Extras! 06 March 2014

Welcome to The Extras! A daily dose of all the smaller movie related news, clips and just plain cool stuff that you might have missed!

Are you one of the people spitting all over your keyboard in rage over the casting of Michael B. Jordan – a black guy – as Johnny Storm in the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot? Well, then Anthony Mackie has something to tell you: Fantastic Four is not real, so stop getting your tighty whities in a bunch.

“It’s crazy how much they [the fanboys] know, and if you deter from that, it’s like ‘Well, that’s not authentic.’ You know it’s not real. It’s made-up, so we can change it. ‘No, no, that’s not right. No, he’s real.’ Alright.”

“Michael B. Jordan is a very good friend of mine. I’ve known him since he was a teenager, and I’m so happy, for more than anybody else for him to be getting the accolades he’s getting, because he deserves it… I think with these type of movies, everything else aside, you need a good actor. Michael B. Jordan is a good actor, black or white. So what you have to realize is, and go back and forth and just say, ‘Superman can’t fly, Batman ain’t real, the Human Torch don’t really set himself on fire and fly around the room, so he can look like whatever they want him to look like.’ You just have to allow yourself to see him that way. And if you can’t do that, that says something about you.”

I don’t think I even need an excuse to post new footage from The Raid 2: Berandal anymore, so I’m not even going to bother coming up with anything witty over here, and you can just go ahead and click play on this new TV spot.

Looks like director Juan Antonio Bayona’s brains are safe for a little longer, though he will still have to deal with some monsters. The helmer of The Orphange and The Impossible was tapped last year to direct the sequel to World War Z next, but with that film still very, very early on production, he’s going to be putting it on the backburner for a bit while he tackles an adaptation of Patrick Ness’ upcoming novel A Monster Calls, the script of which – also penned by Ness – ended up on last year’s Black List.

The story has been described as a Pan’s Labyrinth-esque dark fantasy drama, which should be perfect for Bayona, and quite . Here’s the book’s synopsis:

At seven minutes past midnight, thirteen-year-old Conor wakes to find a monster outside his bedroom window. But it isn’t the monster Conor’s been expecting– he’s been expecting the one from his nightmare, the nightmare he’s had nearly every night since his mother started her cancer treatments. The monster in his backyard is different. It’s ancient. And wild. And it wants something from Conor. Something terrible and dangerous. It wants the truth.

Here’s the first pic of Jeremy Renner in upcoming conspiracy thriller Kill the Messenger, which adds more evidence to the claim that no movie investigation is complete without sticking some pins in a map. The movie tells the true story of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and CIA whistleblower Gary Webb, who uncovered a sprawling conspiracy within the CIA to use money made from international drug trade to provide Nicaraguan rebels with weapons.

And Anna Kendrick just keeps on being awesome. The internet’s girlfriend was asked by Vogue to be their special correspondent at the Oscars and give the scoop on all the behind the scenes stuff, as well all the pre- and post-Oscars parties. And of course, in typical Anna Kendrick fashion, she gives this rather awesome and often hilarious account (complete with cool pics) that includes picking a fight with Jason Statham.

Sing it with me now: “We’re movin’ on up (movin’ on up), to the Hollywood side…” Local director Jahmil X.T. Qubeka may have seen his serial killer film Of Good Report initially banned by South African censors right before its worldwide release, despite the film drawing numerous rave reviews on the international festival circuit, but that hasn’t stopped him from cracking into the big time. Qubeka will be making his big Hollywood directorial debut with Heaven Hath No Fury, a fantasy-tinged romantic comedy that follows “a New York playboy whose decision to break the wrong woman’s heart, knocks the world out of kilter, as men start to see the world through the eyes of women.”

So think What Women Want, but on a global scale and without any Mel Gibson leg waxing.

Poster of the day: New IMAX poster for Divergent

And now for something completely different. No, really, completely different. HBO have teamed with a number of hip-hop and reggaeton artists to create a new Game of Thrones mixtape titled “Catch the Throne”. The 10-song mixtape will feature the likes of Wale, Big Boi, Common, Daddy Yankee, Snow Tha Product, Bodega Bamz, Magazeen and more (no, I don’t know most of them either), and each song will sample music from the show and be based on story arcs and themes from the show’s first 3 seasons. HBO says that they want the Mixtape to “encourage and inspire listeners who may not have been immersed in the storylines to catch up on previous seasons of “Game of Thrones” using HBOGO.”

Okay, then.

“Catch the Throne: The Mixtape” will be launched during a special Game of Thrones event at the SXSW Film Festival this Friday, March 7, and the full collection of songs will be available to download for free on Soundcloud after that.

Looks like you all better start following Robert Rodriguez on Twitter as according to this image that the Sin City: A Dame to Kill For director has just released – which includes the first look at Jamie Chung as Miho (previously played by Devon Aoki) – he’s going to be unveiling the film’s first trailer in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

And no, regrettably, that is not a lightsaber.

Speaking of Robert Rodriguez, if you were wondering how you would be able to watch his From Dusk Till Dawn TV series (well, besides for ways requiring a peg leg and an eyepatch), then here’s some great news. Netflix has signed a deal with Rodriguez’s El Rey Network – the shows’ original distributor – to air the series to all their subscribers in Canada, Ireland, The Netherlands, Nordic European territories and the UK, when the show premiers on March 12.

If you make use of Unotelly to subscribe to Netflix locally – and really, you bloody well should – then changing your region to one of these is a simple reconfiguration, and just like that you get some Rodriguez vampiric action on your TV.

Yo, I’mma let ya finish, but this Star Trek themed Wolf of Wall Street parody trailer, called Worf of Starfleet, is the greatest Wolf of Wall Street parody trailer of all time!

If you have anything you would like to contribute to Extras, whether it be interesting stories, funny videos, or artistic photos of yourself in morally questionable poses, feel free to drop a mail to kervyn@themovies.co.za.

Last Updated: March 6, 2014