Steven Spielberg News

[goldenboy]

ACTOR’S BIG MOUTH LOSES HIM HIS BREAK IN INDIANA JONES IV

Sunday September 30,2007

By Mike Parker in Los Angeles

Tyler Nelson’s Hollywood dream seemed to have come true when he was hand-picked by Steven Spielberg for a small but significant role in the new Indiana Jones movie.

The gifted ballet dancer who studied with the Bolshoi seemed tailor-made to play a Russian soldier who dances with delight when whip-cracking archaeologist Indie is captured by the Soviets.

But his fancy footwork hit the cutting room floor on the orders of an enraged Spielberg when Nelson broke the golden rule – he gave away the film’s plot.

Although, like all the cast, he had signed a confidentiality agreement, the over-excited 24-year-old told his local paper, the Edmond Sun in Oklahoma how Cate Blanchett, who plays an evil Russian spy, tortures and interrogates Jones, played by Harrison Ford, 65. His detailed descriptions of major scenes in Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull caused horror in Hollywood.

Said an insider: “Steven has said it’s way too late and it would be way too expensive to reshoot the key scenes Tyler has blabbed about.

“He and Harrison are spitting blood. If I were Tyler, I don’t think I’d ever be brave enough to set foot in this town again, let alone look for work.”

Tyler has also spilled the beans about scenes in which Shia LaBeouf, who starred in the blockbuster Transformers, plays Indiana’s son. According to the insider, LaBeouf has sent Tyler a sympathetic e-mail but Spielberg, 65, and Ford are unforgiving.

Even Tyler’s own representative at the Thomas Talent Agency in Los Angeles declared: “He’s in big trouble. Right now, I’ve no idea where he is – hiding, if he has any sense.”

Last night, the actor was believed to be staying at the home of relatives in Edmond, Oklahoma. A local resident said: “He could still be a successful ballet dancer but his dream since childhood was to make it in Hollywood. Steven Spielberg saw his credentials and cast him personally.

“It’s a terrible shame for a young career to end before it’s even begun but he’s only got himself to blame I guess.”
Daily Express: The World's Greatest Newspaper :: News / Showbiz :: Actor’s big mouth loses him his break in Indiana Jones IV (http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/20541/Actor-s-big-mouth-loses-him-his-break-in-Indiana-Jones-IV)

[goldenboy]

Theft from Spielberg's Indiana Jones film set

By Natalie Paris
Last Updated: 12:46pm BST 03/10/2007

The filming of Steven Spielberg's eagerly-awaited "Indiana Jones" movie has hit a glitch after computers and photographs were stolen from the film set.

Spielberg's studio DreamWorks Pictures SKG has reportedly asked police to investigate after it was feared that thieves might try to profit from the material.

"We want to warn the media that anything that is offered is stolen property," Spielberg's spokesman Marvin Levy told the LA Times.

"We know it is out there."

He said the crime had occured recently but was not sure exactly when.

Kristin Spark, also from the studio, described the stolen items as "confidential and proprietary materials" to do with the movie.

The fourth installment in the blockbusting Indiana Jones series, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," is due to be released next May.

Harrison Ford has once again picked up his leather hat and whip to play the lead role as adventurous archaeologist Indy.

He is joined by Shia LaBeouf, Australian actress Cate Blanchett and other cast members including Ray Winstone, John Hurt and Jim Broadbent.

George Lucas produces the film which is set in the 1950s.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/03/windy103.xml

If you click on that link, you can see a cast photo. Karen Allen's looking surprisingly good. Shia's looking kinda creepy with a stubbly mustache.


UPDATE:

Indy IV Thief Thwarted By FBI; Spielberg Lets Out Sigh of Relief

Stolen production photos and budget info still under wraps.

by Jen Yamato | October 03, 2007
Blog Article | Discuss Article

Steven Spielberg has a huge debt of gratitude to pay to the anonymous online blogger who helped thwart a plan to sell thousands of stolen Indiana Jones IV set photos and the film's production budget to the highest bidder.

A recent break-in at one of the film's production offices left multiple computers from the now-shooting Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in the hands of thieves; the culprits then contacted numerous online outlets looking to sell over 2500 set photos -- and more importantly, production books, which held the secrets of Spielberg's as-yet unnamed budget.

Luckily for Paramount Pictures, a FBI operation nabbed the crooks shortly after the theft. Within 24 hours of being offered the stolen photos, the anonymous blogger cooperated in a FBI sting operation that collared the thieves before any of the goods could hit the internet. A source tells RT that in true Hollywood fashion, the arrest was made at a meeting set-up for mid-afternoon at the Standard Hotel.

While the thieves were apprehended before selling any of the Indy IV photos, at least one corporately-owned media property had seemingly gotten their hands on the production budget books. AOL-Time Warner-owned gossip site TMZ.com had reportedly promised to reveal details of the Indy IV budget on their TV program (yes, they have a TV program) before deciding against running the story altogether.

So three cheers for Anonymous Online Blogger Guy! Way to give the online film community a good name.
ROTTEN TOMATOES: Indy IV Thief Thwarted By FBI; Spielberg Lets Out Sigh of Relief (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/indiana_jones_4/news/1676711/)

[goldenboy]

They're Here ... With Next to No Extras

By JEN CHANEY
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007

There is such a thing as DVD etiquette. For example, when a studio celebrates a movie's 25th anniversary by issuing a new DVD, it's customary to include at least a few bonus features on it.

Which is why "Poltergeist: 25th Anniversary Edition" ($19.98) comes across as almost impolite. Given the film's impact -- the 1982 movie was a huge horror hit that inspired two sequels, a controversy over its directing credit and the deliciously eerie legend about a "Poltergeist" curse -- this disc should be overflowing with creepy extras designed to please the fans who have waited several years for a substantive release. What those fans get instead is a decent-looking remastered version of the movie, an interesting half-hour documentary about the "Real World of Poltergeists" and ... that's it.

What a missed opportunity for Warner Home Video, especially because "Poltergeist" isn't just some outdated leftover from the "I Love the '80s" vaults. The shocker, which forever implanted the phrase "They're here" into the public consciousness and traumatized more than one kid (including this one) who saw it because tickets for "E.T." were sold out, holds up remarkably well as a genuinely scary suburban ghost story. In an era when dark and gory torture flicks reign, watching "Poltergeist" -- with its moving performances and underlying spiritual themes -- is both frightening and refreshing.

"Poltergeist" also is an undeniably Spielbergian experience, which is why the debate continues about whether Steven Spielberg, who wrote and produced the film, also directed it, as opposed to the credited Tobe Hooper. In a recent interview with Ain't It Cool News, actress Zelda Rubenstein -- who wrongly and famously declares in the movie that "This house is clean" -- gives directing credit to Spielberg: "I can tell you that Steven directed all six days I was there. I only worked six days on the film and Steven was there. Tobe set up the shots and Steven made the adjustments. You’re not going to hear that from Tobe Hooper, you’ll hear it from Zelda, because that was my honest to God experience. I’m not a fan of Tobe Hooper."

Meow. Seems like perfect fodder to address in a making-of documentary on the DVD, doesn't it? At the absolute least, a couple of deleted scenes, commentary from some of the cast members (including Rubenstein) or even the suprisingly compelling "E! True Hollywood Story" on the "Poltergeist" curse could and should have been included here. The aforementioned "Real World of Poltergeists Revealed" documentary provides a fascinating window into the world of the paranormal investigators, psychics and ghost hunters who seek out spirits like the ones who freak out the Freeling family in the movie. But co-producer Frank Marshall is the only person interviewed who is remotely affiliated with "Poltergeist," and he's only on screen for a brief minute or two. And that may make some Carol Anne fans mad enough to sic a possessed clown doll on the producers of this spooky-but-skimpy DVD.
Movies: Bonus Points - Oct. 9, 2007 (washingtonpost.com) (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/artsandliving/movies/features/bonus-points/100907.html)


Huh. I knew Spielberg produced. Didn't know he basically directed the thing too.

[goldenboy]

Spielberg Talks Indy 4, Transformers & Tintin!

Source: Heather Newgen
October 10, 2007

Earlier today, ComingSoon.net had a chance to talk to director Steven Spielberg about next summer's highly-anticipated Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, starring Harrison Ford, Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, Karen Allen, John Hurt and Jim Broadbent, as well as his other projects in the works like Tintin and the Transformers sequel.

Before we met the remarkable and legendary director at the Amblin offices on the Universal Studios lot, we were shuttled to craft services near the set for lunch. While we weren't allowed on-set, which was somewhat disappointing but understandable, we did catch a glimpse of Harrison Ford in full costume grabbing a bite to eat as we left the area and that made not seeing the set quite alright. He appeared to be amazingly fit in his Indy outfit and we couldn't believe how great the 64-year-old looked as he quickly flashed his award-winning grin.

A few minutes later, we met Spielberg in a private screening room where he enthusiastically greeted us sporting his usual dressed-down-with-ball-cap look. Spielberg was gracious with his time and while he talked with us a few minutes, he was upfront about not wanting to answer any questions about the movie. Of course as journalists, we had to try and this is what we got:

Production is two days away from wrapping and the director raved about how great it was to have Ford back and how amazed he was that he did the majority of his own stunts. He said, looking back to the last film, which was 18 years ago, he couldn't tell the difference between the action star from then to now because he's still that good. He also told us that the Russians are the villains in the film and he hired Russian actors to ensure accuracy with their accents.

He went on to say that the fourth installment of the "Indiana Jones" franchise is shot on film and not digital, despite Lucas' encouragements of doing so because he is old-fashioned, and he added that if the people before him, who he considered great directors, did it on film then that's good enough for him.

Spielberg then talked about what a great addition Shia LaBeouf has been and how he's been doing all of his own stunts, too. Speaking of LaBeouf, Spielberg told us there are going to be multiple "Transformers" films that the hot young actor is signed on to do and that there's already a story for the second one, but production depends on the pending writer's strike.

In addition to Transformers and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the industrious director talked about Tintin, a project he's working on with Peter Jackson, based on the popular graphic novels by Belgian artist Hergé. He said that as of now there are only two directors with Jackson directing the first installment, himself directing the second movie, and if they don't hire another director, the two would co-direct the third. Jackson will shoot his movie in New Zealand and Spielberg will shoot in the States, and Spielberg said the two are very collaborative and that the film will be using motion-capture, which is still new to him.

As if meeting Spielberg in person and listening to him talk wasn't enough, he also signed limited edition "Indy 4" posters for all of us. It was a great afternoon for everyone, to say the least.
Spielberg Talks Indy 4, Transformers & Tintin! - ComingSoon.net (http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=38211)

[goldenboy]

VES honors Spielberg

Effects group gives director highest honor
By DAVID S. COHEN

Steven Spielberg has been selected to receive the Visual Effects Society's Lifetime Achievement Award for 2008. Kudo is the VES' highest honor.

Org's board of directors cited the contribution of Spielberg's films, both as a director and a producer, to the art and science of visual effects.

"Steven Spielberg is the first director that to comes to mind when you think of amazing visual effects due to his enormous body of creative groundbreaking work," VES chair Jeff Okun said.

His next film as helmer is "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," produced by another VES lifetime achievement honoree, George Lucas.

The sixth annual Visual Effects Society Awards will be presented Feb. 10 at the Kodak Theater Grand Ballroom in Hollywood.
VES honors Spielberg - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - Variety (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117975223.html?categoryId=13&cs=1)




Indiana Jones thief pleads guilty

A man who tried to sell stolen images and computers from the set of the next Indiana Jones film has pleaded guilty to two charges.

Roderick Davis, 37, pleaded guilty in Los Angeles to receiving stolen property and commercial burglary.

As part of his plea deal, he will serve two years and four months in prison.

Davis - who has previous convictions for theft - was arrested on 4 October during a sting operation by detectives who posed as potential buyers.

The items stolen from the Universal Studios lot were said to contain confidential materials relating to the fourth instalment in Steven Spielberg's popular adventure series.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which sees Harrison Ford reprise his role as the daredevil archaeologist, will be released next May.

Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf and Ray Winstone co-star in the film, which finished shooting on 11 October.

Earlier this year its producers took action against an actor who was accused of revealing the film's plot in a newspaper interview.

A settlement was reached last month, the details of which were not disclosed.
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Indiana Jones thief pleads guilty (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7075581.stm)

[goldenboy]

Tintin Goes Gollum

by Josh Grossberg
Mon, 17 Dec 2007 02:26:31 PM PST

The actor best known for his behind-the-scenes work for Peter Jackson as the computer-generated Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and the titular ape in King Kong is set to reunite with Jackson and Steven Spielberg's highly anticipated trilogy based on Georges Remi's bestselling comic.

Jackson and Spielberg are tag-teaming on the planned trilogy, with Jackson taking the reins on the inaugural film and Spielberg the second entry. No word yet on who is helming the third installment.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Serkis plays the part of Captain Haddock, Tintin's quick-tempered mentor. DreamWorks declined to comment on the casting.

Jackson and Spielberg culled three stories from the original The Adventures of Tintin books, which Remi wrote under the pen name Hergé, for the big screen.

While relatively obscure to most Americans, Tintin has sold more than 200 million copies worldwide and been translated into over 50 languages. The strip follows a fearless, globe-trotting, weirdly coiffed Belgian reporter who fights crime with his trusty Fox Terrier, Snowy, and a host of oddball pals, including Haddock, absent-minded Professor Cuthbert Calculus, opera diva Bianca Castafiore and bowler-wearing, blundering twin cops Thomson and Thompson.

Tintin will get the full blockbuster treatment, including state-of-the-art performance-capture technology that Jackson and his New Zealand-based effects house, WETA Digital, pioneered with Rings and Kong.

The trilogy will also be produced and released in digital 3-D.

No other casting decisions have been announced.

Jackson is slated to begin shooting his Tintin turn next September, after he wraps work on his current project, an adaptation of Alice Sebold's bestselling novel, The Lovely Bones.

Meanwhile, there's still no verdict on whether Jackson and New Line will work out an accord to have him helm The Hobbit. Jackson has sued the studio over LOTR royalties.

It's believed that if an amicable settlement can be worked out, Jackson will at least produce the LOTR prequel, and Serkis would presumably be back as Gollum.

Serkis, meanwhile, was just nominated for a Golden Globe for his flesh-and-blood supporting role in the HBO TV movie Longford.

His other upcoming projects include Inkheart, a family adventure costarring Brendan Fraser, Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent, and the British television drama Einstein and Eddington.
E! News - Tintin Goes Gollum - Peter Jackson | Steven Spielberg (http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=2d6de6f3-3da7-4be0-9ab7-c779cfae62d7)

[N4H]

I never got the attraction for Tintin. Wish they'd done Asterix instead. I like that one better as far as classic foreign comics go. Still...it will be fun to see what they do with Tintin. Sounds like they have big plans.

It would also be fun if Serkis and Camden Toy (the guy who played monsters for Buffy the Vampire Slayer) did something together, not necessarily this one. They have similarities.

[goldenboy]

China's censors to ban Steven Spielberg's ET

By Richard Spencer in Beijing
Last Updated: 6:38pm GMT 14/02/2008

Even before Spielberg announced he was pulling out of the Beijing Olympics, Chinese officials were plotting against his most lovable creation - ET.

In a new twist in the Chinese censors’ campaign to clean up the country’s viewing habits, aliens, ghosts and all other aspects of horror and the supernatural are to be banned from videos.

Video and audio products often “involve alien-looking characters and fictional storytelling, both specifically plotted for the sole purpose of terror,” the General Administration of Press and Publications, one of two main censorship bodies, said.

The move seems largely aimed at a wave of Korean and Japanese horror movies that are sweeping the countries voluminous pirate DVD shops and stalls.

But it also covers any films currently under production in China itself. It follows a much-mocked sensitivity by GAPP’s sister organisation, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, over the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

The first film was not shown in Chinese cinemas, because it contained ghosts, and while the third was shown, scenes involving the Chinese actor Chow Yun-fat were cut.

The two bodies are in the middle of a desperate campaign to purify the media, films, and in particular the internet of both political and cultural irritants.

They regularly announce more successful purges against internet pornography, but in other areas their edicts have caused as much puzzlement as alarm.

From the end of January, video-sharing websites not run by government agencies were supposed to have been banned, though there is as yet no sign of this having come into effect.
China's censors to ban Steven Spielberg's ET - Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/14/wet114.xml)

[goldenboy]

Report: Spielberg's spooky social site

Posted by Caroline McCarthy

On Steven Spielberg's rumored social network, maybe you can discuss whether that ghost was really a ghost or just the creepy old caretaker from the abandoned amusement park.

Who wants to believe? TechCrunch reported Monday night that Steven Spielberg is developing a new social network where people can talk about their encounters with the paranormal and extraterrestrial.

Spielberg, creator of sci-fi classics like Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Men in Black, and the War of the Worlds remake a few years ago, is reportedly himself a believer in paranormal phenomena. In creating a social network for fellow enthusiasts as well as people who claim to have encountered the otherworldly, Spielberg is tapping into a lifelong passion.

But its exact ties to tech and entertainment are unclear. "The project may have originally been associated with Yahoo but the project was killed off before launch," TechCrunch's Michael Arrington wrote. "But if our sources are right, the idea has lived on and a team in Los Angeles is working to launch it in the next few months."

Here's another theory: What if this is in conjunction with some kind of upcoming Spielberg project, a sort of uber-viral meta-campaign along the lines of the HBO Voyeur Project? (Whatever happened to that, anyway?)
Report: Spielberg's spooky social site | The Social - CNET News.com (http://www.news.com/8301-13577_3-9885250-36.html?tag=newsmap)

[goldenboy]

Spielberg Adapting Ghost in the Shell into Live-Action 3D!

April 14, 2008
Source: Variety
by Alex Billington

After 19 years since its debut in 1989, DreamWorks has finally secured the rights to adapt the Japanese manga and anime series Ghost in the Shell into a 3D live-action feature film. Both Universal and Sony were also chasing the rights, but Steven Spielberg himself took a personal interest in it and made sure it ended up in the hands of his company - DreamWorks. Spielberg says that Ghost in the Shell is one of his favorite stories and is "a genre that has arrived and we enthusiastically welcome it to DreamWorks." This plays off of the announcement from February that Akira, one of the other heralded Japanese anime properties, is being adapted by Warner Brothers as well.

Street Kings screenwriter Jamie Moss has been hired to write the adaptation. Ex-Marvel CEO Avi Arad and Steven Paul, who originally brought the project to the studio, will both produce. A director has not been announced yet. DreamWorks president of production Adam Goodman enthused that Ghost in the Shell is a property "that epitomizes 3-D live-action motion picture possibilities." A production schedule has not been announced, however it's likely DreamWorks will be aiming to get this together to follow Akira's debut in the summer of 2009.

Created by Masamune Shirow, Ghost in the Shell was first published in 1989. It went on to generate two additional manga editions, three anime film adaptations, an anime TV series and three videogames. Ghost in the Shell is a futuristic police thriller dealing with the exploits of Motoko Kusanagi, a member of the covert operations section of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission, Section 9, which specializes in fighting technology-related crime. Although supposedly equal to all other members, Kusanagi fills the leadership role in the team, and is usually referred to as "the Major" due to her past rank in the armed forces. She is capable of superhuman feats, and bionically specialized for her job - her body is almost completely mechanized; only her brain and a segment of her spinal cord are organic.

I'm a huge fan of the two Ghost in the Shell anime movies and am incredibly excited to see this finally come together under Spielberg's discretion. It looks like the new trend in Hollywood definitely is adapting anime and it looks like both Paramount (Ghost in the Shell) and Warner Brothers (Akira) have their big properties. I only hope that Jamie Moss is a talented enough screenwriter to maintain the brilliant subtleties and undertones of the Ghost in the Shell series and not turn it into a steaming pile of Hollywood crap. For now I'll remain confident and maintain my excitement as this project develops.
Spielberg Adapting Ghost in the Shell into Live-Action 3D! FirstShowing.net (http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/04/14/spielberg-adapting-ghost-in-the-shell-into-live-action-3d/)