Hitchcock
Directed by Sacha Gervasi
Written by John J. McLaughlin
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren, Scarlett Johansson, Jessica Biel
Fox Searchlight Pictures
Rated R | 98 Minutes
Release Date: December 7, 2012

Directed by Sacha Gervasi, Hitchcock is based on Stephen Rebello‘s non-fiction book, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho.

This tongue-in-cheek film adaptation, written by John J. McLaughlin, centers on the relationship between director Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) and his wife Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) during the making of Psycho.

Gervasi’s film opens as if it were an episode of the Hitchcock’s short-lived television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents. On a Wisconsin farm, Hitchcock witnesses the death of a man at the hands of Ed Gein (Michael Wincott). After delivering his signature, “Good Evening,” Hitchcock introduces us to Gein, a real-life body snatcher and serial killer whose grisly work influenced the cinematic slashers like Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs, and, of course, Norman Bates from Psycho.

After this humorous, rather charming opening, the story of Psycho begins at the premiere of Hitchcock’s 1959 film, North By Northwest. While the director is no doubt enjoying the critical and financial success of his latest picture, he is struggling to find his next project – that is, until he stumbles across Robert Bloch’s latest novel, Psycho.

When the first Blade movie hit theater screens in August of 1998 it became a surprise smash hit and accomplished several noteworthy goals: it gave Wesley Snipes an iconic movie hero in the mold of Rambo and John McClane to call his own, spawned one of New Line Cinema’s most lucrative franchises since the heyday of Freddy Krueger and the Ninja Turtles, and it proved that Marvel Comics characters could successfully headline their own motion picture adventures, thus paving the way for Spider-Man, the X-Men, and the Avengers to rule the box office in the years that followed. It took four years for a sequel to come together but with Guillermo Del Toro at the helm, Blade II surpassed the original in every way and became one of the best comic book movie sequels of all. The rapturous reception from moviegoers and critics that greeted Blade II helped revive Del Toro’s American directing career.

Expectations were high for a third Blade movie; at one point German filmmaker Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall) was rumored to take the reins for a post-apocalyptic sequel that would have had Snipes’ monosyllabic vampire hunter continue his neverending battle in a world dominated by the bloodthirsty undead. Instead David S. Goyer, the screenwriter who was instrumental in bringing Blade to the big screen, signed on to write and direct the movie that would be released in December 2004 as Blade: Trinity. The end result has since been deemed by many to be one of the worse comic book movies ever made, if not the absolute worse. Make no mistake friends, if you’ve never seen the movie you’re not missing anything at all. It’s atrocious. In the annals of superhero it ranks with the likes of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and Elektra. Blade: Trinity makes other maligned third chapters of comic book movie franchises like X-Men: The Last Stand and Spider-Man 3 look like masterpieces in comparison.

Production for any film will have its fair share of problems on the set. The new Sacha Gervasi-directed drama Hitchcock will shed light on the kinds of problems that Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins) experienced on and off the set of his greatest thriller Psycho.

Check out the first trailer for the film here below.

This latest biopic only covers the period of time in which Hitchcock was trying to get Psycho from development to production to full release. There are many conflicts that stand in Hitchcock’s way. People believe he is past his prime, there are production issues on set, and his romanced interest Alma Reville (Helen Mirren) believes she is being overshadowed by Hitchcock’s greatness. Scarlett Johansson will play Janet Leigh, while Danny Huston, Toni Collette, Jessica Biel, Michael Stuhlbarg, and James D’Arcy provide supporting roles.

Total Recall
Directed by Len Wiseman
Starring Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, Bryan Cranston, John Cho
Columbia Pictures
Rated PG-13 | 118 Minutes
Release Date: August 3rd, 2012

“I don’t wanna spoil it for you, Doug, but rest assured, by the time the trip is over, you get the girl, kill the bad guys, and save the entire planet. Now you tell me… isn’t that worth a measly 300 credits?”

Based on the Philip K. Dick story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale, Total Recall was first adapted in 1990 by director Paul Verhoeven (RoboCop), based on a screenplay by Alien scribes Ronald Shusett and Dan O’Bannon.

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger (“Give these people air!”) and Sharon Stone, Verhoeven’s Total Recall is considered an influential, mind-bending sci-fi satire. In Hollywood, if something is “influential” that means there’s still some money to be squeezed out of it, which means it’s ripe for a remake. Enter Len Wiseman, director of the Underworld films and Live Free or Die Hard.

Directed by Wiseman and written by Mark Bomback, James Vanderbilt, and Kurt Wimmer, this “new” Total Recall feels like a combination of I, Robot, Minority Report, Blade Runner, and pretty much every science-fiction film made in the last 20 years. Set in the grim future of 2084, Earth is controlled by The United Federation of Britain, led by Vilos Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston). Unlike the original film, which takes place primarily on Mars, Wiseman’s remake replaces the red planet with The Colony, a wretched hive of scum and villainy where all the middle-class, blue-collar folks are forced to live.

Usually when an actor enters into negotiations, it’s reported as if said actor has already landed the role. The reason for this is that, on most occasions, the negotiations between the two parties are merely a formality. This is not one of those cases.

It was recently reported that Jessica Biel had entered into negotiations to star alongside Hugh Jackman in his X-Men Origins: Wolverine sequel, The Wolverine. But now comes word that talks between Biel and 20th Century Fox have broken down, and the actress will not be appearing in the movie after all.