Actress Shohreh Aghdashloo
Shohreh Aghdashloo Casts No Stones
By
Alex Simon
Iranian actress Shohreh Aghdashloo made history as the first Middle Eastern woman to be nominated for an Academy Award, when she received a Best Supporting Actress nod for her work in House of Sand and Fog (2003), opposite Ben Kingsley. Born in Tehran in 1952 to an upper middle class family of intellectuals, Shohreh spent her youth performing with various avant-garde theater companies during the country’s period of social and artistic freedom under the rule of Iran’s Shah. Most prominent among these groups was the renowned Drama Workshop of Tehran. Based upon her work with the latter group, Shohreh was cast by the two leaders of Iran’s New Wave filmmakers—Abbas Kiarostami and Ali Hatami—to play starring roles in Gozaresh and Sute-Delan, two seminal films of the period, both released in 1977.

The following year, 1978, changed everything with
The Hollywood Interview.com

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Marvel Studios has made one of the biggest splashes into the film industry in recent years with them become a full-fledged independent studio that finances its own films.
You no doubt have seen the results of this in mainstream media in recent times with the two big summer movies last year, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, and the success that ensued.
Now we have an ever-growing list of films on Marvel’s production slate with talk of expansion to a production capacity of four big budget features a year in the not too distant future.
For now, we’ll have to settle with the massive upcoming origin films for Thor and Captain America, the sequel to last summer’s hit Iron Man, and the eagerly anticipated and almighty team-up film that will bring them all together: Avengers.

 
Writing the Avengers movie is one of the go-to Marvel writers, Zak Penn.
Rob Keyes

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Writer Zack Penn (X2, Elektra, X-Men: The Last Stand, The Incredible Hulk) spoke at the Los Angeles Film Festival about writing "The Avengers," the movie that will bring together several Marvel superheroes. "They're doing Captain American and Thor first, and then Avengers is coming out," Penn said. "They want to see that they're all connected. I'm taking a meeting next week with the Thor and Captain America people, and we are all going to get together, and I will see what is going to happen. I'll see where they are leaving the characters; it's pretty complicated." He continued: "There's a board that is tracking what is happening. [We'll see] how this movie overlaps in that movie. Marvel is autonomous now. It is night and day: Everyone has read every comic. They know how to make a cool movie." But even though Penn is surrounded by very knowledgeable people, he still remains insecure

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From Splash Page: Last month, we reported that “X-Men: The Last Stand” filmmaker Brett Ratner had parted ways with the “Conan” franchise, leaving the hard-drinking barbarian without a director — but with a little luck and a blessing from Crom, a replacement has been found!
The word is in from Variety that Marcus Nispel will direct “Conan” for Nu Image/Millennium Films and Lionsgate. “Conan” will mark Nispel’s third time reawakening a franchise, the first two being his directorial work on “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Friday the 13th.”
Continue reading ‘Friday The 13th’ Director Marcus Nispel Tagged For ‘Conan’

Josh Wigler

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Last month, we reported that “X-Men: The Last Stand” filmmaker Brett Ratner had parted ways with the “Conan” franchise, leaving the hard-drinking barbarian without a director — but with a little luck and a blessing from Crom, a replacement has been found!
The word is in from Variety that Marcus Nispel will direct “Conan” for Nu Image/Millennium Films and Lionsgate. “Conan” will mark Nispel’s third time reawakening a franchise, the first two being his directorial work on “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Friday the 13th.”
According to the article, Nispel’s take on the film will draw inspiration from “his childhood imaginings of the character with the influence of the famous Conan illustrations by Frank Frazetta, and the influence of such viscerally violent period films as Mel Gibson’s ‘Apocalypto.’”
Say what you will about Mel Gibson and his headline-worthy antics, but “Apocalypto” really could be a perfect model for “Conan.
Josh Wigler

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Earlier this year, a sci-fi horror-thriller by the name of Pandorum popped firmly onto our radar when the insanely creepy poster and thrilling trailer were released for it. Another Pandorum poster soon followed that was equally as creepy as the first, and last month a full trailer for the film was released, which put it firmly on the list of anticipated films for 2009.
To promote Pandorum, actor Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma, X-Men: The Last Stand) and few of the film’s other stars made an appearance at the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors, where an interview with Foster revealed more about the film. Courtesy of io9, here is some of what Ben Foster had to say:
 
io9 - “Ben, what was it about this character that appealed to you?”
Ben Foster - “I liked the idea of not remembering who you are. And having to get back to a primitive reaction.
Ross Miller

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Yesterday evening we received our first look at Mickey Rourke as Whiplash in “Iron Man 2,” and it was a peek that not only cleared up some confusion about the character he’ll play in the much-anticipated sequel, but also stirred up some powerful reactions from fans.
While the new image and various reports accompanying it confirm that “The Wrestler” star will play an amalgam of Crimson Dynamo and Whiplash rather than one or the other (as had previously been pondered), there is one big question that remains: was the decision to combine several characters into a new character a wise move?

By blending two established characters in the Marvel Comics universe (or more, given the similarities to Wolverine villain Omega Red in the look Rourke is sporting for the character, as well as his weapons’ resemblance to those of another Marvel villain, Constrictor) and creating an entirely new, mash-up character,
Rick Marshall

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Ryan Reynolds has shed more light on which other comic book favourites might appear in the Deadpool spin-off featuring his character from X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
He's already said he wants the film to include the telepathic/telekinetic soldier Cable, who teams up with Deadpool in the comics, but acknowledged the character's complex backstory might need an introductory Cable movie first.
Reynolds now says other characters are under discussion, admitting that the Deadpool spin-off is "in fast-track development." He's working with studio bosses to find a writer and director.
He told MTV: "I'm hoping Cable will be in it. I've made no secret that I love that character. I also love some of the more preliminary characters at the beginning of the series. I like Ajax - that's an easier character to put in.
"And Black Tom - I think there's a lot of different villains [we're considering]; you could do a whole
David Bentley

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Anna Paquin says she would love to appear in another X-Men film - but hopes her character has more action scenes next time.
Paquin, 26, played lifeforce-absorbing mutant Rogue in the three previous X-Men movies.
The character was portrayed as timid and meek and struggling with her powers, which rendered her unable to touch or kiss someone without harming them.
She ended up voluntarily taking a cure for mutation in the third movie, much to the annoyance of many fans - although a deleted scene on the DVD shows an alternative scenario in which she decided against taking the cure.
Paquin has since been starring as telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse in the vampire series True Blood.
Asked by IGN if she would be up for playing Rogue again, she said: "Absolutely. I would hope I could do a little bit more action next time, though.
"I kind of find it ironic
David Bentley

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Fellow X-Men fans, there might be a ray of hope upon the horizon. Valkyrie and director of the first two X-Men movies, Bryan Singer was interviewed from Total Film magazine where he expresses a great interest in diving back into the X-Men universe. As most of you know, the latest movie that is currently on Twentieth Century Fox’s slab for production is X-Men Origins: Magneto. After being on a long development hell, it’s finally getting the wheels in motion after the recent success of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Take a peek at the interview where he shows his interest:
Will Singer be back for more mutant goodness?
I‘m eternally intertwined with X-Men now. What takes an audience four hours to watch - the first two movies - took six years of my life. So, to not be part of it….It’s a shame.”


Asked whether he wished
Melissa

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