Movie News Mash 24

AWAKEN THE DRAGON
A few years ago, it was announced that Warner Brothers was remaking "Enter the Dragon." This updated version, being directed by "The Shield" producer Kurt Sutter, will be called Awaken the Dragon and is be a contemporized drama about a lone FBI agent who pursues a rogue Shaolin monk into the bloody world of underground martial arts fight clubs. Sutter has been looking an established American actor to play the FBI agent and to discover a "fight star" for the role of the monk. Well, according to Latino Review, they've found their monk - Rain - the Korean pop star and actor who stars in "Speed Racer" and "Ninja Assassin."

"I'm a huge noir fan, and this plot lends itself to the film I want to make," Sutter said of 'Awaken the Dragon.'"I wanted to set it in these underground fight clubs where the action is really raw and expose the brutality of Shaolin kung fu. This will be more 'Raging Bull' than 'Crouching Tiger' in its viciousness."

With Rain doing awesome martial arts for "Ninja Assassin" (watch the training video), I think he can do great in this remake as well.
(First Showing)

THE RAVEN
Slash Film spoke with "Ninja Assassin" director James McTeigue and learned his next project a period thriller titled "The Raven" written by Hannah Shakespeare and Ben Livingston described as a fictionalized account of the final five "mysterious" days of Edgar Allan Poe's life. The story will follow the famous writer as he joins the hunt for a serial killer whose murders are inspired by his stories. "It's like the poem, 'The Raven,' itself, crossed with 'Se7en.' It should be pretty cool. The script is really good and everyone responds to it really well. I'm in the middle of casting," the director said.

Poe's death is also mysterious, as he was found on the streets of Baltimore in need of "immediate assistance." He was wearing another person's clothes and repeating the name "Reynolds." He died shortly after in hospital, never able to explain what happened.

To be brief, something like this can actually turn out to be really cool and creepy at the same time.
(First Showing, Screen Rant)

DR. HORRIBLE'S SING-ALONG BLOG
Joss Whedon's musical miniseries "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" broke new ground with filmmaking for online audiences and earned Whedon and his cast a lot of new fans, but with any success story like "Dr. Horrible," the question now becomes: what's next?

MTV News recently caught up with Whedon and posed that question. It sounds like there could not only be more "Dr. Horrible" on the way, but they already have a story in mind for the sequel.

"We're in there plugging. The writers are trying to put something together," Whedon said. "We haven't even decided on a venue. We have a story and we're working that. We're just starting with that."

While he couldn't share any details about the story for the sequel, how it will relate to the first miniseries or who will be returning (though I'm hoping for Nathan Fillion and Neil Patrick Harris to reprise their roles), Whedon indicated that the lack of information was more due to the early stage of development than anything else.

"Doesn't matter if it's big or small, [we're just] just figuring out the story," he explained. "We're really excited about what it is. More, I cannot say."

With both Fillion and Harris juggling lead roles in television series ("Castle" and "How I Met Your Mother," respectively), the duo will likely have to make room in busy schedules for a "Dr. Horrible" sequel -- but it's a good bet they'll find some time. There's also the lingering question about what form the next installment of "Dr. Horrible" will take, as Whedon has said in the past that he's not sure whether the multi-episode miniseries format is best for online audiences, or if a one-shot movie is the way to go.
(MTV News)

More news to come! Catch ya' later!