David Zucker, one third of the directorial trio of Airplane! and the Naked Gun films, has written a wonderful piece about his frequent star Leslie Nielsen, who passed away earlier this week for the Hollywood Reporter.

[W]hen it came time to select an actor to play Dr. Rumack, my brother Jerry, Jim Abrahams and I remembered: “This one guy, he’s been in hundreds of television shows, and I think he played the captain of the Poseidon. What’s his name … ?” Our research revealed that the actor’s name was Leslie Nielsen. Jim, Jerry and I were thrilled when he agreed to meet, not because he was “funny” but because of his long résumé of serious films and TV. To us, he was hysterical. The long list of straight dramatic acting roles demonstrated to us that he would be perfect. When we watched those movies, we laughed.

At our first meeting, he mentioned proudly that he had done an episode of M*A*S*H*.

We assured him we wouldn’t count this brief comedy experience against him. But when he read the Airplane! script, he “got” its unconventional nature and offbeat style. We heard later that he told his agent, “Take whatever they offer; I’d pay them to do this.”

It’s a warm and funny piece, which you can check out in full here.

Winter’s Bone, the drama about a teenage girl struggling to keep her family together while trying to find her missing, drug-dealing father, took top honors at last night’s the Independent Filmmaker Project 20th Anniversary Gotham Independent Film Awards ceremony in New York City, winning both the Best Feature and Best Ensemble Performance Awards.

Thirty films competed in seven categories for awards aimed at recognizing excellence in independent film. Most of the winners have played at major festivals such as Sundance and have had at least a small amount of theatrical distribution.

Other winners include The Oath for Best Documentary, Kevin Asch, writer and director of Holy Rollers for Breakthrough Director and Ronald Bronstein for Breakthrough Performance for his work in Daddy Longlegs. The documentary Waiting For Superman won the Festival Genius Audience Award while the Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You Award went to the drama Littlerock.

In the wake of The Empire Strikes Back director Irvin Kershner’s passing, Star Wars impresario George Lucas released the following, touching statement about his former collaborator -

“The world has lost a great director and one of the most genuine people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing,” says Lucas. “Irvin Kershner was a true gentleman in every sense of the word. When I think of Kersh, I think of his warmth, his thoughtfulness and his talent. I knew him from USC — I attended his lectures and he was actually on the festival panel that gave the prize to my THX short. I considered him a mentor.

“Following Star Wars, I knew one thing for sure: I didn’t want to direct the second movie myself. I needed someone I could trust, someone I really admired and whose work had maturity and humor. That was Kersh all over. I didn’t want Empire to turn into just another sequel, another episode in a series of space adventures. I was trying to build something, and I knew Kersh was the guy to help me do it. He brought so much to the table. I am truly grateful to him.

“He was a friend as well as a colleague. He will be missed.”

Via StarWars.com

Kevin Smith has announced that Sky High star Nicholas Braun is being lined up to star in Smith’s upcoming hockey film Hit Somebody. Last February Smith had announced that Seann William Scott in the film’s lead role. Smith made the announcement, and clarified why Braun was sliding into Scott’s ice skates, on today’s installment of his Hollywood Babble-on podcast -

At one point it was Seann William Scott, and Seann William Scott apparently wanted to make a hockey movie real fuckin’ bad… So he went to do another one, which meant we were star-less for a while, which was totally OK by me. But then I found so much of my Hit Somebody cast while making Red State, so… The guy who’s going to play my lead, whose name is Buddy McKraken in the movie, is a fella who’s in our flick [Red State] and his name is Nicholas Braun. He’s this really great actor who I love to death and he is the perfect lead for this hockey movie, for this script.

In addition to starring in Smith’s Red State, Braun has appeared in the Disney family superhero film Sky High and the television series version of 10 Things I Hate About You.

Smith is hoping to have the film, based on the song by Warren Zevon, late next summer or early fall.

Peter Jackson will be shooting his two-part adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit in 3D and with the next generation of RED digital cameras according to a press release from the camera’s manufacturer, RED Digital Cinema.

Previously, there had been some question as to whether Jackson would be shooting The Hobbit for 3D or not. Guillermo del Toro, who had been attached to the project previously but had left over MGM’s continuing financial problems causing delays in getting the film greenlit, had stated that there had been some discussion as to whether or not the films were going to be shot in 3D but no decision had been made. Jackson has been mum on the subject since he took over the directorial reins after Del Toro’s exit.

Although he hasn’t shot an entire feature film on a digital camera yet, Jackson did shoot some of the aerial footage and visual effects plates for his last film, The Lovely Bones, with the RED One digital camera.

Many other directors are starting to make the switch to digital as well. David Fincher reportedly shot The Social Network with an updated RED One camera and will be using it again on his English language adaptation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Steven Soderbergh, in the meantime, is planning on shooting his biotech thriller Contagion with the newer Red EPIC.

Interestingly, according to RED’s press release, below, the company is building 30 of their new EPIC model camera for the production. Given that two cameras are needed for each camera rig in order to shoot in 3D, this gives us a potential 15 camera rigs for the shoot. On Lord Of The Rings, Jackson often had several units shooting simultaneously around New Zealand in order to get the massive trilogy of films completed. Is it possible that he is looking at doing something similar with The Hobbit?

Aesthetically, I’m still not 100 per cent sold on digital cameras. While they present both numerous advantages to filmmakers, both economic and artistic, they still don’t quite capture the look of film for me. I’ll admit that maybe I’m subconsciously rejecting what I’m seeing because I know that it was digitally recorded and not captured on celluloid.

Here is RED Digital Cinema’s press release -

Peter Jackson’s two film adaptation of The Hobbit will be shot in 3D using RED DIGITAL CINEMA’S soon to be released EPIC Digital Cameras.

The successor to RED’s industry changing RED ONE, the EPIC has 5K resolution, can shoot up to 120 frames per second and has a new HDRx™™ mode for the highest dynamic range of any digital cinema camera ever made. Taking everything they had learned from building their first camera, RED designed the EPIC from scratch and have produced a smaller, lighter camera that is an order of magnitude more powerful.

The Hobbit will be amongst the first productions in the world to use the EPIC and at least thirty cameras will be required by the 3-D production. The EPIC’S small size and relatively low weight, makes it perfect for 3-D – where two cameras have to be mounted on each 3D rig.

Jackson has a long history with RED, dating back to when he directed the short film ‘Crossing the Line’ as a very early test of prototype RED ONE cameras. “I have always liked the look of Red footage.” he says, “I’m not a scientist or mathematician, but the image Red produces has a much more filmic feel than most of the other digital formats. I find the picture quality appealing and attractive, and with the Epic, Jim and his team have gone even further. It is a fantastic tool, the Epic not only has cutting edge technology, incredible resolution and visual quality, but it is also a very practical tool for film makers. Many competing digital systems require the cameras to be tethered to large cumbersome VTR machines. The Epic gives us back the ability to be totally cable free, even when working in stereo.”

Jim Jannard the owner and founder of RED flew to New Zealand earlier this year with members of his team so that Jackson could test the EPIC and assess its suitability. “Everybody at RED is incredibly proud that Peter has chosen the Epic” says Jannard, “The Hobbit is a major production, and could have chosen any camera system that they wanted. The fact that they went with us is extremely gratifying.”

The Hobbit will start shooting in New Zealand early next year.

I generally don’t have the time to devote to play any of those viral marketing games that studios seem to like to use to promote an upcoming film. If you’re like me, you really appreciate it when someone else does the work and then shares the results. So since somebody else has done the work, we’re passing along the results to you. Hope you appreciate it.

There’s not much in the terms of new footage in the clip. And what little there is contains some product placement for, what else, Nokia Phones!

So does Nokia have an app for this?

Irvin Kershner, the action film director who helmed what is considered the best of the Star Wars films, The Empire Strikes Back, has died in Los Angeles, CA. He was 87.

George Lucas picked Kerschner to oversee the shooting of the first sequel to his blockbuster Star Wars, telling him “you know everything a Hollywood director is supposed to know, but you’re not Hollywood.” The film, which not only expanded the epic-sized story of inter-galactic civil war but featured a deeper look at the the characters involved, has been hailed by critics and fans as the best of the series.

Born in 1923 in Philadelphia, Kerschner started his directorial career in television in the 1960s, directing the pilots to such series as The Rebel, Peyton Place, Philip Marlow and others. Segueing to films, he helmed such films as The Flim-Flam Man starring Sean Connery, S*P*Y*S, The Return Of A Man Called Horse and The Eyes Of Laura Mars.

After Empire, Kershner would only direct two more films – RoboCop 2 and Never Say Never Again, which reteamed the director with Connery for the actor’s last outing as British secret agent James Bond in this film madet outside of the “official” Bond series.

Leslie Nielsen, the actor who took an unexpected mid-career turn from dramatic roles into comedy with the hit film Airplane!, died yesterday in hospital near his home in Ft. LAuderdale, FL from complications of pneumonia. He was 84.

For a good portion of his early career, the Canadian-born Nielsen specialized in dramatic and romantic leading roles, first in the television anthology series of the early 1950s and then in films. After an early breakthrough performance as the heroic Captain Adams in the 1956 science-fiction classic Forbidden Planet, upon which Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry would partly model his own Captain Kirk, Nielsen would turn in other memorable turns in such films as Tammy And The Bachelor, Beau Geste and The Poseidon Adventure.

When writer/directors Jim Abrams and David And Jerry Zucker began looking for an actor to play a doctor in their parody Airplane!, they turned to Nielsen. Instructing him to play the role as if it were a dramatic instead of comedic one, Nielsen’s Dr. Rumack was one of the hit film’s standout characters, in part due to his straitlaced delivery of lines like “The life of everyone on board depends upon just one thing- finding someone back there who can not only fly this plane, but who didn’t have fish for dinner” and “I am serious… And don’t call me Shirley.”

Abrams and the Zuckers were so pleased with Nielsen’s work that they brought him in to star as Lt. Frank Drebin in their cop series parody Police Squad for ABC. Although the show was canceled after just six episodes, it was resurrected for the successful three film Naked Gun series. Nielsen would also appear in other comedy films that would ape the Zucker-Abrams-Zucker deadpan style including Repossessed, Spy Hard and Superhero Movie. He would work with David Zucker on the third and fourth entry of the Scary Movie series when the director was called in to help revitalize the horror film parody franchise.

It’s a Turkey Day miracle!

Shout Factory has announced that they have acquired the rights to all five Gamera movies that were lampooned on Mystery Science Theater 3000. The MST3K versions of Gamera, Gamera Vs Barugon, Gamera Vs Gaos, Gamera Vs Guion and Gamera Vs Zigra will all be released at some point next year. No word yet as to whether they will be in one box set or if the group will be broken up over a couple of the regularly released MST3K sets that Shout releases.

This might not seem like a big deal to some, but many fans of the series had serious doubts that the films would ever make it out into home video. The story goes that Sandy Frank, the man who imported the Gamera films to the United States, oversaw their dubbing and syndication for television, was none too thrilled with the treatment the movies received at the hands of Joel and the `bots. He probably wasn’t too amused with the drubbing he himself took over the course of the five movies mocked, as well.

All five episodes were part of the show’s 1991-1992 third season, which most fans consider as the time the show really began to hit its creative stride. There were several other Sandy Frank imports in this season that fans have been hoping to make it to DVD, such as Time Of The Apes, Fugitive Alien (“He tried to kill me with a forklift!”) and Mighty Jack. Hopefully, this is opening the doors to get those on DVD as well.

Let’s let Mike and the `bots explain their reactions to some of the Gamera movies they’ve watched through dioramas-

Via Satellite News.

Just because you’re not a a billionaire industrialist/genius/super hero doesn’t mean you can’t carry around your important papers like one. Not when you can buy yourself this briefcase, a replica of Tony Stark’s briefcase/Mark V armor from Iron Man 2.

While this won’t expand out out into a suit of powered armor to fight supervillains with, it does function as an attache case, with a genuine-leather interior, custom-molded lazer-cut EVA foam (with the Stark Industries logo) and a hard-rubber lining seal to protect your files from the elements. The exterior is finished with brushed aluminum and red automotive paint. At 14 pounds in weight, it also doubles as your daily workout.

It might be pricey for some at $429.00, but the briefcase is only being produced in a limited quantity of 1000 and is available through Entertainment Earth.