... but only up to a point, claiming that "the tyranny of narrative is just starting to really wear on me."  It seems like he's burnt out right now, but he doesn't rule out returning to Hollywood in the future, and it sounds like he might continue to make more artistic independents anyway.)  Soderbergh's involvement with The Man From U.N.C.L.E. has been whispered about since a Hollywood Reporter story last November reported that the director was "in talks" for the project.  But this is the first time I've seen it confirmed from the horse's mouth, so to speak.  He also confirms George Clooney's involvement (which has been widely rumored for nearly as long), and doesn't contradict host Kurt Anderson when Anderson surmises that Clooney will be playing Napoleon Solo, the titular spy originated on the Sixties TV show by Robert Vaughn.  Even in the stories about Clooney's attachment, I hadn't seen it actually said by anyone official that he would definitely be playing Solo, though that's what most people assumed.  He could have conceivably been boss Mr. Waverly or an entirely new character.

Soderbergh's next spy movie, Haywire, starring MMA fighter Gina Carano, Michael Douglas, Ewan  McGregor and Michael Fassbender (among many others) is currently scheduled to open in August, after bouncing around quite a lot.  Filming was completed some time ago.  A few set photos from Haywire (showing Carano in a wetsuit beating up McGregor on a beach) leaked today, and you can see them on Collider.

George Clooney Looking To Be Soderbergh's Man From U.N.C.L.E.?

Film to be set in the Sixties!

The Playlist reports (via AICN) that George Clooney is (unsurprisingly, I guess, given their history of collaboration) circling the Steven Soderbergh-helmed incarnation of Warners' long-in-development Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie that we first heard about yesterday.  And, more excitingly, the website also reports that Soderbergh plans to retain the TV show's 1960s setting!  The Playlist seems like a fairly reliable source when it comes to Soderbergh; they were the ones who first reported that his upcoming spy movie had changed its title from Knockout to Haywire and that it had been delayed until next spring.  The Sixties setting really, really excites me!  I hope this movie is serious(ish) and not a parody, because I would love to see a modern action movie set in that period.  We've already had great parodies in the form of the two recent OSS 117 films, but could Matthew Vaughn's upcoming Sixties-set (and Avengers-inspired) X-Men prequel foretell a new trend of period action movies?  I sure hope so! 

George Clooney's potential attachment excites me less than the time period.  Don't get me wrong; I love Clooney, and I'd love to see him play a superspy.  But he's really too old to be Napoleon Solo.  (He's almost as old as Robert Vaughn was in the reunion movie The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair!)  I'd much rather see Clooney play Matt Helm.  Of course, just because he's planning to star in the movie doesn't necessarily mean that he'll be playing Napoleon Solo.  After all, Tom Cruise starred in Mission: Impossible, but he wasn't Jim Phelps.  I doubt that Clooney is signing up to be Mr. Waverly, but I suppose it's possible that he could be another U.N.C.L.E. agent or, if this movie really is, as The Playlist asserts, taking U.N.C.L.E. back to "its roots," perhaps a mentor to a younger Solo and Kuryakin.  Anything is possible at this point.  What I do like about a potential Clooney/Soderbergh team-up is that it would seem to indicate a tone along the lines of their Ocean's 11 remake, which I think would be pretty appropriate for The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  And if Clooney really is playing a fifty-year-old Solo, well, that's not that bad.  There are much worse choices out there!  (And he certainly proved in The American that he's in top physical shape for his age.)

Previous Clooney/Soderbergh spy collaborations include The Good German (which I remember liking quite a lot, but needed to re-read my review to remember anything that actually happened in it!), Syriana and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.  (Soderbergh didn't direct the latter two, but they were produced through his and Clooney's Section 8 Films.)  At one point, they had hoped to team up on a Matt Helm movie more in keeping with the Dean Martin movies than the serious Donald Hamilton novels, and I believe that was also meant to be Sixties-set.  Clooney's most recent spyish movie was The American (review here).  Bear in mind that while a script is being written by Scott Z. Burns based on Soderbergh's take, nothing is yet set in stone about this Man From U.N.C.L.E. movie, and plenty of other incarnations over the years have fallen by the wayside.