Posted on May 8, 2014 by Josh Russell

The re-imagining of the fairy tale

Ask anyone in 2014 what a good fairy tale is, and they will probably point towards the works of Walt Disney – and rightly so. Classics such as Snow White and The Seven Dwarves, or in more recent times Frozen, capture the hearts and minds of children and adults alike all over. But what if they aren’t what they seem? Would you believe me if I told you that Frozen started out as a brutal tale about an evil witch kidnapping children?

The Snow Queen is a classic tale that was written by Hans Christian Andersen in 1884, and at its heart it is a tale about good and evil, from the perspectives of two children. Although Frozen is based on this classic, it certainly tells a different story. In The Snow Queen, the titular character is the evil villain, however in Frozen the same character is the beautiful queen called Elsa, who treats her powers as a curse. The Snow Queen is a benevolent, powerful and dangerous being to be feared, yet Elsa is a misunderstood woman who, after all, only needed the love of her sister to stop chaos ensuing. There are common themes through both representations, but ultimately one thing can be seen – time has changed this classic fairy tale.

Image via: http://frozenwallpaper.com

What used to be a dark tale of good vs. evil is now a light-hearted flick (with comic relief snowman included). So what has changed? Do today’s audiences only want these fairy tales, and are the dark morals of old stories not appreciated any more? Looking at the latest details for Disney’s Maleficent, perhaps the darker side of these fairy tales has not been lost to the ages.

Thought of as one of the most sinister Disney villains, Maleficent is fairly unknown. During Sleeping Beauty she is pretty horrible, cursing the poor Princess Aurora to die before her 16th birthday. But, low and behold, good triumphs evil and the Princess is saved by the handsome Prince Phillip, etc etc. In Maleficent, however, it looks like the tables could be turning. Disney are returning to deliver the untold story of one of the most iconic villains to date in a retelling of the classic Sleeping Beauty, but from the perspective of Maleficent.

Image via: http://qfxblog.files.wordpress.com

There really is true potential here to turn the iconic fairy tale back into the darker fantasy tales of old. And this isn’t the first time this has happened. The classic story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was once re-imagined as the action film Snow White and the Huntsman, which shifts the focus away from the comic relief dwarves and onto the grittier side of things. And again, in the 2011 horror re-imagining of Red Riding Hood, the classic fairy tale was given a dark twist. This time, the wolf is actually a werewolf and preys on an entire town.

Should the classic fairy tale formula be left alone? The original tales of Hans Christian Andersen and The Brothers Grimm definitely had darker elements to them, but the majority of modern re-tellings are much lighter and happier in tone. Do people want these versions, or should we be looking to the past for inspiration? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Josh Russell

Star Wars Episode VII Cast Announced

Image via: newsmoves.com

We’ve been waiting for so long – it really does feel like forever. But now, after internet speculation a-plenty, Lucasfilm has blessed us with the gift to beat all gifts. Ladies and gentlemen, the cast list of J.J. Abrams‘ Star Wars: Episode VII.

Here’s the full statement:

The Star Wars team is thrilled to announce the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII.
Actors John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow will join the original stars of the saga, Harrison Ford,Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker in the new film.

A photo of the cast for Star Wars: Episode VII

Image via: insidethemagic.net

Here’s a statement from J.J. Abrams himself –

“We are so excited to finally share the cast of Star Wars: Episode VII. It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life, once again. We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud.”

Star Wars: Episode VII is being directed by J.J. Abrams from a screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and Abrams. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, and John Williams returns as the composer. The movie opens worldwide on December 18, 2015.

So what do you think? Some expected names here (thank you, gods of Star Wars), but also some surprises. Andy Serkis? Oh yes please. This announcement has left this Star Wars nut very happy, but what do you guys think? Hit up the comments below!

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Adam Burt

The long walk to the big screen

As it was reported by Peter Jackson last week, the next Hobbit movie has been renamed to ‘The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies’ we decided to look back at some other films whose development has been ‘difficult’ to say the least.

1. Alien vs Predator

Image via ExplosionsAreRad.wordpress.com

Released in 2004 after more than a decade of different scripts, changes to the cast, false starts, orphaned tie-ins, several series of video games and even promotions of the movie.

2. Dallas Buyers Club

Image via slate.com

The screenplay for the oscar winning film was written 1992 by Craig Borten. It took 10 different versions of the script to finally persuade a production company to pick it up. It was then unable to secure financial backing, going through three different directors before Jean-Marc Vallée signed up and eventually released it in 2013.

3. Frozen

Image via Disney.com

Originally planned to be a biography film of the author Hans Christian Anderson (Yawn!!) before it was green lit by Disney to become an adaptation of the ‘Snow Queen’. The film then went into development hell twice, the second time in 2010 due to the difficulty of making the story of the Snow Queen work. It wasn’t until Disney bought in Jennifer Lee, writer of Wreck-It Ralph, as co-director, who decided to make the Snow Queen character of Elsa into one of the film’s protagonists.

4. Gangs Of New York

Image via IMDB

Martin Scorsese first started trying to get Gangs of New York made in 1978. He finally did so in 2002.

5. The Hobbit Trilogy

Image via Business Insider

The Hobbit went through development hell, before finally being green lit.The film then suffered additional problems involving creative control and the studio’s refusal to allow filming to take place in New Zealand, where the preceding film series The Lord of the Rings had been shot. This was a deal-breaker for director Guillermo del Toro, who left the project. Peter Jackson retook control of the project and split it into three films, the first of which was released in December 2012.

6. Inglorious Basterds

Image via Wikipedia

Quentin Tarantino announced his plans to shoot a World War II movie titled Inglourious Basterds shortly after the 1997 release of Jackie Brown. As of 2007, he was still working on the script. The film began shooting in late 2008 and was released in August 2009. Inglourious Basterds was Tarantino’s most commercially successful film until his spaghetti western homage Django Unchained was released three years later.

7. Iron Man

Image via Marvel

The film had been in development since 1990 at Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox and New Line Cinema, until the rights were reacquired by Marvel Studios in 2006. The project was Marvel’s first self-financed film, being distributed by Paramount Pictures. The script was originally written by multiple writers and the film and attached to direct were several directors, including Joss Whedon, Quentin Tarantino and Nick Cassavetes. Originally, actor Tom Cruise was in talks to play the role of Tony Stark, before the role went to Robert Downey Jr. after Jon Favreau was finally hired as director.

8. Star Wars Sequel Trilogy

Image via screenrant.com

The Star Wars sequel trilogy remained in development hell beginning in 1983 since the concept was born in 1975. Even though the prequel trilogy was created with the films released in 1999, 2002 and 2005, the sequel trilogy was changed and denied for several years. The trilogy was brought back in 2012 after Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm, starting with Star Wars Episode VII, which is scheduled for a 2015 release.

9. Avatar

Image via hollywood reporter.com

James Cameron has previously stated that his idea for the story of Avatar was ready before he even began filming Titanic in 1996 but that the technology needed to make the film simply didn’t exist. Production company Fox eventually backed out of the film in 2006 due to budgetary reasons, it wasn’t until Ingenious Media offered to back more than half of the $237 million needed for the film that Fox returned to the project which went on to become the highest grossing film of all time.

10. The Lord Of The Rings

Image via nj.com

There is something about either Peter Jackson or J.R.R Tolkien and movies that simply does not work. Throughout all six of the films that Jackson has been responsible for bringing to the big screen there have been major problems throughout the entire production. The rights to a live action adaptation of The Lord of the Rings were sold to United Artists shortly before J.R.R Tolkien’s death in 1973; it wasn’t until 1994 that Peter Jackson was given approval to begin shooting. The first film was not released until 2001.

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Andy

Giving birth to a Predator

Like many other 1980’s classics, Predator is loaded with fun trivia that we at Inside Film can’t get enough of.

For instance, did you know that for the first two weeks of shooting, a completely different costume design was used for the monster, with none other than martial arts god Jean-Claude Van Damme inside the suit? The design later had to be changed for health and safety reasons, as its “fly like” head would wobble around uncontrollably, causing mayhem wherever it went. Van Damme was then relieved of his role for unconfirmed reasons, although the fighting guru was renowned for diva-like antics.

Funny, right? It gets better. An on set bodyguard had to be employed to protect the cast from fellow actor Sonny Landham. Landham’s on-screen character (Billy) exhibited strong physical features, a deep, booming voice and a rather badass, Native American appearance. Probably not the kind of guy you would want to upset. Unfortunately, Landham displayed very similar traits off-screen, leading to the insurance company behind the production to demand protection for the rest of the cast due to his “volatile nature”.

image via creafive.wordpress.com

Yet, perhaps the most intriguing piece of trivia regarding Predator is how the original screenplay ever came into existence.

To understand what I mean, we must first go back to November 1985, a few days after the release Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky IV, the most successful entry in the Rocky franchise. At that time, the intense Stallone/Schwarzenegger rivalry was in full swing. Prior to cash cow that was the Planet Hollywood era, many were fully convinced that there was a real bitterness between Arnie and Sly.

After the box-office success of Rocky IV, many joked that due to the superhuman abilities of Stallone’s most recent opponent, Ivan Drago, the only real challenger left to Rocky would have to be of extra-terrestrial decent, or Rambo, but that would just be illogical.

Not everybody saw the funny side, however. In fact, screenwriters Jim and John Thomas took it very seriously, provoking them to produce a full script using the joke as inspiration. And thus, Predator was born, or Hunter, as it was originally called. After collaborating on Commando, Schwarzenegger and producer Joel Silver were called in to transform the science-fiction pulp storyline into the big budget, action classic we know today.

Jim Thomas later explained that ““The original conceit was ‘What would it be like if human beings were hunted by dilettante hunters the way humans hunt big game in Africa?’ ”

Sometimes these questions need to be answered. Without doing so, the action/sci-fi epic that is Predator would never have existed, whilst Rocky V would still have been released, and that is a world nobody deserves to live in.

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Nathan Spendelow

5 of the coolest fictional weapons in film

The image shows Billy Murray, Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd with their roles in the film, Ghostbusters.

Since cinema first began, filmmakers have been crafting new and intriguing weapons. Even though these weapons aren’t real, we sure wish they could be. Cinema has played host to some fantastic fictional weaponry over the years and I believe that these 5 are the best of the bunch (in no particular order).

1. Identity disc, Tron (1982)

Image shows a character from the movie Tron, holding an identity disc.

Image via: blushots.weebly.com

Whilst it may look like a silly, glowing Frisbee to the untrained eye, the identity disc first featured in the 1982 sc-fi film, Tron holds a lot of power. Used to store all data that individual programs and users possess, the identity disc is mainly used as a deadly throwing weapon, de-rezzing any program in its path. On a side note, if you lose your disc, it’ll be end of the line for you.

2. Death Star, Star Wars (1977)

Image shows a large circular space station, the Death Star from the film, Star Wars

Image via: blogs.esa.int

The largest weapon on this list, the Death Star was (spoiler) the biggest weapon of the imperial fleet. With the power to completely decimate any planet it pointed at thanks to the massive green laser on board, the Rebels knew they had to take it out. Completely flawless in design apart from one tiny little detail, a tiny exhaust port that could potentially blow the whole thing up. “That’s no moon, it’s a space station!”

3. Proton Pack, Ghostbusters (1984)

Image via: hollywood.com

“Don’t cross the streams!” The proton pack, designed by tech expert, Dr. Egon Spengler is designed to lasso ghosts via a proton stream. The device itself however, is rather bulky and requires a rather large batter pack to be taken with you at all times. The proton pack must also be used with caution, crossing the streams may result in some rather unwanted consequences.

4. M41A Pulse Rifle, Aliens (1986)

Image shows protagonist Ellen Ripley brandishes a Pulse Rifle in the movie Aliens.

Image via: lightspeedgaming.blogspot.co.uk

The introduction of the space marines in this Alien sequel brought with it an array of pretty badass weaponry. Most notable of which, is the M41A Pulse Rifle. Protagonist Ellen Ripley brandishes one of these at the end of the film, taking out the queen,
“I wanna introduce you to a personal friend of mine. This is an M41A pulse rifle. Ten millimeter with an over-and-under thirty millimeter pump action grenade launcher.” – Corporal Hicks

5. Lightsaber, Star Wars (1977)

Image shows a red glowing lightsaber from the movie Star Wars

Image via: Leviathyn.com

Nothing is more iconic than the weapon of choice of both the Jedi and the Sith in the Star Wars franchise. The distinct hum of the elegant lightsaber is something that everyone is familiar with, and is certainly the most famous of all fictional weapons.
“This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age.” – Ben Kenobi

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