When "Shaun of the Dead" director Edgar Wright was first announced for the big-screen adaptation of of Bryan Lee O'Malley's "Scott Pilgrim" series, you could practically hear the collective sigh of relief around the 'Net. For many fans, the belief was that if anyone can successfully bring the surreal adventures of slacker hero Scott Pilgrim to theaters faithfully, it's Wright.
And while we haven't seen any footage from the much-anticipated film yet, "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World" actor Jason Schwartzman would seem to agree with the sentiment that Wright was the right man for the job. Schwartzman plays Gideon, one of the final "evil ex-boyfriends" the title character must battle to win the affection of his girlfriend.
"One of the things that's so great about Edgar is that if he wasn't directing this movie, he would be Ticketholder #1 in line for it," Schwartzman told MTV News. "He is such a fan of movies and of these comics and what this movie is going to be. He gets just as excited as the people do — the fans. He's a fan." Read more...
While Jason Schwartzman's once-secret role as Gideon Graves in "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" has been confirmed for quite a while now, that's pretty much the only secret that's been revealed when it comes to Edgar Wright's live-action adaptation of Bryan Lee O'Malley's comic book series. Little is known about the look and tone of the film, but what fans have been able to glean from Wright and his cast has been promising.
Take, for example, our recent chat with Schwartzman during the "Fantastic Mr. Fox" junket. Not only has he seen the first 20 minutes of "Scott Pilgrim," but he shared some thoughts with MTV News about how the footage looked.
"I saw the first 20 minutes of it and I'm very proud to be a part of it," said Schwartzman. "It's unlike anything I've seen in my entire life." Read more...
Back in August, Jason Schwartzman got cryptic when he addressed his upcoming "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" battle. Even though he could only hint at his role in the film's final fisticuffs, the star was keen on sharing his overall experience playing the evil Gideon.
In an interview with Access Hollywood, Schwartzman praised director Edgar Wright, as well as his Scott Pilgrim challenger Michael Cera for contributing to an enjoyable experience.
“I had so much fun [on ‘Scott Pilgrim’],” said Schwartzman. “I was working with two people I admire so much, Edgar Wright, [the director of] ‘Shaun of the Dead’ and ‘Hot Fuzz,’ and Michael Cera, who in my view is the best [actor] working. I got to learn how to sword fight and battle and I got to go up on the wires for some flying kicks and stuff.” Read more...
Way back in August of 2008, we first brought you the news that Antony Johnston's graphic novel "Julius"—a modern-day reimagining of William Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar"—was headed to the big screen with "Law Abiding Citizen" director F. Gary Gray behind the camera.
There hasn't been much to report about the project since the initial announcement, so when Gray dropped by Splash Page HQ to chat about "Law Abiding Citizen," we asked him for an update on the adaptation.
"We're still developing it. We're still in the stage of finding a writer," Gray told MTV News. "That project is a huge project and we have to get that right." Read more...
In "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World," Chris Evans plays skateboarder-turned-actor Lucas Lee, one of the evil ex-boyfriends Scott Pilgrim must battle in order to win the heart of Ramona Flowers. While I don't want to spoil the film for anyone who hasn't read Bryan Lee O'Malley's amazing series, it shouldn't be a surprise that Evans' character will, at some point, engage in some skating.
So, when we caught up with Evans recently, we had to ask him whether he took to board easily, or if he has a nasty case of road rash to remember the film.
"They put me in a few weeks of stunt training with a guy who made skateboarding look easy as pie," said Evans. "It was an uphill battle." Read more...
Rashida Jones has optioned the movie rights to her upcoming comic book, “Frenemy of the State” to Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment. Additionally, Jones will co-write the screenplay with actor Will McCormack.
While “Frenemy of the State” was announced by Oni Press at the San Diego Comic Con back in July, the first issue has yet to hit the stands. Jones will be co-writing the comic book with the husband-and-wife creative team of Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir along with artist Jeff Wamester.
According to Variety, the series follows “a young wealthy heiress who works undercover for the CIA.” Jones, who is perhaps best known for her roles on “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation” on NBC, stated that she didn’t create "Frenemy of the State" as a project in which she'd star. Read more...
Now that "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World" has wrapped principal photography, the movie's many cast members are starting to talk about their work on the Edgar Wright-directed comic book adaptation. Today, actress Aubrey Plaza is getting in on that action.
Plaza plays Julie Powers in "Scott Pilgrim," the occasional girlfriend of Scott's band mate Stephen Stills. The actress spoke with Making Of about the film's "perfectly" weird faithfulness to the Bryan Lee O'Malley-created graphic novels. Read more...
Way back in February, "Twilight" actress Anna Kendrick was among the first cast members from Edgar Wright's "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" adaptation to appear in a series of photos in which the actors hid behind illustrations of their characters created by Bryan Lee O'Malley, the popular series' writer and artist.
Now, with the film wrapped and fans patiently waiting for it to hit theaters, we checked in with Kendrick during a press event for her upcoming film "Up In The Air" to get a few more thoughts about "Scott Pilgrim" and her role in it.
"I think it's pretty faithful to the books," Kendrick told MTV News. "My relationship mostly exists with Michael Cera on the phone—mostly yelling at him on the phone throughout the entire film." Read more...
When Kevin Smith dropped by Splash Page HQ recently to chat about his new book, "Shootin' The Sh*t With Kevin Smith: The Best Of The SModcast" (on shelves now), our conversation covered a pretty impressive number of topics. Along with telling us some of the things he's learned not to talk about on the air (and in the book), he told us about the new character he invented for his DC series "Batman: The Widening Gyre."
Heck, we even talked about one of the biggest stories of the year thus far: The Walt Disney Company buying Marvel Entertainment. Check it out:
"I saw a lot of cats who were like, 'Oh, this is the end, they're raping my childhood again,'" said Smith of the online uproar when the deal went public. Read more...
We still have a little while to wait for "Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World" to arrive in theaters, but it's hard not to count the days until we finally get to see director Edgar Wright bring Bryan Lee O'Malley's series to the big screen.
When we recently sat down with "Scott Pilgrim" star Michael Cera to talk about his upcoming film "Youth In Revolt," we were armed with a question about the comic book adaptation directly from Wright himself.
"That movie has more air cannon and lightbulbs in it than any other movie I have ever seen," said Cera when we posed him the question from his "Scott Pilgrim" director. Read more...
