Gore Verbinski – Premium Hollywood

Late night (PST) trailer: “Rango”

Bob Westal — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 07:29:16 +0000

I never thought a movie from Gore Verbinski would be one of my most anticipated movies of any year, but the the third really effective trailer in a row for “Rango” is having the effect I’m sure Nickelodeon and Paramount desires. The first movie I’m looking actively forward to in 2011 stars a lizard.

Of course, I’m a sucker for the western tropes, but it’s really the wonderfully detailed and engaging character designs and great site gags cooked up by screenwriter John Logan that’s selling me. I’m not saying it’s going to be Pixar quality, but it might be close. I also love the fact that this is also subtle propaganda to get kids ready for classic westerns.

Johnny Depp leads the all-star voice cast here. As for the earlier trailers you see can them here and here.

H/t /Film.

“Strangers don’t last long here.”

Bob Westal — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 01:36:20 +0000

It appears that there was so much consternation in response to a cleverly odd online teaser trailer for Paramount/Nickelodeon’s “Rango” that the original video disappeared from YouTube within hours a couple of weeks back. Well, now it’s back (you can see it at the link above) and we also now have this more conventional, but still very clever trailer for the CGI animated film starring the voice of Johnny Depp and an impressive all-star supporting cast as well as the very good writer John Logan on board.

It might be just my love of westerns talking, but I completely dig this trailer. That’s interesting because up to now director Gore Verbinski hasn’t been on my radar very much — I’m not a “Pirates of the Caribbean” fan, to put it mildly. This little varmint oater with a surreal edge, however, has me expecting good things.

“Rango” promo is not for the literal minded (updated 2x)

Bob Westal — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:07:10 +0000

Tired of trailers that give everything away? Well, below is the teaser trailer — or whatever it’s supposed to be — that’s been mystifying bloggers like Drew McWeeney all day. The movie is called “Rango.” [UPDATE: The trailer has since been deleted. I guess someone decided it was just too surreal. ANOTHER UPDATE, MUCH LATER: And now it’s back.]

Reminds me of a joke:

Q: How many surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb?

A: The fish.

Or, in this case, the mechanical fish, I guess.

As per McWeeney and YouTube, the movie is performance-capture heavy animated piece about a “chameleon with an identity crisis” and stars Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, and a truly impressive collection of venerable character actors including Bill Nighy, Stephen Root, Ray Winstone, Beth Grant, Ned Beatty, Harry Dean Stanton and Alfred Molina. It’s being directed by Gore Verbinski and co-written by the very busy scribe John Logan. I am anything but a fan of Verbinski’s “Pirates” movies, but the marketing has worked. They’ve got my attention.