Babylon A.D. director Mathieu Kassovitz evidently hates his own movie.

Kassovitz's version of the futuristic sci-fi action pic starring Vin Diesel (pictured above, left) got recut by 20th Century Fox, and the French filmmaker is pretty steamed. The final version of the movie, which opens Friday, leaves most of the flick's political commentary on the cutting-room floor, Kassovitz told AMCTV.com.

"I never had a chance to do one scene the way it was written or the way I wanted it to be," he complained. "The script wasn't respected. Bad producers, bad partners, it was a terrible experience."

Kassovitz is hardly the first arty European filmmaker to get entangled with a mangled movie. Ridley Scott famously waited 25 years to realize his vision for Philip K. Dick's noir thriller with the Blade Runner: The Final Cut DVD. But the original 1982 movie -- though manhandled by financiers after Scott went over budget -- was hardly a total stinker. Still, a long line of independent-minded filmmakers have butted heads with studio execs, only to emerge with a big-budget train wreck.

Here's a look at good intentions gone haywire in Hollywood.

Aeon Flux (2005)
It made sense on paper: Charlize Theron, fresh from an Oscar win, taps Karyn Kusama, director of the gritty Michelle Rodriguez boxing movie Girlfight, to make a tough chick flick on a larger scale. Instead of a character-driven action spectacle, Kusama produced a chilly flop.

Photo courtesy Paramount

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Continue reading "Babylon A.D.: Add Another Mangled Movie to the List" »

By Emily Lang

OAKLAND, California -- What's five stories tall and seats one? Elevation, artist Michael Christian's Burning Man installation that looks something like a monkey-bar Eiffel Tower.

Christian said he's curious how burners will react to Elevation's solitary throne, which seats one and sits near the top of the mammoth structure, when the piece is deployed on the playa.

"Will a line form? Will there be cooperation?" asked Christian, who wears a smiley-face mask when he's welding (pictured). "Or will someone get up there and say, 'Fuck you -- I don't want to get down.'"

Funded in part by festival organizers, Elevation is one of the many giant art installations that help turn Burning Man into a larger-than-life fantasy land each year. Projects like HomourobosSteampunk Tree House and the awaited burners in 2007.

Composed nearly entirely of tube steel, all of which was painstakingly cut to length and welded together, Elevation soared through a skylight in the roof of the East Bay warehouse where Christian's crew assembled it prior to this year's burn. On the playa, the finished piece will include elements of fire and lighting, and should offer panoramic views.

Continue reading "Elevation's Throne Seats Only 1 at Burning Man" »

Christopher Nolan's dark vision for The Dark Knight gets lightened up for laughs in a sweded version of the movie trailer done by kids.

"The Dark Knight (Kids Version)" (embedded) re-creates the Joker's creepy face paint, Batman's wild ride and even director Nolan's beautiful overhead establishing shots.

The children in the DIY video, most of whom look young enough to suffer nightmares if they saw the actual movie, faithfully mimic key scenes from the box office smash.

The "Hit me!" face-off between the Joker and a tricycle-riding caped crusader is classic.

[via /Film]

See also:

• Superman To Get the Dark Knight Treatment
• Physicist Proves The Dark Knight Is Fake
• Review: Joker Plays the Wild Card in Dazzling Dark Knight
• Dark Knight Director Shuns Digital Effects for the Real Thing
• The Dark Knight: 'Where Does He Get Those Wonderful Toys?'

Neurotic superheroes slog through their workaday lives before drowning their sorrows at a pub called The Fortress in the upcoming comedy show No Heroics.

With The Dark Knight and Iron Man ruling the year's box office, and lawsuits threatening to keep Watchmen in the headlines for months, it could be the perfect time for British television production outfit Tiger Aspect and the ITV network to fly out the new show.

The six-episode series (of course -- it's a British sitcom, after all) works to take some of the glory out of the hero biz.

The show's lesser-known costumed saviors include The Hotness (pictured), the morally challenged Electroclash and the husband-starved She-Force. Get a peek at the No Heroics trailer.

Image Courtesy ITV, Tiger Aspect

See also:

• Watchmen Covers Emerge as Legal Debate Lingers
  
• Fans Threaten Fox Over Watchmen Lawsuit
  
• Fox Lawyers Watching Warner Bros., Watchmen
  
• Fan-Made Watchmen Ads Ready for Watching
  

The once-threatened sci-fi/fantasy Tintin super team of producer Peter Jackson, writer Steven Moffat and director Steven Spielberg is officially on as the Indiana Jones filmmaker will direct a script by the Doctor Who writer for the Lord of the Rings mastermind.

Dreamworks is planning a trilogy based on the Belgian children's comic strip, The Adventures of Tintin. Spielberg was always lined up to direct the first entry, and Who show-runner Moffat was hired to write the first and second films.

But, when Moffat became the Doctor Who executive producer after finishing the first Tintin screenplay, he backed out of writing the second script. Then there were rumors that Spielberg wouldn't be able to direct his Tintin outing.

But the confirmations are in and at least the first Tintin flick (a mix of the series' first two books, "The Secret of the Unicorn" and "Red Rackham's Treasure") will blend the uniquely talented trio. They'll use motion-capture animation to render Tintin's surreal world with Thomas Sangster and Andy Serkis starring.

Image courtesy Le Petit Vingtième

See also:

• Moffat Leading Doctor Who Into the Future
  
• Doctor Who Edinburgh's Top Show, Movie Awaits
  
• Moffat Wins Third Hugo Award
  
• Questions for Doctor Who as Tardis Goes Quiet
  

Creeps belonging to a secret society called The Order roam the streets of Santa Monica hunting down girls who possess a rare blood trait. Fighting off these predators are a pair of plucky civilians who belong to The Resistance.

That's the setup for LG15: The Resistance, the new sci-fi series from Lonelygirl15 producers Miles Beckett and Greg Goodfried.

The web-o-tainment impresarios announced Wednesday that they'll be rolling the dice on a three-month story arc centered on episodes lasting up to 10 minutes. Their Eqal company launches LG15: The Resistance (trailer embedded) Sept. 20 on MySpaceTV, imeem, Veoh, YouTube and Hulu.

Becket and Goodfried hope to extend their "brand," which has so far generated 150 million views for Lonelygirl15 and U.K. spinoff KateModern.

Produced by Amanda Goodfried, Resistance features LG15 regulars Jackson Davis and Alexandra Dreyfus (pictured, as Jonas and Sarah) as the good guys. Director Yusuf Pirhasan (KateModern) and head writer Joshua Fialkov, creator of the Elk's Run graphic novel series, oversee the episodes, which will be posted every Saturday.

Wired.com caught up with Beckett and Greg Goodfried in Los Angeles to get the scoop on Resistance.

Wired.com: Instead of producing three-minute clips as you have in the past, you guys are going long-form, relatively speaking, with Resistance. Do you think web surfers will stay put for 10 whole minutes?

Miles Beckett: Everyone has this perception that you have to keep web video really short. That was true when it was all about discovery and finding random things but we believe if it's a brand you're familiar with, when you watch that content you want it to be longer. It tells a better story.

Continue reading "Lonelygirl15 Team Launches Sci-Fi Resistance" »

By guest blogger Kat Wade

BLACK ROCK CITY, Nevada -- Day turns to night Monday during an unprecedented 12-hour whiteout sandstorm as the 2008 Burning Man art festival opens.

More photos of the awesome sandstorm below (including one that's NSFW).

Continue reading "Bumming, Man: Whiteout in Black Rock City" »

Science frees vampires to walk openly among the living in True Blood, the new HBO series from Six Feet Under creator Alan Ball. The invention of synthetic blood means the undead can satiate their cravings with an over-the-counter beverage and reveal themselves -- and a seedy vampire subculture filled with plenty of sex and violence -- to humans.

"Six Feet Under was all was about repression. True Blood is all about abandon," said Ball (pictured above right with stars Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer). "It's total escapism and for me, that's one of the joys of it."

Continue reading "True Blood Vampires Dig Sex, Gore and Wild Abandon" »

When characters from AMC's hit show Mad Men began Twittering, fans of the show quickly jumped on the bandwagon.

But when people began mistaking the fake tweets from Mad Men's Peggy Olson, Don Draper and Joan Holloway as guerrilla marketing for the TV show, AMC sent takedown notices to Twitter, which complied and suspended the users' accounts. The takedown notices were the kind of ham-fisted move that can backfire with fans, and after a quick consultation with its web marketing gurus, AMC backed off, according to Silicon Alley Insider.

Although the faux inner workings of advertising agency Sterling Cooper are once again humming on Twitter, we couldn't help but wonder: What other fake Twitter streams are cruising for a crackdown?

Here's a list of fake Twitterers ripe for a takedown.

Continue reading "@DarthVader? 11 Fake Twitterers Ripe for a Takedown" »

By guest blogger Jeffrey Schwartz

Howard Davis wasn't thinking about Burning Man when he tore apart a 1975 Volkswagen Beetle and fashioned a road-worthy ride that looks like a push-button phone from the '80s.

In fact, Burning Man didn't even exist when he built his bright red PhoneCar in 1985 as an adjunct to his passion for collecting telephones. Davis, who owns a business-focused telecommunications services company, has attended the desert festival for five years and only this year decided to bring the PhoneCar, in part to celebrate his 50th birthday.

"Turning 50 was tough," Davis said. "I guess taking the car to the playa is my way of letting go and saying, 'Hey world, I'm still as creative and vibrant as ever.'"

Although Davis says he plans to return to Burning Man "for at least another 20 years," he doesn't expect the car, which he bought for $125, will make it back. "I figure it'll be toast after the alkali dust gets through with it," he said.

Davis and his co-driver, Hunter Mann, have been touring the car in cities throughout the United States. It is registered in Massachusetts and is highway legal, though Davis admits it's a bit tough to drive the car without causing a stir, so he sticks mainly to city streets.

Photo by Jeffrey Schwartz/Wired.com

See also:

• Burners Gear Up for Playa Adventure
• Best of Burning Man: Flames, Art Cars and Discos
• Playa Posh: Luxury Living at Burning Man
• Best of Burning Man: Fire Dancers, Steampunk Tree House and More
• Five-Alarm Artists Turn On the Burn for Fire Arts Festival
• Homouroboros: Spinning Monkey Business at Burning Man

While one publication teases Watchmen fans with new images of their favorite characters, another is sizing up the chances that there won't be a Watchmen movie to enjoy any time soon.

This week, Brazil's Set magazine announced four special Watchmen covers for its September issue, including a closeup look at Rorschach (right).

Meanwhile, The New York Times came along to harsh the fan buzz with further analysis of the ongoing legal dispute between Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox over rights to make the silver-screen version of Alan Moore's acclaimed graphic novel.

This may be one instance where the fans are rooting for greed to win the day at the studios, as they hope splitting up the Watchmen profits between the two media giants is a more appealing idea than seeing the movie get buried.

Image courtesy Set magazine

See also:

• Fans Threaten Fox Over Watchmen Lawsuit
  
• Fox Lawyers Watching Warner Bros., Watchmen
  
• Fan-Made Watchmen Ads Ready for Watching
  
• Watchmen Ride Dark Knight's Buzz With Media Blitz
  
• Watchmen Helmer Working to Cut 3-Hour Film
  

A long-running BBC spy show has generated its first spinoff, featuring a young generation of rookie secret agents in Spooks: Code 9.

With six complete seasons in the books, Spooks is one of U.K. TV's most successful prime time shows. But, for obvious and unfortunate racial reasons, the show was retitled MI5 for its run on BBC America. The ongoing six-episode Spooks: Code 9 is set in 2013 just after the London Summer Olympics are devastated by a nuclear terrorist attack.

According to the BBC's description: "MI5 must completely restructure and establish field offices across the U.K., working to gather intelligence from the very heart of local communities. They need young, new officers on the ground, and fast. Luckily, Britain's youth is more than up to the challenge and is fighting back from the attack with a new sense of patriotism, combined with the hedonism that comes from being face to face with their own mortality."

I suppose they're saying it's OK to have a shag now and then even in the life and death, nuclear afterglow when you're young and smart. That idea should help recruiting pick up at your local MI6 field office.

Continue reading "Spooks: Code 9 a 'Spy Babies' Spinoff for BBC" »

As Torchwood continues production on its third mini-season, "Children of Earth," details on guest stars emerged from the BBC Tuesday.

In addition to series regulars John Barrowman, Gareth David-Lloyd and Eve Myles, recurring guests will include Kai Owen and Tom Price.

Special appearances during the five-episode story will include Liz May Brice (Bad Girls, The Bill) and Peter Capaldi -- best known as Malcolm Tucker, the Prime Minister's spin master from hell in the outstanding British comedy, The Thick of It. There's a clip of Tucker in action at right, but it's a little saltier than the language you're used to in Torchwood. You've been warned.

See also:

• Torchwood Audio Play Calling to 'Lost Souls'
  
• Torchwood 3rd Season Ramps Up for BBC1, BBC America
  
• Torchwood Star Undergoes Gay Testing
  
• BBC's Torchwood Arrives on iTunes, Radio 4
  

The first look at Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane's big-budget web series, Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy is now live on the web.

The short, 45-second trailer (embedded) shows off the animation style (similar to Family Guy) and delivers a sampling of what's to come.

So far, the variety show resembles a hybrid of the animated version of Gary Larson's non-sequitur toons The Far Side and the random subplots from Family Guy -- like baby Brit Stewie's sexy party sequences or the Darth Vader meter maid.

MacFarlane revealed the multimillion-dollar-deal to create a web-based animation series supported by Google AdSense in late June.

The distribution plan is novel and groundbreaking approach for a web show -- Google will replace static ads with Cavalcade clips on thousands of websites predetermined to be hot spots for the Family Guy demographic.

Of course, episodes will also be available on YouTube.

Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy rolls out on Sept. 10 with 50 two-minute episodes.

[via NewTeeVee]

See also:

• Family Guys Finds Emmy Loophole with Star Wars Parody
• First Look: Family Guy Spinoff, The Cleveland Show
• Family Guy Guy Cuts Sweet Deal

Car junkies who didn't satiate their big screen gearlust with Wanted, Speed Racer and Death Race now have another chance: Universal Pictures is releasing a fourth installment of Fast and Furious.

The franchise, first unveiled in 2001, reboots its tired premise of Los Angeles gearheads for a fourth round next summer.

(Watch the trailer, embedded.)

Of course, no one will be watching for the plot, nor the "reunion" of original The Fast and the Furious cast members, including Vin Diesel, Lost's Michelle Rodriguez, Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster.

We'll be watching for shiny wheels that go vroom, explosions that go boom and eyefuls of oiled muscles that make summertime movie-going worthwhile.

Fast and Furious opens June 5, 2009.

See also:

• Lost Brings Back Michelle Rodriguez
• Review: Death Race Revs With Big, Dumb Wrecks
• Review: Angelina Jolie Speed-Races Through Wanted's Sexy Violence
• Secrets of Wanted's Insane Onscreen Action

Doctor Who might be on a year-long hiatus (surfacing only for a few specials in 2009), but that's not stopping the show from piling up more accolades.

The jewel in the BBC's crown won Best Programme of 2008 at the Edinburgh International Television Festival, while its home network (BBC1) was named Terrestrial Channel of the Year. Surprisingly, the Skrin Broadcast Consortium of JudGar 6 won Extraterrestrial Channel of the Year. Grand Network Potentate Marqueag Nix could not be reached for comment.

Right around the time Doctor Who was donning a kilt to reaffirm its spot as the hottest show on U.K. TV, new executive producer and show runner Steven Moffat was making it clear that he won't stand in the way of a Who movie as long as the film doesn't get in the way of the show's regular production come 2010.

That sounds good to the TV viewers of Britain who voted Doctor Who as the top show they'd like to see made into a film in a summer Radio Times poll.

Image courtesy BBC

See also:

• Classic Doctor Who Comes to iTunes
  
• Doctor Who Christmas Special Intros New Cyberman
  
• Lost Tapes of Doctor Who Theme Artist Rescued
  
• Questions for Doctor Who as Tardis Goes Quiet
  

Anyone who ever watched an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and wanted to join the bots -- anyone who ever suffered through a Will Farrell movie and wanted to smart off to the screen -- is about to get their chance to show the Rifftrax crew how it's done.

Michael J. Nelson and the team took time away from riffing on movies like Harry Potter (above) to announce their new iRiffs feature. According to Rifftrax spokesman Josh Gemma, "iRiffs is a new section where users will be able to make their own RiffTrax and submit them to us. We will sell them on a revenue sharing basis."

"We’ve launched with offerings from three different sources to get up and running, and in October people will be able to start uploading more content."

The iRiffs site offers details on how the revenue sharing works alongside tips on how you and your friends can best create your own riffs. Let the healthy, good ole' fashioned capitalistic comedy competition begin.

See also:

• MST3K Update: New Titanic Release, Rifftrax Calls Out Martha
  
• Rifftrax takes on Star Trek: New Voyages Sans Mike Nelson
  
• Rifftrax Mocks Campaign Ads on YouTube
  
• NBC's Olympic Broadcast Mired in Montana MSTery
  

It's a big week for fans who enjoy British sci-fi of the not-so-distant past. While Doctor Who rests and awaits its big Christmas special, Blake's 7 and Red Dwarf are snagging some headlines.

It was a Bank Holiday Monday in the U.K., and the BBC's Radio 7 dedicated a chunk of its broadcasting day to celebrate Blake's 7 with a three-hour special. With both archived and new audio productions, the stories should prime fans for the new production set to bring the show back to 21st century TVs. Anyone who missed the Blake block can catch up with the crew of the Liberator on Radio 7's Listen Again feature.

Meanwhile, eyewitness reports say Robert Llewellyn (android Kryton, above) told a Seattle PBS audience that the BBC would produce a Red Dwarf special in October -- perhaps for a Christmas broadcast. Fans and TV reporters will be searching for confirmation frantically until an official announcement arrives.

Image courtesy BBC

See also:

• Classic Doctor Who Comes to iTunes
  
• Moffat Wins Third Hugo Award
  
• Doctor Who Christmas Special Intros New Cyberman
  
• British '80s Sci-Fi Hit Blake's 7 on Comeback Course
  

Director David Wain is used to working under the radar. The quirky auteur got his start in 1993 on MTV's short-lived, sophomoric sketch comedy show The State, then wrote and directed 2001's summer camp cult comedy Wet Hot American Summer and 2007's religious spoof The Ten.

Wain launched his web series Wainy Days on comedy site My Damn Channel last year. Since then, more than 6 million viewers have tuned in to watch him bumble his way through dating misfires and awkward encounters. Along the way, he's had a little help from high-profile friends -- including Jonah Hill (Superbad), Rashida Jones (The Office) and Michael Ian Black (VH1's Best Week Ever).

With the third season of Wainy Days wrapping Monday, Wain is gearing up for the big screen once again, with a roster of new projects that includes the movie Role Models, starring Paul Rudd and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and a new animated series, Superjail, on Adult Swim, both of which are due to hit this fall.

Wired.com caught up with Wain to chat about his psychedelic jails, the "infinite freedom" of the web and his obsession with getting girls.

Continue reading "David Wain Moves From Wainy Days to Role Models" »

The latest incarnation of Steve Nile's breakout graphic novel, 30 Days of Night, has surfaced online as a webcomic.

The iconic series, first published in 2002, follows the hellish adventures of the residents in Barrow, Alaska, after a swarm of vampires move in to take advantage of the region's annual 30-day-long winter blackout.

The 16-page comic, 30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust (pictured above) picks up the lore as one lone Barrow resident tries to prove he's innocent of the vicious murder of his girlfriend, and that vampires are to blame.

30 Days was adapted into a series of comics, a gruesome 2007 movie starring Josh Hartnett, and two web series that explore the afterlife of a town plagued by seasonal blood-thirsty tourists.

[via Newsarama]

See also:

• New Webcomic Introduces Whedon's Dr. Horrible
• R. Stevens Steers Diesel Sweeties Back to its Roots
• PvP Webcomic Celebrates 10th Anniversary
• Real Geek Heart Beats in Xkcd's Stick Figure