Elusive 'Elysium' Elucidated
Today: We know a little bit more about a mysterious sci-fi movie, you'll have to wait a bit longer for teenage turtles, and Jonah Hill does Tarantino.
.The Call Sheet sifts through the day's glut of Hollywood news to find the stories even non-industry types care about. Today: We know a little bit more about a mysterious sci-fi movie, you'll have to wait a bit longer for teenage turtles, and Jonah Hill does Tarantino.
Ever since Neil Blomkamp's District 9 came along in 2009 and awed everyone (or at least those with good taste), we've been eager to see what the South African director will do next. It was announced a while back that he was working on a project called Elysium with Matt Damon and Jodie Foster, but we had no details beyond that. Until now! Some wily film fan got a hold of a plot description and now it's on the internet for all to see. Here it is:
In the year 2159 two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes (Jodie Foster), a hard line government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max (Matt Damon) is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that if successful will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.
So that sounds... ambitious? Like the kind of ambitious where it could be really cool or could be a total mess and likely not somewhere in between. Matt Damon generally has good taste we think, but then there was The Adjustment Bureau, so who really knows. The big mystery we want solved now is who Carly Pope, you know, from Popular, is playing. She's on the IMDb page! So, she must be playing something. Give us all your secrets, Elysium! [Collider, via Entertainment Weekly]
Just a few days after hearing that production on a planned Dirty Dancing remake has been shut down, we get word of another similar stoppage. Paramount has halted production on their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot, which was already in pre-production in Vancouver, to go back and work on the script. They're still planning on making the damn thing, it'll just come out in 2014 now instead of 2013. This production has already been a bit troubled, as there was a bit of an uproar when it was revealed that in the film, which is simply called Ninja Turtles, the turtles would be aliens, not mutants. Are they still teenage? We don't know. And now we'll have to wait longer to find out. Crazy. You'd think everything with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot in 2012 would go perfectly smoothly. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Jonah Hill is back in Django Unchained, which is apparently still filming? Hill was eyed for a part way back when but couldn't make it work in his schedule, but now he's back in the movie, just as a different part. So that's good for him and everything, but seriously this thing is still filming? What's taking so long? There's already, like, a long trailer out! Come on, Quentin. Just give it a wrap and call it a day. You must be tired. [Deadline]
Colin Farrell has been cast in a new movie in which he will play Emma Thompson's dad. The film is called The Weirdest Movie Ever Made and it's a collaboration between Terry Gilliam and Guy Maddin. Either that or he's playing her dad in flashbacks and the movie is about the making of the Mary Poppins movie. We're hoping for the former. [Deadline]
Nicole Scherzinger may have been fired from the American X Factor, but she's just gotten a judging job on the British X Factor, which as we all know is the real version. So you see, Nicole? When God closes a door he opens up a window overlooking a glittery talent show that gave the world One Direction. He moves in mysterious ways. [The Hollywood Reporter]
Here is a trailer for the college a cappella comedy Pitch Perfect. You're all going to see this movie with me. That is not a request.