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!
- Sam Simon, co-creator of The Simpsons, has passed away at the age of 59 of colorectal cancer. Despite me last having watched an episode of the show when M-Net Open Time was still a thing, The Simpsons is still beloved by millions in the show’s 26th season. And we might not have seen any of it, if it hadn’t been for Simon teaming up with Matt Groenig and James L. Brooks to introduce us to Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Maggie and the rest of the residents of Springfield. Simon is credited with creating the signature tone, sense of humour and storytelling direction of the show, so his contribution is undeniable, and for his efforts he bagged seven Emmy Awards. He left as showrunner though in 1993, but proving that just giving us one of the greatest TV shows ever wasn’t enough for this man, he had spent the last years of his life as a philanthropist, including buying zoos so that he could free the animals held there. RIP.
- And just to prove how universal the love for The Simpsons, by pure coincidence this little tidbit popped online just shortly before Simon’s passing was made public. A cartoonist by the name of James Humphrey has gone and taken Akira, one of the most well-known and beloved Japanese anime and manga of all time, and recreated it with The Simpsons. And it’s incredible. But weird.
Click the link for more incredible artwork for Bartkira.
- SEGUE! It’s been some time since we heard anything from the proposed live-action remake of Akira, and according to director Jaume Collet-Sera (Non-Stop, Unknown) – who was last attached to the project, the reason for the media silence is because “there’s nothing” happening right now. This production seems alternate between cancellation and production status on almost monthly basis, and I think its time to just give it up now and call it a day.
- Poster of the day: The Fugitive
- Although not in the same league as it’s original predecessor, I was surprisingly impressed with how decent the recent Robocop reboot ended up being. Even though it was nowhere close to a perfect film, I felt that the movie had some great ideas and concepts. It of course also had some vocal critics, and the latest person to join that rank is the new Robocop himself, Joel Kinnaman.
“I thought that [director] Jose Padilha had a really interesting vision for that. But, then, at the same time, when doing these kind of comic book, these beloved characters, you also have to be really aware of what about it the fans love so much. And you have to understand that and sort of build your new idea on that.”
“What we did wrong on ‘RoboCop,’ we just did something new and didn’t really take into account what the fans really loved about the original. I think that we should have gone and found more humor and more charm in it. And it’s tricky doing a movie like ‘RoboCop’ at PG-13. Maybe we shouldn’t have changed the suit and we should have done it rated R and do it with a smaller budget — I think people would have given it a much bigger chance. But, with all that said, as a film, I’m really proud of it. I think it’s a really good movie that has really interesting concepts.”
- Matthew McConaughey is getting dirty again! Here’s the first image of the Oscar-winner in Gary Ross’ upcoming Civil War drama The Free State of Jones, which tells the unbelievable true story of a US Confederate soldier who banded together with other farmers and slaves to lead an uprising in the racist South to create their own tiny state where mixed-race marriages were allowed.
- Check out this really cool 3.5 minute long music video that only took 5 seconds to shoot. Confused? This incredible little piece of filmmaking was pulled off by director Guillaume Panariello for French pop group Siska’s “Unconditional Rebel,” and is actually just a single-take 5-second tracking shot, filmed in super-slow-mo to make it last the length of the song. And the results are incredible.
- And now for something completely different: Porn stars reading dialogue from classic Mel Brooks spoof films. Because. This funny SAFE FOR WORK clip (which unfortunately can’t be embedded) is actually a behind the scenes vid for a definitely NOT SAFE FOR WORK porn spoof film titled Debbie Does Mel Brooks.
- You may recall that last year 27-year-old camera assistant Sarah Jones was tragically killed on the set of Midnight Rider after she was struck by a train while filming the movie on a bridge in Georgia. A bridge they had no permission to be on. Shooting guerilla style, director Randal Miller had not acquired the necessary permits or made arrangements with the rail company, all moves that could have prevented Jones’ death.
These actions have lead to a historic court hearing as Miller has now been sentenced to two years in prison, 10 years probation, a $20,000 fine, and 360 hours of community service, after having pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges, making Miller the first person to ever be jailed for an accident-related death on a film set in the US. It is believed that Miller’s guilty plea was part of an arrangement to have the charges dropped against his wife Jody Savin, who was the film’s producer.
- Never got around to watching Lord of the Rings? I mean, three practically 3-hour long movies does sound like a lot of work, right? Well, have no fear as this latest edition of Total Spoilage will recap the entire trilogy for you two minutes. Sort of. Maybe.
- It’s a well known fact that the only thing that James Bond sucks on more than impossibly named lovely ladies is a bottle of vodka. Besides for just his trademark Martini (shaken, not stirred) the man is a notorious booze hound. But just how much does 007 drink? Luckily, somebody else took the time to track down every single drop of alcohol he’s ever consumed in any of the movies, and made a pretty infographic out of it.
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 10, 2015
