Harrison Ford won't rule out Indy 5

Harrison Ford has been discussing the possibility of a fifth Indiana Jones film while publicising his latest flick Morning Glory.

He told MTV News that he'd "love" to do another Indy film.

"It's on George's plate," Ford said. "And I'm hoping he's working hard at it, because I'd look forward to doing it again if the three of us could get together - George, Steven Spielberg, myself - I'd love to do another."

Asked about a possible plot (the Bemuda Triangle has been mentioned in the past) Ford grinned: "I'm not at liberty to tell you what I know and what I don't know."

Ford comments come a few month after his Crystal Skull co-star Shia LaBoeuf hinted that a fifth movie was on the cards.

"I got called into Steven's office, and he pitched a little bit to me and it sounds crazy," LaBeouf said in the summer. "It sounds really cool."

Read MTV's report here

I'm sure I wasn't the only one who felt a little bit disappointed by the last Indiana Jones film, so the possibility that Spielberg and co will give Indy the send-off he deserves is exciting - but I just can't get the image of Shia LaBoeuf swinging through the jungle with the monkeys out of my mind. *shudder*

Tintin finally revealed ... and a letter from Steven Spielberg

I go away on holiday for two weeks and all hell breaks loose regarding Steven Spielberg!

Empire have got the biggest Spielberg scoop of the year with today´s unveiling of the first glimpse of the CGI characters from The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (due in UK cinemas in October 2011).

Created by Peter Jackson´s visual effects company Weta, the images provide us of our first look at Tintin, his loyal dog Snowy and Captain Haddock.

The article on the Empire website (and in full in the next issue) also has quotes from Spielberg about the plot of the film, the first in his career to be fully motion-captured.

Spielberg says: “The first part of the film, which is the most mysterious part, certainly owes much to not only film noir but the whole German Brechtian theatre — some of our night scenes and our action scenes are very contrasty. But at the same time the movie is a hell of an adventure.”

Peter Jackson had this to say about the look of Tintin:

“With live action you’re going to have actors pretending to be Captain Haddock and Tintin. You’d be casting people to look like them. It’s not really going to feel like the Tintin Hergé drew. It’s going to be somewhat different. With CGI we can bring Hergé’s world to life, keep the stylised caricatured faces, keep everything looking like Hergé’s artwork, but make it photo-real.”

Read the full article, along with two other pictures from the film, on the Empire website.

Since I´m typing this on the computer in the lobby of a hotel and my alloted time is ticking down really fast, I thought I squeeze the another bit of Spielberg news.

It seems that he has finished shooting parts of his other big 2011 release, War Horse, on and around Dartmoor in England.

To thank the locals for their support he wrote a letter to the Plymouth Evening Herald and spoke of the "abundance of natural beauty" in the area.

Steven Spielberg wrote: "I have never before, in my long and eclectic career, been gifted with such an abundance of natural beauty as I experienced filming War Horse on Dartmoor.

"And, with two-and-a-half weeks of extensive coverage of landscapes and skies, I hardly scratched the surface of the visual opportunities that were offered to me.

"We have had an incredibly successful shoot and every member of our substantial crew has commented on what a great experience the shoot in Dartmoor has been.

"We faced many logistical challenges working in the narrow lanes and villages on Dartmoor with our extensive film unit.

"The patience and support of the local community was critical in allowing us to safely and quickly move from place to place in search of the best shots and the best light to shoot them.

"We wanted to thank all the residents of Sheepstor and Meavy and the surrounding communities on Dartmoor for their support throughout our stay in Devon, without their help co-operation and patience we would not have been able to achieve so much in such a short space of time."

So there we go - two big bits of Spielberg news that broke while I was thousands of miles away from my home computer. Just typical!

Official: Spielberg's next film will be...

Very exciting news broke from Deadline Hollywood today - Steven Spielberg has chosen his next film.

Deadline's Mike Fleming had the scoop that Spielberg will start shooting screenwriter Drew Goddard's adaptation of the Daniel H. Wilson's epic sci-fi novel Robopocalpse in January 2012. Disney's Touchstone will release the film in 2013 (I'm guessing in a prime summer slot).

According to the report, Spielberg has been tempted to film the novel since March last year, but due to the fact that the novel wasn't finished he put it on the backburner and concentrated his efforts on War Horse. That said, "Spielberg was so excited about it that it was already being storyboarded and designed as Wilson was turning in pages of the book and Goddard was translating them into the screenplay" Fleming reports.

Dreamworks have now confirmed the news with a press release:

Los Angeles, CA – Steven Spielberg is set to direct “Robopocalypse,” it was announced today by Mark Sourian and Holly Bario, Co-Presidents of Production for DreamWorks Studios. Based on the novel of the same name by Daniel H. Wilson, Spielberg will begin principal photography on the futuristic tale in January 2012. Disney’s Touchstone will distribute the film in 2013.

Exploring the fate of the human race following a robot uprising, “Robopocalypse” has been adapted for the screen by Drew Goddard.

DreamWorks acquired the rights to Wilson’s unpublished manuscript back in November 2009. Publishing rights were acquired by Doubleday and they plan to release the book in June 2011.

“’Robopocalypse’ embodies an imaginative story of a robot rebellion unleashed against the human race," said Mark Sourian. “This is a project we immediately sparked to and with Steven directing it we knew it was in the best possible hands to bring it to worldwide audiences.”

Robopocalypse has been a project that's been mentioned as a possible Spielberg directing gig since March last year and late last month the rumours started up again.

As far as Robopocalypse the novel is concerned, Deadline has this to say:
Doubleday will publish the book June, 2011. Wilson is hot stuff, in the kind of hi-tech sci-fi terrain that was the domain of Michael Crichton. His rep, Justin Manask, is preparing to shop his next book, AMP, which is a near-future science fiction thriller set in a world where the technology to make the disabled whole, turns them into supermen. That book will also be published by Doubleday, with 120 pages done so far. This one is being eyed for summer, 2012.

Robots are certainly terrain Spielberg has covered in the past with AI, but since that was a project originated by Stanley Kubrick and one Spielberg designed around production art that Kubrick created, I can't even imagine what he has in store.

Bring on summer 2013!

Keep checking back for updates as I get them...

Read Michael Fleming's full story here

Spielberg + Bee Gees = Total BS

I don't quite know why I'm reporting this, but it's almost so crazy a rumour it's actually funny.

The UK's Daily Mail - easily one of the most disreputable tabloids in Britain - is reporting that Steven Spielberg is going to be making a movie based on the life story of The Bee Gees.

The only problem is, when you read the article it contains absolutely no facts to back up that statement.

The report, which is written as though the journalist has a source within the Spielberg camp ("The Oscar-winning director of ET believes the group’s journey from unknowns in Manchester to worldwide fame will prove box-office gold...") does have a quote from Bee Gee Robin Gibb, but even that has zero mention of Steven Spielberg.

"The movie is going to be done by some very important people," he says. "It will be our life story. Barry and I will be involved in the technical side."

So how the Daily Mail made the leap to Spielberg is anybody's guess.

Over the years Steven Spielberg has expressed an interest in doing a musical (before Hook, Spielberg's take on the Peter Pan story was to be a musical collaboration with Michael Jackson), but if this bizarre rumour ever comes true I will happily listen to the Bee Gees' back catalogue on repeat for 48 hours while being waterboarded.

War Horse pushed from August to December 2011

In a move that puts War Horse firmly in the race for Oscars, Dreamworks has decided to shift the Steven Spielberg-directed film's release date from August 12 to December 28, 2011.

What this means for moviegoers, in the USA at least, is that they'll be treated to TWO new Spielberg-directed films within the space of a week. That's because Tintin, the top secret motion-capture collaboration between Spielberg and Peter Jackson, is due for release in North America on December 23.

The decision came after Disney and Dreamworks executives were shown footage from the World War One epic,which is currently being shot in England, according to a report by Indiewire's Anne Thompson.

Dreamworks' Stacey Snider said: “The movie feels like a holiday movie. {Steven Spielberg) feels great about it. We feel great about it.”

Snider also goes on to say that War Horse, which is expected to be rated PG-13, shouldn't conflict too much with Sony/Paramount's Tintin. “We think there’s room for a couple of holiday movies during that season,” said Snider. “It’s a big market at that time of year.”

For Spielberg fans in Europe, Latin America and India they'll see The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn first, in late October and November 2011.

The Color Purple Blu-Ray in January 2011

Another Steven Spielberg film will soon be hitting stores in high-def, if reports are to be believed.
High Def Disc News are reporting that The Color Purple will be released on January 25 2011 to tie in with Black History Month.

No release specs have been revealed other than it looks like it'll be one of Warners' digi-book releases (ie a 40-page making-of book), with full 1080p Hi-Def video in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio and DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio sound.

High Def Disc News also provide a picture of the trade ad announcing the release of this under-rated Spielberg flick here

The Color Purple would join Saving Private Ryan, Minority Report, War of the Worlds, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Twilight Zone: The Movie and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on the list of Spielberg-directed films available in HD. My earlier report about AI: Artificial Intelligence bowing on Blu-Ray on October 15 in Germany has sadly not come to pass...

New War Horse set spy photos

New pictures from the set of Steven Spielberg's new film War Horse have hit the web and reveal a picture postcard English village dressed to look like it would in World War One.

The photos don't show any cast or crew, but they do give a glimpse of the set-dressing in the village of Castle Combe.

According to a spy on Bleeding Cool "all the set dressing was done in ten hours, courtesy of a huge crew and over twenty night time security staff. And filming proper starts this Tuesday (September 21). The dressers have put out all fresh fruit and veg out, have changed door numbers, laid down the dirt road and stuck moss in all the right place. In fact five people were dedicated to moss dressing the sets. Reports are that they’re spending a lot of money making this look just right."

War Horse will be released on August 10, 2011.




Take a look at all the spy shots over at Bleeding Cool.