Movies

Brad Pitt is producing new Korean monster movie 'Okja'.
The 51-year-old actor's Plan B Entertainment company will co-produce the film, which is one of the first feature movies in Asia to be backed by Netflix, Variety reports.
Tilda Swinton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Dano, Bill Nighy and Kelly MacDonald will star.
Bong Joon-ho - who made 'Snowpiercer' for a reported $40 million - will direct 'Okja' and revealed he is thrilled with his new backers.
He said: "It really is a fantastic opportunity for me as a film maker. For 'Okja', I needed a bigger budget than I had for 'Snowpiercer' and also complete creative freedom. Netflix offered me the two conditions that are difficult to have in hand simultaneously,"
"Also, Plan B Entertainment has also produced bold and daring films. I expect the adventurousness of Plan B to blend with 'Okja'."
The movie will start shooting in April 2016 with a planned 2017 release and Bong insisted the monster in the movie is not that scary.
He said: "It is a bulky animal, but with a mild and kind spirit. The film is about a warm friendship between a country girl and a brute with stories. To me, the crazy world surrounding Okja and the girl looks more like a monster. I want to depict the two characters' bizarre journey and adventure across the tough world in an original fashion."

J.J. Abrams worried 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' would be a "f***ing disaster".
The 49-year-old filmmaker has opened up about the pressure of directing the highly anticipated next film in the franchise, 'Episode VII', and confessed he was terrified members of the new cast wouldn't work well with the actors from the original trilogy, who include Harrison Ford and Mark Hamill.
He said: "When we met Daisy Ridley, when we found John Boyega, and then Oscar Isaac and Adam Driver came aboard, we got really excited. And yes, Daisy and John could work together, but what happens when Harrison's in the mix? What will that feel like? If it doesn't spark, it's a f***ing disaster."
The 'Star Trek Into Darkness' director wasn't just worried about the human characters getting on, however, as he admitted he wasn't sure new robot BB-8 would gel with the much-loved droids C-3PO and R2-D2 from the previous films.
He told Wired magazine: "Yes, BB-8 is a great character, amazingly puppeteered, but what will happen when he's suddenly in a scene with C-3PO or R2-D2? Will it feel bizarre? Will it feel wrong? Somehow it didn't. When Anthony Daniels [C-3PO] told me, 'Oh my God, I love BB-8!' I said, 'We're going to be OK'. Because if he's OK, it's working."
And Abrams was thrilled when he realised that everything he'd worked so hard to put together was going to come across on-screen.
He added: "It was really exciting to say, 'These scenes are working!' We worked really hard to cast and to write and to put it all together, but you just don't know until you start shooting. Then all of a sudden, you're on-set watching it and you know. It's a little bit like having a party and having friends from your new school meet friends from your old school, and you think, 'What's going to happen?' And all of a sudden they're getting along famously and this party's really fun! It was a lot of work, but it ended up being great."

Naomie Harris refuses to strip off on screen because she doesn't want to be "sexualised and objectified."
The 'SPECTRE' star is adamant she won't be pushed into peeling off her clothes and flashing the flesh for a movie role because she's determined to stand by her feminist beliefs.
Speaking to Town & Country magazine, she said: "I don't feel [stripping off] is part of my job, I don't like this sexualisation and objectification. It's not what I'm about at all.
"I was never going to play stereotyped roles, and I was always going to show women, and particularly black women, in a positive light. I'm a feminist, and it's very important to me to reflect that."
The brunette beauty, 39, was cast as the secretary to the Head of the Secret Intelligence Service, Miss Moneypenny, in the franchise's 2012's 'Skyfall', but has admitted she was worried she wouldn't be able to play a "beautiful" Bond girl.
She explained: "I always associated them [Bond girl] with being very sexual and sensual, and that's not what I associate with myself.
"I'm really uncomfortable when the label of 'beautiful' is put on a character. It makes me feel I can't live up to it, somehow."

Mariah Carey has joined the cast of 'Lego Batman'. The singer - who has starred in movies including 'Precious' and 'Glitter' - will voice a character in Warner Bros.' spin-off of 2014's critical and commercial smash, 'The Lego Movie'. Mariah will j...

Naomie Harris has been announced as the new ambassador for the young people's charity Into Film.
The 'SPECTRE' star, 39, has joined Eddie Redmayne, Sir Kenneth Branagh and Michael Sheen as representatives for the film education charity, which is supported by the British Film Institute (BFI) through Lottery funding, after she attended the Into Film Awards earlier this year.
She said: "I'm thrilled to be an ambassador for Into Film. I find it incredibly rewarding to be part of an organisation that uses film to inspire, educate and motivate young people."
She added: "Into Film has the ability to help set those involved on a journey of discovery, edification, creativity, storytelling and more, which I hold dear to my heart."
The charity aims to make film the heart of the educational and personal development of children aged between five and 19 by giving them the chance to experience film and the moving image creatively and critically, as well as learning about the possible industry and careers within it.
Harris, Redmayne, Branagh and Sheen support the charity through a number of ways, from visiting youngsters in schools as part of its Behind the Scenes programme, to supporting the Into Film Festival and Into Film Awards.
Meanwhile, Into Film is now taking entries for the second annual award ceremony, which will take place next March.
Closing date for submissions is January, 20, 2016.
For more information and to submit entries, please visit http://www.intofilm.org/into-film-awards.

James Bond producers don't want to lose Daniel Craig.
While Daniel has admitted he isn't sure if he will return for another Bond movie after 'SPECTRE', Barbara Broccoli - who is the daughter of original Bond producer Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli and now co-produces the films alongside her half brother Michael G. Wilson - admitted she doesn't want to consider another actor for the role just yet.
She told the New York Times: "Maybe I'm in denial, but I don't want to think about another Bond. Until he definitely says otherwise, I'm not going to give it another thought."
Speaking about Daniel's reign as Bond, which kicked off in 2006's 'Casino Royale', she added: "We just didn't feel in a post-9/11 world that we could be as fantastical as before. Craig is more rounded. And now I don't even want to think about someone else as Bond."
Barbara's comments come after the actor caused controversy by claiming he'd rather "slash his wrists" than star in another Bond film.
Asked if he planned to reprise the role of 007 for a fifth time, he said: "I'd rather break this glass and slash my wrists.
"We're done. All I want to do is move on."
However, he has since backtracked by claiming he "loves making these films".

Robin Williams' will forbids Disney from using his outtakes for an 'Aladdin' sequel.
The 63-year-old actor - who took his own life in 2014 - played the Genie in the original movie and the Sunday Times has reported that his will states that Disney cannot use his "name, taped performances or voice recordings for 25 years after his death".
This was done to prevent his family incurring financial penalties from his posthumous earnings
However, this has not stopped Disney going ahead with plans for an 'Aladdin' prequel which will explore the backstory of the friendly blue Genie who offers the protagonist three wishes, in a brand new live-action movie.
The comedy adventure - which has tentatively been titled 'Genies' - is still in the early stages of development but is being penned by Damian Shannon and Mark Swift.
Although it will have a strong focus on the Genie character, it is also believed the movie - which already has Tripp Vinson on board to produce through his Vinson Films banner - will re-tell the classic 'Aladdin' story, which was brought to life in the 1992 animated film.
However, it is not yet known who will voice the Genie.
The popular tale isn't the first to receive a live-action remake, with new versions of 'The Jungle Book', 'Beauty and the Beast', 'Dumbo', 'Winnie the Pooh', 'Mulan' and 'Pinnochio' already in production, with an updated version of 'Cinderella' also released earlier this year.

Johnny Depp is to voice animated character Sherlock Gnomes in the 'Gnomeo And Juliet' sequel. The 2011 Disney movie - based on Shakespeare's play 'Romeo and Juliet' - was a slow-burning box office hit and featured music from Sir Elton John and a host ...

Samuel L. Jackson is gutted he wasn't asked to appear in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens'.
The 'Hateful Eight' actor was disappointed not to be asked to return to the franchise after playing Jedi Master Mace Windu in the three prequel films and insisted just because it seemed as though his character had died, they still could've brought him back.
'Episode VII' will feature original trilogy stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Peter Mayhew among others, and Jackson would have loved to have worked with those actors.
He said: "I would have loved to have been there. He (director J.J. Abrams) brought everyone else back, so why didn't he bring me back? It's not like the public didn't cry out for it or speak out on Twitter, everybody knew who everybody was and who's going back. Some of us wanted to go back and some of us don't. I love the franchise, I love the fact that it's there and people still love it. And I love the fact that people love the fact that I was in it. I'm like everybody else. You know there's a lot of one-handed or mechanical-handed Jedi in all these 'Star Wars' things. So, what, he cut off my hand and I fell out of the window. It doesn't mean I died."
The prequel trilogy was criticised by some fans and reviewers but Jackson, 66, will always defend them and insists they served "their purpose" in the sci-fi franchise's history.
Speaking to GQ magazine, he said: "I thought they were fine ... They serve their purpose. 'Episode I' is a kiddy movie. Everyone hates Jar Jar Binks, but if you asked any kid which character is their favourite, they would say Jar Jar Binks. As for the other films, people say that George (Lucas) didn't know how to tell a story, but he didn't know how to tell a story to the tune of $30 billion. If you can make that much money you should go out there and do it and everyone else should shut the f**k up. It's just that simple."