Stephen King Goes to the Movies Book Cover

Here is the cover for the upcoming book, “Stephen King Goes to the Movies” which is scheduled to be released on January 27th, 2009. The #1 bestselling author reflects on the filming of five of his most popular short stories. Those movies are The Shawshank Redemption, 1408, Children of the Corn, The Mangler, and Hearts in Atlantis. The 400 page paperback book includes an introduction, his personal commentary, and behind-the-scenes insights by Stephen King.

 

World’s Most Crowded Swimming Pool

Thousands of swimmers crowd into a pool in Penglai in Sichuan, western China .  Swimming laps is not an option.

 

Hot Dog: The Quiz

July is National Hot Dog Month so today’s quiz is comprised of ten questions concerning hot dogs as both a food item and a pop culture reference.  Take the quiz here.

 

 

J.J. Abrams Talks Star Trek

For the past several months getting any information out of the always enthusiastically secretive J.J. Abrams camp about his re-launch of the classic Star Trek series for the big screen has been about as easy as getting light out of a black hole.

But when ComingSoon.net cornered Abrams at a big Hollywood event this week, we were surprised that he seemed finally ready to reveal a few tiny, tantalizing hints about his version of the final frontier, as well as his feeling about the franchise and his film’s old school standard bearer – and we didn’t even have to pull a phaser on him.

CS: You’ve said that you didn’t start out as an uber-fan of “Star Trek,” but you quickly became a fan. Can you talk in general terms about what you fell in love with about the whole franchise?
Abrams: I fell in love with the relationships between the characters. I fell in love with the characters. The idea of – it’s so funny because you hear something so often and it loses it’s meaning. But “space, the final frontier” – if you actually consider space as uncharted territory there’s something about the idea of these people, because any ship flying by isn’t going to get you excited. It’s who’s on the ship that matters. I feel like these characters actually going out into that nothingness and finding something is great. Having lived with it now and gotten to know the characters and worked with amazing actors who portrayed them, it made me fall in love with that notion, that idea that for some reason never struck me the way that “Twilight Zone” did.

CS: Are you ready to talk about the Jennifer Morrison character? There’s been a lot of speculation and confusion as to exactly who she’s playing.
Abrams: She is so great. I’ll just say that she plays Kirk’s mother. She’s awesome. Great.

CS: Does the film feature many flashback sequences? We also know that Winona Ryder is playing Spock’s mother.
Abrams: Yeah, most of the movie is not – I wouldn’t call them flashbacks, but she’s in a great sequence and is so good. I love her.

CS: What can you say about about working with Leonard Nimoy?
Abrams: It was really just a dream experience, working with him. He is everything you want him to be. He’s funny and incredibly thoughtful and was surprisingly open and receptive to direction. He’s just got an amazing wife and family and working with him was literally… Like the other day we were doing some ADR and he was there and because we weren’t shooting anymore I was standing there and I just looked at him while he was doing his thing. I wanted to burn it into my head. It was so great to get to work with that guy. He’s just an amazing man and is terrific in the movie.

CS: Is he a major presence in the film?
Abrams: Yeah. I think he’s a major presence in any scene he’s in. He’s terrific.

Star Trek opens in theaters on May 8, 2009. (From ComingSoon.net)

 

Mathieu Ratthe Wants To Direct The Talisman

Mathieu Ratthe is trying to get Steven Spielberg’s attention.

The  Canadian filmmaker dreams of directing an adaptation of The Talisman, the 1984 fantasy novel written by Stephen King and Peter Straub. The trouble is, Spielberg has held on to the rights for nearly 25 years, and the story has never made it to the screen.

Tired of waiting, Ratthe did the only thing he could think of: He filmed a six-and-a-half-minute demo for the film and posted it on YouTube. Surprisingly, it’s pretty stunning. You may recognize lead actor Cameron Bright from Birth and X-Men: The Last Stand, and the visual effects were created by the same company that worked on 300.

“I e-mailed him, and it looks like he paid for it all on his own,” writes Pop reader Michael R.

Whether Ratthe’s Talisman trailer will lead to a Spielberg meeting is unclear, but there’s no doubt it will get him noticed by some folks in the industry. (Reprinted from Pop Candy)

Amy Poehler To Join Post-’Office’ Show

“Saturday Night Live” star Amy Poehler is in final negotiations to join the cast of the new post-“Office” laffer from Greg Daniels and Mike Schur.

Series, despite initially being called an “Office” spinoff, isn’t expected to be one after all — confirming speculation that the show would not be an extension of the original but a whole new series.

Poehler would join the already-cast Aziz Ansari, who became the series’ first cast member last month.

In recent weeks Daniels and Schur have been busy mapping out the show, which is set to bow this winter in the plum Thursday night 9:30 p.m. timeslot behind “The Office.”

Poehler, who hosts “SNL’s” “Weekend Update” segment with Seth Meyers, has been with the sketch skein since 2001. She also recently appeared in the feature “Baby Mama” and provides the lead voice to the animated entry “The Mighty B.” (Reprinted from Variety)