Month: August 2009 (Page 5 of 33)

Adam McKay has “The Goods”

You may not know Adam McKay by name, but you’ve almost certainly seen his work: the former “Saturday Night Live” writer has been virtually inseperable from Will Ferrell since the latter ankled “SNL” for a future in feature films, directing such comedy classics as “Anchorman,” “Talladega Nights,” and “Step Brothers.” And that isn’t all — McKay and Ferrell’s production company, Gary Sanchez Productions, is responsible for a long list of films and television shows, including “Eastbound and Down,” “The Foot Fist Way,” and, most recently, “The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard.” It’s that last project that has McKay making the publicity rounds these days, discussing the Sanchez-produced, Jeremy Piven-led comedy about a legendary car salesman.

Of course, with a resume — and list of upcoming projects — as intriguing as McKay’s, “The Goods” isn’t the only thing worth talking about, and during his recent chat with McKay, Bullz-Eye’s Will Harris made sure to pick his brain about a variety of topics, from how he and Ferrell met to the second season of “Eastbound and Down” to that oft-rumored “Anchorman” sequel. Which, McKay tells us, will happen…eventually:

We have a very clear idea for it, we want to do it, and we’ve talked to everyone, and everyone has said that they’re in, but everyone has schedules. Sadly, the second part after I say, ‘We’ll do it,’ is that it could be two or three years away.

With eight more episodes of “Eastbound and Down” on the way, it’s only natural to wonder how much McKay can spill about where the next season will take us — and just as natural for McKay to play it close to the vest:

Let’s see if I can give a clue without wrecking anything. I’d say the question for this season is, “Will Kenny return?” I don’t know, I don’t want to say anything. I don’t want to wreck it, because they have some cool ideas.

And that’s just scratching the surface of the interview. To read about McKay’s thoughts on the “SNL” years, his feelings about the impending DVD release of “You’re Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush,” what to expect from Jon Heder’s upcoming sitcom, and more, click on the image above or follow this link!

Epix secures new Lewis Black special

Black

Epix is a brand new premium channel owned by Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate, and MGM Studios. Minimal information has been released regarding the fledgling network. Based on what’s known, things haven’t been looking good. DirecTV, Comcast, and Cablevision have confirmed that they would not carry the channel due to the saturated market. With HBO, Showtime, Starz, Encore, Cinemax, and others already on television, it’s clear why Epix would have a tough time getting picked up. You see, the cable providers are the ones who pay out the premium channels in these relationships. There really isn’t any dire need to add Epix to their bills. Luckily, on July 28th, Epix reached a deal with Verizon Communications Inc.’s FiOS network, who became the channel’s very first distributor.

CEO Mark Greenberg has inferred that Epix will be more similar to HBO than Starz, airing comedy specials, original series, and other special features. It’s first original pilot, “Tough Trade,” created by “Weeds” writer Chris Ouffut, is in the works. A mini-series adaptation of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged has also been suggested. Today, Epix took one step forward towards their vision, nabbing Lewis Black’s newest comedy special “Stark Raving Black.”

Standup will star in the special “Stark Raving Black,” which reps the burgeoning pay channel’s first original comedy event.

Spec, to be filmed at Detroit’s Fillmore Theater, will run in December. It will also unspool this fall in theaters in 20 U.S. markets, as well as 25 international territories. An introduction to Epix will be featured during the screenings.

Besides the special, which will run on Epix’s TV and broadband platforms, the deal also includes an online event featuring Black, who will participate in a chat via Epix’s website following the show.

Epix will launch on October 1st and give America yet another reason to stay inside.

Top Chef Las Vegas: fun in the sun

On last night’s “Top Chef Las Vegas” on Bravo, there was another high stakes quick fire challenge, and an elimination challenge that was to cook for a dual bachelor/bachelorette party. At one point during the episode, one of the chefs was talking about how he had nicknames for all of his fellow contestants….so I’m going to start using a few of my own nicknames too.

Kevin will now be known as Kris Kringle.
Ashley will now be known as Ben Folds.

That’s all I can think of right now, but if you watch this show and know what I’m talking about, you are probably laughing right now.

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How were those Basterds so damn good at scalping?

Pitt

Those of you who have seen “Inglourious Basterds” will remember the glorious scalping scenes, where Lt. Aldo Raine’s Jewish-American troops would seamlessly apply the finishing touch to their fallen enemies. But how did it look so good on camera?

To play up the grisly spectacle of scalping Nazi soldiers in Quentin Tarantino’s ” Inglourious Basterds” required some sleight of hand as well as the makeup skill of Gregory Nicotero and the rest of the effects crew at KNB EFX. “The way the gag works, the scalp and the actor’s head are separate,” Nicotero said. “To sell the gag, you have to pretend like you’re really putting effort into the cutting, like the knife is really slicing through skin.” The team made a mold of makeup effects artist Jake Garber’s head and used that as the model to sculpt the scalps to be affixed to the extras’ heads. Then they hand-painted the bloody details onto the piece and covered the whole area in a patented concoction called Ultraslime.

Duly noted. If you’ve got the dough and want to construct the most brutal haunted house in the history of Halloween, call up the KNB EFX crew. Though I usually make an effort to dress in the lamest costume I can think of on the holiday, I might have to acquire some of this Ultraslime and spice things up. On that note, I wonder how popular the “Bear Jew” costume will be this year.

In Super Panavision 70!

Filmmaker and Panavision cofounder Richard Moore was probably the least famous person whose passing today received any notice, but he certainly had a big impact on what you see at the movie theater and on DVD. Below are a few trailers for films made the Panavision 65 process he is credited with developing. (Technically, all 70 mm films are really 65mm — 5 milimeters are required for the magnetic sound strips.)

All of these, particularly “Lawrence of Arabia” and “2001” are movies you should try to see on the biggest screen possible, ideally projected on film and in a movie theater. If you’re lucky enough to live someplace where older movies are occasionally still shown on 70mm prints, leap at the chance. Seeing movies like that is too much fun to be left only to hardcore film geeks.

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