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Peter Jackson talks Halo with AICN
There's an interesting Halo movie interview with Peter Jackson on the love it or hate it movie site, Ain't It Cool News. The interview focuses both on Peter's choice of Neill Blomkamp as the director and the importance of the script. Speaking on Blomkamp's nomination, Jackson admits that hiring a "new" director wasn't the plan, but that Blomkamp was simply the best choice."It's not deliberate and certainly for HALO it wasn't deliberate. I don't think even for a show like HALO, which is a big budget production, I don't think there's any problem whatsoever with a so-called first time director directing it. At the end of the day, Neill (Blomkamp) is not a first time director. He's a first time feature film director, but he understands film and grammar as good as anybody. He's done some wonderful short films and commercials. His visual eye is fantastic and his storytelling is great. The fact that it's a feature film just means that he gets to shoot for longer than he did in the short film. There really isn't anything else that's different."Speaking of his personal involvement with the script (along with Lord of the Rings alumni Fran Walsh and Filippa Boyens), Jackson had some very encouraging words."The movie, as far as I'm concerned, as far as my involvement is concerned, is not going to go in front of the cameras until we have a really great script."God, let's hope so. The interview is full of good stuff, and anyone interested in Halo should definitely check it out.[Thanks, Doug Kriz]
Master Chief's armor to be revised for Halo film
Newly anointed Halo director, Neill Blomkamp, has indicated that the iconic armor housing Master Chief will be slightly altered for its appearance in the 2008 film adaptation. Speaking to Ain't It Cool News, a confident Mr. Blomkamp successfully justifies a decision which, in the hands of a typical Hollywood hotshot, could quickly become a nightmarish reimagining of a beloved character into something supposedly more enticing to mainstream sensibilities. "Master Chief is certainly something that I do not want to change too much at all, there are certain things inside the Halo universe that are sacred and he's the main one. Having said that, there is a need to revise certain parts of him, just from a purely technical standpoint, he has to actually be able to move, like a human, and the game design right now does not allow for full motion freedom, which we will have to achieve."The interview sees the director affirming his love for the games, for the universe they depict and for "infected humans and covenant." He fails to provide definitive answers regarding the removal of Master Chief's helmet or the use of Bungie's original soundtracks in the film, but the inclusion or exclusion of either one is likely to fuel fan debate until well after the movie has come and gone. Rejected (and generally horrid) titles for this post: Master stroke: Master Chief armor changing Master Chief suit changing: oh no they didn't Master Chief: borg to be wild Master Chief armor change: Massive damage Master-ious costume change for Chief Master Chief says Halo to new armor Halo movie chief masters armor change Halo armor to be remastered [Thanks for the image, Ross. You'll go to hell for this one.]
Halo gets a director and another year
Please take a moment to sample the video above. Now, let that sink in. What you have just witnessed is the work of the newly chosen director of (drumroll please) Halo. That's right ladies and germs, the mystery has been put to rest. It's not Guillermo. It's not Peter Jackson himself. It's a relatively unknown South African (did you hear that Ludwig?) director by the name of Neill Blomkamp. Though Blomkamp's resume consists mostly of short films and commercials, his work has garnered him many awards (including 3 Clios and a Visual Effects Society Award). Also, the Halo movie has been pushed back to 2008, ending any speculation that it would launch day and date with Halo 3. Choosing a little known director whose work has been primarily in commercials and short films is an interesting choice. Then again, Jackson himself started out making campy horror films (so did Sam Raimi of Spider-Man fame) so, who's to say? Do you think he's up to the job?[Via Joystiq]
Denzel as Master Chief and other dubious movie rumors [update 1]
1. IGN Filmforce is buzzing that "Oscar winner Denzel Washington is rumored to be up for the role of "Master Chief" in Fox/Universal's film version of the Microsoft/Bungie videogame sensation Halo ... according to movie news website, Dark Horizons. IGN failed to link it (it's the internet, guys) but we managed to track it down here. It tersely declares, "Latest rumours have Denzel Washington as the favourite for Master Chief." IGN does mention (but doesn't link to) an Associated Press story about a meeting in New Zealand that ledes with, "Denzel Washington says he wants Peter Jackson to provide the special effects for a film he plans to direct, a newspaper reported Friday." So the two have met ... not a lot to go on there. What's wrong with Steve Downes, anyhow? 2. Well, if the rumor mill has its way, the Halo movie isn't coming anytime soon! According to The Movie Blog, "Don't hold your breath for a summer 2007 release date. Not having a director yet... a FULL YEAR after they announced the project is bad bad bad news no matter which way you try to spin it." Without an announced director on the project, they argue the Halo movie is going nowhere fast. Despite a report by Variety that targetted 2007 as the release date, like Halo 3 there still is no planned release date for the movie.3. According to an amateurish looking blog dubbed The Movie Center linked to from NeoGAF, director Tim Burton has shown interest in a script based on ... Grim Fandango. Sure, this sounds like a fanboy's wet dream, but the quote presented is not only unsourced, it contains two major spelling errors! "Well, I'm currently woerking on Sweeny Todd, which will be released in mid-2007. After that, I'm gonna start working on a new script that was sent to me recently: Grim Fandango." We ain't saying these rumors are false, just that they're skimpy. It takes a lot more than some unsourced blog postings to get our fanboy knickers in a knot.[Via Cinematical; thanks, Evan][Update 1: fixed misunderstanding in rumor #2]Read - Halo Casting Rumor (IGN)Read - Halo in Limbo (The Movie Blog)Read - Dia de los muertos (The Movie Center)
Master Chief behind the mask: Denzel?
Movie website Dark Horizons has a tiny snippet of info regarding the Halo movie: Denzel Washington is rumored to be up for the role of Master Chief. The rumor is one sentence long, halfway down the page, and has no source listed:"Latest rumours have Denzel Washington as the favourite for Master Chief."If there was an article associated with this headline, it has since been removed. My take: I don't know about Denzel being the Chief. Personally, I think that role should be filled by an unknown. However, I do think Denzel would make an excellent Sgt. A. J. Johnson.[Via Xboxic, kudos to YLA G for the picture]
