The Spy's Guide To Comic-Con 2010
Well, it's that time of year again! If you're a spy fan headed out to San Diego tomorrow for Comic-Con International, here are some panel highlights that caught my eye that might be of particular interest to you, too. (Please post a comment if I've missed anything crucial.) The copy is mostly taken directly from the Comic-Con website, which allows you to create your own schedule this year. (Not that you'll actually get into all the things you plan to do. Remember to allow plenty of time for waiting in lines!) I'll be checking out as many as I can, and hopefully blogging about them, depending on my internet access...
Thursday, July 22
Right from the start, there are tough choices to make (as usual). Spy fans must choose between Burn Notice and Salt on the first day!
1:00-2:00 Salt -- Opening in theaters everywhere tomorrow, Columbia Pictures brings an exclusive and surprising look at Salt to Comic-Con today, featuring some very special guests. [Yes, Angelina Jolie is scheduled to attend!] As a CIA officer, Evelyn Salt (Angelina Jolie) swore an oath to duty, honor and country. Her loyalty will be tested when a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy. Salt goes on the run, using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture, but her efforts to prove her innocence only serve to cast doubt on her motives as the hunt to uncover the truth behind her identity continues and the question remains: "Who is Salt?" Hall H
1:00-2:00 Bruce Campbell (Sam Axe), Matt Nix (creator and executive producer), and Alfredo Barrios, Jr. (executive producer) host a panel discussion and answer questions about the creative process of evolving an embryonic idea into a finished episode of cable's #1 show. Fans will gain an intimate look inside the world of Burn Notice, complete with war stories from the writer's room and filming on location in Miami. Exclusive video content will include tips on how to survive Comic-Con from your favorite burned spy, Michael Westen (played by Jeffrey Donovan), highlights from all four seasons and an exclusive sneak peek at upcoming episodes. Ballroom 20
2:15-3:15 Summit Entertainment: RED— Summit Entertainment presents a sneak peek of exclusive footage from RED. They used to be the CIA's top agents -- but the secrets they know just made them the Agency's top targets. Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren star in RED, an explosive action-comedy based on the cult DC Comics graphic novel by Warren Ellis. Join him, director Robert Schwentke, and the film's stars as they share footage from the film and debut the final trailer before it's ever in theaters. Hall H
3:30-4:30 Entertainment Weekly: The Visionaries— A discussion with geek gods J. J. Abrams (Alias, Mission: Impossible III) and Joss Whedon (Dollhouse) on the future of pop culture. EW presents an in-depth conversation with these two creative geniuses about how technology, gaming, and global culture are reshaping how we tell and consume stories on television, film and the web. Plus: Is the superhero movie waning, or is it on the cusp of reinvention? And what do they think the pop culture universe will look like a decade from now? Moderated by Jeff "Doc" Jensen. Hall H
Friday, July 23
6:00-7:00 Archer— Creator and executive producer Adam Reed (Sealab 2021, Frisky Dingo) screens selected scenes from the FX animated series Archer, which recently won a NowNewNext Award for "Best Television Show You're Not Watching" from cable's Logo network. He will take questions from the audience along with Aisha Tyler, who provides the voice of Agent Lana Kane, the strong, voluptuous, and often exasperated secret agent. Adam and Aisha will discuss the evolution of the series as well as the voice-over process. Room 7AB
Saturday, July 24
10:00-10:45 Chuck Screening and Q&A— Chuck executive producers and co-creators Josh Schwartz (Gossip Girl) and Chris Fedak appear along with series stars Zachary Levi (Alvin and the Chipmunks), Yvonne Strahovski (upcoming The Killer Elite), Joshua Gomez (Without a Trace), Ryan McPartlin, Mark Christopher Lawrence (The Pursuit of Happyness), Vik Sahay (Good Will Hunting), Scott Krinsky (The O.C.), Sarah Lancaster (upcoming The Good Doctor) and Adam Baldwin (Serenity) for their usual hijinks -- a Q&A to discuss the upcoming season four (made possible by the devoted fanbase) and a special video presentation. Produced by Fake Empire, Wonderland Sound and Vision in association with Warner Bros. Television, Chuck airs Mondays at 8pm ET/PT on NBC, and Chuck: The Complete Third Season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on September 7. Ballroom 20
11:00-12:00 Hollywood and Ghost Recon Join Forces— Little Minx, a company of Ridley Scott and Associates (RSA), presents Oscar-winning director François Alaux (Logorama), associate producer and technical advisor to all RSA films Harry Humphries, and a feature actor from the short film, who will be joined by Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Solider video game studio associate producer Adrian Lacey in a panel discussing the upcoming short film, as well as connections between the film and the game. Attendees will be treated to the world premiere debut of the film trailer, as well as a live demo of the upcoming video game. Room 25ABC
11:00-12:00 Leverage— Join the stars of the TNT hit series Leverage -- Academy Award winner Timothy Hutton, Aldis Hodge, Christian Kane, and Beth Riesgraf -- along with the show's executive producers, John Rogers (Transformers, Cosby) and Chris Downey (King of Queens), for a panel and Q&A session. Don't miss a special sneak peek of an upcoming episode too! Moderated by Anthony Ferrante. Indigo Ballroom, San Diego Hilton Bayfront
12:00-1:00 The Venture Bros.— Creators Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer host a laissez-faire chat about -- what else? -- The Venture Bros. They'll be joined by Patrick Warburton (voice of Brock Samson) and James Urbaniak (voice of Dr. Venture) as they screen sneak preview clips from the upcoming season, shamelessly plug their new DVD and line of action figures, and take questions from the audience. Indigo Ballroom, San Diego Hilton Bayfront
4:45-5:45 Universal: Cowboys & Aliens -- Director Jon Favreau (Iron Man series) discusses what's happening behind the scenes of Universal Pictures and DreamWorks' action-thriller Cowboys & Aliens, based on Platinum Studios' graphic novel. Currently shooting in New Mexico, Cowboys & Aliens stars Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford and takes audiences into the Old West, where a lone cowboy leads an uprising against a terror from beyond our world. Q&A session to follow. [Will Daniel Craig actually be there? I'm guessing not, but you never know, so Bond fans might not want to miss this one...] Hall H
5:15-6:15 Nikita Pilot Screening and Q&A— Comic-Con has gone rogue! International action star Maggie Q (Mission: Impossible III) stars in this sexy and suspenseful series as an agent who has escaped from the ultrasecretive and corrupt government agency that trained her to be an assassin...and then betrayed her. Catch a sneak peek screening of this action-packed thriller, and join Maggie, series stars Shane West (ER) and Lyndsy Fonseca (Kick-Ass), and executive producer Craig Silverstein (Bones) for an inside look at one of the most anticipated new shows of the fall season. From Wonderland Sound and Vision in association with Warner Bros. Television, Nikita will air Thursdays at 9pm ET/PT on The CW. Room 6BCF
6:00-7:00 Marvel Studios: Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger— Producer Kevin Feige and special guests give you an inside look at the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe. Hall H
6:15-7:00 Human Target Screening and Q&A— Based on the DC Comics title, Human Target is an action-packed thrill ride about a mysterious private contractor who will stop at nothing to keep his clients alive -- even if it means literally becoming a "human target." The series moves to a new night this fall -- Fridays at 8pm ET/PT on FOX -- and executive producer Matthew Miller (Chuck) joins series stars Mark Valley (Fringe), Chi McBride (Pushing Daisies), and Jackie Earle Haley (A Nightmare on Elm Street) for a Q&A with fans and to screen a special video presentation. Human Target is from Bonanza Productions Inc. in association with Wonderland Sound and Vision, DC Comics and Warner Bros. Television. Human Target: The Complete First Season will be released on Blu-ray and DVD September 21. Room 6BCF
Besides all that, of course, there will be plenty of other spy personalities both in non spy-related panels (like Michael Giacchino) and on the floor, signing autographs. And speaking of the floor... well, I'm already salivating at the thought of all that movie memorabilia and old comic books waiting to deplete my wallet! Have a great time at the Con.
Jul 20, 2010
The biggest DVD release this week is once again across the pond, where Network unleashes the truly bizarre surreal Sixties spy series The Corridor People. No, I had never heard of it either prior to Network's announcement about this release a couple of months ago! I can now assure you, though, that this one is definitely worth picking up for Sixties culture buffs. It's very, very weird—and not just in the ways you expect a typical Sixties spy series to be weird. This is very intelligent, challenging television, wrapped up in the tropes of an espionage show. Fans of The Prisoner are likely to appreciate it. Read my full review below (and check out a clip) to get a better sense of whether or not this weirdness is for you. The Corridor People: The Complete Series is a PAL Region 2 DVD containing all four black-and-white episodes. That's right: only four of them. (Clearly, the viewing public was not ready for this level of weirdness, even in 1966!) It's available as a Network exclusive directly from the company's website. Retail is £12.99, but right now it can be had for just £10.99.
There's also a new version, courtesy of Lionsgate, of the 1981 Jean-Paul Belmondo spy/revenge classic The Professional, in which Belmondo is deployed by the French Secret Service to assassinate an African dictator only to be sacrificed by his masters when the dictator is deemed more useful alive. This was previously available in the United States on a long out-of-print and poor quality DVD from Image. I haven't seen Lionsgate's version yet so I can't comment on its transfer, but it is at least widescreen (1.66:1). The only extra is a trailer.
DVD Review: The Corridor People: The Complete Series (1966)
Huh-wuh? The Corridor People is truly the strangest British show I’ve seen from the Sixties–spy or otherwise. And Sixties Britain produced some strange shows. I didn’t glean too much from Network’s publicity for their DVD release of the series, which resorted to describing the characters rather than the show’s premise. I thought that was odd, but now I can see why they did that. The premise, if there really is one, would be very difficult to describe; the eccentric characters much easier. I also thought it odd that I couldn’t tell from their copy who was the hero or heroes of the show, and I’m not much clearer on that after watching every episode. (All four of them!) There is one character who more or less emerges as the closest thing the series has to a hero, but that definitely isn’t clear in the first two episodes. So what else did Network offer? A comparison to The Avengers (that certainly intrigued me) and an unattributed quote calling The Corridor People “akin to a lost Harold Pinter play with an added dash of Monthy Python.” The Avengers comparison didn’t prove very apt, and the quote smacked of hyperbole to me, but in retrospect, I have to concede that it’s actually the best description of the show I can think of, too–although the pendulum swings much closer to Pinter than Python.
Imagine if “Fallout” had been the first episode of The Prisoner instead of the last. How confused would audiences have been then? That’s essentially the case with The Corridor Peopole. I would put its premiere episode, “Victim as Birdwatcher” on par with The Prisoner’s finale in terms of sheer strangeness, if not artistic quality. Let me attempt to set the scene. There’s a secret branch of British Intelligence called Department K, or, later, K Department. It’s sort of like the nebulous Ministry that John Steed sometimes reports to crossed with The Section for which David Callan works. It handles cases with the oddness that The Avengers encounter, and deals with them with the ruthlessness required of Callan. A wily, overweight old spymaster named Kronk (John Sharp) is in charge of Department K and he spends most of his time behind a desk. At first, it appears that he is the closest thing the show has to a hero, but his morals prove far too compromised for that to be the case. At Kronk’s disposal are a pair of trenchcoated, comic relief policemen named Inspector Blood and Sergeant Hound, who regularly enter and exit in unison as if they’re part of some vaudeville routine, and Miss Dunner, an older, unassuming, Susan Boyle-like personage who at first appears to be an administrative assistant, but proves instead to be Department K’s Toby Meres: a ruthless and at least partially psychotic assassin who takes far too much pleasure in her work. So there I’ve gone and fallen into the same trap that Network did; I’m just describing characters. What do they do?
In the first episode, an innocent young man with a passion for birdwatching is abducted by the Persian millionairess-cum-villainess Syrie Van Epp (she collected the surname from a late Dutch husband). Syrie, played in greasy skin-darkening make-up by British actress Elizabeth Shepherd, whose strongest claim to spy fame is for a role she didn't play (she was originally cast as Emma Peel before being replaced by Diana Rigg), may be the closest thing The Corridor People has to a main character, but she is certainly not a heroine. In “Victim as Birdwatcher,” she is a pure villain, although in other episodes she occasionally proves perhaps a tad more morally responsible than Kronk–or at least on equal footing. Syrie favors white Lawrence of Arabia garb when she goes out (complete with goggles), but is also known to wear haute couture getups like a sheer black dress with a sequined bra on the outside, or–in more intimate settings–a large gold sheet with a hole in the middle for her head. Her interest in the hapless birdwatcher stems from his claim to a single crucial share in a cosmetics company that has accidentally hit upon a formula for a potentially deadly fragrance. Naturally, Kronk prefers that the British government gain control of that formula, though it’s by no means clear that it would actually be in better hands. As for Syrie’s methods, well, a British agent puts it best when she says she’s "a horder" and he wryly replies,“There’s a syllable too many."
Also mixed up in all this is a Bogart-worshiping private eye (and sometime British agent–or double agent) named Scrotty, played by Gary Cockrell. I’m not certain whether he’s supposed to actually be American or merely supposed to be putting on the accent out of his love for Bogie, but in either case Cockrell’s accent is particularly impressive for British television, which traditionally thrives on terrible American accents. Cockrell (who actually bears a slight resemblance to Sean Connery) is a very appealing actor, too, and his charisma helps the character overcome the same loose morals as everyone else on this show to really emerge in the end as the closest thing it has to a conscience.
So there’s the basic set-up of a traditional hour of British spy television there. The killer fragrance plot is the sort of thing you might come across on The Avengers, or any number of ITC shows. But there all similarities end. The Corridor People is not particularly concerned with plot. What there is of one in any given episode (and in attempting to make it relatively succinct, I’ve actually made it seem far more coherent than it really is) is merely a peg on which writer Edward Boyd and director David Boisseau drape existential musings (often delivered as monologues directly at the camera, interrupting whatever there is of a plot and breaking the 4th Wall), biting social satire and copious theatrical surrealism. Between the monologues, the themes, and the intentionally sparse sets (Boisseau makes the most of his evidently minuscule budget with minimalist sets that suit the series' style: when Syrie exits Kronk’s office through a freestanding door, for example, she then turns and walks out through the back of the same set, clearly visible behind him–and just adding to the weirdness), The Corridor People plays much closer to theater than television. Specifically Theater of the Absurd, owing debts to Ionesco, Beckett and even Satre as well as Pinter. Perhaps it isn’t surprising, then, when viewed in that light (although it is when you’re watching it!) that in its third act “Victim as Birdwatcher” suddenly abandons all pretext of spy television and becomes a play.
At its close (which must have baffled viewers used to seeing Simon Templar round up all the bad guys at the end each week's adventure with some feat of derring-do), one character is put before a tribunal of old, white (natch) members of the British establishment. The accused is placed on a pedestal (literally) and stares straight ahead; his accusers also stare–in different directions–and don't make eye contact with him or each other. All of this unfolds against an entirely black background with very stage-like lighting, so that only the actors pop out. They then deliver their verdict in the form of a poem, each one reciting a verse from Sir Walter Scott’s “Breathes there a man...” concluding–appropriately but also perplexingly–by condemning the accused “To the vile dust from whence he sprung/unwept, unhonored, and unsung.” Which amounts to his execution at the hands of Miss Dunner, the Susan Boyle-like “specialist.”
Many characters die in the brief span of these four episodes, some shockingly and permanently, others only to be revived. Yes, again dipping its toes into Avengers sort of waters before darting off in a completely different direction, the second episode, “Victim as Whitebait,” deals with the reanimation of the dead. This is not, by the way, treated as anything particularly unusual, but taken in stride.
The show is surprisingly serial for its era, when most others (in this genre, anyway) were purely episodic. It’s Syrie Van Epp who’s dabbling in the reanimation business, in league with a mad scientist and a squeaky-voiced midget named Nonesuch. In an early scene typical of The Corridor People as a whole, Nonesuch runs around chanting things, then puts on a Kabuki mask as the drunk mad scientist pleads with him to bring the dead back to life. Eventually the midget pours alcohol all over the grateful scientist’s face. And that’s just the way things are. In addition to direct address and weird interstitials, the dialogue is laced with non-sequiturs like:
“Can’t you remember anything about him?”
“Something to do with fish.”
Syrie’s motley crew is under constant observation from an ever-present Swedish film director who’s “attached himself to the Van Epp outfit for the purposes of studying the darker manifestations of the human soul.” (Miss Dunner’s orders regarding him are, “Leave him alone.”) As the gang ponders the problem that “one of the bodies escaped,” Kronk’s rain-coated coppers worry about being replaced by a computer. (“Not until they make a computer that can plant bricks in pockets!” they happily conclude.) No scene ever ends quite how you expect it to. Hysterical that someone she killed now appears to be back to life, Miss Dunner tries to resign, and Kronk lures her back by enticing her, “Have you ever shot a midget?”
The midget in question (“He’s very, very dangerous. Watch out for him.”) is prone to tantrums. He also, at one point, puts on a false nose for no apparent reason while carefully enunciatinging the word “perambulator.” And, yes, the midget ends up inside said perambulator. (Of course he does! Check out the clip at the bottom to see for yourself.) That leads to the curious visual of a nursemaid (really Syrie) pushing a stroller with smoke coming out of it, as the murderous Nonesuch (in a bonnet, naturally) puffs away at a cigar like a proto-Baby Herman, waiting to shoot someone from the safety of his baby carriage canopy.
The Corridor People isn’t always weird, though. It can be fairly realistic for a while, as when the murderous midget and his henchman track down a target and threaten him, and then suddenly turn very un-realistic on a dime, as when the policemen show up there, flank the guy, do a choreographed about face and the three of them march out together as if they were part of a vaudeville act. To describe it might make the tone sound wildly uneven, but it all somehow works. Vaudeville, arguably the broadest possible form of comedy, is mixed with the most cynical black humor. The gleeful anarchy of it all actually reminds me a bit of The Young Ones. One character, a former corpse now reanimated to a life and a wife that don’t want him, sits down on a park bench next to a stranger and begins a lengthy lament with, “Where did I go wrong? Was there a point where I made the wrong choice? Is there such a thing as choice?”
As soon as he finishes his soliloquy on an upbeat note with a resolution to change his ways, he falls victim to the gleeful, murderous midget, who shoots him and then cackles maniacally and runs off.
It’s still sounding sort of Avengersy, I guess, but that’s not right. The Avengers always had a plot, and even The Avengers, frankly, wasn’t this weird. The Corridor People is much more Twin Peaks weird–or Wild Palms weird–than Avengers weird. Nothing on this show stays remotely normal for long. A fairly normal conversation between Scrotty and Syrie, for instance (well, other than the fact that she starts riding a rocking horse while smoking in the middle of the conversation), takes a turn for the strange when they both put on giant oversized Punch and Judy masks for no discernable reason (well, no narratively-driven one, anyway) and then stare together into the camera with these blank-faced, expressionless masks.
The third episode, "Victim as Red," proves to be the most straightforward plotwise (in that it actually has one) and, as such, also proves the least interesting. It is a pretty classic spy plot, though; but that doesn’t quite cut it after where we’ve already been with this series. It concerns one Colonel Lemming, who went missing seven years ago. He was widely believed to have defected with missile secrets, and even reported seen in Moscow. His brother hires Scrotty to find him at the same time that Kronk sniffs the case at the same time that the Colonel randomly ends up crossing paths with Syrie. Keeping things on the somewhat strange side, there’s still room for an even longer vaudeville routine involving both policemen and Scrotty, who manages to keep it up throughout his ensuing briefing with Kronk. (That makes for an odd briefing.) Syrie also proves herself to be a kindred spirit with another more famous criminal antihero still a few years away from his screen debut when she and Scrotty indulge in a little Diabolik-style hanky panky on a big rotating bed covered in cash.
The final episode, “Victim as Black,” is the most interesting–and best–of the bunch, with the social commentary reaching particularly acerbic new levels in a story that explores themes of race and fairy tales. Just as a well-dressed African named Theobald Aboo (a smooth-talking Calvin Lockheart, whose long and varied career actually encompassed Twin Peaks near its end) turns up to consult him, Scrotty is approached and carried off by two Teutonic body builder types who identify themselves as “The Brothers Grimm” and speak in Germanic accents. Fortunately, Aboo is patient. “We Africans have learned to be patient,” he explains, helping to remind modern viewers that Colonialism wasn't such a distant memory back in the Sixties. Coincidentally (you'll notice a lot of coincidence in The Corridor People, and this episode actually explores that), the Brothers Grimm take Scrotty to someone else who hires Scrotty to find the very same beautiful black girl that Aboo was going to ask him to locate, Pearl. The someone in question is King Ferdinand of Morphania (“Population about 5000. It’s climate is reckoned the worst in Europe. Its agriculture’s primitive, its industry nil. Its inhabitants exist mainly on food parcels. It has no culture, no politics, none of the most rudimentary religious beliefs.”) The king gives Scrotty a shoe belonging to the girl, whom he saw briefly in a club and wants to make his queen.
There’s more direct address in this episode than any other, with pretty much every character–new or recurring–getting an opportunity to share his or her thoughts with the audience. Pearl herself remains removed from the other characters, and only delivers her lines directly to us, the audience. It’s a very theatrical part, and actress Nina Baden-Semper (who later turned up on Callan) does an excellent job building a plausible character we can actually care about through these monologues.
Syrie is also involved, of course, since she’s always involved in everything, and Kronk tries to make sense of all the coincidences that are going on with a weird machine on his desk that looks sort of like a dead metal plant with lightbulbs on the ends of all its branches. He barks at it, “Acknowledge!” at the end of each of his agents’ reports, and its lights all flash and it makes a sort of burping sound, digesting the information. The computer’s job is to find a pattern in all the chaotic information being fed into it. (Though you wouldn’t glean that from the control panel, whose buttons read “On, Off, Vol, Tern, Untern.”) After come clucking sounds while it processes all of this data, the machine suddenly starts enunciating like Noel Coward in a refined yet catty English accent. “The mere thought of the place,” it begins, talking about Morphania, “makes one want to cower like a wild thing or indulge in a passionate fit of weeping.” That’s one emotional computer! The erudite machine appears to unravel the whole sinister plot behind these random goings on and explains it in an apocalyptic monologue about race war and fear. All of the random events do indeed fall into place, according to the machine: Aboo is behind a plot to ensnare King Ferdinand with a black seductress for a Queen. His horrifying goal (to the white Europeans listening)? To establish a black foothold in Europe from which to wage war on the white population! “Keep Morphania white!” it pleads, as near to tears as a machine that looks like a dead plant can get. “At any cost Keep Morphania white! Keep Cinderella white!” Who would have guessed such an innocuous looking apparatus would prove so racist?
Of course, it’s not the machine that’s racist, really, but those who programmed it. Syrie follows its ranting with a monologue of her own (in front of a peacock with its tail feathers spread–and dressed as one, herself), providing another, entirely more plausible explanation for events. “There are no patterns,” she states, in opposition to the machine. “Only madmen and gamblers believe in patterns.” The king was just as he appeared: a lovesick fool. Aboo merely wanted to locate the sister of a friend. There was no conspiracy. “A pattern was made: of hatred and prejudice and fear and suspicion. It was fed into a machine. And the machine gave back what it was supposed to give.” Not only did it give it back; its misinterpretation is immediately acted on–with tragic results.
“There are no mad like the sane mad,” Syrie concludes, segueing into a drugged Scrotty’s delirious rants. “Time is the width of a street divided by the speed of a bullet, what we all have the least of. A child’s long summer day, an old man’s breath in winter,” he mumbles. “Honesty is not the best policy. It’s just being retarded. Charity is a name for debutantes. Faith a synonym for failure. And hope, hope... somewhere, someone’s waiting to betray you ”
Cut to Kronk picking up his phone and barking, “Duty assassin I have a job for you.”
Aboo gets his own monologue, too, against a stark black background. And he proves to be just as racist as the English establishment characters, decrying mixed marriages. (From which he wished to "save" his friend's sister.) The king then monologues about everything the English have promised him to keep his country from becoming a black kingdom, including his own bomb and a doomsday device and a whole new vocabulary. And, in the end, the only innocent character of the batch ends up staring into the pistol of the duty assassin.
The Corridor People is a bleak, bleak show, despite its mod style. To merely look at it, you might easily lump it into a category with The Avengers or other mod television of the era, but to hear it, you can’t help but recognize a larger grim agenda. This crazy world of Kabuki masks and little men in perambulators is our own world, and there is no hope for it. The series takes on all the hot topics of its day, from gender to race to Cold War politics. Like the machine, it finds a pattern, and the pattern is chaos. In the beginning, there was no clear hero, just a clear villain. By the end, that villain seems like the sanest person, because she at least remains true to her ideals. “I have only one commitment to anything,” she informs us. “To money. But that commitment is total.”
Ultimately, The Corridor People is sort of like The Avengers meets Callan, if that’s possible: the light surrealism of the former mixed with the dark themes of the latter: innocents destroyed by espionage and governments and politics and hate. Add to that a heavy dosage of Pinter. It makes for an odd but compelling combination–and equally compelling television. This is a real curiosity that Network has unearthed. I would have loved to see some extras on such a strange program–some interviews or commentaries or something. But I suppose it’s a small wonder that all four episodes of this short-lived series even survive, and that Network has seen fit to make them available for rediscovery on DVD. (Right now, The Corridor People is a PAL Region 2 web exclusive, available through Network's website for £10.99.)
The Corridor People is not for everyone. It’s weird, and it’s not fast-paced weird, either. It starts out like a fever dream, and you’ll be scratching your head wondering what on earth you’re watching. But by the end, it proves itself to be a fascinating art project in the guise of a Sixties spy series. This is something special–and I’m already keen to watch it all again.
Network has provided a clip that fairly accurately conveys the general weirdness:
Jul 19, 2010
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Simon Pegg is set to reprise his Q-like (or, given the involvement of producer J.J. Abrams, perhaps it's more accurate to say Marshall-like) role as Benji Dunn in the Brad Bird-directed Mission: Impossible 4. The trade reports that, "although not officially greenlighted, the movie is tracking for an early-Sepetmber start, and Bird was reading actors last week." Tom Cruise is set to reprise his role as IMF super-agent Ethan Hunt, although the size of that role has been the subject of keen debate over the last few weeks, since Cruise's latest spy movie, Knight and Day (review here), opened poorly in the US. (It does seem to be performing better overseas; it took the top spot at the Australian box office this past weekend.) The casting of Pegg marks the first character confirmed to recur from the Abrams-directed Mission: Impossible 3, which was probably the film series' best entry to date. (I would love to see the other surviving members of Abrams' IMF team return as well, possibly boosted to larger roles. They showed hints of fulfilling the team formula that drove the original TV series, but which the movies up until that point had steadfastly ignored in favor of a one-man, Bond-like formula instead.) Pegg also worked with Abrams on his last film, playing Scotty in 2009's Star Trek.
Jul 16, 2010
TV Review: Covert Affairs
Judging from the pilot, USA has another winning spy series in their line-up–a worthy stable mate for Burn Notice. I really enjoyed the first episode of Covert Affairs. There’s a lot of Alias in it–and a dash of Sex and the City for the ladies, in the form of name-dropping high end fashion and shoe brands–but Covert Affairs’ unique contribution to the genre is that it begins at the beginning, on rookie agent Annie Walker’s (The Prestige's Piper Perabo) first day on the job. We get a brief taste of her training on the CIA’s famous “farm,” but then she’s pulled out early for mysterious reasons and put straight on the job. This way, the audience is introduced to the CIA the same way as Annie. She’s got first day jitters, and messes up matters of basic routine, like trying (and failing) to pass through the turnstyles before she’s gotten her access badge. She meets an intimidating new boss, engages in exploratory flirtations with co-workers, tries to find her (Louboutin-clad) footing in an unfamiliar and intimidating environment–all the trials and tribulations of starting a new job that any viewer can relate to, only moreso, because she’s working at the CIA!
I’ve always responded to the “workplace drama” (or, in this case, “dramady”) side of the spy genre. Many of my favorite genre entries focus as much on office politics and the hurdles of petty bureaucracy as they do on the formalities of espionage: The Sandbaggers, Queen and Country and the entire oeuvre of John Le Carré, to name but a few. I think the secret of Le Carré’s popularity, in fact, is that he hit upon a unique way to make workplace drama and office politics exciting. Everyone in the world can relate to the machinations of nefarious co-workers, but they’d be boring to read about if the stakes weren’t as high as the very fate of the nation. Covert Affairs is much, much lighter fare than Le Carré, but taps into that same vein of spy story as workplace dramady.
Even the requisite office entanglements of a workplace dramadey that can easily go so wrong (see: 24) are handled well in the pilot. I was amused and engrossed by the rocky and competitive relationship between two married CIA officers and rival department heads, Joan (Kari Matchett) and Arthur (the great Peter Gallagher) Campbell. She’s convinced that he’s cheating on her and uses Agency resources in an attempt to prove it, but the talented actors play that in a believable and humorous way, so it doesn’t stretch credulity the way that everybody sleeping with everybody else does at CTU. In fact, the writing is quite clever when Arthur calls Joan on her dubious tactics:
“You’re using valuable Agency resources to track me.”
“That’s not a denial.”
“Why can’t you be a good CIA wife and just trust me?”
“Because I’m not a CIA wife. I’m a wife who works for the CIA.”
Joan: You know, some operatives go an entire career without seeing a bullet fired.
Annie: Is that supposed to make me feel better?
Joan: It’s supposed to make you realize this is unusual.
We’ll see just how unusual such occurrences prove to be in subsequent episodes, but I’m guessing they happen at least weekly. And I wouldn’t have it any other way, of course. After all, I do want escapist action from my spy TV as well as relatable office intrigue!
When it comes, that action is generally well-handled. The scene in which the sniper shoots up a hotel room–with Annie in it–is visceral enough to belie the show’s Bourne pedigree (again through Liman), and a car chase is excitingly shot as well. (During it, however, Annie mutters things to herself like, “D.E.C. Method: Determine, Evade, Counterpursuit,” which kind of made me long for Michael Westen’s voiceovers instead–a much better delivery mechanism for such tradecraft secrets.) A skydiving sequence amidst which the opening titles unfold is particularly breathtaking, with aerial footage as good as any I’ve ever seen on TV.
Perhaps owing to the current incarnation of 007 himself, the same trendsetter who made gadgets ubiquitous in all spy series for decades, there are no gadgets present in Covert Affairs’ pilot (and no Q or Marshall character), but Annie’s blessed with Jason Bourne’s talent for improvising, and using everyday objects to her advantage. She uses her compact against the sniper, and it’s not the kind of compact that doubles as a transmitter or anything. She also uses a Listerine breath strip to trick a thumbprint reader, and then sticks it in her mouth, which struck me as being more gross than cool. (You know how many people must stick their germy thumbs on that thing every day? Never mind that this particular facility was a morgue!) And she even manages to find a spy use for those Louboutin platforms that are so frequently mentioned by name and focused on. (This show has all the product placement we expect of our spy entertainment: Starbucks, Opentable.com, BMW and all those brand name fashions and fragrances.) Yes, Annie’s a pretty capable gal, and she even finds a use for her language skills that were ostensibly the reason she was pulled out of training and activated early. I do wish that the linguistic “clue” she picks up on that advances the spy plot in the 3rd Act had been more clever, though. The one they use smacks of the sort of lazy writing you might be able to get away with in the middle of the second season, but not in your pilot! I’ll give it a pass, though, since it was embedded amidst so much commendable material.
Also commendable is the topical plot device of Russians carrying out assassinations of their own on foreign soil, Litvinenko-style (although like most modern spy shows, they seem to mix up the Russian intelligence services FSB and the SVD). I like that, and the pilot gives every indication that we’ll continue to see topical, ripped-from-the-headlines sorts of spy plots rather than shadowy cabals in pursuit of mystical artifacts, further differentiating this series from Alias.
Jul 15, 2010
Speaking of Robert Vaughn, his other spy-ish series is headed back to DVD. Network has announced The Protectors: The Complete Series for release in the UK on August 9. I really enjoy The Protectors (particularly the second season, which is far superior to the first one), but I'd be hard-pressed to actually describe the premise. So I'll let Network handle that one:
Each of the world’s major cities has its best detective agency, and each of these has its best agents; super-agents like The Protectors. The most sensitive, baffling, dangerous assignments are handled by this trio of adventurers with no equal among private eyes. In their nerve-tingling assignments, they function as a highly trained team, but they know that the next mission might mean death – and they live as if each moment were their last. Robert Vaughn stars as Harry Rule, the suave American who leads their operations and works from a London office; Nyree Dawn Porter is the elegant, Rome-based Contessa di Contini, and Tony Anholt is Paul Buchet, a French agent operating out of a Paris apartment.
Okay, so that's the set-up? Hm, I'm not sure the series itself, which aired from 1972-1974, ever made it totally clear. (In fact, I always thought they all worked for Harry Rule's detective agency, not separate ones.) But that doesn't matter, because what it really amounts to (like just about any ITC series) is cool people (well, a cool boss, anyway, and a fairly attractive woman and a pretty useless "third guy" who's basically just a clothes horse for wonderfully horrible Seventies fashions–you know, par for the course!) travelling to exotic locations solving crimes and spying and fighting drug dealers and fencing frogmen and whatnot. The very impressive actual location filming gives it the edge over many of ITC's more studio-bound series, and the music and theme song are incredible. It's kind of tough to jam a wholly satisfying adventure plot into just a half an hour (or at least it was by this point; for some reason that art was lost after the original Danger Man series did it so well–and has yet to be rediscovered), but those stylistic elements overcome that minor fault. The Protectors is very much style over substance, and that's fine by me. Unlike most other live-action ITC adventure series, this one comes from the puppet-addled mind of the great Gerry Anderson, for once dabbling outside the realm of science fiction. (And there are no puppets on The Protectors!)
Since they've offered the superb soundtrack to the series (arguably its best feature, and possibly the best of all the ITC soundtracks yet available) for a year now I was actually surprised to realize that Network hadn't already issued The Protectors on DVD! But they hadn't. It was previously issued in the format (with a much less cool cover) by ITV Studios back in 2002, but has been long out of print in Britain. In America, it's still available from A&E in two volumes (much, much cheaper used on Amazon than new!), and the first season is also included in their wonderful ITC sampler, The Spy Collection Megaset (also cheaper used). Network's new release–sporting a cover stylish enough to befit this stylish show–is a 7-disc set containing all 52 half-hour episodes. Bonus materials are limited to PDF material (original brochure and press information) and a very extensive stills gallery. It will be available on August 9 and retail for £59.99, but can currently be pre-ordered through Network's website for just £38.99.
Amazon is offering The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Complete Series for less than half price as their Deal of the Day today! Today's price is just $85.49 for the complete series–57% off the list price of $199.92 and half of what it was yesterday–the regular Amazon price of $170.99. But if you're missing this crucial piece of any complete spy collection, and have been patiently waiting for the price to drop this low, you better strike quickly! This offer is good only today, July 15. Tomorrow it will be regular price again. And, yes, what we're talking about here is the awesome attache case-shaped box originally offered as an even costlier Time-Life exclusive, containing all four seasons of the seminal Robert Vaughn/David McCallum series along with copious, copious extras. It's a really good set. Get it, and watch it before the dubious Hollywood movie version comes out! Hurry!
Jul 14, 2010
Today's Hollywood Reporter contains a story that's been picked up by various wire services and duly blown way out of proportion, considering it's nothing but speculation. Despite the misleading title "Cruise a lock for M:I-4," the Reporter's Kim Masters suggests precisely the opposite, reiterating the notion first floated a few weeks ago that "the studio also is monitoring the overseas performance of Cruise's latest film, Knight and Day, to see whether the star retains his longtime hold over foreign audiences. If that film should gross less than $200 million overseas, some industry observers think Paramount will consider recasting the Ethan Hunt role." Never minding the fact that all the sources in the story are "some industry observers" or "a former studio chief" or "one executive not associated with the project," that last statement is frankly inane. Is Paramount really considering recasting the Ethan Hunt role??? I sure hope not. I really hope that that is merely Masters' own interpretation of a general notion of switching stars.
To recast the Ethan Hunt part would be just plain dumb. The beauty of the Mission: Impossible franchise as it currently stands is that it's not dependent on any one character! The first feature film demonstrated that quite jarringly when it unceremoniously turned the closest thing the television franchise had ever had to a main character, Jim Phelps, into a traitor–and then killed him off. Cruise's character, Ethan Hunt, had slummed in the lead role for the three blockbuster films so far, but the franchise is in no way dependent on him. All it's really ever boiled down to in its film incarnation is a recognizable title, an even more recognizable theme tune, and the catchphrase, "Your mission, should you choose to accept it..." Keep those things intact, and you can put whoever you want in the lead role! And if you must perpetuate an existing character, then don't make it that flash-in-the-pan Ethan Hunt; do one of those "reboots" that are so fashionable these days and just make it a young Jim Phelps who never turned traitor! (You could even work in Dan Briggs as a mentor figure, ala M:I producer J.J. Abrams' take on Christopher Pike in his Star Trek movie.)
The former studio chief who's quoted has the right idea: "Mission: Impossible is a brand," he says. "It didn't have anything to do with Tom Cruise in the beginning." Correct! That person gets it! Masters, however, seems to misinterpret what's being said, immediately going back to the idea of recasting the character of Ethan Hunt and citing James Bond as precedent. The difference, of course, is that in the case of 007, the character is the franchise. Not so with Mission: Impossible.
According to Masters, the same executive "suggested that Paramount might not face any downside in recasting the role in M:I-4, at least not domestically." Forgetting that "recasting the role" part and assuming the source actually meant bringing in a new actor as a new lead character, that's probably true. It's my belief that the appeal of the M:I franchise (at least now, with Cruise's star somewhat fading) has more to do with the brand and those key identifiable elements I already mentioned than with the star. That said, I would like to see them at least give the Hunt character some sort of closure, since we have spent three films with him. Personally, I think they should go with Cruise one more time, but bring in a younger protege who can take over the franchise in future films, as was previously mooted.
But much more than I care about seeing Cruise in the picture, I want to see Leonard Nimoy in it! Or Martin Landau. I'm still gutted that the great Peter Graves didn't live long enough for a redemptive cameo in the next film, as Abrams had suggested might happen last fall, but one of the other original cast members could still put in an appearance to smooth over that horrible bit of continuity, explaining that the Phelps who betrayed Tom Cruise was not the original Jim Phelps they worked with, but merely another agent who had adopted his name.
The good news, anyway, is that the studio seems adamant about making another Mission: Impossible, no matter who stars.
Tradecraft: Christopher Nolan Wants To Direct James Bond
Christopher Nolan continues enthusing about his love of Bond films and declaring their influence on his latest movie, Inception (which kind of looks like it will be the best movie ever), as he promotes that film–and now, according to Deadline, he's finally come out and stated point-blank (to the BBC), "I'd love to do a Bond film." Well, Christopher, I, for one, would love to see you do a Bond film! As, I'm sure, would many others. As I've said before, Nolan's Batman films are so clearly influenced by Bond (largely the Roger Moore era in scope, if not tone), as, apparently, is Inception; it's clear that he really does love 007.
But would producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli ever hire him? For decades, the EON mandate was to steer away from auteur directors who might shanghai the franchise from the very protective producers. This policy cost such titans as Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorcese Bond directing gigs, despite their enthusiasm for the job. But in recent years, EON has gone a different direction. Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster certainly isn't in a league with Tarantino or Nolan, but he is more of a maverick director with a very personal style than most who have helmed Bond. As is American Beauty auteur Sam Mendes, who is still slated to direct the next picture in the series, despite delays due to MGM's financial woes. So does Nolan stand a chance? I sure hope so. Probably not much of one, but perhaps a tad more than Spielberg or Tarantino ever did, I would hazard. (One scenario that might increase his odds would be if Warner Bros., a longshot contendor in the MGM sweepstakes, ends up buying out the beleaguered studio and acquiring a 50% stake in the Bond franchise. Due to their longterm relationship with Nolan, who has made them billions of dollars, it's possible that they could encourage the producers–who would have final say–in his direction.)
Anyway, getting back to Inception, Nolan furthers his case by speaking very passionately about 007 in regards to his creative process. "The Bond influence on the film was very intentional because, for me, growing up with the Bond films - they've always stood for grand-scale action.... In dealing with the human mind and dreams, my mind naturally gravitates towards the Bond films as that sort of expression of cinematic potential." Hearing that makes me love Christopher Nolan. Unsurprisingly, my mind also gravitates toward the Bond films in dreams!
Christopher Nolan continues enthusing about his love of Bond films and declaring their influence on his latest movie, Inception (which kind of looks like it will be the best movie ever), as he promotes that film–and now, according to Deadline, he's finally come out and stated point-blank (to the BBC), "I'd love to do a Bond film." Well, Christopher, I, for one, would love to see you do a Bond film! As, I'm sure, would many others. As I've said before, Nolan's Batman films are so clearly influenced by Bond (largely the Roger Moore era in scope, if not tone), as, apparently, is Inception; it's clear that he really does love 007.
But would producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli ever hire him? For decades, the EON mandate was to steer away from auteur directors who might shanghai the franchise from the very protective producers. This policy cost such titans as Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorcese Bond directing gigs, despite their enthusiasm for the job. But in recent years, EON has gone a different direction. Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster certainly isn't in a league with Tarantino or Nolan, but he is more of a maverick director with a very personal style than most who have helmed Bond. As is American Beauty auteur Sam Mendes, who is still slated to direct the next picture in the series, despite delays due to MGM's financial woes. So does Nolan stand a chance? I sure hope so. Probably not much of one, but perhaps a tad more than Spielberg or Tarantino ever did, I would hazard. (One scenario that might increase his odds would be if Warner Bros., a longshot contendor in the MGM sweepstakes, ends up buying out the beleaguered studio and acquiring a 50% stake in the Bond franchise. Due to their longterm relationship with Nolan, who has made them billions of dollars, it's possible that they could encourage the producers–who would have final say–in his direction.)
Anyway, getting back to Inception, Nolan furthers his case by speaking very passionately about 007 in regards to his creative process. "The Bond influence on the film was very intentional because, for me, growing up with the Bond films - they've always stood for grand-scale action.... In dealing with the human mind and dreams, my mind naturally gravitates towards the Bond films as that sort of expression of cinematic potential." Hearing that makes me love Christopher Nolan. Unsurprisingly, my mind also gravitates toward the Bond films in dreams!
New Spy DVDs Out This Week And Last: Emma Peel Remastered, George Raft Vs. Nazis
On the homefront, meanwhile, we have a new Warner Archive title ofnote this week: Background to Danger, starring George Raft and Sydney Greenstreet. I've never seen this rare Turkish-set wartime spy thriller (based on a novel by Eric Ambler), but here's Waners' description:
The latest Avengers Special Edition release from UK company Optimum came out last week: The Avengers: The Complete Series 4. (It's only the third set, though, because only two and a half episodes survive from the first series, and they were included with Series 2.) Anyway, Series 4 (or Season 4, as we say in the US) is the first Diana Rigg season, introducing the leather-clad character of Emma Peel. For many, this is the beginning of the definitive era of The Avengers. (I'm a Rigg nut, but I actually love every era of the show.) These releases are amazing. I could only conclude that from afar until recently, by reading about the mouthwatering extras, but I just finally picked up the first set (Series 2) this week, and I can now confirm that they are, indeed, amazing. The remastered episodes look far better than they ever have before, and are a definite improvement over the now out-of-print A&E versions that were available in America. (I'm praying that some US company picks up the license and makes a deal with Optimum to port over their transfers and extras so that all Region 1 Avengers fans can enjoy this stuff!) But even better than the vastly improved picture quality is the copious extras. Foremost among them on The Complete Series 4 is an early Rigg performance on Armchair Theatre–supposedly the role that got her the Avengers gig. Now that we've finally got her episode of The Sentimental Agent on Network's release of that series, the inclusion of "The Hothouse" from Armchair Theatre makes this a banner year for Rigg fans! (All we need now is the ITV Play of the Week "Women Beware Women" for a complete picture of Dame Diana's early, pre-Avengers television career.) However, that's only one of many, many special features (over six hours' worth!) on this set, including multiple audio commentaries (from the likes of Brian Clemens and Roger Marshall), an interview with the original Mrs. Peel, Elizabeth Shepherd (whose own strange show, The Corridor People, comes out from Network next week), alternate tag scenes, alternate credits sequences, various test footage, promotional pieces, trailers, newsreel footage, script PDFs and more of the Series 1 episode reconstructions that have been sprinkled throughout Optimum's output, giving fans an idea of what we're missing in the infamous wiped episodes. That's just an overview, though! For the full details, check out The Avengers Declassified. The site also has some amazing screen captures clearly comparing these new Optimum digital restorations with the murkier transfers on the old DVDs. You'll find the difference plainly visible! This 8-disc PAL Region 2 set containing all the black and white Emma Peel episodes retails for £59.99, but can currently be found on Amazon.co.uk for £42.99.
The studio that put Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca also sent fellow film tough guy George Raft to Ankara for a World War II thriller featuring intrigue, romance and Casablanca’s Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre. The danger starts when a beautiful brunette hands American Joe Barton (Raft) some securities for safekeeping. The brunette turns up dead, the securities turn out to be explosive intel and Joe is #1 on the Most Wanted list of both Nazi henchmen and Soviet spies. Director Raoul Walsh (High Sierra, White Heat) ratchets up the tension of a gripping screenplay by W. R. Burnett (High Sierra) based on a novel by Eric Ambler, whose other page-turner-to-screen works include Journey into Fear, The Mask of Dimitrios and Topkapi.Sounds great! As of now, Background to Danger is available exclusively from Warner Archive, although most Archive titles do turn up on Amazon and Deep Discount (which generally has the best prices) down the road.
Jul 13, 2010
Don't forget to tune in tonight to the debut of USA's new spy program that we've been hearing about for over a year now: Covert Affairs, starring Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham, Peter Gallagher and Kari Matchett (who made quite an impression on me in her recurring appearances on 24 and Leverage). There are plenty of reasons to sample the show. Reviews are all pretty favorable, including both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, who calls it "perfect summer television." It's produced by Doug Liman, whose spy resume is both impressive and eclectic, including The Bourne Identity, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and the upcoming Fair Game. USA has a pretty good track record with spy shows, too, and its Burn Notice is probably the best one on right now. It sounds awfully similar to Alias, but then I miss Alias and I'd welcome something to fill that void! And, damn it, I like that poster that's all over LA's busstops, even if it does seem overly reminiscent of some (specific) chick-lit/spy hybrid whose title I can't recall, and even if there are zippers on her pants (which I guess is a fashion thing now). I'm excited about Covert Affairs!
Covert Affairs airs Tuesdays at 10:00 EST on USA, starting tonight. The pilot runs an hour and fifteen minutes, so be mindful of that when setting your DVRs.
DVD Review: The Contract (1988)I’m a sucker for the “wall-crossing” sub-genre of spy stories, and a fan of 80s miniseries, so I was very much looking forward to The Contract, in which a British agent is tasked with contacting an East German missile scientist, convincing him to defect and then escorting him and his daughter across the border. Sadly, despite a game cast and good locations, I ended up a little bit let down. The main problem, I think, is that the story (adapted by Gerald Seymour from his own novel) could have been better told as a two-hour movie, and struggles to sustain the three-hour miniseries format. The result is two languidly paced episodes of build-up that feel padded leading to a gripping finale. The third episode is genuinely exciting spy entertainment (exciting enough to make me rather callously shoo my girlfriend out of the room when she dared to interrupt right at the climactic wall-crossing!), but I’m not sure I would have stuck around for it were I watching this on TV back in the 80s.
Jul 9, 2010
Is the new Johnny English movie a reboot? Deadline London reports that the title is now Johnny English Reborn. Of course, it still stars Rowan Atkinson as the bumbling secret agent, thank goodness. Could it be a parody of reboots? That I'd love to see! Anyway, the real news in the trade blog's story is that The X-Files' Gillian Anderson will go from FBI agent to MI7 agent (the branch of British Intelligence for which Johnny English works–just as 007 did in Dr. No), joining Atkinson in the previously announced sequel/reboot/whatever. Natalie Imbruglia played the first "English Girl."
Jul 8, 2010
Tradecraft: Denzel Shifts Spy Allegiances
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Denzel Washington will still be making a spy movie next, despite the fast that the Robert Ludlum adaptation he's long been attached to, The Matarese Circle, is caught in that same MGM Hell as James Bond. But he's switched sides. Instead of being a good guy like he would have been in Matarese, Washington will play a bad guy in Safe House, a project we first heard about in March when Universal snapped up David Guggenheim's spec script. According to the trade, his role will be that of a "dangerous prisoner being escorted through mencaing territory by a young CIA agent." The article offers this recap of the project's plot: "The storyline follows the only surviving agent of an attack on a CIA safe house as he tries to get a lethal prisoner to a second safe house before being taken out by violent forces that want them both dead." Daniel Espinosa (Snabba Cash) directs. Deadline adds that Star Trek's Chris Pine has supposedly tested for the part of the young agent, but it's unlikely that we'll see the pair reteam after this fall's Unstoppable. The Hollywood Reporter offers some hope for Ludlum fans, in that it still calls The Matarese Circle "on the actor's horizon," even if it's also "frozen amid the financial troubles of MGM" for now.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that Denzel Washington will still be making a spy movie next, despite the fast that the Robert Ludlum adaptation he's long been attached to, The Matarese Circle, is caught in that same MGM Hell as James Bond. But he's switched sides. Instead of being a good guy like he would have been in Matarese, Washington will play a bad guy in Safe House, a project we first heard about in March when Universal snapped up David Guggenheim's spec script. According to the trade, his role will be that of a "dangerous prisoner being escorted through mencaing territory by a young CIA agent." The article offers this recap of the project's plot: "The storyline follows the only surviving agent of an attack on a CIA safe house as he tries to get a lethal prisoner to a second safe house before being taken out by violent forces that want them both dead." Daniel Espinosa (Snabba Cash) directs. Deadline adds that Star Trek's Chris Pine has supposedly tested for the part of the young agent, but it's unlikely that we'll see the pair reteam after this fall's Unstoppable. The Hollywood Reporter offers some hope for Ludlum fans, in that it still calls The Matarese Circle "on the actor's horizon," even if it's also "frozen amid the financial troubles of MGM" for now.
Jul 7, 2010
Rare Steranko Nick Fury Comic Pages
The excellent art blog Golden Age Comic Book Stories has some Nick Fury artwork by the great Jim Steranko that I'd never seen before! In a post about art from convention programs of the Sixties and Seventies, there are two short comic strip stories from 1968 featuring Marvel's eyepatched superspy written by Phil Seuling and drawn by Steranko. Having appeared in convention programs and not in Marvel books, these are not included in any of Marvel's collections of Steranko Nick Fury stories. (There may be other reasons why they're not included, too.) The first one (below) features a frank conversation about the social mores that governed comic book content at the time–and a rather simian Nick Fury ogling a mini-skirted woman amidst Times Square topless joints. The second, a two-pager, features another conversation between Nick and his trench-coated friend, a particularly dynamic Steranko action pose and a whole bunch of characters owned by other companies that pretty much ensure this art will never appear in any Marvel collection. Go to Golden Age Comic Book Stories now to view it! (Just scroll down.)
The excellent art blog Golden Age Comic Book Stories has some Nick Fury artwork by the great Jim Steranko that I'd never seen before! In a post about art from convention programs of the Sixties and Seventies, there are two short comic strip stories from 1968 featuring Marvel's eyepatched superspy written by Phil Seuling and drawn by Steranko. Having appeared in convention programs and not in Marvel books, these are not included in any of Marvel's collections of Steranko Nick Fury stories. (There may be other reasons why they're not included, too.) The first one (below) features a frank conversation about the social mores that governed comic book content at the time–and a rather simian Nick Fury ogling a mini-skirted woman amidst Times Square topless joints. The second, a two-pager, features another conversation between Nick and his trench-coated friend, a particularly dynamic Steranko action pose and a whole bunch of characters owned by other companies that pretty much ensure this art will never appear in any Marvel collection. Go to Golden Age Comic Book Stories now to view it! (Just scroll down.)
Makes Comparisons To James Bond
While out doing press for Predators, which he produced, Robert Rodriguez has told various outlets (including Movieweb) that he plans to make his next film Spy Kids 4: Armageddon. He went into more detail on the project in an interview with Ain't It Cool, revealing that the new film would be a reboot. "It would be 10 years [since the first Spy Kids movie] when this next one comes out," the director told the website. "Getting to reboot your own series is pretty interesting. It’s pretty fun and it doesn’t feel like we are going back to the well again, and the idea is doing it again with new kids and making this one… The first three are the Roger Moore Bond movies; this is the Casino Royale. That’s kind of where are going with it. It’s good." I like the analogy, but I can't quite picture the Spy Kids films going that dark! It would be interesting though. Perhaps a bit more like Alex Rider? While the new movie will star new kids, Rodriguez goes on to reveal that original Spy Kid Alexa Vega, now nearly 22, will return in a mentor capacity. "She’s now an older spy," he says, "who wants to revitalize the Spy Kids division, which got shot down seven years ago for budget reasons."
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