Get Smart

Exclusive: Producer Andrew Lazar Video Interview JONAH HEX; Plus Updates on AKIRA, ONE FINGER SALUTE, GET SMART 2, More

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: June 17th, 2010 at 4:31 pm

With Jonah Hex getting released tomorrow, I was able to sit down with producer Andrew Lazar (Get Smart, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) for an extended interview last weekend.  During our wide ranging conversation we talked about the challenges of getting Jonah Hex made, how they got the great cast together, the mixing of different genres in Hex, what will be on the DVD/Blu-ray (over 10 minutes of deleted scenes), and a lot more.

But after talking about Jonah Hex for awhile, we started talking about his other projects like I Love You Phillip Morris, Akira, Get Smart 2, Untitled Joe Namath Project, Pre-Astronauts (now called One Finger Salute), what are general meetings, and a lot more.  Some of the interesting things I learned were:

• I Love You Phillip Morris should have a happy ending as the film will hopefully be released this fall.
• Akira is still moving forward. They just hired a new writer and they’re conceptualizing right now.  He also says WB management loves the property and the studio is very enthusiastic about the project.  Confirms the first movie would be volumes 1-3 and a second movie would be 4-6
• Pre-Astronauts is now called One Finger Salute.  Calls it The Right Stuff before The Right Stuff. Says it’s about a group of Air Force scientists and pilots that believe man can go to space and survive. Also says they did a table read last year with Tom Cruise, Ryan Reynolds, Bradley Cooper, and Elizabeth Banks!  Peter Segal is scheduled to direct.
• Regarding Get Smart 2, he said Steve Carell wrote the script for the sequel!
• And regarding his Untitled Joe Namath Project talk, he says he’s meeting with James Mangold once he is done with his Knight and Day stuff.  Not sure if it’s to write and/or direct.

As you can see, we covered a lot of ground.  It’s really a fantastic interview and if you’re curious about any of the projects I mentioned or just curious about how films get made, I think you’ll love the interview.  Hit the jump to check it out:

Summer 2009 Box Office Wrap-Up

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: September 7th, 2009 at 12:05 pm

With only hours to go before Hollywood’s golden season draws to a close, I thought it was a good time to do the post-mortem on the summer of 2009.  By now you may have heard that this summer was Hollywood’s most-profitable ever with grosses topping $4.3 billion. But has it felt like the biggest summer ever?  Not really.  Blockbusters like “Transformers 2″ and “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” aside, 2009 was a season of expensive movies that didn’t live up to the hype and cheap movies that performed above all expectations.  Follow me now into the murky world of box office number crunching to see just how huge Hollywood’s hugest summer really was.

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