Filmonic » Brett Ratner

Brett Ratner no longer directing Conan

Liam — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:53:21 +0000

Empire got the chance to speak with Conan producer Joe Gatta who revealed that Brett Ratner is no longer directing the Conan reboot, and that they are currently looking for someone else to direct.

“We’re currently in the process of hiring a director,” he told us. “For the past six months we were discussing the movie with Brett Ratner, and for more timing issues than anything else we had to part ways with Brett. We all wanted him to do it, believe me; just the timing didn’t work. But you never know what can happen.”

However, having no director hasn’t stopped them from setting a start date:

“We have a potential start-date on Conan of August 24. And we’ll be shooting in Bulgaria. I would say though the emphasis is on Conan [rather than Red Sonja]. It’s our crown jewel here at the company and that will be the leader. Red Sonja probably won’t happen until next year, as far as making it goes. So we want to launch Conan and reinvent the franchise.”
As for the hiring of Conan himself, you might want to start pumping some serious iron: Gatta says that, “We’ll have an open casting call: as soon as we hire our director the search is on.”

Personally I didn’t think Ratner was the best director for the project. Whoever they eventually hire will give us a clear idea which direction they are heading. Will it be faithful gritty reboot or a commerical popcorn flick?

Weekend Linkage

Liam — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 18:14:42 +0000

Behind the scenes of Sasha Baron Cohen’s Bruno [FilmDrunk]

10 Greatest George W. Bush Moments [ScreenJunkies]

A new poster for the upcoming Street Fighter movie [ComingSoon]

Movie Mash-Ups We’d Like To See [HolyTaco]

Daniel Craig wants the next Bond to be black [DigitalSpy]

Brett Ratner is in final negotiations to direct Conan [THR]

Brett Ratner Confirms He Is Directing God Of War

Liam — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 21:56:58 +0000

There was talk back in May of Universal threatening to put Brett Ratner in the directors chair for the game-to-movie adaptation of God of War. Well now they have done more than threaten it, then have actually gone through with it.

Brett Ratner revealed the news to UGO

We caught up with him recently and confirmed either your greatest dream or biggest fear: Brett Ratner is indeed making a movie based on the video game series, God of War. Honestly, I love the Kratos games, however, they aren’t exactly the deepest when it comes to story, so he might just be the right person to handle the film adaptation.

God of War centers on Kratos, a celebrated soldier who is haunted by his past transgressions and his debt to the Gods of Olympus. It could have just been your typical hack and slash game, but the cinematic approach and highly entertaining story line earned it a reputation as one of the best around. Lets hope Ratner can do it justice (although I don’t have high expectations).

Brett Ratner Directing Conan. Apparently

Liam — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:09:58 +0000

According to Dread Central Nu Image, the people behind the Conan remake, are threatening to put Brett Ratner in the directors chair. This is the same Brett Ratner who a few weeks ago wanted to make a Guitar Hero movie. It is also the same Brett Ratner who directs music videos for Jessica Simpson, Mariah Carey and Miley Cyrus.

We got word today that Nu Image is offering the long-awaited new Conan movie to, of all people, Brett Ratner. Over the years there have been so directors circling this project, everyone from Robert Rodriguez to Rob Zombie, the fact that Brett Ratner might actually attach himself to this and make it a reality is almost enough to make one wish they’d just stop trying to bring Robert E. Howard’s creation back to the big screen.

Lets hope this is pure lies and another director gets attached soon. (Anyone will be an improvement…anyone!)

Guitar Hero Movie?

Liam — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:54:11 +0000

Yesterday it was announced we would be getting a movie based on Facebook, and now Rush Hour 3 director Brett Ratner has revealed he would like to direct a movie based on the popular game, Guitar Hero.

“I love ‘Guitar Hero’ and I think it’s a part of pop culture. I would love to do a ‘Guitar Hero’ movie, if Activision would ever let me. I’m trying to convince them, but why would you have a movie screw up such a huge franchise? Not that I would make a bad movie. So that would be cool, to do a ‘Guitar Hero’ movie. ”
“It could be about a kid from a small town who dreams of being a rock star and he wins the ‘Guitar Hero’ competition. One of these dreams-[come-true] kind of concepts.”

I’m not one of Brett Ratner’s biggest fans after X-Men 3, so I don’t have much faith in him. Any Guitar Hero players have an opinion on this? Would you like a Guitar Hero movie?

Brett Ratner To Direct God of War Movie?

Liam — Wed, 28 May 2008 23:00:34 +0000

There are quite a few popular games being adapted onto the big screen at the moment. There’s Prince of Persia which will begin filming soon, and BioShock which will be directed by Pirates of the Caribean director Gore Verbinski. Now God of War could be getting the film treatment, as a journalist recently revealed that Brett Ratner might be involved. Film Junk found the scoop at the very bottom of this article.

I have never been a hardcore gamer, so I’ve never had the chance to play God of War. For those of you who also haven’t, here’s a quick outline of what is it about.

God of War centers on Kratos, a celebrated soldier who is haunted by his past transgressions and his debt to the Gods of Olympus. It could have just been your typical hack and slash game, but the cinematic approach and highly entertaining story line earned it a reputation as one of the best around.

Brett Ratner is best known for directing the Rush Hour movies, and failing to improve the X-Men franchise with X-Men 3. He isn’t exactly the best man for the job, but then again he isn’t Uwe Boll.

Any God of War fans have an opinion on this?

Brett Ratner To Take On More Superheroes in ‘Harbinger’

Liam — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:24:06 +0000

When X-Men 3 was released, Ratner said that he left a few windows open (check the scene after the credits), should an X-Men 4 be made. However, Fox aren’t planning on making an X-Men 4 for a good few years yet, so Brett Ratner is moving on. He isn’t satisfied with taking on one superhero movie, he wants more, and it will be in the form of Harbinger.

Paramount have just bought the rights to Valiant Comics’ comic book about ‘humans with powers that can be unlocked by “omega” harbingers.’ It focus on ‘teenager Pete Stanchek who finds himself on a collision course with an older “omega” who used his gifts to become an evil industrialist.’

Variety say that the comic book was a hit in the 90’s, and that Valiant Comics has been relaunched after a period of rough times

Valiant Comics developed a strong following by launching hero franchises that had interconnected storylines (much like DC and Marvel titles). Company, which sold 80 million comicbooks and 8 million videogames, was sold to vidgame company Acclaim Entertainment in 1994 for $65 million but had done little recently as that company hit the financial rocks.

Wikipedia have a list of characters, which can be seen below.

Toyo Harada – The most powerful psionic on Earth, Harada commands the full spectrum of psionic abilities, including telepathy, telekinesis, mind-control, and many other deadly talents. Fearing that humanity may eventually destroy itself, Harada decided early in his life to preserve the planet by clandestinely conquering it. To this end, he established the Harbinger Foundation to recruit others with paranormal abilities, whom Harada refers to as “Harbingers of the next step in human evolution”. He seldom confronts his enemies directly, preferring to leave such dirty-work to his elite Harbinger warriors, the “Eggbreakers”. With tremendous economic and political clout, Harada seems close to achieving his goals, and is ready to destroy anyone who stands in his way.

Peter Stanchek (”Sting”) Sting is a psionic of extraordinary power and potential. Once a student of Toyo Harada, he decided to break away when Harada arranged the murder of Pete’s best friend. Together with Kris, Zephyr, Flamingo and Torque, Sting tries to thwart the plans of Harada and his Harbinger Foundation.

Kris Hathaway - Although not possessing super powers of her own, Kris is still an important member of Sting’s renegades. Her level head and intelligence keeps the team together and in focus of their goal.

Faith Herbert (”Zephyr”) Zephyr, known as Zeppelin to her friends, has the ability to fly. Founder of the Harbinger Resistance.

Charlene Dupre (”Flamingo”) Flamingo has the power to generate and control flames.

John Torkelson (”Torque”) Torque was a mechanic in Georgia before Sting released his powers of enormous strength and durability. In the beginning, Torque seemed very hostile and distant, but he has proven himself a loyal and valuable member of the group.

Amanda McKee (”Livewire”) Harada recruited Amanda and other like-minded (i.e., violent) individuals into his Eggbreakers, the squad of enforcers who did Harada’s dirty work. She was given the codename Livewire, due to her power to manipulate electromagnetic forces; she especially enjoyed using a length of magnetically animated cable as a weapon.

Edward Sedgewick (”Stronghold”) was a member of the Harbinger Foundation of would-be Harbinger messiah Toyo Harada. Edward was given the nickname Stronghold and recruited into the “Eggbreakers” enforcer squad. He had the power to psionically absorb mass from objects around him and use it to increase his own size and strength to gigantic proportions. When he killed a fellow Harbinger, he realized that the Foundation was not right for him and fled with his partner Livewire. Stronghold and Livewire were later recruited by the Geomancer Geoff McHenry to battle villain Dr. Eclipse, a servant of Master Darque.

Brett Ratner To Take On The Wolf Man?

Liam — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:42:01 +0000

Less than a day ago we told you about Mark Romanek’s decision to leave The Wolf Man due to creative differences. We also told you that Universal were hoping to get a director quickly. Well, according to AICN they have got a replacement very quickly! Can anyone remember the year 2005, when Matthew Vaughn dropped out of directing X-Men 3, weeks before filming was to being, and then within weeks FOX got Brett Ratner to direct. Well if AICN speak the truth then history may be repeating itself. It seems Brett Ratner is the guy you get when your director leaves at inconvenient times. I echo Harry Knowles’s thoughts by saying that Ratner can make movies that are entertaining and make money. He has proved that with the Rush Hour movies. But Ratner lacks the drama side of things. X-Men 3 was rushed to an extent that you didn’t actually care about the characters. But then again that could be the script.

When I think of The Wolf Man, I imagine similar settings to the recent Sweeney Todd, set in old London. Everything is a bit dark and murky. It is basically a dark drama with the odd bit of action. But when I imagine Ratners version, the women’s corsets suddenly become much tighter around the waist, thrusting the chest upwards. The films run time drops by 45 minutes and the trailer makes it out to be totally different to what we eventually get.

I’ll keep reminding myself this is a rumour until anything is confirmed. If it does turn out to be true, Ratner may surprise us and I know he is a good director for picking things up from where people left them. Time will tell.